Tonight's Movie: Tension (1949)

Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart) is the mild-mannered night pharmacist at Coast to Coast Drugstore in the Los Angeles area. When Quimby learns that his wife Claire (Audrey Totter) is unfaithful, he devises an elaborate plan to develop another identity as "Paul Sothern," who will murder Claire's lover Barney (Lloyd Gough) and then disappear forever.

However, Warren/Paul doesn't count on falling in love with Paul's neighbor Mary (Cyd Charisse) and decides murder would be quite pointless when he can simply be happy with Mary. Warren's in a heap of trouble, however, when Barney turns up dead. Whodunit? It's up to Lt. Bonnabel (Barry Sullivan) to create enough TENSION to cause the real murderer to crack.

TENSION is a terrific little film noir with an excellent cast, wonderful location shooting in the greater L.A. area, and a jazzy score by Andre Previn (who was all of 20 years old at the time). I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I especially loved the film's setting and atmosphere, including the large pharmacy/hamburger counter, which is an interesting relic of a bygone era (IMDb indicates this set was also used in MGM's 1950 film SIDE STREET), and the exterior shots of the pharmacy's street, Malibu, and the charming apartment building where "Paul" sets up a second home. A comment at IMDb supplies the information that the apartment building still exists and is located off West Olympic Boulevard; sadly, it may be demolished in the next year or so.

This is the third movie in which I've seen Audrey Totter in the last couple of weeks, and she's an utter chameleon, who looks and acts quite differently in each film. She was a goofy, eccentric, black-haired Romanian in THE SAILOR TAKES A WIFE (1945) and a calm, competent doctor with her hair in a bun in HIGH WALL (1947). In this one she's a provocative blonde floozy with an Ann Sothern type hairdo. (The irony there is that Sothern serves as the inspiration for Paul's last name!) Totter is terrific in every incarnation. I have become a definite admirer. Ms. Totter turned 90 last month.

Here is a terrific interview with Audrey Totter that ran in Classic Images in 1999. There are great anecdotes about Robert Taylor, Robert Montgomery, Ray Milland, and Clark Gable, among others. (2016 Update: The link no longer works.)

The mild-mannered druggist turned would-be murderer was one of several odd characters played by Richard Basehart within a span of a few years. He also played the murderer in HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948) and the man on the ledge in FOURTEEN HOURS (1951).

William Conrad adds some spark to the proceedings in his role as one of the homicide detectives, Lt. Gonsales. I enjoyed the humor his character provided and the interplay of Gonsales and Bonnabel. It was a bit like getting a preview of the TV detectives Conrad would play on TV's CANNON and JAKE AND THE FATMAN. The same year TENSION was released, Conrad also played a murder detective in EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE, reviewed here.

Cyd Charisse also had a dramatic role in EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE. She's lovely in TENSION as Mary, who has faith in "Paul" even when she discovers he isn't quite who she thinks he is. It's a treat to see her in another non-dancing role relatively early in her career.

TENSION was directed by John Berry. He was blacklisted and moved to Europe shortly thereafter. It's a black and white film which runs 95 minutes.

TENSION is available on DVD as part of the Film Noir Classic Collection, Volume 4. It can also be bought on a "double feature" disc paired with WHERE DANGER LIVES. Extras include a featurette and a commentary with Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, and Audrey Totter herself. (September 2017 Update: TENSION has been reissued on DVD by the Warner Archive.)

TENSION is part of the library at Turner Classic Movies. The trailer can be viewed here.

March 2014 Update: I had the wonderful opportunity to see this film again -- this time in 35mm -- at the Noir City Film Festival.

Shanghai Disneyland?

I'm not wild about this location. There's already a Disneyland park in Hong Kong, and putting one in mainland China is just kind of distasteful to me. Unless one wants to optimistically hope that it contributes to breaking down barriers and ending Communism...

Notable Passings

...Cheryl Holdridge, one of Disney's Mousekeeters, has died of cancer at the age of 64. (Click the title of this post for her obituary; another can be found at MiceChat.)

Holdridge had guest and recurring roles on a number of other TV series, including THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET and LEAVE IT TO BEAVER. Although it's not listed in her IMDb credits, Wikipedia confirms my recollection that she was also one of the many Snow children in CAROUSEL (1956).

Holdridge had been widowed twice and had no immediate surviving family. Fellow Mouseketeers who were with Holdridge in the last hours of her life included Doreen Tracey and Tommy Cole.

...Olga San Juan, whose best-known film was BLUE SKIES (1946), costarring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, has passed away at the age of 81.

San Juan was married to actor Edmond O'Brien for nearly three decades. They divorced in 1976, but neither remarried.

...Father Richard Neuhaus, an influential theologian and conservative, has died at the age of 72. For many years Neuhaus was the religion editor at National Review.

Peter Wehner and John Podhoretz are among those who have written tributes.

Tony Martin Returns to the Stage Tonight...

...at the age of 96!

Martin decided to return to giving concerts as a way to occupy his time since the recent passing of his wife of 60 years, Cyd Charisse.

Thanks to Missy for this great story.

More from the San Francisco Chronicle. (Note: The paper is in error about how long the Martins were married, if that is what is referenced by the word "together.") Martin's comments about his wife are quite touching.

Tonight's Movie: A Lawless Street (1955)

This seems to be the week for "Lawless" Westerns. Last night we watched THE LAWLESS BREED, which I found disappointing.

Tonight's "Lawless" movie, A LAWLESS STREET, was much more satisfactory, a solidly made Randolph Scott Western I very much enjoyed.

Scott plays Marshal Calem Ware, who has cleaned up towns throughout the West and is currently working in Medicine Bend. Ware must deal with constant threats on his life and the unexpected visit of his long-estranged wife (Angela Lansbury).

There are some creaky bits of dialogue here and there -- most saddled on Lansbury -- but there is also plenty of Scott's trademark laconic humor, nicely drawn supporting characters, and some creatively shot action scenes. The film was a fast-paced 78 minutes. This is one I'll be wanting to watch again in the future.

One of the film's pleasures is seeing actresses like Ruth Donnelly and Jean Parker in prominent supporting roles. 22 years previously, Parker played Beth in LITTLE WOMEN, perhaps her best-known role in an acting career which spanned over three decades. Last month I reviewed her relatively little-known Christmas film BEYOND TOMORROW.

Donnelly had an even longer career, starting in the silents in 1914 and continuing into '60s TV. She was in many pre-Code classics, including FOOTLIGHT PARADE, FEMALE, JEWEL ROBBERY, and MANDALAY; Capra films such as MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON; and warm family films such as THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S and I'D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN.

I especially enjoyed Wallace Ford as the doctor who is the marshal's sidekick; Ford also had a long career, starting in the pre-Code era and continuing through the mid-'60s. The chief villain was played by Michael Pate, who was both an actor and a screenwriter. Warner Anderson, John Emery, Jeanette Nolan, Don Magowan, James Bell, and Frank Ferguson round out the cast.

The movie was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who made many Westerns and B movies, including film noir titles such as MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945) and GUN CRAZY (1950). The color cinematography was by the great Ray Rennahan.

A LAWLESS STREET is available on both DVD and video.

Tonight's Movie: The Lawless Breed (1953)

Raoul Walsh's THE LAWLESS BREED is a disaster movie of a Western, spending 83 minutes careening from one tragedy or bad decision to another as it tells the story of gambler-outlaw John Wesley Hardin (Rock Hudson).

Although the movie is colorful and has its strong points, including a spirited performance by Julia (Julie) Adams as a saloon girl who loves Hardin, it suffers from a cliched script and an exasperating lead character. It simply wasn't very enjoyable watching Hardin be in nothing but trouble for most of the movie. Hudson is fine, but it's not an appealing role.

John McIntire gives two performances in the film; he's way over the top as Hardin's fire-and-brimstone preacher father -- and saddled with some awful dialogue -- but enjoyable as Hardin's kindly uncle. It's fun to see Dennis Weaver as Hardin's cousin. The bad guys include Hugh O'Brian, Lee Van Cleef, and Michael Ansara. Mary Castle plays Hardin's sweetheart; I wasn't familiar with her but learned from IMDb that she appeared in Westerns opposite Audie Murphy, Gene Autry, and Charles Starrett.

The movie takes every opportunity it can to show Julie Adams as underdressed as possible, another thing which made me roll my eyes a bit. That said, her performance is the most interesting thing in the movie. Rock Hudson and Julie Adams previously costarred with James Stewart in BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), reviewed here. As I shared in that post, when I was a teen I had the honor of appearing in a bit part in a local stage production of THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE which starred Miss Adams. She was a lovely lady.

A side note: When I reviewed Walsh's CHEYENNE (1947) last weekend I noted that I felt Leonard Maltin had underrated that film at just two stars. Ironically, Maltin rated THE LAWLESS BREED three stars. I would exactly flip those ratings, giving CHEYENNE three stars and THE LAWLESS BREED two.

THE LAWLESS BREED is on DVD as part of the Classic Western Roundup, Vol. I, along with CANYON PASSAGE (a good Dana Andrews-Susan Hayward movie), Audie Murphy's THE KANSAS RAIDERS, and THE TEXAS RANGERS starring Fred MacMurray. The DVD print is excellent. The only extra is a trailer.

It's also available on video.

Other Raoul Walsh movies previously reviewed here: BIG BROWN EYES (1936), THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1941), and THE MAN I LOVE (1947).

August 2009 Update: Here's a review of another movie in the Classic Western Roundup set, THE TEXAS RANGERS.

New Website: Big Hollywood

Big Hollywood is Andrew Breitbart's new site, which is meant to encourage conservatism in Hollywood.

More background on the site is at Power Line.

At first glance, there are some interesting posts. I particularly enjoyed John Nolte's "TCM Pick O' the Day" for Wednesday, the musical version of MY SISTER EILEEN (1955). The post spotlights the incredible dancing of Bob Fosse and Tommy Rall.

As someone who loves lists, I also enjoyed Nolte's "Top 5 Opening Scenes" which included TOUCH OF EVIL and THE SEARCHERS.

Nolte plans to continue Top 5 lists and spotlighting what's airing on TCM and Fox Movie Channel, along with reviewing recent releases.

Elsewhere on the site, Orson Bean writes "Where Are the Cinema Heroes Today?" and wonders where to find the modern-day equivalents of Spencer Tracy's Thomas Edison, Don Ameche's Alexander Graham Bell, Greer Garson's Madame Curie, Jimmy Stewart's Charles Lindbergh, and more.

Looks like this will be a site worth watching. I wish the site contributors success.

Wednesday Update: Here's a new post I enjoyed, Robert Avrech's list of the 10 best movies he screened in 2008. THE EASIEST WAY and CLUNY BROWN are high on my "to see" list. I actually saw CLUNY BROWN at the late, lamented Vagabond Theater in Los Angeles in the late '70s or early '80s, but haven't seen it since.

A Blessed Epiphany

Happy Three Kings Day!

London's Daily Telegraph has a fun article explaining the history behind the debate over whether Twelfth Night falls on January 5th or 6th. Epiphany, on the other hand, is most definitely January 6th.

The story is accompanied by a photo of the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square coming down on Monday. My daughter was fortunate to be able to see the tree on a bus tour Sunday, and she's also seen some beautiful Christmas lights in London which are left up in that city until Twelfth Night or Epiphany. She also saw the tree which is noted in the article to still be standing at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Tonight's Movie: The 39 Steps (1935)

Tuesday evening our oldest daughter, who is spending this semester in London, will be seeing the popular West End spoof of Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS at the Criterion Theatre at Piccadilly Circus. Lucky girl! (You can read a bit more about this show in last year's post about the Broadway production.) Today she found out that she'll be taking a class on Hitchcock, along with her history and geology courses, which makes seeing the show right now extra-perfect.

Since I can't see the stage show, I did the next best thing tonight and watched the original 1935 film starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. THE 39 STEPS is one of the films Hitchcock made in Britain before starting his U.S. career. Like Hitchcock's later films such as SABOTEUR (1942) and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), it's about a man on the run for his life (Donat) with a beautiful blonde (Carroll) by his side.

I enjoyed the film very much, although I'm not sure, at least on the first viewing, that it quite reached the level of the four-star classic I was expecting -- the main reason being that Donat and Carroll aren't thrown together more than momentarily until just about 2/3 of the way into the 86-minute movie. Once they're on the run together the film really takes off, but it took far too long to get to that point. Donat and Carroll are charming and their interplay is the best part of the movie.

I also appreciated the film's fast-paced editing. Missy has previously mentioned to me the ingenious use of sound, such as a woman's scream edited to meld in with a train whistle.

The supporting cast includes Peggy Ashcroft (memorable as a farmer's wife who aids Donat), John Laurie, Godfrey Tearle, and Lucie Mannheim. Helen Haye was also notable as the dignified wife of a murderous man who doesn't seem to find his odd behavior the least bit strange.

Robert Donat only made 20 films, but they include classics such as THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, VACATION FROM MARRIAGE, and GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS, for which he won the Oscar. (Whether he should have won out over Clark Gable in GWTW -- or, for that matter, Laurence Olivier or James Stewart -- is a question for the ages. The fifth nominee was Mickey Rooney in BABES IN ARMS.) Madeleine Carroll appeared in over 40 films, including the first sound version of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN, LLOYDS OF LONDON, and MY FAVORITE BLONDE.

THE 39 STEPS is available on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection. Extras include a Lux Radio production starring Robert Montgomery and Ida Lupino. Although I watched a copy of the movie recorded from TCM, I'll be borrowing the DVD from my father so I can hear the radio version with two of my favorite actors.

THE 39 STEPS can also be seen on cable on Turner Classic Movies.

The Growth of U.S. Homeschooling

As noted in a post here in November, homeschooling is growing rapidly in the United States.

USA Today published a front-page story today analyzing the numbers. The Department of Education says the number of homeschooled children grew 74% over the last decade, and 36% in the last five years.

As noted in the November article, 45% of Americans now know a homeschooling family.

An interesting related article: Tim Tebow a Shining Example for Homeschooled Athletes.

New Book: The Great Eight

Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, one of my all-time favorite figure skaters, has co-written a new book, THE GREAT EIGHT: HOW TO BE HAPPY (EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE EVERY REASON TO BE MISERABLE). The book will be released this Tuesday, January 6th.

Hamilton is the survivor of both cancer and a brain tumor. On Christmas the L.A. Times ran a column by Helene Elliott titled "For Scott Hamilton, a Well-Lived Life is Compulsory."

Hamilton previously coauthored his autobiography, LANDING IT: MY LIFE ON AND OFF THE ICE.

For about a decade I annually attended Hamilton's STARS ON ICE show in Anaheim, which provided me with many happy memories. Hamilton was an amazing, ebullient showman and skater. I finally quit going when most of my favorite skaters, including Hamilton, had retired from the show.

Tonight's Movie: Reap the Wild Wind (1942)

As Carrie pointed out at Classic Montgomery, this weekend was the anniversary of the birth of Ray Milland, one of my favorite actors. Ray, whose birth name was Reginald Truscott-Jones, was born in Wales on January 3, 1905. Tonight I marked the occasion by watching Ray in REAP THE WILD WIND, which I'd never seen before.

REAP THE WILD WIND is a rather florid epic by the legendary Cecil B. DeMille, who probably didn't know the meaning of the word "understated." DeMille stuffed this long, colorful movie with shipwrecks, lavish costumes, brawls, beautiful women, stalwart men, a dangerous diving expedition, and lots of animals, including a giant squid. The movie is over-the-top hokum, without much emotional depth, but it's entertaining hokum.

Paulette Goddard plays Loxi, whose family is in the business of salvaging shipwrecks off 1840s Key West. Evil King Cutler (Raymond Massey) is pushing Loxi and other salvagers out of business; in fact, he's usually the first to arrive at wrecks because he causes them in the first place!

Loxi is romantically torn between Jim, a sea captain (John Wayne, another on my favorites list), and Steve, a lawyer running a shipping company (Ray Milland). Meanwhile, Loxi's cousin Drusilla (Susan Hayward) secretly loves Cutler's brother Dan (Robert Preston). The stories converge when Jim makes the fateful decision that he'd rather make a deal with King Cutler than work for Steve...

Other than finding Jim's sudden decision fairly unbelievable, it's an entertaining movie. Goddard tries to make up for not winning the part of Scarlett O'Hara with her attention-getting Southern belle in this film; there's a twist, though, in that Loxi is as much a seafaring tomboy as she is a headstrong beauty. Goddard is fun, though I actually found Hayward more interesting as her sweet, lovestruck cousin; I wished Hayward and her storyline had had more screen time.

Milland's character is first presented as a dandy, with elaborate clothes, curly hair, and a little dog who accompanies him everywhere. However, the viewer gradually comes to realize that Steve is smart, resourceful, and might just be worthy competition with Jim (Wayne) for Loxi's hand.

Wayne's role initially seems to be that of the leading man, but after Milland finally enters the movie -- at least 20 minutes into the picture -- Wayne's part gradually morphs into more of a supporting role. He's solid as always and does what he can with a poorly written part, who goes from Point A to Point Z without hitting many of the letters in between.

Robert Preston makes the most of his few scenes as the love of Hayward's life.

The underwater sequence with the squid was technically fascinating, as an exemplar of 1940s special effects, but I found it a little too unreal to be truly enjoyable. To me, it honestly looked like a big plastic fish (grin), akin to something I'd see on Disneyland's Submarine Voyage. The scenes were filmed in a tank at the Pan Pacific Marine Museum in Santa Monica, California.

The film runs 124 minutes and was shot in vivid Technicolor. The supporting cast includes Louise Beavers, Lynne Overman, Charles Bickford, Martha O'Driscoll, Elisabeth Risdon, Hedda Hopper, and Janet Beecher.

REAP THE WILD WIND has been released on VHS. It's also available on DVD as a single-title release or as part of the John Wayne Screen Legend Collection. The Screen Legend DVD I saw was a beautiful print.

As an aside, the single-title DVD and video both list John Wayne and Susan Hayward as the leads over Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard; the reality is that Milland and Goddard are the movie's top-billed stars.

Ray Milland movies previously reviewed here, in the order they were posted: THE DOCTOR TAKES A WIFE (1940), IRENE (1940), THE UNINVITED (1944), COPPER CANYON (1950), EASY LIVING (1937), EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT NIGHT (1939), CALIFORNIA (1946), A WOMAN OF DISTINCTION (1950), LET'S DO IT AGAIN (1953), and THREE SMART GIRLS (1936). I didn't realize I'd seen quite that many Ray Milland movies in the last year and a half!

A couple days ago Mike Clark of USA Today listed Milland's THE UNINVITED as one of the six titles he'd most like to see released on DVD.

January 2015 Update: I had the opportunity to see this film on a big screen at UCLA, discussed briefly here.

September 2019 Update: REAP THE WILD WIND is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. My review of the Blu-ray, which has outstanding picture quality, is here.

Around the Blogosphere This Week

Here are some of the articles and blog posts which have caught my eye in the last few days...

At the subject link (click title of this post), the L.A. Times reports that the California Supreme Court will be reviewing the state law granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. It will be interesting to follow this. The law strikes me as completely unfair, especially to American citizens of other states who must pay much higher out-of-state fees.

In fact, the Times also just reported that UC officials are considering accepting more out-of-state students -- perhaps excluding qualified California students -- because out-of-state students pay so much more in tuition, which would help the UC system given our state's floundering economy. The California economy is sinking, we have a law forcing UC schools to accept non-citizens at lower state tuition rates, and we're going to cut off California students so that more out-of-staters can foot more of the bill for the system. How does any of this possibly make sense?

Other recent articles of note:

A Scam, With No Basis in Science: A Power Line column on global warming of a week ago. While you're at it, don't miss this article from the London Daily Telegraph about 2008 being the year man-made global warming was disproved.

Tale of Two Presidential Workout Fanatics: Michelle Malkin compares the wildly varying ways the media has covered the workout regimens of President Bush and President-Elect Obama.

Patterico's Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year in Review 2008: Read it and weep at the state of what was formerly one of the most prestigious newspapers in the nation.

Richardson Out: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's withdrawal today from the nomination for Commerce Secretary was surprising. Richardson says the investigation into the "pay to play" scandal in his state (shades of Illinois) would delay his confirmation. Given that the Congress is entirely controlled by friendly Democrats, I have to surmise Richardson thinks he's in pretty big trouble. It didn't take long for the Obama transition team to toss Richardson under the proverbial bus.

Who Says Conservative Bloggers Don't Do Reporting?: Michelle Malkin again, with a nice roundup of stories broken and covered by conservative bloggers over the past year.

Bob's Big Boy Returning to O.C.: I have so many memories of eating at Bob's when I was growing up. The things I remember most fondly: the comic books and the Silver Goblet Milkshakes. (Meanwhile in L.A. County, the rumor has been confirmed that the partially demolished Johnie's Broiler site in Downey will become a Bob's. The "Broiler" Googie-style signage will be preserved.)

American Girl Samantha To Be Retired: We're completely perplexed by this. My younger daughter is the owner of a much-loved Samantha doll. What is American Girl thinking? Samantha's friend Nellie, who is also in my daughter's collection, is being retired as well.

Ann Savage Dies at 87: Ann Savage was best-known for the 1945 film DETOUR. I don't believe I've seen any of her work to date.

Have a good week, everyone.

Tonight's Movie: Cheyenne (1947)

CHEYENNE is an entertaining Raoul Walsh Western starring Dennis Morgan and Jane Wyman.

Dennis Morgan plays Jim Wylie, a gambler forced by a sheriff to go undercover in order to discover the identity of "The Poet," an outlaw who's been robbing stagecoaches. Wylie soon meets the Poet's wife, Ann Kincaid (Jane Wyman), who may or may not want to turn in her husband to the law. Things get more complicated when Jim is forced to pose as Ann's husband in order to avoid being killed by another outlaw (Arthur Kennedy).

Dennis Morgan is an actor I've come to appreciate very much over the past year. Morgan could do it all -- drama, comedy, and musicals -- and deserves to receive more recognition. (He also has one of the most dazzling smiles ever seen in the movies.) I've watched him in several movies in the last few months and particularly enjoyed him in THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU (1944), THREE CHEERS FOR THE IRISH (1940), and THE HARD WAY (1943). Morgan is a charmer as the canny gambler in CHEYENNE, and very believable as a Western hero.

Jane Wyman is at her very prettiest in CHEYENNE, and she displays a nice sense of humor. She and Morgan, who acted together in other films including FLIGHT ANGELS (1940) and BAD MEN OF MISSOURI (1941), are an appealing pair. CHEYENNE was sandwiched in between Wyman's Oscar-nominated role in THE YEARLING (1946) and her Oscar win in JOHNNY BELINDA (1948).

The excellent supporting cast includes Janis Paige -- later the star of Broadway's PAJAMA GAME -- as a saloon girl also mixed up with the lead characters; she sings a couple of numbers. (One of her outfits has to be seen to be believed.) Bruce Bennett, John Ridgely, Alan Hale, Barton MacLane, Bob Steele, and Monte Blue round out the cast.

A couple of the movie rating books I enjoy checking out referred to the movie as a "routine" and "standard" Western and gave it a two-star rating, but we found the movie quite entertaining. If I were rating it I'd place it at three stars. I wonder if either reviewer would change their rating if they watched the movie again? What might have been taken for granted and seemed "routine" in the '70s or '80s is sometimes discovered to be much more of a treasure when viewed from the perspective of the 2000s.

I liked a post at IMDb, which was headlined "Underrated and surprisingly adult Western from a master" and said "Critics...have tended to dismiss CHEYENNE as the least of Walsh's Westerns. My own viewing suggests a reassessment is in order."

The movie has a little bit of everything: romance, comedy, drama, songs, a good Max Steiner score, and plenty of horse chases and gunplay. An exciting gun battle midway through the movie is perhaps the best sequence in the film.

CHEYENNE runs 99 minutes and was shot in black and white. CHEYENNE has also been shown under the title THE WYOMING KID, I assume to prevent confusion with the '50s TV series CHEYENNE.

Much of the movie was shot on the Warner Bros. Western street; there's a classic stock shot of the street in this film which I remember seeing in countless episodes of the TV series MAVERICK. The movie also features location shooting; I had guessed it was done at California's Red Rock Canyon, but it turns out it was shot in Sedona, Arizona. Much of the location work was second-unit photography, but it appears some of the principal actors also went on location.

CHEYENNE can be seen on Turner Classic Movies.

March 2013 Update: CHEYENNE is now available on a remastered DVD-R from the Warner Archive.

Tonight's Movie: Smartest Girl in Town (1936)

I seem to be on a roll with primarily movie posts of late...but it's the holiday season and who wants to think about heavier topics like financial bailouts and Senate seat shenanigans at this time of year? Especially after we finally concluded the longest Presidential campaign in history.

It's been an unusually busy December, with a heavy work schedule and preparations for our daughter's London semester along with Christmas. Our daughter has now safely arrived in London, the Christmas decorations are put away, and perhaps soon I'll have more time for surfing the web and posting more frequently. :)

Tonight's movie was a cute '30s Ann Sothern comedy called SMARTEST GIRL IN TOWN. Ann plays an advertising model who would love to marry a wealthy man. (This is the Depression, after all.) She meets a rich man in the person of Gene Raymond, but she thinks he's another model. She can't help being attracted to him, even though she thinks he's living paycheck to paycheck, and he's delighted to finally find a girl who loves him for himself.

The movie whizzes buy in just 58 minutes. The plot may be silly at times, but it's never dull. It's a pleasant way to pass an hour.

The film has gorgeous Art Deco sets from the RKO team headed by the great Van Nest Polglase; I'd love to know how Sothern's character afforded her apartment on her model's salary!

The cast is filled with familiar faces from Astaire-Rogers films, including Eric Blore (playing a butler, of course), Erik Rhodes (playing a Latin lover, of course), and wonderful Helen Broderick, who plays Sothern's sister. Broderick has a great way with a wisecrack and brightens any movie in which she appears. (For those who may not be aware, Helen Broderick was the mother of Broderick Crawford.)

The film was directed by Joseph Santley. The supporting cast includes Frank Jenks, Harry Jans, and Etta McDaniel, who was the sister of Hattie McDaniel of GWTW.

SMARTEST GIRL IN TOWN can be seen on Turner Classic Movies.

Update: SMARTEST GIRL IN TOWN is now available on DVD from the Warner Archive.

Tonight's Movie: That Uncertain Feeling (1941)

THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING is a tepid marital comedy starring Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas, and Burgess Meredith. Although it's directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch and has some amusing moments, the film drifts aimlessly along and was a disappointment considering the director and cast.

Oberon and Douglas play a happily married couple whose relationship is disrupted when she becomes infatuated with a boorish pianist (Meredith). Can this marriage be saved?

Douglas has some funny scenes, particularly when he confronts the other man with a gun, and Oberon is charming as always, but I don't have much liking for Meredith, and he's frankly quite tiresome in this. The audience never understands why Oberon would leave Douglas for a drip like Meredith, even if her marriage has become a bit routine. The film does build to an amusing climax, but is not on a par with the director's best work.

The movie's brightest moments are provided by Harry Davenport and Eve Arden, two comedy pros who never disappoint. Arden's scenes in particular are the best in the film.

The supporting cast includes Sig Ruman and Alan Mowbray. It's a black and white film which runs 84 minutes.

THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING is available on DVD and video. The VHS print I watched was a 1997 Alpha Video release which was quite faded, but watchable.

This movie is shown from time to time on Turner Classic Movies.

USC Rose Bowl Champions!

USC became the first team in college football history to win the Rose Bowl three years in a row.

USC beat Penn State, 38-24.

The L.A. Times photo gallery is here.

The Trojans provided a happy send-off for our USC daughter, who leaves tomorrow to spend her spring semester studying history and geology in England.

Previously: 2007 Rose Bowl Champions and 2008 Rose Bowl Champions.

A Happy New Year With Stephanie Edwards

Three years ago I wrote a post about Stephanie Edwards being bumped from the KTLA Rose Parade broadcast booth. Stephanie appeared to be the victim of ageism and sexism when her older longtime broadcast colleague Bob Eubanks was given a much younger new female cohost. To add insult to injury, Stephanie's demotion left her standing literally out in the rain, doing "color commentary" from the sidewalk.

Little did I know that that post -- and other Edwards posts which followed -- would bring this blog some of its heaviest traffic. Nothing makes the Sitemeter spin like Stephanie Edwards. :) This post contains some of the Edwards coverage which has appeared here over the past three years.

Today all is right with the world as KTLA asked Stephanie to return to the broadcast booth. It's the most entertaining Rose Parade broadcast in years, as Stephanie reels off one wisecrack after another. Stephanie's erstwhile booth replacement, Michaela Pereira, is broadcasting from the sidewalk today, and Stephanie noted that Michaela "is having more fun than I did three years ago," and then one of the women cracked "But we're over that now..."

It took a few years, but I'm glad KTLA did the right thing. When the day finally comes for this broadcast team to leave the Rose Parade booth -- hopefully many years from now -- Stephanie and Bob should retire as a team.

In related news, the Los Angeles Times has an interesting opinion column evaluating the impact of TV coverage on the actual parade. (I attended the parade once as a teenager...former President Gerald Ford was the Grand Marshal.)

USC meets Penn State at the Rose Bowl later today. Fight on!

Tonight's Movie: Zero Hour! (1957)

This evening we continued our recent tradition of watching a hokey disaster film on New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Eve 2006 we watched TWISTER (1996). In 2007 our New Year's Eve film was SKYJACKED (1972), which was delightfully entertaining.

Tonight's movie was even more fun: ZERO HOUR!, which has to rate as one of the best bad films of all time. Sterling Hayden also gives what must be one of the most unintentionally funny performances of all time.

Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) has never gotten over a bad war experience of a decade earlier, when his decision to go ahead with a mission led to several men in his flight squadron crashing in foggy weather. When Ted's wife Ellen (Linda Darnell) leaves him, Ted follows her onto her airplane flight despite the fact that flying makes him break out in a cold sweat.

The pilot and copilot make the fateful decision to have fish instead of meat for dinner and are incapacitated by food poisoning. As the doctor who just happens to be on board tells the stewardess: "Our survival hinges on one thing: finding someone who not only can fly the plane, but didn't have fish for dinner!"

As it turns out, there's only one man on board who has any hope of landing the plane: Ted, with Ellen serving as his co-pilot. And wouldn't you know, Captain Martin Treleaven (Sterling Hayden), the pilot on the ground who's going to talk Ted through flying a jet for the first time, is -- of course! -- one of the men who flew with Ted during the war. Ted and Martin are not exactly friendly but have to work together to safely land the plane.

Dana Andrews is an excellent actor, as always, and nothing much can injure his dignity; he plays it absolutely straight and is very believable. However, he's surrounded by classically hokey dialogue, situations which probably seemed contrived even to 1957 viewers who hadn't seen AIRPLANE!, and Hayden's deadpan, unbelievable line delivery, which in a couple spots had us laughing till we had tears in our eyes. ("Flying's just like riding a bicycle!") Linda Darnell does what she can with her part, but the moment near the end when they chose to have her look straight into the camera as she gazes admiringly at Dana Andrews was another unintentionally hokey moment.

ZERO HOUR! provided a reunion for Andrews and Darnell, who costarred in the 1945 noir classic FALLEN ANGEL, reviewed here.

As recounted at the website Something Old, Nothing New here and here, the spoof AIRPLANE! (1980) lifted entire sections of dialogue from ZERO HOUR! absolutely verbatim. (Unfortunately the video links that accompany these posts are no longer active.) AIRPLANE! also borrowed from THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY and AIRPORT, but AIRPLANE! basically remakes ZERO HOUR! ZERO HOUR! is so much fun I'm not sure how AIRPLANE! could improve on it, but I'll have to watch that one in the future.

Along for the plane ride are Peggy King as the brave stewardess and Jerry Paris as her boyfriend. Geoffrey Toone plays the calm doctor.

ZERO HOUR! was directed by Hall Bartlett, who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur Hailey (AIRPORT) and John C. Champion. The movie was shot in black and white and runs 81 minutes.

ZERO HOUR! is available on DVD in the Terrorized Travelers Cult Camp Classics boxed set, or as a single title DVD release. May 2017 Update: ZERO HOUR! has been reissued on DVD by the Warner Archive.

It'll be hard to top this one next New Year's Eve, as it was grand fun.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Update: Thanks to Carrie and my dad for mentioning that January 1st is the centennial of Dana Andrews' birthday.

Tonight's Movie: High Wall (1947)

Robert Taylor's first scene in HIGH WALL (1947) finds him driving at a breakneck pace with the eyes-wide-open corpse of a woman seated next to him. This creepy scene is not exactly a typical opening for an MGM movie -- or a Robert Taylor movie -- in the '40s. While MGM made some hard-hitting movies, particularly from the late '40s on, it was the most glamorous studio in Hollywood and not typically associated with such visually disturbing images.

That sequence sets into motion a riveting black and white film noir in which Taylor plays a brain-injured amnesiac who is arrested for murdering his wife (Dorothy Patrick). Taylor's character is locked up in a mental hospital, where his only options seem to be life in the insane ward or a murder trial and most likely the electric chair. After brain surgery to relieve pressure from an old injury, Taylor slowly regains his memory and begins to doubt that he really was the murderer. He tries to reconstruct what actually happened with the help of his doctor, played by Audrey Totter. The movie runs 99 minutes and holds the viewer's attention throughout.

The film has outstanding performances by Taylor as the tormented man and Totter as his doctor. They are both simply terrific and carry the film, appearing in most of the scenes. Taylor, who spent roughly a quarter century as MGM's longest-running star, has been written off too often in the past as just a "handsome face" and not received the appreciation he deserves as an actor. As I read various books and websites, I think that may gradually be changing as movie fans and historians take a fresh look at his career.

The few scenes Taylor and Totter aren't in feature Herbert Marshall, an excellent actor himself; his character may hold the key to what really happened to Taylor's wife. The fine supporting cast includes Morris Ankrum, John Ridgely, Moroni Olsen, Warner Anderson, Elisabeth Risdon, H.B. Warner, Jonathan Hale, and Irving Bacon. Familiar faces such as Ray Teal, Milton Kibbee, and Hank Worden can be spotted in bit parts.

An article in a recent edition of the NOIR CITY SENTINEL, published by the Film Noir Foundation, discussed overrated versus underrated film noir, and listed HIGH WALL among the underrated gems which should be seen. Author Eric Beetner approvingly notes Taylor's "subdued slow burn" and also writes that "HIGH WALL gets more and more noirish as it goes along. By the final third, the screen is as pitch-black as the story." The rainy, shadowy climax is as noirish as noir gets.

When I reviewed LADY IN THE LAKE (1947), which Audrey Totter appeared in the same year as HIGH WALL, I linked to an interesting interview she gave in which she discusses her career. It's worth linking to again here for those who might not have come across it in the past.

HIGH WALL was directed by Curtis Bernhardt, who made this film for MGM after making a number of highly regarded films at Warner Bros., including MY REPUTATION (1946), DEVOTION (1946), A STOLEN LIFE (1946), and POSSESSED (1947). Bernhardt seems to have brought a bit of the more hard-edged Warner Bros. style to the production -- particularly that first Taylor scene I mentioned at the top of this post.

HIGH WALL can be seen periodically on Turner Classic Movies.

I was able to see HIGH WALL thanks to the kindness of Carrie at Classic Ramblings. I have been blessed getting to know so many nice people, including Carrie, thanks to the Internet!

Robert Taylor movies previously reviewed here, listed in the order they were reviewed: WESTWARD THE WOMEN (1951), SADDLE THE WIND (1958), MANY RIVERS TO CROSS (1955), ROGUE COP (1954), PARTY GIRL (1958), FLIGHT COMMAND (1940), SMALL TOWN GIRL (1936), and ABOVE AND BEYOND (1952).

Taylor fans may also want to check out my review of his recent biography RELUCTANT WITNESS.

HIGH WALL provides an excellent evening's entertainment. Recommended.

December 2010 Update: This film is now available on DVD-R from the Warner Archive.

There is also word this month that the Film Noir Foundation will be collaborating with UCLA to preserve the film in a 35mm print, which currently does not exist for this movie.

April 2011 Update: I was very fortunate to see a gorgeous 35mm print of this film at the opening night of this year's Noir City Festival!