Bestseller gets a witty, slightly erotic treatment

SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (1964)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Sex and the Single Girl" is the kind of mid-1960's brightly-colored romantic comedy that depends on slapstick and innuendo to make it sing. It does sing...until the 3/4 hour mark and it falls apart. Still, I enjoyed it but it hastily retreats to Road Runner cartoon territory and it almost gets submerged.

Tony Curtis, the paramount romantic leading man with something always up his sleeve, is Bob Weston, a writer for the dirtiest, smuttiest magazine in the country called "STOP." He truly hates a new best-selling book called "Sex and the Single Girl" written by Dr. Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood), a 23-year-old psychologist involved in researching marital difficulties (Of course, this movie is based on the very same book by an actual writer named Dr. Helen Gurley Brown). She hates the negative attention she's gotten from Weston after an expose declaring her a virgin with no expertise. Weston gets the bright idea of pretending to be his neighbor, Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda), who runs a panty hose business and has marital problems with his wife (Lauren Bacall). When Weston meets with Dr. Brown and insist she help him with his faux marital issues, love slowly develops in the air.

"Sex and the Single Girl" could have used a snappier pace, especially with long-winded scenes between Fonda and Curtis playing golf that do not coalesce with the romantic sparks. When Curtis and Wood are on screen together (as they were the following year in "The Great Race"), they sparkle and are great fun to watch, especially the seduction scene that runs an eternity and yet it feels like just the right length. I also love the scene where Wood has a date with a flirtatious psychiatrist (Mel Ferrer) and their evening at her apartment is interrupted by Weston claiming he is about to kill himself by jumping off a pier! Scenes between Fonda and Bacall are tepid at best, evoking a squabbling old married couple that feels out of tune with the more animated Curtis and Wood.

Natalie Wood proves adept at comedy and at eroticism, the latter rather briefly (and she carried both more successfully in "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice"), especially when she is nervously trying to put on her glasses or the way she lovingly gazes at Curtis' eyes or her final scene that I found genuinely moving. Tony Curtis is the sharpest screen presence you can imagine, and he does it all with poise and grace. But then we get that last ridiculous climax that belongs to another movie, a car chase involving two taxicabs and an insane motorcycle cop who tries to arrest everyone that is more in tune with "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" than the confines of a witty, slightly erotic romantic comedy. 

Pilgrim's action is the fact that became legend

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Westerns that have pistol-packin' cowboys fighting Indians were hundred fold during the 1930's up until the 1950's. Westerns with noble heroic cowboys who sought to right any wrongs usually by gunfire were also ubiquitous. But when director John Ford made a western, he was way ahead of the curve of most - nihilism and/or good vs. evil were not his concerns, it was skewed morality and the dubious nature of righteousness. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" has the Duke himself, John Wayne, and he packs some heat for sure, and James Stewart as a law-abiding lawyer in the making with Lee Marvin as the deadly Liberty Valance, a gunfighter always looking for a fight. It looks like a traditional western but it is far more eloquent about the Old West - like an elegy about who your true heroes are and how they are written in the history books.

Stewart plays the main protagonist, Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard, a lawyer who becomes a Senator later in life and the film begins with Ransom visiting his old stomping grounds to pay his respects to Tom Doniphon (John Wayne, a far too underrated actor), a rancher who was adept with a gun and an attitude (he sees himself as the only one who could kill Liberty Valance). Right from the start, Ford's theme of legends is scrutinized when the local newspaper doesn't recall who Doniphon was or know much about him. As Stoddard (who is running for President) explains his story, we flash back to the days when Stoddard's carriage was robbed by Liberty Valance (Marvin) and his two cronies (one played by Lee Van Cleef). Stoddard is badly wounded and ferociously whipped and is nursed back to health by Hallie (Vera Miles, in one of her very best roles) who helps run a restaurant in the town of Shinbone. Stoddard works the kitchen by cleaning dishes and occasionally waits on customers (considered a woman's job) and opens his own law practice and teaches illiterates how to read (boy, does he have time to court Hallie too?) Naturally Tom is hesitant to react to anyone, including Liberty Valance, with anything but force - laws mean little to him. Tom has his sweet little ranch and hopes to marry Hallie. Ford slowly develops the tension between Tom and Stoddard - they respect each other but they are on opposites sides of the law. How much good can the law provide when you are dealing with a disruptive and dangerous maniac like Liberty Valance? The townspeople of Shinbone may admire Stoddard but even they know that guns are the only active solution - in a running gag, the local Marshal Link Appleyard (Andy Devine, often hysterically funny) runs away anytime Liberty appears. Yep, he's no help and he provides some welcome comic relief throughout the film.

"The Man Who Liberty Valance" eventually culminates in a scene that we all anticipate - the shooting of Liberty. Doddard decides that it is the sole solution yet he realizes later, thanks to Tom, that he was not the only one who shot the villainous gunfighter. The tension grows again between Stoddard and Tom, especially when Stoddard is appointed as a Congressional delegate in a town that is about to receive statehood. The question is can a law-abiding citizen who takes the law into his own hands stand up and practice the ethics of law where non-violence is suggested? That all changes in the last third of the film where conflicts about character and legends are put into question. Would Stoddard had half a chance in politics had he not killed Liberty Valance? Valid question when you consider he did not actually kill Liberty. Meanwhile, Tom loses Hallie, burns down his ranch and recedes from history. It is a heartbreaking coda for both men.

John Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is tough, bleak and unsentimental with no rosy touches, no barroom brawls, no duels at the town square, just simply a rough, unvarnished Western where heroes and villains are judged not by truth but by what is perceived as truth. Violence in this film is seen as a justifiable institution, whoever has the courage to enforce it. John Ford sees the Old West as what it was, and others would rather print the legend, not the reality.

Separation anxiety over these Universal Monsters

HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Universal Horror series had some first class entries in the Universal Monster canon. The Frankenstein series did well until about "Ghost of Frankenstein" (still fairly chilling thanks to Lugosi's Ygor). Then the series started incorporating other Monsters from their lot, bringing back the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) in the respectable "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" though the film was a sequel to two movies! The Wolf Man subplot was superior but the Lugosi Frankenstein Monster left too much to be desired in that film. Another sequel arrived in 1944 with the underwhelming though still fun "House of Frankenstein." Though it has a myriad of problems, it is still the world of foggy landscapes, a still functioning Frankenstein castle after 15 years since its supposed destruction (not to mention fresh linens in the castle dorms), flirtatious gypsy women, a burgomaster, and the return of the Wolf Man, the Monster, and a fresh batch of new faces including yet another mad scientist and a hunchback assistant (J. Carrol Naish, though he is no Ygor). And we also return to the land of Vasaria, which for some reason the road sign is spelled "Visaria."

Boris Karloff, in the film's most astute, clear-minded performance, is a mad scientist named Dr. Niemann who seeks revenge from his jail cell after being imprisoned for unholy scientific experiments. Wouldn't you know that a horrible electrical storm tears a hole through the prison's concrete floor and, just like that, he and the hunchback assistant flee in the rainstorm. They run into a Professor Lapinski (George Zucco, wish there was more of him) who travels through various carnivals to promote the skeletal body of Count Dracula (John Carradine) who has a stake through his vertebrae. Niemann and the hunchback kill Lapinski while the scientist assumes his name and removes the stake only to bring back Dracula, who must do Niemann's bidding or be staked through the heart. Since when does Dracula have to listen to anyone? Eventually we get a newly married couple who encounter Dracula and a carriage chase ensues, and then the couple disappear from the rest of the movie!

Niemann and his assistant go to Frankenstein's castle (I could have sworn it was completely destroyed in the last sequel), reanimate the Monster (this time played by Glenn Strange) and promises the resurrected Larry Talbot a cure, or something like that (Niemann may replace the hunchback's brain with Larry's or vice versa). Calamity ensues, especially when earlier in the film Niemann allowed a fun-loving gypsy girl Ilonka (Elena Verdugo) to come along - she first falls for the hunchback and then falls for Larry Talbot who drives the carriage to Frankenstein's castle! She develops an affection for Larry, culminating in a twist involving silver bullets that most will not see coming.

"House of Frankenstein" either could've been a swell Dracula movie involving Niemann and the hunchback or a Wolf Man movie involving Ilonka and Niemann and company. When both are meshed, it becomes a clumsily patched mess. The film was heralded at the time as "All the Screen's Titans of Terror - Together in the Greatest of All SCREEN SENSATIONS!" Only the advertising is incorrect - Dracula doesn't share any scenes with Wolf Man or Frankenstein's Monster. Even the Wolf Man barely has a moment with the Monster. The film is a cheat, hurriedly paced yet it still holds a certain bizarre fascination with me, possibly out of nostalgia. Karloff the Uncanny steals the show.  

They Speak too much to be Happy

LA POINTE COURTE (1955)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Many film scholars and critics might point to Godard's "Breathless" as the birth of French New Wave filmmaking yet it is actually Agnes Varda's electrifying debut film, "La Pointe Courte," that is the true sire of a new kind of cinematic language where connections need not be made obvious, and sometimes a disparity can exist between images of one location versus the other (though it does not adopt the raw jump cuts and odd assemblage of scenes and angles as Godard's film does). Shot in black-and-white documentary-like fashion, it is a stunning film of raw nerve and honest, heartbreaking beauty.

"La Pointe Courte" is not about plot but about a way of life, the disparity here is between a Parisian married couple trying to reconnect and communicate and find their voice in a fishing village. In the village itself (which is where the husband grew up), communication extends to parents feeding children and maintaining old fashioned views on marriage; fishermen being harassed by local police on forbidden areas to trap shellfish, and the problematic issue of too many cats. Clothes are frequently seen hanging on clotheslines, fluttering in the wind. We see a lot of chopped wood, unkempt shacks and a casual disregard for cleanliness (a nearby lagoon for fishing is contaminated) - these people are poor and just getting by but they remain earthbound in their attitudes and sensibilities particularly about their offspring and whom they should date and marry.

The Parisian couple (played by Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret) have a casual disregard for the past, they march along the village and wait for a train car to pass (without wondering for a second what the hell a slow train car is doing in the area), they ask for a canoe to take them to a hotel when they could have used the connecting bridge, and they cut through a village celebration and dance at the end ready for their own lives in the city. They are concerned with a future where marriage is less about excitement and more about living through it with some measured wisdom. It is implied that the villagers may have similar ideals but they do not dwell on it.

"La Pointe Courte" ultimately serves as a visual poem, enlightening us on how the past intrudes on the future. The descendants probably have a firmer grasp of reality than the couple (interestingly, the villagers are never really show in close-up but the couple is shown in intense close-ups where one face obscures the other in awkwardly distinct directions). Varda's film is about grit versus romanticism, especially in filmmaking. It will not be to everyone's taste but it will linger long after it is over. A first-class miracle of a movie.

Larry Talbot is still pure of heart

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

As a true sequel to 1941's "The Wolf Man," "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" is right on the money due to the presence of sad sack Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, man by day, raging werewolf at night. As a sequel to the frequently chilling "The Ghost of Frankenstein," it doesn't work. This is one of those rare instances (perhaps the first) where you have a sequel to two different movies and yet they do not coalesce as evenly as they should.

In the eerie foggy banks of the opening scene, a couple of thieves break into the Talbot crypt, helping themselves to Larry Talbot's priceless rings. Before you can say, fellas there is a full moon out there, Talbot turns into the Wolf Man, killing one thief while the other runs away. Then Talbot ends up in a hospital with a head wound, declaring himself to be Larry Talbot though he died four years earlier. The authorities are nonplussed, especially at some raging animal that kills the local constable. Nevertheless, Larry is off to find the soothsaying gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) - for those keeping a record of the events of "The Wolf Man," Maleva's son who on occasion became a werewolf bit Talbot. Maleva is not reluctant to help Larry and suggests that Dr. Frankenstein might be able to help him with his lycanthropy and ease his suffering through, I imagine, a Dr. Kevorkian method. This method of draining the life from Talbot will also be administered to the Frankenstein Monster (Bela Lugosi) who is brought back to life by Talbot  - in one rather contrived scene, he tears away at the Monster's confined ice tomb!

The best parts of "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" involve Lon Chaney, Jr. who is in a huge chunk of this movie, still showing the sincere, troubled, desperate Larry Talbot - you can't help but hope his predicament will be resolved. He is so tremendous in the movie that the plot didn't need the reanimated Frankenstein Monster (clunkily played by Lugosi). The subplot dealing with the welcome return of Maleva, the introduction of Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Illona Massey, whom fans of Universal Monster flicks will remember from "Invisible Agent") whom Talbot takes a liking too are refreshing elements that make this sequel a slight cut above the subsequent entries in this series. Despite Lugosi's largely unremarkable Monster and a rather sloppy, hasty finale (oh, what happened to Maleva in that castle?), Lon Chaney Jr. makes us care and he is the heart and soul of this uneven Monster movie.

Intriguing Newspaper Noir

CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When James Stewart first appears in "Call Northside 777," he is working at a Chicago newspaper office typing away at a desk in the background, from the perspective of his editor boss's desk. The editor calls out "BOY!" to a relatively short young man who is sent to procure details on a convicted felon. Stewart is then called to the office and he is so tall and lanky that he has to shrink himself a little just to be in frame. There is some sense of towering over any story with a certain healthy skepticism from Stewart and, right away, I was immersed in Henry Hathaway's completely absorbing newspaper noir film.

A newspaper ad with a $5000 request for information on a convict serving 99 years for killing a police officer piques the interest of Chicago Times editor Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb, quite restrained). He asks one of his top reporters, McNeal (James Stewart), to verify it. This leads to an older woman scrubbing floors who had worked 11 years to come up with the money because she believes her son (Richard Conte) is innocent of the crime. McNeal is skeptical at first yet he is pushed further by Kelly to interview the suspect, get a lie detector test, interview the ex-wife, and so on. What transpires is not exactly hard-boiled detective (or reporter as detective) non-fiction nor will it invite much comparison to tougher noir pictures from the same period. What is fascinating is that "Call Northside 777" remains thoroughly involving as we are carried along with McNeal's own thorough investigation and we learn the details as he does (a rival newspaper photo has a clue that leads to a race-against-time climax). It will not come as any surprise that Conte's character and an alleged accomplice are innocent but it is the process that is intriguing.

Between the backroom intrigue of rival newspapers, legal ethics and selling newspapers with stories where someone's life is at stake, there is McNeal's crisis of conscience - can he really make a difference and do the right thing beyond printing salacious stories for a buck? Of course, with James Stewart aboard in an effortless performance, you know how this will turn out. "Call Northside 777" is an extremely entertaining, suspenseful and juicy film with close-to-the-bone documentary realism and occasional narration that actually works in its favor. Based on a true story, the film is so involving, so precise in its filmmaking and its performances that you will want to rewatch it immediately. I did.

Finding strength in what remains behind

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Up until the release of 1961's "Splendor in the Grass," the sprightly Natalie Wood had already played the naive ingenue in films like "The Girl He Left Behind, "A Cry in the Night," "Cash McCall" and "Marjorie Morningstar." The differences, aside from her spectacular turn in "Marjorie," is that Natalie delves into deeper territory here, exposing wounds that almost lead to tragic consequences. Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass" is a grown-up movie about young people who are unable to conform to parents' expectations. 

As the story begins in Kentucky 1928, Wilma Dean "Deanie" Loomis (Natalie Wood) is deeply in love with football player Bud (Warren Beatty), but nothing is what it seems. There is no question loves exists between the two teens but is it just puppy love where sex is nonexistent? The answer is yes because Deanie will not have sex with Bud, despite his ongoing frustration. Deanie's mother is insistent that the couple do not consummate their love - the mother consummated with her husband only to produce a child, having sex recreationally was never a choice or a conjured thought. Deanie doesn't comprehend such a love bereft of passion.

Meanwhile, Bud wants to fulfill his own dreams and not necessarily what his wealthy father (colorfully and explosively played by Pat Hingle) expects. Bud's father wants him to attend Yale and then he can return to run the family business and marry Deanie (of course, if Deanie gets pregnant, Bud is expected to marry her regardless).

"Splendor in the Grass" has no real sentimental inclinations and probably bespeaks the 50's nuclear family unit more so than 1920's Kentucky values. Of course maybe writer William Inge is saying that nothing has changed, family unit is important and so is attaining wealth and conformity is essential. Since the period is the 1920's, the stock market crash is impending and tragedy befalls one family over the other. As we shift from the societal expectations of family unity, we see how Deanie reacts to Bud's brief affair with one of her classmates and how she cannot process the emotion of losing someone she loves. The naive ingenue has turned into an exposed live wire of emotion, and the film implies that such wrecked emotion (which almost leads to a suicidal drowning) can only be solved in a mental institution.

Natalie Wood has several electrifyingly emotional scenes, particularly when she breaks down while quoting Wordsworth in a classroom or the scene where she has a crying fit of rage in a bathtub. The scene in the bathtub with a naked Deanie screaming at her mother in agony at the prospect of her calling Bud is so powerful, so intensely saturated with emotion that you will spring from your chair and want to hug Natalie and tell her everything will be okay. It probably helps that director Elia Kazan was on board yet Natalie Wood's strength is in finding the vulnerabilities of her characters and nakedly exposing them - she is the movie, no question.

Warren Beatty has always been a strangely remote actor to me but as the indifferent Bud (who doesn't express a speck of emotion over the passing of his father), he singularly captures the kind of young man who sees a future that he cannot attain. His remoteness here works wonders and you feel more pity for him than sympathy. He is a lost soul but it is Deanie who finds the meaning of Wordsworth's poem and has learned that happiness is not always attainable.

"Splendor in the Grass" is elegantly made with a finesse and sophistication that can only come from Kazan with his upfront approach to the material. From scenes of heartbreak over Bud's flirtatious and drunk sister parading herself around others at a party, to the last chilling smile from Pat Hingle as Bud's father, to Bud seeing the possible mistakes he has made in the final scene, to Natalie Wood showing us an emotionally unstable young woman who is not so much emotionally disturbed as she is in adapting and controlling her emotions, "Splendor in the Grass" captures the soul of young love and its consequences. Deanie has control of the past by letting it go and is ready to move on, the other characters have more difficult adjustments to make. Pure Wordsworth poetry, and one of the purest Natalie Wood performances.

Jimson Weed and coffee don't mix

THE BURNING HILLS (1956)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A western starring a largely stoic Tab Hunter as a stalwart cowboy hero and Natalie Wood as a strong-willed, half Mexican, half English woman is an unusual combination. Of course, if you expect the usual prerequisites of the average western from the 50's or earlier, you've got them in 1956's "The Burning Hills." There are elongated fistfights, myriad shootouts, an adept half-Native American tracker who can spot hoof prints and their formation like nobody's business ("and a jackrabbit in a hundred miles of brush"), and more and more of the same.

Natalie Wood's role has pizzazz and a lot of heart as Maria Colton, who does all the work around the farmhouse while her younger brother is a tad cowardly and her drunk uncle lays around all day sleeping (Stereotypes alert, for those keeping track). It must be that jimson weed that makes one lazy, which we learn from this film is not a good combination with coffee because it might keep you awake? It is supposed to be a hallucinogen and poisonous but I was confused by the effect it ends up having. Yeah, they try that on some anonymous villainous ranch hands (Claude Akins being the most memorable) and the effects are less than stellar. Back to Maria's character, she initially thinks that our hero (Tab Hunter replacing John Wayne) is a bad white man after she finds him unconscious. Slowly they develop an affection for each other and she shelters him until the villains come into play. Hunter is Trace Jordan, who seeks revenge for his brother's death at the hands of some ranch hands hired by a Mr. Sutton (Skip Homeier, a hell of a good performance from a character that, well, disappears a little too soon). He wants to own the entire valley and kill all settlers who want a piece of it. Of course, this is a common subplot in any western.

For a while, "The Burning Hills" (based loosely on a Louis L'Amour novel) sets its spurs in action and Hunter, more handsome than anything else, dominates the screen - you can't help but look at him. Ditto Natalie Wood as the no-holds-barred Maria who fires a pistol in the air at fairly close range nearly shooting the villains in the face! Of course, by the end of the flick, Hunter takes center stage in a fistfight over rocky waters that goes on for an eternity and she sits in her horse concerned. What happened to the fearless Maria we see in the beginning? One noteworthy moment is after she fires the pistol, the ranch hands get close to her as if they are ready to attack her. They don't but it is a nice touch of tension and a hint of the violence to come.

It is a watchable enough flick with one too many lulls (miscegenation is only hinted at yet never really discussed) yet for Natalie Wood and Tab Hunter film fans, it is worth a view (they both fared better in "The Girl He Left Behind" released shortly after "The Burning Hills"). 

Southern Gothic Played to the tune of 1000 Trumpets

ALL THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS (1960)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A Southern Gothic drama that allegedly (using that word very loosely) mirrors the life of Chet Baker, except the guy in this movie is called Chad Bixby, a jazz trumpeter. "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (a title better suited as a sequel to "Rebel Without a Cause") is trashy, overcooked, non-caloric melodrama and only mildly diverting. It is 112 minutes too long with characters who barely elicit more than a singular dimension. It needed the hand of a director like Elia Kazan who did a marvelous Southern, decadent soaper called "Baby Doll" a few years earlier.

Robert Wagner, wholly miscast, is Chad, the guy who can't hold a job and is forbidden from dating Salome (Natalie Wood), a teenager who has to care for her siblings. Chad's father, a minister of a Texan town, had just passed on but Chad himself doesn't seem to have any goals in life and no money. Therefore, Salome splits (and she is pregnant with Chad's baby) and goes East where she meets a wealthy Yale college student, Tony (a stunning, suave George Hamilton) - eventually, they get married and live out in New York. Wouldn't you know that Chad becomes a famous, rich trumpeter thanks to the guiding hand of a forlorn blues singer (Pearl Bailey) and begins performing in NYC clubs!

Everything in this silly, melodramatic soaper has exclamation marks all over it and it has about as much subtlety as stabbing a fork in your eye. Wagner is not believable as a Southerner or as a sad sack of a trumpet player (never mind that Chet Baker was a heroin user, not just someone who imbibed alcohol). Natalie Wood is not allowed to muster much more than tears - watch her role as a far more independent woman (who elicits more than tears) two years earlier in "Marjorie Morningstar," an underrated romantic drama. There is also Tony's wild, racist, suicidal sister (enthusiastically played by Susan Kohner) who moves in with Tony and Salome, and eventually marries Chad. It is George Hamilton who walks away with this movie with ease, playing a romantic player who is ready to settle down. You know you are in trouble in a movie like this when you can't decide which romantic partners should be together with whom.

Footnote: Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood gave superior performances in a TV remake of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" back in 1976. Oh, and for some odd reason, the title of this film became the name of that 80's British pop band. 

Peeping Tom at Lover's Loop

A CRY IN THE NIGHT (1956)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

If it wasn't for the peculiar casting of this lightweight B-movie, it might have been forgotten and placed in the annals of junk food cinema. But when watching the flat, monotonous "A Cry in the Night," it is of interest because of stars like Raymond Burr, Edmond O'Brien and Natalie Wood who pepper the screen with grains of fascination.

Raymond Burr (in one of the most uncharacteristic roles of his career) plays Harold, a momma's boy, a childlike 32 year-old man who hangs out at Lover's Loop watching couples making out in cars. Every night after work, he becomes a peeping tom while holding his lunch box. The objective is not clear other than the fact that he suffers from arrested development and has never kissed a girl. When he catches Elizabeth (Natalie Wood)  necking with Owen (Richard Anderson), Harold decides to kidnap her after giving Owen a concussion. Only dilemma is that Elizabeth is the daughter of a police captain (Edmond O'Brien), unbeknownst to the kidnapper. Harold takes her to an abandoned brick yard, though what he plans to do with her involves nothing more than friendship. Harold needs a friend, badly! In his life, his only friend is his mother whom he brings a slice of apricot pie to every day.

"A Cry in the Night" isn't even dirty pulpy fun - it is too flatly staged and boring to rate as a middle-of-the-road thriller. Natalie Wood is completely wasted and unmemorable as Elizabeth, which is shocking considering how she often burns up the screen with her presence. Edmond O'Brien is one-note as the hollering captain though he has two solid moments - one where he confronts his older daughter who feels he is too intrusive in her love life, and the spine-tingling moment he discovers Harold's true tragic nature.

Raymond Burr steals the show, showcasing a man with a boyish and unhealthy attachment to his mother. His scenes get to us emotionally in the same way Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates did a few years later in "Psycho." The rest of the movie is disposable.

Natalie Wood proving 4-H is a good thing

THE GREEN PROMISE (1949)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 As with most of the films in her career, Natalie Wood stands out. In "The Green Promise," she is the youngest, wide-eyed daughter who wants to have lambs on the farm. She is so eager, so enthused, so full of joy over the prospect that you just want to give her the precious lambs because you know they are in good hands. "The Green Promise" is a charming, inoffensive if slightly undernourished tale yet it is Natalie who lends the film its humanity.

Walter Brennan is Matthews, the stubborn widowed patriarch of the family who doesn't know when he has a good thing going. The family has just sold off their last farm and now he's got a new one to tend to. Matthews has a son and three daughters, the eldest of the bunch being Deborah (Marguerite Chapman) who has to maintain the house. Matthews wants to run the farm his way, desiring no help from a perfectly pleasant agricultural county agent, David Barkley (Robert Paige). Of course, David has got his eye on Deborah. Meanwhile, the youngest of Matthews's daughters, Susan Anastasia Matthews (Natalie Wood), has her eye on getting two lambs (something which her father rejects). After her father gets sick leaving Deborah to run the farm herself, the resourceful Susan secures a bank loan and buys the lambs!

"The Green Promise" is not only perceptive of the rigors of holding on to a farm, there is also a sequence during a thunderstorm with Susan trying to cross a bridge to save her lambs (reportedly, sweet little Natalie broke her wrist in this sequence) while the mud slides into the homestead - that is the one suspenseful scene that works well enough to inspire sympathy for Susan's cause. The rest of the movie functions as a promo for the 4-H agricultural program, its sole purpose of educating young men and women in how to raise animals in a farm and other such agricultural practices (the film was executive-produced by wealthy Texas oilman Glenn McCarthy who wanted a "family picture" because there were so few of them). When we are not learning about 4-H clubs, we have a few scenes of Matthews' having a family meeting to vote on certain matters, with the children usually agreeing with their stubborn father so as to not upset him.

As I said, "The Green Promise" is a perfectly adequate family picture though there are not enough insights into Matthews' behavior or Deborah's frustrations with her father and her sweet relationship with David Barkley. After the film is over and ends on a tidy note, it is really sprightly Natalie Wood whom we remember best. Her ambitious character, Susan, wants to rise above it all and make a difference, all in the name of 4-H. We cheer for her, and jeer her father who should know better. 

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Beatles World

HELP! (1965)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

In one word, "Help!" is chaos. It is cartoonish, highly amped up, sheer manic chaos with great Beatles tunes. It is an affront to cohesive narrative, comprehensive plot or any tangible story - it is more tomfoolery coupled with an anarchic spirit than their previous film, "A Hard Day's Night." In many ways, it may be more authentic to the Beatles, at that time, than the classic "A Hard Day's Night." 

The story, oh scratch that, the idea of this movie is there is a sacrificial ring belonging to some religious Hindu cult (my guess is that it is based on the Thuggees) yet the woman that is about to be sacrificed to the goddess Kali is missing the ring. Somehow this giant red ring is on the finger of Ringo Starr's hand! The Beatles, living in a London row home, try to remove the ring with the help of specialists but somehow it is impenetrable. The last thing anyone wants is for Ringo to be sacrificed because, you know, whoever wears the ring bears the mark of a sacrificial victim.

That is the basic plot thread, the MacGuffin of the film. Beyond that the movie is full of hilarious sight gags including how many doors lead to the Beatles's residence. Even their residence is funny in terms of visual art decoration - most of the Beatles sleep on beds yet John Lennon sleeps in a bed that has been carved out of the floor! Tomfoolery abounds in this movie, from pratfalls involving skis; a pub that has a trap door leading to a basement with a tiger present; the cult's High Priest Clang (Leo McKern, in possibly the most memorable scene-chewing performance) various attempts, along with his cohorts, to get the ring including his head poking out of manholes; Eleanor Bron as the attractive Ahme wearing a diverse array of colorful outfits who sometimes warns Ringo of impending danger (her first name was the inspiration for the band's "Eleanor Rigby" song); a Tom Thumb-sized Paul McCartney in an ashtray, and some destruction of paintings using corkscrews at Buckingham Palace. Oh, did I forgot to mention the use of the James Bond theme and the inclusion of some loopy scientists? 

Either you can get into the right frame of mind with "Help!" or not. When I was a tot, the sight of Ringo relentlessly showered in red paint and the slapstick ski chase shenanigans almost made me sick (I am guessing the color red did it). Now, they are just plain goofy gags made by a team of filmmakers (led by director Richard Lester who helmed the previous Beatles movie) who were stoned and threw everything into the mix without much thought or reason. You don't have to understand it (just like the Monkees' "Head"), just sit and enjoy this most enjoyable "Ticket to Ride" rollercoaster. 

That's what makes it rough - when they love you.

LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1963)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Fluctuating between realism and occasional comical innuendos, Robert Mulligan's "Love With the Proper Stranger" is a slightly off-balance though compelling, forceful romantic drama with comedic and penetratingly dark overtones. It only seems like it ends with a sunny disposition but don't be completely fooled.

Effervescent Natalie Wood plays a Macy's salesgirl named Angie Rossini, who discovers she's been impregnated by a jazz, banjo-playing musician, Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen, a little miscast playing an Italian-American). Angie confronts him at a union hall though it takes him a moment to recognize her. She wants to have an abortion, in those days a back alley abortion, and Rocky tries to financially help her with the decision despite just barely remembering their coital rendezvous. Rocky lives with a stripper named Barbie (Edie Adams) and gets thrown out when he asks her about a special kind of doctor for a "lady friend." The actual scene of a run-down building where Rocky and Angie are supposed to meet with the supposed doctor sticks out because when she can't go through with it and throws a crying fit, you feel her agony and shame in your bones. Rocky feels sorry for her, takes her to Barbie's apartment (oh, the nerve) and begins to develop feelings for sweet, angelic Angie.

Natalie Wood (Oscar-nominated for this film) does an excellent job of portraying a naive, clumsy, winsome young woman who is trying to find her place in the frantic city of New York. Her Italian-American family, which includes her watchful brothers (Herschel Bernardi and Harvey Lembeck) and her traditionalist mother, want Angie to settle down with a perfectly agreeable restaurant owner (a perfect Tom Bosley in his film debut) who is unsure of how to woo a woman. Angie recognizes his niceties but is more deeply attracted to Rocky and eggs him on, testing the waters to see if he is in love or just wants to settle down with her out of responsibility. Steve McQueen doesn't exactly convince me he is Italian, let alone a New Yorker, yet his charisma sells it and he has ample opportunity to show a character who is a bit of a goof, equally as naive as Angie, yet determined to make the relationship work.

Though the tone veers a little from highly dramatic to downright comical at times (the dinner sequence with Bosley preparing a meal and the climactic dinner date with Rocky towards the end), nothing in "Love With the Proper Stranger" feels too out of whack. There are scenes of Angie and Rocky not saying a word to each other, yet their body language says it all. Wood and McQueen don't seem like a real fit and lack chemistry yet purposely so, I think, to show how love can grow without realizing it. That is the special charm at the heart of "Love With the Proper Stranger." The movie is mostly about Angie finding her place in the midst of a chaotic life where all the male characters know what is best for her, never contemplating for a moment that she knows what is good for her. Angie moves out of her brothers' apartment and gets her own place, decorated with her own special touch (she also has a mini-bar though she forgets that scotch and tonic don't go together). Rocky wants to be with her and is attracted to her yet he can't help himself by trying to control her, paying compliments that are awkwardly delivered. It is Angie and Rocky's eventual, though at first unacknowledged, need for each other that marks "Love with the Proper Stranger" as an affecting, bristling romantic drama. There are fireworks at the end for this unusual couple though I am sensing more chaos will follow. You know, real life.

Cal in a fetal position

EAST OF EDEN (1955)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Of all the 50's Method actors who emerged from the Actors Studio, well, it is difficult to separate Marlon Brando from the lot, he practically burned the screen and left it in flames in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Having said that, the eternal rebel James Dean (who had a brief stay at the Actor's Studio) burned the silver screen with his phosphorescent presence yet he did it with more intimacy, more of an emerging brooding sense of despair and isolation. Dean had always exuded an uncertainty, a slight inability to connect to others though did he ever try. As the gloomy Cal Trask in "East of Eden," James Dean is the show, the centerpiece of the action, the one we gravitate to.

Early on in "East of Eden," Cal discovers that his mother is living right outside of the town of Salinas, California running a brothel (his father had told the family that she died). Cal is dismayed by his Bible-thumping father, Adam (Raymond Massey), and by his lies. Deep down within his soul, Cal knows he can succeed and prove he has mobility, without the aid of religious overtures. He amasses a lot of money from growing beans during the days of World War I yet Cal's father wants nothing to do with it despite gaining from the loss of his own lettuce operation. Only Cal's brother, Aron (Richard Davalos), is the one son that Adam admires though why is never clear. Cal sees himself as the bad son, and Aron is simply good. Aron will enlist in the Army and possibly marry Abra (Julie Harris) but where does that leave Cal? All Cal can do is react through violence, whether he hits his own brother (in one truly powerful scene after a Ferris Wheel kiss with Abra) or throw ice while dismantling a ramp at the ice house. Cal has tremendous guilt over his actions and tries to drink away his sorrows, and Abra is around the corner to soothe him despite understandable objections from Aron.

If "East of Eden" falters, it is in the sibling relationship between Cal and Aron and their unmistakable rivalry over winning a woman and their own father's approval. Richard Davalos convinces during his hauntingly drunken laugh while leaving for the Army but, otherwise, I could not get a handle on his character - somehow he comes across as a straight-arrow pretty boy who slowly becomes aloof (this may be the intention but a stronger actor might have worked to build the tension). Better handled is Cal's relationship with his father, Adam, whether it is Cal crying like a wounded animal that the father won't accept the profits from beans or the final scene where a sickly Adam finally admits his love for his "bad" son. That final scene is heartbreaking and comforting - Cal might just finally be able to move on to the next stage of maturity and responsibility.

Also stunning is Julie Harris as the demure, sympathetic woman Abra who is caught in the crossfire between these three men. She sparkles in her scenes with James Dean, and is especially romantic in the Ferris Wheel where she wants to commit to him despite knowing she is devoted to Aron. Also of major significance is Jo Van Fleet in the critical role of Cal and Aron's mother who keeps her emotions in check - there is not a sentimental bone in her performance as Kate/Cathy, a character who can be equal parts frustrating in her strict demeanor and her vulnerable side triggered by Cal. She can be difficult to like yet it is a towering performance that deservedly got her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

"East of Eden" is not a great film, not even by the standards of director Elia Kazan, but it is often riveting and richly layered in certain sections. The use of Cinemascope to show the beautiful, almost majestic look of the small town, the expansive farmlands, and the rocky formations with the crashing waves all seem so much more grand and inviting than the characters themselves (which is precisely the idea). It is finally James Dean who evokes more than what is called for in John Steinbeck's novel (this adaptation chops off a lot from the book). Nothing evokes Cal's torment better than him crying on top of a train car, covering up his emotions and nestled in a fetal position. The critics said that Dean was just imitating Brando. The tremendous pull of that scene, and many more, says otherwise.

Stiff bodies everywhere

DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME (1947)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

What could've been easily a disposable Dick Tracy detective film is actually improved upon by the appearance of the titan actor who could make you shiver in your nightmares forever, Boris Karloff. Karloff is the amoral convict Gruesome who paired with dastardly villains and a potentially deadly chemical gas is ready to wreck havoc.

The plot concerns mostly Gruesome as he obtains a secret gaseous formula that can stiffen people when in contact. This is perfect for Gruesome and his equally amoral pal, Melody (Tony Barrett), as they use it in a bank robbery in a hilarious sequence where everybody freezes including a cat! It is of course up to Dick Tracy and company to save the city from further robberies and murders.

Karloff is the star of this RKO serial and he embodies the character with enough sinister qualities (and monstrous makeup under the right noirish lighting) to give you the heebie jeebies. A formidable villain for Dick yet Ralph Byrd (who played the square jawed detective, this film being his last appearance) doesn't come off as a rousing hero - just some meek-looking, fast-talking detective who remains loyal to Tess Trueheart (Anne Gwynne). I have not seen the other Byrd-cast Dick Tracy films but I am not sure he approaches the bulkier look of the Chester Gould comic strip hero.

There is a lot to enjoy in "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" with much humor and action and it is worth catching it especially if you love Boris Karloff (not to mention a nasty, skeletal-looking fiend named X-Ray played by Skelton Knaggs who could give Peter Lorre a run for his money). They just needed a hero to match wits with Karloff. 

Music boxes & bank plates figure in Holmes' Mystery

DRESSED TO KILL (1946)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

An intriguing opening sequence from "Dressed to Kill" has two Dartmoor prisoners manufacturing musical boxes that will be sold to a London auction. These musical boxes are not exactly priceless yet their musical content contains secret codes elusive to those who purchase the boxes. Thus begins an exciting and thrilling final chapter in the Universal-helmed Sherlock Holmes series with Basil Rathbone as the iconic sleuth who deduces clues faster than Scotland Yard and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) who never catches on fast enough.

There is much to enjoy in "Dressed to Kill." The convict in the opening scene has hidden Bank of England's £5 printing plates somewhere and all three cheap musical boxes have the clues (Hint: the nuanced musical themes in each box). When Dr. Watson's charming friend Stinky (Edmond Breon), a music box collector, is killed after having one of those boxes stolen (worth only two pounds), Sherlock finds himself embroiled in a nifty plot involving a femme fatale (Patricia Morison) who devises a clever disguise as an old Cockney-accented woman to elude Holmes - she is involved in Stinky's murder. Though Sherlock can't quite figure out the details immediately, eventually he does and faces obstacles such as a deadly poison gas that the Germans love to use on undesirables (a little WW2 hint of Holocaust atrocity). More deductive reasoning emits from a visit to a pub for actors,  and a museum of a certain famous doctor that at first seems like a contrivance yet, on second viewing with attention paid to details, is decidedly not. That's the cleverness of Sherlock Holmes and his trusted partner, Dr. Watson, who helps Holmes when least expected with famous quotes and reminiscences of piano-playing that involved his frustrated teacher numbering the piano keys. Watson may not catch on in the detective department but he is useful.

A solid mystery that is oodles of fun especially for those who love Sherlock Holmes. I can only sum up "Dressed to Kill" with Holmes' own words: "Brilliant antagonist. A pity her talents were so misdirected." I think that says it all.