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.

Sherwood Forest's Number One Archer

THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938)

An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia

There have been many Robin Hoods but there is only one that epitomizes courage, heroism, killer instinct, sarcasm, wit, cleverness, not to mention the joy of living in Sherwood Forest despite hardships from royalty, you know, high taxes. Errol Flynn as Robin of Locksley in the greatest adventure film of all time, the grandly humorous, richly designed, richly directed and richly acted "The Adventures of Robin Hood." The film is so sumptuous in every respect with rich Technicolor colors that bounce off the screen that it is more than an artifact of its time, the film is a blazing, ecstatically performed entertainment that hooks you from first frame to last. The fact that no Robin Hood has come close to this 1938 screen classic should you tell a lot.

The story is so well-known and has been reorganized in so many different ways with certain villainous characters getting more exposure than others yet none have come close the high quality villainy as displayed here. Basil Rathbone is the radicalized Sir Guy of Gisbourne who hates Robin Hood and his Merry Men and, naturally, poachers - a banned activity in Sherwood that could get you hanged. Guy loves the vivacious though initially reserved Maid Marian (Olivia De Havilland, never lovelier or more charismatic on screen) who is unaware of Gisbourne's plans that go hand in hand with the devilishly devious Prince John (Claude Rains), a villain you love to hate. Prince John has plans to take over the throne from his brother, the exiled King Richard the Lionhearted (Ian Hunter) who went off to fight in the Crusades and has been captured, and thus has assumed full control of England permitting him to raise taxes on the poor Saxons (that would include Robin Hood and his many Merry Men). The taxes will not be used as ransom money to release King Richard but rather, as Robin bluntly puts it, "To buy your way to the throne."

Right from the start, we see the dashing Errol Flynn's Robin in green tights and feather cap armed with bow and arrow. He is the deadliest archer in England, so deadly he can split an arrow in two! He is accompanied by his friend, Will Scarlett (Patrick Knowles), outfitted in red tights and red cap, though what exactly Will was prior to being Robin's sidekick is unknown. Eventually, after escaping from Prince John and his cohorts, Robin and Will take refuge at Sherwood. We are eventually introduced to a cheerful Little John (Alan Hale, who reprised his role in "The Rogues of Sherwood Forest"); an angry Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette) who can be made jovial by appealing to his stomach, Much the Miller's Son (Herbert Mundin) who has a thing for Maid Marian's lady-in-waiting (Una O'Connor), and various other Merry Men who eventually all wear green tights and feather caps as well! Outspoken to a tee, Robin leads his Merry Men to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Yes, you have heard all this before yet hardly as invigoratingly as in this film.

Between the exciting, realistically conveyed sword fights, the slinging of arrows, the archery tournament, sharp silhouettes when you least expect them (courtesy of one of the film's directors, Michael Curtiz), the really sharp greens of Sherwood Forest (it is so perfect that you want to live there), the highly invigorating and memorable music score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and lots of delectable humor (Robin does a knocking routine on a guard's helmet just so he can pass), there is nothing in "Adventures of Robin Hood" that does not stimulate the senses. Errol Flynn carries the film with his intoxicating enthusiasm, his relentless and fearless need for adventure yet even when he is not on screen, you are captivated by the rest of the very spirited cast. The film is simply the most romantic, dazzling and purest swashbuckling Robin Hood film ever made, and the greatest, most rousing adventure movie of all time.

Critico de Cine: Film Critic Slaps Hand on Forehead

MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE (1966)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

So the Master's' incompetent minion named Torgo (John Markward Reynolds Jr.) has a confrontation with the Master. The Master (Tom Neyman) is some sort of supernatural figure who holds pagan rituals, or maybe just holds a coven of scantily-clad women in white, see-through nightgowns who love to wrestle and slap each other ad nauseam. Torgo's thankless job is to lure passerby in the middle of the desert to a ramshackle rancher that doesn't seem (from the exterior) to contain a spacious room where rituals are held. Anyways, Torgo confronts the Villain With No Name and he wants a wife for himself. The Master knows of Torgo's suspicious activities centering on his wives when they are asleep standing up. Master says he will kill Torgo and basically all he does is stare at him with less than penetrating eyes. Torgo stares back and then slumps on the floor. What a wicked way to die only Torgo is later seen galavanting in the desert behind the Master and a couple of the wives while pursuing the married couple who have stayed at this remote little dwelling. I think the disheveled, hapless fool Torgo, who walks around as if he is trying to shake off the last remaining bits of fecal matter left in his butt, is massaged violently by the nine wives and then loses his hand. Ouch for sure, but not exactly a death.

"Manos: The Hands of Fate" is everything that a movie never is or should be. It is incompetently staged, no scratch that, it is not exactly staged or directed by Harold Warren (his only directorial effort) - the movie just sort of happens due to images recorded with no knowledge of what to do with them. Apparently a Bell and Howell 16mm camera was used that could only record 32 seconds of film footage! Oh, yes, I used such a camera back in the day but I had the advantage of recording almost 2 minutes. The film is beyond shoddy in its washed-out visuals and basic composition - nobody was directed in this movie. The characters look at the camera eye consistently though breaking the fourth wall is not intentional here. Since everything was postdubbed, the syncing of dialogue is occasionally off, though there are times that characters scream yet no screams are heard. A car's ignition is turned on yet the sound is a low hum - the kind of hum you hear when you turn on a 1930's radio. Transitions barely appear - the movie is not cut together, it is merely assembled. The couples' car drives around with no sound of tires heard on the soundtrack, or only when it was conveniently recorded during postproduction. The acting is beyond amateurish - there are actors on screen but little interest in emoting even at the most rudimentary level. John Markward Reynolds, Jr. is fairly decent as Torgo (it is the only actual performance in the movie) - apparently he was high throughout the eight days of production which maybe one needs to be when dealing with a mustachioed guy like the Master who could barely threaten Big Bird. Speaking of the Master, he wears a red-and-black robe with red hands on the front - easily the only imaginative aspect of this unimaginative production.

And yet, even after you know the movie stinks higher than two day old noodles with a touch of ketchup, "Manos: The Hands of Fate" is somewhat memorable though not exactly tolerable. 

Catch Him if You Can

THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When you hear the cackle, the wicked humor of Claude Rains' Invisible Man (Dr. Griffin), it sends shivers to your spine because this madman couldn't care less about anyone. After about the last twenty minutes of the film, it is clear that the man is a murderer who just wants to settle down with the woman he dearly loves. This is where it becomes almost unsettling to watch "The Invisible Man" because here is one Universal horror film icon who has a murderous lust and gets off on it - he relishes it. Not the Wolf Man nor Frankenstein's Monster nor even Dracula, to a lesser extent, had such homicidal rage. Even the author of which this film is based on, H.G. Wells, found fault with the character depicted as a lunatic. Still, despite the unsuppressed rage of the main character, "Invisible Man" never misses a beat in keeping you glued to the screen. 

Dr. Griffin, in the chilling opening scenes of "The Invisible Man," checks in at the Lion's Head Inn in Sussex, South East England seeking a room. The owners, including the unforgettable Una O'Connor (herself a staple of early Universal Horror), are sure that this head bandaged man must have had a horrible, disfiguring accident and offer him a room. Little do they know that Dr. Griffin is invisible and is not only trying to retain visibility, he is hoping to make a name for himself by adopting invisibility as something that would be useful in a time of war. After making threats and unveiling his invisibility to the Sussex villagers (and to the most famous of screamers of that time, Una O'Connor), Griffin escapes and it is beguiling fun to watch him push villagers out of his path or ride a bike - they are mystified by this mysterious man. But that upbeat fun soon turns serious when Griffin begins killing people, whether it is a police chief or one of Griffin's trusted associates who betrays him. One scene has Griffin derailing a train - a heart-stopping moment among many. It is not until he is back in the arms of his fiancee, Flora (Gloria Stuart), that he is settled, restrained.

Directed with heightened, restless tension by James Whale (which matches Dr. Griffin's own mental state), "The Invisible Man" progressively trembles our viewing experience, served with wicked relish by that most famous voice belonging to Claude Rains. The special-effects are still awe-inspiring especially when Griffin unwraps his bandages to the villagers - it is a shock to the system. Rains's tremendous, terrorizing voice, his cackle, his brutal nature and his occasional brand of prankish humor are not easy to forget. An astounding, edge-of-your-seat film, one of the best of its kind.