Road to Bali (1952)

"Do you always fight over girls?", 4 April 2008

Before watching Road to Bali, Road to Singapore was the only other Hope/Crosby Road movie I'd seen. I enjoyed Road to Singapore and I've been meaning to give some more of these movies a go. In comparison, however, Road to Bali is terrible. It's just not funny. The jokes and sight gags never seem to hit their mark. For example, the bit about the loved starved gorilla was painful to watch. I was especially annoyed with all the self-referential, "look, we're in a movie" attempts at humor. When used judiciously, breaking the mythical fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience can be funny. Unfortunately, Bob Hope does it so often in Road to Bali that I wanted to scream. Also, I've real other comments where people favorably mention the various cameos. They felt forced and didn't work for me either.

With all that being said, that doesn't mean I'm not going to give some of the other Road movies a shot. Next time, however, I think I'll stick with one of the earlier ones.

3/10

Macao (1952)

"You know, you remind me of an old Egyptian girlfriend of mine. The Sphinx.", 2 May 2007

Three American's leave Hong Kong headed for Macao. While the three don't know each other, their lives are soon to be intertwined. Macao is essentially run by a gambler and crook named Vincent Halloran (Brad Dexter). He's always on the look out for American cops looking to put the clamp on his operation and take him back to the U.S. to stand trial. Halloran is convinced that one of the new arrivals, Nick Cochran (Robert Mitchum), is his man and wants to get him off the island before Cochran can get the drop on him. Complicating matters is Julie Benson (Jane Russell), who both Cochran and Halloran have a thing for, and Lawrence C. Trumble (William Bendix), a man who seems just a bit too interested in what's going on in Macao.

It's not that Macao is a bad movie, but you can certainly find better. Macao does nothing outstanding or overly memorable that allows it to rise much above the average mark. Take the film's two leads, Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. I thought the pair was pretty good in His Kind of Woman. But here they're basically playing the same roles. It's the same relationship and dialogue all over again. How about something to spice things up a bit? The rest of the movie is similarly uneventful. Brad Dexter's tough guy Halloran isn't that tough. Thomas Gomez's Lt. Sebastian isn't as slimy and underhanded as he might have been. And William Bendix's character is far too easy to see through and figure out his motivations. Like I said, it's not that Macao is bad, it's just not as good as it could or should have been. If you enjoy watching Robert Mitchum play the same role he played dozens of times and if you enjoy watching Jane Russell sing and wear fabulous clothes, Macao might be the movie for you. If you want real excitement, suspense, and drama and the chance to see Mitchum and Russell do something that will "wow" you, you'll be disappointed.

6/10

Man Bait (1952)

The ineffective George Brent, 4 September 2006

A respectable book shop manager, named John Harman (George Brent), gets mixed up in blackmail and murder when he crosses paths with Ruby Bruce (Diana Dors). It's either pay up or she'll go to the police with a made-up story of Mr. Harman attacking her. He agrees to hand over the money and thinks he's put the whole matter behind him. But things only get worse for Mr. Harman when Ruby's dead body is found in his house.

Horror icon Terence Fisher directed this sordid tale for Hammer. He does a good job of wringing tension out of what is essentially a weak script. There are certainly moments to enjoy, but overall, Man Bait is to uneven to consider it anything other than average at best. For example, the acting of the principles is terrible. Dors is terribly miscast and doesn't come across as the temptress she playing. Even worse is Brent. What a mamby-pamby man! The whole notion of this milk-toast being on the run from the police is hysterical. A complete change in casting would have gone a long way in making Man Bait a much better film.

5/10

Stolen Face (1952)

Are there really fans of Lizabeth Scott out there?, 4 September 2006

I've now watched three of the Hammer noirs that were recently released on DVD and while each is okay, there's nothing very memorable about any of them. That's precisely how I feel about Stolen Face – it's a decent watch, but it's nothing I would go out of my way to see again. While Paul Henreid gives a nice performance and Terence Fisher's direction is solid, the screenplay really lets them down. There just aren't any surprises. It's all nicely done, but I've seen it before. And if you haven't seen it, you can probably predict the film's outcome with a great deal of success. It's about as subtle as a hammer (pun intended) to the head. My enjoyment of the film isn't helped any by the presence of Lizabeth Scott. I've only seen her in two movies that I can name off the top of my head (this one and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers) and that's two too many. I can't stand the woman!

One interesting aspect of Stolen Face is the interjection of little elements horror/sci-fi. After all, this is Hammer and this is Terence Fisher. It somehow seems appropriate.

6/10