My Favorite Brunette (1947)

"Everything you touch turns to rigormortis.", 1 April 2007

What a wonderfully entertaining and funny movie! Bob Hope and Company do an incredible job in My Favorite Brunette of parodying the dark detective movies that were so popular at the time. The situations in which Hope finds himself are perfect for his brand of humor. The jokes come fast and furious and, fortunately, most hit their mark. Hope is joined by an excellent cast that includes Dorothy Lamour in the femme fatal role, Peter Lorre as a knife-throwing killer, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as a simple, but ultimately kind gangster whose efforts to help Hope only seem to get him in deeper. The whole supporting cast is great. And director Elliott Nugent keeps the pace flowing with never a dull moment. In fact, it's a first rate job from everyone involved. My Favorite Brunette is one that any fan of classic movies (especially film noir) should not miss. I only hate that it took me so long to see the movie.

8/10

Kiss of Death (1947)

"You know what I do to squealers?", 4 March 2006

Small-time hood Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is sent up the river for a jewel heist. He refuses to cooperate with the D.A. and will not turn stool-pigeon on his pals. But after he learns of his wife's suicide, he changes his tune. He's got to get out of jail to take care of his two little girls. The D.A. agrees to help Bianco if, in return, Bianco will help the D.A. Bianco fingers Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) for a murder and even agrees to testify at the trial. But, when Udo is acquitted, Bianco knows he's a marked man – as are his new wife and his young daughters.

Kiss of Death is a solid entry in the crime/noir cycle of the 40s. The movie looks good, has some great acting, an intelligent plot, characters you can care about, and enough twists to make it all very interesting. But instead of writing at length about the acting or technical aspects of the film or plot twists or anything else, I'll limit this to a few comments on Richard Widmark. If you look over Widmark's filmography, you'll notice that Kiss of Death was his very first film. Now I haven't seen everything Widmark made, but based on what I have seen, his portrayal of Tommy Udo has to be the performance of a career. He's brilliant as Udo. You can see the evil in his eyes. He's the kind of guy who would just as soon put a bullet in you as look at you. And that maniacal laugh – it's nothing short of chilling. This is not meant to be hyperbole when I say that he's the quintessential 40s hood played to perfection. I've seen a lot of noirs in recent weeks and I don't think I've seen a performance or character that I've enjoyed more than Widmark's Tommy Udo.

8/10

Dark Passage (1947)

My only interest in your head is how easy it'll crack open.", 15 February 2006

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall only made a handful of movies together. Three of these movies – The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, and Key Largo – are in that special class of films that I call great. Dark Passage, on the other hand, is merely a good movie. It's not great by any stretch of the imagination – just good. The story involves a man wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his wife and the woman who wants to help him prove his innocence after he escapes from jail. As you might expect, Bogart and Bacall have a very natural on screen chemistry. There's nothing fake here. The scenes in Dark Passage that feature both of them are some of the real highlights of the movie.

Unfortunately, their on screen time together is limited by the decision not to show Bogart for the first third of the movie. The whole concept of telling the story from the first person perspective until Bogart's character has plastic surgery is, at first, a novel idea that presents the opportunity for several unusual and innovative scenes. But I've always felt this goes on far too long. What starts as "novel" turns into "tiresome" before we finally get to see Bogart's mug.

Beyond Bogart and Bacall, there's quite a bit to enjoy in Dark Passage. The cinematography is nice, the San Francisco locations are interesting, and the dialogue is snappy. The supporting cast is more than adequate with Agnes Moorhead being the standout. Although her role is limited, she steals scene after scene from Bogart and Bacall – something that doesn't appear to have been an easy thing to do.

I suppose the biggest weakness I see in Dark Passage is the implausibility of certain plot elements. For example, when Bogart's character escapes from prison, he just happens to end up on the road that Bacall's character just happens to be driving on. She just happens to notice an abandoned car on the side road and just happens to recognize Bogart when she pulls her car over. Too many coincidences for my liking.

7/10

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

"In my opinion, you are the most obstinate young woman I have ever met.", 11 February 2006

Delightful is the best word I can think of to describe The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It's got everything – drama, comedy, romance, fantasy, good acting, solid direction, interesting cinematography, a beautiful score, atmosphere, nice sets, and a well-written script. It's taken me a while to finally get around to watching The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. From what some friends of mine (whose opinions I am now highly suspicious of) warned me that it was a sappy, sentimental movie and not my kind of thing at all. They couldn't have been more wrong. In short, it's very nearly a prefect movie.

While I could write pages about most every aspect of this film, I'll instead just mention a couple of areas that really stood out to me. First, the acting. Over the past couple of years I've become something of a Gene Tierney fan. I've still got a way to go see all of her films, but I sincerely doubt I'll enjoy her performance in anything as much as I did The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (and that includes Laura). I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of bringing life to Lucy Muir. It was easy to forget I was watching a character on a screen and not peeping into the life of a real person. Well done.

The second area I'll mention is the score. Bernard Herrmann's music fits every frame of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir flawlessly. The music adds immensely to the emotional roller coaster that is the plot. There are very few scores I would rate any higher than this one.

9/10

The Song of the Thin Man (1947)

The least of the series, 31 December 2005

What started with a bang in The Thin Man sadly ends in something of a whimper in Song of the Thin Man. By 1947, William Powell and Myrna Loy had become a little too long in the tooth to portray the dashing, urbane mystery solving couple. Both still do a good job, but I always picture Nick and Nora a little younger. The writing is not up to the standard set by the first three Thin Man films. It often seems more like what you would find in a cheap Monogram Charlie Chan film. I'll always argue that the writing in this series as a whole really suffered with the departure of Dashiell Hammett. And, with a child at home, the jokes centered on Nick's drinking seem out of place and not as funny.

So how can I rate a movie a 6/10 if I see so many problems with it? The faults I point out are found when comparing Song of the Thin Man with the other movies in the series. On it's own, it's an enjoyable enough movie, just not the best I've ever seen. But when compared with the previous five films, it fails. Still, we're talking Powell and Loy, my all-time favorite movie couple, so a 6/10 seems about right.

6/10

Scared to Death (1947)

"Pardon me, Professor, but didn't I just see you outside baying at the moon?", 5 February 2005

Most of the reviews on IMDb for Scared to Death give it a good trashing. And, while I understand it has many flaws, I didn't find it to be as bad as some of the reviews would lead one to believe. Maybe I was just in the right frame of mind or something.

The basic story: A women is slowing being driven mad. So mad in fact, that by the end of the movie she is literally scared to death (I'm not giving anything away as the fact she is dead is presented in the first minute of the movie). She is presented with numerous images and circumstances that become too much for her to bear. There are several suspects - her husband, her father-in-law, the maid, her husband's mysterious uncle, the uncle's dwarf companion, or could it be someone else? But which one of the suspects is behind it? You'll have to watch to find out.

Scared to Death stars Bela Lugosi and George Zucco. Lugosi is obviously having fun. He seems to understand just how silly some of the situations are, yet he handles each as if it were life and death. Zucco, on the other hand, acts most of the film as if he would rather be someplace else. Very aloof. The rest of the cast does a decent job with the material they are given.

This is the only time I've ever seen Lugosi in color. The film is marketed as being his only color picture, although I'm not sure that's true. The color is very nicely used throughout the movie. Very vivid.

Some of the flaws in the movie: a little stagey at times, goofy dialogue, and it may prove slow to some. The biggest annoyance, however, is the way the story is told. It's presented in a series of flashbacks from the dead woman at the morgue. It gets old real quick. But for the most part, I was able to look past these weaknesses and have a good time.

One final note. I picked up the DVD for $5 from Alpha. This is one of the better Alpha DVDs I've seen. While there are a few spots and other picture flaws here and there, overall the picture quality is good. The sound (so often bad on older films) is above average. All in all, for $5, Scared to Death is a wonderful addition to my DVD library.

6/10

Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947)

Not the best of the series, 30 January 2005

Stolen furs, a dead night watchman, insurance scams, and a killer with a hook for a hand named The Claw. It's up to Dick Tracy to unravel the mystery.

I have now seen four of these Dick Tracy movies from the 1940s and this is easily my least favorite. Dick Tracy's Dilemma seems tired and offers very few fresh ideas. It's a shame that a really nasty villain like The Claw wasn't in a movie with a better story. RKO probably did the right thing by ending the Dick Tray series with this movie.

If your interested in watching one of these older Dick Tracy movies, my recommendation goes to Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome with Boris Karloff.

5/10