QUEEN OF TECHNICOLOR RHONDA FLEMING GOES 3D FOR 'INFERNO'

Poster for Ronda Fleming INFERNO Year: 1953 Rating: ***

Robert Ryan could be difficult to root for since he played contentedly bitter types who didn't need or want rooting for...

But with INFERNO his rich-husband character gets so screwed over by his wife and her lover, left in the scorching desert — without use of his legs — to trudge through rocky terrain before he's a Hot Pocket for condors, there's no other option but to have complete sympathy, if anything else for the movie (and his dire situation) to conclude...

Yet the most intriguing scenes not only alleviate the halting, sometimes awkward tension but add a touch of Film Noir/Melodrama to the Adventure...

Particularly when trophy wife Rhonda Fleming and cold-blooded stud William Lundigan (usually cast as a one-dimensional hero) — who'd stranded Ryan in the first place — deal with investigating cops, and, when alone, bicker nervously: proving they'd be a horrible couple if their plot does work. So for Survival buffs, these talky, dime-novel moments would be an intrusion. But for Rhonda Fleming fans, the Queen of Technicolor originally curved within 3 fine Dimensions works just fine. 

William Lundigan and Rhonda Fleming in INFERNO

A crippled Robert Ryan survives in INFERNO