ALAD LADD, SUSAN GORDON & CAROLYN JONES 'THE MAN IN THE NET'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7p2Yri8YomHVFZhSkmBwXSQ5dzilM9txxqaAQyvpYXSUGhE7iWY9LEQj3zGdbXAdqQP9p-jMovPteoywkGCiyCPRobK0TDflH0UOyi7Kvz5IgXeFSQps66T6SuZM6hwHFEof0PBwMflSLYNhOlbeJ2T_G5essAsR1KKI6YRIAFJ6i9a1TJDapESl3qKKo/s1190/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2012.03.27%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="722" data-original-width="1190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7p2Yri8YomHVFZhSkmBwXSQ5dzilM9txxqaAQyvpYXSUGhE7iWY9LEQj3zGdbXAdqQP9p-jMovPteoywkGCiyCPRobK0TDflH0UOyi7Kvz5IgXeFSQps66T6SuZM6hwHFEof0PBwMflSLYNhOlbeJ2T_G5essAsR1KKI6YRIAFJ6i9a1TJDapESl3qKKo/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2012.03.27%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Charles McGraw, Edward Binns & Alan Ladd pictured from THE MAN IN THE NET Year: 1959 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By 1959, Film Noir had ended, but not officially since it was never an official genre or a categorized style of films... at least not yet... that is, the French had yet to coin the Dark Film into the term that would grow throughout the years... but the template that makes these kind of dark crime melodramas still remained, and in Michael Curtiz's A MAN IN A NET, two of the most specific and popular tropes are well at hand...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>First off, the Wrong Man aspect as an aged, sluggish, loser artist Alan Ladd (looking as if he had a facelift to resemble a miniature Robert Mitchum) as the only logical culprit to have killed his boozing/cheating, no-good wife... and the second aspect's just been mentioned, and in that, Carolyn Jones, on the verge of THE ADDAMS FAMILY and having been in a handful of noirs ranging from THE BIG HEAT to SHIELD FOR MURDER, is the best thing going...</p><p><span></span></p>

alan ladd, carolyn jones, charles mcgraw, diane brewster, edward binns, fifties, michael mcgreevy, mystery, neo noir, susan gordon, wrong man

ALAD LADD, SUSAN GORDON & CAROLYN JONES 'THE MAN IN THE NET'

Charles McGraw, Edward Binns & Alan Ladd pictured from THE MAN IN THE NET Year: 1959 Rating: ** By 1959, Film Noir had ended, but not of...

EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'

<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZHxguttMBFqVm0GeuMs1lEY-Mg3yU0nvWZ-QsfD9YyNjX5DlGWOLxWquhczlKVT7hsbxgiVndlQSCGLU7cKn1ITG_zS5gYovcKOjbtOgZVNEnzzgaSLa6sEmkaan9_RmoCF6ltRWC9Jg8zg9TySLMfDjpZexVF_4TOLwaw78pVc7Q1RoIu0hMEN5AA/s1345/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-22%20at%204.10.47%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZHxguttMBFqVm0GeuMs1lEY-Mg3yU0nvWZ-QsfD9YyNjX5DlGWOLxWquhczlKVT7hsbxgiVndlQSCGLU7cKn1ITG_zS5gYovcKOjbtOgZVNEnzzgaSLa6sEmkaan9_RmoCF6ltRWC9Jg8zg9TySLMfDjpZexVF_4TOLwaw78pVc7Q1RoIu0hMEN5AA/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-22%20at%204.10.47%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: ****<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O'Brien had put on a few pounds, resembling Tyrone Power had he eaten Tyrone Power and with the lean, strict, tough years behind he was perfect as a character he'd have, a few years prior, spent an entire movie trying to bust...</p><p>Starting out with a MURDER where only one hidden witness knows the truth, O'Brien's crooked cop Barney might not have stooped this low... intentionally killing a lowlife criminal who happens to have a ton of cash from the big numbers racket mobster he ripped off... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, bel air productions, carolyn jones, claude akins, cop, crime, edmond o'brien, emile meyer, fifties, film noir or melodrama, john agar, marla english

EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'

Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: **** By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O...

CHARLES BRONSON SERVES VINCENT PRICE IN 'HOUSE OF WAX'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXqZ7W14IDxnjrmde6JPf3uEX83oxqgCi447wSeOqo_hBd6Wiu1BrTkuaeSutlXa5U2sJAnpN_FMPDlInQ10_JOymMBmrUqsyHEktWNWV5rEJzUBhODLilPITMQtYGvgZN_KohrMYwAeGp/s823/Screen+Shot+2021-07-05+at+7.42.09+PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="823" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXqZ7W14IDxnjrmde6JPf3uEX83oxqgCi447wSeOqo_hBd6Wiu1BrTkuaeSutlXa5U2sJAnpN_FMPDlInQ10_JOymMBmrUqsyHEktWNWV5rEJzUBhODLilPITMQtYGvgZN_KohrMYwAeGp/w400-h355/Screen+Shot+2021-07-05+at+7.42.09+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Bronson carries HOUSE OF WAX Year: 1953 Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The best part of HOUSE OF WAX is the drawn-out prologue setting up how Vincent Price adores his dramatically historical wax creations ranging from Joan of Arc to John Wilkes Booth to his prize, Marie Antoinette... </p><p>As he goes on and on about each piece and how much time and dedication was put in, the fire set by his greedy antagonist partner is not only heartbreaking but feels like the end of a brilliantly beautiful short film in itself: Which doesn't mean the rest of director André De Toth's visually stunning 3D classic completely falls short... </p><p>Although Price's transformation from a sophisticated artist into a crippled mask-wearing madman is a bit clumsy, and somewhat confusing, jammed with uninteresting would-be male heroes yet is eventually reignited by de Toth's previous year's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/7777/03/CrimeWave.html">CRIME WAVE</a> ingenue Phyllis Kirk, missing her missing roommate Carolyn Jones... who ends up in wax and <i>she could</i> be next. But the most intense character is played by Charles Bronson in his character-actor days, also from CRIME WAVE, here as a borderline psychotic mute servant Igor, and not surprising, given his now legendary prowess — with Price on the sidelines he alone takes the action mantle; a genre that WAX molds into after the colorfully Gothic-horror catapult. But hey, it's 3D... where movement is a must. </p><p><span></span></p>

3D, andre de toth, body count, carolyn jones, charles bronson, cult, exploitation, fifties, horror, phyllis kirk, vincent price

CHARLES BRONSON SERVES VINCENT PRICE IN 'HOUSE OF WAX'

Bronson carries HOUSE OF WAX Year: 1953 Rates: ***1/2 The best part of HOUSE OF WAX is the drawn-out prologue setting up how Vincent Price a...