cult film freak: kathleen freeman

Written by James M. Tate / 4/30/2023 / No comments / anne sargent , barry fitzgerald , cop , don taylor , dorothy hart , film noir or melodrama , howard duff , john mcquade , jules dassin , kathleen freeman , ted decorsia , thriller

DON TAYLOR & HOWARD DUFF IN JULES DASSIN'S 'THE NAKED CITY'

<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/AVvXsEgOurvQoG2_Y6xuTU5c-k4TO8CRP9o5cSVC7SAK-_APXkcGCY-1X3_9o0UDVTlk9qrvwC6UuRhGEWZb2EQLqjYUN4t5auXNjK4Ujdq_HKi-k-rPIN8gdp7Diqa5yFIXFAPuMV9vwopix1MfpHft1etAoSuE3IViF5iZAFXYtf8cF7vdLNweX4GWgLDsAn3R/s2368/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-15%20at%205.30.40%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="2368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOurvQoG2_Y6xuTU5c-k4TO8CRP9o5cSVC7SAK-_APXkcGCY-1X3_9o0UDVTlk9qrvwC6UuRhGEWZb2EQLqjYUN4t5auXNjK4Ujdq_HKi-k-rPIN8gdp7Diqa5yFIXFAPuMV9vwopix1MfpHft1etAoSuE3IViF5iZAFXYtf8cF7vdLNweX4GWgLDsAn3R/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-15%20at%205.30.40%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year: 1948 Stars: Howard Duff, Barry Fitzgerald, Don Taylor Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>After producer Mark Hellinger's famous opening narration, introducing the audience to THE NAKED CITY, following authentic shots of New York City exteriors, from buildings to shipyards... interiors from noisy newspaper offices to lonely radio stations... when we eventually catch a quick glimpse of Hollywood actors Howard Duff and Dorothy Hart at a fancy nightclub, there's an awkward contrast to those grainy/gritty shots in a police procedural that resembles a documentary one second and a dressed-up melodrama the next...Centered on two detectives seeking the killer of a beautiful dame drowned in a classy apartment bathtub, they couldn't be more different: the veteran, Barry Fitzgerald, is like a wise old leprechaun while tall/lanky young Don Taylor traipses around town, searching for clues — yet it's stout every-man cop Tom Pedi who compliments the grittier images, like a dockyard silhouette of a formidable criminal, eventually revealed soon enough so NAKED trades mystery for a by-the-numbers investigation...

anne sargent, barry fitzgerald, cop, don taylor, dorothy hart, film noir or melodrama, howard duff, john mcquade, jules dassin, kathleen freeman, ted decorsia, thriller

DON TAYLOR & HOWARD DUFF IN JULES DASSIN'S 'THE NAKED CITY'

Year: 1948 Stars: Howard Duff, Barry Fitzgerald, Don Taylor Rating: **** After producer Mark Hellinger's famous opening narration, intro...

Written by James M. Tate / 12/20/2020 / No comments / bruce humberstone , dana andrews , david white , drama , eddie albert , eleanor parker , howard st. john , jeanne crain , kathleen freeman , romance , sixties , wall street

DANA ANDREWS & JEANNE CRAIN RETURN FOR 'MADISON AVENUE'

<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/AVvXsEjy5kiYXefzlQK4IZJeuqtlChoLRBCKk7bqKzRlHWG4uWNeRqVc5fu5VUjQJ4N5SIXEKzUXNZjWG8DBosWCjKxRAvMOtSsBUvM4MPUXJ46e_UhJ3J9tDEWdoiSq3tt8Vz-cVCF5H_YJEdkN/s1174/81OcNqar1zL._AC_SL1500_.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1174" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5kiYXefzlQK4IZJeuqtlChoLRBCKk7bqKzRlHWG4uWNeRqVc5fu5VUjQJ4N5SIXEKzUXNZjWG8DBosWCjKxRAvMOtSsBUvM4MPUXJ46e_UhJ3J9tDEWdoiSq3tt8Vz-cVCF5H_YJEdkN/w400-h305/81OcNqar1zL._AC_SL1500_.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dana Andrews & Jeanne Crain in Madison Avenue Year: 1961 </td></tr></tbody></table>Based on the novel The Build-Up Boys, Dana Andrews is similar to a con artist decades earlier from <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2018/08/FallenAngel.html">FALLEN ANGEL</a> — only with a place to sleep and worth far more than a crumpled bottom dollar, his suit-and-tie, smooth-talking Clint Lorimer is out of a job after being duped by his big boss — a classy backstabber wary that his top employee's skills could tempt away any and all clients in an advertising firm on MADISON AVENUE... Dana's Clint seeks tunnel-vision vengeance by going over his now rival by thinking outside the box and joining with a nowhere agency — to turn dented bronze into shiny, luminescent gold... That's where much of the story plays out, concerning a business relationship between Dana and sophisticated yet vulnerable beauty Eleanor Parker as Anne Tremaine. Their chemistry is smart and interesting while Jeanne Crain, as a smitten reporter who Clint uses, again and again — till she eventually has a personal grudge and score to settle — takes a backseat: Thus the <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2017/01/DUEL-In-The-JUNGLE-Madison-Avenue.html">STATE FAIR</a> (and <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/06/andrews-crain-two.html">DUEL IN THE JUNGLE</a>) couple aren't as important despite sharing plenty of scenes. Instead, most of Clint's time is spent not only making Parker's Anne go from a plain-Jane to a beautiful woman on the move, but they're both challenged to turn Eddie Albert's eccentric, hands-on milk company owner into a terrific speech maker, and possibly a politician...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ez-ER91d16ceWiwnacvLBr5hDSkx4OCyfK2EfZrTbMfMECQzlL7-zwnRx0DTnY6llDObl7z4iF7yFG0bF9v5uxt17HKZzatMRm4AMovRIKXz2xUfYqTximxt8ovnjNsMKvnSK-2zuLaR/s951/19247911_828805787322567_7077877181247472501_n.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="951" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ez-ER91d16ceWiwnacvLBr5hDSkx4OCyfK2EfZrTbMfMECQzlL7-zwnRx0DTnY6llDObl7z4iF7yFG0bF9v5uxt17HKZzatMRm4AMovRIKXz2xUfYqTximxt8ovnjNsMKvnSK-2zuLaR/w400-h321/19247911_828805787322567_7077877181247472501_n.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dana Andrews in Madison Avenue Rating: ***1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>A pivotal scene has Eddie Albert's Harvey Ames reading from Clint's assorted cue cards, and then having to wing the rest of an important, game-changing speech on his own...Initially a nervous, oddball underdog, Eddie's character is the most intriguing and likable, which makes it awkward and contrived when the tables turn, and the inevitable conflict of ideals arise in which Dana has to knock the suddenly overconfident Ames off his newfound pedestal...Thankfully we're finally left with more meaningful interplay between Dana and Jeanne, stuck in the ruins of so many twists and turns that aren't explained enough to be completely involving or that make complete sense...But it's still an entertaining b-picture, directed by eclectic veteran H. Bruce Humberstone. And the two ingenues aside, Andrews's most endearing co-star is homely secretary Kathleen Freeman, more faithful than anyone else on board. Even during a muddled third act when it's Andrews against former boss Howard St. John (now joined with Crain), she gives both her own boss, and the audience, a smooth, relaxing baseline.

bruce humberstone, dana andrews, david white, drama, eddie albert, eleanor parker, howard st. john, jeanne crain, kathleen freeman, romance, sixties, wall street

DANA ANDREWS & JEANNE CRAIN RETURN FOR 'MADISON AVENUE'

Dana Andrews & Jeanne Crain in Madison Avenue Year: 1961 Based on the novel The Build-Up Boys, Dana Andrews is similar to a con artist ...

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1)OTLEY 2)ROBBERY 3)HELL IS A CITY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)HOT CARS 7)VIOLENT SATURDAY 8)THE BREAK 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)FALLEN ANGEL 19)A PRIZE OF ARMS 20)THE BIG HEAT 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE MARKED ONES 23)THE DRIVER 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)JOURNEY INTO FEAR 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER