VAL LEWTON PRESENTS MARK ROBSON'S THRILLER 'THE GHOST SHIP'

<p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgSoeYzexRQ6JPX0Nf-gZqV_A0eGTNcwUZPI8AlJbSDCPjhW07IOjCQnQmaYsD5OCD69NMDcwAvIBoTy6ahA5k675avUpzOdP77sflNtyZRYnt2RsL6LEOaiytfuGvzK3aIZLhHgihBHwihByUAHV1yRi0i6ZKtNE94y735041nsB0wc_KU3-vKP05jnivJ/s1574/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%204.48.39%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1574" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSoeYzexRQ6JPX0Nf-gZqV_A0eGTNcwUZPI8AlJbSDCPjhW07IOjCQnQmaYsD5OCD69NMDcwAvIBoTy6ahA5k675avUpzOdP77sflNtyZRYnt2RsL6LEOaiytfuGvzK3aIZLhHgihBHwihByUAHV1yRi0i6ZKtNE94y735041nsB0wc_KU3-vKP05jnivJ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-27%20at%204.48.39%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE GHOST SHIP Year: 1943 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A dark, atmospheric Val Lewton production using RKO's fog-shrouded KING KONG ship (literally in one shot) now captained by subtly manipulative Richard Dix, who takes new 3rd Officer Russell Wade under his philosophizing wing... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Right before crew members die mysteriously on the GHOST SHIP... the most recognizable being wise guy Lawrence Tierney, who Dix posthumously describes as "a sea lawyer full of windy complaints, seasoned with bad comedy.”  </p><p><span></span></p>

body count, dewey robinson, film noir or melodrama, horror, lawrence tierney, mark robson, richard dix, russell wade, skelton knaggs, thriller, val lewton

VAL LEWTON PRESENTS MARK ROBSON'S THRILLER 'THE GHOST SHIP'

Title: THE GHOST SHIP Year: 1943 Rating: ***1/2 A dark, atmospheric Val Lewton production using RKO's fog-shrouded KING KONG ship (liter...

HUMPHREY BOGART AND ROD STEIGER IN 'THE HARDER THEY FALL'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><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/AVvXsEgqlJgbzXIQuGEIvIbtWWbx3v2_yOGzeBYuOXySAX4bSHge4wjY8Nat5ILFGCWydR4srtQF89B1ijuLzFBjNwh31YWcOMxcqUnUu5oROi_VK4pbIrpRPiGCqv4PS7gitDNfO6BqcQC43AzCVP2v2WJqSrti1vCb2l2KRR-T9uXZnBpDcgtricd9wmXqKF7t/s971/first.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="971" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlJgbzXIQuGEIvIbtWWbx3v2_yOGzeBYuOXySAX4bSHge4wjY8Nat5ILFGCWydR4srtQF89B1ijuLzFBjNwh31YWcOMxcqUnUu5oROi_VK4pbIrpRPiGCqv4PS7gitDNfO6BqcQC43AzCVP2v2WJqSrti1vCb2l2KRR-T9uXZnBpDcgtricd9wmXqKF7t/s16000/first.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The legendary Humphrey Bogart's last movie, during the mid-1950's when the big message could become more important than the characters, which is the opposite of ON THE WATERFRONT that Mark Robson's extremely bias boxing scandal-expose THE HARDER THEY FALL attempts the suspenseful, brawny big city edginess of... armed gangsters ruling over muscular everymen... but in a passive, mainstream fashion...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A shame since the boxing sequences — where has-been sports-writer Bogart and his seedy promoter boss Rod Steiger have ringside seats — are filmed with brutal realism... both men making sure the opponents of their mediocre giant upstart take the same kind of fall that could have made Marlon Brando a contender....</p><p><span></span></p>

boxing, expose, felice orlandi, fifties, humphrey bogart, jan sterling, marian carr, mark robson, melodrama, nehemiah persoff, rod steiger, sport

HUMPHREY BOGART AND ROD STEIGER IN 'THE HARDER THEY FALL'

Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: **** The legendary Humphrey Bogart's last movie, during the mid-1950's when the big message could bec...

KIM HUNTER IN VAL LEWTON'S GOTHIC NOIR 'THE SEVENTH VICTIM'

<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/AVvXsEgcmptvil1csm4jJW2AM544M4M_YHy73DfdA_7pO9YKTWmG25oHUN8N_zx1OsfgdFlpm2iFUUNy6Mx_VpIfJFTq8h3cmmtPypYqRKVQo0MF2rnPBLc3RBGXddoaMPYyCzchzdv5qPbwYDXzn41UsfKk6I0vks4sIaEI1ejycNKaLiIOHGC4Wx6rVTXWug/s1470/0.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmptvil1csm4jJW2AM544M4M_YHy73DfdA_7pO9YKTWmG25oHUN8N_zx1OsfgdFlpm2iFUUNy6Mx_VpIfJFTq8h3cmmtPypYqRKVQo0MF2rnPBLc3RBGXddoaMPYyCzchzdv5qPbwYDXzn41UsfKk6I0vks4sIaEI1ejycNKaLiIOHGC4Wx6rVTXWug/s16000/0.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE SEVENTH VICTIM Year: 1943 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Following producer Val Lewton's exploitation horrors CAT PEOPLE, THE LEOPARD MAN and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE directed by Jacques Tourneur, where the titles alone helped fill theaters, THE SEVENTH VICTIM, by another Lewton stock auteur, Mark Robson, is the most ambiguous and enigmatic yet made very little money...</p><p></p><p>And unlike a straight mystery, what's buried in the investigative plot-line is revealed halfway through after young Kim Hunter trades her safe chilly girl's school teaching job for the big, dark, looming city, searching for her older sister, the highly-regarded owner of a lucrative cosmetics company, who suddenly vanished... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

barbara hale, dewey robinson, elizabeth russell, erford gage, film noir or melodrama, forties, gothic, horror, hugh beaumont, jean brooks, kim hunter, lou lubin, mark robson, tom conway, val lewton

KIM HUNTER IN VAL LEWTON'S GOTHIC NOIR 'THE SEVENTH VICTIM'

Title: THE SEVENTH VICTIM Year: 1943 Rating: **** Following producer Val Lewton's exploitation horrors CAT PEOPLE, THE LEOPARD MAN and I...

SUSAN HAYWARD AND DANA ANDREWS STIR 'MY FOOLISH HEART'

<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/AVvXsEjKRVXlKPDVhnRje2eEBTkYrdepKEaDAHBqn1ATY2nPt6VCJenF1RasP6VtRk7SaxNC6-TdRUP7gL1RRTxiv-Y4QZkdreEo_4remC4HRih7MvIdc0S_L84sAiCw1E_ioR__WDuBFW6Doiwg/s1600/fool.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="500" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKRVXlKPDVhnRje2eEBTkYrdepKEaDAHBqn1ATY2nPt6VCJenF1RasP6VtRk7SaxNC6-TdRUP7gL1RRTxiv-Y4QZkdreEo_4remC4HRih7MvIdc0S_L84sAiCw1E_ioR__WDuBFW6Doiwg/s400/fool.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: MY FOOLISH HEART Year: 1949 Rating: ***</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> J.D. Salinger's short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" was adapted, to his chagrin, and with Dana Andrews discussing the titular rabbit getting into and out of trouble, it's contrived, cinematic symbolism for Susan Hayward, flashing back and forth from pre-War to post-War... a glib lush unhappily married to Kent Smith (hanging with her best friend and dealing with an introverted daughter) in the present while reminiscing about the nostalgic affair with Andrews...<br> <br> The best scenes occur before the before the war; that is, when Dana's dapper, handsome stranger meets our insecure college girl at a dance, defends her against a bullying deb, takes her home for a drink, and later gets her thrown out of college for kissing in the dorm elevator. And just as their romance gets interesting, the next scene Dana's wearing a baggy military uniform, about to fly overseas but before that, to meet her parents...<br>

adaptation, dana andrews, drama, forties, j.d. salinger, kent smith, mark robson, melodrama, robert keith, romance, susan hayward

SUSAN HAYWARD AND DANA ANDREWS STIR 'MY FOOLISH HEART'

Title: MY FOOLISH HEART Year: 1949 Rating: *** J.D. Salinger's short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" was adapted, to ...

DANA ANDREWS WITH FARLEY GRANGER IN 'EDGE OF DOOM'

<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/AVvXsEh6PzFAsx4v-EVguq04ofxZb45-RXlp9I5y7MGnhzzcs4YupXPCch-kpGElpSs9iDO0jeERi9vL9W-6oxEUKWN6llibXYSeaGlNvNvAbq5VAdmDuSsnqWguayBD5Vsc5kCVVnIldtk_iZNOz1AZ0uwwwW9rcqU4OFbTAHFVB4wyI1duWmbAMOQTZcRIL9qg/s1498/514941129_1412931453686518_8372849479591904166_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PzFAsx4v-EVguq04ofxZb45-RXlp9I5y7MGnhzzcs4YupXPCch-kpGElpSs9iDO0jeERi9vL9W-6oxEUKWN6llibXYSeaGlNvNvAbq5VAdmDuSsnqWguayBD5Vsc5kCVVnIldtk_iZNOz1AZ0uwwwW9rcqU4OFbTAHFVB4wyI1duWmbAMOQTZcRIL9qg/s16000/514941129_1412931453686518_8372849479591904166_n.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: EDGE OF DOOM aka STRONGER THAN FEAR Year: 1950 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The idea of a Catholic Film Noir isn't so strange being that the "genre" and the religion are both full of guilt, and this above-average crime melodrama in the fashion of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT stars super-guilty-looking Farley Granger (equally as ashamed of his murdering-self in Alfred Hitchock's ROPE), who kills an old cranky priest that didn't give his long-dead father last rites because he'd committed suicide instead of — like Granger's beloved mother that he wants a lavish funeral for despite their shabby apartment-dwelling reality — dying more naturally, and with dignity...<br> <br> Enter Dana Andrews... not as the doomed priest but the young, more open minded Father with the normally Jewish last name of Roth (Hollywood obviously wanted to please everyone): he's called in for Ma's last rites instead of the old man, dealing with his own pointless personal family issues...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>

adele jergens, dana andrews, farley granger, fifties, film noir or melodrama, mala powers, mark robson, paul stewart, robert keith, thriller

DANA ANDREWS WITH FARLEY GRANGER IN 'EDGE OF DOOM'

Title: EDGE OF DOOM aka STRONGER THAN FEAR Year: 1950 Rating: ***1/2 The idea of a Catholic Film Noir isn't so strange being that the ...