cult film freak: otto preminger

Showing posts with label otto preminger. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 2/19/2025 / No comments / classic , clifton webb , cop , crime , dana andrews , film noir , forties , gene tierney , mystery , otto preminger , vincent price

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'

<table align="center" 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/AVvXsEimd-Hf86aZKkNUPDYRjFrE9YcsaKCFHfoEmcjk94MGlr4L5d2eNFPD_H-O6g0TFh-yHnxwQqdmgtc8jzW2W4aywHTNBKimwKjuCy6Ig0z8Wp3_IAz-O5QUH7DAaVV4ieiYCwP0oXpmlqGiRmGizGrewO2nhti3iYbN7abBfaD4FdSHpbmL9dNpP2ntJI98/s1846/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-24%20at%2010.06.02%20PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="1846" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimd-Hf86aZKkNUPDYRjFrE9YcsaKCFHfoEmcjk94MGlr4L5d2eNFPD_H-O6g0TFh-yHnxwQqdmgtc8jzW2W4aywHTNBKimwKjuCy6Ig0z8Wp3_IAz-O5QUH7DAaVV4ieiYCwP0oXpmlqGiRmGizGrewO2nhti3iYbN7abBfaD4FdSHpbmL9dNpP2ntJI98/w400-h295/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-24%20at%2010.06.02%20PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1944 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table>Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson
 has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's
 not to be spoiled for anyone who hasn't seen LAURA with its particular 
dreamlike camera panning from a sleeping McPherson, and we get the 
murderous yarn, spun all over again in a different fashion and with a 
twist that could be something else entirely as our hero deals with two 
creeps connected with the ingenue: especially a cerebral "sugar 
daddy" in a sophisticated Clifton Webb...<br>
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Word is the producer frowned on this important 
casting because of... well... what's pretty apparent about the futzy 
fella, and he can't shake that aspect from his character of a character,
 Waldo Lydecker. But Webb is perfect as LAURA seems to be the only girl 
who can rid the sophisticated and manipulative Lydecker from his daily 
uptight uptown lunch, all by himself with a contented life all 
mapped-out...<br>

classic, clifton webb, cop, crime, dana andrews, film noir, forties, gene tierney, mystery, otto preminger, vincent price

DANA ANDREWS AND GENE TIERNEY IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'LAURA'

Year: 1944 Rating: ***** Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson has fallen in love with a ghost, kind of, and that's not to be spoile...

DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'

<table align="center" 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/AVvXsEgTWpLk2K0he59eAcyZzeXtL6cO56fog-X9GPxGlJ0xBlK70cuigd4MstArYkOdDhciSLaFjg7XMTPHZATxSXIvqkR_kgULb4xpNyuRVxN58_puPD5IR2dD5GZY-lgbH-EM-BLbVO_5CTNc01pgUgBVQAeTahU4UMWBHxX-GLYhOin4sd8EVsL5rKAyiTrR/s1372/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2011.49.47%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1372" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTWpLk2K0he59eAcyZzeXtL6cO56fog-X9GPxGlJ0xBlK70cuigd4MstArYkOdDhciSLaFjg7XMTPHZATxSXIvqkR_kgULb4xpNyuRVxN58_puPD5IR2dD5GZY-lgbH-EM-BLbVO_5CTNc01pgUgBVQAeTahU4UMWBHxX-GLYhOin4sd8EVsL5rKAyiTrR/w400-h310/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-06%20at%2011.49.47%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table>If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Alice Faye, as naive June Mills, who's mentored by an older, wiser, more cautious Ann Revere as Clara: Both had prosperous careers in that decade, the 1940's, and then their 50's resume reads like a clean slate...<br>
<br>
Sadly, more of a <i>Black</i>list for the NATIONAL VELVET Oscar-Winning Revere (who co-starred with Andrews in the lobster-diver drama DEEP WATERS)... But the 20th Century Fox starlet Faye basically quit acting for a long while... Ironically, till she was old enough to be a teenage girl's mother in the remake of STATE FAIR, the original co-starring Andrews... And her career's demise was all because of Otto Preminger's underrated and mostly obscure/unknown Dana Andrews (with Gene Tierney) Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL in-between classics LAURA and  WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS... <br>

alice faye, ann revere, bruce cabot, dana andrews, film noir, film noir or melodrama, forties, linda darnell, otto preminger

DANA ANDREWS & ALICE FAYE IN OTTO PREMINGER'S 'FALLEN ANGEL'

Year: 1945 Rating: ****1/2 If you look at the filmography of two actresses who play sisters in the Otto Preminger Film Noir FALLEN ANGEL, Al...

DANA ANDREWS & GENE TIERNEY IN 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'

<table align="center" 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/AVvXsEgJhPb8JjRRH1wWt-iiX7FYG10-nzeRLO8EErcY5OVLHm6Cx7A09fIsAMDqJaGjP7rFsUpKG6V4hzwku6nWNYwKWUAjyLP5cCaXulAmaqn5QhZwvwexT3oKaoEHFX9v8ft1uGBpVPgDzMLzv_9qg9KkC0f5a9XRzOcLIkzOE3WKZVtI3oaUUeJbyFQoZFy0/s1270/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-02%20at%202.50.48%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1270" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJhPb8JjRRH1wWt-iiX7FYG10-nzeRLO8EErcY5OVLHm6Cx7A09fIsAMDqJaGjP7rFsUpKG6V4hzwku6nWNYwKWUAjyLP5cCaXulAmaqn5QhZwvwexT3oKaoEHFX9v8ft1uGBpVPgDzMLzv_9qg9KkC0f5a9XRzOcLIkzOE3WKZVtI3oaUUeJbyFQoZFy0/w400-h306/Screen%20Shot%202024-08-02%20at%202.50.48%20AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950</u></td></tr></tbody></table>A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pretty awful, covers it up and then, a bit later, gets half-a-heart, which is how Noir leading men usually start: this after he falls for the Falsely Accused Wrong Man's daughter in Gene Tierney's gorgeous, as usual, Morgan Taylor... Even her name is lovely...<br>
<br>
Dana Andrews, who resembled a hybrid Sean Connery before there was one famous enough to resemble, and Steve Martin had he been a tough and tall leading man type, stole scenes in the post World War Two classic, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/BYOOurLIVES.html">THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES,</a> and, brother of Steve Forrest, has the same square-jaw and no-nonsense style, and is a lot more edgy and desperate than his snoopy cop in the previous, more lavish and high-budgeted crime melodrama, <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/Loir.html">LAURA</a>, with the same director and gorgeous co-star...<br>

bert freed, british film noir/melodrama, cop, craig stevens, dana andrews, fifties, gary merrill, gene tierney, karl malden, otto preminger, suspense

DANA ANDREWS & GENE TIERNEY IN 'WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS'

Dana and Gene a third time YEAR: 1950 A sort of Film Noir in reverse as a downright bad and brutal cop does something accidental and pretty ...

OTTO PREMINGER'S COUNTER-CULTURE DISASTER OF 'SKIDOO'

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<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/AVvXsEgEOXF9fO4yFF6gg7J_o38pZ7qmmfOxKjThPUB6S7VM8Xst2Y_Lf1sbcbMfDri3S2mxWIXCrhfYOMi_63tug9gKvfrO69D40z_77cHJZjny3Nt2VtYys_710LZ_K-LnlyCkZiz9jM3b3yzA/s500/aaaa.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="461" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEOXF9fO4yFF6gg7J_o38pZ7qmmfOxKjThPUB6S7VM8Xst2Y_Lf1sbcbMfDri3S2mxWIXCrhfYOMi_63tug9gKvfrO69D40z_77cHJZjny3Nt2VtYys_710LZ_K-LnlyCkZiz9jM3b3yzA/s320/aaaa.jpeg" width="295"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1968 Rating: *</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>For their time and in a matter of aesthetics, Otto
 Preminger's Film Noirs LAURA and FALLEN ANGEL (both with Dana Andrews) were "psychedelic" for their time, with a 
camera-gliding flow; yet there's NO flow here in 
the 1960's when flowing supposedly meant everything... In fact the 
camera's mostly stagnant, glued upon the now infamous idiocy as if 
SKIDOO were a two-hour Laugh-In skit...<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5kG8iVW9At5IfTjdX7LJd6w1KL8Ee2Qn_eLAM2yA_vqRWzUaDR0lMplLBNm8mYMQ_7pCFdKsaj4rrsBVMF2Bqv195Y1Q3SGyI-6CQM64Yx_aVxYquVXwldF5k6ck86caWygKsPoqcNbB/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-12-06+at+7.07.06+PM.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="472" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC5kG8iVW9At5IfTjdX7LJd6w1KL8Ee2Qn_eLAM2yA_vqRWzUaDR0lMplLBNm8mYMQ_7pCFdKsaj4rrsBVMF2Bqv195Y1Q3SGyI-6CQM64Yx_aVxYquVXwldF5k6ck86caWygKsPoqcNbB/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-12-06+at+7.07.06+PM.jpeg" width="280"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Alexandra Hay painted in Skidoo</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>There's a certain style of movie or show needed for LSD viewing; take
 it from yours truly, a former 1980's teenage acid head who dropped two tabs of white blotter to experience the VHS tapes of PINK FLOYD LIVE IN POMPEII (not the awful director's cut) and then, after two more hits, another collage-style experience, Bob Dylan DON'T LOOK BACK...</p><p>Dylan who
 Preminger, experimenting with LSD at the time, requested to score this 
mess about Jackie Gleason as a mafia hit-man married to an 
intentionally annoying Carol Channing... He's sentenced to a 
futuristic-looking Alcatraz who decides NOT to kill a friend/convict 
ratting on the chief mobster because... well... all that doesn't matter 
but at the same time, the plot's always being pushed at the audience, 
which is what NOT to do when trying to make something relevant to, or 
entertaining for, cinema-going Acid-Heads: But no matter the target audience, SKIDOO
 is just plain bad, and even worse than that, boring. <br>
</p><span></span>

alexandra hay, comedy, counter-culture, groucho marx, jackie gleason, otto preminger, prison, sixties

OTTO PREMINGER'S COUNTER-CULTURE DISASTER OF 'SKIDOO'

Year: 1968 Rating: * For their time and in a matter of aesthetics, Otto Preminger's Film Noirs LAURA and FALLEN ANGEL (both with Dan...

JOHN WAYNE & KIRK DOUGLAS IN PREMINGER'S 'IN HARM'S WAY'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUzmg5ECyd1xWaJWxe4Vd4tridLXCzZtww96l7wnlQfJjcwjI7d4ObIdiFjkPizzeMNSumY-tZnu9tu-cHRHKd4K9zocQeoYXNq2yCUJ79zsCGKVmJfN5LxAMmxmNNurAm8s-nvNVslRp/s1600/3810_1399150_1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="809" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUzmg5ECyd1xWaJWxe4Vd4tridLXCzZtww96l7wnlQfJjcwjI7d4ObIdiFjkPizzeMNSumY-tZnu9tu-cHRHKd4K9zocQeoYXNq2yCUJ79zsCGKVmJfN5LxAMmxmNNurAm8s-nvNVslRp/s1600/3810_1399150_1.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Kirk Douglas with Jill Haworth and John Wayne in the poster for IN HARM'S WAY Year: 1965</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 1965, the same year stylistic and artistic director Otto Preminger would provide a stylistically artistic comeback with the B&W mystery BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, he directed an anti-war film starring John Wayne and the recently-departed Kirk Douglas, which is one of the few movies not a <i>John Wayne or Kirk Douglas Picture</i> but a Preminger Film they happened to star in... <br>
<br>
Very different for The Duke in that, set in Pearl Harbor, beginning with the last jazz-soaked night of oblivious peace, when the wife of yet unseen Kirk Douglas and her lover (a sexy Barbara Bouchet and Air Force stud Hugh O'Brian) are frolicking at the beach, IN HARM'S WAY is not gung-ho or overly patriotic but more cerebral and cautious in tone, which fits Douglas's forte after PATHS OF GLORY late in the previous decade... <br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-huJkZxSp8RfpDY_FD3lT0iSGyrKAa2Comdvv1tzWHTCB0jc-_UB-Edip0imRCbfDPqvKGLbq67b6vMYOqUb8W7ZHRisNXP2oGOMBFl7QyLZOrMo6PdXglOwdhq-oVEtwb3H1iOj1xH5Y/s1600/86802841_909966779432499_302764223358828544_o.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-huJkZxSp8RfpDY_FD3lT0iSGyrKAa2Comdvv1tzWHTCB0jc-_UB-Edip0imRCbfDPqvKGLbq67b6vMYOqUb8W7ZHRisNXP2oGOMBFl7QyLZOrMo6PdXglOwdhq-oVEtwb3H1iOj1xH5Y/s1600/86802841_909966779432499_302764223358828544_o.jpeg"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Hugh O'Brian and Barbara Bouchet in IN HARM'S WAY</u></td></tr>
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The camera glides around a slew of characters in various scenes where eventually Wayne, who was blamed for the sake of the Pearl Harbor attack needing scapegoats, later has a chance for a comeback — despite the fact he did nothing wrong in the first place...<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, during the attack are random scenes on the harbor, and while bombs splash the surrounding sea, we never do see, only hear, the attacking planes. Making this one of the more low budget war pictures featuring The Duke, and Douglas. <br>

barbara bouchet, dana andrews, drama, hal needham, hugh o'brian, jill haworth, john wayne, kirk douglas, otto preminger, sixties, war, world war II

JOHN WAYNE & KIRK DOUGLAS IN PREMINGER'S 'IN HARM'S WAY'

Kirk Douglas with Jill Haworth and John Wayne in the poster for IN HARM'S WAY Year: 1965 In 1965, the same year stylistic and artist...

JOAN CRAWFORD PLAYS 'DAISY KENYON' WITH DANA ANDREWS

dana andrews, film noir or melodrama, forties, henry fonda, joan crawford, love triangle, martha stewart, otto preminger, peggy ann garner, romance, ruth warrick

JOAN CRAWFORD PLAYS 'DAISY KENYON' WITH DANA ANDREWS

Joan Crawford w/ Dana Andrews YEAR of Release: 1947 Joan Crawford stated that if it weren't for director Otto Preminger, DAISY KENYO...

ROBERT MITCHUM & MARILYN MONROE IN 'RIVER OF NO RETURN'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCan_604TRJP4tuYYblPmH0al3pjaA6BML2B1eXPDZYYRLtMMgSyHYnTdT04gSpKVYksRayRuGz3ikyIhnEdKMMl_aubdikRP6bPz4JALN1MNFhkQ1OCTDxpPql-rdpEtsJtuy5gUp1uy/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-07-01+at+3.34.31+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1400" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCan_604TRJP4tuYYblPmH0al3pjaA6BML2B1eXPDZYYRLtMMgSyHYnTdT04gSpKVYksRayRuGz3ikyIhnEdKMMl_aubdikRP6bPz4JALN1MNFhkQ1OCTDxpPql-rdpEtsJtuy5gUp1uy/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-07-01+at+3.34.31+AM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mitch & Monroe take Preminger's RIVER OF NO RETURN Year: 1954</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Robert Mitchum is not a devilish rogue this time... In fact he silently agrees with a preacher who considers a particularly rowdy gold mining town both Sodom and Gomorrah, and his name's Mark because it follows Matthew, "in the Bible."<br />
<br />
Although he <i>is</i> alone, but not for long: After locating his 10-year-old son, left behind after a five-year prison sentence for shooting a man in the back — soon enough, father and son are working at a one house, one horse and single shotgun ranch that only the latter serves as protection for an impending Indian threat, poised within the nearby mountainside...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-hsiE68QwmoE1gK_PiHdQZM_brOIkc3uj5YbsXWxiMtEv-K1DVHg0lGQdOg-3kPS3nGqAXb3bQ0u8yk_i2842LeXCU8z5YzLupAFBn_xROV8Nl3YfdcWnbAhivRwZNPb434DdZPJ0NDqw/s1600/10900241406_c44ef023af_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-hsiE68QwmoE1gK_PiHdQZM_brOIkc3uj5YbsXWxiMtEv-K1DVHg0lGQdOg-3kPS3nGqAXb3bQ0u8yk_i2842LeXCU8z5YzLupAFBn_xROV8Nl3YfdcWnbAhivRwZNPb434DdZPJ0NDqw/s400/10900241406_c44ef023af_b.jpg" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Poster for River of No Return</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The kid's only acquaintance at the town winds up, along with her gambling lover, being saved by Mitchum — helplessly tangled in dangerous rapids right outside the small ranch-house. But Rory Calhoun, though initially affable and charming, winds up... during one of the most suspenseful scenes... taking or, "borrowing" Mitchum's gun, and then his horse: he's in a hurry to acquire gold from a deed he<i> supposedly</i> won legitimately in a card game...<br />
<br />
It's not very easy for Mitchum fans to see their hero losing a fight: and it happens right in front of his son — but this is why RIVER OF NO RETURN is a nice break for an actor who's usually impenetrable...<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEK4TKsNO3py-2WZWY0r_KjSY8siZRpBIMZfZsdg-nFwHYI_ms4hHMdHOmVrzZIc8EMAZZJ658mRHOelr9HfxurlnkPLI0ZIDIrFDP2-ZfqxDH0NznCWmD3dENo9VDoc912SC1Z8D-8HMt/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-10-23+at+4.30.04+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEK4TKsNO3py-2WZWY0r_KjSY8siZRpBIMZfZsdg-nFwHYI_ms4hHMdHOmVrzZIc8EMAZZJ658mRHOelr9HfxurlnkPLI0ZIDIrFDP2-ZfqxDH0NznCWmD3dENo9VDoc912SC1Z8D-8HMt/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-10-23+at+4.30.04+PM.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Another River Poster</u></td></tr>
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Meanwhile, the voluptuous blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, singing enough guitar-slinging tunes (her character's a tent-how performer) to nearly make this a "Singing Cowgirl" picture, turns in one of her most nature performances under Preminger's extremely subtle, non-signature-style direction. He obviously did more for the actors since his usual creative camera maneuvers, that put him on equal ground with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, are used sparingly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_S3ZxY3RhJi6tsPBTjJjwyR_PiJN9T99NDVpPA6PYqqySzGsJP8Xr5Si1UXeukhTTk6HvwMgk25kzhL6LkScQyxuas4t-1Ea4Lkyb19F_1bGxiM75IeVcoglz6eVs_ubU75xCD59Rg6w/s1600/river_of_no_return.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_S3ZxY3RhJi6tsPBTjJjwyR_PiJN9T99NDVpPA6PYqqySzGsJP8Xr5Si1UXeukhTTk6HvwMgk25kzhL6LkScQyxuas4t-1Ea4Lkyb19F_1bGxiM75IeVcoglz6eVs_ubU75xCD59Rg6w/s320/river_of_no_return.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>River of No Return SCORE: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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As an Action-Western, RIVER is just okay since the adventurous scenes on the rapids (as the trio stand atop a Huck Finn style wooden raft) are superimposed to where there seems little to no danger as the actors are obviously safe inside a Hollywood studio: buckets of water being thrown on them, and the water's probably lukewarm. What works, however, is the bond between Mitchum and Monroe, taking longer than most films where two beautiful actors are destined for romance...<br />
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What defines Monroe's character is a stubborn determination to defend the scoundrel she's in love with, and Mitchum, although seeming, at times, like he's collecting a paycheck, plays nicely off his co-starlet that, for the most part, NO RETURN works despite its own intentionally breezy self: which basically means, this proverbial airhead has a brain, or two...<br />
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action, fifties, marilyn monroe, otto preminger, robert mitchum, western

ROBERT MITCHUM & MARILYN MONROE IN 'RIVER OF NO RETURN'

Mitch & Monroe take Preminger's RIVER OF NO RETURN Year: 1954 Robert Mitchum is not a devilish rogue this time... In fact he sil...

Written by James M. Tate / 8/06/2016 / No comments / charles bickford , film noir or melodrama , forties , henry fonda , joan crawford , otto preminger , wrong man

OTTO PREMINGER AND GENE TIERNEY REUNITE FOR 'WHIRLPOOL'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1949</u></td></tr>
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Before Jose Ferrer played despicable villains he played intellectual/sophisticated ones... In Otto Preminger's WHIRLPOOL starring his own LAURA actress Gene Tierney as a bored wife of a rich and famous psychiatrist in Richard Conte, she meets our manipulating super-skinny heavy who's not so bad at first, helping her out of a real jam after she's caught shoplifting items she could easily afford...<br />
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Because of a mysterious, troubled childhood and wanting to keep her problem a secret at home, Tierney's put-upon Ann Sutton can't depend on her husband as a shrink. Making Ferrer's Dr. David Korvo the perfect match: his treatment using hypnosis just might successfully reach back into her subconscious. And like all Film Noir melodramas there's a big catch in attempting a short cut... Soon enough she's doing his dirty work, and eventually the "Wrong Man," or in this case "Wrong Woman" or simply put "Falsely Accused" sub-genre kicks into gear, and that's where the movie, only halfway through, wanes considerably.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuMhY6HN0RF2QkQZEhp1tRULE35e-MQ2xW61p-yk2eAip2ezQg97ttrft04c2LHZ2-3ugVtKks7Th-39sht5GtMFNB7gL33usjqsNNHlo5Q85H0upZjjW9K9OX-OPIhn0N3RFq2IOiopY/s1600/whirlpool-cover-small.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuMhY6HN0RF2QkQZEhp1tRULE35e-MQ2xW61p-yk2eAip2ezQg97ttrft04c2LHZ2-3ugVtKks7Th-39sht5GtMFNB7gL33usjqsNNHlo5Q85H0upZjjW9K9OX-OPIhn0N3RFq2IOiopY/s320/whirlpool-cover-small.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Whirlpool SCORE: **1/2</u></td></tr>
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Not that the buildup was anything extraordinary, other than Preminger's camerawork that can turn mere conversations into visually hypnotic chess matches. How he sticks to his leading lady isn't as mesmerizing as LAURA, and that's because of the actors surrounding...<br />
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While Richard Conte is always capable, this role as a one-dimensional nice guy is a letdown since he usually has a few tricks up his sleeve. Leaving all the punch to Ferrer, who plays a good enough snake but hardly has a bite (a touch of wry Clifton Webb dark-humor is much needed).<br />
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As the tough cop from FALLEN ANGEL, Charles Bickford returns but with a lot more dimension, and he basically carries the picture. While not falling in love with a ghostly portrait like Dana Andrews, he holds an unpredictable hybrid of sympathy and contempt: It often feel like it's his case to lose, even more than Tierney herself, who has everything, including her freedom, at risk during an overlong conclusion that takes the last half to conclude.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyECjfYq-SpfYx5uL8bvudMmcpH-mpAn10J1e3hqeSE6_H9W_01thPAkgEOREgk9q4Pd8bWd6H8c08lY15l0UYXTtP9gxNqR6JyXK7jxs5I9PaVum2uPztroRncstnxlnql9oK3bdxbqz/s1600/87151250_911920879237089_987037549669122048_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyECjfYq-SpfYx5uL8bvudMmcpH-mpAn10J1e3hqeSE6_H9W_01thPAkgEOREgk9q4Pd8bWd6H8c08lY15l0UYXTtP9gxNqR6JyXK7jxs5I9PaVum2uPztroRncstnxlnql9oK3bdxbqz/s1600/87151250_911920879237089_987037549669122048_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Jose Ferrer plays cat and mouse with Gene Tierney in WHIRLPOOL</u></td></tr>
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charles bickford, film noir or melodrama, forties, henry fonda, joan crawford, otto preminger, wrong man