The Marrying Kind (1952)

While watching The Marrying Kind  a few weeks ago on TCM, I was reminded of The Crowd (1928), that great silent movie which looked at the life and love of an "ordinary" couple, portrayed charmingly and heartbreakingly by James Murray and Eleanor Murray. The later film treads similar ground: it follows a working class married couple, Aldo Ray and Judy Holliday, over the years, from their marriage day to their impending separation, and all the dissapointments, tragedies, and reconciliations in-between.

It's framed by Ray's and Holliday's impending divorce proceedings, overseen by a patient woman judge (a woman in a position of authority treated with respect in an old movie? Color me delightfully surprised). Of course, this being Hollywood, there's a tentative reunion at the end and the divorce is called off. An outcome which I didn't find satisfactory, partially because Ray's character is such an irredeemably proud hothead, and partially because the movie is more successful at showing the desolation of the couple's relationship than offering any sort of persuadable hope of its fixability.

Despite what I've said, The Marrying Kind is still a worthwhile, well-acted, and sharply written (by real married couple Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon), and worth seeing, especially if you want a break from cinematic marriages consisting of nothing but sunshine, lollipops, and banter.

The Prowler (1951)

Leave it to director Joseph Losey to bring a healthy dose of darkness to the screen.  With The Prowler, he doesn't disappoint, with a tale that makes James M. Cain look optimistic. At least in the case of the scribe's Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, the murderous couples were always on the level with each other. Not in this movie.

Let me back up a bit: After Susan (Evelyn  Keyes), the wife of a disc jockey, spots a prowler peeping in on her in the shower, she naturally calls the cops to investigate. One of them, Webb (Van Heflin), takes a special interest in her. He's a bitter sort of fellow, a one-time college football champ dreaming of owning a motel court. This being a film noir, he of course has an affair with the married woman, not put off at all by her husband's convenient late-night radio gig. Nor is Webb scared off by the life insurance policy Susan's hubby happens to have.

Even in terms of the fiend-populated movies of film noir, Heflin plays one memorably unscrupulous, non-magnificent bastard. But don't feel too sorry for Susan, unassuming as she is to the true extant of her lover's monetary fixation; she quite willingly falls for his charms, partially won over by the chance to escape from her dull and constricting home life.

Though not taking place in the usual Noir habitat, replacing the dark cities and glitzy nightclubs with windy deserts and sleepy suburbs, sleaze still permeates The Prowler.The movie turns the typically melodramatic tropes (adultery, grand passion, etc) on it's head to satirize the American Dream, with a central relationship built on murder and lies, and an upcoming birth leading to a family's collapse. 

Not the most uplifting movie to come out of Hollywood, but certainly one you're not going to forget. 

Time Limit (1957)

During the Korean War, a group of solders in POW camp in North Korea watch as one of them is shoot trying to escape. Soon afterward, another soldier (Richard Baseheart) suddenly becomes a mouthpiece of their capture’s communist propaganda. What was his reason? After the war is over, that is what a lawyer, played by Richard Widmark, is trying to find out.

            This solo directorial effort by character actor Karl Malden in an intriguing and sometimes surprising cross between a detective story and semi-courtroom drama. I use the term "semi"because the events of the movie are shown to be leading up to an almost certain court marshal. Therefore, most of the revelations do not take place in a courtroom with numerous persons, but in the small office of Widmark, in intense question and answer sessions.

            This intimacy is one of the films many positive assets. The acting is in top form, if not a little over-the-top (most the cast seems to be trying to give Oscar worthy performances). The dialoge always has your attention, even if it feels that the characters are speaking in monologues, rather than statements, revealing its stage bound origins.

            For the time, this movie refuses to provide easy answers, or even a conventional happy ending. There is no real antagonist, unless you count the North Koreans who imprisoned the solders, glimesed in the opening, as well as in lengthy flashbacks. The soldiers are presented as victims of starvation, cold, and impatience, and just not able (to quote another movie) “to take it anymore”.

            Overall this movie is definitely worth your time. Its plot, acting and passing are above average, and its willingness to look at how man can be reduced to his baser instincts through extreme means prevent it from aging too much (with the exeption of how the female secretary is presented, but that is another story).

Decision Before Dawn (1951)

In the closing months of World War 2 in Europe, the US Army undertakes a mission to use German POWs to work for them in enemy territory. One of these prisoners is a medic who volunteers because he actually believes that it is the right thing to do, after seeing his fellow prisoners kill his best friend. His journey causes him to bump into different Germans with different feelings towards the war.

Visually, this film is a treat.  This was filmed on location, and you can tell. There are shots of snow-covered mountains, thick woods, and bombed-out buildings that are truly breathtaking. The camerawork is also very impressive: not show-offish, but fluid and smooth, moving from location to location without being distracting. Most of all, the lighting was incredible, with scenes that look like they could have been taken from a film noir of the 40's instead of war film from the 50's.

It amuses me that this this the second Richard Baseheart movie in a row that I have seen that has "treason" as a central theme. Except in the previous film (Time Limit) he himself was the treacherous one  and, but that is another story. Though he is top billed, I do not consider him the "star." That honor goes to Oskar Werner, whom Classic film fans may recognize from Jules and Jim, as the idealistic traveling POW. He gives a very haunting performance, as does Hildegard Knef in a small role as a cynical and sad bar girl.

On the whole, this film is rather slow going, but worth it. It joins the exclusive club of films that have been nominated for Oscars (including Best Picture), and completely forgotten about. And that is a shame, because it is a well put-together thriller. True, there is not too much "thrill" in large amounts, at least until the final half-hour. But don't that deter you from checking this interesting film out.

The Mortal Storm (1940)

Ah, the World War 2 propaganda film...you know, there should be a study of propaganda films. It is really fascinating how one can try to persuade the viewer to take their side in a issue. In World War 2, of course there were a bunch of films that showed how evil the Nazis were, in addition to showing that good old USA was on the side of good. This was not unusual: what is unusual is an American anti-Nazi film made before 1941, when the country entered the war. That got it banned in Germany, despite the studio trying its best to make location as vague as necessary (and failing at it).

This is where The Mortal Storm fits into the scheme of things. It takes place in a German town, not too far from the Austrian border. It is about a family with a Jewish---sorry, "non-Ayran" patriarch (Frank Morgan), and how they are is divided by Nazism. While the parents, daughter (Margaret Sullivan), and family friend (James Stewart) are very much outspoken against Hitler, their twin sons (one of which is strangely young Robert Stack) and daughter's fiancé (Robert Young) reveal a strong fidelity to Hitler which literally comes out of nowhere.

And that is the film's greatest flaw: The complete complete 180 that those characters go through. There is no hint before their conversion that they followed Nazisim. They go from "Hi, Jewish step-father/professor, we are so happy to celebrate your birthday!" to "Germany must regain its glory and take over the world!" at the drop of a hat, and that did not ring true for me.

But besides that, this was a very well-made film. The acting is really good all around, with a special shout out to Margret Sullivan and James Stewart. Both of them regain their chemistry from The Shop Around the Corner (1940), and it helps to involve the audience further in their plight and in clinging onto their steadfast beliefs amide the turmoil surrounding them.

Another special shout out has to go towards the cinematography.  There is some really fluid camera work, and some of the shots are beautifully put together. Also, the skiing scenes in the mountains very nicely filmed, though slightly ruined when intercut with shots of the actors leaning forward in front of mattes (seriously, it is possible for someone to ski downhill wearing a fedora, without it being blown off)?

Why is this film not better known? Perhaps because it has been over-shadowed be more prestigious, award-winning films of the same caliber made later (Casablanca, Mr. Miniver, etc). Who knows? What I do know is that this one of the better American WW2 propaganda film that I have seen, and that it deserves more attention.

Blackmail (1929)

The first British Talkie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, has certainly shown its age, dispite moments of inspiration. The plot is relatively simple: a woman kills a man who attempts to rape her, and is not only threatened by a blackmailer, but her subsequent guilt and paranoia of being caught. How could this end? With a climatic chase through the Britsh Museum, of course!

            There is no denying that this film has some memorable moments: the opening montage that covers a the aprending and subsequent imprisonment  of a criminal in five minutes, with no dialogue; the murder itself, hidden by a undulating curtain, and only sigled by the drop of a limp hand; best of all, the heroine sitting at the breakfast table, and hearing the word “knife” ring in hear ears, while the rest of the conversation is muted. There also contains an especially amusing director cameo, with Hitchcock being tormented by a little boy on the train.

        
 Alas, there are numerous things that tire the modern viewer. The acting is extremely stiff and forced (understandable for the uneasy transition of silents to sound, but still…). The pacing is slow (despite the relatively short running time of 84 minutes). The static camera work of the talking scenes provide a not welcome contrast with the excellent mobile camera work of dialogue-less scenes.

            However, this film is worth a look to anyone interested in Hitchcook, talkies, or early crime films in general.