1/13/08
Beware, My Lovely (1952) Dir: Harry Horner
Credulity-straining thriller from the pioneering producer team of Collier Young and Ida Lupino, aka The Filmakers (with Lupino pitching in with some uncredited direction).
Robert Ryan is the ‘peril’ and Ida Lupino is the ‘woman’ in this entry in the ‘woman in peril’ style film. Ryan plays Howard Wilton, a tightly-wound psychotic handyman drifter (noooo, Ryan? I know, hard to believe). Lupino is the lonely war widow, Helen Gordon, who hires Howard to do some work around her house. Things go downhill from there as Howard makes Helen a prisoner in her own home.
Howard has a nasty secret, not that he could reveal it. You see, consciousness is a real challenge for him. He has a habit of coming to and finding his employers dead. This is part of the film’s problem. The nature of Howard’s psychosis is so extreme that it is nearly impossible to believe that he’s been free to roam from town to town unobstructed, even in the year 1918 (when the film is set). He can’t remember anything that happened ten minutes ago. His violent, threatening, anti-social tendencies are set off by the smallest and most common of things (a young girl flirting, inadequacies involving the war, due to his being rejected for service). I don’t know how he even made it past the interview with Helen. There are other implausabilities. If you were locked in your house with a madman, but nonetheless left on your own for periods of time, couldn’t you figure out a way to escape?
Ryan, I think, is defeated by the material. It feels like he’s overplaying his hand. His series of tics and spasms and the tightly coiled bursts of dementia all have a been-there, done-that robotic feel to them. At this point in his career he’d probably played this character, to some degree, ten times and it shows. We are encouraged to empathize with Howard (I didn't) through shown bits of humanity, like him being stopped in his tracks by a music box and his relating to a group of children who won’t judge him. Lupino just has to act frazzled and in distress, which she is capable of and does.
The picture had one thing going for it; what would be the eventual resolution of the conflict? So naturally there was a disappointing ending that was abrupt and ineffective.
Of slight interest was a recurring motif where the camera would catch Howard’s reflection (in mirrors, water, Christmas tree decorations). This indicated something going on, or about to go on, in his head. Horner (1953’s
Vicki), who made his reputation in production design, does a fine job of making the house feel like a prison. Credit too, the always reliable RKO art department for the work on the house.
In the end, sub-standard work from the principals, who all have much better films to their credit.
out of 4
1/14/08
I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes (1948) Dir: William Nigh
Impressivley credentialed ‘B’ (Steve Fisher script from Cornell Woolrich story) from poverty row studio Monogram entertains on its own terms.
We open on a group of death row prisoners. No names, they refer to each other by numbers, newest to oldest. The focus is on ‘Five’, whose time is about up. His real name is Tom Quinn (Don Castle) and the film tells his story in flashback, until we rejoin present day near the end to find out his ultimate fate. Tom, along with his wife, Ann (Elyse Knox), comprise a down-on-their-luck husband-and-wife dance team. He’s unemployed and she’s an ‘instructor’ at a low-rent dance hall. One night, out of frustration, Tom throws his shoes out the window of their apartment at some wailing cats. When he goes to retrieve the shoes, he can’t find them. The next day Ann finds that the shoes have been placed outside their door. Tom runs into his own stroke of luck when he finds a wallet empty of all but a couple thousand dollars. Meanwhile, across the courtyard, there’s been a murder and all the police have to go on is a perfect shoeprint left in the mud outside the victim’s apartment. The print ends up being from Tom’s shoe and the money turns out to belong to the victim. Tom is arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Coincidentally, one of the arresting officers, Inspector Judd (Regis Toomey), happens to know Ann from the dance club. It’s left to Ann to conduct her own investigation in a race against time for her husband’s life. Along the way she enlists the aid of Judd, who is an admirer of hers, and together they work to try and save Tom.
The acting is standard ‘B’ movie acting, with leads that don’t quite have the ability or charisma that the big studio ‘stars’ had. Regis Toomey is good, though, in a meatier role than he would normally get. Not too many other familiar faces, outside of Tito Vuolo playing a – ta da! – ethnic grocer.
This film being based on a Woolrich story, you know there’s going to be outlandish twists and wild coincidences. You either roll with it and have fun or you get bogged down in the inconsistencies. I had fun. Because films like this are so dependent on the shock-suspense quality, there’s not too much to gain beyond a single viewing. However, genre fans will find that
I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes accomplishes its modest goals and is a nice surprise.
out of 4