Kick-Back Friday: October 2009 Archives
A Blueprint for Murder* (1953): Slumming it in a B-movie thriller, Joseph Cotton, as Whitney Cameron, suspects his nearly perfect sister-in-law (Jean Peters) of murdering his niece with strychnine (which is affectedly pronounced STRICK-nin by every cast member). Cameron then plots to save his young nephew from the same assumed fate. With Gary Merrill (All About Eve) and a plucky Catherine McLeod as the husband-and-wife team who feed Cameron's suspicions.
* At Amazon, the DVD of the movie is coupled with Man in the Attic (1954) starring Jack Palance, an uninspired remake of The Lodger (1944).
Poster image from Wikipedia reproduced under fair-use law.
HT: Once again, KTG.
Criss Cross (1947): More noir with Lancaster. And about as complicated as noir gets—which is pretty complicated.
The paripatetic Steve (Burt Lancaster) returns to Los Angeles, where he pursues his gorgeous ex-wife Anna (Yvonne De Carlo, aka Mrs. Munster), who's hooked up with Slim Dundee,* the local mob boss. But Anna is inconstant in love...or in deciding her best option.
P.S. Check out De Carlo's dance partner in the Round-up Bar.
* I just wanted to write out that name, 'cause it's so goofy.
Brute Force (1947): A deeply moody prison noir, photographed by black-and-white master William Daniels.
Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster*) and his cellmates are mentally and physically tormented by the sadistic chief guard, Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn). But when Munsey assigns the prisoners to the dreaded drain-pipe detail, the group plans their dramatic escape.
* In his 2nd movie, after The Killers.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" (1957): A black-and-white tape of the original live-and-in-color TV performance, with a 21-year-old Julie Andrews in the title role.
Andrews didn't have the acting chops, or perhaps the inclination, to show her character's real sadness, but the musical production is remarkable for coming off live, with nary a hitch. Especially notable are Alice Ghostley and Kaye Ballard as the stepsisters (singing, "Why would a fella want a girl like her...?") and Edith (Edie) Adams as the godmother.
The DVD's 20-minute special feature, in which Andrews and other cast members remember the show, is a must.
