Search This Blog

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Actors And Sin (1952)

Two short films combined under the title of ACTORS AND SIN written by Ben Hecht (THE FRONT PAGE) who co-directs along with the cinematographer Lee Garmes (LAND OF THE PHARAOHS), both dealing with the world of film and theater. The first, ACTOR'S BLOOD, is a melodrama about a self centered actress (Marsha Hunt) and her rise to the top and her fall. After she is murdered, her father (Edward G. Robinson) invites all the suspects to a dinner party where he intends to unmask her killer. The script isn't too bad but the acting is so awful that this portion of the film turns into a comedy in spite of itself. Robinson as a bad, hammy actor is one thing but he turns in a bad, hammy performance even when he's not "acting". Much better is the second story, a satire on Hollywood called WOMAN OF SIN about an agent (Eddie Albert) who sells an unsolicited lurid script called WOMAN OF SIN to a major studio which plans to make it an epic on the scale of GONE WITH THE WIND. It's only after the sale, that he finds out the writer is a precocious 9 year old brat (Jenny Hecht, the director's daughter). A veteran like Hecht knows where all the bodies are buried and his creations are wickedly drawn. With Dan O'Herlihy, Alan Reed and Tracey Roberts.

No comments:

Post a Comment