Wife, Husband And Friend (1939)

A building contractor (Warner Baxter) has a wife (Loretta Young) who has aspirations to become a professional opera singer. Her ambition leads to marital tensions that only increase when an opera diva (Binnie Barnes) takes a liking to the husband. Based on the novella by James M. Cain (MILDRED PIERCE) and directed by Gregory Ratoff (INTERMEZZO). An agreeable comedy that pokes fun at artistic pretensions although I'm not so sure that it's also poking fun at opera. Maybe a little of both. It's a modest farce and the actors seem to be having a good time and I enjoyed seeing Loretta Young, an actress not known for her comedic chops, loosen up. Remade ten years later as EVERYBODY DOES IT. With Cesar Romero, Eugene Pallette, Helen Westley and George Barbier.

Whistle Stop (1946)

A woman (Ava Gardner) returns to her small hometown after two years away in Chicago. She renews her romance with an old boyfriend (George Raft) but his lack of ambition, which is the reason she left, causes her to take up with the boyfriend's rival (Tom Conway). Based on the novel by Maritta M. Wolff and directed by Leonide Moguy (PARIS AFTER DARK). Ava Gardner had been at MGM for five years playing bit parts and small roles. They didn't seem to know what to do with her. In 1946, two loan outs changed all that. WHISTLE STOP is a low budget B movie but it allowed Gardner to show a sultry side she never showed at MGM and a presence that suggested star quality. That she was no ordinary starlet was confirmed with her next loan out to Universal, THE KILLERS (1946) where she sizzled on screen. MGM took note and gave her better parts. As for WHISTLE STOP, it's a routine crime noir film with a miscast George Raft who was about 15 years too old for the role (he's 45 and Gardner was 24, they're supposed to be contemporaries). With Victor McLaglen, Florence Bates, Jorja Curtright and Charles Drake.

The Secret Partner (1961)

A convicted embezzler turned successful businessman (Stewart Granger) discovers his troubles are just beginning. First, he's blackmailed by a prison dentist (Norman Bird) threatening to expose his past. Then, his wife (Haya Harareet) leaves him when she suspects he has a mistress. Directed by Basil Dearden (VICTIM). While the movie's premise seems far fetched, Dearden manages to keep the action moving at a decent pace until it arrives at a corker of a twist ending that would do Agatha Christie proud. Its over convoluted plot gets in the way of the narrative occasionally but I found it moderately entertaining but then again, I'm partial to mystery thrillers. I could have done without the cheesy underscore by Philip Green. With Bernard Miles, Hugh Burden and Melissa Stribling.

No Blade Of Grass (1970)

An environmental catastrophe destroys civilization. Millions are dead, thousands are starving. Resources are used up, poisoned and polluted. Among the survivors are an architect (Nigel Davenport) and his wife (Jean Wallace) and their children. The family sets out on a desperate quest for safety in a savage and lawless world. Based on the novel THE DEATH OF GRASS by John Christopher and directed by Cornel Wilde (THE NAKED PREY). Eight years before, there was another post apocalyptic landscape movie called PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO with a similar narrative. This one is darker, nastier and bleaker. Slowly the family become as savage as their predators. Wilde isn't subtle in his direction. Early in the movie, there are images of starving African children intercut with scenes of rich Brits wolfing down food at a fancy restaurant. Rotting bodies, both human and animal, litter their journey as they are robbed, beaten and raped by human predators as brother fights brother. Wilde accomplishes his cinematic goals but to what purpose? It's not entertainment and it's surely not art. With Lynne Frederick and George Coulouris.

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

The two children (Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson) of a lesbian couple (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore) seek out their sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) out of curiosity and what follows affects all five of them in ways they never expected. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko (HIGH ART). A captivating film on a most unusual family dynamic. Outside of a few cheap laughs that are beneath it, Cholodenko’s film is both funny and insightful, touching and heartbreaking without pandering itself to the audience. The characters are refreshingly two dimensional and, considering the subject matter, not stereotypes. The acting is first rate with Annette Bening standing out a bit more than the others. I found her character the most relatable. Yes, she's wound up and uptight but she's still more grounded than the other characters who all seem on shaky ground. Although the family here is about two lesbians and their offspring, the family relationship could be applied anywhere. One glaring question though. The film was a critical success and an audience favorite. So why hasn't Lisa Cholodenko directed a feature film these last 16 years? With Yaya DaCosta and Zosia Mamet.

Drop (2025)

A widowed mother (Meghann Fahy) and survivor of domestic violence goes on her first date in years with a charming photographer (Brandon Sklenar). Their date is interrupted by a series of anonymous drops to her phone showing a masked killer entering her home and ordering her to follow a series of instructions. Directed by Christopher Landon (HAPPY DEATH DAY). Despite an extremely far fetched plot (and the unpleasantness of using domestic violence as a gimmick), the first hour of this mystery thriller is very good. Landon keeps an intensity that propels the movie forward at an exciting pace. Alas, the film goes off the rails in its last half hour. It becomes so ludicrous as to be laughable and all the good will it generated in its first hour goes out the window. Even the film's good reviews acknowledged the absurdity of its gimmicky narrative. With Reed Diamond, Violett Beane, Jeffery Self and Gabrielle Ryan.

Cruel, Usual, Necessary (2024)

A documentary on film director Silvio Narizzano. Written, photographed, edited and directed by Daniel Kremer (OVERWHELM THE SKY). Silvio who? Unfairly designated as a one hit wonder, his most well known and successful movie was GEORGY GIRL (1966). Born in Canada but considered a British director, Narizzano was a contemporary of directors like Ken Russell, Nicolas Roeg and Mike Hodges but the auteurs never embraced him because he never had a signature style ..... or did he? Kremer makes an excellent case for Narizzano as an important and undervalued film maker. A Catholic homosexual, Narizzano's films are full of subtle religious and gay subtext. He made nine feature films and two movies for television. His debut film was FANATIC (retitled DIE DIE MY DARLING in the U.S.), a "hag horror" film with Tallulah Bankhead that has subtle echoes of Tennessee Williams' SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER. The success of GEORGY GIRL had Hollywood courting him and he made his only American film, a western called BLUE (1968) which was such a failure that Hollywood never asked him back. As the movie passes through his filmography, it illuminated the subtext (which had eluded me) of the films which I'd seen although it was there right under my nose. It made me want to seek out more of his work which, alas, is hard to find. I've seen six of his films and some of his TV work like COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA (1977) with Laurence Olivier and an episode of Miss Marple (THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY). In the last years of his life, he gave up directing for religious studies.

Hold That Ghost (1941)

Two gas station attendants (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) inherit a tavern from a gangster (William B. Davidson). They reach the tavern amid a fierce storm so they invite their fellow bus passengers to spend the night till the storm blows over. But the tavern isn't as deserted as they think. Directed by Arthur Lubin (FOOTSTEPS IN THE FOG). Comedic haunted house movies were often a staple for movie comics in the 1940s and 1950s. Bob Hope (CAT AND THE CANARY), Jerry Lewis (SCARED STIFF) and the East Side Kids (GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE) for example. This was Abbott and Costello's stab at it and it's one of their middling efforts but still very amusing. They began filming it immediately after BUCK PRIVATES but when that was a box office smash, filming stopped and they did another military comedy (IN THE NAVY) instead and resumed filming this one after that. Critics were very enthusiastic and so were audiences. Two musical numbers performed by The Andrews Sisters were inserted at the last minute and it shows. They seem out of place. With Joan Davis, Richard Carlson, Evelyn Ankers, Mischa Auer and Marc Lawrence.

Les Distractions (aka Trapped By Fear) (1960)

A reporter and photographer (Jean Paul Belmondo) comes to the rescue of an old army companion (Claude Brasseur) in Algeria after the accidental killing of a police officer. As a police manhunt closes in on the fugitive, the reporter must also deal with his tumultuous personal life. Based on the novel by Jean Bassan and directed by Jacques Dupont (CONGOLAISE). Dupont was a documentary film maker and to my knowledge, this was the only fictional narrative film he made. It's not a bad film at all but while I've never seen any of Dupont's documentaries, I suspect he wasn't entirely comfortable working in a fictional narrative. The film is split into two halves. The fugitive's hiding and escape from the law and the reporter's love life which is less interesting. Belmondo's womanizer treats women abominably here although Alexandra Stewart as his obliging doormat girlfriend annoyed the hell out of me. Much more interesting are Sylva Koscina as an ambitious model and Eva Damien as a promiscuous salesgirl. With Mireille Darc and Yves Brainville.

The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe (1991)

Set in a small town in 1930s Georgia that is dominated by the androgynous and mysterious Miss Amelia (Vanessa Redgrave). She controls the locals through the careful distribution of her own secretly brewed moonshine. But her eccentric existence is threatened by the arrival of a hunchbacked dwarf (Cork Hubbert) and later, the reappearance of the husband (Keith Carradine) she rejected on their wedding night. Based on the novel by Carson McCullers (MEMBER OF THE WEDDING) by way of the stage adaptation by Edward Albee (A DELICATE BALANCE) and directed by actor (A ROOM WITH A VIEW) turned director Simon Callow. Taking the play as the film's inspiration rather than McCullers' source material, director Callow loses the lyricism of McCullers' writing and instead, we get a straightforward telling of McCullers' bizarre tale of the hopelessness of love. Unable to find a cinematic equivalent of McCullers' prose, the focus of the film is on the great Vanessa Redgrave's performance. Fully committed to the part, she's sensational. With Rod Steiger, Austin Pendleton and Annie Pitoniak.

Night Of The Lepus (1972)

A hormone intended to alter the breeding cycle of rabbits overrunning ranchlands instead turns them into flesh eating 150 pound monsters. Based on the novel THE YEAR OF THE ANGRY RABBIT by Russell Braddon and directed by William F. Claxton (ROCKABILLY BABY). The 1950s saw a spate of sci-fi horror movies about small creatures mutated into giant beasts so we had giant ants, tarantulas, mantises, crabs, spiders etc. on the screen. The 1970s revived the genre so we had FROGS, EMPIRE OF THE ANTS and this one about killer rabbits on the rampage. Not normal size rabbits but giant bunnies attacking towns in herds! The film's biggest problems is ..... how do you make cuddly bunnies scary? They try smearing blood on the their faces, bare their teeth, dub them with fierce growls but none of it works. It's a ghastly misguided project with several unintentional funny moments. My favorite is when the sheriff (Paul Fix) tells a crowded drive in movie theatre, "There's a herd of killer rabbits heading this way, we need to evacuate everyone". Nobody laughs or says "What the f*ck?" or "Huh?", they dutifully and immediately evacuate the drive in. Not as fun as it sounds. The poor humans stuck in this mess include Janet Leigh, Stuart Whitman, Rory Calhoun and DeForest Kelley.

Little Caesar (1931)

A pugnacious and arrogant hoodlum (Edward G. Robinson) with a massive chip on his shoulder has few friends and no sense of underworld diplomacy. But his ambition leads him to climb the ranks of organized crime until he reaches the top. But how long will he stay there? Based on the novel by W.R. Burnett (THE ASPHALT JUNGLE) and directed by Mervyn LeRoy (QUO VADIS). Brutal and gritty, this was the movie that made Robinson a star and forever associated with him. Robinson didn't have movie star looks but he held the screen with authority for over 40 years. As far as gangster movies go, this pre code drama is one of the best though it's inconceivable to think of the film without Robinson's commanding performance. With Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, Sidney Blackmer and Ralph Ince.