The House On Telegraph Hill (1951)

Shortly after WWII, a Polish immigrant (Valentina Cortese) emigrates to San Francisco. She marries a wealthy businessman (Richard Basehart) and lives in a mansion overlooking San Francisco Bay. But she is not who she seems. She has taken on the identity of a woman (Natasha Lytess) who died in a German concentration camp. Based on the novel THE FRIGHTENED CHILD by Dana Lyon and directed by Robert Wise (THE SAND PEBBLES). An excellent thriller with film noir atmosphere. Although the movie is referred to as film noir, I found it to be more of a damsel in distress thriller. The movie benefits from its San Francisco location shooting and the stylish B&W cinematography of Lucien Ballard (THE WILD BUNCH). As the beleaguered heroine, Cortese is attractively sympathetic and quite believable going from the happy emigrant wife to the distressed spouse fearing for her life. With William Lundigan, Fay Baker (in a nice ambiguous performance) and Steven Geray.

Obsession (2026)

After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win the love of the girl (Inde Navarette) he loves, a hopeless romantic (Michael Johnston) finds himself getting exactly what he wished for but soon discovers that some desires come at a sinister price. Written and directed by Curry Parker. A phenomenon of sorts because it cost only $800,000 to make but has grossed $460 million globally and received critical acclaim. To put it mildly, I found it a major disappointment. I found the the movie more silly than scary and after awhile, I just couldn't wait for it to end. Johnston's nerd is a cipher as a character and after his dream girl goes batshit crazy, he's a milquetoast when most anybody else would freak out and get out of the situation immediately rather than enabling it. I admired Navarette's performance, she was able to show flashes of depth amid all the ranting and raving but not enough to salvage the foolishness of the project. With Andy Richter, Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless.

Flying Tigers (1942)

Set in China prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a small band of American mercenaries led by an ace pilot (John Wayne) battle against the Japanese in defense of China's freedom. Directed by David Miller (LONELY ARE THE BRAVE). Although the film is fictional, there was a unit known as the American Volunteer Group that fought the Japanese in China during WWII. However, the movie has them fighting the Japanese prior to WWII when, in fact, they did not see action until after Pearl Harbor. It's a hackneyed war propaganda film (and not one of the better ones) that proliferated in U.S. cinemas during WWII. The aerial sequences are fine but the pedestrian narrative is hokey and predictable. Ironically (or maybe not), the film is set in China but the main cast are all Caucasian with the Chinese characters reduced to bit parts or background atmosphere on the periphery of the action. Unintentionally, it comes across as one of those "white savior" movies where Caucasians save people of color because they are unable to do so themselves. The film received three Oscar nominations including one for Victor Young's score. With Anna Lee, John Carroll, Paul Kelly, Mae Clarke and Richard Loo.