Larceny (1948)

Along with his partner (Dan Duryea), a grifter called Rick (John Payne) attempts to swindle a war widow (Joan Caulfield) out of her savings by setting up a non existent war memorial to her dead husband. But things get complicated when he begins to have romantic feelings for the widow. Then there's his partner's no good mistress (Shelley Winters) who threatens to muck up the plan unless Rick runs off with her. Based on the novel THE VELVET FLEECE by Lois Eby and John Fleming and directed by George Sherman (AGAINST ALL FLAGS). For most of its running time, this is a solid crime thriller with noir-ish trimmings. Alas, it can't sustain its momentum and the film's rushed conclusion is a mess. It's a bummer because it had all the makings of a first rate B pulp film. The acting is decent and in Shelley Winters' case, more than that. She makes for a terrific brassy no good tramp. If you can forgive the movie its lame ending, crime and noir fans should find a lot to like here. With Dan O'Herlihy, Dorothy Hart, Percy Helton and Paul Brinegar. 

A Place In The Sun (1951)

The ambitious working class nephew (Montgomery Clift) of a wealthy manufacturer (Herbert Heyes) is given a job in his Uncle's factory. He begins an affair with one of the factory workers (Shelley Winters) but it's a beautiful socialite (Elizabeth Taylor) he falls in love with. Based on the novel AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser and directed by George Stevens (GIANT). Greatly admired in its time, the film's reputation is slowly receding. There was great consternation when it (as a "serious" movie) lost a best picture Oscar to AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (a mere musical) but today, it's PARIS that holds up, not SUN. Stevens' film, while not without its merits, comes across as rather ponderous and heavy handed. Then there's the casting. Clift is excellent and Taylor is charming but one of the movie's themes, that of an ambitious working class guy deserting the poor working girl in favor of a woman who will bring him more social acceptance in his seeking of the American Dream is lost because of the casting. My God, who wouldn't prefer Taylor in the full flush of her teenage beauty to the shrill Winters? Pauline Kael suggested the film might have worked better if Taylor and Winters switched parts and I'm inclined to agree. The love scene between Clift and Taylor on the terrace remains one of the great love scenes in movies. The excellent Oscar winning score is by Franz Waxman. With Anne Revere, Raymond Burr, Fred Clark, Keefe Brasselle, Frieda Inescort, Ian Wolfe and Kathryn Givney.

The Secret Bride (1934)

The daughter (Barbara Stanwyck) of a state Governor (Arthur Byron) marries the state's Attorney General (Warren William) in secret. She intends to tell her father but before she does, a scandal involving her father taking a bribe from a man he pardoned breaks out and that scandal could wreck her new husband's career as well as her father's. Based on the play CONCEALMENT by Leonard Ide and directed by William Dieterle (DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER). Stanwyck was one busy lady in the early to mid 1930s (19 movies in the first five years of the decade) so it's natural that the quality of her films would be uneven. This routine mystery falls under the weak category though no fault of her own. As always she's wonderful but she can't save a lackluster script. Strictly for the Stanwyck completists and fans. With Glenda Farrell, Douglass Dumbrille, Henry O'Neill and Grant Mitchell.  

Fitzwilly (1967)

The once sizable fortune of an elderly philanthropist (Edith Evans) has dried up but she doesn't know it. Her loyal butler (Dick Van Dyke) and the rest of the staff commit a series of robberies to keep her checks from bouncing and to keep her in the lifestyle she was born to. Based on the novel A GARDEN OF CUCUMBERS by Poyntz Tyler and directed by Delbert Mann (MARTY). There's a lot of sweetness and charm in this warm hearted caper but it's all dissipated by the end of the movie due to the humorless silliness that it descends into. Pity because Van Dyke plays off his two leading ladies (Barbara Feldon is the romantic interest) quite nicely and one is rooting for his character. The score is an early effort by John Williams (still being billed as Johnny Williams here). With Sam Waterston, John McGiver, Harry Townes, Norman Fell, Cecil Kellaway and Anne Seymour.

Black Beauty (1946)

Set in 1880s England, a widowed country squire (Charles Evans) gives his high spirited daughter (Mona Freeman) the gift of a colt that she names Black Beauty. Her attachment to the horse is the basis of the film's story. Based on the beloved classic novel by Anna Sewell and directed by Max Nosseck (1945's DILLINGER). Freely adapted from Sewell's novel, so much so that there's very little of the actual book in the film. The novel is narrated by Black Beauty as he describes his life from his carefree days on a farm to his hard life as cab horse in London and finally, his contented retirement in the English countryside. The book accented animal welfare and the mistreatment of horses. The film focuses on the adolescent girl (not a character in the novel) as she grows from adolescence into a young woman and her romantic fixation on an American visitor (Richard Denning) takes as much precedence in her life as her horse. It's a wan excuse of a movie. Horses are among the most photographic of beasts so whenever they're on screen, one can't help but be engaged. The human drama as played out is trite. The underwhelming score is by Dimitri Tiomkin. With Evelyn Ankers, Moyna Macgill and J.M. Kerrigan. 

L'Attentat (aka The French Conspiracy) (1972)

Because of the current right wing government in his country, a North African politician (Gian Maria Volonte) lives in exile in Switzerland. As he plots his return to his homeland, the forces in his country form a pact with the French secret service and the CIA to assassinate him. A former leftist radical (Jean Louis Trintignant) now working as a journalist becomes an unwitting participant in the assassination plot. Directed by Yves Boisset, this is a fictionalized film inspired by the assassination of Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan politician who "disappeared" on French soil and was later revealed to have been murdered with the cooperation of the French government and the CIA. While it was often difficult to follow the political dynamics of the narrative, this was an absorbing political thriller in the manner of Costa-Gavras' whose Z remains the benchmark of European political thrillers. Its downbeat ending reiterates that fascist governments are corrupt as if we didn't already know but a "happy" ending would have come off as pandering to the audience. The acting is quite good and features Jean Seberg, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Francois Perier, Michel Bouquet and Roy Scheider.

The Split (1968)

A woman (Julie Harris, looking the most glam she's ever looked) finances a big heist at a football stadium where $500,000 in ticket sales are expected. The accomplices consist of five men (Jim Brown, Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, Jack Klugman) each of whom have their particular specialty. But of course, everything doesn't go according to plan. Based on the novel THE SEVENTH by Donald E. Westlake (under the pseudonym Richard Stark) and directed by Gordon Flemyng (DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS). Despite a splendid cast, this is a fairly routine heist movie with no surprises. There's one unpleasant scene with James Whitmore as a wacked out landlord attempting to rape Diahann Carroll which comes out of nowhere and throws the movie off kilter and it never recovers. The score by Quincy Jones screams out the 1960s! The film is notable as the first movie to get the R rating. With Gene Hackman (who doesn't come in until the film's last 25 minutes), Joyce Jameson and Jackie Joseph.

The Spider Woman (1943)

A bizarre series of suicides referred to as the Pyjama Suicides by the newspapers stump Scotland Yard. Who else but the great detective Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to break the case but first he must fake his own death. Cobbled together from several of the Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and directed by Roy William Neill. Outside of the notorious Professor Moriarty, the Holmes movies from Universal rarely had a nemesis that could match wits with the detective. Here, Holmes has met his match in the "Spider Woman" (Gale Sondergaard, who else?), a clever villainess that Holmes refers to as a female Moriarty and doesn't hold back his admiration for the woman's bravado. The mystery itself is merely okay but the interplay between Rathbone and Sondergaard ups the ante. Universal was pleased enough with Sondergaard's performance to give her her own movie, THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK (1946) which despite its title was in no way was a sequel. A pleasant diversion. With Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, Dennis Hoey, Vernon Downing and Mary Gordon.

Julia (2008)

A promiscuous alcoholic tramp (Tilda Swinton) is out of control. She refuses to acknowledge her alcoholism which prevents her from keeping a job or securing a relationship. When she meets another alcoholic, a psychotic woman (Kate Del Castillo) whose son (Aidan Gould) has been placed with his wealthy paternal grandfather, she agrees to help the woman kidnap her son but plots to double cross her and hold the kid for ransom. Directed by Erick Zonka, I found this a morally reprehensible film. While I can admire Swinton's committed performance and (no surprise) she's impeccable, the film attempts to somewhat redeem her douchebag character by the film's end but she's a total loser and all the crap that happens to her (including two murders) is because of her own greed and stupidity! John Cassavetes did it so much better in GLORIA (you know Zonka has seen the movie, when Swinton is asked her name, she responds with "Gloria") which has a similar theme of an aging gangster's moll and the reluctant bond she forms with a little boy. But Cassavetes' GLORIA had an ethical backbone which JULIA hasn't. At almost 2 1/2 hours, the film is way too long and bordering on self indulgent. Although filmed in California and Mexico in English, the film is a French production and Swinton received a Cesar (the French Oscar) nomination for her performance here. With Saul Rubinek and Bruno Bichir.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

A flying saucer descends on Washington D.C. but when the saucer's inhabitant (Michael Rennie) emerges, he is shot out of fear that he might do some harm. Taken to a hospital, the alien escapes and stays at a boarding house where he can study these humans more closely while figuring out his next step. Based on the short story FAREWELL TO THE MASTER by Harry Bates and directed by Robert Wise (WEST SIDE STORY). One of the great science fictions films of all time, DAY THE EART STOOD STILL was unusual in that it was an A picture from a major studio with a stellar cast and director at a time when most sci-fi movies were B films without any major director or stars. For the most part, it's an intelligent and literate film with no bug eyed monsters or aliens out to take over the planet. These are intelligent extraterrestrials who come in peace but are met with the violence so typical of humans when they are confronted with something they don't understand and thus fear. The analogy of Rennie's alien to Christ is subtle but it's most definitely there. The iconic score is by Bernard Herrmann. With Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier and Edith Evanson. 

The Man I Love (1947)

During a Christmas visit to her family in California, instead of holiday cheer, a torch singer (Ida Lupino) finds herself embroiled with mobsters, adulterous wives, war traumatized vets and a romance with a washed up jazz pianist (Bruce Bennett). Based on the novel NIGHT SHIFT by Maritta M. Wolff and directed by Raoul Walsh (HIGH SIERRA). This is a good one, a solid romantic melodrama with noir-ish coloring and one of Lupino's best performances. Ida Lupino had the misfortune of being at Warners where the cream went to Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and she got the leftovers. But she got lucky a few times and this was one of them. Lupino's Scotch soaked singing voice was dubbed in by Peg La Centra but at least it sounds like her. Luckily for us, the film sticks to its guns and doesn't go soft at the end and we're left with a bittersweet open ended conclusion. Reputedly, Martin Scorsese was influenced by this film which lead to his NEW YORK NEW YORK. The supporting cast consists of a solid group of Warner contract players including Robert Alda, Andrea King, Martha Vickers, Dolores Moran, Alan Hale, John Ridgely, Don McGuire and Craig Stevens.

The Hunger (1983)

Set in New York City, a centuries old vampire (Catherine Deneuve) and her latest lover (David Bowie) have been together for over 200 years when he suddenly starts to age rapidly. He attempts to seek help from a researcher (Susan Sarandon) doing work on the aging process but it's too late and his fate is sealed. Based on the novel by Whitley Streiber and directed by Tony Scott (TOP GUN). An elegant and chic horror film where style supersedes substance. Shot all in blues and smoky gray by Stephen Goldblatt (CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR), it's easy to get seduced by the film's stylish surface but eventually, the film abandons its own set of rules for a misguided finale. The film's highlight is an erotic lesbian love scene with Deneuve and Sarandon played to Sous Le Dome Epais from Delibes' LAKME. With Willem Dafoe, Dan Hedaya, Cliff De Young, Ann Magnuson, John Pankow, Beth Ehlers and Suzanne Bertish.