Boston Blackie And The Law - 1946 - USA

Boston Blackie And The Law - 1946 - 5/10

 
During Blackie’s annual Thanksgiving magic show inside the woman’s prison, an escape occurs!
Of course, ex-con Blackie is suspected and taken downtown by the police.
He must free himself, find the missing felon, and figure out the reason why she jumped months before her parole.
As always, Chester Morris charms his way along, and even sidekick Runt has a beefy role.
Police, however, are reincarnated Keystone Kops.  Not 10 IQ points between the lot.
They exist for comedy only, and moronic comedy at that.
Not one of the better examples of this series.

The Spider Woman Strikes Back - 1946 - USA

The Spider Woman Strikes Back - 1946 - 5/10

 
Arachnids?  Barely.  Think poisonous, carnivorous plants.  Being watered with blood.
Jean answers a “companion wanted” advert for blind Miss Dollard.
The only other servant is the mute, deformed Mario.
Even at not quite an hour, filmmakers struggle to lay down narrative.
10-15 minutes are used to pad with stealthy shuffling about
Holmes fans, you know this is  not canon.  Background program, at best.

The Cat Creeps - 1946 - USA

The Cat Creeps - 1946 - 5/10

 
The senator is up for reelection, but a scandal from 15 years previously has surfaced.
Which reporter should the daily rag send?  Why, the lout engaged to the politician’s daughter.
No sooner do you cry, “Anchors away!” when six scheming shipmates climb a boat for a island.
Ashore, the tub is torched – and then the dying starts.
Cheapie B-film about murder and missing $200K.
Says something when Noah Berry headlines, and he was the only face I recognized.

My Darling Clementine - 1946 - USA

My Darling Clementine - 1946 - 7/10

 
Stopping over in Tombstone, the Earp brothers leave one in charge while they rest.
Next thing, their brother is murdered, cattle rustled, they’re broke and need jobs right quick.
Can you say Marshal Earp?  And the prime suspects?  The Clantons.
Dark, moody Western, heavily tinged with Noir.
Fonda ideal as Earp, Walter Brennan cast against type as the sinister Clanton.
Victor Mature a real eye-opener as the dying Doc Holiday.
Striking photography.  Oh yes, and some business at the OK Corral.

The Inner Circle - 1946 - USA

The Inner Circle - 1946 - 5/10

 
Private investigator Johnny Strange advertises for a secretary.
In a heartbeat, Ginny Smith arrives and takes charge of the office, the caseload, and our thick-headed detective.
He’s soon up to his neck in the murder of a despised expose reporter.
The story bounces more than a pinball.  Strange is framed, bailed out, beaten, rescued, ever three steps behind.
Marked as Noir, this is not.  As a comedy, hardly.
B-Mystery, with a good supporting cast, while the “stars” stumble along.
Possibly the studio (Republic) was trying to emulate  Boston Blackie.
English subtitles = https://subsource.net/subtitle/the-inner-circle-1946/english/10078127

Mysterious Intruder - 1946 - USA

Mysterious Intruder - 1946 - 6/10

 
One of the last of the Whistler series is also one of the best.
A mild-mannered, kind-hearted shopkeeper hires a private detective to search for a missing child.
The girl had disappeared sever years earlier, but she has now come into a huge inheritance.
That triggers the PI’s larcenous eye, as he is a rather shadowy spirit.
Soon, there are brooding thugs and impersonators.
The story moves hard, packing in details.  Best, it mirrors the Whistler OTR, loaded with dubious characters.
Jeremy Arnold provides an incisive commentary touching on pre-schlock director William Castle, ex-football alum Dix and MacLane, Charles Lane (character actor with 300+ roles!), not to mention the ill-starred actresses, as well as the mechanics of the B-studio output.

Hardly A Criminal - 1946 - Argentina

Hardly A Criminal - 1946 - 6/10
AKA - Apenas un Delincuente

 
Even as a boy, Moran had been impatient.
Later, a man who favored expensive suits, nightclubs and horse races.
He could not afford the wardrobe, nor the cabaret.  And his horse picks were all nags.
Worse, the loan sharks are hounding him.
Moran works in the bank, however, and embezzlement proves an easy out.
Even after he is caught, sentenced to prison, he has a plan.
All it requires is patience.
Yet, Moran has always been impatient.
Outstanding Argentinian Noir.  (Wikipedia plot summary inaccurate)

The Cruise Of The Zaca - 1946 - USA

The Cruise Of The Zaca - 1946 - 6/10

 
Errol, on his Mulholland hillside, calls for a helicopter to shuttle him dockside.
He drops in on friends at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and go gray whale hunting.
Afterward, a small scientific party sails down the Mexican coast.
Catching specimens, cataloguing finds, shore parties,
Voyage sails south, through the Panama Canal, into the Atlantic, to Jamaica.
Flynn narrates this easy going, personal travelogue, unreleased for several years.

The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers - 1946 - USA

The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers - 1946 - 7/10

 
Martha, Walter, and Sam clutched a secret from childhood.
Martha and Walter married, became power brokers in their town.  Sam drifted.
Until Sam quietly returns, and blackmail, which had been an undercurrent, grows stronger.
Film bears more Melodrama than Noir, although the mystery and suspense hold up.
Van Heflin lacks the oomph for his part, Stanwyck is spot on and outstanding as usual.
Judith Anderson steals the early film as the domineering, terrifying Mrs. Ivers.
Kirk Douglas screen debut, and a rare chance to see him play a wuss.

Appointment With Crime - 1946 - UK

Appointment With Crime - 1946 - 6/10

 
Quick job.  Smash the glass, grab the jewelry, hop into the nearby getaway car.
Easy, yes?  Wrong.  Which is why Leo winds up doing a stretch in prison.
Once his sentence is finished, he hunts for the men who left him there.
Dark little British Noir is filled with memorable, peculiar characters.
Likewise the bristling dialogue, and cheap view of life that steeps this one.
Best, however, is the merciless Leo, perfectly played by William Hartnell.
For you Doctor Who fanatics, he simply nails it.

English subs = https://subscene.cam/subtitle/3164795

The Other One - 1946 - Mexico

The Other One - 1946 - 6/10
AKA - La Otra

 
Good sister Maria confronts twin, Magdalena, about propriety.
Mind you, goody Maria is poor, lowly paid, while her sister knows how to exploit her assets, as well as men.
One belittlement too many, and Maria impulsively switches places.  Permanently.
Not knowing of the corrupt skeletons in her tramp sister’s closet.
Mexican Noir of stolen identity has a great Dolores Del Rio shifting from mousy to seductress.
Melodramatic here and there, compensated with fantastic lighting and surprise twists.

House Of Horrors - 1946 - USA

House Of Horrors - 1946 - 6/10

 
Diverting B-thriller with a solid Noir / Expressionistic look.
Outsider sculptor (failed artist) rescues large man from river.
Inspired by his grotesque features, the artist uses him as model for his Neanderthal piece.
He rants about unappreciative critic, not knowing his new friend is actually a psychotic killer.
Still ... no one likes critics, now do they?
At barely an hour, the plot chugs along swiftly.  Pleasant 40's era cheesecake a bonus.

The Bandit - 1946 - Italy

The Bandit - 1946 - 6/10
AKA - Il Bandito

 
Ernesto, returning home at the end of World War II finds his home of Torino in ruins.
His mother is dead, sister missing.  Jobs are scarce, and housing … good luck.
First act of is a grim Noir, subgenre Rubble Noir.
The narrative swerves into glossy, nightclub gangster mode, barely delving into that world.
Final act shifts back into Noir, with a fatalistic, if puzzling conclusion
Amedeo Nazzari, as Ernesto, could have played Errol Flynn in a biopic (though Flynn was very much alive and active at this time).

Bedelia - 1946 - UK

Bedelia - 1946 - 6/10

 
Based on Vera Caspary novel of honeymoon couple in Monte Carlo.
She is rich, he is not.  1st marriage for him, 2nd for her.
A wandering painter wants to do her portrait, she refuses.
Just as she adamantly stops any photographs being taken of her.
Sluggish tale of the past trailing after the shady soul.
Caspary also wrote Laura and was always angry that Preminger reduced the title heroine to an empty nothing.
Bedelia is more conniving and multi-layered, but the pace lollygags.

Behind Green Lights - 1946 - USA

Behind Green Lights - 1946 - 6/10

 
B-film quickie from 20th Fox.
Body is dumped outside police station setting off more reactions than a pinball machine.
Three murder suspects, body switcheroo, fistfights, escapee, romance, conspiracy, political chicanery.
All that, in barely an hour flick.  Breathless nonsense.
Carole Landis as lead actress was near end of her career here.
A once major star, now relegated to B pictures, she would be a suicide statistic in two years, age 29.
John Ireland made the most of his small part, in this his second film, and he would stay busy for five more decades.

The Battle Of The Rails - 1946 - France

The Battle Of The Rails - 1946 - 6/10
AKA - La Bataille du Rail

 
Above, in all likelihood, the face of the French Resistance.
Ordinary railroad workers.
From sabotage to passive aggressive delays.
Eventually, tasked to stall the Wehrmacht from speeding reinforcements to Normandy.
Frustrated German reactions are often funny in this how-to derail trains manual.
Perhaps because this came out immediately after the war, this has an immediacy, a freshness, a vibrancy, lacking in later war films, especially as time lengthened.

The Devil's Mask - 1946 - USA

The Devil's Mask - 1946 - 5/10

 
Headless, oh no!  Don't you hate it when that happens?
Another entry in the "I Love A Mystery" franchise finds private eyes Jack and Doc caught between feudin' females, mother and daughter.
A shrunken head is seized at Customs, shipped to the local museum for analysis.
The head could be related to a missing husband / father.
Characters, plot lines, and clues bounce all over this like a rabbit convention.
Light hearted, if deadly, mystery should be OK for fans of creaky thrillers.

Step By Step - 1946 - USA

Step By Step - 1946 - 5/10

 
Recently discharged Marine chases a pretty blonde on the beach.
She smiles, laughs, but "slow down, tiger," she struts away.
Later, he knocks the door when she works as secretary.
Except!  Another female is introduced as secretary!
Fast paced, silly mishmash of stolen identities, spies, killings, and befuddled police.
Lawrence Tierney stars as the can-do, likeable Marine, with his trusty Scottie dog, Bazooka.
Interesting to watch Tierney here, before type-casting hardened his tough guy image.

Deadline At Dawn - 1946 - USA

Deadline At Dawn - 1946 - 6/10

 
Cockeyed murder mystery set in sleepless Gotham.
Sailor on shore leave wakes up with limited memory and a pocket stuffed with money.
Back tracing his steps, he discovers the corpse of the female who had earlier taken his payday.
Wait!  He also meets a dime-a-dance girl who reluctantly tries to help him.
He is greener than Kansas corn, she is big city bitter.  Will they hit it off?  C'mon.
Script by playwright Clifford Odets is peculiar is numerous ways.
Dialogue is arch and stilted throughout.  Characters employ erudite words and oddly constructed sentences.
The dance girl (a glowing Susan Hayward) is soon joined by a cabbie, then a slew of riders.
Characters who ought to disappear, squeeze tighter in the cab's back seat.  Numerous red herrings.
Fast paced mystery held my interest throughout, mostly for those odd details.

The Verdict - 1946 - USA

The Verdict - 1946 - 6/10

 
Stylish Noir set in gaslit Victorian London.
After the chief inspector sends an innocent man to the gallows, he is forced to resign.
In "retirement," he follows his grasping successor with keen interest.
Especially after a locked-room murder plunks in his lap.
Fine Warner Brothers effort, with excellent support, but the draw for this is Greenstreet and Lorre, their last film pairing together.