Red Skelton Hour - 1954 - USA

Red Skelton Hour - 1954 - 5/10

 
Specifically “Dial B For Brush” season three finale with Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, and Vampira.
Red, dimwitted door-to-door brush salesman, knocks at the home of a mad scientist.
Dr. Lugosi, along with his half brother, who is half werewolf.
The scientist needs an empty brain for a muddled experiment.
Wasp-waist Vampira plays the drop-dead femme interested in a quickie canoodle.
Of course this is ridiculously silly, yet Bela seems to be enjoying himself.
Red must have known how testy Lugosi could be about ad-lib and improvisation.

Animal Farm - 1954 - UK

Animal Farm - 1954 - 7/10

 
After a barnyard revolution, a hierarchy of equals is established.
Except … some animals are more equal than others.
Leaders and drones.  The workers.
True believers are swiftly displaced by domineering power grabbers.
Highly effective and harrowing adaptation of Orwell’s cautionary novel.
Whatever ‘ism you join, belong to, or fall under, 99% of us are destined to be pawns.

A Time Out Of War - 1954 - USA

A Time Out Of War - 1954 - 6/10

 
Late in the US Civil War, three soldiers guard a meaningless stream crossing.
A Johnny Reb and two Yanks exchange potshots, insults, jibes, pleasantries.
The war is almost finished, they know that and just want to return home.
After awhile, they decide to an hour ceasefire to go fishing.
Poignant short of the banality of war, along with the similarities that tie us.

Ulysses - 1954 - Italy

Ulysses - 1954 - 6/10
AKA - Ulisse

 
Kirk Douglas makes an impressive Argonaut in this fantasy adventure.
The Trojan War is minimized for his ten year detour-packed return.
Highlights include Cyclops Polyphemus, and especially Circe, the sorceress.
Douglas and Silvana Mangano (dual roles) exhibit sensuous chemistry; one wishes they had shared other projects.
Too much time is given over to Penelope’s efforts to repulse her army of suitors.
Entertainment in fits and starts.  Action great, exposition dull.

Paid To Kill - 1954 - UK

Paid To Kill - 1954 - 5/10
AKA - Five Days

 
Hotshot boss, Nevill, has driven the company into expansion and increased profits.
By taking risks, huge gambles, and unscrupulous methods.
And now, the whole empire is poised to collapse.
With it, his good name, the wealth, his marriage.  His wife will be impoverished.
Except – if he hires someone to murder him, she will collect insurance money!
Stale, tired plot matched by Dane Clark’s listless performance.
Most of the cast looks bored, photography is flat.
How could anyone make London appear so very dull?

Pushover - 1954 - USA

Pushover - 1954 - 6/10

 
After the bank heist, Officer Sheridan is tasked with keeping an eye on the robber’s moll.
She’s wise to him, ensnares him in the petals, corrupts his rather weak integrity.
There is money, a lot of money, for just the two of them.
If they can evade surveillance, wiretaps, suspicious colleagues, underworld characters.
Moody Noir lacks malevolent characters, instead troubled, damaged souls.
Viewers can root for these people, while knowing Fate is a cruel mistress.

The Other Woman - 1954 - USA

The Other Woman - 1954 - 6/10

 
Studio hanger-on is given her lucky break for exposure.
A walk-on.  Three lines.  Which she bungles.  Badly.  Three times.
Too bad.  She’s nervous, and not much of an actress.
No matter, it’s not her fault!  It’s the director who gave her the chance.  Yeah!
Sherry decides to get revenge, wreck his career, his marriage.
Trashy Noir from indie auteur Hugo Haas.
Has its moments, and Cleo Moore shines as the acid drenched vixen.

Prince Valiant - 1954 - USA

Prince Valiant - 1954 - 6/10  

 
Game attempt to adapt Hal Foster’s long running Sunday strip.
Technicolor, CinemaScope, location filming in England, hundreds of extras.
Though ten years too late, this evokes those splashy epics of the 1940’s.
Visually, this is beautiful.  Storywise, this based on a comic, so that is simplistic.
Acting is problematic, for every James Mason (who steals the film) there is Sterling Hayward as Sir Gawaine (?).
The biggest shortcoming is Robert Wagner in the title role.  He seems uneasy and uncertain throughout.
Watch for the scenery, costumes and action; overlook those miscast.

The Black Shield Of Falworth - 1954 - USA

The Black Shield Of Falworth - 1954 - 6/10

 
Once familiar staple of late night reruns, less so nowadays.
Peasant siblings Myles and Meg are, unbeknownst to them, actually royalty.
Titles stripped, lands seized, all from treachery.
Now the villain has malevolent designs on the king himself.
Luckily, a loyal noble starts secretly training Myles for knighthood.
Gorgeous Technicolor splash boasts costumes and swords, and excellent support.
Tony Curtis, with his Bronx honk, is miscast, though he was a mega star at this time.

Crossed Swords - 1954 - Italy

Crossed Swords - 1954 - 6/10
AKA - Il Maestro di Don Giovanni

 
One of Errol Flynn’s final swashbucklers is fun, if you are in the right spirit for it.
A usurper desires the throne of a small Italian principality.
Meanwhile, a new decree states all males over twenty must marry, which the freewheeling Renzo avoids.
This is a playful movie, spoofing Flynn’s dashing heyday.
As for Flynn, he looks good, face fuller, yet tanned and healthy.
His scenes with luscious Gina Lollobrigida are full of amused chemistry.
Silly plots, flamboyant costumes, but rousing action.  Flynn’s swordfight finale is a highlight.
Gozillaflix DVD has murky dubbed audio, although the video is sharp and colorful!

Target Earth - 1954 - USA

Target Earth - 1954 - 5/10

 
Alien robots invade deserted New York City.
How did New Yorkers know about the imminent invasion?  How did they flee so completely?  Where did they go?
Silly me.  A handful of Manhattanites abide.  Alcoholics, suicide types, killers.  Yay humanity.
The pace drags, the story ain’t much.  Run and / or get zapped by beams.
Our formidable aliens resemble robots that kids made out of cardboard refrigerator boxes (with codpiece).
At one point the military want to nuke Gotham.  They should have bombed this film instead.

Jailbait - 1954 - USA

Jailbait - 1954 - 5/10

 
I suppose I’ve seen worse.
Don, son of a prominent – and wealthy – surgeon, gets busted for packing a gun.
He is also warned by the police, his sister, his father, not to associate with cheap thug Brady.
So, before you know it, Don and Brady commit armed robbery.
Shoddy film by auteur Ed Wood grinds to a periodic halt, yet he keeps tossing in scenes and ideas.
One being a black-faced minstrel smack in the middle of the story.
Lyle Talbot and Herbert Rawlinson shore up weaker players, outshine non-existent sets.
Very early film of a clean shaven Steve Reeves, pre-Hercules.

Black Widow - 1954 - USA

Black Widow - 1954 - 6/10

Glossy potboiler masquerading as Noir.
Broadway producer Van Heflin allows dewy eyed girl to use his apartment during days so she can write.
Instead, she delves into the social register.  The “male” social register.

 
Soon enough, she is found dangling by the noose.
Detective (George Raft) conducts a rather leisurely hunt while Heflin scrambles for clues.
Ginger Rogers steals movie as diva, Gene Tierney seems subdued.
Very w-i-d-e and lush looking CinemaScope heightens glossy interiors and New York streets.
Noticeably awful sound mix, though.  Early stereo, and it sounds like a third of the dialogue was looped.
Alert viewers will recall title when narrowing suspects.

The High And The Mighty - 1954 - USA

The High And The Mighty - 1954 - 7/10

 
Craving an old-fashioned airline disaster film?
Look no further.  This is the root of mainstream copies and inevitable spoofs.
Large cast headed by John Wayne and Robert Stack (coupled with “names” of the era and well as recognizable character actors) climb aboard the Honolulu to San Francisco four prop plane.
The flight seems only half full and seats are spacious.
Passengers each given their moment to tell their story.
Before the engine trouble arrives, then fuel problems.
Wayne very good in understated role as weary albatross observing Stack’s character navigate inner demons.
At times corny and predictable, most of the film is a tense thriller.  (Hooray, free films at the museum!)

This Is Tokyo (Gojira + Godzilla) - 1954 - Japan

This Is Tokyo  (Gojira + Godzilla) - 1954 - 6/10

 
“History shows again and again, how Nature points out the folly of men.”

Fanedit mix of Gojira (1954) with Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) by G&G-Fan.
A shrewd idea.  Combining the 1954 Japanese version with the 1956 American version.
Meaning all the scenes with Raymond Burr’s character are in English, the rest in Japanese.
The narrative bounces back and forth between the Japanese version and the US.
The styles are different.  The Japanese mixes action, a weak love story, and ethical concerns.
The US version is akin to a dry documentary, explaining action, strategies and backstories.
While they fit together and complement each other, it is an awkward marriage.
There were one or two audio bites that could have been excised, though nothing untoward.

Shield For Murder - 1954 - USA

Shield For Murder - 1954 - 6/10

Nothing personal, you know, it’s just the money.
Another back alley stickup between one who has and one who needs.
The robber doesn’t want witnesses, either, so he empties his gun into the bookie.
Reaches into the warm corpse’s coat, pockets $25K, then shouts for help.
The murderer?  A police detective with a string of dead suspects staining his résumé.
Not that such matters.  Cops protect their own, even one more crooked than a dog’s hind leg.

 
Edmund O’Brien fine as the rotten copper, stashing blood loot to - get this - buy a suburban ranch house.
After hours, he is smitten with Patty, a sweet slice of curvy cheesecake who peddles cigarettes in the club.
(Marla English, 20 years younger than O’Brien, the pairing could have been exploited differently.)
The things we do for love, the worse things we do for money.

Naked Alibi - 1954 - USA

Naked Alibi - 1954 - 6/10

 
Decent Noir with Sterling Hayden as no-nonsense police chief.
Drunk and disorderly baker brought in for questioning, provokes cops, gets smacked around.
Within days, three cops murdered and gruff chief suspects the family man, police brutality victim, the baker.
Plenty of false trails to keep viewer guessing.
Noir fatale, Gloria Grahame, plays cheap singer in low life Mexican cantina.

Susan Slept Here - 1954 - USA

Susan Slept Here - 1954 - 6/10

 
Film set during Christmas, but not necessarily a holiday story.
Vice cops drop off 17 year old juvenile delinquent (Debbie Reynolds) to 35 year old Hollywood writer (Dick Powell - who was 50 when this came out), and leave her in his care during Christmas.
Creepy premise for romantic comedy fluff.
I am a big fan of Mr Powell, though, and sheepishly enjoyed this one.
Lush, over saturated Technicolor hues, and the overall design was packed with reds and greens, white trees, ornaments, presents in foil.
Great dream sequence, as well, with Reynolds doing a trapeze/pole dance thing inside a giant bird cage, while Powell (in sailor’s uniform), tempted by Anne Frances as ensnaring spider femme.
Powell’s last movie role.

Down Three Dark Streets - 1954 - USA

Down Three Dark Streets - 1954 - 6/10

Broderick Crawford as FBI agent who takes over three cases belonging to another agent.
This is the noble, patriotic FBI version and rather hard to watch without today’s’ lens of cynicism.
One case is of extortion, another a gunman on the loose, the third is a pigeon taking the fall.
Not really a Noir, but a crime procedural, with several Los Angeles locations.
(I was especially smitten with the bygone LA subway.)
Martha Hyer memorable as sassy, uncooperative moll.