Giant - 1956 - USA

Giant - 1956 - 6/10

 
Overblown melodrama of rich man / poor man saga.
Powerful rancher Benedict gets hisself an East Coast bride and hauls her back to Texas.
Where Miss Leslie soon realizes how uppity the whole stinking sons of Benedict clan are.
A diversion, and solace, is neighbor Jett, a wildcatter and white trash.
The underlying theme is about breaking.  Breaking a filly, breaking the new wife, breaking the lower orders.
Characters and sideplots galore.  Few are compelling.
Three and a half hours of Texas bombast.  All hat, no cattle.

Wicked As They Come - 1956 - UK

Wicked As They Come - 1956 - 6/10

 
“Girls like me don't usually get proposals, just propositions.”
Working-class Kathy cons a pair of men to win a beauty contest.
Prize: Trip to England and $1000.
Once there, she sets her sights high, then higher.
Targeting fat bank account holders.
In an earlier era, this would be Baby Face or Red-Headed Woman.
Here, despite a smoldering Arlene Dahl, this a groping melodrama.
Similar to Douglas Sirk fare.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369080

The Blonde Witch - 1956 - France

The Blonde Witch - 1956 - 6/10
AKA - La Sorcière

Brulard, Parisian engineer is dispatched to a Swedish timber baron.
Baroness, actually, widowed and attractive, if aloof.
The locals are superstitious, reluctant to do certain things.
Brulard is forceful, however, both with the project, and in melting the owner’s heart.

 
Until he encounters Aino, a wild, untamed dweller in the woods.
Villagers view her as a witch, while he sees her as an innocent, and disturbingly beautiful.
There are elements that suggest supernatural, although Aino is closer to a “wise woman”.
Brulard, who I think perceives himself as a player, is naive and callous about females.

Time Table - 1956 - USA

Time Table - 1956 - 5/10

 
The heist is well-executed.  Goes of so well, in fact, it fooled me for several minutes.
The haul?  Half a million.  Cash.  Huge amount for the 1950’s.
However, as with all clockwork plans, once time stutters, there’s an opening for coppers.
In this case, local police and, wouldn’t you know it, an insurance claims investigator.
Opening and closing pieces are best, in between, the energy tapers off.
A good cast, yet they seem hesitant.  The “look” resembles flat, washed out early television.
I blame director / star Mark Stevens for the former, the cinematographer for the latter.
Felcia Farr as the smoky moll is the best thing in this, along with an early twist.

Untamed Mistress - 1956 - USA

Untamed Mistress - 1956 - 3/10

 
In India, two white hunters listen to a dying maharajah talk of a strange tribe.
Gorillas, who kidnap women.  White women.
Scene shift, and they are in Africa (elephants, lions, giraffe) where they meet the well dressed, well fed, Velda.
Painful adventure film sees our crew wander sets then gape at footage of wild Africa.
And yes, there are gorillas.  They stalk, they fight, they dance.
They kill.  What’s theirs stays theirs.
Spectacularly bad.

Lisbon - 1956 - Portugal

Lisbon - 1956 - 6/10

 
Skipper John Evans is hired by Aristides Mavros.
Evans is a smuggler, Mavros is a cultured Greek criminal, highly connected.
Third part of the triangle is Sylvia Merrill, wife of a kidnapped millionaire.
She desperately wants her husband returned, though she stands to be wealthy if he dies.
Low-key adventure, bolstered with witty dialogue and beautiful Lisbon scenery.
Filmed in Trucolor, using Naturama lenses, this Republic movie (one of their last) still looks great.
Claude Rains perfect as the dapper mastermind.
Directed and produced by Ray Milland, who also plays the skipper, desired by two females.
I found that difficult to accept, but the scenery, Noir twists, and Nelson Riddle score made this enjoyable.

Crazed Fruit - 1956 - Japan

Crazed Fruit - 1956 - 7/10
AKA - Kurutta Kajitsu // 狂った果実

Arriving with his date, suddenly the guys realize innocent Haruji has bettered them all.
She is a beauty.  She can dance, she is fun.  How had he scored?
While Haru may well be naïve, his girl Eri is apparently not.

 
A sun swept romance, with unsettling undercurrents.
Haru’s older brother decides to take the girl away, by whatever trick.
Most of the characters appear very young, though I would guess them to be 18-20.

Written On The Wind - 1956 - USA

Written On The Wind - 1956 - 7/10

 
Friends Mitch and Kyle both fall for Lucy.  Mitch, poor yet honest, Kyle a rich alcoholic.
Who will she pick?  Ha!  $$$ beats L-0-V-E, suckers.
But wait!  Kyle also has a scheming, sex kitten sister, of easy disposition, who desperately wants Mitch.
Wonderful, trashy melodrama, packed with guilt, toxicity, schemes.
Sumptuous production values, florid cinematography.
For anyone curious about director Douglas Sirk, this is the film to watch.
100% soaper, but heavenly to take in.

Crime Against Joe - 1956 - USA

Crime Against Joe - 1956 - 5/10

 
Our hero is an unsuccessful (untalented) artist.
A war veteran, he still lives with Mom, who supports her unemployed son.
Like his deceased father, when he is frustrated – say with his artistic efforts – he hits the booze and the bars.
For whatever reason, sexy females linger near him.
Frances (Julie London), Irene and Christine.
Not that he remembers, since ole Joe was on a drunken bender.
Shoot, he doesn’t even know how Irene got murdered afterward.
Middling Noir, cheap looking, decent acting, smoky tune by Alika Louis.
Don’t hunt for it, but if this airs late night, it’s watchable.

Finger Of Guilt - 1956 - UK

Finger Of Guilt - 1956 - 6/10
AKA - The Intimate Stranger

Film producer Reggie is being, well, not blackmailed.  More like stalked.
He keeps getting mash notes from dewy-eyed Evelyn, wanting to resume their relationship.
“What relationship?  I don’t know you!  Or perhaps I’m going mad.”
And perhaps Reggie is going off track.  Marriage on the rocks, career in a tailspin.
So he decides to meet his so-called ex-amour.

 
British potboiler, melodrama, has weak mystery angles, along with occasional Noir lighting.
Much of the film occurs in and around the studio;  fun to observe but also a budget cheat.
The narrative feels tired, and a reveal is given prematurely, letting sharp eyes perceive who, if not why.

Spin A Dark Web - 1956 - UK

Spin A Dark Web - 1956 - 6/10
AKA - Soho Incident

“Are you a good boy?  Can you do what you're told?”
Not exactly to the first, but yes to the second.
Jim, from Canada, boxer and electrician, hunts for work in Soho.
And falls under the spell of Bella.

 
Her brother Rico bets on races, runs a small mob, tries to lay off the heavy stuff.
Bella is another matter, however.
Not a typical fatale, but she’s cold as stone, and manipulative.
And Jim is soon doing what she tells him to do.
This has a strong sense of place, Soho in the 1950’s.

The She-Creature - 1956 - USA

The She-Creature - 1956 - 5/10

 
A wealthy entrepreneur opts to promote a huckster to fame and wealth.
If corpses start to litter the beach, well, more publicity!
The story blends hypnotism, regression and reincarnation.
(Actually something I have witnessed.)
Chester Morris is excellent as the soured charlatan.
Broadway actor, Silent star, later Boston Blackie, Morris was never anything less than professional.
Even in this bad, if goofy, horror film.
Other cast members are wooden, bored, or inept.
Fans of 50’s creature films should laugh away.

Three Bad Sisters - 1956 - USA

Three Bad Sisters - 1956 - 5/10

Wealthy father dies in a plane crash (while the pilot miraculously survives).
Three daughters stand to inherit a three-way split.
Or … if one dies, a two-way.  Or … if another, mine all mine!
One sister is goody-two-shoes, meaning Dullsville.
The other flirts, goes shopping, runs around.  Yeah, lively and rambunctious, the fun date.
Sister number three, though, Valerie, whoo boy.  Poster child for devious psychopath.

 
Would that the other two, Vicki and Lorna, were in her league.
Then, this might be a must-see exploitation gem.  As is, Valerie is the flame to watch.

The Killer Is Loose - 1956 - USA

The Killer Is Loose - 1956 - 6/10

Curbside, the getaway sedan purrs like a tiger.  The wheelman, eyes and ears on full alert, watches the building.  Next to him, the gunman, patient as blight, calmly holds his weapon.  At either end of the bank, two confederates nod.  And the heist unfolds.
Easy money, folks.  No gunfire, no injuries.  Yeah, Jack, crime pays.
Except there were a couple of loose comments, which the police, ever perceptive, pick up on.  There had been an inside man.

 
All the makings of a police procedural fly apart after a trigger-happy raid.
An innocent is slain, and the one left grieving vows revenge … and waits.
Decent B-Noir, undercut by domestic melodramatics.
Joseph Cotton and Rhonda Fleming notwithstanding, the reason to watch is Wendell Corey, his character maddened by grief, driven and resourceful in vengeance.
And – Los Angeles, filmed during rainy season, night and day.

Forbidden Planet - 1956 - USA

Forbidden Planet - 1956 - 7/10

 
Earth expeditionary force travels to far flung, scientific outpost, which has become incommunicado.
On arrival, officers meet the lone survivors:  the colony’s linguist and his daughter.
All other scientists and colonials had been slaughtered by a mysterious, unstoppable force.
Long dormant, the murderous force reawakens.
Your grandfather’s SciFi, vintage yet quite watchable.
Eerie electronic score, good special effects (consider the year), and planet interior sets that are still impressive.
One of the few psychological SciFi’s, though that aspect is a bit heavy handed.

The Green Man - 1956 - UK

The Green Man - 1956 - 6/10

 
Seemingly agreeable Hawkins (Alistair Sim) found his calling at an early age.  Assassin.
While he is a free agent and will liquidate any on his list, his preference is for pompous windbags.
During World War II, he finds competition from the Luftwaffe and retires.
Afterward - well - there is never a shortage of blowhards waiting to be snuffed.
Unexpected opposition arrives in a busybody vacuum salesman.
Fast paced, black comedy of murder, misunderstandings and mistaken identities.
Dialogue is rapid fire (based on a play), this is lightweight fun.

Tiger In The Smoke - 1956 - UK

Tiger In The Smoke - 1956 - 5/10

 
Brit Noir set in the foggiest locations ever.
On the eve of her marriage, a woman’s presumed dead husband contacts her.
Scotland Yard tries to intervene, but the husband is elusive.
Also gliding in and out of the fog is a notorious escaped murder, Jack Havoc.
Despite murders, captures, fisticuffs, the plot is marred by long exposition sections.
Stellar photography, and I think the premise is decent, but overall much too talky.

Women Without Men // Blonde Bait - 1956 - UK - USA

Women Without Men - 1956 - 5/10

British “women in prison” film. Slow, snooze inducing, with the slimmest of plots.
In this Hammer Noir, female agrees to reunite with her new boyfriend New Years Eve.
Unfortunately, when she tries to break up with her current “handler” he smacks her around.
She bashes him with a hand mirror and gets tossed in the slammer.
The warden is stern but fair, the guards no-nonsense but approachable, the inmates a happy family.
You got it - fantasy prison.
For various reasons, three convicts escape (including our heroine, who just has to keep that New Years Eve rendezvous).
Brief movie plods along. I watched it because it was Beverly Michaels last movie.
Except …

 
Blonde Bait - 1956 - 5/10
 

… Except the American distributor shot additional scenes, edited the plot, and fashioned a new storyline.
US nightclub singer performing in London is dating a man who is a traitor, smuggler, and killer.
She doesn’t know and agrees to marry him on New Years Eve after he takes care of “business."
When she tries to break the news to her manager, he roughs her up, she grabs that hand mirror, and -
She’s in the big house.
US State Dept want her out so they can nab her no-good, villainous man (Jim Davis, scion of TV’s Dallas).
The new scenes are edited in rather awkwardly, but this succeeds as a new film and, to my mind, slightly better.
Bev Michael’s hair is mousy in the Brit version, back to glossy blonde in the US release.
Neither film is all that hot.

Nevertheless, this was Beverly Michaels’ (great hard blonde) last film appearance. Damn.

Death Of A Scoundrel - 1956 - USA

Death Of A Scoundrel - 1956 - 7/10

George Sanders memorable as smooth talking con-man, cad, swindler.
Penniless Czech refugee arrives in US (after betraying his brother to authorities).
Using doubletalk and eavesdropping on secrets, he marshals information into modest wealth.
Then he fortune hunts widows and unhappy wives.
Lovely rags to riches fable, marvelously upended by Sanders’ unrepentant heel.
Cynical film also has Sanders’ brother (Tom Conway) and ex-wife #2, Zsa Zsa.

Bob le Flambeur - 1956 - France

Bob le Flambeur - 1956 - 6/10
AKA - Bob The Gambler

Bob made a big score 20 years ago, but did time for it.
Now, he is something between an old gangster and retired.
He advises old friends, listens to eager younglings, is chums with a detective, tries to protect women.
Akin to an aging knight. Crooked, yet with a sense of honor.
Gambling is his weakness. He seems to pick horses. With cards, Lady Luck is cruel.
A breezy, perhaps empty, life.
Forty minutes into the film, the caper germinates and begins to unfold.
The story, the music, the details, everything ratchets up.
Excellent French Noir, hang with it.