Manhandled, A Damsel, Jewels, and a Homicide

Dorothy Lamour as a sultry damsel in great peril.  We have a good one today.  Gritty cityscapes in the dark of night, a seedy private eye, a hard-boiled detective, and a square-jawed insurance investigator all contribute to this classic Film Noir film. Double-crosses, betrayals, scams, blackmail, frames, and good old fashioned murder also contribute.  Our feature today is 1949's "Manhandled," directed by Lewis R. Foster.

Merl (Lamour) is the secretary for Dr. Redman (Harold Vermilyea), psychiatrist.  As our film begins she is transcribing a session between the doctor and gadabout writer Alton Bennet (Alan Napier). Alton is a writer who can't sell a book and married to a socialite with $100,000 of jewels to her name.  The sultry Ruth (Irene Hervey) wears the jewels almost to mock Alton and is fooling around with handsome Guy (Phillip Reed). Alton has dreams, which he tells the doc.  Every night he dreams of attacking his wife, then murdering her with a heavy perfume bottle.  Motive? The jewels of course.  Then, guess what. Ruth is murdered in that exact fashion, and all her jewels are stolen.  Now the story gets uber interesting.  Guess who has a great alibi...Alton!

Backing up, Merl has secrets that she wants to be kept secret.  She came to the city from California where she had to leave suddenly.  She also has a little girl who her mother is raising.  Why? The mystery thickens. Merl needs money to bring her daughter from California. Alone, she confides all this to a slimy but opportunistic private eye, Karl (Dan Duryea).  Karl is clever and Merl does not realize she has revealed the secrets about Alton, his wife, and his dream. Karl also needs dinero. Seasoned and cynical police lieutenant Bill Dawson (Art Smith) is on the case and so is an investigator for the insurance company that insures Ruth's stolen jewels, Joe Cooper (Sterling Hayden).  Sadly for Merl, all evidence points to her.  But is the evidence legitimate?  Joe believes her but Detective Dawson does not. The slimy Karl seems all too eager to help Dawson pin the wrap on Merl. 

Did Merl murder Ruth, just like the evidence suggests?  If not Ruth, then who? Will the square-jawed investigator, Joe Cooper, clear Merl and then romance her?  All secrets are revealed and this stays a fantastic mystery all the way to the end.  The ending is filled with twists and ironies.  For a terrific performance by Dorothy Lamour as a damsel in great peril, see "Manhandled."

Tiger in the Smoke, The Fog of War

Yep, this will be the foggiest movie you have ever seen...even foggier than "The Fog" or "Fog Island"...combined!  This Film Noir classic from Pinewood Studios in England is set in the fog, and the fog even comes inside when someone opens the door.  What's the fog hiding? Shell shock (we call it PTSD now)?  A treasure chest? True love? A band of insane war vets welcoming home their psycho leader? Our feature today is 1956's "Tiger in the Smoke," directed by Roy Ward Baker. 

Major Elgin stepped on a mine and did not make it home from France.  The war ends and his men do make it home, shell shocked. Meg (Muriel Pavlow) is the Major's widow and is not too sad about being on the market again.  She won't be on the market long.  Hunk Geoffrey (Donald Sinden) is now engaged to her. Uh oh, Muriel is mailed photos of her husband...alive. Now the Major sets up a rendezvous with his about to be re-married wife.  This happens in the fog, and some imposter shows up. What's going on? It is all so foggy. Uh oh, a brass band of street people kidnap Geoffrey, kill the imposter, and bring the groom-to-be to their hideout...but why? Uh oh again, Jack (Tony Wright), a complete homicidal psycho escapes from prison and makes his way back to his shell shocked buddies.

Jack is busy, now that he has escaped.  He murders some more and is looking for something.  He'll sneak into Meg's home, do an unsuccessful search for something, and come within an inch from murdering Meg. Geoffrey?  Bound and gagged in the hideout of these crazy loons with brass instruments. Uh oh, Meg's priest (Laurence Naismith) knows some secrets...too many secrets. Now the priest is in mortal danger.  Not even Jack knows the secrets, only that he wants to know what they are. Geoffrey?  Useless, just like all men...but even so, he gets loose and thinks he can save Meg from certain maiming, and...well, you'll see.

Just what is the secret that Jack wants to know?  Is Meg's deceased husband alive?  Will the hunk Geoffrey do anything except being tied up, gagged, and escaping to advance the plot and protect Meg from the psycho Jack? The fog of war lasts way after the Germans surrendered and engulfs many returning soldiers...and no film captures this any better than "Tiger in the Smoke." 

This Gun for Hire, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd...Enough Said

Veronica Lake! For a short time she was the most sultry and seductive actress in Hollywood. The glamour and allure was ephemeral.  We're told she hit the bottle and developed a vicious demeanor making her impossible to work with.  Even today, this action line still holds, though it is largely a deception. Yep, impossible to work with, but not for the reasons legend tells us. Drunk?  Sure, as was most of Hollywood.  A temper? Anything new here for anyone in that industry? No, Veronica Lake, a seemingly diminutive (four-feet-eleven) actress was anything but diminutive.  The blonde babe refused to allow the powerbrokers to take advantage of her. She refused to let the Hollywood biggies make her do something she didn't want to do. Other young starlets freely allowed their own exploitation, and this is why Veronica Lake was passed over by an industry that owed her so much.  Today we look at the first collaboration of Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd, 1942's "This Gun for Hire," directed by Frank Tuttle.

Raven (Ladd) is a psycho killer.  He has no conscious nor ability to feel guilt. As the film opens he completes a contract killing of two seemingly innocent people. We next meet Ellen (Lake), a nightclub magician/singer clad in a shiny and slinky gown. We are seduced by her beauty, talent, and allure. Uh oh, Raven has been set-up by the creep who contracted the killing, Gates (Laird Cregar).  Uh oh, again, we meet Ellen's BF, police lieutenant Crane (William Preston). They will be married. Now, running from the police, and Lt. Crane, Raven hops a train from San Francisco to LA to murder Gates. Ellen is on the tarin as Gates has hired her to perform in his nightclub.  Now Gates is horrified.  Raven is a monster and the cops were unable to arrest him. Gates knows Raven is coming after him.  He also sees Ellen sitting next to Raven on the train and gets the wrong idea.

Once in LA, Raven sets to execute Ellen. Only a stroke of luck save Ellen.  Oh, Ellen?  Not just a pretty face.  She is tasked with saving the world.  World War 2 has just started and she is a secret agent, kind of, who needs to find out who is selling poison gas formula to the Japanese.  Ellen can tell this to no one, but will need help nailing the traitor.  Now Raven and Ellen are both in quests for justice.  Ellen's justice could save so many American GIs and Raven's justice is twisted...but both seek justice, nonetheless.  The relationship begun between Ellen and Raven is one of the most twisted, interesting, and complicated in all of film history.  To do the divine, save America from Japan, Ellen must enlist the devil.

Will Ellen save the world from the Empire of the Sun, and herself from Raven?  Will Raven have goodness infused into him by the angelic beauty with the voice of a nightingale and the deception of a magician?  Even if Raven does not murder her, will Ellen be able to survive the evil traitors she is up against?  This is one of the finest movies ever made and my very favorite Film Noir film.  Veronica Lake, despite what the ignorant assert, never embarrassed herself in films, and someday the definitive biography of her will come out.  To be seduced, mesmerized, and horrified, see "This Gun for Hire."

   

The Secret Place, A Sultry Dame and a Boy

Oh, how the youth are disappointed with the lessons they learn in adolescence.  Lesson #1, all sultry dames are trollops and slags!  Oh, the awful lessons sultry dames learn in their nubile years.  Lesson #1 for them, all men are pigs and brutes.  Put those two together, throw them in gritty post-war London, and we have 1957's "The Secret Place," directed by Clive Donner.  Oh yes, this one stars the sultry Belinda Lee as the aforementioned dame...or slag...or trollop...you decide.

She's sultry, Molly (Lee).  The trim, nubile blonde mans a cigarette stand in a gritty London neighborhood.  Her biggest fan is the adolescent Freddie (Michael Brooke) who drools every time he sees her, as do we.  So cute, and Molly is flattered.  Sadly, Molly is in love with the slimy, but handsome Gerry (Ronald Lewis).  He's a crook.  Gerry and his partner, Steve (Michael Gwynn) are plotting a diamond heist.  From what we see, the plan is a good one, but these two are obviously losers, so we don't expect this to go well.  Molly is lured in by Gerry's sweet-talking to help out.  Sadly, Molly cons the drooling Freddie into providing them with a cop's uniform.  See, Freddie's (Geoffrey Keen) dad is a constable. Molly comes up with a stupid lie, but Freddie is too in love to be suspicious.

The robbery goes off, but Steve and Gerry did not figure the stones are too hot to fence.  Now they have to hide them and get them cut.  A comedy of errors, bad judgment, and major league stupidity rule the day for our crooks.  Now Freddie figures out Molly used him, and he angry.  So?  Well, part of the bad judgment by our crooks is to hide the ice in Freddie's room, where he finds them.  Now Freddie has the stolen diamonds and a far out plan that might just get him killed.  Molly, seduced by having a boyfriend who has earning power, keeps taking direction from Gerry.  Now Freddie may have to fear the sultry Molly more than the homicidal Gerry and Steve.  

Will the sultry Molly ultimately be able to see to Freddie's demise?  Will the very cute pre-teen Freddie be able to outsmart the suave and maniacal diamond thieves?  Is Molly too sultry for Freddie to remain mad at?  This is a heartbreaking tale of betrayal, puppy love, and diamonds.  For a very arousing performance by Belinda Lee, see "The Secret Place," and you decide if she is a trollop, slag, or sultry enough not to care.  

Eyewitness, A Sultry Nurse in Great Peril from Killers

{Personal note: TYSM to Tom Spender for his kind words regarding my reviews. You're the best, Tom!}Wow, remember 1981's "Halloween 2" when Michael Myers infiltrated the hospital in Haddonfield and did so many evil things to all the pretty nurses? Well, this 1956 film is the forerunner to that slasher movie.  Late at night, the creepy killer prowls the hospital and the very pretty nurse caring for her patients will be put in mortal danger from violation and murder. Remember nurses used to be pretty, like stewardesses? Not anymore, thus this old film brings us back to happier times when sultry nurses in white gave patients great morale boosts.  Our film today is "Eyewitness," directed by Muriel Box.

A dark night in London, pretty young Lucy (Muriel Pavlow) returns home to her ineffective husband, Jay (Michael Craig). A stupid argument ensues and Lucy runs out of the house. She shouldn't have.  At the theater she witnesses two inept idiots rob the safe and murder the theater manager. Now Wade (Donald Sinden) and Barney (Nigel Stock) pursue this lovely witness. In fear, Lucy runs into the street and is hit by a bus.  Now the unconscious babe witness is brought to the hospital. Wade and Barney follow the ambulance as they need Lucy dead. At the hospital, the unconscious Lucy is cared for by sultry Nurse Penny (Belinda Lee).  Yes, Nurse Penny is as sultry as Pamela Susan Shoop. Poor Penny, she does not know the danger Lucy is in, or the danger she herself will be in.

Wade is the psycho of the pair and he infiltrates the hospital with murder in mind.  Sadly for him, his initial attempts are thwarted by annoying patients and the pretty Penny.  Wade gets bolder and now Penny welcomes her boyfriend (David Knight) into the nurse's quarters where they make out and swap a lot of spit. Penny makes out nicely, and still doesn't realize the danger she is in as Wade figures that to get to Lucy, he first needs to get Nurse Penny out of the way. The dark night, and the deserted halls of the cavernous London hospital give Wade plenty of cover and prove perilous for our angel in white.

Will Wade succeed in murdering Penny and Lucy?  Will any man, either Lucy's husband or Penny's boyfriend, be at all useful in protecting the beauties?  Will Penny, herself, go to battle against the psycho killer, or will some man have to intervene on her behalf...typical!  "Eyewitness" occurs in the span of a few hours on a dark London night. Though Lucy is unconscious through most of the film, Nurse Penny is very active, amorous, and caring...what a gal!  See "Eyewitness" and harp back to yesteryear when nurses were babes in white and not sneering hags in green scrubs.

The Prowler, A Narcissist and a Babe

He's a liar.  He's a narcissist.  She's a sultry blonde in a loveless marriage.  Put the two together and we have a neat Film Noir film set in LA and the nearby desert. Sad, that babe blondes seem to involve themselves with miscreants.  What happens in this film will push your limits of sympathy for the beautiful as her decision making processes will prove ultra-flawed.  Our lonely babe meets predator drama will unfold as 1951's "The Prowler," directed by Jospeh Losey.

It begins innocent enough...on second thought, no it doesn't. Sultry blonde Susan (Evelyn Keyes) showers with the window open.  Bad judgment or an exhibitionist?  Not important.  A prowler comes to the window for the show and frightens Susan enough to call the cops.  Her husband works nights.  The cops show up.  Most notably the hunk Officer Webb Garwood (Van Heflin).  His partner is the milquetoast nice guy Officer Crocker (John Maxwell). Webb falls in love with Susan immediately and will return later to check on her. This return meeting is filled with outright narcissism on his part and repressed sexual tension on her part.  On the radio is Susan's husband who spins records on a late night radio show. With her husband yapping over the radio, Webb and Susan suck face and do the dirty deed. There's a problem... yep, she's married. Webb is not the type pf guy to just give up.  He concocts a plan and you can probably guess what it is.

The lying narcissist murders the husband and makes it look like an accidental shooting.  An inquest will clear him.  Initially Susan is horrified that Webb wants her, but he's a hunk and she's a lonely blonde. Now she is mad for him and the duo get married seconds after her husband's burial.  A bad move? Impulsive? Ha!  You have no idea.  What happens next will only take seconds to unfold but the marital bliss they both seek will be nuked, decimated, and pose homicidal challenges.  With a big risk of Webb's murderous intentions being figured out by his police department, the two decide on a desperate and impossible course of action.  What happens next will make you squirm and shake your head.

Is there any chance Webb and Susan can live happily ever after?  If the husband was alive would he have been able to tell us more about Susan's ability to be a good wife?  Having murdered once already, will Webb have trouble murdering again?  This is a dark one with no humor or wit. You will join Webb and Susan in falling down an abyss of bad decisions and bloody actions.  See "The Prowler" and heed the morality tale put before you.