Fear No More, Will Anyone Believe Her?

They are all against her!  They are all lying!  They're conspiring against her?  No one will believe her? Sure she killed someone in the past, that doesn't mean she killed someone else? Liars!  All liars!  Ah, the paranoid woman.  Maybe some of you have been married to her. Okay, so she spent time in an asylum and escaped...does that mean she's crazy?  Well...usually.  Our feature today is 1961's "Fear No More," directed by Bernard Wiesen.

So happy! Yep, Sharon (Mala Powers) is going on a short business trip to San Francisco for her boss, Mr. Seymour (John Harding). She won't get there.  On the train, a thug is in her compartment and knocks her out. Across from her is a murdered woman. A cop (Robert Karnes) wakes her up to arrest her. He believes she killed the dead gal in the compartment. When he gets her off the train, she runs and escapes. Lucky for her, a handsome French guy, Paul (Jacques Bergerac) almost runs her rover and ends up giving her a ride... back to her apartment in L.A. She is vague about where she is coming from and why. Oh, in her apartment is a corpse, her former employer (John Baer). Now she runs out and is able to find Paul who believes her. Believes her? Yep...she tells him about the corpses and the cop who is after her.  Sharon also tells Paul she was recently in a mental asylum.

Paul is a hunk and Sharon is a babe, so they trust one another...but should they?  Sharon insists on proving her story and her innocence. She brings Paul to her employer, Mr. Seymour. Seymour says he never sent Sharon on a business trip, but Sharon stole money from his safe and ran. He also tells Paul that Sharon escaped from the asylum and was there because she murdered a woman. Seymour is smooth and believable.  Sharon is getting unhinged and showing signs of paranoia.  The mental asylum is on their way to pick her up...and Paul has no choice to but believe Seymour.  Maniacally, Sharon insists she is not a murderess and is not insane.  Uh oh...is it possible that everyone is lying and Sharon is sane?

Just what is Seymour up to and why would he claim Sharon is insane and a thief and murderess?  Is Sharon innocent?  Will Paul be able to see through all that is going on and figure out if Sharon is sane, or if she is indeed an insaniac? This is a good one and the ending is incredibly clever and ironic.  See "Fear No More" and try to figure out what is really going on. 

The Big Shot, A Bogart Near Classic

Let's us all be honest for once in our lives.  No one says it, but we all know it to be true. Ingrid Bergman isn't all that attractive.  At best, she is a 6.5/10 on the babe-scale.  At best! Her most famous role was Ilsa in "Casablanca." In it she played a needy dame, quick to use tears to get her way, and a liar to every man in her life. Now take Irene Manning! Major league babe who approaches a 10 on that same babe-scale. Interestingly enough, Humphrey Bogart made a film with both dames in 1942.  In the case of Ms. Manning, Bogie was able to suck face with a dame who was actually attractive, in 1942's "The Big Shot," directed by Lewis Seiler.  Not a classic, but real men will enjoy it more as it has a greater babe-factor than "Casablanca."  While Ms. Bergman gives us frumpy grandmother images...Ms. Manning gives us allure.

Duke (Bogart) is a fiend.  He has three stays at the joint totaling 20 years. Upon release, he kind of figures on going straight. Ha!  Right!  A three-time loser is a...well, soon to be a four-time loser. A criminal gang, headed by lawyer Martin Fleming (Stanley Ridges) wants Duke to join his men in ripping off an armored car.  Duke initially agrees. To his surprise, his old flame, the blonde babe Lorna (Manning) has married the slimy attorney. This distresses Duke as the two had a thing, quite a thing, back then. Duke pulls out of the job and the job goes south real fast.  No matter, a half-blind witness puts Duke at the robbery attempt and he is arrested. Before that, Duke rekindles romance with Lorna, who is now married to the slimy Martin. Martin finds out about it and insists on defending Duke in the trial. How do you think this will go? Right... Duke is now, officially, a four-time loser.

Here's where it gets interesting.  One schmuck tried to help Duke.  The naive George (Richard Travis) was going to be Duke's alibi. George is sabotaged and sent up river with Duke. Duke escapes but the escape goes wrong...you'll see. Now Duke wants Lorna back.  Though Martin has divorced Lorna, he is bent on revenge.  With evil plans for Lorna and Duke, Martin displays more sliminess.  Duke gets desperate in wanting true love and freedom.  Innocent or not, a three-time loser will always be hounded by the cops, the system, and other slimeballs.  Lorna is bent on making it work with Duke. Then, all h**l breaks loose.  It is about to get really bad.  

The film is beautifully shot on grimy city sets and then in beautiful snowy landscapes.  The prison scenes are almost surreal and very politically incorrect for a modern audience...yes!  Will Duke get revenge on Martin?  Will Lorna please Duke in a way that Ingrid Bergman never could? Who won the often rumored catfight between Irene Manning and Ingrid Bergman on New Year's Eve, 1942? This is a good one, and I implore you, do not let the mainstream media and film industry tell you who the real babes are...decide for yourself and see "The Big Shot." 

Blonde in Bondage, Gritty Swedish Nightlife

Today we go to Stockholm for some dark Swedish Noir. Our titular character (Anita Thallaug) is a blonde dancer/singer/stripper. Ah, Sweden in the 1950s. Every dame was sultry and lived only to plant kisses on American men. How things have changed. Today, those Swedish beauties are hiding in their locked houses trying to avoid the waves of North African invaders. Anyway, we'll have a lot of Swedish dames desiring to be amorous in this one and out protagonist will have to fight them off. Our feature today, is the  1957 dark and gritty, despite the cheesecake,  "Blonde in Bondage," directed by Robert Brandt.

Larry (Mark Miller) is a reporter from new York who is given an assignment by his editor to go to Stockholm and do a series of reports on Swedish nightlife. No further guidance. At the airport in New York he meets Swedish beauty Birgitta (Birgitta Ander). She kisses every American man she can...with passion, but settles on Larry. Upon landing, Birgitta's sister Ingrid (Eva Larang) joins her and also lusts for Larry. Larry escapes the danger and begins his story. By circumstances, Larry meets the dangerous Max (Lars Ekborg) and his girl Mona (Thallaug). Mona is strung out and Larry soon discovers Max has addicted her to dope. Mona, once injected, is the aforementioned performer and we see her in a very seductive performance. She depends on Max for injections and Max controls her. Larry is awestruck by this Swedish blonde and tries to help her. 

In helping Mona kick the habit and kick Max, Mona is endangered and so is Larry. Max is a dangerous fellow but Larry does detective work to bring him down. Mona? She's trying to come clean but is too far gone in her addiction. Larry will even try to stash her with his two buddies, Ingrid and Birgitta. The poor beauties will be pummeled, hogtied, and gagged for trying to help out. Now Max has Mona back, shoots her up, and the babe performs again to hooting and hollering guys. Larry is determined to save the seemingly doomed Mona, and Mona wants to help, but her addiction and hunger for the dope may just get Larry killed.

Will Larry be able to help Mona kick the habit and also kick Max? Will Ingrid and Birgitta stay beautiful now that Max' thugs are set onto them? Will Larry stay in one place long enough to enjoy all the hospitality a Swedish babe can deliver? This is an erotic, fun, and vicious Film Noir film.  Sure, Larry is endangered throughout, but we gasp as the sultry Swedish women are in even more peril. For allure and brutality, see "Blonde in Bondage." 

I'll Get You, Cloak and Dagger in Post-War London

This should be a fantastic movie. Should be. Sadly, it's a good movie that falls far short to being excellent. The gritty streets of post-war London are a fine setting. Peril in the ruins of downtown buildings and a Soviet agent looking to cause trouble? All good. Then, Sally Gray as a British secret agent, quick with the gun or some Martial Arts moves, who is quick to use seduction and kissing. Yes! Match Ms. Gray up with a hunk American and show passion? Yes...except the hunk American is a dopey, middle-aged, bore with no personality...George Raft.  Still, Sally Gray is sultry as a secret agent and the villains are horrific and homicidal.  Our feature today is 1952's "I'll Get You," directed by Seymour Friedman and Peter Graham Scott.

The Soviets are kidnapping jet airplane scientists in major western cities like New York, London, and West Berlin, and forcing them to work for the Workers' Paradise. Along comes a shady character, Steve Rossi (Raft). He lands in London to meet up with Soviet agents and be smuggled into the East. Scotland Yard and intelligence services are onto him and try to intercept him at the airport. Steve is smooth and gets away to find his Soviet contact, Grand (Clifford Evans). With Steve missing in London, everyone is looking for him. Now, with his name and picture all over the papers, even Grand wants Steve dead. A sultry secret agent, Joan (Gray), intercepts Steve. The Brits will use Steve as bait to trap Grand. Steve? Which side is he actually on? You'll see. Joan begins to fall in love with the dopey looking American, though we all believe she could do a lot better.  Sultry dames are like this, and who knows why?

Now Grand sends his henchmen to murder Steve.  Joan and the boys try to find Grand before he can kill Steve and/or kidnap more aerospace scientists.  Chases ensue.  Murders ensue.  Clandestine meetings ensue. In and out of bombed out buildings provide a nice backdrop for all of this.  Steve and Joan lock lips and swap spit, and we hope Sally Gray got paid a lot extra for having to do that. Inspector Reid (Frederick Piper) and Colonel Wilkes (Reginald Tate) of the secret spooks do a fine job in their roles. Even better is Clifford Evans as the spy, Michael Grand. Still, Joan seems satisfied with Steve and we wonder if she will just lay back and think of England if the duo get any closer.

Just who is Steve Rossi and can he be trusted? Does Joan have daddy-issues or something, and can't she land some hero RAF fighter pilot or admiral instead of the dopey American oaf?  If the Workers' Paradise was such a fabulous place, why can't they develop their own scientists? In 1952, though we don't talk about it anymore, the Soviets were a deadly cultic force looking to undermine the west. This film captures that mood and for that, it is a good film to watch. Also, Sally Gray is sultry in this as the babe/seductress/secret agent!  See "I'll Get You" and be reminded that the Soviet Union was indeed the enemy of freedom post-World War 2.