Experiment Alcatraz (1950)

Directed by Edward L. Cahn

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(RKO Radio Pictures, Turner Classic Movies)

Prisoners in Alcatraz are given pardons if they participate in a medical experiment. They receive doses of radiation in a hope to find a cure for a blood disease. One of them goes crazy while recuperating and kills another prisoner. Is it murder? The doctor and nurse dig into the prisoner's past, which leads them to Tahoe and stolen money. A typical quickie from Edward L. Cahn.

Deep End (1971)

Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski

My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Paramount, Turner Classic Movies)

John Moulder-Brown is a 15-year-old dropout who gets a job as an attendant at a public bath house. Luckily for him, beautiful Jane Asher also works there. He soon learns to please the patrons at the bath house for tips, including and old and fat Diana Dors. Inevitably, he falls in love with Asher, and ends up stalking her both at and away from work. This leads him into the steamy psychedelic underworld of 1970 London. A dark, disturbing tale of sex and obsession, with an excellent soundtrack by Cat Stevens and Can.

Race Street (1948)

Directed by Edwin L. Marin
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(RKO Radio Pictures, Turner Classic Movies)

George Raft is a San Francisco bookie who is muscled by a new gang in town. William Bendix is his best friend and cop who wants him to go straight, or at least allow the police to do its job. Marilyn Maxwell is the femme fatale whose allegiance is under question. It all gets unraveled in the end.

Billy the Kid (1941)

Directed by David Miller

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Robert Taylor stars in one of his best roles in this Technicolor remake of the 1930 film. Billy the Kid, the notorious outlaw, meets his childhood friend on an Arizona ranch. He convinces him to give up his outlaw ways and gets him a job as a cowpoke. When thugs in town begin stampeding cattle and killing off the hands, Billy is tempted to pick up the gun. The final scene between Billy and his old friend is a classic. Wonderful cinematography of the Arizona landscape, though obvious back projection is overused for the close-ups.

The Big House (1930)

Directed by George Hill

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Robert Montgomery is convicted for manslaughter and goes to the big house. He is jammed into a cell with convicted murderers Wallace Beery and Chester Morris. His meek demeanor makes him easy prey for the more hardened criminals. Influential prison film just about invented the genre.

Challenge to Lassie (1949)

Directed by Richard Thorpe

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Lassie is back in Scotland for this entry in the series. She starts out as a stray pup, but is adopted by a shepherd who teaches her to be a sheep dog. When he dies and is buried in the local church yard, Lassie shows up every day at sunset to lie on his grave. Based on the famous, and true, story "Greyfriars Bobby", it gets a little too sentimental at times and has a protracted court scene at the end. Edmund Gwenn is the local bar owner, not the same character he played in the previous Lassie entry Hills of Home.

Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

Directed by James Neilson

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Robert Taylor, fresh out of prison for a bum rap, can't stay out of gunfights. He arrives too late to save an old Mexican friend from being murdered by a ruthless gang, but befriends his daughter. They pick up a young gunfighter/drifter on the run from a posse. Together, they go to a dusty town to track down the killers of his friend. Taylor lacks the charisma to carry off his role convincingly, but there are enough plot twists to keep it interesting.

Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe (1945)

Directed by George Seaton

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Betty Grable stars in this Technicolor musical set in the famous New York nightclub. Dick Haymes is an aspiring crooner who woos her. They've got trouble from his father, who also performs at the nightclub, and wants him to become a doctor. The basic plot allows plenty of room for elaborate dance numbers performed at the club. Willie Solar gives a memorable performance as a vaudevillian clown who sings in jive.

Party Girl (1958)

Directed by Nicholas Ray
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Robert Taylor is a lawyer for the mob. Cyd Charisse is a dancer in a nightclub run by the mob. After they fall in love, Taylor wants to go straight, but the mob has other ideas. It's hardboiled melodrama punctuated by some torrid dance numbers by Charisse.

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)

Directed by Piers Haggard

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

The better title is "The Devil's Skin", as hairy patches of it grow on the arms, legs and backs of those destined for "the master". It's slow going in a medieval English village dealing with the discovery of a "fiend" in a pasture. Soon the local teenagers are disappearing in the woods. They are led by Angela, who has large painted eyebrows and likes to get naked and kill people. The resolution involves some guy in a fur suit, and it's in slow motion no less.

The Strawberry Statement (1970)

Directed by Stuart Hagmann

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Students take over the office of a university president and stage a sit-in. Simon, a student on the rowing team, lives in an apartment adorned with the artifacts of the time: peace symbols, abstract art, Che posters, etc. He wanders over to the "strike" with his 8mm camera to see what it is all about up close and personal. He meets Linda, she is more active in the cause, and is attracted to Simon. Together, they experience police riots, demonstrations, chanting, etc. Filmed in a somewhat New Wave style with hand held camerawork, it's one long acid trip (starting with the orange juice) seen through the eyes of Simon. The soundtrack is probably better known than the film.

Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957)

Directed by Richard L. Bare

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Randolph Scott leads a group of soldiers undercover to weed out murderers of his brother. They disguise themselves as religious "brethren" in rowdy Medicine Bend. An impossibly young Angie Dickinson runs a store and is Scott's love interest. The "shoot out" is a boring fight in a dark store with ammunition that doesn't work.

The Sun Comes Up (1949)

Directed by Richard Thorpe
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Lassie takes a back seat to Jeanette MacDonald who sings her way through this entry in the series. Jeanette is left alone after her son is killed at the beginning of the film. She takes off to the country, where she meets young orphan Jerry. Many melodramatic events follow, but they soon learn they need each other. Percy Kilbride does his Pa Kettle shtick as the philosopher/store owner. It's not the best Lassie movie, but not bad for its kind.

Boy on a Dolphin (1957)

Directed by Jean Negulesco

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Sophia Loren is a young Greek woman who discovers a sunken statue while diving for sponges. She convinces American archaeologist Alan Ladd to pay her for it's location, but has a counter offer from another American who wants to sneak it out of the country. It's all an excuse for gratuitous shots of Sophia skin diving in wet clothes or tied up on deck. Wonderful widescreen cinematography of the Greek Isles, both above and under water.

The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976)

Directed by Don Taylor
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Lee Marvin is not a comedian, and neither is Oliver Reed, but they give it their best in this 70s film set at the turn of the century (20th century, that is). The cast simply overacts: rather than being funny most scenes are eye-rolling in their obviousness. Oliver Reed as a drunk Indian with "the clap" has to be seen to be believed. The soundtrack is a mix of banjos and oompah music from 1900 and never quits. Kay Lenz is cute and lovable, and was married to David Cassidy for a few years.

Guns of Diablo (1964)

Directed by Boris Sagal

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Edited together from a TV series, this one is all about Charles Bronson and his machismo. He arrives in a dusty town and finds an old flame in a saloon. In an extended flashback, we learn their story. She is betrothed to the hateful son of her employer, but is attracted to Chuck and his bare torso. They eventually end up naked in a field of daisies under a tree. A final shootout is well-done, but otherwise it's a TV-quality production, and young Kurt Russell is just irritating in his enthusiasm.

Seven Seas to Calais (1962)

Directed by Rudolph Mate

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Rod Taylor is Sir Francis Drake in this dreary Italian adventure flick. It is at it's best when on the high seas, with some fun swashbuckling and cannon exchanges. We learn the origin of the word "potato" on shore with some native Americans. Back on land in England, there is some costume drama involving Elizabeth, Queen of England, and Mary of Scotland. It goes on far too long and seems tacked on to the main sailing story.

Frenchie (1950)

Directed by Louis King

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Unexciting remake of Destry Rides Again. The self-conscious double entendre between Shelley Winters and Joel McCrea doesn't work, especially given that McCrae is supposed to be a non-violent, good-guy sheriff. In fact, none of the characters have any real bite, and without a strong villain a western falls apart. Some nice Technicolor location shooting at times, but most of it is on the Universal back lot.

Dark of the Sun (1968)

Directed by Jack Cardiff

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Rod Taylor and Jim Brown lead a group of mercenaries into the Congo. A native uprising threatens the employees and family of a diamond company, among them Yvette Mimieux. They get most of them onto a train, but the well armed natives manage to stop them as they overrun a town. The second half of the film is tense and well mounted, including an unbelievable sequence in a hotel from hell.

Willie & Phil (1980)

Directed by Paul Mazursky
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Jules et Jim become Willie & Phil in this Americanized remake of the Truffaut classic. Willie & Phil meet at a screening of the original in Greenwich Village. They become fast friends, and soon meet Jeannette, played by Margot Kidder. In true 70s fashion they give the free love triangle a try, and it works for awhile. Willie and Jeannette eventually get married and have a kid, while Phil moves to California to make movies. Willie is unsatisfied with his life, and tries farming, commune living in Maui and Buddhist temples in India...with and without Jeannette. The threesome meet up again in California, resuming their unusual relationship. It's a breezy movie dealing with some interesting issues, with likable characters and appealing performances by all involved.

Brighton Rock (1947)

Directed by John Boulting

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Richard Attenborough is Pinkie, a sadistic 17-year-old gangster in the English seaside resort town of Brighton. He meets and marries Rose, played marvelously by Carol Marsh, a potential witness to one of his murders, to keep her from testifying. His paranoia intensifies and he kills another member of his own gang. He cooks up an idea to do away with Rose, but things do not go as planned. Among several memorable scenes are a killing on an amusement park dark house ride and a trick ending involving a phonograph record.

Mondo Freudo (1966)

Directed by Lee Frost
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

More or less Mondo Bizarro Part 2, only with more of an emphasis on sex and nudity, with the same film crew, writers and director. More fake slave auctions, topless bars, body painting, etc. with many scenes shot on a southern California beach. Good music by The DuVals, seen playing in a bar behind some topless go-go dancers in cages.

Mondo Bizarro (1966)

Directed by Lee Frost

My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

Pseudo-documentary with a poorly defined theme: just "bizarre" from around the world. Mostly it's an excuse to show women in various states of undress. It's completely narrated with no sound other than music. The most interesting parts were shot in around LA, showing war protests and artists.

Hills of Home (1948)

Directed by Fred M. Wilcox

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Lassie is a sheep dog afraid of water, which apparently makes her useless as a sheep dog, and so she is passed off to the elderly country doctor Edmund Gwenn. He trains her to swim, and the two live an idyllic life making house calls around the picturesque countryside. Most of the film is the episodic presentation of that life. Many years pass, and the old man dies, but a new doctor arrives and Lassie has a new master. It's all in beautiful Technicolor, Gwenn is good as always, Lassie is the perfect actor, and there is plenty of Scottish atmosphere, you can't ask much more from a Lassie movie.

Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952)

Directed by Cy Endfield
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Jane convinces Tarzan to lead a group of men in search of diamonds, supposedly to help England win the war. They deal with jungle tribes, both friendly and savage, during the long trek. A new "boy" comes along, actually his name is Joey and he's got a perfect haircut after living in the jungle. When Tarzan is trapped under some rocks, we see Cheeta kneeling and praying. Cheeta also talks to Jane in chimp chatter, and amazingly she understands perfectly.

Little Old New York (1940)

Directed by Henry King

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Robert Fulton's steamboat invention serves as a backdrop for romance between Alice Faye and her suitors. The Fulton story is far more interesting, but unfortunately the film places the romance front and center. She courts Fulton by selling kegs of rum on the side and investing in his shipbuilding plans. He's really interested in the more well-to-do daughter of a financier. Fulton must deal with saboteurs and a constant lack of money to get his revolutionary steamboat built.

The Unholy Wife (1957)

Directed by John Farrow

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Lurid Technicolor melodrama with blond bombshell Diana Dors unhappily married to Rod Steiger. Diana is secretly having an affair with a wandering young stud, and cooks up a plot to murder her older husband and take his winery. However, when she shoots the wrong person loving husband Rod takes the rap for her. The police, and Rod's brother who is a priest, are on top of it and uncover the truth at the trial.

Fort Dobbs (1958)

Directed by Gordon Douglas

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Square-jawed Clint Walker goes on the lam after killing a man. He seeks refuge from Comanches at a remote ranch where a woman and child are alone. The Comanches follow him and force them to flee to the Fort Hobbs military post. Old pal and gun runner Brian Keith tries to seduce the woman, but Walker will have none of it. Gradually we learn about Walker's past, why he was on the run and how it intertwines with the lives of the woman and child. They eventually reach Fort Hobbs, but the Comanches are on the war path. A good western, though Walker's got about as much personality as a cactus in a heatwave. Stock footage lifted from other films also detracts. Brian Keith and Virginia Mayo are fine in support.

Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953)

Directed by Delmer Daves

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Old-fashioned matinee fun in glorious Technicolor. Cornel Wilde is the French servant who breaks free from his oppressive master and travels to Guatemala in search of gold. He follows a treasure map deep into the mountains and finds a primitive people living next to a blue lake, and a beautiful girl. He narrowly escapes crumbling ruins in an ancient temple, in scenes Indiana Jones stole verbatim. It's predictable, the native Guatamalan's are stiff, the romance is tepid, but it's a trip back to the golden age of Saturday afternoon at the movies.

The Red Stallion (1947)

Directed by Lesley Selander

My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Westerns)

Ted Donaldson, the kid from the Rusty series, finds a horse in the wilderness and raises it as his own. Turns out the horse is a thoroughbred, and he trains it to race in order to save Grandma's house from the debtors. It features a man-in-a-bear-suit fighting, and eventually riding, a horse. Noreen Nash gives Ted and his horse their big break.

Back from Eternity (1956)

Directed by John Farrow

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Overly familiar story of group of airplane passengers crashing in a remote jungle. They spend most of the time bickering among themselves, or falling in love. Rod Steiger is the most interesting of the bunch, as the convict who takes control and makes a fateful decision as to who will live and who will die. Anita Ekberg is wasted as the love interest.

Trader Horn (1931)

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Authentic African location shooting is the greatest asset as well as liability of this early adventure film. Harry Carey is the explorer going deep into the African interior. He teaches fellow hunter Duncan Renaldo about the various wildlife, at one point at least 15 minutes is spent going through all of the animals they see on the plains, more like an educational film. Unfortunately, some animals are seen as they fight each other for food, or even worse killed by hunters. As an animal lover, these are unbearably cruel scenes, regardless of authenticity. Eventually, they get deep in the jungle and encounter a savage tribe who kidnap and plan to kill them. A wild white woman rescues them from the tribe, and they escape with her to civilization.

Defiance (1980)

Directed by John Flynn

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Drama)

Jan Michael Vincent takes back the streets of a New York neighborhood from a gang. Vincent's style is much in the vein of Bronson: quiet, confident, and the movie resembles Bronson's Death Wish in its theme of personal vengeance. The main problem is the cliched presentation of the gang: the ego maniac leader, the predictable thugs with no personalities. Throw in a romance and you've got more cliches. The film ends with the neighborhood residents taking a stand by raining garbage down on the gang from their windows...subtle it is not.

In the Cool of the Day (1963)

Directed by Robert Stevens
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Jane Fonda is a fragile wife who dreams of going to Greece. Peter Finch is unhappily married to Angela Lansbury, scarred from an automobile accident. Fonda soon gets her wish, and Finch takes the opportunity to leave his wife, and together they fall in love in Greece. The cinematography is wonderful, but leaves the film feeling like a travelogue at times. I was hoping for some Hitchcockian theatrics, but instead it devolves into a weepy soaper.

Darktown Strutters (1975)

Directed by William Witney

My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Trina Parks leads the Darktown Strutters female motorcycle gang. Her mother, coincidentally named Cinderella, has been kidnapped by the evil owner of the local rib joint who also happens to look like Colonel Sanders. He's got some kind of cloning machine in his dungeon. It's all an excuse for musical interludes (the best being The Dramatics in the dungeon), motorcycle chases in fast motion and some nonsense skits satirizing racial stereotypes. I imagine this plays better with an audience, preferably one under the influence of drugs from the 70s.

Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989)

Directed by Arthur Penn

My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Disastrous "movie" from the comedy/magicians Penn & Teller. It's nothing more than a series of unfunny sketches, made even worse once you realize every scene is an ongoing "practical joke" the two are playing on each other. The final scene features multiple suicides, supposedly funny but just painful to watch.

Period of Adjustment (1962)

Directed by George Roy Hill

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

The cast struggles with their southern accents in this Tennessee Williams story. Jane Fonda is a dazed and confused newlywed with a Marilyn Monroe doo. Her husband gets the shakes whenever they try to have sex. His old war buddy is also having marriage problems in the suburbs. Williams' story is often dumb-downed for the comedy, but some of his keen observations on marriage and suburbia will occasionally percolate through the dialogue.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)

Directed by Sidney Franklin

My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Towering star power is about the only saving grace of this creaky, static early talkie. I don't think the camera moves for the first 15 minutes of the film. Norma Shearer is good as usual as the sickly poetess Elizabeth Barrett. However, Charles Laughton is laughably stuffy and serious as her overbearing father.

The Forbidden Street (1949)

Directed by Jean Negulesco

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Dana Andrews has a dual role: first as an alcoholic artist who hustles his way into a marriage, then as a gentler version of the same person who assumes the first's identity after his death. It's set mostly in a slum alley of London called Brittania Mews. The second half is the best, as the new Andrews and O'Hara start a successful puppet theatre. Dame Sybil Thorndike is superb as the "Sow", an ugly blackmailer.

Mister 880 (1950)

Directed by Edmund Goulding

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Burt Lancaster is a T-Man brought in to investigate a difficult counterfeit case in New York City. Dorothy McGuire is his love interest, an innocent woman who happened to pass a bad bill. However, Edmund Gwenn steals the show from the two stars as the elderly counterfeiter. It's a Capra-esque, feel-good story with a moral.

Bad Boy (1935)

Directed by John G. Blystone

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

James Dunn is a likable fellow who hangs out at the pool hall. He makes money as a hustler, and there are some trick shots on display. His girlfriend Dorothy Wilson won't take him home to meet the parents until he gets a real job. Since this is 1935 jobs are tough to find. They get married in secret, but mom sets her up with another guy who has money. It's a bit too innocent and fluffy to be taken seriously, though Dunn and Wilson are appealing.

They Might Be Giants (1971)

Directed by Anthony Harvey

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Encore Love)

George C. Scott thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. Joanne Woodward is a psychiatrist coincidentally named Dr. Watson. They fall in love while chasing clues to the imaginary villain Moriarty in New York City. It's basically a romantic comedy. More interesting than the leads are their "loony" friends: the elderly couple who shut themselves from the world in their hidden garden, the homeless who live in the movie palace watching westerns and the library clerk who thinks he is the Scarlet Pimpernel. However, a long climax in a supermarket becomes a bit too silly for its own good and drags the film down.

So Long at the Fair (1950)

Directed by Antony Darnborough and Terence Fisher

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Jean Simmons and her brother arrive in Paris for the 1896 World's Fair. They check into a small hotel and enjoy an evening dining and dancing. The next morning Simmons wakes up and cannot find her brother, even his room has a different number and new occupants. Hotel employees act like he was never there in the first place. She goes to the police but they don't believe her either. Dirk Bogarde, who happened to see her brother on that night by chance, does believe her and is determined to find out what happened. A good little thriller, though almost none of it happens at the World's Fair, mostly in the hotel.

Heart Beat (1980)

Directed by John Byrum

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

The story of the complex relationship between Jack Kerouac and Neal and Carolyn Cassady at the birth of the Beat Generation. Nick Nolte steals the show as the inspiration for On the Road's Dean Moriarty. They struggle to keep up with his drug and alcohol fueled lifestyle, while at the same time glorifying it. Jazz and poetry play a role, and the soundtrack is excellent, but really Neal/Moriarty is mostly after women. As the years pass, Kerouac and Carolyn are more interested in family and work, while Neal mostly wants to escape to Mexico and be a part of the new hippie movement. The film is routinely panned by critics, mainly over the lack of continuity, but I rather enjoyed the performances, music and yes even the story.

No Highway in the Sky (1951)

Directed by Henry Koster

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Jimmy Stewart is an absent-minded scientist who ends up on an airplane he believes will crash. When it doesn't he is made a scapegoat by the airlines and branded insane. However, a stewardess and movie star he befriended on the flight stand by him. Stewart plays the character of Theodore Honey perfectly: he has conviction for his ideas when cornered, shows pathos for his fellow passengers, love for his daughter and is completely unaware that the stewardess is falling in love with him. The story is by Nevil Shute, sort of a precursor to the science-driven stories of Michael Crichton.

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

Directed by Roy Rowland

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Edward G. Robinson is a father in rural Wisconsin raising young Margaret O'Brien. It's more or less a typical farmer's life, and the movie seems content with its slow and uneventful depiction. Little O'Brien is perhaps a bit precocious and can be irritating. There is some dark foreshadowing of things to come: the death of a squirrel for instance. The hammer eventually falls on a neighbor's barn, and many animals are killed. The moral learned is not to covet things you can't have and don't need. Occasionally endearing Americana is undercut by a formulaic presentation.

Nob Hill (1945)

Directed by Henry Hathaway

My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

George Raft is Tony Angelo, proprietor of the famous Gold Coast Saloon in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. It's a rough and tumble joint with singing, boxing and drinking. Up on Nob Hill, a well-to-do lawyer courts Angelo's vote by way of his sister, who is smitten with Angelo and his crazy saloon. All goes well, until she tires of him, and the lawyer turns out to be crooked. Tony's got another girl from his side of the tracks waiting in the wings and there is a happy ending. There are some stunning Technicolor sets on display here, and an atmospheric depiction of San Francisco. I particularly liked the short sequence in Chinatown and the house of horrors.

Great Day in the Morning (1956)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Robert Stack rides into Denver with Virginia Mayo. He quickly wins a saloon from Raymond Burr in a poker game. He uses the money and stature to bully people in town and buy a share of gold intended for the South in the Civil War. Two women love him, and he struggles with his feelings of guilt with a young boy whose father he killed. Fine location photography in Colorado and good period atmosphere help this melodrama.

Devil's Canyon (1953)

Directed by Alfred L. Werker
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

An ex-Marshall is sent to the Arizona penitentiary for gunfighting. He meets the brother of a man he killed and an ex-girlfriend. He's out for revenge and they are both after the girl. A botched breakout turns into a riot, but a single Gatling gun sends everyone back to their cells. Virginia Mayo is good as the only woman in a prison of 500. Shot in Technicolor and "Natural Vision" 3-D, neither of which add much to the film, which is drab and boring despite the plot.

Confirm or Deny (1941)

Directed by Archie Mayo
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Fast-paced WWII newspaper story set in the London blitz. Don Ameche is an American newspaper editor after the story of his life: the German invasion of England. He relies on code words and pigeons to give him an edge on the competition. Bombs are falling all around him, but he manages to fit in a new romance with Joan Bennett. Based on a story by Samuel Fuller.