The Woman in the WindowDirected by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a sadly tragic film noir, is the story of the doomed love of married psychology-professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who, with murderous results, meets and falls in love with another woman. Wanley first sees the portrait of a beautiful woman, Alice (Joan Bennett), and then meets the woman herself. After committing murder in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by Heidt (Dan Duryea). The script, written by Nunnally Johnson, is carefully structured with crisp dialogue and a convincing ending. Lang is at his best, getting excellent performances from Robinson, as the doomed, naive professor, and Bennett both. The Woman in the Window shows that good and evil are present in all, and that circumstances frequently dictate moral choices. Based on J.H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film gives viewers their money's worth with not one but two logical and satisfying surprise twists at the end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Red RiverJohn Wayne -- showing off a darker side to his screen persona than we'd previously seen -- portrays Thomas Dunson, a frontiersman who, with his longtime partner Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan), leaves abandons a westbound wagon train in 1851 to make his future as a rancher in Texas. Doing so forces him to abandon Fen (Colleen Gray), his fiancee -- and when she is killed in an Indian raid a short time later, it taints any good that Dunson might find in the future he carves out for himself, destroying any joy he might derive from life. The sole survivor of the raid is Matthew Garth (Mickey Kuhn), a young orphan who is unusually handy with a gun for one his age -- and already knows how to channel his grief and horror at what he's seen, as much as Dunson does. Dunson informally adopts Matt as his son, and over the next 14 years he builds up one of the largest ranches in the entire state of Texas. And all of it is worth nothing, a result of the economic ruin wrought on the state in the aftermath of the Civil War. Matthew (Montgomery Clift, now back from the war and doing some of his own adventuring, finds a darker, more taciturn Dunson than he's ever known -- as Groot tells it, he afraid, because he just doesn't know how to fight the threats he now faces. With Matthew now returned, Dunson decides to move his herd, nearly 10,000 head of cattle, to Missouri, where there is a market for beef, over 1000 miles away through territory controlled by border gangs hundreds of men strong that have stopped every cattle drive up to now, and Indians who have picked off what the gangs missed. Dunson drives his men as hard as he does himself, relentlessly, till even some of his best hands break under the strain -- and he's not above killing anyone who challenges his authority on the drive. He's able to hold them in line as long as Matthew backs him up, and he does until Dunson, exhausted and worn down by lack of sleep, finally goes too far. Matthew steps in, backed by laconic, smirking gunman Cherry Valance (John Ireland) and most of the rest of the men and takes the herd from Dunson. Leaving his father and mentor behind, he heads the herd toward Kansas, where -- so the men are told -- there's a new railroad. Along the way, he meets Tess Millay (Joanne Dru), a card-dealer who falls in love with the young man. But he has to finish the drive and leaves her behind, much as Dunson left Fen. And they all know that Dunson is coming after Matthew to kill him. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
The Barefoot ContessaThe Barefoot Contessa begins at the funeral of
Ava Gardner, a former Spanish peasant, cabaret dancer and movie star, who at the time of her death was a full-fledged contessa. Her life story unfolds in flashback recollections from her mourners. Film director
Humphrey Bogart recalls how his career was saved when he discovered
Gardner on behalf of
Howard R. Hughes-like mogul
Warren Stevens. Press agent Edmond O'Brien remembers how
Ava was wooed and then abandoned by mercurial millionaire
Marius Goring, and Italian count
Rosanno Brazzi reflects on how he was able to wed the tempestuous
Gardner, only to watch his world crumble after revealing on their wedding night that he was "only half a man." O'Brien received Best Supporting Actor awards at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes in 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
MartyPaddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning slice-of-life drama is a heartwarming story about Marty Pilletti (
Ernest Borgnine), a lonely Bronx butcher. Marty is a burly but gentle man, easing into middle age without much hope for romance or a career. He lives at home with his mother (
Esther Minciotti), a kind but life-smothering woman, and a small circle of dead-end friends. Marty has no self-confidence and feels he's dumpy and unattractive. While it takes some doing, Marty's friends finally convince him to go to a local dance with them and try to pick up girls. At the dance he meets a plain-looking schoolteacher named Clara (
Betsy Blair), whose life appears to mirror his own. He asks Clara to dance and soon they are dating. But to Marty's surprise and frustration, his friends put her down and his mother is hostile to her. Swayed by his friends and his mother, he doesn't call Clara back. But sitting alone at home watching television one night, Marty decides he has had enough, and defying his enclosed little world, he picks up the phone and gives Clara a call. As Marty shouts to his friends, "You don't like her. My mother don't like her. She's a dog. And I'm a fat, ugly man. Well, all I know is I had a good time last night ... You don't like her? That's too bad!" ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
The Night of the HunterAdapted by
James Agee from a novel by Davis Grubb, The Night of the Hunter represented legendary actor
Charles Laughton's only film directing effort. Combining stark realism with Germanic expressionism, the movie is a brilliant good-and-evil parable, with "good" represented by a couple of farm kids and a pious old lady, and "evil" literally in the hands of a posturing psychopath. Imprisoned with thief Ben Harper (
Peter Graves), phony preacher Harry Powell (
Robert Mitchum) learns that Ben has hidden a huge sum of money somewhere near his home. Upon his release, the murderously misogynistic Powell insinuates himself into Ben's home, eventually marrying his widow Willa (
Shelley Winters). Eventually all that stands between Powell and the money are Ben's son (
Billy Chapin) and daughter (
Sally Jane Bruce), who take refuge in a home for abandoned children presided over by the indomitable, scripture-quoting Rachel Cooper (
Lillian Gish). The war of wills between Mitchum and Gish is the heart of the film's final third, a masterful blend of horror and lyricism. Laughton's tight, disciplined direction is superb -- and all the more impressive when one realizes that he intensely disliked all child actors. The music by
Walter Schumann and the cinematography of
Stanley Cortez are every bit as brilliant as the contributions by Laughton and Agee. Overlooked on its first release, The Night of the Hunter is now regarded as a classic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Dance with Me, HenryDance With Me, Henry was the screen swan song for the comedy team of
Bud Abbott and
Lou Costello. Most of the action takes place in Kiddieland, an amusement park owned by soft-hearted Lou Henry (
Costello). An inveterate collector of strays, Lou has adopted orphaned kids Shelley (
Gigi Perreau) and Duffer (
Rusty Hamer), and has also provided a safe harbor for chronic gambler Bud Flick (
Abbott). Bud's enormous gambling debts bring Lou under the scrutiny of gangster Big Frank (
Ted De Corsia), who in turn is being monitored by DA Proctor (
Robert Shayne). When Proctor is murdered, Lou finds himself the number one suspect. The film concludes with a riotous chase through the carnival grounds, with Bud and Lou just a few steps ahead of the bad guys. Both
Abbott and
Costello seem tired and worn out in Dance With Me, Henry, but a few bright moments manage to seep through the malaise of moldy old jokes and half-hearted sight gags. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The KillingThe Killing was director
Stanley Kubrick's first major film effort -- though, like
Kubrick's earlier films, it was economically produced with an inexpensive cast. In a variation of his Asphalt Jungle role,
Sterling Hayden plays veteran criminal Johnny Clay, planning one last big heist before settling down to a respectable marriage with Fay (
Colleen Gray). Teaming with several cohorts, Johnny masterminds a racetrack robbery. The basic flaw is that all the crooks involved are losers and small-timers who find themselves in way over their heads despite their supposed cleverness. None of the participants is more pathetic than George Peatty (
Elisha Cook Jr.), who is goaded into the robbery by his covetous and far-from-faithful wife (
Marie Windsor). As in a Greek tragedy, Johnny's best-laid schemes go awry. Prominently featured in the cast of The Killing are offbeat character actors
Tim Carey and
Joe Turkel, who'd show up with equally showy roles in future
Kubrick productions. The Killing is based on the novel Clean Break by
Lionel White. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Moby DickPrevious film versions of Moby Dick insisted upon including such imbecilities as romantic subplots and happy endings.
John Huston's 1956 Moby Dick remains admirably faithful to its source. "Call me Ishmael" declares itinerant whaler
Richard Basehart as the opening credits fade. Though slightly intimidated by the sermon delivered by Father Mapple (
Orson Welles in a brilliant one-take cameo), who warns that those who challenge the sea are in danger of losing their souls, Ishmael nonetheless signs on to the
Pequod, a whaling ship captained by the brooding, one-legged Ahab (
Gregory Peck). For lo these many years, Ahab has been engaged in an obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick, the great white whale to whom he lost his leg. Ahab's dementia spreads throughout the crew members, who maniacally join their captain in his final, fatal attack upon the elusive, enigmatic Moby Dick. Screenwriter
Ray Bradbury masterfully captures the allegorical elements in the Herman Melville original without sacrificing any of the film's entertainment value (
Bradbury suffered his own "great white whale" in the form of director
Huston, who sadistically ran roughshod over the sensitive author throughout the film).Cinematographer
Oswald Morris' washed-out color scheme brilliantly underlines the foredoomed bleakness of the story. Moby Dick's one major shortcoming is its obviously artificial whale-but try telling a real whale to stay within camera range and hit its marks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
12 Angry MenA Puerto Rican youth is on trial for murder, accused of knifing his father to death. The twelve jurors retire to the jury room, having been admonished that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Eleven of the jurors vote for conviction, each for reasons of his own. The sole holdout is Juror #8, played by
Henry Fonda. As Fonda persuades the weary jurors to re-examine the evidence, we learn the backstory of each man. Juror #3 (
Lee J. Cobb), a bullying self-made man, has estranged himself from his own son. Juror #7 (
Jack Warden) has an ingrained mistrust of foreigners; so, to a lesser extent, does Juror #6 (
Edward Binns). Jurors #10 (
Ed Begley) and #11 (
George Voskovec), so certain of the infallibility of the Law, assume that if the boy was arrested, he must be guilty. Juror #4 (
E.G. Marshall) is an advocate of dispassionate deductive reasoning. Juror #5 (
Jack Klugman), like the defendant a product of "the streets," hopes that his guilty vote will distance himself from his past. Juror #12 (
Robert Webber), an advertising man, doesn't understand anything that he can't package and market. And Jurors #1 (
Martin Balsam), #2 (
John Fiedler) and #9 (
Joseph Sweeney), anxious not to make waves, "go with the flow." The excruciatingly hot day drags into an even hotter night; still, Fonda chips away at the guilty verdict, insisting that his fellow jurors bear in mind those words "reasonable doubt." A pet project of Henry Fonda's, Twelve Angry Men was his only foray into film production; the actor's partner in this venture was
Reginald Rose, who wrote the 1954 television play on which the film was based. Carried over from the TV version was director
Sidney Lumet, here making his feature-film debut. A flop when it first came out (surprisingly, since it cost almost nothing to make), Twelve Angry Men holds up beautifully when seen today. It was remade for television in 1997 by director
William Friedkin with
Jack Lemmon and
George C. Scott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Paths of GloryAdapting Humphrey Cobb's novel to the screen, director
Stanley Kubrick and his collaborators
Calder Willingham and
Jim Thompson set out to make a devastating anti-war statement, and they succeeded above and beyond the call of duty. In the third year of World War I, the erudite but morally bankrupt French general Broulard (
Adolphe Menjou) orders his troops to seize the heavily fortified "Ant Hill" from the Germans. General Mireau (
George MacReady) knows that this action will be suicidal, but he will sacrfice his men to enhance his own reputation. Against his better judgment, Colonel Dax (
Kirk Douglas) leads the charge, and the results are appalling. When, after witnessing the slaughter of their comrades, a handful of the French troops refuse to leave the trenches, Mireau very nearly orders the artillery to fire on his own men. Still smarting from the defeat, Mireau cannot admit to himself that the attack was a bad idea from the outset: he convinces himself that loss of Ant Hill was due to the cowardice of his men. Mireau demands that three soldiers be selected by lot to be executed as an example to rest of the troops. Acting as defense attorney, Colonel Dax pleads eloquently for the lives of the unfortunate three, but their fate is a done deal. Even an eleventh-hour piece of evidence proving Mireau's incompetence is ignored by the smirking Broulard, who is only interested in putting on a show of bravado. A failure when first released (it was banned outright in France for several years), Paths of Glory has since taken its place in the pantheon of classic war movies, its message growing only more pertinent and potent with each passing year (it was especially popular during the Vietnam era). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
