Ten movies, two seasons

[One to four stars. Four sentences each. No spoilers. Sources: Criterion Channel, HBO Max, Netflix, TCM, YouTube.]

The Girl in Black Stockings (dir. Howard W. Koch, 1957). There are no black stockings, except in a misogynist and misandrist rant about “men who set up a howl like a backyard cat” at the sight of a woman wearing them. The scene is Parry’s Lodge in Utah, run by the ranter (Ron Randell), who suffers from hysterical paralysis, and his all-sacrificing sister (Marie Windsor). One, two, three grisly murders, and everyone still alive, even the ranter, is a suspect. The dialogue is redubbed; the plot has a large pothole; and the ending is too tidy; but there are strong performances from Windsor and Anne Bancroft (a switchboard operator at the lodge), in a movie that hints at but never explores questions of sexual desire — who’s permitted to feel it, and for whom. ★★★ (YT)

*

5 Against the House (dir. Phil Karlson, 1955). Four Korean War vets, now attending college, plan a perfect crime, timed to the second: a heist of the (real-world) Reno casino Harold‘s Club. Thus we have overtones of Leopold and Loeb, Rope, and The Asphalt Jungle. The screenplay is by Stirling Silliphant, with many of the elements that would re appear in the Naked City television series: an outlandish premise, a tense scene at great height (here, in a parking garage), and a motley crew of crimers (mastermind Kerwin Matthews, sane Guy Madison, dweebish Alvy Singer, and PTSD-suffering Brian Keith, with Kim Novak as a lounge singer and Madison’s girlfriend). But the ending — huh? ★★★ (TCM)

*

Mister Soft Touch (dir. Gordon Douglas and Henry Levin, 1949). Nightclub owner Joe Miracle (Glenn Ford) steals a pile of loot from what was his nightclub (it’s been taken over by the mob) and takes refuge in a settlement house, where he promptly falls in love with social worker Jenny Jones (Evelyn Keyes). But she thinks he’s married (it’s complicated). The movie begins with a chase and ends with a chase, and in the middle — well, the title gives it away. Here too, the ending makes me ask “Huh?” ★★★ (YT)

*

Hollywood Without Make-Up (dir. Rudy Behlmer and Loring d’Usseau, 1963). I’d never heard of Ken Murray, who shot home movies of stars at play. The scenes are often patently staged, and Murray is a pretty shameless cheerleader for an industry: “They’re still making great pictures in Hollywood,” his voiceover says, and the proof is Son of Flubber. Highlights: Groucho, Harpo, and Jackie Cooper in a go-cart race, with Charles Laughton waving the checkered flag; San Simeon in full swing, with William Randolph Hearst, wild animals galore, and Charlie Chaplin playing a tennis-racket guitar. I find it sad that so many of the unidentified faces and even some of the identified faces on the screen are mysteries to me: “No memory of having starred / Atones for later disregard,” as Robert Frost said in “Provide, Provide.” ★★★★ (TCM)

*

Talk About a Stranger (dir. David Bradley, 1952). It has the feel of an Afterschool Special, but it’s an MGM release, a B movie (just sixty-five minutes) with superior production values, thanks to John Alton’s cinematography and David Buttolph’s music. Billy Gray (Bud Anderson of Father Knows Best) is front and center as Bud Fontaine Jr., a San Fernando Valley boy whose suspicions about an odd, surly neighbor (Kurt Kasznar) lead to rumor-mongering and near-disaster. An unmistakable allegory of the Red Scare, and it looks forward (I think) to Scout and Jem and Boo Radley. With George Brent, Nancy Davis, Lewis Stone, and the Morey Mansion. ★★★★ (TCM)

*

Where the Sidewalk Ends (dir. Otto Preminger, 1950). Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney in a film from the director of Laura. Andrews is Mark Dixon, a vicious police detective with a family history that accounts for his animus against criminals; Tierney is Morgan Taylor, a model. Things get complicated when Dixon’s penchant for violence leaves Taylor’s cabdriver father charged with murder. I wanted to watch this movie again for one reason: to see the eerie images of a woman (Grayce Mills) in her basement apartment, drowsing in a chair as her radio plays classical music. A bonus: the scenes in Martha’s Café with a wisecracking proprietor (Ruth Donnelly) who calls Mark Dixon “Mr. Detective.” ★★★★ (TCM)

*

My Little Pony: A New Generation (dir. Robert Cullen, Mark Fattibene, and José Luis Ucha, 2021). No, it’s not film noir, and as you may have guessed, younger viewers were responsible for this choice. The story is surprisingly timely: the magic has gone out of the world, and pegasi, ponies, and unicorns live in perpetual conflict and fear. There’s considerable othering, an “angry mob” (that’s language from the movie), but — no surprise — a happy ending. Good songs, great “sets” (computer animation), and highly compressed voices. ★★★★ (N)

*

From the Criterion Channel’s Myrna Loy feature

Love Me Tonight (dir. Rouben Mamoulian, 1932). Myrna Loy has little to do in a pre-Code musical comedy that’s dominated by Maurice Chevalier as a tailor/faux–nobleman and Jeanette McDonald as a princess. The songs are by Rodgers and Hart, and I was surprised to discover that this movie introduced “Isn’t It Romantic” and “Lover.” The first is given royal treatment, with the melody passing from the tailor’s shop to a cab to a military unit to a gypsy camp to a castle; the second is a throwaway that reveals McDonald’s gift for comedy. For me the story is tiresome, but the ending is gloriously zany. ★★★★

Penthouse (dir. W.S. Van Dyke, 1933). Warner Baxter (Julian Marsh in 42nd Street) is Jackson “Jack” Durant, a lawyer who’s found himself unwillingly tethered to acquitted gangster client Tony Gazotti (Nat Pendleton). Myrna Loy is Gertie Waxted, a witty, self-deprecating call girl who becomes Jack’s (chaste!) partner in working to find the real killer of Gertie’s co-worker Mimi (Mae Clarke) and free Jack’s ex-girlfriend’s fiancé. With low-cut gowns, fancy elevators, and pre-Code innuendo galore. What did Depression-era moviegoers think when they saw these swank types on the screen — that these people were better than them? ★★★★

Manhattan Melodrama (dir. W.S. Van Dyke, 1934). Two boys (Mickey Rooney and Jimmy Butler), orphaned in the General Slocum disaster, grow up to be gangster Blackie Gallagher (Clark Gable) and DA Jim Wade, on different sides of the law but still friends, even after Eleanor (Myrna Loy) leaves Blackie for Jim. But when Blackie goes too far to help Jim become governor — that precipitates a moral crisis. Though the principals are terrific, I think of this as James Wong Howe’s movie: his cinematography is on display in a remarkable variety of scenes, moods, and camera angles: watch and you’ll see. Bonus: “The Bad in Every Man,” the Rodgers and Hart song that became “Blue Moon.” ★★★★

*

Two seasons of Nathan for You

First season (created by Nathan Fielder and Michael Koman, 2013). My daughter recommended this series, and I laughed so hard that I coughed and choked and choked some more. Nathan Fielder presents himself as a consultant with innovative ways to invigorate sluggish businesses; thought his affect does not inspire confidence, his clients seem to be willing to go along with whatever scheme he suggests (e.g., promoting poop-flavored yogurt, permitting attractive women to shoplift). I was reminded — often — of the schemes in Letters from a Nut by “Ted L. Nancy” (comedy writer Barry Marder), a book I have somewhere and will have to find. For now, I am imagining some future civilization watching this series hundreds of years from now with no idea that it’s comedy. ★★★★ (HBO)

Second season (created by Nathan Fielder and Michael Koman, 2014). More lunacy: e.g., a realtor encouraged to hype her properties as ghost-free (which requires the services of a psychic and an exorcist); a pet shop advertising on a massive gravestone in a pet cemetery. Some of the businesses featured are playing along: Pink’s, for one, needs no help from a consultant who recommends that customers with legitimate reasons be allowed to cut the line. The highlight of the season is Dumb Starbucks, a clone of a Starbucks with Dumb-branded drinks and Dumb CDs (Norah Jones duets). You’ve probably read about it, even if you’ve never seen the show. ★★★★ (HBO)

Related reading
All OCA movie posts (Pinboard)