Abbott and Costello meet Captain Kidd

This is easily the worst Abbott and Costello movie I've seen.  It's basically Abbott and Costello with pirates and Charles Laughton as Captain Kidd.  What I liked about this movie was that Fran Warren, a wonderful singer from the 40's and 50's is in it.  I didn't know she was in this movie before I watched it.  She sings a few numbers here and is gorgeous.  So it was a worth a watch in that regard.

The Man who loved Cat Dancing

Lately, I've been getting into westerns.  My sister got this from the library and I have to admit that I was reluctant to watch it.  I'm indifferent to Burt Reynolds.  I don't dislike him though.  However, this movie surprised me.  Sarah Miles plays a woman who witnesses a robbery.  She is held captive by Burt Reynolds and his gang.  Over time she falls in love with Burt Reynolds.  Her husband George Hamilton is on the trail looking for her.  What I liked about the movie was the characterization.  The characters have many flaws.  The ending surprised me.  Some unpredictable things happen that you didn't expect of the characters.  I liked Sarah Miles.  I need to watch Ryan's Daughter some time. 

The Rack

Paul Newman does a pretty good job in this movie about a man charged of treason. The surprising thing about this movie is that he did it and doesn't deny it.  Paul does feel tremendous guilt about it though.  He is charged of collaborating with the enemy.  They broke him down in Korean prison camps.  Anne Francis plays his sister in law.  The ending surprised me as they don't just wrap it up in a happily ever after way.  Worth a watch.  

Shadow of Doubt

Although this movie stars Virginia Bruce the real star is the old woman in the picture Constance Collier.  I like Virginia Bruce but the movie doesn't become alive until Constance comes.  Constance is an old woman whose been a recluse for many years.  Constance stops being a recluse when she hears that her nephew (Ricardo Cortez) is accused of being a murderer.  So is the movie star he loves (Virginia Bruce).  The old woman cracks the case.  

Too Much, Too Soon

This was an ok movie about the life of Diana Barrymore.  Since she's a Barrymore and the daughter of John Barrymore she gets an acting career.  She gets to know the father that abandoned her (Errol Flynn) and forms a relationship with him.  After his death she follows his ways and becomes an alcoholic.  Diana would write an autobiography of her life which is the basis for this movie.  However, two years after this movie she killed herself.  I wish that her movie "Nightmare" would get released.  None of her movies are on DVD but this is the one where her performance is most praised on imdb.com.  The only problem I had with the movie was that Dorothy Malone, the actress who plays Diana Barrymore, is way too old to play a teenage girl.  It isn't towards the end that the age meets the part.  Dorothy does do a good job though.  

The Matrimonial Bed

This is a strange precode. A hairdresser comes to a household where it turns out his old wife is a customer.  He doesn't remember the past five years of his life.  He's put under hypnosis and suddenly remembers everything, except his recent wife and children.  This just makes trouble for his old wife and her new husband.  So it's back to hypnosis he goes.  At least it was amusing.

Sorority House

This is ok.  It's short at only 64 minutes.  I was hoping for an old version of Mean Girls.  There's only one mean girl.  It's understandable since her old flame is attracted by Anne Shirley.  I loved Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables. That's the better movie although she has charisma here.  Anne makes friends and decides the sorority house isn't meant for her.  

The Stork Club

Cute Betty Hutton movie.  I liked it better the second time I saw it.  Betty saves an old man's life.  The man happens to be rich but Betty doesn't believe this although she takes the mysterious gifts from a wealthy guy without much question.  Her boyfriend, a band leader, is suspicious though.  She's the girl singer of his band.  Betty Hutton sings two of her best songs here Lawyer, Doctor, Indian Chief and A square in the social circle.

Times Square Lady

Virginia Bruce plays a woman who has just come into an inheritance much to the dismay of Robert Taylor.  He overlooks a Manhattan nightclub.  There's also a gangster subplot.  Helen Twelvetrees is barely in this movie.  I was disappointed by that.  I think Virginia Bruce made better movies.  I liked her in Brazil more.  This was Robert Taylor's first role and you can tell that he's going to be a major star.  Pinky Tomlin sings two numbers.  I liked him.  It's too bad that his music isn't really represented well on cd.  He was in a few movies which I'm going to watch.

The Laughing Sinners

After trying to kill herself after a romance gone wrong Joan meets Clark Gable, a Salvation Army worker.  She changes her ways and joins the Salvation Army as well.  But when the old flame comes back Joan finds she isn't as solid as she thinks.  This has around a 4.9 rating on imdb.com.  I didn't think it was that bad.  It was watchable.  I liked the movie's message of how you can pick yourself up when you slip and go back to the right path, that just because you sinned you're not a goner.  Clark and Joan did a good job and they have chemistry.     

The Great Garrick

Brian Aherne plays an actor in this period drama.  He is rumored to say that he is going to teach the French how to act.  Everyone in the Comedie Francaise meets up at an inn to trick The Great Garrick.  Only Olivia de Havilland isn't on the act.  She truly loves him.  He thinks though that everyone is acting around him and makes a fool of himself.  This was a cute comedy.  I don't typically like period dramas unless they're based on classics.  So this exceeded my expectations.   

Happy Go Lovely

This was a cute Vera-Ellen movie.  She thumbs a ride in a limo.  Soon gossip surrounds her that she is dating the millionaire whom the limo belongs to. All of a sudden the chorus girl gets the leading role.  The millionaire tries to confront her but falls for Vera instead.  Only (David Niven) he doesn't want to tell her who he is so he lies and says he's a reporter.   Eventually, the truth comes out and it ends in a happy ending.  

Broadway Babies

I've watched two Alice White movies in the past week and this is the better of the two.  She really was a pretty perky blonde.  She and her friends Marion Byron and Sally Eilers are chorus girls.  There's also a subplot about gangsters.  Sally Eilers is just a friend.  She's not given a meaty part.  Given the work I've seen her in such as Bad Girl and Central Airport she deserves more.  I like Marion Byron too.  She kind of looks like Maggie Gyllenhaal.  She didn't have much of a career which is a shame since she's good in this movie.

Playing around

Alice White's hubby is cheap so she goes for a man who seems to have plenty of dough.  The problem is that he's a gangster and she finds out that his activities are starting to affect her life as well.  Marion Byron who I also saw in Broadway Babies which I also watched this week plays a telephone operator.  I wish she had been given a chance in Hollywood more.  She has something.  Alice White was like a blonde Clara Bow.  It's so wonderful that more of her movies are being released.

Spring Fever

Love in the Rough, which I reviewed earlier was a remake of this silent movie.  Love in the Rough was a musical.  There are aspects to both which I liked and disliked.  Both movies are about a clerk who starts playing on a golf course. In Spring Fever William Haines falls in love with the rich Joan Crawford but how can he tell her his true position?  Joan Crawford is definitely a better actress than Dorothy Jordan.  However, Robert Montgomery was such a charming actor.  Anyway, I recommend both movies.  It just depends on the mood you're in.  

Crime School

This is a Dead End Kids school movie.  After accidentally killing a guy, a gang of boys are sent to reform school.  Humphrey Bogart plays a Deputy Commissioner who actually cares about the boys and wants them to reform.  Gale Page plays the sister of one of the boys.  "Angels with Dirty Faces" is by far the best Dead End Kids movie but this one was all right.  

Love never dies

I've been watching a number of Madge Bellamy movies.   She was a pretty talented actress.  This movie is just generic but it's short - 63 minutes.  Madge gets married to Lloyd Hughes. However, her father finds out that Lloyd Hughes had a prostitute for a mother.  Madge's father comes to return her home.  Her husband believes he's been abandoned.  Yet years go by and they find each other again.  King Vidor made better movies.  

Manila Calling

I got this because Carole Landis stars in this and she was one of the underrated great actresses of the 40's.  In here she's a brunette. She plays a showgirl here.  It's about some soldiers trapped by the Japanese in the Philippines. The final scene is patriotic where the main actor Lloyd Nolan Carol's lover in the movie makes a broadcast at the end.  It's an ok war movie.

Leon Morin, Priest

This movie surprised me.  I've seen a few Jean-Paul Belmondo movies.  (He's most known for Breathless.)  He usually plays good-looking thugs.  In this, he plays a priest and he's sincere.  He's a better more rounded actor than I gave him credit for. Emmanuelle Riva, from Hiroshima Mon Amour, plays a woman who first comes to debate the priest but gradually comes to believe the faith, and falls for Belmondo too.  This was a pretty good movie.  Usually, I'm critical of The Criterion Collection saying they shouldn't have chosen this over this.  However, I'm glad this movie is in the collection.  It's not a very famous film but it works.

Lazybones

Zasu Pitts tries to end her life because her husband had died and she has a baby.  No one in her small town knew of her marriage and she knows they would ridicule here.  Buck Jones, the lazybones here, agrees he'll take care of the baby.  Eventually, the girl grows up (Madge Bellamy) and he starts to have feelings for her.  This is a pretty good Borzage silent.  Madge is especially beautiful here.  

Salome

I've been reading the New Testament lately and I came upon the Salome story.  I was in the mood for this movie.  This movie is just ok.  Rita Hayworth is lovely and does a good job as Salome whose mother is accused of adultery and it all results in getting John the Baptist's head on a platter.  Rita Hayworth ends up doing some of her most impressive dancing here. Judith Anderson almost steals the movie from Rita as her cruel mother.  

Gold of the Seven Saints

Roger Moore (before James Bond) and Clint Walker star as partners with some gold, which everyone seems to want a part of.  This western was ok.  There was chemistry between the two stars.  I liked the ending which was not what I expected, not really a twist but different.  I'll have to watch more of Clint Walker as he was mostly known as a tv actor.

Love

This is loosely based on Anna Karenina especially the end which is very different.  In the silent era, Greta Garbo already showed herself to be a lovely star full of talent.  In this movie, she gives up everything for John Gilbert.  John Gilbert and Greta were apparently lovers in real life and the chemistry in this movie shows.  

Made on Broadway

I found out about Sally Eilers from a Whatever Happened to book and I've been pleased since my discovery of her particularly in Bad Girl.  In Made on Broadway she has a wonderful role to play.  At first in the movie, she tries to drown herself. Robert Montgomery saves her and falls for her.  However, she kills a man and in "Chicago" like style she becomes a celebrity.  Robert Montgomery saves her again.  But will his feelings remain the same?  Good precode.

L'Enfance Nue

 This movie is similar to The 400 Blows as it's about a troubled adolescent.  The boy goes from foster parent to foster parent getting in trouble and making the wrong friends.  The actor Michel Terrazon, who didn't have many cinematic roles, is pretty good.  I wish that he had starred in more pictures as he came across as natural.  This was the first movie by Maurice Pialat.

H.M. Pulham Esq.

This is a pretty boring movie.  It's about a businessman who loves Hedy Lamarr but settles for Ruth Hussey.  There are some charismatic actors in this movie like Van Heflin and Bonita Granville but they're not nearly in it as much as they should be.  I'm not a fan of Hedy but she was all right in this.  Unless you're a Lamarr fan I would pass this movie.

She's working her way through college

I like Virginia Mayo and that's the reason why I got this musical.  It's watchable but not great.  It was based on The Male Animal, a movie I didn't care for although it starred some excellent actors like Henry Fonda.  Virginia Mayo plays a girl in burlesque who decides to quit that lifestyle and go to college.  Soon the quarterback is interested in her.  Ronald Reagan is a professor there and he stands up for Virginia when her credibility is questioned.  

Tartuffe

I've watched a couple of F.W. Muranu movies lately.  This one is about a husband not believing his wife that their guest is a hypocrite and is actually a sleazy guy.  This is from the Moliere play.  There is a back story about another hypocritical person, a housekeeper trying to get money from her sick employer.  This isn't my favorite Muranu movie but it was pretty good.  

36 Hours

One person at my church talked about this movie in their testimony so I knew I had to watch it.  James Garner wakes up in a hospital and is told he has amnesia and it's been a couple of years.  But are these people telling the truth or is there some secret motive?  The way he figures out that they're messing with his mind is neat.  I read the Roald Dahl story Beware of the Dog this is based on and they've expanded it and made it better.  That's a compliment because I really like Roald Dahl.  Eva Marie Saint plays the nurse.    

The Blue Gardenia

This was based on a Vera Caspary story. She was a cool female noir writer.  I've read a couple of books.  This is an ok Fritz Lang movie.  Anne Baxter accidentally kills Raymond Burr.  Or did she?  She was drunk and can't remember all the events of that night.  A journalist Richard Conte wants to get her story.  I didn't believe in their so called chemistry.   That needed to be developed more.  Nat King Cole also was in this.  I really need to get into his music.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

This has a low rating on imdb.com.  I don't think it's as bad as people are making it out to be.  True it was slow in the first half but then it built up.  It's about a bridge collapsing and five people's lives are taken.  Then it focuses on their lives until they crossed the bridge.  It's nice to see the silent film star Nazimova in a role.  She kind of plays a villain.  If you're a fan of hers I recommend this movie.  Lynn Bari plays her daughter.  She doesn't like Nazimova at all. After watching this movie I started reading the book which I admit is much better.

Swamp Women

This Roger Corman movie frankly wasn't that good.  It was kind of boring.  Some women escape from prison but one of them is an undercover cop.  They're looking for some jewels in the swamps.  In the meantime, they kidnap a guy.  I got this for Beverly Garland who I've become a fan of since watching her show Decoy.  There's been better Beverly Garland movies and better Corman movies.  

Lisa

I like Dolores Hart.  Ever since I watched her in "Where the boys are" I've been a fan.  She left Hollywood at the prime of her career to be a nun.  That's definitely a different Hollywood story.  In this movie, she plays a Jewish woman being helped by a Dutch policeman to go to Palestine.  He falls in love with her in the process.  In most of Dolores' movies, she was the supporting actress so it's refreshing to see her playing the lead.

The Pleasure Seekers

This isn't that good of a movie.  I viewed it for Ann-Margret and she was fun in it.  She sang a few numbers.  It's a remake of Three Coins in the Fountain and the girls are in Madrid and find love.  I was disappointed that Ann-Margret wasn't with Tony Francoisa as that would have been a more fun watch.   (He's a hammy actor.)  Carol Lynley also is beautiful here and does a good job.

The Plunderers

It is after the Civil War.  A group of young men up to no good take residence in a small town.  At first, it's just them stealing however soon murder is involved.  It is up to the tough guy in the town to take them down.  The tough guy though lost an arm in the Civil War and let the war get to him. People question if he's a coward now.  Dolores Hart, the pretty young clerk in the town doesn't think this though.  I like Dolores Hart.   I think she could have been a big star but there were other priorities in her life.  This is a good western.

Perfect Strangers

This movie kind of reminded me of 12 Angry Men.  It predated it although it's not as good.  Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan are serving on a jury.  The case they are given involves a married man cheating on his wife.  The problem is that Dennis Morgan who is a married man falls for Ginger.  The case mirrors their affections. Of course, this is brought up when the jurors are deliberating the case.  It was an ok movie.  It's nice to see Ginger in a dramatic role.  She didn't do too many of those movies.  However, I like her comedies and musicals more.

Love in the Rough

Robert Montgomery plays a clerk and his boss wants him to start going to the golf course with him.  He charms the people there but he can't tell his real profession, especially when Dorothy Jordan, an heiress is interested in him.  This is a musical.  I didn't care for Dorothy Jordan.  (I didn't care much for her in the movie In Gay Madrid either.)  Penny Singleton is in this.  I wish I knew that before I started the movie.  I would have paid more attention to the female roles. I loved her in the Blondie movies.

Lord Byron of Broadway

A songwriter dumps his sweet girlfriend for another.  In his rise to the top, he casts people aside.  Yet at the end,  he realizes what true songwriting means and realizes he should never have left the good girl.  Cliff Edwards is in this although he's without his ukulele.

The man from Galveston

This was supposed to be a tv movie but it was released theatrically.   In many ways, it does feel like a tv movie.  It's only 54 minutes for instance.  It's about a lawyer who defends an ex-girlfriend.  It's set in the west.  The main reason to watch it is James Coburn who would become a big star later on.

The Rocket Man

I've been watching some of the show Decoy which stars Beverly Garland.  It was nice seeing her in a bit role.  She and Anne Francis look so young here.  Anne Francis was the main reason why I viewed this movie.  She plays the regular girl next door, nothing like her Honey West show which really set out to make her a sex symbol.  This movie is about an orphan who gets a special ray gun that makes people tell the truth.  The orphanage is going to be closed down and a crooked politician is behind it.  This movie was just ok.  Spring Byington and Charles Coburn were also good in it.

That Hagen Girl

This was Shirley Temple's favorite adult role.  In this, she lives in a small town that believes she is the love child of Ronald Reagan.  Shirley does a good job in the role.  People in the town still believe that she is the bad girl so she doesn't get the role of Juliet in the high school production.  She also doesn't get the town jock who she's in love with  SPOILERS -  I agree with someone on imdb the ending was a little creepy.  Ronald's supposed to be her father the majority of the movie and yet at the end of the movie they get hitched.  It didn't feel right.

My Favorite Wife

Cary Grant marries a second wife (Gail Patrick) as he believes his first wife is gone.  However Irene Dunne comes back after being deserted on an island with another man, Randolph Scott.  She wants to have her old life with her kids and Cary Grant back.  This is a cute screwball, really implausible, but it's nice, not one of the best of the genre though.  I've been watching Cary Grant movies lately.  He was really charismatic. 

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Shirley Temple has a crush on artist Cary Grant.  Myrna Loy is a judge and she says that Cary and Shirley have to hang out together until her crush goes away.  Only Myrna starts liking him.  I thought Shirley Temple was cute in this.  I didn't feel that Myrna and Cary had chemistry in this movie, even though I thought they did in Mr. Blandings builds his dream house.  This is worth watching for a look at Shirley Temple's career past her children movies.  

Mr. Blandings builds his dream house

I noticed that I gave this two stars on Netflix ten years ago.  I think it's a better movie now.  Cary Grant plays an advertising man.  With his wife played by Myrna Loy, they plan on getting a new house in Connecticut.  However, it is more expensive than he dreamed and additional costs build up.  He's also stressed out about the new ad campaign.  This movie is cute.  Cary Grant does a good job.  No one ever really gives him credit as an actor.  I think he was just nominated once.  He was just a charming actor.  

The Command

This is a cowboy versus Indians western.  I got this movie because of Guy Madison who was a very handsome actor.  I loved him in the sexist but guilty pleasure Bullwhip with Rhonda Fleming.  He was fun in that.  In this, he plays a doctor who becomes the commanding officer after the guy dies.  There are some nice scenes between the nurse Joan Weldon and him in this movie.  There was some chemistry between them.    

Central Airport

I got this because I liked Sally Eilers in Bad Girl. I first learned about Sally in a Whatever happened to book.  Richard Barthelmess plays a pilot and since this is a William A. Wellman movie you get shots of aerial work.  Sally Eilers can't decide between Richard and his brother Tom Brown and realizes too late she picked the wrong brother.  There's some precode stuff in here as well.  This movie lacked something though.  It didn't really satisfy me.   

Bride by Mistake

This is a remake of The Richest Girl in the World only the actors are nowhere as good as Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea.  In this movie, a rich woman has her secretary pose as her to see if the new guy in her life is not a golddigger.  I watched this with my sister.  She didn't say anything about the Hopkins movie but in this one she was annoyed.  My sister said they were all liars.  She also thought that Ann Rutherford would have better in the main role.  I think that is a possibility.  See the original instead.

Crisis

This is a completely different role than the usual Cary Grant movie.  He's not a charming dashing guy in this.  He plays a doctor who has to help a South American tyrant played by Jose Ferrer who has a brain tumor.  He is really not a likable guy.  The movie also stars Signe Hasso, an actress I've seen a few times lately. I'm becoming a fan of hers. (So far my favorite movie of hers is A Scandal in Paris.) Anyway, I think Cary Grant fans might like this since it shows his range as an actor.

The Male Animal

Olivia DeHavilland stars in this mediocre comedy.  I've never seen Olivia in a comedy so it was different.  However, I didn't care for the picture.  Henry Fonda plays her dweeby husband.  Jack Carson plays her former football lover.  There's also a message about freedom of speech which Henry Fonda challenges at the end of the movie.  If you want to watch a superior comedy from Henry Fonda watch The Lady Eve.

Private Hell 36

Steve Cochran plays a cop that is crooked and steals money at a crime scene.  His honest partner can't stand what happened.  However, he must suffer the rumors that something went wrong at the crime scene just like his partner.  Ida Lupino plays Steve Cochran's lounge singer girlfriend.  This was just ok.  Ida Lupino co-wrote this screenplay.  Her best movie though is The Bigamist and is worth watching over this.