Let's Swing!

 

THE YOUNG SWINGERS-1963-This old fart owns a building that houses the popular The Vanguard club. Her niece Vicki (Molly Bee) gets a job as a waitress and falls in love with singing owner Mel (Rod Lauren; in THE CRAWLING HAND the same year). His friend Pete (Larrs Jackson) does a crazy song, “Watsui Rock”. His other friend Fred is played by Gene McDaniels who does 2 great songs. After The Sherwoods perform Hoyt Axton's “Greenback Dollar” and Vicki does a boring ballad, the club burns down. Vicki thinks her aunt (Jo Helton) did it but Mel proves it was an electrical fire and the aunt builds them a new club. Everybody sings and twists by a pool in the end. Ray Dannis, later in THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS (1966) is a butler. 

The team of director Maury Dexter and screenwriter Harry Spalding (THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH (1962)) made two “Beach Party” like movies the next year. Molly Bee was a Grammy nominated Country-Western singer who's also in HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE (1967).

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Pre-Super Man Reeves

CHAMPAGNE FOR TWO-1947-A nightclub owner (George Reeves) and his dancing singer wife (Lita Baron) plan a second honeymoon in Havana but a charwoman (Ida Moore) informs him that she heard two men talking about robbing his club. He invites the woman and her husband (Griff Barnett) to the club so she can identify the men while the police stake out the joint. It turns out to be a false alarm. 

This 19-minute color short has a distinct Latino beat. Director Mel Epstein was mostly an assistant director and later a producer. Lead actress Lita Baron was in the first JUNGLE JIM movie the next year (also with George Reeves who began playing Superman in the 1951 movie SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE-MEN).

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Argentina

 

 

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EL VAMPIRO NEGRO-1953-This is essentially an Argentine remake/adaptation of Fritz Lang's M with a timid man who is actually a child killer. There are some side stories about the prosecutor who's hunting him, who roughs up a lot of suspects and puts the moves on a night club dancer Rita who rejects his advances. (His wife is an invalid) He plans to have her daughter taken away but "the vampire" (as the killer is known) kidnaps the girl. He's eventually trapped in the sewers by the city's beggars. 

Director Ramon Vinoly Barretto was highly regarded in his home country but died suddenly in 1970 at age 54.

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It's A Jungle Out There

 

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FEMALE JUNGLE-1955-Police investigate the murder of a Hollywood actress Monica Madison (Jean Lewis aka Eve Brent). Meanwhile Al (Burt Kaiser) and Peggy (Patricia Crowley) are having marital problems. He's a bitter boozing caricaturist and she's an unhappy nightclub waitress. An alcoholic police Sgt. Jack Stevens (Lawrence Tierney) also investigates the killing as it seems he could be the murderer. 

Peggy gets involved with the mysterious Claude Almstead (John Carradine) who says he wants a caricature but has some other motive. Although Al is having an affair with the floozy Candy (Jayne Mansfield in her movie debut) he really gets concerned when he can't find Peggy and gives Candy the brush off. The real killer is revealed in the talky finale of this low budget sleazy crime drama directed by Bruno Ve Soto, who also has a small role. Connie Cezon from 3 Stooges shorts is also in it.

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More Price Magic

 

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THE LONG NIGHT-1947-A mysterious stranger is shot at a rooming house. The police investigate and when they go to the room of Joe Adams (Henry Fonda) he shoots at them through the door. When he won't cooperate, they shoot at him from a building across the street but that doesn't work. A flashback relates what has happened Joe, a factory worker who meets Jo Ann (Barbara Bel Geddes), who works in a flower shop. They fall in love and he wants to marry her. She seems hesitant (of course she's hiding a secret). Joe follows her to a smoky nightclub where magician Maximillan the Great (the one and only Vincent Price) performs. Jo meets with Max for some unknown reason. Max's assistant Charlene (Ann Dvorak) gives Joe the lowdown on her boss. He and Charlene begin a friendship. Max says he's Jo's father despite her being an orphan. He thinks Jo is no good for Joe. Then Jo has a flashback where we find out Max is not her father but a guy who tried to put the moves on her. He wants to break the couple up and says “Do I have to apologize for superior imagination?”. When Max goes to see Joe, he won't shut up and Joe shoots him. Back in the present Jo talks Joe out of the apartment amid a teargas attack. 

A bevy of characters appear: Elisha Cook Jr., Queenie Smith, Charles McGraw, Bobby Barber, Ellen Corby, Byron Foulger, Mary Gordon, Richard Reeves, Ray Teal, Dick Wessel and Will Wright. This kind of crime drama/love story/film noir was directed by Anatole Litvak (THE SNAKE PIT) after spending most of the WW2 years making a short film documentary series “Why We Fight” with Frank Capra. 

The movie succeeds if you are not looking for a huge payoff in the finale, otherwise it's a slight disappointment. It also depends on your point of view with Joe's predicament. He doesn't really evoke that much sympathy. This was lead actress Bel Geddes' movie debut. Among other things, she's remembered as the lead on TV's “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” episode “Lamb To The Slaughter”.

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Who Doesn"t?

 

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I LOVE TROUBLE-1948-PI Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone) investigates the past of the wife named Jane (Lyn Merrick) of a "public figure" (Tom Powers). It leads to a night club run by Keller (Stephan Geray) & Reno (John Ireland). After he's threatened and slugged, Bailey meets a woman (Janet Blair) who says she's Jane's sister. This leads Jim to Caprlllo (Eduardo Ciannelli) and young wife Ligia (Janis Carter) and their shady chauffeur Martin (Donald Curtis). Later he's beaten up by Reno and his henchman (Raymond Burr). Bailey escapes their clutches and suspects Jane of murdering an ex-con cook (Sid Tomack). Glenda Farrell is his secretary and Adele Jergens is a helpful showgirl. 

OK typical film noir with Tone giving a good performance as the cool PI. Screenwriter Roy Huggins later created the TV show “77 Sunset Strip”. This is one of the last movies made by director S. Sylvan Simon (ABBOTT & COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945)) who died suddenly of a heart attack in 1951.

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PRC Murder

 

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THE LADY CONFESSES-1945-Larry Craig's wife Norma (Barbara Slater) returns after disappearing 7 years before. Larry (Hugh Beaumont) had planned to marry his girlfriend Vicki (top billed Mary Beth Hughes; I ACCUSE MY PARENTS) but Norma says that will never happen while she's alive. A few hours later she's murdered. Police Captain Brown (Emmett Vogan) investigates with his prime suspects being Harry, Vicki and club owner Lucky (Edmund McDonald) who may have been having an affair with Mrs. C. Later after a nightclub singer is killed, we learn who the murderer is. 

This small budget kind of clever PRC murder mystery was one of 11 movies directed by Sam Newfield in 1945. He also made WHITE PONGO the same year.

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J'Accuse....My Parents

 

I ACCUSE MY PARENTS-1944-Over aged high school student Jimmy Wilson (Robert Lowell) wins an essay contest about this wonderful parents and home life but surprise! Jimmy's mom (Vivienne Osborne) is a lush and his father (John Miljan) is a callous louse who likes to gamble. They fight a lot and have wild cocktail parties. When mom shows up at school drunk Jimmy drops out and gets a job as a shoe salesman. His first customer is Kitty Reed (Mary Beth Hughes), a nightclub singer and it's love at first sight. 

After getting the brush off from his folks he visits Kitty at the club. There she introduces him to her boss Mr. Blake (George Meeker) who is actually sweet on Kitty. They celebrate Jimmy's birthday together. Later Jimmy goes to work for the sleazy Blake making dubious pick ups while romancing Kitty. When Jimmy is driving the getaway car during a robbery/killing, he finds out exactly what he's doing for Blake who tries to eliminate him. 

Jimmy gets away and winds up working in a hamburger joint for nice guy Al (George Lloyd). Meanwhile Kitty sings a sorry ballad (it's one of three tunes she does) and searches for her boo. Jimmy decides to go back and make Blake turn himself in. He and Blake have a tussle over a gun and Blake is killed. Jimmy, telling his story in flashbacks to a judge gets off lightly, wins Kitty and gets to hear his parents lectured by the judge. 

This nutty innocuous morality tale (that's totally entertaining) from PRC was produced by Sam Katzman and directed by the workaholic Sam Newfield who made eleven other features in 1944 including NABONGA and THE MONSTER MAKER.

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The Beat

 

MURDER IS MY BEAT-1955-Cop Ray Patrick (Paul Langton; later in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE) searches for nightclub singer Eden Lane (Barbara Payton), a suspect in the murder of Frank Dean. He tracks her to a snowbound cabin. He arrests her and after she's convicted he accompanies her to the state pen and she convinces Ray she saw Dean alive on a platform. He helps her escape and investigates but all his leads go cold. He also falls in love with her. Later Eden disappears. This part is actually a flashback told by Ray to his boss (Robert Shayne). Ray convinces his boss to help him. 

There's an interesting conclusion in this little film noir masterpiece by the one and only Edgar Ulmer. 

The film also features un-billed roles by Harry Harvey, William Fawcett and Hank Patterson. 

MURDER was written and produced by Aubrey Wisberg who also did the screenplays for THE NEANDERTHAL MAN (with Robert Shayne) and THE MAN FROM PLANET X. This was the last feature role for the notorious Barbara Payton who was once involved in a violent relationship with actor Tom Neal who ten years earlier had starred in Ulmer's classic DETOUR. A public fight between Neal and actor Franchot Tone in which Payton received a black eye helped sink her sagging career. She drank herself to death and died at age 39 in 1967.

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Lights! Camera! Action! Sound!

 

LIGHTS OF NEW YORK-1928-This is a crude early sound gangster crime drama that's only remembered today because it was the first full sound movie. It's not very good with wooden acting, terrible musical numbers and it moves at a snail's pace. 

The basic story is about a sleazy nightclub owner/bootlegger Hawk Miller (Wheeler Oakman) framing a naive barber Eddie(Cullen Landis) for the killing of a police officer. One character says "You might get indigestion from too much chicken". Miller's plan doesn't turn out like he wants it to and he winds up mysteriously shot. Eddie's partner Gene (Eugene Pallete) tries to help by giving a shave to the dead Miller. When the hard nosed Detective Crosby (Robert Elliot) is ready to arrest Eddie, Molly, Miller's girlfriend (Gladys Brockwell) admits to killing Miller. 

LIGHTS OF NEW YORK is one of the few feature films directed Bryan Foy, a former vaudeville performer with the famous family group “The Seven Little Foys”. He began in movies as a gag writer for Buster Keaton and began directing in the early 1920's, making mainly short films. Later he produced many shorts and after that several features including THE HOUSE OF WAX.

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Good Night!

NIGHT WORLD-1932-The wild world of NYC in the prohibition era. Bright lights, speakeasies, mob rub outs and lots of frolicking in Happy's night club.There's lots going on. 

Owner Happy (Boris Karloff)) is a charming gangster whose wife (Dorothy Revier) is having an affair with Krause (Russel Hopton). John Rand (Lew Ayres) is a drunkard because his mother (Hedda Hopper) killed his father. He's befriended by Ruth (Karloff's FRANKENSTEIN co-star Mae Clarke), a dancer at the club. Ed Powell (George Raft) is a sleazy suspicious character who tries to date Ruth. I really didn't get the story line of the philosophical doorman (Clarence Muse) with a sick wife and what happens to him. One gay character calls a drunk Frankenstein! (That movie was made the year before) The entire movie takes place in the club. Hobart Henley directed this entertaining but ignored little gangster film from Universal.

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Stanley Before The Bowery

DESTINATION MURDER-1950-Stanley Clements (6 years before replacing Leo Gorcey in The Bowery Boys series) is Jackie Wales, a telegram delivery boy who kills a man for club owner Mr. Armitage (Albert Dekker) who likes to talk in the third person. The dead man's daughter Laura (Joyce MacKenzie) suspects Jackie and begins dating him. Later she gets a job as a cigarette girl in the club where manager Stretch Norton (Hurd Hatfield) puts the moves on her. Armitage's mistress (Myrna Dell) gets Jackie involved in blackmail and eventually his own murder. It turns out Norton is actually the brains of the operation. 

After Jackie's killed (it's not shown; his character seems to have just been written out) it turns into a revenge love story focusing on Laura and her relationship with Norton. 

 Star Joyce MacKenzie played Jane to Lex Barker's Tarzan in TARZAN AND THE SHE DEVIL. James Flavin is a police lieutenant and John Dehner is another suspect. Future star of THE WEREWOLF Steve Ritch has a bit role. 

A great vocal band Steve Gibson's Red Caps plays in the club. You can read about them here: http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/redcaps.html

There's actually a lot of strange twists in this little murder mystery directed by Edward L. Cahn a few years before he made some of the greatest low budget horror and Sci-Fi movies of all time.

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