Cast:
Jimmy Lydon (Paul Cartwright), Warren William (Brett Curtis), Sally Eilers (Virginia Cartwright), Regis Toomey (Dr. Martin Vincent), Charles Arnt (Prof. Muhlbach), George Reed (Benjamin, the butler), and Jayne Hazard (Dorothy Cartwright) Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (#797 - People on Sunday, #803 - Detour, #943 - The Man from Planet X, and #1364 - Bluebeard)
Review:
The basis for the film is two-fold: Adele Comandini wrote the screenplay based on a story by Fritz Rotter that the studio bought the rights to. Of course, there is a tiny little nugget of inspiration with William Shakespeare's Hamlet, as evidenced by the dreams that the lead character experiences that may or may not give him an inkling into figuring out the death of his father as murder rather than the accident people believe that just happens to coincide with his mother about to re-marry a certain man. Incidentally, the play featured its title character doing an act of going mad while the film features a lead character midway through the film voluntarily going into a sanatorium for psychiatric evaluation (of course, there is no Ophelia in this film, but I'm sure you figured that or didn't really ask). So, who ended up being the director of such an odd little film that seems right for the king of the cheapies in Producers Releasing Corporation? Well, who better but Edgar G. Ulmer? I picked this film for one particular reason: it happens to have been the film released between two other distinct Ulmer features: Bluebeard (1944) and Detour (1945). So that is what you get here for an 87-minute feature that is readily available in the public domain, although obviously seeing the film with the best quality is advisable.
I think you can tell that the film will live and die on just how much you roll with its young star in the 22-year-old Lydon, who had broken into acting eight years earlier (most notably starring in a film series called Henry Aldrich for nine films). He can only go so far with such, uh, let's say "youthful spirit", but the dream sequences that occasionally come through undoubtedly do the best job in keeping the film as watchable as possible (so one rolls their eyes at the kid for a bit, but he at least makes a useful effort in not being a miserable presence). That part draws the most attention because it talks about the unconscious mind and just what the hell lurks in one mind that seems right and less than right in reality-shifting times. Ulmer takes it about as seriously as one should expect, which thankfully doesn't strain itself too hard in the mystery of just what the fuss is all about with this random man present in the here and now. Besides, I don't think you need a really-dragged out process to figuring out just who is actually making sense when we are talking about a quick-paced film. With that in mind, William (once called "King of the Pre-Code" in his third-to-last film appearance before his death in 1948) is probably the most effective choice to play it both ways, one who can be engaging on the one foot and slimy on the other side that probably could have made a quality King Claudius if he had the chance on the stage. Eilers is wrapped in the middle, ordinary but useful. Toomey and Arnt are the standard character presence that you would see in films like this, and that is totally fine when one is meant to be playing a second-fiddle to canoodling crime. As a whole, the film never really rises above what one's expectations are when it comes to cheap-rate noirs based on happenstance and murky foundations, but Ulmer is the right guy to move things around to satisfactory results in spending time broadening the horizons of picking films beyond the usual suspects. PRC, Eagle-Lion, whatever floats your boat, you will do just fine with this film.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment