The Amazing Mr. X.

Review #2420: The Amazing Mr. X.

Cast: 

Turhan Bey (Alexis), Lynn Bari (Christine Faber), Cathy O'Donnell (Janet Burke), Richard Carlson (Martin Abbott), Donald Curtis (Paul Faber), Virginia Gregg (Emily), and Harry Mendoza (Detective Hoffman) Directed by Bernard Vorhaus.

Review: 

Sure, let's do one of these movies. This is one of those films that you find in the bargain bin, the kind that could be seen at any time on the Internet because it slipped into the public domain and therefore is readily available to varying quality. Apparently, the movie actually had a different title: It was known as "The Spiritualist" but somehow the movie was re-issued and put on television as the title you see today in...The Amazing Mr. X. Debate for yourself over which title fits the movie better. Crane Wilbur (the former actor-turned-writer of works such as The Monster) wrote the story that became this movie, which went from being a possible production for him to oversee with Producers Releasing Corporation to being a production led by Bernard Vorhaus at Eagle-Lion Films that had Muriel Bolton turn the story into a script. Vorhaus, not liking the script, asked for a re-write and got the services of Ian McLellan Hunter*. The movie apparently was shot in three weeks that went from January filming to being released in July. Vorhaus was an experienced director for several years, having gone from screenwriting to making quota quickies (i.e. fast and cheap) in England that resulted in movies such as The Last Journey (1936). Apparently, he was a young mentor to David Lean. He returned to the States with Republic Pictures, directing a handful of B-movies and later stuff for the war effort. It was among his last films as an American, as the House Un-American Activities Committee investigation on alleged Communists led to him being blacklisted. He didn't participate in the HUAC hearing and retired to England, where he operated a firm converting houses to offices and shops. He lived there for the remainder of his life, where he died in 2000 at the age of 95.

It helps to have John Alton as a cinematographer, doesn't it? He was the cameraman behind a number of noirs such as He Walked by Night (1948), Raw Deal (1948) and The Big Combo (1955), and he helps the effort here with a movie that at times seems eerie with its angles that make the film interesting to view beyond just a shabby little noir/thriller (well it isn't really any one genre, but whatever).* The 78-minute runtime is fairly satisfying for a movie that doesn't hesitate to just let its audience have a fair shot at following its attempts at showing the troubles of those who may very well believe what they see. You get an odd little caper that mostly is held up with Bey at hand. Bey had been playing a handful of roles on film ever since he had come to the States from Austria but the only reason he was with Eagle-Lion is because his contract had been sold due to struggles with Universal. This was the third of four movies he did for the studio before his career dwindled down, but he at least seems game to be a charming snake in the grass here, selling the audacity required in being involved with trying to play with things that aren't easy to quantify or understand. Bari makes for a quality type to get into the whirlwind of seeing and hearing things that may not be all the way there, mainly because it still seems pretty real now to see people fooled by things they want to hear, particularly since Carlson is probably too ordinary to really contrast the interest obviously generated by Bey, and O'Donnell is merely just fine. In general, it may be an average movie on a first impression, but it eventually finds its footing with stark imagery, sly charm by Bey and a general respect for wanting to keep the audience interested in its arrangement of emotional cons that at least shows you could find a good time with "old movies" if you know where to go.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

*Coincidentally, Vorhaus did uncredited work as an assistant director on Roman Holiday (1953), the movie that notably saw Hunter's name listed on the credits as a writer as a front for the actual work of Dalton Trumbo, which resulted in an Academy Award.

*Interestingly, Alton also wrote a book on the subject of cinematography with Painting with Light in 1949.

The Best Years of Our Lives.

Review #1368: The Best Years of Our Lives.

Cast:
Myrna Loy (Milly Stephenson), Fredric March (Platoon Sergeant Al Stephenson), Dana Andrews (Captain Fred Derry), Teresa Wright (Peggy Stephenson), Virginia Mayo (Marie Derry), Cathy O'Donnell (Wilma Cameron), Hoagy Carmichael (Uncle Butch Engle), Harold Russell (Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish), Gladys George (Hortense Derry), Roman Bohnen (Pat Derry), Ray Collins (Mr. Milton), Minna Gombell (Mrs. Parrish), and Walter Baldwin (Mr. Parrish) Directed by William Wyler (#509 - Roman Holiday, #1022 - Jezebel, and #1360 - Mrs. Miniver)

Review:
The most enduring films can be the ones that strike us in their poignancy. Emotional honesty can be the best policy, particularly when it comes to a film basked in real life, about soldiers coming home from war. One prominent person returning from the war was director William Wyler. The year that he had directed Mrs. Miniver (1942) to roaring success (although he subsequently called it an "incomplete" film that only scratched the surface about war), he had volunteered to serve in the US Army Air Forces; he shot footage that was turned into two war documentaries, and there were risks to filming footage over actual bombing missions, with Wyler losing a significant part of his hearing due to exposure to loud noise. It should prove no surprise that Wyler was the director to be for a film about veterans arriving home from war, with numerous touches done by the director to make an authentic piece of grand naturalness, such as having the actors buy their own clothing and having sets constructed at life-size level (as opposed to camera-friendly larger sets). To go alongside Wyler was a producer with the capable hands in Samuel Goldwyn. He had gone from bustling garments to salesman to being in a film company partnership in 1913 with Jesse L. Lasky and others to turn plays into feature-length films. They would later merge with Paramount (alongside Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company), although Goldwyn would later resign in 1916 over disagreements, so he went on to partner with the Selwyn brothers to make the enterprise known as Goldwyn Pictures (with that leading to him changing his name to Goldwyn after being known as Goldfish that he had changed from Gelbfisz). It ran for eight years before being acquired by Marcus Loew to merge with Metro and Mayer to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, although Goldwyn moved on to his own production company, and the company produced films for 36 years that would distributed through various studios such as United Artists and RKO. This was written by Robert E. Sherwood (four-time Pulitzer Prize winner and head of the Office of War Information from 1943 until the end of the war) as an adaptation of the novella Glory for Me (1945) by MacKinlay Kantor, which had been inspired by an article in Time Magazine.

One finds themselves wrapped right in with a film like this from the very first minutes, and it should prove no surprise that this film manages to accomplish this through capable storytelling, having a consistent and engaging focus for each of its veteran plots that weaves magnificently for 172 minutes, where one is absorbed in where the path may go next. March commands the film with great presence, a weary and dogged man that we can go along at any point, which matches Loy and her capable patience that makes for great established chemistry. Andrews pulls off a tremendous performance as well an evolving performance built on humility, with him and March both expressing trauma in their own respective ways (which is especially striking now as it was then). Wright proves fairly charming in a film wrapped in honest realism, where naivety and sentiment are behind for most if the film, while Mayo pulls off a conniving turn in her moments on screen, with the best highlight probably being the scene between the two when they are on a double date and talking to themselves privately. an Army instructor who had lost his hands due to a defective fuse when handling TNT) had been noticed by Wyler due to an Army film named Diary of a Sergeant, which was about rehabilitating veterans. He appeared in three total films, with Wyler having told him to finish his interrupted studies at Boston University. He pulls off his story with tremendous courage in a natural manner, where one is focused on him and his trouble like we would with others with more acting experience while not thinking about his hooks. Rounding out the cast is capable edge filling from singer-turned occasional actor Carmichael and an understanding O'Donnell performance. There is plenty that one can see when it comes to following natural pursuits in this film, one that eventually finds hope in the murkiness that could accompany such a hard readjusting that war can be. It isn't overly-sentimental or cynical to the point of irritation, finding an honest middle ground that lets these characters breathe for themselves. From the deep focus shots from Gregg Toland to highlights like the aircraft boneyard sequence, one will have an interesting time to spend with people that still seem relevant now.

One may not be surprised to know that this was a hit for its year with audiences and critics. It won seven Academy Awards, with Wyler, Sherwood, March, and Russell winning in respective categories of directing, screenplay, and acting while also winning for editing and original score. The night belonged to Goldwyn and Russell, with the former being awarded both an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award along with Best Picture (his one win in eight nominations as producer for Best Picture) for this film while the latter became the first and only actor to receive two Academy Awards for the same performance, having been awarded an Honorary Academy Award (since the Academy apparently believed his Oscar hopes were slim). In any case, it is easy to see why this endures as one of the best films of its era, where one will find themselves satisfied with going through the time to see something like this and not finding their patience tested at any real point.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.