Doctor in the House 1954

A topdraw British comedy, Doctor in the House is bright, diverting entertainment, intelligently scripted [from an adaptation of his own novel by Richard Gordon], and warmly played.
Background to the story is the medical school of a London hospital. Within 92 minutes, the film spans the five years in the life of a student group. The new recruit to the school is Dirk Bogarde, who is taken under the protective wing of three old-timers who had all failed their preliminary exams. Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and Donald Houston make up a contrasted quartet who seem to have ideas on most subjects but not how to qualify as a medico.
Much of the comedy incident has been clearly contrived but it is nonetheless effective, particularly in the scenes featuring James Robertson Justice as a distinguished surgeon and More.

Rank. Director Ralph Thomas; Producer Betty E. Box; Screenplay Nicholas Phipps; Camera Ernest Steward; Editor Gerald Thomas; Music Bruce Montgomery; Art Director Carmen Dillon

Dirk Bogarde ... Simon Sparrow
Muriel Pavlow ... Joy Gibson
Kenneth More ... Richard Grimsdyke
Donald Sinden ... Tony Benskin
Kay Kendall ... Isobel Minster
James Robertson Justice ... Sir Lancelot Spratt
Donald Houston ... Taffy Evans
Suzanne Cloutier ... Stella
George Coulouris ... Briggs
Jean Taylor Smith ... Sister Virtue
Nicholas Phipps ... Magistrate
Geoffrey Keen ... Dean
Martin Boddey ... Demonstrator at pedal machine
Joan Sims ... Rigor Mortis
Cyril Chamberlain... Policeman
Ernest Clark... Dr. Parrish
Maureen Pryor... Mrs. Cooper
George Benson... Lecturer on drains
Shirley Eaton... Milly Groaker
Eliot Makeham... Elderly Examiner
Joan Hickson... Mrs Groaker
Brian Oulton... Medical equipment salesman
Lisa Gastoni... Jane
Wyndham Goldie... Examiner
Richard Gordon... Anaethetist
Douglas Ives... Sprogett
Noel Purcell... The Padre
Bruce Seton... Police Driver
Geoffrey Sumner... Forensic Lecturer
Amy Veness... Grandma Cooper
Mona Washbourne... Midwifery Sister
Richard Wattis... Medical Book Salesman

from VARIETY 1954

Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 1939

Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 1939, originally uploaded by Nelson:.

The Lawless Breed

The Lawless Breed, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Early-west gunman, John Wesley Hardin, has his life put on film in The Lawless Breed . Presumably based on Hardin's actual story of his career, published when he was released from a Texas prison after serving 16 years for killing a law man, the production has plenty of robust action stirred up by Raoul Walsh's direction.
The plot unfolds episodically and swiftly, telling how Hardin earned his reputation as a killer after getting his first victim in self defense, goes on the lam from the law and vengeance-seeking kinfolks, is forced into more killings, loses his sweetheart (Mary Castle) to a posse's bullets and acquires a new one in Julie Adams, the girl who later becomes his wife.

Rock Hudson does a very good job of the main character, and Adams makes much of her femme lead. John McIntire scores in dual roles, one as Hardin's overly-righteous, preacher father, and the other as the gunman's uncle.

Universal. Director Raoul Walsh; Producer William Alland; Screenplay Bernard Gordon; Camera Irving Glassberg; Editor Frank Gross; Art Director Bernard Herzbrun, Richard H. Riedel

Rock Hudson... John Wesley Hardin
Julie Adams... Rosie McCoy
Mary Castle... Jane Brown
John McIntire... J.G. Hardin / John Clements
Hugh O'Brian... Ike Hanley
Dennis Weaver... Jim Clements
Forrest Lewis... Zeke Jenkins
Lee Van Cleef... Dirk Hanley
Tom Fadden... Chick Noonan, Undertaker
Race Gentry... Young John Hardin
Richard Garland... Joe Clements
Glenn Strange... Ben Hanley
William Pullen... Joe Hardin

from VARIETY 1952

Sons of the Desert

Sons of the Desert, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Taxi

Taxi, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

An hour's entertainment for the boys in the now established golden hearted hoodlum manner of James Cagney.
Foundation of the tale [from the play by Kenyon Nicholson] is the strife of the independent taxi owner whom the syndicates run off the most desirable corner stands. This leads to the girl's father drawing a jail sentence when he shoots the truck driver he knows has purposely smashed his cab because he defied the leader of the strong arm squad. She's on her own after that, first battling with Cagney, then marrying him and finally trying to save him from killing this same leader.
Taxi! speeds along interestingly until near the finish, where the script cheats Cagney of his revenge and thereby saves him from prison. It's a scenario compromise which will leave the majority of fans unsatisfied.
Weaving through the plot is George E. Stone and Leila Bennett, as friends of the lovers, with Bennett doing an exceptionally good piece of work as a dumb, prattling waitress. Further player support is unimportant, although Dorothy Burgess convinces in doing the menace's moll.
Loretta Young does better than usual as the orphaned miss. At least there is more solidity to her portrayal than is generally so in her case.
The dialog is distinctly in the vernacular of the characters, director Roy Del Ruth has given it pace, and Cagney jauntily carries the major burden.
The director, incidentally, has also given the film a corking laugh start in Cagney conversationally rescuing a well-played old Hebrew from a cop.

Warner. Director Roy Del Ruth; Producer [uncredited]; Screenplay Kubec Glasmon, John Bright; Camera James Van Trees; Editor James Gibbon; Music Leo F. Forbstein
(dir.); Art Director Esdras Hartley

James Cagney... Matt Nolan
Loretta Young... Sue Riley Nolan
George E. Stone... Skeets
Guy Kibbee... Pop Riley
Leila Bennett... Ruby
Dorothy Burgess... Marie Costa
David Landau... Buck Gerard
Ray Cooke... Danny Nolan

from VARIETY 1932

My Dad 1922

My Dad 1922, originally uploaded by hytam2.

Johnnie Walker ... Tom O'Day
Wilbur Higby ... Barry O'Day
Mary Redmond ... Mrs. O'Day
Ruth Clifford ... Dawn
Les Bates ... La Duee
Harry von Meter ... The Factor
Rin Tin Tin ... Rin Tin Tin

Convoy

Convoy, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

The ship home safely from the sea has always been a warming image, but today it has been rendered infinitely more poignant, especially to Englishmen, by new and mortal perils waiting above and below the sea along the lanes traveled by the bottoms of British merchantmen. Out of those dangers—the whisk of a torpedo's wake, the sleek lines of an enemy raider breaking the fog, the reverberating fire of the big guns—and their threat to England's survival Michael Balcon has assembled "Convoy," now at the Rialto. And if the film fails in its frankly propagandistic mission it is because of spurious craftsmanship and because it is a little too self-consciously heroic. British seamen deserve a document more honest than this.

For Mr. Balcon has wandered away from the simple and moving story of getting home to England a group of cargo vessels assembled off the Norwegian coast. He has introduced the banal device of confronting the escort commander with a choice between duty and the love of a woman simultaneously in danger on a truant vessel. The authenticity of some actual shots at sea he has compromised by dovetailing them with scenes in which model cruisers and destroyers fight a furious but obvious duel in a studio tank. The actors, including Clive Brook and John Clements, are all so teddibly British in the face of grave danger that their calm becomes unconvincing. Put down "Convoy" as a film which melodramatically frittered away the possibilities of an epic idea.

CONVOY; screen play by Patrick Kirwan and Pen Tennyson; directed by Pen Tennyson; produced in England by Michael Balcon and released by RKO-Radio.

Captain Armitage . . . . . Clive Brook
Lieut. Cranford . . . . . John Clements
Capt. Eckersley . . . . . Edward Chapman
Lucy Armitage . . . . . Judy Campbell
Mabel . . . . . Penelope Dudley Ward
Mr. Matthews . . . . . Edward Rigby
"Shorty" Howard . . . . . Charles Williams
Commander Blount . . . . . Alan Jeaves
"Dot" . . . . . Michael Wilding
Lt. Commander Martin . . . . . Harold Warrander
Capt. Sandeman . . . . . David Hutcheson
Bates . . . . . George Carney
Knowles . . . . . Al Millen
Walker . . . . . Charles Farrell
Gates . . . . . John Laurie
Parker . . . . . George Benson
Minesweeper Skipper . . . . . Hay Petrie
His Mate . . . . . Mervyn Johns
Commander U-37 . . . . . Albert Lieven
Commander Deutschland . . . . . Hans Wengraf
Merchantman Skipper . . . . . Edward Lexy
Mate . . . . . John Glyn Jones

T.S. New York Times 17 January 1941

Logan's Run — poster B

Logan's Run — poster B, originally uploaded by helloMuller.

The Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter, originally uploaded by hytam2.

Robert Mitchum ... Harry Powell
Shelley Winters... Willa Harper
Lillian Gish... Rachel Cooper
James Gleason... Birdie Steptoe
Evelyn Varden... Icey Spoon
Peter Graves... Ben Harper

Pinocchio

Pinocchio, originally uploaded by hytam2.

The Ladykillers (1955)

The Ladykillers (1955) , originally uploaded by Susanlenox.

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Hotel Paradiso (1966), originally uploaded by Susanlenox.

Cromwell (1970)

Cromwell (1970), originally uploaded by Susanlenox.

Long Days Journey Into Night

Long Days Journey Into Night, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Little Women

Little Women, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

As Long As They're Happy

As Long As They're Happy, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

The Girl Who Had Everything

The Girl Who Had Everything, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

A Kid for Two Farthings

A Kid for Two Farthings, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Carmen Jones

Carmen Jones, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Henry V

Henry V, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

The Big Shot

The Big Shot, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Career criminal Duke Berne decides to go straight after getting caught a third time, but after he proves unable to find a normal job he is lured into joining a robbery organized by the lawyer Martin T. Fleming. When Duke visits Fleming’s office, he learns that Fleming’s wife is Lorna, his former lover. Lorna convinces Duke to back out of the robbery, but when it goes awry the police suspect him anyway.

The Big Shot (1942) was the last bona fide gangster film of Humphrey Bogart's career. In fact, Warner Brothers might not have assigned it to him had the original lead actor George Raft not backed out. In what must surely be one of the worst cases of short-sightedness in Hollywood history, Raft previously turned down High Sierra (1941) and The Maltese Falcon (1941), the two films that really gave Bogart an opportunity to shine as an actor and established him as one of the great stars of the Forties. Despite the formulaic nature of the script, Bogart brings to The Big Shot some of the emotional complexity he had demonstrated in his previous gangster film, High Sierra. The director, Lewis Seiler, had worked with Bogart on various lesser projects such as Crime School (1938), King of the Underworld (1939), You Can’t Get Away with Murder (1939), and It All Came True (1940). He was best known for directing a number of silent Tom Mix Westerns and the hard-hitting war film Guadalcanal Diary (1943), the latter for Twentieth-Century Fox.

Irene Manning, the lead actress, got her start at Republic Pictures under the name “Hope Manning,” appearing in films such as the Gene Autry vehicle The Old Corral (1936). Her real forte was the stage, especially musical theater; her move to Warner Brothers in the Forties reflected that accordingly, with a memorable role in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). She also landed major roles in the musicals The Desert Song (1943) and Shine on Harvest Moon (1944), and the wartime comedies Hollywood Canteen (1944) and The Doughgirls (1944). Manning spent the latter half of the decade on the stage in England, and even briefly hosted a BBC television show entitled An American in England before returning to the US.

The frank atmosphere surrounding gangster pictures was evidently not Manning’s cup of tea. She recalls about Bogart in Jeffrey Meyers' 1997 biography on the actor: "He was basically all business, not really my kind of guy. He used a lot of four-letter words, which shocked me. Still, he was always prepared and professional, and he did give me some good advice." Some of this advice, she recalled, included: "Never mind the camera, never mind the lights. Just get to the set, and say the lines."

While The Big Shot is by all accounts a minor entry in Bogart’s career, it was nonetheless moderately well received. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: “Mr. Bogart, with his patient fatalism and his sense of the futility of it all, is able to impart a certain dignity to an otherwise silly role.” He also praised the “sharply written script and a good cast.” While not holding much regard for the script, the reviewer for Variety similarly took note of Bogart’s performance and the director Lewis Seiler’s ability to bring out the suspenseful aspects of the story.

Director: Lewis Seiler
Script: Bertram Millhauser, Abem Finkel, Daniel Fuchs
Director of Photography: Sid Hickox
Art Director: John Hughes
Film Editor: Jack Killifer
Music: Adolph Deutsch and Leo F. Forbstein
Cast: Humphrey Bogart (Duke Berne), Irene Manning (Lorna Fleming), Richard Travis (George Anderson), Susan Peters (Ruth Carter), Stanley Ridges (Martin Fleming), Minor Watson (Warden Booth), Chick Chandler (Dancer), Joseph Downing (Frenchy), Howard Da Silva (Sander), Murray Alper (Quinto), Roland Drew (Faye), John Ridgely (Tim), Joseph King (Toohey), John Hamilton (Judge).
BW-83m.

by James Steffen Turner Classic Movies

Crime School

Crime School, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Cain and Mabel

Cain and Mabel, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Dancing Lady

Dancing Lady, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.

Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane, originally uploaded by Greenman 2008.