Mary Gibson (Kim Hunter) leaves her boarding school to travel to New York to discover what happened to her missing sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks). There's a great thriller in here about a Satanic cult psychologically torturing someone into killing themselves because they're forbidden from committing violence themselves, but this film stumbles trying to find it and then seems to lose all interest as soon as it does. This is a film that doesn't so much end as give up, like leaving a jigsaw unfinished because you got bored and it's nearly supper time. So what if there's a load of missing pieces. You can tell it's supposed to be an elephant. Apparently the director made some substantial cuts, which explains why the film feels so choppy and unfinished. Weirdly, Tom Conway reprises his role from Cat People, turning this into an unintended prequel, although the two films share nothing in terms of plot.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Widow Julie Kohler (Jeanne Moreau) travels around France systematically murdering the men responsible for the death of her husband on their wedding day. Considering he's probably cinema's most famous Hitchcock aficionado, it was inevitable that François Truffaut would take a crack at creating his own Hitchcockian thriller, complete with Bernard Herrmann score. Sadly, there's little in the way of suspense as the whole thing feels stuck in a predicable episodic structure. Even Herrmann's score feels like him on autopilot, a major step down from his previous collaboration with Truffaut on Fahrenheit 451. There's also a massive plot hole that just kept bugging me as it's never once explained how the hell Julie even knew who the killers were.
Rating: ⭐⭐
After mysteriously surviving a fatal car crash, Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) relocates to Utah to take up a job as a church organist, but soon finds herself haunted by a strange man and drawn to a deserted carnival. A prolonged nightmare, fuelled by German expressionism, with some truly unsettling and surreal scenes and others that are unintentionally laughable. The whole thing was made on a shoestring budget, which is only really a problem when it comes to the acting since the majority of the cast weren't professional actors and oh boy, does it show. Still, it shows a lot of promise, which is why it's a shame that it was such a financial failure that Herk Harvey (who also played Mary's tormentor) never directed another film.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
On a stormy night, Helen (Dorothy McGuire), the mute servant to an ailing matriarch, is stalked by a serial killer who follows her home. Starts off well, with an unsettling atmosphere that justifies it being hailed as proto slasher flick, but too quickly it gets bogged down in family squabbles and household drama. By the time it finally remembers there's supposed to be a serial killer on the loose, the whole thing is all but over.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
On a hill overlooking the small Vermont hamlet of Highwater lies the dead body of Harry. No one knows how he got there or what to do with him. Hitchcock's movies often had a black and macabre sense of humour, but this was one of only two pure comedies he made in his long career. Alas, it only has one joke and stretches it out for 90 tedious minutes that is made mostly bearable by a talented cast (Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, and Shirley MacLaine in her film debut). All that Vermont scenery does look lovely, though.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Frank Capra adapts Joseph Kesselring's 1941 play about Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), a famous New York theatre critic, who returns to his family home in Brooklyn to tell his beloved aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair) about his recent marriage, only to discover they've become serial killers with one body in the window seat and even more in the basement. This is such a delightfully deranged black comedy I still can't quite believe it came out during Hollywood's Golden Age, when the Hays Code was in full force, and from the director of It's a Wonderful Life of all people. It's also so screwball I'm amazed Grant didn't die of exhaustion before filming wrapped. Its only major flaw is that it is too theatrical, like Capra just set up some cameras and filmed a performance of the play rather than made an actual movie out of it.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
My mom is a huge fan of Arsenic and Old Lace, although I've never seen it. It certainly sounds enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI've heard good things about Carnival of Souls too. It's one of those classic horror movies I really need to see.
I rather like The Trouble with Harry; it does drag a bit here and there, but it's just this little oddball film about a bunch of Vermonters being Vermonters and an annoying dead body. It's strangely cheerful. And it's pretty. And there's Shirley MacLaine.
ReplyDeleteAs to the rest ... well, looks like Arsenic and Old Lace is it, I suppose! Any other good classic films about death to recommend?
I just watched The Trouble with Harry and was surprised at how little I enjoyed it. Thanks for reminding me of Arsenic and Old Lace. I've read that Cary Grant hated the movie and thought his performance was terrible. I'll need to find that one and watch it again...
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