Track of the Cat
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by A.I. Bezzerides from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
1954/US
Wayne-Fellows Production
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Pa Bridges: Got to keep drunk to forget I’m married to a clothes pin.

When I saw this on the roster I thought great! a Western with Robert Mitchum I haven’t seen and directed by William Wellman to boot. Unfortunately Mitchum is in it far too little and it’s less a Western than a mid-fifties dysfunctional family psychodrama.

The Bridges family runs a ranch in the Northern California mountains. An apparently enormous panther is eating their cattle. The family consists of Ma (Beulah Bondi), a religious fanatic, Pa (Philip Tonge), an alcoholic, Grace (Teresa Wright), a bitter old maid, Arthur (William Hopper), the moral oldest brother, middle brother Curt (Mitchum) who is hard and cruel and Harold (Tab Hunter), the youngest brother who is just coming of age and in love with a slightly older woman the women the family heartily disapprove of.

Curt and Arthur go out into the snowy wilderness to hunt the panther. They think it may even be the legendary black panther local people fear so much. We will sporadically participate in their arduous journey.

But mostly we spend our time with the folks back at home who constantly bicker with each other. Harold has to decide whether he will stand up for himself at last.

My husband is the Western lover in our family. He went to sleep before this was over. I stuck it out but it didn’t get any better. I did like the landscape photography a lot and all those scenes with Mitchum in his bright red coat against snow as far as the eye can see

The Wild North
Directed by Andrew Marton
Written by Frank Fenton
1952/UA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Constable Pedley: [to Jules] You’re not a bad guy for a murderer.

Jules Vincent (Stewart Granger) is a trapper who makes his living in the wild Northwest of Canada. He defends a beautiful Native American saloon singer (Cyd Charisse) from the attentions of a drunk. The next morning he departs by canoe with the drunk and the Indian Girl (that’s her name in the credits). During the canoe ride, he kills the drunk in self defence. Upright Mountie Constable Pedley is soon on Vincent’s trail.

The rest of the film is devoted to overcoming the many dangers of the Canadian Rockies and Pedley’s pursuit of Vincent. When Pedley captures Vincent, he finds that he needs the trapper’s help in escaping the wilderness.

I liked Granger a lot in this. My husband loved this movie. Me not so much but it is a good action adventure. The “primitive love” promised in the poster is a false advertising.

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The Secret of Convict Lake

Directed by Michael Gordon
Written by Oscar Saul and Victor Trivas
1951/US
Twentieth Century Fox
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Johnny Greer: Get up.
Granny: I can’t. I’m a poor old woman lying in a bed of pain reading my bible, you blood thirsty weasel.

This pretty good noirish Western is included in the Criterion Channel’s Snow Western collection for December.

Jim Canfield (Glenn Ford) and a number of hardened criminals escape from a Nevada jail in the dead of winter. They make the very arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada mountains into California and lose several of their number in the process. The self-appointed leader of the party is Johnny Greer (Zachary Scott) is a real snake. He believes Jim knows where $40,000 is and will do anything to get it.

The men spy a farming village. A scouting party discovers that the place is solely occupied by women. Their men have gone off to join the posse that is trailing these convicts. (What kind of men leave their women, babies, and elderly alone in the middle of nowhere?). The women are armed however and allow the men to stay far away from the houses in a barn.

It turns out that Jim is actually an innocent man who is out to murder the man who framed him. He falls in love with Marcia Stoddard (Gene Tierney) who is actually engaged to the Rudy Schaeffer, the man in question. Rachel (Ann Dvorak), Rudy’s sister, is one of the women in the town and has a pretty low opinion of Marcia. With Ethel Barrymore as the wise old leader of the women.

The film is heavy on sexual menace and attempted rape, not a favorite subject of mine. But there’s some good action, including fist fights, gun fights and a fire. I think Zachary Scott makes one of the best villains of the 40’s and 50’s and he does not disappoint here. Could be worth a watch.

You Never Can Tell
Directed by Lou Breslow
Written by Lou Breslow and David Chandler
1951/US
Universal International Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Rex Shepherd: Oh Goldie, these are humans we’re dealing with. You can’t tell them the truth and expect them to believe it.

This is a pretty good family comedy but I wouldn’t call it screwball

King is the prized German Shepherd of an eccentric millionaire. The millionaire’s will leaves his estate to the dog with his secretary Ellen (Peggy Dow) as executor. When the dog dies the remainder is to go to Ellen.

Perry Collins (Charles Drake) soon comes to call and tells Ellen he was King’s handler when he was an army dog. One thing leads to another and soon Ellen and Perry are engaged. Shortly thereafter, King is poisoned and dies.

When King goes to animal heaven he asks the gatekeeper permission to return to earth to avenge his murder. His request is granted and he is reincarnated as Rex Shepherd, private eye (Dick Powell). He is accompanied on his mission by a race horse turned sassy friend (Joyce Holden). The rest of the film is devoted to the investigation.

I’m a Dick Powell fan and it was fun to watch him portray a man with doglike characteristics. It’s a pleasant movie.

Rhubarb
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Written by Dorothy Davenport and Francis M. Cockrell from the novel by H. Allen Smith
1951/US
Perlberg-Seaton Productions
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Eric Yeager: [to Rhubarb] Now listen ya lug, you’re in the chips now, the blue chips. So stop acting like a goon squad. This is an okay dame. She doesn’t want a nickel of your dough.
[to Polly] Stroke him very gently on his head.

If you are looking for a screwball comedy look elsewhere.  A reviewer even called this a screwball/noir!  What it is is an OK family comedy with a cute feline protagonist and a little bit of romance

Eric Yeager (Ray Milland) is press agent for a perennially losing Brooklyn baseball team. He is engaged to Polly Sickles (Jan Sterling), daughter of the team’s coach (William Frawley).

The eccentric owner of the team is Thaddeus J. Banner (Gene Lockhart). He discovers a feral cat that steals golf balls and immediately orders that the cat be caught. He names the tom “Rhubarb”. Eric is nominated his caretaker.

Banner dies and leaves the team to Rhubarb, who tames down nicely. Eric is named the cat’s guardian. The team begins winning and press and public attribute this to its new mascot. Now a slighted heiress and a bunch of bookmakers put a price on poor Rhubarb’s head.

This held my interest.  It’s quite OK for what it is.  Orangey, the cat that played Rhubarb, may be better known as “Cat” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Funniest joke is when Paul Douglas appears out of nowhere to admire Rhubarb’s many offspring which he calls “a litter from three wives”.

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Murder, He Says
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Lou Breslow and Jack Moffitt
1945/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb Page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Pete Marshall: It’s like looking for a needle in a… a slaughter house.

I think the golden years of Screwball ended in 1944.

Pete Marshall is a pollster. He goes deep into the Ozarks to investigate the disappearance of his colleague. He runs into the Fleagle family. The family is currently on a search for the $70,000 cousin Bonnie Fleagle (Barbara Pepper) stole in a bank robbery. Pete also learns that the hillbilly family is armed and ready to shoot outsiders who interfere.

Eventually Claire Matthews (Helen Marker), daughter of a man who has been falsely accused of the robbery, turns up to clear her father’s name. Now Pete has an ally and love interest. With Marjorie Main and Porter Hall as the heads of the clan.

This one has a plot similar to “Spider Baby” or “The Hills Have Eyes” only it’s supposed to be a madcap comedy. It wasn’t for me. For one thing, Marjorie Main’s “Ma Kettle” loud voice grates on me and she is in this a LOT. Watchable but not much more than that.

It Happens Every Spring
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Valentine Davies from a story by Davies and Shirley W. Smith
1949/US
Twentieth Century Fox
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channe

“The results of scientific research very often force a change in the philosophical view of problems which extend far beyond the restricted domain of science itself.” – Albert Einstein

Far-fetched baseball/romcom is just OK.

Professor Vernon K. Simpson (Ray Milland) is working on a rat repellant when a stray baseball demonstrates that on impact glass is destroyed and wood is repelled. He immediately realizes that this could be the start of a pro pitching career. Vernon is in love with Deborah Greenleaf (Jean Peters) daughter of the university’s President (Ray Collins). He can’t support her on his current salary.

He tries out for Saint Louis. Nobody can get a hit off his pitches. So he is hired in the middle of the season. The whole thing seems very strange and catcher Monk Lanigan (Paul Davis) becomes his roommate with instructions to babysit the rookie and keep him on a very short leash. Vernon is terrified of being seen by his girlfriend and her father so he changes his name to King Kelly.  He learned to pitch on a desert island where there was nothing to do but throw a ball.  (no kidding)

Blah, blah, blah the team wins the Series and Vernon gets the girl.

I wouldn’t call this a screwball comedy. For me those need to have snappy dialogue and a madcap romance. This film has neither. Its watchable but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it. Maybe I have been spoiled by watching so many classic screwball comedies in a row.  On a topical note: The source material for this film was written by the author of The Miracle on 34th Street.

Blue Collar
Directed by Paul Schrader
Written by Paul and Leonard Schrader; source material Sydney A. Glass
1978/US
IMDb page
First viewing; Amazon Prime rental

Smokey James: Why do you go to the line every Friday?
Jerry Bartowski: Well…
Smokey James: Because the finance man’s gonna be at your house on Saturday, right? That’s exactly what the company wants – to keep you on their line. They’ll do anything to keep you on their line. They pit the lifers against the new boys, the old against the young, the black against the white – EVERYBODY to keep us in our place.

This movie was just not for me.

Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto are assembly line workers in an auto plant. They are all family men who are barely scraping by. Their union seems to be in the pocket of management. They decide that robbing the union office is the thing to do but collect only about $600. But the union is claiming $10,000 from the insurance company. Now, the men are in a position to blackmail the union, or so they think.

Despite its high IMDb user rating, this movie didn’t grab me. The vibe is very 70’s with lots and lots of cursing and corrupt authority figures. Richard Pryor plays a dramatic role where he can pour out a lot of rage. It was reportedly a very unhappy set. Anyway, the movie lost me in the very beginning and never regained my attention.