Category Archives: 1955

Il Bidone (The Swindle)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, and Tullio Pinelli
1955/Italy/France
Titanus/Societe Generale de Cinematographie
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

Augusto: I was never like that! I always had style. I went around the world ripping everybody off. The world is full of idiots. I can sell ice to Eskimos. Now I work with these amateurs, but I’ll be working again alone soon.

This film is missing a some of the characteristic Fellini humor that I love.

Augusto (Broderick Crawford), Picasso (Richard Basehart) and Roberto (Franco Fabrizzi) are a trio of con men.  Augusto is an old pro, Roberto is a young self-assessed hot shot, and Picasso is a family man, with a wife, Iris (Gulieta Masina),and daughter.  One of their favorite cons is dressing up as clergy and convincing poor farmers that they can keep the treasure they “discover” on their land in exchange for cash to pay for masses for the soul of the criminal that buried the loot.

Picasso has problems with his conscience and his long-suffering wife and begins to cool on his chosen profession.  Augusto unexpectedly shows a soft spot for his estranged daughter who needs money for college and a job (evidently in Italy at this time employees had to leave a deposit with employers to get work!)  Will humanity be the downfall of the gang?

Like La Strada, this film ends tragically.  Unlike that film, however, I felt that this lacks some of Fellini’s wit and weirdness.  Masina’s small part does not give her enough scope to do her stuff.  Crawford is very good and the Nino Rota score is wonderful.  The movie is good but not great.

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Revenge of the Creature
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Martin Berkeley; story by William Alland
1955/USA
Universal International Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Lucas: I hope you ain’t going to blow up my boat, Mr. Johnson. Like my wife, she’s not much but she’s all I have.[/box]

The problem with the monster is that his rubber suit is so cumbersome he can hardly move.  And that’s not the only trouble with this sequel.

The Black Lagoon and its Creature have relocated from Florida to the Amazon.  He has killed many scientists already but a brave team is here to collect him for a marine park in Florida.  (The movie was made with the cooperation of Marineland.)  After some very mild thrills, the team is successful.

In Florida, he is chained to the bottom of a large tank.  A visiting professor (John Agar) and a blonde student scientist conduct experiments to determine the beast’s intelligence. Romance ensues followed by more mild thrills when the creature escapes.  Blink and you will miss Clint Eastwood’s uncredited screen debut.

Problem No. 1, is that the Creature just can’t move very fast.  This leads to the main problem, which is that the filmmakers need to build menace and suspense by having their monster almost, but not quite, grasp its prey over and over again prior to the final dull fight. I’m not a big fan of the original film but the sequel is definitely worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eny7VIo9CCc

Trailer

Eastwood’s shining moment

Mister Roberts
Directed by John Ford and Mervyn Leroy
Written by Frank S. Nugent and Joshua Logan from the play by Logan and Thomas Heggen and the novel by Heggen
1955/USA
Warner Bros./Orange
Repeat viewing/Netflix

[box] Doug Roberts: I looked down from our bridge and saw our captain’s palm tree! Our trophy for superior achievement! The Admiral John J. Finchley award for delivering more toothpaste and toilet paper than any other Navy cargo ship in the safe area of the Pacific.[/box]

This is pretty funny until it turns dark and features an all-star cast.

Mr. Roberts (Henry Fonda) is the cargo officer on a cargo ship in the safe-zone of the Pacific during WWII.  He dreams of escaping the boredom of this duty and nutty Captain Morton (James Cagney) and continuously submits requests for transfer to combat duty. Since Roberts is very good at his job, having won the Morton his prized trophy palm, the captain disapproves each request before sending it forward.

Robert is very popular with his crew.  His two closest companions are the ship’s doctor “Doc”(Wiliam Powell) and his randy roommate Ens. Frank Pulver (Jack Lemon).  The episodic plot features Robert’s efforts to get the crew liberty on a tropic island and its aftermath and Pulver’s revenge plots on the captain and attempt to woo some nurses. With Ward Bond as the Chief Petty Officer.

This is an enjoyable comedy.  It was adapted from a successful stage play but has been successfully opened up.  The ending is baffling and out of keeping with the general tone of the rest of the film.  It may have worked better on Broadway.

John Ford slugged Henry Fonda during an argument during production.  The director was taken off the film soon thereafter.  This was the end of their friendship and their penultimate film together.  Fonda starred in the hit source play and was unhappy with the movie.

This was William Powell’s last film. During its making he was in frail health and had trouble remembering his lines.  None of this shows on screen.  I will miss him for the rest of this journey through the years.

Jack Lemmon won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.  Mister Roberts was nominated in the categories of Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording.

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East of Eden
Directed by Elia Kazan
Written by Paul Osborn from a novel by John Steinbeck
1955/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Cal Trask: I’ve been jealous all my life. Jealous, I couldn’t even stand it. Tonight, I even tried to buy your love, but now I don’t want it anymore… I can’t use it anymore. I don’t want any kind of love anymore. It doesn’t pay off.[/box]

Elia Kazan shows how Cinemascope should be done, James Dean tries to become the next Marlon Brando, and the supporting actors shine.

The Steinbeck source novel is a loose retelling of the Cain and Abel story set at the time of WWI.  Adam Trask (Raymond Massey) is a God-fearing farmer in the Salinas Valley of California.  He has two sons Aaron and Cal (Dean).  Aaron is a lot like his father but Adam struggles to comprehend Cal’s behavior.  Cal is troubled, feels unloved and as the story opens thinks he has tracked down his supposedly dead mother Kate (Jo Van Fleet).  He tries to visit her at the brothel she runs in Monterey but is vigorously rebuffed.

Adam’s dream is to establish a market for California produce back East during the winter. He hopes to do this through refrigeration, which is in its infancy.  The dream makes him happy for awhile but the reality is that the technology is not ready and Adam loses his shirt.  Cal decides to win his father’s respect by earning back the lost money through speculating in bean futures on the hunch that the U.S. will get into the war in Europe.  He is more successful in his second attempt to reunite with Kate and she loans him the seed capital for the venture, seeing a kindred spirit and a business man in Cal.

Aaron is vehemently opposed to the war and Adam has found work at the draft board, where he agonizes over sending boys off to combat.  Aaron’s fiancee Abra (Julie Harris) is strangely drawn to Cal and helps him organize the disastrous birthday party at which Cal plans to present his father with the money.  With Burl Ives as the town sheriff and Albert Dekker as Cal’s business partner.

Kazan frames his shots to really take advantage of the wide-screen process and the whole thing looks beautiful in a rather faded old-timey way.  The acting is uniformly good.  My favorite was Raymond Massey.  Dean has enormous presence but he is no Brando.

Jo Van Fleet won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.  The film was Oscar-nominated in the following categories:  Best Actor (Dean); Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay.

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Bride of the Monster
Directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr.
Written by Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Alex Gordon
1955/USA
Rolling M. Productions
Repeat viewing/YouTube

[box] Dr. Eric Vornoff: My dear professor Strowsky, twenty years ago, I was banned from my home land, parted from my wife and son, never to see them again. Why? Because I suggested to use the atom elements, for producing super beings, beings of unthinkable strength and size. I was classed as a madman, a charlatan, outlawed in a world of science which previously honored me as a genius. Now here in this forsaken jungle hell I have proven that I am alright. No, Professor Strowski, it is no laughing matter.[/box]

One advantage of watching a bunch of boring bad movies is that they make Ed Wood’s flicks look a lot better.

People are being found killed at an alarming rate on Marsh Lake swamp.  Rumors are spreading that the swamp is guarded by a monster.  Within the first five minutes of the story, we learn that the slain are dispatched by a gigantic (rubber) octopus kept by mad scientist Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) who has set up shop at Manor House.  The muscle of the operation is Vornoff’s mute Tibetan slave Lobo (Tor Johnson).  The strangers that are not immediately dispatched by his pet are subjected to the doctor’s experiments aimed at creating an atomic superman.

Ace reporter Janet Lawton believes the monster rumors.  The police are interested only in facts and evidence.  Janet is engaged to Lt. Dick Craig.  She sets off to the swamp on her own without telling anyone.  In the meantime, the police are approached by suspicious foreign scientist Professor Strosky who tells them of his experience as a monster hunter. The chief assigns Dick to accompany Strosky to the swamp.  Good thing too as Dick arrives just in time find Janet in the clutches of Dr. Vornoff.

One thing we can say about Ed Wood is that he had a vision.  A demented vision, to be sure, but a vision.  This 60-minute film moves along fairly briskly and has the Woodian dialogue that I can’t resist.  One could ignore the phony rubber octopus but why do that when the death struggles of its victims are so darn amusing?  This is by far the best of the Ed Wood movies I have seen.  That does not make it “good”, of course.

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Bride of the Monster v. Ed Wood