The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues Directed by Dan Milner Written by Lou Ruskoff; original story by Dorys Lukather 1955/USA Milner Brothers Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] William S. ‘Bill’ Grant: You seemed a little anxious not to be seen.
George Thomas: Well, I saw two strangers standing over a corpse. Not being the hero type, I decided this was no place for me.[/box]
This is one of those movies where everybody acts suspicious but we never exactly find out why. That coupled with the early reveal of the ludicrous monster makes this a stinker.
In so far as I understand it, here goes. We open with a shot of the monster slaying a fisherman. A man in a suit is examining the body when he is interrupted by a federal agent. He tells the agent his name is Ted Baxter but we soon learn he is actually genius scientist Dr. Ted Stevens. Next we are introduced to genius scientist #2, Professor King. He is the most suspicious of all and conducts all his experiments behind locked doors. His secretary and assistant are both trying hard to find out what goes on in King’s lab. King lives with his beautiful adult daughter. Two guesses as to what happens when Stevens meets her.
Anyway, a bunch of stuff and several deaths happen before we learn that the monster is guarding a large radioactive deposit.
1955 is turning out to be a good year for bad movies. This one also ranks lower on IMDb than Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster, which sets a very low bar indeed. It thoroughly deserves its abysmal rating. See the Joe Dante clip for the reasons why.
The Big Combo Directed by Joseph H. Lewis Written by Philip Yordan 1955/USA Security Pictures/Theodora Pictures
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] Mr. Brown: Diamond, the only trouble with you is, you’d like to be me. You’d like to have my organization, my influence, my fix. You can’t, it’s impossible. You think it’s money. It’s not. It’s personality. You haven’t got it. You’re a cop. Slow. Steady. Intelligent. With a bad temper and a gun under your arm. With a big yen for a girl you can’t have. First is first and second is nobody.[/box]
As far as I am concerned, this is up there with Out of the Past in epitomizing all that is film noir.
Mr. Brown (Richard Conte) runs a crime syndicate. He ruthlessly took it over from a former crime lord and his own immediate boss Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy). Despite a decided lack of success so far, he is being doggedly pursued by detective Leonard Diamond. It seems that it is almost impossible to pin anything on Mr. Brown and Diamond’s own boss warns him off the case. But Diamond carries on, not least because he is in love with Brown’s blonde girlfriend Susan (Jean Wallace). For her part, Susan’s life disgusts her so much that she attempts suicide as the story opens.
Mr. Brown is fascinating in his sophisticated evil-doing and keeps getting away with murder while he takes revenge against Diamond in numerous ways. But Diamond is equally stubborn, if not more so.
This movie has everything. John Alton’s low-key cinematography is perfection. The acting, particularly Conti’s, is excellent and the dialogue is about as hard-boiled as you can get. We also get memorable performances by Earl Holiman and Lee Van Cleef as two hit men who are just a bit too fond of each other. This is a gritty and violent film that may even surpass Lewis’s other film noir classic, Gun Crazy. Highly recommended and currently available on YouTube.
James Dean was featured in his first major role and film, director Elia Kazan’s East of Eden. The actor was killed in a car accident on September 30, 1955, having appeared in only three films. Both of his Best Actor Oscar nominations – for East of Eden and Giant – were given posthumously. He remains the only person to have two posthumous acting nominations.
The first feature animation in CinemaScope, Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, was released in the US. It also marked Disney’s first full-length cartoon based on an original story rather than an established classic. Disneyland opened in a former orange grove in Anaheim, California, in July 1955, at a cost of $17 million. Another Disney first was the ABC-TV debut of The Mickey Mouse Club on October 3, 1955.
Blackboard Jungle was the first film to feature a rock-‘n’-roll song, “Rock-Around-The-Clock” (sung by Bill Haley and His Comets during the opening credits).
United Artists withdrew from the Motion Pictures Association of American when it refused to issue a Production Code seal to its controversial film about drug addiction, director Otto Preminger’s The Man With the Golden Arm. The film’s success helped to loosen restrictions on such films. The code was amended to permit portrayals of prostitution and abortion as well as light profanity (the use of the words ‘hell’ and ‘damn’).
A solitary white passenger during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger and was arrested, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. The Salk polio vaccine received full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A young Jim Henson built the first version of Kermit the Frog.
President Eisenhower sent the first military advisors to South Viet Nam. USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, put to sea for the first time.
A Fable by William Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams won for drama. The instrumental “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Perez Prado was ranked the number one song by Billboard.
The Soviet Union announced the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941. Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed a mutual defence treaty in Warsaw, Poland, called the Warsaw Pact. It would be dissolved in 1991. The Austrian State Treaty, which restored Austria’s national sovereignty,was concluded between the four occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed Vietnam to be a republic with himself as its President (following the State of Vietnam referendum on October 23) and formed the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The Vietnam War began between the South Vietnam Army and the North Vietnam Army in which the latter was allied with the Viet Cong.
Stranger from Venus (AKA “Immediate Disaster”; “The Venusian”) Directed by Burt Balaban Written by Hans Jacoby; story by Desmond Leslie 1954/USA Rich & Rich Ltd.
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth. — Stephen Hawking [/box]
This rip-off of The Day the Earth Stood Still lacks the original’s script, sets, special effects, and robot. It does star Patricia Neal, though.
As the story begins, an intense light blinds Susan Neal (Neal) and her car crashes violently into a tree. We see a faceless man standing over her lifeless body. Segue to the bar of an English country inn. The Stranger asks for a drink and prefers plain water to beer. He is clearly a very suspicious character. Susan’s fiancé, a high government official is checking in. Susan is very late. Suddenly Susan shows up relatively unscathed.
The Stranger soon admits that he is from Venus. The rest of the story concerns his planet’s mission to warn the Earth against nuclear weapons and the British government’s misguided efforts to steal the Stranger’s technological secrets. We also get an outright romance between the Stranger and Susan.
This movie is very bad and not in a good way. Almost all of it takes place on the bar set, which seems eerily like the setting of Devil Girl from Mars. I suspect the film makers simply reused that scenery. There are very few special effects and those are awful. Even Devil Girl from Mars had a robot! This cheapie doesn’t even show the spaceship. The talky dialogue is atrocious. Poor Patricia Neal deserved much better.
Young at Heart Directed by Gordon Douglas Written by Julius J. Epstein, Lenore J. Coffee, and Liam O’Brien from a story by Fannie Hurst 1954/USA Arwin Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Barney Sloan: Bustin’ things up, thats my speed, but one thing’s a saving grace: I always end up at the bottom of the pile.[/box]
I was very pleasantly surprised by this musical remake of Four Daughters (1938), not least because we get Frank Sinatra in the John Garfield part singing a whole bunch of standards at his absolute prime.
The Tuttle family consists of three musical daughters, their composer/conductor father, and their aunt Jessie (Ethel Barrymore). The family is a close one and lives in small town U.S.A. All the girls are at marriageable age. As the story opens Fran (Dorothy Malone) announces her engagement to wealthy Bob Neary (Alan Hale, Jr.). Next we see Amy, the eldest daughter who fears she is doomed to spinsterhood, and Laurie (Doris Day) make a vow that they will have a double wedding or not marry at all.
Into this milieu moves affable Broadway composer Alex Burke (Gig Young). All the girls are half in love with him but he sets his sights on Laurie who quickly reciprocates his affection. Shortly afterwards arranger Barney Sloane (Sinatra) arrives. He is clearly uber-talented but unable to finish his own compositions. He spends all of his time bemoaning his fate. Laurie makes it her mission to cheer him up and make him work again. Laurie is almost too successful as she also causes him to fall in love with her.
Alex proposes to Laurie and she happily accepts him. On the very day of the wedding Barney confesses his love for her and lets her know that the wedding is breaking Amy’s heart. The plot then follows Four Daughters with a switch in the ending more appropriate for a musical.
If there was nothing else of merit in the movie, I still would have been rapt at Sinatra crooning the following: “Just One of Those Things”; “Someone to Watch Over Me”; “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)”; and the title tune. But in addition to that, I think this is one of his best acting roles and Day is very good as well. In fact, I can’t really think of anything I would criticize. It’s probably not for musical haters though.
Somewhere Under the Broad Sky (Kono hiroi sora no dokoka ni) Directed by Masaki Kobayashi Written by Yoshiko Kusuda Japan/1954 Sochiku Ofuna
First viewing/Hulu
[box] “Happiness [is] only real when shared” ― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild quoted from Tolstoy[/box]
This is a story tracing the growth and change of a family. I liked it but Kobayashi would not come into his own until he started filming more powerful material.
Our family, the Moritas, has a liquor store business and lives above the shop. The story begins with Mother Morita chatting with a customer. Both ladies are complaining about their daughters-in-law. They think one big problem is that both their sons married for love. As time progresses, we see that the Morita daughter-in-law Hiroko and the son Ryoichi are deeply in love and that Hiroko in fact makes a lot of mistakes when she is left in charge of the business and does not do her share of the housework. For Hiroko’s part, she feels excluded from the family and can feel her mother-in-law’s animosity. The plot follows Hiroko’s trajectory as she becomes a full-fledged member of the family.
Another plot line follows the Morita daughter Yasuko’s story. She is 28 years-old, was left lame by an air raid and was dumped by her fiance thereafter. Her handicap is as much a psychological handicap as a physical one. She is quite certain that she will never marry, is very jealous of Hiroko, and spends most of her time brooding. With the help of her younger brother, she learns to live and love again.
This movie has some wonderful moments as when various characters talk about or interact with the sky. It is well acted and shot. Kobayashi reveals himself to be a competent director but not the master he would later become. The film does drag somewhat. I kept thinking it would end and then it would go on to pick up another sub-plot.
This complete film with English sub-titles is currently available on YouTube.
About Mrs. Leslie Directed by Daniel Mann Written by Ketti Frings and Hal Kanter from a novel by Viña Delmar 1954/USA Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post. — George Bernard Shaw [/box]
In which we find out just how many different melodramas can be stuffed into one movie …
Mrs. Vivien Leslie (Shirley Booth) runs a boarding house. Her lodgers include: parents with a daughter dying in the hospital; a young alcoholic who is wrestling with family drama including a sister who married a much-older millionaire; and an aspiring actress who is one rejection away from financial ruin. Mrs. Leslie also has to entertain the spoiled teenage daughter of a friend for the night.
Amid all this angst, Mrs. Leslie reflects back on her long-past relationship with the love of her life, George Leslie (Robert Ryan). She meets him in the 30’s while she is singing in a saloon. He swiftly decides he likes her and asks her to take a break from her job and accompany him on a six-week vacation in California. She agrees, losing her job in the process. One of the main things George likes about Viv is that she asks very few questions, even when the servants all address her as Mrs. Leslie. The vacation is a bliss-filled series of fishing trips and other outdoor activities. They agree to meet next year.
Vivien lives for these vacations. This goes on for several years past the inevitable day when she finds out who Mr. Leslie is for the rest of the year. Vivien’s story flashback is interspersed with the resolution of the tenants’ various dramas. With Henry Morgan as an agent and Ellen Corby as the teenager’s clueless mother.
I like both Shirley Booth and Robert Ryan and liked them in this film, though Ryan was perhaps more bland than I like to see him. Other than that, the story was too manipulative and predictable for my taste.
My viewing for 2015 spanned from 1945 to 1954. I saw 508 movies this year, about 320 of which I had never seen before. There were many gems among them, far too many to include in a top ten list!
There were no new-to-me films that I rated 10/10. The 9/10 “new” films I did not have room for here were: Samurai Rebellion (1967); No Regrets for Our Youth (1946); Night and the City (1950); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949); Red Army (2014); Twelve O’Clock High (1949); All My Sons (1948); Gate of Hell (1953); The Quiet Duel (1949); White Mane (1953); Morning for the Osone Family (1946); and Directed by John Ford (1971).
Many thanks to all of my readers. You keep it fun.
Magnificent Obsession Directed by Douglas Sirk Written by Robert Blees and Wells Root based on a screenplay by Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman and a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas 1954/USA Universal International Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Dr. Bob Merrick: [of a plan to do anonymous good works] Well, if it’s as simple as all that, why, I’ll certainly give it a chance.
Edward Randolph: Now wait, Merrick! Don’t try to use this unless you’re ready for it! You can’t just try this out for a week like a new car, you know! And if you think you can feather your own nest with it, just forget it. Besides, this is dangerous stuff. One of the first men who used it went to the Cross at the age of thirty-three…[/box]
Once you get past all the glorious Technicolor, all that is left is a thoroughly preposterous melodrama.
Spoiled playboy Bob Merrick (Rock Hunter) recklessly loses control of his speedboat and crashes, requiring treatment with the only resuscitator in town. Because he has selfishly monopolized this item, it is not available for use to revive saintly and beloved Dr. Phillips when he has a heart attack. Despite a thriving practice, Phillips leaves his widow Helen (Jane Wyman) little money. It turns out that the doctor has spent most of his income on anonymous good deeds.
Bob tries to apologize to Helen but she wants nothing to do with him. Finally, she gets hit by a car when fleeing from him and is left blind.
The contrite Bob pledges his life to carrying on the altruistic philosophy of Dr. Phillips and to the study of neurosurgery. In the meantime, he gets next to Helen in the guise of “Robby”, a humble medical student. Surely my astute readers can put together a suitably inevitable and sudsy ending without further assistance from me. With Agnes Moorehead as Dr. Phillips’ nurse and Otto Krueger as of his disciples.
I have a confession to make. While my records show that I had seen this movie before, I have no recollection of any part of the plot. This time, as I often do with movies I have seen, I first watched the film with the commentary track on, in this case sparing me much of the treacly dialogue. When I played the movie again I simply could not stay awake. Since there is no way I am going to subject myself to Magnificent Obsession again, this will have to suffice as my only review.
This was a remake of a 1935 picture of the same name directed by John Stahl and starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor, which I have not seen.
Jane Wyman was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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