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Daily Archives: September 18, 2015

The Atomic City (1952)

Posted on September 18, 2015 | Leave a comment

The Atomic City
Directed by Jerry Hopper
Written by Sydney Boehm
1952/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] The Cold War isn’t thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn’t sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting. — Richard M. Nixon [/box]

This starts out with an intriguing premise then turns into a more routine kidnapping/chase/police procedural action movie.

The Addison family lives in the “Atomic City”, Los Alamos, New Mexico. This is a self-contained strictly guarded community that houses the workers on top-secret nuclear projects at the facility there. The children know better to breath a word about what daddy does. Dr. Frank Addison (Gene Barry) is the preeminent nuclear physicist at the facility. His wife Martha worries that their son Tommy is being warped by the experience. For example, he talks in terms of what he wants to be IF he grows up.

One day, all the children in Miss Haskell’s class go on a field trip to a fiesta in Santa Fe. Tommy has been pumped up about possibly winning a bike in the raffle there. He does win, but when his name is called no one answers. He has simply disappeared. Miss Haskell starts frantically looking for him.

Segue to the Addison home where Frank has come home early, upset that one of his associates has received radiation burns. He and Martha start getting ready to go to a community dance. Then a telegram arrives telling them that they will receive further information about their son’s whereabouts at the dance. Martha begs her husband not to call the police.

They go to the dance and get slipped a letter saying that Tommy will be killed if the police are called but that they will get him back unharmed if Frank will turn over all is H bomb secrets. Martha is by now hysterical. Instead of calling the cops, Frank goes into the facility on a Sunday. He is caught by the FBI as he is about to leave his office with a folder of papers. These were dummy equations designed to buy time. After checking, the FBI decides to use the papers as a decoy to trap the spies. They make it very clear that their number one priority is catching spies and Tommy’s safety will have to take second place.

The rest of the film shows how the FBI goes about its work.

I thought this was quite OK though nothing earth shaking. Gene Barry had a hard time convincing me that he was a nuclear physicist but the rest of the players were fine. This is another interesting glimpse into Cold War paranoia and I thought the beginning about life at Los Alamos was fascinating. All the spies in this one are 100% American.

The Atomic City was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.

Trailer

My Cousin Rachel (1952)

Posted on September 18, 2015 | 5 comments

My Cousin Rachel
Directed by Henry Koster
Written by Nunnally Johnson from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier
1952/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] “The point is, life has to be endured, and lived. But how to live it is the problem.” ― Daphne Du Maurier, My Cousin Rachel[/box]

There was nothing wrong with this as a movie per se but I just couldn’t get behind the story.

Philip Ashley (Richard Burton) was brought up by his adored uncle Ambrose. When Philip is grown, Ambrose travels to Italy for his health, leaving his nephew behind to watch over the estate. While in Florence, Ambrose falls in love with and marries the Countess Rachel Sangaletti, a widow. Then Philip starts getting letters. His uncle’s handwriting has deteriorated and it is evident that he has grown afraid of his wife. The last letter begs Philip to come to him. The family lawyer reminds Philip that Ambrose’s father died of a brain tumor and that such things could be hereditary and thus account for his uncle’s state of mind.

Philip arrives in Florence to find his uncle already dead. He meets with his uncle’s Italian solicitor Guido Rinaldi who tells him that he died after a long illness. Uncle Ambrose left Philip his entire estate. The widow has already left Florence. Rinaldi tells Philip that his uncle was raving mad during the last part of the illness and very paranoid. Philip isn’t having any of this and vows revenge on the widow.

After Philip returns home, Rachel arrives to return the uncles possessions to him. He is amazed to see that the widow is a relatively young, sweet woman. It doesn’t take long until Philip is head over heels in love with her. He is so in love in fact that he gives Rachel a handsome allowance and a treasured family necklace, which the lawyer takes back because Philip has not yet come of age. Rachel is observed to have transferred most of the money out of the country. This may have been to satisfy some large debts. On his birthday, Philip announces that he is deeding the entire estate over to Rachel. She happily accepts but when Philip also announces their engagement she balks.

This is a handsome movie with good acting. I had a real problem with the plot because most of Philip’s actions seemed totally inexplicable to me. Also, the ending, which I will not reveal, was unsatisfactory not because things were left open but because it seemed abundantly clear what had been going on. I also did not understand why Philip was to blame for what happened. If someone has seen this, I would appreciate any insight that could be given.

My Cousin Rachel was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Burton); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.