A Stolen Life (1946)

Stolen Life PosterYou know you’re in for some rough sailing when it’s the evil twin that goes over the side of the boat leaving the goody-goody twin to assume her identity. Spoiling your “twin tricks Glenn Ford” gimmick by having him get the better twin after already dumping her for her slightly sluttier sister doesn’t make much sense and limits the sort of screeching drama that a movie of this sort demands.

A slow moving film that never amounts to much and frequently languishes on the shoals of extraneous plot points, A Stolen Life seems to be scripted without any concept of what a Bette Davis movie involving dirty tricks and silly plot twists is all about. Continue reading “A Stolen Life (1946)”

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Having ridden the success of their monster films for somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years, by 1948 Universal had gone through about all the permutations of monsters battling one another they could think of. In an effort to suck even more money out of these played out ideas, they decided to insert their monsters into a comedy starring Abbott and Costello. The first of what turned out to be an ongoing series of these horrorific comedies is Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and it is by far and away the best and funniest of the series. Continue reading “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)”

Flamingo Road (1949)

This movie got off to a good start with me because we’re told right away that Flamingo Road was the road in this town (Bolden) where all the really powerful people lived. I like a movie that explains its obscure title early on because otherwise I’ll spend my time watching the movie and wondering just what the dickens the title is supposed to mean.

Even better, a sleazy carnival is visiting the wrong side of the tracks in town and Lane (Joan Crawford of Possessed) is dressed up in one of these harem girl outfits and shimmying along to that “there’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance” song that most of us had committed to memory by the second week of first grade. Continue reading “Flamingo Road (1949)”

Possessed (1947)

PossessedPosterAs someone in the beginning stages of schizophrenia, the voices in my head kept telling me that I should check out this movie starring Joan Crawford as a woman who goes off her rocker because of her obsession with Van Heflin.

With his boyish good looks and roguish charm, Van probably should have come with a warning label, especially since he causes Crawford’s Louise to disintegrate beautifully from a healthy, emotionally needy nurse to a deranged rich dame who imagines things and suffers from enormous mood swings.

Van plays David Sutton and is one of those single guys that likes hanging out with women so long as they know that it isn’t anything too serious. He’s an engineer of some sort and is prone to saying stuff like “I know two plus two is always four” and expects Louise to understand why this means they’ll never be married. Continue reading “Possessed (1947)”

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Despite being a Disney cartoon, this film is definitely not for children! Based on The Wind and the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the movie is about a talking toad who is mentally deranged and a horny guy with big feet lusting after some young hottie while he’s supposed to be teaching the town’s schoolchildren!

As it unfolds, we find Toad’s buddies concerned about his poor money management, even going so far as to appoint Angus MacBadger to act as Toad’s trustee. Even as Angus is attempting to get Toad’s books in order, Toad is out and about wreaking havoc with his new ride, a canary yellow horse drawn cart, pulled by his newest best buddy – a horse named Cyril Proudbottom. Continue reading “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)”

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Three women receive a letter from another broad who says that she left town and took one of their husbands with her as a memento. I was hoping that these three dames would be busting the head of every snitch in Gotham City trying to dig up some info on which man of theirs had taken a powder. I even thought there might be some kind of hair pulling slap fight between these chicks that would end with all of them crashing into a giant fountain in the middle of town.

Admittedly, two of them are almost bickering at one point during the film and one of the characters gets off a jewel of a line about how they were starting to act like they were in a movie about a women’s prison (we wish!), but what do these women do once they get the letter? They go off to a picnic for some children’s organization! Continue reading “A Letter to Three Wives (1949)”

Gaslight (1944)

Young Paula is hustled out of London after the death of her famous singer aunt. As is the case with most survivors of violent crime, Paula is eligible for an all expense paid trip to beautiful Italy! While there, you will try and follow in the melodic footsteps of your aunt, but be sidetracked by the smooth-talking Charles Boyer who is after a bunch of really sweet jewels that your dead aunt got from some shadowy royal figure. Or you can pass and bid on Showcase #2! Continue reading “Gaslight (1944)”