Movie Review: Jesse James (1939)

A western loosely based on the notorious outlaw's exploits, Jesse James is a flamboyant and action-packed frontier adventure and romance.

After the end of the Civil War, the railroads expand west. In Missouri, unscrupulous agents intimidate farmers out of their land to clear the way for the train's arrival. Jesse James (Tyrone Power) and his brother Frank (Henry Fonda) support their mother (Jane Darwell) when she refuses to sell the family farm. In the ensuing fracas she is killed, Jesse exacts revenge, and the brothers go on the run.

As he evades the law Jesse maintains a romance with the love of his life Zerelda "Zee" Mimms (Nancy Kelly), the daughter of the Major (Henry Hull), a crusty Liberty City newspaper publisher. Will Wright (Randolph Scott) is the Marshal in town, and sympathetic to Jesse's anti-railroad cause. After Jesse and Frank commit a string of robberies targeting the rail companies, Will negotiates leniency if Jesse turns himself in. When the deal goes sour, the James brothers become notorious outlaws, attempting ever more dangerous heists and jeapardizing Jesse and Zee's dreams of domestic bliss.

While undoubtedly entertaining, the Nunnally Johnson script holds only the most tenuous connection with historical truth. For the most part Jesse James romantacizes a criminal and Confederate cause sympathizer into a folk hero fighting the good fight against evil corporate types. This is the Hollywood machine selling tickets by creating a mythology that caters to the American psyche, and doing so with brilliant craftsmanship.

Setting aside truth and fiction, Jesse James is a technicolour joy. The pacing is brisk, director Henry King intermingling scenes of action (some featuring audacious stunts) with romance and character interactions, and pausing when necessary at some powerful milestones. The tense night with Jesse in captivity and Frank plotting a breakout from under the noses of rail company executives is a highlight, as is the final chapter, Jesse's two possible destinies engaged in a battle for his soul as traitors gather. Humour is sprinkled in careful doses to liven the mood.

King does trace Jesse's descent from laudable defender of personal family property to hardened gang leader, and on a couple of occasions the soul-destroying realities of his criminal pursuits are brought to the fore. Tyrone Power's natural charm ensures a generally jovial portrayal, but he also brings a soullessness to the darkest hours dominated by an insatiable thirst to pull off the next big robbery.

Making excellent use of stunts, King's directing is kinetic energy in motion. A tracking shot of Jesse in silhouette making his way back-to-front atop a moving train is breathtaking. A seemingly impossible jump off a cliff is both controversial and stunning. And several chases and narrow escapes are punctuated by character improvisation captured by multiple careful camera placements.

Henry Fonda as older brother Frank shines in a couple of scenes, lacking Jesse's charisma but making up for it with cool guile. In addition to a sage Randolph Scott, the supporting cast also includes John Carradine as a sweaty Bob Ford, Brian Donlevy as the oily land expropriator, and Ernest Whitman as loyal servant Pinky.

Jesse James detaches from facts, but still finds spectacular success.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Nightmare Alley (1947)

A dark story of unconstrained ambition, Nightmare Alley is a richly textured drama exploring the limits of human desire fueled by greed and delusion.

Stan Carlisle (Tyrone Power) works with a scrappy traveling carnival, helping mentalist Zeena (Joan Blondell) with her show. She used to have a classy revue with Pete (Ian Keith) using a language code to pretend to read minds. Now Pete is reduced to a state of perpetual drunkenness.

Stan is an orphan, abandoned by his family at an early age and eventually raised in a convent. An ambitious risk-taker with a gift of oral communication, he seduces Zeena into teaching him the code, while romancing fellow carny Molly (Coleen Gray). He marries Molly and together they leave the carnival and use Zeena's code to establish a popular mentalist act at big city nightclubs.

But Stan wants more. He meets equally ambitious psychologist Lilith (Helen Walker), and her confidential audio recordings of patient sessions provide an opportunity to target the wealthy. Now encroaching into fraud, deception and profiting from private information, Stan creates a moral quandary for Molly.

A captivating character study, Nightmare Alley accompanies one man on a journey from the squalor of a cheap traveling carnival to the bright lights of swish big city and back again. Jules Furthman adapted the William Lindsay Gresham book into a powerful and purposeful script, packing poignant moments alongside performance highlights to track Stan's trajectory. Edmund Goulding directs with a firm hand and a noir spirit, maintaining control of a sprawling, multi-chapter story full of surprises.

Some moments reach exceptional heights of subtle emotion. In a long scene, the inebriated and quickly fading Pete demonstrates just how easy it is to create a beguiling illusion. Ever the quick study, Stan later puts this lesson to good use in distracting a Marshal intent on shutting down the carnival. Most profound is a stunning exchange between Molly and Stan, as she finally draws a line in the sand and confronts his out of control hubris.

Nightmare Alley is elevated by featuring three strong women characters. The seasoned Zeena has been around the block of fame and gives Stan his break after falling under his spell. Molly is the great love of his life and is devoted to her man, including any unconventional action needed to save him. And Lilith is his intellectual equivalent from the posh side of the tracks, and the one woman potentially as conniving as he is.

Exceptionally well defined, all three women remain true to who they are and abide by their principles, unmoved by Stan's fluctuating fortunes. They are brought to life by stellar performances from Joan Blondell (wary), Coleen Gray (ardent) and Helen Walker (icy).

Meanwhile Tyrone Power delivers what is probably the best performance of his career. Personable, irresistible, capable, dangerous, seductive, scheming and rapacious but never exaggerated, Power finds space for all of Stan's complexities in an astounding milestone.

Uncompromising and meticulously crafted, Nightmare Alley is a dream achievement.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Mississippi Gambler (1953)

A drama and romance set among the rich and adventurous in mid-1800s New Orleans, The Mississippi Gambler has no shortage of plot and is gorgeous to look at, but is also undermined by overflowing soapiness.

Mark Fallon (Tyrone Power) hails from a respected New York family but decides to seek a life of adventure as a professional riverboat gambler on the Mississippi River. He strikes a friendship with Kansas John Polly (John McIntire), and on their first sailing they meet the brother and sister duo of Angelique and Laurent Dureau (Piper Laurie and John Baer). Mark is immediately smitten with Angelique, but she is standoffish. Laurent is a weasel and covers his gambling losses with his sister's precious necklace.

In New Orleans Mark befriends Redmond Dureau (Paul Cavanagh), Angelique's father, and meets banker George Elwood (Ron Randell), who is trying to win her heart. Mark also helps Ann Conant (Julie Adams) when her brother commits suicide after incurring big gambling losses. Ann falls in love with Mark, Laurent falls in love with Ann, but Mark only has eyes for Angelique, as a series of high profile and self-inflicted tragedies strike the Dureau family.

A sprawling story featuring overlapping love triangles, multiple duels and tense poker table showdowns, The Mississippi Gambler moves quickly from one episode to the next. The overabundance of dramatic incidents combined with lavish sets, vivid colours and elegant wardrobes ensure the film is never slow or boring, but leave little room for reflection or character development.

If Mark Fallon left New York to find adventure, he is not disappointed. Director Rudolph Maté keeps the mood light and the pace fast by wedging an on-board ambush, two old fashioned duels-at-sunrise, a corporate bankruptcy, a suicide, an attempted murder, a business start-up venture and a couple of friendly fencing sessions in between all the romantic pursuits.

But the emotional core of the film is somewhat distant, as the central romance between Mark and Angelique sits on ice as he expresses his belief in a love she repeatedly rebuffs. As he waits for her heart to thaw, Ann develops a serious crush on Mark, the bland George adopts a slow and steady approach to win Angelique's hand in marriage if not her heart in love, and Laurent wastes no opportunity to make a fool of himself.

Mark and Redmond bond over a shared passion for adventurism, a common code of gentlemanly chivalrous living and an expertise in fencing, writer Seton I. Miller finding a way to salute Tyrone Power's swashbuckling past. The friendship between the two men unexpectedly emerges as the film's warmest element.

Tyrone Power easily represents the morally pure Mark Fallon in a role that suffers from a lack of any flaw. The supporting cast adequately portrays the high society of New Orleans, but all the characters are firmly defined in one non-evolving dimension. The Mississippi Gambler shuffles cards with admirable expertise, but deals with a flurry rather than deliberate focus.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Blood And Sand (1941)

A bullfighting drama, Blood And Sand is a melodramatic but nevertheless absorbing cautionary tale about fame's fickleness.

In Seville, young and confident Juan Gallardo comes from a humble family and dreams of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a great matador. His still-grieving mother Señora Angustias (Nazimova) worries her son will one day die in the ring, like his father. Juan travels to Madrid with a group of friends to seek his fortune. Ten years later, Juan (Tyrone Power) returns to Seville as an up-and-coming but still raw matador, and influential bullfighting critic Curro (Laird Cregar) remains sceptical about his talent.

But Juan marries his childhood sweetheart Carmen Espinosa (Linda Darnell) and within a couple of years becomes the best and most celebrated bullfighter in the country. With the world at his feet, Juan is entranced by the alluring beauty of the wealthy and spoiled Doña Sol des Muire (Rita Hayworth). He starts a steamy affair with the seductress and loses his edge, placing at risk all he has worked for, and soon his supremacy in the ring is challenged by his friend Manolo (Anthony Quinn).

Based on the book by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Blood And Sand presents the sport as a futile celebrity machine designed to distract young men away from their more cerebral potential. The overriding theme is the sport's bloodthirsty and uncaring attitude, with the matadors lured in by dreams of riches, abandoning their education to pursue glory, exploited at the top and then discarded either to a gored death or poverty when their skills decline. The heartless core of building up and spitting out heroes applies to many sports, but here is sharpened by the mesmerizing pull of dancing with arena death every weekend.

The rise and fall of Juan is paralleled by the women in his life. Carmen's true purity propels him to his greatest achievements while Doña's adulteration paves a gilded pathway to ruin. Doña embodies in one person the allure and spoils of reaching the very top, as well as the capricious nature of celebrity. She will ensnare the next top matador as her lover when the time comes, and won't give a second thought about the has-been.

Tyrone Power throws himself fearlessly into the role of Juan, the actor finding the single-minded passion needed to seek fame jousting with angry bulls. Doña is Rita Hayworth's breakout role, although her undisguised and ravishing huntress mannerisms operate within a narrow range.

For a movie about bullfighting there is surprisingly little in-arena action. Director Rouben Mamoulian, working from a Jo Swerling script, builds up to one central showpiece event towards the middle of the film, but otherwise focuses on characters and allows all the emotions to pour out unconstrained by any attempts at nuance. With animated settings and earthy tones, Juan's journey is vivid, colourful and committed, Blood And Sand spelling out its messages in bold letters against the bloodied and shifting stadium soil.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Ladies In Love (1936)

A romantic comedy drama, Ladies In Love features an overpowered cast struggling with an underpowered script.

Three women move into a Budapest apartment as roommates. all looking for a better life. The poor but bright Martha (Janet Gaynor) is trying to get the attention of scientist Rudi (Don Ameche), but he is too preoccupied with his rabbit experiments to notice. Martha turns her attention to worldly magician Sandor (Alan Mowbray). Chorus girl Susie (Loretta Young) is seeking independence but falls under the spell of handsome nobleman Karl (Tyrone Power).

Yoli (Constance Bennett), who is less of a believer in love and is more about seeking riches, is carrying on an apparently loveless affair with John (Paul Lukas), and old but wealthy man. Their relationship gets complicated with the arrival of perky temptress Marie (Simone Simon) to distract John. The women experience ups and downs as they navigate the choppy waters of uncertain relationships.

Twentieth Century Fox threw almost all their stars into one film, and while the talent occasionally sparkles, they are hamstrung by a lacklustre script. Endlessly talky, limited to one theme and eventually tiresome, Ladies In Love explores women's romantic ambitions but fails to find a genuine spark.

The film does deserve credit for demonstrating courage as it conjures up a bittersweet ending. Not all the romances have fairytale endings, and indeed Susie's story takes her to a dark and near-tragic place. But otherwise Ladies In Love is very much stuck in its era. The women have no life outside of their obsession with men. Every scene features the women either trying to snare a man or endlessly talking about the imperative or consequences of succeeding or failing in landing a partner.

The limp screenplay claims to be an adaptation of a play by a Ladislaus Bus-Fekete, one of many pseudonyms for screenwriter Leslie Bush-Fekete. If there ever was a play, it appears to have never been produced. Director Edward H. Griffith adds nothing to the film, and keeps the action largely stage bound. The presumed Budapest setting provides a context for the assembly of exotic target men, but is otherwise wasted.

The talent-rich cast members do their best to pull the film towards respectability, and ensure that although the words are uninspired, they are delivered with conviction. Janet Gaynor in particular shines as the spirited Martha. Loretta Young and Constance Bennett quickly provide clear differentiation in the women's personalities. Tyrone Power, Don Ameche and Alan Mowbray are prominent among the men, and provide distinct shades of male behaviour, ranging from suave to possessive.

Lacking laughs and liveliness, Ladies In Love is largely listless.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Crash Dive (1943)

A serviceable World War Two submarine action drama and romance with a propaganda bent, Crash Dive spends equal time on land at the sea, but is better wet than dry.

Lieutenant Ward Stewart (Tyrone Power) is a veteran of the Navy, most recently enjoying the nimble speed of Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats. Reporting to the navy base in New London, Connecticut, Stewart reluctantly agrees to join the crew of the submarine USS Corsair as Executive Officer, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Dewey Connors (Dana Andrews). Before the Corsair sets sail, Stewart meets schoolteacher Jean Hewlett (Anne Baxter) and is immediately smitten. He pursues her with great determination, and although she initially fends him off, eventually they fall in love.

Stewart does not know that Jean is Connors' fiancée, a man she admires but does not quite love. Meanwhile, out in the North Atlantic sea, the Corsair tangles with a German mine boat, and discovers evidence of a secret enemy base. Stewart and Connors make an effective commanding team, with Stewart more of a risk taker and Connors more strategic in his approach. With the romantic triangle reaching a climax, the Corsair is sent on a dangerous mission to uncover and destroy the hidden German naval station.

For a war film designed to boost recruitment in the US Navy, Crash Dive spends a lot of time on the shore, delving into the romance between Ward and Jean. Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter make for an attractive couple and the Technicolor production captures them both at their most resplendent. But Stewart's relentless pursuit and Jean's coy hard-to-get act consume plenty of screen time, and it's often difficult to remember that there is a war going on.

In the scenes back on the sub, director Archie Mayo switches gears and mounts a credible thriller. Although many of the submarine tactics and actions portrayed are pure Hollywood, Mayo does manage to portray the camaraderie and tension inherent in life underwater, from the hours of abject boredom to suddenly engaging in deadly hide and seek with the enemy. There are plenty of scenes with the requisite depth charges, subterfuge, silent pursuit, and torpedo attacks on enemy vessels. Upon returning from one mission, Stewart and Connors demand a massive meal made exclusively of fresh fruits, vegetables and milk, in a rare acknowledgement of the deficient nutrition served up on a sub.

The character dynamics are above average, with Stewart and Connors melding their leadership styles to good effect and with just a trace of competitive juice. The script by W.R. Burnett and Jo Swerling also deserves a lot of credit for featuring the black crew member Oliver Cromwell Jones (Ben Carter) in a prominent and sympathetic role. Oliver befriends fellow submariner Mike "Mac" McDonnell (James Gleason), who is suffering from a heart condition, and their relationship evolves throughout the film and culminates in the final battle.

And that final climax is not half bad. Despite all sorts of questionable tactics and unrealistic dullness from the Germans, Mayo delivers a solid 20 minutes of commando-style Grade B action to enliven events and stir the blood.

Crash Dive will never be mistaken for a classic war film or an emotion-packed romance. It's an honest war time romp promoting the war effort on a limited budget and in a decent package. Already enlisted in the Marine Corps, star Tyrone Power headed off to recruit training for the real war soon after filming wrapped, a rare case of an actor staying true to the message of his own film.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Rains Came (1939)

A character drama and serious romance set against a mammoth natural disaster, The Rains Came offers excellent special effects, powerful emotions, and memorable characters in an exotic location.

Tom Ransome (George Brent) is an American artist living the lazy expatriate life in the fictional city of Ranchipur, India, where the respected but childless Maharaja (H.B. Warner) and Maharani (Maria Ouspenskaya) throw lavish parties for society's elites. Tom's apathetic routine is disrupted when he meets Fern Simon (Brenda Joyce), the daughter of local missionaries. Fern develops a serious crush, and latches on to Tom as a potential escape route away from her parents. Around the same time, the uppity and bored Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy) and her insufferable older husband Lord Albert (Nigel Bruce) arrive for a visit.

Edwina and Tom were formerly lovers, but although he is willing to resume an affair, she is not as interested. Instead, Edwina sets her sights on Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power), a distinguished local doctor. Edwina pursues Rama aggressively, but he maintains his distance, not impressed but her haughty airs. With emotions at a fever pitch, the drought of Ranchipur suddenly comes to an end with a period of intense rain. A major earthquake then hits the area, causing a dam to breach and a massively destructive flood. The hospital is overwhelmed, Rama's medical skills are tested to the limit, while Tom, Fern, Edwina have to readjust their priorities in a devastated city.

An adaptation of the Louis Bromfield novel and directed by Clarence Brown, The Rains Came is a serious story given lavish treatment. Tom, Fern, Edwina and Rama create a romance-driven foursome with plenty of flaws, passion and varying levels of ambition. Despite plenty of local flavour and an abundance of sights and sounds to evoke India, Brown keeps the focus on his main characters, and the film succeeds in unveiling a grand story through an intimate lens.

When the time comes for spectacle, Brown does not hold back. Coming at almost the exact halfway point of the film's 105 minutes, the scenes of rain, then earthquake, then flood are exceptionally good for the era. In convincing fashion, the ground shakes, buildings fall, a dam breaks, and an entire city is devastated, streets turn to rivers, estate grounds turn to mush, and mass panic ensues. The sequence is thrilling as cinema and heartbreaking as unspeakable tragedy. The Rains Came deservedly nabbed the first Special Effects Academy Award, beating out the likes of Gone With The Wind and The Wizard Of Oz.

The natural disaster creates a massive inflection point. Caught in an isolated disaster zone, Tom, Fern, Edwina and Rama have to deal with a new reality, and the decisions they now have to make will change the trajectories of their lives. New bonds will form, self-discoveries made, and destinies confronted. The wise and wily Maharani keeps a watchful eye, taking a broader view than just personal interest, influencing events from a distance but influencing them nevertheless.

The performances are solid, with Myrna Loy particularly notable in an against-type role as she guides Lady Esketh on a journey from rich, privileged and spoiled to a woman seeing the world through the eyes of love, perhaps for the very first time. George Brent is appropriately caustic in a Clark Gable-type incarnation. Maria Ouspenskaya is a revelation as the crafty Maharani. Tyrone Power and Brenda Joyce are also good, but perhaps more stock. Henry Travers and Jane Darwell appear in smallish supporting roles.

There are some missteps in the movie. The romantic entanglements tend to overwhelm the film at the expense of other developments, and some of the dramatic romance elements veer into weepy melodrama, with a few too many scenes emphasizing longing and desperation. Fern is a bit too brash, while Lord Albert Esketh is milked for some mild buffoonery and then cast aside too easily. While the portrayals of the Maharani and Rama are dignified and there is some talk about a better future for India led by Indians, all the other local characters disappear to the background.

But overall, there is plenty to enjoy, and four characters to care for. When cholera sweeps through the destroyed Ranchipur, death comes calling with renewed vigour within the hospital walls, bringing a new urgency to unresolved relationships. Rama is a man of his people, Tom, Fern and Edwina are strangers in a friendly land, and all will come to terms with love, life and the winds of change emanating from a ravaged city.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Black Swan (1942)

A second-rate pirate swashbuckler, The Black Swan mechanically ticks off the genre boxes and generally forgets about context, character and charm.

In the battle between the British and the Spanish for supremacy on the seas, Britain relies on privateer pirates to extend its power. The legendary Captain Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) is the most prominent, and his loyal followers include the charismatic Captain Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power), better known as Jamie Boy, and the crusty Captain Billy Leech (George Sanders), commander of the fast and powerful ship Black Swan. Just as Jamie extricates himself from his latest entanglement with the Spanish, and sets eyes on Lady Margaret (Maureen O'Hara), a peace of sorts is declared. As a reward the King installs Captain Morgan as the new governor of Jamaica, replacing Margaret's father, Lord Denby (George Zucco).

This causes a rift among the other Captains. Jaime remains loyal to Morgan and joins the side of law and order in Port Royal. Leech does not trust the peace process and decides to stay independent, terrorizing the Caribbean seas. Jamie continues his pursuit of Margaret, although she already has a suitor in the form of English gentleman Roger Ingram (Edward Ashley). Morgan finds the job of ruling difficult, and he is undermined by both the elitists of Jamaica and Leech's piracy. Jamie has to find a way to help his friend and win Margaret's heart.

Although it offers a modicum of enjoyment, everything about The Black Swan feels rushed. Directed by Henry King, the film clocks in at 85 minutes, and sacrifices most of what passes as thoughtful narrative development. The ship-to-ship battles are perfunctory, the politics rudimentary, and the characters neatly break down into good and bad. Hardly any background context is offered for any of the individuals, and the screenplay, co-written by Ben Hecht as an adaptation of a Rafael Sabatini story, strips down character interactions to almost childish levels.

Even allowing for the era portrayed, the treatment of women is close to harrowing, with ladies reduced to so much property thrown over the shoulder by uncouth men as spoils of battle. When Jamie suddenly reforms into a government man, he does modify his behaviour and pursues Margaret in a more gentlemanly way. She plays hard to get throughout the film, as well she should.

On the plus side, the The Black Swan does look great in rich technicolor, and won the Best Cinematography Academy Award. Maureen O'Hara is gorgeous as she rises above the material and looks sniffily down on the ramshackle happenings around her. Tyrone Power is frequently given reasons to lose his shirt, amplifying the film's all-round visual appeal. George Sanders is an imposing villain, and Anthony Quinn appears in a small role as another of the rough seamen.

The Black Swan creates plenty of splashy noise, but is singularly lacking in requisite elegance.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Witness For The Prosecution (1957)

A masterful adaptation of Agatha Christie's play, Witness For The Prosecution is a playful and taut courtroom drama, filled with compelling characters, sharply defined twists and turns, and a memorable Charles Laughton performance.

Celebrated defence lawyer Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Laughton) has just returned to his practice after a spell in hospital due to ill health. Although hassled by his nurse Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester) and advised to not accept any difficult files, Sir Wilfrid cannot resist. He agrees to take on the case of Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), who is accused of murdering an old rich widow, Mrs. Emily French (Norma Varden). She had a crush on Leonard, and he was the main benefactor in her will, inheriting a large sum of money upon her death.

Chief Inspector Hearne (Philip Tonge) arrests Leonard based on circumstantial evidence, but Leonard insists he is innocent and that his wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich) will support his alibi. Meanwhile, Emily's housekeeper Janet McKenzie (Una O'Connor) never liked Leonard and has damaging testimony that he was arguing with the victim the night of the murder. The trial starts, and Sir Wilfrid appears to be making good progress in casting doubt on the case made by the Crown prosecutor Mr. Myers (Torin Thatcher). But suddenly the case is transformed when the prosecution calls a surprise witness, and Sir Wilfrid will need to be at his best to counteract devastating testimony.

Directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, Witness For The Prosecution is a delight. A courtroom drama filled with personality, humour and an undercurrent of unease that something is just not quite right in the case against Leonard Vole, the film contains plenty of surprises to maintain interest and easily sustains the two hours of running time. Crisp black and white photography, fluid camera movements within the courtroom and stark shadows and contrasts infuse the film with a restive dynamic.

At the middle of it all is Sir Wilfrid, a man born to question authority, question his own clients and question adversarial witnesses, usually as he strolls to an easy courtroom triumph. A large part of the film's appeal comes from Sir Wilfrid suddenly realizing that this case is much more of a challenge than even he realized. When the astonishing witness is followed by startling new evidence, even Sir Wilfrid struggles to map out the endgame, and his uncertainty heightens the carefully cultivated sense that in this case, anything can happen and the truth will be incredibly difficult to tease out. Charles Laughton has a blast with the role, creating in Sir Wilfrid the genius buffoon huffing his way past medical advise to occupy his zone of comfort in the middle of an arduous court battle.

Christie and Wilder provide the three central characters with plenty of colourful context and interest that seeps into the courtroom. Sir Wilfrid heads-up an entourage of assistants, but it is his running mental battle with his dogged nurse Miss Plimsoll that most taxes his abilities. Meanwhile, there is obvious tension between Leonard and his wife Christine, perhaps partially attributable to her German origins, and maybe because Christine resented Leonard's liaison with the now deceased Mrs. French. But as the trial progresses, the relationship between the accused and his spouse emerges as a tight knot, convoluted in construction, intent and implications.

In his last completed role and just a year before his death at age 44, Tyrone Power gives Leonard Vole persuasiveness hampered by a selective recollection of the truth. Marlene Dietrich is a dark and spectral figure, adept at saying one thing while her body language hints at quite another.

Witness For The Prosecution is an exquisite film, dominating the courtroom with commanding arguments to easily win its status as a classic.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

The Movies Of Tyrone Power

All movies starring Tyrone Power and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Ladies In Love (1936)

Jesse James (1939)

The Rains Came (1939)

Blood And Sand (1941)

This Above All (1942)

The Black Swan (1942)

Crash Dive (1943)

Nightmare Alley (1947)

Rawhide (1951)

The Mississippi Gambler (1953)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: This Above All (1942)

A World War Two propaganda romance set in England, This Above All is a more heavy-handed companion piece to Mrs. Miniver.

The war is raging, France has surrendered, and England stands alone, subjected to daily German bombing raids. The rich Cathaway family is part of English aristocracy, suffering through the war through the prism of moaning about the inconvenience of it all. But daughter Prudence (Joan Fontaine) is more connected to the common people, and she breaks ranks to enlist with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as a lowly recruit rather than using family connections to join as an officer.

Through a friend, Pru meets and starts a romance with the mysterious Clive Briggs (Tyrone Power). He is rugged, handsome, but also appears to be harbouring a deep dark secret. When Pru gets a week's leave, she decides to spend it with Clive at a seaside resort. She discovers he used to be a soldier and was evacuated at Dunkirk. But it is only when army buddy Monty (Thomas Mitchell) shows up that Clive's true predicament is revealed.

Directed by Anatole Litvak and based on a book by Eric Knight, This Above All is designed to elicit sympathy for the British, at a time when the Unites States was still uncertain about joining the war. The film delivers its message effectively but also tilts towards the crude side. This is a talk fest that lays bare the schisms in Britain's class system, but then issues a loud and emotional rallying call that England is a wonderful place and well worth saving, warts and all. Everything from the cliffs of Dover to the rolling countryside hills and the magic of Shakespeare are pressed into service, with the simple message of save the country now, and fix its society later.

The film moves slowly but steadily, and Litvak conjures up several magical moments. Pru unloading on her stuffy family's attitude at dinner time is a cathartic highlight. The first meeting between Pru and Clive occurs fully in the dark as a blacked-out England tries to avoid the German bombers, the faces of the would-be lovers only occasionally visible in the light of matches. And when Pru and Clive settle down for a week at a quaint seaside town, they eventually land at a pub and inn straight out of Dickens, a perfectly executed manipulative trick to drench the romance in old world charm.

Less impressive is the brooding Clive Briggs as played by a stiff Tyrone Power, not even trying to be English. Power sticks to the one note of passive anger with intermittent flare-ups, derailing the romance into a rescue mission for Pru. She appears to stick by her man as a mission of mercy to save his soul and make him better, and because she admits to being tired of being surrounded by nothing but women at WAAF, rather due to any obvious reasons to actually fall in love.

Joan Fontaine emerges as the main reason to watch the film. She does manage to keep all her make-up on despite WAAF regulations, and Fontaine captures the tender heart of the film, the bridge between classes, a woman in touch with her country's urgent needs and willing to make any sacrifice to survive and support the men who need to fight. In addition to Thomas Mitchell as a salt-of-the-earth soldier, the cast of characters includes small roles for Nigel Bruce as the innkeeper, Philip Merivale as Pru's father and Gladys Cooper as the haughty aunt.

This Above All may lack some subtlety, but in desperate times, some calls to action are best delivered bluntly.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Rawhide (1951)

An often overlooked Western, Rawhide is a tense and compact hostage drama set at an isolated overland mail outpost.

Rawhide Pass is a remote rest stop for the Overland Mail Company, on the treacherous yet popular route to deliver mail, passengers and cargo via stagecoach between San Francisco and St. Louis in 25 days. Grizzled veteran Sam Todd (Edgar Buchanan) is the stationmaster, and he is assisted by the inexperienced Tom Owens (Tyrone Power), who is still learning the business. The mysterious Miss Vinnie Holt (Susan Hayward) arrives at Rawhide on the eastbound wagon, accompanying a young child named Callie. But Miss Holt and Callie are forced off the wagon and asked to spend the night at Rawhide as a safety precaution, because convicted criminal Rafe Zimmerman (Hugh Marlowe) has broken out of prison and is threatening the safety of stagecoaches in the area.

Miss Holt is beyond irritated and immediately clashes with Tom. But things get a lot worse when Zimmerman and three other escaped inmates, including the borderline psychotic Tevis (Jack Elam), arrive at Rawhide, dispatch of Sam, and take control of the station. Zimmerman wrongfully jumps to the conclusion that Vinnie and Callie are Tom's wife and child, and holds them hostage to manipulate Tom into cooperating. Zimmerman and his men intend to ambush the eastbound coach arriving the next day and carrying a large quantity of gold. Tom and Vinnie have to find a way to tolerate each other, maintain the pretense of a married couple, and survive the ordeal.

Playing with some of the same themes from The Petrified Forest (1936) and Key Largo (1948), Rawhide is less about action and more concerned with establishing a remote, cut-off location, exploring bubbling tensions within a small group under stress, and presenting an intelligent antagonist with a back story, struggling to maintain control of his shifty allies and terrified hostages. The ingredients are mixed well by director Henry Hathaway, and the result is a taut 89 minute exercise in character dynamics.

The Dudley Nichols script gets most things right. Tom and Miss Holt get off on the wrong foot, creating a natural conflict that is only made worse when they are mistaken for husband and wife. And on the other side, the dangerous Tevis is introduced as an unstable member of the invading gang, injecting a source of volatility that Zimmerman will rarely have full control over. And finally, little Callie is the most vulnerable hostage, and also a delightful catalyst capable of generating doses of unpredictability.

It can be argued that Zimmerman would have been better off ambushing the gold-laden stagecoach on the trail rather than at Rawhide, and his background and motivations would have benefited from some additional elaboration. When Zimmerman's crimes are revealed it is others who do the talking, and the film would have been enriched had the escaped convict himself had an opportunity to tell his story.

But Hathaway keeps the narrative moving and the stress mounting, as deep fractures appear among the outlaws, and Tom and Vinnie reach the limit of their tolerance for captivity and the charade of marriage. Tyrone Power demonstrates welcome vulnerability as a man who is afraid and devoid of answers, while Susan Hayward brings her typical fieriness to the role of Vinnie Holt, a strong woman having to deal with a large number of men, many of them dangerous. Marlowe as Zimmerman is adequate, but more handsome than menacing. Jack Elam gets a larger supporting role than usual, and with an everpresent sneer, he ensures that Tevis is a memorably despicable villain.

As effective as the pioneering overland mail service it celebrates, Rawhide delivers the goods with admirable efficiency.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.