Ruthless

Plot synopsis:
Act I
Judy Denmark, a bland housewife, is the mother of talented eight-year-old Tina, who declares, "I was born to entertain." At the suggestion that she should postpone her stage ambitions to be a normal child, she replies, "I've had a normal childhood. It's time to move on." Sylvia St. Croix, an overbearing and sleazy agent, encourages Tina to audition for the school play, Pippi in Tahiti, The Musical, feeding her thirst for stardom. Third-grade teacher and frustrated actress, Miss Myrna Thorn, directs Pippi. She casts an untalented (but parentally connected) girl, Louise Lerman, for the lead, making Tina the frustrated understudy. After "begging nicely and saying please," Tina "accidentally" hangs Louise from the catwalk with a jumprope so that she can play Pippi. (In the Los Angeles production, Louise is killed by a falling sandbag dropped from the rafters by Tina.) Lita Encore, Judy's adoptive mother (and Tina's grandmother), a tart-tongued theatre critic who "hates musicals", shows up to review the premiere of Pippi in Tahiti; and, In a series of revelations, we learn that Judy is the daughter of Ruth Del Marco, a Broadway star from the past who was believed to have committed suicide because of bad reviews from Lita Encore. Judy recognizes that she herself is talented. ("I'm talented! God help me, I'm talented!")
Act II
Once Tina's crime is discovered, she is sent away to the Daisy Clover School for Psychopathic Ingenues. Former housewife Judy Denmark is now a success on Broadway as diva Ginger Del Marco, but the world wants to know where she came from. "Modern Thespian" reporter Emily Block directs a pointed interview at Judy and discovers not only her housewife past but that she has a child. Tina is released from serving her time, and comes back to Ginger's fabulous penthouse apartment (and her jealous assistant, Eve). Tina seems to be reformed, but Ginger sees through the act ("you're not that good") and calls her bluff. Mother and daughter face off for the limelight. Sylvia re-enters, wanting nothing more than to take Tina with her. She reveals that she is Ruth Del Marco, and Ginger's mother. She did not commit suicide, as was believed, but instead went into hiding. Suddenly, Eve pulls out a gun and after revealing that she is Louise Lerman's ("Act One?") mother Betty Lerman, in a struggle with Ginger Delmarco, is shot dead. Tina then takes the gun that shot Eve and holds it to her mother, asking to be in cast in her new play. At that moment, Lita Encore bursts in and Sylvia struggles for the gun with Tina and is shot dead. She sings her final song, after which, Lita Encore comments "ah, she could never sing." Sylvia comes back to life one last time and shoots Lita. Ginger then becomes Judy again because of all the extremely stressful events that have taken place. She tells Tina that they'll never set foot on stage again to which Tina responds, "You're right, mother. there's no money in theater...we're moving to L.A....We'll do a sitcom!" Judy, realizing her daughter has not learned a single thing, proceeds to kill herself by electrocution. Tina begins to declare, gun in hand, that there's no money in Broadway, when she is interrupted by Miss Block, who returns looking for her pad and pen. Tina shoots her and finishes explaining that there's no money in Broadway and that she's moving to Hollywood to get a series.

Tags: flashback

Review:
RUTHLESS is a terrific noir/melodrama - sharply written (by the to-be-blacklisted Alvah Bessie and Gordon Kahn), consistently beautifully photographed (by the underrated Bert Glennon), and truly adventurous in its editing and flash forward-flash backward construction.Zachary Scott is the "ruthless" title character, but the title is more a cheap shot than anything else; Scott's Vendig is more an emotionally bankrupt, pathological character than a villain per se.
This technique alone puts RUTHLESS way ahead of any other Poverty Row melodrama of the period and cements Ulmer's reputation as a thoughtful stylist.Louis Hayward plays a sort of Greek chorus, an often acquiescent voice of conscience/best friend/nemesis who keeps the episodic story moving along.
Diana Lynn (in two roles), Martha Vickers and Lucille Bremer each give terrific performances as the various women who appear, disappear, and reappear in the lives of both men.
All are sharply drawn, a testament to the determination of Bessie, Kahn and other blacklisted writers to put strong female characters on screen in defiance of the Production Code, which seemed to encourage either submissive or predatory roles for women.And as if all that isn't enough, Sidney Greenstreet drops in and sets the screen on fire in every sequence he appears in.
Likewise, a later sequence where Bremer drags him in front of the mirror so she can brutally compare him to her new, younger lover is unforgettably painful.RUTHLESS sits comfortably alongside DETOUR, THE MAN FROM PLANET X and THE STRANGE WOMAN, other Ulmer gems of note.
Apparently a brief exchange between the adolescent boy (Bobby Anderson) and his father (Raymond Burr) in which the father tells him that opportunity only comes around once, is the reason why Anderson morphs into the social climbing and ruthless business tycoon played by Zachary Scott.
Though it's difficult to establish a connection between the two, Scott makes a believable social climber, and the story has a pretty good trajectory from his adolescence through dark mansions and well furnished offices with New York skyline views, to a finale gala event where Scott is organizing a philanthropy to unload some of his millions and ease his conscience.
While in a philanthropic meeting promoted by the millionaire Horace Woodruff Vendig (Zachary Scott), the guest Vic Lambdin (Louis Hayward) tells the history of the beginning and end of his friendship with the host to his date Mallory Flagg (Diana Lynn).
When they are boys, Horace is a poor boy from a dysfunctional family and Vic's best friend that saves the wealthy girl Martha Burnside from drowning in a river.
Later he meets the shark Buck Mansfield (Sydney Greenstreet) and seduces his young wife Christa (Lucille Bremer) to profit in business, leading to tragic consequences.I was zapping the cable TV this raining Sunday morning in Rio and I found this rare film-noir by chance, which has never been released on VHS or DVD in Brazil.
Ulmer made a magnificent movie with a timeless plot of merciless ambition of a poor and selfish boy that wishes to climb financially and socially using and disposing wealthy women and friendships.
There is strong work by Diana Lynn, Lucille Bremer, and Martha Vickers as women who get used and discarded along the way.
Sidney Greenstreet shows up mid film as an equally greedy and grasping character, dominating all his scenes.
Ulmer (1904-72) may be best remembered for the pessimistic 1945 film noir Detour, but that is only one of his several directing credits, many of which have fallen out of fame over the past decades.
One of Ulmer's lesser known works is his 1948 drama Ruthless, a character study of a superficially successful but inwardly broken man, in some ways evoking memories of the themes in Orson Welles' legendary debut feature Citizen Kane (1941).Like many noirs, Ruthless utilizes extensive flashbacks in its narrative.
The frame story takes place in a high society party where Vic Lambdin (Louis Hayward) and his lady friend Mallory Flagg (Diana Lynn) have arrived to meet Vic's old friend Horace Vendig (Zachary Scott), a millionaire philanthropist.
He mentions that he is aware of his irresistible urge to strive for success which causes him to knowingly hurt his loved ones by dumping them in favour of business opportunities, but the scenes of him going through numerous financial negotiations and meetings start feeling tiresome soon.
For one thing, the acting is generally good throughout; especially the women are at home in their roles, from the beautiful Diana Lynn in a double role as Martha and Mallory to Lucille Bremer as the frustrated Christa Mansfield and Martha Vickers as Vendig's fiancée Susan.
Sydney Greenstreet also delivers a great performance as Bremer's on-screen husband Buck Mansfield, an aging businessman who has to face his limitations due to Vendig's schemes.
On the other hand though, the kid actors in the first flashback are not as impressive as the adults, but Ruthless is hardly the first (or last) movie with kids as the weakest link.
Zachary Scott's "old" makeup could have been more convincing too; a small moustache is hardly enough to convey the feel of an older man.
Other than that, the melancholic-looking Scott suits the lead role somewhat comfortably.Some of the shadowy photography in the exterior scenes and low camera angles looks pretty nice, even though the visuals are not really as starkly contrasted as in many proper noirs.
In the end, with more fleshed out character development Ruthless could have been a very enjoyable film, but I think it is easily watchable as it is now as well, flawed or not..
That's the lesson learned too late by all the good souls who help ruthless Zachry Scott in this movie.
Scott is appropriately hard and tough in the unsympathetic lead role, and Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, and Raymond Burr head up a marvelous supporting cast.
Ulmers attempt to film a story similar to CITIZEN KANE.
Like CITIZEN KANE, RUTHLESS is the story of the rise and fall of man from a humble background who rises to the top, destroying several people along the way, only to end up having his past catch up with him at the end.
RUTHLESS also has CITIZEN KANE's flashback structure and both characters come from quaint small towns.
Unlike Charles Kane, Horace Wooddruff Vendig is a far more ruthless character and- unlike Charles Kane- evokes little sympathy.
He destroys his first love, first by stealing her from his best friend, then dumping her for another woman when he meets another girl whose family can provide him with better connections to move the economic ladder.
Overall, RUTHLESS is a not bad imitation of a much better film, but when viewing it, the viewer can't help think something is lacking..
I felt like i was watching the sequel to Citizen Kane episode two, loved the movie kept me on the edge of my seat but it needed Orson Wells!
Diana Lynn disappointed me playing a duel role as MarthaBurnside/ Mallory Flagg she shows the same personality for both characters.
But great supporting role up against Zachary Scott.
The movie is slow at spots but sustains its plot throughout.Sydney Greenstreet plays the villain no surprise there but would we want to see him in film in any other way think not!
I give it a ten Raymond Burr gets a small scene in the beginning of the film as the father to Zachary Scott's character well acted scene though he doesn't have much of a part too short i think he should've stayed in the movie longer.
The director, though, is a favorite noir director of mine, Edgar Ulmer, who had a string of great films in the late 1940s.
So this is one of them, though not quite a noir.In fact, this is a kind of financiers movie, which isn't actually a genre thank God. But the weakest part of the film (at least for a non-Wall Street viewer) is a lot of talk about business deals.
And of course there are women involved (compelling ones like Diana Lynn), and memories of a childhood girlfriend, so we feel something for the good friend of the leading capitalist male, and even for Sydney Greenstreet, who plays an aging businessman, even amusing.The whole enterprise gets fairly involved and makes you pay attention, which is good, and leads to a pretty spectacular last scene off the pier..
Ulmer (of "Detour" notoriety), Zachary Scott, Sidney Greenstreet, Raymond Burr and Martha Vickers, under the title "Ruthless," promises a fairly  robust slice of film noir.
Alas, what one gets is a faintly Citizen-Kaneish look back over the life of a heartless tycoon (Zachary Scott, who, whatever his strengths, was no Orson Welles).
Scott was a poor child (Burr briefly plays his dad, dressed up to look like a carnival barker) who saved the life of a wealthy girl, whose family then took him under its wing.
I am sure that Zachary Scott was cast in the lead role in Ruthless after the folks at Eagle-Lion remembered his debut in The Mask Of Dimitrios.
As proof of that I'm sure that every effort was also made to acquire the services of Sydney Greenstreet who was also part of the cast of that film.Under Edgar Ulmer's direction, Scott paints a careful and calculated portrait of a driven and Ruthless man going back to his childhood.
Some elements of Citizen Kane are present here as in several flashback sequences we see what has made Scott what he is today.What he's trying to do now is cover up what he's been in much the same manner as the robber barons of old by donating his vast sums of money.
Scott's invited a whole lot of people from his past including his oldest friend Louis Hayward who really knows him from way back when.And it's back in his childhood just as we were introduced to Charles Foster Kane and the events that shaped we are likewise meeting Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, and Diana Lynn as the characters they are before they are adults.
He goes to live with Dennis Hoey and his rich and genteel family which includes the daughter who grows up to be Diana Lynn and they give him a Harvard education.But what makes this a real Zachary Scott role is that it's not just business he's in, it's business mixed with bedroom pleasure.
Some of the observations made by Bessie's characters could hold true for Lillian Hellman's Little Foxes as well as in Citizen Kane.A real crackerjack film and a fascinating portrayal by Zachary Scott in the lead makes Ruthless a must see..
I call this Wall Street Noir as a way of simple classification, but it's a odd film from Britain's Eagle Lion, directed by the usually "B" director of Bluebeard and Detour, this dark film detailing the rise to financial power of a man who lacks ethics, certainly mirroring many of the financial scandals surrounding us today.
Ulmer had considerable talent, and here is given a literate script, a popular leading man in Zachary Scott, and lots of outstanding support, namely Sidney Greenstreet, Diana Lynn, Martha Vickers, and in a small,unrecognizable role Raymond Burr.
Zachary Scott plays Horace Vendig--a young man from a very troubled home.
This same pattern continued throughout the film--using others (especially women) to work his way towards greater and greater wealth.
While the outside world sees him as a great and philanthropic man, he is a soul-less jerk--and this film shows the steps he took to become that man.In many ways, this film is a lot like the later film "Wallsteet" except that Vendig gets ahead not just through business acumen but by using women.
Yes, as Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford's Oscar winning role of 1945) was so compelling and the character of Monty Baragon (Zachary Scott) her eventual ill fated screen husband; I found it hard to separate the two roles ZS played in that role & "Ruthless" (1948).Whereas "Monty" only "loafed", Horace is obsessed by work and making money to the detriment of his personal life.I found it hard to accept ZS playing a young university student at Harvard.The inter varsity swimming competition I found unconvincing since when they swam the freestyle event, none of the undergraduates did a tumble turn when they reached the end of the pool.Peversly I missed not seeing ZS helping an undergraduate with his economic notes as it would have added depth to the character of Horace.Equally I found it hard to believe he would give up studying at Harvard and hence obtaining an economics degree, by being seduced by the offer of an assistant manager post at a New York firm of stockbrokers.Sydney Greenstreet played his usual "heavy" role a la "THE Maltese Falcon".The female leads in pre-sexual equality days were only interested in love & marriage and were just adequate.Passable 6/10.
Zachary Scott makes the tycoon who from a humble start builds an empire but at the cost of everything human on the way.
He simply refuses to take any no or objection to his ambitions seriously but grabs everything he fancies for his own and gets it - until there is Sydney Greenstreet, who turns the film into a very interesting drama, the finale towering into a frantic settlement with the inhumanity of ruthlessness.Among the others Lucille Bremer as Christa makes an intelligent impression, and Louis Hayward as the friend who sees Zachary through and tries to follow but fails to save him, makes a credible enough figure of a real best friend who fails for no fault of his, while Diana Lynn as Martha and Mallory becomes something of an enigma - it's actually she who brings Vendig's ruin but unintentionally, as her only power over him is that she resembles his first love, whom he deserted - it's not her fault.It's a very interesting story of opportunism, but like in so many of Ulmer's always most interesting films, the characters never really come alive.
Burr is great in minor role, explaining Scott's character.
Wholesome Lynn and promiscuous Bremer are among the women Scott becomes romantically entangled with..
Greenfield and wife need thick Southern accents--Zachary Scott miscast as womanizer.
This movie also fails as it tries to copy Citizen Kane cinematography with long black and white shadows etc...the items filmed that way were things like fake chandlers--almost like a parody.With more money...and some tuning and recasting this could have been a great classic.Still RECOMMEND--.
This film is the life story of mega-wealthy Horace Vendig, as told in flashbacks at a party he's throwing in his own honor at his palatial estate.
He views the women in his life as trophies or stepping stones, and the general public as sheep to be fleeced.For once, director Ulmer had enough money for some production values.
Zachary Scott as Vendig is properly cold-blooded, Louis Hayward stalwart as the one friend finally disgusted and betrayed, and the rest of the cast, including bigger names than Ulmer usually could afford, is excellent,.
On Your Way Up, Be Careful Who You Step On. With a name like "Vendig" and an actor like Zachary Scott, you know who's ruthless without seeing the movie.
It's a heckuva climb up the proverbial ladder, told in occasional flashback that fills in the personal stories and motivations.It's also a great cast, Scott at his most arrogant, Lynn at her sweetest, Hayward at his most likable, and of course Greenstreet at his most Greenstreet.
Likely, the movie's message would resonate with today's audiences who've also been taught a lesson by Wall Street's destructive side.Anyway, it's a darkly riveting morality tale that gets the most out of its modest budget thanks to a shrewd cast and expert direction from cult director Edgar Ulmer.
At the same time, the deserving Lambdin finally ends up with his beloved Martha, even if it's through her look-alike Mallory (which is why Lynn plays both parts).
Director Edgar Ulmer wants RUTHLESS to put himself up there with the bigger directors.
Horace Vendig(Zachary Scott)is the product of a broken home; not having any of the luxuries his friends had.
Other players: Diana Lynn, Martha Vickers, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer and Raymond Burr.
There is no way that cheerful, caring George Baily (Robert J Anderson) can grow up to become preening, effete villain Zachary Scott.
It's too bad the film's message ends up being the homily: "Stay home, have no ambition & lead a trite life!".
The inevitable comparison to "Citizen Kane" is shared with other reviewers of this high grade Eagle Lion film directed by the masterful Edgar J.
The two films share a story told in flashbacks of how the childhood struggles of a young boy lead him to become a ruthless businessman who seemed eager to destroy everything he touched.
Rather than Orson Welles, the grown man is Zachary Scott, even more amoral than his rogue from "Mildred Pierce", and like Charles Foster Kane, his childhood issues stemmed from his parents, divorced for many years.
His cold-hearted mother (Joyce Arling) wants him to have nothing to do with his father (played in a nice cameo by Raymond Burr whose movie career prior to TV immortality in "Perry Mason" and Ironside" consisted mostly of villains) but the young boy can't help but look him up.
He breaks up marriages, drives one business associate to suicide, and even schemes to take away the woman loved by his childhood best friend (Louis Hayward).One of the key moments is when he sets his sights on the young wife of the much older Sydney Greenstreet.
She's played by Lucille Bremer, the older sister in "Meet Me in St. Louis", who is playing a variation of characters played in film noir by Gloria Grahame and Jane Greer.
When Greenstreet comes to her room to tenderly offer his love to her, the disgust erupts, much like Mildred from "Of Human Bondage", and the film briefly touches on something very profound.
The other women played by Diana Lynn and Martha Vickers never strike a cord of interest for me, only adding a soap opera element to the "Citizen Kane"/"Dallas"/"Dynasty" feeling.The story is told surrounding an event where Scott is being honored, for what never convincingly felt worthy of him receiving.