Would you spend the night, following a traffic accident, in a bizarre futuristic home built atop the ruins of a fortress perched over a horrific World War One battlefield? What if the doctor who took you there was an increasingly odd Bela Lugosi and the host awaiting you was a most peculiar Boris Karloff? Pity poor David Manners & Julie Bishop, who find themselves in just such a predicament.

THE BLACK CAT is the best of the Karloff/Lugosi teamings of the 1930's. They play hated antagonists who finally get the opportunity to revenge themselves upon each other, once and for all. Add a virulent fear of black cats, a well-equipped torture chamber & a wicked band of Satanists and you have all the elements for a dandy little thriller. (Except for the title, there is no connection whatsoever with the Poe story).

Karloff & Lugosi are both spooky and their scenes together are full of menace. Mr. Manners & Miss Bishop are good; they look stalwart or scared convincingly. That's John Carradine playing the organ, by the way.

Some attention should be paid to the set design. Instead of taking place in a creepy old house, the plot unwinds in a modernistic mansion, all rounded corners & curving walls. One could almost call this a science-fiction story - Ming the Merciless would be quite at home here.


This is one of my all-time favourite horror movies (right up there with Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE and EVIL DEAD). Even though it's old and creaky, even though it's mannered and any violence happens discretely off-camera, THE BLACK CAT somehow has the power to make me feel uneasy.

Even though it has some weird stuff happening, like Lugosi telling his loyal servant to obey Karloff (does he REALLY switch sides, or is he only pretending as Lugosi told him too?) and Lugosi not just shooting Karloff when he has the chance, the creepiest thing in the whole movie is that after marrying Lugosi's wife, Karloff now sleeps with his step-daughter. Now THAT is messed up!

Other highlights are the skin-flaying scene (really nasty) and the oddball black mass (where did all those people come from and how did they get to the mansion when the innocent young couple found it impossible to leave?)

THE BLACK CAT is an odd and uneasy treat and if you enjoy it based on this recommendation, try BLACK Friday which can be found in the same Lugosi box set.


A couple Peter and Joan Allison are joined by Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Bela Lugosi) who are on their way to a hotel, but suddenly their bus crashes during a storm. Dr Verdegast suggests they seek refuge in Hjalmar Poelzig's (Borris Karloff) house, who is an old acquaintance of his and he's secretly seeking revenge against him for the death of his wife and betraying his country by slaughtering his entire army when it was sacrificed to Satan during WW1. Dr Verdegast discovers that Poelzig has the same idea for Joan, which saw him kill his wife. So to help them escape Dr. Verdegast challenges Poelzig to a game of chess and if he wins they are free and if he doesn't their doom.

Incredibly complex and odd assortments of novelties ranging from Sadism, Superstition to Satan worship fill this stylish yet confusing film. I wasn't particularly gob smacked or incredibly impressed by the film after reading a lot good things about it, but it's the performances and the look of the film that kept me glued and amazed. The plot had an engrossing set up, but the story just didn't compliment it, as it could have been far more interesting than it was. It jumps here to there without real cohesion and becomes rather thin in detail, but there are some surprising revelations along the way. The dialogue on the other hand was rather fine, if too much of it. There was a lot of conversations than actual action or lively scenes. The distinction between Dr Verdegast and Poelzig is pretty even in power and determination to rid each other. With them tossing back and forth sharp and intense dialogue to get the upper hand. All of this mayhem between them leads to a greatly energetic tussle between the two stars.

The set-up is a slow-grinder to begin with, though there are interesting ideas that pop up throughout the film. The reasonably slow dramatic 45-minutes suddenly picks up the pace and energy levels for the last thrilling and involving 15-minutes, which alone is good reason to watch it. This is when Satanists and sacrificial ceremonies fill the story. There is a brilliant climax involving a skinning that is implied to great effect and a big explosion to end it all. The ironic ending was fairly convincing and enjoyable in tying up the film.

It's definitely Lugosi's best performance that I've seen along with ''White zombie''. Though, I've yet to see "Dracula". It was a good change to see him playing a good guy and a much more controlled and subtle character than his eccentric roles. Borris Karloff comes across rather menacing and quite callous in appearance. His body language is impressively noticeable and imposing in creating terror. From his dead looking facials and soft spoken voice really added to the unease. Julie Bishop and David Manners as the couple were fine in their performances.

This is impressively atmospheric and holds such a great awe to it all. The modernistic cold domain of Poelzig's castle truly stands out, with the spiral staircase, sliding doors, the dark dungeon and curvy interior. There is such great composition with lighting and solid camera-work captures the elegance and style of the scenery beautifully. The soaring score takes hold and sometimes it got rather distracting for me. As I kept trying to figure out where I heard the score from before.

Overall, "The Black Cat" is a very good mood piece and holds such great performances. Not as great as I thought it would be, but still it's highly entertaining.


I won't comment about the acting or plot -- there's plenty of that here already. What I'd rather do is call attention to the visuals -- the cinematography, lighting, costuming, and especially the set design.

Normally, horror films take place in ancient settings -- crude medieval fortresses and rustic castles that are dark, cluttered and gloomy. But this one is set in a perversely utopian sci-fi fantasy -- the clean lined, impeccably detailed, generously glazed modernistic and (usually) radiantly lit white-and-silver upper floor interiors of the house.

The lower floor is an expressionistic prison, also clean lined, but still dungeon-like with its windowless walls of exposed board-formed concrete. An elegant steel spiral staircase connects the two, and the angular expressionism reaches its culmination in the chamber used for the black mass.

Karloff's costumes recall Oskar Schemmer's Bauhaus-produced work -- angular, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted and elegant. Even the haircut of this man of the future in sharp and angular. His character is an engineer and architect and is given the name -- Poelzig -- of a famous expressionist German architect and film set designer of the time, who was a colleague of the director on an earlier film. The elegant futurism in carried down to the detail level, including a digital night-table clock and an abstract chess set. Much of the genius of this movie is that it breaks the horror-movie visual mold, and floods it with light, creating a fascinating tension between plot and setting.


David Manners and Julie Bishop (billed as Jacqueline Wells) play two newlyweds on vacation in Hungary who make the acquaintance of genial doctor Vitus Verdegast (Bela Lugosi). After an accident on the road, they end up accompanying Dr. Verdegast to the mansion of Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff), an architect with more than one secret to hide.

"The Black Cat" is apparently based none too closely on the Edgar Allan Poe poem, but has its own story, just using the poem for inspiration. The plot isn't much to speak of, with many of the revelations spoken by Verdegast. In fact, it's such an economical, light-on-story little movie, directed capably by B-movie veteran Edgar G. Ulmer, that it flies by and is over in just over an hour.

It's quite a departure from the Gothic nightmares that were a number of the classic Universal chillers. Set in the present, a palpable feeling of what-the-heck-is-going-on mystery hangs over the proceedings, underscored by a nicely melodramatic music score. Interesting sets are also a bonus, as well as a climax involving a Satanic mass and a torturous comeuppance for Karloff.

However, this is really all about seeing Karloff and Lugosi act together. Karloff is a marvel of cagey, subtle villainy, and Lugosi pretty likable in a rare "good guy" part. The other actors pretty much hold their own against the two leads, but it's really Karloffs' and Lugosis' show.

I was struck by the great character faces of supporting actors Egon Brecher and Harry Cording, and the beauty of Lucille Lund, all of which enhanced my enjoyment of the film.

It's a fun little picture and good for a nights' viewing.

8/10


Whenever someone talks about Universal classic horror films, two names always tend to show up in the course of the conversation: Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, two very different yet still similar persons who in 1931 shared the privilege of becoming the first monsters of the sound era in two enormously influential films. In Tod Browning's "Dracula", Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi took the role of the immortal vampire while at the same time, English born Boris Karloff became the legendary man-made creature of James Whale's "Frankenstein". While both actors had different lives off-screen, they would appear together many times on the silver screen thanks to their status as "horror icons" and their enormous talent and screen presences. Among the many movies the two legends made together, Edgar G. Ulmer's "The Black Cat" has a definitive place among the most memorable ones.

"The Black Cat" is the story of the Peter and Joan Alison (David Manners and Julie Bishop), a young American couple on their honeymoon trip through Hungary. On the train to Visegrád, the couple meets Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi), a charming yet strange man who like them, will take a bus to Gömbös as he is planning to visit an old friend. However, the bus has a terrible accident and only Werdegast and the Alisons survive. Joan is in a bad condition, so Werdegast suggest to take her to his friend's house in order to heal her wounds. The three arrive to a marvelous mansion on the top of a hill, where they are received by Werdegast's mysterious friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff). The couple thanks the hospitality of their eerie host, but they don't know that they are now pawns in a death game between Werdegast and Poelzig, a death game between two rivals that started many years before.

While the film was announced as an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 story of the same name, "inspired by Poe" would be a better way to describe it, as the screenplay by director Edgar G. Ulmer and writer Peter Ruric has almost no relation to Poe's classic. While Poe's story was about a murderer, the screenplay for "The Black Cat" is about the final duel between two bitter enemies and the two innocents who get caught in the middle. What makes "The Black Cat" to stand out among the other Universal Horror classics, is the incredible care taken in the development of the two main characters. Through powerful exchanges of dialogs, we discover the dark pasts of both men, and how behind their apparently normal faces are secrets far more shocking than any monster. While the plot is certainly contrived and a bit too fast paced, the dialog written is definitely some of the best from that era.

In "The Black Cat", director Edgar G. Ulmer shows a lot of the influence he received from German expressionism during his years as an apprentice to legendary filmmaker F.W. Murnau, as by giving good use to John J. Mescall's brilliant cinematography, Ulmer manages to create an ominous and haunting atmosphere out of extremely modernist art deco sets. This highly atypical and visually striking style that Ulmer uses for the film enhances that sense of impending doom that the couple feels as they enter Werdegast and Poelzig's dark world, giving the film an atmosphere of strange and otherworldly beauty that makes it very different to other horror films of that time. Another of the elements that make this movie special is its highly innovative use of Heinz Roemheld's music, as unlike most of the films made on those years, here it is used widely through the film as another device to create atmosphere.

Of course, what truly makes this film attractive is the chance to see Lugosi and Karloff together for the first time, and the two icons do not disappoint. Boris Karloff is delightfully evil in his role as the sinister Hjalmar Poelzig, filling the screen with that powerful presence that made him shine in "Frankenstein". However, while Karloff makes a terrific job as Poelzig, the highlight of the film is certainly Bela Lugosi, who in this movie proves that he was truly a remarkable actor and delivers what probably is the best performance of his career. As the film's "hero", Lugosi shows his acting range and makes the perfect match for Karloff's performance. As the young couple, David Manners (Lugosi's costar in "Dracula") and Julie Bishop are nothing surprising, but still are very effective in their performances considering that the spotlight is not on them.

If there is a flaw in this marvelous horror film, is definitely the fact that it has a very short runtime (barely 66 minutes), and this forces a very fast pace that in turn makes a bit difficult to expand on the movie's plot. That's the reason why some critics have criticized the film for having a story a bit too complex, as the extremely fast pace force the events to happen too quickly. There are rumors about the film having originally a runtime of 80 minutes, where it expanded on several parts of the plot that were left unexplained in the final version; but that this scenes ended up cut because they were considered too disturbing for its time. While nobody can truly prove this, a more likely possibility for this is the fact that "The Black Cat" was a low-budget film, and therefore forced to have a shorter runtime.

While flawed, "The Black Cat" is still one of the best horror films from the 30s, and certainly one of the best (and definitely the darkest) of the ones produced by Universal. It is also one of the best among the movies that paired Lugosi and Karloff ("The Body Snatcher" is another great one), and as written above, Lugosi's best performance ever. Despite being short, this is one of those forgotten horror masterpieces that deserve more attention, if only for having the best of both legends. 9/10


Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff star in this atmospheric thriller. Lugosi is effective as Dr. Vitus Werdegast and Karloff is diabolically evil as the satanic Hjalmar Poelzig. David Manners and Jaqueline Wells co-star as two American honeymooners caught in the conflict between Lugosi and Karloff. The camera angles and lighting make up for the lacking plot line. The dialogue is laughable at times, but the actors manage to hold their faces straight while saying it and do a pretty good job with the rest of the film. Joan and Pater Allison(Manners and Wells) are vacationing on their honeymoon in Europe. They run into Dr. Werdegast on a train and decide to share a cab to a town. Along the way the driver crashes the car and the four survivors(Werdegast's servant survived as well) head to a house that Werdegast knows. It is the house of Hjalmar Poelzig, an old acquaintance of Werdegast's. As the night and next morning ensue, Werdegast's and Poelzig's sordid past is revealed, and Poelzig also decides that he must have Joan for a satanic ritual. The finale is explosive as Werdegast makes his last stand against Poelzig and the honeymooners try to escape from danger. This film co-stars Harry Cording(A universal regular) as Werdegast's sidekick, a very attractive Lucille Lund as Poelzig's innocent wife, and Egon Brecher as Poelzig's servant. 8/10


I think this is the ONLY time Ulmer ever had a budget to work with, fresh off the boat from Weimar, and what does he do with it? Hires Karloff AND Lugosi, buttresses them with a couple pug-ugly manservants and a truly goofy romantic-interest duo, and puts them to work: running through this outrageous modernist mansion built on a WWI bunker (they have electric clocks!), performing satanic rites and playing the organ, murdering (and stuffing) wives and daughters, settling ownership of virgins with a nice game of chess, fainting a lot, flaying each other alive, listening to stupid ass cops with feathers argue over whose home town is prettier, plus a line that EVERYONE should have implanted in their brains: "Supernatural - perhaps. Baloney - perhaps not." The denouement, in which the goofy male love interest reads a review exhorting him to be 'more realistic,' is out-of-left-field and perfection itself, like the rest of the movie. This is what cinema is all about folks! It's as if John Landis has been trying to remake this his entire life. Plus it was Universal's top money maker of 1934!!


The only thing differentiating this film from a Loony Tunes cartoon starring Daffy Duck and Professor Jekyll, actually, is the music. Instead of being by Carl Stalling, it's a horrible neo-Romantic hodge-podge of Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet Overture, I ask you!), Schubert, Liszt and other Classic Pops. It even has Karloff, as the mad scientist, playing Bach's Toccata and Fugue at the organ for good measure, at a crucial moment, which must already have been a hoary film cliché, even in 1934.

With the plot's melodramatics skidding in constant overdrive, it's hard to decide whether one is being subjected to a shabby little shocker or to an embarrassment of cinematic riches. One clue to the whole set-up is in the ritualistic Latin incantation used by Karloff during the Black Mass he celebrates in the medieval dungeon of his ultra-modernistic castle: it's a mixture of Latin expressions cobbled together, straight from the dictionary, one of which is "cum grano salis", which translates, you guessed it, as "with a grain of salt"...

Otherwise, this film has everything horror fans crave: the young adorable honeymooning Brad-and-Janet-type American couple seeking refuge from the rain and a car accident in a strange castle in the middle of the night in backwoods Hungary, Bela Lugosi as an unsettling traveling companion, Karloff as the weird host (sporting a hairstyle half-way between a pompadour and a flat-top, that would not be seen again until the German "The Third Sex" in 1957), partial to black cats - the only link to the Edgar Allen Poe story - and embalming his mistresses in lifelike poses inside glass cages, like Bluebeard, stalwart man-servants with their own capillary peculiarities that appear to remain on duty at all times (and to sleep standing up in corridors), ultra-modern architecture that eerily foreshadows the sterility of 1950s "Home & Garden" interiors, secret chambers, house foundations resting on a dynamite cache, sliding doors, an early intercom system, spiral staircases, the already-mentioned organ, expressionistic lighting, breast pawing, suggested incest, murder, torture, etc. There's just no end to the wonders of this film. The vices on display run the entire alphabetic gamut from adultery to zoocide, by way of satanism, although if I was Satan, I'd ask to have my name removed from the credits, if only to preserve my highbrow image...

And it all fits neatly in 65 little compact minutes. In the last analysis, it's fascinating to watch Universal's horror stars turning on each other with such unbridled ferocity and playing along with this campy joke while keeping a straight face at all times.

This film is now available on DVD as part of a Bela Lugosi boxset that mostly stars Boris Karloff - his way of getting even, I guess. Another film in the collection, "The Raven", also stars Lugosi and Karloff duking it out, and is just as un-"Poe"-etic as "The Black Cat", despite its title. It also manages to use the Romeo and Juliet Overture to disastrous effect.


Musical about Randolph Scott and Irene Dunne falling in love when he inherits a dress shop (named Roberta's) in Paris. The romance is OK but the dialogue is terrible (if Scott had said "swell" one more time I was going to throw up!); Scott is big, hunky and unbearably handsome but seems very uncomfortable in his role; Dunne is absolutely gorgeous but wooden and her singing got on my nerves (her operatic version of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was ear-splitting). And there are way too many fashion show sequences.

But I'm still giving this an 8. Why? Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. When they're on screen the movie leaps to life. They're both young, full of energy, in very playful moods and seem to have a great time working together (unlike later movies). Their dancing, singing and interplay is just great--there's a sort of "dance fight" near the beginning that's just unbelievable. This movie is a must see just for them. Also Lucille Ball is purportedly a fashion model in this but I didn't see her.

So, see it for Astaire and Rogers...just fast forward through the rest of it or grit your teeth and bear it.


The music is by Jerome Kern, from the Broadway play. What a flowering of musical talent show business produced between, say, 1925 and 1955. Composers and lyricists include Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Yip Harburg, Charles Warren, Dorothy Fields, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Richard Rogers, and a horde of others. (It's surprising how many of them grew up at the same time in the same Brooklyn neighborhood.) Kern was the equal of any of them and though Roberta doesn't include his most original or memorable songs, those we do hear are both sonorous and technically adept.

But, the songs and dances are virtually the only good things in the movie. The story is plot bound, and is to the Astaire-Rogers series what "Room Service" is to the Marx Brothers. Otto Harback wrote the script for the play, mainly a contrast between stereotypical masculinity and feminine delicacy. (Randolph Scott, a former football player, inherits some kind of fashion business and feels his virility is compromised.) It makes for some heavy plodding in the film. Scott isn't nearly as enjoyable as he was in the later "Follow the Fleet," let alone straight comedies like, "The Awful Truth." Or even (dare I suggest it?) the priggish cowboy he played in the cheap Ranown movies of the 1950s -- "You make good coffee. Good-NIGHT, Mrs. Lowe." Or the best line Scott has ever uttered on screen about a beautiful woman -- "She ain't ugly." I gather the play, with its contrast in gender sensibilities, was a little more risqué than the film, but some of the humor survives: Astaire complaining into a phone that he's been running the fashion shop "for so long my voice is beginning to change."

Kern wrote eight songs for the play and four of them are included here: "Let's Begin," "I'll be Hard to Handle," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," and "Yesterdays." Two new Kern songs were brought in: "Lovely to Look At" and "I Won't Dance." The last may be the Astaire-Rogers signature tune. I know an institutionalized schizophrenic who shows the usual flat affect but who, every once in a while, begins to sing "I Won't Dance" in a peppy tempo.

Probably the two best dances are Astaire's solo in "I Won't Dance" and the pas de deux in "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." In the first, Astaire is hauled to the foot of a staircase and goes into a spasm of twists, turns, and impossibly rapid taps, his arms flailing about as he twists and turns like a crazed marionette, managing to shake hands with someone in the process. Astaire always insisted on full body shots during the dance numbers and as few cuts as possible. There is only one cut in this scene. This is unquestionably one of his most distinctive solos. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", with Rogers, is slower but not moony. The rudimentary pulsing rhythm makes their simple dance together look positively elegant. If they were backed by a German band, there would be a tuba playing OOM-pah, OOM-pah in the arrangement. Rogers is remarkably supple. At one point Astair drapes her backward over his arm and she drapes her torso over it as if her spine were made not of bones but chondrocytes.

Worth seeing, but only for the songs.


Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, despite being on the front cover are not the main stars. The main stars happen to be Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott and you do not want to watch Dunne sing since she is awful and Scott doesn't even try to dance or sing, which is a good thing. Astaire and Rogers are the best thing in this movie and you get to hear Rogers have a Swedish accent. The romance between Scott and Dunne just isn't very interesting and you would be best off by skipping the parts when Dunne sings. I don't even see why Dunne and Scott were cast in this film and you should really only watch it if you happen to be a big fan of Astaire or Rogers.


The only reason this film exist at all is that Dorothy Stratten is in it. Autumn Born has all the finesse of a 70's porn film, but without the sex scenes. Although, I did like the story, An uncle who have his niece kidnapped to brainwash her into signing her fortunes over to him. It is a interesting story, but not fully realized by the writer and by the director of this movie.

In Autumn Born, you get to see plenty of Dorothy Stratten than any other films that she is in. You get to hear her speak with her Canadian accent(she does have a very lovely voice). You get to heard her say "eh" couple of times at the start of the film. You get to see Dorothy in varies states of undress either by another or by herself a lot. What I like about this movie is that you get to see the budding of her acting talent. Now I have seen more than my shares of bad acting in low budget movies, but Dorothy's acting although rough around the edges, still have more room to grow, that is, if she was to allow to develop her skill. It is really a shame that all we get to see of Dorothy Stratten as an actress is in low rent movies like this one.


Utter rubbish really but it serves as one the rare appearances on celluloid in her tragically short young life. Look at her!! She's gorgeous!! Poor Dorothy gets kidnapped, taken off to a "school" where she gets the cane for being naughty, amongst other torments. It's just nice to see her beauty - now preserved for ever on DVD. An all Canadian affair, appropriately enough since Dottie was a Canadienne. Shot in and around Winnipeg the movie does feature a nice performance from Jocelyn Fournier as the sapphic Headmistress with a penchant for smacking bottoms and "assisting" Tara (Stratten) in her bath! But really it's just a movie made about and for Dorothy. She has a sweet voice with her Canadian accent and great physical appeal, made even more delightful since she was all natural and not "enhanced" like many of today's starlets. Thank you, Dorothy.


All the acting is poor. The plot is weak. The film is merely a vehicle to display Dorothy Stratten's body. On that count, well done. But, even that is not enough to maintain an interest to the end.


It's really much too bad that Dorthy Stratten, who was probably one of the prettiest females to grace this planet, wasn't around longer to make more and better movies. We are left with Galaxina and Autumn Born, the former being the much better known of her two movies. This movie Autumn Born is good at what it is, which, in addition to being a "sexploitation" movie, is almost a perfect, text-book account of how to brainwash someone. Though certainly an unpleasant subject, people should realize that this is a real technique that is used upon unwilling people to cause them to be subjective to other people "the masters". It's a fairly well-made film, for a low-budget feature and one of the only two movies you'll find Dorthy Stratten in, so if your a Stratten fan or interested in brainwashing, then go for it.


"Autumn Born" marked Dorothy Stratten's first movie role in a career that would only last about a year, until her untimely death at age 20 in 1980. The movie is a Canadian exploitation flick, and to say that it is technically awful is a real understatement. After a few very dated late-1970s disco and office scenes, Dorothy's character is kidnapped and sent to a strict "school of discipline" at a country estate. Her captors throw her into a basement, tie her up, strip her naked, torment, torture, and humiliate her for the rest of the movie. All of these scenes appear to be lit by a single dim light bulb hanging from the basement ceiling. At the end she turns the tables on her tormentors and wins the day.

It's hard to say exactly what the worst thing about this film is. The photography is bad. The acting is bad. The sound quality is bad. The lighting is bad. The script is bad. In particular, the direction is hopelessly incompetent. However, there's something compelling about Dorothy Stratten's mere presence that makes this otherwise forgettable movie worth a look. Some people have said that Stratten had that indefinable characteristic called "star quality"if so, what might she have accomplished in the past 27 years?


Phantom Raiders was the second (the first being 1939 Nick Carter - Master Detective) and the last film directed by Jacques Tourneur about the adventures of a popular detective Nick Carter whose character was created still in the end of the 19th century and who served as a protagonist of several films before this one during the silent era. Here yet again Walter Pigeon plays the main part of invincible detective and is joined once more by his peculiar assistant Bartholomew known as the Bee-man (hilariously played by Donald Meek). They were destined to reunite only once again the same year as Phantom Raiders to film Sky Murder but this time under the direction of George Seitz.

 In Phantom Raiders Nick Carter answers the duty call while on vacation and is sent to Panama to investigate the mysterious sinking of several cargo ships near the Panama coast where he is joined by his eccentric assistant Bartholomew who as usually provides sometimes a valuable help and on other occasions creates havoc though always remaining handy. Soon they discover that a nightclub owner Al Taurez is involved, but very soon our heroes discover to their disappointment that he's a bit tougher then appears to be at first sight. A little weaker than its predecessor - Nick Carter-Master Detective, The Phantom Raiders is still a decent viewing experience. 6/10


Phantom Raiders portrays a crime that is all to possible today, blowing up ships set off by electrical devices. However this was 1940, the era of the wisecracking detective and his sidekick neatly wrapping up the mystery in a little over an hour. What sets this film apart from other movies of the same type is its crackling good dialog, an insidious villain,(Joseph Shildkraut),the suave Nick Carter,(a clean shaven Walter Pigeon), his assistant, Mr Bartholomew (beautifully played by Donald Meek), the innocent ingénue(the captivating Florence Rice). Speaking of Florence Rice, she literally lights up the screen when she is on. At the same time vulnerable, adoring. Listen to the way she says "I love him", talking about her boyfriend, it will melt your heart. Highly recommend!


Though he's the title character, Welter Pigeon plays a back seat to the villain. The villain is played smoothly by the superb Joseph Schildkraut. The rest of the cast is fun. Nat Pendleton is Schildkraut's bodyguard. Donald Meek is Pigeon's sidekick -- and a beekeeper, to boot. Florence Rice is very good in what looks like a sympathetic role, and is, though she's initially on the wrong side of the law.

What makes this stand out is its plot. We see this at the very start; so I'm giving nothing away: Schildkraut is blowing up ships at sea to collect on their insurance. It's shocking to think of such cold-blooded behavior. But to underline the heinous nature of his crime, we see the captain and some crew members chatting just before theirs is blown to bits.

This isn't the greatest of Jacques Tourneur movies. But his masterly touch is evident. Schildkraut is often photographed in profile and generally partially in shadow. He reminds one of a streamlined, custom-made sports car of the time. He is stylish -- and almost impossibly cruel.


Watching Shakespeare without dialog isn't as challenging as you might think. Indeed, this 1912 film manages to condense the play neatly and still retains much of the power of the piece without hearing - or even reading - the words. Much of the success of "Richard III" is due to the vivid characterization by Frederick Warde, but his costars are excellent too. The direction is basic, of course, and every so often director-star James Keane wastes precious time (what's up with that long semi-tracking shot of the ship?), but generally his work is more than adequate. Comparing Keane's work here to the pioneering 1911 Italian feature "L'Inferno", it's clear that the American did have knowledge of what was going on elsewhere, even if he (of course) fell far short of what D.W. Griffith was already doing. Overall, "Richard III" will be of considerable interest to silent-film fans as well as stage performers interested in viewing the work of 19th century master Warde. Otherwise, I doubt this movie will thrill many other viewers. But I could be wrong; check it out for yourself.


High-scored this movie not by today's standards, but by what a viewer in 1912 may have experienced. For what they saw on screen, the flickering light fairly new to their worldview, captured the spirit of Shakespeare's Richard in gory detail (well, semi-gory, but probably upped to gory by the imagination).

The specific treat here lies in the man who introduces the film--both on screen without costume and, when the film played, traveled the country to both introduce it and speak to the audience between reels)--the 19th-Century stage actor Frederick Warde. A youthful 61 when he made the film, he hunchbackingly runs and plots and creates on-screen emotion via hand and facial expressions. Shakespeare may have beamed well-pleased at this chosen Richard, a fellow thespian who, according to an interview reproduced on the DVD, had to mouth the words to fully capture the role even though no sound would survive the flowing decades.

The film contains an interested use of backlighting, as the ghosts of all his recent victims point accusingly, in unison and determination, at Richard just before he goes out to join them in the back-lit-hereafter. Great costumes in this film, for its time or any other, and who can say they don't come close to the originals of the depicted era.

An interesting scholarship question remains. Although the only surviving print came into the hands of the American Film Institute (AFI) from a serious print collector, William Buffum (Buffum interviewed in the extras on the DVD), I'm wondering where he got it. May have missed the explanation, but it may have come in a trade with another collector. Film history owes a thanks to all involved.


This silent movie concerns the road to the throne in late fourteen century England of scheming and ruthless Richard Duke of Gloucester. I am really interested in the character created by Shakespeare and the historical Richard both. But trying to make a movie based upon a play in 1912 when cinema was silent is quite difficult; so if you haven't read the play, is possible that sometimes you find yourself puzzled about what is going on, although restored titles summarize the plot well. Mr Warde gives a creepy feeling to the character, showing at the same time a brutal and fearful man, as possibly the real Richard III was. I recommend this movie to all Shakespeare lovers, a long time go I watched the movie made by Lawrence Olivier, like too Keep in mind that this movie was done when cinema tricks, like editing or crosscutting, was yet not in use; so the way of filming is quite simple: they put the camera and shoot all the scenes in a medium shot, there is only a brief shot closer to Richard, reminds me all the movie the Frankenstein made by Edison in 1910. So, if you love Shakespeare, old movies (well transferred to DVD) and tasting the feeling of watching a near 100 years old flick, see it. I give it 7 stars out of 10.


This was a very, very early full-length film. According to the video box, it was the first full-length American-made film, but that is debatable--as several films have made that claim and exactly what constitutes "full-length" is pretty vague. Regardless, I have to commend the cast for trying something unique and epic, though in today's light the film is a totally boring mess and only of interest to cinephiles. Instead of the modern notion of story-telling and action, the crew was breaking new ground and made a bizarre film that appears more like a series of vignettes instead of a coherent film. Instead of a moving and evolving narrative like we are used to, the film was made with a real-life traveling acting troop. But, instead of having them act out the story, the film shows inter-title cards that describe what has occurred and the cast pose like they are going to be photographed or just make a few minimal movements or actions until the next card appears to describe an all-new scene. It's almost like looking at a series of stereoscope cards that move just a little and all together tell a very, very dull story. Very static and horrid to watch, it DID try something different and this is an amazingly important film historically--I just would NEVER want to have to watch it again!


Credited as the earliest complete feature-length American film known to still exist and restored by the American Film Institute, 'The Life and Death of King Richard III' is otherwise of little value. Rarely is Shakespeare nearly as boring. Yes, the film is a symptom of its time; I also watched 'Queen Elizabeth' (1912) today (it wasn't a very good day), and both are arid and static adaptations from the stage, histrionic acting included, but without sound, or any other qualities of the theatre. Films such as these, however, were coincident with films by others like D.W. Griffith; one can easily see which was advancing the medium and which was hampering it.


Nicolas Winding Refn, the genius behind the excellent "Pusher" sets new standards for danish movies with his new opus "Bleeder". Leo, played by the magnificent actor Kim Bodnia, is gradually going insane as his wife gets pregnant. He feels his life fade away and asks himself how he can put a child into a world that's raw and how they can afford to have one.

The atmosphere is two parts Scorcese's "Taxi Driver" and one part Franz Kafka's "Der Prozess", not very moody in other words. A sub-story about Leo's buddy searching for a girl relieves the pressure a bit, which is for the better as it also adds depth to the movie.

The violence feels very realistic and is sometimes even hard to watch, it's like it all is happening for real. The realistic approach makes this movie feel fresh and not like something you've seen before. After I saw this movie I was left with an uneasy feeling in my stomach and I knew I've seen something very rear and very good.

Nicolas Winding Refn is worth the highest of praise for making a movie like this. It's just what European moviemaking needs.

9/10


So I travel from Sweden to Copenhagen to see a movie, paying about 15 bucks for the trip, and another 10 for the movie. 25 bucks for a movie???? Was it worth it????

Damn right it was, this is Nicholas Winding Refn´s second feature, and after his masterful debut: Pusher I really had my hopes up. And boy was it good.

The tempo is a little slower than Pusher, but it really suits the movie. It´s got great dialogue that kinda reminded me of Clerks in some places, especially the scenes in the videostore. The theme of the movie in my mind is about men, and our problems with talking to each other and to women. Sure there are scenes with really disturbing and realistic violence. But I feel it has more in common with John Cassavettes, than Abel Ferrara and Martin Scorsese that I think were refn inspirations for Pusher.

The actors are brilliant all around, especially Mads Mikkelsen who does a fantastic performance as a filmgeek, with major problems when it comes to talking and being around girls. And Kim Bodnia gives a really introspective performance that proves his status as one of europe´s if not the whole worlds best actors.

All in all a very powerful, and intense movie that is a must see


The director's debut, "Pusher", was an excellent tribute to American Cinema (Abel Ferrara, Scorsese) and a portrait of the drugworld of Copenhagen but "Bleeder" is much more personal, mature and grim film. The story deals with the relationship of four friends (& B-filmfanatics); a videostoreowner, his helper, a soon-be-a-dad and his girl's violent brother. Things gets complicated between the last two when the guy starts beatin' his pregnant girl and the brother's threatin' to retaliate. When the girl loses her unborn baby after a beatin' things get VERY ugly! There's no real reason for the violence which makes the mood of the movie extremely creepy. The characters and dialogue are very believable and impossible to forget. The few (very) violent scenes are so unexpected that you'll jump in seat. The film are also filled with nods to exploitation cinema (clip from Lustig's "Maniac" & "Vigilante", "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" etc.). It's made on a low budget but is beautifully filmed (and acted) with a great glampunk soundtrack. "Bleeder" is a movie that gets under your skin for days so check out this masterpiece.


While visiting in London, I watched Bleeder. I liked it a lot. Haven't seen any other Danish films, but this one is great. One of the other people commenting here said it was made on a low budget. I certainly wouldn't say it showed heavily. There's no real expensive shots (crowd scenes, explosions, etc), but everything is shot to scale and looks good. Especially the cinematography. This and the acting are perhaps the strongest elements of the film. I kept watching how they had framed each shot and how they would do those angles where one person is in the forground facing the camera with an expression on their face while the other person is off in the background waiting for the foreground person to turn back around. Great! I hope this movie gets distributed in the US.


Detractors may highlight the unnecessary violence in this stylish piece of film-making. But pay them no attention. N. Refn's 2nd feature is cutting it pretty close when it comes to assessing life's terrible lessons.

Using almost the same cast as he did in his debut (Pusher), Bleeder tells the story of how a father-to-be deals with his impending fate. It addresses his current state of mind, his readjustment of values and how all this would adversely affect the people around him. The violence is necessary as the characters emanate from the streets and one can only infer, from the several scenes, that the neighbourhood is rough and littered with gangs and racial tension.

There is also a secondary story about the budding relationship between a video store clerk and a well-read waitress which is as sweet as it is subtle. It's interesting to note that their tastes in videos and books are pretty gritty as well.


This sucked. I only watched it because "pusher" was entertaining. The only good thing about this is that filmmakers can see how a hand-held camera, and available lighting can make a film cheap and fast. Bummer.

I was amused to see how white racism is universal. As a black person from the U.S., it was interesting to hear Danish Muslims referred to as "niggers" when they looked like white folks to me. I guess all non-whites are "niggers" when you feel threatened by immigrants. Sad.

I'm not sure i would watch any of the directors other work based on this. Like I said before "Pusher" was engaging, and you were sucked into that world. Here, you just didn't care.


With this film coming out several years after Pusher, giving Nicolas Winding Refn plenty of time to work on it, with basically the same cast as Pusher and apparently a bigger budget, I guess I expected more than this. While Pusher was an impressive and gritty look at the underground of Copenhagen, this is just a slightly unrealistic psychological profile of a loser who finds his wife having a baby to be the final straw. The film is about Leo, who hates almost everything about his life. When he finds himself pushed in the background for the baby his wife is to give birth to soon, he flips out and sets a load of bad stuff coming his way in motion. The plot is pretty good, I guess, but it just didn't seem as good as the plot of Pusher. The pacing is fair, but the film too often seems to stand still. The acting was mostly great. The characters are somewhat interesting and credible, but they were too underdeveloped(even more so than those of Pusher), so we rarely understand why they do what they do. The score is great, though it is overly noisy and annoying at times, most of the time it fits in well with the character were watching and his or her state of mind. The cinematography is less interesting and involving than that of Pusher. Less movement, and when there finally is movement, it seems off. The directorial style of Pusher is still there, and this is what makes the film enjoyable and watchable. However, too much time is spent wondering why him or her is doing this and that, and in the end I found that even with a fair bit of analyzing, I can't make heads or tails of the film. I don't know... maybe my expectations were too high. I recommend this to very big fans of director Nicolas W. Refn and/or Pusher. 7/10


"Bleeder" following "Pusher" is the second part of a trilogy. Like "Pusher" it's really powerful stuff, but not quite as gripping. Leo( Kim Bodina) gives a wonderful portrait of a disturbed man at odds with life. He teases, insults, provokes, has a violent temper and is quick to retaliate. Not a man to be trusted with a gun. He is his own worst enemy.

In the film the "fades" are done in blood red. See the film and you'll discover why. As in "Pusher" the photography is top class. The introduction of the characters in the opening scene is interesting, Shoes probably do reflect our character.

Despite the rather sordid unhappy atmosphere of the film. there is some light relief particularly in the video store where the young Lenny (Mads Mikkelsen) sorts the video "returns". Lenny is a misfit too but harmless in his own way. Shy of nature he can't keep an appointment with the girl in the coffee shop. Lenny lives in a fantasy world of films and videos and he can recite the names of all the directors. (This never-ending recitation done with a dead pan expression is an unexpected bonus and really got me laughing!}

I like the dialogue. It's sparse, direct, tense, cutting, provoking. But it's the body language that threatens. Kim Bodina is an expert at revealing the innermost thoughts of his being. You can feel the tense atmosphere boiling within him. You know full well that something terrible is about to happen.

This is drama plus. I can hardly wait for the third part of the trilogy.


Bleeder is in all terms a masterpiece.

It bites. It bites the viewer throughout. Covering the lives of a group of young Danes it touches you adherently.

It`s raw and it`s alive.

Subtle yet violent, it gently and beautifully says a million things in single frames, single dialog, single sounds and visions.

Be warned; Bleeder is explosive and even gory in parts, but never unjustified. More importantly it is funny and warm and heartfelt - you`d be a lying fool if you can`t somewhat identify with some of the characters or some of the situations.

Or be moved by the sheer power and heartbeat of the director and the portrayels of frustration, trauma, loneliness, friendship, stupidity and love.

Well done.

And no ... this is NOT a "Pusher 2" ... this is something altogether better, richer and wiser.

It`s pure movie magic.<br /><br />Here`s to Lenny and Leo, Lea and Louise.


While I watched "Bleeder", I came to think of Paul Schrader's thesis, where he compared Bresson, Dreyer and Ozu. The reason was the humility of the characters. While Louis (Levino Jensen) is a volcano, and Leo (Kim Bodnia) is a Volcano to be - because of his feeling of entrapment by his girlfriends pregancy - they fight there inner feelings, they are hunted by them and suffer, they dismiss life itself for momentary outburts of violence. On the other side you have Lenny (Mads Mikkelsen) and Lea (Liv Corfixen), who are so alienated by an urban society, that they withdraw themselves into escapism - Lenny trough movies, Lea trough books. They dismiss life trough distance to themselves and others. That was why I thought of Bresson, Dreyer and Ozu.

When "Bleeder" began I said to the film: Impress my, kick me in the nuts; just like "Pusher" did. But no. Where "Pusher" was an assault, "Bleeder" is seductive, like a slow drink. In "Pusher" they talked constantly, in "Bleeder" the express them selves through attitude and thought. They only say what has to be said, they express the rest.

The storyline is simple, even though it is multilayered. Louise is having a baby, and Leo can't live with it. He finds he repulsive, and finds himself out of control with his surroundings. One night while visiting his cousins Louis nightclub, he witnesses a man getting shot, which becomes a catalyst for his downfall. His alienation towards Louise becomes hatred, and he beats he up, causing he to loose there child. When Louis hears of this he kills Leo; not quick, but slowly by injecting him with HIV-virus. When Leo realises what has happend; the loss of both Louise and his Child, plus his death, the takes control again; but in a way I won't tell.

There is also a lovestory between Lenny and Lea, two shy and private persons.

What does "Bleeder" a masterpiece is the acting. Mads alienated himself for 3 month by working in a videostore and living alone and watching movies. Liv worked in a diner for 2 month, and Kim gave himself so much, that he became Leo; after the filming stopped he commited himself to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. It is a new breed of actors, that give all they have to be the part they play, just like seen in the Dogmafilm "Festen".

I hope that it will gain a large international audience, since it deserves it. It is a masterpiece.


What can one say, a MasterPiece down to the details. 6 ppl is acting out a story that is just mindblowing. You have this set of totally different persons trying to live and co-exist, and trying not to conflict. I don't want to spoil the movie for you by telling you something from it, so I'm just gonna give you this advice. See it, and act it out with the movie, and you will have a movie experience to remember!


This is excellent example of film noir: almost everything you'd want in this genre. Right from the opening shot, this had noir written all over it by cinematographer Bert Glennon, and from opening holdup-murder scene at the gas station, you knew you were in for a rough ride.

Speaking of "rough," I can't think of too many actors who were better and more suited for noir than Sterling Hayden, who delivers yet another uncompromising hard-headed, tough- guy character. This time he's a cop, "Det. Lt. Sims," and one with no use for any "con," even if the guy (in this case, Gene Nelson's "Steve Lacey") has cleaned up his act.

It wasn't just the photography and Haden, the entire cast was fascinating, and it's simply a fast-moving, entertaining film. Andre de Toth's direction also was terrific. He directed only one other noir: Pitfall, another great film that we are still waiting to see on DVD. At least this film finally made it to disc.

I had forgotten what classic beauty Phyllis Kirk possessed. Wow, what a face! She starred as "Nora Charles" on the popular "Thin Man" television series in the '50s. In here, she plays Lacey's wife "Ellen." Rather that going through the whole cast, I'll just say it was a hoot to see Timothy Carey again, even if his role was limited. This guy played the most whacked-out minor characters I've ever seen in movies. (See "The Killing" for a good example of what I mean.) Jay Novello as the veterinarian ex-con also was really interesting.

I'll tell you what else was nice: the realistic scenes with actual locations around Los Angeles in the early '50s. This movie had a number of hand-held camera shots. Even the holdup in the bank was done in a real bank. There are few, if any, hokey studio shots in this movie. It's the real deal..... and very much recommended. Combined with "Decoy" on the same disc, it makes for a nice double--feature for a night of noir.


Simply one of the best hard boiled noir films I have seen. Sterling Hayden is, as usual, excellent, while a very young Charles Bronson is surprisingly good as a 'punk' hood. Seems to feature nearly all scenes as location, or hand-held camera and it seems at times like a particularly effective episode of a 50s TV cop show - except that the content is much more brutal and sharp. This is a dark, dark film both in storyline and in the quite brilliant photography. I'd really love to see this neglected classic come out on a restored print on DVD. Isn't it time Criterion updated their 'noir' list? This cries out for restoration and a re-release.


I was lucky enough to see this little slice of film crime noir at the LACMA during the weekly Tuesday Matinée, and let me tell you, but for all the old ladies and grandpas in the theater I felt I had been transported back to the golden age of Los Angeles Film Noir. This title ranks up there with White Heat as one of the best crime thrillers using the City of Angels as its locale. After renting Kubrick's The Killing on DVD I jumped at the chance to see another heist film with Sterling Hayden, in my opinion the meanest S.O.B. Noir actor. He is awesome as usual in this movie with his characteristic scowl frozen on his face. Also for a film made half a century ago it has remarkably stood up to the test of time quite well. It's really a lean, mean little crime thriller. Please whoever owns the rights to this gem, release this forgotten classic on DVD!! You still have the chance to release a 50th anniversary edition this year!!


It's too bad Andre De Toth didn't contribute more to the noir cycle, because on the evidence he was a natural (plus he was married to early-noir icon Veronica Lake). The Pitfall, made in 1948, looks more and more like one of the best, and most central, movies in the cycle, but (except for the early, more gothic Dark Waters) De Toth only returned to it once, with Crime Wave. Its story is not a fresh one: an ex-con trying to go straight (Gene Nelson) is coerced by circumstances to aid and abet a gang of his former cellmates. The uncomfortable spot he finds himself in lies between them and the law, personified by Sterling Hayden as a tough, unforgiving police detective. There's much more attention to character in the film's hour-and-a-quarter running time than in many full-length features of the era; Jay Novello, as an alcoholic veterinarian who doubles as an underworld sawbones, is especially memorable. By any reckoning Crime Wave is a minor film -- even a minor second feature -- but De Toth lavishes easy expertise on it; it's surprisingly well paced, well shot, as well interestingly cut. Why so many talented directors (many of them refugees from Europe) were relegated, in the 1950s, to "genre" movies -- crime dramas, 3-D schlockfests and westerns -- is a puzzle. In any case, I'd give any three of De Toth's westerns AND his House of Wax for just one more film noir boasting his directorial credit.


This is one of those minor, but very enjoyable pictures that can easily slip by unnoticed. It isn't easy to find, and most Film Noir enthusiasts are familiar only with the title. But "Crime Wave" deserves to be seen by fans of the Noir or crime film genres. It's a terrific example of the lower-budget type of dramas that studios were turning out in the 1950s. The only major star is Sterling Hayden, who gives his usual acceptable performance, here as a disgruntled law enforcer. Gene Nelson, probably better known for musicals, is an interesting and successful choice for the protagonist, a man caught between good and evil. There's also an entertaining tough-guy type played by Charles Bronson.

What really distinguishes "Crime Wave" is its extensive use of Los Angeles locales. Apparently, location shooting was done to save money on sets, but with the passage of time, movies like this become documents of the way a city looked and operated in a past period. A number of scenes take place on busy LA streets and they lend a good deal of excitement to the proceedings.

With any luck, this picture will become available on video for more to see. It's the kind of movie that has the effect of reading a good pulp crime novel or story.


And we fans of film noir prize nastiness and cold-heartedness. We also like small movies.

Gene Nelson is very affecting as a parolee who is dragged into a crime against his will. Phyllis Kirk is fine as his wife. She doesn't add much flavor but she's believably loyal.

For flavor, we have none other than Timothy Carey! He is one of the bad guys. Charles Bronson, early in his career, is another. Carey adds a great deal of creepiness to the goings-on.

Sterling Hayden is excellent as the cynical cop who's called in. Though the plot tells us nothing about him other than that he's given up smoking and misses it, he is clearly not a warm human being. His eyes squint and shift. He doesn't trust anyone and it's very possible he doesn't like much of anyone, either.

The movie begins with Dub Taylor as an exceptionally goofy gas station attendant. He's like a character from the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series. But our villains knock him out and rob him, which is a jarring contrast.

The characters are very well drawn in "Crime Wave." It has a tough plot but the people are what elevates it to a high status.


Short film that doesn't waste a moment. Life is short and hard in this film. Make one mistake and you're marked for life, at least that seems to be Sterling Hayden's motto. Gene Nelson gives a good performance as a man haunted by his past. Steve Lacey is so scarred by his past that it runs his current life, this eventually leads him into trouble. Andre De Toth keeps most of the film in the shadows and only a few scenes take place during the day. Even the climatic robbery is shot in the dark. The only false note is that Hayden's character doesn't act the same throughout the movie. I found the movie to be pretty brutal for the time and Charles Bronson did a good job portraying most of the brutality. All in all, a worthy entry in the film noir genre.


An American Cinematheque presentation at The Egyptian.

A great little 'second feature' noir. Hayden is brilliant as the tough and cynical cop willing to break any rule to catch a couple of cop killers, and Phyllis Kirk oozes B-movie sex-appeal as the good-girl caught in the middle. With some genuinely funny dialogue, solid performances all round, and wonderful location filming around downtown Los Angeles, Chinatown and Glendale, the movie is a brilliant testament to the quality of so many cheap post-war crime thrillers. Of particular interest is the location filming inside the LAPD offices and dispatch room in City Hall.

Charles Bronson plays a tough-guy killer in an early supporting role. Timothy Carey shows up to chew the scenery as a bizarre, bog-eyed, dope-fiend, rape-o. And there's a great car chase through the Downtown city streets at night.

A minor classic. Entertaining throughout.


"You know, it isn't what a man wants to do, Lacey, but what he has to do. Now you take me. I love to smoke cigarettes, but the doctors say I can't have them. So what do I do? I chew toothpicks. Tons of 'em." Developed as The City is Dark and shot as Don't Cry, Baby before being released as Crime Wave, Andre de Toth's still surprisingly tough police procedural is a film that wears its economy as a badge of pride. Offered a big budget and a 35-day shooting schedule if he made it with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner, de Toth held out for Sterling Hayden even though it mean a fraction of the budget and a 15-day shooting schedule  and still managed to come in ahead and shoot the film in only 13 days. It was worth sticking to his guns. The film may have made little splash when it opened in 1954, but it's a near classic that fully deserves its growing reputation, and as the hardboiled cop who's all-knowing judge and jury, Hayden so effectively strides through the film like a colossus in a towering performance (literally: for much of the film he's shot from low angles) that it's impossible to imagine Bogart as being anything but a comparative disappointment in the role. The kind of guy who doesn't need doors because he can walk through walls, he doesn't act tough  he IS tough. He's practically the blueprint for L.A. Confidential's Bud White, and it's no surprise that James Ellroy is a big fan of the film, sharing an entertaining, occasionally expletive-deleted audio commentary with Eddie Muller on Warner's Region 1 DVD.

The plot is simple enough: a trio of escaped cons (Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson when he was still Charles Buchinsky and Ned Young) kill a cop when robbing Dub Taylor's gas station for eating money and involve innocent parolee Gene Nelson, leaned on by cops and crooks alike, in their escape plans. But the execution is what raises the bar here, particularly in the first third when the police bring in all the usual suspects. Shot in an almost verite documentary style, the film has a great look thanks to Bert Glennon's striking cinematography  deep focus, harsh blacks and bright fluorescent whites often sharing the same frame, with such a stark photojournalistic realism that some of the setups could pass for Weegee's classic crime scene photos. It captures the feeling of L.A. at night like almost no other film, with outstanding location work and an unforgiving eye for human weakness and hopeless cases. It certainly takes some of the shine off Kubrick's subsequent The Killing  it certainly got there first in terms of its look, and it's probably no accident that Kubrick hired two of the cast for his own caper movie.

While its undoubtedly Hayden's movie, the supporting cast is for the most part exceptionally strong and well-drawn. Nelson is convincing enough as the bitter ex-con caught in the middle that it's a shame that the former dancer didn't go on to anything more interesting than directing some of Elvis' worst movies, Phyllis Kirk makes more of an impression as his wife than the script would lead you to expect while Jay Novello makes a big impact as a drunken horse doctor who hates people but loves dogs and has no scruples about rifling a corpse's pockets for services not rendered. Not everyone is quite so good, unfortunately: Bronson overdoes his dumb thug and a wildly miscast Hank Worden is barely able to deliver his lines as Nelson's airport boss (is there anyone you'd feel LESS safe being in charge of airplane maintenance than Hank Worden?). As for Timothy Carey's truly amazing display of psychotic tics as the last guy in the world you'd want to leave your wife with  well, since all his directors maintained Carey was never acting but really WAS like that offscreen as well, we can let that slide.

The film does briefly give into sentimentality at the end  though very, very begrudgingly  and it's never quite as good as that powerhouse first third, but it's certainly a sharp punch below the belt to the cop movie that you won't forget in a hurry. Along with a brief adulatory featurette with various noir historians and Oliver Stone waxing lyrical about the film, the DVD also includes the original trailer introduced by an in-character Hayden telling us "Murder is my business and midnight is my beat." Great stuff.


Crime Wave has the makings for something quite simple as a movie. Its story is about cops and criminals and a few ordinary folks trying to get by. A few criminals (the main ones played by Ted de Corsia and a young Charles Bronson) are out of San Quentin and shoot a gas station attendant and cop. On the lam they hold up with also ex-con Steve Lacey (decent leading man Gene Nelson) with his wife, but what they don't know is that he's already been tapped by the cops, specifically Sterling Hayden's Detective Sims, who is so hard-nosed he could cut through bricks with just a stare and some tough words. It all leads up to one of those heists that just can't go right for the bad guys, but what about the good couple caught in the middle?

It is fairly straightforward, and it could have been in other hands. But there's something about Andre De Toth, as director, that stands Crime Wave out as a piece of lean noir cuisine. The way it's shot is one thing, as his European influence comes through in a lot of the exteriors and his way of utilizing natural lighting and real locations, or just how he has someone like a room that looks too real like Sims' office. His camera has a distinct tone to it even when sets or usual shots in moving cars have to be done, and it cuts through the BS and keeps one riveted even as one knows what's going to happen (the last couple of minutes with Sims and the Lacey's are one of them).

It also can't be stressed how awesome an actor Sterling Hayden is. In everything he just brings that "umph" that is required whether it's to a hoodlum or a psychotic or a corrupt cop, and in Crime Wave his authority as a presence (six foot five inches) and his pattern of speech play off well against the rest of the usual character actors, save maybe for Charles Bronson since he too is unique even at a young age and creepy character actor Timothy Carey as the man put on watch of Mrs. Lacey. Overall, Crime Wave is a procedural that snaps and crackles and pops for 72 minutes and allows fans of classic film noir to soak up the atmosphere and have a good time seeing the coppers close in on the crooks who, as almost always is the case, don't stand a chance.


A simple but gripping story about a robbery gone haywire and the people who get caught up in the good vs. evil mess, Crime Wave is a stone-cold cool cops and robbers film noir from André De Toth. Set in a grim and menacing depiction of Los Angeles, Crime Wave is a dark, brutal, stylish, and ultimately unique film within the genre.

The entire cast is solid, Gene Nelson gives a very good performance as ex con Steve Lacey and Charles Bronson (credited as Charles Buchinsky) gives a new meaning to the word "sleazebag" with his performance as baddie Ben Hastings - but Sterling Hayden grabs the most attention throughout the film. As L.A. Detective Sims, Hayden does just as much stealing as the bad guys he's trying to track down do - stealing every scene he's in that is. Bringing a high-speed delivery, certain likability, and an unyielding toughness (it looks like he could leave a guy in a roughed up clutter by just looking at him) to this edgy and no-nonsense cop ("once a crook always a crook"), Hayden bursts into every scene with a commanding mammoth presence. And to think the studio wanted Humphrey Bogart....


I had never heard of this film before the recent DVD release. Now I'm wondering why it hasn't turned up in those "essential film noir" lists! Everything about it is terrific -- a tight script with snappy dialog, sharply drawn characters, outstanding noir cinematography, solid performances, and a story as relentless as a Greek tragedy.

The Los Angeles location shooting is fantastic and the film is worth seeing for that alone. In that respect, Crime Wave could be considered the L.A. counterpart of Jules Dassin's The Naked City. I also enjoyed the many POV driving shots! David Buttolph scores the film sparingly but strongly, with just a couple of exciting cues at critical points in the story.

If you're a noir fan, do NOT miss this one!


Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk and Charles Buchinsky (Bronson) stars in this relatively forgotten but excellent film that centers on the life of an ex-con (Nelson) who's trying to go straight after mixing with the wrong crowd. Some of his ex-friends are creating a crime wave of robberies and need someplace to hide out. And, when they find him, he tries to tell them to get out. The movie is very adult and in your face with its no-holds-barred attitude and makes the viewer feel as if it could be happening today.

Sterling Hayden is absolutely great and thoroughly convincing as a cop, who's gotten burnt out and treats all cons as scum and believes once a thief.... And, Gene Nelson is good too, who incidentally looks great here. I had never really noticed him much in "Oklahoma," but here, wow! And, there is a neat little twist to it at the very end, that you don't see coming. If you're a lover of film noir, then buy this on DVD today in a classic film noir set #4 and watch the whole set and start your own wave.


Andre de Toth directed this 1954 noir, Crime Wave, starring Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, and Charles Buchinsky, who later became Charles Bronson. Nelson plays Steve Lacey, an ex-con, now married to the beautiful Kirk. He's gone straight, but he is consumed by his past, and former inmates keep calling him for help. When three guys escape from prison and one is injured, they crowd in on Lacey. Holding his wife hostage, they force him to drive the getaway car in a planned robbery.

Very neat, gritty, short noir, with Hayden as the tough, no-nonsense cop. de Toth doesn't spare us the mean streets or violence, either, in this fast-moving flick. Recommended for noir/crime fans.


Before its announcement for DVD release as part of the fourth installment of Warners’ “The Film Noir Collection”, where it was greeted with cheers of anticipation, I have to admit that I wasn’t aware this particular title had that much of a reputation – despite the director and star (Sterling Hayden) involved. Having watched it for myself, I was duly impressed though I wouldn’t quite place it in the genre’s top ranks…but that’s because the standards set by the invigorating noir style during its heyday were so high.

Incidentally, despite the title (which would seem to be hinting at a broader scale) and its being produced by one of the Hollywood majors (Warner Bros.), the modest 74-minute duration pretty much relegated the piece to B-movie status; furthermore, the filming was reportedly completed in a mere fortnight! Interestingly, it was the follow-up effort (for the same studio) by the team behind the gimmicky horror classic HOUSE OF WAX (1953) – namely De Toth, producer Bryan Foy, scriptwriter Crane Wilbur, and co-stars Phyllis Kirk and Charles Bronson.

The plot followed a much-used noir formula: the man whose past comes back to haunt him – as an ex-con (Gene Nelson) is forced by three fugitives (including Bronson and Ted de Corsia), after deliberately compromising his parole and threatening his wife, into first harboring them and then take part in their proposed bank robbery (by which time they’ve enrolled other dangerous elements to their fold, notably a typically-nutty Timothy Carey). The narrative, then, tries to cram in as many recognizably noir elements as it possibly can: suspense, violence, romance, location shooting, documentary approach (via a systematic police procedural), etc.

For once, too, Hayden is on the side of the law – CRIME WAVE actually came roughly in between his two most famous noir roles in John Huston’s THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) and Stanley Kubrick’s THE KILLING (1956), both of them classic heist films in which he had played the fated leader of a criminal gang – though his character is just as cynical, tough and uncompromising as ever. In fact, for the longest time, he seemed merely a toothpick-chewing, thick-headed bully here but, eventually, he gets to show his essential softness in the film’s beautifully-handled (unusually hopeful for the genre) finale.

De Toth operated in most genres (albeit tending towards action-oriented fare, despite his being blind in one eye!) and, whether adopting monochrome or color stock, the full-frame ratio or the Widescreen, he could always be depended upon to deliver an efficient, unpretentious, stylish and entertaining product.


If you just look at the bare-bones descriptions on a lot of noirs, it can be pretty hard to tell them apart. I thought I remembered seeing this solid entry years ago in a mini de Toth retrospective, but I was mistaken. It's a flavorful entry if nothing terribly original or memorable, notable for its harsh, verite-style lighting and camera-work....excellent usage of Los Angeles locations; this is one of the best representations of 50s LA I've seen on film....and a really terrific cast, with Sterling Hayden and Charles Bronson the most well-known (respectively playing the cop in charge of finding a trio of escaped cons, and the most thuggish of the escapees) but hardly the only quality players. Gene Nelson as Steve Lacey, the ex-con trying to straighten out his life until it is intruded upon by one of the trio, dying in his living room, and Phyllis Kirk as his devoted wife do a fine job with relatively stereotypical roles; Dub Taylor and Jay Novello have nice, small character roles; and you'll even find crazy Timothy Carey playing a wide-eyed laughing maniac in a couple of scenes near the end. The film does fall a little flat in the third act, with a fairly predictable ending that feels more positive and "Hollywood" than a great noir usually should, but it's a nice entry and there aren't too many wasted moments in the 73-minute running time. As usual, a well-mastered DVD from Warner Home Video, packaged with the slightly more interesting Decoy.


An ex-con (Gene Nelson) with a beautiful wife and a good job sees his future prospects threatened when his old-time criminal partners call on him for help after a botched hold up. Her character (the wife's) is the most compelling, very well acted by Phyllis Kirk, as she fights and does everything she can to save her man, in one scene holding his hand down so he can't answer the ringing black telephone, while we hear her begging him not to answer. Such is the role of fate that the director (Andre de Toth) deftly utilizes, that this turns out to be the one call he should have responded to. At the film's heart is a story that could easily have been sentimentalized, but with such astute characterizations and an eye to keep the camera going from one character and his actions to another, Crime Wave turns out to be a minor masterpiece.


Despite the title, this film is not about a crime wave. That's just a catchy title to start you wondering. It is about a reformed ex-convict, well played by Gene Nelson, being pressured by some escaped cons to assist them, thus endangering his parole and threatening his wife, ably portrayed by Phyllis Kirk. The film is dominated by the massive six foot five noir star, Sterling Hayden, as a tough homicide cop who chews toothpicks non-stop because his doctors won't let him smoke, and who says things like: 'You're head's full of mush.' It's always good to see Sterling Hayden again, the more times he turns up the better; he's solid, he's menacing, and what is more, he's the real thing. You know he'd knock you down and then pick you up again, and besides, he's compulsively watchable. In his eyes there is always that half-mad flicker, and that ain't acting. The film is directed with superb applomb by the highly professional Andre de Toth, lucky spouse of the delicious Veronica Lake, and he never wasted a frame. There are numerous fine touches: Sterling Hayden picks up a murdered cop's hat and puts it in the ambulance beside his corpse, but he does this as as afterthought without calling attention to the gesture. In one scene, a crowd of extras stand on the far side of the street watching a police raid. Toth allows them merely to be glimpsed. Toth does not signal and linger, he moves on, he has the confidence and control not to worry. There is lots of Los Angeles as it was in 1952 in this film (released only in 1954). All those fifties people, all those fifties cars, all those fifties shops. Where have they all gone? This picture has action all the way, Gene Nelson and Phyllis Kirk do not sleep in twin beds, things are brutal and quick, but there is no excess of violence. The film is primarily a psychological tension drama, as all true noir must be. Noir is about doubt, insecurity, pressure, and threats all around you, with betrayal and trust as the key issues. Oh yes, and there's love too, which generally takes place between the bullets rather than between the sheets. (No one in a noir film has time to go to bed without being interrupted by a threatening phone call or someone banging on the door. You grab a kiss as you make a run for it.)


While the story is bog standard with only one twist, the film is a technical gem. It's shot largely on location (in L.A.) and using a minimum of additional lighting and ambient sound.

Cast is worthy of note -- a lot of future stars here. Not only Sterling Hayden in the title role, but a very young Charlie Bronson. Also Timothy Carey is a wonderful hood (he steals every scene he's in!). Great cinematography -- it's a joy to watch.

The DVD I laid my hands on includes commentary from James Ellroy. Worth listening to (and so few of these things are!). Ellroy is a character and he talks a length about the genre and how this film influenced his work on things like L.A. Confidential.

My version was also bundled with Decoy (which is actually referenced in the commentary to Crime Wave). Decoy is also a gem. A bizarre gem.


Like so many movies in the great B film noir genre, "Crime Wave" is no exception. It's cut to the bone (no fat usually in the form of "star" turns). The larger A productions often get bogged down in romantic moments. At the time of their release, these films may have starred actors who were very popular and who were given romantic scenes to satisfy the audiences of their day. They are less embraced today so these moments tend to slow up the narrative. The B films just tell an exciting story. Sterling Hayden is made for the genre. One reviewer mentioned Phyllis Kirk's classical beauty. I just shrugged and said "yes, she's cute." Boy was I ever wrong and he right. I fell in love with her. She's a lot of guys' dream of the girl next door....the one you want as a wife. The rest of the cast perfectly executes their roles. This is a terrific film and now available on DVD in a great print.


The hoary old storyline involving the ex-con, now going straight complete with lovely wife, drawn into, 'one last job', is not the most appealing but do not be put off the super little gem. Gene Nelson and Phyllis Kirk are fine as the aforementioned young couple but Sterling Hayden is most effectively worrying as the cop in charge. At one moment more nasty than the baddies and the next seeming to deserve our admiration, this guy seems to be playing good cop and bad cop all by himself. The story moves along at a pace and the numerous locations shots of Los Angeles and its environs are almost breathtaking. This also features an early appearance of Charles Bronson as one of the ruthless baddies and another reason for making this a must see.


CRIME WAVE is a movie with much to offer. Although maybe over-titled in the sense there are only 4 criminals, it's still a solid story which is well directed, acted and photographed. This counts for a lot in 2007 as the last two movies we went out to see --- At World's End & Order of the Phoenix --- neither film had anything that could be truthfully described as a story.

A few things I really liked about CRIME WAVE: Seeing real-life World War II mega-hero STERLING HAYDEN again, as there are no real life heroes in 2007 Hollywood. I also liked seeing tough guy CHARLES BRONSON in one of his early roles. Bronson went on to become the #1 box office star in the World (although not #1 in the USA), herein playing a street punk rather than crime fighter. Beautiful Phyllis Kirk never looked better, as did LOS ANGELES; 50 years ago before 90% of their population arrived.

Now paired on DVD with Monogram Pictures' famous film noir, DECOY, that's quite a lot for a $1.50 DVD rental.


"Crime Wave" is a slick little "B" thriller that has been rediscovered recently. Directed by Andre De Toth, it's a neat little "film noire" that has become a classic of sorts. It was filmed in 1952 but not released until 1954 and then came out on the bottom half of a double bill. It runs a scant 73 minutes but contains all of the dark shadows, special lighting and plenty of night scenes common in films of this genre. It was filmed entirely in 1952 Los Angelis except for a few process rear projection "in car" shots.

Three criminals, Doc Penny (Ted De Corsia), Ben Hastings (Charles Bronson aka Buchinsky) and Gat Morgan (Nedrick Young) are on a crime wave, robbing gas stations and small businesses. The film opens at a gas station where Gus Snider (Dub Taylor) is the night clerk. Morgan slugs snider but a passing cop suspects trouble and stops. Morgan shoots the cop but gets shot himself. Hastings makes sure of the cop.

Penner gives Morgan some money and tells him to go to the apartment of Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson) a former in-mate acquaintance to await Dr. Hessler (Jay Novello), a de-frocked physician who will help him. Lacey and his wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk) want no part of this for fear that Steve will be drawn back into a life of crime. Just before Dr. Hessler arrives Morgan dies.

Meanwhile, back at the scene of the crime, Police Lt. Sims (Sterling Hayden) begins his investigation. He rounds up all of the usual suspects in the hope of learning where the criminals have gone. He narrows it down to Lacey's apartment. He goes to Lacey's apartment and begins to badger Steve and Ellen believing that once a crook always a crook.

Later, Penner and Hastings turn up at the apartment and threaten Ellen with harm unless Steve plays along with their plans to rob a bank. They then go to Penner's hideout where Sully (Mack Chandler) and the psycho Johnny Haslett (Timothy Carey) await them. They finalize their plans and plan to leave Ellen behind with Haslett as insurance that Steve will do his part.

They go to the bank where Sully cuts the power and.................................................

Sterling Hayden is excellent as the seedy determined cop. With his rumpled suit, uneven tie, tooth pick and imposing 6'5" frame, he makes an intimidating figure. Gene Nelson, who was a song and dance man, impresses in a rare dramatic role. Although there's no "femme fatale" to speak of, Phyllis Kirk's Ellen comes a across as a wife in control of her husband.

The rest of the cast is made up of established and recognizable character actors. Except for Bronson, most had been around for years and make excellent foils for the leading players. And watch for Iris Adrian and Fritz Feld being questioned at police headquarters and Hank Worden as Lacey's boss.

It's great to see Warner Bros. bringing back these lost little classics. This film and nine other films are included in "Film Noire Volume 4" on DVD.


Andre De Toth a Hungarian by birth was renowned by all who knew him as a bit of character and a fun guy to be around, unless that is you were a producer at which point De Toth showed his argumentative side, a side of his character that saw him loose an eye in a pre war anti Nazi rally. De Toth was given a one off film deal with Warners to make a big budget film, Bogie,Cagney and Ava Gardner were proposed for this particular venture, to be filmed over 35 days, De Toth said he didn't want any of them and insisted he could make the film in 15 days with Sterling Hayden in the lead role of Det. Lt. Sims, De Toth's insistence paid off and he brought the completed film home two days ahead of schedule, despite this the film was shelved for 2 years and when eventually released failed at the box office, up until about ten years ago it was pretty much a forgotten film, with only one print known to exist. Filmed pretty much all on location around Los Angeles in a stunning verite style by Bert Glennon, the film has some truly stunning nightscapes with some very inventive lighting and tells the tale of Steve Lacey(Gene Nelson), an ex con, but a good guy at heart, who is now married to the stalwart Ellen(Phyllis Kirk) and is successfully going straight. Lacey receives a late night phone call from someone who doesn't identify themselves, Lacey worries that its his past come back to haunt him, he isn't wrong, within minutes a wounded ex cell mate of his from San Quentin is at his door looking for refuge, his wounds the results of a nearby brutal killing of a policeman at a gas station holdup. Before Lacey can do anything his guest dies, he rings his parole officer looking for help, but before he can do the right thing, the belligerent toothpick chewing Sims arrives at his door determined to pin the crime on him, the dead body only compounds Lacey's fate. Hayden is superb in the role and gives a very naturalistic performance in what is in some ways a semi documentary style of film, there's also a host of great supporting roles for the likes of Ted de Corsia and Charles Bronson who complete the hold up gang and also a really entertaining and utterly scene stealing "performance" by the truly psychotic Timothy Carey. Crime Wave is really well paced hard boiled Noir and at a paltry 73 minutes it passes all too quickly, it also has the distinction of being a rather important influence on Kubrick's The Killing which has a similar look and also most of the same cast. As my first viewing from the newly released Warner Film Noir Volume 4 boxset, I found it an unmitigated success, there's also a hilarious and very entertaining commentary from Noir luminaries Eddie Muller and James Ellroy, although the latters barking like a dog does grate just a little


Crime Wave - Excellent 1952 crime thriller directed by Andre De Toth.This 73 minute movie moves at an excellent pace from beginning to end- with a superb cast of noir stalwarts - starring Sterling Hayden as the toothpick chewing homocide detective,Ted de Corsia,Ned Young(screenwriter of Decoy) & Charles Bronson as a trio of San Quinten escapees and the scenery chewing Timothy Carey providing the hideout for the thugs.Shot on location in Los Angeles this movie has so many great shots and the usage of light and shadow mixed with terse dialogue make this a movie worth owning.The DVD has a 5 minute featurette and a fun commentary by LA Confidential scribe James Ellroy and noir buff Eddie Muller. A


This is a B movie about an ex-con trying to go straight, but forced by his former cronies to participate in a bank robbery. It has a nice film-noir look but the script is quite routine and predictable. While it's worth watching, there is nothing compelling or memorable about it. Hayden sleep-walks through his role of a tough-talking, world-weary police captain who suspects ex-con Nelson is involved in a series of holdups. In one of his earliest credited roles, albeit as Buchinsky, Bronson plays one of the heavies while Kirk plays Nelson's concerned wife. Everybody in this film is tough and hard-boiled and the performances are all wooden.


After winning the Oscar for best actress in 1936 for `Dangerous', Bette Davis began to complain that Warner Brothers was not giving her scripts that were worthy of her talent. In 1936, Warner suspended her without pay for turning down a role. She then went to England, in violation of her contract, with the intention of starring in a movie without Warner Brothers' approval. The studio stopped her, telling her that if she didn't work for them she wouldn't work anywhere. In defiance, she sued to break her contract. Although she lost the lawsuit, Warner Brothers began to take her more seriously and even paid her legal expenses. The part in `Jezebel' was thought to be an olive leaf offered by the studio to mollify her.<br /><br />About that time, Davis made it known that she wanted the lead in David O. Selznick's upcoming production of `Gone With the Wind'. She was actually considered for the role, but Warner told Selznick that they wouldn't agree to loan her out unless he also took Errol Flynn for the part of Rhett Butler. Davis refused to work with Flynn and angrily turned down the part, although Selznick did not intend to agree to Flynn regardless. Many believed that Warner Brothers purposely created an impossible deal to punish Davis for the lawsuit while making it appear they were trying to help her. It isn't clear whether `Jezebel' was offered to her before or after the negotiations for GWTW. Clearly, it didn't matter, because Bette Davis went out and gave one of the best performances of her career and won her second Oscar for best actress.

This film is GWTW without Yankees. Instead, the enemy is yellow fever. The story takes place in New Orleans in the 1850's. Although there are references to the abolitionists and the prospect of war, the entire story takes place prewar. This story focuses on the southern lifestyle of the period, and in this way it is very similar to its more famous counterpart. It also follows the life and times of one very spirited woman named Julie Marsden (Bette Davis), who could have been Scarlet O'Hara's soul mate.

Julie shocks New Orleans society when she insolently comes to a ball wearing a red dress when it is the custom for all proper southern girls to wear white. (A production note of interest: The famous `red' dress was actually black satin, which was used because red didn't produce enough contrast in the black and white film, causing it not to stand out enough.) As a result, her beau Preston Dillard (a youthful Henry Fonda) is mortified and he breaks off their engagement. Included in the story are a couple of duels over points of honor, a stark depiction of the yellow fever epidemic, and the noble resurrection of a contrite Julie Marsden upon Preston's return.

As always, director William Wyler (with whom Bette Davis was romantically linked) does a fantastic job at direction, giving the film a genuine southern flavor and period feel. The black and white cinematography in this film is tremendous and procured the film one of its five Oscar nominations.

The acting is superb all around. This is certainly one of Bette Davis' best and most memorable performances and it helped secure her place in movie history as one of Hollywood's greatest stars. Though she never won another Oscar, she went on to be nominated eight more times with five straight nominations between 1939 and 1943. Ironically, in 1940 she lost to Vivien Leigh, who won in the role Davis turned down.

Fay Bainter is marvelous as Aunt Belle Bogardus garnering a best supporting actress Oscar. Henry Fonda shows a hint of his future greatness in a fabulous portrayal of Julie's no-nonsense beau. George Brent (with whom Davis also was rumored to have had an affair) also turns in a strong performance as Buck, the honorable gentleman who duels his best friend to defend Julie's honor.

This is a wonderful film with great acting and directing. Though not the epic that GWTW became, it contains certain elements that Selznick undoubtedly incorporated at Tara, since the similarities between the films are striking at times. I rated this film a 10/10. For anyone interested in seeing why Bette Davis is considered one of the great actresses of the Studio era, this film is a must.


It is 1850's New Orleans, and Julie Marsten (Davis), a head-strong young woman who doesn't find it the least improper to be late for her own engagement party because she feels like riding her horse instead, is getting married to Preston Dillard (Fonda). Unfortunately, Preston isn't at the party because he is hammering out business at his family's bank; when they are married, he and Julie will be moving north, an almost sacrilegious action during this time. Buck Cantrell (George Brent) is Julie's former beau, who remains a family friend and still defends Julie's honor. One day, when Preston doesn't drop everything to attend a dress fitting for Julie that he had originally promised to attend, she defiantly insists that she purchase a red dress, breaking the white dress only tradition for the ball they were attending. Despite the protestations of everyone she knows, including Preston, she wears the dress to the ball, causing her to be ostracized and the official break up of her engagement to Preston when he realizes that he cannot deal with her headstrong attitude. He leaves for the north without her, and comes back a year later with a surprise, and sees that Yellow Fever has gripped New Orleans, a peril that threatens everyone.

"Jezebel" is a tale of defiance, love and redemption. Davis plays her role so well that it is hard to determine whether you want to support her or marginalize her as a spoiled brat. I think that even when the film was made, (1938) the lines were still blurred as to how many freedoms and how much free-thinking should be afforded to women. It is easy for me to say that Julie's red dress was much ado about nothing, but then again, this is the millennium, when nothing is overtly shocking anymore. The mere fact that I thought so much about a classic film (which generally has throwaway plots) is a true testament to Davis' performance and the writing, under William Wyler's direction. "Jezebel" is essentially "Gone with the Wind" without the budget or the color, and was made the year before that film was released. Most of the characters are fairly throwaway, but the subject is Julie, and her development is amazing and very believable, despite the melodramatic genre. This is a film that most classic film lovers have seen, I'm sure (I am apparently a late bloomer in regard to this film) but if you are one and you haven't seen it, or are a Bette Davis fan, see this movie. Most of her late 30's to 1950 films are so spectacular just because of her performance (if the rest is good, it's gravy), and this is one of her best known performances. 7/10 --Shelly


The back-story behind Warner Bros.' JEZEBEL -- itself widely regarded among critics and connoisseurs of the films of Bette Davis (and the late Thirties in general) as that of a consolation film given to Davis when the "hunt" for Scarlett O'Hara was in full swing -- is as long and convoluted as the tangled passions within the story shown on screen. Davis, among a long list of actresses, were hungry to play this plum role even when it was already, contractually, and secretly secured to Vivien Leigh. Davis' position at Warner Bros. makes me wonder if she was somewhat aware of the situation for which she decided to accept to take on the role of Julie Marsden -- itself nearly identical to Scarlett. When seeing snippets of scenes from both this and GONE WITH THE WIND side by side on a split screen, even some trivial scenes (like that of both Scarlett and Julie primping up their faces in front of a mirror) wind up looking cloned. As a matter of fact, much of JEZEBEL looks and feels like dress rehearsal or a matinée showing of the more lavish and grandiose, full-length feature film GONE WITH THE WIND, which has become an intrinsic part of American Film History. Even so, this is not saying JEZEBEL is an inferior film -- it's not, and has some very beautiful moments, especially the dance sequence where Julie and Pres are progressively left alone in the middle of the ballroom, and of course Julie, pleading to Press in her white dress, falling to the floor like a reverse bloom. Bette Davis has some of her better acting here -- no chewing the scenery, but emoting only through minimal expressions and her eyes. She's balanced by Oscar winner Fay Bainter who plays her aunt Belle and matches Davis scene by scene. Despite having the less showy parts, Henry Fonda, George Brent, and Margaret Lindsay (always the second woman in a Warner Bros. drama) have strong screen presences, but most of all the star of this movie is William Wyler, who could always be counted on having Davis give exactly what she was required to do and not sabotage a movie due to her operatic demands and bombastic overacting. Because of Wyler, JEZEBEL is a much better film that it would have eventually been.


I recently saw this magnificent film after not having seen it in quite a number of years. William Wyler's extraordinary direction makes this movie a classic that will live forever.

Mr. Wyler had at his disposal the best of what his studio could give him. In this film, based on the play by Owen Davis, he was at the top of his form. With the help of the great cinematographer, Ernest Haller and that fabulous costume designer, Orry-Kelly, he gives us a movie that will stand as one of the best of that period melodramas. The great Walter Huston was an assistant director under Wyler.

There are some people who have written comments about Jezebel expressing how much better it could have been, had it been done in color. Personally, I don't think so. Just look at the closing scenes of the picture to witness the master camera work of Mr. Haller showing a close up of Ms Davis. The effect of light and shadow is almost comparable to a painting. Bette Davis reacts to the camera with an economy of gestures, and yet, she speaks volumes of what is going on inside her soul.

Technicolor would have been the ruin of this film. At the beginning of its invention, this new process was too harsh. The film wouldn't have kept the glorious look it still possesses, had it been shot in color. As far as the red dress being more visible, in sharp contrast with the white costumes of the other young women at the ball, the black and white effect is more dramatic.

William Wyler was very lucky with the amazing cast he assembled for the film. Bette Davis and Henry Fonda were at their prime when they appeared in Jezebel. Bette Davis is what holds the film together with her magnetism and star performance. It's almost impossible to think of another actress of that period giving as good a performance, as Ms. Davis'.

There are also people that have compared Jezebel with Gone with the Wind. The only thing they had in common is the fact that both take place in the period before the War between the States, but that's as far as the similarities end. This was a stage play, which by the way, was not very successful when Miriam Hopkins and Tallulah Bankhead appeared in it.

This is a film to be treasured thanks to William Wyler.