Kona Coast (1968)

Tough man Captain Sam Moran (Richard Boone), who charters boats in Honolulu for a living, receives an odd phone call from his estranged teenaged daughter, Dee (Gloria Nakea), whom he reported missing four days prior. When she found dead on the beach, Sam doesn’t believe it’s an accident. Well known in Honolulu by both the police captain and townspeople, Sam begins making inquiries to track down the murderer.

Kryder (Steve Ihnat) is a rich playboy who takes pleasure in getting girls hooked on narcotics and discarding them when they grow tiresome, Dee is his latest victim. He sends his henchmen after Sam when he learns of his investigation. After they beat him they burn his boat causing Sam's good friend Charlie Lightfoot (Chips Rafferty) to be severely burned trying to save it.

Sam takes the dying Lightfoot back to his Kona home where he meets Kittibelle (Joan Blondell), Lightfoot’s sister who tries to enlist Sam into taking over her brother’s boat because she needs the extra funds to support her run-down resort she uses to rehabilitate alcoholics. Despite hers and Akamai’s (Kent Smith) best efforts, Sam’s only mission is to get back on the case after Lightfoot’s funeral but Kryder has different plans.

While Sam is busy reuniting with former girlfriend marine biologist Melissa Hyde (Vera Miles), Kryder orders a big luau prepared at Kittibelle's resort with the plan to kill Sam at the party for the fun of it.

However, when Sam’s friend Kimo (Sam Kapu Jr.) realizes that Kryder’s henchmen are on Sam’s trail, he and Lightfoot’s boat crew capture them and force them to confess about Dee's murder. Sam then pursues Kryder at the luau.

It’s one thing to see unprepared drivel such as Kona Coast with its underdeveloped plot line, character backgrounds, and horribly delivered melodrama. It’s quite another when good actors like Joan Blondell and Kent Smith are put into the mix.  I really hope that boredom or perhaps a free trip to Hawaii is what compelled them to partake in what I will not-so-affectionately call a long, bad Magnum P.I. episode. Sorry Tom Selleck, no reflection on the show, it’s all about location here.

Tonight on TCM!

Anne Francis!

The V.I.P.s (1963)

Set in the V.I.P. section of a terminal at Heathrow, characters and their stories interconnect as each try to reach a highly significant destination. Grounded by fog for an indeterminable amount of time, the central characters Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) and international playboy Marc Champselle (Louis Jourdan) worry over the note that Frances has left her husband, millionaire Paul Andros (Richard Burton). After thirteen years of marriage, Frances is leaving Paul because he no longer seems to need her. She is eloping with Marc who is much needier for her affection and truly loves her for her and not her money, which she will also be leaving behind.


Film producer Max Buda (Orson Welles) must leave London by midnight in order to avoid paying hefty taxes from the profit of his film work. Taking his newest protégée Gloria Gritti (Elsa Martinelli) with him, he will need to make serious sacrifices to his art and his personal life to avoid paying out.

Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor), an Australian businessman has just taken a huge risk by writing a bad check to cover for the stock he bought in order for his company not to be bought out. Hoping to get to his board meeting in New York and get the money to cover the bad check before it goes through, Mangum is lost when his plane is grounded and his backers in New York refuse to wire the needed funds. His secretary, Miss Mead (Maggie Smith), is the soul of efficiency and discretion. Secretly in love with Mangrum, she does what it takes to save Mangrum's company.

Lastly, there is The Duchess of Brighton (Margaret Rutherford), who is on her way to Florida to take a job which will pay her enough money to save her ancestral home which she is loathe to leave. Unfamiliar with planes, she is on a mixture of uppers and downers given to her by friends to help her get through the travel.



This is the third film I have seen with the Taylor-Burton pairing and by far pales in comparison to the other two. Lacking the powerful dialogue and action I saw in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Taming of the Shrew, I had the sense they were simply going through the motions. It’s rumored that Taylor asked for this role specifically because she did not want Sophia Loren (who director Anthony Asquith wanted) near Burton. However, it’s just as likely that the box office draw of Taylor and Burton directly after the Cleopatra debacle both on and off the screen convince Asquith to pair them up.

However, that does not mean the movie is not interesting, it’s definitley worth a watch to see the comedy relief provided by Welles and Rutherford. Personally, I could watch Rutherford all day, she has a very unique way of speaking and acting that I find highly amusing.



Tonight on TCM! Ann Dvorak!
Scarface (1932) A murderous thug shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life. Dir: Howard Hawks Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley.

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster) will soon reveal that she is not your normal thirteen year old. After moving to a small Maine town with her father, a published poet, she recieves a visit from Frank Hallet (Martin Sheen) who says he is a friend of her father’s. Frank informs Rynn he is in the neighborhood with his kids and is taking them trick-or-treating.  Though polite, Rynn is not in the mood for Hallet’s company nor his inappropriate advances towards her. When it’s clear he won’t be seeing Rynn’s father, he touches Rynn inappropriately, claiming birthday spankings are tradition and leaves hastily.

The next day when Rynn runs into Hallet on her way into town to convert some travelers checks into cash at the bank. He sits in his car staring intently at her as she walks by. She ignores him when he opens his passenger door indicating she should get in. 

When Rynn returns home, Cora Hallet (Alexis Smith) the mother of Frank and real estate agent who leased the house to Rynn’s father pays a visit. Just as pushy as her son, Rynn fills her in on his visit to the house wherein Ms. Hallet advises: “If my son should come back and your father isn’t here…it might be better if you didn’t let him in.” She then takes note of the furniture that’s been moved around in the furnished home and tries to put certain items back in their original places. Hoping to meet Rynn’s father and to collect a box of Mason jars, Ms. Hallet tries to access the cellar door that Rynn has covered with a rug and table. However, Rynn is adamant that she leave. The conversation becomes heated and it’s revealed that Rynn does not attend public school. Ms. Hallet, who is on the school board threatens to bring up that fact at the next meeting which comes up on Monday. Besides being nosy and pushy, Ms. Hallet has also come on the property to collect grapes and crab apples without permission. Rynn tells her firmly that this is her home and that she would appreciate it if she didn’t drop by unannounced. 

The next day Rynn takes a bus to Town Hall to find out if the next school board meeting is really coming up on Monday and learns that Ms. Hallet lied.  She runs into Frank again and he offers to drive her home. Rynn turns him down but tells Frank that his mother is welcome to pick up the mason jars and that her father wants to speak with her. When she walks off she is stopped by police officer Ron Miglioriti (Mort Shuman) who gives her a ride home, she offers him an invitation to come inside for tea. Miglioriti wishes to meet Mr. Jacobs Rynn says he is locked away in his study and cannot be disturbed while working. He fills Rynn in on the Hallet’s and how they are a force to be reckoned with in this town.

On Monday, Cora Hallet is back. She tells Rynn that she brought up the girl’s case at a board meeting that morning but Rynn makes no comment and instead tries to apologize for her behavior but Ms. Hallet doesn’t budge. Rynn threatens to tell her father about her son and Ms.. Hallet slaps her, grabs the mason jars and heads towards the door. Realizing that the jars do not have their rubber seals, she demands to go into the cellar to get them despite Rynn’s protests. Once in the cellar, Ms. Hallet’s scream is heard and in her attempt to get out of the cellar, the door hits her on the head killing her instantly.

Once Rynn confirms she is dead she finds the keys to Ms. Hallet’s car and tries to start it in order to take it into town and erase any clue that she was there. Unfortunately, she can’t get the car started and in the process has captured Mario’s (Scott Jacoby) attention. He knows exactly whom the car belongs to, it’s a Bentley and only the Hallet’s have money like that. Though Rynn is evasive about what it is doing there she offers Mario money to help her move it.  He does.

Later they dine together at the house and Officer Miglioriti (who is Mario’s uncle) stops by. Miglioriti states that Ms. Hallet is missing and questions whether Rynn has seen her because Frank reported his mother was on her way to the Jacobs home to pick up the jars. Rynn denies she was ever there and Mario reveals that his uncle tried to bust Frank for dragging a little girl into the bushes but was unsuccessful. “All Hallet’s mother did was marry the creep off to some cocktail waitress with two kids – to prove he was normal.”

Officer Miglioriti expresses concern that Frank may show up and cautions Rynn to be careful. After he leaves, Hallet does show up and is upset to find Mario there. Hallet taunts Mario and his obvious limp and kills Rynn’s pet hamster before Mario manages to pull a trick sword from his cane prompting Hallet to leave.  When he’s gone, Mario demands to know what happened in the house. Knowing now that she can trust Mario, Rynn takes Mario down to the cellar, where two bodies are stored- Ms. Hallet and Rynn’s mother.

When Rynn’s father found out he was dying he moved to the small town and made two demands of his daughter, one that she never let her estranged mother back into her life, two, that she raise herself and not become a ward of the state. Leaving her enough traveler’s checks to get by and paying the rental fee on the house for three years, Rynn was set to live on her own. However, her mother did show up with plans of what she was going to do with all the money Mr. Jacobs left Rynn. So she did what her father advised and used the white powder he told her to put in her mother’s drink. Thinking it a sedative to make her less aggressive, Rynn eventually realized she had given her mother poison and after doing some research, she learned how to preserve her mother’s body in the cellar. A body she tried to hide from Ms. Hallet.

Mario decides he will help Rynn and together, they throw away the car keys and bury Ms. Hallet in the yard. He also helps convince his uncle that Rynn’s father does exist by dressing up like him and wearing a distinctive mask.  But when Mario gets pneumonia and is hospitalized, Hallet makes his move.

When Rynn awakens one night to the sound of someone in her home, she goes downstairs and thinks she is confronting Mario coming up from the cellar. However, it’s Hallet dressed as him and he confronts her with a hairpin belonging to his mother he found down there. Using this as an opportunity to blackmail Rynn into sleeping with him, Hallet soon finds himself taking a cyanide nap. Rynn is not to be messed with.

Though I was a little disturbed by fourteen year old Foster in a nude scene, I was quite impressed with the movie. The plot is somewhat unbelievable and some of the acting is a bit hokey, but Foster, Sheen, and Smith deliver wonderful, chilling performances. I was quite caught up from the start of the film which kept you guessing for the first half what Rynn was hiding.


Big thanks to Le Souffle au Coer for all the great screen shots!


Tonight on TCM! Check out a much younger Alexis Smith! And Happy Birthday Ms. Smith!
The Smiling Ghost (1941) A newswoman investigates a haunted house. Dir: Lewis Seiler Cast: Wayne Morris, Brenda Marshall, Alexis Smith.


Trivia:

What does Alexis Smith have in common with Mary Pickford?

The Honey Pot (1967)

Inspired by a performance of his favorite play, "Volpone," Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) devises an intricate plan to trick three of his former mistresses into believing he is dying. Fox hires William McFly (Cliff Robertson), a man of many trades including being a sometime actor to act as his secretary. Though the women have vast fortunes of their own, Fox depends on their greediness to bring them running. There is Merle McGill (Edie Adams), a Hollywood sex symbol; Princess Dominique (Capucine), who once took a cruise on Fox's yacht; and Lone Star Crockett (Susan Hayward), a Texas hypochondriac who travels with her nurse Sarah (Maggie Smith).

As Fox and McFly act out their charade, Lone Star states to the other women that she is the only one entitled to the inheritance since she is Fox's common-law wife. Later that night as Sarah and William go out for drinks where Sarah tells of her daily routine of walking Lone Star at 3:00 AM to give her more sleeping pills to get through the night, William then excuses himself to make a phone call and Sarah, tired from her travels slips off to sleep for about an hour. When Lone Star is found dead later that morning from an overdose, Sarah immediately suspects William. Her suspicions are confirmed when she finds the roll of quarters missing from Lone Star’s bag in William’s room.
She confronts William with her findings and he promptly locks her in her room demanding she keep her mouth shut about the whole situation. Fearing that William will now kill Fox, she uses the dumbwaiter that connects her room to his to pull herself up and warn him. Fox both praises her intellect and her stupidity, leaving Sarah slightly confused but relieved that she has forewarned Fox.

But did she warn the right man? Who really murdered Lone Star and why?
The Honey Pot starts out as a light comedy and as you settle in to see if the greedy women will get their comeuppance, you slowly begin to realize the movie is taking a dark turn. The Honey Pot is a very intelligent screenplay that really makes you use your noodle. Quite good.

 
Tonight on TCM!
Breathless (1960) A small-time hood hides out from the cops with his American girlfriend. Cast: Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Liliane David, Daniel Boulanger Dir: Jean-Luc Godard

Murder by Death (1976)

When the world’s foremost detectives gather at Lionel Twain’s (Truman Capote) castle for dinner and a murder (his own), they find themselves being challenged to discover who is the best detective of all. Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers), Dick Charleston (David Niven), Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) Milo Perrier (James Coco) and Sam Diamond (Peter Faulk) not only have their own motives for killing Lionel but they could all use the million dollars he offers up as the reward for whoever solves the crime. Hilarity ensues as the evening reveals the flaws of each detective and the promised dinner is ruined by the lack of communication between Jamesir Bemsonmam (Alec Guinnes) the blind butler and the hired cook (Nancy Walker) who’s deaf and mute. Not to mention the murders of Jamesir and Lionel.

 

A delightful film with a dialogue full of parodies any classic noir fan would enjoy, Murder by Death itself is one big parody of all the detectives created by: Dashiell Hammett, whose Nick Charles and Sam Spade were the basis for Dick Charleston and Sam Diamond, Agatha Christie, whose Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple inspired Milo Perrier and Miss Marbles, and; Earl Derr Biggers Charlie Chan who’s the basis for Sidney Wang.
My favorite character was Falk’s Sam Diamond whose lengthy one liners left me reeling.



Trivia:
Immediately after completing the film, Peter Sellers was so convinced it was going to bomb, he convinced the producers to buy back his percentage share in the movie, thus depriving himself of a cut of the profits with the film when it went on to be a hit.


Tonight on TCM!
Tunes of Glory (1960)  When a popular colonel loses a promotion, it sets the stage for conflict with his new superior officer. Cast: Alec Guinness, John Mills, Dennis Price, Kay Walsh Dir: Ronald Neame

Conflict (1945)

Conflict is a tense thriller that finds Humphrey Bogart playing Richard Mason, a man who has fallen for his wife Kathryn’s (Rose Hobart) younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith). After a car accident breaks his leg, Mason uses his injury to develop a plot to kill his wife. However, performing the perfect crime isn’t so easy, and in Mason’s case it’s downright mind bending. Thinking the deed done Mason cooperates with the police to “find” his wife while he develops a closer relationship with Evelyn. Unfortunately, Kathryn keeps popping up everywhere. When some of her jewelry appears or when Mason smells her perfume or worse yet, he receives an addressed envelope to him with her handwriting, he begins to doubt that he really did kill her. He starts to depend on the police and a family friend Dr. Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet), a doctor involved with psychoanalysis, to set the record straight and more importantly prove to Mason that he is not losing his mind.



I would rather not spoil the ending for anyone who has not seen this film. Suffice it to say that there is no such thing as the perfect crime and even the most minute slip up can be one’s downfall. That’s essentially the moral of this movie and it’s brilliantly done. As a viewer, I was in doubt the entire time as to whether the crime had been committed or whether Mason was insane.
Ironically, Bogart did not want to do this film and after a little research, I could see why he may have had issues playing the role. No longer put in the category of supporting role with the successes of High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942) it was highly unusual for a studio to put their rising star into a role that portrayed him as a mentally disturbed killer with many weaknesses rather than his now more familiar role as the in-control tough guy with a heart. That being said, I really thought the movie was cleverly done and feel that Conflict is one of the more overlooked vehicles of Bogart’s career. I highly recommend this thriller which is also one of the first movies to have a plot depend mostly on the ideas and techniques of psychoanalysis.

Side note:

Producers pressed Bogart into doing Conflict by threatening to keep him out of his longed-for next picture, Passage to Marseille (1944), until he completed this one. Ironically, two years after Conflict, Bogart was once again a disturbed man plotting to kill his wife for the love of Alexis Smith in The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947).

Tonight on TCM!

Broadway Bill (1934) An heiress and her brother-in-law defy her father by going into horse racing. Cast: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson Dir: Frank Capra

The Spiral Staircase (1946)

Disabled women in small town are becoming prey of a serial killer. Helen (Dorothy McGuire), a mute girl who works for the Warren family, is the killer’s next victim. In the Warren manor, Helen serves as the ailing Mrs. Warren’s (Ethel Barrymore) companion. When another murder takes place in town, Mrs. Warren is convinced it’s her son Steve (Gordon Oliver), a reckless womanizer. Steve has just arrived from Europe and is staying in the mansion with his mother and step-brother Professor Albert Warren (George Brent). He is currently having an affair with Albert’s assistant and past love interest, Blanche. When Dr. Parry (Kent Smith), the young new doctor arrives to check on Mrs. Warren, she insists that he take Helen from her home immediately. Since Dr. Parry loves Helen and wants to take her to see specialists in Boston so she can regain her voice, he agrees but first he must take care of his other patients and so leaves Helen to her own defenses in the Warren home.

This film is full of wonderful suspense! The set up is great- three men, three possible murderers. Could it be the new doctor in town who professes his love for Helen? What about Steve, who’s never had a care in the world and seems to earn everyone’s dislike? Or could it possibly be Professor Warren, a kind man who has graciously taken on the care of his step-mother?

Tonight on TCM!

Richard Burton!!