STRANGE MR. GREGORY bizarre poverty row "B" 7/11

[Dewey1960]

All those who are enamored of incredibly strange "B" movies, here is an earnest recommendation for one of the most bizarre ever: THE STRANGE MR. GREGORY which airs on TCM Wednesday July 11. Produced by poverty row studio Monogram Pictures and directed by "B" stalwart Phil Rosen, this absolutely zonked out and macabre 1946 mystery deals with a demented magician (Edmond Lowe) who inexplicably falls in love with a married woman (Jean Rogers, who ten years earlier played Dale Arden in the Flash Gordon serial) he meets backstage after one of his shows. Her husband is an amateur magician who reveres Lowe, and before long they're hanging out together. Lowe concocts a plan whereby he fakes his own death (through a weird form of suspended animation) and by setting up an elaborate frame, implicates the husband, who has grown increasingly jealous of Lowe's amorous advances toward his wife. I won't elaborate further other than to say it's one kinky and peculiar film; one that could only emanate from the lowly depths of poverty row.

TCM showed this film about ten years ago and I was fortunate enough to tape it. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time it has played since then. If this type of film is your cup of meat, by all means do not let it slip by. You won't be sorry!

[benwhowell]

Sounds like my kind of movie, Dewey. I wonder if it was the "inspiration" for Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige" (2006) with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson-also about "illusionists" and "infidelities."

[moira finnie]

I'm sure glad that you warne--er, I mean, told me about this upcoming Edmund Lowe movie, Dewey. Hey, is it just me, or did Lowe seem to be in several fairly squirrelly movies over the course of his career? Seems to me that he played an "illusionist" in one of the odder studio films of all time, Chandu the Magician (1932). Ah well, one must eat, and being a mere strolling player has its limits, especially in the Depression and right after the end of WWII boom in film production, so I guess Edmund figured no one would ever see these entries on his résumé, much less still catching sight of them some 75 years after they were made. Sorry if I've offended any closet Edmund Lowe fans!

Ben, would you recommend The Prestige? Or could I possibly be confusing that with the other magician movie that came out at the same time, The Illusionist? Talk about Hollywood synergy gone awry...both movies probably cancelled each other out completely at the box office.

[benwhowell]

I would recommend "The Prestige." It is a beautiful (cinematography, costumes) period piece-turn of the century London and Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Where one of our "illusionists" meets with electromagnetic "mad scientist" Nikola Tesla-very interesting performance from David Bowie.)
All the performances are great. I really enjoyed Christian Bale.
Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite (contemporary) directors. He also gave us "Memento."
The story is quite engrossing (and a little confusing on first viewing) with lots of twists and turns...about two rival "illusionists-" both obsessed with developing the ultimate illusion and stopping at nothing to reach that goal.
I've yet to see "The Illusionist." I don't know why I didn't rent it when I rented "The Prestige."

[sandykaypax]

I second Ben's recommendation of The Prestige. Different than the usual Hollywood fare these days. The ending is great.

I saw The Illusionist as well, and I enjoyed it. The main difference between these two magician flicks is that The Illusionist is more of a love story with intrigue, and The Prestige is a story of rivalry between two former friends. They are both beautifully photographed and well-acted.

Now, if only TCM would show Houdini with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh...

Sandy K

[Dewey1960]

Moira wrote: "I'm sure glad that you warne--er, I mean, told me about this upcoming Edmund Lowe movie, Dewey. Hey, is it just me, or did Lowe seem to be in several fairly squirrelly movies over the course of his career?"

That's pretty funny. It was (and is) a straightaway recommendation on STRANGE MR. GREGORY. I haven't seen that many films with Edmund Lowe but yes, he was pretty hammy. I like him in DILLINGER (1945), also from Monogram, as the criminal boss that Tierney (as John D) deposes. That's the interesting thing about some of the better films from Monogram Pictures. There were a ton of crummy ones, a fair number of watchable ones and a handful of truly wonderful ones--and THE STRANGE MR. GREGORY is definitely one of the wonderful ones (among others, DECOY, DILLINGER, HIGH TIDE, THE GUILTY and a number of the late 40s Bowery Boys pictures). Where so many of the poverty row grinders merely manage to get by on some innate quirkiness or oddball performance, MR GREGORY has a weirdly cohesive clarity (wonderfully far-fetched as it is) that makes it a solidly kinky watch all the way through. It delivers the goods, and how. Wednesday morning, July 11th.

[moira finnie]

The Strange Mr. Gregory certainly lived up to its title and your plaudit, Dewey. What a lot of fun. Monogram must've cleaned out all the spare change it could find in the proverbial casting couch to put together this cleverly written, amusingly acted and decently produced little movie--even if it bogged down a bit at the end.

Yes, Edmund Lowe was quite the purveyor of sliced ham--but he did it well and served it with relish. He kept reminding me of PBS' favorite abnormal psychologist, Phil Zimbardo, famous for his '70s student experiment at Stanford in which students were assigned the roles of guards and prisoners, (the enthusiasm of the "guards" prompted an early shutdown of the all too successful experiment, which has had a dreadful parallel in the Abu Ghraib scandal). Here's the shrink in question, which may help to illustrate the similarities:


I thought that the only one in the movie who seemed pretty much at sea was Jean Rogers, who looked irked to find herself in this flick, though she had good reason to be p.o.ed about some of those costumes and hats she wore here. I bet that Jean might use the featured weapon of choice in this movie, the garrotte, on her agent, if she had one at this point in her career. Fending off Lowe's character(s) must've made her long for her tussles with Ming the Merciless. And lawd knows her hubby in the movie, one of the ultimate hapless middle class fools of moviedom, Donald Douglas, wasn't going to be of any help here. My favorite character actor in this movie: Robert Edmund Keane as the district attorney who parted what hair he had in the middle, along with his little mustache and his eyebrows. To top it off, he added the pince nez glasses and a fussy manner. He was really into his part, wasn't he? No one, of course, could match Ed Lowe for intensity and that glare, however.

Thanks for the heads up, Dewey, it was fun to wake up to such folderol.

[Dewey1960]

THE STRANGE MR. GREGORY really an irresistible little film. I'm happy that it went down well with you. Folderol, indeed! It all more or less points to the fact that TCM needs to investigate more deeply into the still hidden gems in the Monogram vaults. MR. GREGORY is just the tip of the iceberg. Later this month Warner Home Video is releasing its latest Film Noir box set. Included in it is DECOY, an unapologetically nasty piece of pulp fiction that truly sets the bar as far as Monogram goes. I couldn't recommend it more highly!