NEVILLE, BRAND; A VERY SCAREY MAN (SOMETIMES)

[cmvgor]

Neville Brand (8/13/1920 - 4/16/1992) could be a very scarey man at times. At some point in my early 20's, I realized that there were only three people who could make me fearful just from looking at a picture:
Neville Brand, boxer Sonny Liston, and Lee Van Cleef (the young mean
Van Cleef, before he mellowed into a hero). Viewers may remember his
performance as Duke, the main reason to think that William Holden may
not get out of Stalag 17 alive. Oh, by the way --

Actung! 'Stalag 17' is scheduled for TCM for Monday, May 28, at
10:00 PM! You haf been notified!

I never saw that movie until I was in my late 20's, but I was familiar with
other films he had made.

In the mid-1950's, He had starred in a TV special production of 'All The
King's Men'. I saw that before I saw the Broderick Crawford version, and
for me, Brand's face was always the face of Willie Stark. And in 'The Tin
Star' (1957) he played the sadistic lynch-mob leader whom Anthony Perkins had to face down in order to prove himself as a lawman. Only
he didn't face down; had to be killed.

But for a long time it seemed to me his signature performance was the
menacing hinchman in 'Cry Terror!' assigned to hold Inger Stevens hostage while her husband (James Mason) was forced to help rob a bank.
Just sitting there, popping his pills and talking about what it had been like
in prison, he was a real creepout.

And, of course he was the resident Al Capone when 'The Untouchables'
needed that worthy to appear. He also appeared as Capone when Ray
Danton made the biopic 'The George Raft Story'.

But there were good-guy roles also. The Death Row prison guard in
'The Birdman Of Alkatraz', who eventually became a sympathetic character. His TV appearences on 'Lorado' as Texas Ranger Reese Barnett -- Sort of Hoss Cartwright with a badge. A big man with some laugh lines, but foremost in a fight scene.

Good guy or very scarey bad guy, I never saw him give a performance
that disappointed me.

[Dewey1960]

One of my favorite Neville Brand roles is the hardened con who leads the other prisoners to insurrection in Don Siegel's exciting 1954 prison picture RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11.

[ken123]

DEWEY ,
I have a " Nation " tee shirt with Bush as " Alfred E. A GREAT AVATAR, and I do worry.

[cmvgor]

[quote="SHolmes"]Another one I didn't see you mention was in the John Wayne movie CAHILL: US MARSHAL. I thought he was good in that one...

Actually, I was aware of 'Cahill'; I just hoped someone would log on who remembered it better and had seen it more recently.
A story about Mr. Brand went around years ago that I am unable to confirm from material currently at hand. There was a period of substance
abuse, appearently, during the 'Lorado' years. He had encounters with
enthuastic fans, gushing over favorite scenes, and he couldn't even remember doing the work they were raving about. Such stories have also
been told about such luminaries as Michael York and Dennis Hopper.
One revelation in his bio really got my attention; he was a bookworm
with a personal library of over 30,000 books. I can identify with that, but
without approaching those numbers. I still hate to give away a book, and
my house stays crowded with them.

[metsfan]

I'm glad TCM will air "Mohawk" on June 11 and D.O.A. July 6th. I only pray they're not taken out last minute.

[cmvgor]

Having been the one to draw attention to the Memorial Day airing of
Stalag 17, I made a point to see it again, first time in years.
Holden's Oscar performance, and the presence of Otto Preminger and
Peter Graves were well remembered. But I had halfway forgotten about
Robert ("Animal") Strauss and Harvey Lembeck. And there was a grown-
up Dead End Kid whose name escapes me completely. The Strauss - Lembeck combo threw me for a moment; I had them figured for a comedy
team with multiple roles together. Turns out that they were reunited by
Jack Webb in 'THE LAST TIME I SAW ARCHIE' (1961) to very good effect,
but they were not an institution like the Stooges.

Time had also blurred my memory concerning Neville Brand's character.
I seem to have blended this "Duke" guy with his Cry Terror! persona. He was menacing to the suspected traitor all right, but he was
also a disciplined team player, hauling his share of the load in carrying
out the prisoners' projects and schemes.

This script works for its laughs; the men-without-women theme reminiscent of some scenes in Mister Roberts. And Oscar-nominee
Robert Strauss gets one of the really cool curtain lines: "Maybe he just
came here to steal our wire cutters. You ever think about that?"

[cmvgor]

I was looking up material for another thread on the subject of supporting
players who get one or two shots at top billing. I thought Mr. Brand might
fit into that frame, but when I went looking, I found myself with an embarassemnt of riches. He has received top billing at least five times:

--Riot in Cellblock 11 (1954;mentioned above by another poster) One of several good films about brutal prison conditions. Leo Gordon also
had a role.


--Man Crazy (1953) Tense story of the search for three women who
have stolen money from their employer. I haven't seen it; I only know that Mr. Brand got top billing.

--Eaten Alive (1977; also mentioned by another poster) Seems to be a variation on the 'Motel Hell' theme.

--A SUPRISE ENTRY: The Three Outlaws (1956) Brand plays Butch
Cassidy to Alan Hale's(!) Sundance Kid in a story about the boys trying
to retire to Mexico to live off their loot. (Memo to TCM: double-bill this one with the Newman/Redford flick, and bracket them with Osborne.)

--AND THE ONE I WAS LOOKING FOR ALL ALONG: Return From The Sea (1954) With Cold War emphasis , Brand stars as a Naval Chief
Petty Officer homing in on the end of his career by training the young recruits who will carry on. He's good at this job, but he's shy and feels
friendless. Jan Sterling plays the woman who is attracted to him and who
helps him open up his life.

Anyway, too many trips to the top of the list and back down into support
listings. He didn't fit in the other catigory I had in mind.