Deborah Kerr. Oh yeah, I'm a fan:
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1953
In this year, a ship goes down, a bombshell explodes, a cowboy rides off into the "sunset" and I have to learn to share. ( My little sister is born. ) It’s 1953 and time again to share my favorites:
BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS -
( EUGENE LOURIE )
The Beast
Oh boy, MONSTERS!! I love it when Man is on the short end of the evolutionary Ray Harryhausen stick. RUN!!!
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THE BIG HEAT -
( FRITZ LANG )
Gloria Grahame
Hard-boiled. Just like I like it. I like Glenn Ford in this ( only one of maybe three films that I really like him in. ) He’s tough. He’s perfect. He’s like a coiled snake. Lee Marvin steals the show. He’s like a rabid dog. You all know how I feel about Glo-lo. She’s a tarnished angel; if only she could catch one good break from a man. But I’m especially partial to Jeanette Nolan. Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, with that perfect smile and that mink paid for in blood and murder.
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A BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER -
( ANDREW L. STONE )
Joseph Cotten & Jean Peters
Joseph Cotten is up against the cool, calm and cunning Jean Peters. She’s a murderer, and he’s got to find the evidence even if it means putting himself in harm’s way
...by marrying her. Both Peters and Cotten play roles light years away from their characters in “Niagara”
:
Peters is thrilling to watch in this cat & mouse game. Who doesn't like a smart brunette. Her interrogation scene in the police station is reminiscent of Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct.” Like Stone, Peters fears no man.
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I CONFESS -
( HITCHCOCK )
Montgomery Clift
I didn’t like this movie until I liked this movie. Here he goes again. Hitchcock takes The Church and spins it on its steeple like a dreidel when he has a murderer confess his crime to a priest. Hitch practically wraps this confession like a noose around the priest’s neck when he doesn’t divulge what he knows. The man of the cloth with convincing conviction is Montgomery Clift. I’m not quite convinced of Anne Baxter as The Hitchcock Blonde. ( No one else available? ) Hitchcock ups the ante when the murderer starts getting paranoid and taunts the priest. Twisted. Confession is not always good for the soul.
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IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE -
( JACK ARNOLD )
Richard Carlson & Barbara Rush
If it’s not Richard Denning it’s Richard Carlson. If it’s not Richard Carlson it’s Hugh Marlowe. As long as it’s aliens ( and Barbara Rush ) I’m easy. A space ship crash lands out in the desert and needs time to repair its ride back out into the galaxy. We have the requisite believers and nay-sayers. Aliens might take over your body, but sometimes “an invasion” is just a pit stop.
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MOGAMBO -
( JOHN FORD )
Ava Gardner & Grace Kelly & GABLE
All hail the King. I find it amazing that Gable re-made his role almost 20 years later. And he
still gets the girl. HA! The girl
S. But which girl? He’s got to choose between earthy Ava and prissy Grace. But even with the choice he had in 19
34 it’s still the same for Gable. He must choose between the woman whose world he
aspires to or the girl in the world he
belongs. For the women I say girls, half a Gable is better than none. << Sigh! >>
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NIAGARA -
( HENRY HATHAWAY )
MARILYN...
This time Marilyn Monroe is not the vulnerable baby doll victim. She is a lying cheating adulteress wife to shell-shocked Joseph Cotten and she wants him dead. The movie has the same plot twist here as “IMPACT.” There’s a bit of relief with Jean Peters and Casey Adams as a married couple finally on their honeymoon but who get drawn in to the drama. I'm loving Jean Peters in this.
Yes, Marilyn
is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I wish we could have seen more of her as a duplicitous femme fatale. Twentieth Century Fox had other plans for her. Well...at least we have "Niagara."
"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make Marilyn."
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ON DANGEROUS GROUND -
( NICHOLAS RAY )
Robert Ryan & Ida Lupino
Love this film and the unexpected turn it takes from dark-to-light. Robert Ryan goes from the asphalt jungle to the heartland to solve a murder. Us noiristas know where Ryan’s coming from, so it’s just as much a change for us as it is for him when he’s outside in the sunshine and clean white snow. He meets the murderer’s blind sister and through her ( and Bernard Hermann’s poignant music ) he gets his humanity back. I was rooting for Ryan. << Sigh! >> I love it when things work out.
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PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET -
( SAMUEL FULLER )
Jean Peters & Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark and Jean Peters are not quite your upright, outstanding citizens in this noir thriller. But the heat between them makes up for their lack of citizenship. ( Who knew pickpocketing could be sensual? ) This pair from the wrong side of the law single-handedly and patriotically save the United States from Communism. Thelma Ritter takes one for the team in an Oscar-worthy performance that’ll melt even the coldest heart.
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ROBOT MONSTER -
( PHIL TUCKER )
George Nader
A man inside a ratty old gorilla costume wearing a diving helmet from outer space, in a bad low-budget is all I need. Oh yeah, and George Nader is just the cherry on top.
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SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO -
( HENRY KING )
Gregory Peck & Susan Hayward
Seeing Peck in “The Macomber Affair” I know I like him as the great white hunter. In Kilimanjaro, he’s injured and we flashback through the story of his ( love ) life. I...like...Gregory Peck, the color, the romance.