Sudden Fear (3 stars)

Sudden Fear, from 1952, is a suspenseful thriller starring Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, and Gloria Grahame, with Bruce Bennett taking on a supporting role.  This film, for which Miss Crawford received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination, is one I recently enjoyed as part of my Joan Crawford birthday month celebration.

In New York to oversee the casting of her most recent play, playwright Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) is about to find her life changed forever.  After firing Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) from the production because she does not see him as romantic leading man material, the wealthy San Francisco native boards a train for home.  As it happens, Mr. Blaine is on the same train, and before their arrival in California, Myra sees the actor in a completely different light and is head over heels about him.

Although Blaine protests that he doesn't belong to her world, Myra convinces him that without him she has nothing, and in typical whirlwind fashion, the two are soon married.  Completely in love with Lester, Myra is happier than she has ever been in her life.

Not even for a moment does Myra suspect that her husband isn't what he seems to be, so when her attorney, Steve Kearney (Bruce Bennett), requests her signature on documents which would give Lester a limited income upon her death, she refuses to sign them.  Instead, she asks Steve to draw up new documents---documents which leave every cent of her estate to her husband.

The morning after her meeting with Steve, Myra discovers that her dictaphone had been left on all night; as she moves to turn it off, it begins playing, revealing a conversation from the previous evening.  That conversation, between Lester and another woman (Gloria Grahame), devastates Myra and causes her to be violently ill, for she realizes that her husband not only never loved her, but that he wants to be rid of her and, thus, get his hands on her fortune.  Saying her death must look like an accident, Lester pledges to accomplish it that weekend.

Though Myra is completely heartstick and terrified by what she hears, she is determined to fight back and to save her life....without letting on to Lester that she has found him out.  How everything plays out is the balance of the film.

Sudden Fear is an interesting, exciting, suspenseful film, with good acting by all.  I think Joan Crawford is really super in her portrayal of Myra---a bit over the top, but that definitely goes with the territory.  Jack Palance, who received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work here, was completely terrific in his role.  Gloria Grahame was perfectly cast.  Always a fabulous femme fatale, she was totally stellar here.  Though Bruce Bennett had worked so well with Miss Crawford in Mildred Pierce, he really had little to do in this film.  The movie's ending was quite exciting...and unexpected.  Really, I didn't see that coming.  All in all, this is a great little noir, close to 4 stars; since it's out on DVD, it should be easy to track down.

Happy viewing!!

Human Desire (4 stars)

Human Desire, from 1954, is a film noir directed by Fritz Lang, and starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Broderick Crawford.  Complete with such noir staples as the femme fatale and the weak-willed, hormone-driven man who just can't stay away from her, Human Desire is one of the best noirs I've seen in awhile.  I enjoyed every minute of this film.

When he is fired from his job at the local train yard, Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford) convinces his wife, Vicki (Gloria Grahame), to use her connections with an influential businessman to help him get his job back.  Vicki does, and Carl does; however, when Carl realizes that the man and his sexy, much-younger wife have been lovers, his jealousy cannot be contained.  After forcing Vicki to write a note to the man, wherein she promises to visit his train compartment that evening, Carl stabs him to death in said compartment, while Vicki looks on. Getting back to their own compartment undetected will take some doing, so Vicki flirts a bit with Korean War Veteran, Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford), who has recently returned to town after a 3-year absence.

When the dead body is discovered and an investigation begun, for whatever reason, Jeff doesn't reveal to anyone that he ran into Vicki Buckley in the corridor outside the dead man's room.  Of course, Vicki is grateful for Jeff's silence, and the two begin to get close to each other.

Eventually, Jeff and Vicki embark on a passionate affair, but with her husband hanging on to the note declaring her intention to make a visit to the dead man's compartment, Vicki knows she is trapped.  Her only escape is her husband's death---and she will lie, scheme, and seduce to convince Jeff to bring that death to pass. Does Jeff kill Carl?  Does Vicki get her letter back?  These are the questions that play out in this exciting film.

For me, this was an incredibly-directed film---Fritz Lang was in top form here.  Also, because I'm totally in love with passenger trains (it's a 40's thing!), I loved that the setting was primarily a train or train yard.  The setting just added to my enjoyment.  Acting wise, I think Broderick Crawford was very good in his role---he always excelled at portraying a boorish brute of a man.  Glenn Ford was solid and gave a good, though not spectacular, performance. The real star of the film, though, was Gloria Grahame.  She was totally terrific in this role; I have to admit, though, I'm not a huge fan of her.  I'm not sure why her face always seems frozen and why she hardly opens her mouth when she speaks, but those things are always a bit of a distraction for me.  Still, though, she played the sexy vamp perfectly.  All those things combined to make for a very good film...one I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.

The film is out on DVD and should be quite easy to track down.  Additionally, it's on the TCM schedule for Saturday, March 31, 2012, so you could easily catch it then.

Happy viewing!!

The Man Who Never Was (4 stars)

The Man Who Never Was is a fascinating espionage flick from 1956.  Starring Clifton Webb and co-starring Gloria Grahame and Stephen Boyd, it is a true story and is based on the book of the same name. 

The movie begins in London in 1943, at the height of World War II, shortly before the Allied invasion of Sicily.  British Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb), realizes that due to the German stronghold at Sicily, the only hope for a successful Allied invasion is to confuse the Germans, to try to get them to think that the invasion will be taking place elsewhere.  Thinking that, they will undoubtedly send troops elsewhere, thinning out their ranks on Sicily, resulting in an easier time and less loss of life for the Allied troops.

So, under the code name "Operation Mincemeat," Lt. Cmdr. Montagu puts a brilliant plan into action.  He will invent a man...a man who never existed (a man who never was!)...a man who will be an officer in the British Army...a man who will be carrying official documents outlining the invasion of Greece...a man whose dead body will be discovered by German agents after his plane has crashed...a man who will be the key to convincing the Nazi agents that Sicily is not the target after all.

There is much suspense as "Operation Mincemeat" gets underway.  They must locate just the right dead body, obtain permission from the family to use it, invent a life and past for the man, transport the body to where it must be found, etc.  And when the Germans send a man back to England to verify the legitimacy of the dead man, wow, it's kind of edge-of-your-seat excitement.

The Man Who Never Was is a wonderful World War II drama and also a highly suspenseful espionage film, and now that I've seen the movie a few times, I think I might like to read the book.  The movie is out on DVD and should be fairly easy to track down.  I hope y'all get a chance to see it.

Happy viewing!!