Spoooooky October, movie buffs! This year, I do plan to continue the TMP tradition of Horror Half-Week in the days leading up to Halloween, but the rest of the month will feature some spooks as well. I have a little backlog of mysteries and monster movies to review. We begin today with 1940’s Dr. Cyclops. Dr. Cyclops follows Dr. Mary Robinson (Janice Logan), Dr. Rupert … Continue reading Dr. Cyclops (1940)
At the glamorous Hamilton Court apartments and shopping center, life should be beautiful, but it isn’t so for Mary (June Clyde). When shots are fired in an apartment one night, Mary flees the scene and hitches a ride with architect Jimmy (Chick Chandler) — weapon in hand and holding him at gunpoint. In the evening’s hurried turn of events, Jimmy crashes his car, and Mary … Continue reading Seven Doors to Death (1944)
“That’s the kind of man I like — the man with no place.” Lucky Gagin (Robert Montgomery) has traveled to New Mexico in search of Frank Hugo (Fred Clark) — and revenge. Hugo was responsible for the death of Gagin’s friend, Shorty Thompson. Gagin plans to blackmail Hugo to avenge Shorty’s death and line his own pockets. Soon after arriving in town, Lucky meets Pila … Continue reading Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
Peter Carter (David Niven) is an RAF pilot attempting to fly back to his base in England, but his plane is in awful shape. He has little chance of surviving the flight, but he has no other options; while his crew can bail out of the plane by parachute, his own parachute was destroyed during the mission. As he spends what he thinks are his … Continue reading A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
“This is the story of a confidence-man — that often unsung but seldom unhung aristocrat of the old west.” Conman Candy Johnson (Clark Gable) is getting tired of running from town to town to escape trouble. He hopes the next city he lands in will be his permanent home. Hope grows when he meets Elizabeth Cotton (Lana Turner) on a train. She’s headed from Boston … Continue reading Honky Tonk (1941)
“Nobody can tell you where your place is.” When Hilary Ames (Reginald Gardiner) has a problem with his sink just as he’s preparing to host a cocktail party, the last person he expects to fix the problem is a young woman. He mistakes visitor Adam Belinski (Charles Boyer) for the plumber before Cluny Brown (Jennifer Jones) arrives, wrench in hand and ready to get to … Continue reading Cluny Brown (1946)
“A journey into the absurd, with a delightful companion, and no consequences and no regrets!” Jean (Ginger Rogers) and David (Ronald Coleman) are passing each other on the street one day when he wishes her good luck. Soon after, Jean is given an expensive dress for free and becomes convinced the stranger genuinely brought her good luck. Sure that he’s a lucky man, Jean asks … Continue reading Lucky Partners (1940)
“The dove of peace was a pigeon. A dead pigeon.” Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt is in Paris, post-war, to attend a secret UN conference focused on German reunification. Elsewhere, a mysterious message has been found — “9850,” “21:45,” the letter “D,” and “Sulzbach” — attached to a dead pigeon. The police are unable to figure out the coded message but know that it’s some sort of … Continue reading Second Looks: Berlin Express (1948)
Barbara Worth (Margaret Lockwood) is a beautiful noblewoman, but she doesn’t exactly act the part. Mean-spirited and continuously sharpening her tongue, Barbara escalates to true crime when she decides to masquerade as a highwayman to scare a society rival. On the road, she meets the intimidating Jackson (James Mason), a criminal both feared and admired by the local community. They soon begin to fall in … Continue reading The Wicked Lady (1945)
Corky Jones (Dennis Morgan) and Gil Borden (Don DeFore) are looking for jobs in Burbank, California when they’re plucked from obscurity to champion the war effort at the very respectable Lockheed aircraft factory. Though the U.S. is technically still neutral when they’re hired on, it’s preparing for war, producing large numbers of fighter jets and bombers. While awaiting his first paycheck, Corky stays with his … Continue reading Wings for the Eagle (1942)
