Night Must Fall (1937)

Night Must Fall is based on the play by Emlyn Williams, directed by Richard Thorpe, produced by Hunt Stromberg, and stars Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Dame May Whitty, Alan Marshal, Merle Tottenham, and Kathleen Harrison, with a brief appearance by E.E. Clive.

The film takes place in the English countryside at the cottage of a somewhat wealthy old woman named Mrs. Bramson (Whitty), an invalid who lives there with her niece Olivia (Russell) who also happens to be employed by the dowager.  For some reason Bramson is cranky and verbally abusive towards Olivia.  So of course Olivia resents the old woman's attitude and feels trapped and bored with her position so she acts less than kindly towards her. 

As the story begins police and some of the townsfolk are executing a search for a missing local woman.  It's a small community so word of the disappearance as well as gossip about the woman travels quickly.

Mrs. Bramson discovers that someone has attempted to hide some pieces of broken china in one of her flowerbeds.  She soon realizes that it was her maid Dora (Tottenham) that was responsible and confronts her about it.  The maid explains that she hasn't been herself since meeting her new boyfriend, who she plans to marry but can't get him to actually commit to a date.  Dora asks Bramson if she could speak to him on her behalf and the old woman acknowledges that she'll " deal with him ".

At this point we meet Danny (Montgomery) or "Babyface" as the girls like to call him.  Much to Olivia's dismay Danny spins a few tales and charms the old woman into giving him a job as her companion, she even allows him live in the cottage.  Olivia immediately becomes suspicious of Danny when the missing woman's body turns up (with the head missing) and Danny moves into the cottage with his luggage, one piece of which is a large hatbox. 

The rest of the film is very suspenseful as Danny waits for an opportunity to gain access to the old woman's safe and steal her money, and Olivia is first repulsed by, then finds herself becoming strangely attracted to the charming rogue.  All the while trying to determine whether he is responsible for, or even capable of committing the recent murder.  Time after time our attention is drawn back to the mysterious hatbox and its possible grisly contents.

Great acting by all the stars makes this a really fun film to watch.  As I'm writing this I'm discovering that I'm a bigger Robert Montgomery fan than I realized.  If I notice his name in the credits of a film, I'll watch it even if it's not one of my favorite genres knowing that he's going to do a great job, he always does.  Montgomery was actually nominated for the Academy Award for "Best Actor" for his performance, and Whitty was nominated for "Best Supporting Actress".  Both actors do an outstanding job, and Russell's gradual transformation from mild-mannered to sizzling is fantastic.

Montgomery is very convincing as the smooth-talking, disturbed, pathological liar Danny and as the story progresses we discover more and more about the character's background.  I felt kind of bad for Olivia as she slowly but surely gets lured out of her shell by Danny's charm and almost poetic ramblings and finds herself drifting away from her boring, rich boyfriend Justin (Marshal) towards Danny even though she's knows how potentially dangerous he is.  She just seems to be totally bored with her life as it is and just craves some excitement. There's a great scene that takes place in the kitchen when the two happen to meet up in the middle of the night. You can feel the chemistry between the two characters and the scene will bring you to the edge of your seat.

Whitty dominates every scene that she's in.  The ending is almost unbearable when she finds herself alone and vulnerable after seemingly having total control over everyone for the majority of the film.  There's also some pretty good dark humor courtesy of the cook (Harrison) that helps to lighten up the mood a bit now and then.  The sets are very nicely designed and very detailed, especially the rooms in the cottage where most of the film takes place.

If you're a Hitchcock fan you'll probably enjoy this film.  There's not much action. but there are extra helpings of tension and suspense to go around.

Dial 1119 (1950)

Dial 1119 is directed by Gerald Mayer, produced by Richard Goldstone and stars Marshall Thompson,  Virginia Field,  Andrea King, Sam Levene, Leon Ames, and William Conrad.  And keep an eye out for an uncredited Barbara Billingsley who shows up on screen for about a minute as Dorothy,  the newspaper editor's secretary.  Paul Picerni appears briefly as a police interpreter, and Frank Cady has a brief appearance as one of the pedestrians on the street.

The story is straightforward and piques your interest right from the start.  Gunther Wyckoff (played very convincingly by Marshall Thompson) is a troubled young man who escapes from a mental asylum in order to track down and seek revenge on the doctor (Levene) responsible for his being locked up.  He manages to board a bus for Terminal City but begins to attract some unwanted attention due to his odd behavior.

When the bus pulls into a station for a brief rest stop Wyckoff steals the driver's pistol (when the driver leaves the bus unattended with the pistol stuck in the sun visor).  When the driver confronts him about it, he shoots him down in cold blood  and manages to slip away in the confusion.  Wyckoff locates the residence of the psychiatrist responsible for having him committed.  But when he finds he's not at home he becomes increasingly more agitated.   While waiting for the doctor to return the psychopath takes refuge in a bar down the street.  From this vantage point the killer can see the doctor's home and be ready for him when he returns.

The bar itself is a home for quite a cast of characters. There's a barfly (Field) whose just out to drink and have a good time, an older man (Ames) who tries in vane to sweet talk a younger woman (King) into running away with him, a disgruntled newspaper reporter (James Bell), a grumpy bartender (Conrad), and a young man (Keefe Brasselle) who works at the bar who's anxiously awaiting news of the birth of his first child.

When the police broadcast a television bulletin about the killing of the bus driver and a description of the killer, the bartender who was the only one to notice the broadcast unsuccessfully tries to call the police, and the psycho ends up locking the door and holding everyone in the bar hostage.  For the remainder of the film the bar patrons try to reason with the killer.  And the police outside try to negotiate for the hostage's release.

As in any well put together noir film the tension builds and builds as the killer gives the police an ultimatum -- locate and deliver the doctor to the bar within twenty-five minutes or the hostages die.  In the meantime, the crowd gathers outside on the street and the frenzy grows as the local media outlet broadcasts events as they happen trying to capitalize on the situation unfolding before them (reminiscent of Ace In The Hole, 1951).

There are quite a few exchanges between Dr. Farnum and police captain Kiever (Richard Rober) mostly because the captain believes that Wyckoff should have received the death penalty for a previous murder instead of of being institutionalized.  Dr. Farnum finds he must make a tough choice -- keep his distance as ordered by the police chief and let the cops continue to negotiate with the killer, or sacrifice himself and face the the killer in an attempt to free hostages.

Overall I thought this was a pretty good film, especially for one of MGM's first B-movie attempts.  It's not exactly an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biter, but it has some pretty tense moments mostly because of the Wyckoff character's unpredictable nature.  Thompson plays the part very well exuding lots of sweat while remaining disturbingly calm with a noticeable tinge of nervousness below the surface.  The interaction amongst the patrons in the bar, and the exchanges between the hostages and the killer during the standoff help to keep the film moving along.  With a running time of about 75 minutes it's not too tough to sit through.

I enjoyed the portrayal of the broadcasting company's (WKYL?) attempt to cover the story for one of the newest media inventions of the time - the television.  Even the bar has a large flatscreen television ("fourteen-hundred bucks installed, push-button picture control, reflected image, 3x4 foot screen").  That "fourteen-hundred bucks" would probably equal about ten thousand dollars today.

This is a pretty good noir film with an interesting twist at the end.  Great cinematography by Paul Vogel keeps all the visuals crystal clear while still preserving the dark foreboding noir world that so many us of have come to love.