Director:
Howard Koch
Year: 1957
Rating: 6.0
Year: 1957
Rating: 6.0
An intriguing B film that seems to be reaching for Sirk territory but settles
for Peyton Place and murder. It has a lovely soaring score by Les Baxter
that drives home the aching emotions and deep disturbances within. It nibbles
at noir but never gets there either. The dialogue provided by Richard Landau
is pure B purple prose with relish on top. One of the characters spits out
bitterness and self-loathing like it is in fashion. "I'd like to get so drunk
that I could look in the mirror and spit in my own face.". The film is loaded
with young talent that within a few years would be doing much better than
this. A couple solid performances from a couple veterans as well. This isn't
really good but it is a good ensemble piece that gives everyone a few choice
scenes.
The Parry Lodge is jumping with tourists out for a party. It is run by Edmund Parry (Ron Randell) and his sister Julia (Marie Windsor). Edmund is stuck in a wheel chair paralyzed by a broken heart ten years before and he gets all the best lines full of acid and rust. "Yes, I am tired. Tired of being surrounded by lipstick and love and women's flesh that turns to jelly at the sight of a man. Men who set up a howl like a back-alley cat at the sight of a woman's leg in a black stocking". His sister is devoted to him and has to do everything for him. The strange thing is that this was filmed on the Parry Lodge in Utah. A real thing. How they thought a few murders at their hotel was good publicity only proves that all publicity is good.
At the dance David (Lex Barker) is nuzzling up to Beth (Ann Bancroft) when he spots a dead body of a female reputed to be a tease. All sliced up. Like the sheriff (John Dehner) says, murders like this never stop at one. They don't. Also on hand is Harriet. A plain name for a dazzling blonde played by Mamie Van Doren. Though she gets third billing her time on screen is less than that but what there is sinks into your brain. She has latched on to a movie star past his prime hoping for a comeback and hoping Harriet can provide the inspiration.
Mamie was in the process of leaving United to go trash with her series of wonderful lurid films. Lex was nearly done with Hollywood and about to jump over to Europe where he had much more success. The bartender is Dan Blocker two years away from Bonanza. Oddly, the saw mill is named the Ponderosa. Stuart Whitman shows up near the end to add the final piece to the puzzle. And of course Ann Bancroft was just at the beginning of a great career. It is directed by Howard Koch who was to direct Mamie in a few more films but it was as a producer that he is best known - a bunch of B Westerns early on but later films like Manchurian Candidate, Come Blow Your Horn, Robin and the Seven Hoods, The Odd Couple and a ton more.
The Parry Lodge is jumping with tourists out for a party. It is run by Edmund Parry (Ron Randell) and his sister Julia (Marie Windsor). Edmund is stuck in a wheel chair paralyzed by a broken heart ten years before and he gets all the best lines full of acid and rust. "Yes, I am tired. Tired of being surrounded by lipstick and love and women's flesh that turns to jelly at the sight of a man. Men who set up a howl like a back-alley cat at the sight of a woman's leg in a black stocking". His sister is devoted to him and has to do everything for him. The strange thing is that this was filmed on the Parry Lodge in Utah. A real thing. How they thought a few murders at their hotel was good publicity only proves that all publicity is good.
At the dance David (Lex Barker) is nuzzling up to Beth (Ann Bancroft) when he spots a dead body of a female reputed to be a tease. All sliced up. Like the sheriff (John Dehner) says, murders like this never stop at one. They don't. Also on hand is Harriet. A plain name for a dazzling blonde played by Mamie Van Doren. Though she gets third billing her time on screen is less than that but what there is sinks into your brain. She has latched on to a movie star past his prime hoping for a comeback and hoping Harriet can provide the inspiration.
Mamie was in the process of leaving United to go trash with her series of wonderful lurid films. Lex was nearly done with Hollywood and about to jump over to Europe where he had much more success. The bartender is Dan Blocker two years away from Bonanza. Oddly, the saw mill is named the Ponderosa. Stuart Whitman shows up near the end to add the final piece to the puzzle. And of course Ann Bancroft was just at the beginning of a great career. It is directed by Howard Koch who was to direct Mamie in a few more films but it was as a producer that he is best known - a bunch of B Westerns early on but later films like Manchurian Candidate, Come Blow Your Horn, Robin and the Seven Hoods, The Odd Couple and a ton more.