Joseph Granby Movies

Perhaps the definitive Douglas Sirk production, Written on the Wind is based on the novel by Robert Wilder. The story revolves around the Hadleys, a wealthy but thoroughly debauched family of Texas oil millionaires. Robert Stack is self-destructive alcoholic Kyle Hadley, while Dorothy Malone won an Oscar for her equally vivid potrayal of Kyle's nymphomaniac sister Marylee. Kyle manages to win beautiful, level-headed advertising executive Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall) away from his best friend, virile Hadley Oil geologist Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), but Lucy soon comes to regret her decision to marry into the hell-on-earth Hadley family. When Lucy becomes pregnant, Kyle assumes that Mitch is the father, leading to a maelstrom of fever-pitch emotionalism and stark tragedy. Before he quite knows what is happening, Mitch is on trial for murder; the one person who can clear him is the craven Marylee, who demands Mitch's sexual favors as the price for her testimony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

His Kind of Woman directed by veteran John Farrow, is a convoluted mystery thriller which tries unsuccessfully to combine slapstick comedy with excessive violence, resulting in a film that depends more on stereotypes than on plot development. Nick (Raymond Burr), is a deported gang boss who needs to get back to the United States to run his operation. Dan Miller (Robert Mitchum) is a hard-up guy, who is persuaded, both by a series of beatings and a substantial sum of money, to sell his identity to Nick. Lenore (Jane Russell) a singer, poses as a heiress, trying to marry a millionaire. They all meet up in a resort in Mexico where Nick intends to have plastic surgery to alter his looks. There, a number of double-crosses, shootings, and chases all culminate in an exciting confrontation aboard ship. His Kind of Woman, a Howard Hughes production designed to be a showcase for Jane Russell, is entertaining when viewed as a comedy. As a serious film-noir thriller, it lacks suspense and depth. However, the film has its moments, and Robert Mitchum is in his element as the loner anti-hero. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Singing cowboy Rex Allen continued currying favor with audiences and exhibitors alike with Redwood Forest Trail. The story gets under way when Allen decides to help out a heavily mortgaged boy's camp. A nasty lumber baron wants to dismantle the camp so he can cut down all the trees. Believing that the underprivileged camp kids are somehow responsible for her father's death, mortgage-holder Julie Wescott (Jeff Donnell) intends to sell to the lumber interests. Allen not only proves who really killed Julie's father, but also routs the villains -- and still has time to sing three songs. Rex Allen's semicomical sidekick is played by Carl Switzer, the former Alfalfa of Our Gang fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Siren of Atlantis is the third movie version of Pierre Benoit's fantasy novel L'Atlantide, first film in 1921. Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dennis O'Keefe star as Foreign Legionnaires Andre and Jean, who while on a routine mission in the African desert stumble upon the sunken city of Atlantis. Once they've arrived in the subterranean metropolis, they are forbidden to leave by sultry Queen Antinea (Maria Montez). For her own perverse amusement, Antinea romances both Andre and Jean, then sits back and watches the two duke it out over her affections. One of the men survives to tell the tale-if he can find anyone to believe him, that is. To their credit, Henry Daniell and Morris Carnovsky play their supporting roles with utterly straight faces. Of the many deliriously awful Maria Montez vehicles of the 1940s, Siren of Atlantis may well be the worst, though it's not without its campy pleasures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Lady From Shanghai, a complex, involving puzzle-within-a-puzzle mystery story, is a showcase for Orson Welles, showing his singular talents and sensibilities as few other films have. The story is superficially simple: a seaman Michael O'Hara (Welles) is hired as a crew member on the yacht of the wealthy Banister (Everett Sloane). His beautiful but mysterious wife Elsa (Rita Hayworth) has met O'Hara earlier, when he saved her from a mugging. What ensues is a complicated and bizarre pattern of deception, fraud and murder, with O'Hara finding himself implicated in a murder, despite his innocence. The film is best remembered for its final sequence when the plot comes to a literally smashing climax in the famous "hall of mirrors" sequence, with Elsa and Banister shooting it out amidst shards of shattering glass. Orson Welles, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in the film, is sometimes self-indulgent in his use of visual tricks and techniques, which at times sacrifice plot for visual brilliance, but he pulls it together in the end to produce a stunning, difficult film. Rita Hayworth gives one of her best performances as the deceptive, seductive temptress, hard-edged and cynical. The film confounds, unsettles and disorients the viewer, very much as Welles intended to do. While not an easy film, it is well worth the attention required to follow it, and Welles offers no easy solutions or any false happy endings to his tour-de-force mystery. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Director Victor Fleming's final film features Ingrid Bergman as a vivid and luminous Joan of Arc, the 15th-century French peasant girl who led the French in battle against the invading English, becoming a national hero. When she was captured, tortured, and ultimately executed by the English, she was made a Catholic saint. Bergman's Joan is a strong and spiritual figure who proves her devotion to the Dauphin (Jose Ferrer), later to become the King of France. Joan is compelling as she wins an alliance with the Governor of Vaucouleurs and the courtiers at Chinon, leads her army in the Battle of Orleans, is betrayed by the Burgundians, and edicts that "our strength is in our faith." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Set during WWII, this taut and suspenseful espionage outing chronicles the courage of a brand-new cadre of specially trained American O.S.S. agents who parachute into France to destroy the vital Corbett Mallon tunnel to stop the German invaders from shipping supplies to their troops. One of the spies is a woman, and this bothers the group leader, who doubts her abilities. She soon proves herself, and the two embark on several exciting adventures before and after the completion of their mission. Along the way, the two manage to fall in love. Unfortunately, their commitment to duty is necessarily greater than their love and one of them will make a great sacrifice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Teenaged Junior (Scotty Beckett) gets into trouble when he tries to bring a gun to school. To explain why he's packing a rod, Beckett fabricates a story involving his parents Bill (Dennis O'Keefe) and Constance (Helen Walker). To hear Junior tell it, once upon a time Bill was a telephone lineman who made the chance acquaintance of the eloping Constance. Both parties were forcibly detained by fleeing criminal Carter (Tom Powers), who shepherded hero and heroine to the home of Petrucie (Charles Judels). Here Bill overpowered Carter, winning Constance's love in the process. His tale told, Junior explains that he's carrying a gun to arrest his principal-who happens to be Carter! As a result of the boy's prevarications, his parents and the principal end up in jail, but are rescued when Junior solves the 15-year-old mystery that prompted his incredible tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oriental Dream is the TV title for the 1944 Technicolor version of Kismet. Ronald Colman plays Hadji, "king of beggars" in the days of the Arabian Nights. Posing as a prince, Colman woos Marlene Dietrich, the favorite wife of the evil Wazir (Edward Arnold). Meanwhile, Colman's daughter Joy Ann Page falls in love with handsome Caliph James Craig--while the Wazir connives to get Page into his own harem. Several plot convolutions later, Colman ends up with Dietrich, Page winds up with Craig, and the Wazir winds up six feet under. Kismet was based on the war-horse stage play by Edward Knoblock, previously filmed in 1920 and 1930 with the play's original star Otis Skinner. The title Oriental Dream was bestowed upon the 1944 Kismet when it was remade as a musical in 1955. The earlier version had its musical moments as well, notably a delicious dance number spotlighting Dietrich, painted gold head from head to toe; an additional dance sequence was cut, but later showed up in the Abbott and Costello comedy Lost in a Harem (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Awakening resurrected the time-honored bromide about the brilliant peasant artist who is seduced and corrupted by wicked old Paris. This time it's painter Jacques Revilly (Montague Love), who ends up plying his trade only to support his liquor habit. But after rescuing street waif Marguerite (Dorothy Kelly), he is suddenly inspired to scale the artistic heights. Jacques gives up his drinking and finally achieves fame and fortune. Alas, Marguerite is lured away by rapacious Horace Chapron (John Davidson), who plies her with drugs and exercises his advantage. In a blind rage, Jacques seeks out Chapron and challenges him to a duel. Though Jacques loses, he manages to survive his wounds and is reconciled with Marguerite -- and the experience "inspires" him more than ever! Some of the finer plot points of The Awakening were a bit muddled: for example, the audience was never quite certain if the supporting character played by Frank Beamish was named Varny or Maxime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide