Mark Strong Movies
Based on a novel by Horace McCoy (They Shoot Horses, Don't They), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye offers James Cagney at his nastiest. The star plays career criminal Ralph Cotter, who gets things started by violently busting out of jail, then murdering his partner in crime. Seeking out female companionship, he "courts" his ex-partner's sister Holiday (Barbara Payton) by beating her black and blue. After committing a robbery, he is approached by two crooked cops who want a piece of the action. Blackmailing the cops, Cotter gains control of the situation. Is there any way to stop this fascinating creep? Filmgoers in Ohio never found out, because Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye was banned in that state as "a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission." Supporting Cagney are Luther Adler as his equally crooked lawyer, Ward Bond and Barton MacLane as the dishonest cops, and Cagney's brother William (who produced the film) as Ralph Cotter's brother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Barbara Payton, (more)
- 1943
More so than most wartime films, Mission to Moscow must be viewed within the context of its times. Requested by President Roosevelt to make a film supportive of America's Russian allies, Warner Bros. turned to the memoirs of Ambassador Joseph H. Davies, who spent several years prior to WWII in the Soviet Union. As played by Walter Huston, Davies is a pillar of incorruptable integrity, reporting the facts "as I saw them" (only in later years was Davies revealed to be something less than a paragon of virtue who was willing to alter opinions for political, personal and financial expedience). Sent to Moscow by FDR as a means of finding out if Russia is a potentially trustworthy ally in case of war, Davies and his family are given the royal treatment by the Commissars, who display the social, technological, agricultural and artistic advances made under the Stalin regime. Invariably, the Russian citizens are shown to be singing, smiling, freedom-loving rugged individuals-in contrast to the Nazis, who are depicted as humorless automatons. In its efforts to present the USSR in the best possible light, the film glosses over the notorious Purge Trials of 1937, presenting the trials as scrupulously fair and the defendants as unabashed traitors to the Soviet cause. At one point, Russia's annexation of Finland in 1939 is "justified" by Davies' explanation that the Soviets merely wanted to protect their tiny neighbor from Nazi domination! It is unfair to label Mission to Moscow as Communistic or even left-wing, since it was merely parroting the official party line vis-a-vis US/Soviet relations in 1943. Even so, screenwriter Howard Koch found it very difficult to get film work after the war because of his contributions to this "Pinko" project (conversely, Jack Warner pulled a Pontius Pilate, washing his hands of the matter by insisting that he was strongarmed into making the film). Seen objectively, Mission to Moscow is top-rank entertainment, superbly and excitingly assembled in the manner typical of Warners and director Michael Curtiz. The huge cast includes Gene Lockhart as Molotov, attorney Dudley Field Malone as Winston Churchill, Maynart Kippen as a benign, pipe-smoking Stalin, Charles Trowbridge as Secretary Cordell Hull, Leigh Whipper as Hailie Selassie, Georges Renavent as Anthony Eden and Alex Chirva as Pierre Laval, along with the more familiar faces of Ann Harding (as Mrs. Davies), George Tobias, Eleanor Parker, Moroni Olsen, Minor Watson, Jerome Cowan, Duncan Renaldo, Mike Mazurki, Frank Faylen, Edward van Sloan, Louis-Jean Heydt, Monte Blue, Robert Shayne and even Sid (sic) Charisse. Original prints of Mission to Moscow include a 6-minute prologue delivered by the real Joseph Davies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Huston, Ann Harding, (more)
One is immediately aware that The Plainsman is a Cecil B. DeMille production in the opening scene, wherein President Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.), on the verge of signing crucial legislation which will determine the future of the American West, is dragged away from his Cabinet by a scolding Mrs. Lincoln (Leila McIntyre), who informs her husband that he'll be late for the theater! The story proper picks up in the years just following the Civil War, as crooked arms dealer John Lattimer (Charles Bickford) schemes to sell a huge shipment of repeating rifles to the Indians. Constantly thwarting Lattimer's schemes is lawman Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), who soon forms a strong alliance with Indian scout Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison). Rambunctious Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur) is crazy about Wild Bill, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, contemptuously wiping his mouth whenever he kisses her. He prefers the company of winsome Louisa (Dorothy Burgess), but gallantly steps aside when Louisa marries Buffalo Bill. Upon learning that a band of Indians armed with Lattimer's rifles have attacked a military garrison, Wild Bill tells General Custer (John Miljan), who in turn sends Buffalo Bill to the garrison with a consignment of weapons. Wild Bill then tries to arrange a peace conference with Indian chief Yellow Hand (Paul Harvey), but is sidetracked when he sees Calamity Jane being captured by two Indian braves. Riding to her rescue, Wild Bill is himself captured and tortured in the hope that he'll reveal the whereabouts of Buffalo Bill and his weapons. He refuses to talk, but Calamity, horrified at the agony endured by Wild Bill, tells all. Her breach of confidence leads indirectly to Custer's death at the Little Big Horn (not seen, but described by a young Indian played by DeMille's then son-in-law Anthony Quinn), whereupon Wild Bill disgustedly breaks off all communication with her. Hoping to make up for her past sins, Calamity warns Wild Bill that Lattimer has come to town a-gunning for him. Wild Bill makes short work of Lattimer, only to be shot in the back by the villain's snivelling confederate Jack McCall (Porter Hall). As he breathes his last, Wild Bill forgives Calamity for revealing the whereabouts of the ammunition; with tears in her eyes, Calamity plants a kiss on Wild Bill's lips that he'll never wipe off. As can be seen, accuracy is not the strong suit of The Plainsman; DeMille, like Buffalo Bill before him, was more interested in putting on a helluva good show than offering a dry history lesson. Unfortunately, the film often promises more than it can deliver, thanks to DeMille's insistence upon filming more of his big scenes indoors and relying far too heavily on grainy process screens. Still, the DeMille version of The Plainsman is infinitely more entertaining than the 1966 remake with Don Murray and Abby Dalton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, (more)
Bette Davis' famous walk-out from her home studio of Warner Bros. may have hurt her financially, but in the long run it paid off with bigger parts in better films. Like many Warners films of the period, Marked Woman was "torn from today's headlines." Specifically, it was inspired by the recent downfall of gangster Lucky Luciano, who at one time controlled all prostitution activities in New York. The ladies herein are euphemistically characterized as "night club hostesses," but when Luciano look-alike Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Cianelli) shows up at a fancy clip-joint to give the girls their marching orders, the audience can tell exactly what's going on. Been-there-done-that hostess Mary (Davis) is no better than she ought to be, though she has a definite code of honor; she stands up to the dictatorial Vanning at every opportunity, fending of his amorous attentions and seeing to it that her "over the hill"colleague Estelle (Mayo Methot) is retained on the gangster's payroll. At the same time, Mary tries to shield her seedy profession from her virginal sister Betty (Jane Bryan), but the girl discovers the truth and becomes a "B"-girl herself, a rash move that results in her death. Previously frightened into silence by periodic beatings from Vanning's goons, Mary and four of her girlfriends become state's witnesses, providing testimony to crusading District Attorney David Graham (Humphrey Bogart, playing a character clearly patterned after Thomas E. Dewey). A last-ditch effort to permanently stifle Mary and her friends fails, and the ladies show up in court to put the noose around Vanning's neck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, (more)
- 1935
Advertised by Paramount as "Another Lives of the Bengal Lancers," The Last Outpost actually has more in common with two RKO releases, Friends and Lovers and The Lost Patrol. The story takes place during the Kurdistan campaign in WW I. Left to die in the desert, British officer Michael Andrews (Cary Grant) is rescued by intelligence agent John Stevenson (Claude Rains). While recuperating in the base hospital, Andrews falls in love with his nurse Rosemary (Gertrude Michael) -- who happens to be Stevenson's wife! This romantic entanglement is taken care of only after a climatic battle at a remote outpost in the Sudan, with Andrews and a skeleton crew desperately fending off hostile Kurdish tribesmen while awaiting reinforcements. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Claude Rains, (more)
Having scored big-time box office with his first Biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), Cecil B. DeMille hoped to top this success with his 1927 The King of Kings. Inasmuch as he was now dealing with the life of Christ, DeMille had to be careful to serve up equal amounts of showmanship and reverence. The first creative challenge: how to "introduce" Christ in a tasteful manner? The answer: as a blind child is cured through Jesus' intervention, DeMille cuts to the child's point-of-view, slowly fading in on the kindly countenance of H.B. Warner as the Son of Man. Still, DeMille remained DeMille, especially in his handling of the character of Mary Magdalene (Jacqueline Logan). No longer a tattered streetwalker, Mary Magdalene is now a glamorous courtesan, replete with legions of gorgeous slave girls (one of whom is "bubble dancer" Sally Rand) and dressed in revealing Hollywood-style gowns. In fact, the film opens on this character, as she ruminates over the defection of her favorite customer, Judas Iscariot (Joseph Schildkraut), who is spending far too much time with Jesus of Nazareth. Upon visiting Jesus herself, she immediately repents, casting off all her prior sins. Once again, the efficacy of the Cecil B. DeMille formula is proven: redemption has no dramatic value unless the film shows viewers why the sinner needs to be redeemed. Once he's gotten his box-office considerations out of the way, DeMille adheres faithfully to the particulars of Jesus' life, betrayal, trial, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. (Again, however, the director improves a bit upon his source material: the storm that follows the Crucifixion is of the same spectacular dimensions as the parting of the Red Sea in Ten Commandments, while the Resurrection is filmed in vibrant Technicolor). To back up the authenticity of his images, DeMille -- with an assist from scenarist Jeannie Macpherson -- utilizes Scriptural quotes in his subtitles. And to avoid any untoward publicity while filming, DeMille required all of his actors to sign legal documents preventing them from indulging in any sort of "sinful" activity; this meant that poor old H.B. Warner had to steer clear of alcoholic beverages for nearly a year, though he more than made up for lost time after his contract ran out. Prepared to mercilessly lambaste The King of Kings, DeMille's critics were disarmed by his reverent, tasteful approach to the subject. Years after the film's release, a specially prepared 60-minute version of the 18-reel King of Kings was making the rounds of religious groups, church basements, and Easter-weekend telecasts. The film was remade in 1961 by producer Samuel Bronston and director Nicholas Ray, with Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- H.B. Warner, Dorothy Cumming, (more)
