Mary Servoss Movies
- 1949
"What a dump!" That's the classic line delivered by Bette Davis at the halfway point of Beyond the Forest, her final Warner Bros. effort of the 1940s. Some Davis devotees feel as though this vituperative utterance is the high point of an otherwise turgid melodrama; others consider the line a succinct assessment of the entire film. Based on a best-selling novel by Stuart Engstrand, the film stars Davis as Rosa Moline, a small-town girl with big-city ambitions. Trapped in a dull marriage to just-getting-by lawyer Lewis Moline (Joseph Cotten), Rosa plots and plans to sexually entrap millionaire industrialist Neil Latimer (David Brian). That Rosa's scheme is doomed from the start is telegraphed at every juncture by Max Steiner's sledgehammer musical score (few will ever want to hear the song "Chicago" again after this). Hampered by the censorship standards of the era, the film is prevented from being as frank as the novel; in one scene, for example, Rosa is obviously visiting an abortionist, but the sign on the door reads "Psychiatrist." A standard entry in most film historians' "Worst Movies" lists (even Davis herself hated it), Beyond the Forest is rather entertaining in its own schlocky fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, (more)
- 1948
In this provocative drama, a stern hard-liner judge commits euthanasia to save his terminally ill wife from further suffering. He decides to kill her by driving the both of them off a cliff. He succeeds in ending her pain, but unfortunately he survives and ends up turning himself in with a full confession. Now it is up to his brilliant lawyer to defend him. He not only justifies the old judge's actions, he also proves that the wife took a fatal dose of poison before getting in the car; therefore she committed suicide. The judge is freed and returns to his courtroom where he oversees his cases with considerably more sympathy and understanding than he did before. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1947
Former army pilot Robert Taylor is accused, on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence, of his wife's murder. Suffering from periodic blackouts, Taylor isn't so certain of his innocence himself. When offered a brain operation, Taylor refuses, knowing that if he is proven sane he will be executed for murder. Instead, he opts for confinement in a high-walled veteran's mental institution. A compassionate lady doctor (Audrey Totter) falls in love with Taylor, convincing him to have the operation. Even after emerging from the ether, Taylor cannot remember any of the details concerning his wife's death--but he does recall that the dead woman had recently taken a job with a publisher (Herbert Marshall) of religious books. While the killer's identity is tipped off by this revelation, the audience is never certain that Robert Taylor isn't a murderer--especially since he'd previously appeared as a homicidal maniac in the 1946 film Undercurrent. The best moment in High Wall is the casual disposal of the sole witness to the murder, via a long, dark elevator shaft. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, (more)
A woman struggling to rebuild her life becomes the victim of uncharitable rumors in this sudsy drama. After the recent death of her husband, and with her sons away at school, Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck) is lonely and out of sorts -- and uninterested in the potential suitors her mother, Mrs. Kimball (Lucile Watson), chooses for her. Jessica joins her close friend Ginna Abbott (Eve Arden) on a skiing trip and meets Maj. Scott Landis (George Brent), a handsome man who is clearly attracted to her. Jessica makes it clear that she has no interest in a short-term fling, and upon returning home, she meets Frank Everett (Warner Anderson), a sweet but dull man whom she begins dating. Frank is willing to marry Jessica, but by chance she meets Scott again, and while she's not willing to be seduced by him, she finds him more exciting and alluring than Frank. As Jessica debates the merits of passion vs. security, she becomes the subject of mean-spirited gossipmongers who speculate that her relationship with Scott has become inappropriately intimate for a new widow. My Reputation was shot in 1944, but it wasn't released until 1946, as the studio believed that it would be better received after the end of WWII. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, (more)
Joan Crawford won an Academy Award for her bravura portrayal of the titular heroine in Mildred Pierce. The original James M. Cain novel concerned a tawdry waitress who slept her way to financial security so as to provide a rosy future for her beloved daughter, only to be rewarded by having her true love stolen away by that same daughter. Ranald McDougall's screenplay tones down the novel's sexual content, enhancing its film noir value by adding a sordid murder. The film opens with oily lounge lizard Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott) being pumped full of bullets. Croaking out the name "Mildred", he collapses and dies. Both the police and the audience are led to believe that the murderer is chain-restaurant entrepreneur Mildred Pierce (Crawford), who takes the time to relate some of her sordid history. As the flashback begins, we see Mildred unhappily married to philandering Bert Pierce (Bruce Bennett). She divorces him, keeping custody of her two beloved daughters, Veda (Ann Blyth) and Kay (Jo Anne Marlowe). To keep oldest daughter Veda in comparative luxury, Mildred ends up taking a waitressing position at a local restaurant. With the help of slimy real estate agent Wally Fay (Jack Carson), she eventually buys her own establishment, which grows into a chain of restaurants throughout Southern California. Meanwhile, Mildred smothers Veda in affection and creature comforts. She goes so far as to enter into a loveless marriage with the wealthy Monty Beragon in order to improve her social standing; Beragon repays the favor by living the life of a layabout playboy, much to Mildred's dismay -- and possible financial ruin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, (more)
- 1945
- NR
Officially based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter, Experiment Perilous would seem to be more inspired by MGM's psychological thriller Gaslight. Set at the turn of the century, the film stars Hedy Lamarr as Allida, the beautiful young wife of an elderly "gentleman" named Nick (Paul Lukas). Treating his wife like a possession, Nick keeps her a virtual prisoner in their London town house, cutting off all contact with the outside world. The situation is exacting a terrible emotional toll on Allida and her stepson Alec (George N. Neise). Enter kindly psychiatrist Huntington Bailey (George Brent), who takes it upon himself to free Allida and Alec from the despotic control of the insanely jealous Nick. The film's "money scene" is a frenzied gun battle in an aquarium, replete with shattered glass, gushing water and floundering fish; this sequence would be imitated ad nauseum in such future films as Lethal Weapon (1988) and Mission: Impossible (1996). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, (more)
- 1945
In this drama, an amoral, manipulative womanizer gets his comeuppance. The story begins as the handsome cad is witnessed quickly leaving a hotel room in the East. He has just stolen money, and a wedding band from a dead woman. He is next seen in L.A. living under an alias. There, he begins victimizing two naive sisters and uses them to substantially increase his wealth. Eventually, the two figure out the man's evil game, but there is little they can do to thwart him. Meanwhile, the gigolo is being stalked by the husband of the woman he robbed in the film's beginning. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Emerson, Zachary Scott, (more)
- 1945
Filmed some 18 months before its release, Conflict is one of two melodramas in which Humphrey Bogart self-consciously portrayed a wife murderer (the other was The Two Mrs. Carrolls). Bogie plays unhappily married Richard Mason, who concocts a meticulous scheme to kill his shrewish wife, Kathryn (Rose Hobart), so that he'll be free to marry her sister, Evelyn (Alexis Smith). Alas, Mason inadvertently tips his hand to family friend Dr. Mark Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1945
This odd combination of roughneck comedy and serious domestic drama was adapted by Louise Randall Pierson from her own autobiographical novel. Rosalind Russell is cast as young Louise Randall, the headstrong daughter of a New England merchant. Inheriting her father's business, Louise intends to persevere in a "man's world," and to that ends takes business courses at Yale. Here she meets and marries banker's son Rodney Crane (Donald Woods), with whom she has four children. When wishy-washy Rodney runs off with another woman, Louise marries a second time to irresponsible but likable gambler Harold Pierson (Jack Carson) -- and gets pregnant again. Though Louise and Harold are as different as night and day, theirs is a lasting union, which remains solid despite whatever misfortunes come their way. The story ends at the outbreak of WW II, with Louise and Rodney bidding a tearful but hopeful goodbye to their three grown sons as the boys prepare to enter military service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Collins, Kathleen Lockhart, (more)
- 1944
Summer Storm is a remarkably effective Hollywood filmization of Anton Chekhov's The Shooting Party. Linda Darnell stars as the young and beautiful wife of a middle-aged Russian civil servant (Hugo Haas). Darnell becomes the object of the affections of her husband's employer, a lecherous count (Edward Everett Horton). The girl in turn is enamored of a provincial judge (George Sanders). At first, all flirtations are playful and harmless, but the judge takes Darnell so seriously that he ends up killing her in a jealous rage. Her husband is blamed for the crime, but the Count gets his comeuppance during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution (which didn't figure into the original Chekhov story, inasmuch as the author died in 1904). The big surprise in this is not that it works as well as it does, but that it features comic actor Edward Everett Horton in a straight, almost unsympathetic role, which he underplays beautifully. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Linda Darnell, (more)
- 1944
In this WW II-era drama set in a small town, most of the adults are so busy fighting the war or working in the local defense plant that they have little time to supervise their children. A sort of juvenile anarchy ensues with the children and teens doing whatever they please. Soon the town is falling into ruin as a boy is run down by a car thief, a runaway girl begins associating with thugs and other mayhem ensues. Fortunately, a returning soldier decides to open up a youth center to give the kids a place to go. He also helps the boys get some useful job training. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, (more)
- 1944
The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield's best-selling novel covers the years 1875 through 1938. Eightyish widow Mrs. Susie Parkington (Garson) gathers together all of her grown children in an effort to bail out son-in-law Amory Stilham (Edward Arnold), who's gotten in Dutch through crooked financial deals. As the children and grandchildren bicker over the "impossibility" of giving up any part of their inheritance, Mrs. Parkington's mind wanders back to her marriage to wealthy mine owner Maj. Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and her own efforts, as an unlearned Nevada serving girl, to fit into proper Manhattan society. Augustus' ex-love Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead, in a surprisingly sexy role) is engaged to teach Susie the in and outs of which fork to use and how low to curtsy. Shut out by the "400," Susie is avenged by her husband, who wheels and deals to ruin the snobs financially. Later on, he assuages his anger by conducting several extramarital affairs, before perishing in one of those convenient movie auto accidents. Just how all these incidents strengthen Mrs. Parkington's resolve to rescue her wastrel son-in-law is a mystery that even two viewings of this overlong soap opera may not solve. Incidentally, Greer Garson isn't the only one who is prematurely aged in Mrs. Parkington; keep an eye out for 27-year-old Hans Conried, convincingly playing a doddering musician. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1944
Uncertain Glory finds Errol Flynn atypically cast as French criminal Jean Picard, a craven coward whose many misdeeds have earned him a date with the guillotine. Detective Marcel Bonet (Paul Lukas) intends to see that Picard keeps his appointment with the executioner, despite the fact that there's a war on. When the Nazis capture 100 French hostages to force a resistance saboteur to surrender himself, Picard offers to pose as the saboteur and thereby save the lives of the innocent villagers. In truth, he plans to escape once he's turned himself over to the Nazis, leaving the villagers in the lurch, but at the last moment his latent patriotism overcomes his sense of self-preservation. Errol Flynn's character is almost as inconsistent as the script, but war films invariably made money in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Paul Lukas, (more)
Four Jills in a Jeep is the (mostly) true story of a four-girl USO team, entertaining American troops overseas. Kay Francis, Martha Raye, Carole Landis and Mitzi Mayfair play "themselves," recreating their recent whirlwind tour of Europe and North Africa. This wisp of a plot takes a back seat to the musical numbers performed by the four stars, by Dick Haymes in his screen debut as a singing GI, and by guest stars Alice Faye, Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda. Phil Silvers, George Jessel, and Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra also pop up to do their usual. Very much a time capsule of the War years, Four Jills in a Jeep was later adapted into a best-selling book, ostensibly written by costar Carole Landis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Carole Landis, (more)
- 1943
- NR
Author William Saroyan's corn-shucking brand of sentimentality works wonders in this 1943 filmization of his novel. Narrator Ray Collins is dead before the film begins; thus he is able to provide an all-seeing overview of the tiny community of Ithaca, California. The principal character, played by Mickey Rooney, is Collins' son; as the delivery boy for the local telegraph office, Rooney keeps in close contact with virtually every family in town, which results in several comic and poignant moments. Rooney's older brother Van Johnson is in uniform, off fighting World War II; his sister Marcia Hunt is the erstwhile sweetheart of telegraph-office supervisor James Craig. The "circle of life" concept that unifies the anecdotal plotline is best illustrated by the film's final image: after Johnson dies in battle, his best friend, parentless John Craven, is more or less adopted by Collins' family. Reportedly, The Human Comedy was MGM chief executive Louis B. Mayer's favorite film, an apotheosis of Mayer's devotion to "family values." Among the many small-part players populating Human Comedy are Barry Nelson, Robert Mitchum, Don DeFore, Jay Ward (later the producer of Rocky and His Friends) and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, (more)
Paramount's So Proudly We Hail, like MGM's Cry Havoc, is a tribute to the Red Cross nurses trapped behind enemy lines in the early days of the Pacific war. Claudette Colbert is the self-sacrificing head nurse, struggling to minister to the wounded and to keep her staff (including Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake and Barbara Britton, all of them giving better than usual performances) from buckling under the pressure. Taking into consideration the regular fans of the film's female cast, the producers thoughtfully include several scenes in which the ladies pursue their romantic lives. The story culminates with the fall of Bataan, ending on a resigned but optimistic note; this finale was designed to lift the spirits of the audience, which in 1943 wasn't so certain as Hollywood of final victory. So Proudly We Hail was not only effective propaganda (though not as effective as Cry Havoc), but it also enabled Paramount to introduce its new crop of male hunks--including the estimable Sonny Tufts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, (more)
- 1942
- NR
In This Our Life is not a "for the ages" classic of the Golden Age of Cinema, but as a highly effective and entertaining melodrama, it more than fits the bill. Howard Koch's screenplay is a trifle predictable, but it's well structured and provides the requisite juicy roles for its pair of female stars. It also provides a number of little surprises -- a sympathetic and (for the time) non-stereotypical portrayal of a black character and two characters living not only in sin but adulterously so -- that give it some distinction. The script's main drawback is its initial lack of focus; it doesn't seem to quite know exactly what its story is and where the real conflict will lie. Ultimately, this doesn't really matter, for John Huston knows where it's going, and he shepherds the story along very efficiently, throwing in a little social commentary here, heightening the atmosphere there, tossing in a hint of the unsavory elsewhere. Although he doesn't really know what to do with the male actors (save for Charles Coburn and Frank Craven, each of whom is just right in entirely different ways), he handles the women in exactly the right way, including Billie Burke as the coddling, neurotic mother. It's Bette Davis, of course, who gets the showiest role, and she sinks her teeth into it and plays it for all it's worth. It's a great Davis performance, but she's still outdone by Olivia de Havilland, whose quiet, understated work anchors the film and ultimately makes the greater impression. It's terribly fine film acting, and immensely satisfying. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1942
Stolen way back in 1880, a sack of United States mail is discovered in an old attic in 1942. The letters are finally delivered, profoundly affecting the lives of the recipients. The most affected is young farmer Dan Carter (Richard Travis), who falls heir to huge sum of money intended for his father. Romance also blossoms for Carter in the form of stamp collector Julie Martin (Brenda Joyce), who has likewise benefited from the rediscovered mail. An interesting premise inadequately worked out, The Postman Didn't Ring might possibly have been the main inspiration for the much later (and far better) made-for-TV movie The Letters(1973). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Travis, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1940
Warren William is back as suave thief-turned-sleuth Michael Lanyard, alias the Lone Wolf, in Columbia's The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date. Freshly arrived at the Miami airport after a sojourn in Havana, Lanyard and his general factotum Jamison (Eric Blore) rescue beautiful Pat Lawrence (Frances Robinson) from a pair of hooligans. It turns out that the thugs were after the satchelful of ransom money carried by Pat, with which she hopes to rescue a kidnapped millionaire. Invetibly, the money is stolen, leading Lanyard and Jamison on a merry chase all through Miami and its environs. Along the way, Lanyard tries to spring Pat's boyfriend Scotty (Bruce Bennett), who's been thrown in jail because the authorities think he was responsible for the kidnapping. In the final scenes, Lanyard exposes the genuine miscreant, and also unearths an insidious fraud scheme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren William, Frances Robinson, (more)
