Hangover Square

‘Hangover Square’ offers sex, murder

LAIRD CREGAN goes into a trance and kills people in “Hangover Square.”

I had heard little about “Hangover Square” before Netflix delivered it to my door.
Most of the cast is pretty much unknown or forgotten, except for the sexy Linda Darnell and Alan Napier, who two decades later played Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler, on the campy TV series “Batman.” He didn’t change much either from 1945 when this film was made.
It opens with a harrowing murder and storefront apartment set afire. The scene was done on the cheap compared to today’s standards, but it still worked shockingly well.
The Jekyl-Hyde story centers on George Harvey Bone, played by Laird Cregar, a pianist and composer. He is torn between cultured Barbara Chapman (Faye Marlowe) and her father, the future Alfred; and classical compositions vs. the bawdy Netta (Linda Darnell), who sweettalks old George in order to get him to write original songs for her.
Not only does he have his conflict between the cultured and the sexy, he’s got that Jekyl-Hyde situation. George, when he hears a loud noise, his eyes widen, he goes into a trance and then he, well, kills people and days later finds himself wandering about, forgetting all that happened.
Lovely Netta, who dresses and dances in a pretty-darn risqué manner for 1945, appeals to George’s purulent interests. However, when he goes into his trance, she meets her end with spectacular results as part of the biggest movie fire since “Gone With the Wind.”
The DVD commentary includes some interesting backstories. Cregar had weighed 300 pounds and went on a crash diet and lost 100 pounds. But that put a strain on his heart. He ended up having stomach surgery and died four days later at age 31, long before “Hangover Square” was ever released.
Darnell lived another 20 years . On April 9, 1965 she was staying at the home of her former secretary in suburban Chicago when the house caught fire. She died the following afternoon at a Chicago hospital. She was watching her fourth movie, “Star Dust,” when the blaze broke out.
Marlowe contributes audio commentary to the DVD. She remains alive today at 83.
At only 77 minutes, this film was a lot of fun and true film noir. If you’re a fan of this genre, this is a tight, sweet little picture that will leave you pleasantly surprised.
Watch it right now by going to the Internet Movie Data Base (imdb.com) and do a search for the film. The movie can be streamed from the site.

HANGOVER SQUARE
• Directed by John Brahm
• Written by Barre Lyndon (screenplay) and Patrick Hamilton (novel)
• Runtime: 77 minutes
• Not rated but some taunt scenes for younger children
• 4 stars out of 5

Jane Eyre

Great classic film actors in 1943 ‘Jane Eyre’

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ELIZABETH TAYLOR (left) and Peggy Ann Garner in “Jane Eyre.”

The tragic story of “Jane Eyre” has been filmed numerous times.
It’s been a miniseries. A new version was released early this year and is coming to home video.
Ah, but one of the best comes from 1943. As you would expect, it’s filled with film noir.
It has also plenty of recognizable stars.
For example, the young Jane is played by Peggy Ann Garner, best known as the optimistic little girl in the holiday classic “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”
And Jane’s sickly little friend (you know what that means) is played by (drumroll) a very young Elizabeth Taylor, before she was married to anybody.
Sharing writing credits with Charlotte Bronte was none other than John Houseman, best known as Professor Kingsfield in “The Paper Chase.” Also helping was Aldous Huxley, author of “Brave New World.”
Orson Welles plays the dashing Edward Rochester, who chooses Jane as his governess to his young but annoying ward. Jane as an adult is played by Joan Fontaine, who seems rather pretty for plain Jane.
Ah, but the best is Mrs. Reed, the aunt who cared for the young Jane, if you can call it caring. She’s played by the great Agnes Moorehead, one of the best character actresses of all time, as in “Citizen Kane,” the Orson Welles epic. Anyway, Reed labels young Jane an evil child and she’s shipped off to a boarding school. And yes, Moorehead went on to play the nosy mother in the TV series “Bewitched.”
Jane screams her hatred for Reed as she rides away, happy at the thought of learning and meeting children her own age at school.
Hey Jane, did you forget, this is 19th century literature? You must earn your happy ending.
At the school, the sadistic head master, Mr. Brocklehurst, played by Henry Daniell, proclaims little Jane is evil and of the devil and nobody is allowed to talk to her.
Ah, but young, sweet, frail Liz Taylor does anyway. Did I mention she was frail?
Of course Jane grows up to become Joan Fontaine and takes the job at the huge, spooky mansion of Rochester, aka Welles.
Jane falls in love, things don’t go well, more tragedy awaits before true love comes calling.
The acting is first-rate and all of those big stars are fun to watch. The matte shots do get a little tiresome after awhile.
But “Jane Eyre” is an interesting film to revisit, especially in the wake of the newer remakes. The 1940s lilt seems more conducive to the novel.
And while not trying to be too political, check out the beginning of the book and see if it suggests anything from modern life.
“...I was born in 1820, a harsh time of change in England. Money and position seemed all that mattered. Charity was a cold and disagreeable word. Religion too often wore a mask of bigotry and cruelty. There was no proper place for the poor and unfortunate.”
“Jane Eyre” is available for streaming for Netflix subscribers.

JANE EYRE • Directed by Robert Stevenson • Written by Charlotte Bronte, John Houseman,Aldous Huxley and others • Runtime: 97 minutes • 3 stars out of 5

Solitary Man

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, Jenna Fischer and Jake Richard Siciliano in "Solitary Man."

What goes around in 'Solitary Man'

At the beginning of “Solitary Man,,” car magnate Ben Kalmen seems to have the world at his feet.

He’s rich. He’s about to open another car dealership in a prime spot. Even as he ages, he retains his finesse with women and can talk them into bed.

Oh, he has some problems. When he sees his daughter and grandson in the park, he has to sush them from calling him ‘Dad’ or ‘Grandpa’ because he has his eye on a young lady he’s thinking of picking up.

He has Susan Sarandon as his ex-wife and the luscious Mary-Louise Parker as a girlfriend.

He even gets to take his girlfriend’s pretty daughter, played by Imogen Poots, to his alma mater to help her gain admission.

And that’s where his life starts to crumble. Not willing to give an inch, he starts off getting in a fight with a college student and garnering the ire of the university’s chief of security.

The Douglas character ends up sleeping with his girlfriend’s 18-year-old daughter at the university. Again, he can’t let it go and pursues her until she tells her mother.

That’s when his life REALLY starts to plummet. Seems he is having real financial problems and his quest for the new car dealership is turned down by the town’s various boards.

A past indiscretion involving a car franchise and the fact he barely avoided prison doesn’t help the situation. He can’t even get a job as a car salesman.

He must go to his daughter for rent money for a cheap apartment.

His relationship with daughter is strained a bit too, when he sleeps with her best friend and as a result fails to wake up for grandson’s birthday party.

He indeed is a solitary man, burning any chance of a relationship with his girlfriend, his ex-wife, anyone. He treads water trying to have a relationship with his grandson.

Jesse Eisenberg of “Social Network” fame plays a nerdy college student who shows Douglas around the college. Douglas gives him some important advice about bagging chicks and Eisenberg becomes his biggest fan. At least for awhile. Until the Douglas character tries to bed Eisenberg’s girl, the one Douglas helped him get.

In many ways it is a fascinating morality play. It tells you that when you treat people as so many playthings and don’t establish and nurture relationships, you might be OK, for awhile. But it comes back to bite.

In one scene, the Douglas character discusses how he came to the realization in his life that while he was a car dealer, he did not necessarily have to be an honest car dealer.

Yet he discovered that nobody noticed, nobody cared.

But eventually his deeds and lack of relationships helped do him in.

He couldn’t pay his rent on his shabby apartment.

A man nearing his twilight years finds himself returning to his college town and asking for a job in the neighborhood restaurant owned by his former college acquaintance, played by Danny DeVito.

Even at this point he has no shame. He still woos the coeds and attends college parties.

That is until his ex-girlfriend finds out he’s in the same city where her daughter is going to school and causes him some more hurt.

He’s a man estranged from all, without a job, without any financial or emotional support. He’s a guy who thought he had it all, but ends up with nothing.

It’s a compelling film. One of Douglas’ best. Best yet, it is available for streaming through Netflix and other services. Like the Douglas character, you can seek immediate gratification. Watch it right now.

SOLITARY MAN

• Directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien
• Written by Brian Koppelman
• Rated R for language and sexual content
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• 4 stars out of 5

Taking Lives

Serial killer genre takes a hit with ‘Taking Lives’

Warner Bros.
TCHEY KARYO and Angelina Jolie in “Taking Lives.”

There’s nothing quite like a good a good serial killer film.
There just aren’t that many around. Maybe they have reached the saturation point.
Such is the trouble with 2004’s “Taking Lives.”
It starts out with promise several years ago.
Two young men sit together on a bus, headed for Canada. But it breaks down so the two visit a raggedy shop and buy a junker to take them on their journey.
When a tire goes flat, one man has never changed a tire, so the other takes over. That doesn’t mean the young man who can’t change a tire wasn’t busy. He spends the time pushing the new friend into the path of a speeding truck. It causes the truck to flip over, obviously killing the driver. The young friend needs a bash with some asphalt to finish him off.
Fast forward to the present where an excavation site reveals a body and we learn a serial killer is on the loose in Quebec.
There to help investigate is the lovely-lipped Angelina Jolie, playing the role of FBI agent Illeana Scott.
So you wonder why an FBI agent is investigating murders in Canada? My theory is it’s because it is cheaper to film there.
There are some intriguing aspects to the film. First off, there’s the talented Gena Rowlands who informs police the son she thought had died years ago is still alive. She says she spotted his eyes in a crowd and she’s positive it is him. Oh yes, and he’s very dangerous. That statement comes back to haunt her.
That brings a sense of wasted foreboding to the plot.
Another highlight is we see Jolie’s breasts in a rather graphic sex scene. Hey, you gotta take what you can get in a pedestrian film like this.
Finally, while the ending, what might be described as the epilogue, is satisfying and suspenseful, it is also highly predictable.
The rest of the film is pretty much void of originality. Honey, this isn’t any “Silence of the Lambs:”
An apparent witness to a killing is Costa, an artist who tried to rescue a victim. By the time he got there, the serial killer did his work and things weren’t pretty.
So Costa, played by Ethan Hawke, is grilled by police who ask questions like, Why do you have blood on your shirt? The Hawke character replies when you are trying to save someone’s life who is bleeding to death, you get some blood on your shirt. Yeah, you get the idea, this film is stretched a bit.
Hawke at least does well in a difficult role.
Jolie seems a bit too subdued part of the time. We get a $1.95 explanation as to why she does what she does. I guess it replaces a real character.
Also, she likes to sit and lie at a crime scene, complete with photos of the blood and gore, maybe in hopes information will simply flow to her. It doesn’t work to solve the crime and it doesn’t work for the plot.
Besides Jolies’ um, anatomy and a few flashes of suspense, the best this has going for it is the theatrical release was only 103 minutes. The unrated version, with the decent sex scene, is 109 minutes.
So the film isn’t terrible and remains relatively short.
Not a whole-hearted endorsement. But then, this is a half-hearted kind of film.

TAKING LIVES • Directed by D.J. Caruso • Written by Michael Pyle and Jon Bokenkam • Rated R for strong violence including disturbing images, language and some sexuality • Runtime: 103 minutes, unrated version 109 minutes • 2 stars out of 4

Indictment: The McMartin Trial

Movie plot difficult to believe but true

HENRY THOMAS plays an outcast wrongly accused of child molestation in "Indictment: The McMartin Trial."

You will find the plot of “Indictment: The McMartin Trial” difficult to believe.
Imagine, a day care center where the children are routinely molested, where animals are killed in front of the children.
A seemingly upright family, the oldest in her 70s, are arrested amidst the bright lights of television and hauled into court.
There is so much hatred toward this family, the day care is burned. There are reports at other day care centers of molestation and cruelty.
The case lasts seven years and costs Los Angeles County $13 million. And the whole story is a hoax.
Yes, hard to believe. But sadly, it is true.
This movie stars James Woods as Danny Davis, an attorney who agrees to take the unpopular case. Wife and others are disturbed he would agree to represent such perverts, but Danny says they deserve a defense like anyone else.
The defendants include Henry Thomas, who you may remember as the little boy in “E.T.” He is Ray Buckey, a reclusive young man who lives with his mother and likes to look at nude photos of women and relieve himself.
When authorities find cut up nude photos he tries to flush down the toilet, it is a sure sign he is guilty of molesting kids.
Lolita Davidovich plays Kee McFarlane, a self-proclaimed social worker without any training. She is alerted to possible child abuse after a woman whose child is at the center reports her son has been sexually abused.
McFarlane records each of the sessions she has with the children. She uses puppets to make the interviews less traumatic for the kids.
The recordings show at first the children deny they were molested. But slowly, the McFarlane character tires them out. Her puppets ask the children’s puppets if they won’t “join” the others and agree they were molested. The children, wishing to please the woman, finally agree they were molested.
Now the prosecutors don’t view all of the tapes. McFarlane writes down the VCR numbers so they can forward to the parts where the kids describe being “molested.”
This case goes on for years and elderly day care owner must submit to sick cavity searches in prison. Yet so much about the children’s stories don’t jive.
First off, they say they were molested in closets. But there are no closets.
The Thomas character, who spends more time in prison than any person in California in history without being convicted, is accused of actions before he even worked at the center. That didn’t stop the case from being prosecuted.
The children, used to lying, sit on the witness stand and tell bizarre stories. One child says they were taken to a church where animals were killed on the altar and the children were molested. But a priest at the church says the doors are always locked. There is no way anyone can bring children there and kill animals.
One child describes being molested in a carwash, but then changes his story. They were all taken to the airport and placed on a plane so they could be molested. But the plane doesn’t leave the ground.
The Woods character learns the mother who initially filed charges of molestation later says the child’s father also molested the boy, as did a neighbor and finally her brother. She eventually ends up in a mental institution. But the prosecutor maintains she went crazy AFTER making the initial charges against the day care center.
Yes, lives are ruined and money wasted. It is a compelling but so sad of a story.
You can watch it unfold over 135 minutes on DVD. Prepare to be appalled.

INDICTMENT: THE McMARTIN TRIAL • Directed by Mick Jackson • Written by Abby Mann and Myra Mann • Runtime: 135 minutes • Rated R for graphic language and disturbing visuals • 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Panic in the Streets, Pinky and Splendor in the Grass

Elia Kazan’s films ahead of their time

BOTTOM: NATALIE WOOD and Warren Beatty in “Splendor in the Grass.”

CENTER: JACK PALANCE in “Panic in the Streets.”

TOP: JEANNE CRAIN plays African-American “Pinky.”

I always liked director Elia Kazan’s movies.
A few years ago I found myself engrossed in “A Face in the Crowd,” in which a not-so-nice, narcissistic Andy Griffith plays a musician who is nothing like his alter-ego on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
I must have ordered a bunch of Kazan films on Netflix back when and have been enjoying film after film after film as they appear in my mailbox.
The first of the Kazan films was “Panic in the Streets” from 1950. Richard Widmark is a low-paid military doctor who must find people infected with the pneumonic plague.
While he is out trying to save the world from a major catastrophe, his wife, played by the under used Barbara Bel Geddes, is trying to negotiate with their grocer because she doesn’t have the money to pay the bill.
The story begins with Jack Palance, as vicious hoodlum Blackie, who kills an illegal immigrant who made too much money playing cards.
When authorities examine the body, they find it filled with the plague and the race is on.
Given the times, it looks like Kazan is using the plague as symbolism, equating the plague with the communist scare.
Kazan was excellent at bringing important issues into the plots of his films.
A year before, Kazan directed “Pinky,” starring Jeanne Crain as Pinky Johnson, who returns to her backwater town with a nursing degree and a professional demeanor. What we don’t realize initially is Pinky is African-American and by not mentioning the subject, passes herself off as white.
Her granny, played in real mammy style by the great Ethel Waters, says it’s a crime against God to not mention she is black or well, “colored.”
Now what is amazing about this film is it tackles the question of racism head-on, even though it was filmed in 1949 when discrimination was still well established.
You have to wonder how “Pinky” made out in the deeply-segregated South of 1949.
Pinky gets jolted into remembering she is a woman of color when she is nearly raped by two men who try to track her down and grab her in their car. After all, raping a black woman was OK.
In another scene, a white woman puts up a fuss and demands satisfaction from a store manager when a clerk asks the woman to wait a second until she rings up a sale for Pinky. White women do not wait for blacks, even if their skin is almost the same color.
After the near rape, Pinky decides to leave, but agrees to stay to nurse a dying Miss Em, the stern old lady who helped granny out and lives in the big house. She is played wonderfully by the great Ethel Barrymore.
The film tackles racism at a time when racism was perfectly acceptable and legal.
The third film was “Splendor in the Grass,” a rich, beautiful-looking film starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.
The film tackles raging teen hormones and societal norms. It takes place in the South in the late 1920s. Boys will be boys and handle their teen desires with a certain kind of girl. Yet another type of girl was used for marrying purposes.
Beatty, as Bud, came from a rich family headed by loud, obnoxious Pat Hingle. Bud is head-over-heels in love with the lovely Natalie character and doesn’t really want an alternate girl.
Hingle pushes the idea of finding a less moral extra girlfriend, not realizing his own daughter is fulfilling the same role, sometimes with married men.
Teen sex kicks in to high gear as Wood finds herself consumed with love or, um, the like and ends up in a mental hospital, after his father cashes in bonds to pay for it. (The bonds wouldn’t have been worth much soon anyway, as October 1929 approached.)
While Wood struggles in the mental hospital, Beatty blows his chances at success at Yale. He would rather run the family ranch.
It is a compelling film of almost epic proportions, shot in beautiful Technicolor. Again, Kazan tackles issues you rarely saw discussed in motion pictures at the time.
Kazan definitely didn’t dodge controversy during his years of directing. You would be amazed at how contemporary his work plays today. His last film was “The Last Tycoon,” which came out in 1976. He died in 2003.
You might know him by other pictures, including “On the Waterfront,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “East of Eden.”
He’s well worth revisiting.

The Woman in the Window

‘Woman in the Window’ offers ending with twist

EDWARD G. ROBINSON and Alice Reed in "The Woman in the Window."

Edward G. Robinson plays Professor Richard Wanley from Gotham College.
As the film “The Woman in the Window” opens, he is giving a lecture on crime and murder. At the time, we don’t realize just how little he knows.
The professor is middle aged and leads an uneventful life. His dowdy wife and son live in the country. He spends his time in his club, one of those places that only exists in the movies.
There he and his friends sit in their suits and ties, with brandy and cigars, discussing such weighty subjects as the photo of the beautiful woman in the adjoining storefront window.
This is one of those clubs with the English butler types in their tuxedos, serving drinks.
It’s a way for the good professor to pass time after bidding good-bye at the train station to wife and son.
Later, as he leaves the club, he passes the portrait of the woman and gazes again at her beauty. Except suddenly she appears in the reflection behind him.
Played by Joan Bennett, she invites the learned professor back to her apartment for a drink. Mmmm, lucky for him, especially since the film was made in 1944.
Ah, but the Bennett character has been, um, friendly with others besides the Robinson character.
Suddenly, a jealous boyfriend played by Arthur Loft barges in the room, slams his fist into the Bennett character’s face and soon is in a struggle with Robinson.
In fact, he begins choking Robinson to death. Bennett saves the day by giving him a pair of scissors he can nicely plant in the assailant’s back.
As quick as the attack begins, it is over. The boyfriend is dead on the floor. Robinson and Bennett are shaken.
But let us remember, Robinson is playing a professor who knows all about crime. The assailant has no connection with the Robinson character. There’s no link. So why not drag the corpse into his car, drive him to an out-of-the-way place and dump him?
Veteran director Friz Lang knows how to build suspense, as Robinson has a couple of close encounters with the law on the way to his body dumping, not to mention a toll road worker. (The toll is 10 cents.)
Raymond Massey plays the district attorney and a member of the club, who gives Robinson inside information, never dreaming he is the murderer.
In fact, Massey invites Robinson to the scene of the crime. This results in some funny scenes, such as when Robinson unintentionally leads the group to where the body was found. Everybody laughs, figuring it is a good guess.
Robinson also learns he left incriminating evidence, like part of a torn sleeve of a jacket, blood from a pricker bush, shoe prints and tire tracks.
But the laughs quickly stop when the bodyguard of the murdered man, a rich industrialist, shows up on Bennett’s door, seeking blackmail money.
Suddenly the cushy life of Professor Wanley has fallen apart.
This is a well directed, well acted film noir piece, with special kudos going to Dan Duryea as the blackmailer.
You feel sympathy for the good professor, who does little but defend himself against an attacker.
But in the movies, especially back then, those who sin must be punished.
But there’s a twist and turn along the way.
Lang uses suspense, music and a bit of comedy to keep this fun and suspenseful. For once, Robinson plays a good guy who just does one bad thing and may pay dearly for it.
It’s a great example of 1940s filmmaking and worth taking a look at. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you can watch it tonight via streaming.

WOMAN IN THE WINDOW Directed by Fritz Lang Runtime: 107 minutes May be too intense for young children 3 stars out of 4