William Bendix

  • H.C. Potter – The Time of Your Life (1948)

    H.C. Potter1941-1950ComedyDramaUSA
    The Time of Your Life (1948)
    The Time of Your Life (1948)

    The film follows the adventures of a group of regulars at Nick’s ‘Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace’ in San Francisco. A sign outside tells people to come in as they are. At the center is the wealthy Joe (James Cagney), who has given up working to hold court at Nick’s (William Bendix) bar. He desires to live “a civilized life” without hurting anyone and believes the real truth in people is found in their dreams of themselves, not the hard facts of their actual existence.[4] Joe has a stooge named Tom (Wayne Morris), who runs his eccentric errands until a woman with a past named Kitty (Jeanne Cagney) comes in and steals Tom’s heart. Also appearing are Broderick Crawford as Krupp, Ward Bond as McCarthy, Tom Powers as Blick, and James Barton as Kit Carson.Read More »

  • Henry Hathaway – The Dark Corner (1946)

    1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsFilm NoirHenry HathawayUSA

    Quote:
    A fairly neglected exercise in film noir, The Dark Corner is a more than adequate if less than topflight example of the genre. Director Henry Hathaway was already familiar with crime thrillers, having helmed such previous efforts as Johnny Apollo and The House on 92nd Street, and he competently makes the shift to the edgier, more fatalist film noir game with ease and assurance, if little in the way of virtuosity. The screenplay is solid, hitting all the right plot points and keeping its cards appropriately close to the vest until it’s time to spring a few surprises on the audience, and there’s a good swift line of hardboiled dialogue hiding behind every corner. If Mark Stevens is not an immortal in the pantheon of screen tough guys — his Galt is a little wan, a trifle lightweight — he’s more than credible and makes the character’s tightlipped stoicism appealing. Lucille Ball assays one of her rare non-comedic roles and comes off very well; there’s a welcome mixture of innocence and worldliness to her character that she manages to get across without getting mired down in either extreme. Clifton Webb is deliciously smarmy, a nasty piece of work that’s a joy to watch. Corner misses out on being one of the majors, but as minor leaguers go, it’s one of the best.Read More »

  • Lewis R. Foster – Crashout (1955)

    1951-1960Film NoirLewis R. FosterThrillerUSA

    Quote:
    Convict Van Duff engineers a large-scale prison break; the six survivors hide out in a forgotten mine working near the prison, then set out on a long, dangerous journey by foot, car, train and truck to retrieve Duff’s bank loot. En route, as they touch the lives of “regular folks,” each has his own rendezvous with destiny.Read More »

  • Louis King – Dangerous Mission (1954)

    USA1951-1960Louis KingThriller

    Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
    The 3D melodrama Dangerous Mission starts off with a bang when innocent Piper Laurie inadvertently witnesses the murder of her gangster boss. Though she doesn’t get a particularly good look at the killer, she knows she’s dead meat if she remains in town. Thus, Laurie skeedaddles to Montana’s Glacier National Park, where most of the film takes place. Following her westward are Victor Mature and Vincent Price. One of these men is a federal agent, bound and determined to bring Laurie back to the East to testify; the other is the murderer, who intends to silence our heroine for keeps. Laurie doesn’t know which is which, but the audience does. A bit poky at times (thanks in part to the uninspired editing of Gene Palmer), Dangerous Mission roars into life during a mid-film forest fire and a climactic chase through the glacier fields.Read More »

  • Edwin L. Marin – Race Street (1948)

    1941-1950CrimeEdwin L. MarinFilm NoirUSA

    In this dark crime drama, the trouble begins when a San Francisco bookie attempts to lead an honest life by marrying a comely widow. In preparation for his nuptials, the fellow stays on the straight and narrow, but when he learns that one of his cohorts has been murdered by an East Coast gang that is trying to horn in on West Coast territory, he reenters the underworld. A boyhood friend who became a cop tries to convince him to team up with the police, but the vengeful bookie remains determined to things his way. It proves to be a tragic mistake and shows the bookie that those closest to him are not what they seem.
    — Sandra BrennanRead More »

  • Sidney Lanfield – Where There’s Life (1947)

    1941-1950AdventureComedySidney LanfieldUSA

    In a far off country, their king is critically wounded after an assassination attempt and the only heir is a timid New York radio personality, Bob Hope. After reluctantly traveling to his father’s homeland, Bob is not happy with becoming the target of the same terrorist organization that attacked the king.Read More »

  • John Farrow – Calcutta (1947)

    1941-1950AdventureFilm NoirJohn FarrowUSA

    Dennis Schwartz writes:
    John Farrow’s Calcutta is a fast-paced old-fashioned adventure yarn, shot entirely in Paramount’s backlot. Seton Miller does the screenplay. It’s an entertaining potboiler, though a minor work … Ladd gives an icy action-hero performance as someone who revels in his disdain for women as untrustworthy companions. By Ladd’s politically incorrect moves, he takes on the characteristics of the film noir protagonist–which gives this programmer its energy. Ladd quotes an ancient Hindu saying ‘Man who trust woman walk on duckweed over pond,’ which tells us all we want to know about how he has stayed alive for so long while in the company of dangerous women, ones like Virginia, while Bill so easily succumbed to the beauty of the femme fataleRead More »

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