Victor Saville

  • Victor Saville – The Long Wait (1954)

    1951-1960Film NoirUSAVictor Saville

    Anthony Quinn as an amnesiac who is wanted for murder? You got him in The Long Wait, and not one but four femmes noir. Three blondes and a brunette. All leggy and not backward in coming forward.

    This violent and brutal flick has Mickey Spillane all over it. The second Spillane novel to be filmed in Hollywood – after I, The Jury (1953) – The Long Wait takes pulp fiction down to a new level. A preposterous plot with more holes than a pair of fishnet nylons itches a perversely compelling pastiche of noir tropes: amnesia, corruption in high places, crooked cops, frame-ups, violence, duplicitous dames, and sex. But no Mike Hammer. Our protagonist is strictly an amateur. But that doesn’t make him any less able to dizzy the dames nor prove his innocence – even if the key to the frame is patently absurd.Read More »

  • Victor Saville & George White – My Gun Is Quick (1957)

    1951-1960CrimeGeorge WhiteMysteryUSAVictor Saville

    Million-Dollar DAMES…A Million-Buck HEIST!…A Million Volt SHOCKER!

    Detective Mike Hammer’s investigation of a murder puts him in the middle between warring jewel thieves.Read More »

  • Victor Saville – The Green Years (1946)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaUSAVictor Saville

    Plot:
    From the author of The Citadel and in the grand epic tradition of MGM’s adaptations, The Green Years is the moving story of a boy’s difficult growth to manhood. When young Robert Shannon is orphaned, he leaves his home in Ireland and travels to Scotland, home of his maternal grandparents. Growing up in the home of his stern grandfather (Charles Coburn, in an Academy Award®-nominated performance*) is made bearable by his great-grandfather, loving grandmother and kind aunt and uncle. After a rocky adjustment to his new school, Robbie is befriended by Gavin and Allison, whom he grows to love.Read More »

  • Victor Saville – Conspirator (1949)

    United Kingdom1941-1950Film NoirThrillerVictor Saville

    London, 1949. A young American beauty, Melinda Greyton, flighty and immature, falls in love with a dashing but solitary and lonely English major, Michael Curragh, and he with her. His aged aunt, his only family, urges him to marry her, and he does. The trouble is, he’s an agent for the Soviets. His control is unhappy that he’s married without the Party’s consent. Melinda figures out he’s a spy and a traitor, and she develops some backbone and maturity when he tries to convince her to go along with him. She demands that he cease spying at about the same time that his control orders him to kill her. Is she safe? Is there any way he can satisfy conflicting loyalties?Read More »

  • Victor Saville – First a Girl (1935)

    1931-1940ClassicsMusicalQueer Cinema(s)United KingdomVictor Saville

    British musical star Jessie Matthews tops the bill in this song-studded comedy. Elizabeth (Matthews) is a delivery girl for a seamstress who is dispatched to drop off some costumes at a theatre where a noted female impersonator is about to open a new show. The star is suddenly stricken with laryngitis, and Elizabeth is drafted to take over in his place, posing as a man who dresses like a woman. Elizabeth is a hit, and with Victor (Sonnie Hale) as her manager, she sets forth on a concert tour of Europe; she continues to perform as a man and draws packed houses and enthusiastic reviews. However, a mysterious Princess (Anna Lee) and her significant other get the strange feeling there’s something odd about this new singing star, and they’re determined to find out what it is. First a Girl was adapted from the German film Viktor und Viktoria, which would be remade into the American musical comedy Victor/Victoria.Read More »

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