Displaying items by tag: John Litel

THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET

US, 1942, 61 minutes, Black-and-white.

Patric Knowles, Maria Montez, Maria Ouspenskaya, John Litel, Edward Norris, Lloyd Corrigan, Nell O'Day.

Directed by Phil Rosen.

A better than expected small budget supporting feature from Universal Studios in 1942, directed by Russian-born, Phil Rosen, who has 143 credits of direction from 1915 to 1951.

It is based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story, coming after his famous Murders in the Rue Morgue. (There is a creature here also, a pet leopard, but it serves as something of a red herring in the mystery.) The story was published in 1842 about the time here is 1898, only 42 years before the release of the film, but with its sets and decor and transport, seems a different world.

One of the advantages of the film is the number of sets from previous films, used to advantage to create an impressive atmosphere. The plot moves from Poe’s story, Paris, the theatre background, a diva played by Maria Montez as a femme fatale, and an opportunity for performance of a song.

But, the star of the film is Patric Knowles, a doctor working with the police authorities. The head of the police is a comic figure played by Lloyd Corrigan, something of a Holmes and Watson duo.

The film opens with a mysterious murder, a body in the river, her face disfigured. The doctor quietly pursues clues, examines bodies, removes a brain for study, is hired by a grandmother to protect her granddaughter, target of a murder plot for her inheritance. The grandmother is played by veteran Maria Ouspenskaya who controls every scene she is in, completely dominating the cast and the audience.

The plot is rather complex, takes a number of turns, a villain who confesses but has legal chicanery in mind, wanting to be released with charges dropped but then unable to be tried a second time for murder.

A dramatic confrontation at the end – and quite a good hour is spent with a small budget entertainment.

SMOOTH AS SILK

US, 1946, 64 minutes, Black-and-white.

Kent Taylor, Virginia Gray, Milburn Stone, John Litel, Jane Adams, Danny Morton, Charles Trowbridge, Teresa Harris, Harry Cheshire.

Directed by Charles Barton.

A small film from Universal Studios in the immediate postwar period, the period of the popularity of film noir. Those wanting a good example of this genre, Smooth as Silk is well worth seeking out.

There is a lot going on in the 64 minutes running time. The cast is not topline but featuring many character actors who were frequently seen in films of this kind, effective in their roles.

The film introduces a smooth as silk lawyer, Kent Taylor, getting an alcoholic off a charge of manslaughter, paying witnesses to lie. As the film progresses, he is more and more unlikable, looking behind the scenes, manipulating. He is also in love with an actress, played by Virginia Gray, a scheming and unscrupulous femme fatale, starring a play, an agreement with the lawyer that he do a deal with an entrepreneur, John Litelon the, to cast her in the forthcoming play. The entrepreneur refuses.

What follows is a great deal of manipulation, especially part of the actress, manipulating her younger sister who has come to live in New York, urging the various men attracted to her, the lawyer, the entrepreneur, the alcoholic young man. In fact, the young man is due to inherit into a large amount of money administered by the entrepreneur.

Unexpectedly, the actress is seductive and successful with the entrepreneur, even to having him announce their engagement at a party, to the surprise of the lawyer.

The film then becomes a murder story, the lawyer attacking the entrepreneur at a party, allegedly coming to apologise, shooting him, setting up the scene as if it was the actress who killed the entrepreneur. There is an honourable lawyer in the background and he is persuaded to take on the task of defence but investigates the possibilities, the various aspects of the lawyer’s story, re-creating the scene, complicated by the actress turning up and confused in her testimony.

Ultimately, the lawyer then tries to frame the young man but is caught in the act.

A lot of action in 64 minutes, complex characters, a film in which only the sister, the African-American maid, this time also a confidante of the actress, the entrepreneur’s butler and the honourable lawyer, supporting characters, are the only characters with some moral integrity.