Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, October 6, 2017

FOLLOW ME QUIETLY (1949)

Early directing duty for Richard Fleischer buries a couple of good ideas in a minor (and mild) serial killer police procedural, with noir trimmings. William Lundigan shows off a great head of hair and too pleasant a manner as the detective running the case; he’s also got a lame groupie in Dorothy Patrick’s irritating reporter. A neat gimmick (maybe from Anthony Mann in a rare story credit) has rain storms acting as trigger for the murders, and a faceless dummy dressed to look like the murderer from behind(!) to aid in witness identification. This should get a ‘bad’ laugh every time, but it's surprisingly effective and sets up a weird scene with Lundigan chatting up his dummy before going home. That’s when this ‘dummy’ stands up, places the ‘real’ mannequin back in the chair, then sneaks out. Alas, no follow up to this creep out; instead, standard issue police work until they pick up a trail and a late flurry of action that leads to a well-handled chase thru a factory to bring everything to a head. It’s all very . . . meh. Mann had already been directing for a while, with two exceptional pics of his own in ‘49 (REIGN OF TERROR; BORDER INCIDENT), while Fleischer would soon make some striking B-pics (see NARROW MARGIN/’52) before moving up to the A-list. And not for the better.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: See alternate titles listed above and covered below.

No comments: