Crummy . . . just not crummy enough to be any fun. Platinum pudge Cleo Moore (a tag-along Marilyn Monroe type) goes from tarty clip joint gal to photographer’s assistant, before a quick rise from budding photo-journalist to staff snapper on the high society night club circuit. That’s where she accidentally photographs a mobster in the background of a missed shot, exposing his fake alibi. But all this success has spoiled Cleo’s once good-natured soul, she's turned hard & selfish, leading her to turn down a proposal of marriage (and a life of foreign correspondence traipsing) from newsman Richard Crenna. (It’s 1956, her work is obviously expendable.) Missing from the script is much, if any, of the promised scandalous exposure. At last, a tasteless picture of Cleo’s hits the front page without her approval, and the mob guy sends in goons to recover that incriminating ‘alibi shot.’ But vet megger Lewis Seiler, a sleepy sort even with a good script, knows he might as well phone it in. Everyone else is.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: In PICTURE SNATCHER/’33, James Cagney gives us the wild ride this film promises.
No comments:
Post a Comment