The combination of hitting sixty-five, ankling his long held perch as top director at Warners, and coming to terms with various WideScreen formats seems to have taken a toll on Michael Curtiz’s ironclad self-confidence as master of all genres. And if his last truly great film was probably THE BREAKING POINT/’50 (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-breaking-point-1950.html), it’s still good to see him recover much of his old form even in this reheated film noir from Paramount. But there’s only so much Curtiz can do with this DOUBLE INDEMNITY wannabe (THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE and BEAU GESTE, of all things, also downloaded) or with the three leads he singled out with a special ‘Introducing’ credit.* Alas, ‘Bad Girl’ Carol Ohmart and ‘Good Girl’ Jody Lawrence did little with their opportunity, though Tom Tryon as Inconsistent Lover/Loyal Stooge took advantage before transitioning with great success to bestselling novelist.* The overwrought story has Ohmart & Tryon making out in a parked car when they overhear a plot to rob jewels from a nearby house. Why not rob the robbers and have enough cash for Ohmart to leave dull husband James Gregory? (Gregory also Tryon’s boss.) Naturally, things don’t go according to plan and the lovers quickly fall out. The real mystery is wondering if this might have worked with seasoned players. (Heck, Barbara Stanwyck still doing this sort of thing - see CRIME OF PASSION/’56.) Watch for a near duplicate of a famous scene from INDEMNITY where lovers turned murderers meet in a banal supermarket, here transferred to a music shop.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Curtiz had a dozen films left in him, all but dying in harness. Four of them (see below) worthy of the great man even if he was so ill on the last that its star, John Wayne, more or less took over for him. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-proud-rebel-1958.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/10/king-creole-1958.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-man-in-net-1959.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/08/comancheros-1961.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: As Ohmart’s party-girl pal, Elaine Stritch doesn’t get that coveted Intro credit, but makes a bigger impression.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Tryon, who was gay, briefly took a bride this year, presumably part of his star-making regimen.
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