Spy Smasher (1942) dir. William Witney

Alan Armstrong (Kane Richmond) was an American journalist working in France when Germany invaded. Unable to stay neutral, Alan faked his own death so he could operate as freelance operative Spy Smasher. As our story opens, Spy Smasher is captured by the Gestapo, tortured and sentenced to death by firing squad. The execution is faked by Free French undercover operator Captain Pierre Durand (Frano Corsaro) so that Spy Smasher can get back to the United States with information on the Nazi plan to flood the U.S. with counterfeit money.

In America, Alan makes contact with his twin brother Jack (Kane Richmond), who is the special deputy to Admiral Corby (Sam Flint) who is the newly appointed head of Foreign Intelligence. Jack's also the sweetheart of the admiral's daughter and secretary Eve Corby (Marguerite Chapman). The twins decide to keep the return of Alan secret so that he can continue operating freely as Spy Smasher. Now it's time to defeat the many schemes of the top Gestapo agent in the U.S., the Mask (Hans Schumm)!

This 1942 Republic serial was loosely based on the Fawcett Comics character Spy Smasher. The most notable change from the comic book was giving Alan a twin brother. In the comics, Spy Smasher worked directly with Admiral Corby and was Eve's sweetie. Also interestingly, the Mask's mask is off most of the time, except when directly giving orders to his minions. It's not to conceal his identity as was often the case for main villains in serials.

This serial was written and shot before December 7, 1941, when the U.S. has very obviously chosen sides in World War II, but was still officially at peace. Thus it's a plot point in one of the chapters that the American government can't just attack agents of the German government. But by the time it came out in theaters, America was very much at war with Nazi Germany, which gave the serial a boost in popularity.

It also helped that Spy Smasher is one of Republic's best serials, with tight writing, excellent stunt work and special effects, and strong cliffhangers. One of those cliffhangers late in the run is considered especially notable for reasons that will be obvious when you come to it.

That said, there are repetitive bits, so this can wear on you if you are watching the three plus hours all in one sitting. Eve is the only notable female character, and she is locked out of the loop on what's going on with the twins, so doesn't get to do much for most of the story. On the other hand, the serial only resorts to having her kidnapped once, and she's shown as smart enough to leave a clue using her typing skills.

Another interesting bit is the Mask's main field agent, Drake (Tristram Coffin). He's a reporter for Oceanic Television News, a fledgling TV service. His gimmick is leaving the camera on when he leaves Admiral Corby's office so that he and the Mask can listen in on secret meetings. Of course, at the time American civilian television was restricted to a few thousand sets in the hands of the wealthy or eccentric, so the news service itself probably wasn't very successful.

After the war, Spy Smasher got renamed Crime Smasher and fought ordinary criminals, but this didn't last long. After DC bought Fawcett's character assets, they sat on them for over a decade, and by the time they started integrating them into their comics, Spy Smasher was a long-forgotten item used only for brief cameos. He did, however, get a cool appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Patriot Act" and there was a legacy character running around in the comics a decade or so ago.

Oh, and the music's also nifty. The title theme is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, to evoke the "V for Victory" meme of the time, and Spy Smasher's leitmotif references that, but it's not overused in the main body of the chapters.

If you're pressed for time or patience, you may want to try the edited down 1960s version Spy Smasher Returns (not a sequel despite the title). This is a rip-roaring good time with plenty of Nazi (and a few Vichy early on) punching.

White Comanche (1967) dir. Gilbert Kay

Johnny and Notah Moon (both William Shatner) are twin brothers, identical save for slightly different eye colors. Their father was white, and their mother of the Comanche nation. Early on, they were raised in both traditions, but their father died early, and when their mother died around the time that they were ten, the twins were forced to move to an Oklahoma reservation by U.S. soldiers. Their mixed heritage meant that they were not fully accepted by the Comanche, and the whites of the area...were not welcoming.

Johnny chose to aggressively assimilate to white culture, while Notah found solace in peyote consumption, using it even outside formal ceremonies. By the time they were adults, Johnny was able to move out into the wider world as a ranch hand, while Notah started having (or claimed to have) visions of himself being the next great leader of the Comanche people, overcoming the white oppressors and making them a great nation again. A charismatic fanatic, Notah was able to convince a small band of followers to join him in banditry. His excessive violence and cunning soon made him notorious as "the White Comanche."

As the movie opens, Johnny Moon is attacked by a lynch mob who have mistaken him for the White Comanche. This is apparently not the first time it's happened. But after he escapes, he decides that this is enough and tracks down his brother's current encampment. When Notah returns from another raid (more on that in a bit), Johnny challenges him to a showdown to take place in four days in the town of Rio Hondo. (The idea, apparently, is to have a bunch of white folks witness the fight so he can prove that he and the White Comanche are different people.)

Rio Hondo, meanwhile, has its own problems. Sheriff Logan (Joseph Cotten) is trying to prevent a lethal showdown between the competing gangs of General Garcia (Mariano Vidal Molina), a rancher, and Grimes (Luis Prendes), a saloon owner. On the way into town, Johnny saves one of Grimes' men from being lynched (he's not motivated by general goodness, but his own empathy towards lynching victims), which makes the two gangs think he's on Grimes' side.

But then the stagecoach arrives, with the driver dropping dead from his wounds on arrival, and the sole remaining passenger, Kelly (Rosanna Yanni) the saloon girl, who's been raped. This turns out to be the work of the White Comanche, and Kelly initially fingers Johnny as her attacker. (She is the first, and for quite a long time the only, person Johnny bothers to tell about the twin thing.)

Tensions are rising in Rio Hondo, and there may be corpses on the streets even before Notah's raiding party arrives!

This Spanish Western was offered to William Shatner during his summer break from filming Star Trek. He accepted, perhaps thinking that if it worked out and his current television series didn't, he could pivot to being a Western star. He was joined by veteran Joseph Cotten, who had cash flow problems and was accepting almost anything he could get.

Unfortunately, the script is hokey, and the shoestring budget shows. There is zero attempt made to make Johnny/Notah look mixed-race, but the script has everyone be able to tell at a glance. The dubbing for the Italian and Spanish actors is...dubious.

Cotten is better in his role than the movie deserves, and Shatner's...unique approach to the material is certainly something to watch. There's also a bit of his interesting combat style, and lots of him being shirtless.

There's a fairly interesting subplot about Notah's band becoming disaffected with his leadership because he's violating their customs in favor of his personal agenda. Only his wife White Fawn (Perla Cristal) remains faithful, but this does not end well for her.

Content note: Lots of gun, knife and fist violence, often lethal. This includes the deaths of a child and pregnant woman. The few wounds shown are neat red circles in the forehead. Rape, cutting away just before the actual deed. Racism. Drug abuse. None of the Native American characters are played by Native Americans.

While this is by no means a good movie, it's an interesting and watchable one. I think it would do well for "Bad Movie Night" with your friends. The print on my copy, from The Great American Western collection, was exceptionally poor, so you may want to seek out a cleaner one.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) dir. Ana Lily Amirpour

Bad City may be an oil town, but black gold hasn't brought prosperity to the majority of its inhabitants. Arash (Arash Marandi) is a hard-working young man who works as a handyman for a wealthy family, but himself lives in the slums and supports his heroin addict father Hossein (Marshall Manesh). Hossein is deeply in debt to local drug dealer/loan shark/pimp Saeed (Dominic Rains). Saeed takes Arash's beloved vintage car as partial payment on Hossein's debts, not interested in Arash's complaint that the car belongs to him, not his father.

At his job, Arash is called up to the room of daughter Shaydah (Rome Shandaloo), who flirts with him while he's doing repairs. He's trying to ignore this as he knows it's not going anywhere. When she leaves, Arash succumbs to the temptation to steal some small jewelry in hopes of trading it to Saeed for his car.

So far, shaping up to be a noir crime drama. But then Saeed runs into a girl walking home alone at night (Sheila Vand) and the genre of the movie abruptly changes.

This 2014 Iranian horror movie is shot in stylish black and white, which helps cloak the fact that although the director is Iranian-American, most major roles are played by Iranian actors, and everyone is speaking Farsi, it was actually filmed in California. Unsurprisingly, there are themes and actions in the movie that would not fly with the Iranian government.

This is one of those movies where "good" and "evil" don't really enter into it. The Girl kills people to survive, but generally preys on people that are pretty awful. Arash doesn't kill anyone himself, but is perfectly willing to profit off a corpse he finds. There doesn't seem to be any law enforcement as such, and there's a gulch with an alarming number of bodies that people have just dumped there. "Bad City' indeed. Prostitute Atti (Mozhan Navabi) sees her job as just her job and is saving to...go somewhere else, maybe? And the Street Urchin (Milad Eghbali) is mostly drifting around with not much to do. Especially after The Girl confiscates his skateboard.

This last makes for some interesting imagery. The Girl's chador resembles the classic "Dracula cloak" (which is also seen when Arash dons one.) A vampire on a skateboard seems like something you would not have seen outside a 1980s kid's cartoon. But shot in this movie it's just eerie.

The deleted scenes are also interesting. I was fascinated by the much larger role for minor character Rockabilly (Reza Sixo Safai) who in these clips addresses the camera directly if obscurely. (But I can see why they were taken out, it would have made the movie drag a lot more.)

Content note: Murder, mutilation and gore. Assault. Prostitution. Drug abuse, including a person forcibly being given drugs by needle. Partial nudity. Deleted scenes include gay-bashing. Older teens should be okay, but sensitive viewers may want to give it a pass.

This is a striking movie that's an interesting mix of foreign and familiar. Recommended to horror fans who can handle subtitles.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) dir. Robert Wiene

The frame story begins with Franciz (Friedrich Feher) having just been told by another man (Hans Lanser-Ludloff) about the supernatural events that drove him from his home. Franciz replies that the events he and his fiancée Jane Olsen (Lil Dagover) experienced were even more chilling. We then flash back to the announcement of a fair in the city where Franciz and Jane then lived. Their friend Alan (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) sees an ad for the fair and asks Franciz to come with him. Despite their both being in love with Jane, the two are still good friends.

Meanwhile, a mountebank calling himself Doctor Caligari (Werner Krauss) tries to get a license to perform at the fair. The Town Clerk does allow this, but not before he's very rude to the applicant. By what I am sure is a total coincidence, the Town Clerk is murdered that very night.

Alan and Franciz go to the fair and visit Dr. Caligari's concession. The act turns out to be the supposed doctor displaying a "somnambulist" he calls Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who he awakens from deep sleep. Caligari claims that Cesare has supernatural knowledge of the future. When Alan foolishly enquires how long he will live, Cesare tells Alan he will be dead by dawn.

When Alan is murdered that night, Franciz' logical first suspect is Cesare. But is that really the case?

This 1920 silent German film is one of the most famous movies ever made, and even if you haven't seen it, you've probably heard of it if you have an interest in film history, horror, or German Expressionism. The last is most obvious in the nightmarish set design.

Conrad Veidt is chilling as Cesare, the sleepwalking killer, scrambling over the rooftops on his deadly mission. And within context, Dr. Caligari makes a very sinister figure.

There's a couple of nice touches. An unrelated criminal attacks an old woman in hopes that his murder will be mistakenly credited to the mysterious previous ones. And Dr. Caligari has a "lifelike" dummy of Cesare that he puts in the cabinet while the somnambulist is away to create an alibi.

The title card says that this is a retelling of an 11th Century legend, though that legend itself is made up for the movie--and then there's the infamous twist ending that turns most of what we've learned on its head.

It does have to be remembered that this movie is still quite early in the history of films, and silent, so the acting can come off artificial and stiff, and the lighting is sometimes dubious. The set design actually helps by being so weird that the viewer might not feel the need to nitpick details so much.

Content note: Murder, naturally, though the actual deed is suggested by shadow, not directly shown. Some period depiction of mental illness that may come off badly to modern viewers. Older teens should be fine; younger viewers may not be ready for the conventions of silent film.

This is one of those movies that's more important than good, but it's good enough that it's worth seeing for any fan of horror or film history buff.

Gone With the Wind (1939) dir. Victor Fleming

Gerald O'Hara (Thomas Mitchell) is an Irish immigrant who got lucky in a card game many years ago, winning a substantial tract of farmland in Georgia. He married a woman of French extraction named Ellen (Barbara O'Neil) and by hard work and being a decent master to his slaves built Tara into a fine plantation, manor house and all. He has three daughters, Catherine Scarlett (Vivian Leigh), Suellen (Evelyn Keyes), and Carreen (Ann Rutherford). Scarlett, as most folk call her, is a willful but charming belle of sixteen in 1861. While proud of his Irish heritage, Mr. O'Hara has acclimated to the customs and beliefs of his Southern gentry neighbors.

Prominent slaves at Tara include housekeeper and caregiver Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), valet Pork (Oscar Polk), maid Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) and foreman Big Sam (Everett Brown). Jonas Wilkerson (Victor Jory) was, up to the moment we meet him, the white overseer of the slaves, but is a Yankee, and of low moral character, which gets him fired.

Scarlett is a shameless flirt, and enjoys the attention of all the local swains, but she has her heart set on Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), a fine young Southern gentleman and the son of John Wilkes (Howard Hickman), owner of the neighboring Twelve Oaks plantation. Ashley has a sister named India (Alicia Rhett), but Scarlett mostly ignores her. Scarlett is looking forward to the big barbecue and ball at Twelve Oaks so she can finally make it clear to Ashley that she loves him (and pin him down that he loves her.) She's fed up with all the menfolk's talk of "war", even though that seems inevitable.

At the barbecue, Scarlett is less thrilled by the arrival of some of the guests. These include Ashley's cousins Melanie (Olivia de Havilland) and Charles Hamilton (Rand Brooks). You see, there's a Wilkes custom of marrying one's cousin. And Scarlett is aware that most of the family is expecting Ashley to marry Melanie, who Scarlett considers a mealy-mouthed goody two-shoes. And there's a special guest from Charleston, a Mr. Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Rhett's a black sheep, no longer welcome in Charleston, who made his money gambling and operating shady businesses. But John Wilkes has business with him, so despite his poor reputation, he's been invited. Rhett's interested in Scarlett, but not vice versa.

Scarlett isn't able to get Ashley alone at the barbecue (he's busy affirming his engagement to Melanie, and it's clear to the audience that neither of them is entering this relationship unwillingly), so when the ladies are supposed to be taking an afternoon nap, she sneaks downstairs to find him.

Meanwhile, the menfolk have been discussing the prospects of the upcoming war. Most of the Southerners are all for it. They figure it will be a short, victorious war of independence as Yankees can't fight for spit and the South has all the good officers. Ashley demurs, he's against war in principle as immoral, though if called to serve he will do so. Rhett, on the other hand, who has actually been to the North, warns that the Yankees' superior numbers and industrial capacity will make them difficult foes, and the South is not assured of an easy victory. This dose of facts makes the outsider very unpopular, and he walks out. Ashley goes after him to be a good host.

Scarlett waylays Ashley before he can catch up to Rhett, and after a bit of small talk drags him into the library to confess her love. Ashley tells her that he's marrying Melanie, but instead of saying that he loves his cousin, cites his "duty." It's clear that Ashley is attracted to Scarlett, but is smart enough to realize they're not compatible, and is far more comfortable in the important ways with Melanie. Scarlett isn't catching the unspoken overtones, and only sees that Ashley isn't saying that he doesn't love her. After Ashley leaves, she has a fit of temper, only to discover that Rhett was in the room all along, lying on a couch with a high back turned towards her. He indicates that he's interested in Scarlett, but she's angry and embarrassed and just not interested right now.

Before anything else can happen, it's announced that the War of Northern Aggression has begun, and all the men start getting ready to enlist. Realizing there's no time to get Ashley to change his mind, Scarlett fastens on to Charles Hamilton, who is smitten by this fiery young woman and agrees to marry her pronto, thus making Scarlett and Melanie sisters-in-law.

And there's still over three hours left of this movie!

Gone With the Wind was based on a bestselling novel of the same title, written by Margaret Mitchell. It was wildly successful, becoming the highest-grossing movie (adjusted for inflation) ever. It won multiple Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, the first acting Oscar given to a Black person.

And honestly, this is a very well-made and impressive movie. Music (the classic "Tara Theme"), special effects, costuming, set design, stuntwork (including by legendary Yakima Canutt), directing and acting are all top-notch. A very impressive amount of the novel got into the movie, justifying the nearly four-hour runtime. Which is why most of the DVD versions are on two discs.

Scarlett is an interestingly flawed protagonist. She's charming, clever when she thinks ahead (her picture is next to "conniving" in the dictionary) and a shrewd business owner. But she spends most of the runtime hankering after a man who is never going to return her love and failing to realize that Melanie is her one true friend. She's just as responsible for the failure of her eventual marriage to Rhett as he is.

And Rhett? Well, he's definitely the clearest-headed man in the movie, but he's earned his bad reputation and cannot for the life of him stop saying cynical or sarcastic things to Scarlett that damage her ability to trust him. He too can be very charming when he tries, but his normal bluntness burns bridges and at the end, he's just not willing to stay in this toxic relationship.

Mammy is also a complex character. She's essentially a second mother to Scarlett, and far more involved in her day-to-day life than Ellen. As such, Mammy often gives orders and sound advice to Miss Scarlett far beyond what their respective social stations would normally allow. Not that Scarlett, a headstrong teen, pays attention. Her bond to the O'Hara family is so strong that she continues working for them even after the war ends and she's technically free. And winning her approval is something that Rhett seriously cares about. Ms. McDonald is said to have disliked playing such a stereotyped role, but "I'd rather play a maid for seven hundred dollars than be a maid for seven dollars." And there were such women in real life.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, in the first half of the Twentieth Century, there was a concerted effort by writers and filmmakers to romanticize the Old South and present a revisionist history where the Lost Cause was noble and slavery wasn't all that bad, really. Ms. Mitchell's novel actually was a bit of a reaction to that, showing that the Old South wasn't all "magnolias and moonlight" as Rhett calls it out, but the movie smooths out some of the edges. There's no blatant mistreatment of slaves on screen or referenced, and the O'Hara slaves who have dialogue are nothing but loyal to their masters with no talk of wanting freedom. The "political meetings" that Ashley and Frank Kennedy (Carroll Nye) (Scarlett's second husband) attend are not clarified as them belonging to the Klu Klux Klan nor do we see those meetings or the raid during which Ashley is wounded and Frank killed.

On the other hand, when Scarlett decides to save money by leasing convict labor (the one kind of slavery allowed under the Fourteenth Amendment) rather than hire free black people, it's presented as a moral failing that extends on from her upbringing as a slave owner's heir.

Content note: Murder in self-defense. Marital rape off-screen. It's implied that the "renegade" wanted to rape Scarlett (in the book it's spelled out.) Many deaths from war wounds, a child dies, two miscarriages, other deaths. A horse dies on screen, and another one offscreen. Wounds are shown. Rhett's very good friend Belle Watling (Ona Munson) is pretty obviously a prostitute and extramarital sex is implied, though of course, not actually mentioned on screen. Racism towards and enslavement of black people, use of outdated terms. Women are shown in period underwear, and at one point there is a woman implied to be naked behind some furniture. Older teens will probably be okay, but younger viewers should have a responsible adult handy for discussions of heavy topics.

This is one of the all time classic movies, and well worth watching at least once. The long running time means that it's a serious commitment, so be sure to block out a full day to watch it including breaks during the musical interludes. Recommended to classic movie fans.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) dir. Frank Lloyd

Midshipman Roger Byam (Franchot Tone) is excited for his first Royal Navy assignment, sailing aboard the Bounty under Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton) to Tahiti to secure breadfruit trees and in Mr. Byam's case, compile a dictionary of the local language. Bligh is a brilliant navigator and mapmaker who sailed with Captain Cook, and knows Tahiti from that previous voyage. Byam is somewhat taken aback when he arrives on ship and witnesses British Navy discipline. A sailor had struck an officer and was sentenced to be flogged. That sailor has died during the punishment, but Bligh orders the corpse to continue to be flogged to carry out the entire sentence.

Captain Bligh feels it's necessary to maintain harsh discipline from the beginning of the voyage, especially as several of the crewmen have been "pressed" (grabbed off the street), including an ex-convict and a new father. Other officers are somewhat less harsh on the men, including first mate Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) and drunken doctor Bacchus (Dudley Diggs).

On the long voyage out to Tahiti, Captain Bligh metes out disproportionate punishments for the slightest infraction, including telling him that he's mistaken, even if he is. He explodes when Mr. Christian refuses to sign a blatantly fraudulent supply log, and their relationship sours completely.

Finally the Bounty arrives at Tahiti, and is greeted by the friendly natives. We briefly see a better side of Captain Bligh as he meets with the local chief Hitihiti (Bill Bambridge) and they reminisce fondly about Captain Cook. While the crew gets no respite from hard work, they do get to walk around and see the island and interact with its people and get decent food for a change. Even Mr. Christian is allowed a short shore leave. Native girls Tehani (Movita) and Maimiti (Mamo Clark) are especially willing to keep the officers company.

After a few months gathering breadfruit trees, restocking supplies and repairing the ship, it's time to leave. Captain Bligh asserts his authority by having any personal goodies the crew brought aboard like bananas or piglets confiscated as "Crown Property." This extends to pearls Tehani gave Mr. Christian as a present for his mother. Mr. Christian pointedly repeats the words "Crown property", which Bligh bristles at. He may or may not be planning to pocket them, but he doesn't like being suspected.

About a week into the return voyage, Captain Bligh has cut the water rations to keep the breadfruit trees alive, and is generally back to his old harsh discipline self. When he orders a severely ill Dr. Bacchus on deck and the old man dies, this is the last straw for Mr. Christian, who starts a mutiny. Mr. Byam refuses to join the mutiny, and is trapped below decks when Captain Bligh and a number of other loyalists are offloaded into a small launch.

By a stunning feat of navigation and gumption, the men in the launch are able to cross 3000 miles of ocean to a safe harbor at the loss of only one man.

The mutineers and the few remaining loyalists sail the Bounty back to Tahiti, where they live relatively happily for a year. Mr. Christian has married Tehani and had a child! But a distant sail reminds them that eventually the British Navy will be coming back and the penalty for mutiny is death by hanging. So most of the mutineers and their native spouses and allies board the ship again and sail for parts unknown. Byam and the other loyalists, as well as a few mutineers who long to return to England regardless of the danger (the new father among them) stay.

Everyone is dismayed when the new ship arriving, the Pandora turns out to be commanded by the very much alive Captain Bligh, who's holding a massive grudge against his entire former crew, and is enraged when Byam and the others won't tell him where Mr. Christian sailed off to (as they honestly don't know.) The court martial back in England is a harrowing experience, but we're told by the narration that out of this experience came a new understanding of the relationship between officers and crew that improved things in the Royal Navy.

While Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian were real people, and the Bounty did indeed have a mutiny, this movie (and the remakes) is based on a trilogy of novels that greatly fictionalized the events. Many incidents in the story were made up to give Mr. Christian a more obvious motive for the mutiny, while other aspects directly contradict historical records. (For example, the movie has Bligh and Christian meeting for the first time aboard the ship--in real life, they were long-time friends.)

That said, this movie is very good. Outdoor location shooting was done in Tahiti, and most of the Tahitian extras are actual natives. Exhaustive work was put in to make the ship scenes look as authentic as possible. Mr. Laughton and Mr. Gable were chosen for their roles specifically because their personalities and lifestyles clashed, so it was easy for them to portray animosity towards each other. The supporting actors also do solid work.

There's some excellent camera work and exciting moments of sea action in between the tense character scenes.

Content note: Violence, some lethal, and other deaths. There's a gory shot of a hand being impaled. Torture (primarily flogging) and other abusive behavior. Extramarital sex is heavily implied. Bacchus drinks to excess. It'd get a PG-13 these days, I think.

My DVD copy came with a short feature "Pitcairn Island Today", about the place where the mutineers and their allies settled. When they were found twenty years later, all but one of the sailors had died, but their descendants still live there today. The feature is more marketing gimmick than documentary, but a fascinating glimpse into an isolated community.

This is a classic movie and well worth watching even if it does play fast and loose with historical details. Recommended to Clark Gable fans and those who love tales of the sea.

Three on a Ticket (1947) dir. Sam Newfield

Private investigator Michael "Mike" Shayne (Hugh Beaumont) has just arrived at his office when his secretary Phyllis "Phil" Hamilton (Cheryl Walker) tells him he has an appointment with a prospective client, Jim Lacy (Brooks Benedict). Lacy is a private eye from the East Coast that Mike briefly knew, with a shady reputation. When Mr. Lacy arrives, however, he's a walking dead man who doesn't even get the chance to croak out a final word. Mike finds a scrap of paper, part of a baggage claim, held tightly in the dead man's hand. He directs Phil to pretend Mike was never here today when she calls the police.

When Mike arrives back at the office "late", he pumps the cops for information, but Inspector Pete Rafferty (Ralph Dunn) is pretty sure Mike's up to something and withholding information of his own. To be fair, Rafferty's correct even if he's being a jerk about it.

Then Mike gets a new client, Helen Brimstead (Louise Currie) who needs help dealing with her blackmailing ex-husband, escaped robbery convict Mace Morgan (Douglas Fowley). She wants to marry again, but Morgan is threatening to smear her with involvement with his last robbery, the money from which was never recovered. Mr. Lacy was supposed to be helping her with this, but he wasn't licensed in California and was supposed to be contacting Mike Shayne for her. While Mike is willing to negotiate a solution for her, Helen seems more interested in the possibility of Mace getting shot in self-defense.

To make matters more complicated, federal agent Pearson (Gavin Gordon) suspects Morgan and Lacy to have branched out into espionage, having stolen plans for a new secret weapon, and there are other criminals, led by "Trigger" (Noel Cravat). attempting to get their hands on that partial baggage check.

Mike's playing this one extra-cagey, holding out on information that could clear his name quickly, and seemingly angling for a huge payout, to the point that even his reporter friend Tim Rourke (Paul Bryar) loses faith in him.

This is a pleasingly twisty plot, managing to fill about an hour with almost no dead spots. My main gripe is that it requires Mike to not trust Phil or Tim with vital information so that there's more chances for misunderstandings.

An amusing bit is that Mike is constantly eating peanuts and discarding the shells. A running gag is people searching him and tossing peanuts and shells aside in disgust.

Content note: Gunfire (lethal) and fisticuffs. There's a notable moment where Mike chooses not to take a gun with him. Torture (off-camera).

This is a decent enough short mystery, good for a rainy day or as a double feature with another mystery movie. Most recommended to private eye fans.

The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936) dir. William Clemens

Perry Mason (Warren Williams) invades the night court of Judge Mary F O'Daugherty (Clara Blandick) with an urgent matter--marrying his secretary, Della Street (Claire Dodd)! As the happy couple pose for the press photographers, Perry announces his retirement from criminal law. From now on he will only handle civil suits, which will not place him in nearly as much danger. Now the newlyweds are off to Pinehurst resort for their honeymoon. Except that last part's not true. Knowing that his friends are all merry pranksters, Perry has his private detective sidekick Spudsy Drake (Eddie Acuff) to drive him and Della back to his apartment.

Not that this makes things any smoother for the newlyweds. Concealed within the apartment is a desperate woman (Wini Shaw) with a gun. The woman, who we will come to know as Eva Belter, forces Perry to take a $5000 retainer at gunpoint. She is, she says, the "other woman" politician Peter Milnor (Kenneth Harland) was seen with in a certain location. Proof of this has fallen into the hands of Frank Locke (Addison Richards), the editor of "Spicy Bits", a scandal sheet, who's using it to blackmail Milnor. She wants smart lawyer Mason to keep the story out of print by any means necessary.

Locke isn't persuadable, but Perry Mason is a sharpie, and figures out he isn't really the boss of the paper. The secret owner is a man named George C. Belter (Joe King). Perry confronts the man, but even the threat of legal action isn't going to convince Mr. Belter (as he's perfectly willing to punish his unfaithful wife along with the politician.) Later that evening, Eva confronts her husband with that gun we mentioned earlier, and fires a shot.

Mr. Belter is found dead with a bullet in him, and Mrs. Belter is a top suspect. But so is Perry Mason, especially as Eva is trying to frame the lawyer for the murder. Can Perry figure out whodunnit, clear his name, and finally get some alone time with his blushing bride?

This fourth Perry Mason film is the last with Warren Williams, but is loosely based on the very first Mason novel by Erle Stanley Gardner. It kind of makes sense for the finale of his version of the character to finally resolve his relationship with the lovely Della, even if this never happened in the books.

Despite how bleak things are looking for our favorite attorney, there's still quite a bit of humor. Perry catches a cold and spreads it to multiple people, and Spudsy dons a series of bizarre "disguises" while searching for background information.

Mr. Williams and Ms. Dodd do a good job as the frustrated romantic leads, and there are some nifty moments. Still, it felt like the comedy was used a bit too much to stretch the run time, which is weird because it's only just over an hour.

If you watched the previous three Perry Mason movies, this one is a decent capper, but I would not recommend it without having seen at least one of the others to get used to this version of the character.

The Adventures of Rex and Rinty (1935) dir. Ford Beebe

On the island of Sujan in the Indian Ocean, the natives worship the horse god. They venerate all horses, but only one is the incarnation of the horse god, the God-Horse Rex, King of the Wild Horses (Rex). Wealthy and unscrupulous polo player Crawford (Harry Woods) has come to buy some of the island's fine horses, but high priest Tanaga (Mischa Auer) would never part with one of the sacred animals for mere money, and especially not Rex! Crawford contrives to steal the God-Horse, and succeeds but abandons one of his henchmen for dead.

No sooner has Crawford gotten Rex to his ranch in the hill country of California than the wily horse escapes. He soon makes friends with Rinty (Rin-Tin-Tin Jr.), a homeless German Shepherd. The two intelligent animals find some refuge at the Bruce Riding Academy, run by Mr. Bruce (Allan Cavan) and his daughter Dorothy (Norma Taylor). The riding academy employs bumbling stable hand Jensen (Smiley Burnette) and also stable the horses of popular and goodhearted polo player Frank Bradley (Kane Richmond).

Frank and Dorothy win over the animals with their kindness and good hearts. But Crawford is determined to have Rex back and break him into a proper polo horse by any means necessary.

To make things more complicated, the abandoned henchman shows up; he's been promised his life with be spared if he helps Sujan native Pasha (Pedro Regas) rescue Rex and restore the God-Horse to the island.

This sets the stage for multiple chases, abductions, fistfights, fires and general excitement before Rex is returned to Sujan, only to face one last test of his godhood.

This 12-episode black and white serial was the next to last produced by the Mascot studio, and the second teaming up the two animal stars. Rin Tin Tin Jr. was of course the son of the great movie star who'd passed in 1932.

While Rex and Rinty are depicted as being smart for their respective species, to the point of uncanniness for Rinty, their stunts are still within the plausible limits of animals. On the other hand, there is a fantasy element. Sujan is depicted as being in the same spot Seychelles is in the real world, but its culture is nothing like the real-world country. Also, Pasha has a mental link to Tanaga, able to report back to the high priest from across the globe. In general, the treatment of the Sujanese isn't bad by 1930s standards.

This is middling stuff as serials go, with okay action but dull characters. Crawford just never makes "evil polo player" come across as over the top as that phrase would indicate. There's at least one blantant cliffhanger copout at the end of Episode 11/beginning of Episode 12.

Content note: Loads of violence, some lethal (first corpse in Episode 6) but no animals die. Be aware though that animals are frequently in peril, and there's what amounts to animal abuse. One child in peril, he's fine though. Sexism only in that Dorothy is the only plot-relevant female character.

This is not the best Rin Tin Tin serial, so you may want to wait until you need it to complete a checklist (Ralph Byrd has a cameo as a forest ranger!)

Mark of the Vampire (1935) dir. Tod Browning (also released as "Vampires of Prague")

Czechoslovakia, 1934, near the city of Prague. It is growing dark, but in the inn run by a local fellow (Michael Visaroff), two English travelers want to be on their way. The innkeeper warns that vampires roam these parts at night, Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) and his daughter Luna (Caroll Borland). The travelers scoff, but then the local medico, Dr. Doskil (Donald Meek), returns to his room at the inn, clearly frightened out of his wits, and bearing bat thorn, a plant said to ward off the undead.

The next morning, the servants at the castle of Sir Karell Borotyn (Holmes Herbert) are saddened to learn of the death of their master from his friend Baron Otto (Jean Hersholt). Sir Karell's corpse has neck wounds and has been drained of blood, which leads Dr. Doskil to declare that the death was due to vampire. Inspector Neumann (Lionel Atwill) is a skeptic, and not convinced that vampires are anything other than superstition. Despite Dr. Doskil's resentment at being lumped in with "ignorant peasants", his findings are discarded by the coroner's jury, which brings in a verdict of "Death by Unknown Causes."

Sir Karell's daughter Irena Borotyn (Elizabeth Allen) must postpone her marriage to Fedor Vicente (Henry Wadsworth) and moves in with Baron Otto, who has been appointed her guardian.

A year later, the mandatory mourning is over, and Irena and Fedor reunite at the village, though the castle itself has been abandoned. Soon, there is to be a wedding. But then Fedor blacks out near the castle and wakes up with neck wounds and severe anemia. Irena is attacked as well. Count Mora and Luna have supposedly been sighted in the area. Irena says she was compelled into the open by what she thought was the voice of her father. Inspector Neumann is forced to call in an expert, Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore). The professor assures everyone that vampires are very real, and precautions must be taken or Irena will surely be taken.

If you have never seen this movie before and haven't had it spoiled for you, go see it now. Seriously.



SPOILERS beyond this point. You have been warned!

This movie is a remake of the lost horror classic, "London After Midnight" which was also directed by Tod Browning and starred Lon Chaney Sr. Thus it has much the same twist ending. There are, in fact, no vampires. Instead, it's an elaborate hoax to catch Sir Karell's murderer who'd disguised his own deed as a vampire attack.

So now you can rewatch it as a comedy. The "Professor" is just making stuff up when he spouts vampire lore. The doctor is a gullible fool. Bela Lugosi with his deceptively high billing is basically playing himself, an actor dressed as Dracula, but fully committed to the "bit" so staying in character even when no one could possibly be watching. Some of the characters are in on the trick and acting their hearts out, while others are not in on it, and which is which isn't always clear.

I'm told that the movie was edited down from about 80 minutes to 60 for a tighter film, but this does create some lore gaps. There's an "extra" vampire that does nothing but appear in certain scenes just standing or sitting around. Presumably he had action in cut scenes.

The sets are great, and the acting works better once it's clear that you're watching a comedy. The heavy edits do make the film a bit choppy, but it's still a fun watch with a fine cast. Recommended to fans of spooky comedies.