The Magic Box - 1951 ****

William Friese Green is a pretty fascinating character. Besotted with his work to the point of obsession, he was willing to break up his family, declare himself bankrupt and sell his house, also that he could continue with his experiments of moving pictures. That said however, he was also one of the most unsung geniuses of the 19the century. It is very tragic that his talent was not recognised until after his death. 

Robert Donat is perfect for the part, and I find him immensely watchable in this character, both for positive and negative reasons. His passion for his craft is clear to see, but in some aspects he is completely deluded and unresponsive (such as not paying bills because the money needs to go on equipment for his experiments). I do feel awfully sorry for him though, because no one would give him a chance to show what he could do. 

(NOIR) The Enforcer - 1951 ****

Incredibly powerful and well paced classic noir starring Humphrey Bogart as an intimidating law enforcer who gets himself embroiled with some dangerous men which we see through a variety of flashbacks. Very tense and very entertaining movie. One of Bogart's last.

(NOIR) The Racket - 1951 *

 

This was a downright awful film. I found it slow, uninteresting, badly acted, and with about as much entertainment value as a lump of wood. Robert Mitchum was barely acting and just seemed to float around the office, Lizabeth Scott irritates me beyond belief and I cannot stand to watch her. Every film I have seen her in has just incensed me more as she tries each time to be a carbon copy of Lauren Bacall and fails miserably. Notably because Lauren Bacall can actually act... The story was dire. I can't recommend this to anyone.

 

(NOIR) He Ran All the Way Home - 1951 ***

An interesting film, but not one of the best noirs in my personal opinion (owing to the weak story and ridiculous co-star of Garfield).
John Garfield is electrifying and completely steals every scene he is in, which makes Shelley Winters pretty pale in comparison.
Garfield plays a thief and down-on-his-luck kind of guy, who plans to steal some money off an acquaintance with the help of his only friend. This however goes horribly wrong when his friend is killed, and Garfield is then on the run. He befriends a gullible spinster at a local swimming pool and then ends up taking her whole family hostage.
I don't think I have ever seen a film with Winters where she didn't annoy me to the point of switiching off and this was no different. Her manner and utterly pathetic demeanor does her no favours when her family become hostages and I found myself having no sympathy for her.
Garfield is the highlight of this film, and could probably have carried the whole thing off himself without any help from any other characters. It's a shame he didn't, but his last film before his death is one that will stick in my mind.

(NOIR) On Dangerous Ground - 1951 **1/2

I was expecting something wonderful from Robert Ryan and Nicholas Ray, but was sadly disappointed with this mediocre offering from 1951. The story of a nasty cop who goes off the rails and then discovers he is a human being after all is nothing original in film noir, and Ida Lupino as a blind and slightly pathetic do-gooder is annoying. About the best thing was the music; not a film you should watch if you are just being introduced to film noir.

The Browning Version - 1951 ****

Although this movie is very simple, it's incredibly poignant, about a stuffy and unlikeable teacher at a school for boys who is declining in health and also coming to the realisation about how unpopular he actually is amoungst his class, his staff members and his wife. Added to which, his younger wife's infidelity is rubbed in his face throughout his last few days at his post which leaves him bitter and hopeless. Michael Redgrave is marvellous as Professor Crocker-Harris and Nigel Patrick is suitably grim and smarmy as the Professor's wife's lover and fellow school-master. Rattigan is a fascinating playwright who seems to be able to create a pile of characters that you really care about almost at once.

PS The title of the film refers to the copy of a book of verse which Professor Crocker-Harris is given by a pupil towards the end of the film, Robert Browning's version of 'Agamemnon'.

The African Queen - 1951 **** 1/2

The idea of Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn sitting on a boat for the entire duration of the film didn't really appeal to me at first, despite the rave reviews it has had. But when I pressed 'stop' I had to sit back for a few minutes just to take everything in. And I can say this is one of the most powerful films I have watched in a long time.

Bogart plays Charlie Allnut who picks up Rose Sayer in Africa after her brother dies of fever after being beaten by German soldiers. They both set sail on Allnut's vessell 'The African Queen', each as different as they can be, with Hepburn hoping to convince Bogart to build a torpeado to sink the Queen Louisa (a German ship) and Bogart trying to get Hepburn to lighten up and stop being so prim and proper. Katherine Hepburn seems to play the character with a lot of her own personality embedded within, as Rose takes practically no notice of anything Charlie says despite the fact that he is an advanced sailor and she isn't, even to the stage where they both risk their life to navigate a particularly perilous part of the river.

I admire Hepburn greatly as an actress but sometimes don't like her non-stop bossy nature. Bogart was terrific on the other hand and really showed a compassionate and good-natured man, even though drink seemed to be his main priority. ( The idea that Bogart would only be around for a few more years after he made this film was a deeply sad thought when watching this ) It's a nice moral story with two great actors. What more could you ask for?

Laughter in Paradise - 1951 ****

This is a completely underrated and utterly funny offering from Alastair Sim. He plays the cousin of a man who dies, leaving a will to his four closest family members. They are each told that they will be receiving £50,000 but only on completion of four tasks, some criminal, some embarassing, but all designed to show up the members of the family. Alastair Sim who has never committed a crime in his life is told that he must commit a crime within a week of the will being read out, and must go to jail for 28 days. His cousin who is a complete snob and has a servant whom she treats very badly is told that she must get a job as a domestic servant for a month and cannot be sacked or she will forfeit the money. The other 2 tasks are sort of in the same vein as this, and if any of the tasks are not completed the members of the family will not be able to receive the money.

I guessed what would happen in the end but it was still great fun to go along for the ride. Alastair Sim is always on top.

(NOIR) The Prowler - 1951 ***

I kept seeing the very beginning part of this film being shown advertising scary or bizarre films and so thought it was about time that I saw it all the way through. It starts off well - a woman reports a prowler outside her window at home and 2 policemen arrive to speak to her. One becomes infatuated by her and tries to get her to run away with him, despite her being a married woman. Then certain unpleasant things happen and the story just suddenly goes downhill. Bit of a pity really because this is one of those sort of film-noir, sort of thriller movies that, if it were really good, you would be scared of on a Saturday night, but it ended up being far too ridiculous for that. Van Heflin is a good actor though, and Evelyn Keyes would end up acting in the hilarious 'The Seven Year Itch' in years to come.