THE SECOND AGNES MOOREHEAD BLOGATHON: The Wild Wild West - The Night of the Vicious Valentine, 1967

The Second Agnes Moorehead Blogathon is running from December 6 - 8. Our hostess, friend and fellow movie writer Crystal is hospitalized and fighting for recovery from a devastating illness. A message from Crystal's brother Jarrahn Brett.

Gill Jacobs at Realweegiemidgetreviews is thoughtfully hosting the blogathon HERE. Many thanks to Gill. We know Crystal will be pleased.

Michael Garrison's "James Bond on horseback" ran on CBS for four seasons, 1965-1969, and was followed by two television movies in 1979 and 1980. The Wild Wild West was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards: 1966, Ted Voigtlander for Individual Achievement in Cinematography; 1969, Ross Martin for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series; 1967, Agnes Moorehead for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama which was the only win for the series.

THE NIGHT OF THE VICIOUS VALENTINE

Written by Leigh Chapman and directed by Irving J. Moore

First aired on Friday, February 10, 1967

Ross Martin, Robert Conrad as Artemus Gordon and Jim West

The Wild Wild West follows the steampunk adventures of Secret Service Agents in the Victorian era Old West. Nattily dressed Jim West and nattily dressed, if not in disguise Artemus Gordon are a prime crime-fighting resource for President Grant. In our adventure, they are on the trail of a clever killer.

Whitey Hughes, Jack Perkins

Someone is killing recently married wealthy men, leaving their widows more than fixed for life. The third victim has been dispatched by a booby-trapped piano. These are not your average bump-offs! The first clue our heroes follow leads them to a garish, even by the show's standards, print shop. A melee is in the offing when equally garish thugs attack our boys. The giggler is especially disturbing.

Ross Martin, Henry Beckman, Sherry Jackson

The detective work for which our agents are renowned (a marriage announcement at the print shop) has led them to the proposed next victim. The wealthy Paul J. Lambert played by Henry Beckman is set to marry the much younger Michele LeMaster played by Sherry Jackson. Aha! Artemus sets about trying to dissuade Lambert from an action that could result in his murder while Jim goes back to the print shop.

Agnes Moorehead

Jim's investigation at the print shop brings him into the orbit of Miss Emma Valentine played by guest star Agnes Moorehead. Miss Valentine is a renowned Washington hostess who has been touring the west and treating her guests to amazing parties and personalities. By the way, she also hosts weddings. H'm. Perhaps Jim would consent to be presented at one of her parties. A real live Secret Service Agent! Perhaps. 

Agnes Moorehead

Refusing to wait for the official invitation, Agent West surreptitiously begins his own investigation of Miss Valentine's home. Jim should have realized that the clever Miss Emma Valentine would have her own unique and colourful alarm system.

Agnes Moorehead, Robert Conrad

Jim finds himself trapped! It is a device of Miss Valentine's consisting of robotic arms that can caress or crush at the touch of a button. Oh, dear! At least it gives Jim time to hear Miss Emma Valentine's ultimate goal. Villains do love to boast! Why is she arranging the marriages and deaths of these men of wealth? 

Emma Valentine: "I regard myself not as a criminal but as a savior of all womankind." 

Jim West: "And what do women have to be saved from?"

Emma Valentine: "From domination of the spirit, economic exploitation, annihilation of the mind; in brief, all of the injustices wrought by men."

Emma Valentine will control enough wealth to become a political power. She would like to be queen for a time before releasing a grateful nation into a democracy where she will be elected president. It is good to have goals.

Agnes Moorehead, Diane McBain, Ross Martin

Arte is in disguise as that necessary component to a successful wedding, an effusive and fussy tailor. However, he is recognized by Elaine Dodd, a not-so-bereaved widow in the case played by Diane McBain. While tonight's bride Michele is an unwilling participant in Miss Valentine's scheme, Mrs. Dodd is a sincere follower. Arte's goose is cooked.

Agnes Moorehead, Robert Conrad, Ross Martin

After the commercial break, we find our heroes, in serial-like fashion about to meet their demise in a most ingenious fashion. Jim and Arte are tied to the stained glass rooftop of the wedding chapel, surrounded by wires attached to the piano downstairs. When Mrs. Dodd strikes the final chord of the wedding recessional they shall tumble lo those many feet below killing themselves and the wealthy, newly-married Paul J. Lambert. Will our heroes win the day?

Let the vanquishing begin!

The Night of the Vicious Valentine concluded with Emma's incarceration yet it was open-ended enough that we were teased with the idea of the villain making a re-appearance. Sadly, it was not to be but we did have one perfect, tidy episode featuring the talented Agnes Moorehead.

Leigh Chapman

1939-2014

Actress (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and writer (Dirty Mary Crazy Larry) Leigh Chapman wrote The Night of the Vicious Valentine giving us the welcome feminist slant presented by our quirkily megalomaniac villainess. It is one of six episodes Leigh wrote for The Wild Wild West.

"I wrote action-adventure. I couldn't write a romantic comedy or a chick flick if my life depended on it. I could write a love story, but it would have to be a Casablanca type of love story, and some people would have to die." - Leigh Chapman quote on the IMDb

Agnes Moorehead

1900-1974

Agnes was Emmy nominated seven times, six times for the role of Endora on Bewitched, and a win for her guest-starring role of Emma Valentine on The Wild Wild West in 1967.

Agnes Moorehead as Emma Valentine

Agnes Moorehead is a joy to watch in the role of the confident and crazy Emma Valentine. Agnes's performance is enhanced by an array of colourful and exquisitely detailed costumes. She looks magnificent and handles the hats, skirts, bustles, and capes with aplomb. Aggie preens, toys with adversaries, rules with an iron fist, and gleefully orchestrates all sorts of mayhem in the creation of her memorable, award-winning character.

Note: My contribution to the first Agnes Moorehead blogathon in 2016 was the noir western Station West, 1948.

What a Character! blogathon: Harry Cording

It is the time of year we all look forward to when Paula's Cinema Club, Once Upon a Screen, and Outspoken and Freckled host their "What a Character!" Blogathon. This year, December 5th is the big day. Click on the highlighted blogs to access the articles.

Harry Cording

1891-1954

Above is Harry Cording as he was mostly seen throughout his 278 film Hollywood career, uncredited or a name grabbing ahold of the end of the credits. He could be counted on to bring the menace or to let the hero show how brave he is by defeating Harry's strong man. Here Harry is a warder confronting prisoner Randolph Scott in Captain Kidd, 1945.

Hector William Cording was born on April 26, 1891, in Bengal, India. His father was a soldier in the 1st Rifle Brigade hence the family traveled. The family settled in Portsmouth, England in Harry's childhood. Harry joined the Army at the age of 16 and his years of Service include 1910 to 1919. During the Great War, he was an artillery gunner.

Post-war, Harry was a steward on transatlantic steamers for two years. He applied for American naturalization papers in 1922 and by 1925 was in Hollywood. The Knockout, 1925 gives Harry a decent-sized role for director Lambert Hillyer. It is supposed that Harry entered the picture business as a stunt man and this lost movie features a boxing storyline. 

Even the casual fan of 1930s films will be familiar with Harry's face in many classics and B movies of the day, Marie Antoinette (executioner), Treasure Island (pirate), The Last of the Mohicans (trapper), Charlie Chan in Paris (gendarme), The Count of Monte Cristo (jailer), Roman Scandals (soldier), and much more. (Remember: 278 movies!)

Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Harry Cording

The Black Cat

An outstanding role during this period is in Edgar Ulmer's The Black Cat, 1934 for Universal. The creepy and influential horror picture starred Boris Karloff as Hjalmar Poelzig and Bela Lugosi as Dr. Vitus Werdergast. In the battle between these sworn enemies, Werdergast has the help of his mute assistant Thalmal, whose loyalty is unquestioned and his strength admired.

Harry took on the pivotal role of Dickon Malbete in The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938 for William Keighley and Michael Curtiz. Dickon is visible throughout as one of the nobles at the side of Guy of Gisborne and is a convenient assassin when it is learned that King Richard has returned to England.

Claude Rains, Harry Cording, Basil Rathbone

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Gisborne: "Dickon was a knight before your brother hacked off his spurs for some little mischance. There's nothing he wouldn't do for a king who would restore him to rank."

Prince John: "You don't love my brother I hear."

Dickon: "I have little reason to, Your Highness."

Dickon will be restored to full rank with the title and lands of Robin of Locksley upon the murder of Richard. Little Much played by Herbert Mundin will have something to say about that in an exciting sequence.

Harry Cording, Glenn Strange

Stage to Chino

Henchmen as ever were!

Harry can be spotted as a western henchman as early as To the Last Man, 1933 for Henry Hathaway. During the late 1930s and into the 1940s Harry really racked 'em up at RKO with some decent roles in Stage to Chino, The Marshal of Mesa City, Law and Order, and later in well-remembered movies such as The Big Trees, Al Jennings of Oklahoma, Santa Fe Trail, and The Spoilers.

Harry was a member in good standing of the Sherlock Holmes unit at Universal Studios, appearing in seven of the 12 films in the series. Director Roy William Neill considered Harry something of a good luck charm, coming in behind Mary Gordon's eight appearances as Mrs. Hudson.

Harry Cording, Basil Rathbone

Harry's best role in the series, and certainly my favourite is as Captain John Simpson in The House of Fear, 1945 fashioned from Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips.

Drearcliffe House in Scotland is where seven members of a group calling themselves The Good Comrades are residing. The "good comrades" are being murdered one at a time following the receipt of a letter containing a number of orange pips which corresponds to the number of companions. Such an occurrence is catnip to Sherlock Holmes.

Harry Cording - You've got mail!

Simpson: "What are you going to do about this, Inspector? What are you going to do? Holmes tried to protect Cosgrave and now he's dead!"

Lestrade: "Scotland Yard is in charge now."

Harry Cording's character is a sea-faring fellow with a lot of bluster. His smelly tobacco and his tattoos are a boon for anyone searching for clues. His temper brings some character to the staid dinners at Drearcliffe House. 

Along with the mystery and the cast filled with familiar character actors, Roy William Neill and cinematographer Virgil Miller give us a delightful highlight with Nigel Bruce's Watson alone in the spooky old house during a storm. 

Harry's roles in other films in the Holmes series.

Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror, 1942

Camberwell is on the wrong side of the law but the right side of fighting Nazis

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, 1943

Be wary, Holmes! Jack Brady works for Professor Moriarty. 

The Spider Woman, 1943

Fred Garvin, a henchman for master criminal Adrea Spedding played by Gale Sondergaard is in a rooftop gun battle with Sherlock Holmes. 

The Pearl of Death, 1944

George Gelder is a sculptor. How did his work become involved in murder and theft?

Terror by Night, 1946

Harry is Mock, a carpenter. He fashions a most extraordinary coffin for this client played by Renee Godfrey.

Dressed to Kill, 1945

Hamid is a driver who tackles other jobs when required by his criminal bosses Patricia Morison and Frederick Worlock. They are a team.

Harry Cording, Byron Palmer

Detective Sgt. Bates observes Inspector Paul Warwick

Man in the Attic

Harry married Margaret Fiero in 1938 and their family came to include four children. Harry Cording passed away in 1954 at the age of 63. Up to the end, he was doing his job providing interesting movie characters for sharp-eyed fans to spot in such titles as Man in the Attic (a remake of The Lodger), Down Three Dark Streets, The Black Shield of Falworth, and East of Eden.

Best Picture nominees featuring Harry Cording: The Patriot, 1928, The House of Rothschild, 1934, Viva Villa!, 1934, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, 1935, Naughty Marietta, 1935, Les Miserables, 1935, Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935 (winner), Captain Blood, 1935, The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938, The Grapes of Wrath, 1940, and For Whom the Bells Tolled, 1943.

Edgar G. Ulmer gives direction on The Black Cat to an attentive Bela Lugosi and Julie Bishop, and the relaxed Harry Cording.

Biographical source:

Sherlock Holmes and the Fabulous Faces

by Michael A. Hoey - Bear Manor Media, 2011

CAFTAN WOMAN'S CHOICE: ONE FOR DECEMBER ON TCM

Perhaps if I told you that Robert Greig played the butler to a wealthy screwball family in The Cheaters that would be enough for you to agree with my December choice. However, if I then told you that halfway through the movie Greig disappears (he does leave a note), you might decide to forego the pleasure, and that would be a shame.

Directed by Joseph Kane, a name pleasantly associated with many westerns, this 1945 holiday feature from Republic Studios stands out in that gentleman's career. The story for The Cheaters is by Albert Ray (Charlie Chan in Reno) whose wife Frances Hyland (The Sin of Nora Moran) completed the screenplay following his untimely passing in 1944.

 

Joseph Schildkraut as Anthony Marchand

Mr. M: "Gratitude in most men is usually a secret desire to receive greater benefits."

Wealthy Uncle Henry has died in Colorado leaving his $5 million estate to an actress he saw as Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin 30 years ago. His relatives, the Pidgeons of NYC could use that money. James Pidgeon played by Eugene Pallette is successful, but cash flow at present is dripping. His family, however, lives life large as if the coffers were full.

The Pidgeon family includes scatterbrained wife Clara played by Billie Burke, stuffy daughter Therese played by Ruth Terry, bratty daughter Angela played by Ann Gillis, smart alec son Reggie played by David Holt, and Clara's brother Willie the souse, who will not leave, played by Raymond Walburn. 

Eugene Pallette as James C. Pidgeon

Pidgeon: "I don't think I'm being too callous when I think of what the girls and Clara and Reggie can do with that money."

Therese wants to impress her boyfriend Captain Stephen Bates played by Robert Livingston. Stephen is from a wealthy family whose mother accepts charity cases into the home at Christmas. Therese wants to do the same. Through an agency, enter "Mr. M," former noted stage actor Anthony Marchand played by Joseph Schildkraut. Mr. M is a charming scoundrel who is not above taking advantage of his sudden good luck. Robert Greig as the butler MacFarland has seen Mr. Marchand during his heyday and has a particular soft spot for that gentleman. Mr. Marchand opportunely overhears secrets and observes behaviors that place him in the role of a puppeteer to the Pidgeons.

Marchand eavesdrops on the Pidgeon's scheme to keep Uncle Henry's money in the family. All they have to do is beat Uncle Henry's lawyer's to the identity and whereabouts of the unaware heiress and keep her under wraps and in the dark about her good fortune. In a necessary and most gentlemanly agreement, the Pidgeons agree to cut Mr. Marchand in on the deal. The conspiracy to cheat Miss Watson is tight on all sides.

Billie Burke as Clara Pidgeon

Clara: "I haven't the faintest idea."

Assuming the little girl remained in the show business as an adult, it was easy enough to track down Miss Florie Watson who is flat broke. She knows she is not a long-lost relative of the Pidgeons but when a gal is about to find herself out on the sidewalk without a penny, she'll play along. Florie feels genuine guilt at "cheating" the rich family while she is surrounded by those who would swindle her. It will not surprise you to learn that a conversation reveals that this Miss Watson is indeed the genuine heir.

When the newspapers get wind of the whole bequest and search business, the Pidgeons and their guests high-tail it to a Connecticut farm owned by Pidgeon's company. It is there, without servants and with the spirit of Christmas around them that hearts and minds are changed. Florie Watson has a lot to do with the redemption of the family as her sincerity and "regular" personality wins their hearts. Mr. M has a lot to do with it, for filled with brandy he is filled with remorse. After all, when you set out to be a cheater, you must be careful not to cheat yourself.

Ona Munson as Florie Watson

Florie: "Oh, that's the trouble with me, I talk too much."

Note 1: When the St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choristers arrive on a sleigh and sing Silent Night, and if you are drinking a nice Riesling, there is the chance that you may get a tad verklempt. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Note 2: If you are still skeptical about this selection, let Ruth at Silver Screenings convince you to watch The Cheaters. 

The story and its telling, and the cast and their skill make The Cheaters an unexpected Christmas story that will sneak up on you. Give it a couple of years and you and it will become old holiday companions. 

TCM is screening The Cheaters on Wednesday, December 23rd. Take a quiet moment during Christmas week to share the studio snow, the bravura Schildkraut performance, and renew your acquaintance with the redemptive quality of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Perhaps you could double it up with The Shop Around the Corner for a Schildkraut double bill.

Of note: 

Joseph Schildkraut, Ann Dvorak, John Wayne

Flame of the Barbary Coast

It might surprise you to know that The Cheaters was the second of five Kane films featuring Oscar-winner (The Life of Emile Zola) Joseph Schildkraut. Their other collaborations are Flame of the Barbary Coast, 1945, Plainsman and the Lady, 1945, Old Los Angeles, 1948, and The Gallant Legion, 1948.

NOTICE

The decision at the TCM website to block users from the future schedule after all these years, has put this blog feature since 2011 in a precarious position. Thankfully, in late December I found access through some helpful online sources. Here's hoping the "new and improved" website is still undergoing its improvements.

NOIRVEMBER FUN: My Favorite Brunette, 1947

"When I came to I was playing post office with the floor. I had a lump on my head the size of my head. Inside, Toscanini was conducting The Anvil Chorus with real blacksmiths."

- Ronnie Jackson

Many great films-noir were released in 1947: Nightmare Alley, Crossfire, Born to Kill, Kiss of Death, Out of the Past, The Lady from Shanghai, Railroaded, and Dark Passage. If ever a film style were ripe for spoofing, that time was 1947. 

Ronnie Jackson, a San Francisco baby photographer played by Bob Hope, narrates to the press the story of his life up to his imminent execution. Sob sister Ann Doran wants the "woman's angle" and the woman, in this case, has plenty of angles. (I couldn't help myself!)

Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour

"Nutty as a fruitcake, and with all that beautiful frosting."

- Ronnie Jackson

Dorothy Lamour, Bob's co-star in 11 movies, plus 3 cameos, plays Carlotta Montay, a mysterious woman who consults detective Sam McCloud about her kidnapped husband or uncle, who may or may not really be kidnapped. Only, as convoluted as is Carlotta's story, so is that of the detective.

Alan Ladd, Bob Hope

Sam McCloud, Private Eye has the office across from Ronnie Jackson, Baby Photographer and the proximity has filled Ronnie's head with the idea that he too can be a detective. After all, he has a trench coat and has invented a key-hole shaped lens which should and does come in handy. When McCloud played by Alan Ladd in a smart cameo leaves town for a few days, he gives Ronnie the key to his office to look after things. Enter Carlotta Montay and all "Hope" is lost. (I couldn't help myself.)

Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Charles Dingle

The next stop is one of those Spanish style mansions on the California coast where Ronnie is slow to take up Carlotta's cues to watch what he says around her "keepers." Charles Dingle (The Little Foxes) is Major Montague with a dripping southern accent and a sinister air. He runs the show. Peter Lorre (The Maltese Falcon) is Kismet, a sarcastic henchman disguised as a gardener. Kismet is an expert with knives and resents Ronnie giving him the nickname of "Cuddles." He resents it very much!

Bob Hope, Peter Lorre

"Easy, Cuddles. One move and you're a dead midget."

- Ronnie Jackson

John Hoyt (Brute Force) plays the taciturn Dr. Lundau. Every gang needs a taciturn doctor especially when you have replaced the femme fatale's uncle with a phony in a wheelchair. Both the genuine and phony uncles are played by Frank Puglia (Colorado Territory). Lon Chaney Jr. (Of Mice and Men) spoofs poor Lenny as Willy, the dumb muscle in the gang. Ronnie is Willy's pal. Someday Ronnie is going to buy Willy a rabbit. Jack La Rue (No Orchids for Miss Blanding) is the smart muscle in the gang.

The gang has spirited Carlotta and her uncle the Baron to a sanitarium with the bucolic name of Seacliffe Lodge. Ronnie is led there by the gang and before he can find Carlotta he finds Charles Arnt as an inmate playing a round of golf with an invisible golf ball. Bob Hope contributed this comic scene to the picture. 

"The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after but the audience doesn't care."

- Alfred Hitchcock

The MacGuffin in My Favorite Brunette is a map to a source of uranium that the bad guys want to keep from the State Department. Enter Reginald Denny (Skinner's Dress Suit) as an engineer hoping to collaborate with the real Baron Montay and present the information to the government. The bothersome engineer presents Kismet/Cuddles with the long-sought-for opportunity to use his knife and frame the hapless Ronnie Jackson for the murder!

 

Lon Chaney Jr., Bob Hope

Carlotta and Ronnie trail the gang to Washington where more gags abound in their effort to lay the murder where it belongs but as we recall from the opening, Carlotta seems to have left Ronnie hanging. (I couldn't help myself!)

All's well that ends well when Carlotta and one of Ronnie's baby photography clients, Mrs. Fong played by Jean Wong, come through with vital clues that free Ronnie. This turn of events is most annoying to the executioner "Harry." Cue Bing Crosby's cameo appearance!

On radio and television, Bob Hope was apt to make jokes about his writers, but he certainly knew a good thing when he had it. The writers of My Favorite Brunette, Jack Rose and Edmund Beloin got their start on the radio before moving to screenplays. Rose had three Oscar nominations for The Seven Little Foys, 1955, Houseboat, 1958, and A Touch of Class, 1973. Edmund Beloin had a Writers Guild of America nomination for G.I. Blues, 1960, and wrote and produced classic TV including My Three Sons and Family Affair. Rose and Beloin combined on 13 of Bob Hope's popular movies of the 1940s and 1950s.

Elliott Nugent, the actor turned stage and film producer/director directed My Favorite Brunette, the last of 5 movie collaborations between Nugent and Hope beginning in 1938 with Give Me a Sailor through Never Say Die, The Cat and the Canary, and Nothing But the Truth.

Giving My Favorite Brunette the film noir aura was cinematographer Lionel Linden (I Want to Live!, Quicksand, The Manchurian Candidate). Linden filmed nine of Hope's comedies including Casanova's Big Night and Alias Jesse James. 

Edith Head, the femme fatale's best friend, with Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope are always a wonderful team and particularly so in My Favorite Brunette. Bob's cowardly-custard characterization adapts to many situations but a film noir where our lead is continually off-balance is comedy gold.

Dorothy Lamour was born to be a femme fatale which she often played in the "Road" pictures. However, Johnny Apollo, 1940 and Manhandled, 1949 were her only chances at an actual noir.

Bob Hope

"You see, I wanted to be a detective too. It only took brains, courage, and a gun...and I had the gun."

- Ronnie Jackson

My Favorite Brunette was one of Paramount's top-grossing pictures of 1947 and deservedly so. The noir crowd is sure to enjoy its many allusions to the works of Raymond Chandler, particularly Murder, My Sweet, 1944. Hope's narration throughout provides many giggles and guffaws.

2021 CMBA Winners

THE SIXTH ANNUAL BARRYMORE TRILOGY BLOGATHON: The Secret of Convict Lake, 1951

Crystal at In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood is hosting The Sixth Annual Barrymore Trilogy Blogathon which runs on November 15 - 17. Please enjoy the tributes which may be accessed HERE. 

The Secret of Convict Lake is an ensemble western released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1951. Based on a short story by science fiction writers Anna Hunger and Jack Pollenfex, the screenplay is attributed to Oscar Saul (Woman in Hiding) with uncredited contributions from Ben Hecht (The Front Page).

Director Michael Gordon (Another Part of the Forest, An Act of Murder) would find this assignment his last in Hollywood until Pillow Talk in 1959. He became another victim of McCarthyism in the paranoid America of the 1950s.

Ethel Barrymore

1879 - 1959

Every community needs its moral centre or compass. The isolated community of Lake Monte Diablo finds its centre in "Granny." The small settlement relies on their elder played by Ethel Barrymore, especially this winter when the men have gone in search of a silver strike to support their families.

Coping with the harsh conditions in their valley is Gene Tierney as Marcia, engaged to Rudy Schaefer played by Harry Carter, and Ann Dvorak as Rachael, Rudy's spinster sister. Ruth Donnelly plays Mary Fancher, and Helen Westcott plays Susan Haggarty. Jeanette Nolan and Barbara Bates play Harriet and Barbara Purcell, mother and daughter.

Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore

The lonely settlement is invaded by five men; five convicts that remain from a mass breakout. Some were recaptured, some fell victim to a blizzard while crossing the mountains that took them to Lake Monte Diablo. The village was the destination of Jim Canfield played by Glenn Ford. He was sentenced for a murder and robbery by the lies of Rudy Schaefer.

The village was the destination of Johnny Greer played by Zachary Scott because he wants the forty thousand dollars he believes Canfield has hidden in the valley. Fate drew the lots of the three remaining men, the brutal Matt played by Jack Lambert, pragmatic Limey played by Cyril Cusack, and a psychotic rapist Clyde played by Richard Hylton.

Ensemble

The women are not without resources and wits, but it is a perilous and unexpected situation in which they find themselves. By instinct, they turn to Granny who is a shrewd judge of character and, despite being mostly bedridden, a woman of action.

The relationships among this unlikely group of hunted men and hostages vacillate between wariness and curiosity. Canfield's focus on the absent Rudy Schaefer distresses Marcia. Their emotions are complicated by a strong attraction for each other. Johnny takes advantage of Rachael's longing for romance and adventure in the outside world. Naive Barbara precipitates a violent incident involving young Clyde. In the end, all rely on the wisdom and fortitude of "Granny."

The tangled tale is an engrossing western with well-formed characters for its brief runtime of  83 minutes. Location shooting in Colorado and California is combined effortlessly with studio bound scenes by the black and white cinematography of two time Oscar nominee Leo Tover (The Heiress, Hold Back the Dawn).

Legendary stage star Ethel Barrymore made her last Broadway appearance in Embezzled Heaven in 1944. From that time, she worked in Hollywood films beginning with the Oscar-winning role of Ma Mott in None But the Lonely Heart. Of the 21 movies that would follow, Miss Barrymore would garner three more Oscar nominations for The Spiral Staircase, 1947, The Paradine Case, 1948, and Pinky, 1950.

Ethel Barrymore's Hollywood tenure was relatively brief considering her long and historic career, but she left us the benefit of her talents in dramas, thrillers, films-noir, comedies, musicals, and, probably a surprise to her, the fascinating western, The Secret of Convict Lake.