BLAST OF SILENCE (1961) (A-minus) -This no-name production is a shot of adrenaline that follows a depressed hit-man during the holidays as he plots the murder of a mid-level mob boss in Manhattan. Allen Baron directs, writes and stars as Frank Bono, a nihilistic hit-man "from Cleveland" who slinks along the streets of New York casing the moves of his prey while trying awkwardly to reconnect with an old flame (Molly McCarthy).
It takes a while to get used to the dark, beatnik narration that takes place mostly in Frank's cluttered mind. Baron is no great thespian, but he has a De Niro gravitas about him. The character is mostly a downer, though he does interact playfully with a fat, bearded hippie-dippie gun dealer played by Larry Tucker, who has a modern bearing and delivery. (Tucker would continue on mostly as a writer, with "The Monkees" and "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" among his credits.) This sharp character study builds economically to a profoundly menacing conclusion.
Baron would put out two more features later in the decade before settling in to TV directing the rest of his career. It's a shame that his talents would be wasted on episodes of "The Brady Bunch" and "House Calls," because he had a great eye, a knack for storytelling (though Waldo Salt ("Serpico") is credited with writing the narration, which is rooted in beat poetry), and a feel for the grimy streets and back alleys. One memorable long take shows Frank walking down a couple of long city blocks, from a blurry distance and then sharply into the camera. You have to think that Martin Scorsese and other American New Wave directors were paying attention to this taut, understated thriller.
SPOTTED: Well, he's not seen, but we do hear Lionel Stander -- the leather-faced and gravel-voiced Max from the 1980s TV show "Hart to Hart" -- as the gruff narrator.
LURED (1947) (B+) - Lucille Ball is a modern star in this playful mystery from Douglas Sirk ("Written on the Wind"). The future queen of TV comedy plays Sandra Carpenter, a lively redheaded ex-pat recruited by Scotland Yard to help catch the creep behind the disappearance of beautiful women who answer his personals ads. The suspect also likes to send bad poetry to tease Scotland Yard's finest.
Veteran character actor Charles Coburn plays the avuncular chief inspector, and George Sanders ("While the City Sleeps") shines as a rakish playboy who becomes a suspect. Boris Karloff adds comic relief as a delusional photographer who lures Sandra to his lair. But it is Ball who lights up every scene, tossing off one-liners but also holding her own dramatically.
This one drags under the weight of its 102-minute run, and the ending is fairly ridiculous, but the stars and the glitz make it a lot of fun.
SPOTTED: Alan Napier -- Alfred the butler from the original "Batman" TV series -- plays a police inspector.
SLEEP, MY LOVE (1948) (C) - The second half of the Douglas Sirk double feature suffers from weak plotting and flat performances. Claudette Colbert hams it up as Alison, a woman who wakes up on a train trip from New York to Boston, not understanding how she got there. Soon she is being gaslighted into thinking that she shot her husband and is going crazy.
Don Ameche adds little in his role as the smarmy husband. The screen lights up only when Robert Cummings ("The Bob Cummings Show") breezes into the picture as Alison's champion who is suspicious of those around her. Cummings and Rita Johnson as his Blondie-like pal execute a delightful banter that sharply contrasts with the sluggish and morose proceedings. And sultry Hazel Brooks vamps it up with extra camp as the femme fatale cooped up in a love nest. However, this one never really adds up to anything coherent.
SPOTTED: Raymond Burr -- before "Perry Mason" and "Ironsides" -- sleepwalks through a role as an enabling police detective.
TWO MEN IN MANHATTAN (B+) - This jazzy noir from Jean-Pierre Melville is itself also a throwback homage to the newspaper movies of the 1930s. Melville stars as Moreau, a reporter from Agence France Presse assigned to track down a French diplomat who went missing from his post at the United Nations. Moreau recruits Pierre (Pierre Grasset), an ethically challenged street photographer, to hit the trail, starting with the numerous mistresses the diplomat apparently has scattered around Manhattan, women connected with the entertainment business. (Michele Bailly is particularly striking as a sexy yet morose burlesque dancer.)
Melville, a New Wave legend, is bebopping in the same territory as John Cassavetes was at the time, with the film "Faces" and the TV show "Johnny Staccato." Melville's rendering of Manhattan is of a city that is both dimly lit and glitzy. A French fatalism peppers the dialogue. The dames are busty and sad. The journalism is seat-of-the-pants. The two men make this a mini buddy road movie within the confines of the big city.
Melville sets an urgent pace (this one's a brisk 84 minutes) while delving into the minds and motivations of our two men in Manhattan. The ending has a fitting twist and a right jab.
SPOTTED: It's a French film, so the pickings are slim, so we'll give a shout-out to this guy, Billy Beck, from countless sitcoms:
DARK CITY (1950) (C-minus) - We were never big fans of Charlton Heston, and his film debut doesn't change our mind. The plot is a mess, and the resolution is unsatisfying. Heston plays a stud-muffin who happens to run a bookie joint with Jack Webb (refreshing as a smart-ass) and Ed Begley (a sweaty heart-attack waiting to happen). Webb is also paired with his future dragnet co-star Harry Morgan, who plays an addled war veteran who might be smarter than he looks.
The group scams a businessman visiting New York out of a check that doesn't belong to him during two nights of poker, leading the poor schmuck to hang himself in his hotel room. When the man's brother -- an unseen lurker -- targets the men, Heston and Webb high-tail it to L.A., where Heston begins to seduce the widow (Viveca Lindfors), a refreshing break from the clingy torch singer (Lizabeth Scott) who won't leave him alone back in Manhattan. The middle third, featuring Lindfors, holds out promise as some suspense builds, but that quickly unravels and the film limps to a pat and unbelievable final scene.
SPOTTED: Don DeFore -- from TV's "Hazel" -- plays the swindled business traveler.
BONUS TRACK
The jazz scene from "Two Men in Manhattan," with the slow reveal of the singer in the '50s bullet bra:
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