Strange Cargo (1940) ***
Ain't every day that Christ himself shows up to reform Clark Gable, but he does in this black-and-white tropical adventure, notable also for the chemistry between Gable and real-life flame Joan Crawford. Novelty value.
The Third Man (1949) *****
Hapless good guy meets the underworld in post-war Vienna. Directed by Carol Reed, scripted (mainly) by Graham Greene, nonetheless this looks and feels like the greatest Orson Welles picture ever made.
Deception (1946) **
Unconvincing melodrama that grows more tedious by the minute as Bette Davis just won’t stop denying she’s been Claude Rains’s mistress. Paul Henreid’s the one she’s deceiving. It’s the cast of “Now, Voyager,” but don’t be taken in by that.
Everybody Wins (1990) **
Puzzling failure of a detective picture, apparently intended to make the point that the world is a corrupt place. Debra Winger plays a woman who is 90 miles of bad road, and poor Nick Nolte gets to drive most of them.
Out of the Past (1947) ****
Gold-standard film noir. The plot’s not exactly sleek, but Kirk Douglas’s menacing gangster certainly is, and Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer just sizzle. Is she lying? Mitchum says, “Baby, I don't care.”
Monday, October 12, 2009
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