Movie #1727: John Rabe (2009, Florian Gallenberger)
I read the book about John Rabe a few years ago. So, why did the filmmakers add extra "facts"? To add dramatic affect. But the trouble is, if you add extra "facts" then your whole premise of this being a true story is destroyed. They might just as well have invented a fictitious character on which to base the movie. A waste of time.
Movie #1728: The Big Caper (1957, Robert Stevens)
This one really delivers. A whole set of odd-ball criminal types are contrasted against 1950s suburbia. The key roles go to Robert Harris as a pyromaniac who loves to drink gin and Corey Allen as a sociopath who loves to drink milk.
Best bit: Rory Calhoun gets slugged with a gun butt, kicked out of a car and rolls down an embankment. As the car pulls away it passes a sign: "No Dumping".
Movie #1729: Down Three Dark Streets (1954, Arnold Laven)
This may be the vacation to end my poker playing but maybe it'll end my movie watching too. How in the world can I go back to hit and miss movie watching after such a run of great movies like this. This was another winner. Broderick Crawford is the FBI man assigned to solve three cases so that they can find the killer of an FBI agent. Broderick was great and Ruth Roman and Martha Hyer were perfect examples of 50s pulchritude.
Movie #1730: Spoilers Of The Plains (1951, William Witney)
Weird. Witney is credited with creating the movies that made Roy Rogers a star. I figured I'd watch one. This movie is very odd. They've created a weird 19th/20th century hybrid. The plot concerns the Russians trying to steal America's rocket technology and yet..................... everybody rides horses! They transport the rockets on buckboards pulled by horse teams! It appears that they figure the kids will go for westerns more if they're contemporary. It's a strange idea but it seems to have worked because Roy became America's #1 cowboy star.
Also, thanks to the folks at Republic studios for not spreading the red scare to the kids. Although the adults would know that Roy is fighting commies, they only mention an "unfrienldly world power" in the movie. Could be Ecuador or maybe Luxembourg!
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