I stumbled on a movie shown as the featured film noir of the week on TCM, one I'd never heard of, called "Try and Get Me!"(1950). Though I would have posted about it anyway, it turns out it's based on a novel called "The Condemned" by Jo Pagano. And although it is categorized as a film noir, it plays with the conventions of the genre skillfully and accomplishes much more. Still, because the facts of life for many of us are often the tropes of which films noir are made, "Try and Get Me" does fit into this genre fairly well.



I won't say much, because it would risk spoiling the impact of "Try and Get Me." What I will say is that it has its flaws, but they are probably the result of studio interference and the need to conform somewhat to the tenor of the times. Thus, it seems like several films in one: crime drama, documentary, social commentary, and domestic melodrama all come quickly to mind. 

However, the acting, particularly from the leads, Lloyd Bridges (who'll remind you of Richard Widmark in "Kiss of Death") and Frank Lovejoy (a very ironic name in the context of this movie), is riveting. So, too are the supporting actresses. Adele Jergens, as a blonde bombshell femme fatale type, is perfect, and an actress I'd never heard of, Katherine Clarke, is especially touching as a wallflower looking for love. 

The plot centers around the absolutely desperate plight of Lovejoy's Howard, a vet who never went overseas and can't find work, even though he's moved to California from Boston. He lives in a one-room shack with his pregnant wife and young son, and he's at the end of his rope. His pride and self-esteem have taken such a beating that he's easy prey for Bridges' egotistical hood. (he's kind of an homme fatale!)

Based on a real-life case from the 1930s that is the grist for the most frightening episodes in the movie, moments that you can't wait to end because they are so frightening.

W/o spoiling anything, if you should have a chance to see it, the last ten minutes or so are grueling; they show human nature in a pitiless light that we rarely see in movies from that era. Also, when you see college kids in that scene, keep in mind that it was college kids who played much the same role in the 1930s case from which the movie and novel draw.

Recommended if only b/c I want to compare notes with someone on this!

The 2004 adaptation of Merchant of Venice is brilliant, easily one of the best film adaptations of Shakespeare I've ever seen.

Barring any late entries it appears that I'm the winner this month and so I choose...

This was one of my favorite assignments from the original film club. Unfortunately, I'm still obsessively using my free time to watch Lugosi films, and the only one he did that could possibly meet these requirements was his final film (if you can even call it that) which is still a long while away for me!

Man, I wish I had time to rewatch 2001, Solaris, the Trek films, etc.

It absolutely counts, I love that serial even if it wasn't as great as the earlier Radarmen From the Moon. I did a serial theme that last time around and this was one of the first I made sure I re-watched. 

Fire up the spaceship ma, i'm riding the spaceways last night! And I do mean fire literally as in this one the spaceship travels through space with a fiery rocket thrust. It was the 1961 and The Phantom Planet is an asteroid inhabited by shrunken people that utilizes a spacial warp to travel through the voids of space. A 2 man Mars mission ends up in the path of the hurtling "planet" and one of the pilots is killed while the survivor awakens upon the asteroid and finds he has shrunken to the proportions of the residents. And of course there are 2 beautiful women fighting over the new man in town but he only wants to escape and return to Earth. He does fall in love eventually with the mute beauty Zetha and finds out that the planetoid's space travels is due to the flaming fighter crafts of the Solarite's constant attacks. There is a giant captured Solarite (typical giant bug eyed moon monster variety) fight where mute Zetha is saved by our heroic Terran spaceman which shocks her back into being able to speak where she confesses her love. Our astronaut helps save the planetoid (now known to be named Rheton) from the Solarites and even though he loves Zetha he sneaks back into his space suit breathing normal oxygen and resumes his human size and is rescued by another Earth rocket team. 

Typical silly 50/60's simplistic science fiction. But this is the stuff I grew up on with rocket ships and aliens and planets as man blasts into outer space. Won't win any Oscar's but a great little turn your brain off, don't over think it and just sit back and enjoy the fun type of movie which Hollywood doesn't really do anymore.

In order to travel into Outerspace you must first have a Conquest of Space! Especially if it is 1955 and you have a planetary backed space station (looking like a giant roulette wheel) with a plan for traveling to Mars. This time the manned rocket is a giant Flying Wing with a multi tank lift off packet and once the rocket wing makes a crash landing upon Mars the main rocket detaches from the wings (another dang cool bit). After crashing the team has to spend a year in preparation until Earth and Mars are in alignment for their return trip. 

Full of outrageous special effects which were state of the art and  highly creative and new at the time are today ending up being mostly silly and very dated looking: rockets with sparklers: holy Flash Gordon, Space Station which looks almost like a plastic swimming pool floater hung on strings, space suits on Mars which look more like they are made of blue jean's and so forth. Yet they do help this movie stand out from many of the rest and it is bright and colorful. The movie itself does manage to stand above other space movies of the 50's by trying to deliver a strong story mixed with humor and religion and new ideas. Worth investing the 81 minutes to watch once at least.