This is my entry in the Hammer-Amicus Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Cinematic Catharsis.
The blonde woman has always been a fixation for the adult male. Blondes get all the good stuff in life, hence the phrase "Blondes have more fun." But when it comes to film noir, the opposite can also be a standard trope. Look at how many blondes are the source of a downfall for the main male character in classic noir films.
Cora (Lana Turner) in The Postman Always Rings Twice? Blonde. Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) in Double Indemnity? Blonde. Elsa (Rita Hayworth) in The Lady from Shanghai? Blonde. (Note: Blonde was not always the actress' natural color, sometimes, but they were blonde in these roles.)
One could get the idea that blondes are bad news. And if you find yourself involved in the plot line of a film noir, it's probably a good idea to steer clear of any blonde women. Not that that advice would be observed by most of the male protagonists in them.
Hammer films were no stranger to this trope during their period of producing noir style films. Of course, most people who think of Hammer Films will naturally first come up with "Oh, yeah! Those people who made the Christopher Lee / Peter Cushing horror movies!" But that's not the entire output from Hammer Studios.
I won't rehash what I've already written once. If you want to see a little more see my post Hammer Films Does Film Noir . Both of these films were released in the UK under different titles, hence the "a.k.a." after the titles below.
Bad Blonde (1953): (a.k.a. The Flanagan Boy)
The American title, Bad Blonde, is much more conducive to drawing in the crowd that wanted to see film noir. The Flangan Boy??? What kind of viewing crowd would THAT draw? Sounds more like a title for a melodrama than a gritty noir. But American promoters knew better and renamed it.
The opening music is pretty much a noir type, however. The music was done by Ivor Staney, who mostly did film noir type movies over his brief career.
The movie starts at a carnival where a huckster named Sharkey (Sid James) is trying to entice amateurs to go one round of boxing with one of his boxing stars. He has a ringer in the audience, but the ringer is tripped on his way to the ring and Johnny Flanagan (Tony Wright) steps up to take his place.
After Johnny takes down Sharkey's boxer, Sharkey realizes that Johnny is not entirely the "amateur" he promotes himself as. In steps Charlie Sullivan (John Slater) who is Johnny's own promoter.
Together, Johnny, Sharkey and Sullivan decide that making a full-fledged fighter out of Johnny is a good idea. They need a backer, however, so they take him to see Giuseppe Vecci ( Frederick Valk). Giuseppe has a trophy wife, Lorna (Barbara Payton) {the "Bad Blonde" of the title.}
Lorna has the hots for Johnny and has no scruples about seducing the young boy. She initially puts up a front, at least in front of her husband. Johnny intimates that he doesn't want her watching him and she harrumphs with one of the best lines in the movie "Tellyour boy not to flatter himself. I've seen better bodies hanging in a butcher shop."
But is it all just a front? Not long after, Giuseppe, upset that his new boy and his wife aren't getting along, he invites Johnny to his birthday party, where Giuseppe gets rip-roaring drunk and stumbles around trying to dance with his wife. Really he has two left feet (or is just too drunk to stand) he gets Johnny to dance with her. Not long after, the gloves come off (and not just the boxing gloves.
A romance develops with Johnny and Lorna, and, as so often happens in noir film, they both decide they would be better off if Giuseppe wasn't around to hamper the affair. Well, at least Lorna does. Johnny, still a good fellow at heart, doesn't want anything to do with it. Until Lorna informs him that she is pregnant. She doesn't have to tell him who the father is.
So Johnny reluctantly agrees to help remove Giuseppe from the scene. He hides aboard Giuseepe's fishing boat and when Giuseppe goes out to fish, Johnny manages to engineer a drowning. Since everyone knows Giuseppe can't swim, it looks like an accident.
Of course, if that were all, Johnny and Lorna could life "happily" ever after. Unfortunately, his mama shows up from Italy. And mama knows more than anyone would think, including the fact that Lorna is not really pregnant.
Johnny is distraught over the whole thing. And decides to cure his depression in that age-old solution that many come to (unfortunately). But Sharkey and Charlie have their own way of getting revenge on Lorna,
This is a fairly straightforward remake of many film noir films that were made before it. And not entirely better acted, at that. It follows mostly along the same lines as The Postman Always Rings Twice. Although you can't blame Tony Wright for not being up to par with John Garfield, I think Barbara Payton could have given Lana Turner a run for her money. Unfortunately alcoholism cut her career short. She died at age 39 from heart failure brought on by her addiction.
Man Bait aka The Last Page (1952):
Man Bait had one of the most unbelievable subplots of any movie I have ever seen. Maybe in the 1950's it might have been shocking and possibly scandalous to kiss a woman who was not your wife. Just kiss her... not even have any more intimate contact than that... But the plot stems from just that one encounter.
Anyway, the plot revolves around a woman, Ruby (Diana Dors), who is probably the most irresponsible woman in London. She works at a book store and is notoriously late for work every day. Her supervisor, Mr. Oliver (Raymond Huntley) reprimands her and even approaches the big boss, Mr. Harman (George Brent) to have a talk with her.
After the reprimand, a customer walks in to the shop and, while he thinks no one is looking, attempts to steal a rare book from a case on which he picks the lock. Ruby spots Jeff (Peter Reynolds) and makes him put the book back. But instead of reporting him, she accepts a date with him after work.
Later, Ruby ends up having to work late with Mr. Harman. In a moment of contact with Ruby, Harman impulsively kisses Ruby.
Jeff is the unscrupulous sort, and, in case it wasn't obvious, is not averse to using any means to get money. So when Ruby tells him that Mr. Harman kissed her, Jeff concocts a plan to extort money from Harman, or else have Ruby inform his wife of the indiscretion.
Of course, even with the blackmail, it's not enough. Jeff sends a letter, purportedly from Ruby, to inform Harman's wife. But his wife (Isabel Dean), an invalid, ends up dying while trying to burn the letter. A confrontation occurs between Harman and Ruby and later, Jeff appears in the shop demanding all the money Ruby had extorted from Harman. He also ends up inadvertently killing Ruby and stashes her in a crate of books being shipped.
Harman discovers the body first as in on the run. Suspicion immediately falls on Harman when the police discover the body later. Harman enlists the help of his secretary (Marguerite Chapman) to find out the truth as to who killed Ruby.
Except for the unrealistic attempt at blackmail (surely a better path could have been written.), the intrigue involved in the discovery of the real culprit has some good film noir scenes, and overall it is a pretty good example of acting from the main cast members.
I like the idea of setting the film in a bookstore. There are a couple of problems with these scenes that do stand out, though. This is not a chain store bookstore on the same business level as, say Barnes and Noble. It's just a local bookstore, so having what looks like about 12 employees on duty does not seem all that believable from an economic standpoint.
The other thing is that Ruby seems to have a history of being late to work. Are the employers that desperate for help that they can continue to let her stay? She has obviously been doing it for some time, you see. Even if I had a hot woman like Ruby as an employee I doubt I would have let her last as long as she seems to have been doing.
Overall, I would not give this film as high a rating as it has. (IMDb rates this one higher than the previous entry, Bad Blonde...) I think Bad Blonde is a better picture. But both are fairly good given that they are British attempts at a mostly American genre.
Well, the old Plymouth is up and running, so it's time to head home.
Drive safely, folks.
Quiggy
