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Appointment With Danger
Topic Started: Aug 23 2011, 09:35 AM (258 Views)
panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I think this is the last of the Paramount Alan Ladd series. Olive Films is calling it a noir, but despite some very strange violence, it really belongs more to the heist genre, with some underpinnings from the documentary-style crime movie. The chief thing about Ladd here is that he abandons his usual flat affect three times to use "Expression B." That's the one where he flares his nostrils and widens his eyes, coming across as predator and prey simultaneously. Regardless, with Phyllis Calvert (as a nun), Paul Stewart (sardonic crime boss), Jan Sterling (jazz-mad moll), Jack Webb (cold-blooded killer), Harry Morgan (wimpy gunsel), and our old serial buddy George J. Lewis (just lookin' sleazy) on hand, there's more than enough acting for two pictures.

This is the one where the government agent infiltrates the gang to foil a heist, and is constantly being found out, then unfound out by the bad guys. The underrated Lewis Allen directs at his usual efficient brisk pace, frequently on cool railroad and industrial locations. Oh, and Webb beats Morgan to death with a pair of bronzed baby shoes. No comment on that.

Four stars. Paul Stewart is great, and Jack Webb is pretty darn scary.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Fantomas
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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And don't forget--they're his dead son's bronzed baby shoes.
"For life is short, but death is long."
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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Oh yeah! His son he never saw again after his wife ran off. Touching.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Colorist
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Good crime film. I was always a fan of Ladd's, not so much for his acting, but his on- screen presence, his kinda detached cool, and that unmistakable voice. Just for contrast, see if you can find the Lux Radio Theater version of this film. I believe Phyllis Calvert repeats her role from the film, but I think William Conrad takes over Paul Stewart's role, and William Holden takes over Ladd's role in the lead. Really interesting!









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Frank Hale
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I always liked Mr. Ladd also, but I can’t watch him anymore without thinking of Shelley Winters’ story of having to stand in a hole while kissing him to make their heights line up during the filming of “Saskatchewan”. And MAD had an enjoyable panel of him standing on a handrail to boost him up while kissing some babe on an ocean voyage.

I found "Appointment" to be minor-league-Ladd when I watched it last year. It takes more than pushing the violence envelope to make a good picture, and it seems to me that he did better with stronger directors like George Stevens, George Marshall, and John Farrow.
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