BARE BONES 17

 bare bones 17 Winter 2024. 

Yes the new barebones 17 is now out and available on Amazon. This scholarly and fun publication, edited by Peter Enfantino and John Scoleri, is chock full of fascinating articles. We've got pieces on THE FUGITIVE TV show; on the Mexican NOSTRADAMUS movies; ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE; surveys of sleazy paperback thrillers; Randall D. Larson on fanzines; and much more including a piece on the forgotten post-Peter Gunn Craig Stevens series MAN OF THE WORLD by yours truly.

https://www.amazon.com/Bare.../dp/B0CW9VLMVT/ref=sr_1_1...

SPY SHIP

Maris Wrixon and Craig Stevens

SPY SHIP (1942). Director: B. Reeves Eason. Colorized. 

Pam Mitchell (Irene Manning) works for a committee that wants to keep the United States out of WW2, but she is actually a spy for the Axis powers, paid good money by German agents operating out of a ship in New York's harbor. Her sister, Sue (Maris Wrixon), has no idea of this but disagrees with her public isolationist policy. Sue is the girlfriend of reporter Ward Prescott (Craig Stevens of The Hidden Hand), who has become suspicious of Pam's activities; Pam's father (George Irving) seems to actively hate her. Pam is stringing along a poor sap named Gordon (Tod Andrews of From Hell It Came) but is secretly in love with another traitor, Martin Oster (William Forrest), who is more interested in getting his hands on some incriminating letters he sent her. Then Koshimo Haru (Keye Luke) shows up on the ship to tell him that Japan is about to take certain steps -- the next day Pearl Harbor is bombed. 

Stevens on the story

Despite everything going on, including the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Spy Ship is dull and seems much, much longer than an hour. Irene Manning makes a good villainess, but the death of this horrible creature occurs off-screen, providing no catharsis for the audience. It is also unbelievable that Ward's editor (Frank Ferguson of The Big Night), would get so excited about covering her murder on the very day of Pearl Harbor -- that's all that anyone would be talking or reading about! Craig Stevens walks through the movie with one expression, and his character never seems to get all that excited about anything. Maris Wrixon is acceptable as the good sister, but she's too bland to be memorable. 

Verdict: Not even Keye Luke can save this. *1/2. 

THE HIDDEN HAND

Milton Parsons

THE HIDDEN HAND (1942). Director: Benjamin Stoloff. 

Insane murderer John Channing (Milton Parsons) escapes from an institution by hiding in the back of a police car! He arrives at the mansion owned by his sister, Lorinda (Cecil Cunningham), who wants his help in carrying out a sinister scheme. Convinced that her relatives are only out for her money, she invites them all to her house, fakes her death, and hopes they will all kill each other off -- or become victims of John, who is pretending to be a new butler. Lorinda's secretary, Mary (Elisabeth Fraser) is said to be her main heir, so she becomes a target almost immediately. 

Craig Stevens and Cecil Cunningham

Half an hour into the film's brief running time, the star Craig Stevens, playing lawyer Peter Thorne, who is engaged to Mary, shows up to intercede in events. There are more murders and a bit of skulduggery as well, including sequences with secret panels and trapdoors that overhang deep drops into the ocean. The male relatives are played by Roland Drew, Tom Stevenson, and Frank Wilcox, while the ladies are portrayed by Julie Bishop and Ruth Ford, with Inez Gay cast as the unfortunate maid, Hattie, and Marian Hall as the sinister nurse, Eleanor. Kam Tong is the Chinest servant Mallo, who is one of several people who come to a bad end. 

"I don't like that pigeon." Willie Best

The most likable player is Willie Best, who plays Eustis, the chauffeur. Approaching an agitated raven in his mistress' bedroom, he says, "I don't like that pigeon and he doesn't like me, either." The Hidden Hand is too loopy to work as a serious mystery film, and it isn't funny enough to work as a black comedy, so what we've got is a fairly foolish melodrama with mostly insufficient acting. Even Cecil Cunningham isn't very good, and Stevens [Peter Gunn] has little to do but look pretty. Willie Best does his usual shtick, but he steals the move doing it. Elisabeth Fraser makes little impression as Mary, but Parsons is typically effective as one of his gallery of creeps. 

Verdict: An instantly forgettable so-called comedy melodrama.  **.