HEARTACHES (1947)

HEARTACHES (1947). Director: Basil Wrangell.

Obnoxious Vic Morton (Kenneth Farrell) is making his latest romantic movie, "Heartaches," when he gets a death threat in the mail. Vic's publicity agent, Toni (Sheila Ryan of Railroaded), is afraid that her boyfriend, reporter Jimmy McDonald (Edward Norris), will discover that Vic can't actually sing a note, but is dubbed by the un-handsome Bogey (Chill Wills). Lt. Armstrong (James Seay of Beginning of the End) thinks the business with the death threats -- which keep on coming -- is just a publicity stunt, but then a couple of dead bodies turn up. Potential suspects and victims include Mike Connolly (Frank Orth), Vic's agent, and Anatole Hendricks (Edward Earle),. who can't understand why Vic won't sign a very lucrative radio contract. 

Edward Norris, Sheila Ryan, Kenneth Farrell

Heartaches is better than the usual PRC production (which should stand for "Poverty Row Crap" but actually stands for "Producer's Releasing Corporation"), although this is still a minor murder mystery with the denouement practically a foregone conclusion. It has an interesting supporting cast: Keefe Brasselle as a prop boy who is also a suspect; Western star Lash La Rue as an actor in the film-within-a film whose gun somehow has real bullets in it (this is never really explained); Arthur Space of Panther Girl of the Kongo as a postal executive who investigates the threatening letters; Terry Moore as an actress in a coming attraction; and Minerva Urecal as a cleaning lady who discovers two corpses during her rounds. As for the leads, Chill Wills adds the most flavor as the man who was a lead vocalist with a band and is now just singing off-screen. Ken Farrell is suitably bitchy and twitchy, while Ryan and Norris are both adept but not terribly appealing. NOTE: Chill Wills was also lip-syncing -- the actual singer is unknown.

Verdict: Not since milli vanilli! **1/2. 

BORN TO SPEED

Vivian Austin and Johnny Sands 

BORN TO SPEED (1947). Director: Edward L. Cahn. 

Johnny Randall (Johnny Sands) is the son of a race car driver who was killed on the track. His mother, Mrs. Randall (Geraldine Wall), is horrified at the prospect of her son following in his father's footsteps and tries to get the help of her late husband's old colleague, Breezy Bradley (Frank Orth) to dissuade him. But Breezy feels Johnny has the makings of a great midget-car racer and things get more complicated when Johnny falls for Breezy's niece, Toni (Vivian Austin billed as Terry Austin), who already has a sort-of boyfriend in rival driver Mike Conroy (Don Castle). Johnny winds up on the track in the guise of the Masked Racer. 

Johnny Sands and Geraldine Wall

Born to Speed is a fast-paced PRC programmer that benefits from some pretty good racing footage, but to say the movie is cliched and mindless is a major understatement.  The performances help a lot, with handsome Sands quite appealing as Johnny and Vivian Austin displaying sauciness if not a lot of sex appeal as Toni. Geraldine Wall had several flavorful appearances on Perry Mason some years later, and likable and adept Frank Orth had nearly 200 credits in his long career. Don Castle had quite a few credits as well, one of them being Roses Are Red. If anything Born to Speed makes clear that racing is perhaps one of the stupidest ways to make a living! 

Verdict: Another PRC non-winner. **.