MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD

Family portrait

MA BARKER'S KILLER BROOD (1960). Director: Bill Karn. 

Ma Barker (Lurene Tuttle) is a no-nonsense, vulgar, cop-hating termagant who wants the best for her boys -- and for herself. Against her weaker husband's wishes, she encourages her boys to go out and commit jobs at an early age. She has no patience with young Herman (Don Grady), who would prefer to play his fiddle like a "sissy." Herman is the first of the gang to come to a bad end. Before long, Ma is involved with the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, and John Dillinger. After robberies, murders and kidnappings, she holds off the Feds in an hours-long battle at her farmhouse, but crime does not pay ... 

Tuttle with Ron Foster

This low-budget film probably came about because of the success of the TV show The Untouchables, which in its first season had an episode on Ma Barker played by Claire Trevor. Tuttle is just as good and as tough as Trevor, but Killer Brood is not as good as that TV episode, although both vehicles are similarly brutal. Nowadays people claim that Ma Barker was at worst an accessory, that she knew her boys were criminals but took no part in their crimes and certainly didn't plan them. Whatever the case, she has entered folklore as "the most murderous mother of them all." (Shelley Winters also played the part in Bloody Mama.) Other cast members include Ron Foster as handsome son "Doc," and Byron Foulger as a crooked physician who comes afoul of nasty Ma. Tristram Coffin has a good if small role as Barker's second husband, and he is given a notable death scene. The film follows the basic facts along with much embellishing, and has an exciting enough climax. 

Verdict: Lurid, low-budget, and really not very good despite an effective turn by Tuttle. **. 

GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER: BLAZE OF GLORY

Lurene Tuttle and Lou Costello

 "BLAZE OF GLORY." General Electric Theater. 1958.

This was the first episode for the seventh season of General Electric Theater, hosted by has-been and future president Ronald Reagan. Lou Costello plays Neal Andrews, a plumber who gets a phone call from a woman needing emergency service. His wife, Ginny (Lureme Tuttle) isn't bothered so much by the fact that the client is female as that the whole thing sounds suspicious: Lou will be picked up by a man and must wear a suit and tie instead of his plumber's outfit. Driven to a hotel by guys who seem like thugs he learns that he has been taken off by a gang of jewel thieves. 

Joe Corey and Jonathan Harris 

At the hotel, Neal meets the head of the gang, an elegant man named Favier (Jonathan Harris). A diamond has apparently dropped down the sink and Neal is required to obtain it -- or else. But with the help of a dissatisfied gun moll, Gladys (Joyce Jameson), he just might be able to outwit the thieves. Well, when they were talking about "the golden age of television," I doubt they meant this mediocre, if well-acted, episode, which isn't much different from the type of stuff Costello did in the movies minus the slapstick. A cast stand-out is Harris, who downplays the campiness he displayed on Lost in Space and delivers a fine performance as the oily and rather sinister Favier. 

Verdict: Costello is as amiable as ever even if the material is trite. **.