REPENT AT LEISURE

Wendy Barrie and Kent Taylor

REPENT AT LEISURE (1941). Director: Frank Woodruff. 

Wealthy heiress Emily Baldwin (Wendy Barrie) runs off from her wedding to a greedy prince (Rafael Alcayde) and runs into Richard Hughes (Kent Taylor of The Crimson Key) on a bus. The two become instantly smitten, then Emily learns that Richard is a salesman at Baldwin's, her father's department store. She keeps her true identity a secret after they get married when Richard learns that all single men will be let go from the store due to dropping profits. The two go so far as to adopt a baby. Then Emily's father (George Barbier) invites the young man to dinner ... 

George Barbier with Michael Dunaway

Repent at Leisure is a minor but charming comedy that is consistently entertaining in its lightweight way with excellent performances to bolster the proceedings. Barrie and Kent have chemistry and make a good team, Barbier is delightful, and the picture is nearly stolen by the adorable baby (Michael Dunaway) --there's a hair-raising moment when this little charmer wanders off and nearly falls into an elevator shaft. Thurston Hall adds some fun as the owner of the rival department store, Buckingham's, who comes up with some sales strategies that backfire on him. Charles Lane is as dyspeptic as usual as Richard's boss, Cecil Cunningham (of The Hidden Hand) makes an amusing pill of his wife, and "Snowflake" Toones is charged with watching the baby -- big mistake! From RKO. 

Verdict: Adept players and an amusing script work wonders. *** 

THE 30 FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK

Lou Costello and Dorothy Provine

THE 30 FOOT BRIDE OF CANDY ROCK (1959). Director: Sidney Miller.

So somebody got the idea of doing a spoof of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (which came out over a year before this film did), a movie which was already amusing and in fact has a lot more laughs than this atrocious "comedy." It may have seemed a good idea to put Lou Costello in it (appearing without his usual partner, Bud Abbott), but the little guy has such poor material that there's nothing he can do to save it. 

Costello [Blaze of Glory] plays Artie Pinsetter, a small-town junk man and part-time inventor. After an argument, his girlfriend Emily (Dorothy Provine) runs into a cavern and the next thing they know she's grown into a giant. (After taking a shower she grows even larger, about fifty feet or more.) The Army thinks she's a giantess from Mars and her uncle (Gale Gordon), who's running for governor, just wants her to disappear. (He insists that she and Artie get married because he misunderstood what Artie meant when he said his niece had gotten "bigger.") Although Provine could play the blond bimbo with the best of them, in this she sort of plays it straight, which doesn't work at all. The movie has approximately five mild chuckles, although the expected gag at the end is funny. To make matters worse, Gale Gordon -- who could be very clever at times but is not amusing in this -- stinks up the production even more. 

Verdict: This is an effort to sit through. *1/2. 

KILL ME, DEADLY

KILL ME, DEADLY (2015). Director: Darrett Sanders.

In this film noir spoof set in 1947 and shot in black and white a private eye, Charlie Nickels (Dean Lemont), goes to see a client (Lesley-Anne Down of In the Devil's Garden) who fears her life is in danger and sure enough she is shot to death not much later. Suspects include her nerdy son, Clive (Nicholas S. Williams), sexy daughter, Veronica (Raleigh Holmes), the fired gardener and butler, and a chubby femme fatale named Mona (Kirsten Vangsness) who is a sultry singer in a nightclub. This should all be great material for a hilarious satire but the movie is slow and dull and shockingly unfunny, with only a couple of mild chuckles throughout. Occasionally the dialogue is clever, but more often cliched. The stylized performances aren't especially amusing either, defeating the whole purpose of the movie, although some of them, especially Vangsness -- who does a mean imitation of Kathleen Turner -- and Down, give it their all. The climax is a little bit interesting, but not enough to save the movie. This was based on a stage play that might have worked with the right players, but Carol Burnett herself might have been stumped by the material. Vangsness was the executive producer and two of her co-stars on Criminal Minds have parts: Shemar Moore in a bit as a piano player and Joe Mantegna as Bugsy Siegel.

Verdict: This is deadly all right. Watch Kiss Me Deadly instead. *1/2. 

CORKY OF GASOLINE ALLEY

Scotty Beckett and Jimmy Lydon

CORKY OF GASOLINE ALLEY (1951). Written and directed by Edward Bernds. Based on the comic strip Gasoline Alley by Frank King.

In this sequel to Gasoline Alley, the Wallet family, headed by Walt ((Don Beddoe of Jack the Giant Killer), deal with a number of problems. Corky (Scotty Beckett) is still running a diner with his wife Hope (Susan Morrow of Cat-Women of the Moon), and his brother Skeezix (Jimmy Lydon) has a repair and automotive shop. Skeezix' partner has gone into the service so that the fellow is short-handed and not certain how to sell or repair the many TV sets in the place. Then there's the freeloading cousin Elwood (Gordon Jones), who simply moves in with the Wallets, taking advantage of their generosity. When he allegedly hurts his back and is bedridden, the Wallet's daughter Judy (Patti Brady)  tries to trick him into revealing that he's faking; her scheme is clever. Better than the first film, Corky of Gasoline Alley is amiable and has a fair amount of laughs. 

Verdict: Basically a theatrical sitcom but with some rewards for fans of the comic strip. **3/4. 

G. I. HONEYMOON

Peter Cookson and Gale Storm

G. I. HONEYMOON (1945). Director: Phil Karlstein (Phil Karlson). 

Ann (Gale Storm of Gambling Daughters) and Lt. Bob Gordon (Peter Cookson) get married but things keep conspiring to keep them apart. They wind up renting an apartment in a place that was once a gambling casino -- leading to further complications -- and Ann incurs the wrath of the owner, Ace Renaldo (Jerome Cowan), when she manages to get a train compartment away from him via a little flirting and subterfuge. Renaldo makes certain the Military Police are informed that the place is off limits when Bob has a whole bunch of superior officers over for a cocktail party. Alleged pandemonium results. 

Gale Storm and Frank Jenks

The main strength of G.I. Honeymoon is the acting from the entire cast. Even in these early days Storm was an old pro, and Cookson displays his usual charm and adeptness. Cowan gives another excellent performance, and Frank Jenks (of The She Creature) scores a bullseye as Cowan's associate, "Blubber" Malloy. Arline Judge, Virginia Brissac (of The Mysterious Mr. M), and Jonathan Hale are also on hand and are also good, along with an uncredited actor who plays the love-smitten "Casanova." Although there are a few laughs in the film, there just aren't enough of them, with the picture coming off more as busy and frenetic than hilarious. From Monogram studios, of course.

Verdict: Just misses being a really funny movie. **1/4. 

A BRIDE FOR HENRY

Anne Nagel

A BRIDE FOR HENRY (1937). Director: William Nigh.

Spoiled socialite Sheila Curtis (Anne Nagel of The Secret Code) is furious at being stood up at her wedding by her fiance, Eric (Henry Mollison), so she importunes her lawyer Henry (Warren Hull) to marry her. The plan is for her to eventually file for divorce in Reno, but first she decides to go on a chaste honeymoon with Henry -- and then Eric shows up. Carrying a torch for his own wife, Henry takes up with blond heiress Helen Van Orden (Claudia Dell), leading to mostly unfunny complications. As Eric tries to woo back his angry former fiancee, Henry does his best to make his wife jealous. But whom will our Sheila ultimately wind up with, and will anybody care?

Claudie Dell and Warren Hull

A Bride for Henry is a minor-league would-be screwball comedy from Monogram Pictures, which tells you something right there. It's one of those movies where everyone can tell in the first minute that Sheila should be with the much more appealing Henry, but it takes her nearly an hour to figure it out. The characters are not developed beyond stereotypes, and while there's the occasional stab at a funny line or situation, the picture doesn't have the right pacing or slickness. The acting is of the overly broad, too-cutesy type that generally sinks this kind of fluffy concoction, although Nagel is still very likable and Hull, better-known as a serial hero in such as The Spider and The Green Hornet, is so handsome one can't imagine why Sheila never noticed his charms long before the picture begins. 

Verdict: Nagel and Hull give it the old college try. **1/4. 

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. **.