A LIFE AT STAKE (1954)

Any film that describes Angela Lansbury as "A cheat from her painted toes to her plunging neckline" has got to be worth seeing and that certainly applies to this intriguing little film noir by director Paul Guilfoyle and scriptwriter Russ Bender. As with the previously reviewed PLEASE MURDER ME this makes a passing nod in the direction of DOUBLE INDEMNITY but is none the worse for it. Keith Andes plays the down-on-his-luck guy who gets roped in on a lucrative deal and soon realises that the dame that comes with it is more trouble than he needs. Given her present day television user friendly image it is good to remember that from GASLIGHT In 1944 our Angie played a whole series of bitch roles - culminating in her classic mother from hell in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Andes is particularly good at conveying the hero's mounting suspicion and paranoia and there is strong support from the ever excellent Douglas Dumbrille who has a much meater role than usual. Rating ***

CRY OF THE CITY (1948)

Robert Siodmak has special place in my heart : he was the first director to scare the shit out of me. The scene was the Empire Cinema in Holloway, North London, and my mother had taken me to see Siodmak's THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. I'm not sure how old I was but I was probably about five. I didn't really understand the film and was quite bored and then suddenly the screen was filled with the image of the killer's eye. This absolutely terrified me and I watched the rest of the movies through laced fingers, praying that this horror would all end soon...but I still had to get through the films climax which was one of the most frightening memories of my childhood. For years I joked with my mother that keeping me in that cinema was tantamount to child abuse! Robert Siodmak was born in 1900 in Dresden of Polish parents and cut his cinematic teeth in Germany along with his friend Max Castle. He later worked in France before arriving in Hollywood in 1939 where he secured a contract with Universal. His first film of note was the 1943 SON OF DRACULA - an extremely atmospheric entry in the Universal horror series. This was followed by THE PHANTOM LADY which was the first of a remarkable series of film noir that he would make over the next few years : THE KILLERS, DARK MIRROR, CRY OF THE CITY, CRISS CROSS, THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN, CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY, UNCLE HARRY and DEPORTED. Add to these the high camp Maria Montez extravaganza COBRA WOMAN, and the psychological suspense of THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE and we have one of the most interesting Hollywood directors of the Forties. Siodmak's remaining career is less interesting. He left Hollywood and returned to Europe where he made THE CRIMSON PIRATE and an interesting English noir starring Nadja Tiller called THE ROUGH AND THE SMOOTH (I saw this on television during the Sixties and remember it as being rather good) before going home to Germany. His films after then seem to be of little interest. He died in 1973. CRY OF THE CITY is an very good film noir starring Victor Mature and Richard Conte as childhood friends who have grown up on different sides of the law. Mature, who, plays the cop is the nominal star, fresh from his success in KISS OF DEATH, but it is Conte who really carries the film as the convicted killer on the run. Supporting cast is excellent with Shelley Winters outstanding as the girl who tries to help Conte (several missing scenes featuring Winters have been restored for British Film Institute DVD release), Fred Clark playing it straight as Mature's sidekick and Debra Paget in her film debut. A special mention must be made of the wonderful Hope Emerson as the sinister masseuse - which almost equals her classic portrayal of the sadistic prison wardress in John Cromwell's CAGED. Rating ***