"Saboteur" with Bob Cummings and Priscilla Lane (1942)

When I was about 4 years old I used to watch a show called “The Bob Cummings Show”, in which he played a carefree bachelor, always juggling one woman against the next. Although I was probably too young to understand the show, I did notice the actor. The next time I saw him was on good old WOR-TV in New York when I was about 7 years old. He was playing the part of a man named Barry Kane, who works in an aircraft factory during World War Two.

Basically the plot centers about a mysterious man who bumps into Barry Kane just before the factory catches fire, obviously due to arson. As the two bump into one another, the other man drops a hundred dollar bill, along with some envelopes bearing his name and address, as well as the address of the envelopes destination. Moments after he returns the money, and the envelopes, to the stranger, the fire breaks out. Barry’s friend is killed fighting the fire with an extinguisher which has obviously been filled with gasoline. Subsequently, Barry Kane is accused of being a saboteur, and the chase is on as he flees the authorities, while trying to unlock the key to the trap in which he has found himself ensnared.

This is the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I ever remember seeing. And, as I was later to learn by watching his other films, it contains all of the elements crucial to a Hitchcock film. First rate performances by Bob Cummings and Priscilla Lane make this one a winner.

Happy Shana Tova - 5773!

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"Holiday Affair" with Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh

This is another of those wonderful films which never gets the credit it deserves. It's also a repeat of last year's post on the same film.

In this Christmas tale, which takes place in the Manhattan of 1949, Janet Leigh plays a widowed mother of a 6 year old boy. She is a comparison shopper for a major department store. When she buys and then returns a set of trains, as part of her job, just before Christmas, she ignites a chain of events which involves not only her son, but also her impending marriage to a well to do attorney, whom she does not really love. In addition, when Steve, played by Robert Mitchum, does not report her covert activities to his boss, he is fired.

Finding himself homeless, and without any prospects, just in time for Christmas, he spends his last money, before leaving for the West Coast, to buy the trains for the boy. This causes some friction between the boy's mother and her fiancée, which threatens their relationship. The boy, knowing that Steve is broke, returns the trains in order to provide him with some money before he leaves New York.

The fiancée senses the feelings that have arisen between Steve and his intended bride, and graciously backs off, but Steve is unwilling to claim the love which he has won. He feels that he has been battling not only the fiancée for her affections, but also the memory of her deceased husband, a battle he cannot hope to win unless she is willing to let go of the past.

Robert Mitchum is in rare form in this romantic holiday film. Fans of Janet Leigh will be surprised at just how young she was in 1949, when this film was made. Yet within 5 years she would be one of the hottest "properties" in Hollywood, starring in several Alfred Hitchcock films, and married to Tony Curtis, a union which would give birth to actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

With many uncredited character actors to round out the cast, smart direction and a witty script give this film the momentum it needs to push it through. The storyline is ably written and still applicable to today's relationships involving "non-traditional" families. A good holiday film on several levels, yet often forgotten amongst the myriad of films available at this time of year, I dust this one off each Christmas for inspiration.

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery

Alfred Hitchcock was a very funny man. The legendary director, most well known for his films of suspense, had a very dry, and wry, sense of humor. In the early 1970's when a writer for Esquire showed up at his home for an interview, he was ushered into the kitchen to wait. He was also told to help himself to a drink from the refrigerator. Opening the door the writer was confronted with a wax head replica of Hitchcock, on a platter! When Hitchcock walked in, seconds later, the writer was hard pressed to conduct the interview for which he had come.

Aside from the film "The Trouble with Harry", a story about a neighbor whom everybody wants dead, Hitchcock did very little comedy. In almost all of his films there is an element of humor that sets the audience up for some unexpected and shocking moments. But flat out humor was a genre in which Hitchcock did very little work. That's what makes this film so interesting.

Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery play Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a couple happily married, although there are a few quirks in their relationship. For instance, when they fight with one another it can last for days. During these fights, the record being 8 days, Mr. Smith neglects his legal practice and the couple remain in their apartment, engaged in a silent war. Only when one apologizes can an argument be called off.

At the end of a 3 day fight- pictured silently in the opening scene, which is almost Chaplinesque in it's layout- Mrs. Smith asks Mr. Smith if he had to do it all again would he still marry her? This is very dangerous ground to trod!

Arriving at his office he is greeted by an official from the state in which they were married. This official explains that due to a glitch in the survey of the town where they were wed, they are in fact, not wed at all. Mr. Smith, not knowing that the same official has visited Mrs. Smith, says nothing to her about it. This is the set up for the rest of the movie, which plays as smoothly as anything by Frank Capra.

A great departure from his usual fare, this film is sharply written, and of course flawlessly directed by the master himself. No Hitchcock film would be complete without his trademark "cameo" appearance, and this film is no different. But you have to really watch for it as this film was made in 1941 when the famed Director had a slimmer profile. Here, courtesy of You Tube is the walk on scene- Hitchcock making his entrance from the left, crossing the entranceway of the apartment building.

"Holiday Affair" with Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh and Harry Morgan

In this Christmas tale, which takes place in the Manhattan of 1949, Janet Leigh plays a widowed mother of a 6 year old boy. She is a comparison shopper for a major department store. When she buys and then returns a set of trains, as part of her job, just before Christams, she ignites a chain of events that involve not only her son, but her impending marriage to a well to do attorney, whom she does not really love. In addition, when Steve, played by Robert Mitchum, does not report her activities to his boss, he is fired.

Finding himself homeless, and without any prospects, just in time for Christmas, he spends his last money, before leaving for the West Coast, to buy the trains for the boy. This causes some friction between the boy's mother and her fiancee, which threatens their relationship. The boy, knowing that Steve is broke, returns the trains in order to provide him with some money before he leaves New York.

The fiancee senses the feelings that have arisen between Steve and his intended bride, and graciously backs off, but Steve is unwilling to claim the love which he has won. He feels that he has been battling not only the fiancee for her affections, but also the memory of her deceased husband, a battle he cannot hope to win unless she is willing to let go of the past.

Robert Mitchum is in rare form in this romantic holiday film. Fans of Janet Leigh will be surprised at just how young she was in 1949, when this film was made. Yet within 5 years she would be one of the hottest "properties" in Hollywood, starring in several Alfred Hitchcock films, and married to Tony Curtis, a union which would give birth to actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

With many uncredited character actors to round out the cast, smart direction and a witty script give this film the momentum it needs to push it through. The storyline is ably written and still applicable to today's relationships involving "non-traditional" families. A good holiday film on several levels, yet often forgotten amongst the myriad of films available at this time of year, I dust this one off each Christmas for inspiration.

"The Girl In Alfred Hitchcock's Shower" by Robert Graysmith

From the author of “The Laughing Gorilla” comes another mind blowing saga of true crime. In his usual style Mr. Graysmith takes us on a journey of intrigue and suspense.

In 1946 Ed Gains mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage. This seemingly inconsequential death would set in motion a series of events that would range from the writing of a short story to the making of the blockbuster movie “Psycho” and at least one copycat serial killer. Having one of the victims turn out to be Marli Renfro, Janet Leigh’s double in the infamous shower scene, only makes this book more fascinating. Ms. Renfro was a self proclaimed “nudist” and would appear in Francis Ford Coppola’s first film “Tonight for Sure.”

Robert Bloch was home in Wisconsin for vacation in November 1954. He was a writer who would go on to write several stories that Alfred Hitchcock would use on his TV show “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

Opening his morning paper that day, Mr. Bloch read of a murder in the nearby town of Plainfield. A woman was found, decapitated and hanging in a barn. She had been eviscerated, and then hung, like a deer. In the house, investigators found belts made of nipples and pots made from skulls.

A man named Ed Gains was questioned and charged with several counts of homicide. His mother had been ill and when she died he nailed her room shut and began his descent into mental illness. His mother fixation morphed into an obsession with the bodies of dead women. He began, with the help of a friend, to dig up the graves of local women. The bodies would be mutilated and whole skins were taken to be used as costumes while dancing about. This was the genesis for Mr. Bloch’s short story “Psycho.” He would sell it in 1959 for $750 to a “True Detective” type magazine.

Alfred Hitchcock was, in 1959, looking about for his next subject. His secretary presented him with the magazine article and the race was on to acquire the rights.Being a big name like Alfred Hitchcock makes it necessary at times to use a “straw” buyer in order not to be overcharged. In this case the rights for the film were purchased for a mere $7,500. After taxes, Mr. Bloch would only ever see $5,000 for his story.

Meantime, in Los Angeles, Sonny Busch, almost a double of Anthony Perkins, lived with his mother about 8 miles from the set of “Psycho” and less than 1 mile from Ms. Renfro’s apartment. He was living with his mother on a temporary basis and she was becoming increasingly concerned with his erratic behavior. Several women had been murdered in the area recently and Sonny was a suspect in what became known as “The Bouncing Ball” strangulations.

After seeing "Psycho" he begins a murderous rampage. Over the Labor Day weekend alone, after seeing "Psycho", he kills several women who remind him of "Mother."

As usual with Mr. Graysmith, it is necessary to keep a close eye on all of the details in this true life murder mystery. You will be shocked at the ending.

Ms. Renfro was murdered in 1988 by a serial killer who had all the mental problems faced by the fictional Norman Bates in “Psycho.” The man who killed her was a handyman named Kenneth Dean Hunt. His mental illness also included a "mother fixation." In March of 2001 he was finally convicted of the strangulation deaths of 2 women in their own homes.

At times the book can be a bit confusing as you attempt to put all the pieces in their proper place. But when all is said and done, Mr. Graysmith has given us another compelling story of true life murder.

The only question that remains unanswered is this- Does life imitate art? Or does art imitate life?