"Wonderland" with Val Kilmer and Kate Bosworth (201 )

This is a kind of fascinating story. It involves “Long” Johnny Holmes, the iconic porn star from the 1970’s. Along with Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers, he blazed new trails in the adult entertainment business as far as bringing it to the forefront; putting porn right in your face, so to speak.

For all of the glamor and the drugs and women though, there was a price being paid. And director James Cox does an excellent job in keeping the whole thing in control. He is also one of the writers of the script for this film. As the main character, Johnny Holmes; played by Val Kilmer; spins out of control the careful direction helps in keeping sight of the larger story.

At the time of these events in 1981; including the murder itself; Holmes was estranged from his wife, while trying to keep his teenage girlfriend, and also struggling each day to get his “fix” without any real means of income. This is a recipe for disaster, don’t ya think?

When the police showed up at 8763 Wonderland Ave in Laurel Canyon they found 4 bodies. They were the drug dealers and the owner of the home. The wife of one of the dealers was still alive. They had all been bludgeoned with a steel pipe.  The investigation which followed turned the spotlight on the seamy world of Hollywood’s porn industry.

With suspects such as Johnny Holmes, a local nightclub owner named Eddie Nash, and Holmes's estranged wife Sharon and his teenage lover Dawn Schiller, the story was just made for the tabloids. While Holmes freely admits to robbing the guy the day before, his wife says he went back again on the day of the murder. But Holmes then also says he only set up the hit; he didn’t actually participate in the murders. With all the living parties pointing fingers at one another, who will the authorities finally believe? More importantly; whose version of this tragic story would you hang your hat on?

Excellent performances by veteran actors Kate Bosworth, Carrie Fisher and Lisa Kudrow serve to round out this film.

"Sorry, Wrong Number" with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster (1948)

I caught this movie on television the other night by accident. Well, maybe it wasn’t such an accident because I was clicking around looking for something to watch; which is always easier said than done. And, as often happens to me, I was hit with a black and white screen; bringing an instant halt to my clicking. Black and white really grabs me.

I was only 15 minutes into the 1948 film noir classic “Sorry, Wrong Number” with Barbara Stanwyk and Burt Lancaster. They play the ill-fated couple Henry and Leona Stevenson; she as the hypochondriac bed ridden wife, and he as the henpecked husband driven to despair by his wife’s imagined illness, as well as being a victim of his own demons.

Henry Stevenson is a man with secrets. He lives sort of a double life; caring for his stricken wife; and also as a philandering and a thief. But all of his secrets come tumbling out one night when his wife; who is addicted to her phone, as it is her only link to the outside world; hears 2 men on the line plotting a murder.

At first she tries to contact the police, but since there is no identity to the men she refers to there is little that they can do. During her attempts to trace the call and find the intended victim she becomes privy to her husband’s secret life; including his infidelity with Sally Hunt Lord; played by Ann Richards. She also learns that he has stolen some money and must make good or face some serious consequences.

During the flashbacks, as she recounts her life with her husband, she realizes that there were many clues she chose to ignore. And when she finds out about the money she is ready to forgive him instantly; she really does love him. But by this time it’s too late to stop a series of events already in motion, set to happen at 11:15 PM.

As the film closes; with Henry talking on the phone to a frantic Leona; all of the pieces fall neatly into place and leave you wondering how both of them could have been so stupid so as not to see the beauty in the lives they had; trading them for a guaranteed appointment with a hell of their own making.

Outstanding performances by both Burt Lancaster and Barbara Stanwyck, and superb direction by Anatole Litvak, combined with a screenplay by the original author of the play, Lucille Fletcher, make this a classic you don’t want to overlook.

"Did She Kill Him" by Kate Colquhoun (2014)

This is Kate Colquhoun’s long awaited “next” book. It will be out in bookstores and available on line this Thursday October 16^th. Long time readers here will remember her 2011 smash “Murder in the First Class Carriage”, an account of a true life crime which I compared to an Agatha Christie whodunit. Well, get ready to enjoy her latest release “Did She Kill Him”.

This is the story of the case which has become known as the “Maybrick Mystery”. Although the action is set in Liverpool, the Maybrick Mystery was as widely celebrated (an odd term for a possible murder) at the time as the infamous Jack the Ripper case was in London. Both events occurred around the same time; in 1889. But there all similarity between the two ceases.

Not only location, but social circumstances made the two episodes vastly different in nature; each with its own set of characters. The problem for Florence Maybrick was that the characters in her drama were so familiar to most people in Britain at the time, that it was easy for the public to conjure up a villain in her. Class and privilege; and the attendant gulf between the servants and the served; these were just part of the reason why Mrs. Maybrick was found guilty of killing her husband, James Maybrick; a well-known cotton trader from Liverpool; by slowly poisoning him with arsenic.

Mr. Maybrick was about 20 years older than his American born wife; the two met while aboard a ship bound for Britain from America. Encouraged by Florence’s social climbing mother, the Baroness von Roques, the two are soon wed. They were both looking for financial security; he with a seemingly financially stable American; her with a seemingly successful merchant. They were both wrong in their assessment of the other.

Florence was a slightly spoiled young woman; think along the lines of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” and you wouldn’t be too far off target. She was a spendthrift and soon accumulated a good bit of debt which she kept hidden from her husband. He had life insurance which would have left her well off if he died.

For his part he was not the well to do merchant he appeared to be. A failing crop in America and a bad investment in what amounted to today’s “futures” trading left him strapped for ready cash. And keeping up appearances with a large house and staff only drove him further behind financially. But appearances in Victorian England were important; important enough that to not keep them up could mean financial ruin in business. And, he was also addicted to eating arsenic.

Arsenic eating dates back centuries. Ms. Colquhoun uses the Styrian peoples of what is present day Austria to illustrate the history of this odd; and deadly; practice. Introduced at a young age to arsenic the body will adapt to it; although with some discomfort; but then the problem really first begins. In order to not die from the arsenic already ingested, the user needs more and more to stay alive. To stop would be death. And yet, to continue will eventually do the same.

The servants in the Maybrick home offer a window into the lower end of the social strata at a time when England; along with the rest of the world; was changing. Domestics, who used to have only one way to make a living, now had opportunities in factories, with  jobs made available by the Industrial Revolution; and in trade, at jobs which had been previously been off limits to them by custom. Their loyalty towards their employers was not as solid as it had been in former times. The class system was crumbling.

When James Maybrick took ill his doctors were baffled; yet in spite of knowing about his propensity to take various poisons they did nothing. As a matter of fact they gave him more in the form of the insidious concoctions they prescribed. In essence they were only making things worse.

When Mr. Maybrick dies from his illness, a series of seemingly innocent actions on the part of Florence Maybrick become the basis for the theory that she killed him by poisoning him with arsenic. A bottle of medicine innocently moved from one place to another becomes just one of many apparent “clues” which were all missed until her husband had died and an explanation was needed. After all, it couldn’t have been the doctors fault.

In this atmosphere a love note from Florence to another cotton trader; who was an acquaintance of her husband’s; becomes a log thrown on the fire as Florence finds herself the victim of circumstances that ultimately lead to her being sentenced to prison for her husband’s death. The only real evidence is circumstantial, and yet she is found guilty.

But the real question brought forth by Ms. Colquhoun is this; what was really on trial here? An outmoded society in which respectable women were relegated to lives like Nora’s in Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”? Or was it the “New Woman” which Florence may have represented to some?

In the end all the medical evidence pointed against James Maybrick having even died from an overdose of arsenic; accidental or otherwise; in the first place. There simply was not enough arsenic in his body to explain his death. That is, unless someone withheld the drug from him. And even that explanation then leads to the question of whether that deprivation was done by design, or out of caution.

A good mystery is one which can’t be solved. And in this book Ms. Colquhoun has presented us with a timeless parlor game; one which can be played for decades and never be truly solved. It is extensively annotated with a Bibliography and chapter by chapter notes on the sources. There is also a very helpful list of People that serves as a cast of characters. In short, this book was all I expected it to be and more.

And, with her steady style and keen sense of history, Ms. Colquhoun has done a superb job of both chronicling the Maybrick Case; keeping the mystery alive for future generations; while also addressing the social inequities which may have played a part in the whole sordid affair.  This is the mark of a truly gifted writer.

For the Rooftop Review of Ms. Colquhoun’s previous book, “Murder in First Class Carriage”, use this link;

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2011/12/murder-in-first-class-carriage-by-kate.html

And for more information on the release of "Did She Kill Him" see this link;

www.overlookpress.com

And to order any of Ms. Colquhoun’s previous books, go to;

http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Colquhoun/e/B001JRXCS0#

"Law and Disorder" by John Douglas (2013)

Brace yourselves for a gripping and thought provoking read in this book by veteran FBI Agent/ Profiler John Douglas; who, along with writing partner Mark Olshaker; will change your mind about capital punishment, and then, change it back again. By explaining the art of forensic science and profiling, the authors have created a work which accurately portrays the reality which the TV shows we have all come to know and love so well are really based upon. And the truth is far from the simplified version of what is presented there and even from that which is portrayed in the media. Mr. Douglas does a very good job in explaining how it works in real life, while using some of his; and the nation’s; most infamous cases to prove his points.

Starting with the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th Century, the book also delves into the evolution of crime; including arson, murders, and serial killers, on into the late 20th Century. In that time frame he explores what makes the killer think; or the rapist rape? What turns a petty house thief into a killer? Is it power? Greed? And ultimately, what do we, as a society, do about it?

Beginning with one of his earliest cases; in which he still harbors doubts about the suspect’s execution, and the role he may have played in it; Mr. Douglas questions not only the perfection of the system; but also the failure of some of today’s most expert, and advanced, methods of crime detection. And that includes the much touted DNA; which when taken out of context to the crime, and without regard to other mitigating factors which may alter the evidence offered by the Prosecution; is not always the solution we have been led to believe it is.

Also explored is the way that “justice” is handled once a verdict and sentence has been rendered. It is, under the present system, possible, to have new and exculpating evidence not admitted at the last minute in order to “stay” an execution. With most of the condemned men waiting for years to exhaust their appeals anyway, what do a few more months matter in the pursuit of Justice? Why the rush to execute?

The supposed Multiple Personality Disorder; in which the criminal did the crime, but not as his himself; is given deep thought and the authors come to a very definite conclusion. MPD is a crock. If the accused has a history of the disease, that is one thing. But when they suddenly develop the ailment on their third appeal, how much credence should it be given? Is it right; or moral; for a killer to languish in jail for more years than their victims lived? That was the case with Marine Private Suzanne Collins, whose killer took 21 years to be executed for taking the life of a 19 year old woman. How absurd is that?

With experience in the Jon Benet Ramsey case, as well as some very other high profile cases, the book is gripping in both its scope and depth. The cases all range from murder, arson and kidnapping. And, surprisingly, against all scientific evidence, many have been innocent.

The case of the so-called West Memphis 3; accused of killing three 8 year old youngsters as part of a Satanic Cult; when no such cult even existed; would be a fascinating book all on its own account. Only the interest of a woman outside of prison would serve to break that case open again; this time with justice ruling the day. Too bad it took over 15 years for that justice to be served.

Though he has seen it all in the way of injustice; even seeing innocent men being “murdered” by the state when new evidence has been available; Mr. Douglas is still in favor of the death penalty as a deterrent for the most heinous of crimes. But, only after all reasonable avenues have been explored. This was a surprise and came about just when he had me convinced that I was wrong in my support of Capital Punishment in the first place.

Straddling the wire between his own beliefs, and the needs of justice for the accused; as well as the victims and their families; cannot be easy. But Mr. Douglas need lose no sleep over the issue. He has presented his case; and cases; in a forthright and logical manner, causing the reader to do the most important thing of all; think. No matter what you believe about the issue of Capital Punishment, this book will strike a chord with every reader.

Looking at the Insanity Plea

Much has been written of late concerning the use of the Insanity Plea as a defense in general and, in particular, in the case of James Holmes.  Holmes is the young man accused of multiple homicides in the shooting at a midnight showing of 'The Dark Knight Rises' in Colorado, which resulted in 12 people being killed and another 59 wounded. Police say the suspect acted alone and had no prior criminal record or ties to terrorism. He had, though, been under the care of a Mental Health professional at the time, and his case was reviewed, at the direction of his doctor, by a crisis management team just days before the killings took place.

Now the deed is done, and the Monday morning “Quarterbacking” has begun in earnest. The talking heads on my TV all say that the Insanity Plea is a dead end, as Mr. Holmes clearly planned this attack beforehand. This line of thinking, in determining whether Mr. Holmes is sane or not, is like comparing an orange to a watermelon. It makes no sense.

If, for example, I were to plan a murder for profit; and then say I was crazy; that would be a ridiculous plea, which would carry no merit. I would, in that case, be “crazy as a fox.” Obviously my crime would have had a criminal purpose; I was driven by greed. But what about the Holmes case? Let’s take a look at it.

Here’s a young man; with known mental difficulties; whose own doctor even questioned whether or not he was a danger to himself and others. He has planned, in meticulous detail, a crime too heinous to imagine. And then he actually carries it out, resulting in the deaths and injuries mentioned above. He hopes to gain no profit from his act. He doesn’t even have a sense of reality about the whole event; he even asked a deputy, after the shooting, how the film ended.

When considering an Insanity Plea, the question is not whether we believe that the subject was capable of premeditation in the crime for which they stand accused; the real question is how sane was the plan to begin with. What possible gain was there for Mr. Holmes to attain, even if he had gotten away with the crime? The answer is patently obvious. There was no gain, no real motive other than to commit the crime. That’s insane. Just like the guy who contemplates whether or not he can fly by jumping off the roof, he’s clearly insane.

Is this a plea to spare Mr. Holmes life? Not a chance. I believe in the death penalty. I just believe in being honest with ourselves about why we execute people when we do. The law says we do not execute people who are insane. So, in order to execute Mr. Holmes, he must be found to be sane.

No matter how much we kid ourselves to the contrary, Mr. Holmes is damaged, and likely will never be “fixed”. I mourn for the families of those who lost loved ones by his actions. If he is found guilty, I support the application of the death penalty for his crimes. Just don’t expect me to believe that he is sane.

"And Then There Were None" with Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, and Walter Huston (1945)

Sit down in your favorite armchair and enjoy this classic British whodunit by Agatha Christie, with a screenplay by Dudley Nichols. The basic plot is just as it sounds, ten unrelated people are invited to an island for the weekend, by someone whom they do not know. Once there, they are made privy to the details of one another's indiscretions and short comings. And then, one by one, they are killed in retribution. But by whom?

It may sound trite and simple, but this is a fun movie to watch. The cast of characters includes the wonderfully wry Barry Fitzgerald, the majestic C. Aubrey Smith, a remarkable Walter Huston, the ever bumbling Roland Young, a cold and aloof Judith Anderson and the perfectly inept Mischa Auer, to name just 6 of the 10. Directed skillfully by René Clair, this is one of those rainy day movies that made growing up fun.

"The Hilliker Curse - A Memoir" by James Ellroy

If I were to tell you that James Ellroy, the celebrated and widely read mystery writer, used to be a Peeping Tom, a drunk, and a fantasy stalker of women you might label me crazy. And until I read this remarkable memoir by Mr. Ellroy, if you had told me these things I would have thought the same of you. But it’s all here, in black and white, written by the master of mystery himself.

James Ellroy, like so many of us, has lived a secret life for the past 50 years. We all carry demons. His parents divorced when he was very young, and at first he lived with his mother. His father was a “man about town” type who had numerous girlfriends. This is one of the things that lead to Mr. Ellroy’s parents becoming divorced.

As bad as his father may have been, his mother was no angel either. She drank to excess and gave herself to different men. All of this would affect the author deeply as he struggled through his earliest, and most impressionable, years. He is at once repulsed by, and attracted to, his mother.

As the result of an argument one night when he was about 10, he expressed his wish to go and live with his father. His mother struck him for this slight, and that set the author to wishing his mother were dead. Three months later she was murdered. Mr. Ellroy then goes to live with his father. But the effects of the divorce and murder, along with the guilt brought about by wishing his mother dead would go on to haunt, and shape Mr. Ellroy for years to come. Her name was Jean Hilliker.

Deftly taking the reader through the world of Los Angeles during the early 60’s and then on to New York and the whole country, Mr. Ellroy traces his career through the fantasies he entertained while struggling to find his niche. At one point he even breaks into houses just to touch and feel the belongings of the women he sees, but feels that he can never possess.

How he comes to terms with all of these demons and emerges as one of the most beloved of mystery writers is a story that only the author can tell. The things that lurk inside, and that drive us all, are unique to the individual. The struggle is not. This is a very courageous and honest book which explores the darkest parts of Mr. Ellroy’s life. I cannot imagine the courage it took to write it. On the other hand I cannot imagine the pain that he carried secretly for so long.