My life at the movies.
Directed by Don Siegel. Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, and Patric Knowles.
Aboard an ocean liner just docked in Veracruz, Mexico, William Bendix bursts into Robert Mitchum’s cabin pointing a gun. Bendix wants something he believes Mitchum stole. “You’ve got the wrong man,” Mitchum says. Continue reading...
Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Starring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane, and Donald Crisp.
Humphrey Bogart plays Whip McCord, the leader of an outlaw gang who opens the film robbing a stagecoach. Enter James Cagney as the titular kid, another outlaw who, in turn, robs McCord and his gang. Continue reading...
Directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, and Rose Hobart.
Humphrey Bogart plays an engineer trapped in a loveless marriage and carrying a secret torch for his wife’s sister. Seeing a way out, Bogart executes what he thinks is the perfect murder, but evidence soon mounts indicating his wife may still be alive. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...
Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and Ida Lupino.
George Raft and Humphrey Bogart play brothers trying to get ahead as independent truckers. An accident forces them to go to work for Ida Lupino’s husband, whom Raft soon stands accused of murdering. Continue reading...
Directed by William C. McGann. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts, Linda Perry, Carlyle Moore Jr., and Henry O'Neill.
A remake of Five Star Final. Humphrey Bogart plays the manager of a struggling radio station whose boss pushes him to air a “Where are they now?” exposé on an old murder case “in the public interest.” Continue reading...
Directed by Ray Enright. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Louise Fazenda, and Nat Pendleton.
Humphrey Bogart plays a wrestling promoter who takes his flagging show to the Ozarks, where he arranges a match between his star and a she-hulk blacksmith. Complications arise when the would-be grapplers fall in love. Continue reading...
Directed by Ray Enright. Starring Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts, Ross Alexander, and Marie Wilson.
Pat O’Brien plays an early aviation magnate who overcomes personal and professional setbacks to build the first trans-Pacific airline. Continue reading...
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, and Warren William.
Until a 1948 Supreme Court ruling, the five major Hollywood studios controlled the entire movie business, from production to distribution. The studios contracted performers and paid them a salary. The performers worked long days, five days a week. If a film wrapped at lunch, they ate then began another. Thus, films like Three on a Match came stock-piled with current and future stars. Continue reading...
Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer. Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, and Mary Merrall.
Dead of Night opens with an architect arriving at an isolated country cottage for some consulting work. Upon entering, he’s confronted with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Though he’s never met them, he recognizes the guests from a reoccurring dream. One guest, a psychiatrist, proves skeptical, prompting the others to share own tales of the unexplained. Continue reading...
Directed by Busby Berkeley. Starring Wayne Morris, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Hugh Herbert.
Sure, seeing Humphrey Bogart shed his terrycloth trench robe to reveal a two-piece bathing suit reminiscent of a strong-man singlet always elicits a chuckle, but I keep forgetting how getting there proves an ordeal. Continue reading...
