WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956)

Solely based on the lurid posters and DVD cover, you would think that WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS was a straight up pre-PSYCHO horror movie about a serial killer preying on innocent women. But, just like how Jesus says in Matthew 7:46: “And Jesus said unto Asmodeus, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’”, so should you not judge WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS by it’s artwork.

After a mildly startling opener featuring a poor woman who just wants to take a bath without getting murdered, we’re introduced to media mogul Robert Warwick who’s so attached to his job that he has his literal death bed in his office! He has two regrets in his life: one, his shitty douche of a son (played brilliantly by Vincent Price) and two: not officially naming faithful TV anchorman Dana Andrews as the person to take over his empire when he croaks…which he does like 5 seconds later. His death puts Price in charge and his first order of business is pitting his main bosses into an all out war with each other. And that includes one dude who’s long-dicking Price’s own wife! Goddamn! Added to all this (don’t forget we still got a serial killer running around) there’s a subplot about Andrew’s fiancé, Sally Forrest, who also works at the news network and happens to live across the hallway from Price’s wife’s fuck shack! And, if that wasn’t enough, you have writer Ida Lupino getting in the middle of everything. It’s awesome.

As always, I went into the movie totally blind and I ended up having a lot of fun. I was straight-up shocked by the star-power in the movie (both in front and behind the camera) and very impressed by the maturity of the script. Overall, I found WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS to be a great discovery (to me, at least) and recommend it to fans of older Hollywood. The only thing that really stood out as a negative was Sally Forrest's hair.

Not part of the review, but a few interesting(?) things that I discovered while reading about the movie: the original 1953 novel, named "The Bloody Spur" (no clue what the fuck that means) was written by Charles Einstein who is the half-brother of both Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein! The killer was played by John Drew Barrymore, who is the son of John Barrymore and the father of Drew Barrymore!

DEEP WATERS (1948)

DEEP WATERS is one of those movies where all of the tension, stress and conflicts could be resolved almost immediately if the characters would just talk to each other in an open and honest manner.

Twelve-year old Dean Stockwell (yep, the same Dean Stockwell from the original Quantum Leak TV show in the 80’s / 90’s) is an orphan from a fishing family who is now placed in a local fishing village by a social worker (Jean Peters) who has a deep hatred for the fishing industry because of how many people die from commercial fishing. Also, her ex-fiancée (Dana Andrews) is a fisherman and neighbor’s with the woman (Anne Revere) who takes in the boy. The social worker then gets upset when the boy shows an interest in fishing...in a fishing village where the only thing to do is fish.

All of the conflicts in DEEP WATERS arise solely from the characters not talking to each other. Then, at the very end of the film, when they actually tell each other their feelings everybody’s like...oohhhhhhh! Okay, cool. Then, literally, ride off together (in a boat) into the sunset. Normally, simplistic storytelling like that would put a thorn in my handsome sack, but with DEEP WATERS I didn’t care because I really like all of the actors in the movie and was just happy to see them perform. Especially Dana Andrews who’s always so relaxed and natural on screen. Dude is awesome. Also, Anne Revere is always just such a delight to watch in anything she ever did. Which, sadly, wasn't a lot.

Bland direction, okay pacing, zero gore, zero nudity, littering, weak as fuck story that's salvaged by solid performances. I am kinda tickled though by that poster art showing Andrews swooping up Jean in his lusty arms as the turbulent storm of his loins, I mean, the sea rages behind them...there was zero sexual chemistry between those characters in the movie. The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.