HIGH WALL (1947)

Things aren't looking so good for brain-damaged WWII vet Robert Taylor when he's found in a car wreck with his wife's dead body in the passenger seat.  And things look even worse when the cops discover that she was strangled to death before the wreck!  Taylor looks guilty as hell, but since he's unable to stand trial due to his chronic headaches that cause him to black out (he has no memory of the night in question), they simply toss him in a mental institution.  While there, he meets some doctors that are able to dust the cobwebs loose and...well, you just gotta see for yourself.

It's always sad to see an otherwise above average film crippled with a below average title, but that's the case with HIGH WALL.  What the hell does "high wall" even mean?  I guess it's referring to the wall around the mental institution, but the only time you ever see the wall is in the opening titles!  At no point in the film does anybody actually interact with the wall itself.  Who knows, maybe it's referencing the wall around Taylor's lost memories.  I have no clue, but whatever it's talking about, it's still a dull name for a movie.

Dull title aside, HIGH WALL was a good watch.  I really enjoy seeing Robert Taylor stretching out his acting chops and the story held my attention.  Interesting photography, good pace, nice lighting, solid supporting cast and it's always a pleasure to see Herbert Marshall in action.  He's just so smooth!

Recommended for fans of classic 40's noir.

THE BURGLAR (1957)

It's never a good sign when a film sits unreleased for years until one of the actors becomes famous.  But that's exactly what happened with THE BURGLAR.  It was made in 1955 and then sat unreleased until 1957 after Jayne Mansfield found mainstream success with THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT.  And it's kinda easy to see why it sat for two years:

First off, those promises in the posters are total bullshit.  "You'll be tense with suspense and limp from excitement!"  It's more like I was limp from not giving a fuck.  "They set up a luscious blonde as bait for the robbery of the century!"  What the fuck are you talking about?  Yes, the criminals sent in Jayne Mansfield to case(!) the house.  That's it.  Later on, Dan Duryea went in and stole one necklace worth $150,000.  That's hardly the "robbery of the century".  "An army of police...and the underworld hot on the scent of the beautiful burglar mixed up in the robbery of the decade!"  Well, now you've already reduced it from the robbery of the century to the robbery of the decade.  And...it was only the cops on their trail and not the underworld at all!  Plus, Mansfield was not the burglar.  She stayed at home during the one and only burglary.

As far as the lame story goes...A burglar (Dan Duryea) successfully steals a "priceless" necklace (which is immediately valued at $150,000), but due to all kinds of amateur mistakes made on his part, he soon finds that the necklace is more trouble than it's worth.  His biggest mistake is not pulling the robbery alone or maybe with just one person to case the the joint.  Instead, he uses his step-sister (Mansfield), who's secretly in love with him(!!!), to go in and scout the location.  Alright, that's fine.  But then later that same night he parks directly out front of the mansion and then he and his two(!!) partners go onto the property while he does 100% of the work!  The other two don't do shit.  Being that it's an very upscale neighborhood, the police start investigating the car and from there on it the whole plan goes to hell.  He does manage to steal the necklace, but since doesn't even have a buyer lined up, he decides it's best if they all four simply hang out in their rented house until...I'm not sure what.  This ends up being a horrible plan (duh!) due to the fact that 1) they're still in the area of the robbery and 2) all three of his partners instantly start to go stir crazy!  Including his step-sister who still wants some of Dan Duryea's delicious ding-dong!

THE BURGLAR is not a bad film, just one that should have never been made.  Uninspired script, lame overacting by the entire cast, uneven photography that's boring most of the time and then kinda cool for brief moments, slow as molasses pace, unlikable characters, dumb decisions nonstop.  On the other hand, Jayne Mansfield is very attractive and probably turns in the best performance of the entire movie.  I normally like Dan Duryea, but goddamn his character was dumb.

I would say "Skip it.", but it was good for a laugh.

THE NARROW MARGIN (1952)

Police detectives Charles McGraw and Don Beddoe are assigned to escort a mob witness (Marie Windsor) from Chicago to Los Angeles on a train.  Not even twenty feet outside her front door, Beddoe is gunned down, so now it's up to McGraw to get her the rest of the way all by himself.  They safely get to the train only to discover that there's an unknown number of mafia hitmen with itchy trigger fingers on board.

At only 71 minutes, THE NARROW MARGIN doesn't mess around, but still, despite the quick pace, I just couldn't stretch my imagination enough to believe that the police would allow a single cop to escort this supposedly super important witness across country by himself.  Not only that, but they knowingly allow all of these armed killers on board a normal passenger train?!  I call shenanigans.  I understand that the 1950's is light years away from the present time, but still the story seems pretty far-fetched to me.  That said, the acting and the camerawork are both good and I was mildly entertained.

THE NARROW MARGIN is not a bad film, just too improbable for me to get into.