GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE (1942)

"George Washington should have chopped this house down instead of the cherry tree."

After the initial shock of seeing the beautiful Ann Sheridan married to Jack Benny, I enjoyed this film and even laughed out loud a number of times, especially when Benny first sees the house: "I couldn't warm up to this place if I was burned alive in it!"

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Benny and Sheridan are apartment dwellers in NYC. Benny is happy, but Sheridan wants to own a home in the country. After their dog (Terry a.k.a. "Toto" from THE WIZARD OF OZ!) chews up a rug and cause their landlord (Franklin Pangborn) to fall down, they're forced to move. Without consulting her husband, Sheridan buys a 200-year-old run down money pit out in the middle of nowhere. He hates it from the moment he sees it (and falls through it's floors and even a few times into the well), but after all kinds of wacky misadventures he begins to like it.

It's not the most original script ever written, but I got quite a few laughs out of it and will definitely watch it again. Good supporting cast also: Hattie McDainel, Franklin Pangborn, Charles Coburn and Percy Kilbride.  Highly recommended, it's probably my favorite of the repairing-a-dilapidated-house subgenre.

I could be wrong, but to me the interior shots looks a lot like the interior shots from ARSENIC AND OLD LACE.

711 OCEAN DRIVE (1950)

Made the same year as D.O.A., Edmond O'Brien stars as a telephone lineman who's into the horses.  Constantly in the hole to his bookie, the bookie recruits him into setting up a wire service for the local betting operation.  Soon the money starts pouring in and thanks to some calculated moves and a little bit of luck O'Brien finds himself as the head of the organization.  Things go good for awhile, but then O'Brien starts getting greedy and taking a bigger cut for himself.  Things really go south when the national mafia decides O'Brien's little empire needs to be absorbed into theirs.  Murder and death follow.

711 OCEAN DRIVE might have a lame title, but with such a strong cast and interesting story it really should be more well known than it is (it currently has less than 500 votes on IMDb).  Edmond O'Brien is especially good, but then again you could pretty much say that about every film he's ever done.  Lots of great looking cars, old-timey electronics, murder, a reference (I think) to public hair ("It'll work -- now I got him by the short hairs!"), nice photography, quick pace and lots of location shots including a exciting showdown at the Hoover Dam.  Any fans of classic crime thrillers should check it out.

Recommended.