APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER (1951)

A postal inspector is murdered and his body left in an alley.  The only witness is a nun who just happened to walk by when the body was being dumped.  Now postal inspector Alan Ladd is hot on the case and will stop at nothing to solve the crime.  

I love 1947's T-MEN.  It's a excellent little noir about some Treasury agents going undercover to infiltrate a counterfeiting gang.  The story is interesting, the acting is gritty, the cinematography by John Alton is beautiful...it's just a great film.  So that's what I had in mind when I found out about this 1951 caper film about a postal inspector who goes undercover to solve a murder and prevent a big mail heist.  Sadly though APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER doesn't hold a candle to T-MEN.  It's not a bad film, but the direction is kinda stale and the nun aspect.  Oh my Satan!  Every time she was on the screen everything came to a screeching halt.  If the entire nun story had been tossed in the trash it would have improved the film.  The heist gang scenes were entertaining, but that nun!  Painful.

Worth a watch for fans of old heist/undercover cop films, but it's not a noir.  Good acting though and I was especially surprised to see Jack Webb and Harry Morgan together 16 years before "Dragnet" as two cold-blooded thugs!!!

JACK THE GIANT SLAYER (2013)

I enjoyed this movie.  Jack (played by that zombie dude from WARM BODIES) is a simple farm boy who accidentally gets a hold of some magic beans.  Stuff happens and before you can say "Fe-fi-fo-fuck!" the princess, who he has the hots for, gets carried away up into the clouds on the giant beanstalk.  The king is not happy about this and orders his men (and Jack) to climb the towering beanstalk and rescue the princess.  When they get to the top they discover a lost world of giants.  Oh...and two of the guys that go with Jack up the beanstalk are traitorous assholes.

With this kind of story the filmmakers could have gone all kinds of ways from silly as hell to super duper serious, but I think they made the wise choice by going in the middle.  The story itself is serious, but the whole thing kinda has a light feel to it.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it!  Honestly I wish the film had been even longer and explored the giant world a little bit more.  Also more screen time for the princess would have been nice.

As it is though, JACK THE GIANT SLAYER is a fun fantasy adventure film with a quick pace, good acting by a talented cast, impressive special effects and an entertaining story.  Recommended, although I am curious what ever happened to the cat?