Raymond Cabana

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RE: "THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS" (WARNER BROS.; 1947), I'M INVARIABLY AMAZED WHEN FILMS I LOVE GET PANNED BY CONTEMPORARY VIEWERS, SUCH AS THIS ONE, WHO USUALLY STRIKE ME AS UNINFORMED CRITICS, WITH NASTY PERSONALITIES TO BOOT; AND WHY THEY VENT ACCORDINGLY IS, TO ME, NOT ONLY LUDICROUS, BUT IRRITATING. "BEAST" IS WONDERFULLY ATMOSPHERIC, WITH EXCELLENT PERFORMANCES BY ALL INVOLVED (PETER LORRE ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE WITH HIS PSYCHOTIC-SECRETARY ROLE). I USED TO CORRESPOND WITH ITS DIRECTOR, ROBERT FLOREY, WHO WOULD TYPE ME MARVELOUSLY INFORMATIVE LETTERS EVEN WHILE DYING WITH INCURABLE CANCER. HE EVEN LOANED ME SOME ONE-OF-A-KIND PHOTOS OF HIS DIRECTING LORRE, FOR THIS FILM AND "THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK" (COLUMBIA; 1941), WHICH I USED IN CITADEL'S "THE FILMS OF PETER LORRE", WHICH I CO-WROTE (PETER'S BROTHER, ANDREW -- WHOM I WAS FORTUNATE TO MEET [HE SPOKE AND MUCH RESEMBLED HIS BROTHER!] -- WROTE A FOREWORD TO THE BOOK, AS DID VINCENT PRICE, WHOM I ALSO MET). FLOREY HAD WANTED TO MAKE "BEAST" AS A NIGHTMARE, FROM START TO FINISH, BUT THIS WAS FOUND UNACCEPTABLE; HOWEVER, THE RESULTS ARE REPLETE WITH NIGHTMARISH SEQUENCES (THESE SUBSEQUENTLY REVEALED AS IN THE DEMENTED MIND OF THE MURDERER), AND THE PRODUCTION IS, OVERALL, WITH WONDERFULLY SPOOKY ATMOSPHERE (THIS ITSELF NIGHTMARISH). AND THE SPECIAL EFFECTS INVOLVING THE SEVERED HAND ARE JUST AS INCREDIBLE WHEN VIEWED TODAY AS THEY WERE BACK IN THE FORTIES. I'VE SEEN THIS MOVIE DESCRIBED AS A "B" PRODUCTION, WHICH I DISAGREE WITH. THE PRODUCTION VALUES ARE SUPERB; THE SCRIPT ALSO (CURT SIODMAK); AND THE TRULY SCARY SCORE BY MAX STEINER (HE BY NO MEANS SCORING "B" RELEASES!). SO, AS INDICATED ABOVE, MY TASTE IN THESE THINGS DOESN'T ALWAYS SQUARE WITH THAT OF OTHERS, WHICH REMINDS ME OF THE OLD CLICHE ABOUT IT BEING A MATTER OF TASTE SAID MRS. O'LEARY AS SHE KISSED THE COW. AND THERE YOU HAVE MY PROVERBIAL "TWO CENTS' WORTH", WHICH, IF MONETIZED, WOULD PROBABLY BE ALL THAT IT'S WORTH! CORDIALLY, RAY C.

THIS WILL BE IN VAIN; AND WHY I BOTHER POSES YET ANOTHER MYSTERY. BUT I CONSIDER ANTHONY BOUCHER'S "NINE TIMES NINE" (ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1940 USING HIS "H.H. HOLMES" PEN NAME) A VERY POOR MURDER NOVEL, THIS DESPITE THE PRAISE GIVEN IT -- AND BOUCHER OVERALL! TO LABOR THROUGH A COUPLE HUNDRED PAGES OF BAD PROSE, ONLY TO BE TOLD THAT THE MURDERER ACHIEVED HIS ENDS BY USING A SECRET ROOM, A STICK, A WIRE, AND A COSTUME MADE OF PAPER THAT, EMPLOYING THE SAID STICK AND WIRE, COULD BE MANIPULALATED FROM THE SAID SECRET ROOM SO AS TO BE CONSUMED BY A CONVENIENT FIREPLACE! INCREDIBLE! AND I'D BE HARD PUT TO SAY WHICH OF HIS PROLIFIC FICTION CONTAINS RESOLUTIONS ANY THE LESS LUDICROUS! AND YET THIS MAN COULD SEVERELY CRITICIZE S.S. VAN DINE, OF "PHILO VANCE" FAME, WHO COULD WRITE THE PROVERBIAL CIRCLES AROUND BOUCHER! FOR THAT MATTER, I'D PLACE HIS MYSTERIES ASIDE THOSE OF THE EDINGTONS (A MARRIED COUPLE WHO ONCE SUED VAN DINE, THIS UNSUCCESSFULLY, FOR PLAGIARISM), WHOSE NOVELS ARE AS BAD AS CAN BE! RESIGNEDLY, RAY CABANA, JR.

This, to me, is - along with the 1946 British feature, "Green For Danger" - the finest cinematic murder-mystery ever produced. It's a brilliant interpretation of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel of the same title (of the American publication, that is; if I give its British title, some algorithm will reject my piece altogether!). This exceptional work has an ending in which there really are "none", the reader left with a seemingly unsolvable mystery if not for an epilogue repeating the killer's written confession as contained in a bottle found floating in the ocean. Christie's famous play, based on this masterpiece, "Ten Little Indians", compromises by having two of the ten characters survive, albeit done creatively and satisfactorily. It has been remarked how closely the 1930 Mystery League novel, "The Invisible Host"; the play adaptation, "The 9th Guest" (also 1930); and the 1934 Columbia feature-film version retaining the play's title, foreshadow Christie's plot, this, however, restricted to a penthouse as opposed to an island mansion, and without her brilliant final revelation. The Thirties film, if getting itself into a narrative bind toward the end, is still a tour-de-force of imagery and acting, with a climax that - unique to this production - is literally electrifying!

I first saw this in my teen years, back in the Fifties, when, on TV, it was of course shown in B&W rather than its original Technicolor. So dark did I find its narrative that I had come to think of it as a film noir western. I finally got to see it again when recently airing it on the Web; aside from this, the film, in effect, had been "missing" for decades. The print in question was a used one, the color not as rich as it should've been, but an acceptable presentation. Not nearly as sinister and foreboding as I had recalled it, but with the plot elements, bridging on the supernatural, still in place. These could have been additionally pronounced had the two sinister heavies been presented as the mysterious, evil incarnations even more so than they were, emphasizing the cross-eyed visage of that enacted by Jack Elam (described in one scene by the young protagonist [John Barrymore, Jr.] in all its frightening detail). Instead, the only truly telling instances of this come toward the end of the picture, and then only in medium closeups rather than what tight closeups could have effectively revealed. Still and all, a really good - albeit unusual - western, with an excellent script and fine actors bringing everything to life. If a genuine film noir from the period is sought, this likewise starring the youthful Barrymore, see "The Big Night" (1952), which had also seemingly disappeared from circulation but is available now. Powerfully enacted, in striking B&W cinematography, this is what true film noir is all about - a term that has been hopelessly compromised to mean just about any motion picture with a criminal element. - Ray Cabana, Jr.

Why I'm writing about S.S. Van Dine's 1935 "Philo Vance" mystery novel, "The Garden Murder Case", is - well - a mystery to me! This because it seems to be the accepted practice to criticize Van Dine, as it has been for many moons now, so my opinion, in effect, is rather "a voice in the wilderness"! Van Dine, you see, is my favorite author, when at his best, that is, as in his "Greene" (1928), "Bishop" (1929) and "Dragon" (1933) Murder Cases - the three scariest books I've ever read, which I've explained elsewhere (on an online mystery-fiction blog) - and yes, I am familiar with vintage horror fiction! But returning to the "Garden" story, I consider this the equal of the detective novels then being done by the likes of Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr, and Erle Stanley Gardner. Well-written, and containing (to me, anyway) a surprise murderer. It was supposedly conceived with a motion-picture adaptation in mind, the "Philo Vance" novels by then having all been filmed by major Hollywood studios (with the exception of 1930's "The Scarab Murder Case", which had been purchased by Paramount early-on but not produced till 1936, and then by their British studio. Starring Wilfrid Hyde-White as Vance, it is currently considered a lost film). Hence the baffling circumstance of the 1936 MGM release of "The Garden Murder Case" being pretty much of a complete rewrite of its source, this by veteran scenarist, Bertram Millhauser, right down to changing the identity of the murderer, which Van Dine had concealed so adroitly! The defense rests. Sincerely, Ray Cabana, Jr. P.S. I wrote a coverage of the "Philo Vance" films for my old publication, "K'scope" (selected by the Xerox Corporation for their University Microfilms Program); put on a "Philo Vance" film program for the Syracuse Film Festival; and provided the liner notes for Radio Archives' release of the ZIV series, "Philo Vance", starring Jackson Beck (which can be read online commencing with the announcement of the second CD box set). My most valued collectible is the original oil painting used for "The Dragon Murder Case": the cover of the magazine featuring the beginning of the serialization; and the dust-jackets of both the Scribner's first edition and Grosset & Dunlap's initial reprint. Detective-fiction authority Otto Penzler described this art as "to die for!"

I wrote a fairly extensive response to this book the other day, which it seems vanished as I depressed the "send" button. I'm dealing with pronounced medical effects and writing even such a relatively brief piece takes its toll on me. Perhaps I'll give it another try soon; I would like the author to have received what I have to offer. I'm a freelance writer; wrote of Roland West in a book published by St. Martin's Press; was paid to write of his two "bat" films by Blackhawk Films; know the person in charge of the restorations of these at the UCLA Film & Television Archive; corresponded with Chester Morris, star of THE BAT WHISPERS (1930); and had dealings with Bob Kane, one of his inspirations for Batman being that film and not, as Mr. Collier and sundry others have assumed, its predecessor, THE BAT (1926). I'd be truly delighted to know my initial comments reached the author of the aforesaid book, but I'm afraid these wound up in some kind of limbo due to my computer's vagaries! Cordially, Ray Cabana, Jr.