| Thursday Sept. 14th, 2006 8:00 pm A Knitting Circle Double Feature | ||||
| 'Web of Evidence' 1959 Van Johnson - Vera Miles - Jean Kent - Bernard Lee | ||||
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A British production
distributed by Allied Artists with American lead actors
supported by Brit players. Known in the U.K. as 'Beyond this
Place'. As a young English boy during the war, Paul Mathry is evacuated to America. Now twenty years later he returns to Liverpool for a short visit. All Hell breaks loose when he finds that his father, whom he believed had died a war hero, is in fact in jail for murder. But Is he really guilty?
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| 'The Crooked Web' 1955 Frank Lovejoy - Mari Blanchard - Richard Denning | ||||
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Mari Blanchard plays Joanie Daniel who at first appears to be a a scheming spider with a secret. When Stan Fabien (Frank Lovejoy) falls head over heels for Joanie, he makes one big mistake and it involves a fortune in stolen gold buried in Germany during World War II. But there’s more to it than that! Will it land Stan in Joanie’s web? Directed by Nathan Juran, the Austro-Hungarian director who also helmed 'Highway Dragnet' '54, 'The Deadly Mantis' '57 & 'The Brain from Planet Arous' '57. Ee-Gads! |
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EVENT SUMMARY:
The screening went well and it was pretty much agreed that 'Web of Evidence' was the better picture of the two that night with higher quality production values, a good script and the acting again topped the other film screened. Of those who voiced an opinion, most but not all in attendance liked the visuals shot by Brit cameraman Wilkie Cooper who also lensed 'Mine Own Executioner' & 'Green for Danger'. It was agreed that there were enough noir qualities in 'Web of Evidence to the qualify the movie as a film noir 'The Crooked Web' was a surprise in that most expected from plot summaries on imdb and other sources that this picture would be a noir. After viewing we agreed that it was NOT a film noir at all, but a Crime movie. Except for a quick twist in the beginning of the film, the separation between the good characters and the bad was too great, added to a lack of jaded psychology and mental anguish left most unsatisfied. In all we agreed that this one was a turkey and one of those all too common late 50's thrillers that often get put into the Noir category but is in fact is a conservative "crime doesn't pay" programmer.
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