*I Was Framed (1942): Odd little WB programmer in which a newspaper reporter gets a little too close to the head of a political machine, see, and gets to be too much of a problem, see? So the corrupt big shot and his organization frame the guy for a fatal DUI accident. Only, he gets out of the big house and, with his gal, makes it to...a smaller house (but pretty substantial) owned by a kindly doctor who treats him and doesn't mind that he's on the lam.
Well, the framee not only stays there for years and has a daughter with his wife, he joins the town newspaper and becomes a crusading journalist there, too! Life is good until the cellmate that got pinched in the escape comes to town and--is it just me, or does this seem like a lot of story for one brief, little movie?
It sure is, and I didn't expect the movie to go the direction it did, but it was an enjoyable one that managed to sort of pull everything together. If you don't mind nonsensical plot elements, this one is worth a look, though it's not nearly as good as some of those individual elements I mentioned above might make it sound.
*Call of the Jungle (1944): I saw this a few weeks ago, and I'll be darned if I can remember much more about it than the title. Oh, and the fact that stripper Ann Corio played the lead--I do remember that.
Fact is, this jungle murder mystery has its moments, and I enjoyed some of the offbeat touches near the end, but it's basically a time filler best appreciated by fans of B movies (I know, I know, that should be everyone) and especially jungle flick aficionados. My philosophy is this: Anytime Turner Classic Movies wants to roll out an obscure 60-minute Monogram picture like this, it's all right by me.
*Harry In Your Pocket (1973): One of the dirtiest-SOUNDING movies on TCM in recent memory, yet not a dirty movie...though anytime I see James Coburn, for some reason, I get a feeling that lechery is or will be afoot.
In this one, Coburn is an elegant pickpocketing mastermind who takes a young couple under his wing. Along with Walter Pidgeon as the old veteran who now mainly acts as a scout for marks, the 4 of them make an interesting little group of thieves.
This movie never quite reached the level I wanted it to reach. It has that Seventies feel that kind of sets you up to expect more depth than it really delivers. However, it's still darned entertaining, and the elderly, cocaine-sniffing Pidgeon (in the FILM, in the FILM, that is) is a real treat. Ivan at TDOY got around to seeing this way before I did and offered a fuller take (with which I fully agree) here.
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