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Pretty Good

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Genial small town lawyer (John Wayne) comes to the big city to investigate the murder of his friend and begins to suspect a crooked political boss (Edward Ellis) while dating the boss's daughter (Frances Dee). Curious role for Wayne in this oddball B crime picture from Republic. The script does him no favors. I swear every other line of his seems to begin "back home..." followed by a less-than-funny anecdote about some bumpkin. There's country and then there's an urbanite's impersonation of country. This feels like the latter. Ellis is good as the political boss with a soft spot for his daughter. Frances Dee is fine but has no real chemistry with Duke. Harold Huber is amusing as the arrogant candidate Ellis is pushing. Ward Bond has one of his most embarrassing roles as a simple-minded goon with a pickpocketing habit. He goes full Lenny here. He and Duke have a fight scene among that old Hollywood favorite: stacks of empty cardboard boxes. Wallace Ford is wasted in a small part. It's a strange picture, with an awkward mix of comedy and drama, and a bizarre ending that almost defies the production code as the lawbreaking villain isn't really punished. One final, completely irrelevant (to anyone but me) note: Joseph Crehan plays a newspaper editor with a few scenes. In his final scene, he's gushing over this new farming gadget he's bought. It's a nifty little thing that looks like a child's wagon with some junk added on. I wonder if that was a real device or a prop created for the film?

Well here's a John Wayne film you probably never heard of and it actually turned out fairly entertaining in my estimation. For old time movie fans there are a wealth of references to other pictures but you have to be paying attention. My summary quote was spoken by the picture's understated heavy Tom Cameron (Edward Ellis), and it immediately brought to mind the 1936 film "Bullets or Ballots" starring Edward G. Robinson with an assist from Humphrey Bogart. Cameron's right hand man, portrayed by Ward Bond, seemed to be modeled on Lon Chaney's Lennie character in "Of Mice and Men", another film preceding this one by a couple of years. I was a little baffled by that in as much as Cameron seemed to be running a pretty tight political machine and Floyd the Spider (Bond) seemed like a loose cannon most of the time.There was another cool scene right after Lynn Hollister's (Wayne) impromptu radio pitch for the Cameron political organization which he did with feigned sincerity. Outside the station, a waiting doorman proclaimed to Hollister and Sabra Cameron (Frances Dee) that "It was pretty good, but I still prefer Gene Autry". Autry was going great guns for Republic Pictures at the time, so it made a lot of sense for them to plug one of their main stars. Interestingly, while Wayne's character manhandled his female co-star by placing a checkered tablecloth over her head and popping her over his shoulder, Autry put a leading lady over his knee for a spanking in at least a couple of his Westerns.Another reason I can chalk up for enjoying this picture had to do with the place names. There really is a Spring Valley located about thirty miles north of New York City, that being Hollister's home town. Not far from Tarrytown actually, mentioned by Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront", a place he didn't like because the crickets made him nervous. Both locations today are a far cry from being small country towns, much like Newburgh, where the editor of The Globe was about ready to retire to and grow the biggest asters. Newburgh was actually named America's best small town in 1960, but you wouldn't know that today either.Played with about equal parts drama and light humor, I see the movie doesn't resonate a whole lot with other viewers here so I guess I'm a little outside the mainstream on this one. But like I say, it was some of the little things that kept me focused on the story besides the main idea of election tampering that eventually brought down the corrupt politicians with Hollister's help and Boss Cameron's sudden change of heart and mind.

This movie starts off quite excitingly with arresting camera movement, atmospheric photography, intriguing situations, odd characters and elliptical dialogue. Mind you, the dialogue doesn't always work. The attempts to be flippant and yet at the same time stress an underlying menace and tension, don't always work, but it's a game attempt to do something a bit out of the ordinary. One of the chief problems lies in the acting: Edward Ellis and Harold Huber are magnificent but the stooges provided for them cannot come up to their level. This is particularly true of Joseph Crehan who is most unconvincing as a corrupt newspaper editor. The way Crehan plays him makes you wonder how an idiot like that could land a job running a hot dog stall, let alone a newspaper. Due to the dictates of budget and speed, director John H. Auer is forced to work with second-rate character actors unwilling or unable to bring out the depths in their lines. Admittedly, nothing could rescue the later stages of the movie when the script delivers a disappointing climax so that Wayne can get the girl. Still, Huber's death is arrestingly staged. Wayne plays with a light romantic charm that is reasonably appealing, despite the fact that it is often at odds with the atmosphere. If Wayne meant it as a contrast, his efforts don't quite come off. However, Miss Dee makes a fetching heroine, though Ward Bond seems a little out of character as the lunatic brother. All told, some good direction by Auer helps this often otherwise routine town-in-the-grip-of-the-crime-syndicate melodrama. U.K. release title: Citadel of Crime. Also known by its USA reissue title: Wheel of Fortune.

Going out for the day and seeing the BBC had a John Wayne movie on for the afternoon I left and set the tape running. Later I started to watch it expecting a western, I was disappointed at first and then pleasantly surprised. I have seen very few John Wayne movies that were not westerns and not always good but this I enjoyed. Good storyline and a plot which was well thought out. This is the first time I have seen Frances Dee and she was very convincing in her conflict of emotions in loyalty to her father and love for the "Duke". Edward Ellis was wooden but he was old school so I could put up with that. Ward Bond was unnerving in his role as the simple-minded killer henchman. I shall keep the tape and look for more Frances Dee movies, a good actress easy on the eye - and married for 57 years to the same man - respect!!