DEAD RECKONING (1947)

Director: John Cromwell
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott

An earlier Bogart this time.

"Rip" Murdock (Humphrey Bogart) is on the run.  He confides in a priest the story of how his friend, Johnny Drake and himself are ordered to travel to DC.  He goes missing and Murdock goes AWOL.  He tries to search for his friend, but ends up finding him dead in the southern US.

Murdock goes to a bar and meets Coral Chandler (Scott), Johnny's girlfriend.  When she loses at roulette, he helps her win.  Aww.  My brother used to do that with video games.

When the two go for a nightcap, Murdock's drink is drugged.  He wakes up on the phone with the girl, but discovers the butler's, Ord's, dead body on the bed beside him.  He dumps the body in a laundry chute, but the cops arrive soon after.  They search his room and find nothing.

Murdock teams up with Coral.  The two are pulled over, but Murdock convinces the cop that they are to be married, and lets them go.

Murdock finds the safe in Martinelli's office, but it's open.  He's knocked out by an unknown attacker. 

(rest of plot from Wikipedia)

When Murdock awakens, Martinelli has him roughed up by his thug, Krause (Marvin Miller), to try to find out what is in the coded letter. However, Murdock manages to trick his captors and escape. The flashback ends, and Murdock slips away.

Now suspicious of Coral, he goes to her apartment to confront her. She claims to be innocent, but finally admits that she shot her husband in self-defense. She went to Martinelli for advice and gave him the murder weapon to dispose of, but he has been blackmailing her ever since. In love with her himself, Murdock agrees to leave town with her, but insists on retrieving the incriminating weapon first, despite Coral's objections. He threatens Martinelli with a gun, eliciting some startling revelations. The club owner reveals that Coral is his wife. He killed Chandler (having learned the man had lied about having only six months to live) and framed Drake so that Coral could inherit the estate. Murdock gets what he came for and forces Martinelli to precede him out of the building. As he opens the door, Martinelli is shot and killed.

Murdock jumps into the waiting car and drives off with Coral. As they are speeding away, he accuses her of having just tried to kill him. When she shoots him, the car crashes. He survives, but she suffers fatal injuries. In the hospital, Murdock comforts her in her final moments.
    

REVIEW:  too confusing, and Lizabeth Scott pouts way too much when she sings.  Very draggy, but good cinematography and acting.

THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955)

Director: William Wyler
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March, Arthur Kennedy

Haven't posted in a while, I know.  Watching this film on Boston's movie channel and thought it would be good to review.

Three escaped convicts (Bogart being a convict by the name of Glenn) descend upon a family (March being the patriarch, Dan) who just wants to keep house, but end up moving in and terrorizing them.

(It's ironic that I'm blogging about this film while Mark Cuban is holding DeAndre Jordan hostage, but alas)

Meanwhile, the police are doing everything they can to bring the convicts into custody.

The family reluctantly makes the convicts feel at home, while Dan has to explain the dire situation to his son in a heartwarming scene.

After an attempted rape by a drunk convict, Glenn knocks him out.  Cindy faints and Dan gets the men out of the house.  Unfortunately, while trying to call the police, Ralphie disappears.  It's soon discovered that Bogart is holding him captive.  The family gets their son back, but Dan is knocked out. 

Hal (Gig Young) decides to jump ship and leave the house, to the ire of Glenn.  He eventually lets him leave.  Glenn gets upset and starts throwing the family's items.

Hal hitches a ride with a stranger whom he later carjacks.  He finds refuge at a diner, where he's confronted by an officer, who runs him out onto a dark road, where he is later run over by a truck and dies.

Back at the house, Dan receives a call that his money has arrived.  He tells Ellie that if she hasn't heard from him in four hours, to call the police.

The police confront Cindy's boyfriend, Chuck, about the whereabouts of the criminals after Chuck reveals that Cindy lives in the area.

Dan runs into the police, who guide him to his home, which is now surrounded by police.  They take him into the attic, where they are lying in wait.  They agree to send Dan in with the money, a risky thing to do.  He's obviously caught and forced to hand over the money.

The situation escalates when Dan tries to block to invaders, who end up getting pushed out, except for Glenn.  He gets a hold of Ralphie and takes him hostage again, poor kid.  Pointing a gun to his head, he loses him as Ralph runs away at his father's demands.

Dan corners Glenn in Ralphie's room.  Here, March delivers one of the best lines in the movie, in response to Bogart's "you ain't got in ya!":  "You put it there."

Glenn is finally caught, but he doesn't go down without a fight; he throws a rock at a searchlight, erupting in a hail of gunfire.  But is he really dead?  The cops think so as they take him away.

As for the family, the nightmare is finally over.   

 REVIEW:  Bogie is, as always, a master of noire and suspense.  One of my favorite scenes in this film is when he's just nonchalantly going through the woman's personal possessions.  Despite his older appearance, Bogart still has it; delivering all of his lines as if he were in CASABLANCA again.   
It's refreshing to see March in a role that isn't a mad scientist.  I know he was in plenty of non-horror films, but I've always known him as Dr. Jekyll, so it's good to see him in this.  He carries all the poise of a modern actor.

This is a good noire film, and a good film for Bogie and March in their later years.  It has a TAKEN vibe to it, but not as extreme as the Liam Neeson films.