MGM/Alpha Video
www.oldies.com
Loretta Young in.... TCM is playing
Cause for Alarm! tomorrow at 5 pm. I've always thought this was a pretty bad movie, and yet have always loved watching it. There are some location shots of what seem to be streets within a block or two of West 1st--Loretta and Barry appear live in the 100 block north of a street somewhere between, say, Highland and Western; 116 N Van Ness would seem to be the most likely candidate, but the house is proving elusive. I'll stay on the case, as life depends on it, right? OK, anyway, Tay Garnett directed this short (74 min) film--he of
The Postman Always Rings Twice. Cause has been termed
noir--I've always thought this was stretching it a bit, but I've also seen it called "suburban noir", which I can see. It does hang together as it is, although I can't help but wonder if, given an extra, say, 45 minutes, it couldn't have been turned into something much more traditionally noirish. What exactly
are Loretta and the handsome doctor up to? Their reactions to the fate of Barry are most curious.... are they just a watered-down version of Lana and John or Barbara and Fred?
Check it out.
Dinner on me at Perino's for the first person to identify the man in middle below. (Hint #1: TCM is running episodes of his star vehicle all day today, in which there are sometimes great location shots of developing L.A. Hint #2: He had a sad end--shot to death at 31.)
MGM/Alpha Video
www.oldies.com