Hypnotape Reviews

Crisis (1950)

Another one for Signe

[16 September 2006]

I first saw this movie in 1950 when it was released. I thought it was a good drama, more or less accurately portraying many of the problems of Latin American governments, with good dialog particularly between the two male leads. Incidentally, I did not find either character particularly sympathetic, but no matter. Many of the comments here have mentioned the resemblance to Eva Peron of the Signe Hasso character. Just an interesting observation: In the much later made for TV movie, Evita Peron, Signe Hasso and Jose Ferrer both had roles. He was the tango singer who seduced Evita and took her to Buenos Aires. She was the aging actress who befriended the young Dva Duarte and found herself in a jail cell. Of the two movies, Crisis is by far the better film. Evita Peron was a ripoff.

Evita Peron (1981 TV Movie)

Cry for this one, Argentina

[3/10 · 24 November 2005]

As one who has a long-standing interest in the Peron regime, I really looked forward to the release of movie on television. I found it a big disappointment, mostly due to a bad script. It was a pastiche of scenes based on the biographies available at the time, one of which was the notoriously slanted and inaccurate Woman with the Whip. One particularly bad segment showed the Signe Hasso character who had helped Evita as a young actress. When she (Hasso) meets her (Peron) later after she is in power she refuses to take money from her, and gratuitously insults her, ending up in a jail cell. The point of the scene was that Evita was a vindictive woman (she was) who turned on those who had once been her friends (she did), but the scene as presented was pointless and contrived. Another egregious error had Peron running for president against Farrell (he did not - Farrell was his friend). It would be like having a movie about Nixon where he ran for president against Eisenhower. One thing that was interesting is that both Signe Hasso and Jose Ferrer were in the movie, and in the 1950 film Crisis they played a South American dictatorial couple who many thought more than superficially resembled the Perons. Just an interesting (to me) coincidence.

Dangerous Partners (1945)

Ah, Signe

[9 November 2005]

This was a tight, neat little thriller, better than most of its kind at the time. I guess you would call it a true noir, which the House on 92nd Street was not quite. It wasn't totally plausible, but it was close enough for what it was. The supporting cast was all good with what they had to do, especially lovable Edmund Gwenn in an against-type villainous role. I would like to comment on Signe Hasso. I fell in love with her in The House on 92nd Street, and saw this movie not long after that. She was a good actress, very unappreciated I felt, and never looked more gorgeous than she did in this film. I find even now that most people have never heard of her and am glad to find from various postings about her movies on this website that she had other fans. The last minute change of heart for her character in the movie, who had been well portrayed as a rather cold, scheming adventuress was a bit unrealistic, but that's Hollywood of old. All in all I liked the flick. James Craig was a hunk, sort of Clark Gable, but not quite.

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Oh Green-Eyed Monster

[8/10 · 9 November 2005]

I first saw this movie when I was in grade school. I thought it was great then, and still think so with qualifications. When I saw the movie the first time I thought the Tierney character was a paragon of evil. Now, withmore understanding of human nature (or so I like to think) I see her as a woman in the grip of a mental illness even she didn't understand and probably couldn't control, a person to feel pity for. She was a psychopath in the sense that she didn't understand normal emotions and relationships. Now for the spoilers--if they are spoilers--since most people are familiar with the plot, but here goes. When Ellen learned her husband was leaving her she plotted her suicidal revenge very cleverly, to the extent of writing for help to the man she had jilted to marry her husband. On the stand, Wilde revealed all of his wife's crimes, which the audience was privy to, but as far as the jury, he provided no evidence whatever for his story. Then, the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty for Ruth in ten minutes. Whoever heard of a jury returning in ten minutes with any kind of verdict? The next implausible turn of plot was that the hero was sentenced to prison as being an accessory to Ellen's killing of Danny. Since Ellen didn't premeditate letting Danny drown,it would probably have been next to impossible to convict her, much less her husband. Who could prove it wasn't an accident? As a one-time aspiring writer I have this thing about gaping holes in plots and plausible motivation. Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain were certainly two of the most beautiful women in films at the time and were stunning to look at, as was the scenery. I liked the psychological portrait of an unstable and ultimately tragic woman, whose obsession destroyed not only her own life, but that of everyone around her.

The House on 92nd Street (1945)

Fond Memories of the House

[8/10 · 4 November 2005]

I'm glad one of my favorite movies The House on 92nd Street has been released on DVD and to read the reactions others have made about it. I first saw this movie when it was first released and I was about 11 years old. It made a great impression on me at the time. Of course it is much older now and so am I. My reaction to the revelation of the identity of Mr. Christopher came as an almost physical shock. I should add that at the time this movie came out the war had just ended and the bomb had been dropped only months before, and the radio made much of the nuclear race between Germany and the United States, so the 'now it can be told' aspect of the movie had a lot more meaning then. Also, we weren't very ambivalent about who the good guys and the bad guys were in the war (that didn't happen until Vietnam). I can see that the technology that seemed so cutting edge then is simplistic and dated by today's standards, but that doesn't hurt the movie if you take it in the context of its time. One comment I'd like to make: when Elsa first saw Dietrich's altered credentials she was rightly suspicious and sent for confirmation by courier from Hamburg. In the meantime he continued to operate for what seemed like months and the war started. How long did to get that confirmation anyway? By the way, I've seen the House and it was on 93rd street.