Dr. Renault’s Secret (1942)

Young Dr. Larry Forbes (John Shepperd) is traveling to his his fiancée’s home in France.  He is delayed by bad weather and stops in an inn before he reaches the villa.  He switches rooms with another drunken guest and later the guest is found murdered.

Rather than a science fiction story, this is more of a mystery.  The suspects include a slow-witted assistant Noel (J. Carol Nash), an unctuous butler, and a truculent gardener Rogell (Mike Mazurki).  And not least, her reticent father Dr. Renault (George Zucco).

Noel behaves in suspicious and odd ways.  When the murdered guest is said to have been strangled by “fingers of steel,” Noel quickly hides his hands.  (This was funny enough that we began referring to the movie as “Fingers of Steel.”) Noel is acutely sensitive to the presence of dogs but drifts off readily and has difficulty with simple conversations.

Larry would rather ignore the sinister events and focus on being reunited with fiancée Madelon (Lynne Roberts).  His fiancée is a piece of work.

She states that she is kind to Noel but nothing she says or does proves this. She insists that he drive back to town  to pick up something trivial that he forgot.  She’s unfailingly condescending to him in her speech and body language.  She even is furious with him for trying to protect himself when a stray dog savages his arm.  The dog was not the bitch in the movie.

It’s pretty obvious what the titular secret is but it takes some time for anyone to figure it out.  In the meantime, there are corpses piling up.

The sets were of high quality and gave me hope that the story would be a little more sophisticated that it ultimately proved to be.  The finale is so abrupt that my viewing partner and I started laughing.  On the other hand, it didn’t outstay its welcome.  I don’t recommend it.

highlight for spoiler–Nash works hard at his characterization of the ape man, how he moves and holds his body.  He is sympathetic and intriguing as a sinned against beast.–end

The featurette, with critics and film historians such as Kim Newman, was twice as entertaining as the movie.

DVD Talk review

Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy review

Pop Matters review

PWI Pop review

Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings review

Mike Mazurki

…

Rogell

Charlaine Harris’ ‘Dead’ series

Back in 2001, I had the opportunity to read Dead until Dark the first book in the series.   However, it wasn’t a paranormal romance, and I wasn’t interested at the time.  But with the buzz from the True Blood series, I thought I’d give it another try.  I’m glad I did since the mystery/horror elements are much more appealing than the paranormal romance this time around.

Dead Until Dark

The story: a socially isolated waitress (Sookie) at a bar in rural Louisiana encounters a vampire and goes to his rescue when he is attacked in the parking lot of the bar.  This action embroils her in a supernatural murder mystery.

I love Sookie’s wry observations on her own and everyone else’s behavior.  She doesn’t easily accept all the bizarre revelations about the supernatural people but she doesn’t waste time protesting her new reality either.  Her tenuous place in the social structure makes it believable that she’d fall into the ‘outgroup’ of vampires and such.  I hope that Harris enriches all the minor characters – the community members are all quite interesting.

Living Dead in Dallas

The story:  A co-worker at the bar where Sookie works is murdered.  She is hired by vampires to solve the mystery and she learns far too much about supernatural world.

I was slightly disappointed with this one.  It may be that the author is moving from a single novel to a series and so has to lighten the tone a bit.  I also missed Sookie’s hometown politics and interactions.  Dallas was less interesting to me here.  I do like how Sookie is changing due to her adventures: she’s more confident, more daring and a bit more sophisticated.

Club Dead

The story:  Sookie’s having boyfriend trouble and then he goes missing.  She’s got to find him and upbraid him.

I don’t like the urban setting. Moreover, this one got way too painful for me.  I really hated what some of the characters in this book did.  So much so that I contemplated dropping the series.

Dead to World

The story:  Sookie is bitter and alone after her breakup.  It never rains but it pours since her brother disappears and she has an amnesiac vampire dropped into her lap (more or less).

But I did pick up the fourth book and I’m happy for doing it.  Sookie’s back at home which pleases me no end.  Sookie’s becoming more resilient emotionally and mentally, and I think she’s becoming a force to be reckoned with.  Normally I’d find fault that every guy she meets is instantly attracted to her.  But I can buy that her psychic powers are the real lure and they are all supernatural beings.  No humans for Sookie.

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Veronica Mars – season two

Quick Comments on season two.

I gave up thinking of the characters as teenagers. They don’t look or act like teens and few of the situations or problems felt youthful.  Still, almost as good as season one.

I’ve been puzzling over why I liked the bad boy Logan in this series. He’s not especially gifted with moral fiber. Well, actually, neither of Veronica’s love interests (Duncan or Logan) are worth much. But Logan is articulate and somewhat aware of the larger picture. Duncan by contrast is silent and reacts to his surroundings much like a rock.  I guess that’s good for romance but not fun for watching on TV. Duncan seems so self-involved, I’m surprised he manags to notice anyone else.

The penultimate episode horrified me so much that that I couldn’t watch the last episode Not Pictured for a couple of days.

a few spoiling comments…

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

This movie was recommended to me a long time ago by moviesmusic whom I should thank.

Mike Dixon (Dana Andrews) is a cop who is reprimanded by his superiors for getting rough with suspects.  On his next case, he makes a mistake and tries to cover it up; miring himself deeper in trouble.

The movie is very much the moral dilemma for the Mike but Otto Preminger keeps this one moving fast and Andrews does a good job of keeping me rooting for him. Morgan Taylor (Gene Tierney) is lovely and looks too glamorous for the movie as a whole.  It was very satisfying to watch.

Romeo’s Ex and Drama!

Nightingale by Jerry Pinkney (2002). This was a beautiful picture book version of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale but set in Morocco. There is a little girl with more than her share of common sense in the story. The symbol of death is a little creepy but otherwise a lovely, lovely book.

Drama! the Four Dorothys by Paul Ruditis (2007). This is a cute mystery with a teenage detective Bryan Stark. He attends the elite Orion High School filled with Hollywood’s progeny. The egos are so big that the school’s musical production features four leading ladies. The mystery is so-so as the Dorothys are incapacitated one by one but Bryan’s amusing observations more than make up for it. It’s the first in a series.

Romeo’s Ex by Lisa Fiedler (2006). This is Rosalind’s story in which we find out that she was much smarter and more mature than Romeo. She finds a worthy man but not without death, revenge and a painful amount of self-destructive behavior by everyone involved. Not for the fan of the romantic Romeo & Juliet.

Improper English by Katie Macalister (2003). A young American woman Alexandra goes to London to write a romance novel. She regales everyone from her cabdriver to her landlady with her progress. The problem is, the stuff is awful. It’s abysmal. In fact, Macalister could have eased up on us a little.

Alexandra does meet a handsome man there, named Alexander. He, understandably enough, shudders whenever she approaches him with her manuscript in hand. Not bad but I like Macalister’s vampires better.

The Westing Game

This is classic children’s mystery, written by Ellen Raskin, which won the Newbery in 1979.

A disparate group of people all become tenants of the same apartment building, Sunset Towers. They are surprised when they are named heirs of an eccentric, wealthy man Samuel Westing. However, to gain their inheritance, they must solve the mystery of his murder.

The characters I liked best were ten year old Turtle; her lovely but spineless older sister Angela; and the unhappy but virtuous Judge Ford.

I can’t help but like Turtle because she’s smarter and more persistent than anyone else in the book. Plus, she kicks people in the shins when they touch her hair.

Ford, although successful, resents the man who funded her education. The enormous chip on her shoulder is affects her peace of mind.

Angela is beautiful and is soon to be married. Other than that, she’s a nonentity to everyone she meets. This does not comfort her. Usually I dislike Angela characters but I couldn’t help rooting for her.

All the characters change as they attempt to solve the mystery. Everything wraps up neatly once the mystery is solved.

I wish I had read this when I was younger, I would have loved. Since Raskin isn’t condescending to her readers, I enjoyed it still.

Serenity, Fables, Love Roma

Serenity: Those Left Behind. Story by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews. Art by Will Conrad. It had some beautiful artwork but the story was unimpressive.

Fables: Legends in Exile. Story by Bill Willingham. Art by Lan Medina. The trouble I had with this one was that it was just a mystery. They didn’t have to be ageless or fairy tale characters. That bothered me a lot. Once I got past that, it was an entertaining story and I enjoyed reading a comic with ’super-hero’ art rather than manga. This the first mainstream American comic I’ve read in a while.

Fables: Storybook Love. Story by Bill Willingham. Art by Mark Buckingham, Lan Medina, Bryan Talbot, Linda Medley. I liked this one better than the first one. For one thing, the magic came back in, and for another, I know the characters a little better. Goldilocks was freaky. Wolf’s appearance changes pretty drastically and that disturbed me. I liked Snow a little better this time around. Sleeping’s affliction was funny. I think I will try to read the others now.

Love Roma. Minou Toyoda. I really liked the simple, lively artwork on this one. Hoshino decides to ask Negishi out on a date. His matter-of-fact and public declaration embarrasses her but she agrees. This is low-key but funny little dating comic. Nothing outrageous happens. They do ordinary things and sometimes they fight or misunderstand each other. But they value the other person’s honesty, a quality that they believe will keep their union strong. I’m making it sound treacly but it’s not.

My favorite story is when he goes to meet her family. They decide they would feel better if they had her father’s approval. Hoshino announces that they are dating. (For some reason, the father’s spit take looks like bars of crystal.) Then when the father hedges a question about their sexual activity, Hoshino reports they have kissed but not had sex. The father is relieved but Negishi smacks Hoshino and the mother just laughs. It’s refreshing to read a Japanese comic about love without tear-filled eyes.

Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen

Cover via Amazon

Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen by M. T. Anderson is a sequel to Whales on Stilts which I haven’t read. Anderson also wrote Feed and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. This book is like a juvenile version of the Eyre Affair about kids’ series books. Part of the fun for an older reader is figuring out which series is being parodied.

The story is about Katie (adventurer & mystery solver), Jasper Dash (a whiz kid like Tom Swift), and Lilly (who is ordinary) who go on vacation and run into other literary stars of kids’ book series. Quintuplets (5 Little Peppers?) are abducted and it is up to the heroes and heroines to find them. The Cutsey Dell Twins (Sweet Valley High) are too vacuous and self-centered to do much. The Manley Boys (Hardy Boys) are too stupid and too close to being bullies to accomplish much.

There are many strange characters at the hotel and most of them have clearly missed the exit to reality a couple of hundred miles back. Outrageous stuff happens on nearly every page and it’s hard to keep up with all the reversals and reveals and mortal peril.

Mystery Movies: Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is spunky, vulnerable, witty and cynical all at once.

The convoluted tale of the murder of Lily Kane, Veronica’s best friend, serves as the background for the series. Lily’s death more or less destroyed the already corrupt town of Neptune. The sheriff (Veronica’s father) accused Lilly’s father of murder. When another man confessed to the murder, Veronica’s world fell apart.

Now her wealthy peers ostracize her, and her father works as a private investigator. Veronica believes that if she discovers who really killed Lily then, perhaps, she might find her happiness again.

Her circle includes a put-upon sidekick Wallace (Percy Daggs III), a stoic ex-boyfriend she smolders for and a friendly ruffian named Weevil (Francis Capra) whom she should smolder for. There is also Logan (Jason Dohring), the manipulative, snotty kid who misbehaves every chance he gets.

Despite the bright manner of the actress and the quick-moving stories, it took me a while to realize how well written this series is. But I now love this series and I have 2 disks left to go of the first season.

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This is the last of the mystery movies. It was a rewarding experiment and I thoroughly recommend the idea (if not all the movies!). I’m going to be working on a biographical movie list next.

Mystery Movie: Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1997)

 Smilla is both brilliant and anti-social to an extreme degree.  When a young boy she has reluctantly befriended dies in accident, she cannot accept the official cause of death.  Her intuition, especially in matters of snow, tells her a different story.

Her investigations drag issues into the open that nobody wants to deal with.  She even resurrects events from her own past that she had long dismissed.  Nevertheless, she has opened Pandora’s box and must deal with the consequences.

At one point, Smilla discusses what meaning and connection she finds between mathematics and snow.  This was the most engaging part of the movie for me, and I wish there had been more of it.  I also enjoyed the trek through the snow and wish there had been more of that.

For the rest of the movie, I struggled unsuccessfully to become engaged with the characters or to suspend my disbelief at the story line.

I think the movie would have been improved by fewer action sequences and less mystery. Neither were necessary in exploring Smilla’s character and heritage.

Perhaps the book by Peter Høeg on which this movie is based is more satisfying.