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Reviews
Down Three Dark Streets (1954)
A poor case file for The FBI
The film revolves around three unrelated cases taken on by FBI agent Brodrick Crawford who provides a dull performance in this routine product. The film itself is just okay and some scenes are just poorly done. For example,the scene where Ruth Roman goes to the park at midnight to meet the extortionist. The whole scene is poorly done lacking in any tension or fear. Overall the film has too much narration and just not enough suspense. Ms. Roman gives a good performance with what she is given to work with. The Gordons who wrote the screenplay and the novel did much better a little late on with 1962's "Experiment In Terror." Of course they had Blake Edward's directing instead of the unexceptional Arnold Laven. Laven did make a couple of decent films (See The Rack and Slaughter on 10th Ave), however this is not one of them.
The Steve Allen Show: Elvis Presley, Andy Griffith, Imogene Coca, Milton Berle, Steve Lawrence & Edye Gorme (1956)
Steve Allen degrades Elvis
Steve Allen had Elvis on his Sunday night show which was on opposite the Ed Sullivan Show (Toast of The Town). Mr. Allen was no fan of Rock and Roll and for years continued to make fun of Rock and Roll singers and their songs. I believe it was Little Richard's "Tutti Fruitti" that Mr. Allen once read on his show, as if it were a poem and not song lyrics, much to his and his audiences humorous delight. Years late in the sixties Allen was still doing the same thing with the lyrics of The Beatles. While not certain I believe the song was "Hello, Goodbye". Anyone familiar with this song knows that the lyrics are simple, however, most people know that lyrics are meant to be sung and not read as poetry. Mr. Allen, a songwriter himself, should know better. With this background in mind Mr. Allen had Elvis come on the show and sing "Hound Dog" dressed in a Tuxedo singing to a real hound dog. Elvis was also part of a comedy skit that was embarrassingly bad. I assume Mr. Allen got his ratings that night and beat out Mr. Sullivan. But Mr. Sullivan and Elvis got the last laugh when Elvis made three appearances on the Toast of The Town and music has never been the same since. I gave this a five only because of its historical value. Toegether with the Sullivan shows and his appearances on Milton Berle show Elvis changed the musical landscape. Elvis first appeared on Milton Berle's show and if you want to see the Real Elvis catch the unedited hip grinding version of "Hound Dog" he performed for Mr. Television!
The Sadist (1963)
Sadistic to Watch
Except for some nice camera work by cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (credited as William Zsigmond) this film has little to offer. The acting is mediocre and by the way can anyone explain why Arch Hall Jrs. face constantly looked like he had an acute case of constant squinting. Was this acting or a severe episode of constipation? Overall, the film lacks tension and is painfully slow. It gets to a point where you wish Archie boy just shot all three of his hostages, then turned the gun on his simpleton girlfriend and finally on himself. Anything to end this celluloid horror. Saying this, I will admit the ending was a decent surprise ( I won't spoil it for those who have not seen it), however it's a long 90 minutes or so to wait for that one thrill. If you want to see a really good film based on the same subject (serial killer Charlie Starkweather), catch on cable or rent "Badlands." Rated a 2- Poor - Has some merit (Zsigmond's camera work)