#Bretaigne Windust

[gatutor]

Thelma Ritter-Ginger Rogers "Perfect strangers" 1950, de Bretaigne Windust.

[mariocki]

The Enforcer (Murder, Inc., 1951)

"In seven more hours, Mendoza walks out of that courtroom a free man. How can that be? What's wrong with the law that we can't touch him? Oh, I know, our kind of laws are designed to protect the innocent. It's not enough that we know a man is guilty, we have to prove it."

[spryfilm]

Blu-ray review: “The Enforcer” (1951)

“The Enforcer” (1951) Drama Running Time: 85 minutes Written by: Martin Rackin Directed by: Bretaigne Windust Featuring:  Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel and Everett Sloane D.A. Martin Ferguson: “You think you can shut people up by killing them, but you’re wrong. Maybe not in the courtroom but they’ll be talkin’ to you, Mendoza! At night when you’re trying to sleep!” Critical Commentary “The…

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #11

The Enforcer, 1951, Bretaigne Windust & Raoul Walsh

Cops stumble on shadowy gang that kills for money. Solid crime procedural, all flashbacks within flashbacks. Dingy backrooms, mass graves, vivid ethnic faces. First film to use the terms contracts and hits.

[lostgoonie1980]

340. Um Preço para Cada Crime (The Enforcer, 1951), dir. Bretaigne Windust & Raoul Walsh

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

June Bride

Anybody who thinks Bette Davis couldn’t play comedy need only look at ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), which isn’t exactly Greek tragedy, to see how wrong they are. Yet, that fallacious assumption is at least understandable given the comedies Warner Bros. usually gave her during her lengthy stay at the studio. Apart from THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1941), the scripts were pretty weak, though at least she had the consolation of co-starring with Leslie Howard in 1937’s IT’S LOVE I’M AFTER and James Cagney in 1941’s THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. In Bretaigne Windust’s JUNE BRIDE (1948, TCM, Plex), she had neither a good script nor a congenial leading man. She’s convincing as a tough lady editor (with a great Edith Head wardrobe), but as the former lover assigned to write a wedding story under her, Robert Montgomery is just wrong. He’s not horrible in the scenes without Davis. By 1948, he’d at least acquired enough life experience to play with a degree of conviction. But his comic style doesn’t match hers. Davis keeps struggling to find the truth in the shoddy plot and succeeds a good deal of the time. She has the star’s trick of playing as if she had a secret. She’s always withholding something, which makes her lighter scenes charming. The only scene that seems false is her big Act II confrontation with Montgomery. The writing is so phony even Davis can’t whip it into shape, and the whole idea that a strong, accomplished woman needs a man to serve is just antediluvian. But there are other moments — her reaction to a wedding, a cross to turn out a light — that reach the level of mastery for which she was most acclaimed. Montgomery doesn’t withhold anything. He mugs mercilessly, making him the country bumpkin’s notion of a sophisticate (no wonder he played so much light comedy at MGM). The two stars seem to be in different movies; he’s a McKinley stinker, and she’s a Truman modern. There’s a very deft supporting performance by Betty Lynn as the bride’s younger sister who blossoms convincingly and nice supporting moments from Fay Bainter and Mary Wickes as Davis’ assistants, Jerome Cowan as her publisher and Marjorie Bennett and Tom Tully as the bride’s parents. If you blink, you’ll miss Debbie Reynolds’ film debut as a wedding guest.

[hollywoodcomet]

Musical Monday: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957)

Musical Monday: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957)

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week’s musical: The Pied Piper of Hamlin (1957) – Musical #723 Studio: NBC Director: Bretaigne Windust Starring: Van Johnson, Claude Rains,…

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Patricia Joiner - The Enforcer (1951)

[screenshothaven]

The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957)

[adscinema]

The Enforcer - Bretaigne Windust (1951)

Poster

[ozu-teapot]

The Enforcer | Bretaigne Windust / Raoul Walsh | 1951

[gatutor]

Robert Montgomery-Betty Lynn "La novia de junio" (June bride) 1948, de Bretaigne Windust.

[rhade-zapan]

June Bride ~ Bretaigne Windust ~ 1948

Feat: Bette Davis

Follow Rhade-Zapan for more visual treats

[flimgif]

[nostalgiepourmoi]

Humphrey Bogart & Roy Roberts in The Enforcer, 1951. Directed by Bretaigne Windust ( Raoul Walsh, uncredited).

[travsd]

What Happened to Lora Baxter?

What Happened to Lora Baxter?

A mildly interest enigma this morning concerning actress Lora Baxter (1902-1955). It’s said that in her early years Baxter appeared in vaudeville and wrote silent scenarios for MGM. In 1931, she made ito Broadway in The Sex Fable, supporting Mrs. Patrick Campbell. 1932 may have been her most eventful year: The Black Tower, a play which she cowrote with Ralph Murphy,was produced on Broadway; she…