I watched this 1952 black and white movie staring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford during my workout sessions on the M5 over a few days or a week. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and features Alexander Scourby as Max Fabian, Howard Wendell as Anderson, Steve Geray as Wittol, Torin Thatcher as Marplon the inspector, Juanita Moore as Dominique, and Valerie Bettis as Veronica.
Rita plays a nightclub dancer/singer who's married to Steve Emory's (Ford) brother. Except she isn't married anymore as brother Emory has turned up with pennies on his eyes. Meanwhile, Ford is on his way from the States in response to a letter his brother wrote him on the say day he allegedly committed suicide.
Ford begins his own investigation. He learns things weren't great between Rita and his brother. at one point, the gentleman in the picture above tells him something like, "When a man is married to a goddess, he must expect other men to worship her." Although he isn't getting the answers he wants, he does get to stay in his brother's house with Rita and Dominique.
That's Dominique, the domestic in the background. She's the wise woman of color, as some might be inclined to describe her.
Ford sticks around in search of his own answers and things heat up between him and Rita.
They have a bit of a whirlwind romance over three days or so until Max Fabian shows up to revive all of Ford's suspicions about his brother's wife.
He's loaded with cash and has the hots for the lady. He's also got some Nazi scientists in his bedroom. SPOILER ALERT. Rita and her deceased husband had been trying to get the goods on Fabian. The decedent got caught and made a hasty exit from the spy game in a permanent way thanks to Fabian. Rita ends up telling off Ford to continue her cozy up to Fabian.
While Ford stomps off mad that he's been booted from the fancy party and banished from Rita's heart, she finds an opportunity to search upstairs.
She discovers plans, blueprints, or otherwise incomprehensible drawings, but leaves a fancy chiffon hanky Fabian had just given her at the scientist's desk.
Nevertheless, she strikes gold when she overhears the bad guys and sees the low-budget map with yarn and everything showing how the missile bases in the Caribbean will be able to threaten the entire United States.
A girl may not kiss and tell, but the chiffon hanky tells. It tells Fabian that Rita's a spy. He hastens his plans to depart from the island with his evil henchmen, adding Rita to the flight list, but noting that her ticket will include takeoff but not the landing.
Dominique talks Ford into going back to rescue Rita, convincing him that she didn't even want to go to Fabian's and really only wanted to be with Ford.
Ford shows up just in time to save the damsel from her distress and get the drop on Fabian and most of his henches--emphasis on most. That guy in the background sneaks up while Fabian keeps Ford in place. The hench gives Ford the old ka-bong on the head, which causes Ford to involuntarily ka-pull the trigger. The ka-bang puts a slug into Fabian, who tells the others to leave without him and to take care of Ford--"take care of" in the sense of without-the possibility-of-future-complications way.
As they're taking Ford out, the cavalry shows up in the form of the inspector and his constables. In the quick exchange of pleasantries in hot lead, Ford takes his captor's gun and goes back inside the mansion.
Not wishing to be rude, he remembers to bring a gift this time, delivering a series of heartfelt presents to Fabian, who receives them at the top of the stairs in the manner in which they were intended. Fabian is overwhelmed at Ford's generosity and pitches over the railing.
After that, it's all over but the cruise back to the States with Ford and Rita closing it out with a last lip lock before the credits roll.
--I thought the show started with a lot of potential. It had a noir feel at first and Ford and Rita came across as intriguing characters--Ford being especially good wearing his frustrated-man-desperate-for-answers persona. Rita's role could've been better written, in my opinion. The film tries to recapture the magic of Gilda,which starred Ford and Hayworth, but never rises to that level of intensity. What started as a noir dish morphed into a predictable conclusion to a matinee serial. I give it 3.5 out of 5 slugs - which is probably the same number Ford gave Fabian.
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My adventure book for boys sails onward with the twins and their only friend in the strange new surroundings all in constant peril. The pieces are falling into place for the race to the finish. A certain exhilaration comes with writing the characters into dangerous circumstances without any knowledge about how they're going to extricate themselves and presenting them with difficulties to solve without having planned the resolution. Letting the circumstances and the characters drive the story becomes an adventure in itself.
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