In The Street with No Name, a young FBI agent (Mark Stevens) is dispatched by FBI Inspector George Briggs (Lloyd Nolan, reprising the role from The House on 92nd Street) to a generic American city to infiltrate an emerging criminal organization led by a charismatic and clever criminal (Richard Widmark) whose wartime experience has inspired some new twists on how criminal organizations work.

The story has a realistic tone to its investigative procedures, with the gimmick of actual FBI agents being involved in the production or appearing in the roles they played in the original case. Nolan turns in his usual solid and believable performance as the officious Inspector Briggs. This was an early role for Richard Widmark, who easily turns in the most compelling performance of the film as a menacing and unpredictable lead villain who commands the audience’s attention each time he’s on screen.

The story of the investigation is interesting enough, yet it’s a bit bland, particularly in comparison to some of the other great procedural films of the era, such as He Walked by Night, T-Men, and especially House on 92nd Street. Outside of Widmark’s character, there are no really interesting characters. The forgettable and interchangeable men who play the thugs in this feature pale in comparison to the colorful German agents of House on 92nd Street brought to life by expert character actors.

The one other character who shows promise of being able to make some sort of impact is the villain’s wife (Barbara Lawrence), who has some strong moments opposite Widmark, but is ultimately and brutally sidelined before the final act.

One of the big interest factors is the FBI’s cooperation, which I can’t help but feel led to them choosing to dramatize a case that put the FBI in a great light, but isn’t nearly as interesting as it could have been.

At the end of the day, it’s an okay crime thriller with two big points of interest that may make it worth watching: the outstanding performance of Richard Widmark and the historical curiosity about older FBI procedures and the participation of actual agents in making the picture.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Street with No Name is available on DVD on Amazon. (Affiliate link)

Background:

Kojak was a 1970s series starring Telly Savalas as a bald NYPD Greek-American Lieutenant Theo Kojak. The series was in the top 20 for ratings in its first three seasons. The series and Savalas won multiple awards during its run. In its third season, Kojak featured its first and only Christmas episode, which aired on December 21, 1975.

The Plot:

A skeleton crew is set to work on Christmas Eve at the 11th precinct, with Kojak having the night off. Those plans get scuttled as two different cases emerge with life-and-death stakes. A man who shot a woman in a bar and was injured in the process is still on the loose. In addition, a young woman from a wealthy family wants the police to track down her boyfriend because she fears he’s going to commit a robbery to get her a Christmas present.

Review:

There are crime shows that pretty much abandon their premise for Christmas, but Kojak didn’t. While the stakes were not as big as in other episodes, Kojak still offers two separate cases that involve peril with at least one life on the line in each case. The episode is well-paced and sticks to a mostly realistic plot and story structure, but with some nice Christmas moments, such as when Kojak and his Captain receive presents from his men. The scene of the Christmas party in the precinct gives some good character insight about Kojak and the men who work under him.

The guest cast is competent and features a couple of noted talents. This is the TV debut of Veronica Hamel, who’d go on to net five Emmy nominations for her work on the 1980s police classic Hill Street Blues. A young future Emmy Winner John Laroquette (Night Court, Boston Legal, The Librarians) has a small role as well.

It’s Kojak who has the most memorable moments, showing both wisdom and compassion when confronting difficult situations, and having a lovely personal moment before events interrupt his date.

The biggest challenge with this episode is figuring out how to view it as a Christmas episode. Unlike some Christmas episodes, it doesn’t overwhelm you with Christmas cheer or atmosphere. It also isn’t one of those depressing or truly dark holiday tales that are popular in some quarters. The situations, while serious, are not grim or dire, and neither situation ends up as bad as it could have been.

It’s tempting to view the episode as coincidentally set at Christmastime for the sake of it. The episode approaches a subtler theme of the Christmas story – that of sorrow at the current state of the world. While not depressing, the episode does have some downbeat moments, which makes sense for an episode that aired in a post-Watergate and post-Vietnam world with skyrocketing crime rates.

The opening dialogue-free street scene features a minute of a song of lament (I couldn’t find the title and the IMDB page only listed the traditional Christmas songs in the music credit). It begins with:

What have we lost in
all of the days flown by?
A dream or two has gone to die.
What have we lost in only a year gone on?
We’ve seen some sadness and felt the cold.

One of the episode’s key scenes features Kojak talking to a young Greek lady who immigrated to the United States three years ago. She has very high English proficiency and a grasp of the current cultural situation, but has only picked up vague information about past events. As a lifelong New Yorker, Kojak tells her about the past. This leads to some humorous moments, such as her getting confused about why the Giants are playing in New York rather than San Francisco, and not really understanding why Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were ever a team.

It also finds Kojak reflecting on how life has changed in the city. There’s a whiff of nostalgia, but Kojak also acknowledges that the past had its problems, reflecting on how the streets were dirty, yet not smog-filled as they have become, and not with the level of crime. He reflects, “Summer nights, believe it or not, you could walk in the park—any park in New York.

“And downtown, the Lower East Side. Great place. Pushcarts and selling watermelons and pineapples and bananas and flowers and people and laughter and like that. You let the fun go out of this city, Eleonora. Everybody’s afraid of everybody else now.”

Yet, this sorrow doesn’t sour Kojak. Towards the end of the episode, Kojak warns that everyone in the city will be wearing bulletproof vests if folks don’t wake up, and then adds, “But you know something, Frank? It’s our neighborhood, right, baby? We gotta love it.”

And fundamentally, that’s what makes this episode work. It’s about a man who sees the sorry state of the world but does love and serve the people of his community and mitigate the damage while longing for better days.

Kojak shouting, “Love thy neighbor, baby!” might not be the most usual moment in a Christmas episode, but it sums this one up nicely.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5.

All Five seasons of Kojak are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.(affiliate link)

In last week’s article, I highlighted TV programs that were not easily accessible due to copyright. Among them was Dante, the series starring Howard Duff as night club operator Willie Dante.

However, after writing the article, I was tipped off that the series was available online. The British company Talking Pictures TV is a television program that features rare old programming and is broadcast in the UK. It runs a website called TPTV Encore where you can access some of its back catalog on-demand. Some of its programming is limited release and is limited to viewers in the UK and Ireland. However, some of its productions are available worldwide, and so as a U.S. viewer, I can watch Dante. 

Since I can watch it, I figured I should review it.

Background:

Dante was a recurring feature on Four Star Playhouse, a 1950s Anthology Series. Dick Powell originated the role of Wille Dante, the operator of an illegal gambling room. The eight episodes featuring Dante aired between 1952 and 1956. A YouTube Compilation of all 8 Powell episodes is available to watch here.

In Fall 1960, Dante came to NBC TV with Howard Duff tanking over the role of Willie Dante as Powell was getting older and also moving into more behind-the-camera work.

How to Access:

To access the show, you go to the website and register for free. Once you’re registered, you can click on the “Four Star Productions” link at the top of the page which leads to a whole lot of tantalizing television, much of which isn’t available to stream anywhere else, including episodes of the 1960s cult hits Honey West and Burke’s Law, along with a good number of tantalizing programs that aren’t available for free streaming elsewhere.

The first episode that’s available is entitled “Opening Night.” According to Wikipedia, this is the second episode of the series and if the plot summary is correct, that makes sense. There are some brief commercials before the show starts as well as at least one midroll ad when I watched.

The Plot:

It’s the opening night for Dante’s new San Francisco nightclub, Dante’s Inferno. Dante insists that’s all that’s happening. There’s no gambling. He’s gone strictly legitimate. The police, encouraged by an ambitious DA, don’t buy it, and neither does an ambitious gangster who knows Dante from the old days and is determined to force Dante to make him a partner. If Dante doesn’t, it could lead to a murder, with Dante set to take the fall for it.

Review:

This feels like a proper series opener, as we’re introduced briefly to Dante, given hints about his history as well as meeting his two sidekicks for the series, Alan Mowbry and Tom D’Andrea.  Much of the first half of the program is concerned with the District Attorney’s suspicions and establishing the character. Here is a point where the series is betrayed by its half-hour length. There’s not really time to do the sort of introduction the show’s trying to do while also having a crime adventure pop up for Dante in the second half of the program.

Howard Duff’s performance is what ultimately makes the difference. Duff, who is most famous for playing Sam Spade on the radio, is just as capable here. He manages to make Dante a multi-faceted character and portray him as a cool customer who exercises a wry sense of humor while dealing with the inquiries of both the press and overly suspicious police officers, while jumping in as the big man of action in the final minutes of the story.

While the main story resolves, the episode leaves us with key questions, such as whether Dante has really given up illegal gambling and if so, why. The episode leaves viewers wanting to see more, although I don’t know whether these questions will be followed up long-term. Though they may spend too much time on set-up, it does deliver an exciting ending and Duff’s performance makes it a decent watch, and an intriguing start to the series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Who Done It? is a 1942 Abbott and Costello film in which Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play two soda jerks who aspire to become radio mystery writers. However, their efforts to pitch a mystery get derailed when an actual murder occurs in a program that they’re attending. They leap in to try and investigate like good amateur sleuths, but find themselves running through the station from the police while trying to clear their names, and stay alive.

Who Done It? is a fun Abbott and Costello film with a lot to commend itself for fans of old-time radio detective programs, as there’s a mystery involved and we also get to take a “behind the scenes” look at a radio stations during the Golden Age of Radio. Abbott and Costello had become massively popular thanks to the Who’s on First? baseball routine and they have a good time poking fun at their own success. The supporting cast was solid, featuring future Oscar nominee William Gargan and future Life of Riley star William Bendix, along with a fairly young Mary Wickes.

The movie is definitely one of their more fast-paced films, with the murder mystery serving as a ticking time bomb and also limiting the number of settings. Yet, it still delivers some great laughs, a satisfying solution to the mystery and one of great big over-the-top slapstick finales this early era of Abbott and Costello films was known for.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Who Done It? is part of The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Vol. 1 or Abbott & Costello: Universal Pictures Collection.

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While books, films, movies, and radio programs told all sorts of high-flying adventure and espionage stories during World War II, these were almost entirely fiction. Yet, as the war came to an end, many stories could at last be told. The House on 92nd Street was one of the earliest of these to make it to film.

The film starts before the U.S. entered World War II, when a chance traffic accident sets the FBI, led by Inspector George Briggs (Lloyd Nolan), onto a Nazi spy ring operating with support from the German Consulate in New York. While they have enough information to capture some members of the spy ring, they can’t identify the leader, a mysterious Mr. Christopher. A college student (William Eythe) who had been recruited by the Germans contacts the FBI, and they encourage him to play along with the Germans and go undercover to help round up the entire spy ring.

The House on 92nd Street was a ground-breaking film, and one of the earliest to utilize the sort of documentary style that would become popular in so many films based on true incidents in the latter part of the 1940s, such as The Naked City and He Walked by Night. Reed Hadley has the perfect voice of authority for a narrator. The story has some very nice, authentic touches. Real FBI agents appear in many agent roles in the film. The rest of the cast is made up of talented character actors. While there are some recognizable names in the cast (Nolan and Gene Lockhart stand out), all are well-suited to character roles and deliver believable performances. The film also features real secret footage of Nazi agents coming and going from the German consulate before Pearl Harbor.

Despite the authentic touches, the film takes its share of liberties with historic events, most of which seem to have been changed to make a more compelling and exciting film experience. And in that, it certainly succeeds, with some great camera work, tense music, and an exciting finale and big last-minute reveal.

House on 92nd Street is a real gem of a film. If you’re interested in World War II, or love a good 1940s thriller or spy story, this is a must-see film. It’s an intriguing film that takes real events and tells a story in a grounded yet compelling way.

Rating 4.5 out of 5

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser.

A version of this article appeared in 2017.

After a TV movie and two partial seasons, ABC gave the Father Dowling Mysteries a regular season of 22 episodes in 1990-91.

The same cast of regulars from Season Two returns with Father Frank Dowling (Tom Boswell) and Sister Steve (Tracy Nelson) investigating mysteries, and Father Prestwick (James Stephens) and housekeeper Marie (Mary Wickes) providing comic relief.

The series maintains a pleasant, family-friendly tone with likable characters. Steve does a lot of undercover work and handles most tasks well, but you don’t get the impression she’s unrealistically super competent in everything like during Season One.

Some of the past seasons had episodes that could more rightly be called “adventures”  than “mysteries,” but this season all the episodes are true mysteries. The plots are thought-out but never too intricate.

The one thing I did miss from Season Two was the little touches that made Father Dowling and Sister Steve seem more like a real Catholic priest and nun. Except as discussed below, they don’t do anything to cut against that idea, other than the fact that the two can always run off to investigate a mystery.

One of the best episodes of the season is “The Christmas Mystery.” It’s a nice mystery with a few suspect twists, but it’s a fun Christmas treat and there aren’t enough good Christmas mysteries out there. In “The Moving Target Mystery,” another of my favorites, a contract killer comes into Father Dowling’s confessional and confesses he was hired to kill Father Dowling. He is backing out because he won’t kill a priest, but somebody else will. It’s a good set-up for a story.

The “Fugitive Priest Mystery” finds Father Dowling on the run thanks to his evil twin Blaine, and he has to clear his name and find out what Blaine’s up to. “The Hard-Boiled Mystery” is my favorite episode of the season. Father Dowling goes to have words with a writer who has decided to write a story based on Father Dowling. It’s set during the 1930s, with Dowling as a hard-boiled priest-detective. We flash from the present to the hard-boiled detective scenes and they’re absolutely hilarious.

On the downside, some stories just didn’t work. After having an angel in Season Two, the writers decided, “How about having Father Dowling encounter the devil?” Thus we are given “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Mystery.” What we get is a Hollywood version of the Devil, who is defeated by a plot ripped off from “The Devil and Daniel Webster.” The story introduces an older brother for Steve and contradicts a previous season’s story featuring Steve’s younger brother. Further, it has the characters acting really out of character. It’s the worst episode of the series.

“The Consulting Detective Mystery” is also a bit of clunker. Father Dowling makes a deduction as to who committed a crime. He’s wrong, leading to an innocent ex-con losing his job. This leads to Sherlock Holmes appearing in order to restore Father Dowling’s confidence. It’s not a great set-up and the actor playing Holmes doesn’t work. It’s not as bad as “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Mystery,”  but it’s weak and poorly executed.

The rest of the box set is serviceable and fun. Father Dowling was never a big budget show, and it never featured television’s most clever mystery writers. It was a show you could enjoy with the whole family. Another reviewer described the show as “cute,” and I’ll go with that. This season, in particular, features Father Dowling and Sister Steve working to save a cute zoo monkey who is framed for murder. It’s easy viewing with a bit of nostalgia for simpler times thrown into the deal.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Note: A version of this article was posted in 2016. 

This 3-DVD series collects the second short season of The Father Dowling Mysteries, originally broadcast in 1990 when the series moved to ABC after NBC produced its first season. The main cast is Tom Bosley (Father Frank Dowling), Tracy Nelson (Sister Steve), James Stephens (Father Prestwick), and Marie (Mary Wickles).

If I had to describe the difference between this season and season one, I’d have to use the word “authenticity.” In season one, our heroes are people who solve mysteries, who just happen to be a priest and a nun. In season two, they are a priest and a nun who come across mysteries in the course of their lives and duties.

They say prayers, perform ceremonies and deal with church hierarchy and bureaucracy. It plays into the plots. In “The Solid Gold Headache Mystery,” Sister Steve is named custodian of the estate of a wealthy man whom she was visiting. In “The Blind Man’s Bluff Mystery,” she shows kindness to a blind conman and is taken in by him. A similar event happens to Father Prestwick in “The Confidence Mystery.” Father Dowling knows who an art thief is, but is far more concerned about his life and his soul than bringing him to justice in “The Legacy Mystery.”  And Father Dowling’s pastoral relationship is key to his involvement in “The Falling Angel Mystery” and “The Perfect Couple Mystery.”

The show isn’t preachy but it makes the characters more believable. Characterization is also better for Sister Steve. She’s still resourceful and frequently ditches her habit to go undercover. However, this doesn’t happen every episode. Unlike in season one, where she seemed to be super-competent at everything, she fails at a couple of her tasks. Sister Steve doesn’t make a good skater, and doesn’t win at every video game. Thus she’s much more of a real person. This is also helps as we learn that she has a hoodlum brother in “The Sanctuary Mystery,” and that her father was an alcoholic in “The Passionate Painter Mystery.”

The supporting acting shifted as subplots became more about Father Prestwick (who works for the Bishop) than their cook Marie. I didn’t like this as much, as I prefer Marie as a character. Still, the officious and demanding Father Prestwick is more effective as a comic foil for Father Dowling.

The guest cast is mostly solid, although a couple of scenes in “The Perfect Couple Mystery”  were painful to watch.

In terms of the plots, they’re mostly okay. Many of the episodes feel more like adventures rather than typical mysteries, and some were not all that clever, such as “The Ghost of a Chance Mystery.” Some of the better ones were “The Visiting Priest Mystery,” where a mob hitman tries to go undercover as a visiting priest at Saint Michael’s; “The Exotic Dance Mystery,” which ends up with Steve going undercover as a card shark; and “The Confidence Mystery” and “Blind Man’s Bluff Mystery,” both of which have some clever twists, though the similarity in plot made airing them both in the same season a dubious decision.

This season also featured “The Falling Angel Mystery,” where a scruffy angel named Michael (not the archangel) shows up with a warning for Father Dowling. I was dubious about the plot as it could have been cheesy and there were some problems with the story. However, James McGeachin does a good job in the role and the twist is one I didn’t see coming. Of course, Father Dowling’s criminal twin brother Blaine has a return appearance, much to Father Dowling’s chagrin.

Ultimately, the plots were not all fantastic. What holds it together is the characters are incredibly likable and a joy to watch.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase

A version of this article was originatlly published in 2014.

The Father Dowling Mysteries was a delightful mystery series starring Tom Bosley (Happy Days) and Tracy Nelson as Chicago-based Father Frank Dowling and Sister Stephanie “Steve” Oskowski, a priest and nun who constantly find themselves in the the thick of mysteries. The duo first appeared in a 1987 TV movie before joining the 1989 NBC line up as a mid-season replacement before moving to ABC in 1990 for another mid-season replacement season and its only full season. Having aired on NBC and ABC, the DVD release, of course, comes from CBS Home video. Father Dowling was a character created by Ralph McHenry in a series of popular novels, but the novels really don’t appear to have come much into play in the stories.

The first season set collects the 1987 movie, The Fatal Confession, as well as the seven-episode first season of Father Dowling.

Ultimately, this isn’t a series made by the cleverness of its mysteries, or by bone-chilling suspense, or by CSI-like crime scene details. In the end, Father Dowling stands firmly on the charm and chemistry of its two protagonists, and Bosley and Nelson are wonderful to watch.

Bosley is very believable as Father Dowling. He does a perfect job creating the balance that’s required in a clerical detective. Dowling is clever, but he’s also compassionate. He cares about catching the bad guy, but he also cares about people’s souls and lives. In so many ways, Frank Dowling is a bit of a throwback to a gentler era in television that spawned characters like Andy Taylor. He is truly good and kind, and also doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Sister Steve is street-smart but also very compassionate. The biggest flaw with the way the series played the character was that in each episode, they had to have her do something you wouldn’t typically expect a nun to do, mostly in the line of duty but sometimes not: beating the neighborhood boys at basketball, playing pool, fixing a car, mixing drinks at a bar, or teaching an aerobics class. It was all in the line of work. Sometimes, it was humorous, though at times it could get goofy and a little repetitive. The first few episodes had her being able to do every single thing well. Thankfully, in the “Face in the Mirror Mystery,” they finally had her undertake a task she couldn’t do well: rollerskating.

Rounding out the regulars were Father Dowling’s cranky housekeeper Marie (Mary Wickes) and the very particular Father Phil (James Stephens), who would appear in the first and last episodes of the 1989 series before becoming a regular.

As for the episodes themselves:

The Fatal Confession had some good moments in it as Father Dowling looks into the apparent suicide of a former parishioner, but the last quarter of it or so is just too much like a soap opera

“The Missing Body Mystery,” the feature-length first episode of the 1989 series, begins with a man stumbling into St. Michaels and dying. When Father Dowling returns after calling the police, the body is gone. His stability is called into question and the bishop wants to relieve him and replace him with Father Phil. It’s a great story and a solid beginning.

“What Do You Call Girl Mystery” is a story about a slain high-priced call girl that manages to tell a good story without being exploitative or sleazy.

“The Man Who Came to Dinner Mystery” is probably the only clunker in the first season. Steve’s ex-fiance (played by Nelson’s then-husband William Moses) witnesses a murder, but when he shows up with the police, the body’s gone. Even worse, someone’s trying to kill him. This story not only has a similar plot to a much better episode that aired two weeks previously, as a well as a weak conclusion, but it tries to create dramatic conflict over Steve’s decision to become a nun and fails.

The main problem is that we’re told that Steve was almost ready to marry her ex when she ran off to the convent to become a nun. Why would a young woman make this very radical decision? All of the reasons Sister Steve gives, such as, “It was the right thing for me,” don’t really ring true. It’s impossible to believe that the Catholic Church would allow someone with such weak reasons, or inability to articulate them, to become a nun at all. Of course, treating the subject realistically may have required too much religiosity for network TV executives’ liking. But if you can’t do it well, why do it at all? Why try to introduce a dramatic subplot that’s not believable?

The season got back on track with the two part “Mafia Priest Mystery,” in which Father Luciana, the son of a mafia family, becomes Father Dowling’s new assistant. He’s trying to make a break with the family business, but is drawn into an effort to help his brother Peter go straight, and finds himself framed for murdering the DA. This is a great story with a lot of tension, suspects, and situations. We do learn whodunit about halfway through the second episode, but there’s still some great suspense including a delightful train chase. I also appreciate how the episode highlights both Frank and Steve’s compassion as they deal with and minister to members of the crime family even while trying to find the killer.

“The Face in the Mirror Mystery” is actually a pretty decent story despite the fact that the premise of an “evil twin” of the main character has been done to death. This is a great cat-and-mouse game between Father Dowling and his twin brother Blaine, though the payoff scene is a little silly.

The season concluded with “The Pretty Baby Mystery,” which has a woman chased by armed men, leaving her baby in the church. Father Dowling and Steve try to find the mother and end up getting arrested by the Feds. This is another episode that really respects the characters’ vocation and differentiates them from the typical TV detective. The episode also marks the return of James Stevens as Father Phil, who has become the Bishop’s assistant.

Overall, the first season of Father Dowling was thoroughly enjoyable. It manages to be a mostly well-written, family-friendly detective series with likable characters. It treats its main characters with respect, but also manages a great deal of humor and warmth. I’ll look forward to future seasons.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5.0

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Note: Having done a lot of research for more recent Bob Bailey series, I decided it’d be worthwhile to review a couple of things I viewed starring Bob Bailey as part of the research.

No Escape is a 1953 film noir set in San Francisco. The theme of the film is that because of its geography, once the police get a bead on you and set up a dragnet, there’s no way out. The poor unfortunate sap who finds himself in this situation is John Howard Tracy, a talented piano player plagued by alcoholism. The girlfriend (Marjorie Steele) of a tough San Francisco cop (Sonny Tufts) is the prime suspect of a murder, and Tracy could provide key evidence that could implicate her. However, her boyfriend decides to frame Tracy, who has to find some way to prove his innocence while avoiding capture.

There’s a lot to like about this film, starting with Lew Ayres’s performance. Lew Ayres is perhaps most familiar as Dr. Kildare, the titular character of the television show, and he is a bit past his prime in that series. This film is nearly a decade earlier, and Ayres delivers a charismatic performance and creates an interesting character in Tracy. The art direction of the film is good, too. The music of the film is above average, and the use of some real location shots of San Francisco, while not exclusive to No Escape, enhance the pleasure of it considerably.

The plot is the weak spot. The mystery at the core of the story is predictable and the big surprise twist I’d figured out well in advance of the end.  Still, it’s an enjoyable and diverting film even if it’s not a great one.

Bob Bailey’s Role

Bob Bailey’s role is credited as “Detective Bob,” and in the film he delivers functional dialogue. If some police officer needs to say something like, “Look, he’s over there,” this will be the type of line that Detective Bob will get. Bailey does what’s expected but there’s really no opportunity to do anything with the role.

The obvious reason for Bailey taking on this part is the money. He was about to step away from his starring role in Let George Do It to focus on screenwriting. The money he got for the film would make a good nest egg.

If the film served any purpose, it showed that Bailey could indeed play a detective. Despite the insistence by TV execs that Bailey didn’t look the part of George Valentine or Johnny Dollar, Bailey looks perfectly believable as Detective Bob. Then again, his problem was never reality, but Hollywood standards for what a private detective should look like.

Overall, the film is not a bad little noir to watch, and offering a chance to see Bob Bailey, even in a limited role, may be an added enticement.

Rating 3.5 out of 5 Stars

No Escape can be streamed for free by Amazon Prime subscribers.

In the 1948 film, Mister Blandings Builds His Dream House, New York City advertising executive Jim Blandings (Cary Grant) shares a cramped apartment with his wife (Myrna Loy) and  his daughters. In a fit of inspiration and pique, Blandings decides to move his family into a beautiful old house in rural Connecticut about an hour from the city. However, Murphy’s Law hits in force and before Blandings knows it, he’s having to build a new home from scratch.

While this film is seventy-five years old, it’s still charming. While both Grant and Loy were veterans of more uproarious screwball comedies in the 1930s, Mister Blanding Builds His Dream House‘s comedy is different. It’s down-to-earth, subtle, and relatable. Anyone who’s gotten themselves into the stressful and complicated process of a real estate transaction should be able to relate to the Blanding’s plight, though the situations are amped up for comedic effect. Long-suffering family friend and lawyer Bill Cole (Melvyn Douglas) is both a great voice of reason and delivers the best comedic lines in the film. The film also has a serious point and character arc for Jim that really only becomes apparent in a surprise end towards the end of the picture..

The film did have points that seemed underdeveloped. In particular, Jim’s struggles to develop a slogan for Wham! (an obvious ripoff of Spam) because a predominant plot point in the last quarter of the movie. Having Cary Grant read off lame slogan ideas isn’t exactly comedy gold and we’re given little reason to care about him coming up with this whole issue. The threat of losing his job could have gotten me to care if done right, but there’s no reason to think he doesn’t get another job just a s good in two weeks.

Still, this is a very enjoyable film  when it sticks to its strengths aa  a story of love and real estate.

Rating: 4..0 out of 5.0

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