Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie
Posted by Don Malcolm on 8/17/2020, 12:20 pm, in reply to "Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie"

Louis Jourdan played too many suave lotharios in rapid succession, and it took its toll on the public's (and the critics') reception of his abilities. We've already rediscovered and screened one of his most ambitious efforts (1962's LEVIATHAN, screened as part of FRENCH 3 in 2016). The search is still on for another French noir, ESCAPADE (1957).

There were many well-made TV movies in the sixties and seventies--that didn't really start to run its course until the networks stopped funding those productions in the late 70s. Bootleg copies for many of these are available if one scouts around a bit.

On a semi-related note, we should try to sponsor a "CROOKED IS AS CROOKED DOES" mini-marathon at some point. There are a sizable number of films with "CROOKED" in the title--consider:

RIDE A CROOKED MILE (1938, USA) Paramount "B" with Akim Tamiroff, Frances Farmer and Leif Erickson
THE CROOKED ROAD (1940, USA) Republic "B" directed by Phil Rosen with Edmund Lowe and Irene Hervey
THE LAST CROOKED MILE (1946, USA) Republic "B" directed by Philip Ford with Ann Savage, Adele Mara and Don "Red" Barry
WALK A CROOKED MILE (1948, USA) Columbia release from Edward Small, directed by Gordon Douglas; early Cold War-red bait espionage noir with Louis Hayward, Dennis O'Keefe, Louise Albritton and Raymond Burr
THE CROOKED WAY (1949, USA) Already-referenced Bogeaus/United Artists production; "amnesia noir" with John Payne, Ellen Drew, Sonny Tufts and Percy Helton
DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD (1954, USA) Columbia noir directed by Richard Quine with Mickey Rooney, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly and Dianne Foster
THE CROOKED WEB (1955, USA) "Cold war mumbo-jumbo" filmed at the former site of Stan's Drive-in down the road from Columbia Pictures, directed by Nathan Juran with Frank Lovejoy, Richard Denning and Mari Blanchard
THE CROOKED CIRCLE (1957, USA) Boxing "B" from Republic/Ventura directed by Joe Kane with household name John Smith, Fay Spain and Steve Brodie
CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW (1958, UK) Directed by Michael Anderson with Richard Todd, Anne Baxter, Herbert Lom and Alexander Knox
THREE CROOKED MEN (1959, UK) British "B" heist film (Danzigers) directed by Ernest Morris
THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN (1960, UK) For that needed change of pace, a Norman Wisdom comedy directed by Stuart Burge and featuring a young Susannah York
KINGDOM OF CROOKED MIRRORS (1963, USSR) For an even greater change of pace, a Soviet fantasy film referred to as a "live action cartoon from hell", surreal propaganda borrowing its plot gimmick from "Through the Looking Glass" but winds up somewhere between "The Wizard of Oz" and "Pan's Labyrinth"
THE CROOKED ROAD (1965, USA/Yugoslavia) fitful, occasionally sadistic 60s espionage with Robert Ryan, Stewart Granger and Nadia Gray
WALK A CROOKED PATH (1969, UK) Blackmail, murder, and semi-random kinkiness at a British boarding school
RUN A CROOKED MILE (1969, made for TV) per Mike's overview and the IMDB reviews--always good to end on a high note...!

Chronological order is probably NOT the way to organize a CROOKED marathon, but it doesn't matter because the days of doing something this crazy are long gone. A five-day festival might still work with the right arrangement of films. Possibly Elliot can make one more SF comeback with this series, entitled "I Wake Up Crooked!"...

...that's a joke, Elliot--just a joke!

Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie
Posted by Solomon on 8/17/2020, 5:08 pm, in reply to "Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie"

For the program, add

THE CROOKED SKY (1957, UK) 77m Anton Diffring, Wayne Morris

Not for the program, note

Studio One in Hollywood : There Was a Crooked Man 1950 Drama TV Show
There Was a Crooked Man (1970) a 2-hour western starring Hank Fonda and Kirk Douglas

Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie
Posted by Don Malcolm on 8/18/2020, 9:55 am, in reply to "Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie"

Right--I left off THE CROOKED SKY because the reviewers were pretty much uniformly merciless about it. Then again, I raced through the listings and didn't record IMDB ratings for them, so the possibility exists that several of the other films in the "marathon list" have lower scores than THE CROOKED SKY (a tepid 5.2).

Actually, that Studio One show should probably be added to the program in order to remind us about the migration of noir to TV, even though it, too, has some pretty brutal reviewa. It is, however, more readily available than some of the other titles on the list...

And, oddly, it appears that they redid this show two year later with a different cast.

Fonda and Douglas would likely be a breath of fresh air in such a lineup, particularly if it were structured as a marathon. Maybe a 11:30am or 1pm slot that could bring in some folks to join in, with the added inducement of some still-recognizable names (a commodity that in this series is in somewhat short supply).

Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie
Posted by Solomon on 8/18/2020, 3:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie"
THE CROOKED SKY does have a few noir shots in it, especially the murder sequence ending at doorstep of Scotland Yard. My review (from 2016) of this movie is more positive. I watched it again last night and I'd say the same. It's not the kind of thing an audience expecting deep noir would go for, however. My taste is less exacting.

The Crooked Sky (1957)
Wayne Morris looks for leads to break counterfeiting operation of Anton Diffring, 7 April 2016

"The Crooked Sky" (1957) is a serviceable Britnoir crime story that has an American Treasury agent, Wayne Morris, working undercover as an efficiency expert at an airline company. Several violent deaths of radio operators have drawn attention to the company as a possible source of the American-made paper that’s being used to spread counterfeit pound notes in England. Morris works with Scotland Yard’s Bruce Seton and meets Karin Booth who works at the company and was engaged to one of the slain men. Her own brother (Sheldon Lawrence) is also a radio operator and acting suspiciously.

A slimmer Morris did an excellent turn that same year in "Paths of Glory". He’s good here too, making a reason to watch. He makes his part interesting in every scene he’s in. His nemesis is Anton Diffring, who can convey disdain, anger, control and iciness on demand.

The story doesn’t catch fire and becomes a bit plodding, confirming the IMDb rating of 5.4 as a somewhat lackluster effort. Still, I did not dislike it at all. I enjoyed seeing Morris on the trail leading to Diffring and his efforts to avoid being caught. I’d rate it 5.5 if I could. There is a new fullscreen print. While it improves greatly on the existing taped-from-TV fare, don’t expect high contrast or sharp blacks and whites. This film is more in the gray or pale mode.

Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie
Posted by Don Malcolm on 8/19/2020, 10:05 am, in reply to "Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie"

So, yes, add it into an overall program that features some of the UK films as separate from the marathon. Here's a first cut at a weekend of crookedness:

THE CROOKED WEEKEND
These movies may not be as crooked as they're cracked up to be!
Friday evening
Count the Crooked Miles...
RIDE A CROOKED MILE
WALK A CROOKED MILE
THE LAST CROOKED MILE

Saturday matinee
Crookedness, UK style!
THE CROOKED SKY
CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW
THREE CROOKED MEN

Saturday evening-Sunday morning
The Crooked Marathon--14 hours of crookedness!
THE CROOKED WAY 7:30
THE CROOKED WEB 9:15
THE CROOKED CIRCLE 11:00
THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN 12:45
KINGDOM OF CROOKED MIRRORS 2:15
THE CROOKED ROAD (1940) 3:45
THE CROOKED ROAD (1965) 5:15
WALK A CROOKED PATH 7:00

Sunday evening
Mickey & Louis & Mary & Dianne...
DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD
RUN A CROOKED MILE

Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie
Posted by Bitter One on 8/30/2020, 11:54 am, in reply to "Re: Run a Crooked Mile (1969) 96m TV-movie"

Brutal. My butt hurts just reading that line-up!