Warner Archive Collection New Releases April 15: Reel Killer B’s
Caution: Dangerous Curves!
WILDCAT BUS (1940) Fay Wray stars in this off-the-beaten-path gem of a crime comedy that mixes grit, moxie and mirth for a fast-paced romp into the world of illegal ride-sharing. Beginning with a set-up straight out of Commedia – destitute aristo (Charles Lang) and servant (Paul Guilfoyle as a chauffeur) search for work and end up trying their hands in the long-range bus trade. After the disaffected blue-blood and the bus company manager and mechanic (Fay Wray, riveting well before Rosie) meet not-so-cute, the buddies is split up – ex-chauffeur becomes upstanding bus driver while his ex-boss becomes a low-down illegal hackney. And to make matters worse, he’s working for the racket that’s trying to drive the bus company out of the biz! Mixing streetwise savvy, b-movie pulp riffs, romance, charm and outright slapstick, Wildcat Bus is one wild ride.
RACE STREET (1948) George Raft and William Bendix co-star as childhood chums operating on either side of the law who come up against the syndicate in this noir drama set in postwar San Francisco. Raft plays a bookie looking to get square after meeting the perfect dame, while Bendix plays a cop whose heart is bigger than his badge. As the mob starts to muscle in on the bookie’s loose affiliation of independent operators, they lean a little too hard on Raft’s best pal (Harry Morgan) and straight and narrow dreams take a backseat to vengeance. Also stars Marilyn Maxwell. Produced under the aegis of legendary studio honcho Dore Schary.
SKY FULL OF MOON (1952) MGM discovery Carleton Carpenter goes the “aw shucks” route in this genre-defying tale of a small cowboy and the big city. Virginal ranch hand Harley ‘Tumbleweeds’ Williams (Carpenter) dreams of hitting it big at the rodeo, and finally have some tales of his own ’round the campfire. Armed with his season’s pay, he heads off to compete in the Las Vegas rodeo only to discover the cost of entry is higher than expected. Desperate, Tumbleweeds tries to gamble his way to fortune, only to end up in way over his head with the wrong kind of right kind of girl, Dixie Delmar (Jan Sterling). Sky Full of Moon bronco busts from romance to film noir to coming of age tale, but feels like a smooth canter the whole time. Keenan Wynn is on hand to anchor the action with gruff gravitas.
Keep your eyes peeled for Elaine Stewart in a brief part.
A SLIGHT CASE OF LARCENY (1953) Elaine Stewart enjoys a much larger role in this caper comedy that get her the attentions of Mickey Rooney and Eddie Bracken. Thanks to a lucky gas station location, these two crown clown princes team-up as a pair of ex-GIs who stumble into a not-quite-so legal petrol re-distribution scheme, Stewart plays the competition’s secret weapon, a femme flame gas station attendant that earns the ardent admiration of Rooney’s GI. Marilyn Erskine plays Bracken’s sympathetic and long-suffering spouse.
HBO: NON-FICTION
MONDAYS AT RACINE (2014) This Oscar®-nominated documentary short tells the story of two Long Island sisters who, once a month, open their beauty salon to female cancer patients, free of charge, helping them feel beautiful while fighting an ugly disease. The sisters have a personal motivation in offering such treatments: they watched their mother grow reclusive and depressed after being diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1980s. Cancer can rob many women of their ability to feel like the person they once were, but Cynthia Sansone and Rachel Demolfetto are determined to help, with a little bit of blush and a lot of handholding.
NOTE: These DVDs are Manufactured on Demand (MOD); to order, fans must visit The Warner Archive Collection or WB Shop.com
