DANA AND THE DEAD
“Watch a movie once
for the story; watch a
movie a second time
and you begin to notice
how it is put together”
—Carl Rollyson
Hollywood Enigma:
Dana Andrews
_________________
Laura (1944)
Fallen Angel (1945)
Night of the Demon (1957)
__________
Detective Dana Andrews—
is haunted by the dead
when beautiful Gene Tierney—
supposedly murdered returns
To her apartment where Dana—
sleeps beneath her portrait
Having fallen in love with her—
while investigating her death
__________
Then comes Linda Darnell—
sullen sultry femme fatale
Plus some occult hocus-pocus—
with Professor Madley’s seance
Played by wily John Carradine—
doing his camp carnie circuit act
Leaving Alice Faye flummoxed—
and lovely Linda Darnell dead
___________
But even more interesting—
when Dana Andrews travels to
England to investigate some—
Paranormal Stonehenge events
Conjured up by Jacques Tourneur—
with an evil runic magician
Whose mad mother Mrs. Karswell—
played by ditsy Athene Seyler reminds
_____________
One very much of mad Marion Lorne—
Bruno Anthony’s schizoid dear mother
The ultimate “Momism” matriarch—
out of Philip Wylie’s scathing book
GENERATION OF VIPERS (1942)—
about American Cold War culture
Around which Hitchcock filmed—
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
No comments:
Post a Comment