Bad Girls of Film Noir: Volume 2

I've seen all of these films before, but never realized they were Columbias until now. I always figured they were the work of bigger studios. Mainly using unknown directors and stars, these noirs deliver in both plot and atmosphere. The only one that is a little odd and formulaic is "Women's Prison", but it is still an OK film. The four films in this set are:

Night Editor (1946) directed by Henry Levin - The best film noir with stars and a director you've probably never heard of. As a result of that, you've probably never heard of this film. A married cop is having an affair. One night while out with his mistress, they witness a murder. The cop wants to come forward with the information he has, but realizes his life will be ruined when it gets out why he was at the scene at the time. The mistress, however, doesn't have any problem with keeping quiet.

One Girl's Confession (1953) directed by Hugo Haas - The largely unknown Haas also wrote and starred in this film, but fear not, this is no Ed Wood movie. Cleo Moore stars as Mary Adams, the badly treated employee of a man who owns a run-down cafe. The man has cheated her father out of his money several years before, so she steals a large sum from him, hides the money, turns herself in, confesses but claims she has spent the money, and serves a small jail term. She figures she'll later be free to spend the money she should have had in the first place since the money is safely hidden. Or is it? A very good and ironic noir.

Over-Exposed (1956) directed by Lewis Seiler - Cleo Moore again stars, this time as Lila Crane, a dancer who gets hauled in one night because the place she works for is running an illegal operation. A journalist/photographer takes her picture and she demands it back. Oddly enough, he gives it to her and then teaches her all about photography. Turns out Lila has a talent for the job, but she also has a talent for rackets, and uses one to make her new photographer friend's business more profitable. Eventually she strikes out on her own and heads for New York City. Once there she runs into an assortment of characters and obstacles that get her in over her street-wise head. Generally not that well admired a film, but I really like it.

Women's Prison (1956) directed by Lewis Seiler - This one is different from the first three in that it has A stars and a B plot. Make that a B-. Like the title would have you guess, this is a film about females in the big house. Ida Lupino plays the sadistic warden of the women's prison, and Audrey Totter plays the unjustly jailed innocent that is the object of Lupino's cruelty. For some strange reason, the men's prison has been built right next door to the women's prison. In a foreseeable byproduct of this architectural faux-pas, a male inmate finds a way to get into the women's prison to visit his wife (Audrey Totter). She becomes pregnant, and this sets up the real drama in the film. Unintentionally funny and thick with prison cliches and overacting up to the last twenty minutes or so, this one is an OK film but not a great noir by any means.

BONUS FEATURE:
Remember to Live-All Star Theatre Episode

This collection of "film noirs" from Columbia Pictures is really exciting news for fans of the "bad girl" genre for three of the titles star the "Queen of the B Movie Bad Girls" herself, Miss Cleo Moore!! Cleo Moore (1928-1973) was a sexy blonde with a fabulous figure who unlike most blonde bombshells in Hollywood starred in film noirs rather than comedies or musicals. During the 1950's she was fairly famous and popular if never rising above B star status starring in almost a dozen sexy films, minor releases from major studios. Cleo sadly did not live to see her achieving cult status during the 1990's with these pulp novel movies and fans have had to hunt for these movies which only once in a very blue moon would play on cable but now at last three of them brought together in a DVD set appropiately enough titled "Bad Girls of Film Noir".

My small complaints are (1) the generic artwork cover is not very attractive, surely one of those sensational vintage movie posters that were so essential in selling "bad girl" movies to the public in the 1950's would have been a better choice and it's particularly distressing to see the cover girl, whoever she is, is not Cleo given that she stars not only in three of the four movies here but also the bonus item, a 1954 television drama. I also think the 1946 picture NIGHT EDITOR starring the likable Janis Carter is not quite a correct match for this set given it's a decade older than the other films, one wonders why Sony didn't go whole hog and give us four Cleo Moore movies, or at least make the fourth film one starring one of her contemporaries. An ideal choice would have been THE BURGLAR(1957) starring another one of the great 50's sexpots, Jayne Mansfield, in her only film at Columbia. Still, one can hardly complain about the given what a thrill it is for Cleo fans and bad girl buffs to see this set being released!!

OVER-EXPOSED is my favorite of the trio; an underrated gem with Cleo playing a dance hall floozy who begins a remarkable legit career as photographer and rises to the top albeit unable to shake off her scheming ways. Her leading man here is Richard Crenna in one of his earliest roles. Almost as good is ONE GIRL'S CONFESSION with Cleo as the ward of a crook isn't above some shady dealing herself. Cleo has a secondary part (with third billing) in the cult film WOMEN'S PRISON which has a camp classic star turn from Ida Lupino as the prison matron from hell but she's a delight as a dim-witted Southern prisoner who helps Jan Sterling lead a revolt.

These sensational little films show how well the old studios produced even their modest programmers with tight editing and good direction and acting. Let's hope there's "Moore" Cleo on the way from Sony - they also own her features BAIT and STRANGE FASCINATION!!

I thought this set was better than vol 1, even though it sells for less. In Night Editor, Janis Carter steals the show with a knockout performance. William Gargan lacks emotional conviction in his lethargic performance. Women`s Prison although a little dated today and somewhat "hollywood", was a real winner with it`s outstanding cast, especially Ida Lupino. Over Exposed (barely a film noir) is a good melodrama, but with Cleo Moore who cares. One Girl`s Confession is another Cleo Moore film. Again, borderline film noir but well worth seeing. Also there is a 30 min. TV program with Cleo Moore, which I haven`t watched yet.