Pulp International

vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news

BAD MOONRISING

His problems aren't just a phase.

Though the term wasn’t widely used back then, Moonrise is a movie about trauma. Dane Clark plays a man whose father was hanged for the crime of murder, and who’s been teased and tormented by others about it his entire life. When one of his worst childhood torturers (played by Lloyd Bridges in an early role) pushes him too far when both are adults, Clark bashes in his skull with a rock and leaves the body in the woods. This is just the beginning of Clark’s troubles. It happens that Bridges’ fiancee is Gail Russell, and Clark has always wanted her. That’s motive right there. Worse, several townspeople are quite aware that he’s always wanted her.

But maybe the body won’t ever be discovered. Fat chance. Clark spends days dreading the inevitable, then after the corpse turns up, sweats like a war criminal in the dock as the local yokel sheriff tries to solve the crime. The sheriff is one of those types that seems slow-witted but—gasp!—really isn’t. You know how it goes from that point. He drawls many homespun yet simultaneously cryptic observations that make Clark quiver in his shoes. There’s an acquaintance of Clark’s who lives in the woods, played by Rex Ingram in a rare meaty speaking role for a black actor, and he really does figure out Clark is a killer, but says nothing because he figures Clark will confess of his own accord. Hmm… maybe.

The problem is, the torment Clark has endured as both a child and adult has been over-the-top cruel. Thus traumatized across the years, he’s unable to respect any boundaries or care about any feelings save his own. For example, he gives Russell zero choice about accepting his amorous advances, and Russell allows herself to be disrespected, manhandled, and eventually bullied into a relationship. Elsewhere, eventual M*A*S*H* actor Harry Morgan plays a “deaf and dumb” local who’s mercilessly teased by a crowd. We bring it up to illustrate that, in short, this is not a movie that offers a high opinion of humanity, which makes it difficult to watch, and a little hard to believe.

But okay, Moonrise is filled with reprehensible and pitiable characters because its ultimate point is that mistreatment embeds itself in the psyche and manifests later, to exponentially more people’s detriment—i.e. it’s a losing game for a society to be cruel. Short term satisfaction is repaid with compound interest on the back end. It’s a good lesson for 2024. Not that anyone who needs to learn it would listen. We just wish Moonrise, with such a serious subtext, hadn’t been so hamhanded about the syndrome it explores. But it wasn’t bad in the end. We suspect the source novel by Theodore Strauss is more nuanced, and maybe we’ll read it and find out. Moonrise premiered today in 1948.

Moonrise, Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Harry Morgan, Rex Ingram, Lila Leeds, Lloyd Bridges, Theodore Strauss, poster art, cinema, movie review, film noir

DATE WITH DESTINY

Everybody's gotta die sometime.

This photo-illustrated poster was made for the 1948 suspense thriller Night Has a Thousand Eyes, which demands to be watched if for no other reason than its lyrical title. The awesome Edward G. Robinson plays a phony psychic who’s thrown for a loop when he unexpectedly starts to have real visions—or seems to. Has he merely refined his scam, or can he really see the future? He tells Gail Russell she’s fated to die in mere days but claims he wants to help her avoid her destiny. She believes the prediction, but her beau and a handful of cops keep trying to pin various crimes on Robinson as Russell’s clock dwindles to zero hour. The base ingredients here—the good cast, experienced director John Farrow, a source novel by William Irish, aka Cornell Woolrich, aka George Hopley—were probably pre-destined to produce something worthwhile. We’d say the novel is better, but as adaptations go Night Has a Thousand Eyes mostly works. We sense that… Wait! It’s becoming clear… It’s you! With a bowl of popcorn and a beer! Watching the movie!

Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell, John Lund, Virginia Bruce, William Demarest, John Farrow, William Irish, Cornell Woolrich, George Hopley, poster art, cinema, movie review

FACE TIME

Movie stars were always willing to give each other a hand.


Once again we’ve been struck, so to speak, by the sheer number of cinema promo images featuring actors and actresses pretending to slap each other. They just keep turning up. The above shot is more about the neck than the face, but it still counts, as Gloria Swanson slaps William Holden in 1950’s Sunset Boulevard. Below we have a bunch more, and you can see our previous collection at this link. Since we already discussed this phenomenon we won’t get into it again, except briefly as follows: pretend slaps, film is not reality, and everyone should try to remember the difference. Many slaps below for your interest and wonder.
Diana Dors smacks Patrick Allen blurry in 1957’s The Long Haul.

Mob boss George Raft menaces Anne Francis in a promo image made for 1954’s Rogue Cop.

Bud Abbott gets aggressive with Lou Costello in 1945’s Here Come the Co-Eds.

Jo Morrow takes one from black hat Jack Hogan in 1959’s The Legend of Tom Dooley.

Chris Robinson and Anita Sands get a couple of things straight about who’s on the yearbook committee in Diary of High School Bride.

Paul Newman and Ann Blyth agree to disagree in 1957’s The Helen Morgan Story.

Verna Lisi shows Umberto Orsini who gives the orders in the 1967 film La ragazza e il generale, aka The Girl and the General.

What the fuck did you just call me? Marki Bey slaps Betty Anne Rees loopy in the 1974 horror flick Sugar Hill.

Claudia Cardinale slaps (or maybe punches—we can’t remember) Brigitte Bardot in the 1971 western Les pétroleuses, known in English for some reason as The Legend of Frenchie King.

Audrey Totter reels under the attentions of Richard Basehart in 1949 Tension. We’re thinking it was probably even more tense after this moment.

Anne Baxter tries to no avail to avoid a slap from heel Steve Cochran in 1954’s Carnival Story.

Though Alan Ladd was a little guy who Gail Russell probably could have roughed up if she wanted, the script called for him to slap her, and he obeyed in the 1946 adventure Calcutta.

Peter Alexander guards his right cheek, therefore Hannelore Auer crosses him up and attacks his left in 1964’s Schwejk’s Flegeljahre, aka Schweik’s Years of Indiscretion.

Elizabeth Ashley gives Roddy McDowall a facial in in 1965’s The Third Day.

Tony Anthony slaps Lucretia Love in 1972’s Piazza pulita, aka Pete, Pearl and the Pole.
 
André Oumansky goes backhand on Lola Albright in 1964’s Joy House.

Frank Ferguson catches one from Barbara Bel Geddes in the 1949 drama Caught.

This looks like a real slap, so you have to credit the actresses for their commitment. It’s from 1961’s Raisin in the Sun and shows Claudia McNeil rearranging the face of Diana Sands.

Gloria Grahame finds herself cornered by Broderick Crawford in 1954’s Human Desire.

Bette Davis, an experienced slapper and slappee, gets a little assistance from an unidentified third party as she goes Old West on Amanda Blake in a 1966 episode of Gunsmoke called “The Jailer.”

There are a few slaps in 1939’s Gone with the Wind, so we had our pick. We went with Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard.

Virginia Field takes one on the chin from Marshall Thompson in Dial 1119.

Clint Eastwood absorbs a right cross from nun Shirley MacLaine in 1970’s Two Mules for Sister Sara.

Sunset Boulevard, The Long Haul, Rogue Cop, Here Come the Co-Eds, The Legend of Tom Dooley, Diary of High School Bride, The Helen Morgan Story, La ragazza e il generale, The Girl and the General, Sugar Hill, Les pétroleuses, The Legend of Frenchie King, Tension, Carnival Story, Calcutta, Schwejk's Flegeljahre, Schweik's Years of Indiscretion, The Third Day, Joy House, Caught, Human Desire, Gunsmoke, Gone with the Wind, Dial 1119, Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Diana Dors, Patrick Allen, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Jo Morrow, Jack Hogan, Chris Robinson, Anita Sands, Virna Lisi, Umberto Orsini, Marki Bey, Betty Anne Rees, Claudia Cardinale, Brigitte Bardot, Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Anne Baxter, Steve Cochran, Alan Ladd, Gail Russell, Hannelore Auer, Peter Alexander, Elizabeth Ashley, Roddy McDowall, André Oumansky, Lola Albright, Frank Ferguson, Barbara Bel Geddes, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Broderick Crawford, Gloria Grahame, Bette Davis, Amanda Blake, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Virginia Field, Marshall Thompson, Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, cinema, television

ALL EYES ON GAIL

Hey everybody! Look at me! I'm having a miserable time!

This lovely shot of U.S. actress Gail Russell was made when she was filming the drama Night Has a Thousand Eyes. We’d say day has a thousand eyes too, at least when she’s around. Russell had what many people want in life—amazing looks, a career with good pay, and an enviable social circle—but she was never able to enjoy it. She said so herself. But this photo makes a moment’s fun look eternal. It’s from 1948.

Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Gail Russell

A HANDSOME YOUNG LADD

Calcutta is heavy on looks but light on substance.


We’ll tell you right out that Calcutta came very close to being an excellent movie, but doesn’t quite get over the hump. It deals with a trio of pilots flying cargo between India and China on fictional China International Airways. The trio, Alan Ladd, William Bendix, and John Whitney, stumble upon a highly profitable international smuggling ring and quickly find that the villains play for keeps. Along with the fliers, the film has Gail Russell as Whitney’s girlfriend, and June Duprez as a slinky nightclub singer. While the exotic setting marks the film as an adventure, it also fits the brief as a film noir, particularly in Ladd’s cynical and icy protagonist.

As we said, the movie isn’t as good as it should be, but there are some positives. Foremost among them is Edith King as a wealthy jewel merchant. She smokes a fat cigar, the masculine affectation an unspoken but clear hint of her possible lesbianism, and with a sort of jocular grandiosity simply nails her part. Another big plus is the fact that the miniature work (used in airport scenes), elaborate sets and props, and costumed extras all make for a convincing Indian illusion—definitely needed when a movie is filmed entirely in California and Arizona (Yuma City and Tucson sometimes served as stand-ins for exotic Asian cities, for example Damascus in Humphrey Bogart’s Sirocco).

On the negative side, Calcutta has two narrative problems: the head villain is immediately guessable; and Russell is asked to take on more than she can handle as an actress, particularly as the movie nears its climax. Another problem for some viewers, but not all, is that the movie has the usual issues of white-centered stories set in Asia (or Africa). However, within the fictional milieu the characters themselves seem pretty much color and culture blind, which isn’t always the case with old films. Even so, the phalanxes of loyal Indian servants, and the dismissiveness with which they’re treated—though that treatment is historically accurate—probably won’t sit well with a portion of viewers.

Here’s what to focus on: Alan Ladd. He’s a great screen presence, a solid actor in the tight-lipped way you often see in period crime films, and the filmmakers were even smart enough to keep him shirtless and oiled for one scene. We swear we heard eight-decade-old sighs on the wind, or maybe that was the Pulp Intl. girlfriends. They’d never seen Ladd before, but immediately became interested in his other films. We were forced to tell them he was a shrimpy 5′ 6” and they were a bit bummed. But he had it—and that’s what counted. His it makes all his films watchable, but doesn’t quite make this one a high ranker. Calcutta had its official world premiere in London today in 1946.
India, China, Calcutta, Arizona, London, Tucson, Yuma City, Paramount Pictures, Alan Ladd, William Bendix, Gail Russell, June Duprez, Edith King, poster art, cinema, film noir, movie review

TATTERED AND TORN

A rag is a gown, 'til a man comes around.

Above is an Italian poster for Il vestito strappato, better known as The Tattered Dress, starring Jeff Chandler, Jack Carson, Jeanne Crain, Gail Russell, and the lovely Elaine Stewart. The art, depicting an evening gown reduced to a useless rag by a disembodied male hand, is actually accurate in terms of the film’s visuals. We mean a dress is ripped and you don’t get a good look at who’s attached to the hand. We talked about it a while back. Shorter review: disorder in the court.

Italy, The Tattered Dress, Il vestito strappato, Jeff Chandler, Jeanne Crain, Jack Carson, Gail Russell, Elaine Stewart, poster art, cinema

DRESS FOR THE OCCASION

Big shot attorney finds his defense strategy in tatters.


Above is a poster for The Tattered Dress, an unexpectedly entertaining flick about a craven New York City lawyer who ventures to smalltown Nevada to defend a local big shot against murder charges, only to find that the acquittal breeds a dangerous new enemy. The film stars Jeff Chandler, and amazingly this was the first thing we’ve seen him in. We were thinking, “Why wasn’t this guy a huge star?” He could act, he had presence, and he was great looking. And then we internetted him and learned that died at age forty-two after complications from back surgery. Apparently his surgeon botched the job, cut an artery, and Chandler only survived the operation with the help of 55 pints of infused blood. But he never made it out of the hospital, as subsequent side effects laid him low. What a way to go.

You’d almost think Chandler originally hurt his back carrying The Tattered Dress, because the movie rides almost entirely on him. He gets a nice assist from Jack Carson, and co-stars Jeanne Crain, Gail Russell and super-hottie Elaine Stewart certainly don’t hurt, but it’s Chandler who’s asked to handle all the toughest elements of this heavy courtroom drama, including two long cross-examinations and an emotional closing argument. And it’s no wonder he’s emotional—thanks to his new enemy that closing argument comes as he’s serving as his own counsel, defending himself in court against bribery charges. They say the man who serves as his own counsel has a fool for a client. Chandler has to prove that adage wrong or he’s prison toast.

The Tattered Dress goes the route of portraying defense lawyers as devoid of morals, when in the real world it’s often prosecutors that are the dodgy ones, but it’s still fun to see Chandler progress from pure mercenary to a man with newfound respect for his profession. The “tattered dress” of the title at first seems to refer to a torn dress worn by co-star Elaine Stewart that becomes crucial in the opening case, but we later learn it really refers to dress worn by Lady Justice. Chandler finally understands that the law needs to be protected above all. Too bad it doesn’t seem to work that way anywhere except on the silver screen. The Tattered Dress premiered in the U.S. today in 1957.
Don’t worry, baby. We have a stand-your-ground law in this state, so theoretically my stalking and murdering this guy shouldn’t be a big deal.

Hypothetically speaking, if I botched your husband’s defense, would that increase or decrease the odds of the two us having hot filthy sex?

So, long story short, banging guys in this convertible has become sort of a way of life.

Objection! Melodramatic!

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client is extremely rich. Defense rests.

The Tattered Dress, Jeff Chandler, Jeanne Crain, Jack Carson, Gail Russell, Elaine Stewart, poster art, cinema, movie review

HOLLYWOOD SCENE

They say even bad publicity is good publicity.

In this March 1957 issue of the tabloid Behind the Scene editors take swipes at assorted Hollywood icons, among them Yul Brynner, John Wayne, and others. Highlights include the allegation that Elvis Presley’s career is mob controlled, that camera clubs are just fronts for porn peddlers, that Hedy Lamarr used Linda Lombard as a body double for Samson & Delilah, and that Lucrezia Borgia is the sexiest movie ever made. Also Mamie Van Doren’s “secret weapon” is that anywhere she goes she always wears the least clothing of any woman present.

The shocking tales about Brynner have mainly to do with his claims of being a real life man of action, born on the Russian island of Sakhalin to Mongol ancestors. The truth was more mundane, but the lies helped Brynner establish himself as a star. As far as Elvis goes, he was dogged by rumors of Mafia ties later in his career, but this mention of a connection as far back as 1957 was a surprise to us. As always, people on both sides of the issue are willing to shout their version of the facts to the mountaintops, but nobody really knows who’s telling the truth. We’ll check with Elvis himself on this, since he lives just over in the next town since faking his death in 1977.

The interesting story here is the one about Gail Russell and John Wayne. Their acquaintanceship began when they starred in Angel and the Badman together in 1947, and continued when they reunited for Wake of the Red Witch in 1949. Whether they were more than just friends, nobody really knows. At the time Wayne was married to Esperanza Baur Díaz, and the relationship was marred by drinking and fighting, including one incident when Baur shot at Wayne. When the divorce inevitably came, it turned into one of the nastiest splits in years, with Baur accusing Wayne of being a violent drunk who beat her and fucked around with various women, including Russell, and Wayne accusing Baur of hanging around sleazy dive bars in Mexico, hooking up with strange men, and spending his money to entertain them.

The divorce was in 1953, but Behind the Scene, with this cover, is offering its readership dirt from an event that was still fresh in the public’s minds because it had been such a knock-down-drag-out spectacle. Russell had never weathered the limelight well, and she used booze to cope. Her long term drinking problem was exacerbated by the turbulence surrounding the Wayne-Baur split. Two weeks after the divorce she was arrested for drunk driving. It caused Paramount to decline renewing her contract, and she kind of floated around for a few years, trying to hook on with a new studio but drinking steadily all the while. In 1955 she crashed her car and fled the scene, and in early 1957 she drove though the plate glass windows of Jan’s Restaurant in Hollywood.

With hindsight, it’s clear Russell was in a death spiral, but in the Tinseltown of that day the situation was perhaps not so obvious. In August 1957, Russell was found unconscious in her home, passed out after a drinking binge. Even in Hollywood, she had now crossed the line from being merely a party girl to having a problem. She was persuaded to join AA, but couldn’t stop drinking, and in August 1961 was found in her L.A. apartment, having died from liver damage, aged 36, another beautiful star that flamed out. All that and more, in thirty-plus scans below.

Behind the Scene, Lucrezia Borgia, Samson & Delilah, Bubbles Darlene, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, Gail Russell, Yul Brynner, Guy Madison, Pilar Pallette, Ingrid Bergman, Maria Luisa Garoppa, Christian Jacque, Hedy Lamarr, Virginia Gilmore, Martine Carole, Linda Lombard, Christian Jacque, Mamie Van Doren, Debra Paget, tabloid

BREAK-UPS AND HOOK-UPS

Happiness in Hollywood can be hard to hold onto.

Uncensored gives readers the lowdown on all the Hollywood trysts and splits in this issue published this month in 1962. José Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney apparently broke up—after eight years and five children—over Ferrer’s insistence on carrying on extramarital affairs, as was his natural right. At least that’s what he thought: “Since the beginning of our marriage he has engaged in a series of affairs with other women,” Clooney is quoted. “I discussed this with him prior to our separation, but he said he couldn’t change his way of life.” Apparently the Puerto Rican born Ferrer was old school with the whole machismo thing. But all was not lost between him and Clooney. They married again in 1964 and managed to stay together another three years.

Pivoting to the hook-ups, Uncensored explains how Joan Collins stole hotel heir Nicky Hilton from Natalie Wood, but Robert Wagner stole Collins from Hilton, leading to Natalie Wood stealing Wagner from Collins, and Collins falling into the arms of Warren Beatty. Mixed in with those four are James Dean, Tab Hunter, Lance Reventlow, and Elvis Presley. Or so the magazine says. That’s a lot of guys and only two women, but the old tabloids loved to slut shame women while either ignoring or approving the antics of men. For example, Beatty was already known in 1962, after some years in television and with two hit movies behind him, as a fuckboy, but that’s not mentioned here at all. These days, though, that immunity is largely gone. Although you’d have to have the brain of a fourteen-year-old to believe—as many people do—that he’s slept with 12,000 women.

Uncensored next gets to Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. It’s since been established that the two hooked up, but at the time this magazine was published the pair were generating mere rumors. Why? Because Monroe was flying to Las Vegas regularly and staying in Sinatra’s home there. There’s no rationale needed for this pairing—beautiful people tend to get together. But the editors actually offer a rationale for Monroe’s interest in Sinatra and it’s simply amazing: “Monroe is having all kinds of troubles with her studio and would like a man around the house to fight her battles for her.” Huh? That one makes no sense to us. Let’s run it through our trusty Mid-Century Tabloid Filter™: Buzz…whirrrr… clickety click… Aha. What Uncensored means is Monroe was so emotionally fragile she had to have a guy around 24/7 to handle angry phone calls. Interesting, but we’re still not buying it. Twenty scans below.

Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, Uncensored, José Ferrer, Rosemary Clooney, Vince Edwards, Dinah Shore, Keeley Smith, Nicky Hilton, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Warren Beatty, James Dean, Tab Hunter, Lance Reventlow, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Lindis Chloe Guinness, Brigitte Bardot, Sarah Churchill, Gail Russell, Harry Truman, Laren Bacall, tabloid
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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1916—Richard Harding Davis Dies

American journalist, playwright, and author Richard Harding Davis dies of a heart attack at home in Philadelphia. Not widely known now, Davis was one of the most important and influential war correspondents ever, establishing his reputation by reporting on the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and World War I, as well as his general travels to exotic lands.

1919—Zapata Is Killed

In Mexico, revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata is shot dead by government forces in the state of Morelos, after a carefully planned ambush. Following the killing, Zapata’s revolutionary movement and his Liberation Army of the South slowly fall apart, but his political influence lasts in Mexico to the present day.

1925—Great Gatsby Is Published

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is published in New York City by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Though Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s best known book today, it was not a success upon publication, and at the time of his death in 1940, Fitzgerald was mostly forgotten as a writer and considered himself to be a failure.

1968—Martin Luther King Buried

American clergyman and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., is buried five days after being shot dead on a Memphis, Tennessee motel balcony. April 7th had been declared a national day of mourning by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and King’s funeral on the 9th is attended by thousands of supporters, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

1953—Jomo Kenyatta Convicted

In Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced to seven years in prison by the nation’s British rulers for being a member of the Mau Mau Society, an anti-colonial movement. Kenyatta would a decade later become independent Kenya’s first prime minister, and still later its first president.

1974—Hank Aaron Becomes Home Run King

Major League Baseball player Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run, surpassing Babe Ruth’s 39-year-old record. The record-breaking homer is hit off Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and with that swing Aaron puts an exclamation mark on a twenty-four year journey that had begun with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro League, and would end with his selection to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

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BRAZIL UNDERGROUND

Edições de Ouro and Editora Tecnoprint published U.S. crime novels for the Brazilian market, with excellent reworked cover art to appeal to local sensibilities. We have a small collection worth seeing.

FLUENT IN VIOLENCE

Walter Popp cover art for Richard Powell's 1954 crime novel Say It with Bullets.

IN HOT WATER

There have been some serious injuries on pulp covers. This one is probably the most severe—at least in our imagination. It was painted for Stanley Morton's 1952 novel Yankee Trader.

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