SAVING OFFICER RYAN

You know, under other circumstances I feel we could have— Oh well. Maybe in the next life. Back off pigs or she's dead!

This poster for Mary Ryan, Detective is a collage of photos touched up by an artist, and the result certainly did its job—it made us want to watch the film. We did that last night and saw a crime drama in which Marsha Hunt plays a cop who goes undercover as a prison inmate in order to unmask a jewel theft ring. As part of her prep she’s taught some lingo and how to pick pockets, and uses the latter instruction to make criminals go starry-eyed over her skillset. Once she gets the info she needs in prison, she’s released and maneuvers her way to the top of the theft ring, ending up on a farm where the head crook is a countrified old gent with an ingenious method for smuggling jewels.

Naturally, Hunt’s undercover role drags her in deeper than she or her superiors would like, as she disappears entirely from sight, inducing panic in her department. But she’ll come out okay—a safe ending is part of the package with mid-century crime flicks. The only question is how exactly the conclusion will play out. The poster should give you a hint. There’s nothing outstanding about this film, but there are also no major missteps. For a b-movie that’s called unmitigated success. After a special premiere in New York City in November 1949, Mary Ryan, Detective went into general release today in 1950. We have some production photos below, and you can see one more at this link.

Please help me. My husband is on death row and I need to save him so I can kill his cheating ass myself.


These two posters were made to promote the film noir Black Angel, which starred June Vincent, Dan Duryea, Doris Dowling, and Peter Lorre in a story credited to high concept author Cornell Woolrich. But we gather nothing survived from Woolrich except the ending. When a man is convicted of his mistress’s murder, the jailed man’s cheated upon but noble wife tries to prove her husband innocent with the help of the murdered woman’s ex-husband, who, though cuckolded, agrees that the wrong person is ticketed for Old Sparky. They set their sights on shady nightclub owner Peter Lorre and decide to infiltrate his operation in order to find proof he was the real killer. Naturally, as this heartbroken and mismatched pair dig up clues and investigate shady characters, feelings get confused. As in many noirs, there’s a final act twist, and the one used here is pretty good, helping to elevate an average thriller to something a bit more memorable. Within the genre it’s a significant film, and reasonably enjoyable to watch. Black Angel premiered in the U.S. today in 1946.

Curiosity mutated the cat.

The Creeper, which premiered in the U.S. today in 1948, has a sinister, attention-getting poster, which you see above, but the film is long on atmosphere and short on frights. It concerns a doctor trying to develop bioluminescence in human organs so they’re self lighting and will make surgery easier. You read that correctly. He wants to make organs glow just in case you need to be cut open one day. But instead he ends up, through his experiments on cats, creating a beast that slinks around mauling people to death. We never see an entire killer kitty—that wasn’t in the budget it seems—but we do see cheap stuffed animal paws fearsome razor sharp claws. Ultimately The Creeper is a mood movie—which is to say, if you’re in the right mood it may work for you. A six-pack could help get you there. Something even more psychoactive could get you there faster. But even then we can’t guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1918—Wilson Goes to Europe

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails to Europe for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, France, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.

1921—Arbuckle Manslaughter Trial Ends

In the U.S., a manslaughter trial against actor/director Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle ends with the jury deadlocked as to whether he had killed aspiring actress Virginia Rappe during rape and sodomy. Arbuckle was finally cleared of all wrongdoing after two more trials, but the scandal ruined his career and personal life.

1964—Mass Student Arrests in U.S.

In California, Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building in protest at the UC Regents’ decision to forbid protests on university property.

1968—U.S. Unemployment Hits Low

Unemployment figures are released revealing that the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.3 percent, the lowest rate for almost fifteen years. Going forward all the way to the current day, the figure never reaches this low level again.

1954—Joseph McCarthy Disciplined by Senate

In the United States, after standing idly by during years of communist witch hunts in Hollywood and beyond, the U.S. Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for conduct bringing the Senate into dishonor and disrepute. The vote ruined McCarthy’s career.

1955—Rosa Parks Sparks Bus Boycott

In the U.S., in Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott resulted in a crippling financial deficit for the Montgomery public transit system, because the city’s African-American population were the bulk of the system’s ridership.

Cover art by the great Sandro Symeoni for Peter Cheyney's mystery He Walked in her Sleep, from Ace Books in 1949.
The mysterious artist who signed his or her work as F. Harf produced this beautiful cover in 1956 for the French publisher S.E.P.I.A.
Aslan art was borrowed for many covers by Dutch publisher Uitgeverij A.B.C. for its Collection Vamp. The piece used on Mike Splane's Nachtkatje is a good example.

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