MOVIES IN THE CAMPER: THE WHITE TOWER

I first saw The White Tower (1950) a couple years ago on Turner Classic Movies as part of a marathon of films about mountain climbing (God bless TCM and their wonderfully random-subject marathons!). This movie has so much working in its favor that it‘s just hard not to like it. Beautiful location, great mountain climbing scenes that are almost seamlessly blended with the sets and actors, a terrific cast all of whom give great performances and a plot that has a surprising amount of depth to it.

Valli and Ford in The White Tower

The cast of characters assemble at a lodge in the Swiss Alps just after the war. Valli has returned to climb the mountain of the films title, the White Tower. Just before the war, Valli and her father assembled a team to climb the mountain with disastrous results, leaving most of her team dead and her father missing. Cedric Hardwicke is a family friend who tries to council Valli about her obsession with the mountain. Hardwicke volunteers to go with her on the climb but after her and her fathers previous tragic attempt, no professional climber will climb with her. Also at the lodge is Claude Rains. Rains is a depressed, written out alcoholic trying to finish a book about the White Tower, a mountain he has always wanted to climb. Rains has a young wife who messes with his head and mocks his reputation as a great writer and former mountain climber.

Do I really have to put a caption for Claude Rains?  The Master!

Lloyd Bridges is a German with a devout Nietzschean philosophy. He wants to prove the "superman theory" by reaching the top of the white tower alone. But he's not just a one dimensional villain. He's helpful and nice and even saves the lives of several people but looks at the weaknesses of others with mild amusement. Finally, there's Glenn Ford. Ford was a pilot who was shot down near the small mountain village during the war and fell in love with it's beauty. He's returned to enjoy some post war peace and quiet.

Bridges, Valli and Ford climb The White Tower

Ford is attracted to Valli immediately and she to him. But her obsession takes precedence and, unable to form a professional team of climbers, asks those at the lodge. Ford is immediately disinterested. His good nature and easy going demeanor masks his shattered beliefs in himself, his country and his fellow man. Rains jumps at the chance. He sees it as a way to overcome his lack of self worth and prove to himself that he was great once upon a time. Hardwicke joins out of loyalty to Valli's father. But Valli takes an instant dislike to Bridges and does not want him along. Ford doesn't see the sense in that since Bridges is clearly a pro who would be a great help to the team. Ford himself still refuses to go, saying that he'll tag along to the first base camp. Then to the second base camp, then the third until his love for Valli finally commits him to the team.

As Ford gets higher, his belief in himself becomes stronger and his cynical "take it or leave it" attitude regarding who and what Bridges is and represents makes him angrier. There's a great scene where Bridges, dedicated to his own beliefs, confronts Ford with his own lack of belief in anything. Ford tells Bridges that they are going to finish together or not at all. Before the movie is over, we lose several climbers but not in the way we might expect and it’s that element of surprise along with a level of suspense built not just on the event of the climb but on how these characters will confront their demons and meet their destinies.

Just hanging out at the lodge, talking Nietzsche.  No big whoop.

This is one of those movies that makes you feel like you're on vacation. Watching The White Tower gives me the same feeling I get watching things like David Lean’s Summertime or Mike Newell’s Enchanted April. With the exception of Bridges, all the actors play likeable people that I want to know and hang out with. They aren't just characters and that carries a lot of weight. Ford and Rains and Hardwicke and Valli all have interesting things to say. I identified with the Ford character who clearly feels that he's tried enough, gave it his best, and just wants to hide in his pretty mountain village. But there's aspects of some of the others that I also identified with as well. This made it easier to feel that I was on the journey with them. Also making that easier was the great effects. It's hard to get a feel for it from the trailer but on a HD screen in Technicolor, this movie looks terrific. I have to think that this movie must have been a big deal for RKO who almost never did Technicolor films because of the expense. I don't know if this was a hit or not for them, but it sure looks like they gambled a lot on it given how amazing this film looks.

Turner Classic Movies will be showing The White Tower this Tuesday, April 30, at 12:00 noon eastern time. Don’t miss it!

MOVIES IN THE CAMPER: THE GUILTY GENERATION

Boris Karloff as gangster Tony Ricca in the Columbia Pictures gangster drama The Guilty Generation

This week Turner Classic Movies is going to show one of my personal favorite early thirties gangster films The Guilty Generation (1931) starring Leo Carrillo, Boris Karloff, Robert Young, Constance Cummings, Ruth Warren, Leslie Fenton. This was a fantastic film and one of the best gangster stories that you've probably never seen.

Romeo and Juliet: gangster style!  Robert Young meets Constance Cummings in The Guilty Generation.

Carrillo and Karloff are mafia bosses waging a no holds barred war against each other.
Robert Young is Karloff’s son who has changed his name and become a respectable architect who wants nothing to do with his dads business which angers Karloff. Cummings is Carrillos daughter. Carrillo tries in vain to push her into high society, but high society wants nothing to do with her or her father.

Leo Carrillo in The Guilty Generation

 

By chance, in true "Romeo and Juliet" fashion, Young and Cummings, the children of the rival kingpins, meet and fall in love. Meanwhile, Carrillos and Karloffs gang war escalates and close family members start to die off. Even Carrillo’s and Karloff’s own people think the gang war has gone too far. Ruth Warren is a lot of fun as Carrillo’s PR girl, constantly trying to gloss over Carrillo’s many criminal activities. These two have some fun dialogue with each other. The Guilty Generation is witty, well written and surprisingly violent with an ending no less shocking than the finale of The Public Enemy. Carrillo is always fun and it’s interesting to see Karloff in a non "Monster" film that was released just days before Frankenstein.

The Guilty Generation will be showing on Turner Classic Movies on Sunday April 7 at 12 noon eastern time. Don’t miss it!

MOVIES IN THE CAMPER: TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN

Watching Terror In A Texas Town (1958) is a bit like watching a Twilight Zone episode. We get a bit of strangeness at the very beginning, then a slow build up to the main irony filled denouement that we tuned in to watch in the first place. Kind of like tapping your foot, looking at your watch, waiting for Billy Mummy to turn the "very bad man" into a jack in the box.  In Terror In A Texas Town, Sebastian Cabot plays a rich guy who wants other peoples land. Seems that only he knows the land is oil rich. Then a Swedish farmer played by Ted Stanhope finds out about the oil. But before he can warn the frightened farmers, he is killed by Cabot's hired gun Ned Young. Young plays every black clad, cliché western villain all rolled up into one. But he does have a few special features. Like an iron hand which replaces the real one which he lost when it was blown off in a past encounter. This hand is covered by a black glove (most likely because the budget didn't allow for a fake iron hand).

Enter Sterling Hayden. Hayden is the son of the dead Swedish farmer. He's been at sea for the last 18 years doing a bit of whaling. It doesn't take long for fish out of water Hayden to discover that Cabot and Young run the town, most likely killed his father and sees that anyone who stands up to them will be killed. Of course Cabot tries to have Hayden run out of town first. Young, a pragmatist, prefers to pay people off rather than kill them but ultimately we know it’s going to come down to harpoon carrying Hayden vs steel handed Young in one of the craziest showdowns in the history of the genre.

This movie was bad, but in a fun way. How can you not appreciate the giant Frankenstein like Hayden, walking down the dusty street looking to harpoon the bad guy? Ned Young as the villain is also kind of funny. He's never faced a man who isn't afraid to die and it drives him absolutely nuts to meet one for the first time. There's also the implication that he feels impotent due to his iron prosthetic which he bludgeons people with as a form of therapy (this is told to us rather than shown, unfortunately). Carol Kelly is Young's prostitute gal pal, a drunk who only stays with Young because he scares her. But Hayden has a good scene where he delivers a small but effective motivational speech to give her courage. TV level production and cast and unintentionally funny dialogue pretty much places this firmly in the "so bad they're good" category. My favorite line is when Kelly interrupts a church meeting by saying...

"Pepé is dead and George Hansen is walking down the street with a harpoon. I just thought you'd like to know--and maybe help."

Yup, that's pretty much the movie in a nutshell.

Good old Sebastian "Mr. French" Cabot is an amusing villain the likes of which you might find in a typical episode of The Wild Wild West. He has some unintentionally funny scenes as his character seems to only exist to tell us (in hilariously smarmy fashion) the history of iron hand killer Ned Young as well as to push his buttons. I kept thinking how this was a bit of a variation of High Noon (picture Cooper with a harpoon) and then I discovered that Dalton Trumbo wrote the script. I can't say it's a great movie, but I can't say it fails to entertain either. As I mentioned above, there is something about Hayden that makes him inherently watchable and kind of fun.  Especially when he's carrying a harpoon.

Terror In A Texas Town is showing on Turner Classic Movies this Tuesday, March 26 at 5 PM Eastern.

DR. WHO IN THE CAMPER: WHY WE NEED NEW ACTORS TO PLAY DOCTORS 1 THRU 7

The Five Doctors and K-9

I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who for going on 30 years now. The first Doctor that I watched, as it was for many fans my age, was the fourth Doctor played by Tom Baker. Like many American fans, I watched Doctor Who on public television. In the mid 80s, PBS finally aired nearly all available episodes of Who. This was an incredible experience as I was able to see all of the previous Doctors and take in the massive history and complex continuity of series. Some of my favorite episodes where those in which the Doctor met and teamed up with his previous incarnations. The first of these team-ups was in the episode The Three Doctors. The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) had been exiled to earth by the Time Lords, his knowledge of time travel and the ability to pilot his time machine the “Tardis” taken from him as punishment along with a forced regeneration (as we saw in the final Second Doctor episode The War Games). In The Three Doctors, the Time Lords of Gallifrey face the threat of Omega, a Time Lord pioneer who created the singularity that gives the Time Lords their power. Omega was thought long dead but had actually been trapped in a universe made of antimatter and had become quite insane. The only person the Time Lords can turn to is The Doctor. But the threat of Omega is so great that one Doctor isn’t enough. So they unite the Third Doctor with his first two incarnations. Together they stop Omega and save the universe. In return for their help, the Time Lords end the Third Doctor’s exile and return the use of his Tardis.

Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee in The Three Doctors

This wouldn’t be the last time that a Doctor would team up with his past selves. In the anniversary special to end all anniversary specials The Five Doctors, the power mad Time Lord Borusa kidnaps the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) along with Doctors one(Richard Hurndall replacing the late William Hartnell), two(Patrick Troughton), three(Jon Pertwee) and four(Tom Baker) and traps them in a game of death with their deadliest foes. We would see another team up a few years later between the Second Doctor and the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) as they take on the Sontarons.

Patrick Troughton and Colin Baker in The Two Doctors

 
Episodes of Doctor Who that united multiple Doctors was a special treat for fans. It gave fans a sense of the characters long history. These team-up episodes united Pertwee fans with Davison fans with Baker fans with Troughton fans and so on and so on, giving Who fans a larger and stronger sense of community. This is something that viewers who are new to Doctor Who have not been able to experience. We have not seen Doctors nine, ten and 11 team up and frankly, I doubt we ever will. It’s possible that we might see an episode that unites David Tennant(Dr.10) and Matt Smith(Dr.11) but I‘m not really holding my breath on that one.

William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee as Doctors 1, 2 and 3 in The Three Doctors

  Among older fans, those who grew up with the classic episodes of Doctors 1 thru 7, there’s this stubborn single-mindedness that we MUST see Tom Baker and that we MUST see those original actors who played the Doctor. Or at least those who are still living. This might sound heretical, but I couldn’t disagree more. I think it’s time we said goodbye to those actors who played the first seven Doctors once and for all. We should say goodbye and recast Doctors 1 thru 7 with new, fresh actors, keeping in mind of course that they need to be recast with actors who resemble the originals to some extent in looks and to a large part, in spirit. I know, I know but hear me out. We have to face reality here. The first three actors to play the Doctor are dead. Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvyster McCoy are simply far too old to reprise their roles without having to come up with some lame plot point to explain their age as we saw in Time Crap…er Crash. Sorry, but I did not like Time Crash at all. I thought the Davison cameo was poorly handled and frankly, insulting. It was a joke at Davison‘s expense and at the expense of classic Doctor Who. Look, I love Peter Davison. He was THE Doctor of my generation but we have to think of the show first and foremost and if the Doctor is to continue, if we want to see the tapestry of continuity that is Doctor Who continue on, if we ever want to see more of the Doctors past, his history in a way that makes it appealing to those currently producing and writing Doctor Who, then we must recast new actors to play the Doctors previous incarnations. It is the only way.

Time Crash.  Are you freaking kidding me?

New actors will allow us to see new adventures of the old Doctors. This will also free producers from having to make complicated and problematic deals with the original actors. New actors would give more freedom to current writers of Who to write new adventures with the classic Doctors that they can make their own. It would allow writers/producers, if they so choose, to make tweaks to old continuity and bring past tales more in line with the continuity of the new adventures. New actors would allow for the possibility of classic Who spin-off tales. Just think of the possibilities of new stories featuring classic Doctors! Been wanting to see an adaptation of The Dark Path, the Doctor Who novel that showed how The Doctor and The Master went from being best friends to mortal enemies? New actors could make that happen. Want to see the episode that shows the Doctor and Susan stealing the Tardis and beginning their epic adventure? Recasting the classic Doctors could make that happen. And speaking of The Dark Path, how about a new actor to play a young Roger Delgado era Master who fights ALL versions of The Doctor? That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

 Recasting new actors would also give more freedom to those actors playing the current Doctor who want to work on different projects but still want to work on Doctor Who. I’d like to see Matt Smith continue on in the role for a few more years but he’s getting ready to leave. If we did a couple seasons of Doctor Who that told new tales of Doctors one thru 7, that would allow Smith to go on hiatus for any length of time and return to the role having sewn his wild oats and sated his wanderlust. That safety net would allow actors to stay in the role of the Doctor for longer periods of time, something that I think is important in maintaining the longevity of the show.

I miss you Roger Delgado.  You really were The Master!

No one thought twice about it when Richard Hurndall replaced the late William Hartnell. There was no other choice. We are in that position again. Two more Doctors have passed away and three more are virtually unrecognizable. Paul McGann is the only actor that I would not recast. We have no idea how long the Time War lasts or in what shape Doctor Eight was in when he regenerated. This means that McGann, who still looks great based on what I’ve seen of his appearances in Luther, would still be the prime candidate to reprise his role. I want to see more classic Who episodes. I think it’s important for the series, for fans young and old and most importantly for the character. And just think of the marketing benefits. Not to mention the press the show would receive if they started recasting new actors to play the old Doctors. That would be the most historic casting call since the search for Scarlet O’Hara. The possibilities are literally endless. This is unquestionably the best possible thing for Doctor Who, for show creators and for fans. No one can steal your memories of your favorite Doctor or what he meant to you. We still have those old episodes. Recasting will allow fans to have their cake and eat it too.

MOVIES IN THE CAMPER: THE HARD WAY

I’m a big Ida Lupino fan. She was a true Hollywood maverick. She was a writer, producer and director who formed her own company. She was the first woman to direct film noir(The Hitch-Hiker 1953) She played everything from sassy comediennes, treacherous femme fatales to author Emily Bronte. While there are many Lupino films that I hold in great esteem, there are several films of Lupino's that are so good that whenever I see them turn up on Turner Classic Movies, I never miss the chance to watch them again. The Hard Way (1943) Starring Ida Lupino, Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson is one of those films. The Hard Way starts off in classic film noir style. A despondent, immaculately dressed Lupino is walking by the pier late at night. She removes her expensive white fur coat...lays it gently across one of the pilings...and jumps into the ocean. A homeless man sees her jump and calls the police. We then see in flashback the events that lead to this desperate decision.

Ida Lupino (left) and Joan Leslie in The Hard Way

Lupino plays the worn out wife of a poor blue collar slob, both working themselves slowly to death in a small industrial town with a sky so full of black smoke that you can barely see the sun. Joan Leslie plays Lupinos young sister, just graduated from high school. Lupino is a devoted sister and tries to steer Leslie clear of all the mistakes that Lupino has already made, trying to make sure she has a better life. Leslie is a perky kid with dreams of being on the stage, a diamond in the rough. One night, while watching a traveling vaudeville show, she happens to meet one of the acts...Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson. Morgan and Carson are a singing/dance act... two guys that don't seem all that talented, but enjoy the life. During their four day stop over, Morgan and Carson happen to see Joan Leslie in a diner, entertaining her friends by mocking Morgan and Carsons act. Both men see that she's talented and Carson and Leslie take a shine to each other. Morgan warns his friend not to get involved with "the locals". But in spite of the warning Carson falls for Leslie.

Dennis Morgan and Ida Lupino in The Hard Way

Lupino sees an opportunity for Leslie through Carson and encourages a marriage between the two. Soon, Lupino has left her husband and is off with Leslie and the vaudevillians. Before long, Lupino manipulates the two men into adding Leslie into their act. Not long after that, Leslie, with Lupino behind her, starts to become a rising star, leaving Morgan and Carson in their wake. As time goes on, Lupino goes to ever greater lengths, to see her kid sister become a star. But as the two sisters climb higher on the ladder of success, the more burned out and love starved Leslie becomes.



Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan and Ida Lupino

This was a great movie. While it looks as though the film will make Lupino out to be the quintessential "evil" stage mother (or in this case, older sister) the film avoids this cliché, thanks to a wonderful screenplay that leaves plenty of wiggle room for Lupino to give her character some nuance. She is so incredibly good in the role that she rises above such one dimensional pigeonholing. There is no doubt that Lupino does live vicariously through her sister. However, she is also very loving, devoted and protective of her. What could have ended up as simple manipulation by Lupino, actually comes off as Lupino being a very smart, savvy and ambitious woman who leaves her husband because she wants more for herself and her sister. Something that we didn‘t often see in film during the WW2 years. This gives Lupino even greater complexity as she weighs the right and wrong of her actions (and there is some wrong, no doubt) against what she thinks is best for her sister and, yes, herself.

Lupino tries to sway Joan Leslie in The Hard Way

When we finally see the inevitable confrontation between Lupino and Leslie, neither comes away unscathed even though the film forces Lupino to bare the brunt. Even the victims of Lupino’s manipulations seem hypocritical when Lupino confronts them with their own imperfections. Lupino gives her character this great sense of frustration at dreams denied and an even great frustration at those who judge her methods in achieving her dreams. Lupino is impatient with those who don’t understand her and have no idea about her struggles and if she could just get through to them, explain to them that she and Leslie are deserving, then maybe they wouldn’t mind her being so calculating and ruthless. Having watched a lot of Lupino films over the last few years, both obscure and the more well known, I have to say that, in my opinion, this is her greatest role. I enjoy her performance in The Hard Way more than I do in popular roles such as the gangster girlfriend Marie in High Sierra whose love for gangster Bogart is unrequited. And I like it more than the blind woman she plays to Robert Ryan’s angry cop in On Dangerous Ground. Not that these last two films aren’t great, they are, but that will give you some idea how great she is in The Hard Way.

The always classy Ida Lupino

 
Lupino is more complex, more subtle, more polished, more natural than I have ever seen her before. It amazes me that she didn't even get an Oscar nomination. Lupino’s performance is certainly more engaging and more complex than some other nominees of that year such as Joan Fontaine in The Constant Nymph. Everyone turns in solid performances, including Joan Leslie whom I always thought rather limited and certainly didn't think she had the depth to pull off a role like this. Leslie is fascinating to watch as the little sister who is every bit as ambitious as Lupino while at the same time she is more than happy to let Lupino do the dirty work while she plays the innocent. While Lupino uses Leslie to achieve her dreams, Leslie quietly and rather insidiously uses Lupino in turn. The film is also beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe.

From left to right--Lupino, Jack Carson Joan Leslie and Dennis Morgan in The Hard Way

The story is also interesting in that it is loosely based on the life of Ginger Rogers, her first husband and Gingers mother. Even though the Hollywood community of the day knew it was based on "someone in Hollywood", it didn't come out until years later when director Vincent Sherman spilled the beans (one has to wonder if Rogers knew who it was about, as she was offered the Leslie role and turned it down) While not a musical per se, there is plenty of great music in this from Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Not just a great Lupino film, but a great film period.

Turner Classic Movies will be showing The Hard Way on Tuesday March 5th at 10:00 pm.  Don't miss this rarely seen gem!

COMICS IN THE CAMPER: GAIL SIMONE AT ACME COMICS!

Gail Simone and Acme Comics manager Jermaine "Lord Retail" Exum

So today I took a little drive to Acme Comics in Greensboro North Carolina where comic book icon Gail Simone was doing a signing. This was my first trip to Acme Comics. Having seen quite a few comic shops between my native California and the east coast I have to admit that I was highly impressed with this store. There was a great vibe and a large, diverse group of customers milling about, chatting away and buying lots of comics. Located in the northern part of North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad (a grouping of three cities; Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem). Located among a group of stores that seem to have more in common with a trendy downtown area than with your average mundane strip mall. Just down the line is a music store, a bar called the Boo Radley Tavern and a neat video café.

Acme Comics in Greensboro NC

I made the trip to Acme Comics today to meet prolific writer Gail Simone. She was in high spirits and happily chatting with fans. It was a great relaxed event where fans were able to chat at length with Simone. While in line, I spoke with a father and young daughter. It was the wide eyed daughters first trip to a comic shop where she had plans to buy her very first comic! I asked who her favorite character was and she told me it was Iron Man. When I asked her if that was because she was a fan of the film, her father informed me no, it was because he was a Iron Man fan. He seemed very proud that she was following in her fathers footsteps. However, after seeing how happy she was to get her picture taken with a woman cosplaying as Batgirl, I had to wonder if she would disappoint good ol’ dad and walk out with a Gail Simone penned issue of Batgirl. I loved listening to this father and daughter talk and was reminded that every comic is someone’s first comic. I envied this little girls experience being in a comic shop for the first time and remembered my own first experience in a comic shop. I was glad that her first experience visiting a comic book store was at Acme Comics.

This young lady was thrilled to meet Batgirl and Gail Simone during her very first trip to a comic shop!

 
The store has a great atmosphere. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day for it. I had a fun conversation with one of the stores friendly employees, the blue Mohawk sporting Cody who explained where everything in the store was located and shared several highlights of the stores history including a visit from Powers writer Brian Bendis. I also met store manager Jermaine Exum aka “Lord Retail”. Exum started out at the store as an unpaid volunteer in the mid 90s and worked his way to store manager 2 years later. His creative marketing ideas helped keep the store thriving when all the others were dropping like flies.

When visiting Acme Comics, say hi to Cody!  Hi, Cody!

 

Manager Jermaine "Lord Retail" Exum(left) with customers

This year, Acme Comics, the winner of the Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, is celebrating it’s 30^th anniversary and has plans to host a comic con in the area called “Comic Book City Con” later this year with a guest line up that will include Mark Waid and Jonathon Hickman. I hear that Acme Comics puts on a heck of a Free Comic Book Day and I have every intention of returning to visit this fun store.  Oh, and thanks to Gail Simone for signing my copy of Back Issue #54!

Gail Simone at Acme Comics, giving yours truly her autograph!  I love comics!

 

MOVIES IN THE CAMPER: THE PUBLIC DEFENDER

Most fans of pulp magazines, comic books, serial adventures and radio know who the Shadow is. The vengeful vigilante with the black cloak and hat and the red scarf to hide all features except for the hawk nose and piercing eyes that was as much a trademark for fans of his pulp adventures as his maniacal laugh was for fans of his radio adventures. Introduced each week to the sound of Camille Saint-Saens “Le Rouet d'Omphale”, the Shadow was a mysterious figure who sought to wipe out crime with the help of his underground cabal of agents who did his bidding. When the Shadow first debuted, he was simply an eerie voice who introduced radio show mysteries that were part of the “Detective Story Hour”, a radio show that spun off from a popular pulp magazine called “Detective Story Magazine.” This early narrator version of The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930. In less than a year, the “Shadow” became the main star of the show he introduced. On April 1, 1931, The Shadow got his own pulp magazine with stories written by Walter Gibson aka Maxwell Grant. Of course it didn’t’ take long for the imitators to follow. Soon came The Spider, The Avenger, Green Hornet, The Black Bat and many others, all of whom were the forefathers of the comic book hero.

 

 Frank Readick Jr. is the early voice of The Shadow

Right around the same time that The Shadow was making his debut in pulp magazines as the more fully realized interpretation we know today, there was another mystery writer in the UK who was just as prolific as Walter Gibson. His name was George Goodchild(1888-1969) aka Alan Dare aka Wallace Reid aka Jesse Templeton. Goodchild created a character called “The Reckoner” in a novel called The Splendid Crime renamed “The Public Defender” for its US release. The Reckoner had a lot in common with The Shadow and with a character whose creation the Shadow inspired--Batman. The Reckoner used agents with specific talents to help him in his campaign against crime as did The Shadow. The Reckoner‘s alter ego was a millionaire playboy, just like Bruce Wayne. While The Reckoner didn’t have a trademark laugh to send chills down the spines of his victims, he did have a calling card with a picture of the scales of justice along with the words “See You Next Week” which let his victims know that he would come calling on them again to dispense justice. He also had some cool gadgets such as an exploding wallet.

Shirley Grey and Richard Dix in The Public Defender

 The Shadow and the Reckoner were created an ocean apart and too close together in time for one to be an imitation of the other. Gibson and Goodchild both were prolific mystery writers in the early 30s and Goodchild had created several detective heroes prior to the Reckoner. What made The Reckoner interesting and perhaps even relevant today was that he went after corrupt financiers and bankers with the style of a modern day Robin Hood. The Reckoner was an identity created by millionaire playboy Pike Winslow who wanted to get revenge against and bring to justice a group of corrupt bank executives who framed an innocent man for their crimes. That innocent man just happened to have a daughter that Winslow Pike loved. In the movie adaptation of “The Public Defender”, Winslow is played by Richard Dix. Helping Winslow in his efforts to bring down the corrupt bankers are “The Professor” played by Boris Karloff. The Professor is the “talent”, the guy who does the research and gets all the info that Winslow needs to bring down the bankers. The Professor is Winslow’s “Alfred.” Then there’s Winslow’s other partner Doc played by Paul Hurst. Doc is a dead ringer for Shadow sidekick and cab driver Moe “Shreevy” Shrevnitz. Doc is the “muscle”. He helps run interference so that boss Winslow can skip over the flunkies on his way to the top dog. Doc is Winslow’s Robin.

Irene Dunne and Richard Dix in the Oscar winning "Cimarron"

Over the course of the film, the main villain turns the tables on The Reckoner, framing the vigilante for murder. Unfortunately for Winslow, his unsuspecting friend Inspector O’Neil is quickly closing in on the real identity of The Reckoner. This movie starts out kind of slow and I almost gave up on it as just another mediocre early 30s melodrama. But then we find out that Dix is a kick ass, Robin Hood Shadow hybrid of a vigilante who has Boris Karloff as a sidekick! How could I not watch that? I was glad I stuck with this fun little pulp movie adaptation. I liked seeing Karloff as a hero (albeit a devious looking one) and I enjoyed the similarities to other pulp heroes who were just a year or so away from being created. Dix’s foray into the world of pulp didn’t end with The Reckoner. He would go on to star in The Whistler film series. The Whistler owed much to the Shadow’s early roots. Like the early version of the Shadow, the Whistler was a mysterious figure who narrated stories of criminals who learned the hard way that crime did not pay. But instead of a maniacal laugh, the Whistler…um…whistled.

Richard Dix loses his mind in Val Lewton's The Ghost Ship(1943)

1931 was a good year for Richard Dix. He was nominated for a best actor Oscar for his performance in the film adaptation of Edna Ferber’s Cimarron. Cimarron won a then record 7 nominations and won three for production, writing adaptation and art direction. Richard Dix is an interesting actor to watch and over time I have become a fan. You might not “get” Richard Dix if you only watch one or two of his films. He’s an acquired taste and often comes off as kind of wooden. But he has given some rather complex and poignant performances over the course of his far too short career. If you really want to see why I’m a fan of Richard Dix, take a look at his transformation from conscientious objector to bloodthirsty killer in the WW1 film Ace Of Aces(1933). Watch his frightening performance as the homicidal ships captain who slowly goes insane in The Ghost Ship(1943) or watch him in It Happened In Hollywood(1937) as the kind hearted cowboy turned Hollywood silent star whose loses it all with the onset of talkies, struggling to keep his integrity and be worthy of the adoration of his young fans even as he entertains the idea of a life of crime. Turner Classic Movies shows the occasional obscure Richard Dix film now and then. Check out his films if you get the chance. He might just grow on you.