Twelve Neglected Characters from Classic Film.

nightmare-alley-edmund-goulding1947 — 1) The tragically poetic Pete Krumbein in *Edmund Goulding’s* **Nightmare Alley 1947** played by *Ian Keith.*

2) The flamboyant Franzi Kartos in Caught 1949 portrayed by Curt Bois ‘darling’

Fred Foss- The Dark Corner 949 — 3) Stauffer, alias Fred Foss in **The Dark Corner 1946**-played by the wonderful *William Bendix* in the white linen suit…

Jan Sterling in Women's Prison -Brenda — 4) Good-hearted kite hanger, Brenda Martin in **Women’s Prison 1955** – the eternal pixie *Jan Sterling.*

Brute Force Jeff Corey Freshman Stack — 5) *Jeff Corey*, as the cringing, cowardly informer ‘Freshman’ Stack in Brute Force 1947.

6) *Beulah Bondi* as spiittin’ Granny Tucker in *Jean Renoir’s* **The Southerner 1945** ‘Ah shuckity’

Ma Stone- Jane Darwell, The Devil & Daniel Webster — 7) Ma Stone in *William Dieterle’s* **The Devil and Daniel Webster 1941**– the grand *Jane Darwell.*

Wills and Jewel talk at tea-Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte — 8) *Cecil Kellaway* as Harry Wills and *Mary Astor* as Jewel Mayhew in **Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964.**

Elisha Cook Jr. Jazz wild drummer Cliff-phantom ladyjpg — 9) Cliff the jazz sexed drummer in **Phantom Lady 1944**– the ubiquitous *Elisha Cook Jr.*

(Ladies in Retirement) — 10) Quirky sisters Louisa and Emily Creed in **Ladies in Retirement 1941**–*Edith Barrett & Elsa Lanchester.*

11) The wonderful stoolie Mo whose saves for her headstone and plot out on Long Island played with that razor-sharp wit of Thelma Ritter in **Pickup on South Street (1953).**

12) Jack Oakie as Slob in Jules Dassin’s realism masterpiece **Thieves’ Highway (1949).**

Fiend of The Day! Hope Emerson as Matron Evelyn Harper: in the prison-noir classic Caged (1950)

“You may be just a number to them, but you’re more than that to me…here pull up a chair it’s nice and roomy.”

CAGED (1950)

Writer Virginia Kellogg (White Heat 1949) offers us a doozy with this story directed by John Cromwell (Dead Reckoning 1947)

Eleanor Parker is Maria Allen, thrust into the prison system run by a well-meaning warden Ruth Benton played by the inimitable Agnes Moorehead. As in any good women in prison flick, it requires the sadistic matron to roil the exploitation brew with lots of dehumanizing antics like a good head shaving or dare I mention it, a kitten killing. So here’s to Hope Emerson’s mean-spirited Evelyn Harper, kitten killing, bon bon eating, Midnight Romance reading, prison caboose with a mean on, that makes Ida Lupino look like Saint Joan. Also starring one of my new favorites and a staple to these great gritty noirs the sprite Jan Sterling, Betty Garde, Ellen Corby, and Jane Darwell.

CapturFiles_4 — **Pull up a chair…it’s nice and roomy!**

CapturFiles_10 — **the head-shaving matron from hell!**

From The Vault: Female on The Beach (1955)

“A lone female on the beach is a kind of a target – a bait, you might say.”

FEMALE ON THE BEACH 1955

The immortal Joan Crawford is Lynn Markham, a widow who longs to be left alone at her beach house, where the previous tenant, Eloise Crandall (Judith Evelyn), had fallen to her death. Lynn’s neighbor turns out to be the gorgeous male specimen in the form of Jeff Chandler, playing Drummond Hall (Drummy), who might have had something to do with Eloise’s fatal fall off the porch. Of course, Drummy starts to move in on Lynn. Along for the ride are the marvelous duo of Natalie Schafer and Cecil Kellaway, who play Drummy’s crafty aunt and uncle, Osbert and Queenie Sorenson. And then there are the frequent visitations by realtor Amy Rawlinson, played by the always effervescent Jan Sterling, who is, of course, gaga over Drummy, the slick and sleazy gigolo with a rough past. Directed by Joseph Pevney (prolific in great television series spanning the 1960s-80s, not to mention the taut psycho-sexual drama THE STRANGE DOOR 1951, and PLAYGIRL 1956 starring the bigger than life – Shelley Winters.

The film is filled with the right amount of 50s kitsch and camp and delicious vulgarity under the sensationalized surface. It is an obscure Crawford goodie that enthusiasts of the actress and genre should add to their ‘must-see’ list!