#Bernard Vorhaus

[gatutor]

Henry Kendall-Ida Lupino "The ghost camera" 1933, de Bernard Vorhaus.

#Ida Lupino #Henry Kendall #Bernard Vorhaus

[weirdlookindog]

The Spiritualist aka The Amazing Mr. X (1948)

#the amazing mr. x #the spiritualist #turhan bey #lynn bari #cathy o'donnell #bernard vorhaus #1940s movies #horror movie poster

[nomallmovieschicago]

26 August 2023

Film: THE SPIRITUALIST (d. Bernard Vorhaus, 1948, USA) and CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (d. Henry Hathaway, 1948, USA)

Forum: Music Box Theater   Format: 35mm

Observations: It's a double-bill at Noir City: a sold-out program (about 700 seats!) for a presentation of two 1948 features. THE SPIRITUALIST is an Eagle-Lion programmer livened by cameraman John Alton's marvelous technique. CALL NORTHSIDE 777 is (to me) a classic of the form: a reporter becomes emmeshed in a 15-year-old murder, struggling to free a wrongly-convicted man. There's a lot of fine location shooting in Chicago and Statesville Prison, and a fantastic James Stewart performance that prefigures his great 1950s roles with Anthony Mann and Alfred Hitchcock. Eddie Muller gave a concise and enlightening to each film.

#cinema #movie #film #american film #1948 #Bernard Vorhaus #henry hathaway #The Spiritualist #call northside 777

[movie-titlecards]

The Amazing Mr. X (1948)

My rating: 6/10

Fully expected this to turn into "Evil Foreign Type uses his Heathen Ways to trick the poor innocent widow", but it never really went there, instead being a really rather solid thriller with some really fun plot twists. What a pleasant surprise.

#The Amazing Mr. X #Bernard Vorhaus #Crane Wilbur #Muriel Roy Bolton #Ian McLellan Hunter #Turhan Bey #Lynn Bari #Cathy O'Donnell #Youtube

[silentagecinema]

the amazing mr. x (1948) directed by bernard vorhaus

"Have fun and come home early." "Well I can't do both."

#the amazing mr. x #40s cinema #1940s movies #40s movies #moviesedit #filmedit #cinema #old cinema #movie aesthetic #movie screencaps

[shiningwizard]

Bury Me Dead (Bernard Vorhaus, 1947)

A movie that defies itself to carry any consequence. I’m usually fine with that so long as the scraps that are thrown together carry something else with them: entertainment, humour, next level craft, brain-deadening drone. And there’s a little bit of all the above here but not enough. There must have been a thing about wrongly buried bodies at this time.

#bury me dead #last movie i saw #B-

[signalwatch]

Watch Party Watch: The Amazing Mr. X (1948)

Watched:  01/27/2023

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Director:  Bernard Vorhaus (sp?)

This is "moral relativism, the movie".  Not often do you see a movie where you're straight up unclear why you should care about anyone in the film, but this is it.  If you believe women should be helpless dummies, I guess you can pick the two rich, guileless sisters who are shown to mostly be cotton-brained marks through 90 minutes of film, and who discuss their long history of what easy targets they've been, but when your hero of the third reel is the guy who has been outmaneuvered by the even shittier guy in the movie... woof.

These characters kind of all deserve each other.  

I dunno.  The version we watched for free on Amazon Prime was a very, very rough, dark print that hadn't been touched since being put away probably in 1949.  John Alton was the DP, and there's some gorgeous John Alton stuff in this movie that was unfortunately dimmed by time.  I will pay to see this again in a restored version just for the photography.

I was willing to see this movie immediately because it co-starred Cathy O'Donnell, who is fantastic in They Live By Night, Side Street and The Best Years of Our Lives, but here she's mostly asked to be a simp and whine a lot, and...  it's fine, but it's thankless.  Playing a gullible dummy isn't a good look for anyone.

I know Lynn Bari less.  She's in Nocturne, which is a fine film, but that's the only place I've seen her.  And while the picture was blurry and dark, she's, how does one say?  fun to watch.  

The plot is that two rich sisters live in a Manderlay like mansion on an ocean cliff.  Two years prior, Lynn Bari's husband died in a fiery car crash.  She's both mourning him and about to be engaged to a too-practical attorney.  Her sister, O'Donnell, is a character type we'd start seeing a lot in this era- the teen or young woman who is certain in her belief she's smarter and wiser than everyone around them.  

Well, Lynn is being set up by her housekeeper (who is playing a Swedish maid) and her partner, the shady Alexis (the titular Mr. X, I guess), and they basically do the spiritualism bit on her, convincing her he's magic and there are ghosts.  

The movie goes to great pains to show us how the shenanigans of a seance work, and do the job of showing us how a complex spook show convinces both sisters (O'Donnell's character predictably wants to be on Mr. X).  But, lo, and behold, the dead husband shows up as NOT dead, and begins blackmailing our scammer into partnering.  

And, honestly, the pragmatic attorney does kind of blow.  Mr. X is played by character actor Turhan Bey, who was a wildly prolific talent, but who didn't really star in much other than this movie and The Mummy's Tomb.  The film's third-reel decision to have him grow a conscience seems... iffy.  He's dedicated his whole life to scamming.  And I think there's probably a good movie in that idea, but this isn't it.

Anyway, I actually enjoyed watching the film in part due to Alton, the two female leads, and because it's completely bonkers.  Is it a good movie?  Not particularly.  But it's a great late-late-show kind of movie that deserves a better print than what we saw.

https://ift.tt/p8gicMm

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/qFsnX49

[ednajoness]

#Edna Jones

[classiccinemadelights]

#The Amazing Mr. X (1948) - Mysterious Spirits and Dark Charm | Full Vintage Mystery Movie

[elcinelateleymickyandonie]

''RUTAS INFERNALES''

(Three Faces West)

Año: 1940

Dirección: Bernard Vorhaus

Para ver la película ingresa al enlace:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnBUxXtb1RA

[mariocki]

The Amazing Mr. X (The Spiritualist, 1948)

"Was it her ashes they found in the car?"

"It was me they found in the car. Don't forget it."

#The Amazing Mr. X #the Spiritualist #1948 #american cinema #Bernard Vorhaus #crane wilbur #Muriel Roy Bolton #Ian McLellan Hunter #lynn bari #turhan bey #cathy o'donnell #richard carlson #Donald Curtis #Virginia Gregg #Harry Mendoza #john alton #Alexander Laszlo #an absolute hot mess of a film. part noir‚ part chiller‚ all melodrama and very camp; Lynn Bari is a grieving widow who turns to medium Bey #for solace. is he a fraud or the real deal? frankly it doesn't much matter‚ as the film skirts absurdity from almost the opening scene #doesn't Bari look beautiful‚ wandering the shore in the twilight? sure she does‚ but let's have a croaky disembodied voice start hissing #her name. wouldn't it be cool to have Bey keep a pet bird as a kind of familiar? why not‚ but make sure we get a human man to provide all #the bird noises (and make it pretty obvious too). how should we introduce this private detective character? why have him start performing #close up magic mid conversation without reference. absolute hokum and although the script isn't bad (particularly once the more noirish #elements kick in) it's just undercut by a series of utterly bizarre decisions. the kicker? this ridiculous film looks absolutely beautiful #cinematographer john alton works absolute miracles with light and shade while director Vorhaus makes the seance scenes a series of #uncanny exercises in aesthetic brilliance. if this was just a better film‚ visually it would be lauded as a classic of 40s cinema #but it isn't‚ it's ridiculous‚ a silly silly film that just happens to be absolutely breathtaking to look at! arghh!

[gatutor]

Anthony Bushell-Sally Blane "Crime on the hill" 1933, de Bernard Vorhaus.

#Sally Blane #Anthony Bushell #Bernard Vorhaus

[brokehorrorfan]

The Amazing Mr. X will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 5 via The Film Detective. The 1948 American horror film noir is also known as The Spiritualist.

Bernard Vorhaus (Three Faces West) directs from a script by Muriel Roy Bolton (My Name Is Julia Ross) and Ian McLellan Hunter (Roman Holiday). Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, and Richard Carlson star.

The Amazing Mr. X has been newly restored in high definition. A booklet with an essay by journalist Don Stradley is included. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by film scholar Jason A. Ney

Mysteries Exposed: Inside the Cinematic World of Spiritualism - Featurette with author Lisa Morton and film historian C. Courtney Joyner

Booklet with "The Amazing Mr. Bey" essay by journalist Don Stradley

The Amazing Mr. X stars Turhan Bey as Alexis, a mystery man who claims to communicate with spirits. Appearing on the beach one night, Alexis easily charms a depressed widow and her sister (Lynn Bari and Cathy O'Donnell). The sly Alexis makes a living by separating gullible people from their money, but before this tale is over he will learn that the living are far more dangerous than the dead.

Pre-order The Amazing Mr. X.

#the amazing mr. x #turhan bey #lynn bari #cathy o'donnell #richard carlson #the film detective #dvd #gift #horror #40s horror #1940s horror #film noir #bernard vorhaus #roman holiday #public domain

[gone-by]

#the amazing mr x #1940s movies #40s #cigarette case #vintage #bernard vorhaus #gif

[screamscenepodcast]

The Amazing Mr. X / The Spiritualist (1948, Vorhaus) We talk about this bizarre but gorgeous film in Episode 149 “A Horror Blend”: https://screamscenepodcast.tumblr.com/post/611069706785423360/from-eagle-lion-films-and-director-bernard-vorhaus

#the amazing mr x #the spiritualist #bernard vorhaus #turhan bey #john alton #lynn bari #cathy o'donnell #donald curtis #eagle-lion films #classic horror #golden age hollywood #scream scene podcast

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Ghost Camera (1933) Bernard Vorhaus

February 27th 2020

#the ghost camera #1933 #bernard vorhaus #henry kendall #ida lupino #john mills #victor stanley #davina craig #felix aylmer #fred groves #george merritt