Irving Pichel (1891–1954)

A man, Nick, is cheating on his devoted wife, Ellen, with his best friend’s, Jeff’s, wife, Linda. Nick terminates the affair and—realizing she has been trifled with—Linda murders him. Jeff stupidly chooses to take the blame for Linda’s crime and is sentenced to life in prison. Nick’s guilt-ridden spirit lingers on Earth, haunting Ellen, attempting to inspire her to find the evidence necessary to clear Jeff’s name and send Linda away for murder.

Earthbound gets off to a strong start. The viewer is introduced to the seemingly adoring couple of Nick & Ellen enjoying a 2nd honeymoon in the Alps. Nick gets a telegram summoning him to Paris to work on an important business venture he is financing for his best friend Jeff. Nick’s return to Paris quickly unravels as soon as he discovers that the telegram he received was only a ploy and he is shot to death by Linda.

The premise is compelling: Will Nick’s helpless spirit be able to guide his wife to find the missing gun that will solve his murder and prove Jeff’s innocence?

Unfortunately, the film begins to falter around the midway point. After a preliminary hearing investigating the circumstances surrounding Nick’s death, it looks certain that Jeff is going to be convicted for Nick’s murder, and Ellen is still in the dark as to what actually has happened. Then, suddenly, the next thing the viewer sees is Ellen visiting convicted murderer Jeff in prison where he is serving a life sentence, and Ellen knows exactly what happened…What? It seems as if a huge chunk of the movie is missing. Were scenes edited out before its initial release? Did some of the film disappear or disintegrate over the years? Or is the dvd release I watched just defective? A lot of the story is clearly missing with no comment or explanation ; it’s baffling, to say the least, & very disconcerting to the viewer.

Anyway, from that point on, the film hurries through to a rushed and not very logical conclusion.

The movie is unsuccessful in its attempt to depict Nick’s character as a sympathetic victim of circumstance who is trying to do the right thing. He comes across as a colossal jerk who deserves all he got. Nick deceives his wife, his best friend, and his mistress; and then has the audacity to play the victim (even before he is murdered). He is just not a likeable character, and it is hard to care about what happens to him.

The worst thing about the movie is Lynn Bari. I have seen her in a number of films, and her acting is always awful. She has no range and always seems to have the same personality no matter what role she is playing. In Earthbound, she seems to think that over-the-top histrionics is a reasonable facsimile for acting. It’s not. Her performance is actually quite painful to watch, especially at the end.

Earthbound was an interesting movie, but the disjointed version I watched could have been much better than it was. If your local library has a copy, or you happen to catch it on TV, it is certainly worth a look. However, I wouldn’t recommend wasting any money on it.… (mehr)

“I listened to my own story, and brought in my own verdict.” — Robert Young to Jane Greer

This neglected masterpiece is every bit as deserving of the praise reserved for only the finest of films in the noir drama genre. Rarely has the true nature of a heel been so clearly defined as in this RKO classic starring Robert Young a shallow cad who can’t seem to help himself. And never has a man of less moral character deserved any less the love and devotion of three women. Jane Greer, Susan Hayward, and Rita Johnson are splendid as those women in director Inrving Pichel’s riveting, flashback-laden and twisted tale which begins and ends at a murder trial. Enhanced by another fine score from RKO’s Roy Webb, lush photography from Harry Wild, and a fine adaptation of Gordon McDonnell’s story by screenwriter Jonathan Latimer, this film grabs you from the opening moments and just won’t let go. Produced by Joan Harrison, more surprises await the unsuspecting viewer than in an entire case of Cracker Jacks.

Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward) is dead as the film begins, and Lawrence Ballentine (Robert Young) is on trial for her murder. All the evidence has been presented, and it doesn’t look good at all for Ballentine. His only hope rests with his own testimony, and when his attorney puts him on the stand to tell his story, we are frozen to our seats listening to the tale of arguably the biggest heel in film history. Pichel uses flashbacks as Ballentine tells a story both sordid and mesmerizing. The more he says, the more viewers are left wondering how it all endedup in murder — IF indeed it did — and later, just who was murdered.

So twisted is this story of love and crime you’d have to actually TRY to spoil it for someone to do so, and even then you might not succeed. Ballentine shows himself to be, through his own testimony, a morally deficient man who married his wife Greta (Rita Johnson) for her money. Lovely Jane Greer, before Howard Hughes tried to ruin her career, is Ballentine’s first affair, Janis. But she’s no Saturday afternoon girl, just a sweet and lonely one who makes the mistake of falling in love with Larry.

While Larry may have married for money, his wife Greta did not. Aware that her husband is of weak fiber, Johnson is wonderful here, as a wife who can't stop trying to make things work because her marriage means everything to her. It makes Larry’s behavior, and the attitude he displays about her to other women, even more despicable. Moving him around as quickly as her money will afford, however, can’t improve his character or lessen his weaknesses. Eventually he takes up with secretary Verna Carlson (Susan Hayward). Perhaps due in part to the influence of female producer Joan Harrison, all the women here, even the somewhat trampy Verna, prove to have more character, with all of them driven by love. It is that love, so undeserved, which makes the story Larry is telling the jurors so repugnant. We learn how one of these women died, but that’s only the beginning of this sickening but can’t-stop-watching look at a true heel.

A car accident, a suicide, and a shallow cad who only realizes how ugly he’s been while telling it out loud on the witness stand can’t begin to describe the twists and turns here. Every time something new is revealed, and you think you’ve got a handle on things, a hairpin curve nearly causes you to crash in flames. Beautifully shot by Harry Wild, especially the scenes of the ranch in Tulare County with the waterfall, the story does the rest. Hayward is especially excellent here, eliciting sympathy as a trampy girl who for once plays it straight, but with the wrong guy. Greer is also terrific in a role which counterbalanced her darker turn in Out of the Past this same year. Rita Johnson is quite wonderful as well, playing the part of a sweet wife so well we want to throttle Larry.

Fantastic and much underrated is this marvelous film. Another must-see film for all classic film fans.… (mehr)

Set during WWII, this taut and suspenseful espionage outing chronicles the courage of a brand-new cadre of specially trained American O.S.S. agents who parachute into France to destroy the vital Corbett Mallon tunnel to stop the German invaders from shipping supplies to their troops. One of the spies is a woman, and this bothers the group leader, who doubts her abilities. She soon proves herself, and the two embark on several exciting adventures before and after the completion of their mission. Along the way, the two manage to fall in love. Unfortunately, their commitment to duty is necessarily greater than their love and one of them will make a great sacrifice. (Fonte: Imdb)… (mehr)

Judäa ist von den Römern besetzt. Die römische Marionette Herodes herrscht über das Land und presst dem Volk hohe Steuern ab. Derweil prophezeien strenggläubige Juden, dass ein König kommen wird, der von David abstammt, und das jüdische Volk aus dem Joch der römischen Unterdrückung befreit. Als Jahre später von Jesus berichtet wird, den einige als den erwarteten Messias sehen, wollen die Strenggläubigen dies nicht wahrhaben. Ihr Champion, ihr Anführer, der Judäa befreien soll, ist Joel, der miterleben muss, wie die Römer unter dem Zenturio Longinus in einem Dorf wüten. Desillusioniert sucht er Jesus auf, um herauszufinden, ob er der verheißene König ist. Denn Joel liegt nichts mehr am Herzen, als sein Volk in Freiheit zu sehen…… (mehr)