Gene Barry

  • The Houston Story (1956)

    The Houston Story (1956)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2021) Taken at face value, The Houston Story is a mildly interesting crime thriller set against the then-unusual backdrop of mid-1950s Texas, playing up a mixture of crime tropes with slight noir elements. The plot has something to do with stealing oil, so at least that’s covered. The performances are fine, the story is fine and while the film tends toward dull mediocrity, it does work as an evening’s entertainment away from the usual urban landscapes of 1950s Hollywood. But the film gets more interesting once you start digging into its production. For one thing, it originally starred Lee J. Cobb — except that the oppressively hot and humid shooting conditions led Cobb to a heart attack that led to him being recast by Gene Barry! For another, more interesting element, the film is directed by William Castle — yes, that William Castle, but a few years before his claim to fame as a consummate horror film promotional showman famous for gimmicks such as The Tingler. He delivers a far more restrained film here, suitably moody with its shadows but otherwise really not as lurid as his later titles. If you’re protesting that the most interesting elements of The Houston Story are the elements that aren’t in the film, you’re right — and let that be your guide as to whether this is worth a detour.

  • The War of the Worlds (1953)

    The War of the Worlds (1953)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2019) Science Fiction movies of the 1950s often featured aliens invading Earth, but none of them were as expansive as The War of the Worlds in showing us a big-scale invasion. Led by producer George Pal, it loosely takes the classic novel H. G. Wells novel as inspiration for a widescreen depiction of an international invasion, even if the story stays focused quite tightly on a Californian scientist and his distaff counterpart. Surprisingly sombre at times (seeing WW2 footage used to portray city devastation is sobering enough, even without realizing that the film was released less than a decade after the war), and downright horrifying enough to give nightmares to my younger self (young boy not yet jaded by horror plus that shot of a soldier being disintegrated to a green skeleton equals unhappy memories), The War of the Worlds is at its best when adapting the Wells novel to the realities of the 1950s—even in a twenty-first century where Steven Spielberg delivered his own take on the story in 2003, this version is often fascinating as a pure period piece. Alas, some things don’t work as well. The initially super-competent female character played by Ann Robinson starts out fascinating, then degrades throughout the film until she becomes a shrieking simpleton right in time for Gene Barry’s character to rescue her during the film’s biggest suspense sequence. The Technicolor cinematography is striking, although it’s taken a bit too far when the alien tripods show three-coloured cells in their tools. Still, you have to admire the audacity of the film’s intention in showing a global engagement and its lovely period California setting. Both explain why The War of the Worlds remains worth a look now, despite the now-creaky special effects and the outdated social values.