Lured (1947), Ted (2012), Man Hunt (1941)

Lured

A serial killer of young women taunts the London police with cryptic poems, inspector Henry Temple (Charles Coburn) of Scotland Yard recruits an American dance hall girl (Lucille Ball) to serve as bait, after her best friend is murdered by the killer. This noir mystery is not the kind of film we usually associate with Ms. Ball, and its also not the kind of film you generally think of when you think of its director Douglas Sirk, who is best known for a series of beautifully colored 1950's melodramas (Lured is in black and white as fits its genera). The film is uneven, Lucille Ball's Sandra Carpenter appears to be the main character for much of the film, but disappears for most of the movies final third which concentrates instead on Henry Temple, Sandra's love interest Robert Flemming (George Sanders, yea!) and of course the killer. For a good chunk of the film Sandra's search for the killer leads her to a number of red hearings, one of which is a mentally unhinged former dress designer played (or rather mugged) by Boris Karloff, which feels rather tacked on (Studio Boss: You know we haven't used Boris in a while...) Still its an entertaining, and enjoyably unique film. **1/2

Ted

This Seth McFarlane directed comedy boasts an enviably brilliant comic premise, a lonely little boy in 1980's Boston wishes the stuffed teddy bear he got for Christmas would come alive, and he does. Needless to say this was a big deal when it happened, warranting international media coverage and a guest appearance for the bear on Johnny Carson (well done video tomfoolery using an "ALF" guest appearance to insert the diminutive Ted on the classic late night program). But as the films easily distracted narrator Patrick Stewart reminds us, 'no matter how big a deal you may become, sooner of later nobody's going to give a shit'. So flash forward nearly 30 years and Ted (voiced by McFarlane) is still living with a now grown John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and the latters girl friend Lori (Mila Kunis). What was cute when they were children is now just odd that they are adults, and both John and Ted are very much adults.

Per pressure from friends causes Lori to put pressure on John to "stop spending so much time with Ted", so the walking, talking stuffed bear moves out on his own and gets a job at a grocery store. But John continues to spend more time with Ted (often getting stoned) then Lori would like and this puts pressure and her and John's relationship, also Lori's arrogant boss (Joel McHale in the Joel McHale part) has designs on Lori and hopes to break her and John up. In addition there is a kidnapping sub plot and a guest appearance by the star of the 1980 film Flash Gordon Sam J. Jones.

The film is often crude but mostly good natured and pretty darn funny. I loved the general acceptance of the characters that there would be this talking stuffed bear walking around, and how he's kind of a b-grade celebrity with people occasionally stopping him to get pictures taken with him, and how Ted seems fine with this. The movie fits perfectly in the slightly crude, man child, gene-X pop culture infused, children's programing for adults niche that director star McFarlane has carved out for himself, and one wonders what on Earth kind of movie he's going to make next. ***

Man Hunt

The journey from page to screen for the story of Man Hunt was an unusually quick one. Author Geoffrey Households 1939 topical thriller Rouge Male  went from serial magazine publication, to novel, to major motion picture in just two years. The story is about a legendary but retired English big game hunter Captain Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) who a few months before the outbreak of the second world war travels to Germany with his rifle to see if it would be possible for him to take out Adolph Hitler. Now the question of whether Thorndike was doing this as just a vanity exercise to prove to himself that he could do it, or if he really intended to kill the German dictator is debated throughout the film, with Thorndike himself appearing psychology unsure about his own motivations. Well whatever the intent was Thorndike is captured by the Germans on the property of Der Fuhrers mountain retreat, and a German officer who goes by the name of Quive-Smith (George Sanders again, yea) who himself is an amateur big game hunter, seems sure that Thorndike was acting as an assassin for the British government, (Thorndike's brother Lord Risborough (Frederick Worlock) is in fact a British diplomat).

Quive-Smith tries to get Thorndike to sign a confession implicating his government in an assassination plot agents Hitler, which the Germans in turn intend to use as propaganda fodder for the war with the UK they are already planning. Thorndike refuses, the Nazi's torture him for a while, and then decide to push him off a cliff in the mountains and make like his death was a hunting accident, only they miscalculate and throw Thorndike into a marsh, and he survives and gets away. The wounded hunter eventually makes it to a port where an English cabin boy (Roddy McDowall) aboard a Danish freighter helps hide him an smuggle him back to England. But the Nazi's, now lead by John Carradine, follow him determined to use him for propaganda purposes. Now in London a desperate Thorndike takes refuge with a beautiful British girl named Jerry (Joan Bennett), who depending on how you read the film is either a prostitute or a seamstress, who takes quite a shinning to him. Thorndike's a little big oblivious to Jerrys obvious affections but still doesn't want to see the girl hurt, and turns her away when she insists on accompanying him to the English countryside where intends on hiding until things 'blow over'. Things don't turn out as Thorndike had hopped.

Man Hunt is a call to arms and very obviously anti Nazi film that was made in the US, with a largely British cast and an ex-patriot German director (Fritz Lang) months before American involvement in the war. This movie very clearly skirted, all right violated the neutrality act then in effect in its blatant advocacy for US involvement against the Nazi's, in fact it was slated to be a subject of congressional hearings on 'alleged' Hollywood violations of the neutrality act, but those hearings were canceled after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and American entire into both theaters of the war. A solid, norish chase film with good performances, the story is more them somewhat contrived, but reasonably effective as the propaganda that it is. This was also the start of a long standing working, personal, and rumor has it romantic relationship between director Fritz Lang and actress Joan Bennett, who would do much of her best work under the directors supervision. ***1/2