William Cheats

Crane Stewart (Charles D. Brown), the Night Editor (1946) of the New York Star, attempts to educate one of his reporters by relating the story of Police Lt. Tony Cochrane (William Gargan), an allegedly happily married man who is having an affair with socialite Jill Merrill (Janis Carter). Wracked with guilt, Tony meets Jill for a rendezvous, and tells her he is ending their relationship. As she woos him back to her, they witness a murder. Tony is now in a quandary of indecision - if he tells his superiors, his affair will become public; keep it quiet and the murderer gets away.

As in Framed (1947), the audience is aware that Jill Merrill is trouble from the minute they see her. Ms. Carter has a way of making her face hard as a rock, which instantly displays the character's distasteful nature - in his Noir Alley intro, Eddie Muller called her "feral". The problem is that one wonders what on earth Tony would see in this horrible woman?  Within minutes of her introduction, we find out what a heartless, callous  excuse for a human being this creature is.  She hasn't got any redeeming qualities, and while she is pretty enough, she could chew nails.

As a result William Gargan seems almost passive as the hapless police detective. He keeps attempting to break up with his mistress, and then immediately is back pawing her.  Tony is horrified by Jill's behavior, but expects her suddenly develop morals. She doesn't, of course (if anything, she becomes worse), and he is faced with letting an innocent man die, or confessing his own complicity in the murder.  

There are a number of interesting minor characters in the film, the best of which is Paul E. Burns as Police Lt. Ole Strom.  Mr. Burns gives a very subtle performance as a fellow police officer who senses what is going on, but decides to waits for Tony to see the error of his ways. He knows Tony well enough to realize he will come to his senses, and is the conscience of the film.  Between 1930 and his death in 1967  (at the age of 86), Mr. Burns amassed 259 film and television credits (as well as seven Broadway plays). His final role was that of the bum who gets Robert Redford's coat in Washington Square Park in Barefoot in the Park.

Jeff Donnell is good as Tony's wife, Martha. It's pretty clear from the start that she is aware that her husband is straying, but is patiently waiting for him to see the error of his ways. In later years, she, Janis Carter, and Ann Savage would live close to one another in New York City, becoming best friends (Eddie Muller's outro on Noir Alley).  The Cochrane's film son, Doc is played by Michael Chapin, the brother of Lauren Chapin (of Father Knows Best fame).

Though the film had the working title Inside Story (AFI Catalog), it was intended to be the first of a series of Night Editor movies, reminiscent of the radio series that inspired the film (Columbia Pictures Movie Series, 1926-1955: The Harry Cohn Years by Gene Blottner). The box office was not good enough for the series idea to continue.

In the end, we enjoyed the film; as Mr. Muller points out, it is able to get away with a lot of weirdness that A films would never be permitted.  We'll leave you with a clip from the film:

Glenn is Framed

Michael Lambert (Glenn Ford) is a down-on-his-luck mining engineer. He agreed to drive a truck to get to a place where he can find a job, but is arrested for running the truck into another car. He’s bailed out by Paula Craig (Janis Carter), but doesn’t know why.  He is also doesn’t know he is about to be Framed (1947).

In the spirit of honesty, I'll start by mentioning that I'm not a fan of Glenn Ford.  He's done some good work (Gilda, primarily), but by and large I find him a one-dimensional actor, who does self-pity or anger, and not much more.  And I didn't find more than that in this film. In the final analysis, two members of our group liked the movie, and two didn't  The two that enjoyed it liked the story, though they said it could have been tighter.  

We know that Michael Lambert has managed to get to his destination to find a job as a mining engineer, but we know precious little more about him, except that he is an alcoholic. While the story doesn't tell us why he drinks so much, it works as a plot point - it makes it easier to set him up as a victim. 

We were also not impressed with Janis Carter. From her first second on film, we know that Paula is up to no good; it's apparent that Michael knows it too.  Yet, he still keeps hanging around her.  This is no The Postman Always Rings Twice, because there is no chemistry or connection between the characters.  It seems clear that they are not enamored of one another, nor are they trusting of one another.  Ms. Carter was cast in hopes of creating a new Gilda for Mr. Ford (TCM article). Sadly, it didn't work

Barry Sullivan (Stephen Price), however is good as the dishonest banker who's clearly using Paula to his own ends.  That there doesn't really seem to be much between them works in the movie's favor  - their relationship is a business deal, pure and simple, and Mr. Sullivan's distancing works for the film. 

Two minor characters are worth noting. Edgar Buchanan (Jeff Cunningham) plays a prospector who hires Michael as his mining engineer. It's the one clue we have that Michael is good at his job, because Jeff is a smart man, not the ditzy movie prospector we generally expect to see.  Karen Morley (Mrs. Price) has a nice scene as Barry Sullivan's neglected wife.  She does a lot with the character in very little screen time, and we were sorry not to see more of her.

The original title for the movie was They Walk Alone (AFI Catalog).  The New York Times review by A. H. Weiler (A.W.) was positive. It's got a decent story, and if you can overlook some of the casting issues, it's an interesting enough film to watch.  We'll leave you with a scene featuring our three leads:

Ms. Hale is Having a Baby

As Jacqueline Walsh (Barbara Hale) is about to take her wedding vows to her second husband, Herbert Fletcher (Robert Hutton), she faints.  Her uncle, Dr. William Parnell (Lloyd Corrigan) believes she is pregnant. The father of the child is her first husband, Vernon Walsh (Robert Young), whom she divorced after he was named as the co-respondent in the divorce of Wanda York (Janis Carter). Though Vernon protested his innocence, Jackie does not believe him, and wants him to surrender any claim on the pending child. Vernon, however, sees the baby as a way to get her back. Our film is And Baby Makes Three (1949)

This is a potentially cute film that would have been considerably better had it been about 15 minutes shorter (it's 84 minutes). The plot, which is entertaining up to a point, goes completely over-the-top by the end. It felt as though the writers had no idea how to end the film, so they just kept throwing elements into a blender to see what they could get. What they got was a mess.

Given that they have little in the way of a script, Robert Young and Barbara Hale work well together. Both were second (and in Mr. Young's case, third) choices for their roles. Columbia initially assigned Evelyn Keyes the part of Jackie, and she refused - she ended up on suspension (AFI catalog). Both Ronald Reagan and Robert Cummings were offered the opportunity to play Vernon. Both said no.

In a sense, Ms. Hale has the more outlandish part. Either we have to believe that she left her marriage, found Herbert, went to Reno, and came back to her wedding in under two months, or we have to believe that in more than three months (it takes 6 weeks to get a divorce in Reno, and it is hard to believe that she agreed to marry Herbert immediately after leaving Vernon), she didn't realize that she was pregnant.  It's somewhat mind boggling.

Barbara Hale started as a model; by 1943, she was off to Hollywood, a contract with RKO, and her first picture - an uncredited role in Gildersleeve's Bad Day. She worked in films, primarily in B pictures, until 1958 (she would make a few more films between 1968 and 1978), when she was offered the role of Della Street in Perry Mason (which ran from 1957-1966). She originally considered declining the role - she had three small children at home, and was spending her time with them (Medium.com article), but her friend Gail Patrick (who was producing the show with her husband Thomas Cornwell Jackson) said that the role was small and was show was only going to last for 18 episodes! Ms. Hale would go on to star in 332 episodes and 31 TV movies with her good friend Raymond Burr (the final 4 movies were filmed with Paul Sorvino and Hal Holbrook subbing for the Perry Mason character. Mr. Burr died in 1993). Ms. Hale was married for 46 years to Bill William. She was intrigued with him from the start - it took him awhile to realize she was the woman for him (Eddie Muller commentary on The Clay Pigeon). The couple had three children, one of who is the actor William Katt (who starred in The Greatest American Hero, and as Paul Drake, Jr. in several of the Perry Mason films). Ms. Hale died in 2017, at the age of 94.

Both Billie Burke (Mrs. Fletcher) and Melville Cooper (Gibson, the Butler) are wasted. Ms. Burke, in particular, is doing a retread of roles she's done before - she's the mother who is afraid of scandal (her son's fiance's pregnancy by another man), and who dithers around echoing her husband (Nicholas Joy as Marvin Fletcher). She doesn't even have a name - she's just "Mrs. Marvin Fletcher".

Though her part is minimal, and rather irrelevant to the main story, Janis Carter takes what she has and runs with it. She's amusing as the predatory Wanda; the character is added at the last minute (like a lot of things in this film) to stretch it out a bit. Sure, she's not really necessary, but she is fun to watch.

This was the second film produced by Santana Productions, Humphrey Bogart's production company. Founded in 1948 and named after his boat, Santana produced 7 films, 5 of which starred Bogart. At the time, the Santana films didn't do well financially, but In a Lonely Place (1950) is now regarded as one of the best of Bogart's films, and highly regarded as a film noir (here is Eddie Muller introducing it on TCM's Noir Alley).

New York Times review called And Baby Makes Three "A thin joke is stretched beyond the point of fun." The review in Variety was positive. Regardless, the film did not do well at the box office, and it's really not surprising. One is bored about an hour in.  There are better Barbara Hale films (try The Clay Pigeon, in which she starred with her husband ). This is not one of her best. 

A small treat - we recently were able to participate in a tour of the Library of Congress Packard Campus. Part of the tour was a visit to the Cold Room, where nitrate copies of films from many studios are housed. In the Columbia vault, I found a can with a nitrate copy of And Baby Makes Three!  You can see it below (thanks to my husband for taking the picture - follow the link to see more of his work):