For the curious, this one is available for free on YouTube (fair quality). I watched it because I wanted to see how badly it copied Double Indemnity (1944), and because I've been watching Ann Savage films.
Savage plays Toni, the Barbara Stanwyck role. Hugh Beaumont plays Kenny in the Fred MacMurray role. Technically, there's an Edward G. Robinson role, but the actor doesn't stand out in his part whatsoever.Honestly, that's one of the major problems. No chemistry between characters, and no fun banter between the young male and his older boss. If Beaumont was in Double Indemnity, I think he pulls off MacMurray's part just fine. He's just as good an actor, but he just happens to be in a worse film. Although I'm watching Savage films, it's only because of her role in My Winnipeg (2007). That's what interests me about her. She's definitely a B-movie actor -- no Barbara Stanwyck.
The murder in this film takes place before the halfway point. The entire section of the film is saturated in the film's musical score. Then, for the next twenty minutes or so after the murder, there's no musical score at all. It might have been an intentional choice, but it was so noticeable. I was honestly annoyed by the musical score in the first half, and then when it abruptly stopped, the movie felt too quiet.
The transitions between scenes were a bit abrupt and weird, as were some of the scenes themselves, when people would just show up in someone else's house without being invited in, for example, and the only reaction would be a calm, "Who are you?"
A couple of points: When Beaumont does the deed, the camera stays on Savage's face. Same for when they dispose of her husband's car. Rather than show the car going down the cliff or whatever, we hear it crash, but we are watching Savage's face. That could be okay, but Savage doesn't have the range of expression in her face to pull those scenes off, or maybe she was intentionally holding in her emotion because this character is emotionless. I don't know. Either way, it would have been nice to focus on what was actually happening at that moment.
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Beaumont went on to be Mr. Ward Clever in Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963). The show made 235 episodes and has a current IMDb score of 7.6. MacMurry was Mr. Steve Douglas in My Three Sons (1960-1972). That show made 380 episodes and has a current IMDb score of 7.1.
Overall, I'm more familiar with Leave It to Beaver, which I always thought was the better show. I have watched some episodes of My Three Sons, but that show has so many episodes, I wonder how many played in syndication. The show apparently added quite a few new characters in later episodes -- switching out a grandfather for an uncle, adding a stepsister, and moving from black and white to color in season 7. IMDb also mentions the strange way episodes of the show were filmed, using the "MacMurray method," which might have been MacMurray's preferred method, but it caused continuity errors and other filming and editing issues.
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
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