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Depression-era Hollywood produced a slew of movies about sympathetic criminals victimized by an unfeeling society. No other has the power of Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once, the director's second American film and a masterpiece of fatalism. Henry Fonda is the convict released to a new life (encouraged to go straight, he growls, "I will if they let me"--not a hopeful note); Sylvia Sidney is his new bride, convinced of his essential goodness. Their homely dreams are crushed by a hostile world, which Lang's scrupulously controlled direction turns into a series of dead ends. In particular, the last half of the picture--a prison break and cross-country ramble inspired by Bonnie and Clyde--is an exceptionally intense downward spiral, swift with predestined momentum. While Fonda and Sidney are unforgettable in their echt-Thirties forms, Lang is the star, proving the director of M and Metropolis had lost none of his edge. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fine Later Lang
Fritz Lang's best films were already behind him when he arrived in Hollywood. He would not surpass the films he made in Germany, but his American films are almost always worth seeing and sometimes approach greatness. You Only Live Once is one such film. The story concerns sympathetic criminal Eddie (Henry Fonda) trying to go straight and the woman who has stayed by him, legal secretary Joan (Sylvia Sidney). Lang makes the audience root for Eddie, who is not a typical snarling thirties gangster, but a basically decent man who through bad luck and bad choices has found himself in a desperate situation. Fonda is perfect for this role, and gives a fine performance. Sidney is equally good as a woman fighting against friends, family and circumstances to stay with the man she loves. It is her performance which makes the film a terrific romance as well as a fine thriller.

The print on the Image DVD is fairly good. It shows quite a lot of wear and tear, but seems complete. There may be many scratches, but the black and white photography still looks stunning with good detail and clarity. The soundtrack unfortunately has a great deal of hiss and crackle. Occasionally this makes the dialogue quite hard to hear. Nevertheless the film is still perfectly watchable and the flaws present in the print and soundtrack did not spoil my enjoyment of what remains an excellent film. The DVD has no extras.

this may be fritz lang's best film
There may not be a more ironic scene in film than henry fonda's confrontation with the priest at prison's gate...or a more pungent line than his 'they made me a murderer'.....or a more fatalistic ending than you have here...the point is that the best ingredients of film noir are present in a film made 10 years before film noir's peak...that's how far ahead fritz lang's vision was...sure he went on to make 'the big heat' and scarlet street' among others...but 'you only live once' is his starkest glimpse at man's small place in a vast, oppressive society where good intentions are powerless. ... Read more

Description

All your favorite TV detectives are here . DIGITALLY RESTORED ON DVD!!! Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday searches for "just the facts" onDRAGNET . Ralph Byrd fights for law and order as DICK TRACY . RichardDenning and Barbara Britton are the sophisticated married couple wholove unraveling murder mysteries on MR. & MRS. NORTH.Plus, PETER GUNN,SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE LONE WOLF, MARTIN KANE PRIVATE EYE, GANGBUSTERS andmore!!! This collection of "family-friendly" super sleuths includes 4complete TV shows on each of the 3 DVDs - 12 shows in all - 5 hours ofviewing fun!

DVD #1

Dragnet 11-06-52 "The Big Seventeen" w/ Jack Webb . Peter Gunn 01-19-59"Let's Kill Timothy" w/ Craig Stevens . Treasury Men In Action 06-09-55"The Case of the Shot in the Dark" w/ Charles Bronson . Mystery Theatrepresents. Mark Saber of the Homicide Squad 1952 "The Case of the Hair ofthe Dog" w/ Tom Conway

DVD #2

Dick Tracy 1952 "Shaky's Secret Treasure" w/ Ralph Byrd . Mr. & Mrs.North 10-03-52 "Weekend Murder" w/ Richard Denning and Barbara Britton .Sherlock Holmes 1954 "The Case of the Cunningham Heritage" w/ RonaldHoward . The Lone Wolf 1954 "The Werewolf Story" w/ Louis Hayward

DVD #3

Gangbusters 1955 "Dillinger" w/ Myron Healey . I am the Law 06-19-53"The Killer" w/ George Raft . Man Against Crime 11-12-52 "The Victim IsVenus" w/ Ralph Bellamy . Martin Kane, Private Eye 02-15-51 "MovieTheatre Murder" w/ William Gargan ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Back when talkies had dialogue...
Nice one. Leslie Howard is a lot more interesting in this than he ever was as Ashley Wilkes. Perenially sympathetic Myrna Loy is sexy and not so nice. Ann Harding and William Gargan are quite solid. The dialogue is snappy and great. The acting is first rate. The conflict itself doesn't have so much merit. This is rather a shallow and quickly told story about a man choosing depth over surface. But still the movie is a lot more vibrant than some of today's fare, at once a little bit thoughtful and entertaining.

SOLID EARLY TALKIE.
Philip Barry's very successful stage play was the basis for this well-acted romantic vehicle which should still appeal to the sophisticated and intellectual. Howard plays a rich publisher who leaves his artist-mistress to marry socially active Loy, only to discover that the security of married life doesn't exist: his wife turns out to be a Lorelei who's encouraging an affair with another man (Hamilton)... In an ironic and interesting contrast, Loy acts more like his mistress and Harding is more wife-like. Howard's acting expertise is shown to advantage here, he being caught in a classic triangle and eventually realising just how essentially shallow Loy really is and what a prize he had in Harding. Ann Harding gives her usual sensitively sincere performance and although Myrna Loy was not yet considered star material when she was given the role of Cecilia, she clearly gives a masterful portrayal of the flirtatious vixen. There is a splendidly amusing performance given by William Gargan as Regan the butler: at a party, he pours himself drinks and oafishly makes himself at home, acting as if he belonged among the elite company. It is, however, Howard who carries the film: he was the epitome of the sensitive gentleman in films such as this in the decade of the 1930's.

I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
In my opinion, a great film adaptation of Philip Barry's Play, with a luminous performance by grand actress, Ann Harding; Myrna Loy is excellent too, as Leslie Howard's alluring, sensual and manipulative wife; Leslie Howard's good as usual, and all of them get fine support from Neil Hamilton, Ilka Chase, Henry Stephenson, and especially, William Gargan, who is hilarious as a joke of a butler! (he's an ex-fighter). Perhaps it may be regarded as kind of talky and stagy by today's standards, but anyway it's pretty adult stuff with great dialogues and subtleties, and a great example of what could be done with a fine script and cast, before the Production Code was fully enforced in 1934. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

"You cannot escape the person you are."
In the film, "Strange Impersonation" chemist Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) is close to perfecting a new form of anesthesia, and she's also fending off fiance and fellow chemist, Dr Lindstrom. Lindstrom is pushing for a wedding date, but Nora's ambition dictates the conclusion of her experiments before moving on to personal business. Nora decides to accelerate product testing by experimenting with the anesthetic at home. She enlists the help of lab assistant Arline Cole. The experiment, however, goes horribly wrong, and Nora's face is scarred beyond recognition.

Following a bizarre encounter with female blackmailer Jane Karaski, Nora seizes the opportunity to assume Jane's identity. Nora--as Jane--goes into hiding and then undergoes over a year's worth of intense plastic surgery to restore her face.

Director Anthony Mann is considered one of the great film noir directors. So for those interested in the genre, "Strange Impersonation" is a must-see. However, that said, viewers should be aware that the film is seeped in 1940s technology and science (Nora's lab--Nora's experiments, etc), and so much of the film seems extremely dated. There are literally beakers full of smoking concoctions. Also, the film has a very high camp quality. The fights between females, a hideously scarred face hidden by veils, and the nonsensical inability to identify a body because the face is damaged beyond recognition, all add up to a good laugh. While the performances of the main actors are up-to-standard, some of the minor characters are definitely bad actors.

"Strange Impersonation" is absolutely not in the same league as "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Double Indemnity" or "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers." It's just too campy for that. However, I was extremely interested in Mann's portrayal of females in this film. Nora is a brilliant scientist, Arline is the wicked schemer, and Jane Karaski is a female thug. This is a film about strong women (not necessarily nice) who take fate into their own hands. The characters of the females are fascinating--whereas the males play only dull minor roles on the periphery of the film. "Strange Impersonation" is relatively short--68 minutes long, and if you want to see a "B" cult classic from the 40s, then this film--with all its flaws--is worth your while. This is a restored version of the film, and both the picture and sound were excellent quality--displacedhuman.

A NOTE TO CUSTOMER REVIEWERS...
Please warn readers about potential spoilers at the beginning of your reviews. The ending is revealed in one of the previous critiques. Thanks and happy viewing!

STRANGE "MOVIE".....
A chemist (Brenda Marshall) working on a new anesthetic takes the product home and tries it out. Her assistant (Hilary Brooke), who may be after Marshalls' husband, arranges an "accident" that reults in Marshalls' face being disfigured. Marshall then murders a woman trying to blackmail her over a previous car accident and has to go on the lam with the dead womans' identity. She plots to take revenge and everything snowballs into a nightmare worse than before. The finale sees it all as just a weird hallucination she experienced from the drug. Huh? All this mumbo jumbo is played out in a very short running time. I wouldn't call this a "movie" so much as a cheap experimental student project. There are no production values at all. The sets are cardboard and the acting is dull and at times amateurish. I know that Anthony Mann has a reputation as a low budget film noirist but this is the cheapest attempt at telling a story I've seen in a while. Ulmer's "Detour" is pretty cheap but at least it's interesting. This was interesting at first but the ending just left me flat. Low budget is one thing but out and out cheap is another. I will not fault this films' defenders. To each his or her own. But it's just too cheap for me to see more than once. So it's recommended for Manns' fans and others with their curiosity meter turned WAY up.

SKIN DEEP AND DEEPER
Skin deep is not deep enough.

Jealousy, murder, plastic surgery and revenge in a Hitchcockian tour de force from Director Anthony Mann ("El Cid," "Desperate," "Bamboo Blond," "God's Little Acre").

Mann was widely praised for his meticulous eye for detail and his instinctive sense of mise en scene which he prominently shows in "Strange Impersonation."

The radiant and beautiful Brenda Marshall is a scientist who spurns marriage for her pioneering breakthroughs in the science of anesthetics. That's right, anesthetics. But YOU won't fall asleep watching this very surreal, sly, primitive, artful but low budget tale with a stunning, surprise ending. (Full Screen, B&W, 68 minutes, Not Rated)...

A FEMINIST "DARK PASSAGE"
This cool movie has the production values of a Three Stooges short (Shemp-era), but the writing and acting more than make up for it. The story recalls the best stories by Cornell Woolrich (The Bride Wore Black) and David Goodis (Dark Passage). It's gratifying to see a noir film from the 40's that has so many strong female characters in it. This is an undiscovered gem. Kudos to Kino. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good '40s B; character actors help this newspaper yarn
This is one of Paramount's low-budget features produced by William Pine and William Thomas. As is customary with Pine-Thomas product, the cast is accomplished, the story is atmospheric, and the workmanship is efficient. The entire cast will be familiar to fans of old movies: William Gargan and Ann Savage as the bantering newspaper reporters trying to outscoop each other when a murder victim disappears, George Zucco as a velvet-voiced, dangerous killer, Leo Gorcey as comedy-relief office boy, Charles Halton as a worried museum curator, Don Beddoe as a frustrated detective, Paul Hurst as a bemused watchman, and George E. Stone as the missing corpse (always a fine actor: he doesn't say a word, but he expires eloquently). The pacing is good and the dialogue is snappy. The DVD derives from an old 16mm print that was very popular at some TV station -- there are frequent cue marks for station breaks, but thankfully no choppiness or serious damage. This has its own peculiar charm for movie addicts, because it looks just the way late-show movies used to look on television, before video and cable. It's an enjoyable hour for movie buffs. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

"A Toast to Martha Scott"
I have seen this movie only once, as a young child.I have much respect for a movie that touched my heart. If I can remember a movie;such as this one for many years and haven't seen it again. You know somehow through my life growing up, now as an adult, I feel somehow through the years the memories of Cheers for Miss Bishop , will never go away, I'd love to find this movie again and hopefully have one for myself. Truthfully, Martha Scott did a remarkably superb job in this magnificent film as Miss Ella Bishop. I raise my hat off to her and toast a lady who did very well in her field.

A Great, Heartwarming Story
"Cheers For Miss Bishop" is one of those undiscovered classics that have virtually been ignored. This film has much of the sentimental flavor of Frank Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life"--which was also ignored for decades before another generation came along and "discovered" it.Martha Scott's portrayal of Miss Ella Bishop, the spinster college professor who's eternally unlucky at love, is a thoroughly convincing performance. She is surrounded by a great cast of character actors. The ending is a bit schmaltsy, but satisfying nonetheless. See this film and return back to a time when you could count on having friends for a lifetime.

Martha Scott's best performance as dedicated teacher.
The film belongs to Martha Scott who gives her best screen performance as Miss Bishop, a dedicated teacher, whose personal life is constantly being put on hold as she ministers to the needs of her pupils. Scott ages from a schoolgirl to an octogenarian and does a lovely, memorable job. The sentimental score is a plus. Oscar nom for Original Score. ... Read more

Description

Freewheeling passion collides with hypocritical self-righteousness on a primitive South Seas island to the rhythms of hot jazz records and the steady beat of the falling rain. Based on Somerset Maugham's short story about a puritanical missionary determined to convert a wanton woman, "Rain" is a fascinating film, far ahead of its time in its honest depiction of human frailties. Academy Award-winners Joan Crawford and Walter Huston star in two of the strongest performances of their careers in this exceptional film directed by Oscar-winner Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front). ... Read more