Two with Lana Turner released to blu ray by Kino Lorber
Ever since she burst onto the scene in the 1937 Warner Brothers drama "They Won't Forget" when she was 16 years old, Lana Turner has commanded the attention of moviegoers. Dubbed the "Sweater Girl" by MGM, due to how she filled out that garment, Turner was much more than a physical presence, offering alluring, intelligent work in films like Johnny Eager, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Cass Timberlane.
By the 1960s, her sordid private life had been making headlines for a while. A violent marriage to second-rate movie Tarzan Lex Barker, the 5th of her 8 husbands, alcoholism, and the 1958 murder of her abusive lover, mobster Johnny Stompanato by her daughter Cheryl Crane. Still, Ms. Turner's name meant strong box office success. In 1960, her neo-noir thriller "Portrait in Black" had a budget of $1.4 million, and its earnings exceeded $9 million. It is one of two films Kino Lorber has released on blu ray.
Lana is comfortably cast as the abused wife of disabled Lloyd Nolan, and she's carrying on an affair with Anthony Quinn. They plot to kill her husband. Sandra Dee plays her daughter. John Saxon is her daughter's boyfriend. Richard Basehart is another man who loves Lana, throwing the conflict into another direction.
It is perhaps due to the plot's connection to her real life, as well as to the plots of some of her past films, that audiences flocked to see a trembling, weeping Lana strugglng with conflicts and succumbing to her longing desires. Anthony Quinn balances nicely between the anchored knowledgeable doctor character he plays, and the jittery, guilty person he has become. Sandra Dee has always been good at vulnerable characters who were smarter than their emotional parameters, while John Saxon, then a young contract player for Universal, turns in an impressive performance at the beginning of a long career that continues to this day. Richard Basehart stands out as a particularly unsettling character. He adds another dimension to the central narrative, another layer to the proceedings that takes us in another direction. The circumstances that occur as the narrative proceeds offer a surprise development.) Ray Walston, as a chauffeur, is a ominous presence.
Director Michael Gordon had done his share of potboilers, including "The Key" (1947) and "Woman in Hiding" (1951). A versatile filmmaker, he was just coming off the quintessential Rock Hudson-Doris Day vehicle "Pillow Talk" when he signed on to do this movie. Based on a play, it was done on radio by Barbara Stanwyck years earlier, and the film had been intended for Joan Crawford in the 1940s but the project had been shelved for some time.
The other Lana Turner movie released by KINO is "Madame X" (1966), a melodramatic tear-jerker that had been filmed several times before. This time Lana must change her identity to avoid a murder rap for which she is innocent. She wallows through life in the alcoholic trenches until returning to her home town, murdering a blackmailer, and being defended by a public attorney who doesn't realize that she is his mother.
Director David Lowell Rich ignited his career with the Three Stooges vehicle "Have Rocket Will Travel" (1959) and had done much TV before returning to features with "Madame X." John Forsythe, as the attorney, had shaken his image as TV's "Bachelor Father" by appearing opposite Ann-Margret in the sordid drama "Kitten With a Whip" (1964). He adds a calm presence to the emotional drama.
Both films benefit from an interesting commentary track as an extra, featuring film historians Lee Gambin and Emma Westwood on "Portrait in Black," and Gambin with Eloise Ross on "Madame X. The quality of each film is excellent.
The films are available at the following links: