Jack Webb at 287,000 Volts
This is an absolutely horrid little film, not worth watching. It is a cheap blend of “Frankenstein” and the popular TeeVee show “Dragnet”, with a little “Third Man” thrown in. Dragnet started as a radio show and this project would have been better as a radio show. In fact, I listened to it recently with no video and was amazed how much more effective it was.
The format is narration by a detective in due noir-influenced fashion, partly to the audience, partly to a colleague, partly to a dictaphone.
The visuals have lots of close ups of Chaney’s twitching eyes, presumably hate-filled. The finale is where they spent their budget (probably $1,000), with fireworks, a crane, an ersatz power plant and a cardboard man which the fireworks blow over.
This is from a short period where all the women (except one barfly) are dressed to kill, in torpedo bras, corsets and girdles.
Posted in 2005
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.