More Flix, From Best to Worst

Hustling (1975)
Lee Remick stars as an investigative reporter researching a story on prostitution in the Times Square area of New York City, aided by do-gooder policeman Alex Rocco and tough-talking hooker Jill Clayburgh. One of those landmark TV movies from the 70's that predicted grittier shows like Cagney & Lacey and Homicide: Life on the Street. Cast is excellent as is Fay Kanin's script and Joseph Sargent's direction. I like the way it includes upper-level corruption and the innate sadness of the johns. Burt Young is good in a supporting role as a sleazy but three-dimensional landlord, but I don't quite buy (so to speak) homely Melanie Mayron as a desirable tramp.
Penny Serenade (1941)
Least of the three films Cary Grant & Irene Dunne made together, this godmother of all future soap operas focuses on the deteriorating marriage of a struggling newspaperman and his barren wife, and how the highly unlikely addition of adopted children makes them whole again. Still, the star power of these two actors makes it a cut above the rest, supported ably by Edgar Buchanan as Grant's shy but wily pressman and uber-sympathetic Beulah Bondi as the adoption agency head.
Joyless Street (1926)
Greta Garbo's beauty is the main draw here in this heavily-edited tale of a greedy pensioner trying to raise two daughters in post-WWI Austria. The scuzzy print is sepia-toned and further marred by an indifferently tacked-on classical score -- the same one featured on several Hitchcock silents of the same era from the same source, Mill Creek.
Dark Mountain (1943)
Pretty good B-movie about beautiful Ellen Drew married to tough guy Regis Toomey; unbeknownst to her, he's a smuggler and a murderer soon on the lam with her in tow. Eventually they hole up in a small cabin inadvertantly provided by Drew's ex-boyfriend, a handsome forest ranger (Robert Lowery) and wait for a getaway. Eddie Quillan provides comic relief as Lowery's gotta-be-gay assistant.
Intimate Agony (1983)
Disease-of-the-week story set on a swank resort island run primarily by creepy Robert Vaughan. An assortment of beautiful people have contracted herpes via musical beds, including waitress Judith Light, tennis pro Mark Harmon, and dorky PR guy Brian Kerwin, not to mention Vaughan's cute daughter. Along comes crusading doc Anthony Geary to save the day, only Vaughan tries to cover it up so as not to turn the resort into a latter-day leper colony.
Betrayal (1974)
Tisha Sterling and Sam Groom play a couple of con-artists bilking rich old ladies out of their fortunes, she as a seemingly-loving companion, he as just another sadistic creep. Their newest mark is wealthy widow Amanda Blake, who hires Sterling to bring back some meaning to her life and subsequently charms the girl away from Groom's cruelty. That's character actress Lucille Benson as the previous victim.
The Big Show (1936)
Silly backstage country & western musical stars Gene Autry as likeable body-double to mustachioed & moronic leading man who runs away from his publicist just when he's needed to make a personal appearance in Texas. Best bits are the musical numbers and some cool Western stuntwork.
Blood and Sand (1922)
Rudolph Valentino reveals self to be a runty little toreador cum mama's boy torn between a sweet girl-next-door wife and a laughable seductress. Hard to believe that this guy was such a mega-star of the silent era, particularly in comparison to real he-men of the day like John Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
Disappearance of Flight 412 (1975)
Mind-numbing tale of a group of Air Force pilots forced to retract their story of encountering UFOs by shady government outfit. Glenn Ford looks bored as their colonel and Kent Smith sleepwalks as the conflicted general in charge. Most ironic casting award goes to Ed Winter -- best known as eccentric CIA man on M*A*S*H -- as one of the interrogators.
Love Is Forever (1983)
I bet I'm not the first critic to answer 'no, it's not' to this turkey, shot on a $1.98 budget by D-movie maven Hall Bartlett. Michael Landon stars as an apparently real-life reporter who was held by Laotian authorities after trying to write an expose on their treatment of boat people. Video transfer is crummy, looking like half-assedly colorized b&w film. Leading lady Moira Chen competes with co-star Priscilla Presley as most wooden mannequin. It amazes me how a fairly popular leading man like Landon would appear in such poorly-made crap like this, despite the interesting story material.