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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
To Please A Lady/ Jeopardy, November 24, 2008
This review is from: To Please a Lady / A Woman in Jeopardy (DVD)
The set is worth it for "Jeopardy" alone. I'm very surprised they haven't done a remake of this one. Barbara Stanwyck, Ralph Meeker, Barry Sullivan, and Lee Aaker all give fine performances in this tense thriller. When a family goes on fishing vacation at a jetty, the father, played by Barry Sullivan becomes trapped under a pylon trying to save his son, played by Lee Aaker. When the mother, played by Stanwyck, goes for help. She is kidnapped by an escaped criminal, played by Ralph Meeker ( I was swearing this was Bill Paxton's dad). I was really glad I rented this one and plan to buy it now. I would love to see a modern day version of this. The Clark Gable racing movie is okay as a bonus but it is not one I would have bought alone. If you enjoyed this catch "The Narrow Margin (1952)".
CA Luster
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One outstanding and one conventional picture, December 26, 2009
This review is from: To Please a Lady / A Woman in Jeopardy (DVD)
"To Please A Lady" (1950, dir.: Clarence Brown) is nothing but routine, with a good Barbara Stanwyck as an investigative journalist meeting a racing driver (Clark Gable) and, of course, coming close to him after some dramatic events. The story is much too conventional, stereotype and predictable. Gable was a little bit too old for the part and acts with a total lack of irony or humor (even in his fifties, he would do better in later pictures and still be convincing as a leading man and romantic lover - see for example the Raoul Walsh pictures "The Tall Men" and "The King and Four Queens"). Nevertheless, the film is not boring at all and contains some very good racing scenes full of vivid action and suspense. Three stars.
"Jepoardy" (1953, dir.: John Sturges): A small thriller of only 69 minutes length and with no more than four performers (and some extras): A family (father, mother and a boy aged about ten) makes a weekend trip in Mexico, and when the father (Barry Sullivan) is trapped under a bridge pier while the flood rises, his wife (Stanwyck) has to fetch a rope. Unable to get one, she finally meets a murderer on the loose (Ralph Meeker) who is the only person able to save her husband's life... This is a perfect study of US citizens going "abroad" and getting helpless, not only in a geographical, but also in a metaphorical way. It is clear that we have a typical suburban couple not used to explore the unexpected. Stanwyck and Sullivan are obviously a bit frightened by anything unknown and beyond their world of work, homework, gardening, inviting the neighbors etc. Mexico is only I few hours away, but to them, it's a totally new and dangerous world. Sullivan packs a gun ("you never know"), but is totally nervous when only being asked routine questions by two policemen. Stanwyck would not have met Meeker if only she had remembered the Spanish word for "rope" ("cuerdo") in a conversation with some Mexicans before. And the criminal is not Mexican, but a U.S. Citizen... Stanwyck once more gives a brilliant performance, and how helpless she may be at the beginning, in her scenes with Meeker, she is firmly decided to stand by her man - even if that means to leave him and to go with Meeker (which he demands in order to save Sullivan). You have to watch this strange mixture of toughness and tenderness, abomination and even seductiveness. This leads to a performance of a woman who finally is decided to keep her promise even if she will hate every minute of it. Stanwyck fulfils that difficult and almost paradoxical task with a maximum of credibility. The end of the picture is nevertheless surprising and not to be told. Five stars.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jeopardy is an underrated and excellent film!, February 7, 2010
This review is from: To Please a Lady / A Woman in Jeopardy (DVD)
I just bought this recently and mostly because of "Jeopardy", which stands as a very intelligent and different kind of suspenseful thrill of a movie. The whole cast of Stanwyck, Meeker, Sullivan and even the child actor, Lee Aaker do fantastic jobs in it. The Director is John Sturges, who also directed "The Magnificent Seven","The Great Escape", and "Gunfight at The O.K. Corral"! It is well-worth buying as the print of "Jeopardy" is top-notch and nearly pristine!
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