Simply A Masterpiece

Awesome Movie

Absolutely Brilliant!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Entertaining minor programmer. The first part meanders some, so we're not sure where it's headed. The latter part, however, gels into a pretty good whodunit. Joe Manning (Bromfield), an army vet turned ne'er-do-well painter, is subsidized by his mother, and is going nowhere in life. No wonder he drinks a lot; at the same time, the early scenes show Joe in what seems permanent inebriation. Good thing, he's helped along by car-hop Slacks (London) and taxi driver Red (Calvin) or he'd be in the drunk tank. Seems however that two girls have been assaulted and one murdered, mysteriously. Because of his erratic behavior, the cops have him figured as the culprit. Thus, he better sober up and figure things out or he'll be sobering up courtesy the state lockup.Bromfield delivers a lively performance that holds interest. And a good thing since he's in about every scene. Also, this is London before she hit the big time as a sultry torch singer and star of A-features. Here she's really dressed down showing little of those later eye-catching attributes. Too bad. Too bad, too, that glamorous Patricia Blair is wasted in a role she could sleep walk through, which ironically she does! Anyhow, the film comes across as competently done, even though filmed in only five days (IMDB). The 70-minutes may not be anything special, but remains an entertaining slice of industry professionalism.

John Bromfield, unknown to me, plays Joe, a drunken veteran who becomes the chief suspect in a series of murders plaguing his home town. The nominal back story implies that he was a once-promising golden boy gone a little bad; still, it seems implausible that everyone would so quickly be willing to turn against one of their own and assume him to be the guilty party on the flimsy evidence the police collect from the crime scene. That evidence consists almost entirely of a school ring, so everyone immediately assumes that the killer must be someone from Joe's graduating class -- apparently the idea of planting evidence never occurred to anyone. Indeed, this plot point becomes an unintentional joke, as suspect after suspect is asked "Where's your ring?" and if they're able to produce it, or merely say they still have it, everyone assumes they can't possibly be the murderer. That's some cracker jack detective work. "Crime Against Joe" has no discernible directing style and no apparent reason for existing other than as a program filler. The screenplay is just too weak, and there's not enough style in the filmmaking to compensate for the story's failings. Julie London is the film's best asset, though mostly because she's so pretty, not because her character, that of Joe's reluctant love interest, generates much interest.There's also a bizarre and somewhat inexplicable story line about a sleepwalking girl and her father's efforts to cover up his daughter's affliction, and how this cover up affects the case against Joe. Was sleepwalking something to be that ashamed of back in 1956?Grade: C

Director Lee Sholem's "Crime Against Joe" is a modest but entertaining crime thriller about a wrongly accused guy who spends about 45 minutes in this hour long epic struggling to prove that he didn't kill a woman. Competently made, with solid production values, and polished performances, this low-budget, black & white, B-movie is a gem if you have the time. The formulaic script contains enough red herrings and provocative characters to keep you interested when it isn't distracting you from the real killer.Joe Manning (John Bromfield of "Rope of Sand") is an amiable lush who spends his time searching for a wise, funny, but innocent girl when he isn't trying to capture them in oil on canvas. Joe doesn't work for a living and lives off his mother. One evening Joe is too drunk to drive his convertible; a black & white patrol car blocks his withdrawth from a drive-in restaurant, so he continues cruising courtesy of a friendly taxi cab driver. At a bar, Joe flirts with a singer Irene Crescent (Alika Louis) and then threatens her with bodily harm before the bartender, Harry Doran (John Pickard), ushers him outside and clobbers him. George Niles (Rhodes Reasons) watches Doran as he punches Joe. George is a tall man in a cowboy hat who lost his ranch. He makes an extremely suspicious character who lurks on the periphery of the screen. Joe ambles home and encounters a beautiful woman, Christine 'Christy' Rowen (Patricia Blake), walking the streets late at night. Later, we learn that she is a sleep walker. The next day the police arrest Joe for the murder of Irene Crescent. When our protagonist tries to account for his whereabouts, the man who could clear him, Philip Rowen (Joel Ashley), refuses to oblige, because he fears the social stigma that attach to his name.Psychiatrist Dr. Louis Tatreau (Mauritz Hugo) questions Joe to determine his mental abilitr. Joe served in Korea and was the only man in his platoon to survive a battle. Joe was diagnosed with battle fatigue and learned how to paint as therapy. The outcome is pretty incriminating as far as the authorities as concerned. They produce a witness, Gloria Wayne (Joyce Jameson of "The Gauntlet") who testifies that Joe assaulted her from behind. Joe's faithful mother searches for an attorney to represent her son, but she cannot persuade one of Joe's former classmates to take his case. Everything looks bleak for our hero. Surprisingly, a car hop at a drive in (Julie London) gives Joe an alibi that springs him from jail. However, the police know that Slacks is lying to protect Joe because she loves him. Everybody in the community turns against Joe and even his doting mother suspects him.

Amiable and entertaining crime story involving a genial, unemployed painter--still living with Mom, whom he calls by her first name--wrongly accused of attacking girls at night. He's temporarily released from police custody after a smitten car-hop comes to his defense, but her alibi doesn't hold up (she lied because she loves him!); the two amateur sleuths then decide to solve this mystery on their own. From Bel-Air Productions, distributed by United Artists, and strictly a second-biller. Still, if the production was minuscule it doesn't always show: there's some good location shooting and photography, particularly near the climax at the high school's indoor swimming pool. In the lead, John Bromfield keeps a cool head and has a nice, unselfconscious manly swagger that is amusing and natural. Playing his secret sweetheart, Julie London is a bit too mature and refined to be convincing as a drive-in waitress, yet her stoic demeanor also proves to be enjoyable (no girly business with this lady). The denouement is effective and caught me by surprise, and a weird sub-plot about a society girl under the thumb of her wicked, possessive father is a hoot. Not bad! ***1/2 from ****