Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
JohnHowardReid
Jack Perrin made some real good movies and some real stinkers. We've already covered one of his silent turkeys, Thunderbolt's Tracks, so now let's look at one of his sound dogs. This one is available on Public Domain DVD labels for the princely sum of two dollars. Actually, it's not worth two cents! Perrin himself is not too grating, but players like Lillian Gilmore (who fluffs her introductory line, but they left it in the movie anyway) and company are strictly from hunger. Even normally reliable people like George Chesebro and William Gould seem amateurish. Only the lovely Nancy DeShon (in her first, alas, of only four movies) as the femme fatale delivers what could justly be described as a neat piece of acting. As for the silly plot about an orphan who swears to his foster father that he'll never tell a lie and is then induced by the wise old man to do just that, I guess we should be thankful that the movie is so boring, no-one is likely to be swayed by its dubious philosophy of fighting lies with lies! Harry S. Webb and Bernard B. Ray directed. Bernard B. Ray and Harry S. Webb produced. Don't get those two credits muddled up, whatever you do!
