La telaraña

My wife and I visited our vintage DVD store at Camden Lock, north London the other day, for my Easter 2014 treat which was to buy some more dvds for my collection of mainly 1940s & 50s film dramas.I am thinking now of promoting the lovely Ella Raines to one of my favourite screen goddesses after seeing "The Web"(1947).By the way, I especially collect Margaret Lockwood, Vivien Leigh, Jean Simmons,Gene Tierney,Jennifer Jones, Ava Gardner & Hedy Lamarr films.So far I have "Impact" (1949), "La Dama Desconocida","Tall in the Saddle","The Suspect" all from (1944) and now I have "The Web" (1947).

Ella always brilliantly and naturally plays the true American heroine in her movies and she has the most engaging smile which melts my heart whenever I see her act on screen.I will definitely look out for more vintage movies of Ella.As to the film I award it 7/10 as it is well written with a fine cast which includes arch horror actor Vincent Price as a youngish actor.I do not see Edmund O'Brian as a particularly romantic lead however.There are a few "red herrings" in the script but the viewer soon ascertains who is the true villain.I believe the complete film is now available on www.youtube.com

Vincent Price was my main attraction to The Web, and thank goodness I checked it out because it was a very good movie. Edmond O'Brien for my tastes is rather bland and the exterior set for the rendezvous is on the tacky side. Aside from that, The Web is very well made, stylish, atmospheric and sumptuous. The script is taut and exceptionally well-written, the direction is spirited and never lags and while the story is somewhat run-of-the-mill the fact that the film continually makes it interesting and intricate makes you not mind so much. Ella Raines is appropriately smart and elegant, while John Abbott is very creepy and William Bendix is great fun as the crafty police lieutenant who is not as dumb as he looks. But the film belongs to Vincent Price, suave and subtly menacing it is a role that he is perfect for and one that he plays the heck out of. All in all, a very well-done thriller that deserves to be better known. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A delight for old movie fans—perfectly cast, engagingly scripted, and generally unpredictable. O'Brien's a brash, penny-ante lawyer who hooks up with slick, financial tycoon Price and his silken mistress- secretary Raines. Somebody's going to get taken for a ride, but who. O'Brien's so good at playing fast-talking operators, while Price calibrates (no hamming here) surprisingly well as a sly fox. And the long haired Raines looks absolutely ravishing as the cool and calculating Noel. Judged from this showcase, it's really too bad that O'Brien and Raines have slipped into obscurity. Also, catch John Abbott as Charles, the rather mysterious factotum. He always adds eccentric color to his parts.

Those early scenes of O'Brien getting entangled are expertly scripted with sharply drawn characters. The banter is especially engaging without being cutesy or competitive with the story. I also like the way O'Brien's character (Regan) is kept purposely ambiguous, adding an element of unpredictability to the story's direction. Bendix's crafty cop is nicely conceived too. His scenes with O'Brien are little gems of sly one-upmanship. My only complaint is that tacky exterior set where O'Brien and Raines rendezvous. Doing the outdoors on a sound stage was always a challenge for the studios.

Anyway, the movie comes as a pleasant, noirish surprise, again demonstrating the vitality of post-war Hollywood.

The Web is one of dozens of forties thrillers featuring private detectives and the rich men who hire them, the beautiful women who love them, and the police, who invariably hamper their efforts to unravel the clues to intricate mysteries, the details of which are explained with astonishing clarity in the end, despite the fact that most viewers can scarcely be expected to keep track of all the evidence. This one is more elegant than most, with plush settings and striking photography. There's a touch of Laura here, thanks to the casting of Vincent Price and the character he plays, as well as a bit of the Chandler private eye cycle in the character of Edmond O'Brien's detective. Ella Raines makes a beautiful heroine, and Bill Bendix is on hand as the no-nonsense cop. Michael Gordon directs smoothly, and everything comes together in the end. There's nothing remarkable in The Web, which is just a cut above the generic, but it works like a Swiss watch.

A strong cast and a neat story make up "The Web" from 1947, starring Edmond O'Brien, Ella Raines, Vincent Price, and William Bendix.

O'Brien is an attorney, Regan, who is hired for an exorbitant amount of money to be the bodyguard for a tycoon, Andrew Colby (Price). He is frightened of a former employee who has just been released from prison.

Regan meets Colby's beautiful secretary-girlfriend Noel (Raines) - she seems to be living in Colby's house, which makes me wonder where the censors were. Regan falls for her. After the released convict seemingly breaks into Colby's home, Regan kills him. Then he starts to think he's been set up.

Enjoyable noir with Raines a knockout - she's one of my favorite actresses of that era - and Price before his horror days and very effective.

Neat plot.