The Scavengers

I may as well admit up front that the main reason for my renting out "The Scavengers" (1959) was to see Carol Ohmart in one of her too-rare screen appearances. Fans of the original "House on Haunted Hill" (1958) may empathize with me when I say that, for the past 40 years or so, every time I think of Ms. Ohmart in that film, with a noose around her neck and floating outside the window of Carolyn Craig's room, I get chills down my spine. But other than this horror film, and the cult movie "Spider Baby" (1964), Ohmart films have not exactly been easy to see. And that's a real shame. Ohmart was a real beauty--Miss Utah in the 1946 Miss America pageant and, Paramount hoped, the new Marilyn Monroe--with a unique presence and style. Happily, she is shown to good advantage in "The Scavengers," playing, as she did in "House," a scheming, duplicitous wife. It seems that she had abandoned her husband, Vince Edwards, some six years before, and when Edwards finds her in a Macao gambling den one evening, she is up to her pretty eyes in drug addiction and a hunt for stolen bonds. Edwards, who in two years would achieve TV fame on "Ben Casey," is fine as an ex-smuggler who's still hopelessly in love with his undeserving wife. And it's a kick to see Vic Diaz, star of so many Filipino action films, in this, his first role. "The Scavengers" is basically a sleazy "B" noir, with good nighttime photography, a twisty plot and some interesting glimpses of 1950s Hong Kong. But for me, the main attraction is Carol Ohmart, who certainly does steal the show with her looks and her mysterious character. Now...when is somebody going to release 1959's "Naked Youth" on DVD? That's what I want to know!

John Cromwell has given us some fine movies, as director. "The Scavengers", a noir crime drama set mostly in Hong Kong, is not one of them. An idealistic American, played by Vince Edwards, tries to track down a mysterious woman; thugs intervene. Despite a convoluted plot, the story seems underdeveloped, given the film's runtime of just 79 minutes. I couldn't get interested in any of the one-note characters. Dialogue is flat.

But the problem goes deeper than the script. B&W lighting is not well crafted. Sound effects are uneven. And the background music is so nondescript and generic it could be applied even to a Western. Acting is undistinguished. I like Vince Edwards, but in this film his facial expression hardly ever changes.

To its credit, the film's Hong Kong locations are realistic, the only element that seems credible.

You get the feeling that they wanted to emulate some well-known crime drama film, but didn't have the money or the time. "The Scavengers" looks cheap and rushed. Further, I'm not sure that the director or any of the principal cast and crew really had their hearts in the project. It comes across as a quickie, paint-by-numbers film.

Anyone who calls this plot convoluted never sat through. The Big Sleep, which is rightly considered a classic.

I too showed up for Carol Ohmart, who is so fantastic in The Scarlet Hour and The Wild Party, only to get an intro to VIc Diaz, a delightful character actor among so many in noirs.

Yes, this is a B picture with somewhat bumpy production values. But it's got a propulsive international intrigue plot, some nice street sequences, and.lots of fun, well cast minor characters, as expected in any good noir.

I would give it 15 minutes and if you don't like it drop it.

This one is ripe for rediscovery.

This film seems to be an attempt to write a screenplay that copies the feel of Touch of Evil. But it has insufficient acting, writing, directing and technical skills devoted to it. What results is a poor film-noir knock off. Particularly irritating are its lighting and sound track. Fill lighting is provided by bounce cards which are unsteadily held and too small to cover the subjects. The sound is both muddy and distant.

John Cromwell had a long and distinguished career. It's difficult to fathom his involvement with this. On the other hand, "The Scavengers" could have been worse than it is. Maybe.

Its ramshackle plot is at the core of its problems. In some ways, it resembles adventure/noir movies earlier in the decade that starred Robert Mitchum. They didn't always make sense either. But this doesn't make sense on a grand, yet grungy, scale.

Vince Edwards is fine as the leading man. Did he ever smile on-camera? If so, he certainly doesn't here. He wears an open shirt, showing the hairy chest that was favored in this movie's time (and is missed by many.) The less said about the leading lady the better. The supporting players are fine.

It won't offend anyone and it isn't terrible. It just isn't very good. At all.