The Flanagan Boy

I saw this under its alternate title "Bad Blonde." Though Barbara Payton is billed before the title, I was confused: Yes, the actress had quite a reputation. She had life that was messy and ultimately very sad. It was more sordid and more interesting than the tabloid girls of today.

And the character she played was bad, to be sure. Yet, the movie makes much more sense under its original title: It's primarily about the character played by Tony Wright. Ms. Payton wears some alluring costumes but we hardly ever see Wright with his shirt on. When he's not boxing, he's swimming.

It's a sad story. Sort of a film noir, yes. But we feel bad for the basically decent people who are trampled on because of others' greed and desires. Frederick Valk is excellent as Giuseppi, the man drawn into representing the title character in his fight career.

The plot reminded me, particularly in his character, of Tennessee Williams" "Orpheus Descending." An interesting movie, if ultimately not an especially good one.

AKA..."The Flanagan Boy"

That Was the Original British Title, from the Famous "Hammer Studios" that Copied America's Film-Noirs in the Early 50's,

Before the "Lighting in a Bottle" was Captured by Copying America's "Universal Studios" Horror Icons (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera, etc.).

Hammer Imprinted its Own Gravitas by Brilliantly Overlaying the "Monsters" in Luscious Rich Color, Detailed Beautiful Sets, and to Top it Off...Low-Cut Displays of the Female Form, Modernized Bloody Violence, and to Top-Off the Top-Off,

Brought Forth 2 Dynamic Actors, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee who Became Icons of Horror with Long and Distinguished Careers.

But "Bad Blonde" was Made Before All That, when "Hammer" was a Low-Budget Studio Doing Solid, Entertaining, B-Movie Genre Entertainment on a Shoestring, Noirs and Adventure Movies Mostly.

In this One, a Real-Life "Bad Girl", Barbara Payton, Supersedes Everything and Everyone in this British Copy-Cat Plot,

by Bringing to the Character and Screen the "Real Deal", for She in Real-Life was Living the Caricature that was so Much in Demand in the Hard-Boiled World of Pulp Fiction and the Big Screen.

Looking "Hard as Nails" that Barely Hid Her Behind the "Performance" of a Lustful, Alluring, Magnetic, Femme Fatale that was "Rotten to the Core". She Didn't "Nail It"...She Was It.

Hammer Made this with Prolific B-Master, Director Le Borg who Sensibilities were Aligned with the Budget and Style of Genre

and Delivered Along with the Cinematographer, some Angels and Sets that were "Artistically" Above Average and Worthy of the B-Movie Sensationalism that its Fans Loved, Admired, and Supported.

Tony Wright, in His 1st Movie is a Bit Stiff...

after Ogling Payton Licking Her Lips and Sliding Her Stockings, who Wouldn't Be? He Never Recovers.

But the Biggest Gripe has to be Frederic Valk as the Rich Husband and Boxing Promoter is So Gregarious and Over the Top,

Loudly Expressing His Every Thought, Shouting Louder and Louder Like Everyone in the Room is Near-Deaf.

It is Hard to Stomach and may Drive Sensitive Types Away Faster than You Can Say..."Maybe bumping him off isn't such a bad thing". But Seriously!

Other than that bit of Sarcastic Criticism, Hammer's British Take on Film-Noir is Stylish, Competent and Obviously Very British.

It Would be Less than 5 Years Later when "Hammer Studios" Hits Artistic and Commercial Success that Lasted Almost 20 Years.

Still Remember Fondly Today for its Contribution of Excellent Cinema Done with a Panache that Many Imitated but Never Came Close to Duplicating the Aforementioned "Lightning in a Bottle".

If it's a Hammer Film...It's...Worth a Watch.

An ambitious undertaking for Exclusive, strictly speaking based on a novel by Max Catto, but suspiciously resembling 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'; it bears viewing today as a showcase for the ill-fated Barbara Payton and an almost spectral appearance by Selma Vas Diaz as the cuckolded husband's vengeful sister.

I see many compared this to the Postman Always Rings Twice. I just found it a typical beautiful wife encouraging a young lover to kill her husband. You can compare it to lots of films.

Bad Blonde stars the real thing, Barbara Payton, as the young woman who is married to Giuseppe (Frederick Valt), a fight promoter and businessman.

When she meets his latest find (Tony Wright) there is an instant attraction, disguised as hostility. It then goes the ordinary route. Wright doesn't put up much resistance.

Barbara Payton had one look - bored out of her mind - throughout the film. She was extremely beautiful and desirable - desirable enough for Tom Neal to beat Franchot Tone into a coma.

Payton's best film was at the start of her career, and it was downhill from there.

She wound up an alcoholic prostitute. When offered rehab, she said, "I'd rather drink or die." At age 39, she managed to do both.

Much as 1948's Whiplash was a cross-knockoff of two John Garfield vehicles (Body and Soul, Humoresque), Bad Blonde grafts Body and Soul to The Postman Always Rings Twice, then transplants the hybrid to alien English soil. At a carnival boxing concession, young Johnny Flanagan (Tony Wright, who looks like young John Kennedy) takes up the challenge and reveals himself as quite the pugilist. Concessionaire Sid James, a savvy judge of boxing talent, sees his opportunity to make a comback in the prizefight racket. He gets Wright signed up with rich old Italian promoter Frederick Valk, who on a recent tour of America has brought back Barbara Payton as a souvenir.

When Wright catches a furtive glimpse of Payton smoothing a stocking along her thigh, he's struck tongue-tied. She's not so bashful, licking her lips as she rakes her eyes up his torso, stripped for the ring. Soon, under the guise of training at Valk's country manor, they're having clandestine clinches in the bracken. But, it apparently being true about leaving one's fight in the bedroom, Wright starts losing his timing, and, more urgently, an important match Valk arranges, thus jinxing his career. But Payton has money, or rather will have once her husband goes down for the count. She feigns a suicide attempt and a pregnancy, then dangles the possibility of murder. The diffident Wright, thinking the child is his, falls in with the plan...

Somebody besides Payton must have been obsessed with Wright's body: The camera finds every opportunity to linger over it, in the ring and under the water, in trunks and towels and bathing briefs. Did this male-fixated aspect of the movie, originally titled The Flanagan Boy with Wright its title character, cause sufficient panic to have the movie renamed and remarketed? As Bad Blonde, it capitalizes on Payton's aggressive allures, soon to be available on the open market: The actress would drift into tabloid scandals, check-kiting and ultimately prostitution. Only four more films would remain before her last, Murder Is My Beat, in 1955. Twelve years later she would be dead of alcohol-related causes.