Bait

I'm a fan of Huge Haas's films but this one was rather awkward and stilted, especially in the first half. It has a "lazy" feel to it as Haas didn't want to find the dramaturgical equivalent of his dark themes, including a sexual subtext that is never successfully realized.

Obviously one level of the sexual theme is quite explicit. But the suggestion of sexual impotence and misogyny and how that relates to the protagonist's interest in gold is never dramaturgically staged.

Especially awkward are the voice-overs, which suggests that Haas didn't know how to cinematically convey his ides except by stating them outright.

To be fair with only 3 main characters in the film, and, excluding the Haas character, only two, and with the other two isolated from each other, it's difficult to dramatically stage the themes in the film.

But Haas in my view was a cinematic genius, though he relies mainly on establishing shots for many scenes. Yet they are effective for what he wants to convey.

He himself was a superb actor and by far the best thing in the film. I've never been a fan of Cleo Moore though .Agar, who bore a striking resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter, acquitted himself fairly well.

Cinematically there is a remarkable scene where Moore and Agar are seated at a table when both their heads move into darkness. But mainly Haas relies on establishing shots that work quite well in the film.

For those who wish to explore Haas's career further, this is not the film to start with, for Haas made some very powerful films exploring the darker side of sex.

It's typical of this film that although heroine Cleo Moore has a baby boy born out of wedlock we never see him.

Like a silent film or Russ Meyer movie without the jokes (or the voluptuousness), presented by Cedric Hardwicke as the Devil, whose projectionist (in the wittiest aside in the film) is referred to as Lucifer.

I guess that makes director/star Hugo Haas The Serpent, since rather surprisingly he proposes marriage to Miss Moore without showing any interest in consummating the union, and the Deadly Sin the film punishes turns about to be greed rather than lust.

Another in the long line of the Trials-and-Tribulations (compounded by Misery and Irony) offerings from Hugo Haas. This time out his character, Marko, is searching for a lost gold mine with his young partner Ray Brighton and, despite the fact that Haas appears no more at home playing a prospector than Raymond Hatton would playing a Bulgarian diplomat, they find the mine. But Marko decides he doesn't want to share with his partner and figures out a devious and complicated scheme to get rid of him. (Shooting him in the head and burying him in the desert is far too simple a solution in a Haas film.) So, Marko ups and marries buxom young Peggy as a marriage of convenience, even though past experience would indicate any involvement with a character played by Cleo Moore would not be described as anything close to convenience. Rikor figures that after the three of them spend the winter together in a shack far from civilization, he will sooner or later catch them in adultery, and he can use the "unwritten law" to kill Brighton and thus escape punishment from the law. But "Murphy's Law" rears its ugly head.

The movie BAIT is remembered, if for anything, for Cleo Moore's "kissing" incident while on a promo tour for the film. While being interviewed on live television in Chicago, the host quizzed Cleo about movie kisses and the subject somehow got around to how short they usually are. The host (no fool he!!) then suggested to Cleo that they go for a record smooch over live television to which the always publicity savvy La Moore agreed and they enjoyed a fairly chaste smooch that ran for several minutes and made national headlines. Too bad the film Cleo was promoting was not as interesting. BAIT is definitely not one of the better Cleo Moore/Hugo Haas collaborations and undoubtedly quite a few fans of the blonde sex-bomb will not be pleased to see she spends quite a bit of the film with her hair up and wearing jeans and a non-tucked in flannel shirt, not exactly pinup glamour. The movie does have it's moments though, notably the intriguing introduction by Sir Cedric Hardwicke.

Cleo stars as a cashier in a little dump of a mom-and-pop store, despised because she is an apparently unwed mother. Nasty old gold prospector Hugo Haas looks on her as trash but his partner John Agar is clearly attracted to the luckless blonde. When the men actually discover gold, greedy Haas tries to think of a way to have it all for himself and decides to marry Cleo, certain that in their secluded corner of the world Agar won't be able to resist Cleo's sex appeal, thus allowing Haas to shoot and kill him and get away with it via "the unwritten law".

The best thing about the film is the natural chemistry between Cleo Moore and John Agar. Hugo Haas makes a much better villain than sympathetic leading man so he's well cast and gives a good performance although his direction is generally uninspired. This one used to play on late shows in the 1980's fairly often but is somewhat elusive in recent years, hopefully Sony will be releasing it in their custom line of "made to order" titles following their recent success of the boxed set of "bad girls" mostly starring Cleo Moore.

"Marko" (Hugo Haas) and his best mate "Ray" (John Agar) head off into the wilderness searching for a lost gold mine. Duly found and riches secured, the former man starts to resent sharing with his younger partner so hits on quite an ingenious plan to be rid of him. When he returns from a supply run to the local town, he brings with him a new wife. "Peggy" (Cleo Moore) is a feisty, no-nonsense woman who is also quite appreciative of her husband taking her from the drudgery of the town. Now the ingeniousness of the plan kicks in. "Marko" hopes that his glamorous young wife and his business partner will fall for each other and that will allow them to catch them flagrante delicto - and all will be his! It's got to be said that being holed up in a remote cabin as the snow sets in tests the mettle of everyone, but will his plan succeed or will they realise they are being manipulated? The problem here is that there's just no chemistry. Anywhere. Moore can't quite decide if she wants to be Doris Day or Barbara Stanwyck and Agar is just straight out of central casting's book of handsome B-stars that deliver just enough but never more. There's something quite sad about the conclusion, and indeed that rather makes the whole thing worth a watch, but I think once will do.