Private Property

Private.Property.1960.BDRip.x264-VoMiT

Irving Lerner's "murder by contract' (1958) meets the French Nouvelle Vague,although the latter was never rebellious;this one is : it's a sentence which sparks off both heroes' resentment :human being are like animals :there are different species: birds,snakes ....A bird would not kiss a snake . Whereas this kind of film would today be full of violence,gore and rape, this one keeps the usual clichés to the minimum :violence in the car with the well off driver is purely verbal but makes one's hair stand on end though . Although a threatening atmosphere hangs over the desirable property, Duke's and Ann's relationship has something romantic ; he really tries to seduce her ; the best moment is the dance to a score strongly influenced by the Bolero de Ravel ,which perfectly enhances the rise of desire .As for his buddy "Boots' ,he's the voyeur whose lust is all the more intensified . In spite of a "moral" denouement ,the movie displays the grudge the "Have-nots" bear against the "haves" ;(check the title) and the pre-lib woman ,in spite of her resistance, is perhaps not really satisfied in her role of the prefect housewife whose husband provides her with everything,as she tells us so.

It wouldn't be fair for me to rate this 1959 flick. On one hand, it has historical significance since it was one of the first movies denied release by American censors who found it forbidden fruit. On the other hand, as entertainment, I found the 79-minutes unfortunately too talky and boring to endorse. Hence, it doesn't seem fair to choose between the two poles. The flick starts off well enough, at a filling station where two seedy drifters, Duke and Boots, look to fill their empty lives by pursuing a wealthy blonde for seduction purposes. Now that's a promising start, but from there on, except for the brief ending, the narrative flattens out into a basically one-note affair. After all, how long does it take wily Duke to infiltrate blonde Ann's hilltop mansion where she usually lives alone, her businessman husband out making money. Then too, it's a stretch that wealthy hubby would leave her alone without household help. Thus, it appears budget constraints flatten the main storyline into a series of hilltop one-on-one talk-fests. Sure, Duke wants to insinuate himself into Ann's life by pretending to be a gardener. But needed suspense in his manuevers is sorely lacking. Still and all, the hilltop setting does furnish a good scenic view of greater LA that kept me watching. All in all, it looks like the indie effort was a well-intended effort to escape the bonds of 50's studio productions held captive by a strict censorship code. But what might have been cutting edge then, seems banal now when much looser public standards prevail. My advice: if you're looking for more than mainly talky flatlining, skip it. But if you're interested in former forbidden fruit grab it and bite.

Private Property is a great little neo noir vehicle, outstanding in that its inherent quality, belies the shoestring budget upon which it was made. All the creative elements fortuitously came together for writer/director Leslie Stevens. He gets a great central performance from Corey Allen as deviously shrewd drifter Duke, as well as a distinctly arousing turn from Kate Manx as domestic goddess Ann, seemingly the object of every man's desire, apart from her husband Roger. Then on top of all that, he manages to score the highly experienced Ted McCord as his cinematographer. He must have thought all his Christmases had come at once. One part home invasion, one part voyeuristic thriller, and one part social critique, considering it was made 60 years ago, Private Property still manages to be quite confronting. It's fairly upfront in its treatment of sexual themes and desires. It looks remarkably good for a film made on such a low budget, even going as unexpectedly far, as featuring some quite extensive underwater photography. I have to be honest and balance my praise, when adding the musical soundtrack however is frequently over-intrusive and not always quite appropriate, for the accompanying scenes. Stevens comfortably helms the project making excellent use of both his car and home to site the majority of the action. On the evidence of this film, one feels it's a pity we didn't see more cinema work from him, as for much of his career, he worked in theatre, later transitioning to television, where he is arguably best remembered as being the creator of the original Outer Limits.

This movie has a high artistic quality. It was filmed by experienced veteran Ted McCord in the typical clinically clean black and white-style of the era. The main setting is an elegant house in the sun drenched hills of Los Angeles - and the location is very well used indeed. The bright setting is sharply contrasted by sexual frustration. The main character seems to be a piece of decoration for her husband, a successful, mainly absent businessman. Her constant stereotype Pepsodent smile renders her somewhat subhuman - well a part of the property. Yet she has a yearning which is unfulfilled. At one point she pulls a broad black belt around her neck, pulls it tight and lies down on the bed. Her lonelyness is relieved by two doubtful characters, one of them a young Warren Oates. Very well filmed underwater swimming pool scenes at the dramatic climax at the end.

So glad I ran into this underappreciated gem on Kanopy. Personal Property is a well-produced psychological thriller set in the Hollywood Hills that might make you afraid to be home alone after watching it. Excellent performances by Cory Allen as the egocentric stud and Warren Oates as his weak, sexually repressed friend. Kate Manx is radiant as the sex-starved, rich housewife who wants desperately to experience life like Duke (Cory Allen) does. The restoration of this film is sensational. The black and white images have a tremendous amount of detail and contrasting shades all captured in 4k. Director Leslie Stevens keeps the suspense moving along and presents some unique camera angles that add to the film's mood. Quite a wonderful time capsule of life and values in the late 1950s USA. It is a refreshingly edgy film in a time when many filmmakers were not taking risks.

Charismatic creep Duke (a strong and mesmerizing performance by Corey Allen) and his dim-witted virginal partner Boots (ably played by the always terrific Warren Oates in his first substantial film role) are a couple of young thugs on a rampage in California. Duke sets up neglected housewife Ann Carlyle (a fine and touching portrayal by fetching blonde Kate Manx) as a potential conquest for Boots to have his way with. Writer/director Leslie Stevens relates the gripping story at a quick pace, offers a pungent critique of the stifling and superficial nature of upper middle-class American existence, adroitly crafts a brooding mood rife with pent-up rage and simmering sexual tension, and pulls out the stirring stops at the exciting conclusion. Moreover, the homoerotic relationship between Duke and Boots further enhances the overall edgy and unsettling atmosphere. Robert Wark acquits himself well as Ann's preoccupied career-obsessed husband Roger while Jerome Cowan has a memorable bit as a luckless motorist Duke and Boots terrorize at the start of the movie. Ted D. McCord's sharp black and white cinematography and Pete Rugolo's spirited score are both up to speed. A real sleeper.

Two drifters become obsessed with and annoy a frustrated house wife in the Hollywood hills until things become dangerous. This feels like most indie movies today that are a few people in a house and then some stuff happens, so I wasn't suprised to see that it's being remade. This was scandalous in the 50s and even earned an X rating in the UK. It's mostly innocuous, but it does have a very dark ending with some implied things. Overall, I'm not sure it's the "lost classic" as I've read and really dosnt need a modern remake. I guess it was way ahead of its time, but I generally don't really like the films it's way ahead of. Fortunately, it's only 80 minutes and the last 10 minutes was great. Watched on Kanopy.

Memorable and powerful look at two drifters inflicting themselves on a rich and lonely housewife. The photography and setting are striking. The main conflict is in the leader of the two who starts to develop feelings for the woman. Another is in the sheer coldness of the negligent husband, who is much more dislikable than the villains.

***SPOILERS***Two just released from the clink-prison-convicts Duke & Boots, Corey Allen & Warren Oates, are looking for a place the crash as well as in Boot's case meet a girl and have a couple of beers when they spot pretty blond Ann Carlyle, Kate Manx, gas up at the gas station that they were hanging out at. After carjacking at knife-point Jules Maitland they followed Ann to her home in the Hollywood Hills to check out her and her property. Occupying a nearby house, that's deserted, the two spend their time watching Ann sunbathing and taking dips in her swimming pool as they plan their next move. It's the aggressive Duke who soon makes the first move on Ann claiming that he's a successful gardener or botanist who want's to get rid of the crab grass on her property as well as keep the bugs from devouring her flowers & roses. All the time the sexually frustrated Boots is going crazy in not having his good friend Duke, who's slowly getting very friendly with Ann, not give him a chance to get introduced or get a crack at Ann like he promised him. With Ann's husband Roger, Robert Wark , about to show up from a business trip in San Francisco Duke doesn't know what he's gotten himself into with now both his friend Boots and soon Robert about to catch him in the act and expose him as the sexual psycho that he really is. ***SPOILERS**** Things get completely out of hand with a drunk and out of his skull Duke totally losing it and drunkenly attacking Ann, who refused his advances, with Boots trying to come to her rescue. The fighting ends up in the family swimming pool with Duke & Boots slugging it out as Ann's husband Roger shows up only to be attacked by a totally out of it, after knifing his friend Boots, Duke. It's the drunk and punched out Ann who puts an ends to all this by blasting Duke, with her husband's .38 revolver, who despite having been seen dripping wet, after his fight with Boots in the swimming pool,was bone dry without as much as a drop of water on him or his cloths!