well, I haven't read through any of the reviews yet (I just saw it this afternoon for the first time), but if I was to call someone a B movie actor it wouldn't necessarily be an insult. There are lots of cool B movie actors, some of them even with loads of talent who just ended up making mostly B movies. Just like some great directors like Edgar Ulmer and Jacques Tourneur were B movie directors. And speaking of Tourneur, he and Andrews worked together on more than one "B movie" -- 1946's "Canyon Passage" and 1957's "Night of the Demon" (aka "Curse of the Demon"), perhaps others I don't know of. They are both excellent movies but they are also both clearly B movies in my opinion. B movie doesn't always mean Ed Wood or Sam Katzman level of B. But almost certainly both of those films would have been distributed as the lower half of the bill which would make them B movies. I think a lot of the posters in this thread are sort of not realizing that there's a technical distinction there. I would be willing to bet that both "Laura" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends" were actually B movies themselves, although it's possible that they were distributed on the top of the bill based on Tierney's popularity. Still the difference in budget between the Tierney/Andrews films and say the Tierney/Power films is noticeable. Commercially speaking, it's fairly clear that Andrews was not a top star in the 50s, based on the fact that he's usually paired with a more popular female lead who could help sell the movie.
p.s. if anyone seriously doubts that this was a B movie, then why did Fox recycle an old musical score from "Street Scene" instead of having new music written for the film?
Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'
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chrish1967
15 years ago
In the forties, Dana Andrews was a solid A-List actor. Starting with supporting work in two Gary Cooper films -- The Westerner (40) and Ball Of Fire (41) -- and then, in 1943, opposite Henry Fonda on Ox-Bow Incident -- Andrews quickly became an above-the-title star. By 1948, Andrews was billed above Henry Fonda in Daisy Kenyon. What killed his career and sent him into B-films was his drinking. He was an alcoholic and in the 1960s managed to conquer his drinking and become a spokesman for groups working to curb alcoholism.
Had he not been an alcoholic, he might well have continued throughout the fifties with terrific films.
Either way, he was a fine actor, and especially wonderful as a Preminger hero. Or, check out his courtroom summation in Elia Kazan's Boomerang. He is aces.
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jbacks3
11 years ago
I realize I'm 3 years behind the comment curve here but I agree with your assessment of Dana Andrews. I saw him in the early 60's in Santa Barbara and saw Mr. Andrews gassing up his Lincoln (I remember it seemed to take a while) at a Flying A station and saw him stagger around. Being only a kid I told my mom "that guy looks sick!" She said he was a famous actor and had a "snoot full." (way before 9-1-1 and M.A.D.D. I'm afraid). I'd later see famous people in town like Burl Ives (liked to shop at Ralph's) and Fred MacMurray but nobody schnockered. I also recall reading that, despite his alcoholism, Mr. Andrews was ALWAYS prepared--- knew his lines and was never late to a set... and to his credit he overcame his demons late in life and was very open about it. And in my opinion, Best Years of Our Lives ranks as one of the greatest films ever made, and largely due to his performances (great last line: "I can learn!").
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dim_sumus
15 years ago
Definitely "Sidewalk" was a B movie and Andrews starred in many B movies. However, he did appear in many A movies earlier in his career. And, even if he is considered a B movie actor, his ACTING was top notch.
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bluenova19692002
12 years ago
"Sidewalk" was not a B film by any stretch. It had an A budget, was directed by a man who only made A films by that time, and had an A cast. Recycling musical scores was common, and not indicative of a film's lower status (even the Mummy used Dracula's opening theme, and both were A films).
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agera
13 years ago
"if anyone seriously doubts that this was a B movie, then why did Fox recycle an old musical score from "Street Scene" instead of having new music written for the film?
Recycling film scores was a common practice in Hollywood and not indicative of the quality of the film. Fox recycled the score from
These Three in
The Razor's Edge a few year later. Surely you don't think the latter was a B movie.
"The night was sultry."
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