Movies which pretend to be one -- and turn out to be something else
by lora-31 | created - 23 Mar 2011 | updated - 1 week ago | PublicI have not watched many such movies (I guess there aren't many of them -- for natural reasons), but I have come across some movies which started as a film of one genre, and then turned out to be a film of a completely different genre. Not all of them are worse off because of this switch. Here's my list of some REALLY twisted movies. Preference is given to Golden Age Hollywood.
SPOILER ALERT!!! Beware of spoilers, as I describe briefly what sort of genre switch took place in the movie.
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1. They Met in Bombay (1941)
Passed | 92 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A jewel thief and a con artist are rivals in the theft of a valuable gem as the Japanese army invades China.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, Peter Lorre, Jessie Ralph
Votes: 1,330
Starts as a full-fledged screwball comedy, ends as a melodrama/war movie. Very average all in all. If it had not been for Peter Lorre, who has a small role in mid-way, it would have been downright bad. (And mind you, I adore Roz Russell!)
2. His Brother's Wife (1936)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Romance
Rita Wilson meets epidemiologist Chris Claybourne and they fall in love with each other. When Claybourne leaves for the tropics to find a cure against a disease, Wilson gets her revenge by ... See full summary »
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Jean Hersholt, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 665
Starts as a passable screwball comedy, ends as a melodrama, and not a very good one.
3. Idiot's Delight (1939)
Approved | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A group of disparate travelers are caught and thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the beginning of World War II.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Edward Arnold, Charles Coburn
Votes: 1,713
Starts as a melodrama, goes on as a comedy, ends as an anti-war drama. The only scene worthy of attention is Clark Gable's "Puttin' on the Ritz" song and dance number. Find it on youtube, and don't bother about watching the whole movie. (What a waste of talent! I watched mainly for Edward Arnold. And I like Clarence Brown's films, as a rule.)
4. Lady in the Dark (1944)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
Liza Elliott, "Allure" magazines editor-in-chief, suffers from headaches and continuous daydreams and undergoes psychoanalysis to determine why.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Warner Baxter, Jon Hall
Votes: 565
All sorts of genres are intermingled in this one: drama of a psychoanalitic patient, office movie, melodrama, comedy (with elements of bitter sarcasm), slapstick comedy, parody or spoof (of a few Ginger Rogers previous pictures), musical, eye candy (provided by Edith Head's incredible dresses, gowns, office suits, HATS!!!, circus attire in one dream sequence). The movie stuns every minute, but I enjoyed it immensely, and it did not give me the impression of being forced or eclectic.
5. Strange Cargo (1940)
Passed | 113 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure (Ian Hunter).
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter, Peter Lorre
Votes: 2,974
A religious parabola pretending to be melodrama and survival flick. Very queer indeed.
6. The Cobweb (1955)
Passed | 134 min | Drama
At a private psychiatric clinic, the daily dramas and interactions between the doctors, nurses, administrators, benefactors and patients are accentuated by the personal and family crises of these individuals.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer, Gloria Grahame
Votes: 2,092
Pretends to be a silly melodrama and a petty drama about... curtains (no less!), but in reality it is a serious "physician heal thyself" drama and, maybe, even something deeper than that.
7. Fire Down Below (1957)
Not Rated | 116 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
The friendship between two tramp boat owners is threatened by the arrival of a beautiful and seductive passenger.
Director: Robert Parrish | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon, Herbert Lom
Votes: 1,976
Starts off as a light buddy-buddy comedy, continues as a melodrama and ends up a disaster movie. There is even a Rita Hayworth dancing number thrown into the mix! This awkward mélange never really takes off as anything distinct or distinguished, and is recommended only for diehard completists of any of the three stars.
8. The Bedford Incident (1965)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Thriller
An American destroyer Captain is determined to confront a Soviet submarine caught violating territorial waters. Perhaps too determined.
Director: James B. Harris | Stars: Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur, Martin Balsam
Votes: 5,978
9. Rendezvous (1935)
Approved | 94 min | Comedy, War
Powell plays an American cryptologist who tangles with German spies while falling in love.
Directors: William K. Howard, Sam Wood | Stars: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes, Lionel Atwill
Votes: 1,012
10. Second Chance (1953)
Approved | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Mobster Vic Spalato's girlfriend Claire is in hiding in Mexico and she's willing to testify for a US Senate investigation committee, if she can make it back to the US alive.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jack Palance, Linda Darnell, Sandro Giglio
Votes: 1,301
From an IMDb user review: "It starts out like a film noir, then becomes a dreamy romance before turning into a classic, full fledged disaster flick. [...] Every part is OK in itself, but the different pieces do not tie together well."
11. Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Romance
A womanizing reporter for a sleazy tabloid magazine impersonates his hen-pecked neighbor in order to get an expose on renowned psychologist Helen Gurley Brown.
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Lauren Bacall, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda
Votes: 4,700 | Gross: $9.27M
12. Kiss Them for Me (1957)
Approved | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
In 1944, three Navy pilots stationed in Hawaii and a P.R. officer go on a 4-day leave to San Francisco where they party with a good crowd in the executive suite of a busy hotel.
Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Cary Grant, Jayne Mansfield, Leif Erickson, Suzy Parker
Votes: 2,179
13. 5 Against the House (1955)
Approved | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Four vets attending college on the GI Bill and a cabaret singer try to rob a Reno Casino and pull off the perfect crime.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore
Votes: 2,054
14. City That Never Sleeps (1953)
Approved | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Johnny Kelly, who plans on resigning from the police force and leaving his wife the next day, has a very eventful last night on duty.
Director: John H. Auer | Stars: Gig Young, Mala Powers, William Talman, Edward Arnold
Votes: 1,620
15. Grand Slam (1967)
Not Rated | 121 min | Crime, Drama
To pull off a daring diamond heist in Rio during Carnival, a retired schoolteacher hires four professionals who must contend with a revolutionary alarm system and a taciturn secretary.
Director: Giuliano Montaldo | Stars: Janet Leigh, Robert Hoffmann, Klaus Kinski, Riccardo Cucciolla
Votes: 1,385
16. Torch Song (1953)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A tough but unhappy Broadway star re-evaluates her life when she crosses paths with a blind pianist.
Director: Charles Walters | Stars: Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Gig Young, Marjorie Rambeau
Votes: 1,502
17. Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
Not Rated | 85 min | Adventure, Mystery
The sons of a disgraced British officer try to clear his name.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Loretta Young, Richard Greene, George Sanders, David Niven
Votes: 878
18. She's Dangerous (1937)
66 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A beautiful woman suspected of being a jewel thief is actually a detective tracking down a ring of bond thieves.
Directors: Milton Carruth, Lewis R. Foster | Stars: Tala Birell, Walter Pidgeon, Cesar Romero, Walter Brennan
Votes: 79
19. Holiday (1938)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Romance
A young man in love with a girl from a rich family finds his unorthodox plan to go on holiday for the early years of his life met with skepticism by everyone except for his fiancée's eccentric sister and long-suffering brother.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres
Votes: 18,257
20. California (1947)
Passed | 97 min | Western
Epic account of how California became a state, featuring a wagon train, the Gold Rush, a wicked saloon queen, and an evil profiteer.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Barry Fitzgerald, George Coulouris
Votes: 1,092
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