Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

 

To save his career, a writer for television advertising wants a famous actress to endorse a lipstick. In return, he has to pretend to be her new lover.

Pretty wild satire is something like a work of pop art with its glaring colors and collage-like editing, but the humor is often in your face and hit and miss.

Halliwell (no star): "A too-wild satire on TV commercials: less frenzied direction and gag-writing would have prised more humour from the situations."

Maltin***1/2: "Clever satire...springboard for scattershot satire on 1950s morals, television, sex, business, etc. Director-writer in peak form." 

The Second Woman (1950)

An architect Jeff Cohalanis haunted by the death of his fiancée the previous year, and he sequesters himself in the fabulous house he designed for his beloved and broods over the incredible string of bad luck he has experienced since her death.

Above-average psychological thriller with a noir touch with an improbable plot works due to atmosphere and solid performances.

Halliwell (no star): "Tolerable semi-star melodrama with a deliberate film noir look."

Maltin**1/2: "Atmospheric psychological drama..."