You start something and, so help me, I’ll beat your brains out, sister!
Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. As a technical note, references and citations are listed for each show on the site at classicmovierev.com. Today on the Classic Movie Reviews Podcast, we are taking on The Story of Molly X (1949).
I picked this Film Noir to watch based solely on the title. The fact that it had Charles McGraw in it was a nice bonus. If you haven’t read the fantastic biography: Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy, I highly recommend it. The author Alan K. Rode was terrific when I interviewed him. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
On iMDB.com, the film has a decent 7.0 rating[1]. It has no ratings on rottentomatoes.com. This is the first time I have run into a movie that is not rated on rottentomatoes.com.
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther said in a lukewarm December 2, 1949 review:
“It is remarkable what a little fresh air, a little sunshine and a few kind words do for a lady criminal who is considerately put away in a model women’s prison in “The Story of Molly X.” This lady, played by June Havoc, very soon takes heart, begins to smile and even become a minor heroine when the boiler in the laundry explodes…”
He continued later with:
“this film on the Criterion’s screen carries a great deal more sentiment than conviction. Miss Havoc may look mighty sweet but she certainly does not overwhelm you with a sense of her cold recalcitrance, not even when she hauls back and mutters such clearly unladylike things as, “You start something and, so help me, I’ll beat your brains out, sister!”[2]
So, there is not much love out there for this film. Let’s check out the actors.
Actors – The Story of Molly X (1949)
Returning
Charles McGraw had a relatively small role as Police Capt. Breen. When he is on the screen, he chews nails. McGraw was covered in the excellent Film Noir The Narrow Margin (1952).
Veteran actress Kathleen Freeman was uncredited as a seamstress convict.
New
June Havoc played the lady gangster Molly X. She was born in 1912 in Canada. June’s mother was Rose Thompson Hovick, and her sister was the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Her famous stage mother pushed her into vaudeville by age 2. “Baby June” appeared in Hal Roach shorts between 1918-1924. By the age of 5, she was a leading act making $1,500 a week at her peak.
To escape her mother and life in vaudeville, June ran away and got married at 13. When the Great Depression hit, work in vaudeville collapsed as did the youthful marriage. During the 1930s, she kept her daughter fed by modeling and dancing in marathons. She also worked in stock musicals and in the Borscht Belt.
June debuted on Broadway in 1936. By 1940, her stage career took off. Her next round of movies began in 1942. June was relegated to B-movies and continued to work on stage. She hit a good streak playing a Femme Fatale in Intrigue (1947), a racist in Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), and a gangster in The Story of Molly X (1949). Her lesser films include the crime film The Iron Curtain (1948), Film Noirs Chicago Deadline (1949), Once a Thief (1950), and the mystery Lady Possessed (1952).
She worked extensively on television, beginning in the 1950s. She had a series: “Willy” 1954-1955.
Following the death of her mother, June, and her sister Gypsy decided they could write their memoirs. Gypsy led to a musical and a film. Upset over the portrayal of June, the two sisters did not talk for years.
Following the film Three for Jamie Dawn (1956), June worked almost exclusively on stage and television. She also wrote and directed. Her last television credit was in 1989. June died in 2010.
John Russell played hardened guy robber Cash Brady. Russell was born in 1921 in California. He attended the University of California. When World War II broke out, Russell joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He was assigned as an intelligence officer on to Guadalcanal. Although there are conflicting reports, the preponderance indicates that he left the military as a result of Malaria and was not wounded, as reported on iMDB.com.
Russell began getting uncredited film roles in 1945. He was very entertaining as the highwayman Black Jack Mallard in Forever Amber (1947). He was in a lot of westerns like Yellow Sky (1948), Saddle Tramp (1950), Rio Bravo (1959), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and Pale Rider (1985). His Film Noir roles include The Dark Corner (1946), The Story of Molly X (1949), Undertow (1949), and Hoodlum Empire (1952).
Russell worked extensively in television and had a western series, “Lawman” 1958-1962. Russell died in 1991.
Dorothy Hart played the jealous and vengeful Anne. Hart was born in Ohio in 1922. Hart earned a B.A. from Western Reserve University. The natural beauty was also voted Homecoming Queen. Hart worked as a model and appeared on many popular magazine covers.
Her friend entered her in Columbia Pictures “National Cover Girl” contest in 1944. She won the competition and was offered a movie contract. Feeling she wasn’t ready, she studied at the Cleveland Playhouse. Several years later, Hart was signed by Columbia for Gunfighter (1947).
Universal then signed Hart. However, the company did not know how to use the beauty and assigned her to costume dramas, Tarzan movies, westerns, and prison sagas.
Some of her movies include Down to Earth (1947), Film Noirs The Naked City (1948), The Story of Molly X (1949), I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. (1951), and Loan Shark (1952). Also, there was Tarzan’s Savage Fury (1952). For Loan Shark (1952), she replaced the ill Gail Russell that I talked about in Angel and the Badman (1947).
Hart left films in 1952 and worked on television. She worked with the United Nations children’s programs. She died in 2004.
Story – The Story of Molly X (1949)
In San Francisco, near the end of World War II, Molly X (June Havoc) is telling her story. Our part of the story begins as the Top of the Mark as Molly surveys the wealth of San Francisco and wants it all for herself. She said she was taken in by Satan’s trick.
She says she is using fake names and then gives a sailor the heave-ho. Cash Brady (John Russell), Rod Markle (Elliott Lewis), and Anne (Dorothy Hart) Rod’s girlfriend arrive at the restaurant. Rod is already flirting with Molly.
Molly has invited Cash and Rod in from Kansas City and is surprised to see Anne tagging along. Molly’s husband has been murdered, and the police don’t know who did it. Anne implies that Molly might know who killed her husband. After some more cracks, Rod threatens to kill Anne if she keeps talking.
Molly says they are there for business and make Anne leave the table. Rod gives her the command “drift.” Molly tells Rod to send Anne back to KC. Molly tells them that she is setting up a gang of her own and will be doing some robberies. She says Cash was her dead husbands’ best friend, and he throws in with the gang.
Molly is acting as a rich widow, and the gang begins robbing professionals transporting goods or money. The first robbery is a crash and grab. The gang is happy with the take, and Rod is sucking up bad. Anne shows up at the hideout even though she had been set back to Kansas City two weeks earlier.
Getting catty with Molly, Anne thinks Molly is trying to take Rod away from her. Anne slaps Molly, and Molly says her business with Rod is strictly professional. She warns Anne to stay out of her way.
World War II ends, and people are partying in the streets. Molly’s gang has a job planned for that night. Molly hides in the ladies’ room of a store next to the jewelry store. She waits until both stores close before she comes out. She doesn’t know that in addition to the alarm system, the safe is also protected by chemical warfare gas.
The male members of the gang drive up, and Molly opens the street elevator for them. They break through the wall and reach the safe in the jewelry store. Molly is wearing heels. Cash begins cutting through the safe door but hits a tripwire. The alarm goes off, and all of the men are sprayed with gas. They all start running away, but Molly makes Rod go back to save Cash.
The police are near, and they drop the unconscious Cash on the sidewalk. Molly, Rod, and another man make a getaway. One police officer stays with Cash, and the other gives chase in his car.
Rod is in his apartment when Molly shows up. Molly says someone turned her name over to the police, and they are looking for her. She believes the rat is Anne. Rod picks this time to make a play for Molly. He says he will help her escape, but only if she becomes his girlfriend. Then Rod confesses that he killed Molly’s husband because Rod wanted Molly.
Rod kisses Molly. She pulls a .38 out of her purse and drills Rod. As Molly heads down the stairs, she meets Cash coming up. He had pretended to be knocked out, and when he got his chance, he escaped from the cop.
Molly tells Cash that she has killed Rod for killing her husband. Cash and Molly take Rod’s body and put it on a refrigerated train car that is heading east. Cash has a place in town where he and Molly can hide out from the police. At the hideout, Cash takes Molly’s gun and throws it on top of the phonebooth. It looks like the top of the phonebooth has never been cleaned.
When they get to the boarding room, the police come to the door and fire escape. The detective at the door is Police Capt. Breen (Charles McGraw), so no one is getting away. Molly and Cash are arrested for robbery. The police have already caught two members of the gang, and they confessed to everyone’s role in the robbery.
Police Capt. Breen wants to know where Rod is, and he offers Molly a minimum sentence. She plays dumb. Rod’s body is found on the train when it reaches New York. At trial, the minor gang members testify against Molly, saying she was the ringleader.
Molly confronts Anne about ratting the gang out, and she fires back that Molly killed Rod.
They sentence Molly to the women’s prison at Tehachapi. Tehachapi is the same prison that Samuel Spade told Brigid O’Shaughnessy that she might get sent to if she is lucky in The Maltese Falcon (1941). It is referenced in quite a few other Film Noirs as well.
Anne searches the gang’s apartment and finds nothing she can give to Capt. Breen even though she walked right by the gun’s location in the lobby. Capt. Breen has come up with dead ends as well. Breen explains rifling marks and shows her the bullet that killed her boyfriend, Rod.
Molly arrives at Tehachapi or, as it is officially named, the California Institution for Women, on Christmas Eve. She is wearing furs and jewelry. It looks like a sizeable European estate. The warden, the guards, and most of the convicts are friendly. Tehachapi, at the time, was a modern prison that seeks to reform the prisoners. Molly is a hard case and is resistant to everyone.
They have ever character at the prison; a repeat offender, a first-time regret-filled husband killer, a woman that sneaks food for her pet cat, and a lady waiting to be executed or have her sentence commuted. There was no scrounger in this one.
The warden says everyone is given an indeterminate sentence. After six months, they go before a board that determines how long their sentence will be.
The film added a new term to my Film Noir lexicon: a short story writer for a forger.
After quarantine, Molly is assigned a job in the sewing factory. Molly gets at a tough but friendly cellmate. She refuses to work and stays locked in her room. The only privilege Molly has is community meals. The other cons snub her because she won’t work.
The hidden gun and the murder or Rod weigh heavily on Molly as she stays locked in isolation. The professional staff worries about Molly and her problem. Just like Johnny Ringo, Molly is mad about being born.
Molly is fixated on the condemned woman. She finds out the execution is to go forward. On the day of the execution, all of the women are tense. Molly finally breaks down. She asks for a job and says she will take anything.
Molly begins working in the laundry. It is a steam-filled hell hole. She gets into a conflict with one of the guards. Molly bumps into another woman, and they get into a fistfight. Suddenly a boiler blows, and the room is filled with scalding steam.
Molly jumps right to action pulling people out up. She clears a jam and opens an escape window for a crowd of women. Molly finds a woman screaming and frozen by fear. She gives her five slaps to get her moving. It is just like Forrest Gump (1994) saving those men in Vietnam. Help me, Forrest.
The warden comes, and they realize that the guard is still inside. She tries to enter, but it is too hot. Suddenly, Molly comes out of the steam carrying the guard.
Molly has a new attitude, but her friend can’t get her to go to church.
The review board comes in, and they are mostly women. They bring in Molly, and she talks about getting rid of her hate. She won’t give any information about her family, and the board is concerned. They give her seven years with a review in two years.
Capt. Breen comes to see Molly. He is totally against prison reform and only wants to punish. Capt. Breen asks about her and Cash’s gun. Capt. Breen thinks Cash killed Rod because he was in love with Molly also.
Winter comes again, and the ladies are having a dance. All of the female dancing pairs are racially segregated. Molly is the life of the party until she sees Anne come in as a new prisoner. Anne is still on about the killing of Rod.
Anne says she will get the evidence on Molly, and Molly says she will beat her brains out if she messes with her parole. The new inmate is not making any friends in prison. Anne says the police keep checking the old gang hideout. She also talks about the bullet.
One day Molly is working in the cutting room, and Anne starts needling her about the gun.
The lady from the Los Angeles Parole Board comes and talks to the ladies that are getting out. They say they get them jobs and a place to live.
A lot of small items in the prison are being stolen. Molly goes back to her room, and one of the cons has found the missing items in Molly’s laundry. Molly says she will produce the thief, or she will take the rap.
During a softball game, Molly grabs Anne and forces her into a circle of women behind one of the buildings. They start duking it out. When Anne pulls her hair, Molly says none of that girl stuff. They throw some tremendous uppercuts. Molly beats the truth out of Anne. When a guard comes, they say Anne fell out of the tree.
The warden is communicating with Capt. Breen.
Anne, with hate in her eyes, watches Molly leave the prison. Molly rides the train to Los Angeles. She is about to jump a train for San Francisco when the parole officer shows up and takes charge. Molly is told she cannot leave town.
Molly is given a job in the cutting room of a dress factory by a man named Chris Renbow (Wally Maher). He is taken by the dress that Molly has designed.
One day Renbow gets a letter saying Molly is a murderer. It looks like he is firing her, but he promotes her to designer. After she leaves, Renbow tears up the letter from Anne. When Renbow takes her home, he tries to be her boyfriend. Molly says she can’t. Anne is hiding in the shadows listening to the conversation.
When Renbow leaves, Anne says Capt. Breen has arrested Cash for the murder of Rod. She says they have found the murder weapon.
Molly takes the bait and flies to San Francisco. Anne reports this information to Capt. Breen.
Molly goes straight to the old hideout and retrieves the gun from the top of the phone booth. Capt. Breen is watching from a cracked door. Molly goes straight to Capt. Breen office to turn in the gun. Capt. Breen comes in right behind her. She turns the gun over to Capt. Breen and says it is the weapon that killed Rod.
They take Molly’s statement. They then bring Cash into the room. Cash tells her that she is not the murderer. He says when she shot, her bullet hit Rod’s shoulder holster. Cash says he killed Rod for killing Molly’s husband. Cash and Capt. Breen sees that Molly has changed. Capt. Breen says he may be wrong about prison reform.
They left out the part about Molly getting charged with a parole violation and having a gun as a convicted felon. It doesn’t wrap up so easily if she goes back to prison.
I’ll be right back with conclusions and the World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary – The Story of Molly X (1949)
A lot of the information below is summarized for “Hollywood goes to prison,” an article in the April 2005 Tehachapi News by Eric W. Jepson[3].
Jepson thinks that the first movie filmed in the town of Tehachapi was The Lady of the Dugout (1918). This movie featured Al and Frank Jennings, who were cowboy outlaws. One of the Jennings’ real robberies included using too much dynamite and blowing up the safe, the train car, and all the money during a train robbery[4]. A scene like this was seen in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
Other than The Maltese Falcon (1941) reference and in this movie as well, Tehachapi is mentioned in many Film Noirs. These include Double Indemnity (1944), where Walter Neff laments about a female murderer saying, “All she collected was a three-to-ten stretch in Tehachapi.”
The movie Nocturne (1946) talks about “Tehachapi Debutante,” while The Hunted (1948) has a woman that has gotten out of Tehachapi. If you find more, please leave a note in the comments.
Y’all should know that I am a big Bugs Bunny fan. In “1001 Rabbit Tales,” a play on “1001 Arabian Nights,” bugs tells the Sultan’s son that the witch in “Hansel and Gretel” was sent to Tehachapi.
World-Famous Short Summary – Never confess. This isn’t Perry Mason.
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Beware the moors
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041922/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/1949/12/02/archives/the-story-of-molly-x-new-feature-at-criterion-palace-shows-the.html
[3]Jepson, Eric W (April 2005). “Hollywood goes to prison”. Tehachapi News.
[4] http://www.annalsofcrime.com/02-04.htm#:~:text=Al%20and%20Frank%20Jennings%20did,Jennings%20decided%20to%20become%20outlaws.
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