At first I was worried about not being able to find most of the films for the August birthdays. There are two stars who have days devoted to them this month that were born in August, Lucille Ball (on her birthday) and Joan Blondell (not on her birthday). There are 8 others that have films being shown throughout the month. I am going to follow the order that is being shown, not necessarily the day.
To celebrate Yvonne DeCarlo’s birthday I watched Criss Cross. The beginning of the film shows her in the arms of Burt Lancaster in a parking lot. She goes inside club where her husband Dan Duryea is looking for her. In a flashback you find out that Burt and Yvonne were married. They talk about getting back together. Burt’s family and friends threaten her and tell her she is poison to stay away from Burt. She marries Dan, who beats her. Burt and Yvonne spend time together while Dan is out of town. Dan finds out and blackmails Burt who is an amour car driver into working on a heist. Something goes wrong and Burt’s partner is killed.
Burt is injured and hospitalized. The gang want the rest of the money and drag him out of the hospital. He convinces the man to take money and drive him to Yvonne. Yvonne is upset that he is there knowing Dan isn’t far behind. Yvonne packs to leave, taking the money and plans to leave Burt there, because you have to take care of yourself and an ill man would slow her down. As she leaves a car pulls up. It is Dan. Yvonne runs back into the house screaming Burt’s name. She runs to his arms, Dan comes in limping and he looks awful. Dan pulls out a gun and kills the couple. The sound of police sirens come closer and Dan leaves the house. The end. It seems to end abruptly. There are not really any good guys in the film, but there are different levels of badness. Burt who grudgingly went along. Yvonne is out for herself and will take what she can get. Dan who is just mean and nasty.
Yvonne will probably be most well known as Lilly Munster, but she is a talented beautiful actress.
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