Movie night!

Tonight’s opus gruesome is Two Sharp Knives.

This is a 1950’s made-for-TV dramatization of a story by Dashiell Hammett.

Aha!

That’s why I watched it. How bad could something written by the author of The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon be?

Well…

It was part of the Westinghouse Studio series. Westinghouse’s slogan at the time was; “You can be sure if it’s Westinghouse”.

Sure of what? You certainly couldn’t be sure of a quality piece of entertainment.

No.

No sir.

However there were points of interest;

• A very young Abe Vigoda plays a very young cop. I’m stunned that such a thing was ever possible as a very young Abe Vigoda.
• The commercials for Westinghouse washers and dryers feature a Westinghouse store owner inviting you to bring your dirty clothes to his store for a free demonstration. Now there’s a gig.

I came away thinking (to paraphrase George Kaufman); Westinghouse should close the studio and keep the store open late at night.

I cringe-watched this…so you don’t have to…you can owe me.