Bait (1954) User Reviews (14)

"The Door's Open - Come on In!"

[HarlowMGM · 6/10 · 16 March 2012]

The movie BAIT is remembered, if for anything, for Cleo Moore's "kissing" incident while on a promo tour for the film. While being interviewed on live television in Chicago, the host quizzed Cleo about movie kisses and the subject somehow got around to how short they usually are. The host (no fool he!!) then suggested to Cleo that they go for a record smooch over live television to which the always publicity savvy La Moore agreed and they enjoyed a fairly chaste smooch that ran for several minutes and made national headlines. Too bad the film Cleo was promoting was not as interesting. BAIT is definitely not one of the better Cleo Moore/Hugo Haas collaborations and undoubtedly quite a few fans of the blonde sex-bomb will not be pleased to see she spends quite a bit of the film with her hair up and wearing jeans and a non-tucked in flannel shirt, not exactly pinup glamour. The movie does have it's moments though, notably the intriguing introduction by Sir Cedric Hardwicke.

Cleo stars as a cashier in a little dump of a mom-and-pop store, despised because she is an apparently unwed mother. Nasty old gold prospector Hugo Haas looks on her as trash but his partner John Agar is clearly attracted to the luckless blonde. When the men actually discover gold, greedy Haas tries to think of a way to have it all for himself and decides to marry Cleo, certain that in their secluded corner of the world Agar won't be able to resist Cleo's sex appeal, thus allowing Haas to shoot and kill him and get away with it via "the unwritten law".

The best thing about the film is the natural chemistry between Cleo Moore and John Agar. Hugo Haas makes a much better villain than sympathetic leading man so he's well cast and gives a good performance although his direction is generally uninspired. This one used to play on late shows in the 1980's fairly often but is somewhat elusive in recent years, hopefully Sony will be releasing it in their custom line of "made to order" titles following their recent success of the boxed set of "bad girls" mostly starring Cleo Moore.

pass the salt

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 4 January 2022]

Into the world of Hugo Haas and Cleo Moore yet again, this time with "Bait" from 1954.

I like what one reviewer said - Haas does these movies on no money, acts in them himself, and somehow, they work. Well, sort of.

In this one, Haas plays Marko, a man who once found a gold mine and has been unable to find it again searches every year.

However, he manages to talk a young man, Ray Brighton, to pay expenses and, should they find the mine, work it for 50% apiece.

Marko, however, has no intention of splitting the gold with anyone, of which he informs Ray. When Ray threatens to leave, Marko again agrees to their original terms.

Marko has an idea of how to get rid of his "partner." He marries an attractive woman (Moore) who has an illegitimate child and works where the two get their supplies. She's happy for a little security.

There's no question that she and Ray are attracted to one another, but she refuses to give into him. Marko is sure they will succumb to adultery, and then he will be able to kill Ray.

Now, I must point out, the beginning of this film was not shown in the film I saw. It is apparently a narration by Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the Devil, who says he can manipulate people to do things. Don't ask me what Sir Cedric was thinking of other than a paycheck.

The very pretty Moore wears baggy clothes throughout for some reason. Her character is thought of as a "loose woman," but she isn't.

Haas really acts nuts in this. Why anyone would want to spend winter in a cabin with him is beyond me.

Cabin Fever

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 31 January 2021]

It's typical of this film that although heroine Cleo Moore has a baby boy born out of wedlock we never see him.

Like a silent film or Russ Meyer movie without the jokes (or the voluptuousness), presented by Cedric Hardwicke as the Devil, whose projectionist (in the wittiest aside in the film) is referred to as Lucifer.

I guess that makes director/star Hugo Haas The Serpent, since rather surprisingly he proposes marriage to Miss Moore without showing any interest in consummating the union, and the Deadly Sin the film punishes turns about to be greed rather than lust.

Hugo and Cleo

[horn-5 · 26 July 2013]

Another in the long line of the Trials-and-Tribulations (compounded by Misery and Irony) offerings from Hugo Haas. This time out his character, Marko, is searching for a lost gold mine with his young partner Ray Brighton and, despite the fact that Haas appears no more at home playing a prospector than Raymond Hatton would playing a Bulgarian diplomat, they find the mine. But Marko decides he doesn't want to share with his partner and figures out a devious and complicated scheme to get rid of him. (Shooting him in the head and burying him in the desert is far too simple a solution in a Haas film.) So, Marko ups and marries buxom young Peggy as a marriage of convenience, even though past experience would indicate any involvement with a character played by Cleo Moore would not be described as anything close to convenience. Rikor figures that after the three of them spend the winter together in a shack far from civilization, he will sooner or later catch them in adultery, and he can use the "unwritten law" to kill Brighton and thus escape punishment from the law. But "Murphy's Law" rears its ugly head.

Gold Fever

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 20 June 2015]

****MAJOR SPOILERS**** The usually abused, mostly by sexy women, but somewhat lovable Hugo Hass plays a real skunk here as a gold obsessed prospector who uses everyone he can get his hands on to first find this gold mine in the Rockie Mountains he forgot to chart and then off them to keep the yellow & glittering medal all for himself. This isn't something new with Marko in him pulling off the same stunt with a previous partner of his only to forget, in his haste, to write out a map of where the gold mine was! Getting a young farm hand Ray Brighton, John Agar, to help him locate the mine which he did Marko then plans to off him like his previous partner and keep all the gold for himself. That by him making Brighton's murder look like an accident!

In the case of the naive in what he planning for him Brighton the scheming Marko goes so far as getting local unwed mom and diner waitress Peggy, Cleo Moore, to marry him and then set her and Brighton up in a sizzling affair. With Marko acting as being the cheated on husband and finding them in bed together he'll then blast them in a righteous rage on his part: Only the great Hugo Hass can come up with a story like that! In a case like that, a husband catching his wife & lover in bed together, Marko knows that no jury on earth would ever convict him of murder. That's the plan on Marko's part but it's, no pun intended, execution turns out to be in it being the perfect murder far from being perfect!

***SPOILERS*** It doesn't take long for Brighton to figurer Marko out in how he's trying to set him and Peggy up in playing the abused and cheated upon husband. Marko doesn't show any love for his wife Peggy at all and the only love he does show is that for the gold that's being mined. The rat like Marko even goes so far as killing Brigton's loyal dog Mike when he sniffed out what he was up to and tried to alert his master, Ray Brighton, about it! Making believe that he's going into town some ten miles away to get supplies Marko plans to find Brighton and Peggy in a compromising position, that he plans to get them into, and end up killing them. The plan soon falls apart with not only Brighton being on to him but a major snow storm rolling in that's to foil his escape plans! Actor director Hugo Hass drops his usual abused and screwed over husband & boyfriend act here and does a good job playing a murderous villain. The only problem that Hass has is in convincing anyone, but his love starved wife Peggy, what a phony he really is and what his devious plans really are!

Fools gold

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 3 March 2022]

Hugo Haas' first American movie set the pattern for many of his efforts ;"bait" takes again the deadly love triangle of " pickup" and it's another variation on the theme ; the middle-age man ,who,like in the mentioned movie and in "strange fascination ",marries a pretty girl who could be his daughter out of the blue , much to the surprise of the usual handsome young lad.

But here it seems that ,more than Cleo Moore's charms, it's gold which is the hero's obsession, the attractive wife playing the role of a bait (check the title) .

Hugo Haas had a fancy for enclosed places : the "shacks" in "pickup" and in this movie; his character is not totally cardboard :he might be responsible for his former partner' s death he left in the cold ,but a new partner ,although helpful ,may also be a nuisance when it comes to share the gold .Note also his love for dogs :himself in "pickup ", John Agar here.

Hugo Haas At His Worst

[secragt · 3/10 · 16 April 2003]

Renowned for frequently casting himself as aging innocents seduced and destroyed by conniving younger women, Haas slightly alters the formula here by casting himself as the aging schemer who uses a young tart as "bait" for his gold mining pardner in a decidedly convoluted scheme. Part TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, part romantic tragicomedy, and all cheese, BAIT has to be one of the weaker neo noir films in the canon.

Without delving too deeply, the nonsensical plot implodes early and often under the weight of illogical motivations, misguided interactions and a trio of miscast leads. Haas' unlikely sham quickie marriage to a girl his partner likes is the first in a series of unintentionally uproarious plot mis-steps. Does Haas really think he can manipulate his much younger, stronger partner into an affair, justifying Haas' shooting of him? Isn't it more likely his questionable partner will kill Haas and claim the girl (or take the girl and Haas' gold?) More to the point, by marrying the girl, isn't Haas adding another partner with a stake in the gold when his sole goal is to possess the gold all by himself?

The wacky ensuing close quarters love triangle interactions are painful to watch. Particularly poor is John Agar, who has a nice head of hair, but no discernible acting ability. Cleo Moore's one note performance matches the plot silliness (agreeing to marry a man and go live in a shack in the wilderness in the dead of winter for no other reason than to give her daughter a daddy (a man who hates her.) That Haas' acting is competent is high praise indeed for this film.

Suffice to say that from here things don't improve. Cheap set pieces (the cabin and wilderness are obviously a studio soundstage), weak dialogue and bad pacing all conspire to make this a colossal bore. Also, this isn't one of those "so bad that it's good" movies. Do yourself a favor and check out Haas' much better written, acted and produced PICKUP, which features a dynamite femme fatale and a much more coherent plot.

Awkward, stilted start, but film gathers steam

[rockymark-30974 · 6/10 · 12 December 2021]

I'm a fan of Huge Haas's films but this one was rather awkward and stilted, especially in the first half. It has a "lazy" feel to it as Haas didn't want to find the dramaturgical equivalent of his dark themes, including a sexual subtext that is never successfully realized.

Obviously one level of the sexual theme is quite explicit. But the suggestion of sexual impotence and misogyny and how that relates to the protagonist's interest in gold is never dramaturgically staged.

Especially awkward are the voice-overs, which suggests that Haas didn't know how to cinematically convey his ides except by stating them outright.

To be fair with only 3 main characters in the film, and, excluding the Haas character, only two, and with the other two isolated from each other, it's difficult to dramatically stage the themes in the film.

But Haas in my view was a cinematic genius, though he relies mainly on establishing shots for many scenes. Yet they are effective for what he wants to convey.

He himself was a superb actor and by far the best thing in the film. I've never been a fan of Cleo Moore though .Agar, who bore a striking resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter, acquitted himself fairly well.

Cinematically there is a remarkable scene where Moore and Agar are seated at a table when both their heads move into darkness. But mainly Haas relies on establishing shots that work quite well in the film.

For those who wish to explore Haas's career further, this is not the film to start with, for Haas made some very powerful films exploring the darker side of sex.

Something is most amiss

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 14 March 2015]

Sir Cedric Hardwicke had the self satisfied look of a man whose check from Harry Cohn had just cleared as he narrates the beginning of Bait. He's playing none other than old Scratch himself as he tells how the devil can make people do wicked things.

I think old Scratch had a head start with Hugo Haas who was definitely short a whole suit in his deck of cards. Haas is a crazy old prospector who lost both a mine and a partner in the Rockies and he'd like to find the former again. But he's getting on in years and he needs a younger partner for the heavy lifting.

Enter John Agar and they do find the old mine, but he's not looking to split with a new partner. So the fiendish Haas hatches a scheme whereby he marries sluttish Cleo Moore who's a better girl than she let's on and brings her back to their cabin. I would think that curvaceous Cleo might have gotten the hint that something was amiss when Haas not only doesn't pay attention to her, but encourages her to be in Agar's company at every opportunity.

This turgid drama is as stupid as it sounds. Need I say more.

Bait

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 22 December 2023]

"Marko" (Hugo Haas) and his best mate "Ray" (John Agar) head off into the wilderness searching for a lost gold mine. Duly found and riches secured, the former man starts to resent sharing with his younger partner so hits on quite an ingenious plan to be rid of him. When he returns from a supply run to the local town, he brings with him a new wife. "Peggy" (Cleo Moore) is a feisty, no-nonsense woman who is also quite appreciative of her husband taking her from the drudgery of the town. Now the ingeniousness of the plan kicks in. "Marko" hopes that his glamorous young wife and his business partner will fall for each other and that will allow them to catch them flagrante delicto - and all will be his! It's got to be said that being holed up in a remote cabin as the snow sets in tests the mettle of everyone, but will his plan succeed or will they realise they are being manipulated? The problem here is that there's just no chemistry. Anywhere. Moore can't quite decide if she wants to be Doris Day or Barbara Stanwyck and Agar is just straight out of central casting's book of handsome B-stars that deliver just enough but never more. There's something quite sad about the conclusion, and indeed that rather makes the whole thing worth a watch, but I think once will do.

Horrible ending

[thevances · 5/10 · 30 November 2020]

Not a terrible movie until the very end of the movie. A love triangle that really never was and an ending that left me thinking what the what. I like John Agar, but this movie just doesn't add up to be a classic.

This is a sad breakdown of a seemingly nice guy.

[cgvsluis · 4/10 · 26 November 2021]

This is an interesting little film noir flick that starts with just a spotlight on an actor as he ascends a flight of stairs and then in the form of a narrator introduces himself as the devil!

Then the film starts with a young naïve gentleman having breakfast at a diner who is talking about making a deal with a gentleman named Marco to go in to business with him looking for a lost gold mine.

"Gold isn't money, it's a religion."

On the way up to look for the lost gold mine, partners Marco and Ray stop at the last station to loaded up on gas and supplies. There Ray meets Peggy, who I notice has a curl in the middle of her forehead...and a baby and she's not even married!

"My gold, 15 years, my gold."-Marco.

"Gold, for miles and miles. Pure gold."-Marco.

"I dream about it, piles of gold."-Ray

Marco comes up with an idea to get rid of his 50/50 partner in the gold mine, Ray,...marry Peggy.

"Let's keep it decent partner"-Peggy.

The actress playing Peggy really makes this film she is equal parts lovely, fish-wife, and innocent. I'm just glad that someone wises up in the end.

Different story but similar look to The Postman Always Rings Twice...but this time it's the seemingly sweet foreigner!

Short and boring

[jean-suchard · 1/10 · 13 October 2020]

It surprises me that this is classified as a film-noir because it is not dark. Most of it takes place in the daylight. It also happens in the wilderness (on an obvious studio sound stage). It is not lit with shadows and no venetian blinds. No femme fatale. There was very little tension and the story is corny. I cannot believe adults paid to see this as recently as 1954. I'm glad it was a short movie (79 min).

The wrong kind of baiting.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 24 December 2023]

Another dark drama from a dark mind, at least the fourth where aging European Hugo Haas gets a younger wife. Once again, Cleo Moore is the girl, here a misunderstood store clerk who is used by Haas in an effort to keep partner John Agar around, and here, there's a slight twist. Haas has the voice of Satan (Cedric Hardwicke) tempting him, and if you thought that Hardwicke was creepy as the voice of "Twilight Zone's" Uncle Simon, wait until you get a earful of him here. Rather than Haas simply call him an old wind bag and move on, he listens to those voices in his head, and asks Moore to marry him, simply "to protect her".

The opening shot of Hardwicke walking up the stairs to waiting fans is unforgettable, but once the credits roll, it's just another variation of the old troll story of lust. In Haas's case, it's only a lust for gold, but that makes him want to eliminate Agar, so he uses his hatred for Moore as the key, having been cruel to her for her alleged past for which he feels justified to be a judge. His obsession with religion has him sinning worse than non-believers, and it's presented completely over-the-top and badly acted.

I did like the structure of the devil using a believer as his source of temptation as the narration by Hardwicke does have some interesting theories. This could have lead to a series of crime films that showed Satan at work, but this one obviously shelved that possibility. Moore is written as far too pious, and her line reading often unconvincing. The snowy mountain sets do set up some good possibilities of a stunning ending so that's one good element. Haas as writer, director and co-star definitely indicates his own self deception as none of his films are memorable outside of being regarded as fun bad trash.