Kenneth Earl Movies
- 1958
This WWII espionage drama is based on the true tale of a British spy, as told in the story by J. Alvin Kugelmass. Alex Schottland (Jack Hawkins) is a career agent for England, having served during WWI. He is assigned to Nazi Germany and rises to the rank of general as WWII breaks out. His contact is Cornaz (Felix Alymer), who pretends to be a clock seller. But Cornaz's identity is discovered, and he is brutally murdered. Schottland overcomes suspicions and makes contacts with a new British agent, Lili Geyr (Gia Scala), who is a nightclub singer. His love for her is first feigned as part of the spy game -- then becomes real. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Hawkins, Gia Scala, (more)
Ever since slipping into Public Domain, The Big Trees has become one of the most accessible and oft-televised of Kirk Douglas' pictures. Douglas plays an unscrupulous lumberjack who covets the land owned by a religious sect. All that's saving him from being the film's main villain is the fact that there's an even nastier contingent out to claim the sect's territory. His greed tempered by the love of pious Eve Miller, Douglas turns out to be a good guy after all in the film's climax. Watch for Alan Hale Jr. as "Tiny," doubling for his own father, who appears in long-shot in the stock footage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eve Miller, Patrice Wymore, (more)
- 1948
In this drama, a California artist becomes a New York prizefighter after he falls in love with a married singer. Her husband was a fighter but suffered a crippling accident in the ring. The husband decides to live out his dream of becoming the world champion boxer through the artist. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1944
If you've never seen a '40s singing, swimming musical this may be the one to catch. Featuring a mammoth cast, including such notables as Xavier Cugat, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams, this is a swimming spectacular. The plot's quite thin: Skelton plays a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a girls' school to stay near his new wife who ditched him shortly after the wedding bells rang and was hired on as the college's swim teacher. Of course Esther Williams is the beautiful swimming instructor who spends most of her time in the pool performing in a score of choreographed pieces. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Red Skelton, Esther Williams, (more)
- 1944
In his final starring film, bandleader Kay Kyser is cast as bandleader Kay Kyser. Picking up where Kyser's previous RKO Radio film Around the World left off, Columbia's Carolina Blues finds Kay and his band returning to America after a worldwide USO tour. Phineas J. Carver (Victor Moore), the woebegone "black sheep"scion of a powerful family of industrialists, poses as one of his wealthier relatives to persuade Kyser to perform at a defense plant. When Kyser's regular vocalist Georgia Carroll quits the band to get married, Carver's talented daughter Julie (Ann Miller) steps in as replacement. Naturally, Julie is a hit, and equally naturally, she lands Kyser as a husband. Outside of the expected musical numbers (which, in addtion to Kyser's aggregation, feature such artists as The Step Brothers and the Nicholas Brothers) Carolina Blues is highlighted by the bravura performance of Victor Moore, who essays five roles in all. Ironically, singer Georgia Carroll did retire from show business in real life to get married-to Kay Kyser! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann Miller, Victor Moore, (more)
- 1942
This third film version of the hectic Margaret Mayo-Salisbury Field stage farce Twin Beds officially stars George Brent and Joan Bennett, but it's Mischa Auer's picture all the way. Newlyweds Mike and Julia Abbott (Brent and Bennett) can never be "alone at last" thanks to the unwelcome drop-ins by their friends, including flamboyant Russian musician Nicolai Cherupin (Auer) and his wife Sonya (Glenda Farrell), and by Julia's ex-beau Larky (Ernest Truex) and his wife Lydia (Una Merkel). Seeking to escape their well-meaning but intrusive chums, Mike and Julia move into a luxury apartment, only to discover that their next-door neighbors are?.you guessed it. The fun begins when the drunken Nicolai wanders into Julia's boudoir by mistake. Attempting to hide Nicolai's presence from Mike, Julia gets deeper and deeper in trouble when Sonya shows up demanding to know her husband's whereabouts. Just when it seems that things can't get any worse, who should arrive on the scene but Larky, in hot pursuit of a nonexistent burglar. Twin Beds is one of several screwball comedies (Nothing Sacred, Rage of Paris, My Man Godfrey) currently available on the Public Domain video circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Brent, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1942
Victor Mature and Lucille Ball top the star-studded cast of RKO Radio's Seven Days Leave. Mature plays Johnny Grey, an eternally smiling GI who suddenly falls heir to $100,000. There's just one catch: Johnny must marry heiress Terry (Ball), whom he's never met, within a seven-day period. Once this familiar premise has been set up, the film segues into an unending parade of supporting comedians and specialty performers, including Harold Peary (in his traditional "Great Gildersleeve" radio persona), Ralph Edwards (shown hosting his popular airwaves quizzer Truth or Consequences), announcer Charles Victor (likewise emceeing his Court of Missing Heirs radio program), singers Ginny Simms and Marcy McGuire, south-of-the-border entertainer Mapy Cortes, and bandleaders Freddy Martin and Les Brown. Also on tap are a brace of future TV favorites, Peter Lynd Hayes and Arnold Stang. The choreography is by director-to-be Charles Walters, making his Hollywood debut. Seven Days Leave should not be confused with the 1944 RKO Radio "B" Seven Days Ashore. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1942
Victor Mature plays an arrogant champion boxer who opts for an acting career on Broadway. He falls in love with his costar Betty Grable, who's secretly married to actor John Payne. Unwilling to make public her marriage lest it adversely affect her career, Grable is unsuccessful in fending off Mature's advance, which causes her hubby's blood to boil. As it happens, Payne is also in the show, cast as Mature's sparring partner, and it is within the bounds of this role that he gets his revenge on the pushy pugilist. With the three leading actors playing for laughs, one wonders why 20th Century-Fox put Phil Silvers in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Payne, Betty Grable, (more)
- 1941
In this romantic comedy, a blue-blooded girl falls in love with a wealthy rake who wants to settle down and marry her. Unfortunately, the young woman's guardian and personal stockbroker refuses to sanction the match. This enrages the girl who decides to prove that she doesn't need a guardian by getting a job on Wall Street. Time passes and mayhem ensues until the lass realizes that she has fallen in love with her guardian. Her playboy lover, with great charm, defers to the new lover and leaves them to their happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Franchot Tone, (more)
- 1940
This zany comedy-mystery gets under way when wiseguy reporter Jimmie Daniels (Robert Paige) and tipsy sports editor Buzz Nelson (Charlie Ruggles) become joint owners of an oversized truck. Examining the contents, Jimmie and Buzz discover that the trunk contains a dead body. When mystery woman Margaret Nichols (Janice Logan) shows up to claim the trunk for herself, she is immediately suspected of murder. It turns out, however, that Margaret is an insurance investigator, tracking down a fortune in stolen loot. Forced to go on the lam from the cops, Jimmie and Margaret take refuge in the country home of daffy scientist Jarvis Woodruff (Lawrence Grossmith), where the mystery of the troublesome body is finally solved. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charlie Ruggles, Janice Logan, (more)
- 1940
Seventeen-year-old Linda Darnell received her first big break in the appropriately titled 20th Century Fox production Star Dust. Discovered by talent scout Thomas Brooke (Roland Young), teenager Carolyn Sayres (Darnell) is brought to Hollywood, where she is turned down for a contract because she is considered too young. Down but not out, Carolyn falls in love with studio contractee Bud Borden (John Payne), who promises to help her achieve her career goals. Teaming up with Brooke, Borden succeeds in winning a screen test for Carolyn, and the rest is gravy. As can be seen, Star Dust draws most of its inspiration from Linda Darnell's real-life rise to fame, which gives the clichéd screenplay a bit of added depth and humanity. It's also amusing to watch William Gargan, cast as studio executive Dane Wharton, perform a devastating (albeit affectionate) take-off of 20th Century Fox head man Darryl F. Zanuck, right down to DFZ's habit of swinging a polo mallet during story conferences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Darnell, John Payne, (more)
- 1936
Love on a Bet is a lightweight programmer from the "Get Rich Quick Wallingford" school of comedy. Gene Raymond stars as Michael, a fresh young sprout who needs $15,000 to produce a Broadway play. His rich uncle Carlton (William Collier Jr.) agrees to pony up the money, but only on the condition that Michael leave New York City in nothing but his underwear and show up in Los Angeles 10 days later in a new suit, with a hundred dollars, and a sweetheart -- which happens to be the plotline of the play that Michael wants to produce! As he embarks upon his hitchhiking "tour" of the U.S., Michael is given a lift by wisecracking Charlotte (Helen Broderick) and her pretty niece Paula (Wendy Barrie). At this point, everyone in the audience will know how Love on a Bet ends up, but getting there is all the fun. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gene Raymond, Wendy Barrie, (more)
- 1936
To finance such major productions as Ramona and Lloyds of London, 20th Century-Fox had to maintain a quota of such minor but entertaining potboilers as White Hunter. Warner Baxter plays the title character, Captain Clark Rutledge, a safari guide who can't stop brooding over the long-ago death of his father. When he is hired by Michael Varek (Wilfred Lawson), the man responsible for his father's demise, Rutledge at first seeks revenge. He is deflected from his murderous course when he falls in love with Varek's daughter Toni (June Lang). Though set in Africa, White Hunter was filmed in its entirety at Fox's Western Avenue backlot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, June Lang, (more)
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