Tom Fadden Movies

Kate (Bea Benadaret) invites her pregnant friend Elsie (Olive Sturgess) to stay at the Shady Rest until the baby comes. Meanwhile, enterprising Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) works out a "foolproof" plan to make sure that the obstetrician arrives on time when he's needed. And of course, this being a TV sitcom, the "foolproof" plan does not take into account the foolishness of Uncle Joe. This episode marks the first appearance of Kay E. Kuter as eccentric farmer "Nutty" Newt Kiley, and also establishes beyond doubt the fact that hog farmer Mrs. Ziffel's (Barbara Pepper) first name is "Doris." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Frank Capra's last feature film, Pocketful of Miracles is a Technicolor remake of his 1933 film Lady for a Day. A barely recognizable Bette Davis plays Apple Annie, the besotted, unkempt, rag-clad street vendor who controls the activities of all the beggars on Broadway. Apple Annie is the pet of Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford), a tough but basically kind-hearted gangster who believes that Annie's apples bring him luck. One morning, Annie fails to show up at her usual corner. That's because she is sitting disconsolate in her squalid shack, contemplating suicide. The reason: Annie has received a letter from her daughter Louise (Ann-Margret, in her screen debut). Annie has been supporting Louise's high-priced European education, leading the girl to believe that she, Annie, is a high-society dowager. Now Louise is returning home with her wealthy fiance Carlos Romero (Peter Mann) in tow, and it looks as though Annie's cover will be blown to bits. Partly out of sympathy, but mostly because of his superstitious belief in the power of Annie's apples, Dave the Dude arranges with his Broadway cohorts to "doll up" Annie so that she can pass as a woman of means, then stage-manages a huge, expensive reception for Louise and her beau. The complications that ensued in the original 1933 version of Lady for a Day exercise their prerogative once more, with a few added plot twists to pad out Glenn Ford's screen time. Cutting through the sentimental goo like a machete is Peter Falk, who is hilarious as Dave the Dude's sarcastic bodyguard. Evidently, Falk was one of the few actors on the set of Pocketful of Miracles with which Capra remained sympatico throughout shooting. In his autobiography (a not altogether reliable tome), Capra insisted that Pocketful of Miracles was ruined by Glenn Ford's autocratic and self-serving on-set behavior, and by Ford's demand that his current lady friend Hope Lange be (mis)cast as brash nightclub chirp Queenie Martin. As usual, Capra was not telling the whole story: at 63, he was beginning to lose his grip on his movie-making skills, allowing every scene to run well past its value and concentrating on cute isolated "bits" rather than the story at hand. Way too long at 136 minutes (Lady for a Day ran but 90), Pocketful of Miracles still has a lot going for it, especially the glowing performance of Bette Davis and the basic, foolproof Damon Runyon story on which it is based. While it disappointed at the box office, Miracles has since its release become a Christmastime TV perennial, seldom failing to draw big ratings numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Chased by a posse to a remote cabin, Jeb (Robert Mitchum) is joined by his fearful wife Thorley (Teresa Wright), awaiting the arrival of the men tracking them, as they try to reason out what has gone wrong in their lives. Jeb can't remember anything about his early childhood except for a horrible incident in which the people around him were killed by a mysterious stranger, whose flashing spurs were all the boy saw. He was raised by Ma Callum (Judith Anderson), alongside her two children, Thorley and Adam, as one of her own. But every time Jeb seemed poised to find peace, or even simple stability in his life, lurking nearby was Grant (Dean Jagger), a one-armed stranger who seemed bent on tormenting Jeb -- Jeb doesn't know who he really is, much less who Grant is, but Grant knows enough about him and is good enough at manipulating human nature to make Jeb a target for jealousy and murder. Making Jeb's life even more complicated is the fact that he and his adopted sister Thorley fell in love with each other, while Adam (John Rodney), his adopted brother, has come to hate him. The machinations around Jeb and Thorley come home to roost in multiple shootings and murder, a deadly chase and a long-planned lynching. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Singer-bandleader Vaughn ("Racing with the Moon") Monroe made a tentative stab at movie stardom in 1950. Singing Guns casts Monroe as western outlaw Rhiannon, who robs from the rich and keeps it. Rhiannon's particular target is a gold mine that he feels rightfully belongs to him. Whether it does or doesn't, it takes three people -- saloon gal Nan Morgan (Ella Raines), doctor/minister Dr. Mark (Walter Brennan) and sheriff Caradac (Ward Bond) -- to capture Our Hero. Though he's a passable actor, Monroe's strong suit remains his mellow baritone, which he displays in four different musical numbers, one of which is his Hit-Parade success "Mule Train." Singing Guns is based very loosely on a novel by Max Brand. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Frank Capra's only MGM film, State of the Union was adapted by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Spencer Tracy plays an aircraft tycoon who is coerced into seeking the Republican Presidential nomination by predatory newspaper mogul Angela Lansbury. Campaign manager Van Johnson suggests that, for appearance's sake, Tracy be reunited with his estranged wife Katharine Hepburn (replacing Claudette Colbert, who'd ankled the project after a pre-production donnybrook with director Capra). Realizing that Tracy and Lansbury are having an affair, Hepburn nonetheless agrees to grow through the devoted-wife charade because she believes that Tracy just might make a good President. Her faith is shattered when Tracy, corrupted by the Washington power brokers, publicly compromises his values in order to get votes. Only in the film's last moments does Tracy prove himself worthy of Hepburn's love and his own self-respect by admitting his dishonesty during a nationwide radio-TV broadcast. Much of the biting wit in the original Broadway production of State of the Union is sacrificed in favor of the director's patented "Capracorn," but the film is no less entertaining because of this. As usual, the supporting cast is impeccable, from featured players Adolphe Menjou (whose off-camera political arguments with Hepburn threatened to shut down production at times) and Margaret Hamilton, to bit actors like Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tor (Plan 9 From Outer Space) Johnson. Because the television rights to State of the Union belonged to Capra's Liberty Films, the picture was released to TV by MCA rather than MGM's syndication division. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A young girl is adopted into a small town family, but instead of finding happiness, she finds her life a living nightmare due to neighbors' constant speculation as to he father's identity. The scuttlebutt is that she is the illegitimate daughter of a prominent lawyer and former resident (Ronald Reagan). The girl (Shirley Temple in her first role as a teen) becomes especially sensitive to the gossip after she hits adolescence. The backbiting gets so bad, that she loses her first boyfriend. Matters become more explosive when the lawyer returns from Washington D.C. and begins a romance with the girl's favorite teacher. He also finds the troubled girl intriguing but does not realize this until the despondent youth attempts to commit suicide. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The sole survivor of the doomed planet Krypton is the baby son of scientist Jor-El (Robert Rockwell) and Lara (Aline Towne), who providently place the child in a rocketship and blast him to earth just before their planet explodes. Rescued by a farm couple named Kent, the infant, renamed Clark, grows up with the knowledge that he is "different" from other children--mainly, he has powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, including the power of X-Ray vision and the ability to fly. Making his way to the big city of Metropolis, the adult Clark Kent (George Reeves) applies for a reporter job at the "Daily Planet", but irascible editor Perry White (John Hamilton) wants nothing to do with the bespectacled greenhorn--at least, not until Clark offers to "arrange" the rescue of a man dangling from a dirigible guide wire 1000 feet above ground. Of course, Clark neglects to tell anyone that he is able to pull off the rescue himself--as his alter ego, Superman! This "origin" episode of The Adventures of Superman was the first to be telecast, but was actually the 24th episode to be filmed for the series' inaugural season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This touching romance is based on a play by Rachel Crothers. An aging sea captain squanders his fortune on a bad business deal. Now he faces having to put his beloved wife in a poor house. He himself also has no place to live. Desperate for cash, he sells interest in a ship he has nothing to do with. This money gets her in a decent home for old ladies. To be with her, he dresses as an old woman and goes to live in the home with her. Eventually the administrators allow him to stay and the other residents begin calling him "Old Lady 31." The fortunes of the couple changes after the brave old salt saves a shipwrecked schooner. The salvage rights restore his fortune and all is well. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dashiel Hammett's The Glass Key, a tale of big-city political corruption, was first filmed in 1935, with Edward Arnold as a duplicitous political boss and George Raft as his loyal lieutenant. This 1942 remake improves on the original, especially in replacing the stolid Raft with the charismatic Alan Ladd. Brian Donlevy essays the role of the boss, who is determined to back reform candidate Moroni Olsen, despite Ladd's gut feeling that this move is a mistake. Ladd knows that Donlevy is doing a political about-face merely to get in solid with Olsen's pretty daughter Veronica Lake. It is Ladd who is left to clean up the mess when crime lord Joseph Calleila murders Olsen's wastrel son Richard Denning and pins the rap on Donlevy. As Ladd struggles to clear Donlevy's name, he falls in love with Lake--when he's not being pummeled about by Calleila's psychopathic henchman William Bendix. Far less complex than the Dashiel Hammett original (and far less damning of the American political system), The Glass Key further increased the box-office pull of Paramount's new team of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Greg McClure stars as legendary boxer John L. Sullivan in this screen biography of the famous fighter. Known as "The Boston Strong Boy," Sullivan was a bare-knuckle brawler who rose from humble circumstances to become the world's heavyweight champion from 1882 to 1892. While Sullivan was a skilled hand in the ring, fame and wealth took a toll on his ego, and as drinking and high-living replaced disciplined training, Sullivan's fighting edge disappeared. In 1892, Sullivan lost his title to James J. Corbett (Rory Calhoun), and after that came a slow descent into alcoholism and poverty, with Sullivan losing most of his friends and the love of his life along with his self-respect. However, Sullivan eventually cleaned himself up and rose to his feet for one final stab at the title. The Great John L. also features Linda Darnell, Barbara Britton, Otto Kruger, and Wallace Ford. The life of James J. Corbett had been made into a movie three years prior to this, as Gentleman Jim, with Errol Flynn as Corbett and Ward Bond as Sullivan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Few major directors made "small" films with such frequency and expertise than the ubiquitous Allan Dwan. Set in 1933, Dwan's The Inside Story tells the tale of a small Vermont town forced to tighten its belt during the Depression. When a wealthy visitor from New York places $1000 in the town's hotel safe, Horace Taylor (Gene Lockhart) the hotel's debt-ridden owner, "borrows" the money to pay off his creditors, intending to replace the cash once he's back on his feet. This act of larceny snowballs into a "collective crime," with everyone in town getting his or her hands on the money during the course of the story. By keeping the cash in circulation, the town manages to save itself from financial ruin -- but there's still that problem of getting the money back before the authorities find out. The husband-wife team of Richard Sale and Mary Loos scripted The Inside Story from an original screen treatment co-authored by former press agent (and future Hitchcock collaborator) Ernest Lehman. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Wallace Beery trots out his "lovable lout" act for the zillionth time in Man From Dakota. Beery plays a Union army sergeant who, along with his superior officer (John Howard), is captured and incarcerated in a Confederate prison. Upon escaping, Beery and Howard cross the path of Dolores Del Rio, playing a Russian refugee (with a Mexican accent). Dolores helps the escapees in their efforts to reach Northern lines and deliver secret information to General Grant. Based on a novel by MacKinlay Kantor, The Man From Dakota was distorted and truncated so that Wallace Beery would end up with the largest role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Night Before the Divorce is when Lynn Thorndike (Lynn Bari) seeks out her ex-husband George (Joseph Allen Jr.), begging for help. Lynn claims she is in trouble with cops, a contingency tied in with the murder of bandleader Victor Roselle (Nils Asther), whom she has been dating. George immediately drops his current girl friend Lola May (Mary Beth Hughes) like a hot potato to come to his former wife's rescue. It turns out, however, that Lynn isn't in any trouble at all; she's just been playing dumb and helpless to win back her husband, who'd always been jealous of her superior intellect. Wonder what the chances are for a screening of The Night Before the Divorce at the next N.O.W. meeting? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi