Bess Flowers Movies

A man makes the highly unexpected discovery that he has two wives in this romantic comedy. Widower Nick Arden (James Garner) has just set off on his honeymoon with his new wife Bianca (Polly Bergen) when his mother Grace (Thelma Ritter) receives a very unexpected guest -- Nick's late wife Ellen (Doris Day). While Ellen was proclaimed legally dead five years after her plane disappeared in a flight over the Pacific Ocean, in truth her flight crash-landed on a desert island where she was stranded with Stephen Burkett (Chuck Connors) and only now has managed to return to civilization. When Grace informs Ellen that Nick has just left town with his new wife, Ellen heads out to the resort where the newlyweds are staying, and comic confusion ensues. Move Over, Darling began life as a project called Something's Got to Give, which was the film that Marilyn Monroe was working on at the time of her death; besides Monroe, the original cast included Dean Martin, Cyd Charisse, and Phil Silvers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An unusually tense and intelligent political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate was a film far ahead of its time. Its themes of thought control, political assassination, and multinational conspiracy were hardly common currency in 1962, and while its outlook is sometimes informed by Cold War paranoia, the film seemed nearly as timely when it was reissued in 1987 as it did on its original release. It opens with a group of soldiers whooping it up in a bar in Korea as their commander, Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), arrives to inform them that they're back on duty. These men obviously have no fondness for Shaw, and he feels no empathy for them. While on patrol, Shaw and his platoon are ambushed by Korean troops. Months later, Shaw is receiving a hero's welcome as he returns to the United States to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor, and several of the soldiers who served under Shaw repeatedly refer to him as "the bravest, finest, most lovable man I ever met." It soon becomes evident that after their capture by the Koreans, Shaw and his men were subjected to an intense program of brainwashing prior to their release. While several are troubled by bad dreams and inexplicable behavior, it's Capt. Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) who seems the most haunted by the experience. In time, Marco is able to piece together what happened; it seems Raymond Shaw was programmed by a shadowy cadre of Russian and Chinese agents into a killing machine who will assassinate anyone, even a close friend, when given the proper commands. On the other side of the coin, Shaw is also used for political gain by his harridan mother (Angela Lansbury), who guides the career of her second husband, John Iselin (James Gregory), a bone-headed congressman hoping to win the vice-presidential nomination through a campaign of anti-Communist hysteria.

The Manchurian Candidate features a host of remarkable performances, several from actors cast cleverly against type. Frank Sinatra's edgy, aggressive turn as Marco may be the finest dramatic work of his career; Laurence Harvey's chilly onscreen demeanor was rarely used to s better advantage than as Raymond Shaw; James Gregory is great as the oft-befuddled Senator Iselin; and Angela Lansbury's ultimate bad mom will be a shock to those who know her as the lovable mystery writer from Murder, She Wrote. George Axelrod's screenplay (based on Richard Condon's novel) is by turns compelling, witty, and horrifying in its implications, and John Frankenheimer's direction milks it for all the tension it can muster. While Frankenheimer's career has had its ups and downs, The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds (1966) suggest that he deserves to be recognized as one of the most brilliantly paranoid American filmmakers of the '60s. Entertaining yet unsettling, both films indicate that things in the '60s were not what they seemed, with a resonance that still echoes uncomfortably in the present. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Too Much, Too Soon was adapted from the warts-and-all autobiography of actress Diana Barrymore, the troubled daughter of "great profile" John Barrymore. As played by Dorothy Malone, Diana is a basically decent young lady who suffers mightily from lack of parental love. Her famous father, played with boozy bravado by Errol Flynn, is the soul of graciousness and affection when sober, but a human monster when drunk -- which is often. Her poetess mother, Michael Strange (Neva Patterson), is too preoccupied by her bitterness against Barrymore to pay much attention to Diana. Striking out on her own as an actress, Diana vainly seeks personal happiness with several husbands: actor Vincent Bryant (actually Bramwell Fletcher), played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.; jealous, possessive tennis player John Howard (Ray Danton); and another actor, alcoholic Robert Wilcox (Ed Kemmer). Unable to find satisfaction in her work or her private life, Diana follows family "tradition" by turning to liquor; this leads to extended sanitarium stays and innumerable suicide attempts. It is suggested at the end of the film that she is on the road to recovery, thanks in part to her biographer Gerold Frank (Robert Ellenstein); the sad truth is that two years after the release of Too Much, Too Soon, Diana Barrymore killed herself at the age of 39. This filmed version of Diana's tragic life seldom rises above soap-opera level, save for Errol Flynn's knowing performance of his old friend and drinking companion John Barrymore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lucy (Lucille Ball) wants to return to New York for a fancy dinner and a Broadway show. As luck would have it, the Ricardos and the Mertzes have managed to get four tickets for the sold-out Frank Loesser musical The Most Happy Fella. Unfortunately, those tickets are only for a matinee performance, and only two balcony tickets are available for the evening show. Not wishing to be deprived of their "big evening," Lucy and Ethel (Vivian Vance) hit upon a brilliant idea: the girls will use the tickets to watch the first act of The Most Happy Fella, then exchange their ticket stubs with Ricky (Desi Arnaz) and Fred (William Frawley) so that the boys can enjoy Act Two. Well...it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Miscegenation, that old reliable bugaboo of many a Southern-based novel, is at the center of Hamilton Basso's The View from Pompey's Head. The film version stars Richard Egan as a New York lawyer who returns to his Southern home town to investigate an embezzlement charge. The victim is an ageing novelist (Sidney Blackmer), whose royalties are mysteriously disappearing; the novelist's wife (Marjorie Rambeau) suspects that her husband is being cheated. But it is the novelist himself who is siphoning off his earnings, in order to provide for his African-American mother, and to buy her silence regarding his mixed parentage. The wife is apprised of the situation, and agrees to keep mum. With all this going on, it's understandable that few viewers remember the love triangle between Richard Egan, Dana Wynter and Cameron Mitchell which motivates the rest of The View from Pompey's Head. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred (William Frawley) asks Lucy (Lucille Ball) to pick out an appropriate gift for his wife Ethel's birthday. Alas, Ethel (Vivian Vance) is disappointed by the selection, leading to a bitter quarrel with Lucy. Hoping to repair the girls' shattered friendship, Fred and Ricky (William Frawley) attempt to trick Lucy and Ethel into sitting in adjoining seats at a Broadway show. The scheme works -- and the ensuing Niagara of tears threatens to drown out the performers on-stage. ~ All Movie Guide

One of the most subtle and sophisticated of the musical comedies that came out of MGM's Arthur Freed Unit in the '40s and '50s, The Band Wagon stars Fred Astaire as Tony Hunter, a movie star whose career is in a downturn. Looking for a boost, Tony decides to try starring in a Broadway musical. His friends Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) have written a show they feel would be just right for Tony, and the three team up with Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), a self-styled "genius" director, who gets the idea to turn the play into a revised version of Faust. Cordova's more pretentious ideas don't always sit well with the Martons, and Tony isn't too happy with his leggy co-star, Gaby Gerard (Cyd Charisse), whom he's convinced is too tall (then again, she thinks he's too old). But when the show proves a disaster in out-of-town tryouts, everyone realizes they have to put aside their differences if they want a show that will be on Broadway for longer than four hours. The Band Wagon featured a rare American appearance for British musical star Jack Buchanan, who does a fine soft-shoe with Fred Astaire on "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan." Astaire also shines in the numbers "Shine on Your Shoes" and "The Girl Hunt," a witty Mickey Spillane parody. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jean Simmons' fascinating interpretation of an uncharacteristic role is the main drawing card of Otto Preminger's Angel Face. The daughter of Charles Treymayne (Herbert Marshall), who remarried a wealthy woman (Barbara O'Neil), Diane Treymayne's (Simmons) angelic countenance masks an unbridled psychotic who'll let nothing stand in the way of her happiness. Diane arranges for Catherine's death, making it look like an auto accident. Coveting family chauffeur Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum), Diane steals Frank away from his sweetheart Mary (Mona Freeman) and forces him to become her spiritual accomplice in her stepmother's murder. And when Diane finally realizes that she'll never, ever, be able to hold Frank, she... well, enough said. If Angel Face doesn't look like a typical early-1950s RKO Radio film, it may be because its director was borrowed from 20th Century-Fox, and its cinematographer (Harry Stradling) was a loan-out from Sam Goldwyn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Young Man with Ideas in this MGM production is idealistic lawyer Maxwell Webster (Glenn Ford). Too self-effacing for his own good, Webster vegetates in Montana with his wife Julie (Ruth Roman) and children for nearly 10 years before starting life anew in California. Living penuriously while studying for his California bar exam, Webster tries out several moneymaking schemes, most of which come acropper. Along the way, he inadvertently gets involved with a bookie ring, culminating in a climactic courtroom scene wherein Webster defends himself -- and surprise, he doesn't have a fool for a client. In typical Hollywood fashion, the script requires the talented Ruth Roman to express jealousy when a brace of lovely females played by Nina Foch and Denise Darcel briefly set their caps for the ingenuous Glenn Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Money, romance, betrayal, double-dealing -- who knew making dresses could be so interesting? Harriet Boyd (Susan Hayward) is a fashion model who has landed plenty of work with a Seventh Avenue dress-making concern. However, Harriet knows that she can't be a model forever, so she is trying to turn her dreams of being a dress designer into reality. She knows that you have to be tough to succeed in the garment industry, but "tough" is practically Harriet's middle name; the ruthless would-be garment mogul lures salesman Teddy Sherman (Dan Dailey) and production whiz Mr. Cooper (Sam Jaffe) from the company and starts her own shop. Harriet has a genuine talent for designing dresses that look good on ordinary women, and the firm soon develops a solid customer base, but the more luxurious and lucrative department stores are looking for something more upscale. J.F. Noble (George Sanders), who runs one such chain, tells Harriet he'd be interested in carrying her merchandice if she was willing to create a line of designer-style gowns. Teddy is against the idea, feeling it doesn't play on their strengths and would be bad for the company in the long run. Harriet, however, is determined to make a name for herself, and when Teddy and Cooper won't allow her out of their deal, she begins making gowns for Noble on the sly. Once the deal with Noble is sealed, Harriet informs Teddy and Cooper that they have no choice but to go along with her; this does not sit well with either of them, especially Teddy, who has become romantically involved with Harriet, though she toys with Noble out of self-interest. I Can Get It for You Wholesale (also released as Only the Best) was based on a novel by Jerome Weidman; the book was later adapted into a Broadway musical, which is best remembered today for providing Barbra Streisand with her first big break in show biz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

MGM's new musical screen team of Esther Williams and Howard Keel were given plenty to do in the pleasant if unambitious songfest Texas Carnival. Williams plays Debbie Telford, one-half of a carnival performing team. The other half is Corny Quinnell (Red Skelton), who breaks up the act when he is mistaken for Texas millionaire Dan Sabinas (Keenan Wynn). Living high on the hog in Sabinas' absence, Corny manages to smooth the romantic path for Debbie and ranch foreman Slim Shelby (Keel), while he dallies with the luscious Sunshine Jackson (Ann Miller). Red Skelton is given more opportunity to shine than usual, especially during a riotous poker game (this scene was a particular favorite of screenwriter Dorothy Kingsley, who felt it could have been even funnier had director Charles Walters "punched it up" cinematically). Esther Williams' particular highlight is a swimming sequence in a waterless hotel room, a bit of special-effects wizardry that only the MGM tech staff could have dreamed up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A pair of top 20th Century Fox contractees were loaned to Paramount as stars of The Mating Season. Gene Tierney plays globe-trotting socialite Maggie Carleton, while Thelma Ritter is cast as Ellen McNulty, the hash-slinging mother of Maggie's husband, Val (John Lund). Perceiving that her son is embarrassed by his lower-class origins, Ellen poses as a maid when she attends Maggie and Val's wedding reception. Even after Val expresses displeasure at this deception, Ellen refuses to reveal her true identity, leading to a series of funny and poignant consequences. Miriam Hopkins co-stars as Ellen's blue-blooded mother, whose third-act arrival heralds the film's inevitable "moment of truth." Rest assured, The Mating Season is never dull. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide