Carole Landis Movies

Radio personality Levis manages to stop a Buddhist art connoisseur from collecting a rare artifact in this comic thriller. ~ All Movie Guide

If Eagle-Lion's Out of the Blue looks more like a slick Warner Bros. product at times, it's because the film was peopled by former Warners personnel, both in front of and behind the cameras. George Brent and Carole Landis play the Earthleighs, tenants in a roomy Greenwich Village apartment. When Mr. Earthleigh isn't being nagged by his domineering bride, he's enmeshed in a feud with his neighbor, loose-living artist David (Turhan Bey). During his wife's absence, Earthleigh makes the mistake of inviting Olive (Ann Dvorak), a glamorous interior decorator who's somewhat the worse for drink, to his apartment. When Olive passes out on his floor, Earthleigh assumes that she's dead-and in the course of subsequent events, so does everyone else. Adding to the general zaniness is Deborah (Virginia Mayo), one of David's sexier models, who weaves in and out of the proceedings at the most inopportune moments, and a huge, cantankerous canine named Rabelais. Despite some formidable competition, the comedy honors in Out of the Blue are won hands-down by Ann Dvorak, in a truly offbeat performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Scandal in Paris is a liberal adaptation of the life story of Eugène François Vidocq, who was French prefect of police during the Napoleonic era. George Sanders stars as Vidocq, who spends most of the film as an aimless rogue willing to lie, cheat, and steal for his own comfort. The women who affect Vidocq's life include a saucy cabaret entertainer (Carole Landis) for whom Vidocq steals, and a good woman (Signe Hasso) for whom he straightens himself out. Fledgling director Douglas Sirk displayed his love of the Baroque (both in decor and characterizations) that would distinguish his later high-budget Universal soap operas. Most prints of A Scandal in Paris bear the film's alternate title, Thieves' Holiday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Secret Command features Pat O'Brien as a onetime foreign correspondent in the wartime employ of the FBI. Under an assumed name, O'Brien goes to work at a shipyard, intending to keep both eyes open for potential saboteurs. To maintain the cover, O'Brien is given a "wife" (Carole Landis) and two children. When O'Brien's brother Chester Morris shows up, he can't comprehend the charade and nearly spills the beans to the Nazi spies O'Brien hopes to trap. Based on the short story The Saboteurs by John and Ward Hawkins, Secret Command offers a graying but still feisty Pat O'Brien doing what he does best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It Happened in Flatbush is a likable baseball comedy inspired by the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers' pennant win. Lloyd Nolan portrays an ace ballplayer who was disgraced while still in college and is only able to secure work as a team manager. He takes charge of an unnamed Brooklyn team and whips in into a World Series contender. The players resent Nolan's drill-sergeant tactics, and when Nolan falls in love with the pretty owner of the team (Carole Landis), the players use this as an excuse to circulate a petition demanding Nolan's ouster. The manager pays no attention to the petition and leads his team to a league pennant, finding time along the way to help out a trouble-prone young ballplayer (George Holmes) on the verge of throwing away his career. Bolstered by film clips of actual Dodgers games (including one in which an anxious fan jumps out of the stands and attacks the umpire), It Happened in Flatbush is an enjoyable second-feature effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cesar Romero plays an outwardly tough bookie with the proverbial golden heart. Romero falls in love with Carole Landis, an art shop proprietor who introduces her raffish romeo into the world of fine art. Utilizing his gambling skills, he amasses an impressive collection of valuable paintings, only to discover that there are just as many crooks and phonies in the art world as there are at the race track. At first attempting to cash in on the clever forgeries of a duplicitous painter (J. Carroll Naish), Romero is redeemed by the love of Carole Landis and ends up scamming the scammers. Gentleman at Heart includes a brashly amusing performance by Milton Berle as Cesar Romero's chief flunky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his last screen appearance, bandleader Glenn Miller plays--are you sitting down?--a bandleader. The film's main plot involves small-town girl Ann Rutherford, who impulsively marries George Montgomery, a trumpeter in the Miller band. Rutherford soon finds that she isn't particularly suited for life on the road, nor is she prepared for the petty jealousies and backstabbings prevalent among the other orchestra wives (Lynn Bari, Carole Landis et. al.) She eventually leaves Montgomery, an event which coincides with the breakup of the band. But both the band and the marriage are salvaged through the benign conspiratorial schemes of Glenn Miller and a repentant Rutherford. Those who aren't interested in the various plots and subplots in Orchestra Wives will be captivated by the endless supply of blue-ribbon tunes, including I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, At Last, and Serenade in Blue. Guest stars include Tex Beneke, The Modernaires and the Nicholas Brothers. Watch for an uncredited Jackie Gleason as a bass player and Dale Evans as Ann Rutherford's friend in the soda-fountain scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Those obviously hastily assembled to cash in on current headlines, Manila Calling shows no signs of this haste in its execution. Lloyd Nolan stars as Lucky Mathews, the leader of an American guerilla unit, sworn to keep fighting even after the Japanese invasion of Mindano. Likewise staying on is nightclub entertainer Edna Fraser (Carole Landis), who has fallen in love with Mathews, and radio engineer Jeff Bailey (Cornel Wilde). Relying on Bailey's electronic knowhow, the guerillas construct a short-wave radio station and continue broadcasting information of Japanese troop movements to the Allies. As in MGM's Bataan, the ultimate deaths of the courageous protagonists is treated as a moral and spiritual victory. Of interest in the cast is Martin Kosleck, frequent screen impersonator of Joseph Goebbels, in a rare sympathetic role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Well-known New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is the prime suspect in the murder of Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), a successful model and would-be actress. Questioned relentlessly by the police, and particularly by hulking detective squad commander Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), he maintains his innocence. Meanwhile, Vicky's sister Jill (Betty Grable) is also being questioned. Their answers, given in adjoining interrogation rooms, become the basis for brief, neatly constructed interlocking flashbacks at the opening of the movie that explain a ton of plot in very little time. Both are released after admitting nothing, and the police begin working on other suspects, including journalist Larry Evans (Allyn Joslyn), aging actor Robin Ray (Alan Mowbray), and hotel clerk William Harrison (Elisha Cook Jr.) Jill had little use for Frankie, the man who had been promoting her sister's career, but the two are drawn together in the course of trying to sort out their lives and the murder of her sister, and her realization that Frankie is capable of truly loving a woman, and not just exploiting her. Meanwhile, Cornell makes it his business to pressure and torment Frankie, illegally entering his apartment and promising him an arrest and a death sentence. Eventually, the noose seems to tighten around Frankie as the circumstantial evidence piles up, until Frankie, trying to clear himself, uncovers a clue leading back to the real killer -- who was known to Cornell all along. Confronting the detective in his apartment, Frankie discovers a veritable shrine to Vicky -- copies of her magazine covers and photos filling the walls of his apartment -- and learns that the man had his own dark reasons for wanting to kill him. His psychosis finally catching up with him, his career and reputation in ruins, Cornell reveals the truth to Frankie as he proceeds to take his own life. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The first of several remakes of 1938's Three Blind Mice, the Technicolor musical Moon Over Miami stars Betty Grable and Carole Landis as Kay and Susan Latimer, two Texas carhops who journey to Florida in search of a rich husband. The plan is to have Kay pose as a millionairess, while Barbara and the girls' Aunt Susan (Charlotte Greenwood) pretend to be Kay's domestic staff. The two most likely matrimonial candidates are Miami playboys Phil O'Neil (Don Ameche) and Jeffrey Bolton (Robert Cummings), but when Kay finds out Phil is broke, she reluctantly throws him over for Jeff. Happily, romance wins out over greed, and Kay is reunited with Phil-not that Jeff ends up empty-handed (guess who he gets?). The musical highlights include the hit tune "You Started Something" and an energetic dance specialty by the Condos Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

America had not officially gone to war in November of 1941, but try telling that to the producers of the "preparedness" drama Cadet Girl. The title character is nightclub songstress Gene Baxter (Carole Landis), but the weight of the film rests on the shoulders of West Point cadet Tex Mallory (George Montgomery). Falling in love with Gene, Tex wants to marry her, even though this will force him to give up his military-academy appointment. Tex' innate patriotism is aroused by his bandleader brother Bob (John Sheppard, aka Sheppard Strudwick), Gene's boss, who writes a patriotic song called "Uncle Sam Gets Around." After a few bars of this flag-waving ditty, Tex realizes that his first duty is to his country, and he returns to West Point-but not before securing a promise from Gene that she'll wait for him until his tour of duty is over (little did she know that she'd have a four-year wait!). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even taking into consideration Of Mice and Men, One Million BC was inarguably the most ambitious feature-film project ever undertaken by producer Hal Roach. Told in flashback, this is the highly fanciful tale of the prehistoric feud between the Rock Tribe and Shell People. Tumak (Victor Mature), son of Rock leader Akhoba (Lon Chaney Jr.), defies tradition by falling in love with Shell person Loana (Carole Landis). At first intending to "have his way" with Loana, the rough-hewn Tumak is taught such niceties as moderation and table manners by the girl and her gentle brethren. Any possibility for a permanant détente between the Rocks and the Shells is swept away by a spectacular volcano, which wipes out everyone except the people we really care about. Exercising the usual Hollywood prerogative of suggesting that cavemen and dinosaurs coexisted, One Million BC offers a vast array of awesome dinos, which at closer glance are actually normal-sized lizards going about their business on miniaturized sets; even so, the special effects were considered pretty impressive back in 1940, and still pass muster today despite Ray Harryhausen's slick "dynamation" remake in 1967. In fact, stock footage from One Million BC would be redeployed countless times in the future to enhance the production values of otherwise inexpensive horror films. Though it has since been disproven, rumors still persist that the great D. W. Griffith participated in the direction of One Million BC (it is true, however, that he aided Hal Roach in the casting process, selecting Carole Landis as the heroine because she was the only auditionee who could run properly!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide