Alfred Linder Movies

Zsa Zsa Gabor plays twin sisters in this campy Red Scare espionage thriller from the late 1950s. She plays the nurse to Joseph Stalin, who didn't die in 1953 after all. The death was all a nefarious scam in which the leader faked his death, had his face surgically rearranged and then moved to Greece with a fortune in Soviet currency. Nurse Zsa Zsa, who is also Stalin's lover. Unfortunately, she told no one where she was going. When her twin discovers her missing, she worries and hires an ex O.S.S. agent to find her. After much searching and danger, the agent finds the wicked dictator and sees that he this time his reign of terror is permanently ended. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dr. Tom Merrinoe (Philip Abbott) is a man at the top of his profession, as the head of the Stoneman Institute of Mathematics, a top-level research facility whose resources include a gigantic super-computer, capable of solving virtually any problem put to it. He works with some of the most distinguished institutes of learning and research in the world, and is presently helping the military launch an orbital space platform vital to the security of the country -- and he can get personal telephone access to the President of the United States on less than five minutes' notice, if the need arises. But his home life is less fulfilling -- he and his loving wife Mary (Diane Brewster) work hard to make a good home, but their 10-year-old son Timmie (Richard Eyer) is more interested in making mischief than studying, and can't be motivated to learn even basic math. Desperate to show him the importance of mathematics, Dr. Merrinoe takes Timmie to his place of work. Unbeknownst to him, however, while the boy is left alone in the lab, the super-computer implants a hypnotic suggestion in Timmie's mind. Suddenly, Timmie shows astonishing skills in chess, as well as both electronics and mathematics, and the first task he accomplishes, apart from beating his father in chess, is to assemble the pieces of a robot that Tom and his colleagues had written off as a pile of useless junk -- supposedly, according to Tom's now-deceased predecessor, the robot and its plans were brought back from the twenty-third century. That mechanical man is none other than Robby The Robot, previously seen in Forbidden Planet -- and suddenly, the boy and the robot are playing pranks and going on adventures together, Robby even providing a way for the boy to turn invisisble, which allows him to get even with one bully at school and to spy on his parents, for which he is soundly punished. But amid the seemingly light-hearted mischief with which he assists the boy, the mechanical man sometimes seems to be following two sets of orders, one from Timmie, and one, a lot more quietly, from the super-computer. Ultimately, the computer and the robot join forces in a plot to take over the space platform and rule the world -- with Timmie held hostage in orbit, and threatened with a slow, painful death unless his father agrees to serve the computer. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

The dying words of his friend Ben Williams sends Matt (James Arness) on a mission of justice to the town of Elkador. He knows that somewhere in town, Ben's killer Lou Shippen (Paul Lambert) is hiding. Trouble is, the hostile townfolk have formed a protective circle around the fugitive--and to make matters worse, Matt wouldn't know Shippen even if he saw him. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of October 23, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tight Spot is based on Leonard Kantor's novel Dead Pigeon, which in turn was obviously inspired by Virginia Hill's appearance before the Kefauver Committee. Ginger Rogers plays hard-boiled model Sherry Conley, who is serving a prison term for a crime she didn't commit. Sherry is offered her freedom -- and immunity -- by U.S. attorney Lloyd Hallett (Edward G. Robinson) if she'll agree to appear as a material witness in the trial of mobster Benjamin Costain (Lorne Greene). Unfortunately, Costain has a long reach, and is able to coerce Vince Striker (Brian Keith), the detective assigned to guard Sherry, to allow Costain's hired guns to invade the hotel room where Sherry is being hidden. The star witness is surly and uncooperative, but she finally decides to testify when her escort, policewoman Willoughby (Katherine Anderson), is murdered by Costain's goons. But Striker is still around and about, still determined to do Costain's bidding. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Determined to figure out the connection between Clark Kent and Superman, Lois Lane engages the services of private detective Homer Garrity (Elisha Cook Jr., cast decidedly against type). Unfortunately, both Lois and Homer are kidnapped by a trio of crooks, whereupon cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson) attempts to rescue them by impersonating a private eye--homburg, trenchcoat, Bogart-like lisp and all. Not surprisingly, Jimmy soon finds himself in as much trouble as the two kidnapees, and it is Superman (George Reeves) who ends up rescuing everybody (with a little assistance from the judo-savvy Garrity!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Not up to the classic 1935 presentation, this is still an excellent adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel. The familiar characters of Valjean and Javert and the agonies of injustice are all portrayed convincingly against a backdrop of 18th century France. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Howard Hawks directed this classic farce about how love attempts to triumph over military red tape after the close of World War II. Capt. Henri Rochard (Cary Grant) is a French officer who is assigned to put a stop to a black market operation in occupied Germany with the help of Lt. Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan), an American WAC. While their initial meetings are hardly harmonious, in time Rochard and Gates find that opposites really do attract, and they fall in love. The two decide to get married, which seems simple enough, but the moment Gates receives orders to return to the United States and Rochard wants to join her, they soon discover just how complicated the U.S. Army can make things. While the Army has a strict protocol for dealing with "war brides," there is no similar routine for men who marry female Army personnel, so in order to follow his new wife into the States, Rochard has to disguise himself as a WAC. From this moment on, nearly everything that happens to Rochard is an affront to his dignity and/or his patience, from his inability to share a bunk with his new bride to his discovery that Army regulations prevent him from driving a motorcycle (Gates has to take the handlebars, while her husband is forced to ride in a sidecar). As more than one writer has pointed out, while Grant gives a deft comic performance, it's a bit of a stretch to imagine that he's French (but probably no more than to imagine that anyone would really believe that he's a woman). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Raymond Chandler's famed detective Philip Marlowe (George Montgomery) is hired by a rich, eccentric widow, Mrs. Murdock (Florence Bates) to find and return a stolen gold coin. Marlowe quickly finds himself involved an a case which includes robbery, blackmail and murder. Just as Marlowe begins to solve the mystery, he is savagely beaten by Vannier (Fritz Kortner). Marlowe finally puts all the pieces of the puzzle together when he discovers a blackmail scheme involving Murdock's mentally-ill secretary, Merle Davis (Nancy Guild) which leads him to suspect his employer. The Brasher Doubloon, adapted from Chandler's novel, The High Window, and beautifully photographed by Lloyd Ahern captures a proper film noir sensibility with its moody, low-key images and dense, dark background shots, while failing to capture the complexity of the novel. Director John Brahm, who also directed the excellent films The Lodger and Hangover Square, is disappointing, failing to create the depth of characterization and plot which he showed in these films. The Brasher Doubloon remains bland, with undistinguished acting by the entire cast. The only exception is Fritz Kortner, a veteran character actor molded in the expressionist cinema of pre-war Berlin, who creates the grotesque character of Vannier, bringing a sense of evil vitality to an otherwise bland production. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi