Barry Sullivan Movies

Ann Sothern closed out her MGM contract with the Technicolor musical Nancy Goes to Rio. As Frances Elliot, Sothern is billed second to Jane Powell, who plays Nancy Barklay. A popular Broadway star, Frances heads to Rio for R&R before starting her next production. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Frances, her daughter Nancy is hired to appear in her mother's starring vehicle. This would seem to be enough to sustain a plot, but the screenwriters contrive to have Frances mistakenly believe that Nancy is about to become an out-of-wedlock mother. In addition, both ladies vie for the romantic attentions of leading man Paul Berten (Barry Sullivan). Also appearing is Carmen Miranda, just to remind us that the film takes place in Brazil. Producer Joe Pasternak handles the material with the same tastefulness that he'd applied to his Deanna Durbin pictures at Universal: in fact, Nancy Goes to Rio is a remake of Durbin's 1940 vehicle It's a Date. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lana Turner stars as an ambitious model who seeks her fortune in New York City. She is befriended by over-the-hill cover-girl Ann Dvorak, whose performance carries the story until she commits suicide twenty minutes into the film. Turner promises herself that she won't end up burned out like Dvorak, but as her fame grows, she is inexorably drawn into the hectic social whirl that sealed Dvorak's doom. Enjoying the favors of wealthy Ray Milland, Turner seeks out Milland's wife (Margaret Phillips), hoping to convince the woman to give up her husband. When she meets the crippled Mrs. Milland, Turner is made painfully aware of the length and breadth of the woman's love for her husband. Turner pulls out of the relationship, and we are encouraged to believe that hers will be a much happier and more fulfilling life than that of the unfortunate Ann Dvorak (ironically, in real life Ann Dvorak's final days were relatively contented ones, while Lana Turner spent her twilight years wondering where the looks, the men and the money had gone). Though not so noted in the credits, A Life of Her Own was inspired by The Abiding Vision, a novel by Rebecca West. Bronislau Kaper's musical score was later recycled for the 1951 MGM romantic drama Invitation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart) has a problem that he won't admit to: his wife, Claire (Audrey Totter), wants more fun and excitement out of life than the quiet, soft-spoken pharmacist can give her. So she steps out on him regularly, something that Warren refuses to recognize until the day she packs her bags and announces she's moving in with Barney Deager (Lloyd Gough), the flashy, high-living salesman whom she's been seeing on the side. Warren goes to Deager's, to ask her to come back, and gets beaten up by his rival. The worm suddenly turns in his own quiet way of doing things, and Warren decides he's going to get even -- he's going to murder Deager, but to do it and not get caught, he bides his time. He begins building a new identity for himself, changing his appearance (starting with getting rid of his thick glasses in favor of then-newly-invented contact lenses), and establishing his alter ego of "Paul Sothern" at a new address. He then starts making threatening calls to Deager, identifying himself as Sothern, in order to establish a history of enmity between the two. It's all going according to plan -- he will kill Deager and the blame will fall on "Sothern," who, of course, doesn't exist, and will have vanished. But then he meets Mary Chanler (Cyd Charisse), a neighbor at "Sothern"'s apartment building, and the two become attracted to each other. For every step forward that he takes in his plan for murder, he also finds himself with new possibilities in his life, growing out of his relationship with Mary. Finally, the night comes when he breaks into Deager's home and is about to kill him, when it dawns on Warren that he doesn't need to do this....He awakens Deager and tells him what almost happened and that he's leaving, and Deager is welcome to Claire, and leaves. It seems as though he's averted disaster when Claire shows up later that night, pleading for reconciliation and finally, when pressed, telling him that someone has murdered Deager. The man has been shot, and the police, led by lieutenants Bonnabel (Barry Sullivan) and Gonsales (William Conrad), are hunting for Paul Sothern. Now Warren is scared for his life, having done his best to frame himself, and Claire isn't helping by trying to run interference -- he can't tell if she's trying to protect the two of them, implicate Sothern, or protect herself, and he's too scared to say almost anything at all to the detectives. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this light drama, Clark Gable once again played his stock-in-trade role of a rogue with a heart of gold. Charlie King (Gable) runs a casino, but, in a business that thrives among the unscrupulous, Charlie takes pride in running an honest game and treating his customers with fairness and respect. However, Charlie's wife Lon (Alexis Smith) doesn't care if he runs a fair game -- she regards gambling as a dirty and corrupt business, and no matter how honest Charlie may be, he's still involved in a wicked activity. Charlie's son Paul (Darryl Hickman) is also against him; when Paul gets in trouble and Charlie bails him out of jail, he refuses to leave with him, instead going home with mother. Charlie invites Paul to see what his casino is like, and Lon agrees that Paul should know just what his father does. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this courtroom drama, two opposing lawyers lead a double life. In the courtroom they are ruthless toward each other, but once the day is over they become passionate lovers. Unfortunately their newest case may well threaten their relationship as the defense attorney is defending a corrupt district attorney who happens to be her ex-husband. The prosecutor knows nothing of their past relationship; all he knows is he wants to nail the crook and his cronies to the wall. Unfortunately, the truth comes out in court and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A man down on his luck runs afoul of a beautiful but dangerous woman in this superior low-budget film noir. Mike Lambert (Glenn Ford), while trained as a mining engineer, has fallen on hard times and is driving a truck when his rig breaks down in a small town. He soon meets the seductive Paula Craig (Janis Carter) at a cafe and is quickly drawn into her web of larceny. Paula encourages her lover, Stephen Price (Barry Sullivan), to rob the bank that he manages, then kills Stephen and takes the ill-gotten money. Paula confesses the killing to Mike and begs him to run away with her, claiming she murdered Price in a fit of passion while she was drunk. Mike considers her offer until he learns that his close friend Jeff Cunningham (Edgar Buchanan) has been accused of killing Stephen -- and that Paula intends to pin the robbery that Stephen committed on Mike. Femme Fatale Janis Carter originally studied to be a classical musician before her career as an actress took off, while Edgar Buchanan's big break would come 16 years down the road, when he was cast as "Uncle Joe" on the television series Petticoat Junction. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Getting Gertie's Garter is an updated adaptation of the venerable stage farce by Wilson Collison and Avery Hopwood. Dennis O'Keefe, newly married to lovely Sheila Ryan, is in a jam. O'Keefe's former girl friend, exotic dancer Marie McDonald, has in her possession an expensive, jeweled garter given to her by O'Keefe in his bachelor days. McDonald intends to show the garter to O'Keefe's suspicious wife, so Our Hero must retrieve the embarrassing accouterment without tipping off the missus. Previously filmed in 1927, Getting Gertie's Garter was one several enjoyable films produced by Edward Small and directed by Allan Dwan, all based on popular stage comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Freely adapted from a successful Broadway musical by Moss Hart, this story stars Ginger Rogers as Liza Elliott, the editor of a popular fashion magazine. Despite her beauty, wealth, and success in business, Liza is unhappy and out of sorts. And while three men are vying for her affections -- advertising director Charley Johnson (Ray Milland), newly single Kendall Nesbitt (Warner Baxter), and youthful and handsome Randy Curtis (Jon Hall) -- Liza has been unlucky in love, and she feels that she's come to the end of her emotional rope. She begins seeing Dr. Brooks (Barry Sullivan) in hopes of resolving her emotional crises and finding happiness, and her self-searching explorations of her past take the form of a handful of musical numbers. While the stage version of Lady in the Dark featured songs written by the estimable team of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, several of them were replaced for this screen adaptation; "The Saga of Jenny", "One Life to Love", and "Girl of the Moment" were the most notable among the Weill/Gershwin tunes that survived the editing process. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Originally, producer Harry Sherman's Woman of the Town was slated for Paramount release, but that studio was overloaded with product, so the film was deferred to United Artists. Nonetheless, the finished product has the "look" of a Paramount, right down to the presence of character actor Albert Dekker in a leading role. Dekker plays Bat Masterson, who after failing to secure a job as a newspaper reporter becomes marshal of Dodge City. Preferring socializing to peacekeeping, Masterson falls in love with Dora Hand (Claire Trevor), the obligatory golden-hearted chorus girl whose concern for the welfare of her fellow citizens at time reaches Madonna-like dimensions. When Dora is shot down cattle baron King Kennedy (Barry Sullivan), Masterson begins taking his job seriously. After taking care of Kennedy, Masterson determines to enshrine the memory of Dora, whose efforts to clean up Dodge City were largely ignored by the "decent" townsfolk. Our favorite bit in Woman of the Town has the frontier newspaper editor advising an aspiring girl reporter (Beryl Wallace) to stick to her gossip column-whereupon we're informed that the lady is Louella Parsons! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

High Explosive is a Hollywood "B" precursor to the later, more critically lionized The Wages of Fear. Chester Morris plays a two-fisted trucker who takes on a deadly assignment: Transporting nitroglycerin over bumpy terrain. As half the supporting cast is blown to smithereens, Morris persists in his white-knuckle mission. His diligence is motivated by guilt; Morris had been responsible for the training death of his girl friend's (Jean Parker) brother. High Explosive was a lucrative entry produced by Paramount's "Two Dollar Bills," William Pine and William Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi