Truman Bradley Movies

It had been said that the Pine-Thomas production unit never lost money for Paramount Pictures. Even without major star names to carry the box-office weight, Pine-Thomas' Special Agent managed to post a tidy profit. William Eythe stars as Johnny Douglas, an operative of the combined railroads' special-agent division. While encamped in a small California town, Douglas takes on the villainous Devereaux brothers (George Reeves and Paul Valentine), who pull off a big-time payroll train heist. Heroine Lucille Peters, whose father is killed in the robbery, is played by Laura Elliot, who later portrayed the bespectacled murder victim in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train--and who, as Kasey Rogers, went on to appear as Mrs. Larry Tate on TV's Bewitched. Most of Special Agent is filmed on location, adding authenticity to the melodramatic goings-on. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now is the heavily laundered musical biopic of sentimental songwriter Joe E. Howard. As played by Mark Stevens (whose singing voice was dubbed by Buddy Clark), Howard is a humble 19th century organ salesman who rises to Broadway fame as the composer of maudlin ballads like "What's the Use of Dreaming" and jaunty ditties like "Hello My Baby". Along the way, he enjoys several romantic interludes, but it is fresh-faced American chorine Katie (top-billed June Haver) who lands Howard as her hubby. In real life, Joe E. Howard, who lived well into his eighties, was married several times; he was also a notorious "lifter" who regularly claimed credit for songs he never wrote (including this film's title tune!) But producer George Jessel chooses not to let the facts get in the way of a good story, maintaining a policy established by his earlier The Dolly Sisters and sustained through such subsequent musical life stories as Oh, You Beautiful Doll The I Don't Care Girl. Singer/dancer/director Gene Nelson makes his screen debut as Tommy Yale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A "B" picture with "A" aspirations, Bombay Clipper mostly takes place on a flight from India to San Francisco. Someone has absconded with $4,000,000 worth of diamonds, and that someone may very well be a passenger on the Bombay Clipper. International news correspondent Jim (William Gargan) hopes to solve the mystery for two reasons-to get a big scoop for his paper, and to repair his tattered marriage to long-suffering Frankie (Irene Hervey). Less than five minutes before the end, the jewel thief is revealed, whereupon the culprit tries to take over the plane and dispose of the other passengers. Fat chance! Obviously made on a tight budget, Bombay Clipper is nonetheless beautifully and meticulously photographed by Stanley Cortez, who on the strength of this and other Universal projects was signed by Orson Welles to lens the classic Magnificent Ambersons. ~ 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

Marjorie Weaver, frequently cast as the "Girl Friday" in 20th Century-Fox's Michael Shayne pictures, is permitted to solve a mystery on her own in Murder Among Friends. Weaver plays Mary Lou, an insurance agent who smells a rat when several elderly men, all beneficiaries to a "Tontine" insurance policy taken out by one of them years earlier, die under suspicious circumstances. Accompanied by her doctor boyfriend Tom Wilson (John Hubbard), she rushes from one policy holder to another in hopes of stemming the killing spree. Through the process of elimination-elimination of the beneficiaries, that is-Mary Lou finally figures out who's responsible for the skullduggery. Featured in the cast as Dr. Wilson's neglected fiancee is New York debutante Cobina Wright Jr., who'd later be cast as a murder victim herself in Fox's Charlie Chan in Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charlie Chan in Rio is a remake of 1931's Black Camel, one of the few pre-1934 "Charlie Chan" entries still in existence. While the original film was set in Hawaii, the remake takes place in Brazil, but the basic intrigues remain the same. While vacation in Rio de Janeiro with his son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), Honolulu detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked by the local constabulary to help solve a double homicide. The motivation behind the two murders is apparently tied in with sinister psychologist Alfredo Marana (Victor Jory), who utilizes hypnotism as an adjunct to a clever blackmailing scheme. Cobina Wright Jr. shows up early on as one of the murder victims, alongside Jory, Mary Beth Hughes and the ubiquitous Harold Huber, cast as a foreign police official. Hamilton Macfadden, who directed the original Black Camel, shows up as one of the suspects in Charlie Chan in Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

With Paramount abandoning its "Zane Grey" western series in 1941, 20th Century-Fox took up the cudgel with such films as The Last of the Duanes. George Montgomery stars as Buck Duane, who in 1870 returns to his Texas hometown, only to find out that his father has been murdered. Following the most obvious suspect, Duane discovers that the culprit is a member of a highly organized outlaw gang. Realizing that he's outnumbered (no kidding!), Duane joins the Texas Rangers, hoping not only to break up the gang but also expose its mysterious leader. Eve Arden is surprisingly but effectively cast as a dance-hall girl who briefly befriends the hero. Last of the Duanes was previously filmed by Fox in 1931, with George O'Brien in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The title of Millionaires in Prison (which begs for the rejoinder "about time!") pertains to four individuals. Two of the incarcerated millionaires, Bruce Vander (Raymond Walburn) and Harold Kellogg (Thurston Hall) have become the fall guys in a corporate swindle; the other two are brokers James Brent (Morgan Conway) and Sidney Keats (Chester Clute), who scheme to arrange an illicit stock deal in the joint. Prisoner Nick Burton (Lee Tracy) - the unofficial leader of the convicts - runs the prison like a resort, and treats the other inmates like kings. In the central story, Dr. William Collins (Truman Bradley) - a physician locked up for driving recklessly - discovers the cure for Malta fever and uses four infected prisoners as test subjects. Director Ray McCarey obviously didn't put a high priority on credibility when making Millionaires in Prison; of this, Variety wrote, "Some situations are implausible, but good for laughs." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This upbeat domestic drama chronicles the struggles of a newlywed couple as they try to keep their marital status secret from their boss (company police forbids marriages between co-workers), cope with money issues and the wife's pregnancy. Real woes begins when the boss finds out about their union and fires the woman. Unable to pay their bills, the couple lose their furniture. Desperate for money, the husband gets involved with loan sharks. When his boss finds out about that, he fires him too. Despite their terrible troubles, the young couple remain steadfast in their love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Kenneth Roberts' fact-based novel Northwest Passage would seem too raw and explicit a book to be considered for an MGM film adaptation-much less one in Technicolor. Amazingly, MGM retained many of the grim episodes from the Roberts' novel, though - thanks to the Hays Code - most are discussed rather than shown. The film is set in 1759, when the headstrong and gifted young artist Langdon Towne (Robert Young) is expelled from Harvard much to the chagrin of his parents and his fiancee, Elizabeth Browne (Ruth Hussey). Towne and his tough-as-nails sidekick, Hunk Marriner (Walter Brennan) get soused one night in a pub and - while intoxicated - viciously insult Elizabeth's father, Rev. Browne (Louis Hector). The two men are nearly arraigned for the incident, but escape just in time and ultimately wind up at the camp of famed Indian hunter Major Robert Rogers (Spencer Tracy). Rogers then invites Towne to join his troupe as a cartographer, and suggests that Marriner tag along. Together, the hundreds of Indian fighters under Rogers's aegis team up and chart their way through the wilderness, headed straight for St. Francis, the base of the French-supported Abenaki tribe, notorious for bloodily wiping out British-controlled colonies, after which they will forge the titular 'northwest passage' to the Pacific. Along the route, the boys counter such obstacles as traitorous Native American guides and exploding gunpowder. Metro Goldwyn-Mayer originally slated this production for Tracy, Wallace Beery, Robert Taylor and Franchot Tone, but only Tracy signed on; the studio reeled in Brennan and Young as last-minute additions, to support Tracy's lead. Northwest Passage marked Vidor's first Technicolor film. William V. Skall and Sidney Wagner received Oscar nominations for their outstanding cinematographic work on the film. Nineteen years after its premiere, Northwest Passage later became an NBC TV series between 1959-60, starring Keith Larsen in the Tracy role, Buddy "Jed Clampett" Ebsen in the Brennan role, and Don Burnett in the Young role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Merlini the Magician, Clayton Rawson's crime-solving illusionist, has been singularly ill-used by Hollywood, having appeared in a mere two films, "starring" in only one. Miracles for Sale compounds the oversight by rechristening Merlini as "Michael Morgan", in the person of Robert Young. The picture starts well, with a grisly political execution revealed to be an elaborate bit of stage magic perpetrated by the personable Morgan. The story then goes into a fraud and murder scheme perpetrated by Dave Duvallo (Henry Hull), whose consummate skill with makeup and Houdinilike escape devices comes in handy for phony spiritualist Madame Rapport (Gloria Holden). The film's highlight finds Morgan exposing several tricks utilized by magicians and fortune-tellers to gull the public, a sequence which incurred the wrath of the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians, who took a dim view at having the secrets of their trade revealed for the cost of a movie ticket. Of historical interest is the fact that Miracles for Sale was the final directorial effort of Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fifth of MGM's "Andy Hardy" series, The Hardys Ride High finds the Hardy family outside their usual small-town environs. The complacently middle-class family (middle class by Hollywood standards, that is!) inherits a large estate, compelling them to move in different social circles. Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) keeps his head about him, while impressionable son Andy (Mickey Rooney) is seduced by the pleasures and privileges of the rich. But reality sets in when the cost of maintaining the estate exceeds the Hardy bank account. The Hardys Ride High is highlighted by the performance of Sara Haden as Aunt Millie, who discovers to her chagrin that her wealthy gentleman caller has no intentions of marrying her. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi