Tom Brown Movies
Tom Brown was the "boy next door" type in many films, playing ideal, clean-cut, all-Americans youths in many films of the '30s. The son of vaudevillian Harry Brown and musical comedy star Marie (Francis) Brown, he was on radio and stage from infancy, Broadway from age nine. Brown began appearing in silent movies at age ten in 1923. Pleasantly baby-faced, in the thirties he acquired his typecast image, playing students, sons, sweethearts, military cadets, brothers. His first talkie was The Lady Lies (1929), playing Walter Huston's son; he appeared in more than 100 other films. After service in World War Two (as a paratrooper), he attempted to shed his image by playing heavies, without much success; his career was further derailed when he was called up for service in Korea, from where he returned as a lieutenant colonel. After that Brown did little film work but became a familiar face on TV; now bald-headed, he had continuing roles on the TV series Gunsmoke (as rancher Ed O'Conner) and on the soap operas General Hospital (as Al Weeks) and Days of Our Lives (as Nathan Curtis). ~ All Movie Guide- 1969
John Gavin stars as Santa Fe marshal Ben Cutter, whose homecoming is blighted when he finds his town has been taken over by a Mexican bandit gang. Accompanied by two of the less frightened townsfolk--a small boy (Manuel Padila Jr.) and the boy's mother (Marisa Pavan)--Cutter sets out to rid the town of the interlopers. This TV movie was the pilot for a weekly series, slated for a CBS timeslot. Half a dozen scripts were prepared before the network decided to turn thumbs down. Cutter's Trail was originally telecast in a 90 minute slot, then expanded to two hours for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In his final Untouchables appearance, Lee Marvin is cast as Chicago cop Mike Brannon, a veteran of fifteen years on the force. Alas, Brannon's experience means very little when he is suspended after mobster Tony Lamberto (Frank DeKova) complains that Mike has roughed up one of his "boys". Outraged by a system that punishes honest cops while letting hoodlums walk free, Brannon and his four brothers form a vigilante group, "The Fist of Five". Dressed in police uniforms and driving a phony squad car, Brannon boys intend to destroy Lamberto by playing his own crooked game--something that Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), for all his hatred of punks like Lamberto, simply can't allow. Featured in the cast as Keir Brannon is a young James Caan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A young speed demon drives himself down the road to ruin in this crime drama. The trouble starts because the teen is so desperate to get a special set of hub caps for his dragster that he steals them off another car. It was easy and a car theft ring is born when he enlists the aid of pals to help him. They call themselves the Choppers and soon get into hot water with a determined insurance investigator. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Perry (Raymond Burr) is startled late one evening to find a beautiful young woman (Joan Tabor) climbing into his office window. She identifies herself as Virginia Colfax, the secretary of Ed Garvin, and insists that she was escaping from Garvin's jealous wife. Investigating, Perry finds that Mr. Garvin actually has two wives, one of whom (K.T. Stevens) is subsequently murdered--and that Virginia Colfax isn't Virginia Colfax after all. Featured in the cast is Thomas B. Henry, who had been Raymond Burr's acting teacher at the Pasadena Playhouse. This episode is based on a 1949 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
En route to the Evans ranch, where he hopes to help Hugh Evans (Malcolm Atterbury) and his daughter Elaine (Nancy Hadley) resolve a bitter land dispute, Paladin (Richard Boone) comes across wealthy young Harleigh Preston (Rayford Barnes), a dissolute alcoholic who has been robbed and abandoned by his previous guide. Intending to help Harleigh pull himself together and find some purpose in life, Paladin suggests that the young man offer a helping hand to the Evans family as well. Not surprisingly, Harleigh and Elaine fall in love--but is he worthy of that love? Much of this episode was filmed only location in the San Bernardino National Forest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this dark drama a hapless hitchhiker takes a ride with a drunk driver who takes him to his house. There he meets the driver's wife and murder ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In this western, the town sheriff must look into a scandal involving his friend who is reportedly having an affair with a Native American girl while his wife is on a trip. The friend is enraged at the accusations and kills the town attorney. He is then lynched by the angry town folk. The sheriff is perplexed by the brouhaha and begins investigating. Soon he discovers that the whole mess of rumors were started by a saloon owner and a wicked gunman who were conspiring to steel the dead man's valuable land. The sheriff then engages in a showdown with the two villains. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Tucker, Mara Corday, (more)
- 1956
Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to the home of wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Moran (Tom Brown, Virginia Carroll), whose 13-year-old daughter Bunny (Frances Karath) has disappeared. All evidence suggests that the girl has been kidnapped, especially since her dog has been found beaten to death in her room--and most especially when a suspect (Robert Jordan) makes several pointed comments suggesting that he knows Bunny's whereabouts. When the girl turns up safe and sound, she insists that she was indeed kidnapped; trouble is, she changes her story every time she is questioned, leading Friday to suspect that she's holding something back. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of July 6, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The redoubtable John Carpenter strikes again with the ultra-low-budget I Killed Wild Bill Hickok. Carpenter serves as the film's producer and screenwriter, and also heads the cast, pseudonymously billed as John Forbes. Everybody knows that Wild Bill Hickok (here played by Tom Brown) was shot in the back while playing poker, but Carpenter/Forbes boldly forges ahead with a wholly fictional scenario, wherein Wild Bill meets his Waterloo in a High Noon-style gun battle with one "Johnny Rebel" (played, naturally, by Carpenter). Though the film's cast (Helen Westcott, Virginia Gibson, Denver Pyle) is more impressive than usual for a John Carpenter production, the film betrays its cheapness through its heavy reliance upon mismatched stock footage. Warming the director's chair is ace stuntman Richard Talmadge, who despite his vast experience isn't quite in the John Ford or Lesley Selander league. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Westcott, Tom Brown, (more)
- 1956
Not to be confused with the popular David Zuckor comedy from the late '80s that starred Leslie Nielson, 1956's Naked Gun chronicles the adventures of a bored insurance salesman who spices up his drab life by heading to the Mexican jungle to search for an ancient Aztec treasure and return it to its rightful heir. Unfortunately, the treasure is cursed and creates all kinds of problems for the fellow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The seventh live presentation of the CBS drama anthology Playhouse 90 was "Heritage of Anger", written especially for television by Harold Jack Bloom. Ralph Bellamy heads the cast, as ruthless millionaire industrialist Eddie Hannemann. Naturally expecting his two sons to follow in his footsteps, Hannemann is outraged to discover that the "boys" would rather chart their own course in life. But more trouble is to come in the Hannemann household, thanks to the old man's sales manager Paul Fletcher (Lloyd Bridges), who wants to take over the business himself. Nina Foch and John Ericson costar in this drama, directed by a young John Frankenheimer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The original radio version of Gunsmoke was in its third year on the air when the TV version made its CBS network bow on September 10, 1955. Replacing radio's William Conrad as Matt Dillon was tall-in-the-saddle James Arness, whose chief claim to fame at that time was his portrayal of the title role in the 1951 sci-fi thriller The Thing. Arness was a protégé of film superstar John Wayne, who in a good-luck gesture appeared on camera at the beginning of the opening episode, "Matt Gets It"--which like virtually all of the episodes seen during Season One was adapted from one of the original radio scripts. No sooner had this first episode gotten under way that Gunsmoke staked out its claim as TV's first "adult" western with a startling sequence in which hero Matt Dillon was shot down and nearly killed by the heavy of the piece! During its earliest episodes, the series boasts a different opening sequence than the familiar one in which Matt Dillon and an unknown assailant square off for a showdown in Dodge City's deserted Main Street. These initial episodes find Matt philosophically wandering around the town's cemetery "Boot Hill", as he introduces the story at hand via offscreen narration. Also, Milburn Stone's Doc Adams is younger and less cantankerous than he'd been in later years, while Amanda Blake's Miss Kitty is flashier and more flirtatious with Matt Dillon (Their relationship would always remain ambiguous, though it was clear from the "body language" of the two characters in the first season that they might have had something going on in the off-hours). Only deputy Chester, played by Dennis Weaver, is fully formed from the outset, though Chester's famous limp is a bit inconsistent--and, in at least one episode, he doesn't limp at all! Evidently in hopes of luring viewers away from NBC's high-rated The George Gobel Show, the producers of Gunsmoke stuffed the series' first season with no fewer than 39 first-run episodes,which were spread out over a nine-month period with but a handful of reruns. Appearing in several of these episodes are a number of actors who'd worked on the radio Gunsmoke, including John Dehner, Harry Bartell, Vic Perrin, Jeanne Bates and Lawrence Dobkin; and in the episode "The Pest Hole", Howard McNear, "Doc Adams" in the radio version, is seen as hotel keeper Mr. Bradley. Also seen on Gunsmoke's maiden season are such stars in the making as Charles Bronson, Claude Akins, William Hopper, Sebastian Cabot and DeForest Kelley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Arness, Milburn Stone, (more)
- 1954
Fireman Save My Child started out as an Abbott and Costello picture, but then Lou Costello became ill with rheumatic fever. Or Costello turned down the script. Or the team decided to film Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde instead. Whatever the reason, when the film was finally released, Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett were playing the roles originally intended for Bud and Lou (A and C can still be seen in some long-shots, however). Set in San Francisco in the early 1900s, the film casts Hugh and Buddy as a pair of bumbling firemen. Buddy invents a new fire-extingushing device, which the bad guys attempt to steal. Naturally, the film affords plenty of opportunity for slapstick chase sequences, and even allows Buddy Hackett time to do a potted version of his "inferiority complex" monologue. Top-billed over O'Brian and Hackett is the zany musical aggregation of Spike Jones and His City Slickers, who likewise are given several opportunities to shine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Jones and His City Slickers, Buddy Hackett, (more)
- 1950
Veteran character actor Joe Sawyer produced, co-wrote and co-starred in the diverting docudrama Operation Haylift. Based on an actual incident that took place in 1949, the film recounts the efforts of the U.S. Air Force to rescue stranded cattle during a devastating series of blizzards. Sawyer's role is minor compared to Bill Williams and Tom Brown, who play a pair of brothers who sign up together for Air Force duty. Made with the full cooperation of the USAF, the film utilizes the services of a fleet of "flying boxcars," and also features the actual pilots who participated in the rescue. Handling the romantic angle in the film's dramatic passages are Ann Rutherford and Jane Nigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Williams, Ann Rutherford, (more)
- 1949
Just before its matriculation into Lippert Pictures, Screen Guild produced the fast-based boxing drama Ringside. Bantam-weight Don Barry stars as Mike, who forsakes a musical career for the boxing ring when his pugilist brother (Tom Brown) is blinded in a bout. Mike intends to confront the fighter (John Cason) who caused his brother's sightlessness, then "legally" kill the man in the ring. He is eventually talked out of this deadly strategy by his brother's girlfriend Janet (Sheila Ryan). The boxing sequences are well-lensed and tightly edited, compensation enough for the corny dialogue preceding them. Had it been made, say, 15 years earlier, Ringside might have been a suitable vehicle for James Cagney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Brown, Sheila Ryan, (more)
- 1949
In this boxing drama, Jimmy Brody, a retired middle-weight champion turned publisher, must return to the ring when his company encounters financial difficulties. He is set up by some bad-news bookies who try to convince Brody to take a dive. The ex-champ refuses and triumphs even though his hand was broken during the bout. Furious, the gamblers attempt to kill him. Fortunately the cops arrive in the nick of time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Brown, Audrey Long, (more)
- 1948
A safecracker risks his own life to save an endangered child from an oncoming truck and finds his life changes forever in this drama. During the rapid rescue, the crook breaks his leg and while he heals, he is befriended by a good-hearted priest who guides him toward the straight and narrow. Now the former thief is determined to return all the loot to the bank, even if it means destroying everyone in his gang to do it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don "Red" Barry, Dale Evans, (more)
- 1947
After serving with a notable lack of distinction in WW2, Corporal Slicker Smith (Bud Abbott) and Private Herbie Brown (Lou Costello) return to the US. Unbeknownst to their sourpussed sergeant Collins (Nat Pendleton), Slicker and Herbie have smuggled cute little war orphan Evie (Beverly Simmons) past the immigration authorities. In their efforts to find a decent home for Evie, our heroes return to the prewar "jobs" as sidewalk salesmen, then make a disastrous attempt to collect their GI bonus money. They also struggle to save Evie from deportation, hiding her from the prying eyes of the ubiquitous Collins, who has likewise returned to his civilian job as a police officer. The climax finds Herbie participating in a big-money midget-car race, feverishly dodging pedestrians and motorists as he tries to escape the authorities. The film also includes a romantic subplot involving Tom Brown and Joan Fulton (later known as Joan Shawlee). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
Filmed in semi-documentary fashion, House on 92nd Street is a "now it can be told" drama about the smashing of a Nazi spy ring operating the U.S. Thanks to covert surveillance, the FBI learns of the presence of several suspicious persons in NYC. William Eythe is a German-American college student approached by the spies to become a secret Nazi operative. Eythe instead heads directly to FBI chief Lloyd Nolan and offers his services as a double agent. His mission is to locate the head of the spy ring, an unseen figure known only as Mr. Christopher, and to that end Eythe infiltrates the ring, headquarted in a town house on 92nd street. Among the conspirators are an erudite German colonel (Leo G. Carroll) and the beautiful female owner of the house (Signe Hasso). Part of the plot involves the smuggling to Germany of America's atomic secrets by a weak-willed document clerk (played by Gene Lockhart, one of the best "cringers" in the business). Dwelling a bit too long on the meticulous research techniques of the FBI, House on 92nd Street picks up momentum in the final sequence, wherein "Mr. Christopher" is revealed and double agent Eythe barely escapes with his skin intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
Lee Tracy once more plays a fast-talking, slightly amoral newspaper reporter in PRC's The Payoff. Tracy is cast as Brad McKay, who at present is investigating the murder of a special prosecutor. The dead man was on the verge of delivering damning evidence against racket boss John Angus (Jack LaRue), and it looks as though the killing was an "inside job", committed by one of the victim's associates. Aiding and abetting McKay are cub reporter Guy Morris (Tom Brown), the publisher's son; Phyllis Walker (Tina Thayer), daughter of the murdered man; and Alma Dorene (Evelyn Brent), a femme fatale who is Not What She Seems. Way, way down on the cast list is Pat Costello, the brother of comedian Lou Costello. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1943
The 12-episode Universal serial The Adventures of Smilin' Jack is based on the Zack Mosely comic strip of the same name. The title character-minus his trademarked pencil moustache-is played by Tom Brown. Departing radically from the characters and situations of the original funny-paper version, the serial concerns itself with an effort by the Axis powers to find a secret route from India to China known only by the rulers of the (apocryphal) city of Mandon. Sidney Toler, then concurrently starring in the Charlie Chan series, plays a ruthless Asian general, while future Make Room for Daddy star Marjorie Lord is the plucky heroine. The serial's highlight sequence has Our Hero proving his mettle by walking barefoot over a pit of hot coals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Judy Canova plays Bessie Cobb, a kitchen worker at a Miami hotel who happens to have a crackerjack singing voice. The bell captain, Chick Patterson, learns that band leader Danny Marlowe is looking for a new girl singer, and a contest will be held at the hotel to choose one. Chick sees this as a way to make some significant money, which would allow him to marry his sweetheart, and so he persuades Bessie to enter. Chick takes a recording of Bessie to Marlowe, only to discover that gangster Honest Joe Kincaid is ordering Marlowe to choose his moll, Sugar, instead. Marlowe doesn't want to do this, but he's in over his head with gambling debts. Chick plays Bessie's record, but tells Marlowe that the voice belongs to Sugar. When Sugar comes to town, Danny and his pals kidnap her and Bessie goes on, pretending to be her. Unfortunately, Sugar's former boy friend sends two hit men to take care of her -- and they abduct Bessie, assuming she is Sugar. Things get even more complicated before all identities are straightened out and Bessie emerges the winner of the contest. Songs include the title number and "Barrelhouse Bessie from Basin Street." ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1942
A nine-year-old Elizabeth Taylor made her film debut in this lively comedy. She plays the spoiled-brat daughter of a pudding manufacturer who has been entered into the town's mayoral race by some of the local businessmen. They have chosen him because they think he is easy to manipulate. As a sales gimmick, the pudding magnate advertises that his product contains the highly nutritious "Vitamin Z." He suddenly begins selling pudding like crazy and soon his political campaign is well-funded. Unfortunately, there is no "Vitamin Z" and when this is discovered, the town fathers try to dump him and show that he is a fake. Undaunted, the pudding maker retaliates by proving that the businessmen are the real crooks and in spite of the scandal, the man gets elected. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Tom Brown, an actor who "borrowed" his professional name from 1932's Tom Brown of Culver, finds himself back in the collegiate pool in 1942's Hello Annapolis. Brown and up-and-coming Larry Parks sign up at the titular Naval academy, battling both in and out of uniform over the affections of Jean Parker. This pre-Pearl Harbor comedy has plenty of energy and little in the way of truth, but who wanted 62 minutes' worth of truth on the bottom half of a double bill? Silent movie buffs might want to keep a lookout for veterans Herbert Rawlinson and Mae Busch in the supporting cast. Hello Annapolis is augmented with background footage lensed at the real-life Annapolis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Set soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Let's Get Tough! opens with the East Side Kids -- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, David Gorcey, Sammy "Sunshine" Morrison, and Bobby Stone -- trying to enlist in the armed forces and getting turned down because they're not yet 18 years old. Eager to contribute and frustrated at not being allowed to help out in the national emergency, they decide to take action on their own when they see an argument between Kino, a Japanese dealer in antiques, and a local boy named Fritz Heinbach (Gabriel Dell). They try to run Kino out of his own store but instead, the shopkeeper runs them off, and the boys get a warning from "Pop" Stevens (Robert Armstrong), the local cop on the beat, to stay out of trouble. That night, however, they return intent on trashing Kino's store, only to find the man at his desk, stabbed to death. When they're pulled in by the police, the boys find out that Kino was a Chinese agent impersonating a Japanese, and trying to uncover a cell of saboteurs. The boys decide to investigate on their own after they hear rumors that Bill (Tom Brown), the brother of one of them, has been thrown out of the army for his un-American beliefs and has been seen hanging around Matsui, who is considered a potential suspect. They end up infiltrating a meeting of Japanese saboteurs and spies, and find an alliance between them and German immigrant Fritz Heinbach; Bill turns out to be an American agent working the same case as Kino, but they're all trapped, until one of the gang escapes to summon the police. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
