Willis Goldbeck Movies
A former journalist and publicist, Worcester Academy alumnus Willis Goldbeck launched his film career in 1923. Goldbeck wrote screenplays for such major silent-screen directors as Rex Ingram, Herbert Brenon and Tod Browning. In the mid-1930s, he signed on at MGM's "B"-picture unit, scripting most of the studio's Dr. Kildare films. His first directorial credit was Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942), the first "Kildare" film without Kildare ($ew Ayres.) His first and last venture into independent production was Johnny Holiday, which he also wrote and directed. He went on to helm Columbia's Ten Tall Men (1951), then concentrated exclusively on writing and producing. Willis Goldbeck's last projects in these capacities were John Ford's Sgt. Rutledge (1960) and Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1986
The old reliable movie title Between Two Women was activated once more for this made-for-TV film. Farrah Fawcett and Colleen Dewhurst star as, respectively, a domineering ex-opera star and a shy schoolteacher. The ads for the film suggested that Michael Nouri played the apex of a romantic triangle between the older Dewhurst and the younger Fawcett. In truth, he plays Dewhurst's son, incurring his mother's wrath when he marries Fawcett. Dewhurst's unwarranted interference destroy her son's marriage--but it is Fawcett who compassionately rushes to her mother-in-law's bedside when the older woman suffers a debilitating stroke. First telecast March 10, 1986, Between Two Women was based on Gillian Martin's novel Living Arrows. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farrah Fawcett, Colleen Dewhurst, (more)
- 1962
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Like Pontius Pilate, director John Ford asks "What is truth?" in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--but unlike Pilate, Ford waits for an answer. The film opens in 1910, with distinguished and influential U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) returning to the dusty little frontier town where they met and married twenty-five years earlier. They have come back to attend the funeral of impoverished "nobody" Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). When a reporter asks why, Stoddard relates a film-long flashback. He recalls how, as a greenhorn lawyer, he had run afoul of notorious gunman Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who worked for a powerful cartel which had the territory in its clutches. Time and again, "pilgrim" Stoddard had his hide saved by the much-feared but essentially decent Doniphon. It wasn't that Doniphon was particularly fond of Stoddard; it was simply that Hallie was in love with Stoddard, and Doniphon was in love with Hallie and would do anything to assure her happiness, even if it meant giving her up to a greenhorn. When Liberty Valance challenged Stoddard to a showdown, everyone in town was certain that the greenhorn didn't stand a chance. Still, when the smoke cleared, Stoddard was still standing, and Liberty Valance lay dead. On the strength of his reputation as the man who shot Valance, Stoddard was railroaded into a political career, in the hope that he'd rid the territory of corruption. Stoddard balked at the notion of winning an election simply because he killed a man-until Doniphon, in strictest confidence, told Stoddard the truth: It was Doniphon, not Stoddard, who shot down Valance. Stoddard was about to reveal this to the world, but Doniphon told him not to. It was far more important in Doniphon's eyes that a decent, honest man like Stoddard become a major political figure; Stoddard represented the "new" civilized west, while Doniphon knew that he and the West he represented were already anachronisms. Thus Stoddard went on to a spectacular political career, bringing extensive reforms to the state, while Doniphon faded into the woodwork. His story finished, the aged Stoddard asks the reporter if he plans to print the truth. The reporter responds by tearing up his notes. "This is the West, sir, " the reporter explains quietly. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Dismissed as just another cowboy opus at the time of its release, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has since taken its proper place as one of the great Western classics. It questions the role of myth in forging the legends of the West, while setting this theme in the elegiac atmosphere of the West itself, set off by the aging Stewart and Wayne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, James Stewart, (more)
The first big budget Western to feature a black hero, this military courtroom drama from director John Ford starred his long-time stock player Woody Strode. When a cavalry commander and his daughter are discovered murdered, racism amidst the 9th Cavalry immediately leads to suspicions that Sergeant Braxton Rutledge (Strode), a black man, is responsible for the crime. Arrested by Lieutenant Tom Cantrell (Jeffrey Hunter), Rutledge escapes from captivity during an Indian raid but voluntarily returns to warn his fellow cavalrymen that they are about to face an ambush by hostiles, saving the detachment from certain doom. At first among those who accept Rutledge's probable guilt, Cantrell and his love interest Mary Beecher (Constance Towers) become two of the accused man's scarce defenders as he is put on trial and faces testimony from prejudiced "witnesses." ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, (more)
- 1958
In this espionage film, an American journalist goes to London. There he becomes friends with a young woman who is really a secret agent carrying an important list of enemy spies disguised as a diary. When she drops it, he picks it up and finds himself facing a gun barrel. They get involved in a scuffle and the woman ends up accidentally dead. Now the reporter has the secret list. He finds himself the target of spies desperate for the information. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry Parks, Constance Smith, (more)
- 1958
This low-budget, Frankenstein-flavored sci-fi flick involves the transplantation of a dead scientist's brain into the body of a hulking, glowing-eyed, caped robot by the man's lunatic brother. Though initially a success, the operation soon goes horribly wrong as the robot begins to display increasingly homicidal behavior, zapping people with its gamma-ray eyes. The climax comes when the robot begins a murderous rampage in the United Nations. The only hope for stopping the monster comes from the late scientist's young son, who manages to reach what little of the scientist's identity still remains and calms the robot down. This is actually a well-written film with a strong emotional core and a fairly sympathetic monster, but it loses some ground thanks to the rather silly rivet-headed robot costume. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ross Martin, Mala Powers, (more)
The Lone Ranger was the first of two Technicolor theatrical features based on the popular TV series of the same name. Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, stars of the video version, essay the roles of the Masked Rider of the Plains and his faithful Indian companion Tonto. This time around, our heroes take on evil rancher Reece Kilgore (Lyle Bettger), who hopes to become an all-poweful land baron by fomenting an Indian war. It is up to the Lone Ranger to keep the peace and to find out why Kilgore is up to what he's up to. To expedite this, the Ranger adopts a couple of clever disguises (though we never see his full face au naturel). Among the more novel aspects of the film is little Beverly Washburn as Lila Kilgore, the sweet, innocent daughter of the double-dyed villain. The nominal leading lady is played by Bonita Granville, who co-produced the film with her husband Jack Wrather. The Lone Ranger proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (also 1956). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clayton Moore, Jay Silverheels, (more)
- 1955
I Died a Thousand Times is a scene-by-scene remake of the 1941 crime-drama classic High Sierra. Jack Palance steps into the old Humphrey Bogart role as Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, the ageing bank robber who intends to pull off one last heist before retiring. Sprung from prison by likeable crime boss Big Mac (Lon Chaney Jr.), Earle is commissioned to mastermind the robbery of a resort hotel. His partners in crime include the hotheaded, immature Babe (Lee Marvin) and Red (Earl Holliman), as well as "inside man" Mendoza (Perry Lopez). Also along for the ride is Marie (Shelley Winters), a dance-hall girl whom Babe has picked up. Marie falls in love with Earle, but he has eyes only for Velma (Lori Nelson), the club-footed daughter of a farmer (Ralph Moody) whom Earle had earlier befriended. Intending to use his share of the loot to finance Velma's operation, Earle goes through with the robbery, only to be thwarted by the ineptitude of his partners, the treachery of the late Big Mac's successors, and, finally, the fickle Velma. With the faithful Marie by his side, Earle makes a desperate escape into the High Sierras, but fate is still against him. Essentially an itinerary of what has previously "clicked" in High Sierra, I Died a Thousand Times makes a few concessions to changing tastes and mores; the stereotype comedy-relief character played by black actor Willie Best in the original film, for example, has been replaced by the more "acceptable" (at least by 1950s terms) stereotyped Mexican played by Gonzales-Gonzales. While the 1955 film cannot match the excellence of its 1941 role model, I Died a Thousand Times works pretty well on its own terms. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1951
For his initial effort from his own Norma Productions, Burt Lancaster picked a winner in Ten Tall Men. Lancaster stars as "Sergeant Mike," a two-fisted Foreign Legionnaire presiding over a lovable band of mercenaries, sneak thieves and cutthroats. While sitting in the stockade for the umpteenth time, Mike learns of a Riff plan to attack his fort. He and his men break jail and embark on their own attack of the Riffian encampment. Part of their strategy (much of which is improvised on the spot) is to kidnap Mahia (Jody Lawrence), the toothsome daughter of the Riffian sheik. Understandably, Mahia despises her captors until she realizes that the film's real villain is the covetous Caid Hussan (Gerald Mohr). This one's got everything, from a campy reenactment of a key scene in Beau Geste to the old reliable threat of a red-hot iron upon female flesh. Mari Blanchard, fully clothed for a change, shows up early in the film as a coquettish French mademoiselle who foments an all-out donnybrook among Mike and his fellow legionnaires. With the exceptions of Jody Lawrence and Gerald Mohr, no one in Ten Tall Men takes the proceedings too seriously; the film has some of the cheeky insouciance of Lancaster's subsequent swashbuckler The Crimson Pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Jody Lawrance, (more)
- 1949
This drama tells about a juvenile delinquent that wavers between loyalty to a fellow crook and a kind-hearted reform school guard. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Bendix, Allen Martin, Jr., (more)
- 1949
Boys' Prison is a reissue title for 1949's Johnny Holiday--and a curious one indeed, since it is made clear throughout that the institution so prominently featured is not a prison. The Indiana Boys' School is a home for "wayward youths", endeavoring to imbue its juvenile charges with responsibility and self-esteem. Arrested in a robbery masterminded by hardcase juvenile delinquent Stanley Clements, surly young Johnny Holiday (Allen Martin Jr.) is put in charge of the school's tough-but-lovable guard William Bendix. The two become good friends through a mutual interest in horses, but Johnny's reformation is threatened when Clements arrives at the school to stir up more trouble. Songwriter Hoagy Carmichael and Indiana governor Henry F. Schicker appear as themselves in Johnny Holiday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1947
After 15 entries, MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series came to a quiet end with Dark Delusion. Although Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), crusty chief surgeon at Blair General Hospital, is officially the leading character, most of the footage is devoted to Gillespie's outspoken protégé, Dr. Tommy Coalt (James Craig). The film's central crisis involves Cynthia Grace (Lucille Bremer), a spoiled socialite suffering from a blood clot. Not unexpectedly, Tommy falls in love with Cynthia (much to her parents' dismay), and soon he's drawing up plans to marry the girl and setting up private practice in a smaller town. Coincidentally, this was the same sort of dilemma facing Gillespie's most famous protégé, Dr Kildare, in the initial series entry Young Dr. Kildare (Perhaps MGM was hoping to bring things full circle with a new "Dr. Coalt" series) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Anderson, Art Baker, (more)
For his first post-WWII starring film, 26-year-old Mickey Rooney returned to familiar territory in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy. In true Art-Imitates-Life fashion, Rooney plays returning GI Andy Hardy, who arrives in his home town of Carvel to the open arms of his family: Father Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone), mother Mrs. Hardy (Fay Holden) and Aunt Milly (Sara Haden). After reels and reels of "Gee, Mom and Dad, it's great to be home", Andy launches into a new romance with college coed Kay Wilson (Bonita Granville). His boundless ebullience is dampened when Kay elects to marry another, setting the stage for a another of those man-to-man talks between Judge Hardy and Son. Fortunately, Andy bounces back to his old self when he meets Latin American exchange student Isobel Gonzales (Lina Romay). Wisely, MGM decided that Mickey Rooney was too old to continue to play Andy Hardy, and the studio dropped the series with this entry (there would be a so-so "reunion" picture, Andy Hardy Comes Home, in 1958). If it seems nowadays as though Love Laughs at Andy Hardy is being telecast at least seven times per week, it may be because the film lapsed into public domain in 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, (more)
- 1945
MGM's newest romantic team of James Craig and Frances Gifford head the cast of the glossy "B"-picture She Went to the Races. Gifford plays beautiful professor Ann Wotters, who develops a scientific method of picking winners at the race track. Craig portrays horsetrainer Steve Confield, who thinks that Ann's theories are all wet. Falling in love with Steve, Ann gets mixed up in a romantic triangle, the apex of which is socialite Hilda Spotts (Ava Gardner, who steals the picture). Edmund Gwenn, Sig Ruman and Reginald Owen provide screwball-comedy relief as three pedants who are subsidizing Ann's equestrian research. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Craig, Frances Gifford, (more)
- 1944
The oft-used movie title Between Two Women was resurrected once more for this entry in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series. Though Kildare is nowhere to be found, Lionel Barrymore is very much in evidence as Dr. Leonard Gillespie, crusty chief surgeon of Blair General Hospital. Gillespie's assistant is Dr. Red Adams (Van Johnson), who spends the early part of the film fending off the romantic advances of social worker Ruth Edley (Marilyn Maxwell)-a carryover subplot from the previous "Kildare" entry Three Men in White. Adams is also romantically involved with ailing socialite Cynthia Grace (Lucille Bremer), who suffers from a life-threatening blood clot. As the story draws to a close, Adams must choose between a lucrative practice in the Big City, or a lower-paying but more professionally rewarding post in a small town. Here's a hint to the outcome: in the next (and last) "Kildare" film, Dark Delusion, Gillespie's assistant is played by James Craig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1944
MGM intended Rationing to be an object lesson as well as a comedy, to teach the moviegoers the importance of rationing products during World War II. Wallace Beery plays a small town butcher who comes under fire from the local citizens for attempting to honor the ration system. Beery finds himself swamped in a sea of government red tape, and at times is tempted to sidestep the law, but at the end he does his patriotic duty. Like Laurel and Hardy's MGM feature Air Raid Wardens (43), Rationing tends to sacrifice laughs to get its message across. The Beery film has the added handicap of running about twenty minutes too long. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, (more)
- 1944
MGM's popular Dr. Kildare series spanned 1938-47. Lew Ayres played the title character, but parted in 1942. Though crusty and craggly Lionel Barrymore, portrayed Dr. Gillespie (one of {%Kildare's contemporaries at Blair General Hospital)) from the beginning of the series, he initially came second billed, and only received first billing in the six films that followed Ayres's departure, thus becoming the central character. 1944's Three Men and White marks the fourth such instance. As in prior entries, the premise of Three Men revolves around Gillespie solving medical mysteries and fixing romantic problems. Here, Gillespie is forced to decide between Keye Luke (as Dr. Lee Wong How) and Van Johnson (as Dr. Randall Adams) as his new assistant. To make the call, he assigns a medical case to each. Wong How must help a child overcome his allergy to sugar; Johnson must work a female patient through 'insurmountable' arthritis. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, (more)
- 1943
The third of MGM's Dr. Kildare series to dispense with the services of Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres), Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case stars crusty old Lionel Barrymore in the title role. The first half of the film concerns Gillespie's efforts to expedite the romance of Army sergeant Orisin (Michael Duane) and Marcia Bradburn (Donna Reed), with the help of doctors Red Adams (Van Johnson) and Lee Wong How (Keye Luke). The closing reels lapse into melodrama when Gillespie is kidnapped by mentally unstable convict patient Roy Todwell (John Craven) and his gang. In addition to new MGM contractees Van Johnson and Donna Reed, Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case gave a boost to young star-in-the-making Margaret O'Brien. Like most of the later films in the series, this one is hampered a bit by its excessive length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, (more)
- 1942
When Lew Ayres' wartime conscientious-objector status caused MGM to drop the actor like a hot potato, Ayres' "Dr. Kildare" series became the sole responsibility of Lionel Barrymore as the crusty Dr. Leonard Gillespie. In the first Kildare-less entry, Calling Dr. Gillespie, the ageing medico has a new assistant, refugee Dutch surgeon Dr. John Hunter Gerniede (Philip Dorn). Both Gillespie and Gerniede tackle the case of schizophrenic homicidal maniac Roy Todwell (Phil Brown), who is quite a handful to say the least. The story comes to a more suspenseful conclusion than usual as Todwell stalks Gillespie in the dead of night. MGM star-to-be Ava Gardner has a tiny, uncredited bit role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Philip Dorn, (more)
- 1942
On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) realizes that it's time to appoint a new assistant to replace young Dr. Kildare. Gillespie is obliged to choose from three highly qualified candidates: Dr. Randall "Red" Adams (Van Johnson), Dr. Lee Wong How (Keye Luke), and Dr. Dennis Lindsay (played by future director Richard Quine). To test their mettle, he gives all three interns a chance to diagnose a separate delicate case. Though the results aren't quite to Gillespie's liking, the ending is "open" enough to suggest that at least two of the three candidates will be around for the next series entry, Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case. Side note: Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant co-stars Richard Quine and Susan Peters were married in 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, (more)
- 1941
Dr. Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres) plays Good Samaritan with potentially disastrous results in The People vs. Dr. Kildare. Happening upon the scene of a motor accident, Kildare performs an emergency operation on crash victim Frances Marlowe (Bonita Granville), an ice-skating star. While recovering in Blair General Hospital, Frances discovers that her leg is paralyzed, and promptly sues Kildare and his hospital for negligence, to the tune of $100,000 (real money back in 1941!) Just when all seems lost, Kildare's irascible mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) ascertains the true source of Frances' paralysis, leading to another operation and?..and, well, it's better seen than read. Questionable comedy relief is provided by Red Skelton as dumbell orderly Vernon Briggs (Skelton was never truly comfortable in this type of role), while an unbilled Dwight Frye ("Renfield" in the original Dracula) shows up as a mild-mannered jury foreman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1941
When MGM decided to move up-and-coming star Laraine Day out of the "Dr. Kildare" series, the studio did so in a startlingly dramatic fashion. In Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day, Dr. Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres) and nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) are finally able to exchange their marital vows. Alas, the honeymoon ends abruptly when poor Mary is struck down and killed by a speeding truck (hopefully, it is safe to give away this plot twist at this late date). Numbed by grief, Kildare is snapped out of his doldrums by his crusty mentor Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who urges the young medico to honor Mary's memory by continuing to help others. The grimmer aspects of Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day are offset by several comic subplots, one of which involves an orchestra leader (Nils Asther) who suffers buzzing in his ears due to his eating habits! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1941
In this episode of the popular medical series, Kildare finds himself involved in a dispute between to competing hospitals. The trouble begins when an intern rushes a beautiful girl to Kildare's hospital. She has a shard of glass imbedded in her heart. The girl survives the surgery, and the intern is promptly fired for bringing her to the wrong hospital. Meanwhile the girl falls for Kildare, but he is still grieving over his late fiance who died during "Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1940
Appointed resident assistant at the Byng State Hospital by his mentor Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), young Doctor James Kildare (Lew Ayres) has every reason to celebrate. His euphoria, however, is short-lived: Kildare is forced to return to his hometown when his general-practitioner father (Samuel S. Hinds) collapses from overwork. At first, the townsfolk are suspicious of Kildare's "newfangled" medical methods. But when the young medico is able to diagnose the malady afflicting Leading Citizen George Winslow (George Lockhart), Kildare is wholeheartedly accepted by his new flock. But will Dr. Kildare stay home, or will he return to the Big City for new adventures? Hint: there were still four "Kildare" episodes to go before Lew Ayres left the series in 1942. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1940
Dr. Kildare's Crisis is actually one suffered by his fiancee, nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day). Mary's financier brother Douglas Lamont (Robert Young) is subject to unpredictable seizures, and for a while it seems that he is suffering from hereditary epilepsy. This being 1940, Douglas' affliction carries an onus which seriously threatens the impending marriage between Mary and Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres); after all, who knows how their children will turn out? But by using an unorthodox therapeutic method, Dr. Kildare proves that Douglas' medical condition was borne of an accident rather than a genetic disorder. The final diagnosis is rendered by crusty Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who thereby manages to justify his appearance in the film in the very last reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
