Robert Hutton Movies
American actor Robert Hutton had a briefly thriving Hollywood career thanks to something called "victory casting." While many of the major stars were in uniform during World War II, the Hollywood studios scrambled to find young actors who could substitute for their departed favorites. Hutton happened to have many of the shy, self-effacing characteristics of Jimmy Stewart, which served him well in such Warner Bros. pictures as Destination Tokyo (1943), Janie (1944) and Roughly Speaking (1945). Warners allowed Hutton a major showcase in the all-star morale booster Hollywood Canteen (1945); it was Hutton's puppy-love attraction to Joan Leslie which motivated the film's plotline. When the Big Names came marching home in 1945, "victory" fill-in actors suddenly found themselves expendable. Hutton was able to hang on longer than most with supporting roles in such films as The Younger Brothers (1949), Man on the Eiffel Tower (1950), The Steel Helmet (1951), Casanova's Big Night (1954) and The Colossus of New York (1958). Still relatively boyish in middle age, Hutton was personally selected by Jerry Lewis to play one of Lewis' "wicked stepbrothers" in Cinderfella (1960). Like many '40s male leads, Hutton spent plenty of time in horror and science-fiction films of the '50s and '60s, including The Man Without a Body (1957), Invisible Invaders (1959) and The Slime People (1963), which Hutton also produced and directed and which got better bookings than it deserved thanks to a robust promotional campaign. Hutton lived in England from 1964 through 1974, popping up as a character actor in films like You Only Live Twice (1967) The Torture Garden (1968) and Tales from the Crypt (1971). Before Robert Hutton returned to the States, he wrote the screenplay for the British-produced Persecution (1974), a turgid thriller distinguished by the astonishing presence of Trevor Howard and Lana Turner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1972
- PG
The phenomenon of Tales from the Crypt seems to have no endings, only changes. This successful pun-filled style of presenting ironic horror tales had its beginnings in William Gaine's E.C. comic series. At one time, outlandish E.C. Comics were at the heart of a national furor over the "evils" of comic books, which were thought to lead to moral degeneracy. The big comic-book publishers were frightened into freezing E.C. out of their distribution network, which killed the business. This British movie was based on the Tales from the Crypt series, which spawned several subsequent movies (and many imitators), at least one television series, and a whole new wave of comic books. Released in 1972, this movie has five episodes based on Gaines' stories, each introduced by Sir Ralph Richardson as the eerily cheery Crypt Keeper. His comedic approach to the role was misunderstood at the time, as reviewers expected a more solemn approach to horror. In "All Through the House," Santa Claus is someone to avoid. In "Reflection of Death" it takes some people a while to realize the truth about themselves. In "Poetic Justice" death cannot prevent one man's revenge. The episode "Blind Alley" demonstrates a new use for razor blades. "Wish You Were Here" cautions against taking native artifacts lightly (among other things). Among the stars featured are Peter Cushing, Joan Collins and Patrick Magee. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Originally telecast February 16, 1972, the 60-minute Five Miles to Midnight is an episode of the Anglo-American TV adventure series The Persuaders. Tony Curtis and Roger Moore star as Danny Wilde and Lord Brett Sinclair, two millionaire playboys who double as private detectives. Laurence Naismith costars as Judge Fulton, their elderly mentor. In this installment, Danny and Brett get mixed up with an American mobster (Robert Hutton), on the lam from a hit man. The boys are aided and abetted by troublesome photojournalist Joan Collins. Filmed on location in the Italian Alps, Five Miles to Midnight was released to video in the early 1980s to capitalize on Ms. Collins' Dynasty fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- PG
The inimitable Vincent Price puts an interesting spin on this otherwise pedestrian witch-hunt exercise -- a rehashing of Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm) and several of Roger Corman's numerous Poe variations from the previous decade. Here Price plays Edward Whitman, a corrupt, sadistic magistrate in 16th-century Ireland who puts a quick and deadly stop to the activities of a local Druidic coven... but not before the sect's leader Oona (Elisabeth Bergner) puts a curse on him and the Whitman family line, calling up a vengeful spirit known as a "sidhee" which takes flesh in the form of an otherwise mild-mannered stable boy (Patrick Mower). As swift and violent retribution works its way through the Whitman family, so does this film snowball toward its bizarre and muddled conclusion -- made all the more confounding by rather choppy editing. Just like Conqueror Worm and half a dozen others, this was fallaciously marketed by distributor American International Pictures as yet another adaptation of the works of Edgar Allan Poe -- as if AIP hadn't kicked Poe's corpse around enough in the '60s. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Elisabeth Bergner, (more)
Anthropologist Dr. Brockton (Joan Crawford) believes she has discovered the missing link in this flat science fiction drama. The creature is found in a cave and brought to her laboratory to undergo tests for her research. The hairy beast with the face of a monkey loves classical music and hates rock & roll. When one of the slack-jawed yokels opens his cage, he escapes and goes on a killing rampage as he tries to return to his cave. In a gentle moment with a little girl, the beast shows a tender side that recalls a scene from Frankenstein. Soon troops are called in, despite Brockton's protest to entomb the creature by dynamiting the entrance to the cave. This was the last film for Joan Crawford, an inglorious way to end a legendary film career. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, (more)
James Bond heads East to save the world (and to learn how to serve saki properly) in this action-packed espionage adventure. When an American spacecraft disappears during a mission, it's widely believed to have been intercepted by the Soviet Union, and after a Russian space capsule similarly goes missing, most consider it to be an act of American retaliation. Soon the two nations are at the brink of war, but British intelligence discovers that some sort of UFO has crashed into the Sea of Japan. Agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent in to investigate. After staging his own death to avoid being followed, Bond, disguised as a Japanese civilian, teams up with agent Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba) and his beautiful associate Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi). With their help, Bond learns that both the American and Russian space missions were actually scuttled by supercriminal Ernst Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) in yet another bid by his evil empire SPECTRE to take over the world. As he battles the bad guys, Bond finds time to romance both Kissy Suziki (Mie Hama) and Helga Brandt (Karin Dor). You Only Live Twice was one of Sean Connery's last outings as James Bond. The next Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, would star George Lazenby as 007, and while Connery would return for Diamonds Are Forever, in 1973, Roger Moore took over the role. (Connery would play Bond one last time, in 1983's Never Say Never Again, which was produced outside the official series.) ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, (more)
- 1967
Also released under the title Manutara, this sci-fi film features scientist Professor Koniglich (Akim Tamiroff) as he attempts to seek revenge on the descendants of the 18th-century family who killed his ancestor. When his atomic experiment goes wrong, Koniglich finds himself transformed into a giant vulture with the face of a man, and he sets out to exact his revenge in his new horrific form. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Akim Tamiroff, (more)
The Torture Garden is an "omnibus" chiller, adapted from four short stories by Robert Bloch (Psycho). Each is introduced by Burgess Meredith, playing a sinister carnival barker by the name of Dr. Diabolo. The doctor's audience consists of five people, four of whom are apprised of their ultimate fates as Diabolo weaves his stories. In "Enoch," a young playboy falls under the spell of a cannibalistic cat. In "Terror Over Hollywood," a famous movie star is revealed to be an android. In "Mr. Steinway," the "villain" is a killer piano. And in "The Man Who Collected Poe," the title character murders another collector over a valuable Poe manuscript--only to receive retribution from ol' Edgar himself. If we told you anything about the fifth person in Meredith's audience, we'd be giving away the ending, wouldn't we now? The individual episodes tend to rise and fall depending upon the strength of their stars. Among those present in Torture Garden are horror-flick regulars Jack Palance, Peter Cushing, Robert Hutton, Michael Ripper and Niall McGinniss. No, this isn't a Hammer Production; it was put together by Hammer's principal British rival of the 1960s, Amicus Films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, (more)
- 1967
All available information indicates that Manutara was a working title for the infamous horror-rama The Vulture. Broderick Crawford plays Brian Stroud, the scion of an accursed Cornish family. Two hundred years earlier, a Spanish seafarer, buried alive with his pet vulture, placed an onus on the heads of everyone in Stroud's family. Stroud's scientist brother-in-law, Dr. Eric Lutens (Robert Hutton), is worried that the curse will strike again, especially after discovering a huge vulture's nest. Sure enough, Akim Tamiroff, the descendant of the unfortunate sailor, has developed a hideous mutant -- an enormous vulture with the face of a human being. The best scene occurs when Brian Stroud (or Broderick Crawford's stuntman) is carried aloft by a pair of papier-mâché talons. Filmed in color but released in the U.S. in black-and-white, The Vulture was restored to its full-hued splendor (if that is the word) for its ubiquitous late-night TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this sci-fi drama, an alien spaceship breaks down and crashes on the moon. These creatures need help to make repairs and so use their powers to possess a few scientists and use them as slaves. Unfortunately for them, one scientist has a metal plate in his head and cannot be controlled. It is he who travels to the moon and has a little chat with the aliens and suggests they might get more help, if they simply asked for it. The story is based on Joseph Millard's book The Gods Hate Kansas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Jennifer Jayne, (more)
Doctor in Clover is the next-to-last entry in the British "Doctor" comedy film series. After losing his government job, doctor Gaston Grimsdyke (Leslie Phillips) signs up for a medical school course with his old tutor-nemesis Sir Lancelot Spratt (welcome back, James Robertson Justice). What follows is the standard melange of double- and single entendres, not to mention the usual dalliances with such underdressed lovelies as Shirley Ann Field, Fenella Fielding and Elizabeth Ercy. A subplot involves a rejuvenation serum that is disastrously applied to the behemothlike Sir Lancelot. Though allegedly based on the original "Doctor" novel by Richard Gordon, any resemblance is purely coincidental.Doctor in Clover was also released as Carnaby MD, in deference to the "Swinging London" craze. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Phillips, Shirley Ann Field, (more)
- 1966
British pop star Cliff Richard and his band The Shadows (including influential guitarist Hank B. Marvin) star in this lighthearted blend of music, comedy, and espionage. An American fighter plane accidentally drops a small bomb on a Spanish town; the bomb fails to go off, but the community is thrown into a panic and the village is evacuated. When Cliff and the Shadows arrive in town to play a show, they're a bit puzzled to discover that no one is there; when they find out what has happened, the boys try to find the bomb so that it can be returned to the American pilots. However, it turns out that foreign agent Mr. X (John leMesurier) is also looking for the bomb and has blackmailed hotel owner Col. Roberts (Robert Morley) into helping him. As you might expect, Cliff and his band manage to squeeze in a few songs as they further the cause of Anglo-American unity. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Richard, The Shadows, (more)
- 1964
In this crime drama, a Mafioso decides to go straight and turn states evidence against the mob. The mob retaliates by kidnapping the squealer's son. To get him back, the ex-gangster enlists the aid of a dancer, a worker for the American embassy, and Scotland Yard. At the end of it all, the boy is returned and the Mafia is temporarily destroyed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this wartime espionage drama, two incarcerated safecrackers are released to help Naval Intelligence steal classified Japanese documents following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The documents are hidden in the Japanese embassy in Lisbon. Once there, the crooks learn that the papers are worth a bundle so after the mission is completed, one of the thieves attempts to steal them for himself. He ends up killed by their Lisbon contact, who absconds with the documents himself. He too gets killed and the Navy finally gets the papers. Meanwhile the other safecracker is caught by the Japanese and held captive on a ship. When it is torpedoed, the thief is saved and receives a presidential pardon for his heroism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Tom Gregory (Robert Hutton), a Los Angeles-based sports reporter, is flying into L.A. and lands his private plane after a rough descent through some kind of opaque midair disturbance, only to find the airport deserted. He meets Professor Galvin (Robert Burton) and his two daughters, Bonnie (Judee Morton) and Lisa (Susan Hart), who tell him that the city has been overrun by huge, hulking slime-covered subterraneans called Slime People, who appeared out of the sewers and other underground water concentrations. Appearing out of a strange thick fog apparently generated by a device of their own, they've killed hundreds, possibly thousands, panicked the population, fought the army to a standstill, and have now cut off the city with a wall of solidified fog. Gregory doesn't believe them completely, despite the presence of slaughtered corpses on the highways and back roads, until he gets to the television station where he works and screens the news footage. The quartet also makes contact with a young marine, Calvin Johnson (William Boyce), who was cut off from his unit and left for dead by the creatures. They manage to elude the Slime People and try to work out a plan for survival, making contact along the way with Norman Talliver (Les Tremayne), an eccentric writer, who is soon dispatched by the creatures. They discover the Slime People are impervious to harm by bullets or other convention weapons, their skin sealing up any wound instantly, but they can be killed by their own hollow-pointed spears, which don't allow wounds to close. That helps in fighting them off one-on-one, and the professor's reasoning that salt would be effective against slug-like creatures gives them a second weapon against the Slime People. But clearing them all out and freeing the city requires an assault against the creatures' own stronghold, which becomes even more essential when Bonnie is taken prisoner. Gregory and Cal manage to keep the Slime People busy long enough for the professor to destroy their fog-generating device. Overwhelmed by fresh air and sunlight, the Slime People start to collapse dead in their tracks, and the army is soon back in charge, doing what amounts to a literal mopping up operation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1960
American-International's Jailbreakers can be described as a Roger Corman film without Roger Corman. All the ingredients are there: tiny cast, tinier budget, workable central situation. All that's missing is the tension that Corman could have drawn from such homely material. For the record, the film stars Robert Hutton and Mary Castle as a married couple, held hostage in a dismal, deserted town by three escaped convicts. The crooks are looking for a cache of stolen loot, and they intend to keep Hutton and Castle alive long enough to locate and dig up the cash for them. Inevitably, the thieves fall out, leading to a noisy, corpse-ridden denouement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Both director Frank Tashlin and his comic star Jerry Lewis dilute their comic talents to play for the kiddie crowd in this fractured fairy tale version of the Cinderella story. This simply-told tale lards over the fairy story with un-needed songs and production numbers, but the basic story is still the same, only switched to a male Cinderella. Lewis is Fella, a put-upon flunky to a mean and rich dowager (Judith Anderson) and her three surly sons (all of whom appear to be pushing fifty). Fella falls for the beautiful princess (Anna Maria Alberghetti) and with the assistance of his screwy fairy godfather (Ed Wynn) gets transformed into a pre-Buddy Love lounge lizard who sweeps the Princess off her feet as he struts down an ornate stairway to the beat of The Count Basie Orchestra, leaving his stepbrothers with their mouths agape. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Ed Wynn, (more)
- 1959
The Earth is attacked by mysterious invaders from outer space, who plan on destroying humankind. The invaders are invisible in our atmosphere, but are able to inhabit and reanimate the bodies of the dead. The armies of rotting corpses march on the cities, and it seems as though there is no defense. Major Bruce Jay (John Agar) is put in charge of a small, secret research center with a group of scientists, who must find a way of combating the invaders. Personality conflicts develop as Jay's hard-nosed, by-the-book approach to his job -- which requires him to kill anyone who might jeopardize the mission -- put him in opposition to the scientists (played by Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, and Robert Hutton). They develop an ultra-sonic gun that has the combined effect of rendering the aliens visible and killing them, but first they must test it, by capturing an alien, an action that forces them to run the risk of being discovered. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Agar, Jean Byron, (more)
Juvenile delinquents run afoul of big-league dope dealers in this low-budget crime thriller. Frankie (Robert Arthur) is a hotheaded teenager whose impulsive streak has led him to the State Honor Farm for wayward boys. Frankie engineers an escape with the help of his curvaceous girlfriend, Donna (Jan Brooks), but he makes the mistake of bringing along fellow delinquent Switch (Steve Rowland), who's behind bars for attacking his father with a knife. Switch doesn't make a secret of his attraction to Donna, which slowly infuriates Frankie, and things become no more comfortable when their car breaks down and they're forced to hitchhike. The three teenagers catch a ride with Rivas (John Goddard) and his wife, Madge (Carol Ohmart), but this isn't the stroke of good fortune it might seem. Rivas is a ruthless criminal who has killed a narcotics agent en route from Mexico while smuggling a large parcel of heroin into the United States. When the delinquents discover they're dealing with a bona fide mobster, they part company with Rivas but inadvertently steal his stash, which is hidden in a large doll, putting the bloodthirsty gangster on their trail. Naked Youth was originally released as Wild Youth, but received more play under its more exploitive title, though doubtless a few viewers were disappointed that it didn't actually feature any youths naked. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this drama set just after the end of WW II, an American officer falls in love with a German woman. Their blissful affair is disrupted when her German ex-lover returns and begins trying to exact his jealous revenge upon the Yankee. When the jealous shows up dead, the American is blamed. His courageous girl friend then risks all to prove his innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
A pre-superstardom Charles Bronson plays a US marshal in Showdown at Boot Hill. Tracking down a wanted murderer to a small town, Bronson kills him in a shootout. It develops that the dead man, whose criminal past was unknown to his fellow townsfolk, was a popular and highly respected member of the community. The decedent's friends refuse to identify the body, thereby denying Bronson the opportunity of collecting the reward money. At first angered by this, Bronson is gradually won over to the townspeoples' point of view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bronson, Robert Hutton, (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)
- 1957
In this horror movie, a scientist resuscitates the head of 16th-century seer Nostradamus by transplanting it onto the body of a man suffering from a brain tumor for the benefit of an avaricious financier who wants the prophet to give him the power of prediction in business. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, George Coulouris, (more)
- 1957
In this crime drama, a movie stunt man finds himself caught up in a wicked scam designed to exploit post-WW II Algerian refugees after the members of a passport forging gang try to frame him for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Taking shaky aim at Tinseltown scandal sheets, this murder mystery centers on an actor who is accused of murdering the reporter who recently smeared his name. As a result of the accusation, the actor loses his studio contract. Fortunately, all is not lost for another is working to prove his innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Paul Richards, (more)
- 1956
Several low-budget films came out in the 1950s "exposing" such scandal magazines as Confidential. Most of them came off as sleazy as the publications they were targetting. Republic's Scandal, Inc. is one of the more subdued examples of this genre; in fact, it's so low-key that at times it induces slumber. His good name sullied by a tell-all rag, movie star Robert Hutton threatens dire consequences to the reporter responsible. When that reporter turns up murdered, Hutton is naturally the prime suspect. Attorney Paul Richards takes on Hutton's cause, simultaneously clearing him of the murder charge and the earlier scandal that ruined him in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
