Gail Russell Movies

Universal's Air Cadet stars Stephen McNally as the obligatory tough topkick, here assigned to whip a bunch of green pilots into shape. McNally's hard-nosed attitude is rooted in his past: he still feels guilty over having lost so many buddies in World War 2. A climactic crash-and-rescue sequence solves many of McNally's problems-and, incidentally provides director Joseph Pevney an opportunity to hide the film's budgetary deficiencies by lensing the sequence at night. Hardworking Universal contractee Rock Hudson is billed seventh, as simply "Upperclassman". Air Cadet is at its best during its aerial sequences, evocatively lensed by Clyde Da Vinna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit was afforded a larger budget than usual for Captain China. The title character, played by John Payne, is a ship's captain whose embittered behavior after losing his lady love seemingly leads to tragedy. Accused of deliberately scuttling his ship during a typhoon, Captain China hopes to clear himself by signing on as a common seaman on a vessel captain by his former first mate Brendensen (Jeffrey Lynn). There's no love lost between the two men, and their mutual animosity is intensified when both fall in love with beautiful passenger Kim Mitchell (Gail Russell). During a second storm, the strengths and weaknesses of both men are brought to the forefront, leading to a satisfactory conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced in garish Cinecolor, this aspiring "A" Western features John Payne as Clay Fletcher, an Eastern lawyer assigned to track down a judge whose signature is needed for some estate papers. Clay traces the judge, Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull), to El Paso, a lawless town ruthlessly run by saloon owner Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and a corrupt sheriff, La Farge (Dick Foran). The judge has become a hopeless drunk and is used as a pawn by Donner, who terrorizes the local farmers off their land. When one settler, John Elkins (Arthur Space), shoots and kills a deputy in self-defense, Clay is at first inclined to trust that justice will prevail and arranges for traveling salesman "Pesky" (George "Gabby" Hayes) to keep Judge Jeffers sober long enough to render a just verdict. But a threatened Donner has both Jeffers and Elkins brutally killed and against the wishes of the judge's daughter Susan (Gail Russell), Clay takes matters into his won hands by organizing a vigilante group. Grandfather Fletcher (H.B. Warner) arrives to remind Clay of his judicial pledges but he, too, is killed by the increasingly insane La Farge. In the end, only the prospect of a mass lynching brings Clay around and the guilty all face a jury of their peers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

All of his life, Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark) has been taunted and mistreated by most of the people around him, enduring innumerable beatings and other humiliations as a boy because his father was a murderer who died on the gallows. He finds it not much better as an adult, living with his aunt in the small Virginia town of Woodville -- especially when he is contending for the attentions of young schoolteacher Gilly Johnson (Gail Russell) with his boyhood tormentor Jerry Sykes (Lloyd Bridges), whose bullying and arrogance are made worse (and more galling) by the fact that he's the son of the town banker (and its richest man). Sykes picks a fight with Danny and loses for the first time, but he dies in the process. Knowing how the town thinks of him because of his father, Danny tries to hide the body. But for all of his bitterness over how he's been treated, he can't truly escape the feelings of guilt over what he's done -- nor can he escape his fear of what people will probably think. For a time, his new romance with Gilly distracts him, but he's unable to put it out of his mind for long, especially when he's forced to join his good friend Mose (Rex Ingram) on a raccoon hunt that takes them right to the pond where the body is hidden. Soon the sheriff (Allyn Joslyn) is investigating, and he can't help but confer with the one man in town whose judgment he respects nearly as much as his own -- Danny. And when Danny's deaf-mute friend, Billy (Harry Morgan), unknowingly uncovers a key piece of evidence, Danny is pushed almost to the breaking point. He's driven by his own instincts to run away, and invite almost certain capture or death, but Gilly and the sheriff see this as a chance for Danny not only to free himself of the torment over what he's done but from the past that has haunted him and blighted his life -- if only they can reach him and make him understand. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This romantic melodrama centers on a love triangle shaped by the restless, dissatisfied girl friend of a crop-duster who refuses to marry her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay was based on the lighthearted joint autobiography of actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and humorist Emily Kimbrough. Gail Russell and Diana Lynn star respectively as Cornelia and Emily, two innocent but fun-loving young girls at loose in the Roaring 20s. The story concerns the girls' first trip abroad to London and Paris, and the various misadventures encountered therein. The more amusing moments involve a pair of rabbit-skin capes that begin shedding at the most inopportune moments, and a lengthy episode in which the girls are stranded atop Notre Dame Cathedral at midnight. And of course there's romance, in the form of handsome young doctor Tom Newhall (Bill Edwards) and college "Lothario" Avery Moore (James Brown). Also appearing are Charlie Ruggles as Cornelia's actor-father Otis Skinner and Dorothy Gish (whose talkie film appearances were sadly infrequent) as Mrs. Skinner. So well-received was Our Hearts Were Young and Gay that Paramount commissioned a 1946 sequel, Our Hearts Were Growing Up . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ben Stride (Randolph Scott, in a role originally slated for John Wayne) trudges stoically through the West, hunting down the seven men responsible for the murder of his wife in a Wells Fargo station holdup. As the film opens, we see him dispatching two of the miscreants during a driving rainstorm. Though the victims are deserving of their fate, the script is careful to detail the moral deterioration of Scott, who'd quit his sheriff's job to go on this unauthorized death hunt. Also turning up is Bill Master (Lee Marvin), not one of the bandits per se but actually a villain from Stride's past who happens upon the situation and sees a chance to make off with some loot. This film marked one of the few Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher collaborations not released by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Andrew Stone's The Bachelor's Daughters has much of the nonsensical breeziness of Stone's earlier screwball comedy Hi Diddle Diddle; the stylistic link between the two properties is emphasized by the presence in both films of stars Adolphe Menjou and Billie Burke. The title characters are four merrily mercenary salesgirls: Eileen (Gail Russell), Terry (Ann Dvorak), Marta (Jane Wyatt) and Cynthia (Claire Trevor). Persuading distinguished-looking floorwalker Mr. Moody (Menjou) and shop assistant Molly (Burke) to pose as their wealthy parents, the girls rent a lavish Long Island mansion and pretend to be heiresses, for the express purpose of landing rich husbands. Eileen catches millionaire Bruce Farrington (John Whitney), Terry goes after Broadway impresario Diane (Russell Hicks), and Marta ends up with Schuyler Johson (played by famed concert pianist Eugene List), son of the owner of the store where she works. Only Cynthia fails in her mission, but there's still hope for her yet at the finale. In the process of snaring their mates, the bachelor's daughters learn the hard way that (all together now) Money Isn't Everything, while middle-aged Moody and Molly find true love without a price tag attached. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Director John A. Bushelman makes a departure from his usual western and action films to guide this respectable, canine-centered, family film about a big dog by the name of Pete with definite separation anxiety. When the impoverished Brancato family takes off from their Nevada home to look for a better life in Los Angeles, they are forced to leave their dog in the care of a dubious-looking neighbor. Their son is heart-broken, and no one is particularly happy, especially Pete. Not willing to stand for this kind of treatment, Pete takes off to cover the hundreds of miles to L.A. and hunt down his family, meeting all kinds of hoboes, truckers, and other characters along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Uninvited is one of the rare Hollywood ghost stories that does not cop out with a "logical" ending. In fact, the film has more in common with British ghost tales of the period, in that the characters calmly accept spectral visitations as though they were everyday occurrences. Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister, Pamela (Ruth Hussey), buy a house on the Cornish seacoast, never suspecting that it is a "bad" house, subject to haunting. Before long, Roderick and Pamela are visited by Stella Meredith (Gail Russell), whose late mother, it is said, is the house ghost. It is further supposed that the ghost means to do Stella harm. Stella's grandfather Commander Beech (Donald Crisp) is close-mouthed on the issue, but it is clear he knows something that he isn't telling. Sure enough, there is a secret to the manor: it is inhabited by not one but two ghosts, one of whom is merely trying to shield Stella from harm. Once the film's deep dark secret is revealed (courtesy of a virtuoso "mad speech" by supporting actress Cornelia Otis Skinner), Roderick is able to single-handedly exorcise the estate and claim Stella as his bride. Based on the novel by Dorothy Macardle (with a few uncredited "lifts" from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca), The Uninvited remains one of the spookiest "old dark house" films ever made, even after years of inundation by computer-generated special effects. Less effective was the 1945 sequel, The Unseen, which starts well but degenerates into a substandard murder mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This story of two young hopefuls who come to Hollywood is merely a thin device to feature almost every star working for Paramount Studios in 1947. Mary Hatcher plays Catherine Brown, a woman of humble origins who arrives in Hollywood, where she meets another wanna-be movie star, Amber La Vonne (Olga San Juan). They work their way through the Paramount studios, trying to impress every important person. Mostly, the film is a cavalcade of songs by various stars that take place at several studio and Hollywood locations, including the famous Brown Derby restaurant. Many of the film's songs were written by Frank Loesser. Dorothy Lamour and Alan Ladd sing "Tallahassee"; Bing Crosby and Bob Hope play golf and sing a duet, "Harmony"; the Original Dixieland Jazz Band plays "Tiger Rag"; and a host of other top performers of the era appear in brief cameos. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This unusual, dreamlike John Wayne vehicle is set in the East Indies. The focus of the film is the deadly rivalry between two men of the sea. Ship's captain Rails (John Wayne) nurses a long-standing grudge against shipping magnate Van Schreeven (Luther Adler). The reason for the animosity: Van Schreeven stole away Rails' love, Angelique (Gail Russell). Revenge has warped Rails to point that sometimes he seems to be the heavy of the picture. Complications involving valuable pearls ensue before the offbeat climax, which finds Rails scuttling his own vessel, the Red Witch, as means of getting even. The film's resolution is one of the strangest ever concocted for a Wayne picture. Wake of the Red Witch represented the second screen teaming of John Wayne and Gail Russell; the film must also have held some special significance for Wayne, since he named his own production company, Batjac, after the shipping firm depicted in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide