Milton Berle Movies
Few American comedians have had so aggressive a "stage mother" as did Milton Berle. Berle's mother Sarah dragged her son to New Jersey's Edison movie studios in 1914 to do extra work, then finessed the lad into supporting roles, including the part of a newsboy in the first-ever feature-length comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), which starred Charlie Chaplin. Under Sarah's powerhouse tutelage, Berle moved into vaudeville, making his debut at the prestigious Palace Theatre in 1921. Berle continued as a vaudeville headliner, with occasional stopovers on Broadway and in Hollywood, into the World War II years. His lengthy starring stint in the 1943 edition of Broadway's Ziegfeld Follies established Berle as a brash, broad, wisecracking comedian par excellence, whose carefully publicized propensity for "lifting" other comedians' material earned him the nickname "the Thief of Bad Gags." After only moderate success on radio and in films, Berle made a spectacular television debut as star of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre in 1948, which was the single most popular comedy/variety series of TV's earliest years and earned the comedian one of the industry's first Emmy Awards. So valuable was Berle to NBC that the network signed him to a 30-year "lifetime contract" in 1951, which paid him 100,000 dollars annually whether he performed or not (Berle managed to outlive the contract). Though his TV stardom waned in the late '50s, Berle was still very much in demand as an emcee, lecturer, author, TV guest star, motion picture character actor, and nightclub comedian -- still using essentially the same material and delivery which made him a star over 60 years ago. Berle died March 27, 2002 of colon cancer, he was 93. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This Keystone comedy, Charlie Chaplin's 33rd, is the first feature-length comedy ever made and contributed to making Chaplin and his co-star Marie Dressler major stars. Chaplin plays a con artist (not the Tramp) who talks Tillie, an innocent country lass, into taking her father's savings and running off to the city with him. Once there, he re-establishes his affair with the beautiful Mabel Normand, abandoning Tillie, who must begin working at a restaurant, while Charlie and Mabel spend her father's money for new clothes. Meanwhile, Tillie's millionaire uncle is reported to have died in a mountain-climbing accident. When the opportunistic Charlie learns that Tillie has just inherited three million dollars, he immediately rushes over to propose. She joyfully accepts, but is suspicious when she learns of her inheritance. Later, at a wedding gala at Tillie's new mansion where Normand has begun working as a maid, Charlie sneaks off for a little tete-a-tete with the latter. Trouble erupts when Dressler catches them smooching. Suddenly all the slapstick craziness for which director Mack Sennett is famous erupts as Tillie grabs a pistol and begins chasing Charlie and Mabel, firing randomly. Just as the wayward Charlie is to be strangled to death, the "late" uncle suddenly appears and ejects all the celebrants. Charlie and Mabel, chased by Tillie, race out of the ruined mansion to a pier where they are followed by the ubiquitous Keystone Kops whom the uncle has summoned. Tillie ends up in the drink, and when rescued after numerous attempts, she rejects Charlie while consoling Mabel, saying, "He ain't no good to neither of us," as the Kops drag Charlie away. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin, (more)
- 2000
Irrepressible kiddie-sitcom icons Kenan and Kel ( Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell) are the whole show in this made-for-cable comedy, described by one dim viewer as "Sleepy Hollow for idiots." Vacationing in New England with Kenan's family, our two heroes are stranded in the middle of nowhere when the car breaks down. Offering to go to the nearest village for help, K & K find that the locals are held in the terrifying thrall of the legendary Headless Knight. In the fine tradition of Abbott and Costello, the boys vow to overcome their own fears and take on the ghostly knight--before he manages to claim their heads (empty though they may be) for his collection. The great Milton Berle makes his final acting appearance in this film, which may or may not say something about the evolution of TV comedy since the heyday of "Uncle Miltie". Two Heads Are Better Than None made its Nickelodeon service debut on July 15, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
- G
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Mother Simplicia (Rosalind Russell) is the head nun at an all-girl school. Aided by the young Sister George (Stella Stevens), the two try to convert the wayward girls to prim and proper ladies with a solid religious foundation. Rosabelle (Susan St. James) and Marvel Ann (Barbara Hunter), are the leaders of the teenage girls who often rebel against authority.Arthur Godfrey plays the Bishop, and Milton Berle provides a hilarious cameo as a film director whose big cowboy chase scene is ruined by the arrival of the girl's school bus. Farriday (Robert Taylor) is the helpful neighbor, and Van Johnson is the priest who heads the school for boys in this mildly amusing comedy. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart sing their self-penned title track. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, (more)
- 1942
The Milton Berle starrer Whispering Ghosts was clearly inspired by the Red Skelton comedy-mystery Whistling in the Dark (itself inspired by Bob Hope's The Ghost Breakers). Uncle Miltie is cast as H. H. Van Buren, a radio sleuth who delights in solving real-life mysteries ahead of the official constabulary. At the behest of his sponsor, Van Buren tackles an unsolved case from ten years earlier: the death of an old sea captain. To this end, he visits the ship where the dirty deed took place, accompanied by his nervous valet Euclid (Willie Best, who played much the same role in Ghost Breakers). At first convinced that the ship is haunted, our hero deduces that the "ghosts" are actually a gang of crooks, in search of the treasure left behind by the murdered skipper. The arrival of Elizabeth Woods (Brenda Joyce), the lawful heir to the missing treasure, convinces Van Buren to stick around for a while to solve the decade-old murder and locate the captain's legacy. Why is it that none of Milton Berle's vehicles for 20th Century-Fox--Whispering Ghosts, Over My Dead Body, Margin for Error--have shown up on TV since the 1970s? Now there's a mystery worth solving! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milton Berle, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1967
Harry Lucas (Jim Hutton) is a U.S. Mint employee who scrambles to recover $50,000 he accidentally destroyed in this underrated comedy of errors. After he mistakenly throws the money down the garbage disposal, a frantic Harry recruits retired mint employee Pop Gillis (Walter Brennan) to cook up a hot new batch of cold cash. The two have to hire a bunch of colorful crooks to pull off the caper. Soon the money paid out far exceeds the total of the original loss. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Hutton, Dorothy Provine, (more)
- 1957
Dave Garroway hosts this all-star celebration of network television's tenth anniversary (actually, NBC and CBS had signed on in 1941, but 1947 is the "accepted" debut date). Utilizing the most up-to-date technology available at the time, the program features several remote pickups, with Garroway anchoring in Chicago, Milton Berle appearing from New York, Ernie Kovacs chiming in from Las Vegas, and producer Albert McCreery rehearsing an episode of his anthology Cameo Theatre from NBC's Burbank studios (this last segment was orginally seen in color). On film, Dragnet star Jack Webb discusses the progress of dramatic television, while television critics from New York, Hollywood, Detroit and Springfield, Missouri debate the question "Has TV Fulfilled Its Promise?" Extra added attractions include live coverage of the Veteran Days ceremonies at Arlington, kinescopes of TV broadcasts from Paris, London, Tokyo, and Moscow (satellite technology was, of course, still the stuff of science-fiction yarns), and rare clips from past TV milestones. If The Fabulous Infant still exists, it would be well worth having on the home-video market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Garroway, Milton Berle, (more)
- 1976
- PG
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This spoof makes fun of a certain famous German shepherd movie star from the 1920s. The mayhem begins when the head honcho of a financially struggling studio turns a lost dog into a legend. The story features a number of old stars making cameo appearances. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, (more)
