Charles G. Clarke Movies

20th Century-Fox's 1943 filmization of Richard Tregaskis' best-selling book Guadalcanal Diary does full justice to the spare, lean prose of Tregaskis' eyewitness account. The incidents in the "diary" are tied together by an off-screen narrator into a cohesive storyline. The principal characters in this wartime chronicle are marine sergeant Lloyd Nolan, chaplain Preston S. Foster, Mexican enlistee Anthony Quinn, and a Dodgers-lovin' Brooklynite, played by William Bendix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though a lesser 20th Century-Fox musical, Hello, Frisco, Hello was one of the studio's most successful wartime efforts. John Payne plays Johnny Cornell, a sharp wheeler-dealer operating on the Barbary Coast at the turn of the century. With the help of his songstress girlfriend Trudy Evans (Alice Faye), Johnny gains a reputation as a first-class showman. Soon, however, success goes to Johnny's head, and he deserts Trudy in favor of Nob Hill socialite Bernice Croft (Lynn Bari). The disheartened Trudy heads to England, where she becomes the toast of London's theatrical set. Meanwhile, Johnny marries Bernice, who talks him into a series of money-losing "artistic" theatrical ventures. Learning of the reversal in Johnny's fortunes, Trudy secretly finances his comeback, leading to a happy ending for everyone except the pretentious Bernice. A loose reworking of 1936's King of Burlesque, Hello, Frisco Hello benefits from the comedy relief of Jack Oakie and from a string of enjoyable tunes, including the Oscar-winning "You'll Never Know." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a pair of ex-Marines team up and get involved in a nightclub.Trouble ensues when they both fall in love with a feisty woman and begin fighting over her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

I'll Get By is an updated remake of the 1940 20th Century-Fox musical Tin Pan Alley. William Lundigan and Dennis Day play William Spencer and Freddie Lee respectively, successful song publishers who make hits out of such numbers as "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", "Deep in the Heart of Texas", "You Make Me Feel So Young", "There Will Never Be Another You", and other favorites (the rights to all of these songs were conveniently held by 20th Century-Fox). The partnership has some hard times, especially during the feud between ASCAP and the radio networks, when only public-domain songs like "I Dream of Jeannie" were permitted to be broadcast. Still, Spencer and Lee remain pals throughout, while the boys' romances likewise weather the years. Steve Allen makes a rare film appearance as a wisecracking disc jockey (what a stretch!) while Harry James, Jeanne Crain, Reginald Gardiner, Victor Mature and Dan Dailey show up in uncredited cameos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the high school drama-class perennial by Jerome Chodhorov and Joseph Fields, Junior Miss stars Peggy Ann Garner as a troublesome teenager. Garner means well, but can't help meddling in the affairs of her father (Allyn Joslyn) and other unsuspecting grownups. Most of the story revolves around Peggy's matchmaking habits: she pairs up her uncle (Milo O'Shea) with the daughter of her father's employer, which nearly loses dad his job. The mess sorts itself out before the third-act curtain, with Garner promising to mind her own business...until next time. Keep an eye out for a brief appearance by a young Mel Torme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Ladies in Washington, this 61-minute quickie utilizes the services of several 20th Century-Fox contractees. Set in the nation's capital, the film delves into the living and working conditions of the girls employed in wartime government jobs. Jerry (Sheila Ryan), a Washington secretary, is in the doldrums because of an unhappy affair with her married employer. Michael (Anthony Quinn), a secret agent for the enemy, uses Jerry to get information on her boss. All of this has an adverse effect on Jerry's roommates, especially her best friend Carol. The whole mess ends in a bloody gun battle, exacting a heavy toll on both the innocent and the guilty. Halfway down the cast list of Ladies of Washington is former Miss America Jo-Carroll Dennison, who later became the wife of comedian Phil Silvers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the advantages of holding an MGM stock-company contract in the 1930s was the occasional opportunity to star in one of the studio's "B"-pictures. Maltese character actor Joseph Calleia, hitherto confined to supporting villainy, was permitted to play the hero in MGM's Man of the People. "Drawn from today's headlines," the story dealt with small-town political corruption. Unable to make a living as a lawyer, Italian-born Jack Mareno (Calleia) sells out to a high-pressure political machine. Elevated to the position of assistant District Attorney, Mareno is expected to "play ball" with the local racketeers. Finally rebelling against this set-up, Mareno turns his back on his dirty-handed sponsors and runs for office as an independent. Designed as just another programmer, Man of the People turned out to be something rather special, thanks in no small part to the heartfelt performance by star Joseph Calleia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this B- romance, an innocent young man endeavors to find his fortune in the Big Apple and ends up finding a dog instead. Fortunately, the furry fellow belongs to a successful businessman's daughter who convinces her daddy into giving the newcomer a job. When the earnest young man discovers errors in company files, he tells the boss, gets a promotion and a fiancee-- the boss's daughter, of course. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The second version of Louis Joseph Vance's 1907 mystery melodrama The Brass Bowl, this early talkie featured stage actor Alan Birmingham as wealthy world traveler Dan Maitland and his evil lookalike, the master criminal Anisty. Leila Hyams played Sylvia Graeme, whose father Andrew (George Pierce) is in jail due to some incriminating papers which Sylvia believes are being kept in a safe belonging to Maitland. Both Maitland and his doppelgãnger arrive on the scene and soon one is impersonating the other, and vice versa, in a confusing game of "who's got the papers." In the end, Sylvia helps bring about Anisty's downfall, saving her father and falling in love with Maitland along the way. Masquerade had been filmed twice earlier under its original title, in 1914 featuring early action star Benjamin F. Wilson and in 1924 starring Edmund Lowe. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Edmund Gwenn plays Kris Kringle, a bearded old gent who is the living image of Santa Claus. Serving as a last-minute replacement for the drunken Santa who was to have led Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Kringle is offered a job as a Macy's toy-department Santa. Supervisor Maureen O'Hara soon begins having second thoughts about hiring Kris: it's bad enough that he is laboring under the delusion that he's the genuine Saint Nick; but when he begins advising customers to shop elsewhere for toys that they can't find at Macy's, he's gone too far! Amazingly, Mr. Macy (Harry Antrim) considers Kris' shopping tips to be an excellent customer-service "gimmick," and insists that the old fellow keep his job. A resident of a Long Island retirement home, Kris agrees to take a room with lawyer John Payne during the Christmas season. It happens that Payne is sweet on O'Hara, and Kris subliminally hopes he can bring the two together. Kris is also desirous of winning over the divorced O'Hara's little daughter Natalie Wood, who in her few years on earth has lost a lot of the Christmas spirit. Complications ensue when Porter Hall, Macy's nasty in-house psychologist, arranges to have Kris locked up in Bellevue as a lunatic. Payne represents Kris at his sanity hearing, rocking the New York judicial system to its foundations by endeavoring to prove in court that Kris is, indeed, the real Santa Claus! We won't tell you how he does it: suffice to say that there's a joyous ending for Payne and O'Hara, as well as a wonderful faith-affirming denouement for little Natalie Wood. 72-year-old Edmund Gwenn won an Oscar for his portrayal of the "jolly old elf" Kringle; the rest of the cast is populated by such never-fail pros as Gene Lockhart (as the beleaguered sanity-hearing judge), William Frawley (as a crafty political boss), and an unbilled Thelma Ritter and Jack Albertson. Based on the novel by Valentine Davies, Miracle on 34th Street was remade twice: once for TV in 1973, and a second time for a 1994 theatrical release, with Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Moonlight Murder takes place virtually in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl. Despite dire warnings by a sinister mystic (Pedro de Cordoba), opera-star Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo) insists that he will sing in the Bowl's current production of Il Trovatore. He gets no farther than the "Anvil Chorus" before he drops dead in full view of the audience. It turns out that D'Acosta was murdered, placing everyone in the cast under suspicion. As night segues into morning, detective Steve Farrell (Chester Morris) -- whose past mistakes have put him in hot water with his boss -- teams up with lady-scientist Toni Adams (Madge Evans) to piece the clues together. The hot-potato issue of euthanasia is raised during the course of Moonlight Murder, and as a result the film turns out to have one of the most sympathetic and reasonable culprits in "B"-picture history. Trivia alert: One of the suspects is played by Duncan Renaldo, who later co-starred with "victim" Leo Carrillo on TV's The Cisco Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This eighth (and final) entry in 20th Century-Fox's "Mr. Moto" series once again stars Peter Lorre as J. P. Marquand's resourceful and unfailingly polite Japanese detective. When American archeologist Howard Stevens (John King) recovers the ancient crown of the Queen of Sheba, the priceless artifact is shipped to the San Francisco Museum. Ostensibly on vacation, Mr. Moto shows up in Frisco to guard the crown from a notorious master thief, whom everyone assumes is dead. Using a variety of disguises, the very-much-alive thief succeeds in pilfering the crown-only to discover that Moto has remained three steps ahead of him throughout the film. Without revealing the villain's identity, it can be noted that the supporting cast includes such "usual suspects" as Lionel Atwill, Joseph Schildkraut, Victor Varconi, G. P. Huntley and Morgan Wallace, all of whom look incredibly guilty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"You've never SEEN Gregory Peck until you've seen him in CINEMASCOPE." So read the publicity hype for 20th Century-Fox's Night People. Actually, Peck is his usual solid, stoic self as Col. Van Dyke, a CIA officer stationed in West Berlin. When an American soldier is kidnapped by the Soviets in the Eastern sector, Van Dyke is verbally assaulted by the soldier's influential industrialist father Leatherby (Broderick Crawford), who demands that something be done immediately. The Colonel realizes that it's not as simple as that: in return for the soldier, he is expected to turn over an elderly couple, both former anti-Nazi activists, to the East Germans, who will probably execute the couple. Leatherby backs off a bit when he meets the couple, then agrees to let Van Dyke handle the crisis in the most diplomatic manner possible. Things come to a head when the Colonel discovers that one of his trusted aides (Anita Bjork) is in league with the Soviets. Filmed on location in Germany, Night People is capped by a deliciously ironic coda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide