Walter Morosco Movies

Former president Ronald Reagan may have genuinely believed that he was referring to a real-life act of selfless wartime bravery whenever repeating his "We'll bring this one down together" anecdote. In fact, he was merely quoting a scene from the above-average World War 2 drama A Wing and a Prayer. The setting is an American aircraft carrier, overseen by tough, unserving flight officer Don Ameche. When casualties begin piling up, the pilots blame Ameche, accusing him of being an indiscriminate butcher. Only when the tide of battle turns in favor of the Allies do the pilots realize that Ameche has been right all along. Director Henry Hathaway spent several weeks aboard an actual aircraft carrier, filming genuine combat scenes. Many of these authentic sequences appear as background footage in A Wing and a Prayer; sometimes the process work is convincing, sometimes it isn't, but please remember that this film was made long, long before the advent of computer technology. Dana Andrews, William Eythe, Richard Jaeckel, Harry Morgan (billed as 'Henry Morgan' here), Richard Crane, Glenn Langan, Reed Hadley and Bob Bailey are among the ready, willing and able Fox contractees appearing in A Wing and a Prayer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The crackerjack director/cinematographer team of Harry Lachman and Rudolph Mate (Dante's Inferno, Our Relations) brought an extra veneer of class to the 1932 Gertrude Lawrence vehicle Aren't We All. She plays a shy and retiring lass who harbors a secret past indiscretion. Her "shameful" secret is revealed just as she plans to marry wealthy Owen Nares. The future husband expresses outrage, but his father Hugh Wakefield comes to Lawrence's rescue by exposing one or two of Nares' past peccadillos, and by inviting the girl's former lover to state his case. This British drawing room comedy was based on a stage play by the prolific Frederick Lonsdale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this espionage movie, set in Washington during WW II, the daughter of an ex-senator has become a dress model. She is approached by an American counter-espionage agent who offers her a chance to serve her country. The carefree son of a naval official receives a similar offer. He is asked to secure secret Naval plans. Unbeknownst to them, the man they work for is actually a Nazi spy. The two dupes finally figure it out, and the spy kidnaps them. Somehow they escape and break up the spy ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Wily Honolulu detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is summoned when Miss Nodbury (Ethel Gryffies), an elderly eccentric, is murdered just before taking part in a seafaring treasure hunt. Chan deduces that the old lady died of fright, brought on by the apparent visitation of the ghost of her ancestor, a notorious pirate. Suspecting that the ghost was actually one of Miss Nodbury's enemies in disguise, Chan tags along on the treasure hunt to pinpoint the real killer. Meanwhile, Number Two Son Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Yung) seeks out suspects on the waterfront, only to be constantly dunked in the briny by a wild-eyed but essentially harmless lunatic (Milton Parsons). A lesser Charlie Chan entry, Dead Men Tell is redeemed by its atmospheric harbor scenes, a specialty of director Harry Lachman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sailor George Barraud and a shopgirl marry while the sailor's first girlfriend is in prison. When released, the girlfriend attempts to get her man back, but ends up saving the wife from suicide when the girlfriend realizes their true love. ~ All Movie Guide

Charles Winninger plays the head of a vaudevillian family who, when jobs become scarce, takes a humble factory job. He dreams of sustaining a show-biz dynasty with his grown children, but none of them show any real interest in trodding the boards. Realizing that the golden days are past, Winninger allows his children to follow their own desires. Give My Regards to Broadway is a regulation 20th Century-Fox Technicolor musical, with all the story elements falling into place precisely when the audience expects them to. The film comes to life during the song and dance sequences featuring Winninger and top-billed Dan Dailey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

His Jazz Bride was based on Beatrice Burton's novel The Flapper Bride, leaving no doubt as to the decade in which this film was made. Bored by her conservative husband Dick (Matt Moore), fun-loving Gloria Gregory (Marie Prevost) kicks up her heels and goes on a pleasure cruise with her best friend. Unbeknownst to Gloria, her friend's husband, a corrupt government inspector, has accepted bribes to overlook certain safety hazards aboard the steamship. Sure enough, the boat sinks, compelling Dick to man a speedboat in hopes of rescuing Gloria. Chastened by the experience, Gloria promises to stop looking for thrills outside her marriage and returns to her wifely responsibilities at home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Silent screen sweetheart Corinne Griffith, who originally wanted to retire when talkies came in, proved the wisdom of her earlier decision when she starred in the clunky musical drama Lilies of the Field. Griffith is cast as Mildred Harker, who loses custody of her child in a messy divorce settlement. Leaving her hometown in disgrace, Mildred heads to New York, where after a crash course in the school of hard knocks she joins the chorus of a Ziegfeld-like musical revue. Now a full-fledged gold-digger, she enjoys the favors of backstage johnnies and elderly sugar daddies, but finally finds true love in the form of Park Avenue socialite Ted Willing (Ralph Forbes). Alas, Mildred is damaged goods, and soon she's back in the gutter whence she came. A remake of a 1924 silent film which also starred Corinne Griffith, Lilies of the Field is distinguished by a bizarre musical number in which the star is dressed (just barely) as an art-deco automobile hood ornament! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mammy features Al Jolson as the star of a travelling minstrel show, appearing in a small Southern town. Jolson falls in love with an actress in the troupe (Lois Moran), but she loves another. One of Jolson's fellow minstrels (Lowell Sherman) is shot backstage, and it is assumed thanks to several plot convolutions that Jolson is guilty of the deed. He heads for the hills, but returns to the show, his reputation restored but his love for the actress unrequited. Maudlin in the extreme, Mammy is salvaged by several enjoyable songs by Irving Berlin and by its Technicolor photography (though most TV prints are black and white). The film's fascination with modern viewers rests with the presence of Al Jolson--and with the casual use of profanity during his confrontation scene with Lowell Sherman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nostalgic and sweet, this tuneful comedy centers on a mother's reminiscence of her wild time as a 1920s teenage flapper. Margie is first seen fully grown telling her stories to her own teenage daughter. Back then, Margie was a typical adolescent, crazy about boys (especially those in raccoon coats) and an expert on the day's fashions. Margie was quite the cat's meow back then and found herself pursued by a handsome young man. Unfortuantely for him, Margie and the other girls only have eyes for the dashing new French teacher. Though busy vying for the teacher's affections, the teens still have time to perform many of the 1920's most popular songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The same studio that brought forth Father Was a Fullback was responsible for Mother is a Freshman. Loretta Young stars as Abbigail Abbott, the widowed mother of coed Susan Abbott (Betty Lynn). In order to legally validate Susan's scholarship fund (a legacy of her late grandmother), Abigail enrolls in the university as a freshman. Here she is wooed by Professor Richard Michaels (Van Johnson)--much to Susan's dismay, since she'd set her cap for the professor herself. Rudy Vallee reprises the "stuffy middle-aged suitor" characterization he'd essayed in such previous comedies as The Palm Beach Story and Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. Mother is a Freshman afforded audiences the opportunity of glimpsing 20th Century-Fox's familiar "college campus" sets in full Technicolor (these standing sets were also seen in black & white in such 1949 releases as Mr. Belvedere Goes to College and It Happens Every Spring). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If MGM's Red Skelton could make the mystery/comedy Whistling in the Dark, 20th Century-Fox's Milton Berle could show up in the mystery/comedy Over My Dead Body (Berle's reputation for lifting gags from other comics now extended to lifting plot material). Berle plays a mystery writer who forever writes himself into corners and is never able to finish a story. While visiting his wife (Mary Beth Hughes) at the office where she works, Berle overhears several men discussing the suicide of a coworker. Struck with a brilliant notion, Berle decides to confess to the murder of the dead man, certain that he'll be able to wriggle out of the situation and thereby have plenty of material for a story. Alas, it turns out that the deceased gentleman was murdered, and Berle is nearly sent to the chair. In emulation of the Bob Hope/Willie Best combination in The Ghost Breakers Milton Berle is teamed with a "scared" black elevator operator, played by a superb African-American radio and vaudeville comedian named Wonderful Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide