Franz Planer Movies

Ambitious but impecunious medical student Lucas Marsh (Robert Mitchum) marries the older and (in this film, at least) not especially attractive Kristina Hedvigson (Olivia de Havilland) so that she can pay his tuition fees. Kristina loves Lucas, but he loves nothing but his work. Emotionally shutting himself off from everyone -- including best friend, Alfred Boone (Frank Sinatra), and drunken dad, Job Marsh (Lon Chaney Jr.) -- Lucas survives his training and goes to work as the assistant to tough but tender small-town medico Dr. Runkleman (Charles Bickford). He enters into an affair with wealthy Harriet Lang (Gloria Grahame) (watch for the symbolism-laden tryst in the horse barn!), obliging Alfred, now a big-city doctor, to try to patch up his pal's marriage. But Lucas feels nothing and needs no one because he's come to think of himself as the perfect physician, incapable of making an error. When Lucas fails to revive his mentor Dr. Runkleman during heart surgery (a genuine heart is used in the "massage" close-ups), the young doctor suddenly realizes that he's not infallible after all. He wanders aimlessly through town, finally returning to his wife and collapsing into her arms, sobbing "Help me! Please help me!" Cameo players range from Broderick Crawford as a Jewish doctor denied entry into medicine's upper circles to Carl Switzer as a bug-eyed patient. The film was adapted from the best-selling novel by Morton Thompson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Norman Corwin's satirical radio play My Client Curley, Once Upon a Time is an engaging bit of whimsy, completely dominated by the personality of star Cary Grant. It all begins when fly-by-night Broadway producer Jerry Flynn (Grant) learns of a trained caterpillar (!) that dances to the tune of "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby." In short order, Jerry has promoted Curly the Caterpillar to international stardom-and in the process he alienates both Pinky Thompson (Ted Donaldson), the impressionable 9-year-old who owns Curley, and Pinky's attractive older sister Jeanne (Janet Blair). Eventually, Flynn comes to his senses and regains his essential decency-though it's too late to continue capitalizing on Curley, who has turned into a non-dancing butterfly! Full of delightful contemporary references and "cameo appearances" by such celebrities as producer Walt Disney and radio commentator Gabriel Heatter (both played by uncredited impressionists), Once Upon a Time proved an agreeable diversion for wartime audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dumped by wife Ellen Drew, musician Melvyn Douglas goes into a creative slump. His gloom is lifted when he falls in love with Ruth Hussey (with a little help from Hussey's foxy papa Charles Coburn). Soaring to hitherto unimaginable heights of fame after marrying Hussey, Douglas suddenly becomes attractive again to the scheming Drew. She attempts to win him back by pretending to be crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Though Hussey sees through the ruse, she is unable to prove anything until Drew trips herself up. Watch for the clever (and most satisfying) application of the "THE END" title in Our Wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audrey Hepburn became a star with this film, in which she played Princess Anne, weary of protocol and anxious to have some fun before she is mummified by "affairs of state." On a diplomatic visit to Rome, Anne escapes her royal retainers and scampers incognito through the Eternal City. She happens to meet American journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), who, recognizing a hot news story, pretends that he doesn't recognize her and offers to give her a guided tour of Rome. Naturally, Joe hopes to get an exclusive interview, while his photographer pal Irving (Eddie Albert) attempts to sneak a photo. And just as naturally, Joe falls in love with her. Filmed on location in Rome, Roman Holiday garnered an Academy Award for the 24-year-old Hepburn; another Oscar went to the screenplay, credited to Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton but actually co-written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. The 1987 TV movie remake with Catherine Oxenberg is best forgotten. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Secret Command features Pat O'Brien as a onetime foreign correspondent in the wartime employ of the FBI. Under an assumed name, O'Brien goes to work at a shipyard, intending to keep both eyes open for potential saboteurs. To maintain the cover, O'Brien is given a "wife" (Carole Landis) and two children. When O'Brien's brother Chester Morris shows up, he can't comprehend the charade and nearly spills the beans to the Nazi spies O'Brien hopes to trap. Based on the short story The Saboteurs by John and Ward Hawkins, Secret Command offers a graying but still feisty Pat O'Brien doing what he does best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Next to Ann Miller, few Columbia contractees made more B musicals than Jinx Falkenberg. In Sing for Your Supper, Falkenberg is cast as Evelyn Palmer, the gorgeous proprietor of a dime-a-dance emporium. Bandleader Larry Hays (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) is the official owner of the joint, but when he finds himself in financial hot water, Evelyn, a wealthy socialite, secretly buys up the lease and takes a job as one of the dancers to keep tabs on her money-and the handsome Mr. Hays. Much of the film's running time is given over to comedian Bert Gordon, better known as radio's "Mad Russian" ("How do you doooooo?") Eve Arden is rather wasted as a wisecracking taxi dancer, but better things were to come her way within a few short years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This backstage musical offers a peek at vaudeville behind-the-scenes. The story centers on a recently divorced woman who decides to use her generous alimony settlement to stage an old fashioned vaudeville show. Unfortunately her chief backer insists on being the star. Fortunately, at the last minute, a very talented person replaces the no-talent backer. Songs include: "I Always Knew," "Hasta Luego," "Lotus Bloom," "Something to Shout About," "Through Thick and Thin." The song "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," was nominated for an Academy Award. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This remake of Zoe Akins' Morning Glory stars Susan Strasberg as Eva Lovelace, the role that won Katharine Hepburn her first Oscar back in 1933. Fresh from the midwest, the starry-eyed Eva arrives in New York, convinced that she has what it takes to be Broadway's greatest actress. Armed with more chutzpah than talent, Eva proves fascinating to big-time producer Lewis Easton (Henry Fonda) and playwright Joe Sheridan (Christopher Plummer, in his film debut). But the realization of her girl remains just outside of Eva's reach until she replaces temperamental star Rita Vernon (Joan Greenwood) on the opening night of Sheridan's newest play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first of Columbia's "B" wartime melodramas for their Summer 1942 schedule was the largely speculative Submarine Raider. Set in the early stages of the war, the film makes several suppositions concerning the events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack which don't entirely hold up when seen today. According to the screenplay, a Japanese aircraft carrier en route to Hawaii takes time out to shell an American yacht, killing all the passengers except for heroine Sue Curry (Marguerite Chapman). Fortunately she is rescued by a passing submarine, wherein she falls in love with sub commander Chris Warren (John Howard). Apprised by Sue of covert Japanese naval movements, Warren tries to alert Pearl Harbor of the impending sneak attack. Failing to do so, he spends the remainder of the picture trying to sink that enemy aircraft carrier introduced in Reel One (both sub and carrier are "played" by unconvincing scale models, bobbing up in down in Columbia's studio tank). Nino Pipitone, in real life a Philippine horse trainer, plays the black-hearted Japanese commander. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Powell stars in Take One False Step as a happily married college professor who foolishly agrees to a reunion supper with old flame Shelley Winters. Winters later disappears, and the evidence points to murder. To allay suspicion--and to avoid losing an important financial grant to his university--Powell starts his own investigation. The trail leads him to San Francisco, where poor Powell becomes mired in a confusing crime plot. Fortunately, Winters is still alive; unfortunately, Powell may not be for long. Adapted from the Irwin Shaw novel Night Call, Take One False Step is saved from tawdriness by the innate dignity of William Powell. Also, the film is leavened by unexpected moments of humor, notably the relaxed banter between Powell and Shelley Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, wrote and helped design this eccentric fantasy about a young boy named Bart (Tommy Rettig) who, like most young boys, doesn't enjoy his piano lessons with the mean-spirited Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried). He figures his time would be better spent playing baseball with his friends or helping his grown-up buddy Arthur Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), a plumber. One night, while fast asleep, Bart has a long and remarkable dream in which he's trapped in the kingdom of the fearsome Dr. T, who has enslaved hundreds of little boys, forcing them to practice on the world's largest piano until they drop. With the help of a friendly plumber, Bart plans a revolt that will topple Dr. T's evil empire once and for all. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T also features several songs for which Geisel contributed lyrics. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this tuneful and sentimental romance, a young architect from France falls in love with his employer's daughter. Unfortunately, she feels differently and marries another. The loss inspires him to quit his job and return to France where he becomes a wanderer. Eventually he encounters a beautiful gypsy and together they form a minstrel act. When she learns that he must return to England at summer's end, she is very sad. He too is sad, but he goes and discovers that the first woman didn't marry after all. He is happy until he sees that she is really an avaricious, conniving gold digger. Soon he is back in France with the good-hearted woman he has really come to love. A French version of this film was shot and released at the same time. Both are remakes of an earlier version. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Blue Veil was the single most successful effort from the production team of Jerry Wald and Norman Krasna. Jane Wyman pulls out all the emotional stops as a young Frenchwoman named Louise, who, after losing her husband and child in WW I, devotes the rest of her life to selflessly caring for other people's children. In true "woman's story" fashion, Louise ages and ages beautifully, sacrificing all for the sake of others. On the brink of destitution, she is rescued by her former charges, all nicely grown up and boundlessly grateful. A remake of the French Le Voile Bleu, The Blue Veil was adapted for the American screen by radio's Norman Corwin. The sterling supporting cast includes Charles Laughton as a widowed manufacturer, Joan Blondell as a blowsy actress, Natalie Wood as Blondell's neglected daughter, and Richard Carlson, Audrey Totter, Agnes Moorehead and Don Taylor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide