Cornel Wilde Movies
His father was a traveling salesman who did a lot of business in Europe, and Wilde spent much of his youth traveling in Europe with him, where he became fluent in several languages. For several years he studied medicine in college, but he gave it up to pursue acting; he also gave up a spot on the 1936 U.S. Olympic fencing team. He appeared in a number of plays in New York and on the road, playing everything from bit parts to leads. In 1940 he was hired as a fencing instructor and a featured player for the Broadway production of Hamlet with Laurence Olivier; some of the rehearsals were in Hollywood, where he landed a film contract. On-screen from 1940, Wilde played small roles as heavies in several films, then switched studios and began getting leads in B movies. His career took off after he played Chopin in A Song to Remember (1945), for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination. For several years he starred in major productions, such as the 1952 Best Picture winner The Greatest Show on Earth, then in the mid-late '50s he was back in B movies, often playing swashbucklers. In 1955 he formed his own company, Theodora Productions, to produce, direct, and star in his own films; he ultimately made 11 films in that capacity, but earned little critical respect for his work. Divorced from actress Patricia Knight, Wilde married his frequent costar, actress Jean Wallace. ~ All Movie Guide- 1940
The notoriously temperamental Miriam Hopkins is ideally cast as equally contentious theatrical prima donna Mrs. Leslie Carter in The Lady With Red Hair. As rapidly paced as any Warner Bros. gangster picture, the film charts Caroline Carter's rise to fame on Broadway through the auspices of impresario David Belasco (Claude Rains). The screenwriters take great pains to cast Carter in a sympathetic light, suggesting that she turned to the lucrative world of the theater to regain custody of her son (Johnnie Russell), won by her husband in their acrimonious 1889 divorce settlement. Though at first she meets with nothing but failure, our heroine perseveres, and by 1904 she is the idol of millions throughout the world. Along the way, she marries visionary producer Lou Payne (Richard Ainley), but by film's end she is reunited with her mentor Belasco. A young Cornel Wilde makes his screen debut as an aspiring actor in a boarding-house sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Claude Rains, (more)
- 1941
Kisses for Breakfast is a dumbed-down remake of the 1930 marital comedy The Matrimonial Bed, itself based on a British stage play by Seymour Hicks-which in turn was adapted from a French farce by Yves Mirande and Andre Mouzey-Eon. With that pedigree, it's amazing that this frenetic 1941 slapsticker isn't better than it is, but it just isn't, that's all. Knocked out during a fight, Rodney Trask (Dennis Morgan) awakens with amnesia, totally unaware that he's just married Juliet Marsden (Shirley Ross). His only clue to his identity is an address found in his coat pocket, which leads him to the South Carolina home of Juliet's cousin Laura Anders (Janet Wyatt). A year passes, during which Rodney straightens out Laura's financial problems and wins her love. After their marriage, Rodney and Laura decide to visit her northern relatives-including, naturally, wife number one, Juliet, who has come to believe that Rodney is dead and is about to take a new husband. What follows is a endless series of silly slapstick gags, with poor Juliet receiving a great deal of unwarranted punishment at the hands of the capricious Laura. The mess eventually straightens itself out, by which time both heroines have thorougly alienated the audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Morgan, Jane Wyatt, (more)
In a manner of speaking, Humphrey Bogart had George Raft to thank for his ascendancy to stardom: after all, if Raft hadn't turned down both High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, Bogart might have continued playing second-billed gangsters to the end of his days. Adapted from W. R. Burnett's novel by Burnett and John Huston, High Sierra opens with gangster Roy Earle (Bogart) being paroled after a lengthy prison term. Though he enjoys the fresh air and sunshine of the outside world, Earle has no intention of giving up his criminal ways. In fact, his parole has been arranged by Big Mac (Donald MacBride), so that Earle can mastermind a big-time heist at a fancy California resort hotel. After a few unkind words with a crooked cop, Kranmer (Barton MacLane), in Big Mac's employ, Earle heads toward a fishing resort, where he is to commiserate with his inexperienced, hot-headed cohorts Babe (Alan Curtis) and Red (Arthur Kennedy). En route, he befriends a farm family, heading to LA in search of work. He falls in love with the family's club-footed daughter Velma (Joan Leslie)--though she never really gives him any encouragement--and makes a silent promise to finance an operation on her foot once he's gotten his share of the loot. At the mountain cabin rendezvous, Earle meets Marie (Ida Lupino), Babe's tough-but-vulnerable girlfriend. He angrily orders her to scram, but she stubbornly remains. Earle also finds himself the owner of a "jinxed" dog, whose previous masters have all met with early demises (a none-too-subtle foretaste of things to come). Marie is strongly attracted to Earle, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, reserving his affections for Velma. He arranges an operation for the girl with mob doctor Banton (Henry Hull), never suspecting that the self-serving Velma is planning all along to marry someone else. The robbery goes off without a hitch, save for the fact that "inside man" Mendoza (Cornel Wilde) panics and nearly gives the game away. While escaping, Babe and Red are killed in a car accident, but Earle and Marie escape. Having been disillusioned by Velma's indifference and by the fact that the untrustworthy Kranmer has taken over the late Big Mac's operation, Earle at last realizes that the only person he can truly depend upon is the faithful Marie. With the police hot on his trail, Earle tells Marie to look after herself, then heads alone into the High Sierras--where, in Greek Tragedy fashion, he "busts out" of life. As in Petrified Forest, Humphrey Bogart plays a burnt-out anachronism from an earlier era in crime in High Sierra; in the latter film, however, Bogart has an innate nobility that allows the audience to empathize with him throughout. It is nothing short of amazing that, despite his superb performance in this 1940 film, he still had to wait until The Maltese Falcon for top billing in an "A picture." High Sierra was remade in 1949 as Colorado Territory and in 1955 as I Died a Thousand Times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1941
In this boxing drama, champion fighter Johnny Rocket decides to leave the ring to please his new bride. Unfortunately, his greedy manager, unwilling to get off the gravy train engineers things so that the fighter cannot find work and must return to the squared circle to make a living. His ploy works, and the fighter resumes his career. He also begins falling in love with a sexy female sports writer. This causes his marriage to disintegrate. The avaricious manager decides to make a lot of money fast and so sets his fighter up to take a dive and betting against him. The doped up fighter loses the fight. He also loses the sportswriter. Fortunately his true love is around to pick him up and help him start anew. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Olympe Bradna, (more)
- 1941
Ubiquitous 20th Century-Fox contractee Lynn Bari is the heroine of The Perfect Snob. Carefully raised by her social-climbing mother Martha (Charlotte Greenwood) to seek out a millionaire husband, debutante Chris Mason (Bari) throws herself at wealthy Freddie Browning (Alan Mowbray) during a Hawaiian vacation. But Chris secretly intends to follow the advise of her doctor father (Charles Ruggles) and marry for love rather than money. In this spirit, she pledges her troth to the handsome but apparently impoverished Mike Lord (Cornel Wilde). Much to everyone's surprise and delight, Mike turns out to be the owner of a thriving sugar plantation! Still several years removed from film stardom, Anthony Quinn goes through the "other man"paces generally reserved for Ralph Bellamy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Ruggles, Charlotte Greenwood, (more)
- 1942
Those obviously hastily assembled to cash in on current headlines, Manila Calling shows no signs of this haste in its execution. Lloyd Nolan stars as Lucky Mathews, the leader of an American guerilla unit, sworn to keep fighting even after the Japanese invasion of Mindano. Likewise staying on is nightclub entertainer Edna Fraser (Carole Landis), who has fallen in love with Mathews, and radio engineer Jeff Bailey (Cornel Wilde). Relying on Bailey's electronic knowhow, the guerillas construct a short-wave radio station and continue broadcasting information of Japanese troop movements to the Allies. As in MGM's Bataan, the ultimate deaths of the courageous protagonists is treated as a moral and spiritual victory. Of interest in the cast is Martin Kosleck, frequent screen impersonator of Joseph Goebbels, in a rare sympathetic role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Carole Landis, (more)
- 1942
In this drama, a has-been stage thespian finds that his alcoholism is ruining his life. When his daughter, a cripple, attempts to show her concern, he rebuffs her with his cruel, razor sharp witticism. His drinking and cynicism continue to increase, but, through it all, his daughter stands steadfastly beside him until her heart is stolen away by a handsome composer. He begins helping her to convince the theatrical community that her father is still a talented actor. Meanwhile, the father, thinking the composer will take his daughter away, remains suspicious of the young man's motives. Finally, after working in a series of odd jobs, the old man lands the lead in King Lear where he is a smash. He then renews a relationship with a wealthy old girlfriend. Meanwhile, the young couple also begin their relationship in earnest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Woolley, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1943
In her last 20th Century-Fox vehicle, skating star Sonja Henie plays, Nora, a Norwegian expatriate ice champion. Newly arrived in the U.S., Nora and her millionaire uncle Hjallmar (S. Z. Sakall) are sweet-talked into investing in a failing resort hotel, now a hostelry for showbiz folk. Unemployed musician Brad Barton (Cesar Romero) makes a play for Nora, but she winds up with hotel manager Freddy Austin (Cornel Wilde), leaving Freddy's girlfriend Flossie (Lynn Bari) literally in the cold. The film's finale is the standard fund-raising ice show, with Nora as the center of attention. It is typical of early-1940s musicals that poor Flossie, a likeable character throughout most of the film, turns into a venomous virago in the final reel to "justify" her breakup with Freddy. No matter: the film is redeemed by the sweet sounds of Woody Herman and His Orchestra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, (more)
- 1945
One of the most successful filmed biographies of the 1940s, A Song to Remember alleges to be the true story of Polish composer Frederick Chopin. Actually, it has about as much relation to truth as a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon, but with such gorgeous creatures as Cornel Wilde and Merle Oberon in the leads, who cared? Though Wilde, as Chopin, is the nominal lead, top billing goes to Paul Muni, hamming his way through the role of Chopin's mentor Professor Joseph Elsner. Reportedly, Muni developed his characterization long before shooting started, refusing to allow the performances of the other actors to alter his interpretation in the slightest. This may explain why Muni seems to be acting in a vacuum, frequently completely out of rhythm with the film and its characters. Otherwise, Cornel Wilde does a nice job as the tempestuous Chopin, whose patriotic fervency frequently takes priority over his music. Merle Oberon plays novelist George Sand, who despite her preference for male clothing proves to be "all woman" during her torrid, decade-long affair with Chopin. The film's money scene--the one that everyone talked about, keeping the picture "alive" long after its original release--occurs towards the end, when the tubercular Chopin begins hemorrhaging as he performs his Polonaise for the first time (Jose Iturbi is heard on the soundtrack, "doubling" for Wilde's ivory-tickling). Sumptuously photographed in Technicolor by Tony Gaudio and Allen M. Davey, A Song to Remember was the usually penurious Columbia Pictures' top production of 1945. Fifteen years later, the studio hoped to make lightning strike twice with its Franz Liszt biopic Song Without End, but the magic just wasn't there. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Muni, Merle Oberon, (more)
- 1945
Thousand and One Nights is an occasionally strident but generally successful satire of the popular Universal Jon Hall/Maria Montez epics. Cornel Wilde stars as a twentyish Aladdin, whose magic lamp yields two genies: Collosus-like Rex Ingram (repeated the role he played in 1940's Thief of Baghdad) and ravishing redhead Evelyn Keyes (who, like future TV genie Barbara Eden, was seemingly born without a navel). Wilde uses his new-found wealth and magical powers to woo princess Adele Jergens, but not without the opposition of villainous Dennis Hoey. Phil Silvers plays Wilde's comic sidekick, a man "born 2000 years ahead of his time" who wears glasses, spouts jive-talk ("Slip me some skin, Abdul!") and cracks anachronistic jokes. The final gag in Thousand and One Nights, in which the genie gives Phil Silvers the voice of Frank Sinatra, has been removed from many TV prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1946
The Technicolor swashbuckler Bandit of Sherwood Forest stars Cornel Wilde as Robert of Nottingham, son of the legendary Robin Hood (Russell Hicks). Robert elects to follow in his father's footsteps when oppression rears its ugly head in the form of a despotic Regent (Henry Daniell) and his partner in perfidy Fitz-Herbert (George Macrady). Our hero reunites the Merrie Men, including Friar Tuck (Edgar Buchanan) and Will Scarlet (John Abbott), determined to force the wicked Regent to recognize the Magna Carta. He also finds time to carry on romance with high-born Anita Louise, who has disguised herself as a scullery maid. If the film's huge castle set looks familiar, it is because it was reused in several of Columbia's Three Stooges comedies, most memorably The Hot Scots (1948). Based on a novel by Paul A. Castleton, Bandit of Sherwood Forest was more or less remade four years later as Rogues of Sherwood Forest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Anita Louise, (more)
- 1946
Otto Preminger directed this romantic musical (something of a change of pace for the rather serious-minded director) set in Philadephia in 1876. The upcoming Centennial Exposition is the talk of the town, and sisters Julia (Jeanne Crain) and Edith (Linda Darnell) find themselves romantic rivals when they both fall for Philippe (Cornel Wilde), a suave Frenchman in town for the celebration. Their mother Harriet (Dorothy Gish) might offer more advice if she weren't busy looking after her husband Jesse (Walter Brennan), who is busy tinkering with inventions that he's convinced will make him a rich man. Jerome Kern composed the film's'score and co-wrote several songs, including "Up with the Lark," "The Right Romance," and "All Through the Day." It was the last film work he would complete prior to his death in 1945. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Crain, Louis Austin, (more)
Gene Tierney portrays a beautiful but unstable woman who marries successful novelist Cornel Wilde. Tierney wants to spend all her time with her new husband, but finds it impossible to do so thanks to his work and the frequent visits of family and friends. When Wilde's crippled younger brother (Darryl Hickman) comes to the couple's summer house to stay, Ms. Tierney indirectly causes the boy to drown. Later, upon discovering that she's pregnant, Tierney deliberately falls down the stairs, choosing to miscarry rather than share her husband's affections with an infant. When it becomes clear that family friend Jeanne Crain is attracted to her husband, Ms. Tierney commits suicide, making her death appear to be murder and framing Crain for the "crime." In court, Ms. Crain is mercilessly grilled by prosecuting attorney Vincent Price, who happens to be Tierney's ex-lover! Filmed in lush Technicolor, Leave Her to Heaven is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, (more)
- 1947
They said it couldn't be done, but they did it: Kathleen Winsor's "notorious", bestselling bodice-ripper Forever Amber actually made it to the screen in 1947 with full censorial approval. Of course, it was necessary to tone down the more erotic passages of Winsor's novel, but the end result pleased fans of the book and bluenosed nonfans alike. A last-minute replacement for British import Peggy Cummins, Linda Darnell steps into the role of 17th century blonde bed-hopper Amber as though she'd been born to play it. Feeling suppressed by her Puritan upbringing, Amber heads to London, finding considerable success as a courtesan (that's the polite word for it). The first real love of her life is dashing soldier Bruce Carlton, who leaves her pregnant and penniless when he marches off to war. Subsequent amours include the sadistic Earl of Radcliffe (a superbly loathsome performance by comic actor Richard Haydn), handsome highwayman Black Jack Mallard (John Russell) and privateer Captain Rex Morgan (Glenn Langan). Surviving the Plague and the Great London Fire with nary a hair out of place, Amber ends up in the arms of no less than King Charles II (wittily portrayed by George Sanders), but true love, as personified by Bruce Carlton, will always elude her. Taking no chances, 20th Century-Fox sent out Forever Amber with a spoken prologue, heard over the opening credits, which explained that the film in no way endorsed its heroine's libertine behavior, and that she would be amply punished for her sins before fadeout time (that prologue has thankfully been removed from current prints). A model of restraint by today's standards, Forever Amber was sufficiently titillating in 1947 to post an enormous profit, far in excess of its $4 million budget. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Ball, Linda Darnell, (more)
- 1947
A precursor of sorts to the 1999 Julia Roberts vehicle The Runaway Bride, It Had to Be You stars Ginger Rogers as Victoria Stafford, a wealthy girl who has been engaged three times, and has three times chickened out at the altar just before saying "I do." Determined to wed her fourth fiancé, Oliver H.P. Harrington (Ron Randell), Victoria is on the verge of saying those two little words, when suddenly she sees the vision of her "dream lover," George (Cornel Wilde), whom she has envisioned since childhood. Ultimately our heroine meets an in-the-flesh lookalike for her imaginary sweetheart: a no-nonsense fireman named Johnny Blaine, who indeed was a childhood friend of Victoria's. So, do wedding bells finally ring? Not on your life. Though Victoria is ga-ga over Johnny, the feeling is far from mutual -- and besides, there are several reels to go before the end title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Cornel Wilde, (more)
- 1947
In this drama, a Bostonian socialite marries the owner of a racehorse and begins a life of globe-trotting from international track to track until her hubby runs out of money. In desperation, he borrows money from an ex-girlfriend who decides that she will not let him leave her again. Meanwhile, the wife is beginning to wonder why she married him and begins contemplating divorce. Things change when her philandering spouse dumps the other, decides to rebuild his stables, and bets every last nickel on his one remaining horse's Kentucky Derby run. His horse barely loses to his wife's horse. Fortunately, the couple makes up and they live a long, happy life together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1948
The year is 1908 and the setting Jericho, Kansas, a veritable cesspool of sin and vice. Dave Connors is a politically ambitious lawyer married to Belle, the town lush, and is in love with beautiful colleague Julia Norman. Matters are worsened when Algeria Wedge, his best friend's wife, makes a pass at him. When Dave rejects her advances, she retaliates by printing vile things about him in the town paper. This effectively destroys his political career and causes him to leave town. Algeria then successfully helps to launch her husband's career so she can remain in town and cause even more trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Art Baker, Griff Barnett, (more)
Richard Widmark plays the borderline-psycho owner of a combination road house and bowling alley. Widmark's singer, Ida Lupino, begins exhibiting an interest in his manager, Cornel Wilde. To get even with Wilde, Widmark frames him on a robbery charge, then has the unlucky fellow released in his custody. The sadistic Widmark takes every opportunity to flaunt his control over Conte, but this only serves to deepen the relationship between Wilde and Lupino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, (more)
- 1949
Beauty contest winner Patricia Knight's one bid for screen stardom was Columbia's Shockproof. Knight plays Jenny Wright, a convicted murderess paroled in the care of probation officer Griff Marat (Cornel Wilde). What begins as an aloof professional relationship eventually blossoms into romance. The fly in the ointment is shady Harry Wesson (John Baragrey), the gambler who inveigled Jenny into committing murder. The girl is torn between creature comforts offered her by Wesson and the promise of a clean life offered by Griff. This early Douglas Sirk effort contains a smattering of the stylistic touches which distinguished his later work.The screenplay was written by famed director Samuel Fuller, known for his gritty realism and hard-boiled style. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Patricia Knight, (more)
- 1950
Cornell Wilde serves as "box office insurance" in this Swiss-filmed romantic comedy. Wilde plays American sailor Stanley Robin, who while vacationing in Switzerland falls in love with Suzanne (Josette Day), the daughter of a local watchmaker. Their romance is threatened by the arrival of French femme fatale Yvonne (Simone Signoret). Those not interested in the amorous entanglements will be amused by Cornel Wilde's antic attempts at learning to ski. Wilde's navy buddies include such TV stars-to-be as Alan Hale Jr. (of Gilligan's Island) and George Petrie (of Dallas). Among the screenwriters for Swiss Tour was Curt Siodmak, who adapts to comedy as well as he did to Gothic horror in the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Josette Day, (more)
- 1950
Two Flags West is set in the waning days of the Civil War. Colonel Clay Tucker (Joseph Cotten) is one of several Confederate prisoners who agree to fight alongside Union soldiers against the Indians in New Mexico. Tucker's Union commander Kenniston (Jeff Chandler) despises all "Johnny Rebs," holding them responsible for the death of his brother. Kenniston has other problems too; he is deeply in love with his sister-in-law Elena (Linda Darnell), but refuses to express his devotion out of loyalty to his dead sibling. He also hates Indians with a passion, and has endangered the safety of his fort by brutally killing a chief's son. There seems to be only one way for Kenniston to purge the demons within him, and he finds that way during a climactic Indian attack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Linda Darnell, (more)
- 1951
At Sword's Point is about the sons of Dumas' Three Musketeers--one of those "sons" being of the female persuasion, played by Maureen O'Hara. As the swash-buckling daughter of Athos, O'Hara joins the offspring of Aramis and Porthos, portrayed respectively by Dan O'Herlihy and Alan Hale Jr., as well as the bouncing boy of D'Artagnan, played by Cornel Wilde. These second-generation Musketeers are reunited by the ageing Queen Anne (Gladys Cooper), who wants to stem the villainy of her treacherous nephew, the Duc de Lavalle (Robert Douglas). Lunging and parrying throughout the French countryside, the new Musketeers save the day by preventing a marriage of state between the princess (Nancy Gates) and Lavalle, restoring the girl to her true love, prince Peter Miles. Technicolor is the only decided plus in the favor of the lazy and derivative At Sword's Point, which was completed in 1949 but remained unseen in RKO's vaults for three years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1952
California Conquest is set in the early 19th century, when California was fighting for its independence from Mexico--and as such was up for grabs so far as several other nations were concerned. Wealthy landowner Fredo Brios (John Dehner) feverishly opposes all efforts by Californians seeking to become a part of the United States, and to that end Brios hires bandit Jose Martinez (Alfonso Bedoya) to help forge an alliance with Russia. But patriotic Don Arturo Bordega (Cornel Wilde) and his lady love Julia Lawrence (Teresa Wright) attempt to checkmate Brios by locating a cache of guns stolen by Martinez' men. Amusingly, the Russian characters in California Conquest spout Marxist-Leninist dogma nearly a century before the Revolution. Featured in the cast is Renzo Cesana, who in 1952 was immensely popular as TV's "Continental." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Teresa Wright, (more)
Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth is a lavish tribute to circuses, featuring three intertwining plotlines concerning romance and rivalry beneath the big top. DeMille's film includes spectacular action sequences, including a show-stopping train wreck. The Greatest Show on Earth won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Story. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, (more)
