Robert Preston Movies

We never actually see J. Carroll Naish in Alcatraz, but there's no doubt he's the "king" of the title. Most of the action takes place aboard a passenger ship, which Naish has boarded incognito in hopes of escaping prosecution. Naish and his gunmen take over the ship, complicating the lives of passengers and crew alike (in one scene, nurse Gail Patrick is obliged to perform an operation while being guided by an on-shore surgeon via wireless). Seamen Lloyd Nolan and Robert Preston bide their time, then turn the tables on Naish and his henchmen. Packing more action into its 57 minutes than most "A" pictures, King of Alcatraz is a film buff's dream, with a cast filled to the brim with familiar faces, from up-and-coming Anthony Quinn to silent movie vets Monte Blue, Tom Tyler and Gustav von Seyfertitz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second of three movie versions of P.C. Wren's adventure novel Beau Geste is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1927 silent version. We open on the now-famous scenes of a remote, burning desert fort, manned by the dead Foreign Legionnaires, then flash back to the early lives of the Geste brothers. As children, the Gestes swear eternal loyalty to one another and to their family. One of the boys, young Beau (played as a youth by Donald O'Connor), witnesses his beloved aunt (Heather Thatcher) apparently stealing a valuable family jewel in order to finance the Geste home; Beau chooses to remain silent rather than disgrace his aunt. Years later, the grown Beau (Gary Cooper) again protects his aunt by confessing to the theft and running off to join the Foreign Legion. He is joined in uniform by faithful brothers John (Ray Milland) and Digby (Robert Preston), who in turn are pursued by a slimy thief (J. Carroll Naish). The crook is in cahoots with sadistic Legion Sgt. Markov (Brian Donlevy, in one of the most hateful portrayals ever captured on celluloid), who is later put in charge of Fort Zinderneuf, where Beau and John are stationed. When the Arabs attack, Markov proves himself a valiant soldier; it is he who hits upon the idea of convincing the Arabs that the fort is still fully manned by propping up the corpses of the casualties at the guard posts. Beau is seriously wounded, and while the greedy Markov searches for the jewel supposedly hidden on Beau's person, he is held at bay by loyal John. The suddenly enervated Beau kills Markov, then dies himself--but not before entrusting two notes to John, one of which requests that John give Beau the "Viking funeral" he'd always wanted (this is why the fort is in flames at the beginning of the film). After the battle, Digby Geste, a bugler with the relief troops, comes upon Beau's dead body, and appropriates the notes. As it turns out, John Geste is the only one who survives to return to England. He gives his aunt Beau's letter, which explains why Beau had confessed and run off--"a 'beau geste', indeed" comments his tearful aunt. No one missed nominal leading lady Susan Hayward in this essentially all-male entertainment. For years available only in muddily processed or truncated versions, Beau Geste was restored to its pristine glory by the American Film Institute in the late 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gail Patrick plays a brilliant but naive country lawyer brought to the city to defend gangster Sidney Toler. She is subsidized by pillar of society Otto Kruger, who is actually the "big boy" behind the city's rackets. Ms. Patrick must prove that Toler didn't own a weapon that he is accused of pointing at a terrified states' witness. She believes in her client's innocence, but honest district attorney Robert Preston steers her to the side of Right. Patrick is exonerated of a complicity charge, and bad guys Toler and Kruger are carted off to prison. Ironically, Gail Patrick was later the executive producer of the TV series Perry Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cecil B. De Mille directed this lavish all-star spectacular paying tribute to America's neighbors to the North. In 1885, as Louis Riel (Francis J. McDonald) tries to organize Indians and French settlers into a fighting force that will battle against the ruling British, Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (Gary Cooper) arrives in Canada to arrest Jacques Corbeau (George Bancroft), one of Riel's associates who is wanted for murder in the U.S. Rivers promptly falls for nurse April Logan (Madeleine Carroll), which triggers jealously in the straightlaced Mountie sergeant Jim Brett (Preston S. Foster), who is also in love with April. Meanwhile, April's brother, Ronnie Logan (Robert Preston), also a member of the North West Mounted Police, is in love with Louvette (Paulette Goddard), Corbeau's sister and a fiery "half-breed" who lives among the Indians. When Dusty arrives in Canada, he joins forces with the mounties, who are looking for Corbeau on another murder charge, and soon joins the fight against Riel's rebel factions. De Mille imported 300 pine trees for his "forest" set, believing that a woods created on the controlled environment of a soundstage would look more "real" onscreen than location shooting in Canada. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Midnight Angel was the title of this Paramount actioner when it was first released in December of 1941. But by the time the film reached the hinterlands, America had entered WW2, and thus it was that Midnight Angel was rechristened Pacific Blackout, which remained its title to this very day. Falsely convicted of murder (in one of those movie trials that takes only a few minutes!), young Robert Draper (Robert Preston) escapes custody during a practice blackout drill. Under cover of darkness, Draper hopes to find the real killer, who turns out to be a member of a Nazi sabotage ring. Our hero is helped along by Mary (Martha O'Driscoll), one of the most refreshingly self-reliant heroines in B-picture history. Among the secondary players are a young Hungarian immigrant named Eva Gabor and a portly German refugee named John Banner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ayn Rand's Broadway stage hit The Night of January 16th was distinguished by a clever gimmick, wherein members of the audience sat in the jury box while a fictional murder trial was conducted: the outcome of the play was thus totally in the hands of the spectators, and accordingly Rand penned two different endings, depending on whether the jury voted "guilty" or "not guilty". This marvelous theatrical device was unfortunately absent in the film version of Night of January 16th, which was also hampered by a B-grade budget. Even so, the story, concerning the murder trial of stenographer Kit Lane (Ellen Drew), moves along swiftly and entertainingly. Accused of killing her employer, financier Bjorn Faulkner (Nils Asther), Kit is championed by wisecracking sailor-on-leave Steve Van Ruyle (Robert Preston), who has a vested interest in the outcome of the trial. As was typical of the Paramount B product of the time, Night of January 16th spotlights several established contract players (Drew, Preston et.al.), along with a number of actors on the way up (Rod Cameron, Margaret Hayes) and the way down (Nils Asther, Alice White). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this patriotic war drama, a unit of Army recruits train for a parachute corps. One is an arrogant football star who finds jumping a kick. Another is a coward who eventually finds his courage. Finally there is a chronic bumbler. The coward and jock find themselves competing for the affections of an indecisive young woman. The filmmakers of this movie paid careful attention to detail and was made with the cooperation of the 501st Parachute Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia using actual paratroopers. The viewer is taken through every stage of a jump including folding the chute at the beginning. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An adequate wartime filler, Night Plane from Chungking features Robert Preston as the captain of the titular aircraft. En route from Chungking to India, the plane crashes, leaving captain and passengers stranded in a jungle surrounded by Japanese troops. It has been learned that one of the passengers is a Nazi spy; Preston hopes it isn't the lovely Ellen Drew. Night Plane from Chungking was a remake of the earlier, and more expensive, Paramount adventure Shanghai Express, substituting planes for trains. When movie villains shifted from Nazis to Communists in the 1950s, the story was filmed once more as Peking Express (53). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though billed fourth in This Gun For Hire, Alan Ladd was catapulted to stardom in the role of Phillip Raven, a ruthless professional killer with a long-suppressed streak of decency. After successfully pulling off his latest murder, Raven reports to his boss, effeminate fifth columnist Willard Gates (Laird Cregar). He collects his $1000 fee, only to discover later that Gates has double-crossed him with marked bills. This was done at the behest of Gates' boss, crooked business executive Alvin Bewster (Tully Marshall), who wants no loose ends left around to connect him with a plot to sell poison gas to the Axis. As Raven ducks and dodges the police, detective Michael Crane (Robert Preston) is hot on the trail of Bewster and Gates. Crane talks his girlfriend, nightclub singer-musician Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake), into taking a job at Gates' nightclub. While on the train to the club, Ellen makes the acquaintance of the escaping Raven. Gates boards the train, spots Ellen innocently sitting next to Raven, and assumes that the two are in cahoots. Later, Gates kidnaps Ellen and spirits her away to his mansion, intending to do away with her the first chance he gets. Instead, Raven, still seeking revenge for being set up, bursts into the mansion in search of Gates. Having previously been impressed by Ellen's kindness, he rescues her, though he intends using her as hostage should the police catch up with him. As they hide out together in the rail yards, Ellen and Raven get to know each other. Learning of Raven's miserable, abusive childhood, Ellen tries to chip away his murderous veneer, hoping to reform him. But when the cops arrive, Raven reverts to his instincts, shooting his way out of his hiding place. As Crane escorts Ellen out of harm's way, Raven rushes towards a bloody showdown with Bewster and Gates. Based on Graham Greene's A Gun For Sale, This Gun For Hire was remade in 1958 as Short Cut to Hell, then again under the original title as a 1990 made-for-TV film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alan Ladd and Robert Preston star as Joe Madigan and Jim Davis, rival grain harvesters in the Midwest's wheat country. The animosity between Joe and Jim intensifies upon the arrival of duplicitous Fay Rankin (Dorothy Lamour). Choosing Jim, Fay demands that she be supported in the manner in which she is accustomed, leading Jim inexorably into a life of crime. A cathartic fistfight between Joe and Jim results in their undying friendship and the hasty departure of the troublesome Fay. All this, plus seemingly endless shots of wheat-harvesting teams at work. Alan Ladd and Robert Preston were both better served the following year in Whispering Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This fact -based western follows a soft-spoken railroad detective (Alan Ladd) as he brings a murderous ring of robbers to justice and rekindles an old flame. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

One of the best "psychological" westerns of the 1940s, RKO Radio's Blood on the Moon stars Robert Mitchum as itinerant cowboy Jim Garry. Riding into a Texas Indian reservation, Garry finds himself embroiled in a deadly feud between cattle ranchers and homesteaders. He befriends both Amy Lufton (Barbara Bel Geddes), daughter of wealthy cattle man John Lufton (Tom Tully), and smooth-talking mercenary Tate Rilling (Robert Preston). What neither Garry nor Amy realize is that Rilling is a snake, conspiring with crooked Indian agent Jake Pindalest (Frank Faylen) to make off with Lufton's cattle. At first aligning himself with Rilling, Garry finally figures out that his so-called friend is up to no good and casts his lot with Lufton, leading to a bloody showdown. Based on the novel by Luke Short, Blood on the Moon was given top-grade treatment by director Robert Wise, an alumnus of RKO Radio's editing department. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tulsa was, in 1949, the most elaborate production released to date by the Eagle-Lion corporation-though all evidence, especially the technical credits, suggests that the film was put together at Universal-International, then merely distriibuted by Eagle-Lion (who made a fortune at the box office). The film traces the matriculation of the sleepy Oklahoma village of Tulsa into a major oil center Susan Hayward stars as an amibitious cattleman's daughter who wishes to wreak vengeance on the encroaching oil interests but who becomes a "black gold" mogul herself. Robert Preston costars as a geologist who hopes to rescue his beloved Oklahoma from being utterly devastated by drilling and derricks. This being a late-1940s film, Greed runs a poor second to Good at film's end, with the oilmen and the conservations learning to work together rather than as bitter enemies. While the story is a good one, the true selling angle of Tulsa was its action sequences, notably a fire scene that must have cost as much as all the other Eagle-Lion releases of 1949 combined. Originally lensed in vibrant Techicolor, Tulsa is usually seen today in washed-out, two-color Public Domain prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide