Leo C. Popkin
The Well is a modest but generally effective plea for racial tolerance. Based loosely on a real incident, the film tells of the disappearance of a little African-American girl in a small, segregated community. Caucasian Claude Packard (Harry Morgan, the nephew of the town's richest man (Barry Kelley), is the last person seen with the little girl. Sensing a coverup when Morgan is not immediately charged, the black community is on the verge of a riot. But when it's discovered that the little girl has fallen down a well, all racial differences are forgotten as black and white neighbors work shoulder to shoulder to rescue the child. The Well tries very hard to be equitable by 1951 standards, and is heartfelt enough to overcome its occasional lapses into stereotype and condescension. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Rober, Gwendolyn Laster, (more)
"I want to report a murder...mine." So begins D.O.A. Told in flashback, the story tells of how vacationing CPA Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) becomes the recipient of a deadly poison known as iridium. Told by a doctor that he hasn't long to live, Bigelow desperately retraces his movements of the previous 24 hours, trying to locate his murderer. Through the aid of his secretary Paula Gibson (Pamela Britton) (who doesn't know of her employer's imminent demise), Bigelow traces a shipment of iridium to a gang of criminals who've used the poison in the commission of a crime. But for much of the film, it remains unclear why Bigelow himself was targeted. Though we know from the outset that Bigelow isn't long for this world, the film builds up an incredible amount of suspense towards the end, when Bigelow is taken "for a ride" by a psychopath (Neville Brand). with a penchant for pummeling his victims in the belly. DOA was remade in 1988 with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, (more)
Though he doesn't know it at first, industrialist Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) shouldn't trust his wife Irene (Helen Walker) any farther than he can throw her. Irene schemes with her lover Jim Torrance (Tony Barrett) to kill Walter in an "accidental" car crash. The plan fails, and it is Jim who is killed. When it develops that he is assumed to have also died in the accident, Walter changes his name and heads to a small town where no one knows him. Here he starts life all over again as a humble garage mechanic, falling in love with his boss Marsha Peters (Ella Raines) in the process. Disaster looms when detective Quincy (Charles Coburn) comes sniffing around; it seems that Lt. Quincy suspects the incognito Williams of murdering Torrance. To reveal any more would be giving the game away. Impact co-stars longtime favorite Anna May Wong, making her first screen appearance since 1942. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, (more)
Produced by comedy specialist Harry M. Popkin and his brother Leo Popkin, My Dear Secretary stars Kirk Douglas as Owen Waterbury, a best-selling novelist with an eye for the ladies. When aspiring writer Stephanie Gaylord (Laraine Day) signs on as his secretary, Waterbury assumes that he's lined up another sexual conquest. But Stephanie is not so easily won over, and the rest of the film finds Waterbury striving to come up to her standards. Whenever the film's pace lags, one can count on the farcical expertise of Keenan Wynn, borrowed from MGM to play Douglas' sardonic confidante, to save the day. Along with Strange Love of Martha Ivers, My Dear Secretary is one of the most accessible of Kirk Douglas' early films thanks to its public-domain status. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laraine Day, Kirk Douglas, (more)
- 1940
The all-black Gang War was originally designed for the "colored" movie houses which thrived in segregated communities throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The plot concerns the deadly rivalry between gangsters Killer Meade (Ralph Cooper) and Lou Baron (Lawrence Criner). The object of their war is the control of Harlem's jukeboxes, a plot device that allows for the logical interjection of a few musical numbers. Heroine Mazie (Gladys Snider) falls in love with one of the crooks, only to be left in the lurch when he's cut down by a hale of bullets. The film's overreliance upon newspaper montages as a narrative device suggests that several important plot points were forgotten in the haste of completing the picture within its near-nonexistent budget. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Cooper, Gladys Snyder, (more)
- 1939
In this all African-American family drama, Father Brown encounters problems when his family throws him out for his laziness. He then journeys to the desert discovers radium, becomes quite wealthy, and buys a nightclub from a lecherous fellow who begins trying to court his daughter. Musical numbers include: "West of Harlem," "Shake and Break It," "Sharpest Man in Town," and "Alone Again." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mantan Moreland
- 1939
Like many all-black films of the 1930s, Reform School is shabbily produced and unevenly acted, but still a rewarding experience for those patient enough to sit through the seedier passages. The magnificent Louise Beavers, so often wasted in maidservant roles, heads the cast as Mother Barton, a reform-minded matron who strives to improve conditions in a run-down reformatory. The youthful inmates at first resist her efforts, which include an Honor System, but they prove themselves to be good kids at heart by solving a robbery for which the middle-aged heroine has been arrested. The young reform-schoolers are billed as the "Harlem Tuff Kids", in obvious emulation of the Dead End Kids. The supporting cast includes Reginald Fenderson, one of the featured players in the original Broadway production of The Green Pastures, and Eugene Jackson, formerly "Pineapple" in the silent Our Gang comedies and later a member of the singing Jackson Trio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Beavers, Reginald Fenderson, (more)
