Ted Tetzlaff Movies

Mantz; Walter Thompson) X It would be pointless to telecast the Cinerama travelogue 7 Wonders of the World on the tiny TV screen--at least, until widescreen digital television becomes the norm. This third feature-length Cinerama effort was produced by Lowell Thomas, who also narrates. The plotless film starts off with an overhead view of Manhattan, then hopscotches between 32 different countries. Among the sights soaked in by the triptych cameras are the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Sphinx, the Pyramids, St. Peter's Basilica, a Benares temple and the Rio de Janeiro Mardi Gras celebrations. Five directors collaborated on the film, including the late, great stunt coordinator Paul Mantz. Though undeniably impressive, 7 Wonders of the World seems primitive when compared to the mixed-media IMAX presentations of the 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released in the U.S. as Terror on a Train, the British MGM production Time Bomb is brief, to the point, and so suspenseful it hurts. Glenn Ford stars as Peter Lyncourt, who during WW II had been in charge of a bomb demolition unit. As luck would have it, Lyncourt and his French wife Janine (Anne Vernon) are in the vicinity when a freight train carrying explosives to a dockyard chugs into view. Someone has placed a time bomb on the train, forcing an evacuation of the neighborhood and the summoning of the "UXB" corps. When all is said and done, however, it is up to Lyncourt to defuse the bomb, if he can locate the well-hidden fuse, that is! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Glenn Ford stars as American pilot Martin Ordway, who joins an expedition to scale a treacherous Swiss mountain peak. Each of the climbers has a special reason to reach the top. Dissolute French author Paul DeLambre (Claude Rains) is searching for a purpose in life; guide Andreas (Oscar Homolka) is doing his job; British naturalist Nicholas Radcliffe (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) hopes to uncover new forms of flora and fauna; Carla Alton (Alida Valli) wants to conquer the mountain that claimed her father's life; Ordway has fallen in love with Alton and wants to be near her; and ex-Nazi Mr. Hein (Lloyd Bridges) hopes to escape his past. As the climb progresses, each member of the party reveals his or her true character, and it isn't always pretty. Originally slated to be produced by Adrian Scott and directed by Edward Dmytrk, The White Tower was assigned to Sid Rogell and Ted Tetzlaff when Scott and Dmytrk were blacklisted. Another future blacklistee, Paul Jarrico, adapted his screenplay from a novel by James Ramsey Ullman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gambling House is a low-key remake of the 1943 Cary Grant vehicle Mr. Lucky. Victor Mature stars as Marc Fury, a foreign-born gambler who is currently facing deportation. Always looking out for Number One, Fury seeks out a legal loophole so he can sidestep naturalization--and, incidentally, avoid paying his income tax. His civic responsibilities awakened by pretty social worker Lynn Warren (Terry Moore), Fury does an 180-degree turnaround, going so far as to shake down underworld kingpin Joe Farrow (William Bendix) for $50,000, which he promptly donates to a patriotic organization headed by Warren. A surprisingly melodramatic finale caps this easy-to-take yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Dangerous Profession of the title is the bail-bond business. George Raft stars as Kane, a former cop turned professional bail-raiser. When one of his customers, robbery suspect Brackett (Bill Williams), is mysteriously murdered, Kane wants to know why. His reasons are twofold: he has an insatiable curiosity, and he's fallen in love with Brackett's widow Lucy (Ella Raines). As his business partner Farley (Pat O'Brien) looks on in mute bewilderment, Kane risks life and limb to solve the mystery. The plot doesn't always make sense, but in 1949 it was reassuring to see George Raft and Pat O'Brien harking back to their cinematic halcyon days of the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Boys Town" goes to turn-of-the-century St. Louis in this moving drama that chronicles the love of a determined priest struggling to turn around the lives of a street-wise gang of newsboys living at his homeless shelter. The good father has little money and must use his wits and ability to convince others to help out to supply the little shelter. Much of the story centers on his relationship with a troubled lad who accidentally kills someone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious was produced by David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films, Selznick himself had little to do with the production, which undoubtedly pleased the highly independent Hitchcock. Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, who goes to hell in a handbasket after her father, an accused WWII traitor, commits suicide. American secret agent Devlin (Cary Grant) is ordered to enlist the libidinous Alicia's aid in trapping Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), the head of a Brazilian neo-Nazi group. Openly contemptuous of Alicia despite her loyalty to the American cause, Devlin calmly instructs her to woo and wed Sebastian, so that that good guys will have an "inside woman" to monitor the Nazi chieftain's activities. It is only after Alicia and Sebastian are married that Devlin admits to himself that he's fallen in love with her. The "MacGuffin" in this case is a cache of uranium ore, hidden somewhere on Sebastian's estate. Upon discovering that his wife is a spy, Sebastian balks at eliminating her until ordered to do so by his virago of a mother (Madame Konstantin). Tension mounts to a fever pitch as Devlin, a day late and several dollars short, strives to rescue Alicia from Sebastian's homicidal designs. Of the several standout sequences, the film's highlight is an extended love scene between Alicia and Devlin, which manages to ignite the screen while still remaining scrupulously within the edicts of the Production Code. In later years, Hitchcock never tired of relating the story of how he and screenwriter Ben Hecht (who was nominated for an Oscar) fell under the scrutiny of the FBI after electing to use uranium as a plot device -- this before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A huge moneymaker for everyone concerned, Notorious remains one of Hitchcock's best espionage melodramas. In 1992, Notorious was remade for cable television; it goes without saying that the original is vastly superior. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This romantic fantasy was based on a popular play by Arthur Pinero. Oliver Bradford (Robert Young) is a young man who returned from World War II with severe facial scars; while he was engaged to be married before he left, he believes that no one could love him now, and he lives on the brink of suicide. Oliver meets Laura Pennington (Dorothy McGuire), a plain young woman who is convinced that her looks will never win her a man. These two lonely people marry, more out of desperation than love, and move into a small cottage which is all that remains of the large estate of Abigail Minnett (Mildred Natwick), who lost the rest of her property in a fire. The cottage has been the site of many happy honeymooners over the years, and inside its walls, Oliver and Laura discover that a magical transformation takes place; he regains the handsome features he once possessed, and she becomes beautiful. The couple find love and happiness with each other, but find that the cottage's magical spell only works as long as they remain at home with each other; the outside world does not recognize the beauty that they have found with each other. The Enchanted Cottage was previously adapted for the silent screen in 1924, with Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy as the newlyweds. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

As she burns at the stake, a 17th century witch, Jennifer (Veronica Lake), places a curse on her accuser (Fredric March), so that from this day forward, all of his descendants (each played by him) will be unhappy in marriage. After several hilarious through-the-years examples (the Civil War-era Fredric March runs off to battle rather than endure his wife's nagging), we are brought up to 1942. Wallace Wooley (March) is a gubernatorial candidate, preparing to wed snooty socialite Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward) -- the well-to-do daughter of a publisher who is backing him. A bolt of lightning strikes the tree where Jennifer had been executed three centuries earlier, thereby freeing the spirits of Jennifer and her warlock father, Daniel (Cecil Kellaway). Wallace meets Jennifer when she materializes in a burning building, obliging him to save her life. The revivified sorceress does everything in her power to induce Wallace to fall in love with her -- even destroying the ceremony in which the wedding is supposed to take place. The attempts succeed, and the two marry, but on their wedding night, Wallace refuses to believe Jennifer's claims that she is a witch. Frustrated, she attempts to convince him by doctoring the gubernatorial election -- in his favor. Based on the Thorne Smith novel The Passionate Witch, the rollicking I Married a Witch can be considered the forerunner of the TV series Bewitched, but only on a surface level. The film had been scheduled to be directed by Preston Sturges and to be released by its producing studio, Paramount; the end result was helmed by René Clair (his second Hollywood film), and was distributed by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mitchell Leisen directed this romantic comedy with melodramatic overtones, starring Marlene Dietrich in a sympathetic role as famed stage star Elizabeth Madden. Elizabeth longs for motherhood but has no husband. Her desire appears to be fulfilled when she finds an abandoned baby, but she doesn't have a clue on how to raise it. She finds divorced pediatrician, Dr. Corey McBain (Fred MacMurray), to help her with the child. Elizabeth names the child after him and makes Corey an offer. Since she's single, she cannot adopt the child. But if Corey would marry her in name only, she could be the adopted mother and Corey could stay in a section of her apartment where she would support his research. Corey agrees to the deal, but it's not too long before Corey and Elizabeth fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A producer devises an elaborate gala premiere for his latest anti-Nazi propaganda epic, The Earth in Flames. It is slated to open in Washington, D.C. and he has his press agents working overtime to produce an enormous hoopla of secrecy and publicity stunts. They come up with the plan of hiring a trio of "spies" who are to send disturbing threats just before the showing to put the audience on edge. Unfortunately, three real agents are trying to exchange the print of the new film with a pro-Nazi propaganda film. These fellows try hard, but they prove to be bungling idiots of espionage and their botched attempts provide most of the fun. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The nationwide search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind formed the basis of Claire Booth Luce's satirical Broadway comedy Kiss the Boys Goodbye. By the time the film version came out in 1941, Gone with the Wind was yesterday's news, but the picture still manage to elicit loud laughter from moviegoers bombarded by bad news from Europe. When Broadway producer Bert Fusher (Jerome Cowan) decides to produce a lavish musical version of a best-selling civil war novel, he dispatches director Lloyd Lloyd (Don Ameche) and composer Dick Rayburn (Oscar Levant) to the Deep South, in search of a genuine Southern-belle leading lady. Lloyd and Rayburn end up on the Georgia plantation of Tom Rumson (Raymond Walburn), where they are forced to sit through an impromptu audition by Rumson's niece Cindy Lou Bethany (Mary Martin). Lloyd can't stand the girl, but Rayburn is enchanted by her-never suspecting that Cindy Lou is a phony, who prior to this meeting had never stepped below the Mason-Dixon line. Eventually, Lloyd and Cindy Lou fall in love and the show goes on. Many of playwright Luce's more pointed barbs have been blunted by the Hollywood censors, with the more pungent gags replaced by lavish musical numbers. Still, Kiss the Boys Goodbye is a lot of fun, especially whenever the magnificent Elizabeth Patterson (cast as Mary Martin's unreconstructed-southerner aunt) takes center stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide