Claud Allister Movies

Tony Curtis always seemed a little uncomfortable in costume epics, but this trait serves him well in Black Shield of Falworth. Based on the robust novel Men of Iron by Howard Pyle, the film casts Curtis as Miles, the son of a disgraced knight. Through the sponsorship of the Earl of Mackworth Herbert Marshall, Miles is trained for knighthood, an arduous process that earns him the ridicule of his fellow trainees, who regard him as little better than a peasant. Eventually, Miles proves his mettle by squelching a plan to oust King Henry IV Ian Keith from the throne of England. On a more personal level, Miles carries on a romance with Mackworth's daughter Lady Anne Janet Leigh, while Miles' sister Meg Barbara Rush finds happiness in the arms of knight-in-training Francis Gascoyne Craig Hill. The heavy of the piece is the Earl of Alban David Farrar, whom Miles must ultimately face down in a well-directed climactic set-to. Torin Thatcher, who'd previously costarred with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in Houdini, delivers another topnotch characterization as the no-nonsense trainer of Miles and his fellow aspirant knights. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate is a musical within a musical -- altogether appropriate, since its source material, Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, was a play within a play. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson star as famous Broadway singing team who haven't worked together since their acrimonious divorce. Keel, collaborating with Cole Porter (played by Ron Randell), plans to star in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew titled "Kiss Me Kate." Both he and Porter agree that only one actress should play the tempestuous Katherine, and that's Grayson. But she isn't buying, especially after discovering that Keel's latest paramour, Ann Miller, is going to be playing Bianca. Besides, Grayson is about to retire from showbiz to marry the "Ralph Bellamy character," played not by Bellamy, but by Willard Parker. A couple of gangsters (James Whitmore and Keenan Wynn) arrive on the scene, convinced Keel is heavily in debt to their boss; actually, a young hoofer in the chorus (Tommy Rall) owes the money, but signed Keel's name to an IOU. But since Grayson is having second thoughts about going on-stage, Keel plays along with the hoods, who force Grayson at gunpoint to co-star with her ex-husband so that they'll get paid off. Later the roles are reversed, and the gangsters are themselves finagled into appearing on-stage, Elizabethan costumes and all, though that scene is less of a comic success. This aside, Kiss Me Kate is a well-appointed (if bowdlerized) film adaptation of the Porter musical. Virtually all of the play's songs are retained for the screen version, notably "So in Love," "Wunderbar," "Faithful in My Fashion," "Too Darn Hot," "Why Can't You Behave?," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" (a delightful duet delivered delightfully by Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore), and the title song. Additionally, Porter lifted a song from another play, Out of This World, and incorporated it in the movie version of Kiss Me Kate; as a result, "From This Moment On" has been included in all subsequent stagings of Kate. This MGM musical has the distinction of being filmed in 3-D, which is why Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson throw so many chairs, dishes, and pieces of fruit at the camera in their domestic battle scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a two-part Walt Disney cartoon feature based on a pair of well known stories. The first half of the film is an adaptation of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, all about gawky 17th century schoolteacher Ichabod Crane and his love for the beautiful Katrina. The girl's vengeful ex-beau Brom Bones decides to scare Ichabod out of Sleepy Hollow by filling the impressionable teacher's brain with stories about the ghostly Headless Horseman--who of course makes an appearance that very night! The second half of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is based on the "Toad of Toad Hall" stories from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind and the Willows. The aristocratic but childish Mr. Toad loves motorcars, but his affection leads him to a jail term when he is accused of stealing an automobile. It's up to Toad's faithful friends to break Toad out of jail and expose the real crooks. One of Disney's better "omnibus" cartoon features, Ichabod and Mr. Toad is enhanced by the narrative skills of Bing Crosby in the Ichabod segment and Basil Rathbone in the Mr. Toad sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though its title suggests that Gaiety George is yet another vehicle for British comedian George Formby, the film is in fact a biopic. Richard Greene plays Irish theatrical impresario George Howard, whose elaborately staged musical entertainments were highlights of the early 20th century. Wounded during World War I, Howard returns to London and virtually forgotten, compelling him to mount a spectacular comeback. Surprisingly, the weakest element is not its banal plotline but the musical numbers, which are staged with little of the "feel" or energy of the period. Released in the US as Showtime in 1948. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this romance, a young woman gets into a real mess when her mother begins meddling in her romantic life by conning her into becoming engaged to her boss. Unfortunately, the girl loves another who has gone off to fight the war. Upon his return, he is enraged to learn about the engagement. Mayhem ensues until the whole mess is straightened out and the lovers are reunited. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

That ubiquitous British character actor Frederick Leister essayed one of his largest and most rewarding screen roles in The Hundred Pound Window. Leister plays Ernest Draper, a mild-mannered race-track auditor who has spent his entire life playing it safe financially. All of this changes dramatically when Draper is put in charge of the track's "Hundred Pound Window", where the highest wagers are registered and the clientele consists of the Rich and Famous-and not a few crooked gamblers. A subplot involving a gang of black marketeers is handled by up-and-coming romantic lead David Farrar as Scotland Yard inspector George Graham. Filmed by England's Teddington Studios, The Hundred Pound Window was released stateside by Teddington's Hollywood "sister studio" Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

W.C. Fields heads to Esoteric studios to pitch a story idea to producer Franklin Pangborn. The producer wants to make a conventional romantic musical starring Fields' niece, teen-aged soprano Gloria Jean, but "The Great Man" has other ideas. As Pangborn sits in dumbfounded silence, Fields unravels an incoherent farrago which begins with him travelling to a Russian colony in Mexico--by way of an airliner with an open observation platform. Fields dives from the plane when his precious flask of gin falls overboard; he lands safely at the mountaintop mansion of the formidable Mrs. Hemoglobin (Margaret Dumont). Playing a kissing game with Hemoglobin's beauteous daughter (Susan Miller), who has never seen a man before, Fields decides to make a quick exit when Mama wants to get in on the game too. Reunited with Gloria Jean in the Russian colony, Fields learns that Mrs. Hemoglobin is worth millions, so he climbs back up the mountain, ignoring such obstacles as a displaced African gorilla. Disposing of his rival Leon Errol, Fields is about to wed Mrs. Hemoglobin, but is talked out of it at the last moment by Gloria Jean. At this point in the narrative, producer Pangborn can stand no more. He tells Fields to take his nonsensical screenplay and vacate the premises. After a brief episode at a soda fountain ("This scene was supposed to be in a saloon, but the censors made us cut it out"), Fields drives off to new adventures with his niece--but not before a zany slapstick car-chase finale, prompted by Fields' mistaken belief that he's rushing a corpulent middle-aged lady to the maternity hospital. W. C. Fields' original screenplay for Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (written under the fanciful pseudonym of Otis Criblecoblis) made a lot more sense than what ended up on screen, but Fields' extended absences from the studio, coupled with Universal's desire to reshape the film into a vehicle for their new star Gloria Jean, necessitated a complete restructuring of the plot. While hardly Fields' best or most representative film, Sucker is an excellent example of the sort of nonsensical "nut" humor in vogue in 1941 thanks to Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin'. And, occasionally, the film stands still long enough to allow W. C. Fields to mutter a priceless aside or toss off a perfectly timed double-take. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Don Ameche, an American news bureau chief stationed in London, is frustrated by the British government's censorship of his wildly speculative dispatches to the United States. Joan Bennett is the government Teletype operator assigned to make sure that Ameche doesn't send out any story that hasn't been cleared. At first adversarial towards each other, Ameche and Bennet fall in love while huddled in various bomb shelters during the 1940 London blitz. Clearly inspired by Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (40), Confirm or Deny was one of many "preparedness" films turned out by Hollywood in the months just prior to Pearl Harbor. Any political proselytizing, however, takes second place to the Don Ameche/Joan Bennett love story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lillian Russell is the sanitized musical biopic of the legendary (and much-married) 19th century musical comedy star. Discovered in 1880 by bandleader Tony Pastor (Leo Carrillo), Lillian Russell (Alice Faye) wastes no time rising to fame and fortune on the Broadway stage. Along the way, she curries the favor of such eligible bachelors as newspaperman Alexander Moore (Henry Fonda), composer Edward Solomon (Don Ameche), and railroad tycoon Diamond Jim Brady (Edward Arnold). She marries the first two, and has a high old time (albeit chastely) with the third. The story ends with Russell's retirement in 1912, and her reunion with the one true love of her life. The film's hands-down highlight is a timeworn but classic routine involving those two Broadway comedy giants Joe Weber and Lew Fields, both of whom had appeared on-stage with the real Lillian Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The romantic hills and valleys of an advertising agency secretary provide the basis of this comedy drama. Unlike her soon-to-be-married roommate, the secretary is determined to remain single and forge a strong career. She does have a suitor, but he is not ambitious enough for her and she keeps her distance. The girl gets her chance to climb the corporate ladder after she invents a sure-fire cure for hangovers. Sure enough she begins her ascent. Meanwhile, her suitor continues to plead with her to leave her job and become his bride. But the secretary has fallen for an ambitious adman who is engaged with another who is already cheating upon him. At this point, the stage is set for considerable romantic confusion and things are a mess until the very happy end. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Those zany Ritz Brothers are at it again--good news or bad, depending on one's feelings toward the team. This time they're a trio of Manhattan entertainers who can't get anywhere because hillbilly acts are "in" with radio and theatrical producers. Also left out in the cold by the new fad is singer Marjorie Weaver. Weaver and the Ritzes decide to pass themselves off as hillbillies, and to do this head for the Kentucky hills in order to be discovered. They land smack-dab in the middle of one of those mountain feuds so beloved of comedy filmmakers. Radio star Tony Martin, who has been sent southward to find genuine hayseed talent, spots the Ritzes and Weaver and brings them back to New York. The truth comes out at last, but the Ritz boys redeem themselves with a rib tickling "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" radio sketch--easily the highlight of this wildly uneven film. When reminiscing about Kentucky Moonshine in 1978, director David Butler remembered that team member Al Ritz refused to perform a barefoot hillbilly dance unless he was outfitted with rubber feet! The producers should have recreated that true-life bit in the film and gotten rid of the tiresome opening routine in which the Ritzes play poker using hospital progress charts. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Leo McCarey directed this classic screwball comedy in which Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play Jerry and Lucy Warriner, a couple whose marriage is starting to fall apart. Jerry informs Lucy that he's taking a vacation alone in Florida; instead, he holes up with his buddies and plays poker for a week (while sitting under a sun lamp so he'll have an appropriate tan). Lucy concludes that Jerry was never in Florida just as Jerry discovers that Lucy was spending her time with Armand Duvalle (Alex D'Arcy), a handsome voice teacher. Both Jerry and Lucy believe the other was unfaithful, so they agree to a trial divorce, with a bitter battle fought over custody of Mr. Smith, the dog (Lucy gets the dog, but Jerry has visitation rights). Determined to make Jerry jealous, Lucy continues keeping company with Armand while also dating Daniel Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), a wealthy oil man from Oklahoma. Convinced that turnabout is fair play, Jerry starts going out with Dixie Belle Lee (Joyce Compton), a brassy nightclub singer, as well as socialite Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont). However, Lucy has belatedly decided that she wants Jerry back, and she hatches a plan to win him back by making a spectacle of herself at a party. The Awful Truth was based on a play which had been filmed twice before, but McCarey gave his superb comic cast free reign to improvise and add new business, and the results were splendid; you haven't lived until you've heard Irene Dunne attempt to sing "Home on the Range." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Silent-film leading man (and third husband of Mary Pickford) Charles "Buddy" Rogers was a popular band leader at the time he appeared in the British Let's Make a Night of It. Here's the deal: Buddy owns a nightclub; his wife June Clyde runs a rival night spot. That's about it for the plot. The main attraction of Let's Make a Night of It is its cornucopia of guest stars, including impressionist Afrique, legendary Yiddish stage star Molly Picon, and band leaders Jack Jackson, Jack Harris, Sydney Lipton, Joe Loss, Eddie Carroll, Harry Acres and Rudy Starita (all major names on the British entertainment scene of 1937). Let's Make a Night of It was inspired by Henrik N. Ege's radio play The Silver Spoon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi