Tina Carver Movies

Former "Henry Aldrich" James Lydon is cast against type as a mean-spirited reform school alumnus in Chain of Evidence. Despite the boy's volatile temper, police lieutenant Bill Elliot is convinced that Lydon is a good kid underneath. Elliot's faith in his fellow man is sorely tested when Lydon is accused of murdering businessman Hugh Sanders at the urging of Sanders' craven wife Tina Carver. With the help of Lydon's girlfriend Claudia Barrett, Elliot follows the chain of evidence in hopes of proving the boy's innocence. This Allied Artists programmer was originally released on a double bill with Dragoon Wells Massacre. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This uproariously bad monster mess is set on a remote tropical island, where a native prince places a curse on the elders just prior to his execution for breaking tribal law, promising to return from the dead for revenge. He does, of course -- but he can only manage to return from the grave as a giant walking tree. (His obvious displeasure with having assumed this shape is indicated by the tree-thing's permanently constipated expression.) There is some indication given that his resurrection has something to do with atomic testing taking place on the island, but this is obviously incidental to the real plot, which treats viewers to endless scenes of natives running in horror from a shambling, ticked-off rubber stump. In print, this sounds like broad comedy material, but the only laughs to be found in this clunker are purely unintentional. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

An obviously ailing Humphrey Bogart made his final screen appearance in The Harder They Fall. Adapted from a novel by Budd Schulberg, the film is a thinly disguised a clef account of the Primo Carnera boxing scandal. Bogart is cast as unemployed newspaperman Eddie Willis, who sells his soul down the river when he signs on as press agent for slimy fight manager Nick Benko (Rod Steiger). It is Willis' job to stir up publicity for Benko's newest protégé, Argentinian boxer Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). Benko's boy quickly rises to the top of his profession, though everybody but Toro knows that all the fights have been fixed. Upon learning that Benko intends to bilk Toro of his earnings, Willis regains his integrity, tells the wide-eyed young pugilist the truth, then sits down to write a searing expose of the fight racket. Jan Sterling costars as Willis' estranged wife, while real-life boxers Jersey Joe Walcott and Max Baer are suitably cast as Toro's trainer and ring opponent, respectively. There is also a heartbreaking cameo appearance by ex-fighter Joe Greb, cast as a punchdrunk skid row bum. The Harder They Fall originally went out with two different endings: in one, Eddie Willis demanded that boxing be banned altogether, while in the other, Willis merely insisted that there be a federal investigation of the prizefighting business. The videotape version contains the "harder" denouement, while most TV prints end with the "softer" message. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hell on Frisco Bay is a slam-bang return to the sort of gangster fare turned out by the yard at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. Alan Ladd plays ex-cop Steve Rollins, who serves five years on a manslaughter rap. Upon his release, Rollins dedicates himself to finding the real killer. He soon learns that the man responsible for the frame-up was Victor Amato (Edward G. Robinson), the crime kingpin who rules the roost on the docks of San Francisco. Hoping to keep the heat off his operation, Amato "invites" Rollins to join his gang. Had Rollins accepted at this point, the film would have been over; instead, he doggedly pursues the gang boss with the help of such allies as cast-off gangster moll Kay Stanley (Fay Wray) and police lieutenant Dan Bianco (William Demarest). Amato is so desperate at one point that he orders the murder of his own nephew; surely a man with this sort of temperament is doomed to a horrible demise, and that's just what happens. Joanne Dru costars as Rollins' estranged wife Marcia, who believes in her husband but doesn't relish the notion of his being shot full of holes by Amato's goons. At the time of the film's release, the critics went overboard in their approval of Edward G. Robinson's full-blooded reprisal of the sort of role which made him famous (Robinson himself hated the part, but needed the work). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi