Robert D. Webb Movies
A cursory glance at this American director's films and their critical reception yields such descriptions as "programmer mystery yarn," "passable war actioner," "pat western film," "average spectacle adventure", etc., but Robert D. Webb's place in history is assured due to the fact that he directed the first Elvis Presley film Love Me Tender (1956). He also directed one of the first CinemaScope movies, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953). The cast lists for Webb's films read like a Who's Who of Hollywood in the '50s: Jeffrey Hunter (several collaborations), Richard Conte, Victor Mature, Robert Wagner, Debra Paget, Terry Moore, Hugh O'Brian, Richard Egan, Guy Madison, Michael Rennie, John Hodiak, Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo, Sheree North, Alan Ladd, Jeanne Crain, Frankie Avalon, etc. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1968
This collection of music focusing on British musical talents. ~ All Movie Guide
In this adventure, set in the south African Transvaal, six robbers begin victimizing an aged, bitter prospector and his daughter in order to steal his gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price
After a purse is stolen on a South African bus, this tale is set in motion--involving secret information and communist espionage. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
In this high-seas adventure set in the 1600s, a British sea captain must go undercover, join a pirate band, and capture the notorious Captain Henry Morgan. But Morgan is on to the ruse and is well prepared when the sea captain makes his move. As the two engage in mortal combat, they are knocked unconscious and dragged to the governor of Tortuga who prepares to hang them both as pirates. Fortunately, a stowaway aboard the pirate vessel steps forward and reveals the hero's true identity and saves him. Morgan is not so lucky. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Scott, Leticia Roman, (more)
- 1961
The actors do the best they can with this undistinguished wartime melodrama about a group of women caught in New Guinea just when the Japanese are taking over Indonesia and its contiguous islands in 1942. The women range from an ornithologist, to a nurse, to a thief, and a waitress, all captured and put into a Japanese prison camp. But the women manage to escape, though not all survive, and later on they encounter a double-dealing plantation owner (Cesar Romero) who unknown to them, is collaborating with the Japanese and plans on sending them back to their captors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Owens, Denise Darcel, (more)
- 1960
In this action drama, ranchers and lumberjacks are at loggerheads over the proper usage of the land. When the logging team finds a prime stand, the ranchers beg the loggers not to harvest it because the lack of trees will cause deadly mud slides during the rainy season that will destroy their homes. The battle becomes quite heated as the ranchers and the lumberman begin blowing each other up. In the midst of explosive tempers and fighting, a romance blooms between lovers on each side. Finally the lead forester sees that he is wrong after the head rancher's daughter, the woman he loves, is almost blown to bits. Unfortunately, his partner doesn't and continues to fight until he is shot and killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Jeanne Crain, (more)
- 1957
In this adventure, a convict gets released and immediately begins looking for the $250,000 in loot a fellow inmate hid thirty years ago before coming to prison. While he looks, the ex-con is pursued by a strange family who wants a piece of the action. He is also accompanied by his new love, a waitress. The explorers are terribly disappointed when they learn that the gold is now covered by Lake Mead. The family is so angry that they try to kill the lovers. Fortunately, a sheriff intervenes before it's too late. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Hunter, Sheree North, (more)
Elvis Presley made his motion picture debut in the Civil War drama Love Me Tender. Elvis, however, is not the star of the proceedings: that honor goes jointly to Richard Egan and Debra Paget. The story concerns three brothers--Egan, William Campbell and James Drury--who steal a Union payroll on behalf of the Confederacy, only to discover that the war is over and that they're now technically outlaws. Rather than return the money, the brothers divvy it up amongst themselves. Upon returning home, Egan discovers that his sweetheart (Debra Paget) has married Elvis, his youngest brother. Since Love Me Tender has been played incessantly on TV since the early 1960s, it is giving away nothing to reveal that the film is one of two in which Elvis Presley's character dies at the end. Naturally, Elvis is afforded plenty of opportunities to sing: the scene in which he launches into an anachronistic hip-swivelling performance at a county fair is one of the high points of mid-1950s kitsch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Debra Paget, (more)
A small Kansas town braces itself for the arrival of the first Texas trail herd. The marshal (Robert Ryan) expects trouble from the herd drivers, who'll be thirsty and lascivious after months on the trail. The town's saloon owner (Robert Middleton), anticipating a business boom, wants to remove the marshal and thus leave the town wide open. The marshal can expect little help from his deputy (Jeffrey Hunter), whose father was killed by the lawman. The Proud Ones builds slowly to an explosive climax, in which the deputy chooses the right side and Law & Order is maintained. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ryan, Virginia Mayo, (more)
- 1956
The men behind America's first venture into space are honored in this drama that paid special emphasis on historical accuracy and obtained much input and assistance from the US Air Force. The story centers on an Air Force doctor who performs many detailed test to discover how the human body will respond to the rigors of space travel including its reactions to being ejected in a space capsule from 45,000 feet, to traveling 1,000 miles per hour in a rocket sled, and ascending to 100,000 feet in a balloon. His devoted wife supports him all the way even though he sometimes insists on using himself as a guinea pig. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Madison, Virginia Leith, (more)
- 1955
Unusual for its time, this 1955 film is a sympathetic treatment of the U.S. Army's resettlement of Native Americans in the Old West. The Cheyenne tribe agrees to leave its hunting grounds in Wyoming so that white settlers looking for gold can move in. Colonel Lindsay (John Lund) is in charge of the troops carrying out the resettlement journey. He is helped by an experienced land surveyor, John Tanner (Robert Wagner). Cheyenne tribesmen Little Dog (Jeffrey Hunter) and American Horse (Hugh O'Brian) are friends with Tanner and helpful in the resettlement -- at least until Little Dog's fiancée, Appearing Day (Debra Paget), takes a liking to Tanner. The attraction threatens to scuttle everything, and the tribe sends an arrow with a white feather as a declaration of war. Tanner convinces tribal leader Chief Broken Hand (Eduard Franz) to allow the men to settle the matter themselves. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wagner, John Lund, (more)
- 1955
Seven Cities of Gold is the story of Father Junipero Serra (Michael Rennie), the 18th century Jesuit priest who founded the first missions in California. Based on the novel by Isabelle Gibson Ziegler, the film adds a dash of intrigue and adventure to the story in the person of a Spanish military commander (Anthony Quinn) who clashes with the altrustic, peace-loving Father Serra. The tenuous relationship between the Spaniards and the local Indians is endangered when one of the military officers (Richard Egan) betrays an Indian girl (Rita Moreno). To avoid wholesale bloodshed, the errant officer willingly submits to tribal tortures to make amends for his misdeeds. Too melodramatic for some tastes, Seven Cities of Gold is redeemed by the breathtakingly beautiful color cinematography of Lucien Ballard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Anthony Quinn, (more)
At the time of its release, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef was considered more notable for its technical achievements than its artistic virtues, a judgment that is still valid, up to a point. It wasn't the most earth-shattering drama ever made, though the performances seem better than they were probably given credit for being at the time. 20th Century Fox's second Cinemascope production starred Robert Wagner (at the height of his male ingénue phase) and Terry Moore in a modern Romeo and Juliet story. He plays Tony Petrakis, the cocky but good-hearted son of Greek sponge fisherman Mike Petrakis (Gilbert Roland), who fishes the area off the Florida coast. The fiercest rivals of Petrakis and his fellow Greek fishermen are the English-descended hook-boat fishermen -- led by Thomas Rhys (Richard Boone) -- who are prepared to kill anyone who intrudes on their established territory. Mike Petrakis has already had one run-in with Arnold, a protégé of Rhys' and the would-be husband of Rhys' daughter, who doesn't know when to back off. In the midst of their conflict, which has come close to gunshots being exchanged, Tony meets Gwyneth Rhys (Terry Moore), Thomas' daughter. She's fascinated by this handsome young Greek who doesn't seem afraid to fight back against men bigger, older, and tougher than he is. The two end up falling in love, much to the consternation of their two families and their friends. Mike later dies in a tragic diving accident, in the aftermath of which his boat is looted and burned at the instigation of Arnold. The elder Rhys turns out to be a better and fairer man than Arnold, who mercilessly beats Tony after catching him off guard. Tony and Gwyneth end up running off together in her hook-boat, with Arnold and her father in hot pursuit, ready to kill him. Only Thomas Rhys' basic decency and Tony's bravery -- coupled with Arnold's cowardice, lust, and anger -- manages to get the conflict settled, in a surprising (and convincing) resolution. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, (more)
- 1953
The Glory Brigade is a standard Korean War combat drama with a few interesting plot wrinkles. Victor Mature stars as Lt. Sam Prior, an American of Greek extraction. While trying to cross a bridge into Red territory, Prior loses most of his men, a fact he attributes to the seeming cowardice of the Greek UN troops. Eventually he realizes that his assumptions about the Greeks were mistaken, and further proof of their courage is offered during a later confrontation with the North Koreans. Alexander Scourby co-stars as Lt. Nikias, CO of the Greek detachment, while Lee Marvin enjoys one of his best early roles as Prior's corporal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Alexander Scourby, (more)
- 1945
In this mystery, a detective and his partner are hired by a carnival psychic to help her find her long-lost sister who vanished a few years back. It is the partner who solves the mystery, but before she can tell her boss, she is killed. The detective is accused of the crime and arrested. He somehow avoids jail, but when he is found near yet another corpse, the police are convinced of his guilt. Fortunately, before he comes to trial, the gumshoe finds the real culprit and justice ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Conte, Faye Marlowe, (more)
- 1945
The Caribbean Mystery is a remake of Mr. Moto on Danger Island (1939)-which in turn was a remake of Murder in Trinidad. James Dunn stars as Mr. Smith, a Columbo-like Brooklyn detective who pops up on a tropical island to track down some missing geologists. In his own shambling, easygoing manner, Mr. Smith uncovers an elaborate murder scheme fomented by a self-styled jungle "boss" who kills anyone who threatens his domain. Our hero must survive bullets, alligators and quicksand before he can collar the miscreant. All three versions of this steamy melodrama were based on a novel by radio commentator John W. Vandercook. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sheila Ryan, Edward Ryan, (more)
