Robertson White Movies
- 1970
- PG
In this syrupy comedy, a father attempts to reconnect with his troubled, estranged son, a philosophy professor. The chance at reconciliation comes when the son learns that his father, whom he hasn't seen in years is fighting a strange nameless movie disease in a French hospital. The young man's wife is not pleased. While aboard the jet, the son reflects upon his upbringing and the fights that would erupt between his mother, a fundamentalist Christian, and his father, an atheist. He remembers how his father turned to a free-spirited artist for comfort. Just before she left him, the artist gave the father a lovely poem. Later after his son became a teacher, the father decides to enter to piece in a poetry contest and wins $10,0000, which he plans to donate to his son's department. Unfortunately someone discovers that the artist's "original" poem is anything but and the father is publicly humiliated while his son is passed for promotion. Seeing how unhappy his son has become, the father decides to go to a church and pray for his son to get promoted. It works, but unfortunately a man had to die for the son to get it leaving the father to be wracked with guilt. Fortunately with the son's arrival comes the father's salvation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Gleason, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1967
The title character is a benign 7-foot-tall grizzly bear (perhaps all grizzlies are benign, but we're not about to get close enough to find out). Little Clint Howard befriends the bear, naming the beast Ben. Clint's wildlife-officer dad Dennis Weaver and mom Vera Miles have some trouble adjusting to the boy's new pet, but all ends happily after a lengthy sojourn in the Everglades. The best scenes involve ex-Bowery-Boy Huntz Hall, here playing a grizzled old swamp tramp. The upshot of Gentle Giant's success was the TV series Gentle Ben, which also starred Howard and Weaver and which ran from 1967 through 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Weaver, Vera Miles, (more)
The surprise hit of the summer of 1963, Flipper is a thoroughly captivating outdoor adventure from the Ivan Tors factory. Sandy Ricks (Luke Halpin), the young son of Florida fisherman Porter Ricks (Chuck Connors), nurses a wounded dolphin back to health. His father would prefer that Sandy allow the dolphin to return to its natural habitat, but Sandy has other ideas. After "Flipper" rescues Sandy from a shark, however, the boy grants the dolphin his freedom. Ideally suited for audiences of all ages, Flipper was fully deserving of its success; within a year, it had spawned a theatrical sequel and a long-running TV series, which, like the film, cast Suzy the Dolphin as the "hero" Flipper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chuck Connors, Luke Halpin, (more)
Befitting his status as a genre star, Boris Karloff earns top billing over leading man Ralph Byrd in RKO's final Dick Tracy caper. The former Frankenstein monster plays an escaped convict masterminding a daring bank robbery. To get in and out of the bank without being noticed, the gang uses an asphyxiating gas that leaves anyone inside momentarily frozen in place. Everyone, that is, except for bank customer Tess Truehart (Anne Gwynne), who is able to contact Dick Tracy (Byrd) from a phone booth in the bank. With little or no clues, Tracy and his man Friday, Pat Patton (Lyle Latell), question the bank customers but none can shed any light on the mysterious goings-on. The disappearance of Dr. A. Tomic (Milton Parsons) and the odd behavior of his associate, Dr. I.M. Learned (June Clayworth), crack the case wide open, however, and Tracy is eventually able to track down both Gruesome and the surprising identity of his boss, L.E. Thal (Edward Ashley). According to some reports, RKO wanted to release Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome as "Dick Tracy Meets Karloff" but that title was vetoed by Karloff himself. The legendary horror star apparently later accepted his own box-office value and a 1949 Universal comedy was released as Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Byrd, Boris Karloff, (more)
- 1940
Though the 1931 Fox release Charlie Chan Carries On apparently no longer exists, modern viewers can get a general idea of the film's quality by taking a look at its 1940 remake, Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. On the verge of revealing the identity of an international murderer, a Scotland Yard man is himself killed in the Honolulu offices of detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). The only existing clues point to the fact that the murderer is one of several passengers on a ship bound for San Francisco. In time-honored movie-mystery tradition, the ship's manifest is chock full of such suspicious types as Dr. Sudermann (Lionel Atwill), Professor Gordon (Leo G. Carroll) and religious fanatic Mr. Walters (Charles Middleton). Another murder takes place before Chan is able to expose the perpetrator with the help of the supposedly blinded widow (Kay Linaker) of the original victim. Comedy relief is provided by Victor Sen Yung as Chan's eternally bumbling Number Two son and by Cora Witherspoon as man-chasing spinster Susie Watson (a character originally portrayed as a youthful gold-digger by Marjoire White in Charlie Chan Carries On). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Marjorie Weaver, (more)
- 1939
Having proven their box-office value in such films as A Letter of Introduction, Goldwyn Follies and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wise-lipped dummy Charlie McCarthy were awarded with a starring vehicle of their own. While entertaining at the home of magazine publisher Court Aldrich (Samuel S. Hinds), Bergen and his "friends" Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd get mixed up in their host's murder. It seems that Aldrich was working hand in glove with gangster Tony Garcia (Harold Huber), who has kept himself busy knocking off the publisher's enemies. Could Garcia be the murderer this time as well, or was it someone else at the party? Inspector Dailey (Edgar Kennedy) wants to find out-but he doesn't want the unsolicited assistance of Charlie McCarthy, who insists upon playing Sherlock Holmes, replete with deerstalker and magnifying glass. Though essentially a "stunt" film, Charlie McCarthy, Detective pleases the crowd with an abundance of hilarious dialogue and a reasonably good mystery subplot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edgar Bergen, Robert Cummings, (more)
- 1939
In this mystery, a newspaper executive and three of his colleagues conspire to have the owner of the highly-respected London Sun committed to an insane asylum. The hapless publisher manages to escape. Soon after, the four collaborators begin dying one-by-one. Oddly their obituaries appear in a rival publication before they are actually killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Wendy Barrie, (more)
- 1938
Choreographer Bobby Connolly and prolific screenwriter Crane Wilbur teamed up on the direction of Warner Bros.' The Patient in Room 18. Patric Knowles delivers a delightfully comic performance as Lance, an outwardly normal young man obsessed with detective stories. When his obsession threatens to lapse over into lunacy, Lance is sent to the hospital for a nice long rest. It isn't long before he gets mixed up in a genuine murder mystery, using his second-hand knowhow to solve the case. Up-and-coming Ann Sheridan is quite amusing as Lance's nurse and confidante, while the murderer is played by a fellow who is usually cast as the murder victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sheridan, Patric Knowles, (more)
- 1938
The ever-suffering Kay Francis once again makes an assault on the audience's tear ducts in My Bill. Francis is cast as Mary Colbrook, an impoverished widow with four children, ranging in age from 10 to 19. When she realizes she can no longer provide for her family, Mary ships the three eldest children (Bonita Granville, Anita Louise and Bobby Jordan) off to their wealthy Aunt Caroline (Elisabeth Risdon), while Bill Colbrook (Dickie Moore), the youngest, loyally remains with his mom. Salvation comes in the form of a wealthy old recluse (Helens Philips Evans) who takes a liking to Bill, and who conveniently expires at fade-out time, bestowing a fortune upon the Colbrook family. Critics in 1938 were amused that the "poverty stricken" Colbrook family lived in an enormous house with expensive furnishings, but who wanted reality back then? My Bill is based on Tom Barry's play Courage, previously filmed under that title in 1930. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Bonita Granville, (more)
- 1938
In this comedy, a milquetoast office clerk is forcibly betrothed to a woman by her overbearing mother. The trouble begins when the man buys a rather erotic statue of a woman. The mother and her daughter are so appalled that they leave. The man loves his statue and soon learns that the model is the daughter of a prominent senator. More trouble ensues when the sculpture becomes the object of a blackmailing scheme. The crooks keep trying to get hold of it, but the clever clerk consistently outwits them. In the end, his gallant efforts win the respect and love of the pretty model. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank McHugh, Jane Wyman, (more)
- 1938
Preston S. Foster and Frank Jenks play Bill Crane and Doc Williams, the pulp-novel detectives created by mystery writer Jonathan Latimer. Crane and Williams tackle the case of a morgue robbery; the missing body is that of a young woman who died mysteriously. As the detectives follow the clues, they uncover a deeper mystery, seemingly unconnected with the stolen corpse. Ultimately they discover that the person or persons unknown who swiped the lady in the morgue has a great deal to hide, and won't stop at thievery to hide it. Lady in the Morgue was the third film in Universal's Crime Club series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Patricia Ellis, (more)
- 1938
Mystery House is a perfunctory Warner Bros. programmer which coasts along on the appeal of its stars. When a prominent banker is murdered while on a hunting trip, the dead man's daughter, Gwen Kingery (Anne Nagel), calls in private eye Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell) to investigate. No sooner has he started gathering clues than another murder is committed?and another?and another?.The culprit wants to cover up an embezzlement scheme, and there is certainly no shortage of suspects. Without revealing the ending, it can be noted that Mystery House offers at least one surprise when Lance O'Leary ends up falling in love not with Gwen Kingery but with wisecracking nurse Sarah Keate (Anne Sheridan). Sarah, in fact, is the leading character in the Mignon C. Eberhardt novel upon which Mystery House was based-except in the original, she's a middle-aged spinster rather than a Hollywood glamorpuss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Purcell, Ann Sheridan, (more)
- 1937
Footloose Heiress is a vehicle of sorts for Ann Sheridan, no longer a starlet but not quite a star in 1937. Sheridan is cast as wealthy Kay Allyn, the spoiled daughter of eccentric advertising executive John C. Allyn (Hugh O'Connell). Befriending hobo Butch Baeder (Craig Reynolds), Allyn gives him a job, hoping that this down-to-earth chap will be able to tame the headstrong Kay. Not only does Butch succeed in bridling the heroine, but he also turns out to be a millionaire himself, making him ideal husband material. A few broad swipes at radio advertising aside, Footloose Heiress is as predictable as sunrise and sunset. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Reynolds, Ann Sheridan, (more)
- 1937
A cast of Warner Bros. B-movie players struggles valiantly with a leaden script in this medical drama about foster brothers Steven (Donald Woods) and Jerry Brace (Gordon Oliver) following in their physician father's footsteps. But when Jerry, the natural son, loses two patients on account of drunkenness, he cowardly blames Steven, who is subsequently barred from practicing medicine. Dr. Brace Sr. (Joseph King) suffers a fractured skull in a struggle with Jerry, but the latter is once again too drunk to operate. To the rescue comes the disgraced Steven who not only saves the life of his foster-father but also regains the love of pretty Paula Nordland (Jean Muir). Once a Doctor was an unofficial remake of Alias the Doctor, a 1934 melodrama featuring Richard Barthelmess and Marian Marsh. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Muir, Donald Woods, (more)
- 1937
The Westland Case was the opening volley in Universal's "Crime Club" series. The film was based on Headed for a Hearse, a novel by Jonathan Latimer which had to be toned down considerably for the filmgoers' consumption. Latimer's cynical private-eye team of Bill Crane and Doc Williams are here played by Preston S. Foster and Frank Jenks, who'd repeat these roles in subsequent entries. This time out, Bill and Doc try to clear a wrongly condemned man before his date with the electric chair. This they do on behalf of the poor fellow's desperate fiancee Emily Lou (Carol Hughes) -- who, like most of the other characters in the film, knows a lot more than she's telling. If The Westland Case doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it certainly can't be faulted for a lack of energy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Carolyn Hughes, (more)
- 1937
In their third crime-solving adventure, smart-aleck newspaper woman Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell) and slightly dense homicide dick Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) are about to get hitched when Torchy's reporter friends pull a practical joke on them. As a wedding present, the harebrained newsboys hire a stage actor, Harvey Hammond (Leland Hodgson), to simulate a murder victim. But when Torchy and Steve arrive at the scene of the supposed crime, Hammond has been killed for real. Suspects, of course, abound, including Hammond's fellow thespians Hugo Brand (Anderson Lawlor) and Grace Brown (Anne Nagel), whose romance the actor had tried to destroy. Even more suspicious to Torchy are Hammond's long-suffering wife (Virginia Brissac), and his socialite mistress (a surprisingly brunette Natalie Moorhead). With little help from Steve and his even dumber sergeant, Gahagan (Tom Kennedy), Torchy sets a trap for the killer. Produced by Warner Bros.'s busy B-unit, The Adventurous Blonde was acted at breakneck speed by a justly famous stock company, who, as always, nearly managed to make a hackneyed plot seem fresh and new. Torchy herself was ostensibly based on reporter Dorothy Kilgallen and had begun her crime-solving career in Smart Blonde (1937). Eight more Torchy films were made, but Farrell and MacLane were replaced by Lola Lane and Paul Kelly in Torchy in Panama (1938), the seventh entry, and by Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins in the final, Torchy Plays With Dynamite (1939). By then, then series had more than run its course. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, (more)
