Crane Wilbur Movies

In this prison drama, a remake of Caged, House of Women (1950), a pregnant woman is wrongly convicted of armed robbery. She is sentenced to five years in prison. After her child is born, the inmate is allowed to keep it. She then has three years to earn parole. If she does not, the babe will be put up for adoption. When the prison warden finds himself attracted to the woman, he makes her his personal maid. Time passes and he falls in love with her resulting in better treatment for the other prisoners. Three years pass and the woman's parole seems assured until the sadistic warden, not wanting to lose the woman he loves, decrees that she will not be paroled and that all imprisoned mothers will lose custody of their children. This harsh action spawns a bloody revolt amongst the inmates. It is the brave woman that quells the uprising. Later media coverage of the event results in her release. The warden is fired. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is an interesting biography of the actor known for his gangster roles in films, and though Ray Danton plays the part of George Raft without looking like him in the least, he is still convincing in his mannerisms. Without getting into any in-depth plumbing of the actor's life, the story begins with the young Raft making his way in New York as a dancer and rubbing shoulders with underworld figures. Then he goes to Hollywood where he eventually finds fame in the film Scarface and gets typecast as a gangster. Tiring of this persona but unable to do very much about it, Raft's career starts to decline for quite a awhile before his success in Some Like It Hot. Along the way, his relationships with five different women are pictured in the briefest fashion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This fourth film version of the Mary Roberts Rinehart-Avery Hopwood stage chestnut The Bat is so old-fashioned in its execution that one might suspect it was intended as "camp" (though that phrase wasn't in common usage in 1959). Agnes Moorehead plays mystery novelist Cornelia Van Gorder, whose remote mansion is the scene for all sorts of diabolical goings-on. The "maguffin" is a million dollars' worth of securities, hidden away somewhere in the huge and foreboding estate. Vincent Price is seen committing a murder early on-but he's not the film's principal villain. Others in the cast include Gavin Gordon as an overly diligent detective, and former Our Gang star Darla Hood as a murder victim. The Bat was adapted for the screen by its director Crane Wilbur, himself a prolific "old dark house" scenarist and playright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by low-budget maven Bryan Foy, Battle Stations is a standard wartime melodrama with the usual assortment of cliches. John Lund plays Father Joe McIntyre, who is assigned as chaplain of an Essex-class aircraft carrier. Father Joe finds himself in conflict with the carrier's Captain (Richard Boone), a strict disciplinarian with little room for compassion. Among the chaplain's allies on board are tough-but-tender chief bos'un Buck Fitzpatrick (William Bendix), hotheaded sailor Chris Jordan (Keefe Brasselle), and young pilot Pete Kelly (William Leslie), whose doom is assured the moment he learns that he's about to become a father. The economies in Battle Stations extend to its opening-credit music, which has been lifted bodily from Max Steiner's score for The Caine Mutiny. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on actual events, The Phenix City Story tells the tale of a wide-open "Sin City" in Alabama (across a bridge from Columbus, GA, and just a stone's throw from the Ft. Benning Army base) where gambling, prostitution, and any number of other vices were tolerated openly by the law, most of it centered on the main downtown drag, 14th Street, thanks to the 50-year influence of organized crime on the local government. Reform groups, mostly in the form of vigilantes, had tried to clean up "the wickedest city in the United States" before, even taking the law into their own hands and wrecking some of the establishments, only to be stymied by the courts (which were otherwise indifferent to activities on 14th Street). At the outset of the movie, set in 1954 -- when the actual events took place -- a new reform group is trying to organize and attempting to get the city's most prominent attorney, Albert Patterson (John McIntire) on their side; so are the club owners on 14th Street, led by Rhett Tanner (Edward Andrews), a cheerful, affable sort with a mean streak not far from the surface. But Patterson wants no part of either side's activities -- he's been a reformer, even a successful candidate, only to see his efforts come to little, and has also successfully defended Tanner and the others on 14th Street in an investigation of a murder of which they weren't guilty. Now he's old, and he wants to sit back with his wife and enjoy the return of his army office/lawyer son, John (Richard Kiley), and his family from Germany. But when the 14th Street boys, led by Clem Wilson (John Larch), go too far beating up Patterson's friends, and involve his son John, and then turn to murder and intimidation, it forces the elder Patterson and his son to join the reformers.

The Phenix City Story runs 87 minutes, but most prints also include a 13-minute preface, compiled from newsreel footage and interviews with the original participants, that provides background on the events that inspired the film (and also spoils a few plot points). Ironically, given the negative image that it portrays of Alabama, the movie was surprisingly well-received in the state at the time; residents were simply fascinated by and taken with the notion of a feature film set in their home state and even including a couple of actual local residents in its cast. Director Phil Karlson was to enjoy even greater success 18 years later with a similar story about one man fighting a city turned bad, Walking Tall, which included many similarly staged action scenes amid its somewhat wider plot-canvas. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Vincent Price turns on his usual terrifying charm in the role of a homicidal magician in The Mad Magician, a satisfying thriller that was originally shown in 3-D. The actor best known for the luster he brought to many horror films stars as Gallico the Great, an inventor of magic acts who yearns to be the star of his own show. On the night of his first performance, he is shut down by his cruel manager Ormond (Donald Randolph) -- who wants to use Gallico's ingenious buzzsaw act for the famed magician Rinaldi (John Emery). Added to the knowledge that the wealthy Ormond had already stolen his wife Claire (Eva Gabor), Gallico goes mad and decapitates his tormentor with the buzzsaw. After a great sequence in which Ormond's head takes a mistaken trip with Gallico's assistant Karen (Mary Murphy) and her detective boyfriend Bruce (Patrick O'Neal), Gallico disguises himself as Ormond and rents an apartment with a mystery author (Lenita Lane). He manages to dispose of the body in another amusing scene, but he must kill again when Claire confronts him in his Ormond disguise. The author identifies Ormond as her killer and Gallico appears to be off the hook -- until Rinaldi appears with designs on stealing Gallico's latest trick: a crematorium illusion. Naturally, the illusion becomes reality and Rinaldi is burned to a crisp. Disguising himself as Rinaldi and taking over the magician's successful show, Gallico continues to fool the law until Bruce matches fingerprints from Rinaldi (who is really Gallico) to those of Ormond. Meanwhile, the author, realizing that the Ormond who stayed in her house was really Gallico, gathers Karen and the detective for a fiery confrontation. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Like its spiritual predecessor Song of Bernadette, Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima is based on a true story. The year is 1917: the place, Fatima, Portugal. While tending sheep, three farm children (Susan Whitney, Sherry Jackson and Sammy Ogg) claim to see a vision of the Virgin Mary. The local adults insist that the kids keep quiet about this vision, fearing reprisals from the anti-Catholic Portuguese government. But word gets out, and soon thousand of pilgrims are flocking to Fatima, awaiting the "miracle" that the vision promised to deliver to the three youngsters. And, then, on October 13, 1917, as witnessed by 70,000 pilgrims, the sun mysteriously sunk in the sky and many of those present claimed to have been miraculously cured of their ailments. Thankfully, Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima never stoops to proselytizing. If one believes the story, fine; if one does not, well, facts are facts. Young co-star Sherry Jackson later appeared on TV's Make Room for Daddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A prison guard at one of California's most notoriously brutal correctional facilities during the 1920s attempts to enact more humane ways of controlling the inmates in this drama. Much of the story was filmed on location and centers the relationships between the steel-tough inmate, Steve Cochran, the ruthless, sadistic warden de Ted de Corsia and his thuggish guards and David Brian, the caring captain of the guard who to enact prison reform and promote rehabilitation programs rather than senseless violence. Steve Cochran and his followers are constantly scheming to escape while de Corsia and crew are trying to beat them into submission. To make things better, Brian, constantly defies de Corsia and as a result gets fired. This infuriates Cochran and the others and a bloody riot ensues. Though many die in the desperate melee, something good comes out of it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Richard Basehart stars as an ex-convict who has problems finding employment on the outside. He takes a job as a lab assistant in a seedy sanitarium, bringing him in contact with a number of disreputable characters. Basehart learns that the sanitarium is a front for a robbery syndicate; will he resume a life of crime, or will he turn the tables on the crooks? Though an inexpensive production, Outside the Wall benefits from a handpicked, powerhouse supporting cast. The director was Crane Wilbur, an expert at moody melodrama whose career stretched way back to The Perils of Pauline (1914). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as The Amazing Mr. X, The Spiritualist stars Turhan Bey as the title character, a mysterious mystic named Alexis. Making a comfortable living by fleecing the gullible wealthy, Alexis' latest target is grieving young widow Christine Faber (Lynn Bari). Hoping to communicate with her husband, who supposedly died in a car crash two years earlier, Christine submits to Alexis' crystal-ball act. Our hero finds out more than he bargained for when the "deceased" Mr. Faber (Donald Curtis) turns up very much alive as the central figure in an elaborate fraud scheme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This suspenseful crime drama reenacts the famed 1947 prison break out of the Canon City, Colorado corrections facility and features the actual warden, Roy Best playing himself. The trouble begins when one prisoner manages to fashion a crude pistol. Enlisting the aid of eleven others, they successfully escape and terrorize the town until the warden and his men manage to round up the survivors and bring them back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The romantic, dangerous and fast-paced world of professional midget auto racing provides the backdrop for this dramatic tale of a young driver who decides to follow in his late father's footsteps and win the big race. Johnny Randall is aware of the risks. His father died in a fireball during a race. Still he wants to win and so enlists the aid of Breezy Bradley, an experienced mechanic to help him restore his father's ruined racer. He also finds time to fall in love with Breezy's beautiful daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Darryl Hickman, older brother of Dobie Gillis star Duane, toplines this campy juvenile delinquency film directed by Crane Wilbur (The Bat). The plot concerns a group of teenagers who hold illegal drag-races, often leading to death and police involvement. Terry Moore, using the name "Jan Ford," appears as Rusty, who is locked in a morgue overnight. The hip lingo will be hilarious to modern viewers, although Wilbur's typically atmospheric use of light and shadow give the film a hard-boiled edge. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide