Hagar Wilde Movies

This live Playhouse 90 episode dramatizes the life of celebrated Washington party-giver Perle Mesta, who had earlier served as the inspiration for the 1950 Irving Berlin Broadway musical Call Me Madam. The wife of prominent steel manufacturer and political adviser George Mesta (Robert Lowery, Perle (played as an adult by Shirley Booth) rises to prominence in the WW2 years by throwing lavish parties in which people who otherwise wouldn't have given one another the time of day were gently forced to commisserate like ladies and gentlemen. In recognition of her social achievements, Perle is ultimately appointed Minister to Luxembourg by President Harry Truman. Prominent in the supporting cast is gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, in rare dramatic role as Maizie Weldon. The real Perle Mesta makes an appearance in the closing segment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Independently produced by Allan Dowling Pictures, This is My Love was distributed in the U.S. by RKO Radio. The film stars Linda Darnell as Vida, a would-be writer, whose vivid imagination contrasts with the harsh realities of her middle-class household. Her sister Evelyn (Faith Domergue), married to the crippled and embittered Murray (Dan Duryea), is unable to escape into Vida's dream world, though she'd certainly like to do so. When Vida introduces her sweetheart Glenn (Rick Jason) to Evelyn, the latter immediate begins drawing up plans to steal the handsome hunk away from her sister. Not unexpectedly, things degenerate into deception, heartbreak and murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Howard Hawks directed this classic farce about how love attempts to triumph over military red tape after the close of World War II. Capt. Henri Rochard (Cary Grant) is a French officer who is assigned to put a stop to a black market operation in occupied Germany with the help of Lt. Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan), an American WAC. While their initial meetings are hardly harmonious, in time Rochard and Gates find that opposites really do attract, and they fall in love. The two decide to get married, which seems simple enough, but the moment Gates receives orders to return to the United States and Rochard wants to join her, they soon discover just how complicated the U.S. Army can make things. While the Army has a strict protocol for dealing with "war brides," there is no similar routine for men who marry female Army personnel, so in order to follow his new wife into the States, Rochard has to disguise himself as a WAC. From this moment on, nearly everything that happens to Rochard is an affront to his dignity and/or his patience, from his inability to share a bunk with his new bride to his discovery that Army regulations prevent him from driving a motorcycle (Gates has to take the handlebars, while her husband is forced to ride in a sidecar). As more than one writer has pointed out, while Grant gives a deft comic performance, it's a bit of a stretch to imagine that he's French (but probably no more than to imagine that anyone would really believe that he's a woman). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This follow-up to the classic Hollywood ghost story The Uninvited doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor. Joel McCrea stars as widower Davie Fielding, who has long been suspected of bringing about his wife's death. It helps not at all when a series of murders coincides with Fielding's move into a new neighborhood. Elizabeth Howard (Gail Russell), governess to Fielding's children, takes it upon herself to either clear her boss' name or prove him a murderer-and this requires her to delve into the supernatural (or so it seems!) The Unseen was cowritten by Raymond Chandler; one of Joel McCrea's children is played by Richard Lyon, son of actors Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively romantic farce, a Broadway producer's Girl Friday must make sure that her recent marriage is kept secret. If it gets out, she will lose her job. Unfortunately, her new hubby is tired of hiding the truth and creates all kinds of problems when he decides to spill the beans. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this inspired comedy about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets an absent-minded paleontologist and unwittingly makes a fiasco of both their lives. David Huxley (Grant) is the stuffy paleontologist who needs to finish an exhibit on dinosaurs and thus land a $1 million grant for his museum. At a golf outing with his potential benefactors, Huxley is spotted by Susan Vance (Hepburn) who decides that she must have the reserved scientist at all costs. She uses her pet leopard, Baby, to trick him into driving to her Connecticut home, where a dog wanders into Huxley's room and steals the vital last bone that he needs to complete his project. The real trouble begins when another leopard escapes from the local zoo and Baby is mistaken for it, leading Huxley and Susan into a series of harebrained and increasingly more insane schemes to save the cat from the authorities. Inevitably, the two end up in the local jail, where things get even more out of hand: Susan pretends to be the gun moll to David's diabolical, supposedly wanted criminal. Naturally, the mismatched pair falls in love through all the lunacy. Director Howard Hawks delivers a funny, fast-paced, and offbeat story, enlivened by animated performances from the two leads, in what has become a definitive screwball comedy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide