Charles Williams Movies

This film adaptation of Bernard Shaw's 1903 comedy/drama stars Dirk Bogarde, which might have led some impressionable viewers to assume that Doctor's Dilemma was merely the latest installment in Bogarde's "Doctor in the House" series. Bogarde plays a rakish artist who falls victim to consumption. Leslie Caron is his lovely wife, who will not face up to Bogarde's indiscretions. Rather than watch her husband die, Caron begs a doctor to utilize a revolutionary new serum on Bogarde. With the serum in short supply, the doctor is faced with his dilemma: should he save the life of the "worthless" Bogarde, or hold out until a more deserving patient comes along? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the long running Bowery Boys series, the boys begin working as free-lance photographers. Trouble ensues when they take a picture of a crime lord. They are in such a rush to get the picture back to the paper they work for that they accidently destroy the negative. To get another photo, one of the boys begins impersonating a Chicago gangster. He then sneaks his camera into a nightclub. While there he gets fake money from the crimelord, which he gives to the police as evidence. Thanks to his efforts, the boss and his gang are brought to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Curt Siodmak's The Magnetic Monster (1953) is a truly novel science fiction film, in terms of its rather cerebral plot and low-key, quietly intense execution. As much a mystery and, in its first half, a manhunt, as it is a sci-fi-thriller, the movie pushed lots of suspense buttons for viewers in 1953 and still holds up more than a half century later. Richard Carlson (who also co-produced) plays Dr. Jeff Stewart, an agent for the Office of Scientific Investigation. Stewart and his colleague, Dr. Dan Forbes (King Donovan), begin searching for a dangerously radioactive element, which they have good reason to believe is somewhere in the Los Angeles area. They soon learn that this is no ordinary investigation -- among its other attributes, the unknown element generates enough radiation to kill, and also manifests a powerful magnetic field. The trail leads them to Dr. Howard Denker (Leonard Mudie), a rogue scientist who, working on his own, has created a new isotope of an element called serranium, which proves to be not only highly radioactive, but dangerously unstable in ways that science has never seen before. Every 11 hours, the serranium mass enters a growth cycle requiring massive amounts of energy, which it obtains by absorbing the energy from the atomic structure of any matter around it, releasing huge amounts of radiation in the process. The serranium mass doubles in size with each cycle, doubling its energy needs in the process, as well as the potential destructiveness of the next cycle. The danger lies not only in the potential for destruction in the serranium's rapidly increasing energy absorbtion, but its ever-increasing mass, which, at some point, will threaten to unbalance the Earth itself, in its rotation and orbit. Long before that, however, the resulting radiation is going to start killing large numbers of people, and the destructive force accompanying it will threaten to split the Earth's surface apart. Stewart and Forbes soon recognize that the only hope they have of stopping the process is to get ahead of it, by bombarding the serranium with enough energy to force it to divide into two relatively stable elements. The only possible source of sufficient energy is the world's largest cyclotron, which has been built by the Canadian government in Nove Scotia -- but is even it powerful enough to do the job, and can they get the deadly isotope there in time? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this old-fashioned screwball comedy, Christy Sloane (Eleanor Parker) is a secretary with a large legal firm who is sent to California to inform Peter Lockwood (Fred MacMurray), an overly sentimental radio host, that he's just inherited $2 million. Christy is looking to raise her standard of living, and she gets an idea -- what if she woos Peter and gets him to marry her before telling him that he's a millionaire? Christy decides that it's worth a try, even though she soon learns that Peter is due to marry his fiancée June Chandler (Kay Buckley) in a matter of days. However, the wedding goes haywire when Dr. Roland Cook (Richard Carlson), Peter's best man, takes a flyer shortly before the ceremony. It seems that he's secretly in love with June, and he can't bear to see her marry anyone else, even his best friend. Peter takes off to find Roland, with Christy eagerly tagging along, but after the two are soaked by massive waves while driving along the coastline, they wind up at a wild party thrown by a large, overly-cheerful Mexican gentleman (Chris-Pin Martin) who has somehow decided that they're honeymooners and begins plying them with large amounts of tequila. After a few drinks, Christy begins to realize that she actually likes Peter for himself, not just his money, but where does this leave his almost-wedding to June? A Millionaire for Christy was directed by George Marshall, who would go on to helm a number of Jerry Lewis vehicles (including several with his sometimes-partner Dean Martin). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Warner Bros. made good use of its backlog of Harry Warren/Al Dubin tunes in its 1951 Doris Day musical Lullaby of Broadway. Day plays an American musical comedy star who comes back from a successful London engagement to visit her mother Gladys George. A once-great Broadway star herself, George is now living in drunken poverty, but this fact has been carefully hidden from Day by lovable millionaire S.Z. Sakall, who lives in the mansion once owned by Ms. George. Sakall arranges for George to pretend to still be the lady of the manor and to host a party in Day's honor. During the reception, love blooms between Day and Broadway hoofer Gene Nelson. There are several breakups and reconciliations involving a number of characters before the big-money finale. While the musical highlights in Lullaby of Broadway are consummately produced, the script (based on a story by Earl Baldwin) occasionally falls flat, especially when striving for laughs. The best comic bit is a throwaway: Sakall enjoys a nocturnal bottle of beer, which in closeup is advertised as "The Beer That Made Cincinnati Famous" -- Cincinnati being, of course, Doris Day's home town. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From the opening credits onward, bombastic comedian Jerry Colonna dominates the proceedings in Kentucky Jubilee. Colonna plays second-rate entertainer Jerry Harris, who links up with aspiring singer Sally Shannon (Jean Porter) and hotshot reporter Jeff Benson (James Ellison). The trio heads to the small town of Hickory, Kentucky to participate in an annual fundraising musical show. Things get hectic when a gang of crooks steal the receipts and kidnap Colonna (worse luck for the crooks!) The scene-stealing supporting cast includes Fritz Feld, Raymond Hatton, Vince Barnett, Chester Clute, Si Jenks, George Cheseboro and George Sanders (no, not that George Sanders). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Byington, a retired teacher, sells her apartment complex to ex-gangsters who begin kicking out the tenants. Byington tries to help the reformed mobsters, headed by Caruso, to undergo a change of heart. But one of the group, Karnes, still is out to cheat the system. ~ All Movie Guide

When bucolic character comic Grady Sutton shows up as a pistol packin' Westerner in Grand Canyon, your suspicions are confirmed; this oater is supposed to be a spoof. A movie company comes to the Grand Canyon area to shoot a B-western. Pompous leading man James Millican breaks his leg and is replaced by local mule jockey Richard Arlen. The novice actor has to be literally led by the hand by leading lady Mary Beth Hughes (no Oscar prospect himself), but everything is roses by fadeout time. Reed Hadley, steadfast narrator/star of such TV crime series as Racket Squad and Public Defender, is given a rare opportunity to make funny as the western's director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This British drama was originally titled Naughy Arlette. The title character, played by future director Mai Zetterling, is a French exchange student at a British art school. Teacher Hugh Williams is unable to resist Arlette's seductive charms, a fact that brings about his downfall. The girl's randiness also adversely affects Williams' daughter Petula Clark. Based on Serge Weber's novel Lycee des jeaunes filles, The Romantic Age lacks the stylishness demanded by its subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In pageant-like fashion, Warner Bros.' Task Force traces the history of the American aircraft carrier, as experienced by a group of naval air aces. Gary Cooper plays Admiral Jonathan L. Scott, who on the verge of retirement remembers his struggle to win recognition of the importance of aircraft carriers. The story begins in 1921, when Scott and his friend Pete Richard (Walter Brennan) were making dangerous landings on the primitive 65-foot carrier Langley. Scott's outspokenness wins him few friends among the brass, and after he publicly insults a Japanese diplomat on the subject of his beloved carriers, he is shunted away to a desk job. Naturally, once Pearl Harbor is attacked, Scott is vindicated. While his wife Mary (Jane Wyatt) waits patiently at home, Scott serves in World War II with distinction, guiding his carrier through a maze of Japanese artillery and kamikazes. Filmed in Technicolor, Task Force makes good use of actual color battle footage filmed by the Signal Corps. A brief clip from Task Force shows up in the drive-in movie scene in James Cagney's White Heat (1949). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Strange Mrs. Crane stars Marjorie Lord, later famous as the TV wife of Danny Thomas (and the real-life mother of actress Anne Archer) in the atypical role of female crook Gina Crane. Hoping to bury her criminal past, Gina settles into a comfortable existence as the wife of politician Clinton Crane (Pierre Watkin). When her former associate Floyd Durant (Robert Shayne) shows up to blackmail Gina, she has no choice but to murder the man. Things take a bizarre turn when Barbara Arnold (Ruthe Brady) is charged with Durant's murder-and Gina Crane is selected to serve on the jury! Director Sherman Scott was actually the prolific Sam Newfield, taking a brief respite from his multitude of B-western series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide