P.J. Wolfson Movies

One of the great onscreen romantic pairings, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, ended with this romantic adventure film, their fourth cinematic collaboration. In Shanghai after WWII, veteran pilots Larry Briggs (Ladd) and Pete Rocco (Wally Cassell) are dismayed when informed that friend Mike Perry (Douglas Dick) will soon die of a terminal illness. Larry and Pete decide to keep the tragic news from Mike and spend the next weeks showing him a high time. To finance the festivities, they accept an offer of $10,000 from unscrupulous war profiteer Zlex Maris (Morris Carnovsky) in exchange for a flight to Vietnam. When departure time arrives, Maris shows up with the police in hot pursuit, so the buddies take off with his secretary, Susan Neaves (Lake), whose briefcase contains Maris' earnings -- $500,000. En route to Saigon, however, the crew crash-lands in an Asian jungle. As they make their way back to civilization with a detective (Luther Adler) tailing them, Mike develops feelings for Susan, who plays along at Larry's urging. Susan, however, is actually falling for Larry and vice versa. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The third of four films bearing the title of The Perils of Pauline, this musical biopic purports to tell the life story of famed silent serial queen Pearl White. Right at the beginning, however, an introductory title informs the audience that what follows is merely "suggested" by incidents in White's life and career. Translation: The film is a fabrication from beginning to end, but an enjoyable one. Played on all four cylinders by Betty Hutton, White is introduced as a frustrated factory worker who aspires to become a dramatic actress. She joins a touring theatrical troupe managed by handsome but pompous Mike (John Lund), but fame and fortune elude her because she's unable to suppress her natural rambunctiousness. In desperation, White takes a job at a movie studio, where she promptly finds herself in the middle of a slapstick pie fight. With the help of bombastic director Mac (William Demarest), top-hatted villain portrayer Timmy (Billy De Wolfe), and imperious dramatics coach Julia (Constance Collier), Pearl soon becomes world-famous as the star of such cliffhanging, tied-to-the-railroad-tracks serials as The Perils of Pauline (hence the title of this film). At the height of her fame, she arranges for her theatrical mentor Mike to get a job as her leading man, forcing him to swallow his pride and admit that he's been in love with her from the moment he met her. A series of clichéd complications contrive to separate White and Mike, but he returns to her arms when she's seriously injured during a Parisian stage performance. A few fairly credible recreations of silent moviemaking techniques aside, The Perils of Pauline is wildly anachronistic and inaccurate (for one thing, Pearl White made most of her serials in New Jersey rather than Hollywood). As a musical comedy, however, the film passes muster, especially during the performance of such Frank Loesser tunes as "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" and "The Sewing Machine." As a bonus, the film rounds up several silent-movie veterans in cameo roles, including William Farnum, Chester Conklin, Jimmy Finlayson, Creighton Hale, Hank Mann -- and Paul Panzer, who played the sneering villain in the original 1914 Perils of Pauline. ~ All Movie Guide

Here's yet another comedy about the wartime servant shortage, with traces of The Man Who Came to Dinner thrown into the mixture. When his cook is forced to stay behind in England, Rudyard Morley (Charles Coburn), a noted author who bears more than a passing resemblance to George Bernard Shaw, searches for a new cook in rural Massachussetts. With rogueish ruthlessness, Morley "steals" the chef of socialite Lucille Scott (Isobel Elsom), who exacts a nastily amusing revenge. All of this complicates the romance between Morley's daughter Pamela (Marguerite Chapman) and Scott's aviator son Mike (Bill Carter). Despite the star power and charisma of Charles Coburn, some of the film's biggest laughs are delivered by lowly supporting players Ed Gargan, Mary Wickes and Almira Sessions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pacific Rendezvous is a B-picture remake of the 1935 MGM A-picture Rendezvous, updated to accommodate WW2. Lee Bowman plays the old William Powell role as a American naval intelligence operative (this time named Lt. Bill Gordon) assigned to decipher enemy code. His mission is compromised by his romance with dizzy debutante Elaine Carter (Jean Rogers, in the role originated by Rosalind Russell). Despite Elaine's well-meaning ineptitude, our hero is able to foil the plans of a group of Nazi agents. Easy to take, Pacific Rendezvous may not be any classic-but then, neither was the original film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A good wife's innocence is shattered when she learns that her wealthy husband is actually an amoral big-shot jewel thief. She learns this when he brazenly robs some of their vacationing friends. Naturally she wants to leave him, but he won't let her and makes her return to Chicago and stay quiet. He doesn't realize that a detective is in hot pursuit. Once in Chi-town, the thief abandons the wife and she gets a divorce. Unfortunately, she ends up accused of the latest heist. After good friends help to clear her, she meets the detective. Together they plot an ingenious revenge that culminates in the capture of the crook and a new chance at happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Grand Hotel formula that was so overworked in the 1930s made an encore appearance in 1940's Escape to Glory. The story is given timeliness by placing the characters on a British merchant ship on the very day that World War II is declared. The ship is attacked by a Nazi U-Boat, resulting in a variety of reactions from the diverse passengers--one of whom (Erwin Kalser) is a German doctor. Constance Bennett is glamorous, Pat O'Brien is boozy, John Halliday is pensive, and everybody else (except for the German medico) is plain fearful. Twenty years later, director John Brahm would masterfully recreate the shipboard tensions he sustained so well in Escape to Glory for his classic Twilight Zone TV playlet "Judgment Night." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A dedicated nurse in a British hospital takes a nervous rookie under her wing. When the new nurse messes up and causes a patient's death, she protects her and loses her job. She eventually finds work at another bigger and more rundown hospital and there falls in love with a handsome young doctor. Trouble comes in the form of a lustful chief of staff who makes a play for the nurse. When she spurns him, he arranges to have her fired. Still determined to practice her profession the nurse and her fledgling assistant start their own service. Later a terrible epidemic strikes and she and her helper suddenly find themselves in demand at the hospital. There, the younger nurse redeems herself by making a great sacrifice and her mentor's own selfless devotion is finally recognized. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

James Stewart and Ginger Rogers were "an item" when Vivacious Lady was filmed, and their obvious real-life affection for one another pours over onto the screen. Stewart plays Peter Morgan, a young botany professor who while on a visit to New York impulsively marries free-spirited nightclub singer Francey (Rogers). A few obstacles lie in the path of connubial bliss, however, including Peter's bitchy ex-fiancee Helen (Frances Mercer) and his stern college-dean father Peter Morgan Sr. (Charles Coburn). Hoping to break the news of his marriage gently to Helen and his father, Pete contrives to keep the union a secret, with the expected embarrassing results. Before the final fade-out, both Morgan Senior and Morgan Junior are on the outs with their respective wives, and it takes an uproariously tearful reunion on a passenger train to straighten things out. In his first outing as a producer, director George Stevens shows off his two-reel-comedy training with a number of hilarious comedy setpieces (the best is a slapsticky cat-fight between the two rivals for Pete's affections), though things tend to slow down towards the end. Stevens also finds room for several of his favorite character actors, including Grady Sutton, Franklin Pangborn and Willie Best, to do their time-honored specialties. Best of all is Beulah Bondi as James Stewart's mother (one of several such assignments), delivering a most unusual and touchingly funny performance. In short, Vivacious Lady was a guaranteed box-office smash even before the cameras began to turn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wealthy socialite Melsa Manton (Barbara Stanwyck) is taking her pooches for a walk in the dead of the night when she stumbles upon a dead body and a car fleeing the scene of the crime. She alerts the police but the corpse has disappeared by the time they arrive, and the lieutenant, knowing of her madcap reputation, believes she was playing a practical joke. After newspaper editor Peter Ames (Henry Fonda) takes her to task in print, she sues him for libel and enlists the aid of her society friends in tracking down the body and finding the killer. Eventually, Ames comes around to believing Melsa's story and aids her in her search. It isn't long before the two antagonists find they're attracted to each other -- but they have to catch the murderer before they can settle down and live happily ever after. Fonda and Stanwyck would team up again in You Belong to Me and The Lady Eve. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

The seventh of RKO's Fred Astaire--Ginger Rogers musicals, Shall We Dance casts Astaire as a world-renowned ballet dancer and Rogers as a musical comedy headliner. Rogers' manager Jerome Cowan concocts a phony romance between his client and Astaire in order to garner publicity for them both. Eventually, of course, the twosome falls in love for real, but not before a cornucopia of confusion, complications and misunderstandings. Highlights include a number performed on roller skates and Astaire's dance solo in the art-deco boiler room of an ocean liner. The George and Ira Gershwin score (their last for Astaire and Rogers) includes "Slap That Bass," "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They All Laughed," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," and the title number. Shall We Dance was slated as the last of the Fred-and-Ginger romps, but within a year they were together again in Carefree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love on a Bet is a lightweight programmer from the "Get Rich Quick Wallingford" school of comedy. Gene Raymond stars as Michael, a fresh young sprout who needs $15,000 to produce a Broadway play. His rich uncle Carlton (William Collier Jr.) agrees to pony up the money, but only on the condition that Michael leave New York City in nothing but his underwear and show up in Los Angeles 10 days later in a new suit, with a hundred dollars, and a sweetheart -- which happens to be the plotline of the play that Michael wants to produce! As he embarks upon his hitchhiking "tour" of the U.S., Michael is given a lift by wisecracking Charlotte (Helen Broderick) and her pretty niece Paula (Wendy Barrie). At this point, everyone in the audience will know how Love on a Bet ends up, but getting there is all the fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ann Harding stars as Anne Talbot, the wife of prominent physician Michael Talbot (Herbert Marshall). Despite his happy marriage, the good doctor's head has been turned by much-younger socialite Jerry Mannerly (Margaret Lindsay). A "modern woman," Anne gallantly steps aside, confident that Michael will eventually tire of his new flame and come to his senses. And of course, he does, but not without the help of his wise old dad (Edward Ellis). This harmless romantic drama was raked over the coals by the American and Canadian Glass Blowers' Union, who complained that beer was served in a tin can in one scene (special-interest pressure groups were definitely not a phenomenon of the 1990s!). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide