Peggie Castle Movies
The archetypal "gangster's mistress," American actress Peggie Castle started out as a magazine model. She made her first film in 1947, and within three years, she was prominently cast as a succession of gun molls, b-girls and murderesses. With her bleached-blonde hair, garish makeup and tight-fitting sweaters, Peggie Castle seemed to have stepped out of the pages of Mickey Spillane, and in fact starred in two films based on Spillane's works: I, the Jury (1953) and The Long Wait (1954). She cleaned up her image a bit to co-star in two Warner Bros. TV westerns of the 1960s: The Lawman and The Outlaw. Peggie also popped up unexpectedly as a no-nonsense newspaper reporter in the sci-fi cheapie The Beginning of the End (1957). She was married for a time to producer William McGarry. After abruptly ending her career in 1962, Castle,died in obscurity of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 46. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1952
Joan Davis' cinematic swan song was the slapstick farce Harem Girl. Davis plays Susie Perkins, the secretary-travelling companion of Arabian Nights princess Shareen (Peggie Castle). Evil sheik Jamal (Donald Randolph) hopes to murder Shareem and claim her oil-rich country, but Susie does her best to foil this scheme. The plot requires Susie to pose as a jeweled and veiled harem dancer, leading to a series of athletic comedy routines, most of them better suited to a 2-reel comedy than a 7-reel feature. Director Edward Bernds, a recent graduate of Columbia's Three Stooges shorts, co-scripted Harem Girl with another Stooge veteran, Ellwood Ullman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Davis, Peggie Castle, (more)
- 1951
Billed "Jack Mahoney" for the occasion, former stunt man Jock Mahoney steps up to the plate as a leading man in this average Western originally released in an inexpensive color process. Mahoney plays Ross Granger, a railroad agent masquerading as a telegrapher and looking into a series of Comanche raids on the railroad construction near Oaktown. But as Ross quickly establishes, the raids are sponsored by local businessmen Del Stewart (William Bishop) and Broden (George Eldredge), who want to force the railroad through land they possess. Stewart, an old friend of Granger's, is in love with Ann Dennison (Peggie Castle), the daughter of the railroad surveyor, but not even he can prevent Broden from having old man Dennison (Walter Sande) killed. Jock Mahoney had recently starred on television's Range Rider series when hired by former Columbia Pictures colleague Fred Sears for this independently produced Western. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jock Mahoney, Peggie Castle, (more)
- 1951
Universal's Air Cadet stars Stephen McNally as the obligatory tough topkick, here assigned to whip a bunch of green pilots into shape. McNally's hard-nosed attitude is rooted in his past: he still feels guilty over having lost so many buddies in World War 2. A climactic crash-and-rescue sequence solves many of McNally's problems-and, incidentally provides director Joseph Pevney an opportunity to hide the film's budgetary deficiencies by lensing the sequence at night. Hardworking Universal contractee Rock Hudson is billed seventh, as simply "Upperclassman". Air Cadet is at its best during its aerial sequences, evocatively lensed by Clyde Da Vinna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen McNally, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1951
Universal's newest "heartthrobs" Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie were first teamed in this lavish adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's The Prince Who Was a Thief. Curtis stars as Julna, the rightful heir to a Middle Eastern throne. Kidnapped in infancy, Julna is raised as a thief by the roguish Yussef (Everett Sloane). Eventually, however, Julna's true identity is revealed, prompting him to lead a revolt against the evil, usurping Mustapha (Donald Randolph). Piper Laurie steals the show as Tina, a carnival contortionist who falls in love with Julna and helps him regain his throne (most of Laurie's trickier stunts were performed in long shot by a much heftier double). Fine escapist entertainment, The Prince Who Was a Thief secured major stardom for both its leading players. And no, this is not the film in which Tony Curtis utters the apocryphal line "Yonduh lies duh castle of my faddah." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1951
Just before filming All About Eve, Bette Davis starred in the marital melodrama Payment on Demand. Davis plays the wife of Barry Sullivan, who one fine morning demands a divorce. Most of the film is in flashback, recounting the events leading up to the marital schism. After Sullivan takes up with Frances Dee, Davis heads for a Haitian vacation, hoping to spark a few affairs of her own. But after a chance meeting with an old friend (Jane Cowl) who's become hard and cynical since her own divorce, Davis heads back to the States and attempts to patch up her marriage. Director Curtis Bernhardt was particularly proud of the opening scene in Payment on Demand, wherein Barry Sullivan requests a divorce as calmly as if he was ordering breakfast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Barry Sullivan, (more)
- 1951
There's stock footage galore in The Golden Horde, a second-feature recreation of the Arabian Nights era. Sir Guy (David Farrar) defends Christianity by lopping off heads in Samarkand. Ann Blyth is the non-distressed princess who uses strategy to save her city from invasion--and to keep Sir Guy at arm's length, at least until the fade-out. Among the Mongols, one can glimpse such veteran villains as Henry Brandon and Marvin Miller, the latter as Genghis Khan Himself. The Golden Horde was run on TV on a near-hourly basis in the 1960s thanks to its garish Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, David Farrar, (more)
- 1950
The title tells all--or at least most--in I Was a Shoplifter. The title character, played by Mona Freeman, is Faye Burton, a well-off socialite suffering from kleptomania. Faye falls into the hands of a professional shoplifting ring headed by Herb Claxton (Charles Drake) and Ina Perdue (Andrea King), who want to exploit her high-society connections. It's up to undercover agent Jeff Andrews (Scott Brady) to save Faye from the villains--and from herself. Cast as a brutish henchman is one Anthony Curtis, who grew up to become you-know-who. Featured in a role so small that it wasn't listed in the studio's official credits is still another star in the making: Rock Hudson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Brady, Mona Freeman, (more)
- 1950
The Buccaneer's Girl of the title, played by Yvonne de Carlo, is Deborah McCoy, an entertainer who's been around a bit. While visiting New Orleans, Deborah falls in love with aristocratic Frederick Baptiste (Philip Friend), who turns out to be a pirate. Baptiste is basically a decent fellow: his piracy is aimed exclusively at the crooked shipowner who destroyed his father. Deborah is a bit more mercenary, hoping to marry into wealth by posing as a high-born lady. By the seventh reel, however, she's perfectly content to settle down with the raffish Baptiste. Though played tongue-in-cheek, Buccaneer's Girl never resorts to "camp": it invites the audience to laugh with the film, rather than at it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Phillip Friend, (more)
- 1950
Two-bit photographer Howard Duff wins a big newspaper assignment by romancing his lady boss (Peggy Dow). Duff is sent to take a picture of criminal Brian Donlevy, who doesn't like to be captured on celluloid. Donlevy takes a liking to Duff and asks him to frame one of the crook's less cooperative henchmen (Lawrence Tierney). Duff plays both sides of the fence, informing the henchman that his boss had planned to frame him. Shortly afterward, Donlevy is killed by a car bomb, and Duff becomes famous taking a picture of the event. Eventually Duff pulls one double-cross too many and is himself killed by the surly henchman--but not before taking a snapshot of his murderer in the act. Hard to believe, but Howard Duff makes his character in Shakedown somewhat likable, so that the audience is eager to see what sort of scam he'll pull next. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, (more)
- 1949
So far as the rest of the world is concerned, Deborah Chandler Clark (Ida Lupino) is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband (Stephen McNally), Deborah had intended to commit suicide. Now she is the "woman in hiding" of the title, living in mortal fear that someday her husband will catch up with her again. Howard Duff, Ida Lupino's husband-to-be, co-stars as a returning GI who turns out to be the hero of the piece. One particularly suspenseful sequence takes place during a noisy convention, with Joe Besser scoring as an obnoxious reveller. Woman in Hiding would make an interesting companion piece to Julia Roberts' Sleeping with the Enemy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, (more)
- 1949
Clifton Webb recreates his Sitting Pretty role as Mr. Lynn Belvedere, the World's Greatest Genius. Belvedere discovers that he is ineligible for an honorary award because he never attended college. So he enrolls as a freshman in a major university, becoming the target for "hazing" from obnoxious upper classman Alan Young. The middle-aged Belvedere rapidly builds himself into Big Man on Campus, which complicates his intention of remaining incognito while attending college. Journalism major Shirley Temple likewise threatens to blow Belvedere's cover by writing an article about him for a major magazine. Before earning his college degree (four years' worth of study in six months!), Belvedere plays Cupid for Temple and her estranged boyfriend Tom Drake. Mr. Belvedere Goes to College proved successful enough for a follow-up film, 1951's Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Shirley Temple, (more)
- 1947
Two icons of 1950s television, June Lockhart and Hugh Beaumont, appear in uncharacteristic roles in the 1947 B-plus melodrama Bury Me Dead. It begins when Barbara Carlin (Lockhart) shows up amongst the mourners at a funeral. Thing of it is, it's her funeral-or at least it's supposed to be. With the help of family lawyer Michael Dunn (Hugh Beaumont), Barbara endeavors to find out who's been buried in her place?and who, if anyone, wants her dead enough to murder her. The prime suspects include Barbara's husband Rod (Mark Daniels) and sister Rusty (Cathy O'Donnell), who appear to be in the middle of an illicit affair. Ultimately, the instigator of Barbara's presumed death is revealed, but not in this synopsis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cathy O'Donnell, June Lockhart, (more)
