Adele Rowland Movies
- 1950
The Secret Fury works best if one is willing to suspend one's disbelief from the outset. Claudette Colbert stars as Ellen, a famed concert pianist who, on the day of her wedding, is accosted by a stranger who insists that she's already married to someone else. Ellen is willing to laugh this off, until the stranger produces witnesses, records and the justice of the piece. Has Ellen lost her mind, or is she merely the victim of an elaborate scam. With the help of fiancé David (Robert Ryan), Our Heroine begins her own investigation -- and ends up accused of murder and shunted off to a mental institution. And the story isn't over yet! Featured in a pivotal role is future I Love Lucy co-star Vivian Vance, who'd previously worked in an L.A. theatre company with Secret Fury-director Mel Ferrer. For reasons best known to himself, Willard Parker, a fairly well-known film actor in 1950, appears unbilled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Robert Ryan, (more)
- 1948
Deanna Durbin's career was clearly on the downswing when she starred in For the Love of Mary. Durbin plays a switchboard operator at the White House, whose hiccuping spells throw several incoming special-interest callers into a tizzy. The President himself cures Durbin of her hiccups, thereby becoming entangled with the girl's various romances. She, in turn, finds herself neck-deep in numerous political intrigues. A forgettable comedy with disposable songs, For the Love of Mary turned out to be Deanna Durbin's last picture. The onetime mortgage-lifter of Universal Pictures was tired of the Hollywood grind and of fighting a losing battle with her fluctuating weight; thus she retired to France with her director-husband Charles David. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1942
When a young woman inherits $1 million she finds herself the target of a criminals who wants her money too! ~ All Movie Guide
- 1941
The Blonde from Singapore was one of several Columbia B-pictures that were presold to exhibitors on the basis of their titles alone. Pilot Terry Prescott (Leif Erickson), forced to resort to poaching pearl beds to keep financially afloat, makes the acquaintance of ex-showgirl Mary Brooke (Florence Rice) in a Singapore dive. Prescott surreptitiously slips his ill-gotten pearls in Mary's handbag, intending to retrieve them when the heat's off without the girl's knowledge. But this proves impossible when Mary heads off to parts unknown, obliging Terry to chase after the girl, gradually falling in love with her all the while. Director Edward Dmytryk was clearly destined for better films than Blonde From Singapore, but he handles this sow's ear as if it were a silk purse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florence Rice, Gordon Jones, (more)
