Irvin Ashkenazy Movies
- 1961
Playboy Loring Lamont (Tony Travis) lures his father's secretary Arlene Ferris (Andra Martin) to his beach house, with seduction on his mind. The outraged Arlene smacks Lamont in the face and steals his car to escape his clutches. When Lamont turns up murdered, Arlene is accused of the crime, but attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) thinks that the killing is tied in with a mysterious phone call overheard by his client--and he is willing to risk serious injury at the hands of two hired thugs to prove his point. Based on a 1959 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, this is one of several fourth-season episodes in which series regular William Talman (DA Hamilton Burger) does not appear; his replacement on this and other occasions is Robert Karnes as Deputy DA Chamberlin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
A locked-in-the-fifties science fiction film, The 27th Day begins with five different people from five different countries suddenly disappearing from view. They have been gently abducted by the agent (Arnold Moss) of a faraway dying planet, who gives each of the five earthlings a "killing capsule" that will destroy everything on Earth and allow the residents of the alien planet to re-colonize the planet--but which will be ineffective if not used after 27 days. In typical Cold War fashion, the representatives of the "good" countries (including Gene Barry) refuse to utilize the capsules, while the Soviets, (personified by Azemat Janti and Stefan Schnabel) intend to deploy the capsules for their own nefarious purposes. Their perfidy only results in the utter decimation of the USSR. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Barry, Valerie French, (more)
- 1956
Like its predecessor Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, Walt Disney's Davy Crockett and the River Pirates was cobbled together from two episodes of the weekly TV anthology Disneyland. Though it wasn't so labelled at the time, River Pirates is actually a "prequel" to the earlier film, detailing events that allegedly occured in Crockett's life before his rendezvous with destiny at the Alamo. Set in 1810, the first half of the story deals with a river race to New Orleans between Davy (Fess Parker) and his friendly enemy Mike Fink (Jeff York). Once this plot strand has run its course, the film segues into Davy and Mike's attempts to prevent an Indian war which is being fomented by a renegade white man. Linking these two episodes are the spirited ballads of Davy's pal George Russel (Buddy Ebsen). Like the first "Davy Crockett" venture, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates cleaned up at the box-office and increased department-store sales of those coonskin caps (remember?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen, (more)
- 1955
Wisely cashing in on the enormous (and largely unexpected) success of his 1954 Davy Crockett TV miniseries, Walt Disney whipped up a spinoff for the 1955-56 season of his weekly Disneyland anthology. Since frontiersman Davy Crockett (Fess Parker) and his pal George Russel (Buddy Ebsen) were killed off at the Alamo at the end of the first miniseries, the second Davy Crockett opus, the two-part "The Legends of Davy Crockett" was a "prequel", set in 1810 or thereabouts. In Episode One, "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race", Davy and George want to travel down the Ohio River towards New Orleans, but they bristle when self-styled "King of the River" Mike Fink (Jeff York) charges them $1000 for a ride on his keelboat. Our heroes hire another boat captained by an old salt named Cobb (Clem Bevans), thereby sparking a race between Crockett and Fink, with a valuable shipment of furs as the prize. Naturally, Mike pulls all sorts of underhanded tricks to keep Davy's boat from finishing the race, but good sportsmanship wins out, and Davy and Mike become good pals. A hint of what is to come in the next episode, "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates", occurs when a band of white outlaws disguised as Indians have a brief set-to with Davy early in the proceedings. The series' hit theme song, not to mention those coonskin caps, are very much in evidence, with the added filip of a new song, "King of the River", sung con brio by Jeff York. Both episodes of The Legends of Davy Crockett were later edited together and released theatrically in 1956 as Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
In the second episode of Walt Disney's two-part miniseries The Legends of Davy Crockett, frontiersman Davy Crockett (Fess Parker) and his pals Georgie Russell (Buddy Ebsen) and Mike Fink (Jeff York) try to clear the names of Davy's Indian friends, who have been accused of piracy on the Ohio River. It turns out that the real culprits are the members of the Harpe gang, who disguise themselves as Indians whenever plundering a boat. Carrying a valuable cargo downstream as bait for the outlaws, Davy, George and Mike hope to provoke an attack and then surprise the scoundrels--but the bad guys have planted a spy on our heroes' keelboat, namely a wily old guitar-picker named Colonel Plug (Walter Catlett). In addition to the expected theme song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", this episode features a new tune, "Yaller, Yaller Gold". Originally telecast as part of the Disneyland anthology, "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" and the earlier episode "Davy Crockett and the Keelboat Race" were later edited together and released as a 1956 theatrical feature, also titled Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
