George Chandler Movies

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) respond to a call from the LAPD's San Fernando Valley division. Several new homes in the district have been robbed by a thief with a bizarre MO: he only targets people who own pet birds--which he brutally kills on every occasion. Following the grim trail of clues, the two detectives catch up with a young man whose cheerful demeanor masks an all-consuming hatred for our feathered friends. One of the most popular black-and-white Dragnet episodes on the current public-domain home video market, "The Big Bird" was adapted from a radio drama originally broadcast on February 1, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For The High and the Mighty, director William Wellman made a point of using Cinemascope to heighten the dramatic content of a confined screen space -- in this instance, the cockpit of a plane in flight. Copilot Dan Roman (John Wayne) seems a lot more in control of things than Captain John Sullivan (Robert Stack) when the plane loses an engine during a flight from Honolulu to San Francisco. Wellman crosscuts from the tension in the cockpit to the various subplots involving the plane's passengers, among them May Holst (Claire Trevor), Lydia Rice (Laraine Day), Howard Rice (John Howard), Sally McKee (Jan Sterling), Ed Joseph (Phil Harris), and Humphrey Agnew (Sidney Blackmer) (as a character named Humphrey Agnew -- a remarkable prescient cognomen given the future of the U.S. vice presidency!). Adapted by Ernest K. Gann from his best-selling novel, The High and the Mighty was one of the first (and most profitable) entries in the "terror in the sky" genre. Its theme music, written by Dimitri Tiomkin and whistled incessantly by John Wayne in the film, would later become a best-selling hit throughout the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like its predecessor Duffy of San Quentin, The Steel Cage is made up of episodes from a never-telecast TV series based on the career of progressive prison warden Clinton T. Duffy. Paul Kelly plays Duffy, while his wife is portrayed by Maureen O'Sullivan. Divided into three separate playlets, the film begins with the semi-comic story of an ill-tempered chef (Walter Slezak) who is railroaded into San Quentin by a gourmet prisoner. The second story concerns a tense hostage situation fomented by would-be escapees John Ireland and Lawrence Tierney. The closing story deals with an incarcerated painter (Kenneth Tobey), whose belief in God is renewed by an idealistic young priest (Arthur Franz). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Reeves plays a triple role in this episode, as reporter Clark Kent, Kent's alter ego Superman, and a lookalike gangster named Boulder. With the help of a plastic surgeon and an acting coach named Hamlet (Percy Helton), Boulder is able to impersonate Superman, committing a series of crimes in this guise in order to disgrace and discredit the real Man of Steel. The plan might have gone off without a hitch had not one of Boulder's cronies (George Chandler) decided to do harm to Clark's reporter pal Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson). An uncredited Hayden Rorke appears as a psychiatrist counseling the confused Clark Kent: twelve years later, Rorke would hang out his shingle as Air Force psychiatrist Dr. Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joan Crawford is appropriately cast as the title character in This Woman is Dangerous. Crawford plays master criminal Beth Austin, the lady friend of dangerous gangster Matt Jackson (David Brian). After being caught in the crossfire of a robbery engineered by Jackson, Beth recuperates in a hospital, hoping to keep her past a secret from the authorities. But the FBI wants Beth to lead them to Jackson, and to that end, her doctor Ben Halleck (Dennis Morgan) is strong-armed into inaugurating a romance with his gorgeous patient. Eventually, of course, Ben and Beth fall genuinely in love, thereby incurring the terrible wrath of the vengeful Jackson. And to think that Joan Crawford endures all this without a hair out of place on her lovely head! TV's future "Captain Midnight" Richard Webb co-stars as a diligent FBI agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite its ebullient title and the presence of lightweight dancing star Dan Dailey, Meet Me at the Fair has a lot more meat on its bones than most musicals of the early 1950s. Dailey plays an early-1900s medicine show huckster who finds himself the reluctant guardian of orphanage escapee Chet Allen. As he grows fond of the boy, Dailey becomes determined to thwart the corrupt system that allows substandard orphan asylums to operate while political hacks get rich on government funding. Dailey wins the confidence (and love) of orphan committee member Diana Lynn, who helps to foil the machinations of crooked district attorney Hugh O'Brien. The darker aspects of Meet Me at the Fair are lightened by director Douglas Sirk's marvelous recreations of backstage life at the turn of the century. The film is also a special treat for fans of Scatman Crothers, who is never less than terrific as Dan Dailey's sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While Shelley Winters is top-billed, Ricardo Montalban is the real star of My Man and I. Montalban plays Mexican transient farmer Chu-Chu Ramirez, determined to make something of himself and improve his lot in life. He falls in love with disillusioned alcoholic Nancy (Winters), intending to help her overcome her illness. Meanwhile, Ramirez' nasty boss Ansel Ames (Wendell Corey) is shot in an accident. Jealous over the fact that his wife (Claire Trevor) has designs on Ramirez, Ames accuses the Mexican of attempted murder. The manner in which Ames and his wife are forced to tell the truth is one of the oddest (and most compelling) sequences in all of William Wellman's work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clark Gable is the largely nonheroic hero of the sprawling western Across the Wide Missouri. A cunning trapper who lives purely by his wits, Gable avoids being scalped by the Blackfoot Indians by marrying Maria Elena Marques, the chief's daughter. This marriage of convenience also allows Gable to trap to his heart's content in Blackfoot territory. After bearing a child, Marques is killed by a warring tribe; the opportunistic Gable at first considers abandoning the child, but at long last does right by the boy. Adolphe Menjou steals the show as an eternally inebriated French trapper, while Ricardo Montalban and J. Carroll Naish are convincing (and noncondescending) in their Native American characterizations. Evidently, Across the Wide Missouri tested poorly when it was first previewed: the final release version runs a surprisingly brief 78 minutes, with narrator Howard Keel (who otherwise does not appear) filling in the continuity gaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Frank Capra wrote the original story treatment for MGM's Westward the Women, he was too busy to direct the film, and handed the reigns instead to his former Liberty Films partner William A. Wellman. This stark, no-nonsense outdoor drama stars Robert Taylor as a trail guide named Buck, who in 1851 is hired by California settler Roy Whitman (John McIntyre) to head a wagon train full of mail-order brides from Chicago to the West Coast. Though Buck spares the brides nothing in describing the hardships they're about to face, most of the ladies agree to undertake the journey. Starting out with 104 women, Buck leads the expedition through some of the most treacherous territory in the West. Several of the women die en route, killed off by the elements, Indian attacks, and sundry unexpected mishaps. Most of the male travellers likewise fall victim to disaster, save for Buck and his courageous Japanese cook Ito (Henry Nakamura). Even when the wagon train reaches its destination, the story is far, far from over. Though second-billed Denise Darcel is the most prominent of the women, the large cast generally works as an ensemble, with everyone pitching together for the common good, just as their real-life counterparts had done back in the 1850s. Throughout, the film abruptly (and effectively) switches moods, veering precipitously from raucous comedy to profound tragedy (some of the deaths occur so suddenly that they can still elicit gasps from the audience). An expertly assembled and reasonably realistic saga, Westward the Women is one story that needs to be told in black-and-white; the currently available colorized version should be avoided like the plague. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Singer-bandleader Vaughn ("Racing with the Moon") Monroe made a tentative stab at movie stardom in 1950. Singing Guns casts Monroe as western outlaw Rhiannon, who robs from the rich and keeps it. Rhiannon's particular target is a gold mine that he feels rightfully belongs to him. Whether it does or doesn't, it takes three people -- saloon gal Nan Morgan (Ella Raines), doctor/minister Dr. Mark (Walter Brennan) and sheriff Caradac (Ward Bond) -- to capture Our Hero. Though he's a passable actor, Monroe's strong suit remains his mellow baritone, which he displays in four different musical numbers, one of which is his Hit-Parade success "Mule Train." Singing Guns is based very loosely on a novel by Max Brand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Best known to posterity as the third wife of Cary Grant, Betsy Drake enjoyed a substantial film career during the postwar era. In Pretty Baby, Drake plays Patsy Douglas, an enterprising young lady who always assures herself a seat on the subway by carrying a doll wrapped in baby bunting. Through a series of complications that could only happen in a movie, it is eventually assumed that the "baby" is genuine. Patsy's bosses, advertising executives Sam Morley (Dennis Morgan) and Barry Holmes (Zachary Scott), hope to use Patsy's bundle of joy to land an important client, grouchy baby-food tycoon Cyrus Baxter (Edmund Gwenn). Most of the film is a not-so-subtle swipe at radio and TV advertising, considered a rich source of humor back in 1950. Cast in a tiny role as a receptionist is future "June Cleaver" Barbara Billingsley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having previously played Billy the Kid, Audie Murphy assumes the role of Jesse James in Kansas Raiders. The plot finds Jesse and his brother Frank (Richard Long), together with the Younger Brothers (James Best, John Kellogg and Tony Curtis -- yes, Tony Curtis) joining Quantrill's Raiders. Idolizing Quantrill (Brian Donlevy), Jesse believes that his hero's mission -- to save the Confederacy by sacking Kansas -- is just. Only when it is too late does Jesse discover that Quantrell is little more than a bloodthirsty mercenary. The James and Younger Brothers are depicted as innocent dupes of a madman, which isn't surprising considering how often Hollywood has whitewashed Jesse and Frank in other films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Humphrey Bogart is the official star of Knock on Any Door, the film is essentially a showcase for Columbia's newest young male discovery John Derek. The first production of Bogart's Santana company, the film casts Bogart as attorney Andrew Morton. A product of the slums, Morton is persuaded to take the case of underprivileged teenager Nick Romano (Derek), who has been arrested on a murder charge. Through flashbacks, Morton demonstrates that Romano is more a victim of society than a natural-born killer. Though this defense strategy does not have the desired result on the jury thanks to the badgering of DA Kernan (George Macready), Morton does manage to arouse sympathy for the plight of those trapped by birth and circumstance in a dead-end existence. As Nick Romano, John Derek would never be better, nor would ever again play a character who struck so responsive a chord with the audience. Nick's oft-repeated credo--"Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse"--became the clarion call for a generation of disenfranchised youth. Director Nicholas Ray would later expand on themes touched upon in Knock on a Any Door in his juvenile delinquent "chef d'oeuvre" Rebel without a Cause. Viewers are advised to watch for future TV personalities Cara Williams and Si Melton in uncredited minor roles. Knock on Any Door spawned a belated sequel in 1960, Let No Man Write My Epitaph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide