George Chandler Movies

With the profits of the Abbott & Costello films in decline, Universal decided to experiment with the comedians' standard formula. In both Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play separate characters, rather than the usual smart guy/dumb guy comedy team. In Giant, Costello is cast as farm boy Benny Miller, a would-be salesman who goes to work for the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner company. Almost immediately running afoul of crooked general manager Morrison (Bud Abbott), bumbling Benny is about to be fired when he is convinced by a bunch of practical jokers that he has the power to read minds. His newfound self-confidence enables Benny to become Hercules' top salesman, which delights branch manager Tom Chandler (also Bud Abbott), Morrison's cousin and principal rival. About to receive a salesmanship award, Benny falls into a trap laid by Morrison and his wife (Jacqueline de Wit), who conspire to discredit Chandler by exposing Benny as a fraud. Thoroughly disillusioned, Benny returns home, only to discover that not only is he still Hercules' fair-haired boy, but that he's also replaced Morrison as general manager. Written by Richard Collins and Paul Jarrico, Little Giant is hardly typical Abbott and Costello fare, though the film contains several characteristic comedy setpieces, including an interpolation of Abbott & Costello's classic "Seven Goes Into Twenty-Eight Thirteen Times" routine. Perennial Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont shows up in one of the better slapstick scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) is a dedicated research scientist who is very close to a breakthrough in her field of anesthetics. She allows herself to be used as the subject of an experiment, and becomes the victim of sabotage by her jealous assistant (Hillary Brooke), who is her rival for the affections of the same man (William Gargan). Nora is scarred by the accident, but fate takes a hand when a vicious blackmailer (Ruth Ford), part of an extortion scam that was being worked on her, breaks in to her apartment. In the ensuing struggle, the lady grifter is killed and then mistaken for Nora, while the real Nora goes into hiding. Taking the identity of the dead woman, she realizes how she has been betrayed and maimed and plots an elaborate revenge, undergoing reconstructive surgery that changes her whole appearance. She then reintroduces herself into the lives of her former associates, in her new guise, and begins her revenge. Before her plans can be concluded, however, her masquerade backfires on her, when she finds herself accused by the police -- of the murder of Nora Goodrich. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

If Republic's skating star Vera Hruba Ralston could go "dramatic", so too could Monogram's skating star Belita. Produced by the enterprising King Brothers, Suspense takes place in an ice-skating emporium owned by Frank Leonard (Albert Dekker). No-good heel Joe Morgan (Barry Sullivan) not only strongarms Leonard into sharing the establishment's profits, but also tries to move in on Leonard's wife Roberta (Belita). The plot thickens when Leonard is apparently killed by Morgan, only to return from the dead! But what really does Morgan in is his own checkered past, as personified by his vengeful ex-sweetheart Ronnie (Bonita Granville, in a truly offbeat characterization). Belita's ice-skating solos (staged by Nick Castle) and Philip Yordan's overly complicated script tend to weigh down the proceedings; still, Suspense deserves to be seen, if for no other reason than its dazzling opening sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danny Kaye's The Kid From Brooklyn is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of Harold Lloyd's The Milky Way (1936), with music and Technicolor added to the proceedings. Kaye is cast as timid milkman Burleigh Sullivan, who through a fluke knocks out prizefighting champion Speed McFarlane (Steve Cochran). Sensing a swell publicity angle, McFarlane's manager Gabby Sloan (Walter Abel) promotes Burleigh as the next middleweight champ-and to insure this victory, Gabby fixes several pre-title bouts. Unaware that his fighting prowess is a sham, Burleigh develops a swelled head, which alienates him from everyone he cares about, including his sweetheart Polly Pringle (Virginia Mayo). The truth comes out during the climactic title fight, but a chastened Burleigh emerges victorious thanks to a series of incredible plot twists. The strong supporting cast includes Vera-Ellen as Burleigh's sister Susie, Eve Arden as Gabby's wisecracking girl friday Ann Westley, and, repeating his role from Milky Way, Lionel Stander as Speed's lamebrained trainer Spider Schultz. Danny Kaye does his best to play Burleigh Sullivan rather than Danny Kaye, though his efforts are undermined by the interpolated "specialty" number "Pavlova," which just plain doesn't belong in this picture. Like The Milky Way, The Kid From Brooklyn was adapted from the Broadway play by Lynn Root. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Barry Fleming, Colonel Effingham's Raid stars Charles Coburn in the title role. Upon retiring from the army, Effingham returns to his home town of Fredericksville, Georgia. Dismayed by the town's paucity of civic pride, the Colonel begins writing a newspaper column honoring Fredericksville's old traditions and chastizing those who would tear those traditions down. His pet peeve is the city administration's plan to rename Confederate Square after the pompous, mildly corrupt town mayor (Thurston Hall). When it seems that his protests are falling upon deaf ears, Colonel Effingham literally stage a "military assault" against City Hall, which in real life would get him thrown in the looney bin but which in a whimsical comedy of this nature results in a smashing success for the "good guys". If Colonel Effingham's Raid seems to be popping up on TV at a rate of once a day, it is because the film lapsed into public domain in 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Donald Cook plays a fading actor whose son, Donald O'Connor, has just started his own theatrical career. It transpires that both Cook and O'Connor are up for the same part in a Broadway show, and the son is the winner. This results in jealousy from the father--and confusion from the audience, in that the stolid Cook and the loose-limbed O'Connor would never be considered the same "type" in any real-life situation. All is eventually forgiven, and as a bonus both father and son find the loves of their lives: Cook is paired with Frances Dee, and O'Connor gets Peggy Ryan. While Donald O'Connor is virtually the whole show in Patrick the Great, he is given formidable scene-hogging competition from supporting actress Eve Arden. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ned Trumpet (Wallace Beery), the chief pilot of a Navy blimp, is given to weaving accounts of the fighting prowess of his non-existent son. His friendship with widow Maude Weaver (Selena Royle) and her son Jess (Tom Drake) in effect sets him up with a real family. Jess enters the service and goes on to sink an enemy submarine -- from a blimp. Having that real-life feat to brag about, Ned can at last quell all the longtime doubts of his friend Jimmy (James Gleason), and he decides to marry Maude. Bit-Part Alert: Watch for a young Blake Edwards, the future writer/director of 10, S.O.B., and Victor/Victoria, as a flier. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Just as Edgar C. Ulmer would at PRC around the same time, young Phil Karlson turned Monogram's almost nonexistent production values to his advantage in two Charlie Chan whodunits: The Shanghai Cobra (1945) and Dark Alibi (1946). Karlson added touches of film noir to the usual hoary Chan melodramatics and the result was arguably the best of the Monogram "Chans." In The Shanghai Cobra, Charlie (Sidney Toler) is investigating several murders connected with the manufacture of wartime radium. The employees of a bank connected with the radium experiments have an unfortunate tendency to get themselves killed by the injection of cobra venom. Charlie remembers a similar case back in Shanghai in 1935, but the suspect in those murders escaped. Since his face was damaged in an explosion, the only tell-tale sign to identify him is by a streak of white in an otherwise jet-black mane -- unless of course the murderer has heard of hair dye. As always, Charlie's faithful if bumbling companions, Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) and Tommy, the Number Three Son (Benson Fong), are along for the ride, offering their now patented sidekick humor. Toler, whose fondness for imbibing on the job was legendary, could basically sleepwalk through his role by 1945 and does so here. As for director Karlson's noir-ish touches, they quickly give way to business as usual, but the opening scenes of The Shanghai Cobra remain quite evocative. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A case of mistaken identity leads to hilarity in this comedy. Eddie (Fred MacMurray) and Chuck (William Demarest) are a pair of GIs who've just been sprung from the service and plan to open a mink ranch in Wisconsin. No sooner do they arrive in the Cheese State than one Jim Arnold (Akim Tamiroff) mistakes Eddie for Francis Pemberton, a footloose playboy who owes Jim a very large gambling debt. Hard as he tries, Eddie can't convince Jim that he isn't Pemberton -- and Jim's strong-arm men demand that Eddie pay up. Eddie goes to Pemberton's estate in hopes of clearing up the confusion, but he learns that the gambler has apparently fled to Mexico. Eddie meets Joan (Marguerite Chapman), a poor but pretty relative of the Pembertons who strikes his fancy, but several other members of the family also think that Eddie and Francis are the same person -- and they're none too fond of their absent relation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Charlie Chan's second mystery for Poverty Row company Monogram, The Chinese Cat is one of the inscrutable detective's better efforts. Director Phil Rosen keeps things moving at a reasonably expedient pace -- especially for a Monogram programmer -- and although the denouement is no big surprise, armchair detectives at least have no trouble keeping up with the redoubtable sleuth (Sidney Toler). Leah Manning (Joan Woodbury), of the San Francisco Mannings, enlists Chan's help in solving the murder of her stepfather (Sam Flint), whose slain body was found in his hermetically sealed study. The police have given up and only Charlie's deducing can refute a scurrilous book that blames Mrs. Manning (Betty Blythe), Leah's mother, for the crime. There are, of course, several worthy suspects, including a gang of diamond thieves lead by Catlen (Anthony Warde), the dead man's business partner (Cy Kendall), and even a "ghost" who isn't quite what he appears (John Davidson). A poisonous gas attack and the less than helpful efforts of Number Three Son (Benson Fong) complicate matters briefly, but Chan is, as always, on top of things all of the time and can soon reveal the identity of the guilty party. Comic sidekick Mantan Moreland has fun in a fun house, Fong is a worthy addition to Charlie's less than brainy brood (Number Three Son is, as Chan points out, "weak limb to which no family tree may point with pride"), and silent screen veterans Betty Blythe and Ian Keith do well enough with their limited assignments. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

No slouch himself at rearranging the facts to make a good story, Colonel William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody would probably have enjoyed this Technicolor version of his life and times. Well played by Joel McCrea, Cody is first seen as an army Indian scout, pursuing peaceful coexistence despite the animosity of Chief Yellow Hand (Anthony Quinn) and the obstruction of anti-Indian politicians. He also takes time out to court the lovely Louisa (Maureen O'Hara), the well-bred Eastern girl who will become his wife despite her initial (and quite justified) distaste for the West. Under the tutelage of impresario Ned Buntline (Thomas Mitchell), Cody follows up his military career with a more spectacular one as a larger-than-life super-showman, touring throughout the world with his spectacular Wild West show. In later years, Buffalo Bill director William Wellman would wince at the liberties taken with Cody's life -- especially the film's now notorious closing line, "God bless you, Buffalo Bill!" But Wellman allowed that, in terms of sheer entertainment, it was smarter to emulate Cody by perpetuating the legend rather than debunking the Buffalo Bill image with cold, hard facts. Or, as John Ford put it in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the eve of their 50th anniversary, a couple argue about whether or not to reveal a story from the husband's past that explains how they met and came to be married. We flashback to the mid-1890's and Larry Stevens' (Dick Powell first day on the job as a reporter for a New York newspaper -- celebrating his release from writing obituaries with a few too many beers, he and his colleagues start to listen to aging newspaper employee Pop Benson (John Philliber) talk about the past and the future, and the fact that to him they're interchangeable. Larry goes out with his friends to check out a clairvoyant act featuring Cigolini, a phony Italian mystic (Jack Oakie), and a very pretty woman assistant, Sylvia Smith (Linda Darnell). He starts to woo Sylvia, who resists his charms, before heading back to the newspaper, where he meets Pop, who hands him what he says is the newspaper he wanted -- it's only later that Larry realizes that he has tomorrow night's newspaper, and that one story concerns a robbery at the opera house. He gets to the performance that night, with Sylvia accompanying him (at first unwillingly) and witnesses the robbery, writing it up before the police can even leave the scene. His editor (George Cleveland) is ecstatic, but police inspector Mulrooney (Edgar Kennedy) wants to know how Larry knew about the robbery. Sylvia tries to protect him by claiming that she predicted it in her act, and to cover herself and Larry she predicts the drowning of a woman that night in the river. Meanwhile, Larry meets Pop again, who tells him of tomorrow's paper and its account of his attempted rescue of a drowning woman -- he later realizes that the woman is Sylvia, attempting to save him and having to fake a drowning to convince the police of her predictions; he runs to the river and dives in to rescue her. By this time, the two of them are totally involved with each other emotionally, but now Larry must face a new threat. Pop appears again and hands him a newspaper from the next day, which includes a front page story about Larry being shot and killed at the St.George Hotel. Larry vows to avoid the hotel at all costs, and even tries to get some good out of the paper by betting on the winners in five consecutive horse races that afternoon; but it seems that no matter what he does to stay away, he's destined to be at the hotel, at the appointed time. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide