Valerie Vernon Movies
- 1955
A carnival freak show provides the setting for this murder mystery. The trouble begins when the "Starving Man" the world's longest survivor of a fast is found dead inside his glass cage. It is later learned that he was killed because he had witnessed the murder of an extortionist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, (more)
- 1954
The Delavine Affair is a jewel robbery orchestrated by a particularly vicious criminal gang. Reporter Peter Reynolds (his character name is-no kidding-Rex Banner) makes it his mission in life to track down the crooks and round them up for the Law. The bad guys reciprocate by framing Reynolds for the murder of a stool pigeon. Everything works itself out within the film's alotted 64 minutes. Honor Blackman, famed for her participation in the original The Avengers TV series, costars. Delavine Affair was based on Winter Wears a Shroud, a novel by Robert Chapman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
A string of jewel thefts lead to murder as investigated by a free-lance reporter and his wife. (AKA Delavine Affair) ~ All Movie Guide
A nail-biting Indian deadlock remains the climax of this otherwise overly verbose Western filmed in M-G-M's then-new Ansco colors (forerunner of Eastmancolor). After ruthlessly dragging an escaped prisoner through the Arizona desert, Union Army Captain Roper (William Holden) suffers rebuke from both the rebel prisoners and his commanding officer (Carl Benton Reid). Things settles down a bit with the arrival of Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker), with whom Roper falls in love. But Carla proves to be a Confederate spy assigned to engender the escape of Captain Marsh (John Forsythe), the Rebel leader. The plan succeeds to a point but the escapees are hunted down by Roper and Lieutenant Beecher (Richard Anderson). Returning to Fort Bravo with his prisoners, Roper and his captives ride right into a Mescalero Apache hunting party. Filmed on location at California's Death Valley, Escape from Fort Bravo was co-written by Australian-born actor Michael Pate. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Eleanor Parker, (more)
- 1952
She's Working Her Way Through College is a completely depoliticized remake of the liberal-minded comedy The Male Animal (1942). Virginia Mayo plays an exotic dancer, Angela Gardner, who decides to improve her mind; she enrolls in a college where Professor John Palmer (Ronald Reagan) teaches English. In between Angela's lively musical numbers, the film concentrates on an old rivalry between the bookish Palmer and onetime college football jock Shep Slade (Don DeFore, who'd played a bit in The Male Animal). When the college trustees oppose Angela's presence on campus, Palmer staunchly defends her right to an education. In the original Male Animal, the climactic scene involved a controversial public reading of a letter by anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti; in She's Working Her Way Through College, Palmer stands up at a public assembly to convince the populace that exotic dancers have the same rights as anyone else. Of course, Ronald Reagan could take a political stance if he wanted to...but not in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, (more)
A sequel to Bob Hope's 1948 box-office success The Paleface, 1952's Son of Paleface is a superior product in every way, thanks largely to the spirited, creative direction of Frank Tashlin. Hope is cast as Junior Potter, a Harvard-educated dude who heads West to claim the inheritance left him by his gunslinger father. Much to his chagrin, Junior discovers that his dad has left him nothing but debts. To stave off Potter Sr.'s angry creditors, Junior pretends that his father has salted away a fortune somewhere in the hills. This arouses the attention of curvaceous saloon owner Mike (Jane Russell), who doubles as a mysterious masked bandit known as The Torch. Meanwhile, Roy Rogers (playing a federal agent named Roy Rogers) keeps tabs on Junior, hoping that he'll lead him to The Torch and her gang. True to form, ex-cartoonist Tashlin fills the screen with a wealth of inventive sight gags and inside jokes: Cecil B. DeMille shows up as a photographer in one scene, while in another, Hope, about to embark on the film's wild climactic chase sequence, shoos away a couple of vultures wearing bibs, warning them that "You'll make the whole thing look impossible." Our favorite scenes: Hope's Wile E. Coyote-like reaction to a particularly potent drink, and his bedroom scene with Roy Rogers' wonder horse Trigger. And don't forget the film's slightly risque punch line "Let's see them top that on television," (you have to be there). Songs in Son of Paleface include "You Are My Valley of Sunshine," "Four-Legged Friend," "Wing Ding Tonight," "What A Dirty Shame," and a reprise of The Paleface's Oscar-winning "Buttons and Bows," performed by Hope, Russell and Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Jane Russell, (more)
