William Wright Movies

The upsurge in commercial air travel in the postwar years resulted in several films dealing with the trials and tribulations of airline stewardesses. Gloria Henry, who'd later star as Alice Mitchell in TV's Dennis the Menace, is teamed with Danny Thomas' future TV wife Marjorie Lord and Audrey Long in Air Hostess. The three leading ladies are cast as stewardesses-in-training, and of course each of the girls is pursuing her own agenda. Henry wants to follow in the footsteps of her sister; Lord wants to honor the memory of her late husband, an airline pilot; and Long is on the lookout for a wealthy husband. Way down on the cast list is another TV star-to-be, Barbara "June Cleaver" Billingsley. In addition, Air Hostess represents one of the few talking pictures made by former silent-screen favorite Leatrice Joy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget Africa-set jungle adventure, the excitement begins when a small plane crash-lands deep in the dense tropical forest. Everyone survives the landing, but now they must survive the many dangers there as they journey through the jungle to safety. It doesn't help that two of the passengers are notorious Chicago gangsters who were being extradited to the US by the police. En route the little group runs into an eccentric millionaire, who simply vanished years before and was presumed dead. With the tycoon is his lovely, feral daughter who, using her expertise at jungle living, helps the travelers successfully make the arduous, danger-fraught journey. Among the terrors they face are vicious gorillas, and angry natives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An honest football player single-handedly takes on a professional gambler and the crooked publisher of a sports magazine to bust up their game-fixing scheme. Unfortunately, his efforts get him killed. This crime drama chronicles the efforts of a different player and an earnest D.A. to bring the killers to justice. Matters are not helped by the fact that the attorney is publisher's stepson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmed not long after the actual events, The Beginning or the End is a sober, intelligent account of the development and deployment of the Atom Bomb. Step by step, the film details the progress of The Manhattan Project, from its inception in the early stages of the war through the dawn of the Atomic Age over the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Brian Donlevy stars as Brigadier General Leslie Groves, assigned by President Roosevelt (Godfrey Tearle) to act as military supervisor of the top-secret project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. After a grueling trial-and-error period, the first atomic bomb is tested before an assemblage of scientists and military personnel-even though there's the disturbing possibility that the explosion may cause a chain reaction that will wipe out all mankind. Woven into the proceedings is an unnecessary but innocuous romance between idealistic young scientist Matt Cochran (Tom Drake) and his new bride Anne (Beverly Tyler), who cannot understand why she and her husband are forced to live in isolation with scores of other scientists and their families because Matt, like his associates, has been sworn to total secrecy. Though the Cochrans are fictional, many real-life participants in the Manhattan Project are depicted herein, including J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Hume Cronyn), Enrico Fermi (Joseph Calleia), Albert Einstein (Ludwig Stossel) and Col. Paul Tibbetts (Barry Nelson), pilot of the bomb-bearing Enola Gay. Refreshingly free of propagandizing, Beginning or the End would make an excellent companion feature to Fat Man and Little Boy (1990), a highly politicized retelling of the same events. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lucille Ball stars as the wife of a war correspondent, anxiously awaiting her husband's return. Ball is convinced that hubby (George Brent) is looking forward to feminine companionship after four long years at the front. Imagine her surprise when it looks as though her husband wasn't quite as lonely as she'd thought--thanks to sexy combat photographer Vera Zorina. Ball files for divorce, but the outcome is tipped off by the title: the Lovers come back. Lucille Ball is merely decorative for the most part in this film, though she has one delightful comic scene involving an attempt to smoke a cigar. To avoid confusion with a 1962 Doris Day/Rock Hudson epic of the same name, Lover Come Back was retitled When Lovers Meet for television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The moody mystery melodrama Nocturne was produced by longtime Alfred Hitchcock associate Joan Harrison. The film wastes no time getting started, with a caddish Hollywood composer (Edward Ashley) dropping dead right after the opening credits. The police think it's a suicide, but maverick lieutenent Joe Warne (George Raft) suspects foul play. Checking around, Warne discovers that the dead man had broken at least ten female hearts in the past few years, providing a motive for murder for all ten. The principal suspect is Frances Ransom (Lynn Bari), who may or may not have been avenging her sister, nightclub thrush Carol Page (Virginia Huston). Pursuing the case with such dogged diligence that he's eventually tossed off the police force, Warne nonetheless refuses to give up, and by film's end he has collared the murderer. It wouldn't be fair to reveal the killer's identity, except to note that the actor in question went on to quite a different career at Universal Pictures. Like the previous RKO George Raft vehicle Johnny Angel, Nocturne was a box-office bonanza, posting a then-impressive profit of $568,000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a garbage truck driver stumbles across $5,000. He decides to use the money for a wild night on the town. He and his girlfriend do not know that the money represents the spoils of a blackmailer's scheme. Somehow, the trucker and his girl accidently run across the blackmailer and wind up getting him convicted. The victim is so thankful that he gives the trucker the money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

New chorus member Eadie Allen (Ann Miller) is the only thing that's good or lively or fresh in a run-down burlesque revue run by Tommy Farley (William Wright). He gives her a featured number and soon she's the star of the show, and he'd like to get to know her better because, conniver though he is, he's also genuinely falling in love with her, but she won't let him know anything about herself. And with good reason -- Eadie is a socially prominent debutante, a member of an old-money family of blue-noses; she wants to be an actress (something they wouldn't hear of) and Farley was the only producer willing to hire her. She's appalled by burlesque, and the physical comedy she's forced to perform, but the audience loves her and she gets to prove she can do a good song, and is also conned by Farley -- appealing to her patriotism and her good nature -- to stay with it. And she becomes a star, which is wonderful until the two sides of her life start to collide at the edges. Her college roommate Pepper (Miss Jeff Donnell) is attracted to the eccentric Professor Diogenes Dingle (Joe Besser), who is no professor but a burlesque comic himself impersonating a teacher; and one of Eadie's legitimate teachers twice spots her performing on stage and otherwise identified in public. The complications pile up until it looks as though Eadie will lose her chance at real love and also her chance to graduate from college. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Though somewhat past his prime, Edmund Lowe carries the dramatic weight of Murder in Times Square with breezy assuredness. Lowe plays Barrymoresque stage actor Cory Williams, who vaingloriously tries to solve a bizarre series of murders. Though the killings take place in the heart of New York, the victims are killed by the venom of a rattlesnake. It turns out that the killing has a vendetta against theater people, and Williams may be next on the list. Marguertie Chapman costars as perky press agent Melinda Mathews, while the many suspects and victims include Bruce Bennett, Veda Ann Borg, John Litel, and, best of all, Esther Dale as a crafty panhandler named Longacre Lil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After faithfully serving in supporting roles in Columbia's Charles Starrett westerns, Russell Hayden was awarded his own series in 1943. Starrett's Saddles and Sagebrush is nothing special plotwise, but it does show off the star to best advantage actionwise. In trying to keep the peace by pummelling every bad guy in sight, Hayden is helped along by resident Columbia comedy relief Dub "Cannonball" Taylor. Bob Wills and his entourage handle the musical chores. Though ignored by contemporary viewers, Columbia's eight Russell Hayden westerns were among the best B-pictures that the studio ever produced; the series came to an end when Hayden accepted a better offer at Universal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nurse Chapman begins to fall in love with a gangster and ends up entertaining miners until she manages to pull herself out of this bad situation. ~ All Movie Guide

The tumultuous presidency of 17th-president Andrew Johnson is chronicled in this biopic. The story begins with Johnson's boyhood and covers his early life. During the Civil War, Johnson stays a staunch Unionist and upon Lincoln's reelection in 1864, becomes his Vice President. After Lincoln's assassination, Johnson becomes the President. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This lighthearted romantic comedy stars William Holden as working stiff Michael Stewart and Frances Dee as wealthy socialite Candace Goodwin. Falling in love with Michael, Candace agrees to marry him on his terms-namely, that they survive on his salary alone. Inevitably, Candace has trouble adjusting to her new lifestyle and yearns for the luxuries lavished upon her by her family. Meanwhile, Michael begins to suspect that Candace has been keeping company with men from her own social set. It takes the combined efforts of the Stewart and Goodwin families to reunite the quarrelsome couple in the final footage. There's nary an original moment in Meet the Stewarts, but the two leads are so darned atttractive that it doesn't matter at all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide