Gordon B. Clark Movies
- 1961
The fact that The Last Gunfighter is a Canadian western is an oddity in itself. Gilding the lily is the fact that it's really an anti-western, exploding a lot of the mythology that sagebrush fans hold dear. Gunman Don Borisenko is hired by the townsfolk to mete out justice to a cruel land baron. Instead, Borisenko gets romantically involved with Tass Tory, the wife of a local farmer. When the smoke clears, the gunman has killed the rancher, and the farmer has killed the gunman. This bleak endeavor has also been released as Hired Gun and The Devil's Spawn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
A Hatful of Rain, based on the stage play by Michael V. Gazzo, is the story of a drug addict's debilitating effect on his family. Don Murray has managed to keep his addiction secret from his pregnant wife Eva Marie Saint and his boorish father Lloyd Nolan, but Murray's brother Anthony Franciosa knows the truth. Murray hits up Franciosa for money to support his habit, but even this is not enough as the addiction deepens and Murray finds himself beholden to a vicious pusher (Henry Silva). Murray is unable to cope with his private hell until he confesses to his wife and father that he's a junkie and needs help. Considered the last word in realism in 1957, A Hatful of Rain seems slightly antiquated in the light of the drug-abuse excesses of the 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eva Marie Saint, Don Murray, (more)
- 1956
Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) haul in a suspect on suspicion of pulling off a $200,000 robbery. But it looks like the suspect may be able beat the rap when he refuses to reveal the name of his accomplice or the location of the stolen money. All this changes when the body of the alleged accomplice is found in the desert--the victim of a hit-and-run! Familiar 1940s film actress Helen Walker shows up in a flashy supporting role. This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of May 10, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Director Alfred Hitchcock lets us know from the outset that The Wrong Man is a painfully true story and not one of his customary fabricated suspense yarns, through the simple expedient of walking before the camera and telling us as much (this introductory appearance replaced his planned cameo role as a nightclub patron). The real-life protagonist, musican Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero, is played by Henry Fonda. Happily married and gainfully employed at the Stork Club, Balestrero's life takes a disastrous turn when he goes to an insurance office, hoping to borrow on his wife's (Vera Miles) life insurance policy in order to pay her dental bills. One of the girls in the office spots Balestrero, identifying him as the man who robbed the office a day or so earlier. This, and a few scattered bits of circumstantial evidence, lead to Balestrero's arrest. Though he's absolutely innocent, he can offer no proof of his whereabouts the day of the crime. Lawyer Frank O'Connor (Anthony Quayle) does his best to help his client, but he's up against an indifferent judicial system that isn't set up to benefit the "little man". Meanwhile, Balestrero's wife becomes emotionally unhinged, leading to a complete nervous breakdown. As Balestrero prays in his cell, his image is juxtaposed onto the face of the actual criminal-who looks nothing like the accused man! Utilizing one of his favorite themes-the helplessness of the innocent individual when confronted by the faceless bureaucracy of the Law-Hitchcock weaves a nightmarish tale, all the more frightening because it really happened (the film's best moment: Fonda looking around the nearly empty courtroom during his arraignment, realizing that the rest of the world cares precisely nothing about his inner torment). Hitch enhances the film's versimilitude by shooting in the actual locations where the real story occured. His only concession to Hollywood formula was the half-hearted coda, assuring us that Mrs. Balestrero eventually recovered from her mental collapse (she sure doesn't look any too healthy the last time we see her!) Watch for uncredited appearances by Harry Dean Stanton, Bonnie Franklin, Tuesday Weld and Charles Aidman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1956
With his budget tighter than usual thanks to the near-sighted "management" of his pal Fred (William Frawley), Ricky (Desi Arnaz) has little money left to do anything but perform with his band when the Ricardos and the Mertzes arrive in Monte Carlo. Naturally, this means that Ricky must forbid Lucy (Lucille Ball) to go anywhere near the resort's famous gambling casino, but this doesn't stop Lucy and Ethel (Vivian Vance) from "accidentally" wandering past the gaming tables while having dinner. Luck of luck, Lucy finds a chip that someone has dropped, unthinkingly places the chip on a roulette table, and wins 875,000 francs! But with group wealth comes great responsibilities -- namely, trying to hide the money from the suspicious Ricky. Alas, Lucy chooses to stuff the excess dough in Ethel's luggage...and when Ricky inadvertently stumbles upon it, he immediately assumes that Fred has become an embezzler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mylong, Jacques Villon, (more)
- 1954
Paris Playboys was lensed on the same sets used for the Bowery Boys' previous opus Loose in London, indicating that Allied Artists was nothing if not cosmopolitan. This time, Sach (Huntz Hall) turns out to be the exact double of brilliant French scientist Le Beau (also Huntz Hall). The mistaken-identity gimmick results in Sach, his fellow Bowery Boys Slip (Leo Gorcey), Chuck (David Condon) and Butch (Bennie Bartlett), and sweet-shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) being whisked off to Paris, where Sach is expected to duplicate Le Beau's revolutionary new rocket fuel. It must needs be that the real Le Beau emerges from hiding to thoroughly confuse Slip et. al. Adding to the merriment are a bunch of foreign spies, headed by the always disreputable Steven Geray. Though out of favor with most Bowery Boys aficionados, Paris Playboys comes through with the usual quota of bellylaughs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1952
Ronald Reagan delivers one of his best screen performances as baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team. The title refers to the mutually supportive relationship between Alexander and his loving wife Aimee (top-billed Doris Day); with this in mind, is it any surprise that the real Aimee Alexander served as the film's technical advisor. While the basic milestones of Alexander's career are adhered to, the film is a typical Hollywood blend of fact and fancy-plenty of fancy. While playing in the minors, Alexander is is hit on the heat by a batted ball, resulting in the dizziness and double vision that would ever after plague him. After toting up a record of 28 wins with the Philadelphia Phillies, Alex is traded to the Cubs, but World War 1 intervenes. On the battlefield, Alex suffers a recurrence of his double vision; and when he plays his first postwar game with the Cubs, he collapses on the field. Warned that his seizures will persist if he doesn't retire, Alex swears the doctor to secrecy. When the dizzy spells continue, Alex turns to drink. Branded an "alky", he descends to the depths of a House of David-style team, thence to the humiliation of carnival side shows. With the help and support of both Aimee and his old pal Rogers Hornsby (Frank Lovejoy), Alex stages a spectacular comeback, striking out Yankee Tony Lazzeri during the 1926 World Series and leading his team to victory. The script rearranges the chronology of Alexander's life, suggests incorrectly that the Lazzeri strikeout was the last play in the deciding Series game, and-most amusingly-depicts the unloveable Rogers Hornsby as a 100 % sweetheart. Otherwise, The Winning Team provides an excellent showcase for Ronald Reagan-though in later years he expressed some reservations about the script, noting that, by adhering to Warner Bros' insistence that the word "epilepsy" never be spoken, the picture confused audiences as to the true nature of Alexander's affliction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, Ronald Reagan, (more)
- 1950
Faith Domergue, the latest of Howard Hughes' protegees, made her film debut in 1950's Where Danger Lives. Domergue plays Margo Lannington the wife of Frederick Lannington (Claude Rains), an elderly millionaire possessed of a sadistic streak. Robert Mitchum co-stars as Jeff Cameron, a poor soul who falls in love with Margo without knowing that she's married. During a violent confrontation with the jealous Frederick, Cameron knocks the older man out and stumbles out of the room. Upon his return, he discovers that Frederick is dead. Margo had smothered her husband during Cameron's absence, but she insists that Cameron is the killer. The desperate lovers flee to Mexico, where Cameron at long last discovers that his travelling companion is more than a little unhinged. Masterfully directed by John Farrow, Where Danger Lives might have been one of the classic "film noirs," were it not for the acting deficiencies of Faith Domergue, who flounders in a role that Jane Greer could have played blindfolded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, (more)
- 1950
Set in Paris, Under My Skin stars John Garfield as a washed-up jockey who has stolen money from a crooked gambler (Luther Adler). Anxious to escape with his life, Garfield leaves his young son (Orley Lindgren) in the care of his nightclub chanteuse girlfriend (Micheline Presle). While on the lam, Garfield has a change of heart and decides to make good for his son's sake. The gambler catches up with the jockey and demands that he throw an upcoming race, or else. Garfield makes the ultimate sacrifice so that his son will grow up remembering him with pride. Under My Skin was based on the Ernest Hemingway story My Old Man, which was refilmed for television in 1979 with Warren Oates as the father and Kristy McNichol as his daughter (one supposes that it was contract-commitment time). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Luther Adler, (more)
- 1948
Even when decked out in a Foreign Legion uniform, Dick Powell looked, talked and acted like an urban private eye. In Rogues' Regiment, American secret agent Whit Corbett (Dick Powell) joins the Legion in order to track down Nazi war criminal Carl Reicher (Stephen McNally) in French Indo-China. Hampering his search is a native uprising which consumes most of the film's running time. Vincent Price contributes an amusingly despicable supporting role as Mark Van Ratten, an erudite art collector who sidelines in gunrunning. Though Dick Powell doesn't get to sing (not that he really wanted to!), leading-lady Marta Toren offers two sultry nightclub numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Märta Torén, (more)
Bells of San Fernando was advertised as a romantic adventure, but it plays more like a Western. Donald Woods plays an Irish immigrant who teams with Mexican gal Gloria Warren to combat land baron Anthony Warde. Whenever the plot lags, Warren sings. Catch the name of "Renault Duncan" in the screenplay credits of Bells of San Fernando. It's really actor Duncan Renaldo, aka "The Cisco Kid" -- which may explain why the film looks like a thinly disguised "Cisco" episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Woods, Gloria Warren, (more)
- 1947
One of the most ambitious productions ever turned out by Monogram studios, Song of My Heart represented the directorial debut of screenwriter Benjamin Glazer. The film unfolds the life story of Peter Ilytich Tschaikovsky, with Swedish actor Frank Sundstrom in the title role. Avoiding the sensualism and sensationalism of Ken Russell's later Tschaikovsky biopic The Music Lovers (wisely, given the censorial limits of 1947), Glazer's film tastefully concentrates on the Russian composer's romantic relationship with his patroness Amalya (Audrey Long). Though he achieves great professional success on the concert stage, Tschaikovsky finds personal happiness and contentment only when he is on the verge of death. The huge cast includes such diverse personalities as Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Mikhail Rasumny, Gale Sherwood, Jimmie Dodd, and even veteran western heavy Lane Chandler. Deemed too good to be released with the Monogram imprimatur, Song of My Heart was handled by the studio's "prestige" division, Allied Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Drew Allen, Robert Barron, (more)
- 1947
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the title character, a young king exiled by evil conspirators. Forced to live far from his homeland, Fairbanks is harassed by the wicked Henry Daniell, who has been appointed to keep the young monarch from reclaiming his throne. After falling in love with commoner Paula Croset (later billed as Mara Corday), Fairbanks decides to take on the corrupt elements that have ousted him, and he dispatches Daniell in an exciting sword duel stage in an old windmill. Many of Fairbanks' more dangerous stunts were handled by David Sharpe, who received credit as second-unit director. Filmed in black and white, The Exile was originally released to theatres in "Sepiatone", a process which enhanced the film stock with a light brown tint. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Bruce, Fred Cavens, (more)
- 1947
George Raft once again plays the outcast of society who comes through in the end in Intrigue. Dishonorably discharged from the Army Air Corps, Brad Dunham (Raft) disconsolately decides to try his luck with Shanghai's postwar black market. Teaming with the treacherous Tamara Baranoff (June Havoc), Dunham prospers in his newly-found illicit profession, much to the dismay of his best friend, reporter Mark Andrews (Tom Tully). When Tamara has the troublesome Andrews murdered, Dunham realizes the folly of his behavior and works overtime to squash the black market for good and all. Meanwhile, social worker Linda Parker (Helena Carter), who realizes that Dunham's a good guy underneath and hopes against hope that he'll eventually realize it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, June Havoc, (more)
- 1947
In the RKO swashbuckler Sinbad the Sailor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. nostalgically emulates his famous father. The first seven voyages of Sinbad have come and gone: now he is on an eighth mission, in search of the island where Alexander the Great allegedly hid his treasure. Participants in the proceedings are the incredibly gorgeous Maureen O'Hara as a feisty princess, Walter Slezak as a duplicitous green-skinned barber, George Tobias and Mike Mazurki as two of Sinbad's faithful seamen, and Anthony Quinn as the villain of villains, who meets a suitably fiery demise. If the plot seems well nigh impossible to follow at times, you can always wallow in the splendiferous Technicolor and the eye-popping stunt work of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (and, it must be admitted, his uncredited stunt double). Budgeted at nearly $3 million, Sinbad the Sailor was one of the few postwar RKO flicks to post a profit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1946
Its title notwithstanding, there's precious little female epidermis on display in PRC's Queen of Burlesque. Real life stripteaser Rose la Rose is cast in the title role, a burleycue "peeler" named Blossom Terraine, but the storyline is carried by Evelyn Ankers and Carleton Young, as exotic dancer Crystal McCoy and her journalist boyfriend Steve Hurley. When Blossom is murdered backstage, Crystal is suspected of the killing, prompting Hurley to try to prove her innocence. David Lang is credited with the original screenplay, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the 1943 Barbara Stanwyck starrer Lady of Burlesque. The working title for Queen of Burlesque was Ladies of the Chorus, which would be recycled as the title of the 1949 musical which served as the starring debut of Marilyn Monroe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Ankers, Carleton Young, (more)
- 1943
With Dorothy Arzner in the director's chair, it's no wonder that First Comes Courage has a more feminist slant than most WWII "underground" films. Merle Oberon plays Nicole Larsen, a member of the Norwegian resistance. To obtain important war information, Nicole romances Nazi major Paul Dichter Carl Esmond, enduring the slings and arrows of those villagers unaware of her motives. Her mission is further complicated when she is reunited with British commando Allan Lowell Brian Aherne, with whom she'd had a prewar affair. Forced to choose between love and duty, Nicole makes the only decision possible under the circumstances. First Comes Courage was based on The Commados, a novel by Elliot Arnold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1943
Written by Dudley Nichols and directed by French expatriate director Jean Renoir, This Land is Mine is one of those "inspirational" wartime dramas that just don't hold up too well when seen today. The scene is an unnamed European country, recently overrun by the Nazis (this takes place during a "silent" opening sequence that's the best thing in the film). Charles Laughton plays Albert Lory, a mama's-boy schoolmaster who is the object of his students' ridicule. A craven coward, Lory is held responsible when resistance fighter Paul Martin (Kent Smith), the brother of beauteous teacher Louise Martin (Maureen O'Hara), is executed by the Nazis, though in fact it was Lory's panic-stricken mother (Una O'Connor) who betrayed Paul by informing on him to his friend and collaborator George Lambert (George Sanders).
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
Though Henry Fonda is top-billed in The Immortal Sergeant, the title character is played by Thomas Mitchell. Set in the Libyan Desert during WW2, the story finds tough but compassionate British Eighth Army sergeant Kelly (Thomas Mitchell) in charge of a 14-man patrol. Kelly's corporal is Colin Spence (Henry Fonda), a shy and retiring Canadian. When the squad becomes lost in the desert, it is the guidance and example of Kelly that brings the timid Spence out of his shell. Kelly ultimately dies, leaving Spence in charge of the surviving soldiers. Applying the lessons learned from the Immortal Sergeant, Spence is able to lead his comrades back to allied lines, becoming a hero in the process. Second-billed Maureen O'Hara plays Spence's sweetheart in a series of gratuitous but effective flashbacks. Immortal Sergeant was based on the novel by John Brophy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1943
The Iron Major is the saga of WW1 hero-cum-football coach Frank Cavanaugh, played with his usual no-nonsense professionalism by Pat O'Brien. Leaving home and hearth behind to serve his country in the Great War, Cavanaugh goes on to lead the Dartmouth, Boston College and Fordham football teams to victory. His credo throughout is "Love of God?Love of Country?Love of Family"-inspiriational words indeed in war-torn 1943. Based on the memoirs of Cavanaugh's wife Florence (played in the film by Ruth Warrick), The Iron Major suffers from repetition and overkill. But, as Humphrey Bogart once said in an unrelated interview, "Pat O'Brien was good? Pat was always good." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Ruth Warrick, (more)
After the box office success of The Old Maid, Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins were reunited for this catty drama. Kitty Marlowe (Davis) is a well-respected author who returns to the small town of her birth, where she becomes reacquainted with her childhood friend Millie Drake (Hopkins). While Millie is happy as a wife and mother and loves her husband Preston (John Loder), she's envious of Kitty's success, and Kitty's visit prompts Millie to sit down at the typewriter herself. Millie turns out a sexy potboiler that, with Kitty's help, attracts the attention of a publisher. To the surprise of them both, Millie's book is a runaway bestseller, and a decade later she's one of the most successful authors in America, easily eclipsing Kitty's more highbrow work. Preston finds himself growing disenchanted with Millie once success begins to go to her head, and he finds himself attracted to Kitty; while Kitty tries to dissuade Preston's advances, a scorned Millie believes that her old friend has been trying to steal her husband away from her. Old Acquaintance was remade in 1981 as Rich and Famous. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, (more)
