June Clayworth Movies

Leslie Stevens adapted his own stage comedy Marriage-Go-Round for the movies, watering down the more explicit sex talk but keeping its sly innuendo intact. The stunning Julie Newmar plays a Swedish gymnast who wishes to mate with a genius and produce the "perfect child." She chooses professor James Mason for this honor, which wouldn't have been such a problem had not Mason already been married to Susan Hayward. Mason is tempted, but ultimately the head wins out over the libido and the professor returns to his wife, while the decidedly unpregnant Newmar returns to Sweden. Marriage-Go-Round is inclined towards staginess, but this can be forgiven whenever Julie Newmar, recreating her Broadway role, sashays into view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There's Always Tomorrow is a remake of a 1934 film of the same name. Fred MacMurray is a toy company executive whose wife (Joan Bennett) and kids (Gigi Perreau, William Reynolds and Judy Nugent) take him for granted. Barbara Stanwyck is Fred's former girlfriend, whose own business activities result in a surprise reunion. MacMurray falls back in love with Stanwyck and prepares to leave his family. MacMurray's children go to Stanwyck and politely ask her to back off. She does so, and MacMurray's wife Bennett, who's been out of town during all this, is none the wiser. In the original There's Always Tomorrow, the male and female leads (Frank Morgan and Binnie Barnes) were farther apart age-wise, making their brief encounter all the more poignant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is the kind of man who wants to marry an old-fashioned girl, one who will stay home and take care of her husband. However, he's fallen in love with Priscilla "Effie" Effington (Deborah Kerr), who has an exciting career with the State Department that she has no intention of giving up. Clemson has the poor timing of proposing marriage to Effie just as she's in the middle of trying to resolve a major political crisis with the Middle Eastern nation of Bukistan; the United States wants to stay on Bukistan's good side, thanks to their plentiful reserves of oil. Tired of waiting for Effie, Clemson decides that he needs to find a potential bride who will follow his lead instead of her own, and he soon meets Princess Tarji (Betta Saint John), daughter of the King of Bukistan, who has spent her life learning to faithfully serve her man. Clemson half-seriously sends a telegram proposing marriage to Tarji, which touches off a political tempest in a teapot when Tarji responds by visiting the United States. The State Department decides that someone should look after Tarji while she's in America, and who should be given the assignment but Effie; to Clemson's chagrin, Effie uses her time with Tarji to enlighten her about the more liberated status of women in the West. By the way, don't bother looking for Bukistan in your atlas, the country doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Glenn Ford stars as American pilot Martin Ordway, who joins an expedition to scale a treacherous Swiss mountain peak. Each of the climbers has a special reason to reach the top. Dissolute French author Paul DeLambre (Claude Rains) is searching for a purpose in life; guide Andreas (Oscar Homolka) is doing his job; British naturalist Nicholas Radcliffe (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) hopes to uncover new forms of flora and fauna; Carla Alton (Alida Valli) wants to conquer the mountain that claimed her father's life; Ordway has fallen in love with Alton and wants to be near her; and ex-Nazi Mr. Hein (Lloyd Bridges) hopes to escape his past. As the climb progresses, each member of the party reveals his or her true character, and it isn't always pretty. Originally slated to be produced by Adrian Scott and directed by Edward Dmytrk, The White Tower was assigned to Sid Rogell and Ted Tetzlaff when Scott and Dmytrk were blacklisted. Another future blacklistee, Paul Jarrico, adapted his screenplay from a novel by James Ramsey Ullman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Befitting his status as a genre star, Boris Karloff earns top billing over leading man Ralph Byrd in RKO's final Dick Tracy caper. The former Frankenstein monster plays an escaped convict masterminding a daring bank robbery. To get in and out of the bank without being noticed, the gang uses an asphyxiating gas that leaves anyone inside momentarily frozen in place. Everyone, that is, except for bank customer Tess Truehart (Anne Gwynne), who is able to contact Dick Tracy (Byrd) from a phone booth in the bank. With little or no clues, Tracy and his man Friday, Pat Patton (Lyle Latell), question the bank customers but none can shed any light on the mysterious goings-on. The disappearance of Dr. A. Tomic (Milton Parsons) and the odd behavior of his associate, Dr. I.M. Learned (June Clayworth), crack the case wide open, however, and Tracy is eventually able to track down both Gruesome and the surprising identity of his boss, L.E. Thal (Edward Ashley). According to some reports, RKO wanted to release Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome as "Dick Tracy Meets Karloff" but that title was vetoed by Karloff himself. The legendary horror star apparently later accepted his own box-office value and a 1949 Universal comedy was released as Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Elevating Criminal Court above the B-picture norm is the inventive direction by Robert Wise and the better-than-usual performances by all concerned. In a break from his heroic "Falcon" role, Tom Conway stars as Steve Barnes, a criminal attorney known for his unorthodox courtroom tactics. After accidentally killing a crooked nightclub owner, Barnes is stuck on the horns of a dilemma when his sweetheart, cabaret singer Georgia Gale (Martha O'Driscoll), is arrested for the crime The problem: How can Barnes clear Georgia of the murder without implicating himself? As for the solution...well, best not to reveal that here. All that keeps Criminal Court from A-picture status is its 62 minute running time; on the other hand, the film's impact might have been blunted had it been any longer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ace the Wonder Dog, RKO's Rin Tin Tin-wannabe, plays Picardy Max, a mongrel dog adopted by Dan Preston (James Ellison) when both are thrown in jail for vagrancy. Dan's legal problems are quickly done away with but his pretty boarder, Shirley Haddon (Helen Wood), is increasingly troubled by Dan's obsessive competitiveness with fellow dog owner Robert Mabrey (Robert Kent). In fact, the young man's grudge against the entire Mabrey family threatens to ruin his burgeoning relationship with Shirley but everything works out fine when Picardy helps locate a kidnapped Marian Mabrey (June Clayworth). Almost a Gentleman was the second of three programmers starring Ace the Wonder Dog and produced by RKO 1938-1940. Ace also worked for Republic Pictures and was featured in the 1943 serial The Phantom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Starving artist Robert Montgomery could care less if his paintings sell, so long as he's happy. Montgomery falls in love with Rosalind Russell, an heiress who's gone "slumming" in Greenwich Village. Russell becomes Montgomery's patroness as well as his wife, urging him to make his paintings more commercial. He becomes a success following her advice, but popularity goes to his head and soon Russell realizes she's created a monster. She walks out, he gets his act together, she comes back, and they return to their blissful hand-to-mouth existence. Live, Love and Learn scores its biggest laughs unintentionally with MGM's prettified concept of what a "run down" Greenwich village apartment looks like. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Breezy James Dunn breezes through the usual James Dunn breeziness in Two-Fisted Gentleman. Dunn is cast as a prizefighter named Mickey, who manages to survive the mean streets of New York on the strength of sheer stupidity. One of the few mildly original touches in the film is the fact that Mickey's sweetheart Ginger (June Clayworth) is also his manager. So little happens in the film that one is amazed it was based on a short story which actually had a plot. Critics complained that James Dunn brought nothing new to his characterization, but they applauded his fight scenes, which were the highlights of the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, a man marries his Russian lover and discovers that she has a large extended family. He is utterly overwhelmed and decides that the only way he will be able to free himself of their burden will be to make them famous. Along the way, he keeps running into the bold lover of his new bride. Mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a traveling ice show comes to a small southern town run by an amiable mayor. His mischievous younger brother, knowing his brother's protection gives him carte-blanche, gets into all kinds of trouble with the other town punks. The thugs cause real trouble at the local ice rink and end up kicked out. The wicked brother retaliates and ends up killed by the rink owner who flees the scene but not before he manages to blame the show's star skater. Mayhem ensues until the town attorney manages to prove his innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide