Tristram Coffin Movies

The curious but harmonious screen team of Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland are back again in You're Out of Luck. Elevator boy Frankie (Darro) is the brother of a detective (Richard Bond), and as such is eager to solve a crime himself. He gets his chance when a couple of mob murders occur in Frankie's hotel. With the tremulous assistance of Jefferson the porter (Moreland), Frankie pieces the clues together long before the police do-thereby flattening the stock of an obnoxious newspaper reporter (Tristam Coffin). Moreland so dominates the proceedings with his patented "Feet do your duty" routines that, in certain communities with heavily black populations, he was billed as the film's star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

No sooner had the second of Monogram's "Range Riders" westerns hit the screens than the third entry, West of Pinto Basin, was prepared for release. Once again, the Range Riders are portrayed by Ray "Crash" Corrigan, John "Dusty" King and Max "Alibi" Terhune, who this time are hot on the trail of a stagecoach holdup gang. Outlaw leader Harvey (Tris Coffin) is able to monitor the routes taken by the local stage line thanks to a "fifth columnist" named Summers (Phil Dunham), an outwardly honest bank employee. The three heroes take jobs as stagecoach drivers to bring the villains out into the open. The romantic interest is handled by Gwen Gaze, previously a minor-league serial heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this fast paced mystery, an eager page boy for a radio station tries to convince the owners to let him do a comedy show with his pal, a porter. A hopeful singer and the station receptionist support the lads with the former hoping to make her debut there. Things are looking up for the young folk when suddenly several of the station's star acts are murdered on the air. The page, the porter and the receptionist begin investigating while the young singer fills in for the slain chanteuse. Success ensues all around. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Republic's Under Nevada Skies blends equal parts music and action, resulting in a treat for fans of both. Roy Rogers stars as a wandering cavalier in search of valuable pitchblende deposits. Assisting Roy in his quest is "Queen of the West" Dale Evans and grizzled, dentally challenged Gabby Hayes. In this one, the Indians are the "good guys," chasing down a band of outlaws who've stolen a crucial map. Under Nevada Skies was the last collaboration between star Roy Rogers and director Frank McDonald; thereafter, the man in charge of the Rogers unit was actionmeister William Witney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gene Autry is back near the saddle, trying to help out a crippled jockey. Gene is certain that the jockey can ride in the Big Race if the lad can regain his self-confidence. Meanwhile, Gene and comical sidekick Sterling Holloway have another problem on their hands: A rogue stallion has "kidnapped" Gene's prize mare. Piloting a plane, Autry seeks out and locates the stallion. The jockey and mare enter the race, and win. Director John English keeps Trail to San Antone constantly on the move, resulting in one of the better postwar Gene Autry vehicles for Republic Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Van Druten's Broadway hit The Voice of the Turtle was purchased by Warner Bros. as a vehicle for...well, in all likelihood, stars Eleanor Parker and Ronald Reagan were both second choices. Reagan is a returning GI who falls in love with Parker, an ingenuous young actress. Circumstances require the hero and heroine to share the same apartment, though the implications don't get much farther than the knowing wisecracks of supporting player Eve Arden. The original play's stars were Elliott Nugent and the matchless Margaret Sullavan, and both Reagan and Parker seem overwhelmed by the responsibility of filling those shoes. Nothing in The Voice of the Turtle (reissue title: One for the Book) is quite as funny as the film's outtakes, which were widely distributed during the Reagan presidency on the basis of a scene in which an increasingly testy Reagan is unable to zip up his trousers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A teenage boy, the son of a recently widowed policeman's wife, accidentally witnesses a wrestler killing his girl friend in a domestic dispute involving a robbery he just committed on her behalf. The boy had been delivering papers at the time and when the wrestler, who has a weak heart, finds out he begins searching for him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The infamous Benedict Arnold affair is the basis of the lively MGM costumer The Scarlet Coat. Arnold is played with suitably subtle menace by Robert Douglas, while his principal co-conspirator, Major John Andre, is essayed by Michael Wilding. The largely speculative storyline concerns the efforts of one Major John Boulton (Cornel Wilde), a colonial counterspy, to foil Arnold's plans. Thanks to some deft scriptwriting, the much-abused Major Andre emerges as the most sympathetic character in the film, if only because he is willing to face the consequences for his actions. Less sympathetic is George Sanders in another of his patented "cad" roles, while Anne Francis is the spunky (if unnecessary) heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Breaking from the Republic tradition, cowboy star Monte Hale does not play a character named Monte Hale in The Old Frontier. Instead, Hale is cast as town marshal Barney Regan. It is Barney's formidable task to round up a gang of bank robbers and expose the "Mr. Big" behind all the robberies. Some novelty value is provided by comical sidekick Paul Hurst, here cast as a seafaring man named Skipper Horton, who insists upon imposing his nautical vernacular on every frontiersman he meets. The villainy is in the capable (if unwashed) hands of Tristam Coffin and William Haade. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Mysterious Mr. Valentine is a neat-and-tidy thriller from the Republic B-picture mills. Lovely Linda Stirling is driving down a country road when one of her tires blows out. This seemingly innocuous, everyday occurrence leads Linda into a labyrinth of murder, blackmail and intrigue. William Henry is the hero, Thomas Jackson the "law", and Virginia Christine, Kenne Duncan and Virginia Brissac are among the various antagonists, actual and alleged. The Mysterious Mr. Valentine is in and out in a tight 56 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This meticulous and unusually long cinemadaptation of Sloan Wilson's best-selling novel The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit stars Gregory Peck as an ex-army officer, pursuing a living as a TV writer in the postwar years. Hired by a major broadcasting network, Peck is assigned to write speeches for the network's president (Fredric March). Peck comes to realize that the president's success has come at the expense of personal happiness, and this leads Peck to ruminate on his own life. Extended flashbacks reveal that Peck had experienced a torrid wartime romance with Italian girl Marisa Pavan, a union that produced a child. Peck is torn between his responsibility to his illegitimate son and his current obligations towards his wife (Jennifer Jones), his children, and his employer. Among the many life-altering decisions made by Peck before the fade-out is his determination to seek out a job that will allow him to spend more time with his family, even if it means a severe cut in salary. The superb hand-picked supporting cast of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit includes Ann Harding as March's wife, Keenan Wynn as the man who informs Peck that he'd fathered an Italian child, Henry Daniell as a detached executive, and an unbilled DeForrest Kelley as an army medic (who gets to say "He's dead, captain"!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Freely adapted from a successful Broadway musical by Moss Hart, this story stars Ginger Rogers as Liza Elliott, the editor of a popular fashion magazine. Despite her beauty, wealth, and success in business, Liza is unhappy and out of sorts. And while three men are vying for her affections -- advertising director Charley Johnson (Ray Milland), newly single Kendall Nesbitt (Warner Baxter), and youthful and handsome Randy Curtis (Jon Hall) -- Liza has been unlucky in love, and she feels that she's come to the end of her emotional rope. She begins seeing Dr. Brooks (Barry Sullivan) in hopes of resolving her emotional crises and finding happiness, and her self-searching explorations of her past take the form of a handful of musical numbers. While the stage version of Lady in the Dark featured songs written by the estimable team of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, several of them were replaced for this screen adaptation; "The Saga of Jenny", "One Life to Love", and "Girl of the Moment" were the most notable among the Weill/Gershwin tunes that survived the editing process. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi