Lois Collier Movies

The title of this Republic sci-fier is Missile Monsters, but what it really is is a feature-length abridgement of the 1951 serial Flying Disc Man From Mars. The story concerns the efforts of a Martian named Mota (Gregory Gaye) to take over the world. This being a Republic serial, Mota hires several earthbound henchmen in fedoras and pinstripe suits to complete his mission. Hero Walter Reed and heroine Lois Collier labor mightily to stop Mota and "fifth columnist" scientist James Craven. The Martian "bat planes" seen in Missile Monsters are culled from stock footage from the 1944 serial G-Men vs. the Black Dragon, which explains why the escutcheon of the Red Planet is the Rising Sun. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Since Universal was out of the "B"-western business by 1951, many former Universal contractees were obliged to seek work elsewhere. Monogram's Rhythm Inn stars Jane Frazee, Kirby Grant and Lois Collier, Universal alumni all. It all begins when bandleader Dusty Rhodes (Kirby Grant) is forced to pawn his musician's instruments. It so happens that pawnshop clerk Eddie Thompson (Charles Smith) is an aspiring songwriter. Thus it is that band-singer Carol Denton (Jane Frazee) is able to sweet-talk Thompson into allowing the musicians to use their instruments after office hours, with the promise that the clerk's songs will be performed. Complications ensue when Thompson's girl friend Betty (Lois Collier), misunderstanding the situation, becomes jealous. Specialty numbers in Rhythm Inn are provided by the Anson Weeks orchestra, Armida, Jean Ritchie, Ames & Arno and the Ramon Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The "B"-picture unit at 20th Century-Fox was slowly being phased out when Miss Mink of 1949 was produced. Lois Collier heads the cast as Alice Forrester, an office clerk who wins a $10,000 mink coat in a radio contest. This windfall proves disastrous to Lois' husband Joe (Jimmy Lydon), who goes deeply into debt so that his wife can live in the style in which she has suddenly become accustomed. Horror of horrors, the mink is stolen, the first of several setbacks for poor Alice and Joe. The mess is straightened out--sort of--in a wild courtroom finale. Veteran supporting players Richard Lane, Dorothy Granger, Paul Guilfoyle and Iris Adrian add a little salt and pepper to the more sugary passages. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pity poor James Clark (Richard Crane). Wed to the lovely Margaret (Lois Collier), Arthur is forced to keep the marriage a secret from Margaret's social-climbing mother (Barbara Brown)-which, of course, results in separate sleeping quarters. Coming to the rescue is Margaret's kid brother Arthur (Skip Homeier), who tries to throw his mom off the track by pretending to be engaged himself. Alas, Arthur's noble gesture only makes a bad situation worse, at least until Mother finally figures things out for herself. So lightweight that it's hardly there, ArthurTakes Over was produced by Sol Wurtzel and directed by Malcolm St. Clair, the same team responsible for 20th Century-Fox's much-maligned Laurel & Hardy comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, a Native American boy and his horse Wild Beauty make friends with a gentle doctor who helps the boy save his beloved steed from the cruel industrialist who has been slaughtering horses and using their hides for making shoes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A would-be nightclub entertainer finds her life jeopardized after she inadvertently witnesses a gangland murder while heading for an audition. Fortunately, a brave photographer is there to save her and this crime drama ends on a happy note. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

An offbeat Universal murder mystery, Crimson Canary is set in the very special world of jazz musicians. A duplicitous songstress is murdered, and the prime suspects are members of a nightclub jazz combo. John Litel, the detective assigned to the case, is himself a jazz fan and thus takes proprietary interest in the band. As suspicion shifts from one musician to another, those involved with the case (notably Lois Collier, the girlfriend of one of the musicians) dig deeper into the clues, discovering at last that the culprit is someone with no music in his soul at all. Though the plot is nothing special, the wall-to-wall music and "hip" ambience of Crimson Canary result in a better than average Universal "B". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Veteran action specialists Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins co-directed this below-average Universal serial featuring brunette starlet Lois Collier as a young woman swept up in international intrigue in Darkest Africa. Although the serial's nominal (and much imperiled) heroine, Collier did not play the title role, however. That dubious distinction went to a very young Ruth Roman, in her screen debut, as an ethereal jungle girl whose presence in the film remained vague throughout. The muddled story is something about the Nazi High Command (personified by that notorious blackheart Douglass Dumbrille) attempting to infiltrate and sway an unfriendly jungle tribe. Considering the real-world situation in 1945, The Jungle Queen was frivolous entertainment at its mind-numbing worst. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

On the eve of her wedding to Ramu (Jon Hall), the beautiful Tollea (Maria Montez) is spirited away from her tranquil South Sea island to the mysterious, forbidden place of her birth, Cobra Island. Ramu follows and, with help from his young-but-not-too-bright friend Kado (Sabu) and their chimp Coco, manages to land on the island and avoid capture, which would mean death. It turns out that Tollea is the rightful high priestess of Cobra Island, the first born of two twin daughters of the earlier priestess. Tollea was not immune to the venom of the king cobra, however, so she was spirited away from the island as an infant to avoid her unnecessary death. Now her grandmother, the Queen (Mary Nash), has secured her return. Tollea's twin sister, Naja (also played by Montez), has turned cruel, greedy, and ambitious, and is killing, torturing, and tormenting her people and perverting their religion; Naja must be deposed, hopefully before the volcano on the far side of the island registers too loud an objection to her blasphemies. But Naja -- who is wanton enough to want Ramu for her own pleasure -- and her confederate, the evil, ambitious Martok (Edgar Barrier), don't plan on leaving quietly.

Meanwhile, Ramu has to keep himself and Kado alive and decide if he's willing to give up the woman that he loves so that she can save her people; Tollea must choose between love and duty, fate and her birthright. One of the most ridiculously and unselfconsciously campy costume adventure movies of its era, Cobra Woman was apparently a lot of fun to work on and a relief from the reality of the Second World War for audiences in 1944. The script, co-authored by Richard Brooks a long time before he wrote The Brick Foxhole, much less directed Blackboard Jungle or made In Cold Blood or Lord Jim, is incredibly sloppy, the mix of harem dancers and ridiculous prop snakes is bizarre, and some of the worst choreography of its era doesn't help -- and yet it all hangs together, somehow, as entertainment. Director Robert Siodmak reportedly liked it, and as a refugee from the Nazis, working on it still beat the fate he'd fled in Germany. The movie is also alleged to be the primary inspiration for Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures -- which starred female impersonator Mario Montez -- and looking at it in the 21st century, one wonders if it was ever seen by Edward D. Wood Jr.; not only does the production sort of anticipate (albeit on a much higher level and budget) his work in the adventure genre, but the script seems to contain the essence of inept moments that he would elevate to an art of sorts. And one can just imagine Wood, as a young marine recruit, watching Cobra Woman eagerly and "learning" all the wrong lessons from its writing and production. But, like the best of Wood's movies -- only more so -- Cobra Woman is still great fun of the "guilty pleasure" sort. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

All but forgotten today, Ladies Courageous was one of the more successful wartime morale-boosters. Loretta Young heads the virtually all-female cast as Robert Harper, no-nonsense executive officer of the original 24 members of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Each of the women under her command has a story to tell, and tell it they do in long, verbose flashbacks. Standing out in the supporting cast is Geraldine Fitzgerald as Vinnie Alford, who joins the WAFs for publicity purposes and nearly scuttles the program in the process. Also appearing is the tragic Diana Barrymore, whose leading role was considerably trimmed before the film was released to the public. Though not all that exciting (especially considering the subject matter), Ladies Courageous served its patriotic purpose in 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

My Son, the Hero was a rare comedy from the PRC studio mills-and rarer still, it was directed by melodrama specialist Edgar G. Ulmer. Roscoe Karns plays a third-rate fight manager misleadingly known as Big Time. Justifiably proud of his war-correspondent son Michael (Joseph Allen Jr.), Big Time tries to measure up to his son's accomplishments by writing letters to the boy, claiming to be a wealthy businessman. When Michael comes home on furlough, Big Time panics, worrying that he'll be exposed as a fraud. But he hasn't taken into consideration his golden-hearted ex-wife Gerty (Patsy Kelly) and punchdrunk prizefighter Kid Slug (Maxie Rosenbloom), who help Big Time come off as a hero in the eyes of his son. My Son, the Hero represented Patsy Kelly's last film appearance until her comeback role in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A romantic triangle between two best friends and a beautiful woman provides the basis of this romantic comedy. The girl in question is the niece of the head of the law firm the men work for. She likes both of the men, but one of them she considers more of a brother. This one is very manipulative and endeavors to thwart the romantic efforts of his friend by hiring the man's ex-girl friend, a singer, to distract him. It works and the manipulator gets the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, by that time he is dismayed to discover that he has actually fallen in love with the singer. Songs include: "Cae, Cae" (John Latouche, Pedro Barrios, Roberto Martins), "Do I Know What I'm Doing?," "Closer and Closer," and "Ain't You Got No Time for Love?." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi