Leopold Atlas Movies

Violent and viscerally sexual, Anthony Mann's muscular low-budget noir tells the tale of a framed gangster's quest for vengeance after he busts out of prison. Once freed, gangster Joe Sullivan Dennis O'Keefe) and his girl friend Pat (Claier Trevor) set off to find the mobster who set him up. The kidnapping of Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt), the social worker who wrote to Joe in prison, leads the fugitive into a romantic triangle of death, passion and tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Warner Bros. programmer stars Dane Clark as Prohibition-era columnist Don Corwin and Janis Paige as speakeasy singer Georgia King. Corwin is in love with Georgia, but she has promised herself to disreputable gambler/gangster Steve Maddux (Zachary Scott). With the repeal of Prohibition, Maddux's high-rolling days come to an abrupt end, leaving poor Georgia high and dry. But through it all, Corwin has remained faithful and true-blue. The film scores on a nostalgic level, with its colorful recreation of the Roaring 20s and its denizens. Otherwise, Her Kind of Man is rather tame stuff, with the stars looking somewhat ill at ease with their roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Story of G.I. Joe was based on the columns of Scripps-Howard war correspondent Ernie Pyle (Burgess Meredith). Though already past 40, Pyle insists upon marching along with an Army infantry unit during the Italian campaign. He befriends several of the soldiers, including commanding officer Lt. Walker (Robert Mitchum in his breakthrough role), family man Sgt. Warnicki (Freddie Steele) and would-be romeo Private Dondaro (Wally Cassell). The "plot" of the film is moved forward by the progression of the war itself; basically, however, G.I. Joe is an anecdotal collection of comic, dramatic and tragic vignettes. Some of the more memorable moments include: Sgt. Warnicki's ongoing efforts to listen to a recording of his infant son's voice; Walker's casual reactions to his many field promotions; and a wedding ceremony which is "punctuated" by an air raid. Many infantry veterans consider The Story of GI Joe to be the single most realistic Hollywood war film of the 1940s, eschewing big stars, phony heroics and overblown battle sequences in favor of the everyday trials and tribulations of the humble foot soldier. Ironically, Pyle, who acted as technical adviser when he wasn't busy on the front, was killed by an enemy sniper shortly before the release of this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charles Dickens' unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, has been a source of speculation and controversy ever since its posthumous publication. Even so, the ending concocted by scenarists John Balderston and Gladys Unger for the 1935 film version of Edwin Drood met with near-unanimous approval from Dickens buffs, who felt that Balderston and Unger had remained faithful to the author's original intention. Claude Rains stars as John Jasper, the seemingly respectable choirmaster of Cloisterham Cathedral. What no one suspects is that Jasper is an opium addict, given to fits of paranoia and jealousy. Pushing him over the edge is the fact that his beautiful ward, Rosa Bud (Heather Angel), has fallen in love with handsome Edwin Drood (David Manners). That Drood is murdered by Jasper is made abundantly clear: it is the mystery of how he was murdered and how Jasper disposed of the body that holds the viewer's interest. The film's relatively short running time required the screenwriters to drop several of Dickens' more colorful supporting characters: of those retained, Francis L. Sullivan is a standout as Mr. Crisparkle. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was transformed into a Broadway musical in 1980s (which offered several alternate endings), then was refilmed in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wednesday's Child, the song goes, is "full of woe." This is indeed the case for Bobby (Frankie Thomas), who is bundled off to military school when his father (Edward Arnold) and mother (Karen Morley) divorce. That Bobby was forced to testify during the divorce action was traumatic enough; now he must face the grim reality that neither of his parents really want him around. Eventually, Bobby's dad relents and brings the boy home -- not the painfully realistic original ending of the Leopold Atlas play upon which this film was based. When RKO Radio refilmed Wednesday's Child as Child of Divorce in 1946 (with Sharyn Moffett playing a distaff version of the Frankie Thomas role), Atlas' doleful ending was left intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide