Orin Jannings Movies

Sal Mineo, who'd previously registered well as the lead in the TV drama Drummer Man, essays a strikingly similar role in The Gene Krupa Story. The film details Krupa's troubled home life: (he wanted to be a musician; his father wanted him to become a priest), his rise to fame as drummer for the Benny Goodman orchestra, his years on top as a bandleader, and his ongoing problems with drug abuse. A fictional romantic subplot is grafted onto the proceeding involving clearly defined "good" and "bad" girls Ethel Maguire (Susan Kohner) and Dorissa Dinelli (Susan Oliver). Yvonne Craig has an entertaining scene as an anachronistically garbed good-time girl. Craig would later recall that, at the time of shooting The Gene Krupa Story, she weighed more than Sal Mineo, and that in the scene where he's required to lift her off the floor, she virtually had to lift him. Mineo, a drummer of some accomplishment, convincingly wields the sticks during the musical highlights, though the trickier drum solos were dubbed in by Gene Krupa himself. Real-life recording stars Anita O'Day, Red Nichols, Bobby Troup and Shelley Manne make cameo appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Virginia Mayo stars in this unofficial follow-up to her 1952 musical hit She's Working Her Way Through College. Mayo plays movie star Catherine Terris, who after three box-office flops in a row, returns to the Broadway stage whence she came. Her co-star in this endeavor is Rich Sommers (Steve Cochran), who still harbors a grudge against Catherine because of her walkout during her last Broadway appearance. Predictably, Rich and Catherine bury the hatchet by midfilm, and when fadeout time rolls around they're in each other's arms. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This odd, sometimes whimsical, ultimately violent Damon Runyon-esque story casts Glenn Ford as Joe Miracle, a professional gambler and World War II veteran with several axes to grind against the world. Cheated out of his share of a successful casino operation that he started with his brother -- who was murdered in the bargain -- he pulls off a robbery to get back what he considers his property, $100,000 cash. On the run from the gang he robbed, Joe takes refuge in a settlement house, where he crosses paths with social worker Jenny Jones (Evelyn Keyes). He does really understand her generosity of spirit, or what motivates the others who rely on the settlement house for their food, lodging, and care, but he goes along with it as a dodge to avoid the criminals and police, all of whom are after him. He still cheats the teenage boys who try to gamble with him, and looks for angles that he can work to his advantage, but soon Jenny and her work start getting through to him -- enough so that he wants out, but with her. When he finds out that she's almost willing to compromise her principles for him, Joe realizes that this is getting more serious than he wants it to be. And when ambitious columnist John Ireland gets in the way of his play, Joe suddenly finds himself up to his neck in danger, and the settlement house ablaze. His plans thwarted and his life still in danger, Joe plans on settling out a lot of scores before he leaves this world -- but will his best or his worst side be calling the play? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi