Jack Daley Movies

Thanks to the notorious gangland conference in Appalachian, New York, the word "Mafia" was on everyone's lips in 1959. Rushing to capitalize on this fact was the low-budget expose Inside the Mafia. Grant Richards plays a Lucky Luciano type who is about to return to the US after several years' deportation. Richards arranges for an upstate New York gangland meeting, where minor mob functionary Cameron Mitchell plans to depose big boss Ted DeCorsia. Mitchell also intends to murder Richards so that he can rule the Mafia unfettered. But Richards is still master of his own fate, and he guns down his competition during the gang conference before surrendering to the police. Inside the Mafia told the public little that wasn't already known, but the film served its purpose of cashing in on a "hot" title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Loan Shark was one of several independently-produced films made by George Raft in the early 1950s. Raft plays Joe Gargan, a good guy who pretends to turn bad to trap a gang of usurious loan sharks. In order to convince the crooks that he's on their side, Gargan is forced to call it quits with his sweetheart Ann Nelson (Dorothy Hart). Once he's accepted by the villains, Gargan dreams up an elaborate new method of siphoning money from an unsuspecting public. Inevitably, however, the villains get wise to Gargan's subterfuge, and for a while it looks like curtains for our hero. One of the most appealing aspects of Loan Shark is the no-frills cinematography of Joseph Biroc, who went on to such loftier pursuits as The Towering Inferno. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While a man recuperates from a heart-attack, he obsesses with the thought that his wife and his doctor are having an affair, so decides to write a letter to the D.A. accusing the two of trying to kill him. After his wife mails the letter for him, he tells her of its contents which provokes his anger and he attacks her, dying on the spot from another heart attack. Though innocent, she is nevertheless desperate to somehow get the letter back. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Two real-life events were incorporated into the plot of the 1951 MGM musical Royal Wedding. One, the marriage of Fred Astaire's sister Adele to a British nobleman had occurred years earlier; the other, the wedding of England's Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip was only four years in the past. MGM would probably have gotten Royal Wedding out closer to the Elizabeth-Philip nuptials, but the picture had leading-lady problems; every girl who was cast either became pregnant, ill, or otherwise unavailable. Finally, Jane Powell was cast as the sister and partner of American-entertainer Fred Astaire. The plot has Astaire and Powell heading to Merrie Olde England to perform at the palace. Once they've arrived, Powell breaks up the act when she falls in love with blueblooded Peter Lawford. Astaire himself finds romance in the form of Sarah Churchill (daughter of Sir Winston), and the four happy campers gleefully attend the titular Windsor Castle wedding. Also in the cast is Albert Sharpe, fresh from his Broadway triumph in Finian's Rainbow, and Keenan Wynn, hilarious as twin cousins. The plot is so light that it threatens to float away at times, but Royal Wedding sticks in the memory thanks to its first-rate musical numbers. The Astaire/Powell duets are entertaining enough; the real magic, however, occurs in Astaire's two solos: the hat-rack duet and the now-legendary tap-dance on the ceiling (even knowing how this cinematic legerdemain was accomplished does not detract from its brilliance and virtuosity). Because it has slipped into public domain, Royal Wedding is one of the most easily accessible of all the Fred Astaire musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tea for Two is a Technicolor adaptation of the 1924 Broadway musical No No Nanette, previously filmed under its own title in 1929. Doris Day stars as Nanette, a Roaring '20s Jazz Baby with showbiz aspirations. Nanette offers to put up $25,000 if producer Billy DeWolfe will star her in a Broadway show. The girl's wealthy, and stingy uncle S.Z. Sakall agrees to advance her the money, but only on one condition; for the next 24 hours, Nanette must answer "No" to every question. Gordon MacRae co-stars as Nanette's attorney, who worships her from afar and who finally manages to win her hand with a little wager of his own. The songs, culled from several sources and written by hands ranging from Irving Caesar to George Gershwin, include "Crazy Rhythm," "Do Do Do," "I Want to Be Happy," "I Only Have Eyes for You" and the title number. In 1970, the original No No Nanette was successfully revived for Broadway, with veterans Ruby Keeler and Patsy Kelly in the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart) has a problem that he won't admit to: his wife, Claire (Audrey Totter), wants more fun and excitement out of life than the quiet, soft-spoken pharmacist can give her. So she steps out on him regularly, something that Warren refuses to recognize until the day she packs her bags and announces she's moving in with Barney Deager (Lloyd Gough), the flashy, high-living salesman whom she's been seeing on the side. Warren goes to Deager's, to ask her to come back, and gets beaten up by his rival. The worm suddenly turns in his own quiet way of doing things, and Warren decides he's going to get even -- he's going to murder Deager, but to do it and not get caught, he bides his time. He begins building a new identity for himself, changing his appearance (starting with getting rid of his thick glasses in favor of then-newly-invented contact lenses), and establishing his alter ego of "Paul Sothern" at a new address. He then starts making threatening calls to Deager, identifying himself as Sothern, in order to establish a history of enmity between the two. It's all going according to plan -- he will kill Deager and the blame will fall on "Sothern," who, of course, doesn't exist, and will have vanished. But then he meets Mary Chanler (Cyd Charisse), a neighbor at "Sothern"'s apartment building, and the two become attracted to each other. For every step forward that he takes in his plan for murder, he also finds himself with new possibilities in his life, growing out of his relationship with Mary. Finally, the night comes when he breaks into Deager's home and is about to kill him, when it dawns on Warren that he doesn't need to do this....He awakens Deager and tells him what almost happened and that he's leaving, and Deager is welcome to Claire, and leaves. It seems as though he's averted disaster when Claire shows up later that night, pleading for reconciliation and finally, when pressed, telling him that someone has murdered Deager. The man has been shot, and the police, led by lieutenants Bonnabel (Barry Sullivan) and Gonsales (William Conrad), are hunting for Paul Sothern. Now Warren is scared for his life, having done his best to frame himself, and Claire isn't helping by trying to run interference -- he can't tell if she's trying to protect the two of them, implicate Sothern, or protect herself, and he's too scared to say almost anything at all to the detectives. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

George Seaton's 1948 comedy Chicken Every Sunday was based on the play by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein as well as the original memoirs of Rosemary Taylor. Set during the turn of the century on the American frontier, Emily Heffernan (eleste Holm) is the practical wife of foolish would-be businessman Jim Heffernan (Dan Dailey). While Emily struggles to keep the household together by renting out rooms to boarders, Jim wastes the family's earnings on get-rich-quick schemes. Told in flashback, Emily recalls her 20-year marriage before filing for divorce. Emily has had enough and wants to leave, but their friends try to get them back together. Also starring Colleen Townsend, Alan Young, and a ten-year-old Natalie Wood. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Deadline at Dawn represented not only the sole film directorial effort of Broadway's Harold Clurman, but also the only cinematic collaboration between Clurman and his former Group Theatre associate, screenwriter Clifford Odets. While on shore leave in New York, sailor Alex (Bill Williams) is slipped a doped-up drink by B-girl Edna (Lola Lane). When he awakens, Alex discovers that she has been murdered. Though he believes that he's the killer, our hero is talked into locating the actual miscreant by philosophical cab driver gus (Paul Lukas) and nightclub dancer June (Susan Hayward). Adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich, Deadline at Dawn leans towards pretentiousness at times, but is redeemed by the no-nonsense performance by Susan Hayward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this prison drama, a stern hanging judge is assigned to take over a chaotic prison. There he imposes an almost inhumanly strict regimen of discipline on the inmates. He is similarly rigid and harsh with his own two children. Later his compassionate daughter befriends a wrongfully convicted model prisoner who works as the warden's chauffeur. His son becomes a hardened criminal and ends up incarcerated in his father's prison. There he and several other inmates conspire to bust out. Later he sees inmates threatening his father and sacrifices his life to save him. The enraged judge then shoots the convict who killed his son. In the end, the experience changes the judge who becomes a more humane warden in favor of prison reform. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

U.S. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown once again goes undercover in this Nevada Mckenzie series entry from Great Westerns Prod./Monogram. Masquerading as a parson and a drifter, Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) and Nevada Jack McKenzie (Mack Brown) come to the aid of the beleaguered residents of Goldville, a small ranching community being terrorized by greedy saloon keeper Ace Benton (Kenneth MacDonald) and his gang of cutthroats. Unbeknownst to the citizenry, the railroad is planning to build tracks through town and Benton is attempting to secure the land by scaring off the settlers. Caught by the gang, Nevada manages to talk his way out by pretending to be an outlaw himself. Benton quickly becomes suspicious, but is eventually felled by his own greed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Monogram's "Rough Riders" rolled along smoothly with the 1942 entry Down Texas Way. Once again, the star trio consists of Buck Jones as Buck Roberts, Tim McCoy as Tim McCall, and Raymond Hatton as Sandy Hopkins. The plot, as always, finds Buck, Tim and Sandy cast as undercover US Marshals who pretend to be strangers to one another for the purpose of confounding the villains. This time, Sandy is framed for murder by a gang of frontier racketeers who hope to take over a small town as their headquarters. Working separately (and ostensibly on the wrong side of the law), Buck and Tim rescue Sandy from a lynch mob and foil the crooks' dastardly schemes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For the benefit of those who came in late, the John Robert Powers modelling agency was at one time the most famous and powerful enterprise of its kind in New York City. Acknowledging this prominence is the 1942 musical comedy The Powers Girl, with Anne Shirley and Carole Landis starring as sisters Ellen and Kay Evans, who aspire to become high-profile models. Photographer Jimmy Hendricks (George Murphy) takes a fancy to the girls, making a top model out of Kay (Landis) -- but falling deeply and truly in love with Ellen (Shirley). At base, the film is an excuse to show off as many lovely, undraped "Powers Girls" as possible (including future Republic serial heroine Linda Stirling) and to showcase such musical talent as Dennis Day and Benny Goodman's Orchestra. And from time to time, John Robert Powers himself shows up in the person of Alan Mowbray. The Powers Girl was released in Great Britain as Hello Beautiful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Those popular MGM co-stars William Powell and Myrna Loy take a break from their usual Thin Man duties to star in the zany comedy I Love You Again. The film opens with Loy prepared to divorce her dull businessman husband Powell. A blow on the head causes Powell to remember his former life as a notorious con man. No one in town has any knowledge of Powell's criminal past, a fact he hopes to use to his advantage. Loy, astounded at Powell's sudden surge of amorous ardor, reconsiders her divorce. When she learns of his true identity, she is even more fascinated. Another blow on the head restores the non-criminal Powell--at least, that's what he and Loy would like you to believe. The film's highlight is a screamingly funny sequence in which Powell plays scoutmaster to a group of surly youngsters (including Our Gang veterans Carl Switzer and Mickey Gubitosi, aka Robert Blake). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide