Jacqueline Dalya Movies

If you've never seen a '40s singing, swimming musical this may be the one to catch. Featuring a mammoth cast, including such notables as Xavier Cugat, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams, this is a swimming spectacular. The plot's quite thin: Skelton plays a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a girls' school to stay near his new wife who ditched him shortly after the wedding bells rang and was hired on as the college's swim teacher. Of course Esther Williams is the beautiful swimming instructor who spends most of her time in the pool performing in a score of choreographed pieces. ~ Rovi

Blood Mania -- a low-budget, rather sleazy exploitation horror film -- tells the story of a woman who kills her abortionist/physician father for his money only to find out that she is not the beneficiary of his will. Blood Mania, the first film directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil, is a lurid, sensationalized, gory, implausible horror story with a silly screenplay and poor acting. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Charlie Chan in Rio is a remake of 1931's Black Camel, one of the few pre-1934 "Charlie Chan" entries still in existence. While the original film was set in Hawaii, the remake takes place in Brazil, but the basic intrigues remain the same. While vacation in Rio de Janeiro with his son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), Honolulu detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked by the local constabulary to help solve a double homicide. The motivation behind the two murders is apparently tied in with sinister psychologist Alfredo Marana (Victor Jory), who utilizes hypnotism as an adjunct to a clever blackmailing scheme. Cobina Wright Jr. shows up early on as one of the murder victims, alongside Jory, Mary Beth Hughes and the ubiquitous Harold Huber, cast as a foreign police official. Hamilton Macfadden, who directed the original Black Camel, shows up as one of the suspects in Charlie Chan in Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the tradition of his earlier Carnival in Flanders and Tales of Manhattan, director Julien Duvivier's Flesh and Fantasy is a "pormanteau" film, consisting of several short stories. Linking the three tales unfolded herein are clubmen Doakes (Robert Benchley) and Davis (David Hoffman), who carry on a spirited debate about Destiny. In the first story, homely Henrietta (Betty Field) is made beautiful through the love of handsome Mardi Gras reveller Michael (Robert Cummings)-and the help of an enigmatic mask-maker (Edgar Barrier). The second story, based on Oscar Wilde's "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime", concerns a fortune teller named Septimus Podgers (Thomas Mitchell) who predicts that socialite Marshall Tyler (Edward G. Robinson) will commit a murder. In the final tale, psychic high wire artist Paul Gaspar (Charles Boyer) dreams that he will meet his doom during the performance of his act-and then falls in love with Joan Stanley (Barbara Stanwyck), who looks exactly like the girl who appeared in that dream. A fourth story, detailing the doomed romance between a fugitive from justice (Alan Curtis) and a blind girl (Gloria Jean), was cut from Flesh and Fantasy, then expanded and released separately as Destiny (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The final pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, an adaptation of a Rodgers & Hart musical, stars Eddy as a playboy who fantasizes that he is romancing an angel (MacDonald). ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

This exploitation feature concerns the infidelities of suburban couples who engage in wife swapping and other extra marital affairs. A husband seeks solace in an affair when his business is on the verge of collapse. His wife also steps out for her own pleasure before returning from Las Vegas in an attempt to reconcile their differences. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The trendy elegance of director Douglas Sirk's later big-budget soap operas is nowhere to be found in Sirk's Atomic-Age melodrama Mystery Submarine. MacDonald Carey stars as Brett Young, a U.S. undercover agent whose job it is to prevent atomic secrets from falling into the wrong hands. Marta Toren co-stars as Madeline Brenner, a woman of mystery who is seemingly in cahoots with enemy agents. The film's "maguffin" consists of the top-secret info stored within the brain cells of scientist Adolph Guernitz (Ludwig Donath). The titular mystery submarine figures into the film's climax, which takes place just off the coast of Mexico. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Even taking into consideration Of Mice and Men, One Million BC was inarguably the most ambitious feature-film project ever undertaken by producer Hal Roach. Told in flashback, this is the highly fanciful tale of the prehistoric feud between the Rock Tribe and Shell People. Tumak (Victor Mature), son of Rock leader Akhoba (Lon Chaney Jr.), defies tradition by falling in love with Shell person Loana (Carole Landis). At first intending to "have his way" with Loana, the rough-hewn Tumak is taught such niceties as moderation and table manners by the girl and her gentle brethren. Any possibility for a permanant détente between the Rocks and the Shells is swept away by a spectacular volcano, which wipes out everyone except the people we really care about. Exercising the usual Hollywood prerogative of suggesting that cavemen and dinosaurs coexisted, One Million BC offers a vast array of awesome dinos, which at closer glance are actually normal-sized lizards going about their business on miniaturized sets; even so, the special effects were considered pretty impressive back in 1940, and still pass muster today despite Ray Harryhausen's slick "dynamation" remake in 1967. In fact, stock footage from One Million BC would be redeployed countless times in the future to enhance the production values of otherwise inexpensive horror films. Though it has since been disproven, rumors still persist that the great D. W. Griffith participated in the direction of One Million BC (it is true, however, that he aided Hal Roach in the casting process, selecting Carole Landis as the heroine because she was the only auditionee who could run properly!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Buster Keaton reworked material from his 1932 MGM feature The Passionate Plumber for this two-reeler, the last in his series for Columbia. He plays a plumber who finds a wealthy heiress (Elsie Ames) hiding in a water heater. She's taken refuge to evade an amorous Frenchman (Eddie Laughton) who wants to marry her for her money, and whose kisses make her resistance wither. When her suitor discovers Keaton working on the shower in her bathroom, he challenges the interloper to a duel. Their battle of honor ends ignominiously, however, when a hunter's shotgun volleys scare off the combatants. The heiress proclaims Keaton her savior and learns to her delight that his kisses are even more potent than the Frenchman's! ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Smugglers' Cover was Number Eleven in Monogram's moneymaking "Bowery Boys" series. Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) receives notice that he's inherited a mansion. Actually, the real owner is another Terence Aloysius Mahoney (Paul Harvey), who is less than delighted when Slip, Sach (Huntz Hall) and the other Bowery Boys show up to take possession. But before a battle over ownership can get under way, the boys must deal with Martin Kosleck, who runs a smuggling operation from a subterranean tunnel beneath the mansion. Also showing up is the "intelligent" Bowery Boy Gabe Moreno (Gabriel Dell), arm in arm with his new war bride (Jacqueline Dalya)--who never again appears in the series. Though weighed down by an inappropriate musical score, Smugglers' Cove is an agreeable mixture of laughs and shivers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Cisco Kid attempts to prove that reports of his death are greatly exaggerated in this western programmer. Cisco (Cesar Romero) and his sidekick Gordito (Chris-Pin Martin) ride into town to discover that the word on the street is that the great Cisco Kid has died -- and what's worse, before his passing, he tried to swindle Susan Wetherby (Sheila Ryan) out of her land. Cisco soon learns that the dirty deeds are actually the work of Kate Brewster (Janet Beecher), a female outlaw adept at covering her tracks. The Gay Caballero marked Cesar Romero's third screen appearance as the Cisco Kid, with three more to follow. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Tough-guy actor (on-screen and off) Paul Kelly starred in this typical war-time serial about a police officer going undercover in order to smash a spy ring. The ring is led by fifth columnist Thyssen (Robert O. Davis), who has knowledge that the Americans are developing a secret formula for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Barton (Kelly) attempts to "steal" the formula and is captured by Thyssen. Joining the gang, he learns of their plans, which he immediately leaks to girl Friday Anne Nagel. Disguising himself as "The Black Commando," Barton manages to prevent the spy ring from stealing the formula, surviving the usual serial perils along the way. A flagrant attempt at duplicating the success of Republic Pictures' Spy Smasher (1942), The Secret Code nevertheless emerged as one of Columbia's better serial efforts, in no small way due to Kelly's taut performance and a surprising (for Columbia) lack of stock footage. The serial was released as a feature film overseas. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi