Hal Conklin Movies
- 1955
This exciting caper outing is loosely based on the famous robbery of Brinks in Boston that netted the crooks $2.5 million. The story covers the six years small-time hood Jerry Florea (Tony Curtis) spent planning the heist. The story begins with the events that led a young Florea (played by Sal Mineo) to become a crook. Hoping to save him from a life of crime, a kindly policeman and his wife take him under their wing. Though he appreciates their kindness, Florea seems destined to become a criminal. As a young man, he begins pretending to reform and even gets a job at Brinks. The loving couple have no clue that it is only a ruse and that he is preparing to rob the establishment. It is only after he and his gang pull-off the job that Florea reconsiders his actions and then makes a daring attempt to make amends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, George Nader, (more)
- 1948
Though the most famous and controversial of the WWII "shell shock" documentaries, John Huston's Let There Be Light, was withheld from public view for nearly four decades, there were a few similar films made available for general distribution. One of these was Shades of Gray, produced under strict governmental supervision by the U.S. Army Pictorial Service. Because of the censorial hue and cry over the use of actual shell-shock victims in Let There Be Light, it was decided to use professional actors in Shades of Gray. The results are stiff and contrived, and not nearly as powerful as the images seen in the Huston film. In addition, the "solutions" offered by the film's psychiatrists seem to be pat and pedantic, as if all the mental problems fomented by the war could be resolved by a few carefully chosen words (it should be noted without further comment that the script was approved in advance by the Army's psychiatric technical advisers). Shades of Gray was directed by Joseph E. Henabery, whose film career extended all the way back to The Birth of a Nation (1915). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Larson
- 1932
This socially-conscious drama is set in a slum and centers on the events that lead a parsimonious slum lord to change her ways. It all begins when a little boy stumbles down three flights of rickety stairs. The landlady is later approached by a lawyer who tries to collect damages for the child. She refuses to pay, causing her more compassionate uncle to argue on behalf of the boy. The woman won't listen and ends up stomping out. She is then mugged on the street. Afterwards, the police arrest her because she appears drunk; she is sentenced to 30 days. While in jail she meets a slum resident who is jailed after taking the fall for the injured lad's mother who had been stealing food for her poor boy. The heartless woman is finally touched and sees the error of her ways. After she is released, she marries and begins a kinder, gentler life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Sullivan, Betty Compson, (more)
- 1931
The Big Shot is Ray (Eddie Quillan), a go-getting but incredibly naïve real estate speculator. Duped into purchasing some worthless swamp land, Ray is kept in the dark by the villains when the land turns out to be harboring a profitable sulphur spring. On the verge of selling back the property at a ridiculously low sum, our hero is saved from making a sap of himself again by true-blue heroine Doris (Maureen O'Sullivan). The film is at its best when former Mack Sennett star Eddie Quillan converses with an octogenarian Civil War veteran, played by another alumni of silent two-reelers, Arthur Stone. The Big Shot was released in Great Britain as The Optimist, lest English audiences mistake it for a war picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Quillan, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1929
This crime drama is an early talkie that tells the story of a hard-working woman's attempts to run a clean carnival. It is difficult as criminals have snuck in and regularly cheat the public while selling tickets to the freak show. The crooks are lead by a man who kills someone on a midway. The methods used by the con men are detailed throughout the film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Hale, Renée Adorée, (more)
- 1927
In his final film for poverty row company FBO, silent screen Western star Fred Thomson played a miner who finds himself swindled by an evil horse trader, Decker (J.P. McGowan). Having failed to corner the market in horses, Decker manages to arouse the local Indians led by Red Dog (Dan Peterson). Happily, Thomson and his wonder horse, Silver King, become wise to the schemes and save the town of Coldwater in the nick of time. Leaving his home of nearly four years, Thomson signed with more upmarket Paramount even before Arizona Nights had been released. Sadly, he died after an operation for gall stones, December 25, 1928, having only completed four Westerns for his new studio. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
The Strong Man was the second starring feature of silent screen comedian Harry Langdon--not to mention first feature-length directorial effort of Frank Capra. Langdon plays a Belgian soldier who, during World War I, is captured by German conscript Arthur Thalasso. Almost immediately, the armistice is declared. Having nowhere else to go, Langdon sticks with Thalasso, who in civilian life is a popular circus strong man. When Thalasso gets the opportunity to tour the US, Langdon is delighted; at last he will meet minister's daughter Priscilla Bonner, with whom he has been carrying on a romance-by-correspondence. Arriving in New York, Harry wanders around the street with a photo of Bonner, asking passers-by if they know the girl. Jewel thief Gertrude Astor, hoping to use Langdon as a dupe in order to evade the cops, claims that she is the girl he's looking for. A marvelous comic set piece ensues, beginning with Langdon's clumsy efforts to carry the unconscious Astor up a long flight of stairs, and ending with Astor's athletic "seduction" of the confused little immigrant. When Langdon finally finds the real Bonner, he discovers she is blind--just as well, he reasons, since she regards him as something of a strong, strapping hero-type, which he most decidedly is not. Subsequent plot complications involve a corrupt element that has taken over Priscilla's town, and a wild climactic sequence wherein puny Langdon must try to pass himself off as strong man Thalasso...and through plain dumb luck, gets away with it! Far better seen than described, The Strong Man is one of the sweetest, funniest comedies of the 1920s. Harry Langdon would never again have a vehicle so perfectly suited to his "grown up baby" screen persona; if you've never seen this unique comedy genius in action, catch this film when the opportunity arises. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Langdon, Priscilla Bonner, (more)
- 1923
This lightweight comedy-drama had barely enough plot to fill its five reels. Peggy Dean (Marguerite de la Motte) is at boarding school when she gets a letter from her two maiden aunts, Abigail (Jane Keckly) and Saline Julia Calhoun), inviting her to stay with them. Peggy knows that they are concerned that their niece has inherited the frivolous ways of her actress mother, so decides to put up a front -- she becomes so annoyingly prim and proper that she hopes it will drive her relatives up a wall. But then she falls for a young lawyer, James Landon (Ralph Graves), and begins living a double life -- aspiring missionary by day and healthy young flapper by night. She bets Landon's father (George Fawcett) that she will make his son fall in love with her. Peggy is successful -- as a matter of fact she falls for him, too -- but the romance is almost ruined when James finds her in the arms of another man. What he doesn't know is that it is Peggy's brother (J. Frank Glendon). Finally everything is cleared up and Peggy wins her man. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
