Jim Davis Movies

This studio-bound jungle yarn is uplifted by the spirited performances of its stars. After the death of her aviator lover, beautiful Linda Stewart (Madeleine Carroll) marries wealthy sportsman Baron de Courland (Tulio Carminati) on the rebound. When the Baron arrives in Africa for a hunting expedition, he secures the services of jungle guide Jim Logan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) Sure as shootin', Linda and Jim fall in love with one another, prompting the sadistic Baron to plot an appropriate revenge. Lynne Overman does a Jimmy Finlayson impression as a Scottish "Trader Horn" type, while Billy Gilbert is terrific as a malaprop-laden trading post owner. Screenwriter Delmar Daves manages to inject a bit of Left Wing ideology in an early scene, which surprisingly (and happily for Daves) went unnoticed during the HUAC hearing in the late 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pilot No. 5 is an oddly liberal-minded film to come from conservative old MGM. Franchot Tone plays an army pilot stationed in Java who volunteers for a suicide mission. He is chosen from five possible Allied candidates, hence the title. We learn via flashback just why Tone holds his life at so low a price; among his less pleasant reminiscences are his brief association with a demagogic Southern governor, blatantly based on Huey Long. Pilot No. 5 served to introduce Gene Kelly in a supporting role--as a nasty, pugnacious young jerk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In her seventh outing as irrepressible vaudeville entertainer Maisie Revere, Ann Sothern aided the war effort by working the swing shift in an airplane factory. Taking in a seemingly suicidal co-worker, Iris (Jean Rogers), Maisie can only watch as the girl steals her beau, handsome pilot James McLaughlin (James Craig). Promising to be faithful to James, who is going away on a training course, Iris promptly flirts with everyone in pants, much to chaperone Maisie's chagrin. When Maisie catches the selfish Iris in the middle of staging yet another "suicide," the vaudeville trouper turned everyone's favorite riveter threatens to spill the beans to Lieutenant James. In retaliation, Iris accuses Maisie of spying for the Nazis but everything is cleared up before the fadeout. MGM had at first assigned the male lead to newcomer Jim Davis, but he proved too inexperienced and the role eventually went to Craig, the studio's all-purpose Clark Gable lookalike. (As a consolation, Davis played a G.I. instead.) Starlet Jean Rogers, formerly Dale Arden in Flash Gordon (1936), does surprisingly well in her unsympathetic part and, doubled only partially by Jacqueline Wiere, performs a funny acrobatic number with the Wiere Brothers. Sothern leads a rousing chorus of the morale-boosting "There's a Girl Behind the Boy Behind the Gun" and remains her usual delightful self throughout what is one of MGM's better wartime potboilers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

MGM's first "Maisie" entry in two years, Up Goes Maisie once more stars Ann Sothern as eternally stranded showgirl Maisie Revere. Our heroine manages to secure a job as secretary to inventor Joseph Morton (George Murphy), who has developed a revolutionary new helicopter. A rival aircraft manufacturer tries to discredit and/or steal Morton's invention, but Maisie comes to the rescue. The entire film seems to be building up to the inevitable moment wherein Maisie herself takes over the copter controls and embarks on a wild ride high over Manhattan. The process work in this climactic sequences is unusually good for an MGM production, providing an exciting wrap-up to an otherwise pedestrian project. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed not long after the actual events, The Beginning or the End is a sober, intelligent account of the development and deployment of the Atom Bomb. Step by step, the film details the progress of The Manhattan Project, from its inception in the early stages of the war through the dawn of the Atomic Age over the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Brian Donlevy stars as Brigadier General Leslie Groves, assigned by President Roosevelt (Godfrey Tearle) to act as military supervisor of the top-secret project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. After a grueling trial-and-error period, the first atomic bomb is tested before an assemblage of scientists and military personnel-even though there's the disturbing possibility that the explosion may cause a chain reaction that will wipe out all mankind. Woven into the proceedings is an unnecessary but innocuous romance between idealistic young scientist Matt Cochran (Tom Drake) and his new bride Anne (Beverly Tyler), who cannot understand why she and her husband are forced to live in isolation with scores of other scientists and their families because Matt, like his associates, has been sworn to total secrecy. Though the Cochrans are fictional, many real-life participants in the Manhattan Project are depicted herein, including J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Hume Cronyn), Enrico Fermi (Joseph Calleia), Albert Einstein (Ludwig Stossel) and Col. Paul Tibbetts (Barry Nelson), pilot of the bomb-bearing Enola Gay. Refreshingly free of propagandizing, Beginning or the End would make an excellent companion feature to Fat Man and Little Boy (1990), a highly politicized retelling of the same events. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Janet Leigh made an impressive film-debut in MGM's The Romance of Rosy Ridge. Though the title suggests a lighthearted musical, the film is actually a fairly sober adaptation (with slight comic undertones) of a novel by Mackinlay Kantor. In the days following the Civil War, a Missouri farming community lives in a state of constant tension due to conflicting pro-North and pro-South sentiments. Into this situation ambles ex-Union soldier Henry Carson (Van Johnson), who briefly camps out at the farm of unforgiving Confederate sympathizer Gill MacBean (Thomas Mitchell). Suspecting that Carson is up to no good, MacBean is sure of it when the handsome stranger begins courting MacBean's daughter Lissy Anne (Leigh). Things come to a head dramatically when the heretofore easygoing Carson comes face to face with a band of hooded, night-riding barn burners who've been fomenting discord among the farmers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to shed itself of the onus of its low-budget predecessor PRC Pictures, Eagle-Lion productions occasionally invested in such above-average endeavors as Red Stallion in the Rockies. Color-filmed on location in Colorado, the story revolves around a former circus horse who has escaped to the hills. The stallion poses a threat to local horse ranchers via its habit of "kidnapping" prize mares for his own female entourage. When the ranchers organize and set out to kill the stallion, he is sheltered and protected by circus worker Arthur Franz and Wallace Ford. Only by committing an act of heroism does the stallion receive a stay of execution. Silent-screen star Leatrice Joy makes a rare talkie appearance as the wife of wealthy rancher Ray Collins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The age-old enmity between cattle ranchers and settlers once again takes center stage in this slightly above-average Western filmed in Republic Pictures' Trucolor system. Walter Brennan plays Pop "Brimstone" Courteen, an ornery rancher who avenges the loss of the free range by robbing stagecoaches and banks. The Courteen gang, which also includes Pop's three sons, Nick (Jim Davis), Luke (Jack Lambert), and the reluctant Bud (James Brown), gets a bit of competition from The Ghost, a mystery outlaw who really is Marshal Johnny Tremaine (Rod Cameron). Tremaine's undercover investigation leads to McIntyre (Forrest Tucker), the sheriff of Gunsight, who is in the employ of the Courteens. In love with Molly Bannister (Adrian Booth), a settler, Bud turns against his ruthless family, but will Tremaine be able to save the boy from his father's wrath? ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

William Elliot is the multitextured hero of the deluxe Republic western Savage Horde. Elliot plays a gunslinger named Ringo, who, though no paragon of virtue, is not a murderer. After killing a man in self-defense, Ringo takes it on the lam from the law. Hiding out in a remote frontier town, Ringo becomes involved in a range war between land baron Proctor (Grant Withers) and a group of honest ranchers. At the risk of his own capture, Ringo decides to stick around and join the ranchers in their battle against Proctor. Leading lady Adrian Booth plays Livvy Weston, who'd like to fall in love with Ringo but can't reconcile herself with his bad reputation. Featured in the cast are such western "regulars" as Noah Beery, Bob Steele, Roy Barcroft, Earle Hodgins and Hal Taliaferro (aka Wally Wales). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Showdown is the story of a trail boss named Shad Jones (Bill Elliott) whose younger brother is murdered. Knowing that a member of a wagon train is responsible for the killing, Shad joins the train in attempt to discover who the guilty man is. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Set in British Columbia but filmed in Colorado, Cariboo Trail stars Randolph Scott as a cattle-drive boss from Montana. Crooked Victor Jory and his minions stampede the cattle, causing Scott's partner Bill Williams to lose an arm. Out of a job, Scott gives gold mining a try, but even here he is tormented by Jory. The villain is hoist on his own petard when he tries to stir up the local Indian tribes. Proving that the good guys don't always win, Scott gives up mining and turns to cattle ranching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jim Davis, better known to contemporary audiences as Josh Ewing, J.R.'s (Larry Hagman) father on Dallas, is the two-fisted star of 1950's Hi-Jacked. Davis plays truck driver Joe Harper, who after his rig is stolen is accused of masterminding the theft himself. To clear his name, Joe sets out on his own to trap the real thieves. What he doesn't know is that one of his own co-workers has been tipping off the crooks whenever the trucking routes are changed. Joe's wife Jean is played by Marsha Jones, who during her child-star days was known as Marcia Mae Jones. Inasmuch as Hi-Jacked was produced by Lippert Films, it is perhaps inevitable that Sid Melton shows up in the supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide