Nancy Davis Movies
It isn't likely that Nancy Davis will be remembered by posterity as a film actress, though this was the career she pursued with moderate success from 1949 to 1958. Educated at Smith College, Davis decided to emulate her mother, a former actress, by trying her luck in the theater. Her first professional engagement was as the kidnapped ingénue who wandered through the action in a daze while clad in a flimsy nightgown in ZaSu Pitts' touring stage vehicle Ramshackle Inn. Signed to an MGM contract in 1949, she essayed supporting roles in such films as East Side West Side (1949) and Shadow on the Wall (1951) before graduating to leads. Perhaps her best screen assignment was The Next Voice You Hear (1951) in which she played a pregnant housewife whose life is profoundly altered when the voice of God is heard over the radio. Distressed by the Red Scare sweeping through Hollywood in the early '50s, Davis went directly to the president of the Screen Actors Guild with proof that she'd never participated in anything remotely Communistic. The SAG president at the time was a journeyman actor named Ronald Reagan with whom Davis fell in love; they were married in 1952, four years after Reagan's divorce from actress Jane Wyman. Devoting herself to her husband and two children, Davis curtailed her acting career; among her final assignments were a handful of TV appearances on GE Theater, hosted by Reagan, and the 1957 war drama Hellcats of the Navy, in which she co-starred with her husband. She stood steadfastly by Reagan's side during his nine-year tenure as Governor of California and shared his triumph when he was elected President of the United States in 1980. In addition to her duties as First Lady, Mrs. Reagan spearheaded the anti-drug "Just Say No" program, which though widely ridiculed proved much more effective than most other projects of its kind. Enduring the slings and arrows of many critics (including, briefly, her own daughter Patti), Nancy Davis Reagan has proven herself a tower of strength and a true survivor; she has withdrawn from public life to provide full-time care for her husband, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1988
- R
A young Ohio man moves to Los Angeles in search of a career and a girlfriend in this romantic comedy, whose action centers on the '80s singles scene. Eddy (David Packer) heads to California after his cousin, Skip (Scott McGinnis), promises him a job in the ad biz, but Eddy ends up with the unenviable task of handing out flyers on the beach. Turning his focus from the professional to the romantic, Eddy joins a video dating service and endures a series of inaccurate match-ups that drive him to adopt wilder and wilder guises for his video ads. Along the way, he meets Peggy Kellogg (Bridget Fonda), an employee of the dating service, but she's always got her boyfriend on her arm. Frustrated over Peggy's inaccessibility and the dead-end job he's unfairly been stuck with, Eddy finally decides to take a gamble -- to be himself in the yuppie fantasia of L.A. The soundtrack to You Can't Hurry Love features singer Phil Collins' cover of the '60s song from which the film takes its name. Kristy McNichol, Charles Grodin, and Sally Kellerman all appear in cameo roles. Kellerman previously appeared in writer/director Richard Martini's previous outing as a screenwriter, Three for the Road. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Packer, Scott McGinnis, (more)
- 1958
Captain Steve Williams (Gary Merrill) is piloting a commercial airliner across the Atlantic when he loses two engines in mid-ocean. With the real prospect of ditching at sea, we see his dedication and perfectionism at work, as he tries to safeguard his plane and passengers -- those attributes have made him one of the best men in his field, but have also alienated most of the people around him, including his wife (Nancy Davis) and young son (Kim Charney). As Williams faces the life-and-death decisions in front of him, he, the crew and passengers try to come to peace with their consciences and their respective pasts. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Merrill, Nancy Davis, (more)
Future "first couple" Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis made their only joint film appearance in Hellcats of the Navy. Ronnie plays Casey Abbott, commander of a WW2 submarine, while Nancy portrays navy nurse Helen Blair, Abbott's off-and-on girlfriend. During a delicate mission in which his sub is ordered to retrieve a revolutionary new Japanese mine, Abbott is forced to leave frogman Wes Barton (Harry Lauter) behind to save the rest of his crew. But Abbott's second-in-command Don Landon (Eduard Franz) is convincing that Abbott's sacrifice of Barton was due to the fact that the dead man had been amorously pursuing Helen. The rest of the film is spent proving Abbott right and Barton wrong. Based on a book by former USN vice-admiral Charles A. Lockwood (played in the film by Maurice Manson) and retired USAF colonel Hans Christian Adamson, Hellcats of the Navy is a much better film than Reagan's detractors would have one believe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ronald Reagan, Nancy Davis, (more)
Felix E. Feist directed this second adaptation of the novel by Curt Siodmak (filmed previously in 1944 as The Lady and the Monster and later in 1963 as The Brain), which tells the story of a brilliant brain specialist (Lew Ayres) whose attempts to save the life of an accident victim result in the extraction of the dying patient's brain, kept alive via electrodes and a special solution. Before long, the disembodied gray-matter -- which previously belonged to sinister, wealthy industrialist Donovan -- begins to exert a supernatural influence over the doctor, until the once-kindly scientist begins taking on Donovan's aggressive, paranoid personality traits and is compelled to carry out the brain's nefarious commands. This is by far the most effective and intelligent treatment of its source material, building a creepy, suspenseful mood while avoiding lapses into pulp-novel camp. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Gene Evans, (more)
- 1952
Young Robert Fontaine, Jr. (Billy Gray) lives with his hard-working father (George Murphy) and mother (Nancy Davis), who is soon to give birth to a second child, on their northern California citrus farm. He's lonely on the farm and has been saving to buy a dog. One day, a mysterious stranger (Kurt Kasznar), who gives his name as Matlock, moves into the empty house adjacent to the farm -- he's not only highly strung but downright hostile to any friendly overtures that Robert Sr. or anyone else makes. Meanwhile, young Robert finds a stray dog that he adopts, and his whole life seems to blossom with his new companion -- but one day he finds the dog dead. He becomes fixated on the notion that Matlock poisoned the dog, and insists that his father do something -- but when Matlock angrily denies knowing about it, the boy's frustrations start to build. He tries to report to the poisoning to the police; when they won't help, he tries to get Mr. Wardlaw (Lewis Stone), the owner of the newspaper that he delivers, to run a news story about it, and when Wardlaw tries to reason with the boy, his rage finally boils over and he goes out-of-control. The boy decides to try and gather evidence against Matlock and follows a trail that takes him across the state hitchhiking, to the home of the former owner of the house Matlock is living in, and there he confronts a rumor that the other man was murdered. Stories and whispers begin to spread through the town about Matlock that make him seem even more sinister. The populace are getting stirred up, and Robert Jr., in his rage, commits an act of vandalism that threatens the entire community. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Nancy Davis, (more)
- 1951
A minor but effective MGM programmer, Shadow in the Sky stars Ralph Meeker as a shell-shocked World War II veteran. He is taken in by sympathetic relatives, who hope that a stable environment will help Meeker overcome his neuroses. But even these people find their compassion strained to the breaking point by Meeker's increasingly erratic (and violent) behavior. Nancy Davis (a year before becoming Nancy Reagan) plays one of the relatives, while Jean Hagen (later the screechy-voiced movie queen in Singin' in the Rain) plays Meeker's long-suffering girlfriend. Ben Maddow based his screenplay for Shadow in the Sky on a story by Edward Newhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ralph Meeker, Nancy Davis, (more)
- 1951
Ray Milland plays a happily married college professor whose wife and child perish in a fire. Despondent, Milland loses himself in drink, despite the efforts of his friends and fellow faculty members. He is on the verge of suicide before he is salvaged the love of Nancy Davis (who off-screen was busy becoming Nancy Reagan). Virtually plotless, Night into Morning is held together by the performance of Ray Milland and by the incisive direction of radio veteran Fletcher Markle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, John Hodiak, (more)
- 1950
A murder is witnessed by the victim's little daughter (Gigi Perreau), who immediately goes into a state of shock. All the girl has seen is the shadow of her mother's killer, but the audience knows that the murderer is Ann Sothern. At first Sothern is secure that the girl will never be able to identify her, but as the child shows signs of recovering, Sothern panics. Though the murder was unintentional and the killer is quite fond of the little girl, she nonetheless begins scheming to put the potential witness out of the way. Quite tense at times, especially in the last scene, Shadow on the Wall represents one of the few unsympathetic performances by the otherwise likable Ann Sothern. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, (more)
- 1950
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ethel Barrymore, Gary Cooper, (more)
- 1950
The Next Voice You Hear was a pet project of MGM producer Dore Schary, who lavished more attention on this modestly budgeted drama than he did on some of his "bigger" projects. Though based on characters first introduced in the 1942 film Joe Smith, American, Next Voice was not a sequel to the earlier film. James Whitmore stars as blue-collar family man Joe Smith, while future first lady Nancy Davis appears as his pregnant wife and Gary Gray rounds out the family unit as their son. The Smiths, their relatives, their neighbors and the citizens of the World are shaken out of their complacency when the voice of God begins delivering messages over the radio. For six consecutive evenings, the voice speaks over the airwaves (the movie audience never hears the voice, thanks to a series of clever evasionary tactics). At first frightened, the listeners gradually realize that God simply wants to convey the age-old message "Love thy Neighbor." With this realization comes several changes of attitude, some minor, others profound. The concept may sound portentous (and pretentious), but the actors handle their responsibilities with subtlety and conviction. So, too, does director William A. Wellman, a curious choice indeed for this sort of film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Whitmore, Nancy Davis, (more)
- 1949
Glenn Ford first appeared under the MGM banner in The Doctor and the Girl. Ford stars as Dr. Michael Corday, scion of a highly respected family of physicians. When he marries one of his patients, shopgirl Evelyn Heldon (Janet Leigh), Corday is thrown out of his house by his tradition-bound father (Charles Coburn). Denied a posh Park Avenue practice, Corday becomes a selflessly dedicated general practitioner, while his rebellious sister Fabienne (Gloria de Haven) likewise leaves home and hearth in favor of Greenwich Village bohemianism. Father and son are tearfully reconciled when Fabienne dies as the result of a botched abortion (though her operation is never so identified). Doctor and the Girl is a toned-down, telescoped adaptation of Maxence van der Meersh's best-selling novel Bodies and Souls. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Gloria de Haven, (more)
Director Mervyn Leroy lends a burnished MGM gloss to this sordid tale of infidelity among rich New York East Siders. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Jessie Bourne, a charming society woman whose finds out that her husband Brandon (James Mason) is guiltily indulging in an illicit affair with the earthy Isobel Lorrison (Ava Gardner). Jessie bears her husband's indiscretion with a gallant dignity, and when Isabelle is killed, Jesse realizes that she doesn't care for Brandon anyway. Van Heflin is also on hand as ex-cop Mark Dwyer, who admires Jessie's stoic dignity. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, James Mason, (more)
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