Laraine Day Movies

Mercenary taxi driver Joe Tracy (Barry Nelson) is the Yank on the Burma Road in this MGM second feature. For strictly monetary reasons, Joe agrees to shepherd a caravan of medical supplies through Burma and into China. Going along for the ride is Gail Farwood (Laraine Day), who'd been stranded in Burma without passport when the Japanese invaded the country. Ultimately, Joe's patriotism takes precedence over his greed, and he begins striking back at any and all enemy soldiers with a vengeance. The hero's conversion takes place in a scene obviously added after the film's completion: hastily reading a letter from home, Joe mutters "So they bombed Pearl Harbor, did they?" Shoehorned in though it may have been, this little scene turned out to be the very first mention of Pearl Harbor in any American feature film, earning A Yank on the Burma Road a niche in the overall history of the cinema. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This formula western stars George O'Brien as a member of the Arizona Rangers, a quasi-vigilante society aimed at ridding the west of lawlessness. O'Brien is assigned to infiltrate a criminal gang in Arizona. For duty's sake, O'Brien must alienate himself with his sweetheart (Laraine Johnson, later known as Laraine Day) and pose as a ruthless bandit. The hero comes awfully close to meeting his doom before the crooks are roped and hog-tied. Arizona Legion represented the 60th screen appearance of veteran action star George O'Brien. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bride by Mistake is a remake of the 1934 Miriam Hopkins vehicle The Richest Girl in the World, with a wartime angle providing topicality. Tired of being romanced by fortune hunters and being rejected by poor-but-proud suitors, fabulously wealthy Norah (Laraine Day) decides to pose as her own secretary Sylvia (Marsha Hunt), and vice versa. The plot thickens when Norah falls in love with convalescing fighter pilot Tony (Alan Marshall)-while he in turn falls for the very married Sylvia. All sorts of manic complications ensue, with Sylvia's hapless husband (Allyn Joslin) the "odd man out". RKO Radio revived Richest Girl in the World for a third time in 1954 as the Jane Russell musical The French Line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Steele once again goes in search for the outlaw who murdered his father in this average Western released by Republic Pictures. The killer, Jim Hatfield (Warner Richmond), is holed up in a South-of-the-Border cantina from whence he runs a series of cattle rustlings and assorted other crimes. The Hatfield gang kidnaps Don (David Sharpe), the young brother of waitress Jean Williams (Lorraine Hayes), and forces him to sign over some traveler's checks to Hatfield. Allowing himself to be captured by the gang, newly deputized Dave Austin (Steele) is sentenced to die at sundown, but by using trickery, the youngster manages to turn the outlaws against each other. Doomed at Sundown was filmed at Newhall and Chatsworth, CA. Leading lady Lorraine Hayes, aka Lorraine Randall, was the sister of popular screen actress Bernadene Hayes. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Dr. Kildare's Crisis is actually one suffered by his fiancee, nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day). Mary's financier brother Douglas Lamont (Robert Young) is subject to unpredictable seizures, and for a while it seems that he is suffering from hereditary epilepsy. This being 1940, Douglas' affliction carries an onus which seriously threatens the impending marriage between Mary and Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres); after all, who knows how their children will turn out? But by using an unorthodox therapeutic method, Dr. Kildare proves that Douglas' medical condition was borne of an accident rather than a genetic disorder. The final diagnosis is rendered by crusty Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who thereby manages to justify his appearance in the film in the very last reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When MGM decided to move up-and-coming star Laraine Day out of the "Dr. Kildare" series, the studio did so in a startlingly dramatic fashion. In Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day, Dr. Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres) and nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) are finally able to exchange their marital vows. Alas, the honeymoon ends abruptly when poor Mary is struck down and killed by a speeding truck (hopefully, it is safe to give away this plot twist at this late date). Numbed by grief, Kildare is snapped out of his doldrums by his crusty mentor Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who urges the young medico to honor Mary's memory by continuing to help others. The grimmer aspects of Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day are offset by several comic subplots, one of which involves an orchestra leader (Nils Asther) who suffers buzzing in his ears due to his eating habits! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fourteen scriptwriters spent five years toiling over a movie adaptation of war correspondent Vincent Sheehan's Personal History before producer Walter Wanger brought the property to the screen as Foreign Correspondent. What emerged was approximately 2 parts Sheehan and 8 parts director Alfred Hitchcock--and what's wrong with that? Joel McCrea stars as an American journalist sent by his newspaper to cover the volatile war scene in Europe in the years 1938 to 1940. He has barely arrived in Holland before he witnesses the assassination of Dutch diplomat Albert Basserman: at least, that's what he thinks he sees. McCrea makes the acquaintance of peace-activist Herbert Marshall, his like-minded daughter Laraine Day, and cheeky British secret agent George Sanders. A wild chase through the streets of Amsterdam, with McCrea dodging bullets, leads to the classic "alternating windmills" scene, which tips Our Hero to the existence of a formidable subversive organization. McCrea returns to England, where he nearly falls victim to the machinations of jovial hired-killer Edmund Gwenn. The leader of the spy ring is revealed during the climactic plane-crash sequence--which, like the aforementioned windmill scene, is a cinematic tour de force for director Hitchcock and cinematographer Rudolph Mate. Producer Wanger kept abreast of breaking news events all through the filming of Foreign Correspondent, enabling him to keep the picture as "hot" as possible: the final scene, with McCrea broadcasting to a "sleeping" America from London while Nazi bombs drop all around him, was filmed only a short time after the actual London blitz. The script was co-written by Robert Benchley, who has a wonderful supporting role as an eternally tippling newsman. Foreign Correspondent was Alfred Hitchcock's second American film, and remained one of his (and his fans') personal favorites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This soapy drama stars Hedy Lamarr as a would be model who meets a research doctor en route to the US from Europe. They meet when Dr. Spencer Tracy prevents her from taking a suicidal plunge from the upper decks of the ocean liner. It seems that Lamarr had been involved with married man Kent Taylor. When he reneged on his promise to divorce his wife Mona Barrie, she decided to end it all. Finding her extraordinarily beautiful, the doctor suggests she join him in his research. The two end up at a slum clinic and it doesn't take long for the doctor to fall completely in love with her. He convinces her to marry him and soon after the wedding, he exchanges life in the clinic for an upscale practice uptown. Servicing the rich is lucrative and soon he has provided his high maintenance wife with a luxurious life. Unfortunately for him, she appreciates his work and sacrifices not a whit, and as soon as she can attempts to respark a romance with Taylor whom she has never stopped loving. Fortunately for the doctor, Lamarr eventually comes to her senses and marital bliss ensues. This film had a troubled history with all of it due to Louis B. Mayer's obsession with making Lamarr the brightest star in the MGM galaxy. Originally the film was directed by Joseph von Sternberg, but he grew frustrated and tired by Mayer's constant interference and quit the film as did the next director, Frank Borzage. As a result an enormous amount of footage was discarded. Finally reliable W.S. Van Dyke was placed on the production and it was completed. Unfortunately, despite all that effort, the film bombed at the box office. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Having tried to wrest Shirley Temple away from 20th Century-Fox for nearly seven years, MGM was finally able to put the enormously popular child star under contract in 1941. Alas, by this time the bloom was off the rose for 13-year-old Temple, and her inaugural MGM production Kathleen was met with sublime indifference. For the record, the film casts Temple as Kathleen Davis, the irritatingly forthright daughter of neglectful widower John Davis (Herbert Marshall). Fed up with being left in charge of her superstrict nursemaid (Nella Walker), Kathleen welcomes the arrival of her new governess, warm-hearted Dr. A. Martha Kent (Laraine Day). In her usual take-charge manner, our heroine begins trying to arrange a marriage between her father and Martha, choosing to ignore the fact that Mr. Davis already has a fiancee in the form of actress Lorraine Bennett (Gail Patrick). So poorly did Kathleen fare at the box office that MGM dropped Shirley Temple's contract after this one film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of Cary Grant's most financially successful 1940s vehicles, Mr. Lucky finds Grant atypically cast as a shifty, out-for-number-one gambler. Having dodged the draft by adopting the identity of a dead man, Grant sets his sights on purchasing a fancy gambling ship. To raise the necessary funds, he pretends to be working hand in glove with the American War Relief society. Once he meets Laraine Day, however, Grant is seized by an uncontrollable bout of honesty. It takes him awhile, but he finally does the right thing. The film is framed in flashback, as old seaman Charles Bickford explains why a tearful Laraine Day waits at the dock each evening for a certain ship to come in. Also in the cast is Paul Stewart as a cold-eyed but nonetheless semi-comic hoodlum, and Kay Johnson and Gladys Cooper as elegant but gullible society women. The best aspect of this breezy comedy-drama is Grant's cockney propensity for "rhyming slang," a running gag better heard than described. Mr. Lucky was later adapted into a TV series in 1959, with John Vivyan in the Cary Grant part and with Blake Edwards at the production controls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Three of Murder She Wrote begins with the first episode of a two-part story, in which mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) pays a visit to the Carmody Circus, an extremely small-time operation. It seems that Jessica has evidence that one of the circus' employees, a roustabout-clown who calls himself Carl, is actually her brother-in-law Neil (Jackie Cooper), who has long been presumed dead. No sooner does Jessica link up with Neil than the man is accused of murdering the circus' hateful manager Hank Sutter (Charles Napier). A young Courtney Cox appears as Neil's granddaughter, Carol Bannister. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by comedy specialist Harry M. Popkin and his brother Leo Popkin, My Dear Secretary stars Kirk Douglas as Owen Waterbury, a best-selling novelist with an eye for the ladies. When aspiring writer Stephanie Gaylord (Laraine Day) signs on as his secretary, Waterbury assumes that he's lined up another sexual conquest. But Stephanie is not so easily won over, and the rest of the film finds Waterbury striving to come up to her standards. Whenever the film's pace lags, one can count on the farcical expertise of Keenan Wynn, borrowed from MGM to play Douglas' sardonic confidante, to save the day. Along with Strange Love of Martha Ivers, My Dear Secretary is one of the most accessible of Kirk Douglas' early films thanks to its public-domain status. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cornell Woolrich, whose written works have served as the basis for many an Alfred Hitchcock production, was the author of this Playhouse 90 drama. After arranging to meet his fiancee at a busy downtown street corner, a young man arrives at the appointed destination--only to find that the girl is dead. It is the first of several mysterious, unmotivated and apparently unrelated murders in the same metropolis. Can it be that a maniacal serial killer is on the loose--or, perhaps, have the victims been killed by persons whom they already knew? Directed by John Frankenheimer and boasting an all-star cast, "Rendezvous in Black" was originally telecast live from Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide