Kay English Movies

A steamship docks in San Francisco, and as one of the passengers, Philip Dressler (Raymond Bailey), is waiting for a cab after clearing customs, a baggage handler suddenly grabs one of his cases and throws it into a taxi, which takes off. In the ensuing getaway, a police officer is killed, but not before he gets off a shot that takes the fleeing cab driver's life. What Lieutenant Ben Guthrie (Warner Anderson) and Inspector Al Quine (Emile G. Meyer) can't figure out is why two men are suddenly dead within a matter of seconds, all for a seemingly inexplicable baggage snatch. The truth begins to come out when an examination reveals that a small ornamental statue in Dressler's case is loaded with half a million dollars in pure heroin. Then the bodies start turning up -- beginning with a baggage handler at the docks. Guthrie and Quine uncover a plan by a drug syndicate to use innocent, unsuspecting tourists visiting the Far East as unknowing drug couriers -- and now that the original method of retrieval at the docks has unraveled, thanks to the wheelman being an addict who got himself killed, another method is improvised.

Enter a pair of hitmen from out of town, Dancer (Eli Wallach), a soft-spoken psychopath with a perfect memory and not a trace of conscience, and his philosophical mentor and "handler," Julian (Robert Keith). Taken around San Francisco by their mob-employed driver, Sandy McLain (Richard Jaeckel), a juicehead who's not quite as good a wheelman as he thinks he is, the hitmen start collecting the latest shipment of heroin from three new arrivals: a ship's crew member who knows too much for his own good, a wealthy husband and wife, and a woman and her young daughter. They calmly go about their business, Dancer and his silenced pistol taking care of any "problems" while Julian runs interference and discusses issues of grammar and speech with him, and adds to his collection of "last words" from Dancer's victims -- until the last shipment turns up missing. It seems the little girl (Cheryl Callaway) found the bag of white powder hidden on the doll her mother bought her, and used it to powder the doll's face....Now Dancer and Julian have to disrupt the planned drop to "The Man" (Vaughan Taylor) to explain the short count, and to do that they have to keep the little girl and her mother (Mary Laroche) alive, at least long enough to tell their story. Meanwhile, Guthrie and Quine keep getting closer, following the trail of bodies and putting together a description of the two killers. But can they find them before the kidnapped mother and daughter join the other victims? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Susan Hayward pulls out all the stops, and then some, in this cinemadaptation of singer Lillian Roth's autobiography I'll Cry Tomorrow. In as harshly realistic a manner as possible in the still censor-dominated Hollywood of 1955, the film recounts Roth's rise to fame, her precipitous fall and her tearful comeback. The fact that Roth loves not wisely but too well is only part of the problem (only two of her eight husbands are portrayed in the film); contributing factors to her self-destruction also included her witchlike "stage mother" (Jo Van Fleet) and the pressures of fame and fortune. The principal reason for Roth's fall from the height of fame to the depths of squalor and despair is booze -- at least until she begins to pull herself together with the help of Alcoholics-Anonymous representative Burt McGuire (Eddie Albert). The story concludes with a testimonial staged in Roth's honor on the TV series This is Your Life (the original of which still exists in kinescope form). Having been personally coached by the real Lillian Roth, Susan Hayward does an excellent job of copying the singer's unique style. Though Hayward did not win an Oscar for her performance, she did cop the "Best Actress" prize at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This anthology film tells three stories of love involving the passengers of an ocean liner at sea. In the first, "The Jealous Lover," James Mason plays Charles Coudray, a well-known ballet director. When someone asks Coudray why he staged his masterpiece, "Astarte," only once, he tells the story of Paula Woodward (Moira Shearer), a superb dancer he found practicing in his theater. He was awestruck by her technique and her beauty, but he discovered that she had a secret -- due to a cardiac condition, she has been forbidden to dance too strenuously, as it could tax her heart and eventually kill her. Charles urges Paula to perform for him, so he may use her movements to choreograph his next great work; she agrees, but the exertion proves too much for her and she dies. He arranges for the work she inspired to be performed only once, in hopes that she will somehow see it from on high. In the second segment, "Mademoiselle," Tommy (Ricky Nelson) is a 12-year-old boy travelling with his French governess and tutor (Leslie Caron); she's tired of spending her days watching over a child, and he'd like to get away from Teacher for a while. Mrs. Pennicott (Ethel Barrymore), a older woman who happens to be a witch, hears Tommy wishing he could be a grown-up, and she grants his request: suddenly Tommy is a grown man (played by Farley Granger), but only for the next four hours. The Governess meets the mysterious stranger Tommy has become, and soon they fall in love. In the final segment, "Equilibrium," Kirk Douglas plays Pierre Narval, a high-wire artist who retired from performing after his partner died while performing a trapeze act, an accident Pierre blames on himself. He begins to reconsider his decision when he saves the life of Nina (Pier Angeli), a woman who attempted to drown herself; her husband died in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and she feels she is to blame for his death. Their shared fatalism equals fearlessness in Pierre's eyes, and he teaches Nina the art of the trapeze; however, when he begins to fall in love with her, he's no longer so certain that he wants her to risk her life. "The Jealous Lover" and "Equilibrium" were directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, while "Mademoiselle" was directed by Vincente Minnelli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Having supped full of success with the multi-storied O. Henry's Full House, 20th Century-Fox assembled another all-star "omnibus" film, We're Not Married. The unifying factor of this enjoyable seriocomedy is provided by justice-of-the-peace Melvin Bush (Victor Moore), who learns to his horror that his license is invalid. Bush and his wife (Jane Darwell) feverishly track down the five couples whom he has married "illegally" to inform them of the fact and invite them to renew their vows. Couple #1 is Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers, a husband-and-wife radio team whose huggy-kissy behavior on the air conceals the fact that they'd dearly love to cut each other's throats. Couple #2 consists of David Wayne and his contest-happy spouse Marilyn Monroe, who's just won the "Mrs. Mississippi" pageant. Couple #3, Paul Douglas and Eve Arden, ran out of things to say to each other long ago. Couple #4 is millionaire Louis Calhern and his avaricious young bride Eva Gabor, who intends to jilt the old coot and make off with his millions. And Couple #5 is young GI Eddie Bracken and his pregnant wife Mitzi Gaynor. When Bush delivers the news that these unions aren't legal in the eyes of the state, the results range from poignant to hilarious: particularly satisfying is Calhern's puckish revenge on his gold-digging wife. And yes, that is Lee Marvin as Eddie Bracken's army buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, which marks Barbara Stawyck's Hollywood film debut, a woman is taken to an illegal cabaret set aboard a wealthy man's yacht. Her captor, the owner, then locks her in a stateroom. When the cops raid the joint, she is photographed with the wealthy cad. Time passes and the woman ends up marrying her new boss. The cad gets involved with her sister-in-law. Later her new husband and the creep get in a fight over the woman. A shot is fired and the millionaire dies. The police then find the woman locked in her room. To spare her husband, the woman confesses to killing the cad. Her husband refuses to let her take the fall for his crime and she is freed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide