Mary Halsey Movies
- 1945
A journalist for a popular travel magazine goes looking for interesting stories in Latin America and finds love instead in this colorful musical. The love angle comes from her fiance who lives there, and from the dashing photographer who accompanies her. Included are many South American acts including flamenco dancers Rosario and Antonio. Songs include: "Ba-Ba-Lu" (Bob Russell, Marguerita Lecuna), "Stars in Your Eyes", "La Morine de Mi Copla" (Gabriel Ruiz, Mort Greene), "Rhumba Matumba" (Bobby Collazo, Greene), "Guadalajara" (Pepe Guizar, Greene), "Negra Leona" (A. Fernandez, Greene), and "Baramba" (Margarita Lecuona, Greene). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phillip Terry, Audrey Long, (more)
Jim Lacy (Robert Mitchum), Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin), and Dusty (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) are three cowpokes working what was then known -- in the 1850's -- as the western Utah Territory. They know cattle, not mining, and they can't help but feel like they're missing out on something amid the influx of prospectors trying to work the Comstock Lode. But then they see most of these claims come to nothing, as the surface gold always seems to run out and leave owners with nothing but useless blue waste -- and the three are prone to count their blessings. But the machinations of a crooked mining company head Cash Burridge (Craig Reynolds) and a shoot-out at a crooked casino leave the trio on the run, and Lacy -- taking the alias "Nevada" -- headed into mining country with both the law and outlaws on his trail. And that's how he crosses paths with the Ides, a prospecting family, and their pretty daughter Hattie (ancy Gates), and also with saloon singer Julie Dexter (Anne Jeffreys), who's close to Burridge but starts to like Nevada's honesty and sincerity. Burridge knows the truth about that "useless" blue slag -- it's some of the richest silver ore ever assayed in the United States -- and plans to swindle his neighbors to get control of the Comstock Lode; and Julie cares enough about Burridge that she's ready to go along, up to the point where it involves murder, especially when Burridge's cover-up of his crime may end up with Nevada at the end of a rope. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum
- 1944
The murder of a wealthy, much-married rancher (Lyle Talbot) in a posh Manhattan nightclub is the catalyst for The Falcon Out West. Amateur sleuth Tom Lawrence (Tom Conway), aka The Falcon, deduces that the victim was killed with rattlesnake venom. He follows the trail of evidence to a dude ranch in a frontier town. The suspects include pretty Marion (Barbara Hale) and Vanessa (Carol Gallegher) and not-so-pretty Bates (Minor Watson) and Hayde (Don Douglas). Though Tom Conway seems bored and distracted throughout The Falcon Out West, the film itself is an above-average "Falcon" series entry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conway, Carol Gallagher, (more)
- 1944
In this musical comedy, a pair of small-potatoes performers try to make it to the big-time after winning an amateur talent contest. Though this leads them to a few professional gigs, something is missing from their act and they are not popular. Believing a little cash will boost their career, the girl heads for Washington, D.C. to see if her wealthy daddy will help them. En route she is mistaken for the wife of a well-known pilot and ends up in his suite having to pretend she is his spouse. When the pilot meets her, romantic sparks fly. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Shirley, Dennis Day, (more)
- 1943
Lupe Velez is "The Mexican Spitfire" in everything but name in the frantic baseball farce Ladies Day. Eddie Albert plays Wacky Waters, star pitcher of the Sox, a league-leading contender for the World Series. Alas, whenever Wacky falls in love, his game suffers-and so do the wives of his teammates, who are counting on that Series bonus money. When Wacky marries vivacious movie star Pepita Zorita (Velez), the wives, led by Hazel Jones (Patsy Kelly), take drastic action, kidnapping Pepita and hiding her out in a hotel room. But Pepita manages to wriggle out of the hotel towels that bind and gag, disguise herself as a bellboy, and head to the ballpark during the Big Game. Fortunately, Pepita turns out to be Wacky's prime motivation for winning the Series, and there's a happy ending for one and all. Pretty lame as far as baseball films go, Ladies Day will be best appreciated by fans of Lupe Velez and Patsy Kelly, who never speak when shouting will do. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1943
John Garfield was borrowed from Warner Bros. by RKO Radio for the tense espionage melodrama The Fallen Sparrow. Garfield is cast as Kit, an idealistic Spanish Civil War veteran who survives two torturous years in a fascist prison. Upon returning to New York, Kit is pounced upon by Nazi agents, who hope to learn the valuable secrets that Kit would not reveal to his captors during his ordeal. Among the methods of persuasion utilized by the Nazis is the beautiful Toni (Maureen O'Hara in a masterpiece of against-type casting). But Kit is made of stronger stuff than the spies are used to, and eventually he is able to beat them at their own game. Walter Slezak costars as the mellifluous-but-deadly Dr. Skaas. The Fallen Sparrow was based on the best-selling novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1943
- NR
Producer Val Lewton once more utilized leftover Magnificent Ambersons sets for his psychological horror piece The Seventh Victim. Kim Hunter arrives in New York's Greenwich Village in search of her errant sister Jean Brooks. Gradually, the naive Hunter is drawn into a strange netherworld of Satan worshippers. The story is a bit too complex for its own good (especially with only a 71-minute running time to play with), but editor-turned-director Mark Robson and screenwriters Dewitt Bodeen and Charles O'Neal keep the thrills and shudders coming at a satisfying pace. Lewton regular Tom Conway offers his usual polished performance, while veteran character actresses Isabel Jewell and Evelyn Brent look appropriately gaunt and possessed in the "cult" sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, (more)
- 1943
When an instructor dies mysteriously at an exclusive girl's school, Tom Lawrence (Tom Conway), a devil-may-care sleuth known as "The Falcon," reluctantly agrees to investigate. The death appears to have been induced by a heart attack, but the instructor's roommate (Rita Corday) had predicted that the victim would be murdered. The school's dean (Barbara Brown) dies shortly afterward, and suspicion falls upon the fencing instructor (Jean Brooks), who'd been in line to inherit the school. Other suspects include a foreign psychology professor (George Givot), who'd once courted the fencing teacher, and a meek music teacher (Isabel Jewell), to whom the foreign prof is secretly married. The murderer is revealed in a heart-stopping climactic scene played out on a perilous cliff overlooking the ocean. The Falcon and the Co-Eds is the sixth film in RKO Radio's "Falcon" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, (more)
- 1943
RKO brought its "Mexican Spitfire" saga to a close with the eighth film in the series, Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event. Lupe Velez is back again in the leading role, as is Leon Errol as disguise-happy Uncle Matt, but Velez's husband is now played by Walter Reed. When Lupe purchases a baby ocelot while on vacation, she sends a fractured-English telegram that leads everyone to believe that she's become a mother. Somehow this is tied in with her husband's big business deal with whisky manufacturer Lord Epping, who for the purposes of the plot twists is a dead ringer for Uncle Matt. 63 minutes later, it's all over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, (more)
- 1943
Olivia De Havilland hadn't wanted to star in RKO's Government Girl, but was forced to do so by her home studio Warner Bros. Perhaps in retaliation, De Havilland delivers a strident, overbaked performance, which serves only to make this so-so wartime comedy something of an endurance test for modern viewers. The actress plays "Smokey", the Washington DC-based secretary of Detroit automobile expert Browne (Sonny Tufts, who's actually pretty good in this one!) Aware that Browne is a babe in the woods so far as Washington lobbying, politicking and backstabbing are concerned, Smokey takes the poor boy by the hand and shows him the ropes. Despite the derivative nature of Adela Rogers St. John's screenplay-the film seems like a hybrid of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The More the Merrier--Government Girl was an enormous hit, posting a profit of $700,000. The film represents the film directorial debut of producer-screenwriter Dudley Nichols. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivia de Havilland, Sonny Tufts, (more)
- 1942
Handed the exploitive title Cat People, RKO producer Val Lewton opted for a thinking man's thriller--a psychological mood piece, more reliant on suspense and suggestion than overt "scare stuff". Simone Simon plays an enigmatic young fashion artist who is curiously affected by the panther cage at the central park zoo. She falls in love with handsome Kent Smith, but loses him to Jane Randolph. After a chance confrontation with a bizarre stranger at a restaurant, Simon becomes obsessed with the notion that she's a Cat Woman--a member of an ancient Serbian tribe that metamorphoses into panthers whenever aroused by jealousy. She begins stalking her rival Randolph, terrifying the latter in the film's most memorable scene, set in an indoor swimming pool at midnight. Psychiatrist Tom Conway scoffs at the Cat Woman legend--until he recoils in horror after kissing Simon. If the film's main set looks familiar, it is because it was built for Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (Lewton later used the same set for his The Seventh Victim). Cat People was remade by director Paul Schrader in 1982. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Simon, Kent Smith, (more)
- 1942
When George Sanders announced that he was leaving the "Falcon" series, RKO Radio came up with the perfect replacement: Sanders' own brother, Tom Conway. The transition was handled with style in The Falcon's Brother, with private detective Gay Lawrence (Sanders), aka The Falcon, incapacitated early in the proceedings. Anxious to break up an Axis spy ring, Gay calls upon his brother Tom (Tom Conway) to help out. The villains intend to foment a rift in the relationship between North and South America, which Tom, with the aid of intrepid heroine Marcia (Jane Randolph) and dopey sidekick Goldy (Don Barclay), hopes to prevent. By film's end, Tom Lawrence has assumed his brother's mantle as the Falcon, and the Falcon he would remain for the next eight entries in the series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Tom Conway, (more)
Lucille Ball delivers the finest dramatic performance of her career in this satisfying adaptation of Damon Runyon's The Big Street. Ball is cast as Gloria, aka "Your Highness," the vain and thoroughly selfish star attraction of gangster Case Ables' (Barton MacLaine) New York nightclub. Henry Fonda costars as busboy Little Pinks, who worships Gloria from afar. When Gloria is crippled by a fall downstairs-caused by a blow across the face by the sadistic Ables-Little Pinks selflessly waits upon the invalided and doggedly ungrateful songstress hand and foot. So devoted to Gloria is Pinks that he's willing to pilot her wheelchair from Manhattan to Florida so that she can renew her romance with callow playboy Decatur Reed (William Orr). Touched by Pinks' loyalty, his Runyonesque friends-Professor B (Ray Collins), Horsethief (Sam Levene), Mr. and Mrs. Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Eugene Pallette, Agnes Moorehead) and all the rest-raise enough money to open a Florida nightclub so that Gloria can put up a brave front. The ending is at once the most lachrymose and most effectively moving scene in the film, one that can only be spoiled if detailed here. Produced by Damon Runyon himself, The Big Street is one of the few completely successful filmed Runyon adaptations-as well as Lucille Ball's finest hour (and a half) on-screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, (more)
