Irene Martin Movies

This is the second of two Season Eight episodes in which a "special guest attorney" takes over from Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who is ostensibly in Europe on business. This time the substitute is Perry's lawyer pal Ken Kramer (Barry Sullivan), who is hired by Lona Upton (Kathie Browne) to bail out her "friend "Maxine Nichols (Nina Shipman). It seems that Maxine has swiped a necklace worth $50,000 from Lona's half-sister Amy (Bettye Ackerman), who in turn is the widow of a yachtsman who'd died several years earlier under suspicious circumstances. But Lona isn't as kind-hearted as she seems: she hopes that Maxine will provide her with the combination to Amy's safe. Instead, Maxine is murdered and Lona is charged with the crime, prompting Kramer to figure out if someone else might have had a motive to bump off the "thermal thief." This episode was removed from the Perry Mason syndication package prepared in 1966, and was not seen again until the mid-1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of the few "procedural" dramas presented on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, the health officials and police department of Los Angeles race against time to prevent an anthrax epidemic. They must also keep secret the fact that they've found a disease-ridden corpse, lest they throw the city into a panic. Dedicated young health official Dr. Dana (Michael Parks) joins forces with older colleagues Dr. Oliver (Charles McGraw) and Deputy Sheriff Judd (Berkeley Harris) to pinpoint and isolate the source of the anthrax -- strenuously battling bureaucracy and red tape every inch of the way. "Diagnosis: Danger" was intended as the pilot for a weekly series starring Michael Parks, but the project failed to find a sponsor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just for You is based very loosely on Stephen Vincent Benet's Famous. Widowed Broadway producer Jordan Blake (Bing Crosby) is too busy with work to pay much attention to his teenaged kids Jerry (Robert Arthur) and Barbara (Natalie Wood). One thing he hasn't noticed is that Jerry isn't really a kid any more. This point is driven home when Jerry develops a crush on Blake's latest leading lady--and erstwhile sweetheart--Carolina Hill (Jane Wyman). Only Allida de Bronkhart (Ethel Barrymore), owner of the girl's school attended by Barbara, is wise enough to figure out a satisfactory solution to everyone's dilemmas. Capitalizing on their previous successful musical teaming in Here Comes the Groom, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman perform several sprightly tunes, both solo and in tandem. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Take Care of My Little Girl is a genteel "expose" of college-sorority snobbery. Jeanne Crain stars as Liz Erickson a perky coed who is pledged to an old, established sorority. At first amused by such rituals as "rushing" and "Hell week," Liz eventually feels threatened by the tyranny of the sorority caste system. She is particularly upset with her "sisters"' preoccupation with doltish boyfriends and their disdain for their classwork. With the moral support of student Joe Blake (Dale Robertson), Liz finally gets her priorities in order. Take Care of My Little Girl would make a fascinating companion piece with For Men Only (1951), director Paul Henreid's vitriolic attack against the injurious rituals of male fraternities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eliot Ness may have gotten lots of publicity (especially long after the fact) for breaking the Capone mob, but as Joseph H. Lewis' The Undercover Man reminds us, it was the accountants and the numbers-crunchers that brought down Capone and his mob. Frank Warren (Glenn Ford) started out as an accountant, but now serves as an investigator for the Treasury Department. His job has frequently required him to go undercover, masquerading as a criminal to get the goods on the top-level tax-law violators that his unit targets. But now his assignment is to gather evidence on the operations of the nation's number-one crime boss and get proof of the income that he and his lieutenants are not declaring, and this proves not only frustrating but dangerous. Potential stoolies are murdered and witnesses intimidated, and when one otherwise "respectable" lawyer (Barry Kelley) starts mentioning Warren's wife (Nina Foch) in casual conversation, he takes the hint. He's ready to quit until the mother (Esther Minciotti) of a witness-turned-victim tells him about what life was like in Italy under the Black Hand, and why she came to America to raise her sons. Warren and his men (James Whitmore, David Wolfe) make one last attempt to get the proof they need, tracing signatures and handwriting to get evidence implicating a small man in the operation, using it to turn him and going for bigger fish. Finally, even the shyster lawyer who has been dogging Warren every step of the way ends up in the sights of the feds, and the mob turns its attention to getting rid of this new "liability" and taking care of Warren as well. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide