Dave Morris Movies

Clifton Webb has the role of a lifetime as Lynn Belvedere, self-styled genius and expert on everything. Belvedere accepts the job of baby-sitting the troublesome children of Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara; he wins the job by calmly dumping a bowl of cold oatmeal on the head of the couple's most contentious offspring! At first the family chafes at Belvedere's imperiousness and unlimited resourcefulness, but gradually everyone--especially the children--grow quite fond of the man. The couple's snoopy neighbor (Richard Haydn), noting that Belvedere spends quite a lot of time in the house when the husband is away, begins spreading rumors of a clandestine affair. Belvedere only fuels the flames of innuendo by working on a "secret project" in his room. That project turns out to be a book about the community where he is staying, a revealing volume that exposes the pettiness and hypocrisy of several respectable citizens. Robert Young nearly loses his job over the ensuing scandal, but when the community becomes world famous and the object of increased business activity, Belvedere is the hero of the day. Clifton Webb made so vivid an impression as Mr. Belvedere that he repeated the role in two sequels, and played variations of Belvedere (with emphasis on his "child psychology" tactics) in such films as Cheaper by the Dozen and Mr. Scoutmaster. After numerous failed attempts at launching a TV series based on the Gwen Davenport-created character, Mr. Belvedere settled into a long video run in 1985, with Christopher Hewett in the title role and sportscaster Bob Uecker as Belvedere's nonplused employer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Betty Grable and Dan Dailey play a couple of small-time vaudevillians, at least until Dailey gets a big Broadway break. Success swells his head to cataclysmic dimensions; he becomes an alcoholic, loses his stardom and winds up in the drunk ward. Grable divorces Dailey to marry rancher Richard Arlen, but Dailey's old pal Jack Oakie tries to rehabilitate the fallen star. Oakie's mission seems hopeless until Grable rejoins the act, and everything is patched up...at least professionally. If the plot of When My Baby Smiles at Me seems familiar, perhaps you've seen the previous two versions of the George Manker Watters/Arthur Hopkins play Burlesque: The Dance of Life (1929) and Swing High, Swing Low. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Otto Preminger directed this stylish film noir exercise, intended as a follow-up to his surprise hit Laura. Kicked off a bus traveling cross-country for not being able to come up with the fare, down-and-out press agent Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) ends up in Walton, a small coastal town in California. Stanton fast-talks Joe Ellis (Olin Howland) into giving him a place to stay for the night in exchange for promoting Professor Madley (John Carradine), a "mentalist" whose show Ellis manages. While in Walton, Stanton makes the acquaintance of June Mills (Alice Faye), a wealthy but reclusive young woman, and has his eye on Stella (Linda Darnell), a good-looking waitress working at the local diner. Thanks to Madley, Stanton learns a few things about June, and when Ellis and the professor pull up stakes after a successful engagement, Stanton opts to stay behind, hoping to win Stella's heart. Gold digger Stella makes it known that she has no interest in Stanton unless he comes into a lot of money, but June has made her interest in Stanton quite clear. Stanton hatches a plan: he'll marry June, take her money, divorce her, and then take up with Stella. Stanton and June do in fact marry, but just as he's about to give her the brush-off, Stella turns up dead. Mark Judd (Charles Bickford), a retired cop-turned-detective, is investigating the murder, and while the initial suspect is Dave Atkins (Bruce Cabot), Stella's ne'er-do-well ex-boyfriend, Judd's focus eventually falls on Stanton. Stanton flees Walton for San Francisco, with ever-loyal June at his side; he quickly abandons her after taking her money, but he returns to her side when word reaches him that June has been charged with Stella's murder. Fallen Angel marked a dramatic change of pace for Alice Faye; however, she was very unhappy with how Preminger edited her performance, convinced that much of her best work ended up on the cutting-room floor. Faye was so angry that she quit the movie business altogether and didn't appear in another film until State Fair in 1962. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This fictionalized biography of the famed American inventor's life provided actor Don Ameche with his signature role. For years after its release, people even referred to the telephone as "an Ameche." The story begins in 1873 Boston as Bell endeavors to teach deaf people to speak in the manner invented by his father. When not teaching, Bell tinkers with his various inventions. Opportunity knocks when Bell is befriended by an aristocratic fellow (Charles Coburn) who wants Bell to help teach his daughter (Loretta Young) to speak. Bell agrees and falls in love with her. It is she who inspires and encourages him to invent the telephone, while it is young Watson (Henry Fonda) who assists him. After they meet with success, the inventors must do battle in court with Western Union, the company that held the patent to the telegraph. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

These 30 Years is an entertaining 62-minute slice of propaganda on behalf of the Ford Motor Company. Conceived by the McCann-Erickson advertising agency, the film traces the "rise of the automobile industry" -- or, more specifically, the rise of Henry Ford, here playing "himself." Getting off to a melodramatic start (an ailing farmer dies because he's forced to rely on a horse-drawn wagon instead of a horseless carriage), the storyline recalls how Ford started with next-to-nothing in the town of Dearborn, Michigan, then through grit and tenacity built up a multi-million-dollar operation -- not to mention one of the first large-scale assembly lines in American industrial history. The film closes with a sappy romantic subplot involving a Ford-dealer's son, whose problems are solved when Ford Motors comes out with its newest model. Not unexpectedly, These 30 Years reflects many of Henry Ford's deep-set convictions and prejudices, though fortunately his well-publicized anti-Semitism is nowhere to be found. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock's second talkie was a surprisingly static adaptation of the Sean O'Casey stage drama Juno and the Paycock. Set during the Irish "troubles" of the early 1920s, the film focuses on the trials and tribulations of a typical Dublin tenement family. Sara Allgood is brilliant as family matriarch Juno Boyle, who must contend with her bibulous, braggadocio husband, Captain Jack Boyle (Edward Chapman), known as the "paycock" because he always struts around like he owns the world. As Captain Jack carouses with his drinking buddy Joxer Daly (Sydney Morgan), Juno tries to keep her family together, a task that proves harder with each passing day, especially when daughter Mary (Kathleen O'Regan) is impregnated by her irresponsible boyfriend. Things take a tragic turn when Juno's weakling son Johnny (John Laurie), a member of the IRA, is shot as an informer by his own comrades. Sara Allgood's scenes after the death of her son are absolutely heart-wrenching, offering ample compensation for Hitchcock's plodding direction and the hopelessly hammy performance by Edward Chapman. Many of the supporting actors were drawn from the ranks of Dublin's Abbey Players, notably Barry Fitzgerald, making his film debut as The Orator. Juno and the Paycock was adapted for the screen by Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lively Rin Tin Tin drama throws in everything but the kitchen sink. This time Rinty finds himself on the site of a dam project, where the villains intend to destroy the huge structure for their own gain. Our canine hero not only prevents the sabotaging of the dam but also participates in a thrilling train chase. In the excitement of completing the picture, the filmmakers evidently forgot that the title was Tracked by the Police, inasmuch as there wasn't a single policeman in the entire story! Perhaps as compensation, a closing title was hastily inserted, claiming that, because of his courage and tenacity in bringing the criminals to heel, Rin Tin Tin was appointed an honorary policeman -- thus, the villains were indeed "tracked by the police." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tango Tangles is an impromptu Keystone comedy which exploited the current "tango craze." A tango contest and exhibition prompted Mack Sennett to send a crew out to a local dance hall where some of the film was shot. Charlie Chaplin appears in a tuxedo, sans the famous Tramp makeup and costume, as a drunk who flirts with the hat-check girl, and he gets into fights with Ford Sterling and Roscoe Arbuckle, both musicians at the dance hall who are also enamored with her. Although slight in plot, the film is interesting because the three principal Keystone actors appear without comic makeup and because the audience can observe the mirthful reactions of the real dancers in the hall to the comic fight between Chaplin and Sterling. Also of interest is the blending of location and studio footage, noticeable due to differences in lighting and set. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide