Leslie Sketchley Movies
- 1956
Van Johnson portrays a blind American writer living in London. Blessed with an acute hearing sense, Johnson overhears a kidnapping plot but neither his friends nor the authorities believe him, chalking up his story as the product of a writer's imagination. Disgruntled, Johnson vows to scuttle the kidnapping himself -- with the assistant of his fiancée Vera Miles. Despite his handicap, Johnson puts the pieces together using sounds as evidence and guidance. Ultimately Johnson finds his life in danger when he corners the criminal in a dark alley. 23 Paces to Baker Street was one of several ''50s 20th Century-Fox films shot on location in London to take advantage of Fox's "frozen funds" -- money earned by the studio in England which by law could only be spent in that country. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Vera Miles, (more)
Elephant Walk was several weeks into production when the film's original leading lady, Vivien Leigh, was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor (you can still see Leigh in a few long shots). Based on a novel by Robert Standish, the film casts Taylor as Ruth Wiley, the new bride of solemn plantation owner John Wiley (Peter Finch). At first thrilled at the prospect of living in the wilds of Ceylon, Ruth rapidly becomes a beautiful bird in a gilded cage. When American overseer Dick Carver (Dana Andrews) arrives on the scene, Ruth falls in love. Before she can leave her husband, though, the region is devastated by cholera. Making things worse, the local elephants go on a rampage, destroying her husband's mansion, which his father had maliciously built in the middle of the pachyderm's ancient right of way. Fraught with sexual symbolism, Elephant Walk works on a high-gloss soap opera level. The climactic stampede, however, is disappointingly filmed on a studio interior set, robbing what should have been a rousing climax of much of its credibility. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, (more)
- 1952
The "regeneration" of blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk was expedited when he was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to helm the location-filmed melodrama The Sniper. In the interests of political expediency, Dmytrk was required to direct Adolphe Menjou, one of the most virulent Red-baiters of the HUAC hearings. Shorn of his trademarked mustache, and with his famous expensive wardrobe replaced by a humdrum business suit, Menjou turns in one of his best performances as a world-weary San Francisco detective assigned to track down a mad sniper. From the beginning, the audience knows that the criminal is psycho Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz), who is possessed of the notion that he must kill every beautiful brunette woman who crosses his path. Some audience sympathy is elicited by Miller's pathetic attempts to rid himself of his obsession, but this never gets in the way of the film's suspense. The excellent supporting cast includes Richard Kiley as a police psychiatrist, Marie Windsor as Miller's first victim, and Mabel Paige as the sniper's snoopy landlady. An unbilled Wally Cox shows up briefly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, (more)
- 1948
The Dorothy Fields-Sigmund Romberg Broadway musical Up in Central Park has been retooled as a vehicle for a pleasantly plump Deanna Durbin. Set in New York in the 1870s, the film casts Durbin as hoydenish Irish immigrant Rosie Moore, who becomes the romantic bone of contention between muckraking newspaper reporter John Matthews (Dick Haymes) and corrupt but charming political boss Tweed (Vincent Price, considerably handsomer and slimmer than the real Tweed). With Rosie's help, John manages to expose Tweed's Tammany Hall shenanigans. Though only two songs have been retained from the original Broadway production, both Durbin and Haymes are afforded several opportunities to sing. Featured in the cast as Durbin's father is Albert Sharpe, who'd just completed a run in the smash New York musical Finian's Rainbow and who later played the title role in Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). Best scene: The Currier & Ives ballet, one of the few holdovers from the stage version of Up in Central Park. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Dick Haymes, (more)
The moodily evocative docudrama T-Men stars Dennis O'Keefe as Dennis O'Brien, a treasury agent determined to bring a counterfeiting ring to justice. O'Brien and his partner Tony Genaro (Alfred Ryder) go undercover to gain the confidence of the ruthless Detroit mob responsible for the phony money. The plot, compelling though it is, takes second place to the film's stylish set pieces, superbly directed by Anthony Mann and brilliantly photographed by John Alton. Among the film's most famous moments is the scene in which two-bit hood Wallace Ford is bumped off in a steam bath by sadistic hood Charles McGraw, not to mention the harrowing vignette wherein O'Keefe, posing as a crook, must stand by silently as his partner Ryder is murdered. One of the finest examples of the film noir form, T-Men proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a film didn't need to have a lush budget, brilliant Technicolor and Clark Gable to score a hit with postwar moviegoers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, (more)
- 1945
Set in turn-of-the century London, this period thriller stars Laird Cregar as George Harvey Bone, a composer who suffers from a rather severe case of artistic temperament. Driven to distraction by the discordant sounds of the city, the usually sensitive Bone occasionally snaps when exposed to undue stress, and the results can be deadly; he sometimes blacks out and commits murders that he can't quite recall the next morning. Working on a major concerto, Bone is at his wit's end, and when an antique dealer tries to cheat him, the salesman turns up dead. Dr. Allen Middleton (George Sanders), a psychologist with Scotland Yard, questions Bone about the crime; he claims to know nothing about it, but the perceptive doctor suggests that Bone needs to relax more. Taking Middleton's advice, Bone visits a music hall that evening and sees Netta London (Linda Darnell), a singer with whom Bone immediately becomes entranced. This makes the composer even less patient with his sweetheart Barbara Chapman (Faye Marlowe), whose father, the wealthy Sir Henry Chapman (Alan Napier), has commissioned Bone's latest work. When Barbara tells Bone that his concerto is not up to snuff, she only narrowly escapes with her life, and while Bone believes that he's found true love with the beautiful Netta, the singer finds herself in danger when Bone suspects her of infidelity. Hangover Square gave character actor Laird Cregar his first starring role. Sadly, it was also his last film; Cregar, who struggled with weight problems all his life, tipped the scales at nearly 300 pounds when he made this film. Eager for more starring roles, Cregar went on a dangerous crash diet, and while he soon lost 100 pounds, it put his health into serious disarray, and the actor died of a heart attack at the age of 28, shortly before the release of his first starring vehicle. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, (more)
John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) believes in PT boats, and as a lowly U.S. Navy lieutenant stationed in the Philippines, that makes him a radical thinker. "Your boats maneuver beautifully," an admiral (Charles Trowbridge) tells him, "but if I'm going into combat, I prefer something a little more substantial." The gently delivered but stinging dismissal stirs the resentment of Lt. "Rusty" Ryan (John Wayne), who tartly tells Brickley that he wants to be transferred to destroyers. The Pearl Harbor bombing makes transfer impossible, especially with the Japanese preparing to invade the islands. So Brickley and Ryan go to work, first as message carriers between the Philippines and Corregidor, then, finally, as ship hunters. They record some successes, but it's a doomed effort: The Americans are hopelessly outnumbered by the Japanese, and with almost all of the Pacific Fleet destroyed at Pearl Harbor, they know help won't arrive to save them. As the Japanese push the U.S. forces back, Brickley and Ryan and their crews hop from island to island, scrounging supplies and taking casualties but keeping up the fight. Just as it appears that they will be forced to fight on Corregidor against the Japanese, they get rescued; they're ordered home to promote their PT-boat successes, and they take the last plane out, hoping to return and avenge their defeats. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, (more)
- 1944
The Lodger was the third film version of Mrs. Marie Belloc-Lowndes' classic "Jack the Ripper" novel, and in many eyes it was the best (even allowing for the excellence of the 1925 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation). Laird Cregar stars as the title character, a mysterious, secretive young man who rents a flat in the heart of London's Whitechapel district. The Lodger's arrival coincides with a series of brutal murders, in which the victims are all female stage performers. None of this fazes Kitty (Merle Oberon), the daughter of a "good family" who insists upon pursuing a singing and dancing career. Scotland Yard inspector John Warwick (George Sanders), in love with Kitty, worries about her safety and works day and night to solve the murders. All the while, Kitty draws inexorably closer to The Lodger, who seems to have some sort of vendetta on his mind?..Some slight anachronisms aside (for example, the villain falls off a bridge that hadn't yet been built at the time of the story), The Lodger is pulse-pounding entertainment, with a disturbingly brilliant performance by the late, great Laird Cregar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, George Sanders, (more)
- 1944
The year is 1942: Mr. Winkle (Edward G. Robinson), a mild-mannered bank clerk, decides to quit his job and open a fix-it shop in his garage. Winkle's wife Amy (Ruth Warrick) disapproves of this, and orders her husband to move into his little shop. Tired of being browbeaten, Winkle is delighted when his draft notice shows up. Fitted for a uniform, Winkle has the wind taken out of his sails in basic training, but soon finds that army life agrees with him; when given a chance to go home when the draft age is lowered to 38, he refuses to do so. Transferred to the South Pacific, Winkle instinctively performs a conspicuous act of bravery. He returns home a much-decorated hero, but he's too shy to partake in the ceremonies in his honor, opting instead to return to his shop, and to his now-loving wife Amy. A tailor-made Edward G. Robinson vehicle, Mr. Winkle Goes to War was adapted by Waldo Salt, George Corey and Louis Solomon from a novel by Theodore Pratt. Watch for Robert Mitchum, Hugh Beaumont and Miss Jeff Donnell in unbilled bits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Warrick, (more)
John Ford welded four of Eugene O'Neill's one-act plays about the sea, Bound East for Cardiff, The Long Voyage Home, The Zone, and Moon of the Caribees, into this melancholy film about wayfaring seamen, changing the setting from the turn of the century to WWII. This was O'Neill's favorite of the films based on his work, and he watched it often enough to eventually wear out his print. After a night of revelry in the West Indies, the crew of the SS Glencairn return to the tramp steamer and set sail for Baltimore. They're a varied lot, from middle-aged Irishman Driscoll (Thomas Mitchell), to the young Swedish ex-farmer Ole Olsen (John Wayne), to the brooding Lord Jim-like Englishman Smitty (Ian Hunter). After the ship picks up a load of dynamite in Baltimore, the rough seas they encounter become especially nerve-racking to the crew, who are also concerned that Smitty might be a German spy. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, (more)
Though Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din makes a swell recital piece, it cannot be said to have much of a plot. It's simply a crude cockney soldier's tribute to a native Indian water boy who remains at his job even after being mortally wounded. Hardly the sort of material upon which to build 118 minutes' worth of screen time-at least, it wasn't until RKO producer Pandro S. Berman decided to convert Gunga Din into an A-budgeted feature film. Now it became the tale of three eternally brawling British sergeants stationed in colonial India: Cutter (Cary Grant), McChesney (Victor McLaglen) and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Ballantine intends to break up the threesome by marrying lovely Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine), while Cutter and McChesney begin hatching diabolical schemes to keep Ballantine in the army (if this plot element sounds a lot like something from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, bear in mind that Hecht and McArthur shared writing credit on Gunga Din with Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol; also contributing to the screenplay, uncredited, was William Faulkner). All three sergeants are kept occupied with a native revolt fomented by the Thuggees, a fanatical religious cult headed by a Napoleonic Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli). Unexpectedly coming to the rescue of our three heroes-not to mention every white man, woman and child in the region-is humble water carrier Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who aspires to become the regimental trumpeter. Originally slated to be directed by Howard Hawks, Gunga Din was taken out of Hawks' hands when the director proved to be too slow during the filming of Bringing Up Baby. His replacement was George Stevens, who proved to be slower and more exacting than Hawks had ever been! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- 1937
- NR
Ronald Colman stars in David O. Selznick's classic production of Anthony Hope's swashbuckling adventure. The film takes place in a mythical Central European kingdom with Colman in a dual role as King Rudolf V and Rudolph Rassendyl, a visitor from England who's a distant cousin to the prince. Arriving in the city of Strelsau, the inhabitants are startled by Rudolph's resemblance to the prince. Spotted by two of the prince's aides, Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim (David Niven) and Colonel Zapt (C. Aubrey Smith), the Englishman is taken to meet the prince at his hunting lodge. The two lookalikes have dinner together as the prince tells Rudolph of the preparations for his upcoming coronation as king. The next morning, Zapt wakes Rudolph and informs him the prince had been drugged the night before and is now in a coma. Because of their similar appearance, Zapt prevails upon Rudolph to impersonate the prince at the coronation, otherwise the prince's evil brother Black Michael (Raymond Massey) will be crowned in his place. With the assistant of Zapt and von Tarlenheim, Rudolph bluffs his way through the coronation, successfully fooling Michael, who is shocked to see his brother alive. Crowned king, Rudolph then meets Princess Flavia (Madeleine Carroll), the prince's fiancee. As they proceed to the reception, Princess Flavia is amazed how kindly the prince is now treating her. Rudolph is falling in love with her, but Michael suspects something foul and dispatches Rupert of Hentzau (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) to investigate the matter further, preparing to gain control of the throne at any cost. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, (more)
- 1930
R.C. Sherriff's forceful drama about men at war, a long running hit in London as well as New York, is brought to the screen in this film adaptation. Capt. Denis Stanhope (Colin Clive) is the commander of a military unit during World War I; constantly bombarded by enemy fire and hemmed in by his superiors, Stanhope no longer believes in the cause for which he fights, and is despondent over the thought he is sending young men to a pointless death. Depressed, Stanhope has turned to drink, and often squabbles with Lt. Osborne (Ian MacLaren), his second-in-command, as well as berating nd Lt. Raleigh (David Manners), whose sister is Stanhope's beloved. As his confidence begins to collapse, Stanhope believes he has lost the respect of his men, until he secretly obtains a letter Raleigh is writing to his sister. Journey's End was the first major success for director James Whale; he soon signed a deal to work in the United States, and he cast his Journey's End leading man, Colin Clive, in one of his first American projects, Frankenstein. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Clive, David Manners, (more)
- 1930
In this romantic adventure, a feisty young woman (Velez) toys with the affections of a railroad worker (Withers) and a Mountie (Blue). She ends up with Withers and decides to accompany him to the city. Unfortunately, the other workers around her do not want her to go. As the lovers try to flee, Withers kills a man and the Mountie and his pal Rin Tin Tin begin their pursuit. The murderous duo end up shooting a dangerous river rapids and nearly losing their lives. In the end the Mountie lets the lovers go to find their happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monte Blue, Lupe Velez, (more)
