Margia Dean Movies

In this dark comedy, a Yankee goes to visit a family of British eccentrics to ask for the hand of one of their daughters in marriage. He soon finds himself in the midst of a really odd family. One of them talks like Bela Lugosi, another believes herself to be a vampire, while a third is locked away in a padded cell. Another family member is thrilled when he finally invents a horseless carriage (50 years after Ford), and the family grandfather is found reading Playboy just before he dies. Trouble begins when members of the family begin to be mysteriously murdered. The American suitor must then discover which member of the strange family is in line to inherit the family fortune. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The actors do the best they can with this undistinguished wartime melodrama about a group of women caught in New Guinea just when the Japanese are taking over Indonesia and its contiguous islands in 1942. The women range from an ornithologist, to a nurse, to a thief, and a waitress, all captured and put into a Japanese prison camp. But the women manage to escape, though not all survive, and later on they encounter a double-dealing plantation owner (Cesar Romero) who unknown to them, is collaborating with the Japanese and plans on sending them back to their captors. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Greedy family members engage in bitter infighting over the ownership of a circus. It all begins as a ruthless, corrupt father gets in trouble with the law leaving all but his youngest sons to begin a vicious battle over the business. This is the third variation of Jerome Weidman' novel I'll Never Go There Any More. The other two are Broken Lance, a western version, and House of Strangers, set in the big city. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This historical adventure recounts the many exploits of the notorious Mexican bandit Pancho Villa as he evolves from a womanizing thief to a passionate leader of the Mexican revolution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A mayoral candidate is booted out of town after he is gulled into a gunfight and kills his rival. This western chronicles his adventures as an outlaw. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Just before achieving TV stardom as The Sheriff of Cochise, John Bromfield headed the cast of Frontier Gambler. Coleen Gray co-stars as the ruthless boss lady of a frontier town. When Gray disappears, suspicion immediately falls upon her former lover Bromfield. Others who had reasons to see Gray dead include Jim Dallas Davis, Kent Taylor and Veda Ann Borg. Frontier Gambler was stitched together by the reliable (if parsimonious) producer-director team of Sigmund Neufield and Sam Newfield (they were brothers, despite the spelling differences). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Craig plays Sheriff Pat Garrett, the man who gunned down Billy the Kid. We always thought that was the end of the story, but Last of the Desperados informs us that Garrett was forced to flee from the vengeance of Billy's gang (we also never knew that Billy had a gang). Everywhere he goes, Garrett is dogged by his pursuers, who leave a trail of corpses in their path to dissuade anyone from helping the former lawman. Finally Garrett puts on his badge again and picks off Billy's buddies one by one. Last of the Desperados was written by western movie "regular" Orville Hampton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rocket crash-lands in England after a flight of more than 57 hours into deep space. The design of Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy), a forceful, misanthropic American scientist, the Q-1 had three astronauts aboard when it left Earth, but only one of them, engineer Victor Caroon (Richard Wordsworth), is on board upon landing, and he is in a near-comatose state. Even more baffling, the spacesuits of the other two men are still aboard the wrecked ship and are still interlocked, as though they were in them when whatever transpired. Quatermass's investigation is complicated by the presence of Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) of Scotland Yard, who is treating the disappearance of the two men as a potential murder case, and by Caroon's wife Judith (Margia Dean), who blames the scientist for what has happened to her husband. An on-board camera, although damaged, shows an encounter with some form of energy that invaded the ship and attacked the crew, seemingly killing the other two astronauts and rendering Caroon unconscious. Caroon's condition keeps worsening -- Quatermass's medical expert, Dr. Gordon Briscoe (David King-Wood), is alarmed by the man's impossible heart- and pulse-rate, his degenerating skin and apparent changes in his bone and facial structure. Judith Caroon tries to spirit her husband out of the hospital where he's being cared for, not knowing that something horrific is happening to him. Quatermass and Briscoe soon realize that Caroon is little more than the shell of a man, masking an invading alien life form that can literally draw the life out of any living thing that it touches. The manhunt turns into a fight for survival as the creature continues to kill and mutate, threatening to release spores into the air and spread itself by the millions throughout the Earth. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Her days of cinematic glory behind her, Paulette Goddard was compelled to take whatever came along in the mid-1950s. Playing the title role in Sins of Jezebel, Goddard survives the ordeal armed with little more than grim determination. The wicked princess of Phoenicia, Jezebel hopes to expand her power by marrying Ahab (Eduard Franz), the King of Israel. Jezebel brings destruction upon the Israelites through her many sexual peccadilloes and orgiastic bacchanals. The film's nominal leading man is George Nader, cast as a charioteer who succumbs to Jezebel's wiles. Surprisingly, the film manages to be quite entertaining within its tiny budget. The "redeeming moral value" of Sins of Jezebel is achieved by having the film presented in flashback, during a sermon delivered by pious preacher Elijah (John Hoyt). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though filmed through the facilities of Hal Roach Studios and produced by Hal Roach Jr., Tales of Robin Hood was released by Lippert Pictures. Robert Clarke stars as the young Earl of Huntington, who after losing his property and title to the invading Normans heads to Sherwood Forest. Here he gains notoriety and adulation as beneficent outlaw Robin Hood. Mary Hatcher co-stars as Maid Marian, while Sir Guy of Gisborne and the Sheriff of Nottingham are played respectively by Paul Cavanaugh and Tiny Stowe. Robin's Merry Men are portrayed by Wade Crosby (Little John), Ben Welden (Friar Tuck), Robert Bice (Will Scarlet) and Bruce Lester (Alan A-Dale). Reportedly, Tales of Robin Hood was intended as the pilot film for a TV series; indeed, its structure resembles two half-hour TV episodes cobbled together. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mr. Walkie Talkie was the second attempt by producer Hal Roach Jr. to revive the popular series of William Tracy/Joe Sawyer service comedies filmed by Hal Roach Sr. back in the early 1940s. Like its predecessor As You Were, this film stars Tracy as Sgt. Doubleday, a garrulous soldier with a photographic memory and Sawyer as Sgt. Ames, his flustered sergeant. Sick unto death of being around the troublesome Doubleday, Ames has himself transferred to the front lines of Korea. So guess who follows along shortly afterward? Before the film has run its course, Doubleday and Ames have become heroes by flummoxing the Red Army, herein depicted as boobish buffoons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a dimwitted fellow bumbles off in search of the marriage license bureau and instead finds himself in a recruiting office for the Marines. Before he knows it, the jughead has become a jarhead. Fortunately, his fiancee also joins and they go through boot camp together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Pier 23 was one of three hour-long mysteries produced by Lippert Productions for both TV and theatrical release. Each of the three films was evenly divided into two half-hour "episodes," and each starred Hugh Beaumont as San Francisco-based amateur sleuth Dennis O'Brien. In Pier 23, O'Brien first tackles the case of a wrestler who has died of a suspicious heart attack after refusing to lose a match. He then agrees to help a priest talk an escaped criminal into returning to prison. The film's two-part structure leads to repetition and predictability, but it's fun to watch TV's "Ward Cleaver" making like Philip Marlowe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide