Evelyn Ankers Movies

"The Silent Partner" is, along with John Ford's "Rookie of the Year", perhaps the best-known episode of the TV anthology series Screen Directors' Playhouse. Buster Keaton stars as Kelsey Dutton, a former silent-film comedian fallen upon hard times. While visiting a neighborhood tavern, Kelsey is recognized by Selma (ZaSu Pitts), herself an ex-actress. Their happy reunion is spoiled by the Academy Award telecast being shown on the bar's TV set, in which prominent actor-director Arthur Vail (Joe E. Brown), accepting an Oscar, flippantly refers to Kelsey and Selma as washed-up hasbeens. As it turns out, however, Vail's apparent cruelty has a noble purpose. Directed and cowritten by George Marshall, who in his movie heyday worked with the likes of Bob Hope, W.C. Fields and Laurel and Hardy, the film is at its best when recreating the Golden Days of silent slapstick comedy, of which Keaton was an acknowledged master. Unavailable for many years, The Silent Partner was put back in circulation for collectors and aficionados alike by Blackhawk Films in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lex Barker first stepped into the loincloth of the Lord of the Jungle in Tarzan's Magic Fountain. The story gets under way when Tarzan rescues a long-lost aviatrix named Gloria (Evelyn Ankers), who has been kept youthful by the magic fountain of the title. Bad guys Trask (Albert Dekker) and Dodd (Charles Drake) try to exploit the recuperative waters for mercenary purposes. They accompany the rapidly aging Gloria on an expedition back to the secluded valley where the magic waters flow. When the villains make their evil intentions known, Tarzan swings into action. Brenda Joyce plays Jane, just as she had in the last of the Johnny Weissmuller "Tarzan" entries. Tarzan's Magic Fountain was co-scripted by horror-film vet Curt Siodmak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael Lanyard, aka the Lone Wolf, ventures into Sherlock Holmes territory in this series entry. When a cache of internationally famous diamonds is stolen, Scotland Yard automatically suspects Lanyard (Gerald Mohr). While trying to prove his innocence, Lanyard is approached by Sir John Helmscott (Vernon Steele), who wants our hero to arrange a sale of Helmscott's gem collection. Lanyard figures out that there's a connection between his new client and the stolen jewels when Helmscott's butler Robards (Tom Stevenson) is murdered. The Lone Wolf in London represents Gerald Mohr's second appearance as Louis Joseph Vance's celebrated criminal-turned-sleuth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia's Last of the Redmen is actually the first color film version of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. Jon Hall stars as 18th century frontier scout Hawkeye, assigned to escort the offspring of British general Munro (Guy Hedlund) through treacherous Indian country in upstate New York. Along the way, a romance develops between Hawkeye and Alice Monro (Evelyn Ankers), while Alice's sister Cora (Julie Bishop) enters into an ill-fated relationship with Hawkeye's loyal Huron companion Magua (Buster Crabbe). Ric Vallin is evil personified as the treacherous Mohican warrior Uncas, and Michael O'Shea is seen as the equally odious Major Heyward. Diminishing the verbosity of the Cooper novel, Last of the Redmen concentrates on action and suspense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Its title notwithstanding, there's precious little female epidermis on display in PRC's Queen of Burlesque. Real life stripteaser Rose la Rose is cast in the title role, a burleycue "peeler" named Blossom Terraine, but the storyline is carried by Evelyn Ankers and Carleton Young, as exotic dancer Crystal McCoy and her journalist boyfriend Steve Hurley. When Blossom is murdered backstage, Crystal is suspected of the killing, prompting Hurley to try to prove her innocence. David Lang is credited with the original screenplay, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the 1943 Barbara Stanwyck starrer Lady of Burlesque. The working title for Queen of Burlesque was Ladies of the Chorus, which would be recycled as the title of the 1949 musical which served as the starring debut of Marilyn Monroe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Black Beauty, Anna Sewell's classic tale of a beautiful horse is adapted in a disappointingly flat fashion by independent producer Edward L. Alperson. Unlike the novel, which is told from the horse's point of view, the film concentrates on the animal's first owner, a young English girl (Mona Freeman). Raising the horse into a prize-winner called "Black Beauty," the motherless girl is thrown into a panic when Beauty disappears. She locates the horse in a barn that is about to catch fire; knocked unconscious, the girl is saved by the valiant Beauty. The film's script utilizes only one of the many episodes in Sewell's 1879 novel, and not the most fascinating one at that. Had Black Beauty been produced by 20th Century-Fox instead of merely being released by the studio, the film might have had the saving grace of Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An installment from Universal's "Inner Sanctum" series (whose trademark featured an introduction narrated by a spooky disembodied head), this low-budget thriller stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as luckless stage hypnotist "Gregor the Great" who, after seemingly causing the death of one of his audience volunteers, is forced to go into hiding. He is eventually offered a job by Rudi Poldan (Martin Kosleck), assistant curator of a wax museum. This apparent stroke of good fortune is actually part of a nefarious scheme concocted by Gregor's sleazy manager (Milburn Stone), with whose assistance Rudi hopes to drive the unbalanced performer off the deep end and steal away his girlfriend (Evelyn Ankers). Chaney's performance is less than compelling and fails to give this low-rent programmer the melodramatic boost it desperately needs. Despite the title, no ghosts actually appear -- frozen or thawed. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

The fifth in the Invisible Man series stars Jon Hall as Robert Griffin, a convict who takes the invisibility serum and then goes on a crime spree. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Paramount Pictures did their patriotic duty with this World War II era musical, with a number of the studio's biggest stars making cameo appearances. Tony West (George Raft), his sister Kitty (Grace McDonald), and their father Nick (Charles Grapewin) tour together as The Three Wests, a failing act just scraping by in the latter days of vaudeville. With job opportunities drying up on the East Coast, Tony persuades the family to take their chances in California, and for once luck is with him. Not long after arriving in Hollywood, Tony is hired as a chorus boy on a musical starring Latin bombshell Vera Zorina (Gloria Vance). Cocky Tony offers Vera some much-needed advice on her dancing. She's intrigued by his confidence, and a romance blooms; soon, the two marry. Tony becomes a major star as Vera's on and off screen dancing partner, but when World War II breaks out, Tony's conscience gets the better of him. Tony is 4-F because of a bad knee, but he's ashamed to admit this, even to Vera, who thinks he's avoiding the service out of cowardice. Vera eventually gives Tony his walking papers, and desperate to show his support of our troops, Tony organizes an all-star U.S.O. revue bringing much needed entertainment to America's fighting men overseas. Follow the Boys also features guest shots by Marlene Dietrich, W.C. Fields (demonstrating trick billiard shots), Orson Welles (doing his magic act), Dinah Shore, The Andrews Sisters, Jeanette MacDonald, Sophie Tucker, Randolph Scott, Lon Chaney Jr., and Maria Montez, among many others. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A strong contender for the title of Universal's worst horror film of the 1940s, Jungle Woman continued the melodramatic exploits of "Ape-Woman" Paula Dupree (Acquanetta from Captive Wild Woman) including seemingly endless "flashback" footage. (Captive, of course, had itself "benefitted" from plenty of stock footage courtesy of the studio's 1933 Clyde Beatty film, The Big Cage.) Poor Dupree is found roaming an all-too familiar back lot jungle and is once again captured by a scientist (J. Carrol Naish), who proceeds to torment the girl to death. At his trial, Dr. Carl Fletcher is acquitted when he proves that the girl was not only more simian than human, but jealously stalked the good doctor's lovely daughter (Lois Collier). Fletcher is acquitted after an excursion to the morgue, where the body of Dupree has indeed transformed into that of an "Ape Woman." The film's odorous repute, even among the most ardent Z-movie apologists, stems mainly from its overuse of stock footage and some notoriously rotten acting. The studio's "Scream Queen," first-billed Evelyn Ankers, basically walked through her repeating role as Beth Mason and the film's only comedy relief was provided by the patently unfunny Edward M. Hyans, Jr., whose eventual demise thus came as a true relief. Worst of all, Irish-American character actor J. Carrol Naish, who was between Academy Award-nominated performances in Sahara (1943) and A Medal for Benny (1945), delivered perhaps the only bad performance of his long career as the not-so-mad doctor. Acquanetta (né Mildred Davenport), a former fashion model claiming to be the result of a liaison between an Arapaho princess and British royalty, was allowed to speak this time around, a fact which hasn't exactly enhanced the film's reputation either. Starlet Julie London was lucky; her small role as one of Lois Collier's friends landed on the cutting-room floor. The third and final installment in Universal's "Paula, the Ape Woman" trilogy, The Jungle Captive (1945), replaced Acquanetta (who had become a "goodwill ambassador" to South America for President Roosevelt) with 18-year-old starlet Vicky Lane. The series' strongest critic at the time, John T. McManus, actually took Universal to task for spreading "Nazi propaganda" through the work of legendary make-up artist Jack Pierce. "In Mein Kampf," McManus wrote, "Hitler calls the Negro a 'half-born ape.' Jungle Woman illustrates the point, changing a Hollywood glamor girl into an ape and vice versa with the Negro stage inserted right where Hitler says...Apparently it is to be an annual outrage unless somebody passes a law against propounding Nazi race theories in America." Still much debated today, Jungle Woman has a certain notoriety for modern audiences. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The second of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" thrillers, Weird Woman stars Lon Chaney Jr. as Norman Reed, a college professor worried about the sanity of his new bride, Paula (Anne Gwynne), who was raised in Hawaii with all manners of superstitions, including voodoo. Jealous of Paula, Norman's former girlfriend, librarian Ilona Carr (Evelyn Ankers), does what she can to ruin the marriage, including suggesting to fellow professor Millard Sawtelle (Ralph Morgan) that Norman is about to expose him as a fraud, and helping moonstruck college girl Margaret Mercer (Lois Collier) obtain a job as Norman's assistant. Margaret's advances quickly become grating to Norman, who summarily throws the girl out of his office, and Sawtelle commits suicide rather than face disgrace. Mrs. Sawtelle (Elizabeth Russell) blames her husband's death on Paula's supposed witchcraft and Margaret's boyfriend, David (Phil Brown), physically attacks Norman. The boy is killed in the ensuing struggle and Norman begins to question his own sanity. Until, that is, he finally puts two and two together and sets a trap for Ilona. Based on the 1943 novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber Jr., Weird Woman was remade twice, as Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) starring Janet Blair and Witches' Brew starring Lana Turner. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Deanna Durbin is all grown up in Hers to Hold, the unofficial sequel to her "Three Smart Girls" films of the 1930s. Durbin plays Penelope Craig, the starry-eyed daughter of wealthy Judson and Dorothy Craig (Charles Winninger, Nella Walker). Developing a crush on much-older playboy Bill Morley (Joseph Cotton), Penelope stops at nothing to land the elusive Morley as her husband. Highlights include Durbin's renditions of "Begin the Beguine" and the "Seguidilla" from Carmen, and a captivating sequence that includes highlights from Durbin's earlier films, presented as home movies! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this frothy musical comedy, Ann Carter (Deanna Durbin) is an aspiring singer from the Midwest who decides to move to New York in hopes of advancing her career. Her half brother, Martin Murphy (Pat O'Brien), is already living in the Big Apple, and has told her that he's doing well as a businessman; however, when she arrives at his door, she discovers that he's actually working as a valet for Charles Gerard (Franchot Tone), a well-known composer. This is good news for Ann, since Charles could doubtlessly do a great deal to give her career a boost, but Martin is hesitant to talk to his boss about Ann. Charles is inundated with pleas from semi-talented would-be musicians all day long, and putting another in his path would earn Martin no favors. However, Martin soon has bigger worries; it seems that Charles has developed an interest in Ann which Martin is convinced has nothing to do with music. As you might expect, Durbin sings several songs, including "In the Spirit of the Moment," "When You're Away," and an aria from Puccini. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide