Ann Doran Movies

Adapted by Christopher Knopf from a short story by C.B. Gifford, Joy Ride is a fast-paced pocket variation of the Desperate Hours/Night Holds Terror school of suspense. When middle-aged Mr. Miles (Regis Toomey) picks up a quartet of young-punk hitchhikers, he's only trying to extend the usual courtesies of the road. But the troublemaking foursome (Rad Fulton, Nicholas King, Robert Levin and Jim Bridges) assume that Miles' hospitality is borne of fear, and they decide to take advantage of the situation. The four boys invade Miles' home, trashing the place and causing Mrs. Miles (Ann Doran) to suffer a heart attack. Eventually the law catches up with the four vandals, giving Miles the opportunity for revenge, but he just isn't that sort of guy. One wonders if director Edward Bernds and actress Ann Doran ever shared any on-set anecdotes about their experiences in Columbia's 2-reel comedy unit. Joy Ride as originally released on a double bill with Unwed Mother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harry Keller, the man who directed the extra scenes in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, receives solo directorial credit in The Female Animal. Hedy Lamarr stars as Vanessa Windsor, a beautiful but ageing film star whose life is saved on the set by handsome extra Chris Farley (George Nader). Falling in love with Chris, Vanessa finds herself in competition with her own adopted daughter Penny (Jane Powell). Meanwhile, poor Chris struggles to become his "own man", and not merely the sexual plaything of two predatory females. Stealing the film from the nominal stars are Jan Sterling as a fading beauty with romantic notions of her own, and James Gleason as a crusty but likeable agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Philip Larkin (Terry Becker) is murdered, and his stepfather Joseph Harrison (John Hoyt) is charged with the crime. A key piece of evidence for the prosecution is a home movie showing Larkin and Harrison quarrelling; could their argument have been about sexy Lorraine Stevens (Andra Martin), whom Philip had earlier tried to seduce? Fay Wray of King Kong fame makes the first of three Perry Mason appearances as Harrison's former wife Ethel, who hires Perry (Raymond Burr) to defend her ex-husband in court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, six daring truckers must transport unstable, highly explosive rocket fuel through a dangerously bumpy, rugged country. The film centers on their individual reasons for making the trip. These are presented via flashback. Though most of them need the money, one of the truck drivers is actually the fuel's inventor. During the fuel's development, a freak accident caused the death of his family. All but one of the drivers safely make it to their destination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this sensitive drama, a commercial artist is devastated by his tiny daughter's death and takes to drinking to numb the terrible pain. Soon he has become a full-blown alcoholic. His loving wife and caring doctor are unable to help. He wants to stop drinking, but he simply cannot until he meets another alcoholic who is also desperate to stop. Together, they support each other as they withdraw from the debilitating drug. Later the fellow founds an organization designed to help other drunks dry out by offering them the same kind of support he had. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Life Begins at 17 in this all-too-typical example of the "art" of quickie producer Sam Katzman. Plain little Carol Peck (Luana Anders) is wooed by arrogant punk Russ Lippincott (Mark Damon). What Carol doesn't know is that Russ is only interested in her knockout older sister Elaine (Dorothy Johnson). When she finds out she's being used, Carol exacts a typically feminine means of revenge ("typical" by 1950s B-movies, that is). Meanwhile, Elaine finds happiness with true-blue boyfriend Jim (Edd "Kookie" Byrnes). Ann Doran, who played James Dean's mother in Rebel Without a Cause, does same for the two heroines of Life Begins at 17. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, four children are seemingly orphaned and remanded to their aunt and uncle's custody after their parents, renowned explorers, are lost. The proper English aunt is the sister of the missing mother; the playboy uncle is the brother of their father. Both are single and whichever marries first is the one who will get full custody. Naturally, the disparate duo dislike each other at first. But this is a movie, and after much mayhem, they fall in love, marry and adopt the children. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren, this Southern potboiler stars Yvonne DeCarlo as Amantha Starr, the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner. When her father unexpectedly dies, Amantha discovers that her father was deep in debt and the family is penniless, and she is forced to drop out of the exclusive girls' school she was attending. What's more, it is discovered that Amantha has a small amount of African-American blood, and under the laws she is to be sold into slavery in New Orleans. Amantha is purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), a dashing, wealthy, but mysterious landowner. While Amantha is at first terrified by her new situation, in time she grows fond of Hamish and becomes romantically involved with him. However, the outbreak of the Civil War leads to Union forces taking New Orleans; RauRu (Sidney Poitier), Hamish's trusted overseer, joins the Northern forces as the Rebels go down in defeat. RauRu hates Amantha for literally sleeping with the enemy, and Hamish for the corrupt system he represents, but his last remaining threads of loyalty prevent him from taking them prisoner. With his crops destroyed, Hamish must rebuild his empire from the ground up, and, as he joins forces with his former associate Capt. Canavan (Torin Thatcher), he must reveal a shameful secret to Amantha: he once earned his living as a slave trader. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The secret to immortality is thus: to rejuvenate tired bones and muscles and retain that youthful feeling forever, simply place nubile young women in a vat filled with chemicals, attach wires to their heads and suck out their life forces Warning: If after the first dosage subsequent treatments are not promptly administered, irreversible petrification will occur in all cases. These side-effects create the dilemma faced by the scientists who invented the process and this sci-fi horror movie tells how they solved their problem. Fortunately for the women involved, a hero shows up, saves them, and leaves the evil professors stoned for life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This landmark juvenile-delinquent drama scrupulously follows the classic theatrical disciplines, telling all within a 24-hour period. Teenager Jimmy Stark (James Dean) can't help but get into trouble, a problem that has forced his appearance-conscious parents (Jim Backus and Ann Doran) to move from one town to another. The film's tormented central characters are all introduced during a single night-court session, presided over by well-meaning social worker Ray (Edward Platt). Jimmy, arrested on a drunk-and-disorderly charge, screams "You're tearing me apart!" as his blind-sided parents bicker with one another over how best to handle the situation. Judy (Natalie Wood) is basically a good kid but behaves wildly out of frustration over her inability to communicate with her deliberately distant father (William Hopper). (The incestuous subtext of this relationship is discreetly handled, but the audience knows what's going on in the minds of Judy and her dad at all times.) And Plato (Sal Mineo), who is so sensitive that he threatens to break apart like porcelain, has taken to killing puppies as a desperate bid for attention from his wealthy, always absent parents.

The next morning, Jimmy tries to start clean at a new high school, only to run afoul of local gang leader Buzz (Corey Allen), who happens to be Judy's boyfriend. Anxious to fit in, Jimmy agrees to settle his differences with a nocturnal "Chickie Run": he and Buzz are to hop into separate stolen cars, then race toward the edge of a cliff; whoever jumps out of the car first is the "chickie." When asked if he's done this sort of thing before, Jimmy lies, "That's all I ever do." This wins him the undying devotion of fellow misfit Plato. At the appointed hour, the Chickie Run takes place, inaugurated by a wave of the arms from Judy. The cars roar toward the cliff; Jimmy is able to jump clear, but Buzz, trapped in the driver's set when his coat gets caught on the door handle, plummets to his death. In the convoluted logic of Buzz' gang, Jimmy is held responsible for the boy's death. For the rest of the evening, he is mercilessly tormented by Buzz' pals, even at his own doorstep. After unsuccessfully trying to sort things out with his weak-willed father, Jimmy runs off into the night. He links up with fellow "lost souls" Judy and Plato, hiding out in an abandoned palatial home and enacting the roles of father, mother, and son. For the first time, these three have found kindred spirits -- but the adults and kids who have made their lives miserable haven't given up yet, leading to tragedy. Out of the bleakness of the finale comes a ray of hope that, at last, Jimmy will be truly understood.

Rebel Without a Cause began as a case history, written in 1944 by Dr. Robert Lindner. Originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando, the property was shelved until Brando's The Wild One (1953) opened floodgates for films about crazy mixed-up teens. Director Nicholas Ray, then working on a similar project, was brought in to helm the film version. His star was James Dean, fresh from Warners' East of Eden. Ray's low budget dictated that the new film be lensed in black-and-white, but when East of Eden really took off at the box office, the existing footage was scrapped and reshot in color. This was great, so far as Ray was concerned, inasmuch as he had a predilection for symbolic color schemes. James Dean's hot red jacket, for example, indicated rebellion, while his very blue blue jeans created a near luminescent effect (Ray had previously used the same vivid color combination on Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar). As part of an overall bid for authenticity, real-life gang member Frank Mazzola was hired as technical advisor for the fight scenes. To extract as natural a performance as possible from Dean, Ray redesigned the Stark family's living room set to resemble Ray's own home, where Dean did most of his rehearsing. Speaking of interior sets, the mansion where the three troubled teens hide out had previously been seen as the home of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Of the reams of on-set trivia concerning Rebel, one of the more amusing tidbits involves Dean's quickie in-joke impression of cartoon character Mr. Magoo -- whose voice was, of course, supplied by Jim Backus, who played Jimmy's father. Viewing the rushes of this improvisation, a clueless Warner Bros. executive took Dean to task, saying in effect that if he must imitate an animated character, why not Warners' own Bugs Bunny? Released right after James Dean's untimely death, Rebel Without a Cause netted an enormous profit. The film almost seems like a eulogy when seen today, since so many of its cast members -- James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Nick Adams -- died young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking into consideration the success of the 1953 biopic Crazylegs, Allied Artists cooked up its own sports biography in the form of The Bob Mathias Story. Olympic decathalon winner (and future Wheaties spokesman) Bob Mathias plays himself, and quite well indeed. The film begins with the 17-year-old Mathias distinguishing himself at the Wembley athletic competition in 1949, then recounts his years at Stanford University. There's a modicum of suspense when Mathias' decision to marry his childhood sweetheart Melba (likewise played by herself) may prevent him from entering the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, even though the whole world knows the outcome. "Acting relief" is provided by Ann Doran and Howard Petrie as Bob's parents, and by Ward Bond as his high school coach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director William "One Take" Beaudine never turned down a job from anyone. So when the Protestant Film Commission called him up to work on City Story, he was on the set bright and early the first morning of shooting, and was still there when production wrapped a week or so later. The plot concerns clergyman Warner Anderson, whose church is suffering from a dip in attendance. Trying to figure out how to attract the rough-hewn juvenile delinquent contingent, Anderson turns to an unusual source for advice. That source is young prison inmate June Kenney, who since her incarceration has seen the light and is spreading the Word to her fellow prisoners. The sincerity that went into City Story compensates for its seedy production values. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide