Bruce Carruthers Movies
- 1952
Jungle Girl was the 7th entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series, based on the pulp novels by Roy Rockwood. This time, Bomba (Johnny Sheffield) tries to find the long-lost remains of his parents. He discovers that the person responsible for mom and dad's deaths was evil native chieftain Martin Wilkins. Only after the chief's daughter Suzette Harbin is herself accidentally killed (not by Bomba-rest, easy kids!) does the villain give himself up to the authorities. With the exception of Johnny Sheffield and co-stars Karen Sharpe and Walter Sande, most of the acting in Jungle Girl is strictly amateur night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Carrie is based on Sister Carrie, a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Dreiser's clumsy, unwieldy prose is streamlined into a neat and precise screenplay by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Jennifer Jones stars as Carrie, who leaves her go-nowhere small town for the wicked metropolis of Chicago. Here she becomes the mistress of brash traveling salesman Charles Drouet (Eddie Albert), then throws him over in favor of erudite restaurant manager George Hurstwood (Laurence Olivier). Obsessed by Carrie, George steals money from his boss to support her in the manner to which he thinks she is accustomed. Left broke and disgraced by the ensuing scandal, Carrie deserts George to become an actress. Years later, the conscience-stricken Carrie tries to regenerate George, who has fallen into bum-hood. If Laurence Olivier seems a surprising casting choice in Carrie, try to imagine what the film would have been like had Cary Grant, Paramount's first choice, accepted the role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Olivier, Jennifer Jones, (more)
- 1951
Gene Autry is back in the saddle again, albeit North of the Border. Montana marshal Autry and another lawman pursue a bank robber into Canada. Teaming with a straight-arrow Mountie, Autry tracks down the criminal in the Canadian wilderness, taking time out once in a while to sing one of his host's national songs. Running 70 minutes, Gene Autry and the Mounties was promoted by Columbia Pictures as a western "special". While on location in Canada, the Autry unit decided to quickly make another film for next season's western schedule, and the result was Blue Canadian Rockies (52). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, (more)
- 1947
Alan Ladd stars in Calcutta as devil-may-care pilot Neale Gordon. With his equally fearless partners Pedro Blake (William Bendix) and Bill Cunningham (John Whitney), Gordon handles the air-freight route between Calcutta and Chungking. When Cunningham meets his death at the hands of jewel smugglers, Gordon vows to play judge and jury and bring the criminals to justice himself. Among the suspects are the film's two gorgeous leading ladies, sweetie-pie Virginia Moore (Gail Russell) and sultry nightclub singer Merina Tanev (June Duprez). Once Gordon figures out who his real friends are, he relies on his fists to mete out retribution, resulting in one sequence that's guaranteed to raise the hackles of every feminist in the crowd. Even with a short running time of 73 minutes, Calcutta secured top-of-the-bill bookings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1944
An innocent man is drawn into a web of espionage when he unwittingly comes into possession of a crucial piece of microfilm in this shadowy, ominous film noir. Fritz Lang's adaptation of Graham Greene's novel is filled with unusual touches, beginning with the fact that protagonist Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has just been released from a mental asylum. To celebrate his return to the real world, he visits a local carnival, only to accidentally receive a "prize" meant for a Nazi agent. When he discovers the error, he turns for help to a detective, whose investigations only make the matter more complicated. Neale soon winds up on the run from both the Nazis and the police, who mistakenly believe him guilty of murder. Lang's famous expressionistic style is somewhat muted here, but Henry Sharp's crisp black-and-white cinematography sets a suitably unsettling mood, and the twists and double-crosses of Greene's story unfold at an appropriately quick pace. While it does not reach the same level of timeless classic as Carol Reed's adaptation of Greene's The Third Man four years later, Ministry of Fear stands as a well-made, thoroughly gripping and intelligent example of film noir. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, (more)
- 1938
In this North Woods adventure a courageous Canadian Mounted Policeman takes on the outlaws who robbed a freighter heading for Edmonton. After the heist, the crooks got away with furs and gold leaving an innocent trapper to take the blame. Just as the hapless trapper is to be lynched the Mountie shows up and saves him. He then gallops off after the real culprits and by the story's ends fulfills the Mountie's creed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Foran, Gloria Dickson, (more)
