George Douglas Movies

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman may well be one of the worst science-fiction films of all time, but that's not to say that it isn't thoroughly enjoyable. Allison Hayes achieved screen immortality as Nancy Archer, the wealthy, dipsomaniac wife of shameless philanderer Harry Archer (William Hudson). When she witnesses the crash landing of a alien spaceship -- whose occupant is a 30-foot giant, dressed in the manner of a medieval Frenchmen! -- Nancy goes to the local sheriff (George Douglas) with her story, only to be laughed off as a drunken crank. Even the local TV anchorman makes cruel fun of Nancy on his nightly newscast. Meanwhile, hubby Harry is making whoopee at a roadhouse with his latest tootsie, Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). Not long afterward, Nancy, who's been exposed to the radiation of the spaceship, begins to feel queasy. Within a few days, she has grown to the height of 50 feet and is lumbering around the countryside clad only in a gigantic towel, smashing houses and trees in search of her faithless husband ("HARRY-HARRY!!!") Hilarious in its ineptitude (the special effects are particularly shoddy), Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is impossible to dislike, which cannot be said of its slicker but less entertaining 1993 cable-TV remake (with Darryl Hannah in the title role). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Famous circus clown Rollo (Billy Wayne) is slated to appear on a charity telethon hosted by Clark Kent (George Reeves). Unfortunately, Rollo is waylaid by his crooked ex-partner Crackers (Peter Brocco), who dons a clown disguise in order to take Rollo's place and steal the donations. With Rollo aiming a concealed weapon at Clark in full view of the TV audience, how will Mr. Kent be able to transform himself into Superman and save the day? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of several sci-fi/fantasy efforts produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, the film's only drawback is the inconsistency of the Colorama color process. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Eliot Ness may have gotten lots of publicity (especially long after the fact) for breaking the Capone mob, but as Joseph H. Lewis' The Undercover Man reminds us, it was the accountants and the numbers-crunchers that brought down Capone and his mob. Frank Warren (Glenn Ford) started out as an accountant, but now serves as an investigator for the Treasury Department. His job has frequently required him to go undercover, masquerading as a criminal to get the goods on the top-level tax-law violators that his unit targets. But now his assignment is to gather evidence on the operations of the nation's number-one crime boss and get proof of the income that he and his lieutenants are not declaring, and this proves not only frustrating but dangerous. Potential stoolies are murdered and witnesses intimidated, and when one otherwise "respectable" lawyer (Barry Kelley) starts mentioning Warren's wife (Nina Foch) in casual conversation, he takes the hint. He's ready to quit until the mother (Esther Minciotti) of a witness-turned-victim tells him about what life was like in Italy under the Black Hand, and why she came to America to raise her sons. Warren and his men (James Whitmore, David Wolfe) make one last attempt to get the proof they need, tracing signatures and handwriting to get evidence implicating a small man in the operation, using it to turn him and going for bigger fish. Finally, even the shyster lawyer who has been dogging Warren every step of the way ends up in the sights of the feds, and the mob turns its attention to getting rid of this new "liability" and taking care of Warren as well. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz adopts the same prismatic-flashback technique he'd used so well in Citizen Kane for the 1949 filmic soap opera A Woman's Secret. Based on a novel by Vicki (Grand Hotel) Baum, the film begins with the shooting of nightclub singer Susan Caldwell (Gloria Grahame). Marian Washburn (Maureen O'Hara), who'd coached Susan into the Big Time, confesses to the shooting. Neither Marian's piano-player friend Luke Jordan (Melvyn Douglas) nor police inspector Fowler (Jay C. Flippen) completely buy her story, and it is their probing investigation of the facts that sparks the flashback parade. The film details in sometimes clever, sometimes maudlin fashion the perils of living one's life vicariously through the accomplishments of others. Though filmed before director Nicholas Ray's "official" debut feature They Live by Night, A Woman's Secret was released afterward. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After supervising several of the best "psychological" horror films ever made, producer Val Lewton shifted his base of operations from RKO to Paramount. Lewton's first project at his new studio -- and the last -- was My Own True Love, an uncharacteristically sentimental offering. Based on the novel by Yolanda Foldes, the story focuses on the romantic dilemma facing ex-POW Joan Clews (Phyllis Calvert). On the verge of marrying middle-aged Clive Heath (Melvyn Douglas), Joan is introduced to Heath's war-veteran son Michael (Philip Friend). Sympathizing with Michael's wartime loss of his Malayan wife and child, Joan falls in love with him. Unwilling to betray his own father, Michael elects to commit suicide, but that's not quite how things turn out. My Own True Love is proof positive that romantic melodrama was not Val Lewton's forte. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, the good-guys keep the bad-guys from taking over the water-rights of a group of trail drivers in the Santa Fe Territory. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Celebrity fan-dancer Sally Rand, the undraped sensation of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, was the star of the 1938 Grand National production The Sunset Murder Case. Borrowing a page from the Bob Steele westerns, La Rand is cast as a nightclub dancer who hopes to avenge her father's murderer. She gets a job in the establishment run by the man she holds responsible for the killing, maintaining a harmless front by performing a nightly exotic dance (which by 1990s standards is about as erotic as a plastic shower curtain). In his first leading role, Reed Hadley plays the hero who rescues Sally in the nick of time, while Henry King's orchestra provides the music. In perpetual reissue well into the 1940s and 1950s (this synopsis is based on its 1941 re-release), Sunset Murder Case was sometimes retitled The Sunset Strip Case on the grind-house circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Don "Red" Barry may be the star of The Tulsa Kid, but the film's acting honors are won with nary a struggle by that shameless old barnstormer Noah Beery Sr. A protegee of notorious outlaw Montana (Beery), young Tom Benton decides to stay on the good side of the Law upon reaching maturity. Montana, however, has no such inclination to reform, the result being a climactic gun duel between the ageing gunman and his former pupil. In addition, Tom finds time to solve the financial woes of brother-and-sister farmers Bob and Mary Wallace (David Durand, Luana Walters). Musical relief is provided by Jimmy Wakely's Roughriders. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Former Latin Lover Ricardo Cortez directed this farfetched but fast-paced gambling melodrama in which girl reporter Julie Reynolds (Lynn Bari) attempts to infiltrate a crooked gaming establishment by pretending to be a naïve girl from Texas. Julie's plans go awry, however, when one of the owners, Steve Walker (Donald Woods), recognizes her as his childhood sweetheart. Although Steve's mentor, The Judge (C. Aubrey Smith), warns him of the consequences, the young man insists on resuming his relationship with Julie, a decision that almost costs him his life when rival gangster Marty Connors (Richard Lane) decides to move in on the operation. But Steve and Julie pull a fast one on Marty and The Judge skips the City of Chance on a floating casino. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

James Dunn and Frances Gifford were husband and wife when they costarred in PRC's Hold That Woman. Dunn plays Jimmy Parker, ace operative for Skip Tracers Ltd., a process-serving firm. Repossessing a radio from a recalcitrant debtor, Jimmy finds a fortune in stolen jewels hidden inside the box. Arrested for theft, Parker spends the rest of the picture trying to recover both the jewels and the radio, the better to clear his name and keep his job. Frances Gifford (evidently the "woman" of the title) plays Parker's business partner and erstwhile sweetheart Mary Mulvaney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Despite its comparatively upbeat ending, Let Us Live is one of the darkest and gloomiest films of the late 1930s. As working stiff Brick Tennant, Henry Fonda is once more cast as a misunderstood victim of society. Held up during a robbery-murder, Brick is himself convicted of the crime on the basis of circumstantial evidence and faulty eyewitness testimony. The authorities remain unsympathetic to the hero's plight throughout, automatically assuming that just because he's poor he's likely to be a killer. Only his sweetheart Mary Roberts (Maureen O'Sullivan) believes in Brick's innocence, and it is she who sets the wheels in motion for the ultimate capture of the genuine culprit, a scant few minutes before Brick's "long walk" to the electric chair. Based on Joseph F. Dineen's Murder in Massachusetts, the real-life story of a near-fatal miscarriage of justice in 1934, Let Us Live refuses to compromise its pessimistic tone with a phony "all smiles" fadeout. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi