Sharon Douglas Movies
- 1974
Syndicate chieftan Rudy Keppler (John Vernon) leaves the security of his Caribbean hideway and sneaks back into the States. He plans to kill Nick Thomas (Vic Mohica), the young hood who has murdered Keppler's brother in a Mob power play. Striking while the iron is hot, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) hopes to persuade Keppler to get even in a nonviolent fashion by testifying against his former colleagues--but Keppler isn't buying. A young Joan Van Ark appears as a duplicitous Syndicate moll. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Our Hearts Were Growing Up is the sequel to Paramount's surprise 1944 hit Our Hearts Were Young and Gay. The first film was based on the memoirs of actress Cornelia Otis Skinner; the sequel was inspired by the fevered imaginations of the screenwriters. Gail Russell plays Ms. Skinner, while Diana Lynn costars as Cornelia's best friend Emily Kimbrough. This time the girls visit the college boyfriends, only to become involve with a pair of benign bootleggers, portrayed by Brian Donlevy and William Demarest. Their misguided association with the criminal results in consternation for Cornelia's father, the eminent stage actor Otis Skinner (Charlie Ruggles). Ironically, Gail Russell, who played Cornelia Otis Skinner in both of the Our Hearts films, was cast opposite the real Ms. Skinner in the 1943 ghost chiller The Uninvited--and was nearly murdered by the older actress in the course of the plotline! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gail Russell, Diana Lynn, (more)
An early low-budget spin on Ten Little Indians, this cheap but entertaining PRC production features a wonderful cast of familiar B-movie faces, particularly George Zucco and Lionel Atwill. Zucco plays a man wrongfully imprisoned after being framed for his wife's murder by one of his colleagues. After his release, he joins forces with a mad inventor to carry out his long-awaited plans of revenge, inviting a group of his former associates to a remote island mansion -- which is enveloped in a thick perpetual fog and rigged with a plethora of lethal booby-traps -- in an effort to reveal and destroy the guilty party. Rather cheap-looking but boasting some remarkable special effects, this film is worth a look for its pairing of the wonderfully hammy Atwill and Zucco. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, (more)
Johnny Jersey (Robert Lowery) learns The Navy Way in this typical Pine-Thomas actioner. A product of the streets, Johnny has no time for authority and protocol, thus has a lot of difficulty adjusting to the regimen at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station (where much of the film was shot). Gradually, however, Johnny comes to appreciate the value of cooperation and teamwork. It helps a bit, of course, that he falls for pretty WAVE Ellen Sayre (Jean Parker). But even after losing Ellen to fellow seaman Mal Randall (Bill Henry), Johnny remains loyal to the Navy and all it stands for (which is evidently quite a lot!) Not so much a movie as a patriotic tract, The Navy Way is definitely a product of its times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery, Jean Parker, (more)
- 1942
In this crime drama, a remake of Forgotten Faces (1936), a convict busts out of prison to protect his daughter from her conniving mother so that the girl will be able to marry a decent guy in the future. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Donlevy, Miriam Hopkins, (more)
