Doris Dowling Movies

Attractive history professor Laura Bardsley (Jeannie Wilson) arrives in Hazzard County in search of an authentic Civil War strongbox, said to contain a huge army payroll. Naturally, Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) is anxious to get his lunch-hooks on the strongbox himself--and so, unfortunately, are a pair of crooks who tend to settle arguments with bullets. The original TV Guide ads for this episode suggest that guest star Clifton James had permanently joined the cast in the role of Sheriff Lester Crabbe, but this might have been a strategy by the series' producers to lure James Best--still boycotting the show because of what he regarded as hazardous working conditions--back into his familiar role as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At a demolition site, a human skeleton is found encased in cement. This is precisely the evidence needed by Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) to reopen a "cold" murder investigation--eighteen years after the killing took place. Veteran character actors Ned Glass and Marjorie Bennett) are prominently featured in this episode, which was initially slated to air on February 22, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Maureen Stapleton stars as a housewife who, after 26 years of marriage, is searching for new meaning in life. She inaugurates a weekly round robin at her home, encouraging six of her best friends to seriously discuss their difficulties. While the friends draw closer during these sessions, Stapleton only becomes more acutely aware of the severe problems in her own household. Writer Fay Kanin, winner of two Emmies for her work on Tell Me Where It Hurts, appears as one of Stapleton's friends. This TV movie was originally broadcast March 12, 1974 as a General Electric Theatre special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comedian Soupy Sales makes his feature film debut in this silly outing as a janitor cleaning up at Cape Kennedy. He has been specially assigned to make sure that none of the nuclear warheads there get dusty. It's not easy because spies run around spreading dust. One day the janitor stumbles into an experiment and ends up with some very strange abilities: he can fly and women cannot stay away from him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Janet Brent (Mala Powers), a close friend of Perry Mason's secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale), is being blackmailed by Edward Franklin (John Dall), an employee of Janet's husband Alton (Wesley Addy). Franklin has in his possession some faked photos that could ruin the Brents' marriage and reputation unless Janet comes up with $25,000. Later on, Franklin is murdered and Janet is accused of the crime--with Della facing charges as an accessory. As if Perry doesn't have enough on his hands with this case, there's also the little matter of a Red Chinese slave ring complicating the plotline (which explains the preponderance of Asian-American actors in the supporting cast). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Announcing that his girl Angie (Doris Dowling) won't marry him until he goes legitimate, bookie Larry Chetnick (Robert Loggia) wangles a job from Steve Bregomick (Will Kuluva), a family friend who runs a cash-only exporting business. Soon, however, Larry reverts to form and embezzles a great deal of money from Steve, intending to skip the country with Angie before his boss finds out. But at the last moment, a contrite Larry sees the error of his ways...or does he? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sara Howard (Doris Dowling) has inherited the lumber mill owned by her late husband, a man much older than she. Claiming that her business is being systematically sabotaged by her stepson Ben, who had been cut out of her husband's will, Sara turns to Paladin (Richard Boone) for help. The hotheaded Ben is played by Burt Metcalfe, who later served as producer of the classic TV sitcom M*A*S*H. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cocky Twig Webster (Mark Damon) is the leader of a gang of wealthy teenagers who go around crashing - and trashing - parties, just for kicks. And where are Webster's parents during all this antisocial behavior? Well, Twig's mom (Doris Dowling) happens to be the drunken, bleary-eyed center of attention at one of the parties invaded by the gang. At the sight of her son and his friends, Mrs. Webster -- and the rest of the neglectful neighborhood adults -- come to the sudden realization that they'd better start spending a lot more time being "real" parents to their kids. The specter of impending tragedy looms throughout Party Crashers, if for no other reason than the fact that this was the final film for ex-child-actor Bobby Driscoll, who died of a drug overdose in 1968, and for onetime Paramount leading lady Frances Farmer, a recovering alcoholic who'd spent the past 15 years in and out of mental institutions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anyone interested in making a low-budget movie ought to see Orson Welles' screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello, a striking example of how much can be achieved with very little money. For years, stories about this singularly troubled movie circulated more widely than the film itself; Welles began shooting Othello without securing full financing, so he would gather his cast, assemble a crew, and shoot until his money ran out. He would then take an acting assignment to raise some cash, reassemble his cast, and start filming again until the latest batch of money was gone. For the sequence featuring the murder of Cassio, Welles (depending on who tells the story) either couldn't pay the bill for the costumes or they just didn't arrive in time, so he reset the scene in a Turkish bath with his players wrapped in towels borrowed from their hotel. This process went on for four years; by the time Welles was done, the film was on its third Desdemona, and the director, himself, had to dub several voices, since most of the dialogue was recorded after the fact. Remarkably, the finished film not only isn't a disaster, it's a triumph, that rare example of a movie based on a Shakespeare play that's as exciting to look at as it is to listen to. While Welles pared the Bard's story of jealousy, betrayal, and murder to the bone (this version clocks in at a mere 92 minutes), the film's striking compositions and energetic quick-cutting allow the camera to tell more of the story than almost any other Shakespeare adaptation. Repeat viewers will see that Welles picked many of his camera angles to obscure the fact that Othello's mighty army was merely a handful of extras, but the unexpected bonus is a lean, muscular look that's the perfect match for the film's brisk narrative style. The spare, but powerful, visuals feel like a product of Expressionism, not a low budget, and the images have atmosphere to spare. In addition, it's truly a pleasure to hear Welles' rich baritone wrap itself around Shakespeare's dialogue; his con brio performance as the noble Moor undone by jealousy and betrayal has the impact of a fine stage rendition without overplaying its hand. Michael MacLiammoir is his equal as the conniving (and lustful) Iago, and had this film been more widely seen, it could well have sparked the successful screen career he so obviously deserved. And Michael Laurence is fine in an often witty turn as Cassio (with a verbal assistance from Welles). Only Suzanne Cloutier as the virtuous but wronged Desdemona lacks the forceful presence of the rest of the cast (though given how much of the role was edited away, it may not be entirely her fault). Welles' daughter spearheaded a campaign to restore and re-release Othello in 1992; and while the digital sheen of the re-recorded score sometimes makes for an odd contrast to the occasionally scratchy recordings of the dialogue, the new edition of the film looks better than ever (both on the big screen and on video) and is highly recommended to anyone who loves good acting or good cinema. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Marion Gering, whose credits extended back to the silent era, must have worked overtime trying to inject entertainment value in Sarumba. Despite the unpromising material given him, for the most part Gering succeeded. Filmed on location in Havana, the story concerns an AWOL sailor (Tommy Wonder) and a beautiful cabaret dancer (Doris Dowling). Though the girl is affianced to a wealthy man (Michael Whalen), the sailor wins out. The film's best moments occur on the dance floor, with star Tommy Wonder handily out-tapping any and all comers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally released as Riso Amaro, Bitter Rice was one of the landmark films of the postwar Italian neorealist movement. Silvana Mangano portrays one of hundreds of women toiling slavishly in the Po Valley rice fields. She is courted by two men: respectable Raf Vallone and no-good fugitive from justice Vittorio Gassman. Mangano chooses Gassman, a decision which brings disaster not only to her but to her co-workers. The rice-field scenes are realistic enough to pass muster as documentary footage, though they tend to be undercut in the English-language version by the amateurish dubbing. Critics were unanimous in their praise for Bitter Rice; their words were, however, ignored by the male fans who came to see the film solely on the strength of the now-famous production still of the buxom Silvana Mangano standing in the rice field wearing tight shorts and torn black stockings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspense film, a detective must find the murderer of a rich and jealous wife and her husband, a doctor with a tendency to work late into the night. After many missteps and false leads, he finally finds himself confronted with a sexy former patient of the deceased doc. Is she the guilty party, or does the determined detective find another guilty party? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide