Whitey Haupt Movies
- 1957
Kim Novak is clearly out of her depth as legendary Broadway actress Jeanne Eagels, but one can't fault her for trying very hard. As this filmed biography gets under way, wide-eyed Eagels finds herself stranded in a tank town by a smooth-talking traveling salesman. Carnival operator Sal Satori hires Eagels as a kootch dancer, but her ambition is to become a serious dramatic actress. When she and Sal reach New York, she signs up for acting lessons under the tutelage of a Mme. Neilson (Agnes Moorehead). Before long, Jeanne is understudying on Broadway, and in 1922 she takes audiences and critics by storm with her unforgettable portrayal of Sadie Thompson in Rain, a role she landed by ruthlessly double-crossing the actress originally slated for the part (Virginia Grey). When her rival commits suicide, the chastened Jeanne turns to booze and drugs to assuage her conscience. The real-life Jeanne Eagels died of narcotics addiction in 1929, a fact that the Hollywood version skims over. Eagels' family sued Columbia Pictures over the "distortions" offered in Jeanne Eagels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Novak, Jeff Chandler, (more)
- 1955
You're Never Too Young is a slapstick-with-songs remake of the 1944 Ray Milland/Ginger Rogers vehicle The Major and the Minor. Dean Martin plays the Milland part, while Ginger's shoes are filled by...Jerry Lewis? Lewis plays an apprentice barber who inadvertently crosses a homicidal jewel thief (Raymond Burr), and equally inadvertently hightails it out of town with the crook's jewels in his possession. Desperate to escape the crook's clutches, and lacking the necessary funds for a train ticket, Lewis disguises himself as a 12-year-old boy so he can travel half fare. He latches onto Dean, a music teacher heading for an all-girls school. After innumerable routines sparked by Lewis's adolescent disguise, the jewel thief catches up with him, leading to a rollicking climactic speedboat chase. Dean Martin has plenty of opportunities to serenade leading lady Diana Lynn (who'd played a supporting role in The Major and the Minor), while Jerry Lewis is in peak form doing his usual "waah-waah-waah" schtick. The original Billy Wilder/Charles Brackett script for The Major and the Minor was reshaped into You're Never Too Young by future bestselling novelist Sidney Sheldon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, (more)
- 1954
This sixth in the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series produced by Universal stars (as usual) Marjorie Main as Ma and Percy Kilbride as Pa. After a whirlwind international tour, the contest-winning rustics and their fifteen children return to their old farm. The eldest Kettle son (Brett Halsey) has a chance of winning a scholarship prize to a prestigious university, prompting the Kettles to try to impress a representative (Alan Mobray) of the magazine offering the scholarship. The magazine man is arrogant beyond belief, but a warm and fuzzy Christmas celebration humanizes the pompous visitor, so everything ends happily (after the expected slapstick finale, that is!) Considered the best of the "Kettle" series, Ma and Pa Kettle at Home is worth the admission price if only to hear the veddy British Alan Mobray say the word "Ma". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, (more)
- 1951
The title character (Paul Douglas) is a pro football player of the early 1940s at the end of his career. Douglas is offered a coaching job, but he stubbornly turns it down in hopes of making a comeback. Day after day he sits in his den watching movies of his past gridiron triumph, much to the dismay of his wife (Joan Bennett). When she chews him out for living in the past, Douglas walks out and takes up with a younger woman (Linda Darnell). To prove that he's still in top shape, Douglas takes a job as a professional wrestler. His new girl friend, realizing that Douglas is miserable without his wife, conspires with the other woman to get Douglas back on his old team. The wartime need for warm bodies allows Douglas a few more years in football, but eventually he gets wise to himself and takes the coaching job. Ironically, Guy Who Came Back star Paul Douglas was in his youth an football pro who retired from active play to become a sports announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Douglas, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1951
Originally slated for release by Eagle Lion, Skipalong Rosenbloom purchased by United Artists -- who gave it a cursory theatrical release before selling the film to television. As it turned out, TV was the appropriate medium for this heavy-handed satire of video westerns. Former boxing champ Maxie Rosenbloom plays a lampooned variation of Hopalong Cassidy, with all the standard western cliches in evidence. "Skipalong" Rosenbloom is depicted as the star of a heavily commercialized TV kiddie show, presided over by a smarmy announcer. The plot proper finds "Skipalong" at odds with western bad guy Butcher Baer, played by Rosenbloom's onetime ring opponent Max Baer. Others in the cast are Jackie Coogan, Fuzzy Knight and Hillary Brooke, who seem to be having fun with the dreadful material foisted upon them. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, Max Baer, (more)
