Arthur Marshall
- 1963
The latest quarry of Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) is Ed "The Duke" Monte (Torin Thatcher), who has broken out of a Federal penitentiary to bump off the stoolie who turned him over to the Feds. Monte suspects that he might have been betrayed by his own son-in-law Lou Sultan (Paul Richards), but he doesn't want to run the risk of alienating his daughter Barbara (Peggy Ann Garner) by killing Lou himself--especially now that he is slowly dying from a bullet wound. Thus, Monte dispatches his henchman Janos (Karl Lucas) to determine if Lou is guilty--and if so, to turn Barbara against her husband. But Barbara claims to be loyal to her husband and renounces Janos' story...until an unexpected incident transforms her from innocent bystander to "giant killer". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
From at least the 1930s on to the 1970s, the upbeat protestant minister, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, ministered to the well-heeled and upwardly mobile of the United States from his pulpit at the Riverside church on Fifth Avenue in New York City. At least as positive-thinking as the similarly cheery Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People), his lift-yourself-by-your-bootstraps message of good cheer was perceived as unorthodox by many within the churches he grew up in. After many decades of preaching his message, summed up in his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking, he was enshrined as a sort of secular saint. His influence reached to Presidents and corporate heads, and his name became synonymous with a kind of extraverted wholesomeness which has long since vanished. This biopic traces his career in the most respectful possible manner. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Diana Hyland, (more)
- 1960
In New Orleans during Mardi Gras, Bart (Jack Kelly) witnesses the murder (or more accurately, the execution) of a wine merchant named Agostino (Joe Garcio). But when he tries to report the crime, Bart is accused of being the murderer himself. It soon develops that the killing was ordered by the local branch of the sinister "Black Hand" (a 1960s TV code-word for the Mafia), whose minions are determined to shut Bart up permanently before he can persuade someone to believe in his innocence. This episode was cowritten by actor Leo Gordon, who'd appeared in previous Maverick installments in the recurring role of Big Mike McComb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Bette Davis guest stars in this episode, which was directed by her former Now, Voyager co-star Paul Henreid. Davis is cast as Miss Fox, a wealthy woman living in a luxury apartment. Taking a liking to elevator operator Eddie McMahon (James Congdon), Miss Fox hires him to walk her dog. Later on, Eddie approaches Miss Fox, asking for a generous loan. She refuses -- and shortly thereafter, she is brutally attacked on the street by an unseen assailant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Los Angeles is being terrorized by the "rattlesnake bandit", who preys upon young couples, pointlessly beating them up after robbing them (one of his female victims is now permanently blind). Descriptions of the bandit are fragmentary, but Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have one palpable clue to go on: the criminal is occasionally seen in the company of a blonde female. Though the bandit manages to elude the cops for several nights running, he finally outsmarts himself when he holds up his girlfriend's ex-boss. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of January 4, 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Beauty contest winner Marjorie Cluny (Lisabeth Hush) is really steamed when she finds out that her big prize, a Hollywood movie contract, is a hoax. After angrily confronting contest sponsor Frank Patton (Douglas Evans), Marjorie abruptly disappears--not surprising, since Patton has been murdered. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is puzzled when two different men hire him to locate the elusive Ms. Cluny. This episode is based on a 1934 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner), which was previously adapted as a theatrical feature starring Warren William as Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
A good girl goes bad in the face of peer pressure in this exploitation outing from the late '50s. The girl is new in town and before her first day of school is over finds herself face-to-face with a scary group of juvenile delinquent girls with dangerously conical breasts, and bad attitudes to spare. They demand she join their group, but she hesitates. Later she asks the nice college boy who jerks sodas at the local malt shop for his opinion. Of course he tells her to stay away, but soon the lure of popularity grows too strong and she joins the gang. She has great fun being a hooliganette. Unfortunately, the fun turns deadly serious when the gangs leader gets killed. Good campy fun. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne Lime, Brett Halsey, (more)
- 1954
In this drama, a filmmaker emigrates to the States and ends up marrying the studio head's daughter. Later, he gets into trouble when he refuses to give the studio prima donna the part she wants. For revenge she slips him a mickey, frames him, and the blackmails him for $50,000. The desperate director does the only thing he can--he kills her and blames a nearby vagrant. In the end, he is captured and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Haas, Lance Fuller, (more)
- 1952
Also known as The Tall Lie, For Men Only was a hard-hitting if somewhat gratuitous expose of college fraternity "hazing." A young man is rushed by a popular and well-established frat, only to discover that part of the initiation ceremony requires him to kill a puppy. He drops out of the fraternity and tells the world its "secrets". The fraternity leader, played by Russell Johnson, organizes a campaign to drive the pledge off the campus--which results in the pledge's death. Professor Paul Henried investigates, and learns that the fraternity's ties to the business community are so strong that he can do nothing to stop the cruelty of the hazing process. Henried's only recourse is to expose arrogant frat leader Johnson as a coward with feet of clay--which he does, in a breast-beating scene that will surprise those who know Russell Johnson only as the mild-mannered "Professor" on Gilligan's Island. Made inexpensively, For Men Only is competently directed by star Paul Henried. The only question is: Why should the non-collegiates in the audience care anything about the iniquities of fraternity life? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Henreid, Robert Sherman, (more)
