Ellen Drew Movies

This unusual western drama stars Ben Cooper as Jeff Blaine ,a twelve-year-old boy growing up sans a mother or a father in the small town of Plainsville. Jeff's mom died during his infancy, and his dad Nate (Dane Clark) left not long after and became an outlaw. With both of the parents absent, Jeff's aunt, Ruth Sewall (Ellen Drew) decided to step in and raise the young boy. As the tale opens, Nate turns up at Ruth's home and reveals his recent involvement in a gunfight. Because the law is on his tail, his time is rapidly running out. Though Nate hopes to make amends with his son, Jeff stringently rejects him, and Ruth backs up the boy's sentiments by politely asking Nate to leave, then returning the meager amount of support money that Nate sent to Jeff. In time, father and son do begin to make amends, but several obstacles threaten to stand in the way of a peaceful long-term relationship between them, including the violence of Nate's past, and the hostility of Ruth, who soon demonstrates that she's willing to do almost anything to make sure that the outlaw father doesn't take permanent custody of his son. ~ All Movie Guide

Stars in My Crown is an episodic movie about a rural Southern community in the 19th century. Though the film features a number of characters, it focuses on a preacher who moves into the city and helps solve the town's problems. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Samuel Fuller wrote and directed this lively drama based on the real-life adventures of James Addison Reavis, one of the most ambitious swindlers of the 19th Century. In 1871, Reavis (played by Vincent Price) began hatching an elaborate scheme to claim the Arizona territory (then three decades away from statehood) as his own. At the time, land grants established during Spanish rule of Arizona were still valid, and one rainy evening Reavis visited Pepito Peralta (Vladimir Sokoloff) and his daughter Sofia (Karen Kester) with some exciting news. While working as a real estate clerk, Reavis found documents which granted ownership of nearly the whole of the Arizona territory to one Miguel Peralta, who was named Baron of the new land by Spain's rulers, and as his heir Sofia will become Baroness when she reaches adulthood, giving her claim to the territory. After giving Pepito and Sofia money and hiring a governess (Beulah Bondi) to educate the girl in a manner befitting the Barony, Reavis sailed for Spain on business; unknown to the Peraltas, Reavis posed first as a monk and then as a gypsy in order to revise old land grant documents to conform with his story. Several years later, Reavis returned to Pepito and Sofia's home, and asked the young woman (now played by Ellen Drew) to marry him. Once wed, Reavis presented his carefully forged paperwork to the Arizona authorities which gave him and his bride royal claim to the land; however, not everyone believed Reavis's elaborate tale, and John Griff (Reed Hadley), an expert in falsified documents, was brought in to examine the evidence. The Baron of Arizona gave Vincent Price a rare leading role in a non-horror vehicle, and he cited it as one of his favorite performances on film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Great Missouri Raid stars Wendell Corey and MacDonald Carey as famed Kansas outlaws Frank and Jesse James. Once more, the James Boys are depicted sympathetically as victims of circumstance forced into a life of crime. Joining Frank and Jesse on their bandit raids are the Younger Brothers, portrayed by Bruce Bennett and Bill Williams. The heavy of the piece is Union major Trowbridge (Ward Bond), who seeks vengeance after Frank and Jesse kill Trowbridge's brother in self defense. Whit Bissell is appropriately furtive and beady-eyed as Bob Ford, the "dirty little coward" who'd eventually shoot Jesse in the back. Interestingly enough, Wendell Corey would play Jesse James along more villainous lines in the 1959 Bob Hope farce Alias Jesse James. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three years after song-and-dance man Dick Powell reshaped his nice-guy image by playing hard-boiled gumshoe Phillip Marlowe in Murder My Sweet, he returned to film noir with this crime-based thriller. Johnny O'Clock (Dick Powell) and his partner Pete Marchettis (Thomas Gomez) operate a gambling casino that has seen better days. Chuck Blayden (Jim Bannon), a cop on the take, wants in on the casino, and he makes friends with Pete while trying to convince him that Johnny, the smarter of the two, should go. When Chuck's girlfriend Harriet (Nina Foch) is found dead, a supposed suicide, his sister Nancy (Evelyn Keyes) smells a rat, especially after Chuck skips town. Nancy is convinced that her sister was murdered, and she asks Johnny to help her prove it. Johnny, who already has a number of women in his life -- including Nelle (Ellen Drew), Pete's wife -- figures that one more can't hurt and agrees to help her. But Police Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb), convinced that Johnny and Pete were behind Harriet's death, is making it hard for Johnny to do much investigating, and matters get worse when Chuck's body is found floating in the river. Screenwriter Robert Rossen made his directorial debut with this film, 14 years later, he would return to this film's tough, gritty style for his best picture, The Hustler. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this musical, a struggling songwriter endeavors to make it big in Tin Pan Alley. She is befriended by the widow of a famous composer. The budding lyricist manages to convince the widow to allow her to make some small changes in her husband's music. She does, and it becomes a tremendous success. Songs include "Oh What a Lovely Dream" (Milton Drake, Ben Oakland), "It's a Blue World" (Bob Wright, Chet Forrest), and "I Don't Know How You Did It" (Doris Fisher, Allan Roberts). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Man Alive is an inventive and consistently amusing farce dominated by stars Pat O'Brien and Adolphe Menjou. The former plays Speed, a moderately successful garage owner. Wrongly convinced that his wife Connie (Ellen Drew) has fallen in love with his old friend Gordon (Rudy Vallee), Speed goes off on a toot. During a long and drunken night, he gives his clothes and his car to an old tramp named Willie the Wino (Jack Norton). With Speed as his passenger, Willie piles the car into a river; he is drowned, but Speed is rescued by showboat entrepreneur Kismet (Menjou). When the car is recovered, it is assumed that the body inside is Speed's. At first determined to prove to his grieving "widow" that he's still alive, Speed is convinced by Kismet to test Connie's loyalty, leading to a series of zany consequences. Former "Our Gang" member Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer figures prominently in the hectic closing scenes. Alas, Man Alive failed to make back its cost when first released, convincing RKO Radio to lay off such whimsical fare in the future. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Strange Confession was the fourth in Universal's "Inner Sanctum" B-picture series, all of which starred Lon Chaney Jr. Chaney plays an idealistic writer who allows himself to be used by a politically ambitious publishing mogul (J. Carroll Naish). Not only does the publisher distort the sociological content of Chaney's works for his own purposes, but he also steals the writer's wife (Brenda Joyce). Chaney exacts a grisly revenge and turns himself over to the police. This is a scene-for-scene remake of the 1934 Claude Rains vehicle, The Man who Reclaimed His Head, which in turn was based on a play by Jean Bart. Universal was forced to completely withdraw the remake from theatrical and TV distribution when the studio realized that it no longer controlled the rights to the original Bart play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Pine-Thomas actioner stars Robert Lowery as two-fisted forest ranger Don Bradley. Promoted to supervisor, Bradley finds his success hollow when his childhood sweetheart Kay (Ellen Drew) marries big-time gangster Steve Downey (Regis Toomey). In soon develops that Kay has wedded Downey against her will, and is being held prisoner in a remote mountain cabin. Bradley then dashes to the rescue, which culminates in a perilous car chase through dangerous mountain passages. Eddie Quillan provides comic relief as Bradley's pal Willie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Impostor is one of French film favorite Jean Gabin's two wartime Hollywood vehicles. Adapted by Stephen Longstreet and Marc Connelly from a screenplay by director Julien Duvivier, the story concerns a condemned murderer named Clement (Jean Gabin), who is "liberated" when the Nazis bomb the French jail that holds him. During his escape, Clement comes across the body of a French soldier; he steals the dead man's uniform and identification papers, then hides from the law by joining the Resistance movement. Clement's new identity and purpose in life reforms him, and in due time he has sacrificed himself in service of his country. The huge cast includes such familiar Hollywood faces as Richard Whorf, Ellen Drew, Allyn Joslyn, Ralph Morgan, John Qualen, Milburn Stone, Fritz Leiber and Peter Cookson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by silent-film comedian Harold Lloyd, My Favorite Spy is a vehicle for bespectacled bandleader Kay Kyser, who resembles Lloyd more than somewhat. Just before embarking on his honeymoon with new bride Terry (Ellen Drew), Kyser is drafted into the Army. Proving to be a monumentally inefficient soldier, our hero is nonetheless pressed into service by US intelligence officer Major Allen (Moroni Olsen). It seems that Nazi agents have been passing secrets in the nightclub where Kyser's band performs, and Allen wants Kay to act as a counter-espionage agent. To maintain his cover, Kay is discharged from the army in disgrace, and is ordered to noisily make himself a "security risk", so that Nazi chieftan Robinson (Robert Armstrong) will invite Kay to join his spy operation. Trouble is, Kyser must keep his espionage activities secret from everyone-even his wife Terry, who is growing ever more impatient over Kay's unexplained absences from her boudoir. Making matters worse, Kyser is teamed with glamorous blonde secret agent Connie (Jane Wyman), whom Terry understandably suspects of being Kay's clandestine sweetheart. A multitude of slapstick situations follow, culminating in a wild chase through an abandoned theater, with Kay Kyser making like Harold Lloyd to rescue his wife from the Nazis. As directed by Tay Garnett, Kyser's ongoing marital woes seem more pathetic than funny; in addition, his Secret Service cohorts come off as the most sadistic bunch of "good guys" in screen history, bursting with laughter every time Kay's wife throws him out of their apartment. Even so, My Favorite Spy has a few genuine laughs, especially in the final reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Andrew Jackson is very happy to serve as the secretary of the society that honors his presidential namesake until he is arrested for embezzling from the town coffers. With no one to speak on his behalf, poor innocent Jackson is tossed into jail. There he finds himself haunted by several ghosts, including Presidents Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Each of this sagacious specters offers his advice to the incarcerated Andrew. Then Jesse James shows up and helps Andrew, the only one who can see them, escape and with their help, bring the real crooks to justice. When not helping Andrew, the ghosts have great fun adjusting to the modern world. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide