Ronnie Ralph Movies

Based on a true story, Mister 880 is the whimsical tale of an elderly gentleman (Edmund Gwenn) who dabbles in counterfeiting. He makes only enough "funny money" to support himself, but the fact that his work is so amateurish (he can't even spell "Washington") arouses the indignation of the treasury department. Burt Lancaster, the hard-nosed treasury agent put on the case, is determined to prosecute the miscreant to the full extent of the law. In tracking down a lead, Lancaster falls in love with Dorothy McGuire, a recipient of one of the phony bills. Lancaster discovers that McGuire lives in the same building as Gwenn, and after piecing together the clues arrests the old fellow. Softened by Gwenn's naivete, Lancaster and Ms. McGuire arrange for a compassionate lawyer to lessen what would otherwise be a stiff prison sentence. Mister 880 was to have starred Walter Huston as the ingenuous counterfeiter, but Huston died just before filming started. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blondie's Big Deal was the 24th entry in Columbia's popular "Blondie" series. Since the actors were getting a bit too long-in-tooth to be thoroughly convincing in their characterizations, Big Deal is for the most part played on a farcical level. This time around, Dagwood (Arthur Lake) invents a nonflammable paint, much to the delight of his boss Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan), who hopes to snag a lucrative contract. Dishonest competitors plan to sabotage Dag's invention, but Blondie (Penny Singleton) and neighborhood boy-genius Rollo (Alan Dinehart III) do a little detective work and save the day. Director Edward Bernds handles the material in the manner of his "Three Stooges" 2-reelers: At one point, Blondie is decorously tied to a chair by the villains, while at another juncture Dagwood causes an outsized slapstick explosion. Bernds' breezy approach may not have pleased diehard "Blondie" fans, but it turned out to be a much-needed booster shot for this flagging film series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This slightly bowdlerized version of Irving Shulman's The Amboy Dukes was used by Universal-International to showcase several of its new male contractees. Set in the slums of Brooklyn, the film follows the exploits of the Amboy Dukes, a teenaged street gang. Foremost among the Dukes is Frank Cusack (Peter Fernandez), who loses all opportunity to escape his grim existence when he accidentally kills his high-school teacher. The film tries to demonstrate that the so-called "code of the streets"--never rat on a pal--is possibly more destructive than any brass knuckle or switchblade. Maxwell Shane and Dennis Cooper's screenplay resists any temptation to sentimentalize the kids or trivialize their plight; the closest the film comes to comedy relief are the shattered romantic illusions of the near-moronic Crazy Perrin. Prominent among the supporting players are Thelma Ritter as Frank Cusack's anguished mother, Stephen McNally as a community center counselor, and Anthony (Tony) Curtis as the leather-jacketed gang leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Adventures of Rusty was Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to MGM's Lassie series. This boy-and-his-dog effort starred Ted Donaldson and a German Shepherd. The first Rusty film paid its way, so Columbia hastily fashioned a sequel, Son of Rusty. The basic premise of the first film-a vicious dog tamed by love-could not be logically used twice, so the filmmakers relied on the old "separate boy and dog in the first reel, reunite them in the last" bit. Of the original Adventures of Rusty cast, only Ted Donaldson is back for Son of Rusty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is director Frank Capra's classic bittersweet comedy/drama about George Bailey (James Stewart), the eternally-in-debt guiding force of a bank in the typical American small town of Bedford Falls. As the film opens, it's Christmas Eve, 1946, and George, who has long considered himself a failure, faces financial ruin and arrest and is seriously contemplating suicide. High above Bedford Falls, two celestial voices discuss Bailey's dilemma and decide to send down eternally bumbling angel Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), who after 200 years has yet to earn his wings, to help George out. But first, Clarence is given a crash course on George's life, and the multitude of selfless acts he has performed: rescuing his younger brother from drowning, losing the hearing in his left ear in the process; enduring a beating rather than allow a grieving druggist (H.B. Warner) to deliver poison by mistake to an ailing child; foregoing college and a long-planned trip to Europe to keep the Bailey Building and Loan from letting its Depression-era customers down; and, most important, preventing town despot Potter (Lionel Barrymore) from taking over Bedford Mills and reducing its inhabitants to penury. Along the way, George has married his childhood sweetheart Mary (Donna Reed), who has stuck by him through thick and thin. But even the love of Mary and his children are insufficient when George, faced with an $8000 shortage in his books, becomes a likely candidate for prison thanks to the vengeful Potter. Bitterly, George declares that he wishes that he had never been born, and Clarence, hoping to teach George a lesson, shows him how different life would have been had he in fact never been born. After a nightmarish odyssey through a George Bailey-less Bedford Falls (now a glorified slum called Potterville), wherein none of his friends or family recognize him, George is made to realize how many lives he has touched, and helped, through his existence; and, just as Clarence had planned, George awakens to the fact that, despite all its deprivations, he has truly had a wonderful life. Capra's first production through his newly-formed Liberty Films, It's a Wonderful Life lost money in its original run, when it was percieved as a fairly downbeat view of small-town life. Only after it lapsed into the public domain in 1973 and became a Christmastime TV perennial did it don the mantle of a holiday classic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The real Diamond Horseshoe was a Las Vegas nightclub created by impresario Billy Rose, which spotlighted old-time stars from the early 20th century recreating the songs and skits that had made them great. Rose allowed 20th Century-Fox to use the name "Diamond Horseshoe" for a Technicolor musical, but only on the proviso that Rose's name be included in the title. Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe does have the occasional old-timer specialty, but for the most part the plot concentrates on Betty Grable, a young entertainer who romances would-be songwriter Dick Haymes. The affair is frowned upon by Haymes' father (William Gaxton), the manager of the Diamond Horseshoe, who is determined that his son pursue a medical career. The predictability of the storyline is redeemed by Haymes' rendition of the song hit "The More I See You", and by the comedy turns of Phil Silvers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide