Louis Tomei Movies
- 1953
With all those flaming arrows being aimed directly at the audience, it is fairly obvious that Charge of Feather River was originally released in 3D. Fresh from his TV success as Wild Bill Hickok, Guy Madison stars as frontiersman Miles Archer (his character name will be amusing to fans of The Maltese Falcon). In the company of cavalry sergeant Baker (Frank Lovejoy) and a column of troops, Archer heads into Indian country to rescue a pair of white female captives. One of the two girls, Ann McKeever (Helen Westcott), is reluctant to return because she's been despoiled by her Indian captors; the other girl, Ann's sister Jennie (Vera Miles), is in love with the tribal chief and intends to betray her rescuers at the first opportunity. The rescue has been staged to divert the Indians' attention away from the railroad that is being constructed across their territory. The trick now is for Archer, the soldiers and the women to return to Cavalry headquarters in one piece. The film ends with the eponymous charge, excitingly staged by director Gordon Douglas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Madison, Frank Lovejoy, (more)
- 1953
The answer is: A turgid melodrama. The question: What is Jeopardy? Barbara Stanwyck stars as a suburbanite on a Mexican vacation with her husband (Barry Sullivan) and son (Lee Aaker). The threesome runs afoul of escape convict Ralph Meeker. Stanwyck's dilemma: Attempting to rescue her husband from drowning, while staving off the carnal demands of Meeker, who holds Stanwyck and her son at gunpoint. Jeopardy is on and off in only 69 minutes, but 64 of those minutes seem far longer. Trivia note: When dramatized on Lux Radio Theater, Jeopardy costarred child actor Harry Shearer, later a comic regular on Saturday Night Live. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, (more)
- 1953
Jalopy represents the first Bowery Boys film to be released by Allied Artists, though in essence it's still a Monogram "B"-picture. It all begins when Sach Jones (Huntz Hall) develops a new fuel formula that will enable a racing car to go around the track in 11 seconds! Sach's pal Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) uses the formula to win several jalopy races, thereby allowing sweet-shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) to pay his debts. Gamblers try to muscle in on the Bowery Boys' winning streak, but to no avail. On the day of the obligatory Big Race, Slip is forced to enter his jalopy without the precious fuel. At the last minute, Sach arrives with a new batch--which only works when the car is shifted in reverse! Heavily reliant upon stock footage from the concurrently produced Allied Artists feature Roar of the Crowd, Jalopy is a typically nonsensical Bowery Boys entry, right down to the surreal climactic gag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1952
Bantam-weight Stanley Clements is Army Bound in this breezy Monogram programmer. Clements plays midget-car driver Frank Cermak, who upon being drafted discovers that his C.O., Lt. Peters (John Fontaine), is a rival racer, and not a particularly friendly one at that. Complicating matters is the fact that Cermak has just fallen in love with Jane Harris (Karen Sharpe), and of course romance is "off limits" to trainees. The climax finds Cermak overcoming his dislike of Peters during a life-or-death situation. At the time Army Bound was put into release, Monogram was in the process of matriculating into Allied Artists, and as such the studio was making noises about dropping its "B"-picture manifest and concentrating only on "A"s: as the subsequent Allied Artists "Bowery Boys" entries proved, this isn't quite what happened. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Clements, Karen Sharpe, (more)
