Yvette Dugay Movies

Rory Calhoun both starred in and put up the money for the Columbia oater The Domino Kid. As the title character, Calhoun's mission in life is to rid the earth of the five outlaws who destroyed his ranch and killed his father. Before the film is ten minutes old, the Domino Kid has killed four of the five miscreants. Before he can mete out retribution to the fifth man, however, Domino must contend with cattle baron Wade Harrington (Andrew Duggan)--not to mention a few romantic entanglements with winsome Barbara Ellison (Kristine Miller) and tempestuous Rosita (Yvette Dugay). Had not Rory Calhoun committed himself to the TV western The Texan, The Domino Kid would have presaged a series of economical western vehicles for Columbia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rescuing Daniel Norton (Dewey Martin) from a watery grave, two-bit fight promoter Willy Wurble (Keenan Wynn) senses potential in his new "find". Willy builds Daniel into a boxing champ, a fact that Daniel chalks up to good luck and the good Lord. The boy is in for quite a letdown when the financially-strapped Willy orders him to lose his next bout. Shelley Winters costars as Willy's long-suffering wife Sarah, who'd give anything if her man would turn honest for a just a moment or two. Featured in the cast as Daniel's ongoing pugilistic nemesis is Charles Buchinsky, whom the whole world knows today as Charles Bronson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fourth of the "Francis" series, former Army officer Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) becomes a reporter for a big city newspaper. His greatest source of news tips is his talking mule Francis (voice by Chill Wills), who has become friendly with all the police horses. When asked how he manages to stay abreast of the news, Peter tries to explain about Francis, and is not unexpectedly labelled a looney-tune. But when Peter is brought to court on a homicide charge, Francis breaks his self-imposed rule of talking only to Peter and testifies on his master's behalf. With Francis' aid, Peter cracks the murder case and is graduated to star reporter. At fadeout time, Francis is seen wooing a female zebra, explaining "Don't let the striped pajamas fool ya." Francis Covers Big Town is harmless fun, bolstered by an expert supporting cast, including the always reliable Gene Lockhart (as Peter's editor) and Gale Gordon (as a flustered D.A.). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Vincent Edwards attained TV stardom as "Ben Casey" in 1961, his detractors took great delight in citing Edwards' earlier starring appearance in Monogram's Hiawatha. A great deal of fun was had by all when it was revealed that Edwards had to have his chest shaved on a daily basis while playing the hero of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem. This aside, Edwards is fairly credible as Hiawatha, while the film itself is easy to take (perhaps too easy; action fans may be disappointed). The nucleus of the story is Hiawatha's love for Minnehaha (Yvette Dugay), the daughter of his tribe's mortal enemy, Chief Igaoo (Morris Ankrum). As war clouds gather, Hiawatha struggles manfully to prevent bloodshed between the Ojibway and Dacotah tribes. The ending of Hiawatha is slightly at odds with the Longfellow original, but works within the context of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fish-market worker Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) is named as a suspect when his boss -- with whom he had a dispute the previous day -- is shot to death in an apparent robbery. When he's arrested, his family appeals to their old friend James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), who was once a renowned criminal attorney but is now in civil practice. He resists their entreaties until he realizes that no decent attorney will handle the case properly; his daughter (Diana Lynn) watches with alarm, however, for we soon learn that Curtayne is an alcoholic, and that the major factor in his life that pushed him over the edge was the stress of having someone's life in his hands. He discovers soon enough just how much Johnny's life is in his hands when his client refuses to level with him about his real whereabouts on the night of the murder. He also realizes as the trial starts precisely how rusty he is in the courtroom, and the old stresses return -- and with them, his drinking. Curtayne not only manages to lose the case but destroys his career when he tries to buy off a larcenous prosecution witness. His client facing a death sentence and his own life and career in ruins, he's seemingly hit bottom, but then new evidence surfaces, of a nature that not even the ambitious prosecutor (John Hodiak) can ignore. Recognizing that his client was actually innocent and also acting in his silence -- however stupidly -- from the noblest of motives, Curtayne is willing to redeem himself by putting his own life on the line, confronting a killer who has taken more than one life without any compunction whatsoever, and who has no reason to spill anything.

The People Against O'Hara was a well-made, largely location-shot crime drama set in New York City, but it wouldn't have been nearly so prestigious a movie were it not for the presence of Spencer Tracy in the role of Curtayne. Ironically enough, he only agreed to do the film on the condition that his friend Pat O'Brien, who hadn't been in a major studio release in a couple of years, be given a large role, which he got as the lead detective on the case, and O'Brien and Tracy get a couple of really good scenes together. The film also includes an unbilled appearance by Charles Bronson, who was still working as Charles Buchinski in 1951, and is highlighted by a superb prominent supporting performance by William Campbell, who seems to quietly relish every nuance of his portrayal of a totally slimy character. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Heavenly Days was the last of three RKO Radio film vehicles for the popular radio duo of Fibber McGee and Molly (aka Jim and Marion Jordan). Unlike their first two films, which were cacophonous, plotless musical farces, this one actually has a coherent storyline and not a little "heart appeal." Self-styled expert on everything Fibber McGee takes it upon himself to leave the safe environs of Wistful Vista to go to Washington DC, intending to present himself as the "common man" before the US Congress. Naturally, Fibber's wife Molly goes along for the ride, if only to keep her husband from making a fool of himself. Fibber's actions are given credibility when pollster George Gallup (played by Don Douglas) selects the McGees as Mr. and Mrs. Average Man (or Person). While at large in DC, the McGees also become involved with a group of wide-eyed war orphans. The film's highlight is an impromptu musical interlude with Fibber, Molly, and a group of GIs, played by the King's Men Quartet (regulars on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show). Perhaps because it took itself a bit too seriously, Heavenly Days failed to match the box-office success of RKO's earlier Fibber-and-Molly efforts, posting a loss of $205,000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The general perception of the Technicolor costume adventure movies that Maria Montez and Jon Hall made for Universal in the early 1940's is that they were pure escapist entertainment, intended to make people forget for an hour or so about the Second World War and the general world situation. And generally that is true about them -- they were mostly no "about" much more than having fun for 90 minutes or so amid pretty sets with lots of action and some pretty women in exotic outfits. But watching Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, one has to wonder if even here the screenwriter, Edmund L. Hartmann, was able to totally get away from the day-to-day reality around him. The opening Mongol invasion of Bagdad and the murder of the old Caliph (Moroni Olsen) while trying to set up a government-in-exile without thinking of the German and Japanese conquests and occupations of various nations that would have been going on at the time; additionally, the fact that the old Caliph is murdered with the help of a traitor in his own noble ranks -- a "quisling" in the term coined during World War II -- wouldn't have been missed by audiences at the time. Further, the screenplay very specifically paints the forty thieves as heroes who have gone from being criminals to an active resistance force against the occupying Mongols -- indeed, at the denouement, their invasion of the palace is greeted as a day of liberation by the people of Bagdad. The movie walks a strange tightrope, casting about veiled topical references of that sort, even as is otherwise sufficiently tongue-in-cheek to cast Andy Devine as a desert bandit. Obviously, Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves was sold as -- and mostly intended as -- light entertainment, but just below that glitzy Technicolor surface were some fascinating allusions to the real world. None of this stops Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves from being immense fun -- it is, even if the "fun" isn't totally escapist in nature -- and it's great to look at as well, even 60 years on; Universal has apparently kept preservation-quality source materials on this and Hall and Montez's other Technicolor costume romps. And this particular entry in that group of movies also contains one very instructive clue to the morays and censorship of the time in one scene, in which the hero meets the heroine bathing at an oasis -- the makers seem to have been forced to insert a particular shot that is there for no other reason then to make it clear that she is not totally naked when he sees her. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This espionage drama, a remake of the 1935 original, set in WW II, follows the exploits of an Englishman who kills his German look-alike, a Nazi master spy, and begins impersonating him after he returns to Great Britain. As the spy, he begins smuggling bogus secrets to the German agents. As he again returns to Germany, those spies are captured. After suffering a close call, the phony spy is able to convince Rudolph Hess to fly to Scotland to meet with British Nazis. It is a trap, and the prominent Nazi is captured and held in the Tower of London. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide