Douglas Dumbrille Movies

Sky Full of Moon gets under way when Vegas gambling-joint owner Al (Keenan Wynn) rescues rodeo rider Harley Williams (Carleton Carpenter) from drowning. Harley is then "adopted" as a good-luck charm by Al's change girl Dixie Delmar (Jan Sterling). When their lucky gambling streak comes to an end, so too does Harley and Dixie's romantic relationship. Though he practically has to have the moon fall on his head, Harley finally realizes that he's too naïve for life in the Fast Lane. The film's title derives from a line of dialogue delivered by Harley during his clumsy courtship of the hard-bitten Dixie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this old-fashioned screwball comedy, Christy Sloane (Eleanor Parker) is a secretary with a large legal firm who is sent to California to inform Peter Lockwood (Fred MacMurray), an overly sentimental radio host, that he's just inherited $2 million. Christy is looking to raise her standard of living, and she gets an idea -- what if she woos Peter and gets him to marry her before telling him that he's a millionaire? Christy decides that it's worth a try, even though she soon learns that Peter is due to marry his fiancée June Chandler (Kay Buckley) in a matter of days. However, the wedding goes haywire when Dr. Roland Cook (Richard Carlson), Peter's best man, takes a flyer shortly before the ceremony. It seems that he's secretly in love with June, and he can't bear to see her marry anyone else, even his best friend. Peter takes off to find Roland, with Christy eagerly tagging along, but after the two are soaked by massive waves while driving along the coastline, they wind up at a wild party thrown by a large, overly-cheerful Mexican gentleman (Chris-Pin Martin) who has somehow decided that they're honeymooners and begins plying them with large amounts of tequila. After a few drinks, Christy begins to realize that she actually likes Peter for himself, not just his money, but where does this leave his almost-wedding to June? A Millionaire for Christy was directed by George Marshall, who would go on to helm a number of Jerry Lewis vehicles (including several with his sometimes-partner Dean Martin). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Anxious to remain active in the 1950s, director Frank Capra wanted to prove to Paramount Pictures that he could deliver an "A" picture on a modest budget. To that end, Capra bought the rights of his 1934 film Broadway Bill from Columbia, and remade it under the title Riding High. He then hired many of the supporting actors who'd appeared in Broadway Bill -- including Clarence Muse, Douglass Dumbrille, Ward Bond, Charles Lane and Frankie Darro -- so he could match up his newly shot scenes with stock footage from the earlier film. Capra even kept the musical costs down by having star Bing Crosby sing such public-domain favorites as "Camptown Races" (though there is one delightful original song, "We Ought to Bake a Sunshine Camera" performed without dubbing by Crosby, Muse, and leading-lady Colleen Gray). Crosby steps into the old Warner Baxter role as Dan Brooks, scion of a wealthy family who prefers hanging around racetracks to the responsibilities of his family business. Scheduled for a "proper" marriage to Margaret Higgins (Frances Gifford), the snooty daughter of millionaire J. L. Higgins (Charles Bickford), Dan infinitely prefers the company of Margaret's younger sister Alice (Coleen Gray), who loves horses as much as he. Hoping to declare his financial independence, he pins his future on a racehorse named Broadway Bill. Though not in the same league as Capra's earlier classics, Riding High is lots of fun. It is especially enjoyable for film buffs, thanks to Capra's decision to fill the picture with uncredited celebrity cameo appearances -- including Oliver Hardy, minus Stan Laurel, as an apoplectic horse player. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Buccaneer's Girl of the title, played by Yvonne de Carlo, is Deborah McCoy, an entertainer who's been around a bit. While visiting New Orleans, Deborah falls in love with aristocratic Frederick Baptiste (Philip Friend), who turns out to be a pirate. Baptiste is basically a decent fellow: his piracy is aimed exclusively at the crooked shipowner who destroyed his father. Deborah is a bit more mercenary, hoping to marry into wealth by posing as a high-born lady. By the seventh reel, however, she's perfectly content to settle down with the raffish Baptiste. Though played tongue-in-cheek, Buccaneer's Girl never resorts to "camp": it invites the audience to laugh with the film, rather than at it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a priceless diamond is stolen from a museum exhibition all suspicion falls upon the notorious Lone Wolf, a former jewel thief who became a reporter. It doesn't help that he was in the museum to write a story on the gem at the time of its theft. Now he and his gal pal must play amateur detectives in order to ring the real crooks to justice. This was the final entry in the "Lone Wolf" series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Shot on location in and around Rome, this drama chronicles the tragic love affair between a frustrated artist and the troubled American woman who provides him with much-needed inspiration. The artist, who leaves the ancient city because he is overwhelmed by the abundance of great art, first sees his new love as she dives into a moonlit mountain lake near the cabin he has rented. She turns out to be an American who has come to the lake to recover from a mental trauma. Love blossoms and the two make wedding plans, but then the sister of the girl shows up and tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Joe Palooka, comic strip artist Ham Fisher's golden-hearted pugilist, heads South of the Border in The Counterpunch. Actually, Joe (Joe Kirkwood Jr.) goes no further than Monogram's cramped "ocean liner" standing set, but the audience doesn't really mind. The plot concerns a gang of counterfeiters, one of whom is murdered en route to Latin America. Everyone is a suspect, including Joe and his manager Knobby Walsh (played by comedian Leon Errol, who certainly deserves his top billing). When the treasury agent in charge of the case has trouble determining the culprit's identity, Joe uses his pugilistic prowess to solve the mystery. Elyse Knox, the real-life wife of football player Tom Harmon, is cast as Joe's sweetheart Ann Howe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dynamite is a 1949 effort from the Pine-Thomas production mill. William Gargan and Richard Crane star as Gunner and Johnny, troubleshooters for dynamite contractor Hard Rock Mason Frank Ferguson. Though forced to work as a team on the job, Gunner and Johnny fall out when romance enters the picture in the form of Mason's pretty daughter Mary Virginia Welles. However, all misunderstandings are swept aside, however, when one of the men is trapped in a tunnel where several tons of TNT are about to go off. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful, convoluted low-budget mystery, a Scotland Yard inspector travels to the Big Apple to investigate the activities of international jewel thieves. The investigation begins after the corpse of a diplomatic courier, who has upon him a number of smuggled jewels, is found on the beach. The inspector is assisted by a pretty flight attendant. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Italian-American Her Wonderful Lie is based on the novel Latin Quarter by Murger. This literary work is better known as the source for the Puccini opera La Boheme, and indeed, Her Wonderful Life is a modernized adaptation of the Puccini classic, with a few songs from other operas thrown in for good measure. Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura sing and act the leading roles of the tragic seamstress and her headstrong starving-artist lover. Featured in the cast are such familiar American faces as Janis Paige, Douglass Dumbrille, Sterling Holloway and Isobel Elsom, not to mention dancer-choreographer Marc Platt. On the strength of its multinational cast, Her Wonderful Lie was distributed stateside by Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Radio actor Kenny Delmar created the character of bombastic Southern Senator Claghorn for a 1945 installment of The Fred Allen Show. The character immediately caught on with the public, spawning an overabundance of merchandising and thousands of ersatz Claghorn imitators (foremost among these was the Warner Bros. cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn). In 1947, Delmar attempted to parlay Claghorn into film stardom with It's a Joke, Son. From the outset, screenwriters Robert Kent and Paul Gerard Smith were faced with a problem: Senator Claghorn was very funny in small doses on The Fred Allen Show, but could the character sustain a feature-length picture? Their solution to this dilemma was to "humanize" the Senator by removing some of his obnoxious braggadocio and transforming him into a harmless, henpecked small-town windbag. Living in his decaying ancestral Southern mansion with his long-suffering wife Magnolia (Una Merkel), Claghorn has trouble making ends meet financially. Magnolia hopes to resolve their money problems by running for state senator on behalf of the Daughters of Dixie. A band of northern political crooks convince the gullible Claghorn to run against his wife in the senatorial race, thereby splitting the vote so that their own equally crooked candidate can win the election. Complication piles upon complication until Magnolia, realizing that Claghorn is being set up as a patsy, has him kidnapped "for his own good"-a plan which predictably backfires. Future TV star June Lockhart is decorative as Claghorn's daughter, while Kenneth Farrell is adequate as the obligatory romantic lead. It's a Joke Son was the initial Hollywood effort from the Eagle-Lion Productions, a British-based firm which would eventually absorb PRC Pictures, where this film was made on the very cheap. Though moderately successful, the film proved that Senator Claghorn was much funnier heard than seen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episodic holiday film centers around a rich spinster aunt whose greedy nephew is attempting legal action to take her estate. Before he makes a final decision, a caring judge tells the spinster that she can rally together the three foster children she raised to help her keep the estate, he will delay the nephew's action. Now she must find her three grown boys who have gone in wildly different directions. One is a boozy cowboy involved in a baby racket, another is a deadbeat deeply indebted to the nephew, and the other is a successful owner of a South American cafe on the lam for a con-job he didn't commit. She endures and adventurous journey, but the three do manage to come together on Christmas Eve, save the estate, and give the conniving nephew his due. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide