Marlo Dwyer Movies

The 3D melodrama Dangerous Mission starts off with a bang when innocent Piper Laurie inadvertently witnesses the murder of her gangster boss. Though she doesn't get a particularly good look at the killer, she knows she's dead meat if she remains in town. Thus, Laurie skeedaddles to Montana's Glacier National Park, where most of the film takes place. Following her westward are Victor Mature and Vincent Price. One of these men is a federal agent, bound and determined to bring Laurie back to the East to testify; the other is the murderer, who intends to silence our heroine for keeps. Laurie doesn't know which is which, but the audience does. A bit poky at times (thanks in part to the uninspired editing of Gene Palmer), Dangerous Mission roars into life during a mid-film forest fire and a climactic chase through the glacier fields. Featured in the cast are William Bendix as a Montana ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title Missing Women refers to only one woman, who is perfectly visible throughout most of the proceedings. Penny Edwards is cast as young bride Claudia Rankin, who hopes to avenge her husband's death at the hands of car thieves. To achieve this goal, Claudia goes "undercover," posing as a hardened criminal. She manages to infiltrate the stolen-car gang, proving her value by pulling off a couple of heists herself. Inevitably, she gets in over her head, and is about to be rubbed out by the crooks. Will the police, who haven't exactly been on top of things in the previous reels, be able to rescue Claudia in the nick of time? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Western aficionados tend to regard Short Grass as the best-ever directorial effort by Lesley Selander. Considerably longer than most Monogram westerns (82 minutes), the film never lags, thanks to the expertise of Selander and a top-rank cast. Rod Cameron plays Steve, a drifter who briefly settles down on a ranch. During a range war, Steve comes to blows with avaricious rancher Hal Fenton (Morris Ankrum). Shortly thereafter, a man is killed and Steve is implicated in the crime. He leaves town in a hurry, returning five years later to clear his name and reclaim his land. He finds that his former girl friend Sharon (Cathy Downs) is married to alcoholic newspaperman John Devore (Tris Coffin), and that Fenton now holds the commuity in an iron grip of fear. Lawman Keown (Johnny Mack Brown) can't administer justice because of the political strings pulled by the villains. With Steve's help, Keown and the rest of the town's honest citizens are finally able to swing into action, leading to a superbly staged climax. Comic actor Raymond Walburn essays a relatively straight role as the town's leading citizen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Woman From Headquarters is female rookie-cop Joyce (Virginia Huston). For reasons that seem amazing unless one actually sees the film, Joyce decides to take on a narcotics ring single-handed. Even more amazing -- especially for a 1950 film -- is the fact that she doesn't seem to need much help from her male colleagues. She does, however, find time for an intramural romance with officer Gates (Robert Rockwell). She also works overtime to reform a good-girl-gone-bad (Barbara Fuller). Featured in the cast are real-life policewoman Frances Charles, stalwart supporting actor Jack Kruschen, and, at the bottom of the cast list, Leonard Penn, the father of 1990s film faves Sean and Christopher Penn. Made with the full cooperation of the Los Angeles Police Department, Woman From Headquarters overcomes its occasional lapses of logic, painting a fairly realistic picture of crime-fighting in the Big City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joseph Cotten stars in Walk Softly, Stranger as Chris Hale, a fugitive criminal who decides to hide out in a small Midwestern town. Here, Hale makes the acquaintance of Elaine Corelli (Alida Valli), who has had a grudge against the world since being crippled in a skiing accident. While endeavoring to help Elaine come out of her shell, Hale falls in love with her, and vows to mend his own ways. Though not released until 1950, Walk Softly, Stranger was filmed in 1948, a year before Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli were teamed in the more celebrated The Third Man. Future talk-show host Jack Paar appears in a fascinating supporting role as a suburban hubby. Walk Softly, Stranger was the last co-production between RKO and David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This drama was one of the first major-studio efforts to confront anti-Semitism (beating the Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement by several months), and it features a standout performance from Robert Ryan as a bigoted soldier on the run. Monty Montogomery (Ryan) is a violent and unstable soldier who, while out on a pass, goes on a drinking spree with three buddies, Floyd (Steve Brodie), Arthur (George A. Cooper), and Leroy (William Phipps). While boozing it up in a tavern, the four men meet Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene) and strumpet Ginny (Gloria Grahame), who invite the soldiers back to their apartment for a party. Monty, however, has a fierce hatred of Jews, and he later goes into a drunken rage in which he beats Joseph to death. Monty's friends can barely remember the incident through their liquor-shrouded memories, but they recall just enough to make themselves scarce when police detective Capt. Finlay (Robert Young) begins making the rounds looking for information on Joseph's murder. Sgt. Kelly (Robert Mitchum), a soldier who knows the four men, begins to suspect that something is up, and he works with his wife and Finlay to help ferret out the killer in his ranks, while Monty kills Floyd when he becomes convinced that he's going to talk to the authorities. While director Edward Dmytryk showed real bravery in bringing this story to the screen, it had greater repercussions than he might have expected; the film's controversial themes led to Dmytryk's denunciation by the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy-era investigations of the 1950s. Luckily, unlike other filmmakers who suffered similar accusations by HUAC, Dmytryk continued to work steadily through the '50s and '60s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Long forgotten, Monogram's Man With Two Lives has recently resurfaced on the videocassette market, proving itself a most intriguing second-echelon "mad doctor" melodrama. Nearly killed in a car accident, Edward Norris is given a new lease on life when a dedicated (but slightly addled) scientist artificially injects a new soul into Norris' body. Alas, Norris' new soul is that of a recently executed murderer. Before the words "Frankenstein" or "Donovan's Brain" can form in our collective subconscious, Norris finds himself inexorably drawn to a life of crime. While the ending is a letdown, Man With Two Lives manages to keep the viewers on pins and needles for 66 of its 67 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, two rival sisters, one plain-but-good-hearted, and one a gorgeous manipulator, compete for the love of a handsome man. They are assisted by their pretty cousin who is involved in a tempestuous engagement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide