Jimmy Dodd Movies

Once again responding to viewer's requests, Disneyland host Walt Disney offers a glimpse of the "real" life of one of his studio's favorite characters, the irascible Donald Duck. Not surprisingly, the episode is chock-full of excerpt from Donald's theatrical cartoons, with an extended sequence from Drip-Dippy Donald. There are also newly minted sequences combining animation and live action, in which Donald argues with his "alter ego", voice actor Clarence Nash,and visits the set of the The Mickey Mouse Club. Perhaps because the last-named series was no longer on the air in the 1960s (at least not on the network), A Day in the Life of Donald Duck was never rebroadcast on the later Disney anthology Wonderful World of Color. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The titular Lusty Men are rodeo riders in this modern-day western, assembled with a touch of the offbeat by director Nicholas Ray. Former rodeo star Robert Mitchum, disabled by a series of accidents, hobbles back to his Oklahoma hometown in hopes of replenishing his bank account. Aspiring bronco-buster Arthur Kennedy hires Mitchum to train him for an upcoming rodeo, promising that they'll split the winnings. It doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that Mitchum will soon fall hard for Kennedy's wife Susan Hayward; she can take Mitchum or leave him, but decides to take him so that he'll continue to train Kennedy. After a falling out, Mitchum quits his job and enters the rodeo himself, hoping to win the prize from the arrogant Kennedy. He proves he still has what it takes, but does so at the price of his life. The Lusty Men was co-adapted by one-time cowboy David Dotort from a Life magazine story by Claude Stannish. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Highly respected defense attorney Dwight Bradley Mason (Walter Pidgeon) is able to clear young Rudi Wallchek (Keefe Brasselle) of a murder rap. When it's all over, however, Rudi lets slip a careless comment which leads Mason to believe that his client was guilty after all. Using the evidence at hand, the attorney retraces his steps, only to discover that one of the town's leading citizens is a criminal mastermind. The solution to this ethical dilemma is straight out of the "postman always rings twice" school of crime fiction. Even after justice has been served, however, Mason's conscience dictates that everyone responsible for all previous legal miscarriages be punished -- including himself! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mickey Rooney, with his kid roles and musicals behind him, went for a major change of image in this harrowing film noir. He gives what many consider to be the best performance of his career as Danny Brady, a well-meaning grease monkey whose life is destroyed in less than a week. Danny finds himself short of cash when he's supposed to take out Vera (Jeanne Cagney), a waitress whom he's just met who works at a hash-house. He borrows 20 dollars from the cash register, planning on paying it back with 20 dollars that a buddy owes him the next day, but the friend doesn't turn up. To get the 20 dollars, he buys a 100-dollar watch on a payment plan and then hocks it for the 20 dollars, but a detective picks up on the purchase and threatens to have him jailed if he doesn't pay the full 100 dollars immediately; desperate to raise the money, he robs a drunken bar patron of his bill-fold. His money problems seemingly behind him, Danny takes Vera out with the extra cash, but gets into a fight with her former boss, Nick (Peter Lorre), who picks up a clue that Danny did the robbery. Nick pressures Danny to provide him with a new car (a hard-to-get commodity in 1950) from the garage where he works, in return for keeping quiet. Danny steals the car and turns it over to Nick, but he and Vera decide to get even by robbing Nick's safe that night -- now they've got 3,600 dollars, which they split. But Danny's boss, Mackey, tells him he knows who stole the car, and wants either the car back or the full value, or he'll turn Danny in to the police. Vera has already blown her share on a mink coat, and he goes back to Mackey with what he has, 1,800 dollars. Mackey takes it and proceeds to call the police. Danny attacks him and leaves him for dead. Danny goes on the run, convinced he's wanted for Mackey's murder. Danny runs into Helen (Barbara Bates), a nice girl that he was dating and then dumped, and they end up fleeing together, hijacking a car and holding an innocent man at gunpoint. Impending tragedy seems to loom up even larger when they cross paths with police officers on a manhunt. Realizing that Helen has been good to him, he ends up on the run alone, with a gun in hand, as the law closes in. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this romantic comedy, a wealthy heiress marries hastily and realizes her mistake on her honeymoon in New York. Though it is her wedding night, she decides not to consummate the union and so ends up hiding in the room of a fellow whose airplane cargo company is facing financial ruin. He assumes that the frightened girl is poor and homeless and so takes her in. She then overdoses on sleeping pills and cannot wake up. The fellow is forced to take her back to California. The flight back is tumultuous as she, a fugitive criminal, two enamored newlyweds, a cigar smoking chimp, a corpse, and a shipment of lobsters are aboard the plane. Mayhem really ensues when the plane crashes in a farmer's field. By this time, the woman and the fellow have fallen in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This noir mystery thriller was produced by Mary Pickford and her husband Buddy Rogers, and directed by Douglas Sirk. Claudette Colbert stars as Alison Courtland, a wealthy New York socialite who awakens on a Boston-bound train with no memory of how she got there. A kindly older woman, Mrs. Tomlinson (Queenie Smith) helps Alison call her husband Richard (Don Ameche), who informs her that she disappeared after threatening his life. While traveling back to New York, Alison meets Bruce Elcott (Robert Cummings), who is immediately smitten with her. Upon her return, Richard urges Alison to consult a psychiatrist, Charles Vernay (George Coulouris), but the man's bizarre, abusive manner nearly drives Alison mad. Alison's condition, Vernay, and even the helpful Mrs. Tomlinson are all part of an elaborate scheme on the part of Richard and his mistress, Daphne (Hazel Brooks) to get drive Alison to suicide and collect her fortune. A concerned Bruce visits Vernay, who is really a photographer, and begins piecing the scheme together. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

This late entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" series stars Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmy Dodd as, respectively, Tucson Smith, Stony Brooke and Lullaby Johnson. This time out, the Mesquiteers try to help young Tim Clay (John James), who's been framed for murder by villains who want to gain possession of Clay's ranch property. While Tim sits helplessly in jail, the bad guys move in, forcing the neighboring ranchers to pay exorbitant prices for Clay's water supply. As usual, the Mesquiteers don't stage a counteroffensive until they've got enough legal evidence to do so, but when they do swing into action, watch out! Not the best of the "Three Mesquiteers" epics, Santa Fe Scouts is also far from the worst. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Blocked Trail was one of six "Three Mesquiteers" westerns starring Bob Steele, Tom Tyler and Jimmy Dodd. Steele played Tucson Smith, Tyler was Stony Brooke, and Dodd (later famous as the head mousketeer on TV's Mickey Mouse Club) essayed the comedy-relief role of Lullaby Joslyn. The plot of this 6-reel sagebrusher was nothing out of the ordinary, save for a clever gimmick: a "seeing-eye" horse. When a miner is murdered, the dead man's horse is the only individual who can lead both heroes and villains to a hidden mine. Two more "Three Mesquiteers" oaters would be churned out by Republic Pictures before the studio retired the long-running (51 episode) series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Fugitive Nazis threaten to take over the Wyoming range in this Three Mesqueteers outing, which also warns about the danger of blithely assuming that every German-American is a fifth columnist. Which is exactly what rancher Clem Parker (Hal Price) does when learning that a couple of escaped Axis war criminals may be heading towards the local valley. Clem immediately presupposes that German expatriate Dr. Heinrich Steiner (Edward Van Sloan) and his lovely daughter Laura (Anna Marie Stewart) still pledge allegiance to the Vaterland although the good doctor has dedicated his work to helping the Allied course. In the end, it takes the Mesqueteers -- Tucson Smith (Bob Steele), Stony Brooke (Tom Tyler) and Lullaby Joslin (Jimmie Dodd) -- to settle matters once and for all. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi