George Eldredge Movies

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen's master of suspense (and perhaps the best-known film director in the world) when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen thriller. From its first scene, in which an unmarried couple balances pleasure and guilt in a lunchtime liaison in a cheap hotel (hardly a common moment in a major studio film in 1960), Psycho announced that it was taking the audience to places it had never been before, and on that score what followed would hardly disappoint. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is unhappy in her job at a Phoenix, Arizona real estate office and frustrated in her romance with hardware store manager Sam Loomis (John Gavin). One afternoon, Marion is given $40,000 in cash to be deposited in the bank. Minutes later, impulse has taken over and Marion takes off with the cash, hoping to leave Phoenix for good and start a new life with her purloined nest egg. 36 hours later, paranoia and exhaustion have started to set in, and Marion decides to stop for the night at the Bates Motel, where nervous but personable innkeeper Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) cheerfully mentions that she's the first guest in weeks, before he regales her with curious stories about his mother. There's hardly a film fan alive who doesn't know what happens next, but while the shower scene is justifiably the film's most famous sequence, there are dozens of memorable bits throughout this film. The first of a handful of sequels followed in 1983, while Gus Van Sant's controversial remake, starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, appeared in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A low-budget, tawdry police yarn with the world of prostitution and gangsters thrown in, Vice Raid features Mamie Van Doren as Carol Hudson, a Motor City hooker. The bosses of the prostitution racket have Hudson go to New York City to entrap a police officer and get him thrown off the force. She does as she is told and then the gangsters make a mistake -- they abuse her younger sister. Angered to the core, Hudson decides to team up with the cop she helped frame and put the mobsters behind bars. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This 104th and final episode of The Adventures of Superman not only stars George Reeves as the title character, but was directed by Reeves as well. Eccentric inventor Professor Pepperwinkle (Phillips Tead) has created a machine which he claims can produce gold from ordinary metal. And that's not all: Pepperwinkle has also developed a new strain of positive and negative Kryptonite. Whereas negative Kryptonite has the capacity to sap Superman of his strength, positive Kryptonite restores that strength--and also transforms reporters Lois (Noel Neill) and Jimmy (Jack Larson) into superpowered superheroes themselves! Unfortunately, once the inevitable villains arrive to steal the gold-manufacturing apparatus, "Super Lois" and "Super Jimmy" literally awaken to the discovery that they're still plain, ordinary mortals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During a Christmas office party, executive Tony Gould (Joseph Cotten) is confronted in his office by his secretary -- and mistress -- Shelley (Chris White). Fed up with being strung along by the married Tony, Shelley threatens to reveal their relationship if he doesn't divorce his wife immediately. In desperation, Tony strikes Shelley down, killing her instantly -- only to discover that he has locked himself in his office, and will be trapped therein for the next three days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Life Begins at 17 in this all-too-typical example of the "art" of quickie producer Sam Katzman. Plain little Carol Peck (Luana Anders) is wooed by arrogant punk Russ Lippincott (Mark Damon). What Carol doesn't know is that Russ is only interested in her knockout older sister Elaine (Dorothy Johnson). When she finds out she's being used, Carol exacts a typically feminine means of revenge ("typical" by 1950s B-movies, that is). Meanwhile, Elaine finds happiness with true-blue boyfriend Jim (Edd "Kookie" Byrnes). Ann Doran, who played James Dean's mother in Rebel Without a Cause, does same for the two heroines of Life Begins at 17. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In order to get rid of her husband Bruce's mistress Roxy Howard (Greta Thyssen), Sybil Granger hires Perry (Raymond Burr) to secretly help her gain a majority financial interest in Bruce's oil company. But someone else is apparently aware of what Sybil is up to, and that someone is old George Lutz (Richard Hale). After catching Sybil spying on Roxy, George is shot to death. Inasmuch as Sybil is already his client, Perry assumes the task of clearing her of a murder charge. This episode is based on a 1955 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fired by editor Perry White (John Hamilton), disgraced reporter Clark Kent (George Reeves) joins a gang of diamond thieves. Unbeknownst to fellow reporters Lois (Noel Neill) and Jimmy (Jack Larson), Clark's criminal career is but a sham, a scheme cooked up between Kent and White to trap the real crooks and turn them over to the law. Even so, Clark is forced to prove his loyalty to the gang by "eliminating" Lois and Jimmy, binding the hapless duo to a chair which is then set afire! Isn't it about time for Clark to sneak into that closet and change into Superman? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Demetrius and the Gladiators was the sequel to The Robe, and though they were released several months apart, the films were shot at the same time. Based on characters originally conceived by Lloyd C. Douglas, the film stars Victor Mature as the title character, an ex-slave who embraced Christianity after being present at the Crucifixion. Thrown in jail for defending an elderly merchant from a sadistic Roman legionnaire, Demetrius is forced to attend gladiator school and fight in the arena for the amusement of the mad, debauched emperor Caligula (Jay Robinson, likewise repeating his performance in The Robe). The well-proportioned Demetrius attracts the attention of Messalina (Susan Hayward), the nymphomaniac wife of Caligula's would-be successor Claudius (Barry Jones). Briefly losing faith in Christ, Demetrius is saved from himself by the apostle Peter (Michael Rennie). Because of contractual complications, Demetrius and the Gladiators was released to television seven years before The Robe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It Came From Outer Space is one of a handful of science fiction films from the 1950s that plays as well today as it did on its original release, this despite the fact that its original 3-D elements seem to be lost. It was also the first science fiction effort of director Jack Arnold, and one of three excellent 3-D features that he made (the others were Creature From the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature) during that format's short-lived history. It was also, along with The Incredible Shrinking Man, one of the two most sophisticated films he ever made in that genre. Additionally, it was Arnold's first opportunity to use the desert setting that seemed to inspire him in some of his best subsequent movies. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury, the movie starts off in a gentle, lyrical mode, almost reminiscent of Our Town, as the narrator introduces the tiny Arizona town where the action will take place. Writer John Putnam (Richard Carlson), a new arrival to the town and an amateur astronomer, is looking at the skies with his fiancée, schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush), when they see what looks like a huge meteor crash into the desert. Putnam and Ellen go to the site of the crash and find a huge crater. When he goes down inside, Putnam sees what is very obviously some kind of vehicle or device embedded in the ground, but before he can show it to anyone, a rock slide buries what he saw. He reports that a spacecraft of some kind is buried there and is duly ridiculed by the local press and some of his own colleagues in the astronomical community, and even Ellen has her doubts. The local sheriff, Matt Warren (Charles Drake), is downright hostile because he believes that Putnam is not only an interloper, but has also taken Ellen away from him. Putnam is at a loss as to what to do, and doing something -- or, perhaps, not doing anything -- becomes a critical matter when various townspeople start to disappear, including Ellen, to be replaced by alien "duplicates." A small but significant part of this action is told from the standpoint of the aliens, who are only glimpsed in brief flashes as they move through the desert and the underground caves where they are hiding. Putnam ultimately comes to understand that the aliens are actually benign and only need time to repair their ship and leave; but by then, the sheriff and the rest of the town have started taking his original warning seriously and their intervention threatens the lives of everyone. Reason and a peaceful approach prevail, but only just barely, and the space travelers are allowed to go on their way -- in return, they restore the real townspeople. The movie ends on a hopeful note as Putnam predicts that someday, when we're ready here on Earth, the visitors will be back to make formal, peaceful introductions. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Samuel Fuller scarcely used Dwight Taylor's source material, a languid courtroom romance, in crafting this pugnacious potboiler. Pickup on South Street is strictly Fuller film noir -- lean and wicked straight to its core. Barely out of prison, loner and pickpocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) quietly helps himself to the contents of a woman's purse. His beautiful victim, Candy (Jean Peters), turns out to be an unwitting courier for the communist underground; McCoy's booty is actually microfilmed U.S. government secrets, formerly en route to Moscow. Both the FBI and Candy's employers are desperate to retrieve the film. The apolitical and arrogant McCoy has a plan to play both ends against the middle and come up ahead. However, dealing with the authorities may mean life in the clink, and the sadistic communists would rather kill McCoy than pay him off. He quickly becomes embroiled with Candy, who will risk everything to right her wrongs, and eventually even more to save her new man. When McCoy loses a cohort and Candy is almost killed, the cocksure pickpocket finds a stronger motivation than personal gain. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide

This "Bowery Boys" entry is an on-target satire of TV wrestling (which, if anything, is even sillier in the 1990s than it was in 1952). Through a freak of nature, Sach Jones (Huntz Hall) develops a cranium so hard that it is impervious to pain. Capitalizing on this phenomenon, Sach's pal Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) enters Sach in a wrestling match, during which his great strength re-manifests itself in his fingers. With each subsequent wrestling bout, Sach's superstrength shifts to another part of his body. When slated to take on real-life wrestler Hombre Montana in the ring, Sach nearly meets his Waterloo until the last moment, when he develops extrahuman strength in his backside. Never believable for a single moment, No Holds Barred is one of the best and funniest of the 48 "Bowery Boys" films. In addition to Hombre Montana, other genuine wrestlers making guest appearances include Henry Kulky, Pat Fraley, Brother Frank Jares and Count John Maximillian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Howard Hawks hoped to capture the screwball comic fervor of his 1938 film Bringing Up Baby with his 1952 comedy Monkey Business. As in the earlier film, Cary Grant stars as an absent-minded professor involved in a research project. This time he's a chemist seeking a "fountain of youth" formula that will revitalize middle-agers both mentally and physically. Though Grant's own laboratory experiments yield little fruit, a lab monkey, let loose from its cage, mixes a few random chemicals and comes up with just the formula Grant is looking for. This mixture is inadvertently dumped in the lab's water supply; the fun begins when staid, uptight Grant drinks some of the "bitter" water, then begins cutting up like a teenager. A harmless afternoon on the town with luscious secretary Marilyn Monroe rouses the ire of Grant's wife Ginger Rogers, but her behavior is even more infantile when she falls under the spell of the youth formula. Everyone remembers the best line in Monkey Business: foxy-grandpa research supervisor Charles Coburn hands the curvacious Monroe a letter and says "Get someone to type this". Even better is his next line: after Monroe sashays out of the room, Coburn turns to Grant and, with eyes atwinkle, murmurs "Anyone can type." Likewise amusing is Monkey Business's pre-credits gag, wherein Cary Grant opens a door and is about to step forward when director Hawks, off-camera, admonishes "Not yet, Cary." Among the co-conspirators on Monkey Business's carefree script are Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer and I.A.L. Diamond, with an original story by Harry Segall (Here Comes Mr. Jordan) as their source. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide