Glenda Farrell Movies

In this crime drama, a Vietnam vet goes to his California hometown and discovers that two Mexicans have murdered his brother, the chief stockholder in a successful racetrack, during a robbery. The vet begins investigating and discovers that the theft was a cover-up for the killing and that another shareholder is behind it all. The vet then engineers a confession from the culprit. Unfortunately, the shareholder is then found dead. Enlisting the aid of an ex-lover, the vet resumes his investigation and soon finds the mastermind, whom he kills during a fight. Later the vet, being the only remaining shareholder, takes over the track. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy classic, Jerry Lewis plays Jerome Littlefield, an orderly in a mental hospital in this slapstick situation comedy that makes full use of Lewis's patented brand of screwball comedy. Dr. Jean Howard (Glenda Farrell) is the exasperated head of the sanitarium who almost becomes a patient after the antics of the frantic employee. Jerome takes on the symptoms of most of his patients and helps Susan Andrews (Susan Oliver) go from a woman considering suicide to an alluring woman of sensual confidence. When talkative patient Alice Pearce relates her maladies to Jerry, he hilariously has psychosomatic symptoms that mirror those of the woman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Elvis Presley plays a double role in Kissin' Cousins. When the U.S. government wants land owned by the hillbilly clan headed by Pappy Tatum (Arthur O'Connell), they send Air Force Lieutenant Josh Morgan (Presley), a cousin of the Tatum's, to try and secure the land for a proposed missile base. Josh comes face-to-face with Jody Tatum, his blonde-haired look-alike. Glenda Farrell plays Ma Tatum, and distaff interest for Elvis is provided by Cynthia Pepper, Yvonne Craig, a busty Beverly Powers, and Hortense Petra. Watch for Maureen Reagan as one of the Kittyhawks, a group of desperate, man-hungry females out to get some love. This film was the first of the low-budget movies that would unfortunately plague the rest of Elvis' movie career. The song selection also reflects a decline in the quality of both recording and acting parts offered to Presley. Once he fulfilled his contractual obligations for the forgettable features, Elvis ended his film career and devoted his efforts exclusively to live shows and recording. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Scripter Paddy Chayevsky altered his successful stageplay for this routine cinematic version of Middle of the Night, emphasizing the self-centered interests of the relatives and friends who surround Jerry Kingsley (Fredric March). Jerry is a widower, a lonely but successful clothing manufacturer who falls in love with Betty Preisser (Kim Novak), one of his employees. The employee-boss relationship is one hurdle the erstwhile couple have to overcome, another is the thirty-year difference in their ages, and the last is the attitudes of the couples' relatives -- each close relative (mother, daughter, sister) feels marginated by the relationship, left out in the cold, forgotten. These attitudes do not bode well for any future walk up the aisle. Director Delbert Mann is best known for his 1955, award-winning Marty. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Before Indiana Jones there was Harry Steele (Charlton Heston), an idealistic archaeologist determined to return an ancient Incan mask to the society from which it came. A greedy con-artist (Robert Young) has other ideas, though, and the two men race to fund an expedition to find the treasure, which has reportedly been buried by Spanish conquistadores somewhere in Machu Picchu. The con-artist (Young) seduces a beautiful tourist in order to reach his goal, leaving Steele (Heston) to locate the site through more honorable means. Twenty-seven years before directors George Lucas and Steven Spielburg collaborated to create Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jerry Hopper directed Secret of the Incas. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Juvenile delinquency is the subject of the misleadingly titled Universal-International potboiler Girls in the Night. Patricia Hardy plays Hannah Haynes, the sister of good-boy-gone-bad Chuck Haynes (Harvey Lembeck). When Chuck ends up facing a murder charge, Hannah takes decisive action. She goes after crime boss Irv Kelleher (Don Gordon), risking life and limb in the process. Top-billed Joyce Holden plays Hannah's best friend, who helps cook up a scheme to entrap Kelleher. Glenda Farrell delivers the film's best performance as Chuck and Hannah's careworn mother. Ironically, Girls in the Night co-star Harvey Lembeck would go on to play one of the most lovable "j.d."s in screen history: Eric Von Zipper in the "Beach Party" series of the 1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this high-flying musical, a flight attendant dreams of singing in a band. Just as her career takes off she finds it endangered of crashing when another singer fights her for the use of her stage name "Mary Lou," which she claims is her stage name. Naturally, the flight attendant wins. Songs include: "Mary Lou" "Don't Mind My Troubles," "I'm Sorry I Didn't Say I'm Sorry" "That's Good Enough for Me," "Wasn't It Swell Last Night?" "Carle's Boogie," and "Learning to Speak English." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a realtor at the end of his rope is grossly misdiagnosed as having three months to live. The already hyper-nervous man is therefore convinced that he will die. Later some of his clothing is recovered from a local creek and his family and friends assume that the poor man took his own life. The bereaved then consult a swami to see if they can contact the dead realtor's spirit. Instead the realtor himself shows up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The exciting world of the cosmetic industry provides the basis of this lively low-budget musical comedy that centers on the attempts of a young inventor to market a new kind of nonstaining lipstick at the American Beauty Association Show. When a make-up magnate learns of the revolutionary invention, he does all he can to keep the young man out of the show. Fortunately, for the young man, his lady friend wins a contest and is able to help him scare up the necessary funds so he can participate in the show. Songs include: "Wedding of the Samba and the Boogie", "Rosebud, I Love You" and "Do I Need You?" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a group of women live in a boardinghouse near a prison to await the release of their men. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

George Stevens' Talk of the Town is a quick-witted comedy driven by wonderful performances by Cary Grant, Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur. Michael Lightcap (Colman) is a stuffy law professor in line to a Supreme Court appointment, who is spending the summer at the house of schoolteacher Nora Shelley (Arthur). But Lightcap is not the only guest at the house. Shelley has also let Leopold Dilg (Grant)--a man who had recently escaped from prison, where he was serving a sentence for false accusations of immolating a local factory--stay at the house, telling Lightcap that he is a gardener. In addition to striking up a friendship, Lightcap and Dilg also compete for the affections of Shelley. Eventually, the professor learns of Dilg's true identity, finding out that Leopold was framed by a crooked government, led by the foreman of the factory, who supposedly died in the fire. When Dilg is captured by the police, Lightcap comes to his defense, bringing the still-alive foreman out of hiding and, in the process, clearing Leopold of all the charges. Talk of the Town received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Original Story, Best Score, Best Editing, and Best Interior Decoration, yet it lost in all of the categories. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Robert Taylor toughened up his image considerably with this gangster movie, which was unusual both in its plot and origins, having come from MGM, which was generally not known for its crime movies. Taylor plays a parolee who is pretending to follow the straight-and-narrow as a hardworking cabbie, but is really the mastermind behind a dog-racing track being built with mob money. Eager works every angle, has a gang that's generally in line, and also has a loyal right-hand man in Jeff Hartnett (Van Heflin, who won an Oscar), his educated assistant, who drinks too much and waxes poetic when he isn't looking after Johnny's interests (and sometimes when he is, too). Eager has only one problem, special prosecutor John Benson Farrell (Edward Arnold) -- who was also the attorney instrumental in sending Eager up -- who has gotten an injunction against the track's opening. But the hood sees an opening when he accidentally crosses paths with a young sociology student, Lisbeth Bard (Lana Turner), who is drawn to him romantically, and then finds out that she's Farrell's step-daughter. After romancing her for a few months, he sets her up in a scam, making her believe that she killed one of Eager's men (Paul Stewart). He "generously" gets her away from the scene and then informs Farrell of what has happened, pointing out that he holds the evidence against Lisbeth. Farrell has no choice but to withdraw the injunction, and the track opens, but problems ensue when rival mobsters decide to try and cut in on Eager and his racket, and he finds out that Lisbeth is so guilt-ridden over her "crime," that she's destroying herself mentally. Eager can't figure out why she feels the way she does or what to do about it, or even if he should do anything to help her, but with Jeff's help, he discovers a nobler side to his nature. Realizing that she really does love him, and knowing it's not possible for the two of them to be together, he goes out in a blaze of glory -- laced with a special irony built into the plot -- solving Lisbeth's problem and also curing her of her love for him, and settling a score or two in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Blondes at Work is number four in Warner Bros.' lively "Torchy Blane" series. Glenda Farrell returns as girl reporter Torchy Blane, she of the mile-a-minute mouth, while Barton MacLane is back as Torchy's boyfriend/sparring partner, police lieutenant Steve McBride. The story revolves around Torchy's ability to constantly out-scoop her rival newshounds, thanks to tips inadvertently dropped by the loquacious McBride and his stupid assistant Gahagan (Tom Kennedy). Things come to a head when Torchy tries to get the low-down on a sensational murder case involving suspected husband-killer Louise Revelle (Rosella Towne). If the plot twists in Blondes at Work seem familiar, it's because the film is a remake of the 1935 Bette Davis vehicle Front Page Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide