Walter Fenner Movies

Margaret O'Brien, MGM's newest child sensation, was given her first starring vehicle with Lost Angel. O'Brien plays Alpha, who has been groomed to be a genius by a trio of well-meaning but misguided professors (Philip Merivale, Henry O'Neill and Donald Meek). Taking pity on the reluctant prodigy, police reporter Mike Regan (James Craig) takes it upon himself to "deprogram" Alpha and transform her into a normal, healthy child. In an effort to inflate this B picture into "A" proportions by increasing the running time, the scriptwriters contrive a silly subplot involving a gang of Runyonesque gangsters (headed by the ineluctable Keenan Wynn). Margaret O'Brien's appeal may be elusive to modern viewers, but she was a proven audience favorite back in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on Norman Corwin's satirical radio play My Client Curley, Once Upon a Time is an engaging bit of whimsy, completely dominated by the personality of star Cary Grant. It all begins when fly-by-night Broadway producer Jerry Flynn (Grant) learns of a trained caterpillar (!) that dances to the tune of "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby." In short order, Jerry has promoted Curly the Caterpillar to international stardom-and in the process he alienates both Pinky Thompson (Ted Donaldson), the impressionable 9-year-old who owns Curley, and Pinky's attractive older sister Jeanne (Janet Blair). Eventually, Flynn comes to his senses and regains his essential decency-though it's too late to continue capitalizing on Curley, who has turned into a non-dancing butterfly! Full of delightful contemporary references and "cameo appearances" by such celebrities as producer Walt Disney and radio commentator Gabriel Heatter (both played by uncredited impressionists), Once Upon a Time proved an agreeable diversion for wartime audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this semi-remake of Love is News (37), Betty Grable stars as a Gay-Nineties Bowery saloon singer. Ever seeking an opportunity for advancement, Grable heads to London, becomes a highbrow musical comedy "artiste", and concocts a scheme to land a wealth duke (Reginald Gardiner). Her plan is foiled by a snoopy reporter (Robert Young) from the Police Gazette who has long been a thorn in Grable's side. Young's motive has nothing to do with dishing out gossip; he's in love with Betty and wants her for his own. Tuneful frolics like Sweet Rosie O'Grady seem to be the collective reason that Technicolor was invented. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

20th Century-Fox's 1943 filmization of Richard Tregaskis' best-selling book Guadalcanal Diary does full justice to the spare, lean prose of Tregaskis' eyewitness account. The incidents in the "diary" are tied together by an off-screen narrator into a cohesive storyline. The principal characters in this wartime chronicle are marine sergeant Lloyd Nolan, chaplain Preston S. Foster, Mexican enlistee Anthony Quinn, and a Dodgers-lovin' Brooklynite, played by William Bendix. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adenoidal teenager Henry Aldrich (James Lydon) "gets glamour" when he wins first prize in a movie-magazine contest. Before he quite knows what's happening, Henry is whisked to Hollywood for a date with glamorous "sarong girl" Hilary Dane (Frances Gifford). All of this coincides with a local scandal, innocently fomented by our hero, which threatens the election of Henry's father Sam (John Litel) to the office of public welfare commissioner. The plot is resolved at the end when Hilary Dane, for reasons of her own, shows up as Henry's date at a country club dance, an act which somehow vindicates Sam Aldrich (the plot makes much more sense on screen than on print!) In addition to the lissome Frances Gifford, Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour showcases such promising starlets as Diana Lynn and Gail Russell. An unbilled Johnny Arthur earns some of the film's biggest laughs as a prissy publicity agent. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The action content of Republic's Gene Autry musical westerns was considerably enhanced by veteran director B. Reeves "Breezy" Eason, as demonstrated by the mile-a-minute Mountain Rhythm. True, there's a plot, with Autry coming to the rescue of elderly Maude Eburne, who is in danger of losing her ranch to the crooked owner (Walter Fenner) of a resort hotel. And, yes, there's comedy relief aplenty, not only from standard Autry sidekick Smiley Burnette but also from hoboes Ferris Taylor and Jack Pennick. And, sure, Autry sings a number of songs to leading lady June Storey. But the main selling card of Mountain Rhythm is action with a capital "A"-especially during a climactic chase which conjures up pleasant memories of Breezy Eason's chariot-race sequence in 1926's Ben-Hur. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Juarez was originally designed to concentrate almost exclusively on the tragedy of Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian, whose attempts to establish a puppet government in Mexico on behalf of Napoleon III ended in disaster and death. But when Paul Muni decided that he wanted to play Zapotec-Indian-turned-Mexican President Benito Pablo Juarez, the film's emphasis perceptibly shifted -- and Bette Davis, cast as Empress Carlotta, was shunted to second billing rather than first. Muni's makeup and costuming convincingly transforms him into Juarez incarnate. But unlike his other historical impersonations (Pasteur, Zola), Muni's Juarez is a one-note characterization: stoic, uncompromising, and v-e-e-r-y slow of speech. Far more exciting dramatically is Bette Davis as Empress Carlotta, whose highly stylized descent into madness is a tour de force both for the actress and for director William Dieterle. Claude Rains and Gale Sondergaard, as Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, in essence repeat their diabolical characterizations from Anthony Adverse (1936), while John Garfield is singularly miscast as Pofirio Diaz. The best performance is delivered by Brian Aherne, whose kindly, honorable Emperor Maximillian is less a despot than a misguided political pawn. When Aherne, about to be executed at Juarez' orders, requests that his favorite Mexican song "La Paloma" be played as he is led before the firing squad, audience sympathies are 100% in Maximilian's corner--which was not quite what the filmmakers intended. Based largely on Bertita Harding's book The Phantom Crown (the film's original title), Juarez takes every available opportunity to parallel its title character's fight against foreign intervention with the then-current European situation. To protect their investment in Juarez Warner Bros. purchased outright a like-vintage Mexican film on the same subject, The Mad Empress, suppressing the latter film's release in the United States. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this entry in the comedy series the "Higgins Family," the group must cancel a cruise to South America after the check they needed does not arrive. To save face before their neighbors, the family embarks upon a wilderness fishing trip. The family made a wise decision to forego the cruise as the boat sinks and everyone is lost. This creates havoc for the Higgins family neighbors who believe they went down with the ship. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

I Am Not Afraid was the preview title for the 60-minute Warner Bros. crime melodrama The Man Who Dared. A remake of 1931's Star Witness, the film concerns the efforts made by gangster to intimidate murder witness Matthew Carter (Henry O'Neill) into silence. When all else fails, the villains kindap Carter's young son Ralph (Dickie Moore) threatening in no uncertain terms to kill the boy if Carter testifies in court. Coming to the rescue is Ralph's grandpa Ulysses Porterfield (Charley Grapewin), a pugnacious Civil War veteran who deploys military strategy to rescue the kid from the gangster's clutches. Like many other Warner Bros. films of the period, I Am Not Afraid takes a firm and decisive stand against the political hooligans then in charge of Europe: at one point, Porterfield shames Carter into cooperating with the authorities by observing that American gangsters were no better than "Hitler, Mussolini or Stalin" (This at a time went most Hollywood studios were treading very lightly in the field of current affairs, terrified of losing the valuable European market) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though the film is called Speed Devils, the only racetrack scenes occur at the very beginning of the picture. After cracking up during a race, the driver of the car (Paul Kelly) is advised to get into another line of work. Picking up on this, he and his buddy (Russell Hardie) open up a garage, only to be pounced upon by crooked politicians who want a chunk of the profits. The friend agrees to play ball with the crooks, but his partner balks at the idea. The villains then contrive to frame the reluctant man for a crime he didn't commit, and when this fails they lock our hero and his girlfriend (Marguerite Churchill) in a burning building. His pal comes to the rescue, and the two then team up to smash the corrupt politicos once and for all. Speed Devils was directed by former D. W. Griffith protégé Joseph Henaberry, who spent much of his talkie career on Poverty Row. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi