Pat Flaherty Movies

A man who dreams of seeing the future discovers the horrible burden that it can carry in this film noir suspense story. Suicidal Jean Courtland (Gail Russell) is prevented from killing herself by her fiancée Elliot Carson (John Lund). When they consult psychic John Triton (Edward G. Robinson), he confesses that he used his powers to bring on her death. Years ago, Triton was a phony mentalist in a vaudeville act, but he began seeing genuine visions of the future, most of which portended tragic results. After a premonition of the death of his wife Jenny (Virginia Bruce) in childbirth, a terrified Triton went into hiding for five years; upon his return, he discovered that his wife had married Whitney (Jerome Cowan) shortly after John was declared dead...and she died giving birth. Years later, Jenny's child grew up to be Jean Courtland, and when Triton receives a vision of Whitney's death in a plane wreck, he rushes to California in hopes of stopping fate. However, he's foreseen a tragic future for both Jean and Whitney and is afraid of the agony that awaits them. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes was adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on the play by Arthur Miller, All My Sons is a drama of man's duty to man that retains a potent impact. Edward G. Robinson plays a manufacturer of parts for World War II airplanes who lives a full, satisfied life in a small town. But his idyll is shattered by the arrival of the fiancée of the manufacturer's oldest son, who is missing in action. The younger son begins to fall in love with the girl, but her own brother is against the relationship because, he claims, the manufacturer and his partner delivered defective parts to the war effort. The younger son (Burt Lancaster) investigates, even going as far as visit his father's former partner in jail, and discovers the awful truth -- that his father's corrupt actions were responsible for both the partner's incarceration and the deaths of 21 U.S. pilots. The tale ends with a bitter and tragic confrontation that drives home the message that we are all our brother's keepers, and we cannot push aside that responsibility for personal gain. Thoughtful and intense performances by Robinson and Lancaster bring humanity and life to this powerful theme. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

The Plan 9 From Outer Space of baseball biopics, The Babe Ruth Story is definitely in the "So Bad It's Good" category. An outrageously miscast William Bendix stars as George Herman "Babe" Ruth, who as depicted herein is a childish, misunderstood oaf who happens to be one of the greatest ballplayers of all time. With an almost perverse disregard for the facts, the film chronicles Babe's school days in Baltimore, his brief tenure with the Baltimore Orioles, his glory days with the New York Yankees, his precedent-breaking 60th homer, his "called shot" of 1932, his fall from grace with the Boston Braves, and his slow death from an unnamed but obviously cancerous illness. Along the way, Ruth marries nightclub performer Claire Hodgson (Claire Trevor) with whom he spends many happy years (the earlier Mrs. Ruth, Helen Woodford, is ignored as if she never existed, as is Babe's daughter Dorothy). It's difficult to remember all of the film's howling innacuracies, which include Claire Hodgson's performance of "Singin' in the Rain" ten years before the song was written, the Yankee Stadium billboard for Ballantine Beer in the middle of Prohibition, and Babe's promise to a dying child that he'd hit a homer during the 1932 World Series (this famous incident actually occured in 1927, and the kid wasn't dying). It's also fun to note that Babe's spiritual mentor Brother Matthias (Charles Bickford) remains steadfastly the same age from 1914 to 1948. It was probably to much to expect the truth from coscripter Grantland Rice, who during his newspaper career spent most of his time covering up Ruth's many sexual and alcoholic peccadilloes "for the good of baseball." Despite its multitude of flaws, The Babe Ruth Story is worth sitting through if only for the jaw-dropping final scene (which is even more ridiculous than the earlier vignette in which a Ruth home run enables a crippled child to walk for the first time!) Yes, it's awful, almost stupefyingly so, but The Babe Ruth Story is an experience not to be missed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bearing traces of such earlier hits as My Favorite Blonde and The Ghost Breakers, Where There's Life is one of the best of Bob Hope's postwar vehicles. The inimitable Mr. Hope is cast as New York radio personality Michael Valentine, who's poised to marry his long-time fiancee Hazel O'Brien (Vera Marshe). But destiny takes a hand when, in the far-off kingdom of Barovia, King Hubertus II (William Edmunds) is felled by an assassin's bullet. To avoid a revolution, the King's cabinet hurriedly searches for Hubertus' sole heir -- who, according to all reliable sources, is one Michael Valentine. Gorgeous General Katrina Grimovich (Signe Hasso) is dispatched to New York to bring Valentine back to Barovia, while a group of insurrectionists, headed by Krivoc (George Coulouris) and Stertorius (George Zucco), conspire to kill Valentine before he can ever leave American soil. When Valentine is apprised of his royal lineage, he assumes that he's the victim of a practical joke perpetrated by his announcer Joe Snyder (George Zucco). Once he's convinced that it's no joke, Valentine and Katrina scurry about the streets of Manhattan, dodging potential assassins at every turn -- not to mention keeping out of the way of Hazel's muscle-bound policeman brother Victor (William Bendix), who assumes that Valentine is merely trying to weasel out of his wedding. Full of bright dialogue and hilarious gag situations, Where There's Life is vintage Bob Hope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based upon the French film Le Jour Se Lève, The Long Night opens in the in the midst of a dire situation: ex-serviceman Joe Adams (Henry Fonda) finds himself holed up in his apartment, surrounded by policemen who soon open fire in a relentless and determined manner. Adams has been accused of murder, and as his apartment is riddled with bullets, he flashes back to how this all came about. It began when Adams met Jo Ann (Barbara Bel Geddes), who, it turns out, grew up in the same orphanage at the same time as he. They soon fall in love, but things are complicated when a magician named Maximilian (Vincent Price) enters the picture. He tells Adams that he is Jo Ann's father, but that he doesn't want her to know this. Maximilian begins spending a lot of time with Jo Ann, which makes Adams feel vaguely unsettled. He discovers that Maximilian lied -- that he is not her father but is someone who has been trying to seduce her for a long time. Maximilian goes to Adams' apartment to taunt him, with the result that Adams shoots him, thus bringing about the current state of affairs. As Adams has been recalling all of this, a crowd has gathered, including Jo Ann. She leads the crowd in protesting the police's actions, and a riot brews. With tension continuing to rise, Jo Ann desperately tries to find a way to rescue the man she loves. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

This gripping, gritty film noir begins as a mortally wounded physician staggers into the apartment of a vicious vixen, the leader of a notorious gang of thieves. Shots ring out, and the police rush to the scene. Sergeant Leonard gets there to find the doctor dead, and the woman failing fast. As she lay gasping she decides to tell the sergeant the whole terrible story that began when she got involved with a cop-killing robber who was captured and sentenced to death. Before his fateful date with the gas chamber, he lets the rest of the gang know where he hid the $40,0000 they netted from the caper; he, with her help, also arranges to ingest the doctor's newly developed drug, an antidote to cyanide, to escape his "execution." The plot works, and eventually, the gangster is back in business. He gives his girl half of the map, but unfortunately gets shot by a rival before he can give her the other half. The ruthless woman and another gang member then force the doctor to assist them with their search. They are heading off to the location, when the double-crossing she-devil kills the other gangster in a horrible manner and continues on with the doctor. They find the chest containing the loot and they get an awful surprise. The woman begins laughing hysterically as if on the verge of a full-blown break down. She shoots the doctor and then flees, thereby bringing the story up to the present. Just before she dies, the ruthless woman reveals the astonishing contents of the chest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this espionage drama, a WW II veteran teams up with a government secretary and begins hunting a gang of Nazi agents who are seeking the secret documents carried by the G-man they killed. The two heroes are hindered on their hunt by fellow government agents who believe the two are responsible for the FBI agent's death. Mayhem ensues until the two prove their innocence, capture the culprits, and save the US from fascism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Abbott & Costello vehicle Hit the Ice started life as satire of health clinics, with Lou Costello cast as a hypochondriac who used a streetcar conductor's change-purse to dispense pills to himself. By the time the film hit the screens, it was a standard A&C melange of comedy, music and fast-paced chase scenes, with nary a pill in sight. Bud and Lou are cast as would-be photojournalists Flash and Tubby, who inadvertently snap a picture of two bank robbers leaving the scene of the crime. Accused of knocking over the bank themselves, our heroes find it expedient to hide out at a Sun Valley ski resort. Here they tie up with Silky Fellowsby (Sheldon Leonard), the mastermind of the bank heist, who is led to believe that Flash and Tubby are a couple of Detroit "hit men". In the course of events, Tubby falls in love with Silky's girl Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms), romancing her by pretending (with Flash's dubious assistance) to be an accomplished concert pianist. The final confrontation with the crooks leads to an elaborate chase on skis, with all manner of hilarious (and wildly impossible) sight gags. The barely necessary romantic subplot involves doctor Bill Elliot (Patric Knowles) and nurse Peggy Osborne (played by Elyse Knox, the mother of actor Mark Harmon). Best bits: the classic "packing-unpacking routine, a zany skating sequence, and the old "I'll bet I can stand next to you and you can't touch me" chestnut. Hit the Ice was Lou Costello's last film before rheumatic fever kept him off screen for a full year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yankee Doodle Dandy is no more the true-life story of George M. Cohan than The Jolson Story was the unvarnished truth about Al Jolson -- but who the heck cares? Dandy has song, dance, pathos, pageantry, uproarious comedy, and, best of all, James Cagney at his Oscar-winning best. After several failed attempts to bring the life of legendary, flag-waving song-and-dance man Cohan to the screen, Warners scenarist Robert Buckner opted for the anecdotal approach, unifying the film's largely unrelated episodes with a flashback framework. Summoned to the White House by President Roosevelt, the aging Cohan is encouraged to relate the events leading up to this momentous occasion. He recalls his birth on the Fourth of July, 1878; his early years as a cocky child performer in his family's vaudeville act; his decision to go out as a "single"; his sealed-with-a-handshake partnership with writer/producer Sam Harris (Richard Whorf); his first Broadway success, 1903's Little Johnny Jones; his blissful marriage to winsome wife Mary (a fictional amalgam of Cohan's two wives, played by Joan Leslie -- who, incredibly, was only 17 at the time); his patriotic civilian activities during World War I, culminating with his writing of that conflict's unofficial anthem "Over There" (performed by Nora Bayes, as played by Frances Langford); the deaths of his sister, Josie (played by Cagney's real-life sister Jeanne), his mother, Nellie (Rosemary DeCamp), and his father, Jerry (Walter Huston); his abortive attempt to retire; and his triumphant return to Broadway in Rodgers & Hart's I'd Rather Be Right.

His story told, Cohan is surprised -- and profoundly moved -- when FDR presents him with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first such honor bestowed upon an entertainer. His eyes welling up with tears, Cohan expresses his gratitude by invoking his old vaudeville curtain speech: "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you." Glossing over such unsavory moments in Cohan's life as his bitter opposition of the formation of Actor's Equity -- not to mention George M.'s intense hatred of FDR! -- Yankee Doodle Dandy offers the George M. Cohan that people in 1942 wanted to see (proof of the pudding was the film's five-million-dollar gross). And besides, the plot and its fabrications were secondary to those marvelous Cohan melodies -- "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Harrigan," "Mary," "You're a Grand Old Flag," "45 Minutes from Broadway," and the title tune -- performed with brio by Cagney (who modifies his own loose-limbed dancing style in order to imitate Cohan's inimitable stiff-legged technique) and the rest of the spirited cast. Beyond its leading players, movie buffs will have a ball spotting the myriad of familiar character actors parading before the screen: S.Z. Sakall, George Tobias, Walter Catlett, George Barbier, Eddie Foy Jr. (playing his own father), Frank Faylen, Minor Watson, Tom Dugan, John Hamilton, and on and on and on. In addition to Cagney, music directors Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld also won Oscars for their efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Maybe Errol Flynn was never the war hero that he often played, but he was a capable boxer, and Gentleman Jim makes full use of this skill. Flynn stars as Jim Corbett, the 19th-century American pugilist who introduced "scientific" methods to bare-knuckle boxing. Originally an office clerk, Corbett is introduced to the then-illegal sport of fighting when one of the bank executives sponsors the young man's training at the Olympic Club. His arrogance wins Corbett a few enemies, including high-born lady Victoria Ware (Alexis Smith), whose dislike turns to casual affection when she realizes that Corbett is a sincere young fellow who can back up his boasts. What "Gentleman Jim" desires most in life is a match with reigning heavyweight champ John L. Sullivan (Ward Bond). Corbett and Sullivan finally meet in a bout governed by those new Marquis of Queensbury rules that Corbett has helped popularize. Twenty-one epoch-making rounds later, Corbett emerges victorious. At the victory celebration, Sullivan and Corbett graciously exchange mutual words of respect and affection. At this point, Corbett has totally won over the lovely Victoria -- but hasn't quite convinced his brawling brothers that "scientific" boxing is the wave of the future, and the film ends with a typical Raoul Walsh-directed battle royal. More faithful to the facts than most Errol Flynn biopics (but still with enough poetic license to drive historical purists up a wall), Gentleman Jim is broad, boisterous entertainment. Though it looks expensive, the film was made under Warner Bros.' standard pinchpenny restrictions; if you look closely at that moored ship where Corbett has one of his first professional fights, you'll notice that it's a leftover set from the 1940 Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Sea Hawk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 20th Century-Fox cheapie stars Carole Landis as a pretty detective and Allyn Joslyn as a fast-talking reporter ever on the verge of losing his job. Landis is entrusted with a large, troublesome Doberman pinscher named Rodney, who is docile only around her. After numerous Disney-like complications with Rodney showing up where it shouldn't, Landis uses the dog to help her track down a gang of racketeers. Joslyn, who mistakenly believes that Landis and Rodney have recently participated in a hold-up, goes along for the ride, rescuing his lady love and getting a swell story in the bargain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hope Schuyler is a notorious but never-seen astrologer, inextricably linked with blackmail, political graft and murder. Special prosecutor Tom Mason (Joseph Allen Jr.) hopes to ascertain the true identity of Hope Schuyler and to put an end to her (or his) crime spree. Despite the obstacles thrown in his path by vindictive DA Anthony Pierce (Ricardo Cortez), Mason pursues his investigation with the not inconsiderable assistance of his girl friend Diane Rossiter (Mary Howard) and fearless girl reporter Lee Dale (Sheila Ryan). The trail of clues lead to a remote mountain lodge, where the story's pulse-pounding conclusion plays itself out. Who is Hope Schuyler? was based on a novel by Stephen Ransome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Curtis Bernhardt hadn't wanted to make Juke Girl, but he was under contract to Warner Bros. and had to tow the line lest he find himself drawing Unemployment. One of Bernhardt's gripes against the film is that it starred Ronald Reagan, whom he considered an "unimportant" screen personality. In all fairness, Reagan is pretty good in his role as itinerant fruit-picker Steve Talbot, who gets involved in the middle of a labor dispute between the farmers and the packers. Talbot casts his lot with the farmers, while his longtime pal Danny Frazier (Richard Whorf) goes with the packers. Juke-joint hostess Lola Meers (Anne Sheridan) falls for Steve and supports his cause, only to be fired for her troubles at the behest of powerful packing-plant operator Henry Madden (Gene Lockhart). She and Steve try to escape Madden's influence, but when their farmer friend Nick Garcos (George Tobias) is murdered, the couple is framed for the crime. There follows "orgies of fights" (director Bernhardt's description) and a lynching attempt before Steve's old buddy Danny comes to the rescue. Anne Sheridan is at her most gorgeous in Juke Girl, making it difficult for the viewer to remain concentrated on the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide