Ruth Ford Movies
Ruth Ford had been a photographer's model and stock actress before she was hired for Orson Welles's Mercury Theater in 1938. Ford enjoyed sizeable roles in the Mercury stage productions of Shoemaker's Holiday and Danton's Death, and also appeared on Welles' weekly radio anthology. In 1942, she was signed by Warner Bros. and groomed as a standard ingenue in such forgettable film fare as The Gorilla Man (1942) and The Hidden Hand (1943). In 1945 she moved on to 20th Century-Fox where she appeared in Wilson as Woodrow Wilson's daughter Margaret. Returning to Broadway, Ford distinguished herself in the demanding works of such playwrights as Shakespeare, Aigust Strindberg, Jean-Paul Sartre and Edward Albee. Her favorite stage roles included Estelle in No Exit, Temple Drake in Requiem for a Nun and Lorraine in A Breeze from the Gulf. Among the handful of films in which she appeared after 1950 were Act One (1963, as Beatrice Kaufman) and Play It As It Lays (1972). Previously married to actor Peter Van Eyck, Ruth Ford later married Zachary Scott, whom she outlived. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1942
In this espionage drama, a battle-fatigued British commando is diagnosed as clinically insane by doctors who are in reality, Nazi spies. They do this to keep him from divulging the secret info he has gathered about them. To prove their diagnosis, they murder several woman and blame him for the deaths. The RAF pilot comes out of his shell-shock in time to stop the Nazis. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Loder, Ruth Ford, (more)
- 1942
Escape from Crime is a pared-down (51 minute) remake of 1933's Picture Snatcher, with Richard Travis in the old James Cagney role. Recently paroled from jail, Red O'Hara (Travis) manages to wangle a photographer's job at the tabloid newspaper managed by hard-drinking Cornell (Frank Wilcox). Flamboyantly "grabbing" photos where no one else can, Red is able to support his wife Molly (Julie Bishop) and child, but the stigma of his prison sentence still hangs over him. Only by rounding up his former gang is Red able to square himself with police lieutenant "Biff" Malone. Though billed third, Jackie "C" Gleason has a very minor role as an overfed convict. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Travis, Julie Bishop, (more)
- 1942
Not a science-fiction story despite its title, The Man Who Returned to Life is a story of how deception can lead to tragedy. John Howard stars as a man who, in order to escape an untenable situation, fakes his own death. He escapes to a small town, assumes a new identity and settles down to a happy marriage and comfortable job. One morning he picks up the paper and discovers that an old acquaintance from his past existence has been arrested for his "murder"--and is sentenced to hang. The solution to the dilemma is arrived at following the lengthy flashback that forms the bulk of Man Who Returned to Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Howard, Lucille Fairbanks, (more)
- 1941
Michael Lanyard, the reformed criminal known as the Lone Wolf, is played in this Columbia B picture by the suave Warren William. The script contrives to have Lanyard's faithful butler Jamison (Eric Blore) to be mistaken for his boss by a gang of jewel robbers. They force poor Jamison to participate in the theft of the valuable "Napoleon gems" which Lanyard has been hired to protect. Most of the action takes place during a steamship voyage, allowing Columbia to trot out its standard (but impressive) shipboard sets and to cloud the budget limitations with heavy fog. Secrets of the Lone Wolf was the eighth in Columbia's series based on the mystery stories of Louis Joseph Vance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren William, Ruth Ford, (more)
