Preston S. Foster Movies

A transport pilot is ordered to fly a risky mission. The pilot, Scott, refuses the dangerous mission and is fired from his job. Scott starts up a pilot school which struggles to stay in business. As an inspector for the government, Foster gives Scott trouble about his school, Scott hopes a new government pilot program will help him out. ~ All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a remake of Forgotten Faces (1936), a convict busts out of prison to protect his daughter from her conniving mother so that the girl will be able to marry a decent guy in the future. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The last of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's three MGM features, Abbott & Costello in Hollywood is a loose remake of Buster Keaton's Free and Easy. Bud and Lou play a pair of Tinseltown barbers who dream of becoming high-priced showbiz agents. Their first clients are Frances Rafferty and Robert Stanton, whose careers may be over before they begin when A&C manage to antagonize powerful producer Donald MacBride and stuck-up film star Carleton Young. The plot serves only as a clothesline upon which to hang several sidesplitting comedy routines: Abbott teaching Costello how to give a shave, Lou vainly trying to get a good night's sleep, a "stunt man" bit involving the tremulous Costello and hulking Mike Mazurki, and a wild roller-coaster finale. MGM contractees Lucille Ball, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, Preston S. Foster and Robert Z. Leonard make guest appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally slated for release through Paramount Pictures but ultimately distributed by United Artists, American Empire is a western "special" from Hopalong Cassidy producer Harry "Pop" Sherman. Set during the Reconstruction period, the film stars Richard Dix and Preston S. Foster as Dan Taylor and Paxton Bryce, two longtime friends seeking their fortune in postwar Texas. With the considerable assistance of Dan's sister and Paxton's wife Abby (Frances Gifford), the two comrades establish a thriving cattle business. Alas, Paxton is seized with the ambition to become a emperor in his own domain, thereby alienating himself from Dan and Abby. Only through a profound personal tragedy does Paxton come back to his senses. Ironically, critics in 1942 suggested that the Mexican accent adopted by supporting player Leo Carrillo was more than a little reminiscent of "The Cisco Kid" -- and this was still several years before Carrillo was established as Pancho in the "Cisco" "B"-film and TV series! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The trials faced by the US Army when it first attempted to trade horses for tanks provides the basis of this actioner. The tale centers upon the love affair between an Army post commander's daughter and a young tank specialist who is trying to prove that the new technology is better than horses. The old soldiers disagree and a race upon a special course is arranged. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Chubasco (Christopher Jones) is a wayward youth who is given a choice by the presiding judge. His choices are go to jail or take an honest job on a fishing boat. He chooses to set sail, leaving behind his girl Bunny (Susan Strasberg) and her father Sebastian (Richard Egan), who obviously has it out for the wayward teen. He works on a tuna boat, learning to break free of a life of crime. He also meets a bordello madame named Angela (Ann Sothern) who may or may not be his mother. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Destination 60,000 was one of a cycle of late-1950s films dealing with the exploits of supersonic-jet test pilots. Though plane manufacturer Colonel Ed Buckley (Preston S. Foster) relies heavily upon the daring of his ace pilot Jeff Connors (Pat Conway), Buckley has trouble coming to terms with Connors' lack of discipline. But when Buckley nearly cracks up making a test flight himself, it is Connors, applying the rules of procedure gleaned during his combat experience, who comes to the rescue. Among the familiar faces dotting the supporting cast are Denver Pyle as a co-pilot and Jeff Donnell as Buckley's ever-patient spouse. Destination 60,000 was put together by Gross-Krasne Productions, a firm more closely associated with weekly TV series (Big Town, Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal, Mayor of the Town etc. ) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fay Wray screams when she first lays eyes on Lionel Atwill in Doctor X, but don't let that fool you. Atwill plays Fay's father this time around, and he may very well not be the diabolical "Moon Murderer" whom the police are seeking. Dr. Xavier (Atwill) maintains a research lab in a remote Long Island estate. The police suspect that one of Xavier's assistants--all "second-chancers" whose previous misdemeanors range from botched experiments to cannibalism!--is the mysterious murderer who strikes only when the moon is full. Newspaper reporter Lee Tracy sneaks into the estate to get a swell scoop, whereupon he falls in love with Fay. In trying to help the authorities, Xavier stages an elaborate trap for the Moon Murderer, with his daughter as the willing bait. The killer (we won't tell you who it is, but you'll figure it out anyway) reveals himself by coating his body with "synthetic flesh", which gives him supernatural powers. Based on a play by Howard C. Comstock and Allen C. Miner, Doctor X was originally filmed in two-color Technicolor; available for years only in black and white, the film was restored to its full tinted state in the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joe E. Brown plays Elmer Kane, a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite. Because he is not only vain but naive, Elmer's teammates take great delight in pulling practical jokes on him. Still, he is so valuable a player that the Cubs management hides the letters from his hometown sweetheart Nellie (Patricia Ellis), so that Elmer won't bolt the team and head for home. When Nellie comes to visit Elmer, she finds him in an innocent but compromising situation with a glamorous actress (Claire Dodd). She turns her back on him, and disconsolate Elmer tries to forget his troubles at a crooked gambling house. Elmer incurs an enormous gambling debt, which the casino's owner is willing to forget if Elmer will only throw the deciding World Series game. Elmer brawls with the gambler and lands in jail, where he learns of a particularly cruel practical joke that had previously been played on him. Out of spite, he refuses to play in the Big Game, and thanks to a jailhouse visit by the gamblers, it looks as though Elmer has taken a bribe. But when he shows up to play (after patching things up with Nellie), Elmer proves that he's been true-blue all along. Based on the Broadway play by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, Elmer the Great betrays its stage origins in its static early scenes, but builds confidently to a terrific climax during a rain-soaked ball game. This enjoyable film was the second in Joe E. Brown's "baseball trilogy" (see also Fireman Save My Child and Alibi Ike). Elmer the Great was remade in 1939 as Cowboy Quarterback, with Bert Wheeler in Joe E. Brown's part and with football substituting for baseball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

RKO's Face to Face joined the "multistoried film" bandwagon set in motion by the Somerset Maugham omnibus films of the late 1940s. Produced by Huntington Hartford, Face to Face consists of two classic American short stories, each running approximately 45 minutes. Directed by John Brahm, "The Secret Sharer" is adapted from the Joseph Conrad story by Aeneas McKenzie. James Mason stars as a young, inexperienced sea captain who forms a symbiotic relationship with an imperiled sailor (Michael Pate). The second half of the film consists of Stephen Crane's "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," adapted by James Agee and directed by Bretaigne Windust. In this story, a frontier sheriff (Robert Preston), returning from his honeymoon with his bride (Marjorie Steele) in tow, must deal with an old and dreaded enemy (Minor Watson). Both the individual components of Face to Face were later reissued as separate films, with additional footage added to pad out the running times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lensed at Paramount's Astoria studios, Follow the Leader is the film version of the 1927 Broadway musical Midnight Mary, with Ed Wynn making his talkie debut in his original stage role. The story has something to do with bombastic Broadway singer Helen King (Ethel Merman in her first feature-film appearance) and her understudy, winsome Mary Brennan (Ginger Rogers). To make certain that Rogers will be able to go on in Helen's place, comedy-relief character Crickets (who else but Wynn?) is hired to kidnap the latter. He makes precious little effort to hide his larcenous intentions, noisily stumbling into the lobby of Helen's hotel with the tools of his trade -- rope, sledgehammers, et. al. -- in full view of the assembled guests. Amazingly, he manages to bind Helen to a chair, only to wind up knocking himself out with a bottle of chloroform. Needless to say, Mary becomes a star, but the audience never sees Crickets or Helen again; for all anyone knows, they may still be locked up in that hotel room. Incredibly silly, Follow the Leader did little to advance the careers of any of its stars, though Ed Wynn and Ethel Merman continued packing 'em in on Broadway. If nothing else, the film offers modern audiences a chance to see several vaudeville headliners in action, including Lou Holtz, James C. Morton and Bobby Watson (here cast as Broadway impresario George White instead of his usual guise as Adolph Hitler). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide