Bert Freed Movies

LeBeau, Newkirk, and Carter are captured by the Gestapo and held for interrogation. To free his comrades, Hogan hatches a scheme whereby he must convince Sgt. Schultz to pose as Colonel Klink. The supporting cast includes Bert Freed as Major Bernsdorf and prolific TV writer/director James Frawley as the Gestapo captain. Written by Laurence Marks, "The Great Impersonation" made its network TV bow on February 4, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the newly appointed local bounty hunter, Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) threatens dire consequences should any lawbreakers cross his path. He gets his chance to prove his worth when two escaped convicts surface in the area. Upon meeting the two fugitives, Uncle Joe looks the men squarely in the eye--and faints. The bad guys are played by veteran movie gangster Marc Lawrence (who was still working in films as late as 2003!), and by comedian Paul "Mousie" Garner, erstwhile "backup" member of The Three Stooges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Why is Herman (Fred Gwynne) prancing around the mansion singing "Shuffle Off to Buffalo"? Well, it seems that he's in line for a big promotion, which he will receive if he relocates to Buffalo with his family. Unfortunately, Eddie (Butch Patrick) has just been made captain of his high school baseball team and doesn't want to move. Ultimately, Herman decides to remain in Mockingbird Heights--just as Grandpa (Al Lewis) has made arrangements to have the Munster Mansion demolished! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Pierce Construction Company has gone wildly over budget on a questionable land-development project, and head man Joe Marshall (Bert Freed) wants to know why. Before long, Marshall has been murdered, and Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is hired to defend the chief suspect, engineer Adam Conrad (Allen Case). The key to the mystery is a sinister secret buried deep within the crumbling old house that stands in the way of the project. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this offbeat melodrama, a crazed gardener is relegated to a mental hospital after he goes berserk and beheads his wealthy boss. The scuttlebutt in the courtroom is that the killer has stolen over a million dollars from his former employer and has hidden it on the estate. A professional actor is hired to feign insanity to get into the home, befriend the maniac, and find out where he hid the cash. Once he is admitted, the hapless actor encounters bedlam as he meets the patients, undergoes electroshock therapy, and suffers through several injections. Eventually he finds himself falling for a manic-depressive woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

As a child, "Baby Jane" Hudson was the toast of vaudeville. As an adult, however, Baby Jane was overshadowed by her more talented sister, Blanche, who became a top movie star. Then, one night in the early '30s, came the accident, which crippled Blanche for life and which was blamed on a drunken, jealous Jane. Flash-forward to 1962: Jane (Bette Davis), decked out in garish chalk-white makeup, still lives with the invalid Blanche (Joan Crawford) in their decaying L.A. mansion. When Jane isn't tormenting the helpless Blanche by serving her dead rats for breakfast, she is plotting and planning her showbiz comeback. Convinced that her days are numbered if she remains in the house with her addlepated sister, Blanche desperately tries to get away, but all avenues of escape are cut off by the deranged Jane. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? sparked a trend toward casting venerable Hollywood female stars in such grotesque Grand Guignol melodramas as Lady in a Cage (1964) and Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte (1965). In addition to revitalizing the careers of Davis and Crawford, whose real-life mutual animosity came through loud and clear, the film made a star of sorts of 24-year-old character actor Victor Buono, cast as a porcine mama's-boy musical composer. Lukas Heller's screenplay was based on the novel by Henry Farrell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spending six years in prison for a crime he did not commit, embittered Ernie Walters (Rip Torn) decides to become a criminal for real in order to "justify" his incarceration. To do this, he robs a tax office, but wears a disguise to avoid going back to jail. He needn't have bothered, however, as the police ruefully explain when he is hauled in on suspicion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arrested for embezzling 20,000 dollars, mild-mannered Milton Potter (Paul Hartman) immediately surrenders to the police, explaining that he is "not the running type." Sentenced to 12 years in jail, Milton is given several opportunities to shorten his sentence by revealing the whereabouts of the stolen money, but he refuses each time. And then, upon his release, Milton promptly returns every penny of the 20 grand. So what was in it for him? You'd be surprised. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this taut thriller, an aging safe-cracker's daughter gets involved with a petty gangster who is always looking for the big heist that will make him a rich man. The fellow reminds her of her father, but this doesn't stop her from attending his latest crime and acting as a look out. Her boyfriend proves to be a lousy safe-cracker and the heist fails. The woman goes back to her night club singing gig. She then gets involved with the club owner. Meanwhile her father has found a female lock-picker and fallen in love. Later the girl is forced to join her father and his lover on a heist. The club owner also comes and ends up shot by the father's girl friend. The poor daughter ends up convicted of the crime and given the death penalty. Just before she is to fry, the real killer bursts in and confesses. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Leslie Nielsen guest stars as Tom Sebring, a disgruntled prison inmate who has unexpectedly been denied parole. Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) hopes to play on Sebring's resentment to persuade him to act as an "inside man" at Leavenworth, the better to trap the partners of recently murdered mobster Nick Segal (Peter Leeds). But Ness' plans may be thwarted by a corrupt prison guard and a phony "escape" designed to cover up a second murder--and pulling the strings on the "outside" is none other than Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Any murder mystery featuring a pigeon named Herman can be trusted to offer more mirth than mayhem and that is the case with this upbeat film by director George Marshall. Glenn Ford stars as Elliott Nash, a television playwright married to Nell (Debbie Reynolds), a successful Broadway thespian. Nell had an ignominious moment in her past when she posed for some photos best left in obscurity and now Elliott is being blackmailed by the owner of the photos. Elliot's solution is to carry out a carefully executed murder and then bury the body underneath a gazebo being constructed in the backyard. Although the dastardly deed goes off without a hitch, the body of the blackmailer turns up elsewhere, leaving Elliott to track down who it was he buried under the gazebo. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Adapting Humphrey Cobb's novel to the screen, director Stanley Kubrick and his collaborators Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson set out to make a devastating anti-war statement, and they succeeded above and beyond the call of duty. In the third year of World War I, the erudite but morally bankrupt French general Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders his troops to seize the heavily fortified "Ant Hill" from the Germans. General Mireau (George MacReady) knows that this action will be suicidal, but he will sacrfice his men to enhance his own reputation. Against his better judgment, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) leads the charge, and the results are appalling. When, after witnessing the slaughter of their comrades, a handful of the French troops refuse to leave the trenches, Mireau very nearly orders the artillery to fire on his own men. Still smarting from the defeat, Mireau cannot admit to himself that the attack was a bad idea from the outset: he convinces himself that loss of Ant Hill was due to the cowardice of his men. Mireau demands that three soldiers be selected by lot to be executed as an example to rest of the troops. Acting as defense attorney, Colonel Dax pleads eloquently for the lives of the unfortunate three, but their fate is a done deal. Even an eleventh-hour piece of evidence proving Mireau's incompetence is ignored by the smirking Broulard, who is only interested in putting on a show of bravado. A failure when first released (it was banned outright in France for several years), Paths of Glory has since taken its place in the pantheon of classic war movies, its message growing only more pertinent and potent with each passing year (it was especially popular during the Vietnam era). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide