Virginia Gilmore Movies

Louis de Rochemont, former March of Time producer whose "docudrama" films proved so popular in the 1940s, offers more of the same in Walk East on Beacon. Based on an article written (or ghostwritten) by J. Edgar Hoover, the film concerns the efforts by the FBI to plug up a dangerous security leak. Federal agent Belden (George Murphy) is assigned to locate the communist mastermind behind the leak, and to trace all avenues of informational access utilized by the Bad Guys. Finlay Currie co-stars as an Einstein-like scientist who is being blackmailed by the Reds into cooperating with them, while Karel Stepanek is slime personified as the top Eastern-Bloc spy. Largely filmed on location in New York, Walk East on Beacon makes good use of several Manhattan-based actors, few of whom were seen in films either before or since. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danny Kaye plays the first of his cinematic dual roles in Goldwyn's Wonder Man. Kaye appears as timid librarian Edwin Dingle and Edwin's extroverted twin brother, nightclub entertainer Buzzy Bellew. When Buzzy witnesses a gangland shooting, he himself is rubbed out by mob boss Ten-Grand Jackson (Steve Cochran, in his movie debut). Before long, Edwin is visited by Buzzy's ghost, who persuades his bookish brother to help bring Jackson to justice. For the rest of the film, poor Edwin is possessed by his brother's sportive spirit, causing no end of confusion for Edwin's demure lady friend Ellen Shanley (Virginia Mayo) and Buzzy's more outgoing girlfriend, dancer Midge Mallon (Vera-Ellen, also making her first film appearance). Done up in splashy Technicolor, Wonder Man is perhaps Kaye's best Goldwyn-produced vehicle, permitting him to play a character (or characters) rather than a caricature. Highlights include an opera spoof (a variation of which showed up in Kaye's 1954 feature Knock on Wood), Danny's allergic rendition of "Otchi Chornya," and a wonderful vignette wherein Kaye imitates all the "inhabitants" of a pet shop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Shepperd, later known as Shepperd Strudwick, stars as the tragic Edgar Allan Poe in this low-budget biopic. Adopted as a child, Poe grows into a directionless adult, disgracing himself and his foster family through his inability (or unwillingness) to conform to the status quo of 19th century Baltimore. Devastated by the loss of his childhood sweetheart, Elmira Royster (Virginia Gilmore), he finds solace in his marriage to his cousin Virginia Clemm (Linda Darnell). Poe's blossoming literary reputation, and the stability of his private life, are ultimately done in by his addiction to alcohol and drugs. Sixty-seven minutes simply isn't enough time to do justice to this fascinating, complex individual, but everyone involved tries hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sundown Jim was the second of two 20th Century-Fox westerns starring football champ John Kimbrough. The story takes place in mountain country, providing a wintry backdrop for the standard western plot devices. Kimbrough is cast as US marshal Sundown Jim Majors, whose main purpose in life is to bring a deadly frontier feud to a peaceful end. This requires him to clean out the local criminal element, which he does with grim-visaged determination. Clocking in at a mere 53 minutes, Sundown Jim is as professionally assembled as its predecessor, Lone Star Ranger, but Fox's effort to make a film star out of John Kimbrough was foredoomed by his utter lack of acting ability. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This period swashbuckler film is based on the adventure novel Benjamin Blake by Edison Marshall, who also wrote The Vikings (1958). When his brother dies, scheming Arthur Blake (George Sanders) kidnaps his own nephew, Benjamin (played as a youth by Roddy McDowall and as an adult by Tyrone Power). Arthur's purpose is to claim his brother's dukedom for himself. Put to work as a stable boy, Benjamin grows up and develops a crush on his own cousin Isabel (Frances Farmer). When Arthur discovers this, he mercilessly beats Benjamin, who runs away and sails to India on a cargo ship to make his fortune. In Polynesia, he and a friend, Caleb (John Carradine), jump ship and set up camp on a tropical island paradise. There, Benjamin and Caleb become rich mining pearls, while Benjamin falls in love with a native girl, Eve (Gene Tierney). Now that he has amassed wealth, however, Benjamin is determined to return to England and get his revenge on Uncle Arthur. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In his last screen appearance, bandleader Glenn Miller plays--are you sitting down?--a bandleader. The film's main plot involves small-town girl Ann Rutherford, who impulsively marries George Montgomery, a trumpeter in the Miller band. Rutherford soon finds that she isn't particularly suited for life on the road, nor is she prepared for the petty jealousies and backstabbings prevalent among the other orchestra wives (Lynn Bari, Carole Landis et. al.) She eventually leaves Montgomery, an event which coincides with the breakup of the band. But both the band and the marriage are salvaged through the benign conspiratorial schemes of Glenn Miller and a repentant Rutherford. Those who aren't interested in the various plots and subplots in Orchestra Wives will be captivated by the endless supply of blue-ribbon tunes, including I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, At Last, and Serenade in Blue. Guest stars include Tex Beneke, The Modernaires and the Nicholas Brothers. Watch for an uncredited Jackie Gleason as a bass player and Dale Evans as Ann Rutherford's friend in the soda-fountain scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cesar Romero plays an outwardly tough prohibition-era gangster who in reality wouldn't hurt a fly. He maintains his "killer" reputation by planting evidence of his involvement at the scenes of other crooks' crimes. Romero begins aspiring for respectability when he falls in love with Virginia Gilmore and adopts the orphaned Stanley Clements. Through his own non-homicidal means, Romero redeems himself by wiping out a genuinely nasty gangster boss (Sheldon Leonard). Tall, Dark and Handsome was remade in 1950 as Love That Brute, with Paul Douglas in the Cesar Romero role--and with Romero playing the villain! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

20th Century-Fox's Western Union was loosely based on a story by Zane Grey. The basic historical facts behind the connecting of telegraph wires between Omaha and Salt Lake City serve as a backdrop for a fictional story straight out of Manhattan Melodrama. Randolph Scott and Barton MacLane are cast as brothers who pursue wildly divergent paths in adulthood: Scott, an ex-outlaw, goes to work for Western Union, while MacLane remains a criminal, leading a concerted effort to sabotage the telegraph company. The Indians, too often merely villains in films of this nature, are treated with relative sympathy. When they do attack the whites, it is principally because they have been falsely accused of crimes committed by MacLane and his bunch. Western Union was the second Technicolor western effort from director Fritz Lang; the first was the equally popular The Return of Frank James. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Manhattan Heartbeat is a somewhat toned-down remake of the pre-Production Code melodrama Bad Girl (1931). Newlyweds Johnny (Robert Sterling) and Dottie (Virginia Gilmore) have troubles living within their budget, thanks to Dottie's spendthrift habits. An airplane mechanic, Johnny begins accepting dangerous test-flight jobs to make ends meet. But Dottie doesn't mend her ways until she finds out that she's pregnant, at which point all is forgiven and the young couple hunkers down to the day-by-day responsibilities of married life. Joan Davis does yeoman duty in the film's central comedy-relief role. Like its cinematic predecessor, Manhattan Heartbeat was based on a play by Vina Delmar and Brian Marlow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"It's box office poison," producer Samuel Goldwyn is said to have exclaimed when he heard the idea of filming the life story of fabled first baseman Lou Gehrig. "If people want baseball, they go to the ballpark!" The story begins before World War I, when young Lou Gehrig (played as a boy by Douglas Croft) begins dreaming of becoming a professional ballplayer. Lou's immigrant parents (Elsa Jansen and Ludwig Stossel) insist that the boy attend Columbia University to become an engineer. While in college, Lou (played as a man by Gary Cooper) becomes a star athlete, and, with the help of sports journalist Sam Blake (Walter Brennan), he is signed by the New York Yankees and joins their big-league lineup in 1925; real-life Yanks Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig play themselves. He also meets and falls in love with Eleanor Twitchell (Teresa Wright) (an event that actually happened in 1933) and earns the nickname "The Iron Man of Baseball" because he never misses a game. In 1939, Lou discovers that he has a fatal neurological disease called amytrophic lateral sclerosis (now known, of course, as "Lou Gehrig's Disease"). On July 4, 1939, an emotional Lou Gehrig, a scant two years away from death, bids farewell to 62,000 of his fans and friends at Yankee Stadium. Allowing that he might have been given a bad break, he concludes his speech with "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Deftly weaving basic facts with yards and yards of fancy, screenwriters Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz serve up one of the most entertaining and inspiring baseball biopics. A more accurate but less dramatic adaptation of the same story, A Love Affair: The Eleanor & Lou Gehrig Story, was produced for television in 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide