Lucille Gleason Movies

Having previously introduced Cole Porter's hit song "Don't Fence Me In" in Hollywood Canteen, Roy Rogers performs the song once again in this same-named Republic "special." When he's not singing, Rogers is dealing with nosy female journalist Toni Ames (Dale Evans), who hopes to learn the truth about Wildcat Kelly a notorious outlaw who flourished back at the turn of the century. Said outlaw has supposedly been dead for 40 years, but garrulous old-timer Gabby Whittaker (Gabby Hayes) offers to give Toni the lowdown on Kelly. After a series of convoluted complications, Roy and Toni discover what the audience has suspected all along: Gabby Whittaker and Wildcat Kelly are one in the same. Perhaps because of its saleable title, Don't Fence Me In was treated with more industry respect than most Roy Rogers westerns, earning excellent reviews and choice play-dates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amidst its usual yearly quota of adventure films, Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit turned out a handful of comedies and musicals. One of these was Take it Big, starring Jack Haley and Harriet Hilliard. Haley plays Jack North, the nether end of a vaudeville horse act who inherits a western ranch. When he heads to the Great Outdoors to take possession, Jack winds up at the wrong place: a swanky dude ranch. He immediately begins running things, at it's quite a while before his error is discovered. By the time he shows up at his own ranch, he's up to his ears in unpaid debts-which naturally requires a fund-raising musical show as a bail-out. Harriet Hilliard handles the romantic portion of the proceedings, occasionally dueting with her real-life husband, bandleader Ozzie Nelson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the film rights to its "Saint" series proved too expensive to renew, RKO Radio came up with a lookalike property in the form of "The Falcon", even engaging George Sanders, the best of the "Saint" impersonators, to play the studio's newest gentleman detective. The Gay Falcon opens as Gay Lawrence (Sanders) -- aka the Falcon -- is hired to guard a priceless diamond. When the owner of the gem is murdered, suspicious immediately falls upon Lawrence's ex-con chauffeur Goldie (Allen Jenkins). Two more killings occur before Lawrence is able to uncover the insurance scam behind it all. Along the way, he romance a pair of toothsome leading ladies, Helen (played by series regular Wendy Barrie) and Elinor (Anne Hunter). Hans Conried contributes a sparkling bit as a snide police sketch artist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Venerable character actor Harry Davenport (best remembered as Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind) takes center stage in the "Higgins Family" entry Grandpa Goes to Town. The story gets under way when Joe and Lil Higgins (James and Lucille Gleason) invest their life savings in a frontier hotel. Upon arrival, the family discovers that the establishment is smack dab in the middle of a ghost town that hasn't seen a human face in years. Fortunately, Grandpa Higgins (Davenport) discovers gold on the property, leading to a spectacular upsurge in business-and a bit of unexpected trouble from a few unsavory types. In keeping with its policy of hiring the losers of Joe Louis' heavyweight championship bouts for their films, Republic Pictures provides a sizeable role in Grandpa Goes to Town for Louis' latest victim, Arturo Godoy, who appears in a dance sequence with his attractive wife Ledda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this episode of the Higgins Family series, pandemonium ensues when Ma enters a dog biscuit contest. The prize is a whopping $50,000. Unfortunately, the company is represented by Pa's ad agency and his wife cannot legally enter. The trouble is, to win, Ma purchased every dog biscuit in town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the comedy series the "Higgins Family," the group must cancel a cruise to South America after the check they needed does not arrive. To save face before their neighbors, the family embarks upon a wilderness fishing trip. The family made a wise decision to forego the cruise as the boat sinks and everyone is lost. This creates havoc for the Higgins family neighbors who believe they went down with the ship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a woman is told that a cop killed her brother in cold-blood during a shoot-out. The woman believes the crook, but this does not prevent her from falling in love with the injured policeman. When he finds out her relationship to the deceased he begins looking for the real killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A troubled young girl vents her frustrations upon her poor butler in this sentimental drama. The teen is angry because her parents ignore her. Fortunately a kindly teacher is there to help her learn more productive ways of coping. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A tough sailor bets his pals that he can win the love of a prissy librarian and so masquerades as a candidate for the Naval Academy to catch her eye. Unfortunately for him, she is not so easily fooled. He immediately changes his story and "admits" that he is actually a Navy spy. Enemy spies, who have come to assassinate a visiting ambassador, over hear this and kidnap both the sailor and the librarian. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mae West butts heads with Victor McLaglen in Raoul Walsh's Klondike Annie, but the real victor was the Legion of Decency, whose censorship strictures transformed a saucy and spicy gumbo into something closer to chicken noodle soup. West plays Rose Carlton, the kept woman of Chan Lo (Harold Huber), who takes her from walking the streets to pacing the floors of her high rent apartment. Rose ends up killing Chan and beats it from San Francisco to the frozen north. She boards a ship where burly sea captain Bull Brackett (McLaglen) takes a shine to her; when he finds out she killed Chan, he blackmails her into coming up and seeing him sometime. Boarding the ship in Seattle is missionary Annie Alden (Helen Jerome Eddy), who dies on the way to Alaska. Rose assumes Annie's identity and, upon arrival in Alaska proceeds to preach the Good Book, saving sinners by unorthodox methods. Mountie Jack Forrest (Philip Reed) arrives in town searching for Chan's murderer and he falls in love with Rose, unaware that the woman he loves is the killer he seeks. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A family loses its collective head going from rags to riches in this low-budget comedy from also-ran studio Chesterfield. Former slapstick comedian Andy Clyde starred as Grandpa Tom Hopkins who, after selling his junk business, moves in with daughter Molly (Lucille Gleason), her husband Ed (Roger Imhof), and their children Mary (Ann Doran), Edna (Paula Stone), George (Ben Alexander, and Willie (Frank Coghlan Jr.). Ed, who is a member of the town lodge "the Whales," is persuaded by Whitney (Sam Flint) the "Grand Harpoon," to buy $5,000 worth of shares in a promising gold mine, mortgaging the family home to do so. Soon the family is rich and everyone except Molly takes on airs. The walls come tumbling down, however, when Whitney is revealed to be a fraud. Happily, Grandpa Tom is able to bail out the family and, having learned a valuable lesson, everyone goes back to their old, more frugal ways. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this musical, an insurance agent falls in love with a pretty girl. When the self-righteous agent discovers that she is a cabaret singer, he dumps her. Soon after, his sister quits her telephone operator's job to become a chorine. Songs include: "Blue Sky Avenue", "Let's Put Two and Two Together", "I Like It That Way", and "Goin' to Town". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Apparently inspired by Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet, Beloved is a lush, lachrymose musical romance set in Vienna, South Carolina and New York City. John Boles stars as Austrian composer Carl Hausmann, whose musical career is very nearly cut short during the 1848 revolution. Carl is whisked off by his mother (Dorothy Peterson) to the American South, where he establishes a respectable reputation in the years just prior to the Civil War. Forced to relocate to New York with his new bride Lucy (Gloria Stuart), Carl languishes professionally for several years, then gives up composing to support his wife and child as a music teacher. Tragedy strikes once more during the Spanish American War, when the Hausmann's son is killed. Carl and Lucy invest all their love in their grandson Eric (Morgan Farley), a Gershwin type who grows up to become a jazz musician in the post-WWI era. As Eric grows richer and more successful, the Hausmanns continue to live in genteel poverty, with Carl all the while struggling to finish the symphony he began so many years before. After an unpleasant episode in which Eric accuses Carl of "stealing my stuff," our nonagenarian protagonist finally hears his symphony in a radio broadcast arranged by his chastened grandson. Contented at last, Carl peacefully passes on. Ironically, leading lady Gloria Stuart was far more attractive when she really reached her 80s than when she was heavily made up as an old woman in Beloved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide