Lisa Golm Movies

This variation of the old "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" yarn stars Luther Adler and Vivi Janiss as Arthur and Edna Castle, the debt-ridden owners of a failing pawnshop. The Castles' luck changes dramatically when, after purchasing an old bottle, they discover that the bottle contains a dapper and somewhat sinister genie (Joseph Ruskin). Granted the usual three wishes, Arthur and Edna soon learn that they were better off when they were worse off. Written by Rod Serling, "The Man in the Bottle" was originally telecast October 7, 1960. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

District attorney Martin Ross (Royal Dano) is running for governor. To help Martin's chances, his mentally disturbed brother Richard (Harry Townes) murders Martin's opponent. As tough as it is for Martin to cover up Richard's "indiscretion," it gets even tougher when another man (Robert Ellis) is arrested for the crime -- and Martin is obliged to force a confession from him! A young Inger Stevens figures into the proceedings as Martin's anguished wife Laura. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ride the High Iron originated as the 74-minute pilot episode of the proposed TV anthology Command Performance. When the series failed to sell, the film was released theatrically by Columbia Pictures. Don Taylor stars as Hugo Danielchick, the son of poor but proud railroad worker Yanusz Danielchick (Otto Waldis). Hoping to find success in the Big City. Hugo is hired as the assistant of high-pressure PR man Ziggy Moline (Raymond Burr), whose job it is to keep his high-profile clients' indiscretions out of the newspapers. Endeavoring to protect the good name of socialite Elise Vanders (Sally Forrest), Hugo falls in love with the girl--much to the displeasure of Moline, who suffers from a bad case of class envy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bronislau Kaper's haunting musical score for A Life of Her Own (1951) was recycled in the romantic melodrama Invitation. Dorothy McGuire stars as Ellen Bowker, a wealthy young woman with a rare heart condition. Knowing that his daughter may have only a year or so to live, Ellen's father Simon Bowker (Louis Calhern) wants to make certain that her last months on earth will be happy ones. To that end, he arranges for Dan Pierce (Van Johnson) to marry the girl. More interested in Ellen's millions than in Ellen herself, Dan agrees. Eventually, of course, he genuinely falls in love with the girl. But trouble looms on the horizon when Ellen discovers the real reason behind Dan's whirlwind courtship. How can a happy ending possibly result from all this? It's best to reveal no more at this point. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1931 under its original title, Theodore Dreiser's bulky but brilliant novel An American Tragedy was remade in 1951 by George Stevens as A Place in the Sun. Montgomery Clift stars as George Eastman, a handsome and charming but basically aimless young man who goes to work in a factory run by a distant, wealthy relative. Feeling lonely one evening, he has a brief rendezvous with assembly-line worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), but he forgets all about her when he falls for dazzling socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor). Alice can't forget about him, though: she is pregnant with his child. Just when George's personal and professional futures seem assured, Alice demands that he marry her or she'll expose him to his society friends. This predicament sets in motion a chain of events that will ultimately include George's arrest and numerous other tragedies, including a vicious cross-examination by a D.A. played by future Perry Mason Raymond Burr. A huge improvement over the 1931 An American Tragedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg, A Place in the Sun softens some of the rough edges of Dreiser's naturalism, most notably in the passages pertaining to George's and Angela's romance. Even those 1951 bobbysoxers who wouldn't have been caught dead poring through the Dreiser original were mesmerized by the loving, near-erotic full facial closeups of Clift and Taylor as they pledge eternal devotion. A Place in the Sun won six Oscars, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, although it lost Best Picture to An American in Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just before filming All About Eve, Bette Davis starred in the marital melodrama Payment on Demand. Davis plays the wife of Barry Sullivan, who one fine morning demands a divorce. Most of the film is in flashback, recounting the events leading up to the marital schism. After Sullivan takes up with Frances Dee, Davis heads for a Haitian vacation, hoping to spark a few affairs of her own. But after a chance meeting with an old friend (Jane Cowl) who's become hard and cynical since her own divorce, Davis heads back to the States and attempts to patch up her marriage. Director Curtis Bernhardt was particularly proud of the opening scene in Payment on Demand, wherein Barry Sullivan requests a divorce as calmly as if he was ordering breakfast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Philip Yordan's stage hit Anna Lucasta posed two problems to Hollywood in 1949. For one thing, the story concerned a prostitute who is exploited by her greedy family. For another, the characters were black, thereby cutting the box-office potential in half in those racially divisive times. In adapting Anna Lucasta to the screen, Yordan and co-scripter Arthur Laurents "laundered" the property for popular consumption. Anna's sexual hijinks are only hinted at, and in fact an impressionable viewer might even get the idea that she's still a virgin when the film comes to an end. And the racial angle was tackled by transforming the characters into Polish-Americans, which enabled Paulette Goddard to assume the leading role. Otherwise, the film differs but little from the play: Thrown out of her house by her drunken father (Oscar Homolka), Anna is welcomed back into the fold only as bait to trap an unmarried, wealthy farmer. Anna squelches her family's avaricious plans by genuinely falling in love with the poor sucker who's been targeted as her husband. Broderick Crawford fares best as Anna's doltish brother-in-law, a characterization deftly combining boorish selfishness and lovable humor. Anna Lucasta was remade with most of its Broadway bite intact in 1958 -- this time with an all-black cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Glenn Ford first appeared under the MGM banner in The Doctor and the Girl. Ford stars as Dr. Michael Corday, scion of a highly respected family of physicians. When he marries one of his patients, shopgirl Evelyn Heldon (Janet Leigh), Corday is thrown out of his house by his tradition-bound father (Charles Coburn). Denied a posh Park Avenue practice, Corday becomes a selflessly dedicated general practitioner, while his rebellious sister Fabienne (Gloria de Haven) likewise leaves home and hearth in favor of Greenwich Village bohemianism. Father and son are tearfully reconciled when Fabienne dies as the result of a botched abortion (though her operation is never so identified). Doctor and the Girl is a toned-down, telescoped adaptation of Maxence van der Meersh's best-selling novel Bodies and Souls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The tense psychological drama Cry Wolf offers a fascinating if not altogether successful change of pace for action star Errol Flynn. Most of the story takes place at a remote and forbidding mansion, where Sandra Marshall (Barbara Stanwyck), the widow of the house's owner, arrives to take charge. An apparent golddigger, Sandra refuses to be bought off with a small cash settlement and insists on claiming her late husband's entire estate, which earns her a powerful enemy in the form of research scientist Mark Caldwell (Flynn). Upon learning that her headstrong sister-in-law Julie (Geraldine Brooks) is kept a virtual prisoner in the house, Sandra begins suspecting that Caldwell is up to no good-a suspicion seemingly confirmed when Julie dies under mysterious circumstances. But as the story slowly unravels, it becomes clear that Caldwell is actually the hero of the piece, while the villain is...well, best not to give too much away here. Cry Wolf was Geraldine Brooks' first film, and the second for her costar Richard Basehart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

We first meet Joan Crawford, star of the moody flashbackfest Possessed, wandering aimlessly through the city streets, moaning "David....David." She goes to pieces in public and is rushed to the mental ward, where a team of psychiatrists try to find out who she is and where she's been. Who she is is a practical nurse, hired by Raymond Massey to care for Massey's invalid wife. While going about her duties, Crawford renews her acquaintance with an old flame, architect Van Heflin. Though Heflin is indifferent, Crawford is still crazy for the man. She remains so even after marrying her employer Massey, whose wife has committed suicide. Any further details would give away the ending, but we can note that Van Heflin's character name is David. Best scene: Crawford, descending into schizophrenia, imagining that she's killed Massey's vitriolic daughter Geraldine Brooks. While the psycho-babble delivered in the asylum scenes is laughable, Possessed still holds up well as one of the best of Joan Crawford's Warner Bros. soap operas. This black-and-white film is also available in a colorized version, but don't blame us. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This little-known Warner Bros. melodrama reteams Hotel Berlin co-stars Helmut Dantine and Andrea King. He is cast as Dr. Eric Ryder, a seemingly respectable medico, while she plays Ryder's impressionable young bride Brook. Despite significant evidence that Ryder isn't all that he seems to be, his wife continues to believe in and worship him. Only when it's nearly too late does she realize that Ryder is not only a phony, but a murderer to boot. The tension is heightened by the fact that Ryder's young son (Larry Geiger) from an earlier marriage is being methodically starved to death by his deranged father. Shadow of a Woman was based on a novel by Virginia Perdue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this first of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" mysteries, Lon Chaney Jr. plays a neurologist plagued by a faithless wife. He suffers a bout of insanity, blacks out, and loses all track of time. Upon returning to his home, he discovers that his wife has been murdered. Investigating detective J. Carroll Naish is certain that Chaney is the murderer, and tries to browbeat the suspect into a confession. Chaney himself is half-convinced that he is guilty, and in conducting his own investigation learns the truth. All we can say without spoiling the film is that the truth hurts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eric Ambler's intriguing novel Uncommon Danger is brought down to a Republic serial level in Warner Bros.' Background to Danger. George Raft, who always seems miscast, plays an American undercover intelligence agent operating in Turkey. Sultry Osa Massen passes on some valuable secret papers to Raft just before she is killed. Our Hero then finds himself at the mercy of enemy agent Sidney Greenstreet, who knows that the papers contain Nazi plans to invade Turkey. Despite several brutal beatings, Raft and his cohorts Peter Lorre (a good guy for a change) and Brenda Marshall turn the tables on Greenstreet. Background to Danger was the first of many Warner Bros. follow-ups to the studio's megahit Casablanca; it's also the film wherein the prankish Peter Lorre stole George Raft's hat between takes--an affront that rankled the touchy Raft to his dying day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide