Betty Grable Movies
The celebrated "pin-up girl" of World War II, American actress Betty Grable was the daughter of a stockbroker and an aggressive "stage mother." When her older sister Marjorie balked at a show business career, Grable was taken in hand by her mother and trained to sing, dance, tell jokes and play the ukulele and saxophone. Despite her father's objections, Grable begged her mother to take her to Los Angeles for a movie career, preparing herself with a two-girl musical act while attending Hollywood Professional School. Lying about her age, 13-year-old Grable was hired as a chorus girl for short subjects, getting her first important exposure as the energetic blonde "cowgirl" who sings the first chorus of the first song in the Eddie Cantor film musical Whoopee! (1930).Grable played supporting parts in two-reelers and bits in features for the next couple of years, attaining her first major role in Hold 'Em Jail (1932), a comedy starring the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey. Bert Wheeler had promised Grable's mother several years earlier that he'd get the girl a break in pictures if she came to Hollywood, and with this film, Wheeler kept his word. More bits and indifferent supporting roles followed until Grable was signed by Paramount, who loaned her to 20th Century-Fox for Pigskin Parade (1936), which established her with the public. Grable finally landed top billing in Paramount's Million Dollar Legs (1939)--the title referred not to the star but to a college athletic team--which co-starred her first husband, Jackie Coogan. Grable's career stalled at Paramount, but a Broadway appearance in the Cole Porter musical DuBarry Was a Lady led to a contract with 20th Century-Fox, where she remained a number-one box-office attraction from 1940 through 1955. Fox wisely allowed Grable to shed her "college co-ed" image for a more salable screen persona as a wholesomely sexy musical comedy star, emphasizing her greatest attributes: her shapely figure and shapelier legs. After a misfire attempt at heavy dramatics in I Wake Up Screaming (1941), Grable insisted that she be required only to sing and dance, not act, and Fox complied with a string of nonsensical but lavish Technicolor musicals.
Grable was enormously popular with American GIs during the war, most of this popularity resting on her famous "pin-up" picture in which, dressed in a one-piece bathing suit and with her back to the camera, Grable glanced saucily over one shoulder. This rear-view image was borne not out of a desire to titillate but from necessity: she was several months pregnant when the picture was taken! Grable furthered her acceptance with the overseas troops when she married trumpeter-bandleader Harry James in 1943. Her popularity undimmed by war's end, Grable continued making Technicolor frolics, though her frequent tiffs with the Fox executives led the studio to try out any number of potential replacements, including Vivian Blaine, June Haver, and even Marilyn Monroe. A few miscalculated breakaways from her accepted screen image--Mother Wore Tights (1947), The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend (1949) and The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1949)--hurt Grable's box-office status, even though these films hold up better than some of her wartime hits. Free-lancing after her last film, the lackluster How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), Grable inadvertently offended producer Sam Goldwyn, thereby losing out on the chance of playing the plum role of Adelaide in Goldwyn's Guys and Dolls (1955); this and a few disappointing TV appearances prompted the actress into semi-retirement, save for a few nightclub appearances. After divorcing Harry James in 1965, Grable made a triumphal return to Broadway as Carol Channing's replacement in Hello, Dolly. Her later foray into musical comedy, Belle Starr, was less satisfying, closing its London run after two weeks. Shortly before her death, Grable appeared in advertisements for a number of low-calorie food products, her alluring figure and beautiful "gams" belying her age. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A Yank in the RAF is brash pilot Tim Baker (Tyrone Power), freshly arrived in London. Hoping to impress his nightclub-singer girlfriend Carol Brown (Betty Grable), Tim joins the Royal Air Force, immediately alienating everyone with his cockiness and "What the Hell?" attitude concerning the war. All this changes when Baker is obliged to fly under combat conditions, whereupon he shows what he's really made of. One of the most popular of the pre-Pearl Harbor "preparedness" films, A Yank in the RAF comes to an exciting conclusion, with actual newsreel footage of the evacuation of Dunkirk expertly matched with studio mockups. As a bonus, Betty Grable sings such catchy numbers as Another Little Dream Won't Do Us Any Harm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Betty Grable, (more)
- 1935
In this emotional but fast-paced comedy, a husband/businessman creates an ingenious cure for his mid-life crisis. He suggest to his wife that they take separate vacations and not discuss them with each other afterward. The wife isn't sure, but being a loving and understanding woman, agrees to the terms. The husband, dreaming of all the luscious young girls to be had, is happy as a kid in a candy store. Unfortunately for him, things don't happen as planned and he gets zippo. His wife, on the other hand, ends up falling for a younger man. When he proposes, the wife is sorely tempted, but then realizes she really does love her husband. The would-be wayward husband also reawakens to love and domestic bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Genevieve Tobin, Neil Hamilton, (more)
- 1951
The original Broadway musical Call Me Mister was a plotless revue. By the time the property made it to the screen, however, a storyline was grafted on and much of the revue's funnier (and dirtier) material was weeded out. Betty Grable stars as an American USO entertainer Kay Hudson, touring the bases in postwar Japan. Somewhere along the way she crosses the path of former husband Shep Dooley (Dan Dailey). Despite the presence of ardent suitor Capt. Johnny Comstock (Dale Robertson), Dooley begins a campaign to win his wife back. They are reconciled during a climactic stage show, which affords ample opportunity for both Grable and Dailey to demonstrate their terpsichorean skills (Busby Berkeley handled the choreography). Cast as a GI who hates the army, Danny Thomas (a holdover from the Broadway production) does a truncated version of his own nightclub act. Specialty numbers are provided by the Dunhill dance team, and by an unbilled Bobby Short. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, (more)
- 1938
This comical campus romance showcases the fancy footwork of All-American basketball player Hank Luisetti while it tells the story of a dean's son who does his very best to become a good student. When he fails, he turns to playing basketball and befriends Luisetti, which makes him quite popular. This doesn't sit well with the dean, who wants academics to be more important than sports. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Eleanore Whitney, (more)
- 1933
The only Academy Award winning picture for Fox Studios (in its pre-20th Century-Fox era), Cavalcade is a stately film adaptation of the pageant-like stage hit by Noel Coward. The film concentrates on the years 1901 through 1933, as seen through the eyes of an upper-class British family and its servants. Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard portray the "upstairs" Marryots, while Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor represent the "downstairs" Bridges (the incidents and characterizations in Cavalcade are very, very close to those seen in the popular 1970s BBC series Upstairs, Downstairs). The triumphs and tragedies of both masters and servants are placed in context with the death of Queen Victoria, the Boer War, World War I, the Jazz Age, and the Depression. Both classes have their troubles with their children, what with their offsprings' predilection for opposing authority, marrying the wrong people, and dying at the least opportune moments. The film's highlight was also the most talked-about scene in the original play: newlyweds Edward Marryot (John Warburton) and Edith Harris (Margaret Lindsay), discussing their future while on their honeymoon cruise, reveal at the scene's fadeout that they've been standing in front of a life preserver bearing the name "TITANIC". On the whole, however, Cavalcade creaks a bit when seen today, and is best viewed from a historical perspective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, (more)
- 1933
On the outs at Paramount, musical comedy star Nancy Carroll was "punished" by being sent to Columbia for the lachrymose Child of Manhattan. Carroll plays a dance-hall girl who falls hard for wealthy John Boles. Marriage is out of the question until she becomes pregnant. After losing her baby, Carroll divorces Boles and runs off with Charles Jones (better known as cowboy star Buck Jones). As the plot would have it, this convinces Boles that Carroll is not the golddigger she appears to be. Child of Manhattan was based on a Preston Sturges play, but most of the wittier and more pungent lines were lost in translation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, John Boles, (more)
- 1938
It's hard to go wrong with such stars as Bob Hope, Burns & Allen, Martha Raye and Edward Everett Horton, and College Swing doesn't-go wrong, that is. The film begins in 1738, when a pact is drawn up between the Alden family and a highly respected Colonial college: If any female member of the family can pass her college exams within a 200-year period, ownership of the institution will be turned over to her. Comes 1938, and the last of the Alden girls, giddy Gracie Alden (Gracie Allen, of course) hires glib-tongued tutor Bud Brady (Bob Hope) to help her pass her exams. She also tries to win over no-nonsense professor Hubert Dash (Edward Everett Horton), who has no intention of handing his college over to a blithering idiot like Gracie. Once she has inherited the place, however, Gracie turns it into a jumpin'-jivin' joint, complete with jitterbugging students, swing bands and remote radio broadcasts. Though George Burns' role is nearly nonexistent, he does get to indulge in his patented cross-talk with Allen. Others contributing to the fun are Ben Blue, Jerry Colonna, Betty Grable, and Grable's then-husband Jackie Coogan. Highlights include Allen's spirited Irish jig and her endearing song duet with Edward Everett Horton. College Swing is the sort of high-powered, all-star entertainment that is virtually impossible to reproduce today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Burns, Gracie Allen, (more)
- 1936
In this musical comedy a Broadway playboy inherits an almost bankrupt girls' school from his late aunt. He breathes life into the school by giving song and dance lessons. The financially ailing school is funded by an odd, but rich man who becomes the main backer. Songs include: "I Feel Like a Feather in the Breeze," "You Hit the Spot," "Rhythmatic," "My Grandfather's Clock in the Hallway," "Who Am I?" "Guess Again," "Will I Ever Know?" ""Learn to Be Lovely."" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Penner, Jack Oakie, (more)
- 1943
Everything clicks in this tuneful, colorful and profitable Betty Grable musical. The star plays Katie Farley, a gyrating saloon entertainer in turn-of-the-century New York. Convinced that Katie is destined for Bigger Things, Coney Island impresario Eddie Johnson (George Montgomery) tries to turn the raucous song-and-dance girl into a refined entertainer, at one point handcuffing her wrists and ankles so she'll be forced to rely on her voice rather than her undulations. Sure enough, Katie becomes a high-class Broadway star under the aegis of showman Willie Hammerstein (Matt Briggs) -- and equally sure enough, she and Eddie grow apart. After a desultory romance with Eddie's rival, slick saloon owner Joe Rocco (Cesar Romero), Katie eventually returns to the arms of the man she truly loves, as comedy relief Frankie (Phil Silvers) looks on in myopic glee. Among the musical highlights of Coney Island is Betty's delightful rendition of the old chestnut "Cuddle Up a Little Closer". The film was remade, again with Grable, as Wabash Avenue (1950). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, George Montgomery, (more)
- 1945
The real Diamond Horseshoe was a Las Vegas nightclub created by impresario Billy Rose, which spotlighted old-time stars from the early 20th century recreating the songs and skits that had made them great. Rose allowed 20th Century-Fox to use the name "Diamond Horseshoe" for a Technicolor musical, but only on the proviso that Rose's name be included in the title. Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe does have the occasional old-timer specialty, but for the most part the plot concentrates on Betty Grable, a young entertainer who romances would-be songwriter Dick Haymes. The affair is frowned upon by Haymes' father (William Gaxton), the manager of the Diamond Horseshoe, who is determined that his son pursue a medical career. The predictability of the storyline is redeemed by Haymes' rendition of the song hit "The More I See You", and by the comedy turns of Phil Silvers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Dick Haymes, (more)
- 1946
That new-fangled swing music is the focus of this musical comedy. The trouble begins when a music school dean boards a train to meet her husband the symphony conductor. En route she meets Harry James, the big band leader. She is deeply impressed by the swingin' beat of the new music. It becomes her newest passion. Unfortunately, back at her school, her superiors do not share her enthusiasm and she is fired. She remains determined to introduce the kids to the new sound. She and James team up to perform the music on campus. Songs include: "As If I Didn't Have Enough on My Mind," "I Didn't Mean a Word I Said," "Moonlight Propaganda," and "Do You Love Me?" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Dick Haymes, (more)
- 1936
In this crime drama a high-school principal's principles are put to the test when he, also a member of a parole board, is given the ultimate power to decide whether his son, a brutal criminal is to be paroled. The others do not know about the inmate's relationship to their colleague and the son tries to use this to his advantage. Sure enough his blackmail works and the heartless crook is freed to go on an unparalleled crime spree with his moll until his father comes forth and gives him final justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Gleason, Bruce Cabot, (more)
Hollywood's handful of Technicolor cameras got a real workout on 20th Century-Fox's Down Argentine Way. Don Ameche stars as Ricardo Quintana, the charming son of a less charming Argentine horse breeder (Henry Stephenson). Betty Grable is vacationing American heiress Glenda Crawford, who "collects" horses as a hobby. Separated by a family feud, Ricard and Glenda must endure all sorts of setbacks and misunderstandings before crossing the romantic finish line. Filmed on location, Down Argentine Way served to introduce Brazilian bombshell Carmen Miranda, performing a variety of sizzling South American numbers with her own band. Also on hand are the Nicholas Brothers, whose show-stopping dance number has been spotlighted innumerable times in various "best of Hollywood musicals" compilations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Betty Grable, (more)
This lesser Astaire/Rogers vehicle is one of several screen versions of the venerable Hubert Osborne stage play Shore Leave. For reasons unknown, Fred and Ginger are virtually supporting players here, spending most of their time trying to patch up the romance between Fred's fellow sailor Randolph Scott and Ginger's sister Harriet Hilliard (better known as Harriet Nelson, of Ozzie and Harriet fame). One of the sillier aspects of the plot hinges on raising enough money to renovate a broken-down old ship; to do this, Fred and Ginger stage a lengthy musical number that must have cost five times as much money as they raised! But that number, a languorous dance rendition of Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance", compensates for all the nonsense that has gone before. One fringe benefit of Follow the Fleet is spotting two fresh-faced starlets named Betty Grable and Lucille Ball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1942
Victor Mature plays an arrogant champion boxer who opts for an acting career on Broadway. He falls in love with his costar Betty Grable, who's secretly married to actor John Payne. Unwilling to make public her marriage lest it adversely affect her career, Grable is unsuccessful in fending off Mature's advance, which causes her hubby's blood to boil. As it happens, Payne is also in the show, cast as Mature's sparring partner, and it is within the bounds of this role that he gets his revenge on the pushy pugilist. With the three leading actors playing for laughs, one wonders why 20th Century-Fox put Phil Silvers in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Betty Grable, (more)
Four Jills in a Jeep is the (mostly) true story of a four-girl USO team, entertaining American troops overseas. Kay Francis, Martha Raye, Carole Landis and Mitzi Mayfair play "themselves," recreating their recent whirlwind tour of Europe and North Africa. This wisp of a plot takes a back seat to the musical numbers performed by the four stars, by Dick Haymes in his screen debut as a singing GI, and by guest stars Alice Faye, Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda. Phil Silvers, George Jessel, and Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra also pop up to do their usual. Very much a time capsule of the War years, Four Jills in a Jeep was later adapted into a best-selling book, ostensibly written by costar Carole Landis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Carole Landis, (more)
- 1938
Bob Hope and Jack Whiting are amorous sailors. Martha Raye is the "ugly duckling" sister of beautiful Betty Grable. The complication? Everyone's in love with the wrong person: Martha pines for Jack who pines for Betty who pines for Bob, and so it goes. The casting seems to be mixed up as well. Betty Grable would have been the likely candidate for the roles of Legs Larkin, but this in fact is the character name of Martha Raye, who (in the picture) defeats Grable in a beautiful legs contest! Because Paramount was trying to build up a Raye-Hope team, Martha ends up with Bob at fadeout time, while Jack and Betty have to make do with each other. Martha Raye is clearly the star of Give Me a Sailor, though Bob Hope, in his third feature film, has a few worthwhile moments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martha Raye, Bob Hope, (more)
- 1984
This hour-long documentary is culled from the mid-1970s TV series That's Hollywood. As one can gather by the title, this is a collection of movie-musical highlights, most of them lifted from the output of 20th Century-Fox. Featured performers include Carmen Miranda (tutti-frutti hat and all), Betty Grable and Shirley Temple. RKO-Radio is also represented via choice clips from the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's not quite the same as seeing the films in toto, but Gotta Dance, Gotta Sing is a satisfying sampler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Filmed in "Fox Grandeur," an early widescreen process, Happy Days was the immediate follow-up to Fox Studios' Movietone Follies of 1929. Most of the film takes place on the showboat of Mississippi entrepreneur Colonel Billy Batcher (Charles E. Evans). When the Colonel faces foreclosure after several failing seasons, soubrette Margie (Marjorie White) stages a fund-raising revue on the boat, enlisting the aid of all the big stars who got their start with Batcher. By an amazing coincidence, virtually all of the showboat alumni are under contract to Fox Studios! Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell perform "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own," Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe kid their roughneck screen images in the novelty number "Vic and Eddie," Sharon Lynn and Ann Pennington offer the "hot" dance routine "Snake Hips," and "Whispering" Jack Smith offers a rendition of the title tune. Also on hand are Will Rogers, El Brendel, Walter Catlett (who also staged the musical numbers), Lew Brice (Fanny's brother), Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing Crosby) and Georgie Jessel -- not to mention an uncredited 14-year-old chorus girl named Betty Grable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
- Add Hidden Hollywood: Treasures From The 20th Century Fox Vaults to QueueAdd Hidden Hollywood: Treasures From The 20th Century Fox Vaults to top of Queue
Joan Collins is the host of these outtakes and clips deleted from 20th Century-Fox productions of decades past. Entertaining song selections in the compilation include Betty Grable sequences from Footlight Serenade (1942) and Pin Up Girl (1944), Carmen Miranda wearing a lighthouse on her head while essaying True to the Navy for Doll Face (1945), and Shirley Temple doing a Jimmy Durante impersonation while dueting with him for Little Miss Broadway (1938). Alice Faye's delightful I'm Always Chasing Rainbows, and an Al Jolson medley were both deleted from Rose of Washington Square (1939). Faye and Grable teamed in Tin Pan Alley (1940). The fascinating footage features miscues on pre-recorded tunes and other assorted bloopers in addition to awkward attempts at musical performances by such actors as Don Ameche, Clark Gable, and Victor Mature. Hidden Hollywood first aired November 18, 1997 on American Movie Classics. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Collins
- 1932
The most intriguing aspect of the 1932 Bert Wheeler-Robert Woolsey romp Hold 'Em Jail was that it was co-scripted by legendary humorist and frequent Marx Bros. contributor S. J. Perelman. The film bears a slight resemblance to the like-vintage Marx/Perelman collaboration Horse Feathers, in that both pictures are climaxed by a zany football game sequence. But while Horse Feathers is set at a college, Hold 'Em Jail takes place behind the cold gray walls of Bidemore Prison. Edgar Kennedy, Bidemore's warden, is all geared up for an impending all-prisoner football game; alas, his team is woefully short of talent. Kennedy puts out a call to Bidemore's "alumni," one of whom is nightclub-owner John Sheehan. When novelty salesmen Wheeler and Woolsey show up at Sheehan's club, the owner frames the two goofs on a robbery charge so that they'll be carted off to Bidemore and recruited for the football team. W&W make themselves at home in jail, securing jobs as trustees so that Wheeler can romance Kennedy's pretty daughter Betty Grable (who was 16 at the time, and looks it), while Woolsey pitches woo at Kennedy's homely sister Edna May Oliver (explaining that she's spent four years studying music in Paris, Edna confesses "I'm not a virtuoso." "Not after four years in Paris" is Woolsey's response). During the climactic gridiron activity, Wheeler and Woolsey spot the duplicitous John Sheehan on the other team, and struggle manfully to get him to sign a confession that will exonerate them. When originally previewed, Hold 'Em Jail was a musical comedy running 74 minutes; audiences laughed at the comedy scenes but groaned at the songs, whereupon the film was pared down to a 66-minute non-musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
- 1980
This nostalgic video uses five short films to look back at Hollywood's efforts to bolster both overseas G.I.s and the folks back home during WW II. Each of the five shorts features an all-star cast doing things to cheer people up during a difficult time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Betty Grable's final film was a remake of the 1934 Bing Crosby-Miriam Hopkins musicomedy She Loves Me Not, which in turn was based on a play by Howard Lindsay. Betty and Sheree North star as a couple of striptease "artistes" who have the bad luck to witness a murder. Hoping to evade the killer, the girls hide out in a small college town, where they immediately win the hearts of the male frat brothers. One of these is overaged undergrad Robert Cummings, who falls for Betty, while Sheree settles for not-terribly-bright Orson Bean. A subplot concerns the unending get-rich-quick schemes of college president Charles Coburn. Before the story can be resolved, both Betty and Sheree are placed under hypnosis, with hilarious results. It could not have rested well with Betty Grable that Sheree North stole the show in How to Be Very, Very Popular--especially with her energetic rendition of "Shake, Rattle and Roll"--but Betty was on the verge of retiring anyway, so what the heck? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Sheree North, (more)
A remake of 1933's The Greeks Had a Word for Them, as well as a retread of 20th Century-Fox's favorite plotline, How to Marry a Millionaire was the first Hollywood comedy to be lensed in Cinemascope. Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe play three models of modest means who rent an expensive Manhattan penthouse apartment and pose as women of wealth. It's all part of a scheme hatched by Bacall to snare rich husbands for herself and her roommates. The near-sighted Monroe is wooed by an international playboy, but ends up settling for the tax-dodging fugitive (David Wayne) who owns the girls' apartment. The knuckle-headed Grable goes off on an illicit weekend in the mountains with a grouchy married executive (Fred Clark), but falls instead for a comparatively poor--but very handsome--forest ranger (Rory Calhoun). And Bacall very nearly lands an aging millionaire (William Powell), but has a sudden attack of conscience and opts instead for the supposedly poverty-stricken chap (Cameron Mitchell) who has been pursuing her since reel one. It turns out that she has actually landed one of the richest men in New York--and upon learning this, our three luscious heroines faint dead away. Before the opening credits roll in How to Marry a Millionaire, we are treated to a "live" orchestral rendition of Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" overture, conducted by Newman himself. In addition to its being the first wide-screen comedy, Millionaire was also the first-ever presentation of the weekly NBC series Saturday Night at the Movies, premiering on the small screen on September 23, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, (more)
Well-known New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is the prime suspect in the murder of Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), a successful model and would-be actress. Questioned relentlessly by the police, and particularly by hulking detective squad commander Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), he maintains his innocence. Meanwhile, Vicky's sister Jill (Betty Grable) is also being questioned. Their answers, given in adjoining interrogation rooms, become the basis for brief, neatly constructed interlocking flashbacks at the opening of the movie that explain a ton of plot in very little time. Both are released after admitting nothing, and the police begin working on other suspects, including journalist Larry Evans (Allyn Joslyn), aging actor Robin Ray (Alan Mowbray), and hotel clerk William Harrison (Elisha Cook Jr.) Jill had little use for Frankie, the man who had been promoting her sister's career, but the two are drawn together in the course of trying to sort out their lives and the murder of her sister, and her realization that Frankie is capable of truly loving a woman, and not just exploiting her. Meanwhile, Cornell makes it his business to pressure and torment Frankie, illegally entering his apartment and promising him an arrest and a death sentence. Eventually, the noose seems to tighten around Frankie as the circumstantial evidence piles up, until Frankie, trying to clear himself, uncovers a clue leading back to the real killer -- who was known to Cornell all along. Confronting the detective in his apartment, Frankie discovers a veritable shrine to Vicky -- copies of her magazine covers and photos filling the walls of his apartment -- and learns that the man had his own dark reasons for wanting to kill him. His psychosis finally catching up with him, his career and reputation in ruins, Cornell reveals the truth to Frankie as he proceeds to take his own life. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Victor Mature, (more)
