Vincent Graeff Movies
- 1951
Personally supervised by Howard R. Hughes, the RKO Technicolor musical Two Tickets to Broadway stars Janet Leigh as a small-town girl who hopes to make it big in the Big Apple. Moving into a Manhattan boarding house populated by such showbiz hopefuls as Ann Miller, Tony Martin, Gloria De Haven and Barbara Lawrence, Leigh aspires to appear on the popular TV variety program hosted by bandleader Bob Crosby. Two-bit agent Eddie Bracken promises to make her dreams come true, even though he doesn't know Crosby from Adam. Along the way, Leigh falls for Martin, though the course of true love seldom runs smooth--in fact, at one point it threatens to run all the way back to Leigh's home town. Injecting their time-honored routines into the proceedings are veteran vaudevillians Joe Smith and Charlie Dale, playing a couple of stagestruck deli owners (their roles were originally slated for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, but Laurel's illness precluded any film work). Despite the creative input of choreographer Busby Berkeley, the film's best number is the simplest: Let's Make Comparisons, wherein Bob Crosby explains why he's not his brother Bing. Seemingly a surefire box-office hit, Two Tickets to Broadway inexplicably posted a loss of $1,150,000. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tony Martin, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1949
Set in the 1920s and 1930s, 20th Century-Fox's You're My Everything borrows elements from several true-life showbiz stories, include the rise to fame of Fox's own Shirley Temple. Vaudeville hoofer Timothy O'Connor (Dan Dailey) sweeps proper New England gal Hannah Adams (Anne Baxter) off her feet. Hannah joins O'Connor's act, eventually soaring to popularity as a silent-film star. When talkies come in, Hannah is finished, but her precocious daughter Jane (played by Shirley Temple sound-alike Shari Robinson) becomes America's sweetheart. Musical highlights include the title song, "The Good Ship Lollipop" (featuring Dan Dailey in politically incorrect blackface), and one new number, "I Want to be Teacher's Pet." Featured in the supporting cast are Alan Mowbray as a bombastic director and Buster Keaton in an unbilled guest shot. In his autobiography, Keaton recalled that he came onto the set, dropped a tray full of dishes, performed a pratfall, and collected $1000, without ever knowing what the film was about! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dan Dailey, Anne Baxter, (more)
- 1946
In this comedy, a spoiled, temperamental and filthy rich aunt is committed to an asylum by her nephew after he learns that she has willed her fortune to her dog. Fortunately, the aunt escapes and is sheltered by the family of a poor barber. It is the barber's daughter that soothes the savage breast of the irritable aunt and turns her into a caring person. The family then helps her to prove her competence. They are richly rewarded for their kindness. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Beverly Simmons, Fay Holden, (more)
This grade-A example of "film noir" stars Mark Stevens as Brad Galt, an embittered ex-convict who returns to the private detective business upon his release. Sour and surly, Galt behaves himself only when he's around his faithful and adoring secretary Kathleen (top-billed Lucille Ball). When Galt's crooked former partner Tony Jardine (Kurt Krueger) inaugurates an affair with socialite Mari Cathcart (Cathy Downs), Cathcart's waspish art-collector husband (Clifton Webb) arranges Jardine's murder, carefully pinning the blame on Galt. On the lam from the cops, Galt must rely on Kathleen to help gather enough evidence to prove his innocence. Best scene: Cathcart's abrupt but chillingly casual murder of his partner-in-crime (William Bendix). The deliberate lack of background music serves to enhance the gloomy atmosphere of The Dark Corner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, (more)
One-time movie song-and-dance man James Dunn won an Academy Award for his "comeback" performance in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Based on the best-selling novel by Betty Smith, the film relates the trials and tribulations of a turn-of-the-century Brooklyn tenement family. The father, Dunn, is a likable but irresponsible alcoholic whose dreams of improving his family's lot are invariably doomed to disappointment. The mother, Dorothy McGuire, is the true head of the household, steadfastly holding the family together no matter what crisis arises. The story is told from the point of view of daughter Peggy Ann Garner, a clear-eyed realist who nonetheless would like to believe in her pie-in-the-sky father, whom she dearly loves. Joan Blondell co-stars as the family's brash, freewheeling aunt, whose means of financial support is a never-ending source of neighborhood gossip. This first film directorial effort of Elia Kazan earned a special Oscar for "Most Promising Juvenile Performer" Peggy Ann Garner. A Tree Grows From Brooklyn was remade for TV in 1974, and also served as the basis of a Broadway musical. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, (more)
No slouch himself at rearranging the facts to make a good story, Colonel William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody would probably have enjoyed this Technicolor version of his life and times. Well played by Joel McCrea, Cody is first seen as an army Indian scout, pursuing peaceful coexistence despite the animosity of Chief Yellow Hand (Anthony Quinn) and the obstruction of anti-Indian politicians. He also takes time out to court the lovely Louisa (Maureen O'Hara), the well-bred Eastern girl who will become his wife despite her initial (and quite justified) distaste for the West. Under the tutelage of impresario Ned Buntline (Thomas Mitchell), Cody follows up his military career with a more spectacular one as a larger-than-life super-showman, touring throughout the world with his spectacular Wild West show. In later years, Buffalo Bill director William Wellman would wince at the liberties taken with Cody's life -- especially the film's now notorious closing line, "God bless you, Buffalo Bill!" But Wellman allowed that, in terms of sheer entertainment, it was smarter to emulate Cody by perpetuating the legend rather than debunking the Buffalo Bill image with cold, hard facts. Or, as John Ford put it in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1942
A surprisingly good MGM Our Gang comedy, the one-reel Going to Press is an on-target spoof of a typical "adult" crime film. Determined to uncover the identity of the mysterious leader of a juvenile extortion racket, the Our Gang kids set up a crusading newspaper called The Greenpoint Press. The kids gratefully accept the help of a pleasant, well-spoken youngster named Dick (Darryl Hickman), little suspecting that he is the duplicitous boss of the dreaded Gas House Gang. Only after Dick's henchmen have taken Billy "Froggy" Laughlin for a "ride" (a harmless but painful one) are the kids able to expose the villain and save the day. Also appearing in this hilarious lampoon is Juanita Quigley, here better served than in the earlier Our Gang entry The New Pupil. Going to Press was originally released on March 7, 1942. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Darryl Hickman, Juanita Quigley, (more)
