Kathryn Adams Movies

There's a rumor afloat that woebegone farmer Obie Tater (Royal Dano) has a hidden fortune, left over from the '49 gold rush. When a pair of toughs named Mitch (Jon Shepodd) and Quade (Pat Conway) try to learn the whereabouts of the gold by tethering Obie to a horse and dragging him on the ground, Matt (Dennis Weaver) rescues the old man. Unfortunately, Matt is not able to save Obie from the clutches of mercenary dance hall girl Ella May (Kathy Adams). This episode is adapted from the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of August 30, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a slightly addled young advertising executive works for his father's radio-advertising agency. His first job is to hire a famous big-game hunter for an upcoming show. Unfortunately, the man he chooses proves to be a fake and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Dead End Kids take on a sinister gang of Japanese terrorists in this 12-chapter followup to the 1940 Universal serial Junior G-Men. When Eddie Holden (Gene Reynolds), the inventor brother of street-gang leader Billy Holden (Billy Halop), is kidnapped by minions of the Black Dragon society, Billy refuses to go to the police for help. Instead, he and his pals-Bolts Larson (Huntz Hall), Stick Munsey (Gabe Dell) and Greaseball Plunkett (Bernard Punsly)-decide to take on the villains themselves. Over the course of twelve weeks, the kids are pitted against the worst kinds of villains and pluguglies, but by the final chapter our heroes have thwarted the Black Dragons' plans to sabotage the American defense program. Despite the serial's title, however, the "Junior G-Men" hardly spend any time at all in the air. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arizona Cyclone is usually cited as the best of Johnny Mack Brown's Universal western series, if only because of the inventive direction of Joseph H. Lewis. Brown is cast as Tom, owner of a wagon-freight line who business is coveted by crooked banker Quirt (Dick Curtis). The villain will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and this includes ordering the murder of lovable old freight-liner Randolph (Herbert Rawlinson). Lacking enough evidence to prove Quirt's guilt, Tom bides his time until the inevitable showdown. Director Lewis' penchant from innovative camera angles is especially evident during the climactic gunfight sequence, a model of its kind and one from which Lewis himself borrowed in his much-later western classic Terror in a Texas Town. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal catered to the young fans of aviation with this airborne serial, which featured a plucky kid -- "Bowery Boy" Billy Halop -- and plenty of "sky riders." Famous aviator Bob Dayton (Donald Woods) hires a bright member of the Air Youth of America, Tim (Halop), to help him finalize a hush-hush project: a new type of fighter plane and bombsight. This being 1941, plenty of enemy agents are after the invention, including the nefarious Felix Lynx (Eduardo Cianelli). It takes Dayton, Tim, and the co-owner of Sky Raiders, Inc., Lieutenant Ed Carey (Robert Armstrong) 12 breathless chapters before they are able to defeat the enemy. The final installment was quite appropriately entitled "Winning Warriors." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The Hollywood "establishment" had been waiting a long time for maverick director Gregory La Cava to fall from grace, and when his Unfinished Business failed to live up to its expectations, La Cava's enemies swooped down like vultures. Seen today, the film is hardly one of the director's best efforts, but neither is it his worst. Irene Dunne stars as aspiring singer Nancy Andrews, who falls desperately in love with playboy Steve Duncan (Preston Foster). When it becomes clear that Steve isn't about to take their casual relationship seriously, Nancy marries his brother Tommy (Robert Montgomery) on the rebound. After a fun-filled honeymoon, the couple can't seem to adjust to the "normalcy" of married life; as a result of this and Nancy's ongoing fascination with older brother Steve, the disillusioned Tommy walks out on her and joins the army. Only when Nancy deals with the "unfinished business" of her unrequited love for Steve can she and Tommy find true happiness. There are many deft LaCava-esque directorial touches in Unfinished Business, but for the most part the film could have been made by any Hollywood director; still, the film does not deserve its current tarnished reputation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The real-life marriage between Dick Powell and Joan Blondell was already on the rocks when they costarred in Model Wife. The story is "Working Girl Plot No. 6": Blondell's employer frowns upon married women working. She's married to Powell. The marriage must remain secret. The boss has a "thing" for Blondell. So does every other man. Powell fumes. Complications. Movie ends happily. And that's Model Wife, the second and last of the Powell/Blondell vehicles of the 1940s (the other film was titled, significantly, I Want a Divorce). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical drama, a construction worker becomes the guardian of a 12-year old girl after one of his buddies is killed. She and he head to New York to look for her uncle, a vaudevillian. With the help of a good pal, they soon find the uncle. The three searchers encounter trouble when the pal uses all their money to buy a ramshackle restaurant. Fortunately, the construction worker saves them by turning the dump into a red hot night spot. Songs include: "I Haven't The Time To Be A Millionaire", "Meet The Sun Halfway", "April Played The Fiddle", "The Pessimistic Character (With The Crab Apple Face)", "If I Had My Way", "Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider", and "Rings On My Fingers". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dispensing with the melodramatic excesses of Universal's previous "Invisible Man" films, 1941's The Invisible Woman aims strictly for laughs. Virginia Bruce stars as Kitty Carroll, an outspoken department store model fired from her job by tyrannical Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). Intrigued by an ad in the personal columns requesting the services of an "adventurous woman", Kitty offers her services to eccentric scientist Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore, doing a dead-on impression of his brother Lionel). Much to the dismay of his timorous butler George (Charles Ruggles), his housekeeper Mrs. Jackson (Margaret Hamilton), and his nephew-financier Richard Russell (John Howard), Gibbs has been experimenting with an invisibility formula, and Kitty turns out to be a most willing guinea pig. Cloaked in her new invisibility, our heroine gets even with her old nemesis Growley and sets out for new escapades, while Gibbs and his entourage anxiously search for the girl lest harm befall her. The whole affair ends up in the Mexican refuge of gangster Blackie (Oscar Homolka), who hopes to use Gibbs' formula for his own nefarious purposes. Given the fact that Blackie is saddled with such moronic henchmen as Bill (Ed Brophy) and Frankie (Shemp Howard), he doesn't stand a chance against the resourceful Kitty, who thoughtfully permits the nonplussed Richard into thinking that he's rescuing her. Shakespeare it isn't, but The Invisible Woman is consistently funny and inventive, enhanced by Universal's usual excellent special effects. Future leading lady Maria Montez shows up as one of the models in the early scenes, along with former Warner Bros. star Anne Nagel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a despondent fellow contemplates suicide after he is abandoned by his last girlfriend. To ensure that his poor sister will receive maximum benefits from his life insurance policy, he hires a hitman to assassinate him. Unfortunately, he meets a new girl and changes his mind. Unfortunately, the killer, whom the hero has never met, doesn't know this. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A wealthy older man and a poor young woman each get a chance to see how the other half lives in this comedy. Alfred Borden (Walter Connolly) is a millionaire who feels neglected by his family. His wife Martha (Verree Teasdale), daughter Katherine (Kathryn Adams), and son Tim (Tim Holt) usually ignore him, and all three manage to forget his birthday completely. Depressed and alone, Alfred bumps into Mary Grey (Ginger Rogers), a young woman who is out of work but is still happy with her lot in life. Alfred invites her to go to a night spot with him, and he soon hatches a scheme by which Mary will move into the guest room of the Borden Mansion and pose as a gold digger who is toying with Alfred's affections to get at his money. Mary's presence has a sudden impact on the family; Martha realizes that she needs to pay more attention to her husband, Katherine falls in love with the family's leftist chauffeur (James Ellison), and Tim starts taking an interest in the family business, and in Mary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Orson Welles wasn't the first one to bring The Magnificent Ambersons to the screen. Vitagraph produced Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel during the silent era and slapped on the very 1920s title Pampered Youth. The Ambersons are the wealthiest family of a small Midwestern town. Isabel (Alice Calhoun), the daughter of Major Amberson (Emmett King), loves Eugene Morgan (Allan Forrest), but he disgraces himself in a drunken spree and leaves town. So Isabel marries Wilbur Minfer (Wallace McDonald), even though she doesn't really love him. She lavishes all her affection on her son, George (Ben Alexander), who, as a result, grows up into a spoiled young man (Cullen Landis). George's careless extravagance uses up the Amberson fortune. After Minfer dies, Morgan, now a successful automobile manufacturer, returns and takes up with Isabel once again. George resents the relationship and believes that Morgan is beneath him, even though he loves his daughter, Lucy (Charlotte Merriam). When Major Amberson dies, George is forced to go to work, and he learns to respect his fellow man. Morgan, meanwhile, saves Isabel when her home catches fire, thus cementing their romance. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This Graustark-ian tale stars virile Earle Williams. After serving in the Great War, international crook Anthony Trent (Williams) resolves to go straight. He wants to track down the English private who saved his life, and discovers his true identity is Arthur Grenvil (Geoffrey Webb), the son of the Earl of Rosecarrel (Emmett King). Trent falls in love with Grenvil's sister, Daphne (Kathryn Adams), and sets out to win the Earl's approval. He discovers that the Earl is being blackmailed by Count Michael Temesvar, the prime minister of Croatia (Eric Mayne), over some documents. To get them, Trent gets a job as chauffeur of the silver car that the Count buys in London. He travels to Croatia and, with the help of a pretty dancer, he faces danger to obtain the papers. The Count kills the dancer, but Trent makes it back to England to receive Daphne's love and the Earl's blessings. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide