Ethel May Halls Movies
- 1957
In this dark drama, a schizophrenic is forced out of his hospital due to overcrowding, and his doctors tell him to avoid stressful situations. He goes to a beachside motel and likes both the area and the owner's daughter. Her father discovers that he is a mental patient and threatens to have him recommitted unless he leaves his daughter alone. The schizophrenic snaps momentarily, killing him, and he and the daughter flee down the beach. He tries to kill her by pushing her into the water, but comes to his senses and rescues her. He ends up turning himself in. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Danton, Colleen Miller, (more)
- 1951
Katherine "Katie" Standish (Ann Blyth) has been raised in a restrictive small town by her prudish Aunt Priscilla (Elizabeth Patterson). When Katie heads to New York to help out her improvident Uncle Nathaniel (Cecil Kellaway), she experiences an emotional and romantic awakening. The catalyst for all this is Greenwich Village artist Peter Van Arden (Mark Stevens), much to the dismay of Katie's nerdish hometown fiancé Stuart Grumby (Craig Stevens). The film's finale would be repeated with variations in 1967's The Graduate. Katie Did It was amusingly assembled by Frederick De Cordova, Universal's resident all-purpose director, who went on to produce and direct The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Mark Stevens, (more)
- 1949
William Powell stars in Take One False Step as a happily married college professor who foolishly agrees to a reunion supper with old flame Shelley Winters. Winters later disappears, and the evidence points to murder. To allay suspicion--and to avoid losing an important financial grant to his university--Powell starts his own investigation. The trail leads him to San Francisco, where poor Powell becomes mired in a confusing crime plot. Fortunately, Winters is still alive; unfortunately, Powell may not be for long. Adapted from the Irwin Shaw novel Night Call, Take One False Step is saved from tawdriness by the innate dignity of William Powell. Also, the film is leavened by unexpected moments of humor, notably the relaxed banter between Powell and Shelley Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1949
In this three-hanky movie, an orphaned newsboy decides to care for a crippled young girl after her alcoholic mother is injured. With a doctor's assistance, he helps the girl understand that her paralysis is hysterical, caused by her reactions to her mother's behavior. Trouble ensues when the boy is arrested for helping her. The girl helps him, by walking; thereby causing the astounded authorities to release him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Arnt, Florence Auer, (more)
Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens to sabotage his career. Nonetheless, Anthony makes his peace with Brita, and the two actors star in a new Broadway staging of Othello. The play is a hit, running over 300 performances, but the pressures of portraying a man moved to murder by jealousy takes its toll on Anthony. In a fit of delirium, he strangles his casual mistress, Pat (Shelley Winters), but retains no memory of the awful crime. Press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien), unaware that Anthony is the killer, uses Pat's murder as publicity for Othello. Anthony becomes enraged at this cheap ploy, and attacks Friend. At this point, Anthony realizes that he has been living "a double life" and is in fact Pat's murderer. A Double Life was written for the screen by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, who occasionally digress from the melodramatic plotline to include a few backstage inside jokes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Whit Bissell, (more)
- 1946
True Confession was one of the unfunniest of the "screwball" comedies of the 1930s, and its musical remake, Cross My Heart, isn't much of an improvement. Betty Hutton steps into the old Carole Lombard role as Peggy, a compulsive liar who'll do anything to help her attorney fiance Oliver Clarke (Sonny Tufts) get ahead. When it looks as though an unsolved murder case will be Clarke's ticket to success, Peggy, sticking her tongue in her cheek (as she always does when she's about to tell a whopper), glibly confesses to the killing. Peggy's plan is to allow her boyfriend to prove her innocence, thereby cementing his reputation as a man of integrity-but things don't go quite as planned. The subsequent trial is enlivened by the antics of looney Russian actor Peter (Michael Chekhov), who may or may not be the actual murderer. Betty Hutton's song numbers are just about as mediocre as the rest of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, (more)
- 1946
Universal's 1946 The Dark Horse is not a remake of the 1932 Warner Bros. film of the same name, though both deal with a long shot political candidate. The 1946 film stars Phillip Terry as a war veteran, who is persuaded by machine politico Donald MacBride to run for alderman. Ann Savage plays the standard "Jean Arthur" role as the honest government functionary with whom the hero falls in love. Terry finds that disreputable politicians are using his war record to push through some shady legislation, so he renounces these hacks. He wins on the basis of his honesty, making one wish that things worked out this way in Real Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phillip Terry, Ann Savage, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, a talented aspiring costume designer leaves her small town to seek her fortune in the Big Apple. The girl, who is also a singer, soon begins establishing herself in the fashion industry, but when a rival accuses her of stealing a pattern, her career is nearly destroyed. Fortunately, a handsome, romantic hero is around to help her clear her name. Songs include: "Come Along My Heart", "That does It", "Swing Low Sweet Lariat" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Jean, Kirby Grant, (more)
- 1945
Deanna Durbin offered her fans a change of pace in this mystery story seasoned with elements of comedy and music. Nikki Collins (Durbin) is a small-town girl visiting New York City to meet with Mr. Haskell (Edward Everett Horton), her family's attorney. As her train pulls into the station, she looks out her window into a nearby office building. She's shocked by what she sees -- a man is being strangled to death, and while she can't see the face of the killer, she gets a good look at the victim. Terrified, Nikki immediately goes to the police, but they think that her story is simply the product of an overactive imagination and send her on her way. Nikki, however, is certain that she witnessed a murder, and she approaches mystery writer Wayne Morgan (David Bruce) to help her piece together the facts of what happened. Thanks to a newsreel, Nikki is able to recognize the victim as Mr. Waring, a wealthy man who made his fortune in shipping; she attempts to contact Waring's family, but they're convinced that Nikki is a nightclub singer with whom the tycoon was having an affair. Hoping to contact the chanteuse in question, Nikki visits the club where she works, only to discover that she's also been murdered. Nikki soon finds herself being trailed by both Jonathan (Ralph Bellamy) and Arnold (Dan Duryea), two members of Waring's family whom she believes may have been involved in the crime, and could be trying to silence her once and for all. Like most of Durbin's vehicles, Lady on a Train's plot stops every now and then to give her the opportunity to sing a song; Western fans may want to keep an eye peeled for future cowboy star Lash LaRue, who has a small role as a waiter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1945
Ayn Rand wrote this adaptation of Chris Massie's book Pity Mr. Simplicity, about a soldier who falls in love with a former comrade's wife -- an amnesiac who may have murdered her husband. The story begins in Italy when two soldiers, Allen Quinton (Joseph Cotten) and Roger Morland (Robert Sully), hatch a scheme concerning Singleton (Jennifer Jones), his girl back home. Allen agrees to write love letters to Singleton for his friend and, based on the heartfelt emotions evident in the letters, she falls in love with Roger. Returning home, Singleton and Roger marry, but Roger proves to be a drunken, abusive husband. One night, as Roger is beating Singleton, he is stabbed to death by her stepmother. Singleton goes in to shock, rendering her unable to recall the murder, while her stepmother has a stroke, making her unable to speak. Accused of murder, Singleton is sentenced to a year in jail. Allen, in the meantime, hears about the murder of his friend and comes to visit Singleton, and the two proceed to fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, (more)
- 1944
The overcrowding in WWII-era Washington, D.C., provided the concept for this comedy, as well as another film from the previous year, The More the Merrier (1943). Lee Stevens (Fred MacMurray) is an executive from a toy company owned by T.J. Todd (Edward Arnold). In hopes of landing a lucrative wartime production contract, Todd has dispatched Stevens and Jane Rogers (Paulette Goddard), a secretary, to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with a political fat cat. Once there, Jane foolishly cancels their hotel reservations, unaware that the capitol is so jammed that there is nowhere else to stay. She devises a plan -- she and Lee will pose as servants in the home of wealthy Ira Cromwell (Roland Young), where their lodging will be part of their salary. Lee is a disaster as a domestic, and when the very same politician they've come to meet arrives for a formal dinner, disaster looms. Standing Room Only (1944) was the third of five films in which MacMurray and Goddard would appear together. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Paulette Goddard, (more)
- 1940
A fast-paced, enjoyable entry in the long-running Three Mesqueteers Western series, Heroes of the Saddle featured the three cowboy pals promising to look after Peggy Bell (Patsy Lee Parsons), the little daughter of mortally wounded rodeo champ Montana (Kermit Maynard). Legal technicalities, however, halt the adoption proceeding and Stony (Robert Livingston), Rusty (Raymond Hatton), and Rico (Duncan Renaldo) can only watch as the little girl is placed in the county orphanage. On a visit, the Mesqueteers discover that Peggy has been injured and Melloney the superintendent (sour-faced Byron Foulger) claims that the institution cannot pay for the necessary treatment. Stony wins the amount in a boxing match against "Killer" McCulley (Jack Roper), only to learn that Melloney is threatening the child to keep quiet about something. The "something" is the fact that Melloney and county supervisor Crone (William Royle) are not only mistreating the children in their care but cooking the books as well. Aided by a pretty nurse, Ruth Miller (Loretta Weaver of the Weaver hillbilly act), the Mesqueeters "kidnap" Peggy and the other kids and bring them to their spacious ranch. There is a final shootout before the three heroes can round up the gang and celebrate the election of a new county supervisor, nurse Ruth. A comic highlight of this Western has Duncan Renaldo pretending to be a department store dummy in order to fool drunken watchman Al Taylor. Heroes of the Saddle was one of the final films of ace villain William Royle, who later that year would appear in perhaps his best-remembered role as Sir Neyland Smith in the serial Drums of Fu Manchu (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1939
A big city lawyer returns to his tiny home town to enter the firm of his late father. His father's partner is happy to have him, but the partner's lovely daughter is even happier.. Every one is happy until the young attorney decides to represent the local villain, a ruthless factory owner who cares more for money than his employees. When the abused workers go on strike, the partner drops the factory owner's account, but the young slicker stays with the magnate. This upsets the partner's daughter. Tragedy and chaos follow when gangsters get involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Hayward, Joseph Allen, Jr., (more)
- 1939
My Love for Yours is the alternate title for Paramount's Honeymoon in Bali. Madeline Carroll pulls a "Rosalind Russell" as a hard-shelled businesswoman with no time for romance. Fred MacMurray is determined to melt down her resistance, hoping to do so during a vacation to Nassau. Carroll almost capitulates, but backs off when she mistakenly believes that MacMurray loves someone else. Contrary to the film's "other" title, the situation is resolved not in Bali but in cold old New York. Allan Jones, stuck with a standard-issue "other man" role, is at least given a few opportunities to sing. Scandanavian actress Osa Massen makes her American debut in the comparatively thankless role of the gal who doesn't land MacMurray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Madeleine Carroll, (more)
- 1939
Anna May Wong and J. Carroll Naish, so memorably teamed in Paramount's Dangerous to Know, are costarred once more in Island of Lost Men. Naish plays ruthless jungle plantation owner Gregory Prin, who runs his domain like a dictatorship and treats his workers little better than slaves. Into Prin's world comes Kim Ling (Wong), daughter of a disgraced Chinese general. Kim Ling hopes to clear her father's name by bringing his primary accuser, Prin, to justice. The native-uprising finale is rendered in gloriously gruesome detail. A remake of the 1931 Charles Laughton-Carole Lombard starrer White Woman, Island of Lost Men also offers early but well-rounded performances by Anthony Quinn (as a Chinese patriot!) and Broderick Crawford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, J. Carrol Naish, (more)
- 1939
As indicated by its title, Thou Shalt Not Kill is a strange blend of religiosity and crime melodrama. Charles Bickford plays Reverend Chris, a popular neighborhood clergyman who hopes to clear young Allen Stevens (Owen Davis Jr.) from a murder charge. Complicating matters is the fact that the real criminal has told Reverend Chris the truth during Confessional. How can the priest reveal what he knows without violating the edicts of his religion? Suffice to say he solves the problem, though not as inventively as Montgomery Clift in Hitchcock's I Confess (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bickford, Owen Davis, Jr., (more)
- 1938
Shirley Ross plays an innocent young girl convicted for complicity in a crime committed by her boy friend (Lloyd Nolan). The male crook is sentence to six months on a prison farm populated by both men and women (segregated, of course). Ross is also incarcerated, suffering the cruelties of the sadistic male and female guards (including J. Carroll Naish and future "Ma Kettle" Marjorie Main!) Since this film leaves no cliche unturned, an escape attempt is inevitable, but Ross is ultimately rescued from her plight for the obligatory happy ending. Nowhere near as exploitive as the later Linda Blair films of the same ilk, Prison Farm was considered reasonably realistic in 1938, earning back its modest cost and then some. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Ross, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
One of the funniest, most sharply paced comedies of the 1930s, and perhaps the best of all of Harold Lloyd's talkies, The Milky Way was based on the Broadway play by Lynn Root and Harry Clork. Lloyd plays Burleigh Sullivan, a mild-mannered milkman who intercedes one night when his sister Mae (Helen Mack) is being accosted on the street by two obnoxious drunks -- they turn their wrath on him, his sister runs for help, and when she returns less than a minute later, both men are out cold on the pavement, with Burleigh standing over them. As one of them, Speed MacFarland (William Gargan), is the world's middleweight boxing champion, and the other, Spider Schultz (Lionel Stander), is his sparring partner, Burleigh makes the front page of every newspaper in New York. McFarland's manager, Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou), has to figure out how to salvage the champ's career, but first he has to figure out exactly what happened, since both fighters were too drunk to remember anything about it. It turns out that Sullivan couldn't beat an egg, but he is good at one thing -- ducking. He can dodge any punch, and the two fighters knocked each other out in the process of trying to pummel him. What's more, on hearing this, they're so angry that Schultz accidentally knocks MacFarland out again, just ahead of the press' arrival, and the little milkman is given credit once more by the reporters for decking the champ. Burleigh loves the attention, even though he never claims to have hit anyone. Meanwhile, Sloan comes up with a way of salvaging his fighter's career, and convinces Burleigh to go along with it for a promised cash sum -- all Burleigh has to do is get in the ring in six fights, to build up his standing and reputation, and finish his "career" in a fight with MacFarland, who will win. In the meantime, complications arise when MacFarland falls in love with Burleigh's sister, while Burleigh himself meets and falls in love with Polly Pringle (Dorothy Wilson), a helpful neighbor. Gabby, Spider, and Speed also discover that turning tiny, wiry Burleigh Sullivan into something that even looks like a fighter is easier said than done -- all of his fights have to be fixed (and then some) behind his back to make his victories look remotely genuine. Finally, after starting to believe his own publicity, and then discovering that the fights were fixed, Burleigh goes through with the final match-up against MacFarland, the culmination of a comedy of errors involving horses, foals, and a wild chase to the arena. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
