Mary Adams Movies
- 1963
Based on the story "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant, this grim low-budget potboiler stars Vincent Price as Simon Cordier, a ruthless magistrate in 19th-century Paris who becomes possessed by the malevolent spirit (or "horla") of a condemned murderer whom Cordier was forced to kill in self-defense. Driven by the madman's ghost to continue his pattern of brutal crimes, Cordier comes to the realization that the only way he can purge the violent demon from his soul is to immolate himself in a blazing pyre. Though the riveting Price (whose very presence can enliven even the most dismal of horror duds) does an admirable job as the tormented Cordier, he is unable to bear the ponderous weight of this tedious production. Although a parallel between the callousness of Cordier's office and the insensate evil of his crimes would have provided an interesting subtext, the script forfeits this potential, relying instead on a pat, self-righteous finale with religious overtones. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Nancy Kovack, (more)
- 1962
In his final Untouchables appearance, Lee Marvin is cast as Chicago cop Mike Brannon, a veteran of fifteen years on the force. Alas, Brannon's experience means very little when he is suspended after mobster Tony Lamberto (Frank DeKova) complains that Mike has roughed up one of his "boys". Outraged by a system that punishes honest cops while letting hoodlums walk free, Brannon and his four brothers form a vigilante group, "The Fist of Five". Dressed in police uniforms and driving a phony squad car, Brannon boys intend to destroy Lamberto by playing his own crooked game--something that Elliot Ness (Robert Stack), for all his hatred of punks like Lamberto, simply can't allow. Featured in the cast as Keir Brannon is a young James Caan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
This videotaped Twilight Zone episode is a variation on a most familiar theme. While in the hospital recovering from a nervous breakdown, dancer Liz Powell (Barbara Nichols) is tortured by a recurring nightmare. In this nocturnal vision, Liz is escorted by a mysterious nurse (Arline Sax) to "Room 22" -- the hospital morgue. The dream always ends as the nurse says insinuatingly, "Room for one more, honey." If all this sounds familiar, it may be because the basic story was used in the 1945 British horror film Dead of Night, which in turn drew its inspiration from an anecdote in Bennett Cerf's Famous Ghost Stories. Future Lost in Space regular Jonathan Harris also appears in "Twenty-Two," which was adapted for television by Rod Serling and was originally telecast February 10, 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Nichols, Jonathan Harris, (more)
- 1961
In this sentimental crime melodrama, an ailing clown dies while trying to take his son to a Texas convent school. The orphaned lad then hooks up with a fugitive who dons the late clown's make-up as a disguise. At first the boy doesn't know that he is traveling with an escaped convict, but when he finds out, he steals the crook's horse and gallops straight into the path of an oncoming tornado. The outlaw is about to set off after the youth when the police show up. A fight ensues and he escapes to continue his search. He finds the unconscious child and returns him to safety. He then gives himself up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This American-International horror potboiler was originally issue on a double bill with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (also directed by Herbert L. Strock). The lovely and graceful Sandra Harrison is quite appealing as Nancy Perkins, an innocent girl who falls under the spell of e-vil chemistry teacher Miss Branding (Louise Lewis). Putting Nancy under hypnosis, Miss Branding converts the poor damsel to vampirism, committing murders and then forgetting all about them. The villainess receives her comeuppance when Nancy refuses to snap out of her spell, transforming into a slavering vampiric beast. To cover all bets, Blood of Dracula includes a soft-rock musical number, performed by one of Nancy's potential male victims. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Harrison, Gail Ganley, (more)
- 1957
It may be Christmastime, but there's no good cheer in the home of Nathaniel Beecher (Edward Binns), an embittered rancher whose son was stolen by the Pawnees many years ago. Believing that he has finally tracked down the Pawnee chief responsible for the abduction, Beecher hires Paladin to track the suspect down--a task that turns out to have more than its share of heartwarming surprises. This episode is preceded by a pre-credits teaser than can only be described as Pirandellian, as Paladin offers the home viewers a unique "Christmas present"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
To fully enjoy the rugged outdoors adventure The Mountain, one must accept the notion that 55-year-old Spencer Tracy and 25-year-old Robert Wagner are brothers. Tracy plays veteran mountain guide Zachary Wheeler, who is coaxed out of retirement when a passenger plane crashes on high mountain. He decides it isn't worth risking his life to recover the bodies of the passengers, but hot-headed younger brother Chris (Robert Wagner), hoping to claim the victims' valuables, talks Zachary into accompanying him to the mountaintop. After their treacherous upward journey, the brothers discover that one of the passengers, a Hindu girl (Anna Kashfi), is still alive. Zachary wants to bring her back to safety, but the greedy Chris would rather abandon her and make off with the valuables. It is, inevitable, then, that not everyone involved is going to get off the mountain alive. A worthwhile character study enhanced by superb location photography, The Mountain is compromised by its overreliance on phony-looking studio "exteriors". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, (more)
- 1956
Rebel in Town was the third issue from Bel-Air Productions, a firm co-founded by film execs Howard W. Koch and Aubrey Schenck. While the title character is played by John Smith, top billing goes to John Payne as ex-Union officer John Willoughby. When Willoughby's young son (Bobby Clark) snaps his cap pistol at Confederate veteran Wesley Mason (John Smith), Wesley instinctively whirls around and shoots the boy dead. Despite the fact that he and his offspring are fugitive bank robbers, Wesley's father Bedloe Mason (J. Carroll Naish) insists that his son turn himself over to authorities. Instead, Wesley escapes, whereupon he is killed by the grief-stricken Willoughby. Though it hardly seems possible at this point, Willoughby's wife Nora (Ruth Roman) struggles valiantly to bring the crisis to a nonviolent resolution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Ruth Roman, (more)
- 1956
Elderly simpleton Nip Cullers (John Dehner) shambles into Dodge City looking for a wife. Mercilessly taunted by the local dance hall girls, Nip is protected by Kitty (Amanda Blake)--whereupon the old coot declares that she will become his bride, going so far as to notify a preacher and arrange a church wedding. Outraged by Nip's presumptive behavior, Kitty threatens to blow him apart with a shotgun if he ever comes near her again. Shortly afterward, Matt (James Arness) and Chester (Dennis Weaver) find Nip lying in an alley, a shotgun wound in his back--and surrounded by the footprints of a woman. This episode is based on the Gunsmoke radio broadcast of July 30, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Previously presented on Broadway with Tallulah Bankhead and filmed in 1939 with Bette Davis, the classic stage tearjerker Dark Victory was whittled down to an hour's running time for this live presentation on the CBS anthology Front Row Center. Margaret Field (the mother of Oscar winner Sally Field), stars as madcap socialite Judith Traherne, whose footloose lifestyle comes to a sudden and tragic halt when she is diagnosed with a terminal illness. At first outraged with the doctor (Kent Smith) who withheld the bad news because he'd fallen in love with her, Judith slowly undergoes a profound change of personality, metamorphosing from a selfish debutante to a warm and generous woman. The climax, in which Judith faces her oncoming blindness and death with courage and dignity, played as well for the lesser-known Margaret Field as it had for her more famous predecessors. This version of Dark Victory was staged by the prolific Fletcher Markle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cameron Hawley's novel Executive Suite appeared around the same time as two other tales of big-business intrigue, the 1954 film A Woman's World and the 1955 Rod Serling teleplay Patterns. Elements of all three properties inevitably overlap. In Executive Suite, a furniture-store executive dies suddenly, resulting in a power play between five of his vice presidents. Julia O. Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck), daughter of the company founder and mistress of the president, must choose between solid family man McDonald Walling (William Holden), blackmail-prone Josiah Walter Dudley (Paul Douglas), ruthless Loren Phineas Shaw (Fredric March), duplicitous George Nyle Caswell (Louis Calhern), and eternal corporate bridesmaid Frederick Y. Alderson (Walter Pidgeon). Only Walling, the most honest of the bunch, refuses to campaign for the presidential chair. Despite the presence of the A-list leads and of supporting actors Shelley Winters, Dean Jagger, and Nina Foch, Executive Suite is a true ensemble effort, with everyone carrying like weight onscreen. The property was later adapted into a TV series, which owed more to Dallas than it did to the Hawley novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, June Allyson, (more)
- 1952
During the Civil War, Colonel Kern Shafter (played by Ray Milland) and Captain Edward Garnett (played by Hugh Marlowe) become embroiled in a conflict, the cause of which is somewhat cloudy. As a result, Shafter leaves the Eastern Cavlary and moves West, where he is able to re-enlist. Ten years later, Shafter is reassigned to an outpost in the Dakota Territory -- one that is commanded by his old nemesis Garnett. Garnett takes advantage of his authority to assign Shafter to the most dangerous missions, clearly hoping that he will not return from one of them. Things are not made any easier by the fact that both men fall in love with the same woman (played by Helena Carter). The situation comes to a climax during the Battle of Little Big Horn, when both men attempt to put an end to their personal war as hundreds of others are slaughtered around them. Victorious, Shafter manages to survive the massacre and return to claim the woman he loves. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Helena Carter, (more)
- 1951
Starlift was Warner Bros' attempt to revive the "all-star patriotic musical" format which had worked so well during WW II. The wisp of a plot concerns Mike Nolan (Dick Wesson) and Rick Williams (Ron Hagherty), San Francisco-based airmen who serve as crew members on a shuttle to Korea. To impress a group of movie starlets making a personal appearance, Mike and Rick claim that they're due to be sent into combat. Actress Nell Wayne (Janice Rule) falls in love with Rick, leading to a major publicity blitz and culminating with a special USO presentation for all the Korea-bound servicemen in Frisco, starring virtually everyone on the Warners' contract roster. Among the stars making personal appearances (and sometimes delivering songs, whether they can sing or not!) include Gordon MacRae, James Cagney, Ruth Roman, Doris Day, Gary Cooper, Frank Lovejoy, Phil Harris, Randolph Scott and Jane Wyman. Reportedly, the comedy team of Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall made its movie debut in Starlift, though they don't appear in the currently available prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, (more)
- 1948
Deanna Durbin's career was clearly on the downswing when she starred in For the Love of Mary. Durbin plays a switchboard operator at the White House, whose hiccuping spells throw several incoming special-interest callers into a tizzy. The President himself cures Durbin of her hiccups, thereby becoming entangled with the girl's various romances. She, in turn, finds herself neck-deep in numerous political intrigues. A forgettable comedy with disposable songs, For the Love of Mary turned out to be Deanna Durbin's last picture. The onetime mortgage-lifter of Universal Pictures was tired of the Hollywood grind and of fighting a losing battle with her fluctuating weight; thus she retired to France with her director-husband Charles David. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1948
Chronic gambler Ellen Crane (Paulette Goddard) indulges in games of chance to compensate for the loss of her boyfriend during WW2. Heavily in debt to gambling czar Lonnie Burns (Fred Clark), Ellen promises to marry him to clear her financial slate, but in the cold light of day she rethinks her decision and takes it on the lam. The irascible Burns hires detective J. D. Storm (Macdonald Carey) to track Ellen down and bring her back. After a hectic cross-country pursuit, Ellen and Storm come to realize what the audience has predicted all along: they've fallen in love with each other. This very standard assembly-line comedy is redeemed by its character actors, notably squeaky-voiced Percy Helton as a "three time loser" jailbird. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paulette Goddard, MacDonald Carey, (more)
- 1948
A man who dreams of seeing the future discovers the horrible burden that it can carry in this film noir suspense story. Suicidal Jean Courtland (Gail Russell) is prevented from killing herself by her fiancée Elliot Carson (John Lund). When they consult psychic John Triton (Edward G. Robinson), he confesses that he used his powers to bring on her death. Years ago, Triton was a phony mentalist in a vaudeville act, but he began seeing genuine visions of the future, most of which portended tragic results. After a premonition of the death of his wife Jenny (Virginia Bruce) in childbirth, a terrified Triton went into hiding for five years; upon his return, he discovered that his wife had married Whitney (Jerome Cowan) shortly after John was declared dead...and she died giving birth. Years later, Jenny's child grew up to be Jean Courtland, and when Triton receives a vision of Whitney's death in a plane wreck, he rushes to California in hopes of stopping fate. However, he's foreseen a tragic future for both Jean and Whitney and is afraid of the agony that awaits them. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes was adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1937
The earliest known children's program on British television, For the Children made its BBC debut on April 24, 1937. Mary Adams served as host/storyteller until the series was abruptly canceled at the outbreak of WWII in 1939. The program returned to the air on July 7, 1946, this time with Annette Milles as host and the puppet character Muffin the Mule as principal attraction. A Sunday-afternoon fixture until its cancellation in 1950, For the Children served as the model for another, better-known BBC kid's show, Watch With Mother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
