Dick Haymes Movies

In her first non-Gunsmoke appearance in two decades, Amanda Blake plays Helen Mercer, a lonely, middle-aged widow. Helen hires the deceptively sweet Adele Murphy (Tisha Sterling) as her companion. What she doesn't know (but we do, thanks to a rather violent prologue) is that "Adele" is really an extortionist named Gretchen, in league with her homicidal con-artist boyfriend Jay (Sam Groom). Singing star Dick Haymes makes his TV movie debut in the third-billed role of Harold Porter. Based on a novel by suspense specialist Doris Miles Disney, the made-for-TV Betrayal premiered December 3, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Co-written by director Richard Quine and Blake Edwards, All Ashore has so many excellent individual components that one wishes the sum total was better than it is. Mickey Rooney, Dick Haymes and Ray McDonald play a trio of eternally broke sailors, on shore leave at Catalina Island. Because of his propensity for getting into trouble, Rooney is the drudge of the group. Even so, it is Rooney who stands the best chance of succeeding when all three gobs set their sights on lovely millionaire's daughter Barbara Bates. McDonald's perennial dancing partner Peggy Ryan is on hand for a few musical numbers, while Haymes gets to display his rich singing voice as he woos Jody Lawrance. Highlights include an elaborate "opera bouffe" dream sequence and a running gag involving a pianist with twelve fingers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed very cheaply in New York, St. Benny the Dip (British title: Escape Me If You Can) has a charm and appeal that transcends its modest production trappings. Dick Haymes, Roland Young and Lionel Stander star as Benny, Matthew and Monk, three confidence tricksters forced by circumstance to pose as priests, tending to a slum mission. While clerically garbed, the three sharpsters slowly but surely change their ways, to the benefit of all concerned. As a result, two of the three find honest jobs in the civilian mainstream, while the third elects to remain a man of the cloth. The handpicked supporting cast includes Nina Foch as Haymes' sweetheart, and former child-star Freddie Bartholomew, making his final film appearance as an uptight genuine priest. Devotees of director Edgar Ulmer have insisted upon finding all sorts of hidden meanings in St. Benny the Dip, though it appears that Ulmer's primary concern while making the film was keeping all three of his formidable leading men within camera range. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Dorothy Fields-Sigmund Romberg Broadway musical Up in Central Park has been retooled as a vehicle for a pleasantly plump Deanna Durbin. Set in New York in the 1870s, the film casts Durbin as hoydenish Irish immigrant Rosie Moore, who becomes the romantic bone of contention between muckraking newspaper reporter John Matthews (Dick Haymes) and corrupt but charming political boss Tweed (Vincent Price, considerably handsomer and slimmer than the real Tweed). With Rosie's help, John manages to expose Tweed's Tammany Hall shenanigans. Though only two songs have been retained from the original Broadway production, both Durbin and Haymes are afforded several opportunities to sing. Featured in the cast as Durbin's father is Albert Sharpe, who'd just completed a run in the smash New York musical Finian's Rainbow and who later played the title role in Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). Best scene: The Currier & Ives ballet, one of the few holdovers from the stage version of Up in Central Park. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical set in late 19th-century Boston, a suffragette secretary finds that her political beliefs are standing in the way of her romantic bliss with her beloved boss. Back then the notion of women's rights was considered scandalous and her lover will not stand for such nonsense in his office. Mayhem and music ensue until he is eventually convinced. Some of the tunes were composed by the late George Gershwin to which lyricists Kay Swift and Ira Gershwin added new words. These songs include: "For You, for Me, for Evermore," "Aren't You Glad We Did?," "Stand up and Fight," and "Waltz Me No Waltzes." Other songs include: "Changing My Tune," "Back Bay Polka," "One, Two, Three," "But Not in Boston," "Sweet Packard," "Waltzing Is Better Sitting Down," and "Demon Rum." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Twentieth Century-Fox couldn't make a film version of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Oklahoma in 1945--that particular Broadway musical would remain a "hot ticket" until the end of the decade--so the studio did the next best thing by hiring Rodgers & Hammerstein to pen the score for the Technicolorful State Fair. Fox had previously made a non-singing movie of Philip Stong's novel in 1933, with Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers in the leads. The musical remake downplayed the older characters in favor of the younger members of the cast. Set during the annual Iowa State Fair, the story concentrates on the Frakes family: father Charles Winninger, mother Fay Bainter, and grown-up children Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes. Each has his or her own reason for attending the fair: Winninger intends to win the "prize hog" ribbon, Bainter hopes to defeat her longtime snooty rival in the food contest (she wins when the judges get schnockered on the alcohol in her entry), Crain falls in love with fast-talking journalist Dana Andrews, and Haymes woos footloose and fancy-free vocalist Vivian Blaine. Musical highlights include the Oscar-winning "It Might as Well be Spring," "It's a Grand Night for Singing," and the title number. To avoid confusion with the 1962 remake, the 1945 State Fair was for many years retitled It Happened One Summer for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

The racy, ribald Cole Porter musical Du Barry Was a Lady is here given a thorough dry-cleaning by prudish MGM. Richard "Red" Skelton takes over the role of Louis Blore (played on Broadway by Bert Lahr), while Lucille Ball steps into the shoes of the original play's Ethel Merman. The story proposes that Blore is a men's room attendant in a New York nightclub who has a yen for gorgeous showgirl May Daly (Lucille Ball). After drinking a potent mixture, Louis dreams that he is King Louis XV of France, and May is the magnificent Madame Du Barry. Also showing up in Louis' dream is Alex Howe (Gene Kelly), who in "real life" is the guy who ends up with May at fade out-time. It's hard to determine what's more fun to watch in Du Barry Was a Lady: the three stars, the antics of supporting player Zero Mostel, or the incredible sequence in which Tommy Dorsey & His Band -- including drummer Buddy Rich -- perform in 18th century garb and powdered wigs. Five of the original Cole Porter songs are retained for this Technicolor-ful film: "Katie Went to Haiti," "Do I Love You, Do I?," "Well, Did You Evah?," "Taliostro's Dance,", and, best of all, "Friendship." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi