Holmes Herbert Movies

Filmed on location in Canada, The Wild North stars Stewart Granger as renegade trapper Jules Vincent. Forced to kill in self-defence, Vincent hides out in the wilderness, obliging RCMP constable Pedley (Wendell Corey) to chase after him in some of the most treacherous territory in Northern America. After braving the elements and various wild animals, Vincent and the wounded Pedley are compelled to join forces in order to survive their ordeal. Though his common sense advises him to leave Pedley to die, Vincent's essential decency wins out, and the trapper struggles against the odds to bring the constable back to civilization. Third-billed Cyd Charisse does a little box-office duty in the thankless role of an Indian maiden smitten by Vincent's charms. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Highly respected defense attorney Dwight Bradley Mason (Walter Pidgeon) is able to clear young Rudi Wallchek (Keefe Brasselle) of a murder rap. When it's all over, however, Rudi lets slip a careless comment which leads Mason to believe that his client was guilty after all. Using the evidence at hand, the attorney retraces his steps, only to discover that one of the town's leading citizens is a criminal mastermind. The solution to this ethical dilemma is straight out of the "postman always rings twice" school of crime fiction. Even after justice has been served, however, Mason's conscience dictates that everyone responsible for all previous legal miscarriages be punished -- including himself! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jean Peters is at her feisty best in Anne of the Indies. Harboring a grudge against all men (and not without reason), Anne becomes "Captain Providence," one of the most notorious pirate leaders of the Spanish Main. Anne is pursued by French captain Pierre la Rochelle (Louis Jourdan), who intends to bring her to justice. To this end, La Rochelle makes romantic overtures to Anne, but she gloms onto his scheme and abducts the captain and his wife Molly (Debra Paget). After leaving her victims to die on a desert island, Anne relents and rescues them. She later fully redeems herself (at great personal cost) during a battle with her fiercest rival, Blackbeard (Thomas Gomez). Few actresses could have pulled off the contrarily-written title character in Anne of the Indies with as much determination and conviction as Jean Peters; surprisingly, the actress was reportedly never comfortable before the cameras, often insisting that she'd rather be a schoolteacher! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

David and Bathsheba is a respectable, slightly stodgy cinematic adaptation of the Old Testament story. King David (Gregory Peck), much beloved by his subjects and a war hero of long standing, falls victim to the sins of the flesh when he falls in love with Bathsheba (Susan Hayward), the wife of Uriah (Kieron Moore), one of David's most trusted soldiers. His downfall begins when David orders Uriah into a suicidal battle, knowing that this will clear the way for his relationship with Bathsheba. His infatuation leads him to neglect his kingdom and his people, and invokes the wrath of God. Only after his land has been devastated by God's hand does David offer atonement. The film's lavish production values compensate ever so slightly for the long-winded script. David and Bathsheba was the last major "flat-screen" Biblical epic; it was filmed in 1951 B.C. -- Before Cinemascope. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Louis Calhern repeats his Broadway role as Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in this 1950 cinemazation of Emmet Lavery's stage play The Magnificent Yankee. The film is for the most part confined to the Holmes home in Washington, where the good gray judge parries affectionately with his level-headed wife Fanny (Ann Harding). A steady stream of historical personages parade through the Holmes manse, including jurist Louis Brandeis (Eduard Franz) and novelist Owen Wister (Philip Ober). The death of his wife devastates Holmes, but only briefly; he ends up serving his country for nearly forty years. The British title of Magnificent Yankee was The Man With Thirty Sons, a somewhat misleading reference to the Harvard Law graduates whom Oliver Wendell Holmes sponsored. Also available on videocassette is a 1965 TV production of Magnificent Yankee, starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Iroquois Trail (British title: The Tomahawk Trail) could be classified as a western, but for the fact that the story is set in 1775. Based on James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, the film stars George Montgomery as Cooper's stalwart Indian scout Hawkeye. Hoping to avenge his brother's death at the hands of the French, Hawkeye offers his services to the British. During the course of events, he breaks up a spy ring, fights a hostile Indian chief to the death, and rescues the daughter (Brenda Marshall) of a British colonel (Paul Cavanaugh). Featured in the cast are Monte Blue (who was part Cherokee Indian) as Hawkeye's companion Sagramore, and Sheldon Leonard (who had no Indian blood whatsoever!) as fierce Chief Ogane. Auteurist fans of director Phil Karlson are welcome to search for any vestiges of Karlson's "signature" in Iroquois Trail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Both Van Johnson and Gregory Peck were considered for the role of baseball star Monty Stratton in the 1949 biopic The Stratton Story before settling upon the real Stratton's own first choice, James Stewart. The film covers several years in the 1930s, as Texas farm boy Stratton rises from the minors to the Chicago White Sox. Along the way, Monty marries an Omaha gal named Ethel (June Allyson), who gives him a son. In November 1938, Monty accidentally shoots himself in the leg while on a hunting excursion. When the leg has to be amputated, it looks as though Stratton's pitching career is over. He broods over his bad luck for months before snapping out of his self-pity and learning to walk with his new prosthesis. To prove to himself that he's overcome his handicap, Monty takes a job pitching with the Southern All-Stars. His return to baseball is rough sledding (the other team persistently bunts balls out of his reach), but Monty Stratton is finally able to make a successful comeback. Only occasionally playing fast and loose with the facts (the time-frame of Stratton's real-life return to baseball is telescoped by several years), The Stratton Story was one of the best and most profitable baseball pictures ever turned out by Hollywood. Fans of the game will get an extra kick from the presence in the cast of big-leaguers Bill Dickey and Jimmy Dykes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After years of dumb-blonde and best-friend roles, Jane Wyman proved her skills as a dramatic actress -- and won an Academy Award in the bargain -- in Johnny Belinda. Adapted from a stage play by Elmer Harris, the story takes place in Nova Scotia, where deaf-mute Belinda (Wyman) leads a lonely existence on the hardscrabble farm of her father Black Macdonald (Charles Bickford) and her aunt Aggie (Agnes Moorehead). Newly arrived doctor Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres) takes a special interest in Belinda, vowing to ease her road in life by teaching her sign language. Despite initial resistance from her father and aunt, Belinda quickly learns how to communicate with others, opening a whole, wonderful new world for her. But things take a sorry turn when local lout Locky (Stephan McNally) corners poor Belinda after a village dance and rapes her. If the ending seems a bit ambiguous, it is because director Jean Negulesco intended it that way, allowing the viewer to draw his or her own conclusion regarding Belinda's future relationship with her mentor Dr. Richardson. Upon accepting her Oscar, Jane Wyman commented on the fact that she accomplished this feat through the simple expedient of "keeping my mouth shut." But there is nothing simple or facile in Wyman's astonishing performance as Belinda, which far outclasses the actresses who repeated the role in the two TV remakes. Also worthy of praise is the lush musical score by Max Steiner, one of his best post-Casablanca efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Command Decision is a stagebound but consummately acted adaptation of William Wister Haines' Broadway play. Clark Gable, starring in the role essayed on Broadway by Paul Kelly, plays Air Force Brigadier General "Casey" Dennis. With time at a premium, Dennis sends waves of bomber squadrons into Germany to knock out the enemy's jet plane factories. Though Dennis seems utterly unconcerned about the fate of his pilots (even his superior officer Walter Pidgeon is appalled by the heavy losses), the audience knows that his duty is exacting a severe emotional toll on him. Thanks to pressure from a misguided US senator, "butcher" Dennis is replaced by the supposedly more humane Brian Donlevy. But Donlevy realizes that Gable's decisions were the correct ones, and he vows to continue his predecessor's "suicide missions". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This adventure is based on Longfellow's famous poem. It's the story of an ex-sea captain who uses devious means to make his salvage company a success. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Returning to Singapore after a five-year absence, WWII veteran Matt Gordon (Fred MacMurray) mournfully recalls his romance with, and marriage to, a girl named Linda (Ava Gardner), whom he assumes was killed in a bombing raid on their wedding night. Resuming his prewar profession as a pearl smuggler, Matt gets mixed up with gangsters who are seeking a cache of pearls that he hid somewhere in Singapore during the war. He also meets wealthy Michael Van Leyden (Roland Culver), who is married to a woman who closely resembles the lamented Linda. In point of fact, she is Linda, but has been suffering from amnesia ever since the wartime bombing. Upon being reunited with his lost love, Matt does his best to ditch his unsavory companions and to rescue Linda from her "new" life. Clearly inspired by Casablanca, Singapore was remade as the 1957 Errol Flynn vehicle Istanbul. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this aqueous musical comedy, an opera singer brings his son to Michigan's Mackinac Island where the son falls in love with the star of the "aquacaper." It is difficult to woo her as she is constantly surrounded by her piano-playing bodyguard and her ever-present grandmother. It's musical and comedic chaos as the son attempts to overcome these and other obstacles while trying to win her heart. Highlights include Jimmy Durante singing his trademark tune "Inka Dinka Do." Other songs include: "M'Appari" from "Martha," "La Donna E Mobile" from "Rigoletto," Cole Porter's "You Are So Easy to Love," "A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That," "Chiquita Banana," and "When It's Lilac Time on Mackinac Island." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Capitalizing on Larry Parks' "overnight" success in The Jolson Story, Columbia Pictures rushed their hottest new star from one picture to another, whether he was suited to the role or not. In The Swordsman, Parks makes a valiant stab at swashbucklery, playing an 18th-century Scottish aristocrat named Alexander MacArden. The plot revolves around the "forbidden" romance between Alexander and Barbara Glowan (Ellen Drew) of the hated Glowan clan. Managing to effect a truce between the MacArdens and the Glowans, Alexander has his hands full when a couple of hot-headed clansmen starts up the feud all over again. Full-scale warfare explodes between the rival families, but so long as Alexander has his wits about him and a sword in his sheath, the audience can be assured that he'll straighten things out by the ninth reel. Famed dancer-choreographer Marc Platt is uncomfortably cast as a pugnacious member of the Glowan clan, moving one critic to postulate that Columbia must have had a grudge against Platt. The Swordsman was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who'd previously helmed the production numbers in The Jolson Story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi