Louis Jean Heydt Movies

Gold Flats is the first of three cities in which Bart Maverick (James Garner) comes face to face with the estimable Stephanie Malone (Pat Crowley)--who proceeds to rob him at gunpoint a few seconds after introducing herself. But Stephanie insists that she isn't a bad girl, and that she's only trying to help her father (Louis Jean Heydt), who has accrued a huge gambling debt. Somehow or other, both Bart and Stephanie are rescued by the members of the Ladies Aid Society, headed by the formidable Hannah Adams (played by Barbara Jo Allen, the dithery "Vera Vague" of radio fame). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western set in the Mexican controlled part of California, a villainous cavalry officer is trying to force the owner of a hacienda to give him his land when a courageous settler comes to the rescue. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Wings of Eagles is filmmaker John Ford's paean to his frequent collaborator--and, it is rumored, drinking buddy--Cmdr. Frank "Spig" Wead. John Wayne stars as Wead, a reckless WW1 Naval aviator who (it says here) was instrumental in advancing the cause of American "air power". In private life, Wead becomes estranged from his wife Minnie (Maureen O'Hara) after the death of their baby. Drinking heavily, Wead tumbles down the stairs of his home, and as a result he is apparently paralyzed for life. With the help of happy-go-lucky Navy mechanic Carson (Dan Dailey), Wead is able to regain minimal use of his legs, but it seems clear that his Naval career is over. Fortunately, he manages to find work as a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, and after the attack of Pearl Harbor he is called back to active duty to oversee the construction of "jeep carriers". Not one of John Ford's more coherent films--in fact, it's downright sloppy at times--The Wings of Eagles nonetheless contains several highlights, not least of which are the "I'm gonna move that toe" scene with John Wayne and Dan Dailey, and Ward Bond's inside-joke performance as irreverent film director "John Dodge". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Per its title, Wetbacks deals with the smuggling into the US of illegal Mexican aliens. The villains are played by John Hoyt and, of all people, Harold "The Great Gildersleeve" Peary. Hoping to smash Hoyt and Peary's smuggling operation is fishing-boat skipper Lloyd Bridges, who, unbeknownst to himself, is being monitored by the US immigration service. Nancy Gates costars as a supposed femme fatale who turns out to be one of the good guys; likewise deceptively cast is veteran screen heavy Barton MacLaine. Wetbacks was directed by Hank McCune, a part-time comedian whose early-1950s TV sitcom was allegedly the first such program to utilize a recorded laughtrack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of Republic's most elaborate productions of the 1950s, The Eternal Sea is the biography of American admiral John M. Hoskins. Sterling Hayden delivers a superbly understated performance as Hoskins, who continued to serve throughout WW2 despite the loss of a leg in the early phases of the conflict. The admiral's farsighted activities as commander of the aircraft carrier Princeton led to the development of the more sophisticated jet-aircraft carriers of the Korean War. The well-chosen supporting cast includes Alexis Smith as Hoskin's wife Sue, Dean Jagger as Admiral Thomas L. Semple, Morris Ankrum as Adm. Arthur Dewey Struble, and John Maxwell as Adm. William "Bull" Halsey (whose life story would serve as the basis for the 1960 film The Gallant Hours). Elmer Bernstein's soaring musical score is the icing on the cake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 1954 musical remake of A Star is Born could have been titled A Star is Reborn, in that it represented the triumphal return to the screen of Judy Garland after a four-year absence. The remake adheres closely to the plotline of the 1937 original: An alcoholic film star, on his last professional legs, gives a career boost to a unknown aspiring actress. The two marry, whereupon her fame and fortune rises while his spirals sharply downward. Unable to accept this, the male star crawls deeper into the bottle. The wife tearfully decides to give up her own career to care for her husband. To spare her this fate, the husband chivalrously commits suicide. His wife is inconsolable at first, but is urged to go "on with the show" in memory of her late husband. In the original, Janet Gaynor played Esther Blodgett, who with no training or contacts came to Hollywood hoping for stardom. The remake, scripted by Moss Hart, is a shade more realistic: Garland's Esther, though far removed from fame, is a working professional singer/dancer when first we meet her. Both Gaynor and Garland are transformed from "Esther Blodgett" to "Vicki Lester" after being screen-tested, though Gaynor goes on to star in fluffy costume dramas while Garland more logically headlines big-budget musicals. The 1937 Star is Born costarred Fredric March as Norman Maine, Esther/Vicki's sponsor-cum-spouse. March patterned his performance after the tragic John Barrymore, reining in his emotions in favor of pure technique; James Mason's interpretation is more original, more emotional, and far more effective (who can forget the scene where Norman sobbingly overhears Vicki planning to give up her career for his sake?) As the studio's long-suffering publicist, the 1937 version's Lionel Stander is more abrasive and unpleasant than the 1954 version's introspective, intellectual Jack Carson; on the other hand, Adolphe Menjou and Charles Bickford are fairly evenly matched in the role of the studio head. Several important omissions are made in the remake. The 1937 Star is Born included Esther's indomitable old grandma (May Robson), a helpful assistant director (Andy Devine) and a soft-hearted landlord (Edgar Kennedy); all three characters are missing from the 1954 version, though elements of each can be found in the "best friend/severest critic" character played by Tommy Noonan. Wisely, both versions end with the grieving Vicki Lester coming out of her shell at a public gathering, greeting the audience with a proud, defiant "Good evening, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine". Though directors William Wellman (1937 version) and George Cukor (1954 version) handle this finale in their own distinctive manners, the end result is equally effective emotionally. What truly sets the 1954 A Star is Born apart from other films of its ilk is its magnificent musical score by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin. The songs include The Man Who Got Away (brilliantly performed by Garland in one long take, sans dubbing), It's a New World, Somewhere There's a Someone, I Was Born in a Trunk, Lose That Long Face and Gotta Have Me Go With You. When originally previewed in 1954, the film ran well over three hours, thanks to the lengthy-and thoroughly disposable-Born in a Trunk number, added to the film as an afterthought without the approval or participation of director George Cukor. The Warner Bros. executives trimmed the film to 154 minutes, eliminating three top-rank musical numbers and several crucial expository sequences (including Norman's proposal to Vicki). At the instigation of the late film historian Ronald Haver, the full version was painstakingly restored in 1983, with outtakes and still photos bridging the "lost" footage. Though nominated in several categories, A Star is Born was left empty-handed at Academy Award time, an oversight that caused outrage then and still rankles Judy Garland fans to this day (Footnote: Judy Garland had previously played Vicki Lester in a 1942 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the original A Star is Born). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Metropolis underworld is informed of a remarkable plastic surgeon (John Crawford) who is able to transform the faces of criminals and change their fingerprints. As proof, gangster Marty Mitchell (Frank Scannell) resurfaces to commit a series of crimes, his face obscured with a lead mask so that Superman (George Reeves) cannot use his X-Ray vision to confirm Mitchell's identity. It turns out, however, that this is all part of a scam operation cooked up by a pair of con artists who hope to fool both the Underworld and the reporters of the "Daily Planet"--and it is Superman who exposes the scheme just in time to prevent a couple of murders. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

During World War II, a Military Air Transport Command DC-3 piloted by a civilian crew is forced down in northern Labrador. The five men, led by Dooley (John Wayne), have barely any food and almost no way to keep warm, and their power supply is fading fast, but they have to find a way of staying alive until search planes find them. At first, even Dooley is overwhelmed by the responsibility for his crew's safety, and he is too lax in handling them -- but after one man dies, frozen to death just steps from help, he takes over and pushes his men and himself to the limits of their endurance; he even seems ready to crack himself at one moment. Meanwhile, the men who fly with Dooley push themselves and their machines past their endurance limits searching the arctic wastes for the downed plane. Island in the Sky -- based on the book by Ernest K. Gann (perhaps the best aviation novel ever written), which was, in turn, based on a true incident that happened during the war -- is one of the most startling movies in Wayne's output. He doesn't even look like the "star" John Wayne, but like a real pilot, and the cast, made up of familiar faces, all look like the real article; indeed, this movie should have been in the running for Academy Awards for costuming and makeup, just for making these familiar performers, such as Lloyd Nolan (in maybe his best performance) and Andy Devine (ditto), look like real pilots and ordinary men, rather than familiar actors. You end up feeling like you're watching a documentary, and the effect is bracing and unsettling, and dramatically unparalleled in Wayne's entire output. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

The direction of Reginald LeBorg and the cinematography of Stanley Cortez go a long way to dissipate the essential tawdriness of Models, Inc. Colleen Gray stars as seductive Rusty Farraday, who maneuvers model-agency owner John Stafford (John Howard) into marriage. Once the matrimonial knot has been tied, Rusty's no-good former boyfriend Lennie Stone (Howard Duff) reenters her life. Stone comes up with a plan to exploit Stafford's gorgeous models for the purposes of what journalist Walter Winchell used to call "feelthy peectures." The girls are forced to pose in the near-nude for the pleasure of the low-lifes who pay Stone for the privilege. Models Inc was hastily assembled by a firm called Mutual Pictures for the grind-house circuit; less than a year after its theatrical release, the film was making the TV Late Show rounds. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gene Autry was clearly tiring of the rigors of moviemaking by the time he starred in The Old West. Even so, Autry gives his all to this story of frontier religiosity. Left for dead in an outlaw ambush, Gene is nursed back to health by a travelling parson (House Peters Sr.) Our hero decides to help the parson build a church in the wide-open town of Saddlerock, which does not sit well with local crime kingpin Doc Lockwood (Lyle Talbot). The villain not only tries to drive the parson out of town, but also does his best to ruin Autry's reputation. The good guys emerge triumphant, but it isn't easy. Featured in the cast of The Old West are Autry "regulars" Gail Davis and Pat Buttrum; also appearing is the ubiquitous Louis-Jean Heydt, delivering a superb performance as a stagecoach driver plagued by encroaching blindness, and House Peters Sr's namesake son House Peters Jr. as one of the outlaws. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though made in 1951, Criminal Lawyer has the feel of a 1930s film, right down to the casting of Pat O'Brien in the lead. The star plays attorney James Regan, whose unethical methods have earned him the disdain of the American Bar Association. Eventually, Regan is even disgusted with himself, and accordingly crawls into a liquor bottle. Redeemed by the love of girl-Friday Maggie Powell (Jane Wyatt), Regan tackles a difficult make-or-break case which comprises the film's tense denouement. Critics in 1951 were impressed by the subtle performance by brutish Mike Mazurki as Regan's bodyguard; few of them were aware that the college-educated Mazurki was a sensitive, highly intelligent performer who was not at all like the thugs and pluguglies he played on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Directed by former set designer William Cameron Menzies, this minor Civil War effort from low-budget producers King Brothers stars James Craig and Guy Madison as former West Point roommates now on opposing sides in the war between the states. Assigned to delay General Sherman's march toward Atlanta, Major Clay Clayborn (Craig) and 20 rebel volunteers take position on top of Devil Mountain where they proceed to bombard Union supply trains, at first almost unimpeded. Unaware that his best friend is leading the rebels, Union major Will Denning (Madison) prepares to blow up the entire mountain but Clay's former fiancé, Kathy Summers (Barbara Payton), manages to persuade him to cease fire while she negotiates a deal. Filmed in inexpensive Super Cine Color, Drums in the Deep South was produced independently and awarded an RKO release. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi