Darryl Hickman Movies
Actor Darryl Hickman was discovered at age three by kiddie-troupe entrepreneur Ethel Meglin, to whom Hickman's insurance salesman father had sold a policy. Whenever young Hickman would ask his ambitious mother exactly why he was trodding the boards with Meglin's Kiddies, she would reply, "But, dear, it's what you've always wanted." Hickman's first movie was a minor role in If I Were King (1938), followed by a better, critically lauded role in Bing Crosby's The Star Maker (1939). After free-lancing for several seasons, Hickman signed a five-year MGM contract, which he later considered a mixed blessing in that, while his roles were good ones, he grew up much too quickly for his tastes. During the 1940s, Hickman often played the film's leading adult character as a child: young Ira Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue (1945), young Eddie Rickenbacker in Captain Eddie (1945), and so on. Hickman's first mature role, for which he garnered a passel of excellent reviews, was as Clark Gable's son in 1949's Any Number Can Play. Weary of the Hollywood game in 1951, Hickman entered a monastery, but quit this austere existence after 18 months to enroll in Loyola University. Some of Hickman's better adult roles after his Army service included a meaty part in 1956's Tea and Sympathy and a starring part on the 1961 Civil War-based TV series The Americans. In the late 1950s, Hickman found that his fame had been eclipsed by his younger brother Dwayne, who co-starred on TV's Bob Cummings Show and played the lead in the weekly sitcom Dobie Gillis. Like Dwayne, Darryl eventually went into the production side of the business as a CBS executive, though he was still willing to take a part if the project interested him (as 1976's Network obviously did). Darryl Hickman was married to actress Pamela Lincoln, whom he met on the set of The Tingler (1959). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1957
F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Winter Dreams" is brought to life in this 1957 Playhouse 90 presentation. John Cassavetes stars as Dexter Green, who has spent most of his life trying to fulfill the ambitions and hopes of his socially ambitious mother and his conservative father. Thanks to his mom's aggressiveness, Dexter has achieved financial success and prestige in his community--and, as a bonus, he is poised to marry the girl carefully selected by his parents. But things change radically when wealthy but fickle Judy Holt (Dana Wynter) slinks into Dexter's life. Actor Joseph Sweeney was a last minute-replacement for Edmund Gwenn, who was slated to play the role of Mr. Gordon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Wynter, John Cassavetes, (more)
- 1957
Among the reasons that Doris Cole (Hillary Brooke) has left her husband Peter (John McNamara) is that she once awoke to find him standing over her bed, brandishing a knife. Peter insists that he is a chronic sleepwalker and had no idea what he was doing. Even so, when Phillip Kendall (Harry Hickox), an extortionist who has threatened to block the divorce that Peter so desperately wants, is found stabbed to death, Peter is charged with murder. It is up to Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to prove Cole's innocence--and to reveal the guilty party. This episode is based on a 1936 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
1956's Tea and Sympathy is a diluted filmization of Robert Anderson's Broadway play. The original production was considered quite daring in its attitudes towards homosexuality (both actual and alleged) and marital infidelity; the film softpedals these elements, as much by adding to the text as by subtracting from it. John Kerr plays a sensitive college student who prefers the arts to sports; as such, he is ridiculed as a "sissy" by his classmates and hounded mercilessly by his macho-obsessed father Edward Andrews. Only student Darryl Hickman treats Kerr with any decency, perceiving that being different is not the same as being effeminate. Deborah Kerr, the wife of testosterone-driven housemaster Leif Erickson, likewise does her best to understand rather than condemn John for his "strangeness." Desperate to prove his manhood, John is about to visit town trollop Norma Crane. Though nothing really happens, the girl cries "rape!" Both John's father and Deborah's husband adopt a thick-eared "Boys will be boys" attitude, which only exacerbates John's insecurities. Feeling pity for John and at the same time resenting her own husband's boorishness, Deborah offers her own body to the mixed-up boy. "When you speak of this in future years...and you will...be kind." With this classic closing line, the original stage production of Tea and Sympathy came to an end. Fearing censorship interference, MGM insisted upon a stupid epilogue, indicating that Deborah Kerr deeply regretted her "wrong" behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, (more)
- 1954
Marjorie Main is the whole show in the Universal programmer Ricochet Romance. Playing the outspoken new cook at a rundown dude ranch, Marjorie forces everyone around her to pitch in and bring some life back into the place. She also sets her sights on old layabout Chill Wills, scheming to rope the critter into marriage. Veteran comedy director Charles W. Lamont moves the proceedings along with style, never missing an opportunity for a low-comedy slapstick turn. The most surprising aspect of Ricochet Romance is that it is not an entry in Marjorie Main's Ma and Pa Kettle series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjorie Main, Chill Wills, (more)
- 1954
The horrors suffered by American prisoners of war at the hands of the North Koreans during the Korean war provide the basis of this drama. Allegedly based on the true stories of those who survived the tortures, it centers on an intelligence officer (Ronald Reagan) who is sent into a POW camp to investigate conditions. When he learns that inmates are routinely tortured and brainwashed, he allows himself to undergo the same. He fools the enemy into believing that he has successfully been indoctrinated into Communist philosophies as does another soldier. Meanwhile, another soldier affects a more direct means of combatting the enemy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Reagan, Dewey Martin, (more)
- 1954
In this western, a forward thinking hero joins in on the promotion of camels as the perfect desert pack animals. He embarks upon a journey with a group of others. Among them is a fugitive bankrobber and his girl friend who are trying to outfox a posse. One of the hero's men recognizes the desperado and begins blackmailing him in exchange for silence. During the journey, a band of angry natives attack. Later, the group loses their water and face the prospect of dying of thirst. The picture was originally released in 3-D. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanne Dru, Rod Cameron, (more)
- 1953
Sea of Lost Ships is partly a tribute to the U.S. Coast Guard, but mostly a typical Republic Pictures melange of action, romance and suspense. John Derek plays Grad Matthews, descended from a long line of Coast Guard officers. Through a misunderstanding, Grad is booted out of the Coast Guard academy, but he signs up again as a lowly seaman. When the film isn't detailing the rivalry between Grad and his foster brother Hap O'Malley (Richard Jaeckel), over the affections of the beauteous Pat (Wanda Hendrix), it is offering several nail-biting examples of the Coast Guard's rescue activities on the high seas. Walter Brennan, Tom Tully and Barton MacLane also appear in Sea of Lost Ships, but the film's real stars are special-effects wizards Howard and Theodore Lydecker, whose miniature work -- especially the climactic rescue from an iceberg -- is never less than perfect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Derek, Wanda Hendrix, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1953
An offbeat blend of World War II drama and "Arabian Nights" escapism, Destination Gobi is all the more odd in that it is allegedly based on fact. Richard Widmark heads a group of US Navy men, sent to Mongolia for weather observation. Widmark must lead his men across the treacherous Gobi desert to the freedom of the seacoast. Rescued from the Japanese by a Mongolian chief (Murvyn Vye), the men are compelled to repay their rescuer by securing enough saddles for his sixty horses. A flummoxed Pentagon okays the requisition, and the chieftain leads Widmark's band to Okinawa. Destination Gobi makes good use of the Arizona desert, which "stands in" for Gobi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Don Taylor, (more)
- 1951
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Jane Wyatt, (more)
- 1951
Submarine Command reunites the romantic leads from Sunset Boulevard, William Holden and Nancy Olsen. Holden is cast as Commander White, who during an enemy attack orders that his submarine dive to avoid destruction. Though his action saves his crew, it results in the death of the machine-gunner left topside during the attack. With the exception of vindictive chief torpedo-man Boyer (William Bendix), no one holds White to task for his decision -- save for White himself, who is plagued with guilt and doubt ever afterward. Helping to alleviate White's self-flagellation is his fiancee Carol (Olsen). The thrill-packed climax finds White's submarine engaged in a sabotage action against communist forces off the coast of Korea. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Nancy Olson, (more)
- 1951
In Lightning Strikes Twice, Ruth Roman stars a Shelley Carnes, a stage actress who champions the cause of Richard Trevelyan (Richard Todd), whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife. Freed on a technicality, Trevelyan is nonetheless adjudged guilty in the court of public opinion. Carnes stands by her man, eventually marrying him. On the wedding night, however, it appears that Carnes has made a horrible mistake. It won't be long before she, too, will fall into the clutches of a killer--but is it Trevelyan? Based on a novel by Margaret Echard, Lightning Strikes Twice is given novelty value through its unique setting: instead of taking place in the standard Big City, the events transpire in the wide-open spaces of Texas. Of the supporting actors, Mercedes McCambridge stands out as a woman scorned, while Zachary Scott does his usual as a lazy playboy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Todd, Ruth Roman, (more)
- 1950
Owen Johnson's novel The Lawrenceville School Stories (compiled from short stories originally published in The Saturday Evening Post) was the basis for The Happy Years. The film is set at an early 20th-century boy's prep school; Dean Stockwell plays an habitual troublemaker sent to this school as a means of straightening him out and making a man of him. At first bullied by the older kids, the pugnacious Stockwell stands his ground until he earns his fellow students' respect. The film adheres strictly to MGM's factory-tested Boys Town formula by having Stockwell cleaning up his act and becoming a worthwhile Lawrenceville student. Watch The Happy Years carefully and you'll spot an unbilled Robert Wagner, in his film debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Stockwell, Darryl Hickman, (more)
- 1949
This modern-day "Faust" variation benefits from a superb cast. Thomas Mitchell plays Joseph Foster, an honest judge who wants to become governor. Blocked by corrupt political forces, Foster would practically have to make a deal with the Devil to reach his goal. Enter Nick Beal (Ray Milland), a diabolically handsome gent with a slick line of patter and a smooth, infallible method of getting things done. Failing to recognize his benefactor's true identity (after all, Nick has no horns or cloven hooves) Foster agrees to the deal when Nick assures him that the end result is for the good of the people. To bind the bargain, Nick sends out one of his most trusted associates, Donna Allen (Audrey Totter), to keep Foster in line. When Foster finally realizes that he's sold his soul, there seems to be no way out..but that's when the forces of Good, represented by Foster's wife Martha (Geraldine Wall) and his clergyman friend Thomas Gaylord (George Macready), switch into high gear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, (more)
As shown by the clock face that opens and closes the film, The Set-Up takes place within a compact 72 minutes, with the action played out in "real time." Robert Ryan plays Bill "Stoker" Thompson, a washed-up boxer who refuses to give up his career despite the pleas of his wife Julie (Audrey Totter). There's little chance that he's going to win this evening's bout; still, Stoker's manager Tiny (George Tobias) has secretly made a deal with a crooked gambler (Alan Baxter). Stoker is to take a dive, a fact withheld from him until the fight is well under way. His last vestige of pride is aroused in the ring, but the story doesn't end there. The fight sequence is one of the most brutal ever filmed, with close ups of Ryan's pummeled face intercut with shots of screaming spectators in the throes of bloodlust. Adapted by Art Cohn from a narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March, The Set-Up is arguably Robert Ryan's finest starring film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, (more)
- 1949
Shirley Temple's final starring film, A Kiss for Corliss is a sequel to the actress' 1945 hit Kiss and Tell. The 21-year-old Temple again stars as impulsive teenager Corliss Archer, who on this occasion harbors a crush on notorious playboy Kenneth Marquis (David Niven), who has already been to the altar many times and to the boudoir many more. So moonstruck is she by Marquis (who barely acknowledges her existence) that Corliss begins writing down her imaginary romantic trysts with him in her diary. Naturally, the book falls into the hands of Corliss' parents (Tom Tully and Gloria Holden), who believe every word...especially when Marquis, evidently hoping to teach Corliss a lesson, "verifies" that the diary speaks the truth. Our heroine tries to extricate herself from this embarrassing situation by relying on one of moviedom's oldest clichés; no mean trick, inasmuch as this film is virtually a cliché smorgasbord, albeit an enjoyable one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, David Niven, (more)
- 1949
In this light drama, Clark Gable once again played his stock-in-trade role of a rogue with a heart of gold. Charlie King (Gable) runs a casino, but, in a business that thrives among the unscrupulous, Charlie takes pride in running an honest game and treating his customers with fairness and respect. However, Charlie's wife Lon (Alexis Smith) doesn't care if he runs a fair game -- she regards gambling as a dirty and corrupt business, and no matter how honest Charlie may be, he's still involved in a wicked activity. Charlie's son Paul (Darryl Hickman) is also against him; when Paul gets in trouble and Charlie bails him out of jail, he refuses to leave with him, instead going home with mother. Charlie invites Paul to see what his casino is like, and Lon agrees that Paul should know just what his father does. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1948
"Boys Town" goes to turn-of-the-century St. Louis in this moving drama that chronicles the love of a determined priest struggling to turn around the lives of a street-wise gang of newsboys living at his homeless shelter. The good father has little money and must use his wits and ability to convince others to help out to supply the little shelter. Much of the story centers on his relationship with a troubled lad who accidentally kills someone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Griff Barnett, (more)
- 1948
Pine-Thomas Productions' "Big Town" film series, based on the radio program of the same name, came to an end with Big Town Scandal. Returning for their fourth go-round are Philip Reed as Steve Wilson, crusading editor of the Illustrated Daily Press, and Hillary Brooke as Lorelei Kilbourne, Wilson's super-efficient Girl Friday. When a group of unruly teenagers are paroled in Wilson's custody, he tries to reform them by setting up a Youth Center. Unfortunately a group of crooked gamblers begin hiding their ill-gotten gains at the Center, thanks to the assistance of fast-lipped punk Tommy Malone (Stanley Clements). Only after one of his young friends is killed does Tommy wise up and help Wilson expose the crooks. Among the juvenile performers in Big Town Scandal are Carl Switzer and Tommy Bond, formerly "Alfalfa" and "Butch" in the Our Gang comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phillip Reed, Hillary Brooke, (more)
- 1948
Never mind Veronica Lake and Joan Caulfield: the real star of The Sainted Sisters is Barry Fitzgerald, dispensing Hibernian blarney by the wheelbarrowful. The story begins as turn-of-the-century golddiggers Letty and Jane Stanton (Lake and Caulfield) escape New York after divesting a gullible millionaire of $25,000. En route to Canada by way of Maine, the girls are caught in a storm and forced to seek shelter in the home of canny New Englander Robbie McCleary (Fitzgerald). Quickly figuring out that his pretty guests aren't the winsome innocents they pretend to be, McCleary draws upon his own larcenous impulses to convince the sisters to dispense their money amongst the needy and deserving. Letty and Jane not only accede to McCleary's wishes, but reform themselves in the process. Though George "Superman" Reeves is the nominal leading man, The Sainted Sisters belongs to its character actors: Fitzgerald, William Demarest, Beulah Bondi, Chill Wills,et. al. Incidentally, when first released, the word "Sainted" was italicized in the main titles, lest the producers be accused of sacrilege. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Veronica Lake, Joan Caulfield, (more)
- 1947
In this melodrama, a young juvenile delinquent convinces other teens to join his gang. The gang raids a warehouse and there he ends up killing the school's most beloved teacher. The boy is tried. In court the D.A.'s adopted daughter stands up for the boy. Years before, when they were both orphans, he had done the same for her. The D.A. is unmoved an tries to prosecute to the full extent of the law. The defense, says the real blame should be upon the boy's parents. The boy is given a life sentence. Unbeknownst to the self-righteous D.A., the boy is his long-lost son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Ann E. Todd, (more)
- 1947
A kind-hearted Native American adopts a homeless, orphaned Chinese boy who has only a horse to his name. This touching melodrama chronicles the years they spend together. The boy's new parents mate his horse with their mare and the resulting filly proves to be fast. They nearly lose the filly, but manage to get her out of the clutches of a dishonest horse manager. They then breed her. On the day she foals, they find oil upon the land and they name the colt "Black Gold." Together father and adopted son raise the horse with the hope of entering it in the Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, by this time, the father is an old man and just before he dies, he makes the boy promise to run the horse in the Big Race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Quinn, Katherine de Mille, (more)
Darryl Hickman, older brother of Dobie Gillis star Duane, toplines this campy juvenile delinquency film directed by Crane Wilbur (The Bat). The plot concerns a group of teenagers who hold illegal drag-races, often leading to death and police involvement. Terry Moore, using the name "Jan Ford," appears as Rusty, who is locked in a morgue overnight. The hip lingo will be hilarious to modern viewers, although Wilbur's typically atmospheric use of light and shadow give the film a hard-boiled edge. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1946
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In The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, relationships formed in childhood lead to murder and obsessive love. The wealthy Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) is the prime mover of the small Pennsylvania town of Iverston. Martha lives in a huge mansion with her DA husband, Walter O'Neil (Kirk Douglas), an alcoholic weakling. No one knows just why Martha and Walter tolerate one another....but Sam Masterson (Van Heflin), an Iverstown boy who returns to town, may just have a clue. At least that's what Martha thinks when Sam asks Walter to intervene in the case of Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), who has been unjustly imprisoned. It seems that, as a young boy, Sam was in the vicinity when Martha's rich aunt (Judith Anderson) met with her untimely demise. What does Sam know? And what dark, horrible secret binds Martha and Walter together? Directed by Lewis Milestone, and based on John Patrick's Oscar-nominated original story, Love Lies Bleeding, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers creates in Martha a unique and interesting, driven, obsessed, and spoiled character, but one not without sympathy. Barbara Stanwyck is outstanding as Martha, with her predatory smile and sharp, manicured nails. Kirk Douglas is surprisingly convincing as a lost, sad, weak man, who loves his wife, but is unable to gain her respect. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers eventually lapsed into public domain and became a ubiquitous presence on cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Roman Bohnen, (more)
- 1946
Based on a famous book by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., this grueling saga of shipboard oppression is set in the mid-19th century. Charles Stewart (Alan Ladd), the wealthy son of a Boston shipowner, is hijacked by Amazeen (William Bendix), the first mate on a ship bound for California. Francis Thompson (Howard Da Silva) is the tyrannical captain of the Pilgrim who was booted out of the U.S. Navy for mistreating his sailors. Now he wants to set a record sailing time, and he and Amazeen mete out severe punishment for the slightest of infractions. They even deny the men permission to go ashore and pick fruit when they stop in California and pick up the beautiful Maria Dominguez (Esther Fitzgerald). Without fruit, the men develop scurvy and begin to mutiny. Stewart allies himself with the author Dana (Brian Donlevy), whose brother died on one of Captain Thompson's previous voyages. Dana wants to write an expose of Thompson. Stewart steals guns and tries to take over the ship, but Amazeen subdues and imprisons him. The film was shot on a Hollywood set, but with devices on the set that simulate rolling waves so effectively that much of the cast got seasick. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, (more)
