Kathleen Hughes Movies
American actress Kathleen Hughes was recruited right out of UCLA to be a contract actress at 20th Century-Fox. After several years of thankless bits, Kathleen signed at Universal, where she flourished in supporting parts as seductresses and mystery women. The actress was right in her element in The Glass Web (1953), in which she is murdered by jealous TV writer Edward G. Robinson, who then fashions a script based on the crime! Kathleen Hughes retired upon her marriage to producer Stanley Rubin, making a brief comeback in 1967's The President's Analyst. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Kevin Costner plays an ex-pilot who visits the posh Mexican estate of an old associate (Anthony Quinn) "Tibey" Mendes, for a bit of R & R. Tibey has turned into a very powerful Godfather type who rules his world and those who touch it. Costner can't help but notice his old friend's incredibly beautiful young wife (Madeleine Stowe) and before long they're involved in some sizzling hoochie-coo at the risk of being discovered by Mendes. Mendes eventually catches on and exacts a painful and cruel punishment on the reclusive lovers caught in their lustful liaison. Costner vows a pay-back and the last part of the movie involves his attempt to achieve it. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, (more)
- 1982
This made-for-television drama chronicles an atypical May-December romance involving a twenty-something doctor and a middle-aged woman. The two soon fall passionately in love and this causes a little friction between the woman and her full-grown daughters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Jonah (Jeffrey Bravin) is a lonely deaf child who has been misdiagnosed as retarded. Jonah's mother (Sally Struthers) and father (James Woods) struggle to establish communication from their withdrawn son. As the specialists shake their heads and cluck their tongues, Jonah's parents finally manage to teach the child sign language, thereby opening up his world both intellectually and emotionally. And Your Name is Jonah is proof enough that Sally Struthers once had potential for greatness, and confirmation that James Woods was on the right artistic track as early as 1979. Despite competition from the network premiere of Taxi Driver, And Your Name is Jonah managed to post excellent ratings upon its original telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Susan Clark won an Emmy for her performance as legendary woman athlete Babe Didrickson (1916-1956). The film starts in Port Arthur, Texas, with teenaged Babe depriving herself of a social life in order to excel at track and field. Her well-honed skills and fierce competitive spirit win Babe a slot at the Los Angeles-based 1932 Olympics. Able to excel in practically any sport, Babe becomes a pro golfer, tennis player and billiard champ. In 1940, she meets and marries roughhewn ex-wrestler George Zaharias (played by Alex Karras, Clark's real-life future husband), who becomes her mentor and manager. Despite the anticipated career and personal conflicts, George stays by Babe's side for the next sixteen years, ultimately buoying her spirits during her three-year ordeal with terminal cancer. Babe was adapted by Emmy nominee Joanna Lee from Babe Didrickson Zaharias' autobiography This Life I've Led. Footnote: for a glance at the real Babe Zaharias in action on the golf links, see the Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn vehicle Pat and Mike (52). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The President's Analyst is James Coburn, whose position makes him privy to any number of delicate government secrets. Thus Coburn becomes a most desirable prize for several secret-agent organizations, including the CEA and the FBR (we know who these folks are really supposed to be, even though the phony names were crudely dubbed onto the soundtrack after the film was completed). When Coburn becomes expendable, he finds a pair of strong allies in the form of likeable political assassin Godfrey Cambridge and gay Soviet spy Severn Darden. The main plot involves an insidious, unnamed concern that wishes to harness Coburn's talents in order to brainwash the president -- and everyone else in America -- into submission. The President's Analyst is a terrific, on-target satire of virtually every sacred cow of the late 1960s; the satire was so potent, in fact, that when the NBC network broadcast the film in the early 1970s, it was compelled to remove the picture's punchline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, (more)
- 1967
Feeling confined by his military duties, Tony (Larry Hagman) seriously considers an offer to resign from NASA and accept a lucrative job with an aeronautics firm in Ohio. Naturally, neither Jeannie (Barbara Eden) nor Roger (Bill Daily) are keen on Tony making such a crucial move. To convince her Master to remain in Cocoa Beach--and in uniform--Jeannie magically conjures up a vision of what a disaster civilian life would be for Tony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Anthony Zerbe guest-stars as David Redding, a high-profile fashion photographer--and treacherous double agent. In league with 150 fellow spies, Redding intends to destroy the U.S. with a deadly bubonic plague epidemic. With only 72 hours at their disposal, the IMF agents must stop Redding and his confederates in their tracks. The episode's highlights include the eye-popping still photography of Bob Willoughby and a disturbingly realistic nuclear holocaust. First broadcast December 17, 1967, "The Photographer" was written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, (more)
- 1962
No one would ever suspect meek, mild bookkeeper Clem Sandover (Stuart Erwin) of embezzling $201,000 from his company--which is probably why Sandover has gotten away with just that. Discovering the shortage, Sandover's fellow employee Lita Krail (Kathleen Hughes) threatens to blow the whistle, only to be promptly murdered. Sandover's wife Beth (Virginia Christine) is accused of the crime, whereupon Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) takes over her defense, using existing evidence to argue that the dead woman was killed twice (!) This is one of the rare Perry Mason episodes in which the "most likely" suspect (who, incidentally, is NOT Beth Sandover) actually turns out to be the killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
The plot and title of Unwed Mother are virtually one and the same. Betty (Norma Moore), the heroine, falls for the smooth line of patter delivered by no-good heel Dona (Robert Vaughan). Pretending to be a man of wealth, Dona convinces country gal Betty to give him her paychecks, promising to pay her back as soon as his inheritance comes through. He also assures her that he'll marry her when the time is right. When Betty becomes pregnant, she learns what the audience has known all along about the prevaricating Dona. After putting her child up for adoption, Betty has second thoughts, and thus spends the final reel chasing after the foster parents who've taken charge of her baby. Unwed Mother was originally released on a double bill with the equally unsubtle Joy Ride. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Moore, Robert Vaughn, (more)
- 1957
Professional hit man Manny Coe (Dick York) is kept on retainer by crime boss Mr. Williams (George Macready) to eliminate those crooks who have outlasted their usefulness to Williams' operation. When Manny bumps off an inept jewel thief, his girlfriend Betty (Kathleen Maguire) threatens to call the cops. Without batting an eyelash, Williams orders Manny to eliminate Betty. This ultimately proves to be unnecessary, but Williams is notoriously intolerant of those who do not carry out his instructions to the letter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
In this steamy drama, three sisters learn that their father has died in a plane crash, and they begin fighting over his enormous estate to see who is to be the principal heiress. One of the sisters is particularly wicked. Wanting it all for herself, she maims one of her siblings so badly that the girl kills herself. She then hires the man who flew the plane the day their father died to help her kill the second sister in exchange for a piece of the fortune. The pilot agrees, but then falls in love with the second sister and marries her. The evil sister gets revenge by telling the new bride that she is having an affair with the pilot. The distraught sister is just about to jump off a cliff when the pilot and the bad seed accidentally drive over the cliff themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathleen Hughes, Sara Shane, (more)
- 1956
Gangster Louis Koster (Robert Middleton) knows that his wife Marian (Kathleen Hughes) is cheating on him, but he doesn't know the name of her lover. In lieu of this information, Koster hires a hit man to bump off Marian. Things get out of hand for the unfortunate Mr. Koster when Marian strikes "a better bargain" with the would-be assassin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Six GIs stationed in Asia secretly photograph the arcane rituals of a group of cobra worshippers. At the climax of the ceremony, the cult members turn themselves into snakes. The high priestess catches the soldiers spying and throws a curse upon them. This off-beat horror film follows what happens to the men after that. Soon after they return to the US, the vengeful priestess follows them and people begin to die from snake venom poisoning, adding credence to the strange tale told by a surviving GI to the police, who become less skeptical as more evidence is unearthed. More trouble follows when the serpentine goddess falls for the ex-soldier's roomie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faith Domergue, Richard Long, (more)
- 1954
Rory Calhoun stars as veteran gunfighter Brett Wade in Dawn at Socorro. In a lengthy flashback, the audience learns why Wade has hung up his guns and turned to gambling. Upon meeting dance-hall girl Rannah Hayes (Piper Laurie), he vows to take her out of the shady saloon run by Dick Braden (David Brian). He engages Braden in a card game, winner take all, with Rannah as the stakes--only to lose everything. Sorely tempted to strap on his guns again to claim Rannah, Wade is saved from this fateful decision by the timely arrival of another notorious fast gun, Jimmy Rapp (Alex Nicol). Less of a traditional western than a character study, Dawn at Socorro received better-than-usual reviews when it first came out in July of 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1953
John Forsythe plays a successful television writer, Don Newell, who works on the "Crime of the Week" anthology series. Newell is being blackmailed by one of the program's actresses (Kathleen Hughes), who threatens to tell his wife of their clandestine affair. Arriving at the actress' apartment for a showdown, Newell discovers that the woman has been murdered. Though the writer is the principal suspect, the real killer is Henry Hayes (Edward G. Robinson), "Crime of the Week"'s research expert, who was also a blackmail victim. The inability of the police to solve the murder becomes the subject of the next "Crime of the Week" program. Hayes tries to deflect attention from himself by building up evidence against Newell, which the writer is compelled to use in his script. But Newelltumbles to Hayes' guilt, and includes this fatal clue in his "Crime of the Week" playlet. Hayes tries to kill Newell during the live broadcast, but the police arrive on the scene and shoot down Hayes. Although The Glass Web was originally released in 3-D, it is surprisingly light on "stereoptic" special effects. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, John Forsythe, (more)
- 1953
Universal's Technicolor cameras this time tell the story of Harun El Raschid (Rock Hudson), who innocently comes into possession of the magical Sword of Damascus. Sword in hand, our hero gains entrance to the court, tames the haughty, but socially aware, Princess Khairuzan (Piper Laurie) and finds himself in the middle of a palace revolution. The evil Vizier Jafar (George Macready), may be able to trick the Caliph (Edgar Barrier) into letting the princess marry his boorish son Hadi (Gene Evans), but he cannot remove the magic sword from its resting place in the palace wall. Up steps Harun, who performs the task, King Arthur-style, a feat which brings him both the princess and half the Caliphate. The Golden Blade was filmed entirely on the Universal back lot. Watch for future stars Dennis Weaver and Guy Williams among the Baghdad populace. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1953
Producer-director-star Hugo Haas attempts a costume melodrama in Thy Neighbor's Wife. Plotwise, it's the usual Haas formula: a middle-aged man, his voluptuous young wife and a handsome interloper. In the 19th century, a Moravian magistrate (Haas) swears vengeance when his gorgeous bride (Cleo Moore) renews her romance with her ex-flame (Ken Carlton). When the young man's uncle is murdered, the judge prosecutes his wife's lover for the crime, despite the fact that he's already heard a confession from the village-idiot (Tom Fadden). To make sure that the young man is hanged, the judge kills the real killer; this is witnessed by the judge's wife, who is likewise promptly murdered by her over-zealous husband. Eventually, justice -- or rather, conscience -- emerges triumphant. The ad campaign for Thy Neighbor's Wife included an alluring 8 X 10 of the bare-backed Cleo Moore being flogged, though this is hardly an important moment in the film's course of events. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cleo Moore, Hugo Haas, (more)
It Came From Outer Space is one of a handful of science fiction films from the 1950s that plays as well today as it did on its original release, this despite the fact that its original 3-D elements seem to be lost. It was also the first science fiction effort of director Jack Arnold, and one of three excellent 3-D features that he made (the others were Creature From the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature) during that format's short-lived history. It was also, along with The Incredible Shrinking Man, one of the two most sophisticated films he ever made in that genre. Additionally, it was Arnold's first opportunity to use the desert setting that seemed to inspire him in some of his best subsequent movies. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury, the movie starts off in a gentle, lyrical mode, almost reminiscent of Our Town, as the narrator introduces the tiny Arizona town where the action will take place. Writer John Putnam (Richard Carlson), a new arrival to the town and an amateur astronomer, is looking at the skies with his fiancée, schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush), when they see what looks like a huge meteor crash into the desert. Putnam and Ellen go to the site of the crash and find a huge crater. When he goes down inside, Putnam sees what is very obviously some kind of vehicle or device embedded in the ground, but before he can show it to anyone, a rock slide buries what he saw. He reports that a spacecraft of some kind is buried there and is duly ridiculed by the local press and some of his own colleagues in the astronomical community, and even Ellen has her doubts. The local sheriff, Matt Warren (Charles Drake), is downright hostile because he believes that Putnam is not only an interloper, but has also taken Ellen away from him. Putnam is at a loss as to what to do, and doing something -- or, perhaps, not doing anything -- becomes a critical matter when various townspeople start to disappear, including Ellen, to be replaced by alien "duplicates." A small but significant part of this action is told from the standpoint of the aliens, who are only glimpsed in brief flashes as they move through the desert and the underground caves where they are hiding. Putnam ultimately comes to understand that the aliens are actually benign and only need time to repair their ship and leave; but by then, the sheriff and the rest of the town have started taking his original warning seriously and their intervention threatens the lives of everyone. Reason and a peaceful approach prevail, but only just barely, and the space travelers are allowed to go on their way -- in return, they restore the real townspeople. The movie ends on a hopeful note as Putnam predicts that someday, when we're ready here on Earth, the visitors will be back to make formal, peaceful introductions. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, (more)
- 1952
Young Sally Moyne (Ann Blyth) seldom makes a move in life without first consulting Saint Anne, patron saint of all young girls. Sally's faith in the efficacy of St. Anne has a salutary affect on all those in her orbit. It can also be said that Sally's tight relationship with her patron saint is of invaluable help in her family's Herculean efforts to save their home and hearth from the machinations of land-grabbing alderman Goldtooth McCarthy (John McIntyre). The sublime supporting cast includes Frances "Aunt Bee" Bavier and Otto Hullett as Sally's parents, Edmund Gwenn as her supposedly invalid grandfather, and Jack Kelly and Lamont Johnson as her looney brothers. One of the last of the "crazy family" comedies inspired by the success of You Can't Take It With You, Sally and St. Anne is also one of the best of its kind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Edmund Gwenn, (more)
- 1952
Also known as The Tall Lie, For Men Only was a hard-hitting if somewhat gratuitous expose of college fraternity "hazing." A young man is rushed by a popular and well-established frat, only to discover that part of the initiation ceremony requires him to kill a puppy. He drops out of the fraternity and tells the world its "secrets". The fraternity leader, played by Russell Johnson, organizes a campaign to drive the pledge off the campus--which results in the pledge's death. Professor Paul Henried investigates, and learns that the fraternity's ties to the business community are so strong that he can do nothing to stop the cruelty of the hazing process. Henried's only recourse is to expose arrogant frat leader Johnson as a coward with feet of clay--which he does, in a breast-beating scene that will surprise those who know Russell Johnson only as the mild-mannered "Professor" on Gilligan's Island. Made inexpensively, For Men Only is competently directed by star Paul Henried. The only question is: Why should the non-collegiates in the audience care anything about the iniquities of fraternity life? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Henreid, Robert Sherman, (more)
- 1951
Take Care of My Little Girl is a genteel "expose" of college-sorority snobbery. Jeanne Crain stars as Liz Erickson a perky coed who is pledged to an old, established sorority. At first amused by such rituals as "rushing" and "Hell week," Liz eventually feels threatened by the tyranny of the sorority caste system. She is particularly upset with her "sisters"' preoccupation with doltish boyfriends and their disdain for their classwork. With the moral support of student Joe Blake (Dale Robertson), Liz finally gets her priorities in order. Take Care of My Little Girl would make a fascinating companion piece with For Men Only (1951), director Paul Henreid's vitriolic attack against the injurious rituals of male fraternities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Crain, Dale Robertson, (more)
Dana Andrews is brutal metropolitan police detective Dixon, who despises all criminals because his father had been one. When the cops pick up two-bit gambler Ken Paine (Craig Stevens) as a murder suspect, Dixon subjects Paine to the third degree -- and accidentally kills him. In disposing of the body, Dixon inadvertently places the blame for the killing on cab driver Jiggs Taylor (Tom Tully). Having fallen in love with Jigg's daughter, Morgan (Gene Tierney), Dixon tries to clear the cabbie without implicating himself, but ultimately he becomes trapped in a web of his own making; luckily Morgan promises to stand by him. Where the Sidewalk Ends was adapted from a novel by William L. Stuart; its director was Otto Preminger, who'd previously put Andrews and Tierney through their paces in Laura (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, (more)
- 1950
Based on a true story, Mister 880 is the whimsical tale of an elderly gentleman (Edmund Gwenn) who dabbles in counterfeiting. He makes only enough "funny money" to support himself, but the fact that his work is so amateurish (he can't even spell "Washington") arouses the indignation of the treasury department. Burt Lancaster, the hard-nosed treasury agent put on the case, is determined to prosecute the miscreant to the full extent of the law. In tracking down a lead, Lancaster falls in love with Dorothy McGuire, a recipient of one of the phony bills. Lancaster discovers that McGuire lives in the same building as Gwenn, and after piecing together the clues arrests the old fellow. Softened by Gwenn's naivete, Lancaster and Ms. McGuire arrange for a compassionate lawyer to lessen what would otherwise be a stiff prison sentence. Mister 880 was to have starred Walter Huston as the ingenuous counterfeiter, but Huston died just before filming started. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire, (more)
- 1950
I'll Get By is an updated remake of the 1940 20th Century-Fox musical Tin Pan Alley. William Lundigan and Dennis Day play William Spencer and Freddie Lee respectively, successful song publishers who make hits out of such numbers as "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", "Deep in the Heart of Texas", "You Make Me Feel So Young", "There Will Never Be Another You", and other favorites (the rights to all of these songs were conveniently held by 20th Century-Fox). The partnership has some hard times, especially during the feud between ASCAP and the radio networks, when only public-domain songs like "I Dream of Jeannie" were permitted to be broadcast. Still, Spencer and Lee remain pals throughout, while the boys' romances likewise weather the years. Steve Allen makes a rare film appearance as a wisecracking disc jockey (what a stretch!) while Harry James, Jeanne Crain, Reginald Gardiner, Victor Mature and Dan Dailey show up in uncredited cameos. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Haver, William Lundigan, (more)
- 1949
The same studio that brought forth Father Was a Fullback was responsible for Mother is a Freshman. Loretta Young stars as Abbigail Abbott, the widowed mother of coed Susan Abbott (Betty Lynn). In order to legally validate Susan's scholarship fund (a legacy of her late grandmother), Abigail enrolls in the university as a freshman. Here she is wooed by Professor Richard Michaels (Van Johnson)--much to Susan's dismay, since she'd set her cap for the professor herself. Rudy Vallee reprises the "stuffy middle-aged suitor" characterization he'd essayed in such previous comedies as The Palm Beach Story and Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. Mother is a Freshman afforded audiences the opportunity of glimpsing 20th Century-Fox's familiar "college campus" sets in full Technicolor (these standing sets were also seen in black & white in such 1949 releases as Mr. Belvedere Goes to College and It Happens Every Spring). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Van Johnson, (more)
