Mary Beth Hughes Movies
Like her contemporaries Lynn Bari and Veda Ann Borg, blonde actress Mary Beth Hughes seldom rose above "starlet" or "second-echelon star" status, even though she worked steadily and enjoyed a loyal fan following. Encouraged to pursue a theatrical career by her grandmother, a onetime actress, Hughes went from stage to films in 1938. From 1940 through 1943, Hughes was part of the "B" stable at 20th Century-Fox, playing both good and bad girls in the popular Michael Shayne series with Lloyd Nolan, and going through the usual "other woman" paces in films like Orchestra Wives (1942). She is billed second in the moody western The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), but her role is utterly expendable; in fact, she has fewer lines than George Meeker, the unbilled actor playing her husband. While her film career never really went anywhere, Hughes remained in the public eye through her many cheesecake photos in movie-oriented magazines of the era. In the mid-1950s, Hughes gave up films in favor of work as a nightclub singer/musician and television actress; she was often cast as nagging wife Clara Appleby on TV's The Red Skelton Show, possibly because she was one of the few actresses whom Skelton couldn't break up. Mary Beth Hughes briefly returned to filmmaking in the mid-1970s, playing character roles in such drive-in fare as The Working Girls (1974) and How's Your Love Life? (1977). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1941
The high batting average of 20th Century-Fox's Michael Shayne detective series remained intact with Blue, White and Perfect. Having prevented his sweetheart Merle Garland (Mary Beth Hughes) from marrying a bigamous fortune-hunter (Ivan Lebedeff), Mike Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) offers to marry the girl himself (at long last!) Merle agrees, but only if Mike gets out of the private-eye racket and takes an honest job. Shayne manages to land a job at an aircraft factory, only to discover that he's been hired to protect the company's valuable supply of industrial diamonds. When the gems are stolen during a highly suspicious break-in, Mike follows the trail of clues to a fancy dress shop managed by one Mr. Hagermann (Henry Victor). Sending his fiancee off on a wild goose chase, Mike trails Hagermann to a Honolulu-bound ocean liner, where he renews an acquaintance with former lady friend Helen Shaw (Helene Reynolds) and is introduced to overly effusive young playboy Juan Arturo O'Hara (George Reeves). Detective-movie logic dictates that at least one of these characters is inextricably linked with the elusive Hagermann-who is no mere diamond thief but a very clever German spy. All sorts of serial-like thrills await Shayne before he manages to uncover the "Mister Big" behind the stolen diamond racket (and it's a real surprise to boot!) Like most of Fox's Michael Shayne series entries, Blue White and Perfect was based not on a "Shayne" novel by Bret Halliday, but on a whodunit originally written for another fictional sleuth: In this instance, the source was a novel by Borden Chase. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1948
Caged Fury was the last of three Pine-Thomas productions tradeshown in Los Angeles within the same February week in 1948. The story takes place in a seedy circus, where malevolent clown Smiley (Buster Crabbe, in a truly despicable characterization) plots to further the career of aspiring lion tamer Kit Warren (Sheila Ryan). Knocking off Kit's main competition Lola Tremain (Mary Beth Hughes), Smiley pulls strings to have Kit teamed with Lola's former partner Blaney Lewis (Richard Denning). When Blaney himself falls in love with Kit, the outraged Smiley retaliates by setting fire to the circus (via stock footage from 1933's King of the Jungle, which also starred Buster Crabbe). A fascinating study in unvarnished evil, Caged Fury suffers only from its tacky production values. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Denning, Sheila Ryan, (more)
- 1941
Charlie Chan in Rio is a remake of 1931's Black Camel, one of the few pre-1934 "Charlie Chan" entries still in existence. While the original film was set in Hawaii, the remake takes place in Brazil, but the basic intrigues remain the same. While vacation in Rio de Janeiro with his son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), Honolulu detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked by the local constabulary to help solve a double homicide. The motivation behind the two murders is apparently tied in with sinister psychologist Alfredo Marana (Victor Jory), who utilizes hypnotism as an adjunct to a clever blackmailing scheme. Cobina Wright Jr. shows up early on as one of the murder victims, alongside Jory, Mary Beth Hughes and the ubiquitous Harold Huber, cast as a foreign police official. Hamilton Macfadden, who directed the original Black Camel, shows up as one of the suspects in Charlie Chan in Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1951
Paramount's Ray Milland and 20th Century-Fox's Gene Tierney star in Warner Bros.' Close to My Heart. The stars play, respectively, journalist Brad Sheridan and his wife Midge. Unable to have children of her own, Midge opts for adoption, thereby subjecting her husband and herself to the very exacting requirements of adoption agencies. Upon learning of an abandoned child left at a police station, Midge determines to claim the baby for her own, but Brad refuses to go along with his wife's plans until he can find out something more about the child's parents. Brad's feverish above-and-beyond search for the facts make him a highly unreliable adoption risk--but there's still hope for a happy ending. Ironically, star Gene Tierney was still trying to cope with the personal tragedy of giving birth to a severely retarded daughter while filming Close to My Heart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Gene Tierney, (more)
- 1939
Lana Turner (a mere 19 years old at the time) stars in this lighthearted musical comedy as Patty Marlow, a dancer fighting her way up the show business ladder. Famous hoofer Freddie Tobin (Lee Bowman) is about to start work on a new movie when his dance partner becomes pregnant and drops out of the project. Press agent Joe Drews (Roscoe Karns) dreams up a publicity stunt to find Freddie's new co-star: he'll stage a contest on college campuses to find a dancer among the student body. However, the contest is merely a ruse, and, when Joe and his cronies spot Patty, they realize she is the perfect girl for the job. Now, they have to pass Patty off as a studious co-ed for the sake of the "contest," which has begun to attract the suspicious attention of student journalist Pug Braddock (Richard Carlson). Artie Shaw and his band perform several numbers (Shaw and Turner would marry two years later), and keep an eye peeled for Veronica Lake in a bit part (she was still known as Constance Keane at the time). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, (more)
- 1941
Rosalind Russell stars as a no-nonsense judge who dabbles in sculpting in her spare time. Walter Pidgeon costars as a reporter assigned to discredit Rosalind after she rules against his boss (Edward Arnold) in a divorce case. Pidgeon plans to frame the judge in a compromising situation, then blackmail her into reducing the alimony. He succeeds in humiliating Rosalind, but regrets his actions when he realizes he's fallen in love with her. All ends happily in this glossy derivative of MGM's earlier Libelled Lady (36). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1956
The Bowery Boys--Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) et. al.--are suckered into buying a uranium mine near the western town of Panther Pass. Though the boys find none of the precious mineral, a gang of bad guys, led by Ron Haskell (Harry Lauter), are led to believe that mine is valuable. The crooks try to chase our heroes off their property, but before long the tables are turned, and the film wraps up with a zany jeep pursuit. Director Edward Bernds and screenwriter Elwood Ullman reuse several old Three Stooges gags in Dig That Uranium, including the poker game routine from the Stooges' Out West (1947). The film's best bit is an extended parody of High Noon, replete with really slow bullets. Incidentally, the doofus who sells the boys the uranium mine in the opening scene is none other than Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. Filmed at Iverson's Ranch in the San Fernando Valley, Dig That Uranium was the final "Bowery Boys" outing for Bernard "Louie Dumbrowski" Gorcey, who died in a traffic accident shortly after filming was completed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1956
A juvenile delinquent in the "holding tank" lets slip that his older brother is planning to rob a loan office. Though Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) do their best to head off the holdup man, the robbery goes off exactly as scheduled. All the detectives can hope for is that the outlaw's limp will slow him down long enough to be arrested. Iconic 1940s "pin-up girl" Mary Beth Hughes has a flashy role as the perpetrator's fed-up wife. This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of June 7, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The fourth of 20th Century-Fox's "Michael Shayne" mysteries finds private detective Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) anxiously preparing for his long-delayed marriage to showgirl Joanne La Mar (Mary Beth Hughes). Alas, Mike's pre-nuptual tete-a-tete with Joanne is interrupted by the sound of a scream. Rushing into a well-appointed hotel room, Shayne finds Emily the maid (Virginia Brissac) trembling beside the dead bodies of a washed-up Broadway producer and a faded stage actress. Noodling around the room a bit, our hero discovers that both murder victims had participated in a popular musical comedy some 25 years earlier. A souvenir program from that production provides a lengthy list of potential suspects, sending Shayne off on another clue-hunting expedition, while Joanne fusses and fumes in her apartment. Hired by two of the suspects, Phyllis Lathrop (Mae Beatty) and Julian Davis (Henry Daniell), to locate the real murderer, Mike has a high old time confounding police inspector Pierson (William Demarest) and reconstructing the crime with the reluctant aid of janitors Rusty (Ben Carter) and Sam (Mantan Moreland). This time around, however, Mike is just as surprised as the audience when the "mystery killer" is revealed, and for a few anxious moments it looks like curtains for Mr. Shayne. A dizzying blend of comedy and melodrama, Dressed to Kill benefits from a powerhouse supporting cast and the effectively moody cinematography of Glenn MacWilliams. The film was based on The Dead Take No Bows, a "Quinny Hite" mystery written by Richard Burke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1949
Produced in garish Cinecolor, this aspiring "A" Western features John Payne as Clay Fletcher, an Eastern lawyer assigned to track down a judge whose signature is needed for some estate papers. Clay traces the judge, Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull), to El Paso, a lawless town ruthlessly run by saloon owner Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and a corrupt sheriff, La Farge (Dick Foran). The judge has become a hopeless drunk and is used as a pawn by Donner, who terrorizes the local farmers off their land. When one settler, John Elkins (Arthur Space), shoots and kills a deputy in self-defense, Clay is at first inclined to trust that justice will prevail and arranges for traveling salesman "Pesky" (George "Gabby" Hayes) to keep Judge Jeffers sober long enough to render a just verdict. But a threatened Donner has both Jeffers and Elkins brutally killed and against the wishes of the judge's daughter Susan (Gail Russell), Clay takes matters into his won hands by organizing a vigilante group. Grandfather Fletcher (H.B. Warner) arrives to remind Clay of his judicial pledges but he, too, is killed by the increasingly insane La Farge. In the end, only the prospect of a mass lynching brings Clay around and the guilty all face a jury of their peers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1939
Harry Kurnitz' fictional book-dealer/detectives Joel and Garda Sloane appeared in three MGM "B"s of the late 1930s, each with different stars in the leads. Fast and Furious, the last of the mini-series, featured Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern as the Sloanes. The couple attends a seaside beauty contest, where a murder occurs. As Joel Sloane tries to solve the mystery, he is hindered by Garda, who isn't too keen on the many bathing belles present. Unlike the previous Sloane mysteries, no rare books are involved in the crime, and the film more closely resembles a pocket-edition Thin Man. Fast and Furious was directed by none other than Busby Berkeley, proving he was just as adept with corpses as with chorus girls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franchot Tone, Ann Sothern, (more)
- 1943
In this musical drama, a Vermont farm lad goes to the Big Apple to become a member of the National Dairy Association. He happens to bring with him his beloved trombone. Soon, with the help of bandleader Skinnay Ennis, the boy gets a job in a nightclub and subsequently becomes a popular radio star. His girlfriend back home is not amused. Eventually she slides on back into his life. Songs include: "My Melancholy Baby," "My Devotion," "Ain't Misbehavin," "Swingin' the Blues," "Spellbound," "Hilo Hattie," "The Army Air Corps," "Rosie the Riveter," and "Don't Tread on the Tail of Me Coat." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Quillan, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1940
This remake of John Ford's classic WW1 drama Four Sons has been updated to the Europe of the late 1930s. At the time of the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, four sons of German-Czech parentage go off in separate ideological directions. Chris (Don Ameche) remains loyal to the concept of a free Czechoslovakia; Karl (Alan Curtis) embraces the Nazi cause; Joseph (Robert Lowery) heads to America; and the youngest, Fritz (George Ernest), is drafted in the German army and is killed during the Polish campaign. The impact of the original film is somewhat muted here, since the political ramifications of WW2 were far more complex than those of WW1, and also because Archie Mayo isn't as good a director as John Ford. By far the best performance of the film is delivered by the great Russian stage actress Eugene Leontovich, making a rare screen performance as the long-suffering mother of the Four Sons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Eugenie Leontovich, (more)
- 1940
Free, Blonde and 21 was one of a handful of films directed by former leading man Ricardo Cortez. Two of 20th Century-Fox's busiest leading ladies, Mary Beth Hughes and Lynn Bari, head the cast of this soap opera-style yarn about life in a hotel catering to women. Hughes plays Jerry, a duplicitious wench who gets involved with gangsters ends up behind bars, while Bari plays Carol, an honest lass who is rewarded at fadeout time with a happy marriage to millionaire Dr. Mayberry (Henry Wilcoxon). Joan Davis injects a few moments of hilarity as the hotel chambermaid, while Alan Baxter is his usual steely-eyed self as a stickup man. For its original New York run, Free, Blonde and 21 was paired with Fox's The Grapes of Wrath, leading several reviewers to note that both films would have been better off with a single-feature presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn Bari, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1943
This 67-minute farce stars Dennis O'Keefe as a music publisher sued for plagiarism by a pair of scraggly songwriters. Louise Allbritton is the lady lawyer bringing litigation against O'Keefe, who has promoted the song in question into a hit for his tempestuous singer girlfriend (Mary Beth Hughes). Just as in the much-later George Harrison/ "My Sweet Lord" case, it seems that O'Keefe had rejected the song when it was first offered him, remembered the tune subconsciously, and commissioned it to be written by one of his staffers. As O'Keefe simultaneously battles and woos Allbritton, he and the other cast members repeatedly become embroiled in public brawls, and end up day after day in court, facing the same long-suffering judge (Oscar O'Shea). In fact, the plot never does completely resolve itself, and in the last scene the poor judge is once again wearily passing sentence on the leading characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Louise Allbritton, (more)
- 1949
When bucolic character comic Grady Sutton shows up as a pistol packin' Westerner in Grand Canyon, your suspicions are confirmed; this oater is supposed to be a spoof. A movie company comes to the Grand Canyon area to shoot a B-western. Pompous leading man James Millican breaks his leg and is replaced by local mule jockey Richard Arlen. The novice actor has to be literally led by the hand by leading lady Mary Beth Hughes (no Oscar prospect himself), but everything is roses by fadeout time. Reed Hadley, steadfast narrator/star of such TV crime series as Racket Squad and Public Defender, is given a rare opportunity to make funny as the western's director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1957
Gun Battle at Monterey begins where most other westerns would end: with outlaw Turner (Sterling Hayden) double-crossed and shot in the back by his partner Beno (Ted de Corsia). Recovering from his wound, Turner spends the rest of the picture trying to catch up with the duplicitious Reno, so as to exact revenge and claim his share from a bank holdup. Romantic complications spring up from time to time thanks to Maria (Pamela Duncan), the Mexican gal who nursed Turner back to health, and Cleo (Mary Beth Hughes), a sexy dealer in the Monterey casino. Sterling Hayden is at his most taciturn and Ted DeCorsia at his most scurrilous in Gun Battle at Monterey. Their respective fans expected no less. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Pamela Duncan, (more)
- 1954
Highway Dragnet is best known to modern movie buffs as the first film to carry Roger Corman's name in the credits. Corman was one of six screenwriters contributing to this location-filmed suspense melodrama, which stars Richard Conte as an ex-Marine on the lam from a murder charge. Conte hitches a ride from glamour-magazine photographer Joan Bennett, who is travelling cross-country with her principal model, Wanda Hendrix. True to audience expectations, the murderer will at one time or another be an occupant of Bennett's car, though it won't be the person whom the police are looking for. The tense climax takes place in a flooded tract house, with the killer stalking the next potential victim. Criticized for its low production values at the time of its release, Highway Dragnet actually stands up pretty well when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Conte, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1950
Little Lippert Studios wasn't really equipped to produce large-scale musicals, but the company can't be faulted for trying. Holiday Rhythm stars David Street as Larry, a TV producer who plans a big musical spectacular. Knocked unconscious, Larry dreams of all the wonderful acts he intends to corral for his project. Guest stars include Tex Ritter, the Chuy Reyes and Ike Carpenter orchestras, George Arnold and his "Rhythm on Ice" show, The Cass Country Boys, The Four Moroccans, and (drum roll please) Bill Burns and His Birds. Distributed to most markets in a 60-minute version. Holiday Rhythm was made available in a 70-minute format to selected cities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hughes, David Street, (more)
I Accuse My Parents was one of PRC's entries in the "wartime juvenile delinquent drama" sweepstakes, as exemplified by such earlier films as RKO's Youth Runs Wild and Monogram's Where are Your Children? This time around, it's high schooler James Wilson (Robert Lowell) who suffers from lack of parental supervision. As James' parents (John Miljan, Vivienne Osborne) blithely pursue their social life, the boy gets mixed up with the standard bad crowd, who smoke, drink, gamble, and drive fast cars. Inevitably hauled into juvenile court, James blames his parents for his present sorry state-whereupon the Judge (Edward Earle), anticipating the "victim of environment" mindset of the 1980s and 1990s, likewise reprimands Mr. and Mrs. Wilson for their neglect. Billed first, Mary Beth Hughes has little to do in her brief scenes as a good-time girl. I Accuse My Parents was recently given a well-deserved going-over by TV's Mystery Science Theater 3000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hughes, Robert Lowell, (more)
Based on the radio show of the same title, a young woman meets a gypsy who reads her fortune and predicts a terrible fate for the young woman. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1948
Ham Fisher's comic-strip pugilist Joe Palooka is once more visualized on-screen in Monogram's Winner Take All. In this one, soft-hearted boxer Joe (Joe Kirkwood) is approached by a trio of gamblers, who want him to throw an upcoming bout. Naturally he refuses, but has cause to regret this decision when the crooks claim to have kidnapped Joe's young ward Tommy (Stanley Clements). When he discovers that the abduction is a hoax, Joe wins the fight and settles accounts with the bad guys. William Frawley costars as Joe's trainer Knobby Walsh (a role played in subsequent "Joe Palooka" entries by Leon Errol), while Elyse Knox, real-life wife of athlete Tom Harmon, plays Palooka's ever-loving fiancee Ann Howe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Elyse Knox, (more)
- 1955
Another "torn from today's headlines" crime drama, Las Vegas Shakedown stars Dennis O'Keefe as honest casino operator Joe Barnes. When not fending off gangster boss Sirago (Thomas Gomez), who wants a big piece of the action, Barnes endeavors to dodge pretty schoolteacher Julia Rae (Colleen Gray), who is writing a thesis on the futility of gambling. The episodic storyline occasionally cuts away to small-town banker Raff (Charles Winninger), who tries to have a little fun at the gaming tables despite the interference of his wife (Elizabeth Patterson), and a bevy of attractive divorcees who've set their cap for Barnes. Filmed on location, Las Vegas Shakedown comes to a head when the disgruntled Sirago resorts to all-out violence to take over Barnes' operation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Coleen Gray, (more)
- 1949
By the none-too-exacting standards of Screen Guild Productions, Last of the Wild Horses is practically an "A" picture. James Ellison plays Duke Barnum, an innocent soul who is set up as the fall guy for duplicitious horse-ranch foreman Riley (Reed Hadley). When ranch owner Charlie Cooper (Douglass Dumbrille) discovers that Riley has been raiding the neighboring ranchers' stock, he confronts the foreman with the evidence. Riley responds by killing Cooper and placing the blame on Barnum, leading to a deadly climactic confrontation between the two. Filmed on location in Southern Oregon, Last of the Wild Horses was directed by Robert L. Lippert, who'd later assume control of Screen Guild and rename the studio after himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ellison, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1954
Bank teller Mike Donovan (Barry Sullivan) takes the first step on the road to Perdition when he fails to report a $49,000 shortage. Accused of theft, Donovan is fired from his job. He is then prevented from finding other employment by Javert-like insurance investigator Gus Slavin (Charles McGraw). Despite many setbacks, Donovan holds out the hope that he'll be able to clear his name, but even his loyal wife Ruthie (Dorothy Malone) doesn't believe this will ever happen. Filmed on location in Los Angeles and Malibu, Loophole nevers loosens its grip on the viewer for a single second. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Sullivan, Charles McGraw, (more)
