Mauritz Hugo Movies

At the insistence of his boss Larry Tate, a reluctant Darrin joins the snooty and exclusive Burning Oak country club. Believing that he has sold out his egalitarian values, Endora transforms Darrin into an insufferable, bigoted snob. Samantha straightens out the mess by revealing a few unsavory truths about the ancestors of "blue-blooded" club chairman J. Earl Rockeford (Edward Andrews) and his equally haughty wife, Hortense (Glenda Farrell). Taking time out from her duties as Mrs. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies, Harriet MacGibbon is seen as Jessica. Written by Pauline Townsend and Leo Townsend, "The Battle of Burning Oak" was first broadcast on March 13, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Theorizing that an apartment in downtown Manhattan is no place to raise three children, Bill (Brian Keith) decides to purchase a big house in the suburbs. Upon visiting their prospective new home, Cissy (Kathy Garver), Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker) express an abundance of pleasure and satisfaction. This, however, is merely an expert job of acting: The kids would rather stay in New York, but they play along with Bill because they think a suburban life is what HE really wants! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Irving Wallace, The Prize takes place in Stockholm, where several laureates gather to accept their Nobel Prizes. At first, the film concentrates on iconoclastic novelist Paul Newman, but he is temporarily shunted to the background when physics expert Edward G. Robinson is kidnaped and replaced by his wicked twin brother. The real Robinson is to be spirited behind the Iron Curtain, while the "fake" Robinson is to disrupt the awards ceremony with an anti-American tirade. Newman gets wind of the plot, and with the help of Swedish foreign office functionary Elke Sommer, he endeavors to rescue the real Robinson and expose the phony-who has yet another trick up his sleeve before the film is over. We'll go along with the fantastic plot convolutions of The Prize, provided we don't have to swallow the premise of another man's voice emanating from that familiar Eddie Robinson mug. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This action film set just after the Civil War tends to stay on the surface of the story instead of diving deeper into character motivation. A group of Union Army soldiers is charged with protecting a box of gold and getting it to its rightful place within the government coffers. As might be expected, their biggest enemies are former Confederate soldiers who have their own ideas about what to do with the gold. Battles and skirmishes succeed each other as the fight for the gold begins, and even some of the Union men start to wonder if the gold would not be better off in their own hands. Dissension splits the ranks as the drama heads towards its conclusion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Legendary stage actress Adah Isaacs Menken (Ruth Roman) brings her celebrated Mazeppa troupe to Virginia City. Ben Cartwright welcomes the opportunity to renew his longstanding friendship with the "lady in pink tights." As for Ben's sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe, they become convinced that Adah is trying to ensnare their father into marriage. Also in the cast is Don Megowan as Adah's persistent would-be suitor John Regan. Written by Donald S. Sanford, "The Magnificent Adah" was originally telecast on November 14, 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A routine stagecoach ride becomes a terrifying experience when it is ambushed by desperadoes who hold the passengers hostage while trying to figure out how to rob a shipment of gold. Rootin' tootin' western action ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Joel McCrea essays the title role in this moody little western. McCrea is a Union officer wounded in battle, who joins up with a wagon train heading westward. He is ostracized by those passengers who'd fought on the Confederate side, though leading lady Virginia Mayo welcomes his presence. McCrea redeems himself in the eyes of the ex-Confederate homesteaders when he acts as mediator in a range dispute with a land baron (Barry Kelly)--who happens to be McCrea's own half brother. Tall Stranger is based on a novel by the prolific Louis L'Amour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Small-town doctor Paul Beecher (John Beal) is given some strange pills by a dying elderly researcher. Later, when Paul gets a severe headache, his young daughter accidentally gives him the mystery pills. He's later puzzled by a series of strange deaths in which all the blood was drained from the bodies of the victims and then discovers the old researcher was working on a project involving vampire bats. The horrified Paul gradually begins to suspect that he himself is the killer. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

War Drums manages to be pro-Indian, pro-Mexican, pro-tolerance and pro-feminist without ever resorting to speechmaking or sacrificing its entertainment value. Former Tarzan Lex Barker stars as an Apache chief who is almost ostracized by his tribe when he marries Mexican girl Joan Taylor. Eventually, Barker is welcomed back, but Joan refuses to behave like a typical dutiful squaw. In deference to his wife's wishes, Barker trains Joan to become an Apache warrior! It is curious that the Political Correctness crowd has never paid homage to War Drums; perhaps it's because of the film's surfeit of decidedly non-PC violence and bloodshed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ginger Rogers ended her 23-year association with RKO Radio with the indifferent musical comedy western The First Travelling Saleslady. Ginger and Broadway favorite Carol Channing (whose only starring film this was) play a pair of corset salespersons who head westward in 1897 to hawk their wares. Finding a limited market for corsets, the ladies switch to selling barbed wire, which rests not at all well with cattle baron James Arness. Rescuing Ginger and Carol from Arness' hired guns are horseless-carriage inventor Barry Nelson and callow young cowpoke Clint Eastwood. Whenever asked about First Travelling Saleslady in later years, Carol Channing would blithely refer to it as "the picture that killed RKO"; she wasn't too far wrong in this assessment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Four of The Adventures of Superman opens with a sentimental story about a racing filly named Joey. Formerly owned by a girl named Alice (Janine Perreau) and purchased by "The Daily Planet", Joey has the potential to be a winner, but refuses to race unless Alice is around. As this story plays itself out, Clark Kent (George Reeves)--otherwise known as Superman--goes after a band of criminals who've been spreading their corruptive influence at the racetrack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Feds investigate a counterfeit ring operating out of a traveling circus in this 12-part Republic crime serial. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

At the height of the popularity of his Dragnet TV series, producer/director/star Jack Webb struck a deal with Warner Bros. to direct several feature films--the first of which, but of course, was 1954's Dragnet. This time around, the "true story" in which "only the names are changed to protect the innocent" involves the murder of former syndicate member Dub Taylor. LAPD sergeants Joe Friday (Webb) and Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) follow the trail of evidence to shifty gangster boss Stacy Harris, who during most of the film is able to avoid arrest through legal loopholes. Richard Boone plays Captain Hamilton, while Ann Robinson, best known for her screaming and scurrying about in War of the Worlds, plays policewoman Grace Downey. Most of the rest of the cast is drawn from Webb's TV and radio stock company, including Virginia Gregg, who is quite good as the amputee wife of the victim, and Vic Perrin, who would later portray the voyeuristic serial killer in the 1967 TV movie version of Dragnet. Some sources list Cliff Arquette as being in the cast of Dragnet, playing his familiar Charley Weaver character, but we can't find him. Dragnet has often been derided because of Joe Friday's reluctance to honor the civil liberties of his suspects, but remember that this was 1954, long before the "You have a right to remain silent" era. Webb's terse, tightly edited, close-up-dominated TV technique translates surprisingly well to the big screen. At its worst, Dragnet falls victim to the corny overkill of the TV version: the subtle-as-an-earthquake musical cues, Friday and Smith's ubiquitous nods and exchanged glances, etc. Still, Dragnet was a satisfying and profitable feature film directorial debut for Jack Webb, whose subsequent efforts included Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), The DI (1957), 30 (1959) and The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide