Ruth Hussey Movies

Originally titled My Darling Daughters' Anniversary, this TV movie was the sequel to the popular 1972 presentation All My Darling Daughters. Robert Young returns as Judge Charles Raleigh, who in the first film managed to survive the same-day marriages of all four of his daughters. This time around, it's the widowed Raleigh himself who's bitten by the love bug. When he announces his intention to remarry (to Ruth Hussey), his four offspring are rather taken aback. The Raleigh daughters are played by Darlene Carr, Judy Strangis, Sharon Gless, and Lara Parker, while the supporting cast is dotted with such veterans as Raymond Massey, Anna Lee, Ben Wright, and Lois January. Intended as the pilot for a weekly series, My Darling Daughters' Anniversary debuted November 7, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paula Hudson (Ruth Hussey) has always wanted a mink coat, but she doesn't have the necessary money. Helpfully, Paula's hairdresser Lucille (Veda Ann Borg) tips her off as to where she can purchase a mink at a rock-bottom price. Purchasing the coat from a professional model (Eugenia Paul), Paula is in seventh heaven -- until she discovers that the coat was stolen, and that both her hairdresser and the model are insisting that they know absolutely nothing about either the mink or Paula. (Ironically, guest star Ruth Hussey had previous appeared in the 1953 theatrical feature he Lady Wants Mink!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, a housewife schemes to make her dreams of feeling the soft touch of mink on her hardworking shoulders a reality. Unfortunately her husband does not have enough money for such a luxury. Being a resourceful lass, the wife decides the only viable alternative is to raise her own mink. Unfortunately, her project doesn't set well with the landlord and the family ends up having to move into the country. More trouble follows when the husband loses his job. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Stars and Stripes Forever is the highly fanciful filmed biography of "march king" John Philip Sousa. Clifton Webb does a fine job as Sousa, while Ruth Hussey is equally good in the less-demanding role of Sousa's wife. The problem faced by screenwriter Lamar Trotti (who adapted the film from Sousa's autobiography Marching Along) was that, outside of Sousa's early travails in organizing his own band after leaving the Marine Corps, there just wasn't much drama in the great composer's life. Thus, a secondary (and wholly fictional) romance involving young musician Willie (Robert Wagner) and ex-chorus girl Lily (Debra Paget) is given special emphasis. Willie invents the Sousaphone on behalf of his mentor, and upon returning from the Spanish American War minus one of his legs, Willie makes an inspirational solo appearance with the Sousa band. The best scenes include Sousa's ongoing efforts to break free from the "march king" onus and write romantic ballads, and Lily's high-kicking rendition of the music-hall ballad "Father's Got 'Em." When first telecast on NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies in 1962, Stars and Stripes Forever was accompanied by a short newsreel clip of the real John Philip Sousa in action. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis' second starring vehicle was the odd mixture of slapstick and sentiment known as That's My Boy. Lewis is cast as Junior Jackson, the milquetoast son of former college football All-American "Jarrin' Jack" Jackson (Eddie Mayehoff). Regarding Junior as a disgrace, Jarrin' Jack hires amiable jock Bill Baker (Dean) to make a man out of his son. The film's climax is the inevitable Big Game, in which Junior fumbles and stumbles about before finally proving his mettle. Ruth Hussey plays Junior's understanding mother, while Marion Marshall and Polly Bergen portray Martin and Lewis' respective girlfriends. By 1990s standards, That's My Boy is more melancholy than funny, with Jarrin' Jack coming across as a neurotic blowhard who takes out his frustrations on his clumsy but likeable offspring. Audiences in 1951 were convulsed, however, and the film was a huge success. A TV-sitcom version of That's My Boy, starring Eddie Mayehoff, Rochelle Hudson, and Gil Stratton Jr., appeared in 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A Lenten period television variety special. ~ Rovi

Bing Crosby stars as Paul Merrick, an irresponsible songwriter in Mr. Music. Merrick's improvidence and prodigality has made him persona non grata in show business, so his secretary Katherine Holbrook (Nancy Olson) takes it upon herself to rehabilitate her boss. Meanwhile, producer Alex Conway (Charles Coburn) desperately needs a hit show to survive. Conway takes a chance on Merrick, who then enlists several of Katherine's college-student friends to put on a musical revue. All the group needs now is some money--$300,000, to be exact. Mr. Music is enlivened by several guest-star appearances, including Marge & Gower Champion, Dorothy Kirsten, Peggy Lee, the Merry Macs, and Groucho Marx who performs an amusing vaudeville turn with Crosby. Director Richard Haydn shows up in a pivotal cameo role, billed as "Claude Curdle." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this courtroom drama, a French girl stands trial for murder. Flashbacks tell the grim story of how, during the Great War she got involved with a wealthy soldier and married him. He disappeared after the war. She then came to the U.S. There she finds him married to another woman. To cover himself, he tries to get her deported. In the ensuing argument, she accidently kills him. She is found guilty, but when they learn that she is expecting, the widow helps her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Uninvited is one of the rare Hollywood ghost stories that does not cop out with a "logical" ending. In fact, the film has more in common with British ghost tales of the period, in that the characters calmly accept spectral visitations as though they were everyday occurrences. Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister, Pamela (Ruth Hussey), buy a house on the Cornish seacoast, never suspecting that it is a "bad" house, subject to haunting. Before long, Roderick and Pamela are visited by Stella Meredith (Gail Russell), whose late mother, it is said, is the house ghost. It is further supposed that the ghost means to do Stella harm. Stella's grandfather Commander Beech (Donald Crisp) is close-mouthed on the issue, but it is clear he knows something that he isn't telling. Sure enough, there is a secret to the manor: it is inhabited by not one but two ghosts, one of whom is merely trying to shield Stella from harm. Once the film's deep dark secret is revealed (courtesy of a virtuoso "mad speech" by supporting actress Cornelia Otis Skinner), Roderick is able to single-handedly exorcise the estate and claim Stella as his bride. Based on the novel by Dorothy Macardle (with a few uncredited "lifts" from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca), The Uninvited remains one of the spookiest "old dark house" films ever made, even after years of inundation by computer-generated special effects. Less effective was the 1945 sequel, The Unseen, which starts well but degenerates into a substandard murder mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this wartime propaganda film, two Marine officers and their company go on leave when the Army takes over during the Guadalcanal invasion. Their leave is spent in Australia where one of the officers falls in love with a woman. His pal, afraid that there will be no turning back for his buddy, receives orders that send them both back to the US to train recruits. Naturally, his enamored friend is quite upset by this sudden turn and refuses to talk to his pal until a subsequent mission gives them the chance to stop briefly in Australia. There the lovers are finally wed, just before he goes to battle. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

First filmed in 1914, Edgar Selwyn's venerable North Country yarn Pierre of the Plains was thawed out once more in 1942. John Carroll plays the title role, a French-Canadian guide with an accent one could cut with a double-edged knife. Always in trouble with the law, Pierre manages to swagger through life with a smile on his lips and a song (the interminable "Saskatchewan") in his heart. Our hero proves that he's a splendid fellow by clearing Val Denton (Phil Brown), brother of heroine Daisy Denton (Ruth Hussey), of a murder charge. Bruce Cabot and Sheldon Leonard are the scowling villains, while Henry Travers (Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life) steals the show as a canny cardsharp. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dumped by wife Ellen Drew, musician Melvyn Douglas goes into a creative slump. His gloom is lifted when he falls in love with Ruth Hussey (with a little help from Hussey's foxy papa Charles Coburn). Soaring to hitherto unimaginable heights of fame after marrying Hussey, Douglas suddenly becomes attractive again to the scheming Drew. She attempts to win him back by pretending to be crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Though Hussey sees through the ruse, she is unable to prove anything until Drew trips herself up. Watch for the clever (and most satisfying) application of the "THE END" title in Our Wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi