Rosalind Ivan Movies

Historically important as the first CinemaScope feature film, 20th Century-Fox's The Robe is fine dramatic entertainment in its own right. Based on the best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, the film stars Richard Burton as the wastrelly Roman tribune who is assigned by a weary Pontius Pilate (Richard Boone, who spends the whole of his single scene washing his hands) to supervise the crucifixion of Christ. After the Seven Last Words, the jaded Burton wins Christ's robe in a dice game. Gradually, the mystical influence of the holy garment transforms Burton from a roistering cynic into a True Believer--at the cost of his own life, which he willingly gives up in the service of his Lord. Also starring in The Robe are Jean Simmons as Burton's pious childhood sweetheart, Victor Mature as his Christian-convert slave Demetrius (an excellent performance--in fact, Mature is more believable than Burton!), Michael Rennie as the disciple Peter, and Jay Robinson as the raving Emperor Caligula. Mature, Rennie and Robinson would appear in the 1954 sequel to The Robe, the hurriedly assembled Demetrius and the Gladiators. Watch and listen for the unbilled contributions of Michael Ansara as Judas and Cameron Mitchell as the voice of Jesus. The film won three Academy Awards, and a special Oscar bestowed upon Fox for the development of CinemaScope. For many years, the TV prints of the Robe were struck from the "flat," standard-ratio version shot simultaneously with the widescreen version. Only recently has the CinemaScope The Robe been made available to cable TV (shown in "letterbox" format to allow home viewers the full picture). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this period drama, Joan Fontaine stars as Ivy Lexton, a woman with an unusual hunger for men. Though she already has a husband, Jervis (Richard Ney), and is having an affair with Roger Gretorex (Patric Knowles), Ivy becomes obsessed with Miles Rushworth (Herbert Marshall), and is determined to have him. However, Miles has no interest in married women and rejects Ivy's advances. Angered, Ivy plans to get her revenge by poisoning Miles and pinning the blame on Roger. Cedric Hardwicke plays the inspector assigned to look into Miles' mysterious death. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On the eve of the Chinese New Year, three strangers make a pact before a small statue of the Chinese goddess of Destiny. The strangers are Crystal Shackleford (Geraldine Fitzgerald), married to a wealthy philanderer; Jerome Artbutny (Sidney Greenstreet), an outwardly respectable judge; and Johnny West (Peter Lorre), a seedy sneak thief. The threesome agree to purchase a sweepstakes ticket and share whatever winnings might accrue. Alas, the pact brings little more than misfortune for all concerned. Jerome steals funds from a client, then kills Crystal (with the goddess statue!) when she refuses to hand over her sweepstakes winnings. Johnny and his girlfriend Icy (Joan Lorring) decide to abandon their life of crime, but when it is revealed that the ticket is a winner, he sets fire to it to avoid having his name tied to the crime. If it seems strange that Peter Lorre ends up the romantic lead in Three Strangers, remember that the film's director, Jean Negulesco, thought Lorre was the finest actor who ever lived--and as a result, he fought tooth and nail with Warner Bros. to cast Lorre in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A granddaughter's world begins to crumble when allegations of her grandfather say that he is a criminal. ~ All Movie Guide

In this 1945 filmization of Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical 1938 play The Corn is Green, Bette Davis steps into the role originated on Broadway by Ethel Barrymore. Davis plays Miss Moffat, a turn-of-the-century schoolteacher in a Welsh mining town. She has opened her own school in hopes of lowering the town's illiteracy rate, thus enabling the younger residents to seek out more fulfilling lives than merely sweating away in the mines until they drop. She runs into a great deal of resistance from mine-owner Nigel Bruce, who realizes that as soon as the citizens can read and write, they'll rebel against his benevolent despotry. Even Miss Moffat concludes that her mission is hopeless until she is visited by young miner John Dall, who wants to know "what is behind all those books". Within two years, Dall has made so much progress that he has qualified for Oxford. A last-minute snag involving Dall's illegitimate child is solved when Miss Moffet herself agrees to adopt the baby so that her student can complete his education. Emlyn Williams himself came from a backward mining town, and was himself inspired to better things by a compassionate schoolteacher; the pregnancy angle was (probably) added to provide the story with a third act. The Corn is Green was remade for television in 1978, with Katharine Hepburn as Miss Moffat. Watch for one amusing gaffe in the original: despite carefully setting up the premise that the villagers are illiterate, they are shown hovering around a poster and reading it out loud in an early scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lesser "Inner Sanctum" entry stars Lon Chaney Jr. as unhappily married lawyer Wayne Fletcher. In love with his secretary Donna Kincaid (Brenda Joyce), Fletcher is the principal suspect when his wife is found smothered to death in her own bed. Lack of evidence allows Fletcher to walk scot-free, whereupon a series of "pillow murders" commences, all of the victims somehow linked with either Fletcher or Donna. The pseudo-psychological finale wants to have its cake and eat it too, permitting Fletcher to be both innocent and guilty. Among the murder victims is Clara Blandick, who under happier circumstances played Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Tradeshown at 65 minutes, release prints of Pillow of Death run a few minutes short of an hour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Suspect is a well turned out period melodrama, with an excellent leading performance by Charles Laughton. He plays an amiable, hopelessly henpecked shopkeeper who yearns for the affections of pretty stenographer Ella Raines. When he is pushed to brink by wife Rosalind Ivan, Laughton kills her, making the death look like the result of a fall down the stairs. Detective Stanley Ridges, not altogether unsympathetic to Laughton, suspects foul play, but decides to bide his time and allow the suspect to trip himself up. Laughton is on the verge of getting off scot free when he makes the error of trying to stifle his blackmailing neighbor Henry Daniell. Based on the novel This Way Out by James Ronald, this is one of the most thoroughly satisfying American films of mercurial German director Robert Siodmak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edmund Lowe made his only screen appearance as S. S. Van Dine's dilettante sleuth Philo Vance in The Garden Murder Case. The story wastes no time getting started, with Floyd Garden (Douglas Walton) being killed in the first reel from a fall in a steeplechase. It looks like an accident -- but then, so do the subsequent deaths of Lowe Hammle (Gene Lockhart) and Mrs. Fenwick-Ralston (Frieda Inescourt). The police are baffled, but Philo Vance (Lowe) deduces that the victims were done in by a very clever -- and very deadly -- hypnotist. The revelation of the killer's identity won't be surprising to longtime mystery buffs, but it proved quite a shock to audiences in 1936. The tense final scene, in which the murder attempts to mesmerize Vance into committing suicide, was effective enough to be "borrowed" for the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film The Woman in Green. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide