Suzan Ball Movies
American actress Suzan Ball began appearing in Hollywood adventure films in the early 1950s. Unfortunately, she died before having a chance to become a star. In 1953, while filming East of Sumatra, Ball suffered a knee injury which led to her getting cancer, and by 1955, she was gone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1955
Reviled in his lifetime as a lunatic insurrectionist, Chief Crazy Horse has in recent years emerged as a Native American hero. In this off-beat western, unusual for its time in that it sympathetically presented the Native American viewpoint, Victor Mature plays the misunderstood Sioux leader while the treaty-breaking villain General Crook is played by James Millican (who had earlier portrayed an equally unsympathetic General Custer in Warpath). The battle of the Little Big Horn is staged with less bravura but more authenticity than in 1941's They Died With Their Boots On (a wildly inaccurate pro-Custer opus). Chief Crazy Horse falters only in its verbose dialogue sequences, wherein the native tongue of the Sioux seems to be Fluent Cliche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Suzan Ball, (more)
- 1953
The motivating factor behind City Beneath the Sea is an underwater treasure hunt. In 1692, an underwater earthquake sends the Jamaica city of Port Royal to the bottom of the Caribbean. Three-hundred-fifty years later, deep-sea divers Brad Carlton (Robert Ryan) and Tony Bartlett (Anthony Quinn) take the plunge near Port Royal, in hopes of recovering a million dollars in gold bullion that was lost in a modern-day quake. What Brad and Tony don't know is that their employer, steamship magnate Dwight Trevor (Karel Stepanek), doesn't really want the divers to find the gold. Trevor hopes to pull off a major insurance fraud, and has no qualms about killing his divers to get what he wants. Mala Powers and Suzan Ball provide the love interest, while plump Hawaiian entertainer Hilo Hattie offers some welcome comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Ryan, Mala Powers, (more)
War Arrow is another of Universal's efficiently produced A plus/B minus Technicolor westerns of the early 1950s. Maureen O'Hara and Jeff Chandler star as, respectively, army major Howell Brady and his former sweetheart Elaine Corwin. As Elaine awaits anxiously on the sidelines, Major Brady trains a group of Seminole Indians to aid the army in quelling an impending Kiowa uprising. Commanding officer Col. Meade, a man with a deep abiding hatred for all Indians, thinks that Brady is crazy to trust the Seminoles. Well, he might be, but it's best to wait until the climactic battle scene to decide whether or not Brady knows what he's doing. The ever-reliable Henry Brandon is a tower of strength as Maygro, the Seminole chief whose daughter Avis (Suzan Ball) falls in love with Brady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler, (more)
- 1953
Director Budd Boetticher moves out of his traditional western surroundings for the Technicolor programmer East of Sumatra. Jeff Chandler stars as an American miner, who journeys east of Sumatra in search of tin ore. He runs afoul of Anthony Quinn, a local despot who rules the Pacific island which Chandler hopes to mine. This being a Boetticher film, there's a lot of "faking out" from both hero and villain, as each man takes full measure of the other before making any sudden, violent moves. The climactic native uprising, is well worth the wait, even though everyone in the audience is fully aware who will come out on top. East of Sumatra was based on a novel by Louis L'Amour, a western specialist who like Budd Boetticher proved quite capable of working outside his own particular genre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Chandler, Marilyn Maxwell, (more)
- 1952
Reportedly, there was no love lost between the three stars of Untamed Frontier, and perhaps it was this tension that added so much depth to this otherwise formula-bound western. Joseph Cotten plays Kirk Denbow, the straight-laced son of ruthless cattle-baron Matt Denbow (Minor Watson), while Scott Brady co-stars as Glen Denbow, Kirk's firebrand brother (shades of Duel in the Sun, which also starred Cotten). Waitress Jane Stevens (Shelley Winters) witnesses a murder committed by Glen, then is railroaded into marrying him to prevent her from testifying in court. Inevitably, Jane falls in love with Kirk, the first of several fateful steps which lead to the film's bloody denouement. The late Suzan Ball, whose screen career was so tragically brief, makes her movie debut in Untamed Frontier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1952
The innate dignity of leading-man Jeff Chandler lends credibility to the swashbuckling proceedings of Yankee Buccaneer. Set during the early 19th century, the film casts Chandler as David Porter, commander of a U.S. frigate sent to the Caribbean to quell the activities of pirates and privateers. Disguising his vessel as a pirate ship, Porter is able to drift into dangerous waters with little or no resistance. The trick, of course, is to complete his mission and return to safety. Complicating matters is Scott Brady as Porter's reckless, irresponsible second-in-command -- Lieutenant David Farragut. Joseph Calleila co-stars as Count Del Prado, the Spanish governor of the West Indies who is secretly orchestrating the pirate activities. The requisite damsel-in-distress is played by Suzan Ball, a promising Universal contractee who died only three years later at the age of 24. Yankee Buccaneer was hastily filmed on sets originally constructed for Against All Flags (1952) while the star of the latter film, Errol Flynn, was recuperating from an injury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Chandler, Scott Brady, (more)
