Victor Jory Movies
After a rough-and-tumble adolescence, Victor Jory attended high school in California, studying acting with Gilmor Brown at the Pasadena Playhouse. Jory's subsequent tenure at the University of California lasted all of one year before he was bitten by wanderlust; he joined the coast guard, where he distinguished himself as a champion in several contact sports. Sharp-featured, muscular, and possessed of a rich theatrical voice, Jory made his New York stage bow in 1929, and one year later co-starred in the original Broadway production of Berkeley Square. Inaugurating his film career with Renegades (1930), Jory spent the next five decades in roles ranging from romantic leads to black-hearted villains. Highlights in his screen career include a sinister but strangely beautiful performance as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935); the vicious Injun Joe in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938); white-trash carpetbagger Jonas Wilkerson in Gone With the Wind (1939); Texas patriot William Travis in Man of Conquest (1939); the hissable, crippled patriarch in The Fugitive Kind (1960); the taciturn father of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962); and the ancient South American Indian chief in Papillon (1973). In 1940, Jory starred in the Columbia serial The Shadow (1940), essaying the dual role of the mind-clouding Shadow and his alter ego Lamont Cranston (with several disguise sequences along the way).The outspoken Jory was supremely confident of his talents, remarking on several occasions that he was "damn good" -- though he was tougher than any movie critic in assessing his lesser performances. He was also more than generous with young up-and-coming actors (except for self-involved "method" performers), and was a veritable fountain of Broadway and Hollywood anecdotes, some of which were actually true. An occasional theatrical director and playwright, Jory wrote the Broadway production Five Who Were Mad. On TV, Jory starred in the popular syndicated detective series Manhunt (1959-1960) and guested on dozens of other programs. Long married to actress Jean Innes, Victor Jory was the father of Jon Jory, who for many years was artistic director of the Actors Theatre of Louisville. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
City dweller Keith Hollands (Arthur Kennedy) rents a dilapidated beach house, much to the dismay of his wife, Elsa (Phyllis Thaxter), who is both disgusted and frightened by the place. Rather than attempt to mollify his wife, Keith helps matters not at all by ardently pursuing a local beach bunny named Rachel (Tisha Sterling). When she finally puts her foot down and refuses to allow Keith to purchase the beach house outright, Elsa signs her own death warrant. But if Keith figured he'd get away with murder, he hadn't reckoned on a little "souvenir" left in the house by the previous owner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Phyllis Thaxter, (more)
- 1963
Victor Jory stars as veteran police officer Paul Reardon, who vows to avenge the murder of his rookie-cop son, Philip (Peter Brown). Although ordered by the higher-ups to lay off, Paul is determined to bring drug kingpin Herbie Lane (Lawrence Tierney), the man responsible for Peter's death in a shoot-out, to justice. In fact, Paul will go to any length to settle accounts with Herbie -- even if his efforts kill both men. This 300th episode of Alfred Hitchcock's popular TV anthology is also the final episode of the series' eighth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Jory, Peter Brown, (more)
- 1962
In his second Untouchables appearance, Lee Marvin is disturbingly convincing as Victor Rate, a brilliant psychopath in cahoots with narcotics kingpin Arnold Stegler (Victor Jory). A cool customer who gets his kicks by deliberately placing himself in dangerous situations, Rate has no qualms about gunning down a government agent in broad daylight, then loading 50,000 pounds of opium onto a truck while the terrified witnesses look on in amazement. To bring this human monster to justice, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) employs the services of a movie cameraman, a professional lipreader...and Arnold Stegler, who in a futile effort to get himself off the hook ends up signing his own death warrant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on William Gibson's Broadway play and retaining its acclaimed cast, Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker tells the true story of Helen Keller (Patty Duke), an Alabama girl struck blind and deaf as a baby after an elevated fever. Enter Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a partially-blind woman assigned the task of teaching Helen sign language. After first separating Helen from her over-protective parents (Victor Jory and Inga Swenson), Annie begins the arduous process of teaching the girl. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, (more)
Fugitive Kind began life as Battle of Angels, a never-produced 1939 play by a young Tennessee Williams. Nearly 20 years later, Williams refined this rough-hewn theatrical effort into Orpheus Descending, which enjoyed a respectable Broadway run. The renamed film version stars Marlon Brando as Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier, a trouble-prone drifter who wanders into a deliciously Williamsesque Mississippi town. Here he becomes involved in the problems of alcoholic Carole Cutrere (Joanne Woodward) and unhappily married Lady Torrence (Anna Magnani) and also runs afoul of Torrence's vicious husband (Victor Jory). Sexual symbolism abounds in this tempestuous drama, which offers Brando at his most inscrutable and Magnani at her earthiest. Maureen Stapleton, in real life one of Brando's best friends and severest critics, plays an avant-garde artist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, (more)
- 1957
In this western, a good man becomes an outlaw after his stagecoach mail business falls to the faster railroad mail. To save his livelihood, the fellow literally attempts to derail his competitor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This western is set during the Civil War and chronicles the efforts of a recently paroled Confederate soldier to keep the moving settlers safe from Native-American marauders. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The TV drama anthology Kraft Television Theatre celebrated its tenth year on the air with an original drama written by Anthony Spinner. Tommy Sands plays Vito Serrano, a teenager living in Italy with his grandparents. Though he regards himself as an orphan, Vito still has a father -- if you can call gangster boss Frankie Serrano (Victor Jory) a father. Despite his unsavory roots, Vito has a strong desire to go to the U.S., where his father resides. He may get his wish when Frankie makes a sentimental journey to the Italian village of his youth, where he fills his son's head with stories about his "glamorous" American lifestyle. Somehow or other, the teleplay manages to find time for two songs performed by Tommy Sands, who'd already made his Kraft Television Theatre mark as the Elvis-like hero of the series' January 30, 1957 presentation "The Singin' Idol." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Sands, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1957
The secret to immortality is thus: to rejuvenate tired bones and muscles and retain that youthful feeling forever, simply place nubile young women in a vat filled with chemicals, attach wires to their heads and suck out their life forces Warning: If after the first dosage subsequent treatments are not promptly administered, irreversible petrification will occur in all cases. These side-effects create the dilemma faced by the scientists who invented the process and this sci-fi horror movie tells how they solved their problem. Fortunately for the women involved, a hero shows up, saves them, and leaves the evil professors stoned for life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Jory, Ann Doran, (more)
- 1956
Blackjack Ketchum, the real-life gunslinger who'd previously been a peripheral character in several westerns, is herein afforded his own feature-length "vehicle". Howard Duff plays the title role, who at the beginning of the film is doing his best to live down his reputation. This proves impossible when land baron Jared Tetlow (Victor Jory) and his brood muscle into the territory. Hoping to champion the cause of his fellow ranchers, Ketchum once more straps on his guns and prepares to do battle against Tetlow's henchmen. Naturally, Ketchum's sweetheart Nita Riordan (played by Maggie Mahoney, the mother of actress Sally Field) would prefer that Our Hero abstain from gunplay, but.Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado was based on a novel by Louis L'Amour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Duff, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1956
A contemptuous and self-serving immigrant, Clementi Sabourin (George Sanders) pulls himself up by his bootstraps by instrumenting a series of cons and seductions which bilk several very wealthy persons out of most of their money. Most of the action is related in a series of flashbacks after Sabourin's body is found dead in a Park Avenue apartment. Death of a Scoundrel is a fictionalized adaptation of the life and mysterious death of Serge Rubenstein. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1956
Golden Age of Television: Telephone Time contains four episodes of the fifties television show Telephone Time, a series that featured writer John Nesbitt hosting adaptations of his various works. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold Bug and The Tell-Tale Heart were updated and woven together into a single narrative in the ultra-cheap adventure yarn Manfish. John Bromfield, Lon Chaney Jr. and Victor Jory head the cast as three fortune hunters, combing the West Indies in search of buried treasure. The heavy of the piece is Jory, who murders Bromfield, weighs down the body and throws it overboard, with consequences not unlike those suffered by Poe's Tell-Tale Heart protagonist. Poor, simple-minded Chaney ends up coming out the winner, if only by default. The feminine angle is handled by Barbara Nichols (bad, brassy blonde) and Tessa Pendergast (good, dark-skinned native lass). Because of a handful of West Indian song interludes, Manfish was rerealeased as Calypso, in hopes of cashing in on the then-popular musical craze. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bromfield, Lon Chaney, Jr., (more)
- 1954
Using the dry historical tome Gods, Graves and Scholars as its source, MGM came up with the rip-roaring adventure film Valley of the Kings. Robert Taylor plays Mark Brandon, an Indiana Jones-style archaeologist who embarks upon an expedition to Egypt. Brandon has agreed to help Ann Mercedes (Eleanor Parker) to locate the tomb of the Pharoah Ra-Hotep, thereby proving the validity of her late father's theories about Egyptian history. Along for the ride is Ann's seemingly affable husband Philip (Carlos Thompson), while the sinister Hamed Bachkour (Kurt Kasnar), who seems to be a criminal of some sort, dogs the expedition's trail. Upon arriving at the tomb, all heck breaks loose as the film's true heroes and villains are revealed. Valley of the Kings combines location-filmed footage in glorious Eastmancolor with a few moderately convincing studio mockups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, (more)
Filmed on location in India, The Hindu is an outgrowth of the "Gunga Ram" episodes originally seen on TV's Smilin' Ed's Gang (later known as Andy's Gang). Nino Marcel stars as adventurous young mahout Gunga Ram, with Vito Scotti (of all people!) as his timorous sidekick. Top billing is bestowed upon Boris Karloff as the irascible general of the Maharajah of Bakore (Lou Krugman). Though Karloff behaves in a surly fashion, the film's real villain is Victor Jory, as head of a deadly fire-worshipping cult. At the behest of British regent Reginald Denny, Gunga Ram does his best to put an end to Jory's cult for good and all. Also on hand as the cult's high priestess is June Foray, better known for her voiceover work on such cartoon series as Rocky and His Friends and George of the Jungle. Despite its lumpy continuity, The Hindu is fairly entertaining, especially for the many TV fans of "Gunga Ram." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Lou Krugman, (more)
Cat Women of the Moon tells the tale of a group of American space travellers who confront a hostile tribe of females on the border between the light and dark side of the moon. The expedition is led by Laird Grainger (Sonny Tufts), whose polyglot crew--including co-pilot Kip Reissner (Victor Jory) and navigator Helen Salinger (Marie Windsor)--land on the lunar surface, where they soon discover that there's an atmosphere and water and everything. After a few minutes of wandering, the travellers come upon a huge modernistic city, populated by leotard-clad "cat women". The ruler, Alpha (Carol Brewster), reveals that she has telepathically brought the earthlings to her city, using Salinger as her unsuspecting go-between. The cat women perform a kinky dance to the tune of "Stranger in Paradise," while the shifty copilot Reissner tries to steal the city's cache of gold. Alpha enslaves the visitors via mind control, leaving only cat-woman Lambda (Susan Morrow), who has fallen in love with crewman Douglas Smith (Bill Phipps), to save the day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1953
The Man From the Alamo manages to pack a few nuances and surprises in its traditional western plotline. During the siege at the Alamo, John Stroud (Glenn Ford) is chosen by lot to leave the fort and warn the families of the mission's defenders of the impending arrival of General Santa Ana. But when everyone around him is wiped out by the Mexicans, Stroud has no proof that he was ordered to leave his post, and is therefore branded a coward. He spends the rest of the film performing acts of conspicuous bravery to clear his name--and also tracks down the film's real villain, Jess Wade (Victor Jory), who robbed the Alamo victims of their possessions after the smoke cleared. Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Hugh O'Brien, Neville Brand, Arthur Space and future soap-opera star Jeanne Cooper round out the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1952
In his second and last Western for Republic Pictures, former bandleader Vaughn Monroe plays a marshal returning to Tombstone with a wanted gun-runner (Victor Jory) when he stumbles upon a woman (Joan Leslie) and a couple of children, apparently the only survivors of an Indian raid on a wagon train. The woman's cowardly husband, a telegrapher (Harry Morgan), had managed to escape and is now helping the gun-runner's siblings (Ian MacDonald and Lee MacGregor) to both free their brother and attack a valuable shipment of silver. When Monroe comes gunning for the bandits, he learns that the supposedly dead husband of the woman he has grown to love is still alive. There is a final shootout and the marshal comes face-to-face with his rival, now a murderer. Learning that her husband is to be tried in Prescott, Leslie loyally leaves to be with him despite the fact that she has fallen in love with Monroe. But, as Monroe's young daughter (Diana Christian) predicts, "she'll be back." In between the action, Monroe finds time to perform "Hound Dog," "Bay at the Moon," "A Man's Best Friend is His Horse," and the ballad "The Man Don't Live Who Can't Die Alone." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vaughn Monroe, Joan Leslie, (more)
- 1952
In this swashbuckling adventure-satire, Kashma Baba's famous father Ali, sends the reluctant youth to military school to prepare him for the troubles ahead. Meanwhile, an evil Caliph kidnaps and enslaves an Arabian princess as part of his plan to steal Ali Baba's fabulous treasure. He then sends his new "slave' to Kashma's home. The Caliph tells the Shah, to whom the princess is betrothed, that Kashma has stolen her and that he will get her back. While staying with Kashma, the princess finds herself falling in love. When Kashma learns of the plot he and his buddies pick up their swords and begin trying to save her and retrieve his father's stolen treasure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1951
MacDonald Carey and Alexis Smith star in the heavily plotted western Cave of Outlaws. Carey plays Pete Carver, who has spent 10 years in jail for participating in a train holdup. Upon his release, Pete heads to the huge cave where his cohorts had hidden their loot. Not surprisingly, he is trailed to the hiding place by several interested parties, including Wells Fargo investigator Dobbs (Edgar Buchanan) and all-around baddie Ben Cross (Victor Jory). Smith plays the vengeful widow of a newspaperman who was murdered by the crooks, while Hugh O'Brian is suitably menacing as Cross' trigger-happy nephew. Cave of Outlaws was Technicolorfully filmed on location in Carlsbad Caverns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- MacDonald Carey, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1951
The Highwayman is based on the famous narrative poem by Alfred Noyes. The title character, played by Philip Friend, is a bold masked bandit of 18th-century England, who robs from the rich and gives (a little) to the poor. He is loved by Bess (Wanda Hendrix), the lovely daughter of an innkeeper. The film doesn't pick up the plotline of the Noyes poem until some ten minutes before the end. Everyone who read The Highwayman in high school will recall that King George's men camp themselves in the inn awaiting the Highwayman's appearance--and so that Bess won't tip off her lover, they tie her up with a musket aimed at her heart. Bess courageously manages to fire the musket just as the Highwayman approaches, saving his life at the cost of her own. Upon the subsequent death of the Highwayman, he and Bess are reunited in the Hereafter. Fairly pedestrian for the most part, The Highwayman comes to a poignant climax, but it still pales beside the Alfred Noyes original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Coburn, Wanda Hendrix, (more)
- 1951
Sterling Hayden and Forrest Tucker, two of Hollywood's most rugged leading men, head the cast of Paramount's Flaming Feather. Rancher Tex McCloud (Hayden) and cavalry lieutenant Tom Blaine (Tucker) despise each other at first sight. Even so, McCloud and Blaine are forced to work together to seek out and capture an elusive outlaw named Lucky Lee (Victor Jory), who heads a band of renegade Indians. Also involved in the manhunt are vengeful saloon gal Carolina (Arleen Whelan) and marriage-minded Nora Logan (Barbara Rush), each pursuing her own agenda (just like everyone else in the film!) The film's violent outcome is predicated upon the desultory romance between Lucky Lee and dour Indian maiden Turquoise (Carol Thurston). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Forrest Tucker, (more)
Virtually ignored at the time of its release, Capture has built up a small but enthusiastic following since its lapse into public domain. American oil man Lew Ayres kills a coworker whom he suspects of robbery. Thinking it over, Ayres wonders whether or not the man was innocent. He seeks out his victim's widow, played by Teresa Wright. They fall in love and marry, which does nothing to soothe Ayres' guilty conscience. When he discovers who was actually behind the robbery, Ayres goes after the real culprit, who is accidentally killed before justice can be done. Falsely accused of murder, Ayres now fully understands the untenable position of the man he'd killed so long before. The Capture was produced by Niven Busch, the then-husband of Teresa Wright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright, (more)
- 1950
Set in British Columbia but filmed in Colorado, Cariboo Trail stars Randolph Scott as a cattle-drive boss from Montana. Crooked Victor Jory and his minions stampede the cattle, causing Scott's partner Bill Williams to lose an arm. Out of a job, Scott gives gold mining a try, but even here he is tormented by Jory. The villain is hoist on his own petard when he tries to stir up the local Indian tribes. Proving that the good guys don't always win, Scott gives up mining and turns to cattle ranching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Bill Williams, (more)
- 1949
Filmed on location in the Canadian Rockies, this historical adventure spins a fanciful account of the building of the Canadian Pacific railroad. Randolph Scott heads the cast as Tom Andrews, a rough-and-ready surveyor who meets and conquers all obstacles in the railroad's path. The biggest fly in the ointment is trapper Dirk Rourke (Victor Jory), who perceives the Canadian Pacific as a threat to his livelihood. Rourke foments an Indian uprising which very nearly destroys the railroad. But Andrews and his hardy band persevere. Jane Wyatt plays the heroine among more intelligent and self-reliant lines than is usual in films of this nature. Highly suspect on a historical level, Canadian Pacific is nonetheless an exciting piece of filmmaking, evocatively photographed in Cinecolor by Fred Jackman Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Jane Wyatt, (more)
