Allyn Joslyn Movies
Allyn Joslyn was the son of a Pennsylvania mining engineer. On stage from age 17, Joslyn scored as a leading man in such Broadway productions as Boy Meets Girl (1936) and Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), appearing in the latter as beleaguered theatrical critic Mortimer Brewster. Joslyn's leading-man qualities surprisingly evaporated on camera, thus he spent most of his movie career playing obnoxious reporters, weaklings, and gormless "other men" who never got the girl. Among his more notable film appearances were as Don Ameche's snobbish rival for the attentions of Gene Tierney in Lubitsch's Heaven Can Wait (1943), and as the jellyfish cardsharp who sneaks onto a lifeboat disguised as a woman in Titanic (1953). In the sprightly "B" picture It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (1946), Joslyn was for once cast in the lead, even winning heroine Carole Landis at fade-out time. A prolific radio and TV performer, Allyn Joslyn played one-half of the title role on the 1962 TV-sitcom McKeever and the Colonel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1968
The Strange Affair is a fragmentary "'60s" interpretation of a straightforward Bernard Toms novel. Michael York plays a rookie London policeman, appalled at the corruption surrounding him. He does not find comfort in the fact that his own superior (Jeremy Kemp) is just as crooked as the crooks. Susan George is the obligatory "mod" girl with whom York conducts a brief affair. Like many British films of its period, it seems more concerned with inducing pop-art headaches than simply telling its story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Jeremy Kemp, (more)
- 1965
O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) sees an opportunity to pep up business at the saloon when Captain Parmenter's surveyor uncle Jupiter Parmenter (Allyn Joslyn) arrives at Fort Courage. At O'Rourke's suggestion, Jupiter draws up plans to route the new railroad directly into town. The scheme backfires when the Hekawi Indians elect to sell their land to the railroad people--and then move bag and baggage into the fort! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this crime drama, a bored, but seductive wife of a wealthy old ranch goes cruising for trouble and finds it when she picks up a hapless hitchhiker who soon falls under her sexy spell. Like a fly to a spider's web, he is drawn to her bedroom. Unfortunately, the old rancher sees him leaving and flies into a rage, killing his cheating wife. The crooked county sheriff is delighted by the events as he can now begin blackmailing the rancher. To cover for the crime, he arrests the poor drifter who doesn't even know the woman is dead. In the end, the rancher kills the sheriff and confesses all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Derek, Aldo Ray, (more)
- 1962
This episode is a showcase for stalwart Untouchables supporting player Paul Picerni, here seen in his tradtional role as Federal agent Lee Hobson. After Hobson kills crooked attorney Wallace Lawton (Allyn Joslyn) in self-defense, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) surprises him by taking credit for the killing. No, Stack isn't a glory-grabber: He merely wants to protect Hobson from retaliation at the hands of the "nameless, faceless" Syndicate boss who'd been in cahoots with the late Mr. Lawton. Unfortunately, the anonymous "silent partner" manages to have Hobson kidnapped, and for a while it looks like the intrepid agent is slated for that dreaded Last Ride. Key players in this melodrama include stars-to-be Burt Convy as an ill-fated nightclub comedian and Dyan Cannon as the comic's songstress girlfriend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Paladin (Richard Boone) is one of four people trapped in a remote cabin during a blinding snowstorm. The other three are an orphan girl named Cassandra (Jean Engstrom), an aging and wounded lawman named McKendrick (Allyn Joslyn), and McKendrick's prisoner, a wily gang leader named Curley Ashburne (Royal Dano). Convinced that he can manipulate his way to freedom, Ashburne begins to psychologically "play" the other three people, one against the other. Naturally, Paladin won't swallow the bait--but what about the other two? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Businessman Mort Bonner (Allyn Joslyn) is awakened one evening by a middle-aged burglar (Eddie Foy Jr.). Surprisingly, the bespectacled crook offers to split the insurance money that Mort will collect for the items that will be stolen. Impressed by the burglar's business acumen, Mort comes up with a better offer: for "the right price" the burglar will murder Mort's quarrelsome wife, Jocelyn (Jane Dulo). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Red Skelton's final film starring vehicle is an expansion of an hour-long TV play, which also starred Skelton when it was originally seen in September of 1955 on the weekly anthology Climax!. Skelton plays doltish lunchroom attendant Rusty Morgan, who is dutifully saving up enough money so that he and sweetheart Edith Enders (Janet Blair) can be married. Rusty foolishly entrusts his bankroll to a gang of stock swindlers, whom he believes to be FBI agents. Before long, our hero finds hmself the crooks' unwitting courier, landing in jail as a result. After a zany prison break orchestrated by genuine FBI agents who've had their eyes on Rusty all along, our hero catches up with the crooks during a nightclub floor show presided over by the vivacious Rita DeLacey (Vivian Blaine). Produced by RKO Radio, Public Pigeon No. 1 was eventually released by Universal-International. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Red Skelton, Vivian Blaine, (more)
- 1956
You Can't Run Away From It is a musical remake of Frank Capra's Oscar-winning classic It Happened One Night, complete with same-named characters and word-for-word scene reconstructions. It all begins when spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (June Allyson) is literally kidnapped from the altar by her wealthy father (Charles Bickford). Escaping from her daddy's yacht with only a handful of clothes and minimal finances, Ellie hops a bus, intending to travel cross-country to be reunited with her fortune-hunting husband. Reporter Peter Warne (Jack Lemmon), sensing a swell newspaper story, tags along. Though Peter and Ellie aren't terribly fond of one another (that's putting it mildly!), by the end of their journey they've fallen in love -- but there are still several last-minute complications before a happy ending can be reached. Most of the musical numbers in the remake are awkwardly inserted during the more famous scenes from the Capra original: the "Walls of Jericho," the impromptu singalong on the bus, the hitchhiking bit, etc. Benefiting from the breezy performances of Jack Lemmon and June Allyson, You Can't Run Away From It is easy to take, but hardly within shouting distance of the original film's brilliance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Allyson, Jack Lemmon, (more)
- 1953
Singin' in the Rain co-stars Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds were re-teamed in the ebullient little musical I Love Melvin. O'Connor plays Melvin Hoover, the hapless assistant to Look magazine photographer Mergo (Jim Backus). When he falls in love with chorus girl Judy LeRoy (Reynolds), Melvin claims that he's the magazine's head photographer. Carrying the ruse to the limit, Melvin arranges to shoot a portrait of Judy and her entire family, insisting that it appear on the cover of Look. On the verge of being found out, Melvin is saved when his boss decides that Judy is photogenic enough to be a cover girl for real. The plot is so lightweight that it threatens to blow away, but the stars are cute as can be, and the musical highlights even more so. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, (more)
- 1953
This second screen adaptation of the Samson Rafaelson play The Jazz Singer is better than the first, though not as historically important (the early Jazz Singer, it will be recalled, sparked the "talkie revolution" way back in 1927). Danny Thomas assumes the old Al Jolson role as the cantor's son-turned-cabaret entertainer. As Jerry Golding (Thomas) scales the heights of show business, he breaks the heart of his father (Eduard Franz), who'd hoped that Jerry would follow in his footsteps. Sorrowfully, Cantor Golding reads the Kaddish service, indicating that, so far as he is concerned, his son is dead. A tearful reconciliation (and a more upbeat denouement than was found in the original film) occurs when Jerry dutifully returns to sing the "Kol Nidre" in his ailing father's absence. Peggy Lee co-stars as Judy Lane, a musical comedy entertainer who falls in love with Jerry, while Mildred Dunnock and Alex Gerry do what they can with the stereotyped roles of Jerry's mother and uncle, respectively. This 1952 Jazz Singer has its faults, but it is vastly superior to the empty-headed 1980 Neil Diamond/Laurence Olivier remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Thomas, Peggy Lee, (more)
The 1912 sinking of the luxury liner Titanic is used as a backdrop for a several fictional subplots, chief of which involves snooty socialite Clifton Webb and his wife Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck has booked passage on the ill-fated passenger ship with her daughter (Audrey Dalton) and son (Harper Carter), leaving Webb far behind. Webb manages to board the ship at the last minute, and discovers that Stanwyck plans to divorce him; she further informs him that he is not the father of their son. When the Titanic sideswipes an iceberg and begins its slow descent in the Atlantic, the women and children are put on the lifeboats while the men stay behind to face death (except for cowardly cardsharp Allyn Joslyn, who disguises himself as a woman). The formerly class-conscious Webb acts with conspicuous bravery, seeing to it that several steerage passengers are ushered to safety. He is reunited with his son, who has given up his lifeboat seat to an elderly woman. All misunderstandings swept aside, Webb and his son face their final moments on earth together. In the film's best moment, a miniature recreation of the Titanic is seen sinking beneath the waves as the survivors watch from their lifeboats in numb horror. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
During World War II, a Military Air Transport Command DC-3 piloted by a civilian crew is forced down in northern Labrador. The five men, led by Dooley (John Wayne), have barely any food and almost no way to keep warm, and their power supply is fading fast, but they have to find a way of staying alive until search planes find them. At first, even Dooley is overwhelmed by the responsibility for his crew's safety, and he is too lax in handling them -- but after one man dies, frozen to death just steps from help, he takes over and pushes his men and himself to the limits of their endurance; he even seems ready to crack himself at one moment. Meanwhile, the men who fly with Dooley push themselves and their machines past their endurance limits searching the arctic wastes for the downed plane. Island in the Sky -- based on the book by Ernest K. Gann (perhaps the best aviation novel ever written), which was, in turn, based on a true incident that happened during the war -- is one of the most startling movies in Wayne's output. He doesn't even look like the "star" John Wayne, but like a real pilot, and the cast, made up of familiar faces, all look like the real article; indeed, this movie should have been in the running for Academy Awards for costuming and makeup, just for making these familiar performers, such as Lloyd Nolan (in maybe his best performance) and Andy Devine (ditto), look like real pilots and ordinary men, rather than familiar actors. You end up feeling like you're watching a documentary, and the effect is bracing and unsettling, and dramatically unparalleled in Wayne's entire output. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
Based on a story by Paddy Chayefsky, this is the tale of a man who is being forced to retire from his job, at the age of 65, and decides to fight back. Impersonating the head of the company, he sets out to convince them to get rid of their outmoded retirement policy and gives a creditable speech on the dignity of man, gaining national attention. This movie features good performances, but it will probably be remembered more for the bit part played by a young Marilyn Monroe as the boss' secretary. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, (more)
- 1950
Harriet Craig is the third film version of George Kelly's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Craig's Wife. Joan Crawford stars as the title character, a thoroughly selfish woman who prizes her house and her possessions above all else. Harriet Craig is even willing to spoil the business opportunities of her husband Walter (Wendell Corey) to avoid losing her precious home. When her self-involvement causes turbulence in the romantic life of her cousin (K.T. Stevens), and when her husband's eyes are finally opened to his wife's true nature, Harriet Craig is at long last hoist on her own petard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey, (more)
- 1949
Though she may have won an Oscar in 1948, Jane Wyman still had a Warner Bros. contract to fulfill, even if it meant appearing in frivolities like The Lady Takes a Sailor. It all begins when Jennifer (Wyman), the head of an oceanographic research institute, claims to have made a fascinating underwater discovery. It is suspected that she's made this claim so that her funding will be continued, so the money-men send Bill Craig (Dennis Morgan) to investigate. Disguised as a sailor, Bill accompanies Jennifer on her next expedition, just to see if her story was true. Jennifer falls in love with Bill, neglecting her work in the process. When Bill is revealed to be a fake, things look bleak--but not for long. Eve Arden has all the best lines as Jane Wyman's sarcastic best friend (the sort of role Wyman used to play in her blonde-ingenue days). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Wyman, Dennis Morgan, (more)
- 1948
Hoping for a success commensurate with his previous Show Business (1945), comedian Eddie Cantor poured a lot of his own money into the RKO Radio musical If You Knew Susie. Cantor and his Show Business co-star Joan Davis are reteamed herein as ex-vaudevillians Sam and Susie Parker, who retire to a small and rather cloistered New England town. Faced with the snobbery of the local "aristocracy," Sam and Susie come to believe that they aren't worthy of their new neighbors, nor of their own children. All this changes when the Parkers find a document signed by George Washington bestowing $50,000 on one of Sam's forebears! According to the government, Sam and Susie are now owed several billion dollars interest. Sam patriotically refuses to accept the money, thereby becoming a national hero -- but not before a plenitude of comic plot twists involving gangsters Sheldon Leonard and Joe Sawyer. Cast as the Parkers' daughter Marjorie is "newcomer" Margaret Kerry, who'd actually been in films since 1936 as child actress Peggy Lynch. One of the musical highlights in If You Knew Susie is a clip from Show Business, featuring Cantor, Davis, George Murphy and Constance Moore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Cantor, Joan Davis, (more)
- 1948
All of his life, Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark) has been taunted and mistreated by most of the people around him, enduring innumerable beatings and other humiliations as a boy because his father was a murderer who died on the gallows. He finds it not much better as an adult, living with his aunt in the small Virginia town of Woodville -- especially when he is contending for the attentions of young schoolteacher Gilly Johnson (Gail Russell) with his boyhood tormentor Jerry Sykes (Lloyd Bridges), whose bullying and arrogance are made worse (and more galling) by the fact that he's the son of the town banker (and its richest man). Sykes picks a fight with Danny and loses for the first time, but he dies in the process. Knowing how the town thinks of him because of his father, Danny tries to hide the body. But for all of his bitterness over how he's been treated, he can't truly escape the feelings of guilt over what he's done -- nor can he escape his fear of what people will probably think. For a time, his new romance with Gilly distracts him, but he's unable to put it out of his mind for long, especially when he's forced to join his good friend Mose (Rex Ingram) on a raccoon hunt that takes them right to the pond where the body is hidden. Soon the sheriff (Allyn Joslyn) is investigating, and he can't help but confer with the one man in town whose judgment he respects nearly as much as his own -- Danny. And when Danny's deaf-mute friend, Billy (Harry Morgan), unknowingly uncovers a key piece of evidence, Danny is pushed almost to the breaking point. He's driven by his own instincts to run away, and invite almost certain capture or death, but Gilly and the sheriff see this as a chance for Danny not only to free himself of the torment over what he's done but from the past that has haunted him and blighted his life -- if only they can reach him and make him understand. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dane Clark, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1947
In this musical set in late 19th-century Boston, a suffragette secretary finds that her political beliefs are standing in the way of her romantic bliss with her beloved boss. Back then the notion of women's rights was considered scandalous and her lover will not stand for such nonsense in his office. Mayhem and music ensue until he is eventually convinced. Some of the tunes were composed by the late George Gershwin to which lyricists Kay Swift and Ira Gershwin added new words. These songs include: "For You, for Me, for Evermore," "Aren't You Glad We Did?," "Stand up and Fight," and "Waltz Me No Waltzes." Other songs include: "Changing My Tune," "Back Bay Polka," "One, Two, Three," "But Not in Boston," "Sweet Packard," "Waltzing Is Better Sitting Down," and "Demon Rum." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Dick Haymes, (more)
- 1946
This A-minus musical stars Evelyn Keyes in the uncharacteristically comic role of Vicki Dean, the divorce-bound wife of theatrical impresario Steve Farraugh (Keenan Wynn). While mounting a big musical spectacular in Brazil, Farraugh simultaneously campaigns to win back his wife. The couple encounters romantic interference from tap-dancer Linda Lorens (Ann Miller) and Latin American singing heartthrob Tito Guizar (as himself). Nothing new here, but the cast puts over the material with such enthusiasm that the film seems better than it is. The highlight is Ann Miller's energetic specialty number "Man is Brother to a Mule" (it makes sense in context!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Keyes, Keenan Wynn, (more)
- 1945
Adapted from the high school drama-class perennial by Jerome Chodhorov and Joseph Fields, Junior Miss stars Peggy Ann Garner as a troublesome teenager. Garner means well, but can't help meddling in the affairs of her father (Allyn Joslyn) and other unsuspecting grownups. Most of the story revolves around Peggy's matchmaking habits: she pairs up her uncle (Milo O'Shea) with the daughter of her father's employer, which nearly loses dad his job. The mess sorts itself out before the third-act curtain, with Garner promising to mind her own business...until next time. Keep an eye out for a brief appearance by a young Mel Torme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peggy Ann Garner, Allyn Joslyn, (more)
- 1945
Though Jack Benny made a cottage industry out of joking about the purported rottenness of his 1945 vehicle Horn Blows at Midnght, the film is in fact a delightful comedy-fantasy-certainly not Benny's best film, but far from his worst. While dozing off during a radio broadcast, studio musician Athaniel (Benny) dreams he's a trumpet player in Heaven's celestial orchestra. At the behest of glamorous angel Elizabeth (Alexis Smith), Athaniel is brought into the lavish chambers of The Chief (Guy Kibbee), who has a job for our hapless hero. It seems that The Front Office, dissatisfied with the state of things on planet Earth ("just a six-day job"), has decided to destroy the tiny globe. Athaniel is to go down to New York City and blow his trumpet at midnight, thereby heralding the end of the world. Unfortunately he botches the job and remains stuck on earth as a "fallen angel" along with previous Heavenly dropouts Osidro (Allyn Joslyn) and and Doremus (John Alexander). Having persuaded The Chief to give Athaniel a second chance, Elizabeth herself comes to Earth to make sure that her sweetheart successfully completes his mission. Alas, the impoverished Athaniel has used his precious trumpet to pay for a meal, thereby setting off a chain reaction of comic complications, culminating with a Harold Lloyd-like climax wherein Athaniel is but one of six people precariously dangling from a skyscraper ledge. Evidence exists that the "dream" framework and slapstick finale of Horn Blows at Midnight were last-minute additions: A 1949 radio version of the Sam Hellman-James V. Kern screenplay is quite different, with a more sentimental and "meaningful" finale. Whatever the case, the screen version of Horn Blows at Midnight delivers plenty of laughs for Benny fans and casual viewers alike. Alas, the film proved a box-office disappointment, which was injurious for Benny's film career but a boon to his radio and TV shows, which thrived on derisive Horn Blows at Midnight jokes for the next two decades! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Alexis Smith, (more)
Based on a novel by Barry Fleming, Colonel Effingham's Raid stars Charles Coburn in the title role. Upon retiring from the army, Effingham returns to his home town of Fredericksville, Georgia. Dismayed by the town's paucity of civic pride, the Colonel begins writing a newspaper column honoring Fredericksville's old traditions and chastizing those who would tear those traditions down. His pet peeve is the city administration's plan to rename Confederate Square after the pompous, mildly corrupt town mayor (Thurston Hall). When it seems that his protests are falling upon deaf ears, Colonel Effingham literally stage a "military assault" against City Hall, which in real life would get him thrown in the looney bin but which in a whimsical comedy of this nature results in a smashing success for the "good guys". If Colonel Effingham's Raid seems to be popping up on TV at a rate of once a day, it is because the film lapsed into public domain in 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, William Eythe, (more)
- 1944
In this mystery, the artist behind a detective cartoon strip solves real police cases on the side. The police are rather irritated by him because he is better at it than they are. He does it again when the chairman of a fund-raiser suddenly dies during a benefit. The police report claims the man died of heart failure, but the cartoonist proves that he was poisoned. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1944
Strange Confession was the fourth in Universal's "Inner Sanctum" B-picture series, all of which starred Lon Chaney Jr. Chaney plays an idealistic writer who allows himself to be used by a politically ambitious publishing mogul (J. Carroll Naish). Not only does the publisher distort the sociological content of Chaney's works for his own purposes, but he also steals the writer's wife (Brenda Joyce). Chaney exacts a grisly revenge and turns himself over to the police. This is a scene-for-scene remake of the 1934 Claude Rains vehicle, The Man who Reclaimed His Head, which in turn was based on a play by Jean Bart. Universal was forced to completely withdraw the remake from theatrical and TV distribution when the studio realized that it no longer controlled the rights to the original Bart play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Whorf, Allyn Joslyn, (more)
- 1944
Bride by Mistake is a remake of the 1934 Miriam Hopkins vehicle The Richest Girl in the World, with a wartime angle providing topicality. Tired of being romanced by fortune hunters and being rejected by poor-but-proud suitors, fabulously wealthy Norah (Laraine Day) decides to pose as her own secretary Sylvia (Marsha Hunt), and vice versa. The plot thickens when Norah falls in love with convalescing fighter pilot Tony (Alan Marshall)-while he in turn falls for the very married Sylvia. All sorts of manic complications ensue, with Sylvia's hapless husband (Allyn Joslin) the "odd man out". RKO Radio revived Richest Girl in the World for a third time in 1954 as the Jane Russell musical The French Line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Marshal, Laraine Day, (more)
