Richard Keene Movies
- 1956
For reasons unknown, the change-of-pace Bob Hope vehicle That Certain Feeling is out of favor with many Hope buffs. Bob plays Francis X. Dignan, the overly neurotic "ghost" for popular comic-strip artist Larry Larkin (George Sanders). When Larkin's syndicate complains that his work isn't as amusing as it once was, he anxiously tries to hire back Dignan, who walked out on his boss over a petty disagreement. Dignan needs the money, but he'd rather do without the aggravation; this won't be easy, since Larkin is on the verge of marrying Dunreath Henry (Eva Marie Saint), Dignan's ex-wife. Enusing complications include the pompous Larkin's efforts to adopt a troublesome young boy (played by future "Beaver" Jerry Mathers) as a publicity stunt, and a wild night of drunken revelry which leads to the rekindling of Dunreath's affection for Dignan. The story comes to a raucous conclusion during a chaotic "Person to Person"-style interview show. Pearl Bailey adds spice to the program as a musical maidservant, while real-life cartoonist Al Capp (no stranger to "ghosts" himself) appears as himself. That Certain Feeling was based on The King of Hearts, a play by Jean Kerr and Eleanor Brooke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Eva Marie Saint, (more)
High Society is a glossy Technicolor-and-VistaVision musical remake of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story (1940), decked out with million-watt star power and a Cole Porter score. Set amongst the rich and famous in Newport, RI, the story revolves around the wedding plans of socialite Tracy Lord (Grace Kelly). Tracy is all set to marry stuffy George Kittridge (John Lund), while magazine writer Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm) intend to cover the ceremony. Meanwhile, Tracy's ex-husband C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) also comes calling, ostensibly to the attend the annual Newport Jazz Festival, but actually for the purpose of winning Tracy back. In the course of events, Mike falls in love with Tracy, and she with him. The Jazz Festival subplot allows scriptwriter John Patrick to bring Louis Armstrong into the proceedings, much to the delight of anyone who cares anything about music. The Cole Porter tunes include the Crosby-Sinatra duet "Well, Did You Evah?," the Crosby-Armstrong teaming "Now You Has Jazz," the Kelly-Crosby romantic ballad "True Love," and the Sinatra solo "You're Sensational." Though it lacks the satiric edge of the Philip Barry original (Barry, incidentally, is not given any screen credit), High Society succeeds on its own lighthearted terms. The film represents Grace Kelly's final acting assignment before her real-life wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, (more)
Bing Crosby does the Academy Award-bid bit in the atypical role of a self-pitying alcoholic, but it was his co-star, a deglamorized Grace Kelly, who won the Oscar for her performance in The Country Girl. This adaptation of Clifford Odets' play stars Crosby as Frank Elgin, a once-famous Broadway star who's hit the skids. Hotshot young director Bernie Dodd (William Holden), a longtime admirer of Elgin, tries to get the old-timer back on his feet with a starring role in a new play. But Dodd must contend with Elgin's hard, suspicious wife Georgie, who seemingly runs roughshod over her husband. Dodd holds Georgie responsible for Elgin's lack of self-confidence and his reliance upon the bottle--a suspicion fueled by Elgin himself, who insists that Georgie has been suicidal ever since the death of their son. When Elgin goes on a monumental bender during the play's out-of-town tryouts, the truth comes out: it is Elgin who is suicidal, and Georgie has been the glue that has held him together. Adopting a now-or-never stance, Dodd forces Elgin to stay off the sauce long enough for the play to open--and, in spite of himself, falls in love with Georgie. A few Hollywood liberties were taken with the Odets original, including a slightly altered ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, (more)
This sixth entry in the Crosby-Hope-Lamour "Road" series was the first (and last) in Technicolor. This time, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope play George Cochran and Harold Gridley, American vaudevillians stranded in Australia. To avoid a dual shotgun wedding, George and Harold sign on as deep-sea divers for sinister South-Sea-island prince Ken Arok (Murvyn Vye). After a contretemps with an octopus (courtesy of stock footage from Reap the Wild Wind), our heroes sail to the prince's Balinese homeland, where they meet and fall in love with gorgeous Princess Lalah (Dorothy Lamour). Though Lalah favors George, she feels obligated to Harold, because he resembles her childhood best friend -- a chimpanzee (this must be seen to be believed). When Ken Arok attempts to usurp Lalah's throne, she and the boys escape to a tropical island, where they meet the inevitable slapstick-comedy gorilla. More adventures await the intrepid trio on another island, this one dominated by an active volcano. Who gets the girl in this one? A hint: the loser tries to physically prevent the "The End" title from flashing on the screen during the final fadeout. Though not as fresh and spontaneous as earlier "Road" endeavors, Road to Bali has its fair share of non sequitur gags, inside jokes and unbilled guest appearances (including Martin and Lewis, Bing's brother Bob Crosby, Humphrey Bogart and Jane Russell). Best bit: when Crosby feels a song coming on, Hope turns to the camera and hisses "He's gonna sing, folks. Now's the time to go and get your popcorn." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, (more)
- 1950
RKO's resident cowboy star Tim Holt made his first 1950 appearance in Storm over Wyoming. Tim and his saddle pal Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) ride smack dab into the middle of a range war. After preventing a lynching, Our Heroes try to get to the bottom of all the trouble. What we know, but they don't, is that sheep-owner Rawlins (Bill Kennedy) is playing one side against another. Featured in the cast is Richard Powers, who as "Tom Keene" had starred in his own RKO western series in the 1930s. Storm over Wyoming is another directorial feather in the cap of the talented (and underrated) Lesley Selander. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Holt, Noreen Nash, (more)
Just as Bob Hope's My Favorite Blonde (1942) was a takeoff on Alfred Hitchcock, Hope's My Favorite Brunette was a lampoon of the noirish "hard-boiled detective" school popularized by Raymond Chandler. Awaiting execution on death row, Hope tells the gathered reporters how he got into his present predicament. It seems that Hope was once a baby photographer, his office adjacent to the one leased by a private detective (played in an amusing unbilled cameo by Alan Ladd). While hanging around the p.i.'s office, Hope is mistaken for the detective by beautiful client Dorothy Lamour. She hires Hope to search for her missing uncle, and also entrusts him with a valuable map. Hope's diligent (if inept) sleuthing takes him to a shady rest sanitarium, where he runs afoul of lamebrained henchman Lon Chaney, Jr. and sinister, knife-throwing Peter Lorre. Both are in the employ of attorney Charles Dingle, who is responsible for the disappearance of Lamour's uncle. Escaping the sanitarium with Lamour in tow, Hope follows the trail of evidence to noted geologist Reginald Denny. The geologist is murdered, and Hope is accused of the crime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, (more)
- 1946
Several years after the "Michael Shayne" B-movie series ran its course at 20th Century-Fox, PRC Pictures revived the property with Murder is My Business. Hugh Beaumont-yes, Ward Cleaver!--replaces Fox's Lloyd Nolan as Brett Halliday's red-headed gumshoe Michael Shayne. This time around, Shayne is hired by a wealthy woman to protect her from blackmailers. When his client is murdered, Shayne takes it upon himself to track down the killer. Murder is My Business was adapted from the Brett Halliday novel The Uncomplaining Corpse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, (more)
- 1942
Bob Hope's first starring vehicle for producer Sam Goldwyn borrows the title of Bob's 1942 autobiography They Got Me Covered and very little else. Co-scripted by Leonard Q. Ross (aka Leo Rosten), Leonard Spigelgass and Harry Kurnitz (among many others!), the film casts Hope as Robert Kittredge, the Moscow correspondent for a major American news service, who is fired when he neglects to file a report about Hitler's invasion of Russia. Hoping to get back in the good graces of his boss Norman Mason (Donald MacBride), Kittredge steals another reporter's story about a Nazi spy ring operating in New York. Though officially a comedy, the film is curiously unfunny at times, with Hope playing an unsympathetic, unappealing character who'll step on anyone -- including his long-suffering sweetheart (Dorothy Lamour) and a hysterical kidnap victim (Phyllis Povah) -- to get ahead. Otto Preminger is funnier (perhaps intentionally) as the head Nazi. A few good gags notwithstanding, They Got Me Covered is nowhere near as satisfying as Hope's second Goldwyn effort, The Princess and the Pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, (more)
The second Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road" picture casts Crosby as a penny-ante sideshow promoter and Hope as Crosby's only client, "Fearless Frazier." Under Crosby's tutelage, Hope has been shot from a cannon, zapped in an electric chair and nearly strangled by an octopus. Now they're practically broke and stranded on the African coast. Crosby spends the last of their money to spring helpless Dorothy Lamour from a native slave market. Actually, Lamour and her pal Una Merkel are scamming Crosby and Hope to finance a safari across Africa, so that Lamour can link up with her wealthy fiance in Zanzibar. En route through the deepest, darkest jungle, both Hope and Crosby fall in love with Lamour. But when they find out they're being taken for chumps, the boys leave the safari and strike out on their own. Captured by cannibals, the boys try and fail to win their freedom by having Hope wrestle a particularly grumpy gorilla. Making their escape after teaching the natives their time-honored "Patty Cake" routine, they head for Zanzibar. Once again, Crosby spends his ready money to spring Lamour from her captured-by-slavers con game, obliging Hope, Crosby, Lamour and Merkel to try to earn passage money home by staging a "sawing the lady in half" routine for the locals. Crosby: "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Hope: "If I don't, one of us is going back half fare." Like the earlier Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar sticks too closely to the script and plot to allow those inveterate adlibbers Hope and Crosby free reign. Still, there are some choice moments: our favorite bit occurs when Crosby comments to Lamour on the artificiality of movie musicals--whereupon the sound of an orchestra pops up out of nowhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, (more)
The story goes that such stars as Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie and Burns & Allen had turned down The Road to Singapore before the leading roles went to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. More conventionally structured than future "Road" efforts, the film casts Crosby as Josh Mallon, the irresponsible son of shipping magnate Joshua Mallon IV (Charles Coburn). Though the elder Mallon wants his son to enter the family business and marry longtime fiancee Gloria Wycott (Judith Barrett), Josh would rather pal around with his carefree sailor buddy Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope). On the eve of his wedding, Josh escapes with Ace to Singapore, where the two of them cook up a get-rich-quick scheme involving a highly unreliable spot remover. The boys' friendship is strained when they both fall in love with cabaret dancer Mima (Dorothy Lamour), who is on the lam from her jealous partner Caesar (Anthony Quinn). Hiding out from the authorities, the three protagonists wind up in the midst of a native ceremony, where Ace and Mima rescue Josh from a hasty marriage to a local temptress. When Gloria shows up to drag Josh back to the altar, Mima nobly gives him up, pretending to be in love with Ace. Eventually, however, big-hearted Ace realizes that Mima belongs with Josh, and thus concocts another scheme to lure his pal back to the Far East. Though many of the earmarks of the "Road" series are evident in Road to Singapore (the "patty-cake" bit, the presence of such guest stars as Hope's radio stooge Jerry Colonna, etc.), the film lacks the spontaneous quality of the later Hope-Crosby-Lamour starrers. Even so, it's an awful lot of fun, especially when Bob and Bing team up on the novelty number "Captain Custard" and Dorothy croons her requisite "moon and stars" romantic ballads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, (more)
- 1940
Though the 1931 Fox release Charlie Chan Carries On apparently no longer exists, modern viewers can get a general idea of the film's quality by taking a look at its 1940 remake, Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. On the verge of revealing the identity of an international murderer, a Scotland Yard man is himself killed in the Honolulu offices of detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). The only existing clues point to the fact that the murderer is one of several passengers on a ship bound for San Francisco. In time-honored movie-mystery tradition, the ship's manifest is chock full of such suspicious types as Dr. Sudermann (Lionel Atwill), Professor Gordon (Leo G. Carroll) and religious fanatic Mr. Walters (Charles Middleton). Another murder takes place before Chan is able to expose the perpetrator with the help of the supposedly blinded widow (Kay Linaker) of the original victim. Comedy relief is provided by Victor Sen Yung as Chan's eternally bumbling Number Two son and by Cora Witherspoon as man-chasing spinster Susie Watson (a character originally portrayed as a youthful gold-digger by Marjoire White in Charlie Chan Carries On). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Marjorie Weaver, (more)
- 1939
This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Policeman's Ball. For a long time, they have been looking for a voice for their new cartoon feature, "Paddy the Pig," and the cop is just perfect. The policeman is tickled pink at the prospect of being a star and begins telling all his friends about his good fortune (he has no idea what they plan to do with his voice). Eventually he ends up marrying one of the producers, who still hasn't told him the truth. Suddenly the night of the big premiere finally arrives and all of the policeman's old friends and colleagues are there. As it begins, the policeman is appalled and humiliated to see that he has been mocked and has become a laughing stock. He immediately spurns his new wife and goes back to the police force. Time passes, and fortunately, the two reunite and settle their differences. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Regan, Jean Parker, (more)
- 1933
Vaudeville performer George Dwight (Roger Pryor) finds himself stranded in the small town of Walkerville, and talks his way into a job at a music store owned by Sally Upton (Mary Brian). Dwight's personality and piano playing, and his way with plugging a song help make the store a success, but his real goal is a shot at the big time as a songwriter, and he gets it when he sells one of his compositions. That sends him running to New York -- much to Mary's disappointment -- and he manages to wangle a job with a pair of Broadway producers. Over the next couple of years, working closely with leading lady Elsie Warren (Lillian Miles), George Dwight becomes one of the most successful songwriters on the Great White Way, and when he and Elsie tire of the manipulations of their bosses, they decide to break away so that George can produce his work himself. This gives him the chance to write in a more serious mode than he's ever had the opportunity to do before, something that Elsie isn't thrilled with -- George wants to do a show that's not only popular, but also important, with memorable music and an important message. Sally walks back into his life in the midst of the production, and now he wants to resume the romance that she'd hoped would blossom in Walkerville. But he's soon beset by problems when his former producers try to steal the production out from under him, and he's forced to go to a professional gambler, Nick Pappacroplis (Leo Carrillo) to rescue the show. And just when it looks like he's got his chance, along comes Nick's friend Sport Powell (Herbert Rawlinson), who has eyes for Sally and his own designs on the production. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Carrillo, Mary Brian, (more)
- 1930
Filmed in "Fox Grandeur," an early widescreen process, Happy Days was the immediate follow-up to Fox Studios' Movietone Follies of 1929. Most of the film takes place on the showboat of Mississippi entrepreneur Colonel Billy Batcher (Charles E. Evans). When the Colonel faces foreclosure after several failing seasons, soubrette Margie (Marjorie White) stages a fund-raising revue on the boat, enlisting the aid of all the big stars who got their start with Batcher. By an amazing coincidence, virtually all of the showboat alumni are under contract to Fox Studios! Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell perform "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own," Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe kid their roughneck screen images in the novelty number "Vic and Eddie," Sharon Lynn and Ann Pennington offer the "hot" dance routine "Snake Hips," and "Whispering" Jack Smith offers a rendition of the title tune. Also on hand are Will Rogers, El Brendel, Walter Catlett (who also staged the musical numbers), Lew Brice (Fanny's brother), Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing Crosby) and Georgie Jessel -- not to mention an uncredited 14-year-old chorus girl named Betty Grable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Shortly before retiring from films to become an actor's agent (and, incidentally, Mrs. Alan Ladd), the ebullient Sue Carol starred in The Big Party. Carol and Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing Crosby) play a couple of funloving gals who take jobs as dress models. They are invited to the eponymous party by their lecherous bosses Walter Catlett and Charles Judels. Before anything untoward can happen, Carol and Lee find true love in the forms of Frank Albertson and Richard Keane. Radio star Whispering Jack Smith provides a couple of pleasant tunes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1930
In this pygmalionesque musical, a drab secretary leads a boring life until a good friend intervenes. The friend begins a total make-over upon her friend. First she slathers her in mud-packs, and then she encases her in lovely silk dresses. Soon the plain woman is transformed into an extraordinary beauty. It is no surprise that her boss, not knowing her true identity, falls hopelessly in love with her. Singing, dancing and romancing ensues. Songs include: "A Picture No Artist Can Paint," "You Gotta Be Modernistic," "I'm Telling the World About You," "Maybe Someday," and "Can I Help It." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Mulhall, Sue Carol, (more)
- 1930
The one-time-only combination of director John Ford and actors Spencer Tracy (in his first film) and Humphrey Bogart (in his second) should be recommendation enough for the offbeat comedy-drama Up the River. Tracy and Warren Hymer play Saint Louis and Dannemora Dan, two hard-boiled but likeable prison convicts. While in stir, the boys befriend another convict named Steve (Bogart), who is in love with woman's-prison inmate Judy (Claire Luce). Eventually, Steve and Judy are released, whereupon they get married and head to a small town where no one knows of their criminal pasts. It isn't long, however, before the couple's future happiness is threatened by dishonest salesman Frosby (Gaylord Pendleton), the no-good rat who framed Judy. Frosby threatens to expose Steve's prison record if the latter refuses to go along with a scheme to defraud his neighbors. Learning of this situation, Saint Louis and Dan escape from jail, foil Frosby's scheme, and return behind bars just in time to play in a prison all-star baseball game! Nonsensical to say the least, Up the River is also a film that's hard to dislike. It was remade by 20th Century-Fox in 1938, with Preston S. Foster and Tony Martin respectively in the Tracy and Bogart roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, (more)
- 1930
This drama is set during Prohibition and follows the exploits of a spoiled brat with overly permissive parents. He soaks them for as much money has he can get and then squanders the money in an illicit speak-easy where he has fallen for the lovely singer. Unfortunately, she is a gangster's moll. The gangster befriends the smitten youth with the ulterior motive of using him as the pigeon in a murder he just committed. When his mother learns about the mess, she turns her own son over to the cops. Fortunately, the youth goes before a stern, but kind-hearted judge who suspends the sentence, but not before delivering a serious message. The chastened youth vows to put his hard-drinking, rebellious days behind him and goes on to lead a productive life. Keep a sharp eye out for Bela Lugosi in a small part. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Albertson, H.B. Warner, (more)
- 1929
In this college campus musical comedy from director James Tinling, the first film in which John Wayne received billing (though it's as Duke Morrison), Lois Moran stars as Mary, a pretty young singer who is sought after by two competing composers. Wayne plays Phil, one of the two rival songwriters who are vying not only for the girl, but for a 1,500-dollar prize for writing the best show tune. Mary agrees to sing each of their entries in the contest, but in the end she can only choose one of the young men. Songs include "Too Wonderful for Words," by William Kernell, Dave Stamper, Paul Gerard Smith, and Edmund Joseph; "Stepping Along," also by Kernell; and "Shadows," by Con Conrad, Sidney Mitchell, and Archie Gottler. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Moran, Tom Patricola, (more)
- 1929
Dixie Lee, best known to latter-day viewers as the first wife of Bing Crosby, essayed a leading role in the early Fox talkie Why Leave Home?. Things get under way when suburban matrons Ethel (Ilka Chase), Susan (Dot Farley) and Maude (Laura Hamilton) discover that their husbands George (Jed Prouty), Elmer (Walter Catlett) and Roy (Gordon DeMain) have been "stepping out" with some chorus girls. To get even, the ladies hire college boys Jose (Richard Keene), Oscar (David Rollins) and Dick (Nick Stuart) as their "gigolos." Caught in the middle are the collegiates' showgirl sweethearts Billie (Dixie Lee), Jackie (Jean Barry) and Mary (Sue Carol). Inevitably, all fifteen protagonists meet at a nightclub, leading to a cascade of slapstick complications. A remake of 1928's The Cradle Snatchers, Why Leave Home? was itself remade as Let's Face It in 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
