Robert Kellard Movies

After Ray Milland turned down the leading role in Bride of Vengeance, Paramount contractee John Lund stepped into the role of Alfonso D'Este, second husband of the notorious Lucrezia Borgia. The ruthlessly ambitious Lucrezia is played by Paulette Goddard, who seems ill at ease in the role. MacDonald Carey is better suited to his assignment as Cesar Borgia, the real villain of the piece. The plot proper gets under way when Lucrezia seeks revenge for her first husband's murder. The supporting cast is an odd lot, especially Billy Gilbert as Beppo, a wandering minstrel. A far better recreation of the Borgia "regime" was offered in the like-vintage Prince of Foxes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yet another comic book hero -- Tex Granger of Calling All Boys fame -- came to the serial screen courtesy of cheapskate producer Sam Katzman. To save a buck, Katzman cast a nonentity named Robert Kellard, who despite former serial exposure in King of the Royal Mounted (1940), Drums of Fu Manchu (1940) and the starring role in Perils of the Royal Mounted (1942) had singularly failed to persuade the small fry of his true hero credentials. But here he was again, this time playing the new owner of the daily newspaper in the small Western community of Three Buttes. The citizenry proves a tough crowd to please, however, what with the local marshal, Blaze Talbot (former singing cowboy Smith Ballew), being in cahoots with a gang of gold thieves headed by a loan shark (I. Stanford Jolley). To battle the forces of evil, Tex dons the ever-popular disguise of masked rider and becomes the avenging "Midnight Rider of the Plains." There is a dog and a young child (Buzz henry), who get in the way of things on occasion, not to mention a damsel-in-distress (Peggy Stewart) and the ever present rustic (big-nosed Britt Wood). Although four hack writers claimed the screenplay to be an original, Tex Granger "borrowed" its story from a 1926 William Boyd vehicle, The Last Frontier, which itself had been copied by RKO's serial department in 1932. Whatever the origins, the results were doleful and not even the usually so tolerable Miss Stewart, on loan from Republic Pictures, could do much with this dud. Leading man Robert Kellard gave up his screen career soon after. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This suspenseful crime drama reenacts the famed 1947 prison break out of the Canon City, Colorado corrections facility and features the actual warden, Roy Best playing himself. The trouble begins when one prisoner manages to fashion a crude pistol. Enlisting the aid of eleven others, they successfully escape and terrorize the town until the warden and his men manage to round up the survivors and bring them back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When wealthy Ballin Mundson (George Macready) rescues down at his heels gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) and invites him to the Buenos Aires casino he owns, both men get more than they wagered on. Farrell convinces Mundson to hire him as casino manager, but is shocked when Mundson introduces his new bride, and Farrell's old flame, Gilda (Rita Hayworth).Though Farrell is unwavering in his loyalty to his employer, and he and Gilda treat each other with contempt, Mundson realizes that the torch never died for either of the former lovers. Ordered to guard Gilda, Farrell tries to convince himself that he's protecting Mundson's interests, but Gilda sees through his self-deception. Meanwhile, Mundson reveals to Farrell that his primary business is control of an international tungsten cartel that he plans to use to further his fascist ends. With the police closing in on the cartel, Mundson fakes his death, apparently leaving Gilda and Farrell free to marry. They do so: Gilda for love, but Farrell to punish her for being unfaithful to Mundson. When Mundson returns to kill them, it is he who dies, thereby freeing the lovers to apologize to each other and return to the U.S. Charles Vidor's Gilda is a voyeuristic film noir treat that engages the viewer in a complex web of sado-masochistic triangles. When, for example, Gilda performs her signature number, "Put the Blame on Mame," she is not simply enraging both Mundson and Farrell with her open sexuality, she is also crying out in pain for the love she is being denied. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

Rosalind Russell plays aspiring Ohio journalist Ruth Sherwood, who heads for New York to seek her fortune, accompanied by her sister, Eileen (Janet Blair), an aspiring actress. The girls take a basement apartment in Greenwich Village, which becomes a gathering place for several oddball characters, including a football jock (Gordon Jones), his silly wife (Miss Jeff Donnell) and an eternally drunken fortuneteller (June Havoc). Ruth tries to sell her writing, but is advised by a friendly magazine editor (Brian Aherne) that she'll never succeed unless she writes from her own experiences. Meanwhile, Eileen is continually getting in trouble due to her ingenuous attractiveness. Ruth secures an assignment to interview several visiting Portuguese sailors, who follow her to her apartment, are immediately entranced by Eileen, and break up the joint with an impromptu conga line. Everyone ends up in jail, and it looks as though Ruth is going to have to leave New York without achieving success. But when Ruth begins writing about her life with her sister Eileen, she becomes a success -- and wins the love of the magazine editor in the bargain. My Sister Eileen was based on a series of autobiographical articles by real-life writer Ruth McKenney, who with Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodhorov adapted these stories into a Broadway play. The play was later musicalized for the stage as Wonderful Town (again with Rosalind Russell), while the film version was itself adapted into a separate movie musical in 1955. There was also a brief 1960 TV series, starring Elaine Stritch and Shirley Bonne. As an added fillip, the 1942 My Sister Eileen includes a fleeting guest appearance by the Three Stooges! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The outwardly respectable middle-aged couple behind Hollywood's most successful escort service finds their lucrative empire unexpectedly threatened when their daughter returns home from a surprise visit in the arms of an undercover investigator from the District Attorney. For the right price, Ruth Ashley and Greg Stone will find any man a suitable companion. Their clandestine prostitution business presided over by stealthy ex-con Breezy Nolan, Ruth and Greg use their wealth to send unsuspecting daughter June away to an expensive boarding school in hopes of protecting her from the ugly truth. When June drops in for a surprise visit with handsome beau Drake Hamilton, however, the seams in the ruse finally begin to show. Unbeknownst to June, Drake is an undercover investigator from the District Attorney's office who's been sent to gather enough evidence to have the business shut down, and her parents prosecuted. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This fourth entry in MGM's Thin Man series could just as well have been titled "Nick and Nora Charles Go to the Races". Officially retired from sleuthing, Nick Charles (William Powell) does his best to be a dutiful husband to his lovely wife Nora (Myrna Loy) and a good father to his young son Nick Jr. (Dickie Hall). But when murder rears its ugly head at the local race track, Nick is called in by Major Jason I. Sculley (Henry O'Neill), head of the New York athletic commission, to help solve the case. As usual, there is no shortage of suspects: This time the "rogue's gallery" includes high-rolling gamblers Link Stevens (Loring Smith) and Fred Macy (Joseph Anthony); Link's hoity-toity girlfriend Claire Porter (played by legendary acting teacher Stella Adler); two-bit tout "Rainbow" Benny Loomis (Lou Lubin); reporters Whitey Barrow (Paul Kelly) and Paul Clarke (Barry Nelson); and Clarke's sweetheart Molly Ford (Donna Reed). Highlights include a zany episode on a department-store merry-go-round, an outsized brawl at a fancy sea-food restaurant, and the inevitable gathering together of suspects in the offices of police lieutenant Abrams (Sam Levene). The flippant nature of Shadow of the Thin Man can be attributed to screenwriters Irving Brecher and Harry Kurnitz, both longtime friends and associates of comedian Groucho Marx. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Every time that sinister Oriental megalomaniac Dr. Fu Manchu is ready to kill, sounds of strange drums can be heard coming from -- well, nowhere really. In 1939, Republic Pictures purchased the rights to the first six of British pulp fiction writer Sax Rohmer's popular "Fu Manchu" stories. The result became the studio's second longest action serial and one of its most enduringly popular. The head of a sinister conglomeration known as the Si-Fan, Dr. Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon) goes in search of the Sacred Scepter of Genghis Khan, with which he hopes to rule all the tribes of the Orient and evict the foreign infidels. Helping the good doctor is Fah-Lo-Suee (Gloria Franklin), his Eurasian daughter, and a seemingly unlimited supply of Dacoits, henchmen turned into slaves by having undergone frontal lobotomies. Dr. Fu Manchu is, as always, opposed by Sir Neyland Smith (William Royle) of the British Foreign Office. This time, however, Sir Neyland is not only aided by his very own "Dr. Watson," Dr. Petrie (Olaf Hytten), but also by a young American, Allan Parker (Robert Kellard), whose father (George Cleveland) had become yet another of Fu Manchu's many victims. Complicating the search is the attractive presence of Mary Randolph (Luana Walters) who, like most of her ilk, has a tendency to get herself into serious trouble at the most inopportune moments. Although the Oriental fiend appears all-powerful at times, Sir Neyland and his friends once again save the free world from enslavement -- although it takes them 15 chapters to do so. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The twelve-chapter serial King of the Royal Mounted stars Allan Lane as Zane Grey's fictional Canadian Mountie Sergeant King. The story involves King hunting down some foreign spies who have entered Canada in order to take back materials that will help wage war against Great Britain. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a miserable wife takes her son and leaves her alcoholic spouse. She ends up traveling to England to begin her new life. There she meets a wealthy Englishman whom she weds. Time passes. The boy grows up and want to return to the States to go to his father's alma mater. Because his father was an athletic hero at the school, he is fondly remembered. The curious boy, hearing all the accolades for his dad, begins looking for him. He finds his estranged father, renews their relationship, and helps his father sober up and begin leading a more productive life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this domestic comedy, a young woman's mother keeps frightening her beaus right out the door with her incessant critical comments. Naturally this is quite frustrating to the girl. But when the maiden falls in love with one of the boy friends, she goes to her father for assistance. He obliges by making sure his wife holds her tongue. Romantic happiness for the young couple ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Not a remake of the 1932 Erich Von Stroheim film of the same name (which was ultimately released as Hello Sister), Walking Down Broadway owes more to the old Warner Bros. melodrama Three on a Match. The story concerns six Broadway chorus girls, who, when their latest show folds on New Years' Eve, make a pact to stage a reunion one year later. And what a year it is! Two of the girls die in accidents, one is framed on a manslaughter charge, and the other three land husbands, one of whom is fabulously wealthy. The most successful of the six is the group's "den mother" Joan Bradley (Clare Trevor), who not only finds the man of her dreams, but also achieves success in the business world. For the record, the other five girls are played by 20th Century-Fox contractees Phyllis Brooks, Leah Ray, Dixie Dunbar, Lynn Bari and Jayne Regan, who like their cinematic counterparts would have mixed success in their future careers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide