Judy Kelly Movies

Over ten years after making the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper returns to his deranged family of reclusive cannibals for another round of chainsaw chases and non-stop screaming. Hooper brings a real budget this time (having recently directed Poltergeist for Steven Spielberg) and the talents of veteran make-up artist Tom Savini. This means he can make things bigger, louder, and gorier than ever before -- and they are. He also brings a wacky, self-deprecating sense of humor, as if deliberately flaunting Texas Chainsaw Massacre's status as one of the first and still greatest "splatter" movies. The result is an impish take-off on the original film (and contemporary horror movies in general) that elevates its own clichés -- buckets of blood and gore, droll dialogue, the screaming female lead -- to the level of high camp. The movie is loosely concerned with a small-town disc jockey named "Stretch" (Caroline Williams, who does most of the screaming) and an embittered Texas Ranger named "Lefty" (Dennis Hopper). They team up and decide to put an end to the murderous activities of the Sawyer family once and for all (that is, of course, until Texas Chainsaw Massacre III). The real highlight of the film is when Stretch and Lefty find their way into the Sawyer family hideout -- a ruinous, winding abattoir underneath an abandoned amusement park -- and engage in a chainsaw-battle-to-the-death with Leatherface (Bill Johnson) and the rest of the clan. Jim Siedow is back from the first film as the acerbic Drayton Sawyer, the family cook and owner of the Last Roundup Rolling Grill. Chop-Top (Bill Moseley) and Leatherface do most of the movie's dirty work. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

Hollywood films were linking up dance halls with criminal activities long before the British-made Dancing with Crime, which does not mean that this 1949 melodrama is any less worthwhile. Adding a contemporary twist, the criminals operating within the shilling-a-dance joint are black marketeers (wartime rationing would be in effect in Britain until the early 1950s). A wisecracking taxi dancer (Sheila Sim) gets wind of what's afoot. Working with the law, the girl tries to get the goods on the criminals but nearly catches a shiv in the rib cage. 1930s crime-film star Barry K. Barnes co-stars in Dancing with Crime, together with up-and-comer Richard Attenborough. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The inspiration for this British seriocomedy was Victor Skutezky's stage play She Met Him One Sunday. "She" is Moya Malone (Barbara White), an Irish maid living in Liverpool. "He" is Tom Stevens (Robert Beatty), a Canadian sailor. That "one Sunday" is a busy one, encompassing a few romantic strolls down the dock, Moya's renouncing of her servant status, and a run-in with crooks. Playwright Skutezky also served as producer of It Happened One Sunday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tomorrow we Live is the more upbeat American title of the British war drama At Dawn we Die. When his village is overtaken by Nazis, Frenchman Jean Baptiste (John Clements) tries to go to England. Armed with secret information about a German submarine base, Jean hopes to avenge his countrymen. Unfortunately, thanks to inquisitive soldiers and fifth columnists, Jean may never make it to the White Cliffs of Dover. On the plus side, however, Jean's fellow patriots do their best to sabotage the enemy until the (hopefully) inevitable day of Liberation. The strangest aspect of Tomorrow we Live is that all the Frenchmen are played by popular British actors, despite the influx of French expatriates in the United Kingdom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The modest but intriguing British melodrama At the Villa Rose was released in the U.S. by Monogram and given the more prosaic title House of Mystery. A gang of clever thieves kill a wealthy woman in hopes of stealing her gems. But the thieves aren't clever enough to ascertain the location of those gems, so they consult a phony spiritualist (Ruth Maitland). Then they decide to dispose of the mystic by framing her for the murder. Inspector Hanaud (Kenneth Kent) is called in on the case, meticulously piecing the puzzle together and determining the identities of the real culprits. House of Mystery was based on a story by A.E.W. Mason, better known for such British-empire tomes as The Four Feathers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a wealthy businessman, is at long last reunited with his estranged son, an oily-tongued salesman who has been working for him for ages. Meanwhile, the salesman is in love with a pretty young woman. Trouble ensues when a psychic predicts that the father will die in a car wreck involving the son. Sure enough, the father does indeed die in a car crash, but the son survives to deal with it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this family comedy, the life of a suburban clan is disrupted when they learn that two old friends are coming to call. The house is thrown into a tizzy as they struggle to prepare. One of the three brothers then chooses an inopportune moment to announce that he is planning to marry the maid. The cook then organizes a kitchen strike. Finally things settle down, and the household is ready to entertain the esteemed guests -- they never show up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

North Sea Patrol is a remake of the 1927 film of the same name; both were adapted from Luck of the Navy, a stage play by Mrs. Clifford Mills. Using a few clips of actual battleships for versimilitude, the film concerns a covert plan by an unnamed enemy nation to invade the sacred shores of England. The spies disguise themselves as the household servants of an admiral, so it can be said with some assurance that this is one picture in which the butler did it. Coming to the rescue is the admiral's daughter (Judy Kelly) and her dashing young navy officer beau (Geoffrey Toone). Made just before the outbreak of WW2, North Sea Patrol was promoted as "up to date" entertainment, even though its source material was nearly twenty years old. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a young man must give up smokin' and drinkin' if he is to get his large inheritance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

British groom-to-be Billy Milton is labelled a "beast" by French floozie Ellen Pollock as Milton marches down the aisle. The groom's father, Robertson Hare, endeavors to prove his son's innocence. Removing his trademarked monocle, Hare poses as the boy's maiden aunt to get the goods on Pollock. Leading lady June Clyde, who moved from Hollywood to England in pursuit of better film roles, stands around a lot as the beautiful bride. Aren't Men Beasts? was based on the stage farce by Vernon Sylvaine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alan (Frank Leighton) is engaged to Mary (Judy Kelly), a girl living in coastal Devonshire. While Alan is on a business trip, a man is murdered, and all evidence points to our hero, who is unable to establish an alibi. Sentenced to prison, Alan escapes, only to find out that Mary, convinced that her former fiancee is a murderer, has married another. Slowly but surely, Mary comes to believe in Alan's innocence -- a fact that does not bode well for her husband, who up until the revelatory final reel insists that he's Alan's best friend. There are few surprises in the outcome of Last Chance, but the film is professionally assembled and ably acted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A wealthy doctor's bratty son throws a temper tantrum when his father denies him a car. To get even, the spoiled sprout heads for France to join a gang of car thieves. Fortunately, his devoted father speeds across the Channel to save him from further travels down a ruinous road. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide