Charles Kemper Movies

Robert Ryan plays Jim Wilson, a tough police detective embittered by years of dealing with low-life urban scum, in Nicholas Ray's moving film noir. After severely beating several suspects, Jim is assigned to a case far from the city to find the killer of a young girl. Joining the manhunt, in snow-covered terrain, Wilson finds himself paired with the victim's father, Walter Brent (Ward Bond), who plans to shoot the killer himself. When the two men come upon a cabin occupied by Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), a blind woman who is also the killer's sister, Wilson's life is changed forever. Mary, a generous and loving person who has cared for her mentally ill brother Danny (Sumner Williams) since the death of their parents, convinces Wilson to protect Danny from Brent. Wilson also promises to get help for Danny if he surrenders to him. Inspired by Mary's courage and recognizing Brent's rage as the mirror image of his own, Wilson gains the insight to free himself from his own blindness. The film includes a memorable score by Alfred Hitchcock favorite Bernard Herrmann. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

Beautiful Adele Mara, who Republic Pictures took for granted for far too long, finally gets a chance to shine in this fine Western produced and directed by the dependent Joseph Kane. Mara plays Beth Martin, an Easterner traveling west to be reunited with her brother, Bob (Bill Williams). But Bob is not quite the hard-working miner that Beth and kid brother Tommy (Peter Miles) believed him to be and the newcomers quickly find themselves caught between double-crossing saloon owners Mike Prescott (Forrest Tucker) and Lincoln Corey (Jim Davis). Estelita Rodriguez, as Bob Martin's faithful girlfriend, performs "Second Hand Romance" and "I'm Goin' Round in Circles," both by Jack Elliott and Harold Spina. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Wagon Master, splendidly directed by John Ford, is a superlative western. The film is the outwardly simple tale of a Mormon wagon train headed for Utah. Along the way, the group, led by Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond) hook up with two horse traders Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy Owens (Harry Carey Jr), the members of a traveling medicine show and a tribe of Navajo Indians. The group is threatened by a gang, known as the Clegg family, who have robbed an express office and murdered the clerk. This wonderful film emphasizes the virtues of solidarity, sacrifice and tolerance, and shows John Ford at his most masterful, in total control of the production from the casting to the bit players to the grandeur and scope of the visual compositions. The film, with its breathtaking scenery, brilliant performances by a cast of character actors, and an engaging sense of humor, is a superlative example of the American western. Wagonmaster inspired the television series Wagon Train and was also shown in a computer-colorized version ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Bing Crosby stars as Paul Merrick, an irresponsible songwriter in Mr. Music. Merrick's improvidence and prodigality has made him persona non grata in show business, so his secretary Katherine Holbrook (Nancy Olson) takes it upon herself to rehabilitate her boss. Meanwhile, producer Alex Conway (Charles Coburn) desperately needs a hit show to survive. Conway takes a chance on Merrick, who then enlists several of Katherine's college-student friends to put on a musical revue. All the group needs now is some money--$300,000, to be exact. Mr. Music is enlivened by several guest-star appearances, including Marge & Gower Champion, Dorothy Kirsten, Peggy Lee, the Merry Macs, and Groucho Marx who performs an amusing vaudeville turn with Crosby. Director Richard Haydn shows up in a pivotal cameo role, billed as "Claude Curdle." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in the early 1900s, Adventure in Baltimore is a romantic comedy about the woman's suffrage movement. Shirley Temple plays a student at an exclusive girl's school who "sees the light" and begins campaigning for women's rights. This doesn't sit well with her minister father (Robert Young) nor with Temple's boyfriend (John Agar, then married to Temple). Eventually, Temple's dad is won over to his daughter's point of view, and delivers an impassioned sermon on tolerance and individual rights for the edification of the hidebound townspeople. Like most of Shirley Temple's "grown up" films, Adventure in Baltimore was a disappointment at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Randolph Scott both co-produced and starred in this above average Western chronicling the career of one of the last of the legendary Western outlaws. When the Dalton gang is ambushed by U.S. Marshals, Bill Doolin (Scott), the last surviving member, forms his own group of bank robbers that includes Red Buck (Frank Fenton), Arkansas Tom Jones (Charles Kemper), and Bitter Creek (John Ireland). Although the gang is widely successful, things quickly heat up to a point where Doolin advises his men to lay low before reuniting after three months. Hiding out in a church in Claymore, Doolin is befriended by Deacon Burton (Griff Barnett), whose daughter, Elaine (Virginia Huston), he begins to court and eventually marries under the alias of Daley. But the past catches up with the former outlaw soon enough and he is forced to skip town. Resuming their illegal occupation, the Doolin gang is finally cornered in Ingalls, where Tulsa (Jock Mahoney) is killed and Arkansas captured. Doolin and surviving gang member Little Billy (Noah Beery Jr.) hide out at the former Daley homestead, where, to their surprise, Elaine has been patiently waiting for the return of her husband. Determined to leave his old life for good, Doolin plans to flee with Elaine to an unclaimed area between Kansas and Texas, but an old foe, Marshal Sam Hughes (George Macready), is waiting in the wings. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western the two sons of the commanding officer of an outpost attempt to clear their father's name after he is accused of conspiring with the Indians and is forced to resign. To prove his innocence, the men use terribly different methods. The older one, an adventurer, approaches suspects directly, while the younger, an army officer, choose a more subtle, methodical approach. Their different methods serve to temporarily alienate them from each other until at last the truth is discovered. The real traitor is a silver tycoon who framed their pa so he could buy up the Indian land and exploit it for it's valuable ore. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The deep unbreakable bond between a wild stallion and the boy he rescues is chronicled in this children's adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Zane Grey, that bottomless bounty of inspiration for Hollywood westerns, wrote the novel upon which Gunfighters was based. Randolph Scott stars as a gunslinger who's vowed to kill no more. He goes to work for a land baron (Griff Barnett) who's been driving out neighboring ranchers by fair means and foul. The baron's nice daughter (Dorothy Hart) falls for Scott, while the girl's nastier sister (Barbara Britton) is obsessed by her father's vicious henchman Bruce Cabot. Scott eventually chooses the right side in the ranch war, leading to a showdown with Cabot--and the breaking of his vow to never again fire a gun. Gunfighters was photographed in Cinecolor, a process that produced pleasing reds and blues but ignored yellows and greens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

Producer/director William A. Wellman also co-scripted this biopic devoted to John J. Montgomery (Glenn Ford), the unsung 19th-century innovator of glider design. Montgomery's invention of a gold separator proves lucrative, but he pours its profits into financing his legal battles over patent infringement. The gliders created by Montgomery attract attention but no money, and he begins a relationship with Regina Cleary (Janet Blair), which helps sustain him. But when Montgomery becomes afflicted with vertigo and can no longer fly, he sickens and dies. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Masterfully directed by Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street is a bleak film in which an ordinary man succumbs first to vice and then to murder. Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a lonely man married to a nagging wife. Painting is the only thing that brings him joy. Cross meets Kitty (Joan Bennett) who, believing him to be a famous painter, begins an affair with him. Encouraged by her lover, con man Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) Kitty persuades Cross to embezzle money from his employer in order to pay for her lavish apartment. In that apartment, happy for the first time in his life, Cross paints Kitty's picture. Johnny then pretends that Kitty painted to portrait, which has won great critical acclaim. Finally realizing he has been manipulated, Cross kills Kitty, loses his job, and because his name has been stolen by Kitty, is unable to paint. He suffers a mental breakdown as the film ends, haunted by guilt. Kitty and Johnny are two of the most amoral and casual villains in the history of film noir, both like predatory animals completely without conscience. Milton Krasner's photography is excellent in its use of stark black-and-white to convey psychological states. Fritz Lang is unparalleled in his ability to convey the desperation of hapless, naïve victims in a cruelly realistic world. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide