Andrea King Movies

Brilliant surgeon Dr. Frank N. Stein (John Hart) employs a new experimental technique on horribly-wounded Vietnam veteran EddieTurner (Joe De Sue), combining restorative surgery to his limbs with injections of altered DNA. Problems arise when Stein's assistant becomes insanely jealous of Ed's girlfriend and switches the DNA injections, resulting in Eddie's transformation into a lumbering monster with a cylindrical Afro and a fondness for attacking scantily-clad women and popping off people's heads like champagne corks. A poorly-conceived attempt to put a "blaxploitation" spin on another classic horror pantheon (in the mode of the far-superior Blacula released the previous year), this film emphasizes crude exploitation at the expense of creativity, leaving only a gory, misogynist mess. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A weird little low-budget item featuring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine as the DeSarde brothers, a pair of sorcerers with opposing powers. The evil brother (Chaney) sports devil's horns and torments the captive guests at the DeSarde mansion, while the invalid benevolent brother (Carradine) languishes in his sickbed. This lackluster production is hampered by a weak story overstuffed with metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and spiced up with belly-dancers and cut-price werewolves, and it keeps its dueling warlocks (who look decidedly bored with the entire ordeal) from sharing any scenes together. Apparently three separate directors contributed footage to this project; the resulting lack of cohesion is obvious. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

On the verge of marrying jazz musician Eddy King (James Drury), Polly Courtland (Jo Morrows) lets out a shriek and runs out of the church. It turns out that Polly had seen George Sherwin (Grant Richards]), who was waving an envelope containing compromising photos of Polly's sister Midge (Lorrie Richards). Later confronting Polly, Sherwin promises to destroy the photos if she will give up Eddy and marry him. Inevitably, Sherwin is murdered and Eddy is charged with the crime--obliging Perry Mason (Perry Mason), who'd been a guest at the interrupted wedding, to handle his defense. Cast as nightclub singer Jonny Baker, future daytime-drama diva Constance Towers) sings "The Man I Love" and "The Thrill is Gone"; also, Barney Kessel, who composed the episode's jazzy musical score, appears as Spec Hollister. Finally, Karl Held joins the cast in the semi-regular role of Mason's legal assistant David Gideon, a character introduced (as a defendant!) in the previous episode "The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather". (Trivia note: though originally listed in TV Guide as Perry Mason's fifth-season opener, this episode was actually that season's third entry, preceded by two "leftover" episodes from Season Four). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Someone has stolen the confidential tapes of conversations between psychiatrist David Craig (Dick Foran) and his patients, and is using those tapes for blackmail. It so happens that Dr. Craig is in love with his nurse Edith (Marianne Stewart), whose brother Mark (Barry McGuire) who is in big trouble with the "mob" and is the primary suspect in the theft of the tapes. When Mark is murdered, Craig is charged, and Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) swings into action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Garner stars as WWII hero Major William Darby in this characteristically gusty William Wellman combat film. Darby organizes a highly-trained group of rangers, to be deployed in behind-the-lines activities in Italy and Northern Africa. The first portion of the film details the training, with time out for a few comic and romantic interludes; the second part shows Darby's Rangers in full, ferocious action. In addition to Garner, Warner Bros. used Darby's Rangers to spotlight another of its TV stars, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes; Bill Wellman Jr. also shows up in the supporting role of Eli Clatworthy. The film was adapted from the book by Major James Altieri. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren, this Southern potboiler stars Yvonne DeCarlo as Amantha Starr, the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner. When her father unexpectedly dies, Amantha discovers that her father was deep in debt and the family is penniless, and she is forced to drop out of the exclusive girls' school she was attending. What's more, it is discovered that Amantha has a small amount of African-American blood, and under the laws she is to be sold into slavery in New Orleans. Amantha is purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), a dashing, wealthy, but mysterious landowner. While Amantha is at first terrified by her new situation, in time she grows fond of Hamish and becomes romantically involved with him. However, the outbreak of the Civil War leads to Union forces taking New Orleans; RauRu (Sidney Poitier), Hamish's trusted overseer, joins the Northern forces as the Rebels go down in defeat. RauRu hates Amantha for literally sleeping with the enemy, and Hamish for the corrupt system he represents, but his last remaining threads of loyalty prevent him from taking them prisoner. With his crops destroyed, Hamish must rebuild his empire from the ground up, and, as he joins forces with his former associate Capt. Canavan (Torin Thatcher), he must reveal a shameful secret to Amantha: he once earned his living as a slave trader. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn play two seal-hunting rivals in this adventure film set in the days when Alaska was a Russian territory. Peck is adventuring seafarer Jonathan Clark, who falls in love with Russian Countess Marina Selanova (Ann Blyth) while the countess is in San Francisco fleeing an arranged marriage to the vile Prince Semyon (Carl Esmond). The Countess wants to hire a ship to take her to Sitka, AK, where her uncle, General Ivan Vorashilov (Sig Rumann), is governor. Portugee (Quinn) can't raise money for the voyage, so the countess agrees to sail with Clark, and the two quickly fall in love. But Prince Semyon sails into San Francisco just as Clark and the Countess are about to be wed, and the prince abducts her and takes her to Alaska, threatening to kill her uncle if she doesn't marry him. Clark and Portugee then agree to race to Alaska, with the winner getting the other's ship and the seal catch. Clark's boat wins the race, but the Russians arrest both the men as seal poachers. Countess Marina agrees to marry Semyon if he will order the seal hunters released. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Damon Runyon's Broadway fable The Lemon Drop Kid was filmed twice by Paramount Pictures, but only the 1934 version with Lee Tracy paid more than lip service to the original Runyon story. The second version, filmed in 1951, was completely retooled to accommodate the talents of Bob Hope. Known far and wide as the Lemon Drop Kid because of his fondness for that particular round, yellow confection, Hope is a bookie who finds himself deeply in debt to Florida gangster Fred Clark. Magnanimously, Clark permits Hope to head to New York to raise the money--but he'd better have the dough ready by Christmas, or else. Ever on the lookout for Number One, Hope decides to exploit the Christmas spirit in order to get the money together. With the help of unsuspecting nightclub-singer Marilyn Maxwell, Hope sets up a charity fund to raise money for an "Old Doll's Home"--that is, a home for down-and-out little old ladies. He claims to be doing this on behalf of big-hearted Jane Darwell, but he has every intention of double-crossing Darwell and all the other elderly women by skipping town with the charity funds and leaving them at the mercy of the authorities. By the time Hope has seen the error of his ways and tries to do right by the old dolls, Maxwell's boss Lloyd Nolan has decided to muscle into the racket by using the ladies' home as a front for a gambling casino. To set things right, Hope finds it necessary to disguise himself as a fussy old spinster at one point. The best line in the film goes to William Frawley, playing one of many Broadway toughs who are being pressed into service as street-corner Santas. "Will you bring me a doll for Christmas?" asks a little girl. "Naw, my doll's workin' Christmas Eve" is Frawley's salty reply. The Lemon Drop Kid is the film in which Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell introduced the enduring Yuletide ballad "Silver Bells", written (reportedly in a real hurry) by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title tells all--or at least most--in I Was a Shoplifter. The title character, played by Mona Freeman, is Faye Burton, a well-off socialite suffering from kleptomania. Faye falls into the hands of a professional shoplifting ring headed by Herb Claxton (Charles Drake) and Ina Perdue (Andrea King), who want to exploit her high-society connections. It's up to undercover agent Jeff Andrews (Scott Brady) to save Faye from the villains--and from herself. Cast as a brutish henchman is one Anthony Curtis, who grew up to become you-know-who. Featured in a role so small that it wasn't listed in the studio's official credits is still another star in the making: Rock Hudson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of 20th Century Fox's semi-documentary "Now it can be told" films, Monogram Picture's "A" division Allied Artists came up with Southside 1-1000. The U.S. Secret Service goes after a gang of counterfeiters, whose engraver (Morris Ankrum) has covertly constructed his plates while in prison. A federal agent (Don DeFore) poses as the counterfeiters' contact man in order to purchase enough bills to incriminate the gang. The final fight-to-the-death scene was filmed aboard Los Angeles' "Angel's Flight," a cable-car service dangling 40 feet above the ground. Southside 1-1000 was based on a true story, as narrator Gerald Mohr points out on several occasions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Montgomery directed and starred in this exotic film noir set during a New Mexico fiesta. Montgomery plays a secretive ex-GI who plans to extort money from a prominent gangster (Fred Clark) as retribution for the death of Montgomery's best friend. An FBI man (Art Smith) would like the government to get the incriminating information on the gangster that Montgomery is carrying. Trailed by the FBI agent, Montgomery takes refuge at an old carousel, where he meets a Mexican gamin (Wanda Hendrix) who refuses to leave his side. The girl is on hand when the gangster catches up with Montgomery and has him beaten. She nurses Montgomery back to health, but the would-be blackmailer is determined to confront the gangster again. This time, however, the FBI agent comes to the rescue. Ride the Pink Horse is a properly moody melodrama, containing one of the few truly good performances from eternal ingenue Wanda Hendrix. The film was remade for TV in 1964 as The Hanged Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ida "Don't mess with me" Lupino takes a job as a singer in Robert Alda's seedy Santa Monica nitery. Lupino ignores Alda's advances to cultivate a romance with pianist Bruce Bennett. Alda uses his connections with the Mob to break up the relationship--and also, hopefully, to break up Bennett into little pieces. Logic is not the film's strong suit, but it scores on atmosphere and tension. Man I Love served as the inspiration for Martin Scorcese's much-later New York, New York. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide