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

Kenneth Daly (Scott Hylands) is the right-wing anti-abortion fanatic who snaps when his girlfriend has an abortion. The couple naturally breaks up, but Kenneth remains bent for revenge against Cathy (Carol White). She goes on to marry a politician, but the vengeful Kenneth returns and subjects her to mental torture in an effort to get her to kill her child as revenge for the previous abortion in this disturbing drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Louis B. Mayer's nephew Gerald proved himself an able director with the MGM "B" thriller Dial 1119. Marshall Thompson stars as an emotionally disturbed young man who pulls out a gun at a bar and holds the patrons hostage. As the police gather outside, the film concentrates on the various bar customers, each of whom has his or her own deep-rooted problems. Thompson is on the verge of killing everyone around him when a telephoned ruse breaks the crisis. A raw-nerved 75 minutes' worth of entertainment, Dial 1119 was a personal favorite of actress Virginia Field, who played one of the hostages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Such was the prevailing mood among filmgoers in 1943 that God Is My Co-Pilot was allowed to show a spiritual shaft of light in the sky and several scenes of enemy pilots spitting up blood when shot down by American bullets. The film was based on the best-selling novel by fighter pilot Col. Robert Lee Scott Jr., who fought in the Pacific during World War II. At 34, Scott was told he was too old to fly in combat, but he proved his worth as a member of the Flying Tigers. Dennis Morgan plays Scott with pious sincerity, while the more traditional "regular guy" roles went to such stalwarts as Dane Clark and Alan Hale. Like most aerial combat films of the era, God Is My Co-Pilot soars highest when its characters stay off the ground and away from all that pontificating dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vicki Baum, the author of the novel Grand Hotel, also wrote this similarly structured tale about a group of disparate characters brought together in a towering hotel in Germany as the nation teeters on the verge of collapse near the end of World War II. Martin Richter (Helmut Dantine), a member of Germany's anti-Nazi underground, has escaped from a prison camp and is now on the run from the Gestapo; he's hiding out at the Hotel Berlin, once a palace of luxury but now a shadow of it's former glory. Martin used to work with Johannes Koenig (Peter Lorre), once a renowned scientist before he was forced to use his gifts for his Nazi captors; he now lives under an assumed name and scrapes by as a waiter rather than support the Axis war machine. Arnim Von Dahnwitz (Raymond Massey) is a disgraced Nazi general on the outs with Gestapo leader Joachim Helm (George Coulouris), who has a lot on his mind -- he's looking for Martin, he's riding herd over Arnim, and he has designs on Arnim's mistress, Lisa Dorn (Andrea King). Lisa, a stage actress of some success, is one of the few at the hotel who is able to live in some semblance of the glamour of Berlin's glory days; her wardrobe makes her the envy of Tillie Weiller (Faye Emerson), the hotel's concierge who pretends to be everyone's friend but is actually keeping tabs on the anti-Nazi activities of her tenants and is preparing to turn them in to the Gestapo. Hotel Berlin was completed in great haste, since midway through production it became obvious that Berlin would soon fall and the war in Europe would be over. Warner Bros. was so eager to get the film into theaters -- before the war's end would make the film seem dated -- that Hotel Berlin went through the studio's editing department in less than a week. ~ Mark Deming, 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

En route from Tucson to the town of Ten Strike, Bret (James Garner) makes the acquaintance of Frankie French (Connie Stevens), a former saloon dancer. Frankie has been summoned to Ten Strike by a mysterious benefactor whom she has never met. Upon her arrival in town, Frankie discovers that her benefactor has murdered and that she is the main suspect--and when Bret tries to help the girl out, he is told to get out of town pronto. . .or else! In addition to a pre-stardom Connie Stevens (who would soon rise to fame on another Warner Bros. series, Hawaiian Eye), this episode affords TV buffs a glimpse of a young, pre-Batman Adam West, here cast as a vicious gunslinger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) heads to California, there to link up with her niece Victoria (Genie Francis), now employed as a real estate broker. Showing up at a dilapidated mansion to close a deal with the house's owner, Victoria finds that the owner is in no mood to bargain--mainly because he's dead. Inevitably, Victoria is held on suspicion, obliging Jessica to get her niece off the hook once again. Dean Butler (Little House on the Prairie) takes over from Jeff Conaway in the role of Victoria's husband Howard. ~ Hal Erickson, 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

This is the last of four consecutive episodes in which Perry Mason appears only briefly, while a "guest" lawyer handles the case at hand (Raymond Burr was at the time recovering from minor surgery). Walter Pigeon stars as corporation lawyer Sherman Hatfield, who in Perry's absence tackles his first murder case. Hatfield's client is scatterbrained Hollis Wilburn (Joyce Bulifant), charged with the murder of her uncle John Wilburn (Carl Benton Reid), a high-profile industrialist who was being blackmailed by someone who knew of his illegal Swiss bank account. Excluded from the original Perry Mason syndicated rerun package in 1966, this episode would not be seen again until it was shown on cable TV in the mid-1990s. ~ 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