Walter Kingsford Movies

Though Merry Andrew is more subdued than earlier Danny Kaye efforts, it's still a lot of fun. Kaye is cast as Andrew Larabee, a mild-mannered but highly unorthodox archeology professor at a British boy's school. While on an expedition in Italy, Andrew allows a traveling circus to pitch camp on his archeological site. Falling in love with Selena (Pier Angeli), the acrobat daughter of carnival owner Antonio Gallini (Salvatore Baccaloni), Professor Larabee soon finds himself participating in their show as a clown, ringmaster, and (accidental) lion-tamer. When time comes for Andrew to return to his stuffy academic existence -- not to mention his equally stuffy fiancée (Patricia Cutts) -- he chooses instead to hit the sawdust trail in the company of the fair Selena. The five Saul Chaplin-Johnny Mercer songs are enjoyable, but the engaging "patter numbers" written by Kaye's wife, Sylvia Fine, are sorely missed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Search for Bridey Murphy was inspired by the purportedly true story of a Colorado housewife named Virginia Tighe, who while under hypnosis insisted that she'd lived a previous life as an 18th century Irish housemaid named Bridey Murphy. The hypnosis sessions were conducted under the supervision of Dr. Morey Bernstein, who later wrote a book on the subject. This hastily assembled filmization of Dr. Bernstein's book stars Teresa Wright as Ruth Simmons (Ms. Tighe's pseudonym) and Louis Hayward as Bernstein. Except for the "astral world" sequences, Search for Bridey Murphy adopts a semi-documentary approach, often to the point of tedium. Bridey Murphy herself is portrayed at various ages by Teresa Wright, Ruth Robinson, Denise Freeborn and Hallene Hill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Suffering stoically from the realization that her husband is unfaithful, wealthy Irene Cole (Leora Dana) is ardently courted by two different men during her vacation. One of the suitors is a gentleman named Randall Burnside (Ralph Clanton); the other is a royal prince named Burhan (Jacques Bergerac). The latter claims to be so smitten by Irene that he threatens to kill himself if she doesn't leave her husband for his sake. Shortly thereafter, the prince turns up dead -- and the story goes off on a wholly unexpected new tangent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Corey Allen, who'd played James Dean's ill-fated "chickie run" opponent in the 1955 feature Rebel without a Cause (and who later became a prolific TV director), is the guest star in this episode. Allen plays Gil Dalliford, who deeply resents the fact that his widowed father Jonathan (Douglas Kennedy) has married the much-younger Rosina (Georgann Johnson). When Jonathan dies, Gil accuses Rosina of poisoning him. But the guilt lies elsewhere -- not only outwardly, but within the conscience of the actual culprit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Flying in the face of Hollywood tradition, this cinemadaptation of James Fennimore Cooper's The Pathfinder features genuine Native Americans in several principal "Indian" roles. Set during the French-Indian wars of the 18th century, the film stars George Montgomery as The Pathfinder, an Indian scout in the employ of the British. The Pathfinder is sent to a French encampment to do a little secret-agent work, accompanied by Welcome Alison (Helena Carter), an English lass posing as a Frenchwoman. Their identities revealed, Pathfinder and Welcome are imprisoned and slated for execution -- and for a long, long while, it looks as though the Great Lakes region will be claimed by the French. Co-starring in The Pathfinder are Jay "Tonto" Silverheels as Chingachgook, Rodd Redwing as hostile Mingo chief Arrowhead, and Chief Yowlachie as Eagle Feather. Adhering to the usual Hollywood casting process, however, the role of Indian maiden Lokawa is essayed by Anglo-Latino actress Elena Verdugo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though scheduled for production as early as 1950, the Bowery Boys' Loose in London didn't go before the cameras until 1953. In this outing, Sach (Huntz Hall) is told that he's a relative of Sir Percy, the Earl of Walsingham (Walter Kingsford). In short order, Sach, his pals Slip (Leo Gorcey), Chuck (David Condon) and Butch (Bennie Bartlett), and sweet-shop proprietor Louie (Bernard Gorcey) head to the Earl's estate in London. Immediately ingratiating themselves with the ailing nobleman, the boys give the old fellow a new lease on life--which doesn't sit well with the rest of the Earl's relatives, who are greedily awaiting his demise so that they may claim his inheritance. In desperation, the other relatives plan to kill the Earl, but they're foiled by Slip, Sach and company. This leaves Sach the sole heir to the Earl's fortune--at least that's what he thinks! Written by "Three Stooges" alumni, Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds (who also directed), Loose in London is an enjoyable hour's worth of nonsense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After Columbia's 1951 biopic Valentino laid an egg, leading man Anthony Dexter was persona non grata at the studio. Still, Columbia couldn't very well pay Dexter his weekly salary for doing nothing, and that's why The Brigand was born. Dexter does his best in the dual role of King Lorenzo, monarch of a mythical Latino country, and adventurer Carlos DeLargo. When Lorenzo is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, DeLargo is coerced into posing as the ailing King. Scheming would-be usurper Prince Ramon (Anthony Quinn), sensing that something's fishy, plots to do in both the King and his look-alike. Meanwhile, DeLargo discovers the fringe benefits of royal life as he woos the King's betrothed Princess Teresa (Jody Lawrance) and Lorenzo's mistress Countess Flora (Gale Robbins). The story is supposedly based on an Alexandre Dumas novel, though it more closely resembles Prisoner of Zenda. It is fun to watch Anthony Quinn, clearly contemptuous of his role, pulling all sorts of thespic tricks to add variety to the proceedings: during one dungeon scene, Quinn delivers all his lines with a cigar clenched firmly between his teeth! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two escaped convicts (George Macready and Glenn Anders) invade the jungle dominion of Tarzan (Lex Barker) to set up a gunrunning operation. One of the criminals has sworn to "get" Tarzan, who was responsible for his arrest, and to that end stirs up unrest between two African tribes. After narrowly escaping death at every turn, Tarzan quells the inter-tribal hostilities, rescues a voluptuous jungle queen (Dorothy Dandridge), and saves his mate Jane (Virginia Houston) from the murderous machinations of the criminals. Tarzan's Peril plays more like a serial than a feature film, but certainly lives up to its title. African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge's brief appearance as the jungle queen involves a "bondage" sequence that has been cited by several film historians (one of whom evidently had a crush on Ms. Dandridge) as being somehow symbolic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Desert Fox is a superb filmed biography of German general Erwin Rommel, concentrating on the period between his retreat from North Africa and his government-decreed death. A brilliant tactician, Rommel earns the respect not only of his own men but of the enemy. Unfortunately, Adolph Hitler (Luther Adler), laboring under the delusion that he too is a military genius, demands more of Rommel than he's able to provide. Ordered to stand his ground in Africa to the last man, Rommel realizes that it's more intelligent in the long run to retreat; this incurs Hitler's wrath, but Rommel is a war hero, and as such is virtually "untouchable". Increasingly disgusted by Hitler's behavior, Rommel joins in a plot to assassinate the Fuhrer. The attempt fails, and Rommel's complicity is discovered. He is given a choice: either face a horrible death by torture, or commit suicide, thereby saving his family and his reputation. Rommel opts for the latter; the official story given to the press is that Rommel died heroically of his war wounds. Also appearing in The Desert Fox are Jessica Tandy as Rommel's wife and Leo G. Carroll as an insufferably aristocratic Von Ruhnstedt. The film caused a critical stir in 1951 by providing a tense ten-minute dramatic sequence before the opening credits--a technique that is all but de rigueur today. The Desert Fox was based on the book by Brigadier Desmond Young, who narrates the film and appears as himself in the early scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Experiment Alcatraz stars John Howard as a doctor who develops a serum to cure radioactive poisoning. He tests it on several Alcatraz "lifers," who have volunteered for the experiment on the promise of freedom if they survive. A murder within the group casts aspersions on the doctor, but the mystery is solved before the allotted hour's running time is up. While hardly a surefire candidate for box office success, Experiment Alcatraz was purchased for release by RKO for a sum of $100,000. The film had been independently produced a year before its distribution, its lack of production polish betraying its shoestring origins. Coincidentally, leading man John Howard "continued" in the medical profession as the star of the mid-1950s TV series Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ex-navy pilot Slattery (Richard Widmark) works for a dope-smuggling ring. When he's not in the air, Slattery is making time with Dolores (Veronica Lake), the somewhat put-upon secretary of the ring's leader. Only upon meeting Aggie (Linda Darnell), the wife of his old navy buddy Hobson (John Russell), does Slattery entertain thoughts of changing his ways. As the film's title indicates, Slattery redeems himself during an outsized hurricane. Based on a story by Herman Wouk, Slattery's Hurricane was largely shot on location in Florida. The film represented a comeback attempt by Veronica Lake, who was then married to director Andre de Toth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This commendably short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow stars Louis Hayward in the title role. Returning from duty in the 15th-century War of the Roses, young Richard Shelton (Hayward) learns that his estate has been claimed by his usurping uncle Sir Daniel Brackley (George Macready), who for good measure has also murdered Richard's father. Forced to elude Brackley's minions, Shelton and his followers eventually manage to thwart the villain with all manner of weaponry, from crossbow to fist. Janet Blair co-stars as Joanna Sedley, whom Richard must rescue from a forced marriage to the brackish Brackley. Black Arrow was remade for television in 1985, with Benedict Taylor and Stephan Chase sharing the hero chores (in the Stevenson original, Richard Shelton and the Black Arrow were two different characters), and top-billed Oliver Reed as Brackley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though it takes several liberties with facts and motivations, The Hitler Gang is a reasonably absorbing chronicle of Hitler's rise to power. An obscure German corporal in WW1, Adolf Hitler (played by Robert Watson, better known for his comic portrayals of Der Fuhrer), embittered by the Versailles treaty, joins a minor-league politcal party called the National Socialists. With the help of some clever "spin doctors" like Joseph Goebbels (Martin Kosleck) and Heinrich Himmler (Luis van Rooten), Hitler takes the Nazis over from the ineffectual Captain Roehm (Roman Bohnen). Arrested for such political imbroglios as the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler is sentenced to a short prison term, during which he writes his manifesto "Mein Kampf." Quickly enlisting the support of other disenfranchised losers, Hitler becomes a force to conjure with, finally winning political respectability when a senile General Von Hindenburg (Sig Ruman) appoints him to a choice political post. With the death of Hindenburg in 1933, Hitler is able to completely dominate the German government, whereupon he immediately embarks upon indoctrinating Germany's youth in the "glories" of Nazism, slaughtering his political enemies, and fomenting the second World War. Though the film was made in 1944, it ends on a note of hope, assuring the audience that Hitler and his minions could not long endure the Allied counterrattack (the filmmakers were far less certain of this than they would be some six months later). Understandably propagandistic, The Hitler Gang cannot be termed 100 percent accurate: For example, Hitler's persecution of the Jews is depicted as a cynical political tactic rather than the end result of deep-set European anti-semitism, while the death of his niece Geli Raubal (Pobly Dur) is misrepresented as a murder rather than a suicide. But considering the lies that were being spewed forth by the Nazis on a daily basis, the few factual gaffes in The Hitler Gang are eminently forgivable. The film's only real drawback is Robert Watson's two-dimensional portrayal of the title character, though even such accomplished actors as Alec Guinness and Derek Jacobi have found Hitler a virtually unplayable part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide