Patric Knowles Movies

The Arnold of Arnold, like the Harry of The Trouble With Harry, is stone cold dead from the outset of this film. That doesn't stop Arnold's mistress Stella Stevens from marrying the corpse so as to come into his millions. The trick is to hide the fact that Arnold is indeed stiff as a mackerel. To accomplish this, a series of murders is a necessity. Special guest victims include Stevens' wastrel brother Roddy McDowall, her dotty sister Elsa Lanchester, handyman Jamie Farr, as well as lawyers Farley Granger and Patric Knowles. Also on hand are such dependables as Victor Buono, Shani Wallis, John McGiver and Bernard Fox. The script is by TV-sitcom stalwarts Jameson Brewer and John Fenton Murray. As one-joke films go, Arnold is as good as any. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Occasionally listed as In Enemy Hands (evidently a working title), In Enemy Country is a war film with "A" ambitions and a TV-movie budget. Wartime secret agents Col. Charles Waslow-Carton (Tony Franciosa) and Lt. Col. Philip Braden (Guy Stockwell) infiltrate enemy lines, posing as POWs. Their mission is to destroy a deadly new type of torpedo, hidden in a Nazi stronghold in France. Their contact is Denise Marchois (Anjanette Comer), whom Waslow-Carton had coerced into marrying a German baron (Paul Hubschmid) before the outbreak of war, thus allowing her to continue her spying activities unimpeded. Upon the completion of their mission, Marchois chooses to remain behind with her husband, whom she has grown to love. Too many peripheral characters, way too many plot twists, and a "French" village obviously constructed on the Universal back lot: for these and other reasons, In Enemy Country is a must to avoid. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot) is approached with a job offer by his former employer, the Duke of Glenmore. Upon discovering that his former sweetheart Lorna Frasier (Anna Lee) is working as a nanny in the Duke's household, Mr. French is most interested in the offer, but is also reluctant to leave the service of Bill Davis (Brian Keith). Thinking only of Mr. French's future happiness, Bill and the kids employ the time-honored sitcom subterfuge of making it appear that French is no longer needed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A French art collector named Pireaux (Patric Knowles) is anxious to meet a reclusive English sculptor named Spencer (James Griffith). Paladin (Richard Boone) is called upon to escort Pireaux to Spencer's hideaway, somewhere in the far wilderness. Complicating matters is the presence of Pireaux's childlike daughter Gina (Judi Meredith), who of course ends up a pivotal figure in this Gene Roddenberry-scripted episode. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although she insists upon calling him Bart, Bret (James Garner) is rather sweet on Ellen Johnson (Suzanne Storrs). When the girl disappears along with a cache of stolen diamonds, Bret heads to South America to retrieve them both. Upon arrival in Guatemala City, he is bedevilled by wide-eyed street urchin Angelita (Linda Dangcil), who refuses to leave his side. And oh yes, there's a murderer loose in the vicinity...to say nothing of a dead man who isn't quite dead yet. This episode is also known as "Tropical City". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the sixth episode of Walt Disney's ten-part miniseries Elfego Baca, the titular hero (Robert Loggia, a gunslinger-turned-lawyer) defends British-born rancher Cecil Cunningham (Patrick Knowles), who has been accused of murdering land baron Drew Griswold. According to witnesses, Griswold had been fooling around with Cyril's wife (Audrey Dalton), thereby firmly establishing a motive. In court, Baca finds that he must go face to face with his former law partner J. Henry Newman (James Dunn), the newly appointed District Attorney. Outside the courtroom, the dead man's relatives begin forming a lynch mob. Originally telecast on the Walt Disney Presents anthology, "The Griswold Murder" and the fifth Elfego Baca episode "Attorney at Law" were edited together in 1962 and released as a theatrical feature, Six-Gun Law. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Carolyn Grant (Marie Windsor), a Monterey gallery owner, is playing the field and seems to have one too many men on her string, including her wealthy estranged husband, the local art critic, and even the fiancé of her shop assistant. So when Carolyn is murdered during an apparent break-in at her gallery, there are plenty of male suspects -- with the husband and father-in-law in the lead. Windsor's sultry temptress is the brightest spot in an otherwise so-so mystery, although her wickedness isn't quite at the level she achieved a year later as Sherry Peatty in The Killing. ~ Michael P. Rogers, Rovi

This Kiplingesque adventure yarn stars Richard Egan as a captain in the British lancers. Together with his regiment, Egan is assigned to put down an Arab rebellion in Afghanistan, stirred up by rival tribal leaders Raymond Burr and Donald Randolph. When not defending the British Empire from collapsing, Egan vies with fellow officer Patric Knowles for the hand of lovely Dawn Addams. The story comes to a head when Egan pretends to join the rebels, the better to defeat them from within. The rampant jingoism of Khyber Patrol may be a bit hard to swallow; it's best to assess the film on its considerable merits as an outdoor actioner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sexy Denise Darcel is the Flame of Calcutta in this Columbia programmer. Set in 18th-century India, the film stars Darcel as Suzanne Roget, daughter of a murdered French official. To avenge her father's murder and bring down a usurping Indian prince (George Keymas), Suzanne adopts the guise of a guerilla leader known only as "The Flame." She is aided and abetted by sympathetic British army officer Keith Lambert (Patric Knowles). As was customary in the films produced by quickie king Sam Katzman, a goodly portion of Flame of Calcutta consists of stock footage from earlier Technicolor swashbucklers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In keeping with the postwar trend of on-location shooting, Quebec was actually lensed in Canada, rather than on some Hollywood back lot or other. Set in 1837, the film recounts a skirmish between French and English factions over whether or not Quebec would remain a province, or split off into its own country. Heading the separatist movement is Lafleur (Corinne Calvet). John Barrymore Jr. co-stars as Mark Douglas, a loyal Canadian who discovers that Lafleur is his long-lost mother. Quebec winds up with a well-staged military assault on Lafleur's fortress. Billed eighth in the cast is former silent-screen star Patsy Ruth Miller, making her first screen appearance since 1931. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the autobiographical book by Agnes Newton Keith, Three Came Home stars Claudette Colbert as Mrs. Keith. Trapped in Borneo during the Japanese invasion, Mrs. Keith and her British husband (Patric Knowles) are penned up in a prison camp along with several other subjects. Despite the humanitarian views of camp commander Col. Suga (Sessue Hayakawa), Mrs. Keith is subject to torture, starvation, and humiliation at the hands of the guards, with Suga helpless to intervene lest he incur the wrath of his own superiors. Three Came Home contains several unforgettable moments, including a comic interlude between the male and female prisoners that ends abruptly with a barrage of Japanese bullets, and the heartwrenching scene wherein Suga learns that his family has been killed in a bombing raid. Since lapsing into the public domain in 1977, Three Came Home has popped up innumerable times on cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Elmer Rice's clever stage comedy Dream Girl is Hollywoodized and "dumbed down" almost beyond recognition in this 1948 film version. In place of the original play's Betty Field, Betty Hutton stars Georgina Allerton, who periodically escapes her humdrum existence by retreating into elaborate daydreams. Georgina's fantasy excursions disturb her parents (Walter Abel and Peggy Wood) and her married sister (Virginia Field), who wish that she'd grow up already and stop all this nonsense. Only when she falls truly in love with Clark Redfield (Macdonald Carey) does Georgina abandon her dream world. Like the previous year's Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the film version of Dream Girl substitutes the quiet whimsy of its source with slapstick and overstatement; additionally, Elmer Rice's three-dimensional supporting characters are transformed into cardboard stereotypes. And just so the audience doesn't miss anything, the producers have added a voiceover narration to explain what has just been seen. With all this going against Dream Girl, Betty Hutton emerges unscathed, delivering a lot better performance than her material warrants. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi