Alma Kruger Movies

They said it couldn't be done, but they did it: Kathleen Winsor's "notorious", bestselling bodice-ripper Forever Amber actually made it to the screen in 1947 with full censorial approval. Of course, it was necessary to tone down the more erotic passages of Winsor's novel, but the end result pleased fans of the book and bluenosed nonfans alike. A last-minute replacement for British import Peggy Cummins, Linda Darnell steps into the role of 17th century blonde bed-hopper Amber as though she'd been born to play it. Feeling suppressed by her Puritan upbringing, Amber heads to London, finding considerable success as a courtesan (that's the polite word for it). The first real love of her life is dashing soldier Bruce Carlton, who leaves her pregnant and penniless when he marches off to war. Subsequent amours include the sadistic Earl of Radcliffe (a superbly loathsome performance by comic actor Richard Haydn), handsome highwayman Black Jack Mallard (John Russell) and privateer Captain Rex Morgan (Glenn Langan). Surviving the Plague and the Great London Fire with nary a hair out of place, Amber ends up in the arms of no less than King Charles II (wittily portrayed by George Sanders), but true love, as personified by Bruce Carlton, will always elude her. Taking no chances, 20th Century-Fox sent out Forever Amber with a spoken prologue, heard over the opening credits, which explained that the film in no way endorsed its heroine's libertine behavior, and that she would be amply punished for her sins before fadeout time (that prologue has thankfully been removed from current prints). A model of restraint by today's standards, Forever Amber was sufficiently titillating in 1947 to post an enormous profit, far in excess of its $4 million budget. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Long before he became the foremost purveyor of ultra-realistic melodramas, writer/producer/director Andrew Stone turned out a handful of screwball comedies like Fun on a Weekend. Eddie Bracken stars as P. P. Porterhouse III, who despite his triple-barrelled monicker is flat broke. Long on ideas but short on self-confidence, Porterhouse teams up with Nancy Crane (Priscilla Lane), who has the push and fortitude to turn our heroe's grandiose dreams into reality. Posing as a fabulously wealthy married couple, Porterhouse and Nancy mingle with the rich and famous at a fancy summer resort, ever on the prowl of financial backers. Porterhouse, however, nearly drops the facade when he becomes jealous of the attentions paid to Nancy by suave playboy Van (Tom Conway). Fun on a Weekend cheerfully throws logic to the winds in favor of slapstick and whimsy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

That new-fangled swing music is the focus of this musical comedy. The trouble begins when a music school dean boards a train to meet her husband the symphony conductor. En route she meets Harry James, the big band leader. She is deeply impressed by the swingin' beat of the new music. It becomes her newest passion. Unfortunately, back at her school, her superiors do not share her enthusiasm and she is fired. She remains determined to introduce the kids to the new sound. She and James team up to perform the music on campus. Songs include: "As If I Didn't Have Enough on My Mind," "I Didn't Mean a Word I Said," "Moonlight Propaganda," and "Do You Love Me?" ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a novel by Barry Fleming, Colonel Effingham's Raid stars Charles Coburn in the title role. Upon retiring from the army, Effingham returns to his home town of Fredericksville, Georgia. Dismayed by the town's paucity of civic pride, the Colonel begins writing a newspaper column honoring Fredericksville's old traditions and chastizing those who would tear those traditions down. His pet peeve is the city administration's plan to rename Confederate Square after the pompous, mildly corrupt town mayor (Thurston Hall). When it seems that his protests are falling upon deaf ears, Colonel Effingham literally stage a "military assault" against City Hall, which in real life would get him thrown in the looney bin but which in a whimsical comedy of this nature results in a smashing success for the "good guys". If Colonel Effingham's Raid seems to be popping up on TV at a rate of once a day, it is because the film lapsed into public domain in 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield's best-selling novel covers the years 1875 through 1938. Eightyish widow Mrs. Susie Parkington (Garson) gathers together all of her grown children in an effort to bail out son-in-law Amory Stilham (Edward Arnold), who's gotten in Dutch through crooked financial deals. As the children and grandchildren bicker over the "impossibility" of giving up any part of their inheritance, Mrs. Parkington's mind wanders back to her marriage to wealthy mine owner Maj. Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and her own efforts, as an unlearned Nevada serving girl, to fit into proper Manhattan society. Augustus' ex-love Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead, in a surprisingly sexy role) is engaged to teach Susie the in and outs of which fork to use and how low to curtsy. Shut out by the "400," Susie is avenged by her husband, who wheels and deals to ruin the snobs financially. Later on, he assuages his anger by conducting several extramarital affairs, before perishing in one of those convenient movie auto accidents. Just how all these incidents strengthen Mrs. Parkington's resolve to rescue her wastrel son-in-law is a mystery that even two viewings of this overlong soap opera may not solve. Incidentally, Greer Garson isn't the only one who is prematurely aged in Mrs. Parkington; keep an eye out for 27-year-old Hans Conried, convincingly playing a doddering musician. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay was based on the lighthearted joint autobiography of actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and humorist Emily Kimbrough. Gail Russell and Diana Lynn star respectively as Cornelia and Emily, two innocent but fun-loving young girls at loose in the Roaring 20s. The story concerns the girls' first trip abroad to London and Paris, and the various misadventures encountered therein. The more amusing moments involve a pair of rabbit-skin capes that begin shedding at the most inopportune moments, and a lengthy episode in which the girls are stranded atop Notre Dame Cathedral at midnight. And of course there's romance, in the form of handsome young doctor Tom Newhall (Bill Edwards) and college "Lothario" Avery Moore (James Brown). Also appearing are Charlie Ruggles as Cornelia's actor-father Otis Skinner and Dorothy Gish (whose talkie film appearances were sadly infrequent) as Mrs. Skinner. So well-received was Our Hearts Were Young and Gay that Paramount commissioned a 1946 sequel, Our Hearts Were Growing Up . ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The third of MGM's Dr. Kildare series to dispense with the services of Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres), Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case stars crusty old Lionel Barrymore in the title role. The first half of the film concerns Gillespie's efforts to expedite the romance of Army sergeant Orisin (Michael Duane) and Marcia Bradburn (Donna Reed), with the help of doctors Red Adams (Van Johnson) and Lee Wong How (Keye Luke). The closing reels lapse into melodrama when Gillespie is kidnapped by mentally unstable convict patient Roy Todwell (John Craven) and his gang. In addition to new MGM contractees Van Johnson and Donna Reed, Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case gave a boost to young star-in-the-making Margaret O'Brien. Like most of the later films in the series, this one is hampered a bit by its excessive length. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Aircraft plant worker Robert Cummings is accused of sabotaging his factory and causing the death of a co-worker. Actually, Cummings is the fall guy for a clever ring of Nazi spies, headed by above-suspicion American philanthropist Otto Kruger. Our hero goes on a cross-country chase after genuine saboteur Norman Lloyd, all the while pursued himself by the police. Along the way, he acquires a reluctant "travelling companion" in the form of Priscilla Lane, who at first despises Cummings and intends to turn him over to the authorities at the first opportunity, but who gradually comes to realize that the boy is innocent. Alfred Hitchcock intended Saboteur to be the American equivalent to his British The 39 Steps, employing such details as the solid-citizen villain, the handcuffed hero, the unwilling blonde heroine, and any number of stopovers with a variety of offbeat characters (a travelling "freak" show, a compassionate blind man, a grizzled old prospector who turns out to be one of the spies, etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

That Other Woman in this 20th Century-Fox programmer turns out to be Emily (Virginia Gilmore), faithful secretary to master architect Henry Summers (James Ellison). Hoping to trap her boss into marriage, Emily begins sending "mash notes" to Henry, purportedly from a mysterious female admirer. She then coerces her old pal Ralph (Dan Duryea) to pose as her jealous Southern-fried boy friend of the nonexistent letter-writer. Poor Henry, convinced that Ralph is the gangster who's been threatening him with bodily harm, skeedaddles to parts unknown. Our heroine spends the rest of the picture chasing Henry until he finally catches her. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Blonde Inspiration was one of the few non-musical directorial efforts of Busby Berkeley. MGM contract players John Shelton and Virginia Grey head the cast of this leisurely second-echelon comedy. Shelton plays a western novelist who is inspired to incredible productivity by buxom blonde Marion Martin. Trouble is, he writes more books than his publisher (Albert Dekker) can handle; thus, efforts are made to break up Shelton's romance--and that's where Grey comes in. Blonde Inspiration was based on John Cecil Holm's stage farce Four Cents a Word. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this cornball musical comedy, a hillbilly gal and her uncle struggle to keep sly city slickers from getting their land. It is an uphill battle as their farm is located on Fifth Avenue, New York City. The slickers then resort to trickery by offering the girl a phony singing gig on the radio. Unfortunately for them, something goes wrong and the girl's heartfelt singing is heard all over the town. Of course she is a big hit. Songs include: "Hey Junior", "You're Telling I", "Manhattan Holiday", and "Puddin' Head" (all by Eddie Cherkose, Sol Meyer, Jule Styne). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

MGM's The Trial of Mary Dugan was based on the popular stage play by Bayard Vellier, previously filmed as a Norma Shearer vehicle in 1929. This time, Laraine Day is cast as Mary Dugan, a young stenographer who is falsely accused of murdering her philandering employer Edgar Wayne (Tom Conway). In the course of her trial, Mary falls in love with her attorney Jimmy Blake (Robert Young). The original Trial of Mary Dugan was highlighted by the heartfelt testimony of the tarnished heroine, who recounted a life of shame and degradation endured on behalf of her impoverished law-student brother. Thanks to the tightened censorial restrictions of 1941, Mary Dugan's checkered past is eliminated, leaving the viewer with just another courtroom melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This sequel to 1934's Anne of Green Gables stars Anne Shirley as Anne Shirley, the plucky Canadian orphan girl created by novelist Lucy Maude Montgomery. Now all grown up, Anne takes on the job of vice-principal of the only school in Windy Poplars Unfortunately, she must contend with the opposition of the community's most powerful and contentious family, the much-hated Pringles. Helping matters a bit is the fact that handsome Tony Pringle (James Ellison) falls in love with Anne. It takes a near-tragedy to wash away all misunderstandings, prejudices and hypocricies and restore happiness and stability to the community. Based on L. M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Windy Willows, Anne of Windy Poplars was remade for Canadian television in 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi