Otto Kruger Movies

Helen Gurley Brown's self-help best-seller was the nominal source for this Hollywood sex romp, directed by Richard Quine, co-scripted by Joseph Heller and David R. Schwartz, and starring Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Tony Curtis plays Bob Weston, a writer for a scandal magazine who is working on an article on research psychologist Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood) and her best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl. Bob needs to interview Helen, but she refuses to see him. Bob impersonates one of her neighbors, Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda), as a ruse in order to see her on the pretext of marital counseling. After several meetings, Bob attempts to seduce her, but she resists; then he phones her and claims he's about to commit suicide by jumping off a local pier. Horrified, she rushes out to save him, but the two accidentally fall off the pier together and then head back to Helen's apartment to dry out. Bob plies Helen with martinis. Rip-roaring drunk, Helen confesses her love for Bob. He assures her it's fine, since he's not legally married, but Helen doesn't believe him and asks to meet his wife, Sylvia (Lauren Bacall). This leads to an endless series of complications, capped off by a wild chase to the Los Angeles airport. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This long, 135-minute feature is divided into four different segments, three highlighting fairy tales and the first introducing the two Brothers Grimm. Wilhelm (Laurence Harvey) is the dreamer, and Jacob (Karl Boehm) is the practical one, and between them, some marvelous fairy tales develop. Seguing into the first tale about the "Dancing Princess," co-directors Henry Levin and George Pal -- also the producer -- allow their special-effects artists full rein. In-between dancing, the princess (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a charming woodsman (Russ Tamblyn). In the second story about the "Cobbler and the Elves," a Christmas miracle of dedicated labor helps the cobbler out when he most needs it. In the last story, a fire-breathing dragon threatens the kingdom until a lowly servant (Buddy Hackett) saves the day. One of the highlights of this production are the Puppetoons, and another is Cinerama -- three projectors working to create a three-paneled (sometimes visibly so), wide-screen panorama. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Wealthy J.J. Gideon (Otto Kruger) disapproves of the romance between his grandson David (Karl Held) and David's secretary Dorine (Patricia Barry). As it happens, Gideon has good reason to be upset: Dorine is a duplicitous golddigger who swindles David out of $10,000, claiming that she needs it to get her husband Tony out of her life. Pretty soon, Tony is out of his own life as well--and David, who was seen fighting with Tony just before the man's death, is charged with murder. Evidently Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) takes quite a shine to David while preparing his defense; during the series' fifth season, David Gideon would return on a semi-regular basis as Perry's new legal assistant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Something of an urbanized, upscale version of Peyton Place, Vincent Sherman's
The Young Philadelphians is a glossy adaptation of Richard Powell's bestselling novel
The Philadelphians that revels in melodrama. The film opens strongly, with a lengthy 1924 prologue. Socialite Kate Lawrence (Diane Brewster) jilts impoverished lover Mike Flannagan (Brian Keith) in favor of wealthy William Lawrence (Adam West). On their wedding night, William drunkenly announces that he's impotent and commits suicide (this scene should fascinate Batman fans). Returning to Mike, Kate has a child by him, Tony. The boy grows up amid an atmosphere of dire poverty, which imparts him with a relentless drive for success. Flash forward to 1952: the out-of-wedlock kid, Tony, has grown up (now played by Paul Newman) and still doesn't know that he was an illegitimate child. Tony attends Princeton Law School, and falls in love with rich girl Joan Dickinson (Barbara Rush). Via the doings of Joan's father, wealthy Gilbert Dickinson (John Williams), Tony ends up taking a cushy job in a law office, at the expense of the relationship. The heartbroken Joan marries Carter Henley (Fred Eisley) on the rebound, who is conveniently killed in Korea. Tony then begins spending a prodigious amount of time with Carol Wharton (Alexis Smith), wife of attorney John Wharton (Otto Kruger), so that she will persuade John to find Tony a better job. Soon it's Tony's turn to fight in Korea; when he returns, the opportunity arises for Tony to redeem himself for his past misdeeds. Watch for Richard "Mel Cooley" Deacon in a bit as a hostile witness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Republic super-production The Last Command is a partial remake of the same studio's Man of Conquest (1939). But whereas the earlier film concerned itself with the exploits of Texas patriot Sam Houston, Last Command concentrates on Houston associate James Bowie, played by Sterling Hayden. When Texas is threatened by the armies of Mexican general Santa Ana (J. Carrol Naish), Bowie at first adopts a policy of peaceful coexistence. When this proves impossible, Bowie joins Davy Crockett (played as an irascible old cuss by Arthur Hunnicut) and the rest of the courageous defenders of the Alamo. The climactic confrontation between the heroes of the Alamo and Santa Ana is long in coming, but well worth the wait. Frank Lloyd's large-scale direction and the vibrant musical score of Max Steiner imbues Last Command with a "major studio" aura not often found in Republic productions. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin) takes in young actress Nanny Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner) while his wife (Gene Tierney) is out of town. When Nancy is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, the two prime suspects are Peter and the neglected husband (Reginald Gardiner) of temperamental Broadway star Ginger Rogers, who had also been dallying with the dead girl. Detective Bruce (George Raft) figures out the true identity of the killer, but the audience may be well ahead of him. Despite its resplendant color photography, Black Widow is a "film noir" at heart. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the most notorious flops in the history of Columbia Pictures, Valentino is actually fairly entertaining -- but only when regarded as a work of fiction. In dramatizing the life of silent-screen Latin lover Rudolph Valentino, screenwriter George Bruce ignored virtually all of the facts, even those in the public domain; in addition, with the exception of Valentino, all the real-life characters' names have been changed to avoid lawsuits. What's left is an amusing fairy tale about a young Neapolitan dancer named Rudolph Valentino (Anthony Dexter), who joins a U.S.-bound dance troupe headed by his lover Marie Torres (Dona Drake). Onboard ship, Valentino makes the acquaintance of famous movie star Joan Carlisle (Eleanor Parker), sparking a brief transatlantic romance. Once in America, Valentino supports himself as a dishwasher and gigolo before Carlisle introduces him to big-time director William King (Richard Carlson), who arranges for the young immigrant to attain a few extra roles in Hollywood. Valentino becomes an overnight star after being selected to play the lead in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As his fame rises, Valentino reignites his affair with Carlisle, but will not commit himself to marriage. She marries King on the rebound, but the romance starts all over again when Valentino and Carlisle are cast together in The Sheik. At the height of his stardom, Valentino dies of peritonitis. The film ends with the mysterious "Lady in Black" making her annual pilgrimage to Valentino's tomb. It serves no purpose to list the film's many inaccuracies and anachronisms, though it's worth mentioning that his last film was not The Sheik but Son of the Sheik. As a filmed biography, Valentino is worthless. As a movie pure and simple, it's not all that bad. Even the much-maligned Anthony Dexter, an unknown who was cast purely on the basis of physical resemblance, is passable in the title role, though he comes nowhere near the original Valentino's magnetism and charisma. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edmond O'Brien plays a telephone repairman whose electronic savvy earns him a job with a bookmaking concern. O'Brien's bookie boss Barry Kelly wants to get instant results from the nation's racetracks, and to this end O'Brien illicitly plugs into several communication centers. The wealthier O'Brien becomes, the more scruples he sheds. Eventually he runs afoul of the Big Boss of an Eastern bookie syndicate (Otto Kruger) and vainly attempts to escape with his life in a slam-bang final at Boulder Dam. 711 Ocean Drive was made to cash in on a then-current national newspaper expose of bookmaking operations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical drama set at the turn-of-the-century, a saloon singer marries a wealthy attorney and then begins fooling around with a series of lovers, including a boxier, his manager, and a powerful owner of a railroad who takes her to New York where she becomes a Broadway star. Unfortunately, her happiness is short-lived when her sordid past catches up with her, and she is shot. Songs included the title song "Sweetie Pie," "I'd Be Lost Without You," "Ace in the Hole," and "Sweetheart of the Blues." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Barbara Britton is as cute as can be as the title character in Republic's The Fabulous Suzanne. The plot, which bears a faint resemblance to MGM's She Went to the Races, concerns a young hashhouse waitress who picks winning horses by randomly jabbing a pin into her racing form. Accumulating a tidy nest egg, Suzanne offers to buy a fancy new restaurant for her handsome boss Rex (Richard Denning). He refuses this largess, whereupon she huffily heads to New York, intending to use her winning pin-in-the-paper formula on the Stock Market. Along the way, she attracts the attentions of a trio of bachelor stockbrokers, chief among them stuffy Hendrick Courtney Jr. (Rudy Vallee). The film's best moment, and one worthy of inclusion in any anthology on 1940s musicals, finds costar Rudy Vallee reacting with disgust at the adenoidal voice of a nightclub crooner-also played by Rudy Vallee! ("But sir, his singing is very distinctive." "It certainly does!") ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Greg McClure stars as legendary boxer John L. Sullivan in this screen biography of the famous fighter. Known as "The Boston Strong Boy," Sullivan was a bare-knuckle brawler who rose from humble circumstances to become the world's heavyweight champion from 1882 to 1892. While Sullivan was a skilled hand in the ring, fame and wealth took a toll on his ego, and as drinking and high-living replaced disciplined training, Sullivan's fighting edge disappeared. In 1892, Sullivan lost his title to James J. Corbett (Rory Calhoun), and after that came a slow descent into alcoholism and poverty, with Sullivan losing most of his friends and the love of his life along with his self-respect. However, Sullivan eventually cleaned himself up and rose to his feet for one final stab at the title. The Great John L. also features Linda Darnell, Barbara Britton, Otto Kruger, and Wallace Ford. The life of James J. Corbett had been made into a movie three years prior to this, as Gentleman Jim, with Errol Flynn as Corbett and Ward Bond as Sullivan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi