Joanna Barnes Movies
American actress Joanna Barnes went from Southern-belle complacency to a contract with Warner Bros. studios. Joanna was generally cast as steely-eyed, truculent blondes in such films as Home Before Dark (1958) and (freelancing for director Stanley Kubrick) Spartacus (1960). She also held the dubious distinction of being the latest in a long line of "Janes" in the 1959 cheapie Tarzan of the Apes. Barnes worked a great deal on television in the 1950s and 1960s: she was detective Dennis Morgan's girl Friday on 1959's 21 Beacon Street; the ex-wife of pennyante attorney Peter Falk in the 1965 weekly drama The Trials of O'Brien; and the hostess of the 5-minute ABC gossipfest Dateline Hollywood. In 1973, Joanna gave up acting to pursue a career as a novelist, and to that end took a room in a Los Angeles office building leased exclusively to professional writers. While Joanna Barnes might not be remembered for her writings, she made an indelible impression as Vassar-educated socialite Gloria Upson, who spoke as though she had novacaine in her upper lip (the playwrights' description of the character) in the 1958 film comedy Auntie Mame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Auntie Mame began as a novel by Patrick Dennis (aka Ed Fitzgerald), then was adapted into a long-running Broadway play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. This 1958 film version permits Rosalind Russell to recreate her stage role as Mame Dennis, the flamboyant, devil-may-care aunt of young, impressionable Patrick Dennis. Left in Mame's care when his millionaire father drops dead, young Patrick (Jan Handzlik) is quickly indoctrinated into his aunt's philosophy that "Life is a banquet--and some poor suckers are starving to death." Social-climbing executor Dwight Babcock (Fred Clark) does his best to raise Patrick as a stuffy American aristocrat, but Mame battles Babcock to allow the boy to be as free-spirited as she is. In 1974, Auntie Mame was remade as the filmmusical Mame with Lucille Ball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, (more)
- 1958
In this drama, six daring truckers must transport unstable, highly explosive rocket fuel through a dangerously bumpy, rugged country. The film centers on their individual reasons for making the trip. These are presented via flashback. Though most of them need the money, one of the truck drivers is actually the fuel's inventor. During the fuel's development, a freak accident caused the death of his family. All but one of the drivers safely make it to their destination. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Dick Foran, (more)
- 1958
Wearing a curiously (and perhaps deliberately) unattractive blonde wig, Jean Simmons stars in the tense psychological drama Home Before Dark. Having just recovered from a nervous breakdown, Charlotte Bronn (Simmons) returns from a mental institution to the home she shares with her academician husband Arnold (Dan O'Herlihy). Though he tries his best to help Charlotte re-adapt, his efforts are undermined by the insensitive meddling of her stepmother Inez (Mabel Albertson) and stepsister Joan (Rhonda Fleming) who may or may not have been carrying on a romance with Arnold in Charlotte's absence. The untenable situation at home leads Charlotte into a romance with college professor Jake Diamond (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), who as an ongoing target of anti-semitism has plenty of his own emotional baggage to deal with. What is remarkable about Home Before Dark is that it is a film without a villain: even the most unpleasant characters are drawn as three-dimensional human beings, who behave badly because they really don't know any better. The film was adapted by Robert and Eileen Bassing from Eileen's same-named novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Simmons, Dan O'Herlihy, (more)
- 1958
Making the acquaintance of pretty Abigail Taylor (Joanna Barnes) in the lobby of a Denver hotel, Bret (James Garner) cannot help but notice that the lady has a tight grip on a hatbox. Abigail insists that the box contains important documents, and that there is a sinister stranger who is out to steal them. Would Bret be a darling and protect Abigail as she prepares to deliver the papers? Bret agrees--unaware that he's being set up as a dupe in an elaborate swindle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Bart (Jack Kelly) is one of several stagecoach passengers who are attacked by the Apaches. With their coach destroyed, the hapless passengers are left stranding in the desert, under a blazing sun. The others insists that Bart strike out on his own and seek out help--an assignment that borders on the suicidal. The supporting cast includes Whitney Blake, the mother of actress Meredith Baxter and later the cocreator (with husband Alan Manings) of the popular CBS sitcom One Day at a Time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
An urban legend comes to life in this episode, as Bret Maverick (James Garner) offers a ride on his buckboard to a hauntingly beautiful young woman named Mary Shane (Joanna Barnes). After making several pointed comments about a local undertaker who is trafficking in stolen goods, the woman abruptly disappears--and when Bret goes to look for her the next day, he is told that Mary Shane has been dead for at least a week. Featured in the cast is a newcomer to the Warner Bros. stable, Edd Byrnes, who would soon rise to fame as the relentlessly hip "Kookie" on 77 Sunset Strip. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
