Hugh Latimer Movies

The subject matter being taught at this girls' school consists of teaching the ladies how to find rich husbands and separate them from their dough. ~ All Movie Guide

When a beautiful model is found shot in her apartment, a famous television star is felt to be the murderer in a failed extortion plot. Although the investigation turns up a surprise ending, by the time most viewers get there they could not care less who did it. Singularly uninspired murder drama. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Let to believe that she has killed a man in a car accident, entertainer Barbara Crane (Helen Cherry) is blackmailed into collaborating with a gang of criminals. Fortunately, one of Barbara's biggest fans is Peter Brady, aka "The Invisble Man." Figuring out that Barbara is completely innocent, Brady takes full advantage of his invisibility in a next-to-closing effort to clear the woman's name and round up the crooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At a laboratory outside of a small village in the south of England, physicist Dr. Laird (Alec Mango), assisted by American scientist Gilbert Graham (Forrest Tucker), is performing a series of advanced experiments with magnetic fields -- dangerous experiments, using massive amounts of power in equipment which isn't designed to carry the load. An accident injures one of his assistants, and a request for a replacement to the Ministry of Defense brings Brigadier Cartwright (Windham Goldie) down to investigate, accompanied by a replacement for the injured man -- a woman computer expert, Michele Dupont (Gaby Andre), who helps to solve Laird's power problem, but not the larger risks inherent in his experiments. Cartwright is impressed when an interrupted experiment transforms several pieces of steel not in the test chamber into useless lumps of powder -- his report convinced the Deputy Defense Minister (Geoffrey Chater) to make Laird's project a top priority, and he sends a full security team, led by counter-espionage expert Jimmy Murray (Hugh Latimer), down to cover the laboratory. But it soon becomes clear that enemy agents are the least of the dangers manifesting themselves around Laird's project -- the hyper-magnetic fields that he has generated have been affecting the ionosphere, causing unnatural weather patterns, threatening ships at sea hundreds of miles away, and also weakening the magnetic layer that shields the surface of the earth from cosmic rays. The sudden burst of radiation from deep space causes brain damage in one man that turns him into into a homicidal maniac -- but it has also affected the insect life in the area, causing it to mutate. In the midst of this growing threat to the safety of the world, a mysterious Mr. Smith (Martin Benson) arrives in the village -- he's a well-spoken man with amazingly little knowledge of ordinary life, but a lot of awareness about magnetic fields and the work that Dr. Laird is doing. Murray is positive that he's a spy, but Gil and Michele decide that there's a lot less danger from him than from Dr. Laird, who has vowed to continue regardless of the risks. And even with Smith's warning, and Gil's and Michele's best efforts to alert the authorities and stop Laird, the forest adjacent to the town is soon swarming with gigantic beetles and other monsters. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a detective refuses to believe that his client's wealthy, crippled wife died in a boating accident. As he looks deeper, the gumshoe proves that his employer and his mistress were behind it all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The devotion between an Irish orphan boy and his beloved pet donkey provides the basis of this touching children's adventure. The boy had been living on his grandfather's farm helping to raise the beasts of burden when his beloved pet, Patchy, is inadvertently sold and shipped to England. Determined to be reunited, the boy sets off to find him. He succeeds, enters Patchy in a donkey race, and wins. As his reward, the boy is granted full ownership of the creature. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Originally released in England as Counterspy, Undercover Agent stars Dermot Walsh in the title role. When the film begins, however, Manning (Walsh) isn't a spy, but a mild-mannered accountant. Asked by a mysterious stranger to deliver a package, ostensibly containing compromising love letters, Manning arrives at the appointed address, only to stumble across the body of a murdered man. Upon discovering that the package contains the secret plans for a revolutionary new jet, Manning is forced to take it on the lam, lest he be the next victim. Future "scream queen" Hazel Court is the film's nominal (and inconsequential) leading lady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "regeneration" of blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk was expedited when he was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to helm the location-filmed melodrama The Sniper. In the interests of political expediency, Dmytrk was required to direct Adolphe Menjou, one of the most virulent Red-baiters of the HUAC hearings. Shorn of his trademarked mustache, and with his famous expensive wardrobe replaced by a humdrum business suit, Menjou turns in one of his best performances as a world-weary San Francisco detective assigned to track down a mad sniper. From the beginning, the audience knows that the criminal is psycho Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz), who is possessed of the notion that he must kill every beautiful brunette woman who crosses his path. Some audience sympathy is elicited by Miller's pathetic attempts to rid himself of his obsession, but this never gets in the way of the film's suspense. The excellent supporting cast includes Richard Kiley as a police psychiatrist, Marie Windsor as Miller's first victim, and Mabel Paige as the sniper's snoopy landlady. An unbilled Wally Cox shows up briefly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"PC 49" is a British constable, played by Hugh Latimer. This Hammer Studios programmer finds Our Hero hot on the trail of lorry (or truck) thieves. To beard the villains in their lair, PC 49 is forced to go undercover. The jig is up for him about ten minutes before the "The End" title, but PC 49 is the resourceful type, so never fear. The film was inspired by a popular British radio serial, created by Alan Stranks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of Monogram's 1945 trio of "Cisco Kid" westerns, In Old New Mexico stars Duncan Renaldo as Cisco and Martin Garralaga as Pancho. The plot concentrates on heroine Ellen (Gwen Kenyon), a nurse accused of murder. Gallant Cisco "kidnaps" Ellen from the authorities, then sets about to prove her innocence, all with the cooperation of a sympathetic sheriff. Cisco and Pancho stage an elaborate ruse to force a confession out of the genuine killer, which in real life would of course be thrown out of court-but whoever said that these films had anything to do with real life? After a third "Cisco Kid" entry, South of the Rio Grande, Duncan Renaldo would temporarily leave the series, returning with a vengeance three years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide