Rudy Lee Movies

Mountaineer Clint Ringle (Jack Mullaney) harbors an obsessive love for schoolmarm Ella Marsh (Patricia Hitchcock) , but she is engaged to another man. In an insane fit of jealous rage, Clint murders his "rival," then eludes the authorities by hiding in the belfry of the schoolhouse where Ella works. What Clint hadn't counted on was the town's' decision to hold a memorial service for the murdered man in that selfsame schoolhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed independently by Paul Kenworthy Productions, "Rusty and the Falcon" was first shown as an episode of the TV anthology Walt Disney Presents. Based on Charles Ogburn's book The White Falcon and lensed on location in Heber, UT, this is the tale of Rusty (Rudy Lee), a 12-year-old boy who lives in a remote Rocky Mountain mining town. With few friends his own age, Rusty has developed a fantasy world which manifests itself in the abandoned mine shaft where he plays every day. It is here that the boy finds an injured falcon, whom he ultimately restores to health and grooms as a hunting bird. Among other things, this episode features a brief lecture on falconry by expert Morlan Nelson, an archery exhibition by narrator (and future Disney producer) Jerome Courtland, and an original song, "A Boy Is a Curious Thing." Rusty and the Falcon was released theatrically overseas in 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a young woman endures the drudgery of working as a charwoman in her aunt's hotel. She is not paid much for her hard work. To make her drab existence a little more exciting, she enrolls in a correspondence charm course, which unbeknownst to her is a scam. Soon the swindlers show up and plan to use her to help them con her aunt and a bank president out of their money. When one of the con men sees the good hearted girl working with the orphans on her family farm, he has a sudden change of heart. Her life takes a sudden turn for the better when oil is discovered under her farm. Suddenly the drab little drudgess finds herself living like a duchess. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the long-running Bowery Boys series, Sach becomes a mind-reader after he is punched in the nose. To capitalize on his new talent, he and the boys open the Eagle Eye Detective Agency. Their first client, a forgetful fellow, desperately needs them to find the combination to the vault where he placed an envelope containing secret information about a group of gangsters. The young detectives then don disguises and sneak in to the gangsters' lair to stop them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were together again for the last time in Scandal at Scourie. Filmed on location in Canada, the plot concerns a childless Protestant couple, the McChesneys (Garson and Pidgeon), whose lives are profoundly altered by an orphaned Catholic girl named Patsy (Donna Corcoran). Through a series of far-fetched coincidences, Patsy wanders into the McChesney home, immediately capturing the heart of Mrs. McChesney. Mr. McC, a local politician, is a bit harder to win over, but eventually his wife convinces him to adopt the child. This stirs up a tempest in a teapot, as McChesney's political enemies accuse him of using Patsy to win over his Catholic constituents, while one of Patsy's former orphanage classmates spreads a rumor (backed up by circumstantial evidence) that the little girl is a "firebug." Sentimental to a fault, Scandal at Scourie is also undeniably effective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A remake of the 1936 Janet Gaynor vehicle of the same name, Small Town Girl stars Jane Powell in the title role. Powell plays Cindy Kimball, daughter of village judge Gordon Kimball (Robert Keith). When wealthy playboy Rick Livingston (Farley Granger) is arrested for speeding, Judge Kimball sentences the arrogant young sprout to 30 days to teach him a lesson. Taking it upon herself to "reform" the prodigal Rick, Cindy tricks him into marriage, and then the fun begins. Ann Miller co-stars as a musical comedy star with whom Rick had planned to elope; her presence in the film is justified by several well-staged Busby Berkeley dance numbers. Also on hand as Jane Powell's hometown sweetheart is Bobby Van, who performs the film's best and most memorable musical setpiece, "Street Dance," in which Van hops around town like a human pogo stick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A sequel to Bob Hope's 1948 box-office success The Paleface, 1952's Son of Paleface is a superior product in every way, thanks largely to the spirited, creative direction of Frank Tashlin. Hope is cast as Junior Potter, a Harvard-educated dude who heads West to claim the inheritance left him by his gunslinger father. Much to his chagrin, Junior discovers that his dad has left him nothing but debts. To stave off Potter Sr.'s angry creditors, Junior pretends that his father has salted away a fortune somewhere in the hills. This arouses the attention of curvaceous saloon owner Mike (Jane Russell), who doubles as a mysterious masked bandit known as The Torch. Meanwhile, Roy Rogers (playing a federal agent named Roy Rogers) keeps tabs on Junior, hoping that he'll lead him to The Torch and her gang. True to form, ex-cartoonist Tashlin fills the screen with a wealth of inventive sight gags and inside jokes: Cecil B. DeMille shows up as a photographer in one scene, while in another, Hope, about to embark on the film's wild climactic chase sequence, shoos away a couple of vultures wearing bibs, warning them that "You'll make the whole thing look impossible." Our favorite scenes: Hope's Wile E. Coyote-like reaction to a particularly potent drink, and his bedroom scene with Roy Rogers' wonder horse Trigger. And don't forget the film's slightly risque punch line "Let's see them top that on television," (you have to be there). Songs in Son of Paleface include "You Are My Valley of Sunshine," "Four-Legged Friend," "Wing Ding Tonight," "What A Dirty Shame," and a reprise of The Paleface's Oscar-winning "Buttons and Bows," performed by Hope, Russell and Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters may not be the best of the "Bowery Boys" series, but it was unquestionably the most profitable. It all begins when Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) try to gain permission to use a local vacant lot for baseball games. The boys make a trip to the mansion of the lot's owners, the sinister Gravesend family. It soon develops that all the Gravesends are looney, and none loonier than mad scientists Derek (John Dehner) and Anton (Lloyd Corrigan). Derek wants to transfer Sach's brain (what there is of it) to the body of a gorilla, while Anton wants to use Sach's graymatter for his robot. Meanwhile, Amelia Gravesend (Ellen Corby) makes plans to feed Slip to her carnivorous plant. Along the way, Sach is periodically transformed into a hideous beast, terrifying one and all, including his would-be rescuers Louie (Bernard Gorcey), Butch (Bennie Bartlett) and Chuck (David Condon). There isn't a single gag or situation in Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters that wasn't used earlier by the Three Stooges or Abbott & Costello, but that doesn't make the film any less hilarious. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in 19th-century New York, this mystery begins when a Frenchwoman shows up at the home of one of Napoleon's former marshals. The alcoholic man is badly crippled and slowly dying, but this doesn't stop the forthright lady from pushing him to change his will to include his estranged grandson so that he can help out the struggling French Republic. Unfortunately, the dying man's conniving housekeeper and butler, already planning murder to get the money themselves, overhear her and begin plotting her demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This anthology film tells three stories of love involving the passengers of an ocean liner at sea. In the first, "The Jealous Lover," James Mason plays Charles Coudray, a well-known ballet director. When someone asks Coudray why he staged his masterpiece, "Astarte," only once, he tells the story of Paula Woodward (Moira Shearer), a superb dancer he found practicing in his theater. He was awestruck by her technique and her beauty, but he discovered that she had a secret -- due to a cardiac condition, she has been forbidden to dance too strenuously, as it could tax her heart and eventually kill her. Charles urges Paula to perform for him, so he may use her movements to choreograph his next great work; she agrees, but the exertion proves too much for her and she dies. He arranges for the work she inspired to be performed only once, in hopes that she will somehow see it from on high. In the second segment, "Mademoiselle," Tommy (Ricky Nelson) is a 12-year-old boy travelling with his French governess and tutor (Leslie Caron); she's tired of spending her days watching over a child, and he'd like to get away from Teacher for a while. Mrs. Pennicott (Ethel Barrymore), a older woman who happens to be a witch, hears Tommy wishing he could be a grown-up, and she grants his request: suddenly Tommy is a grown man (played by Farley Granger), but only for the next four hours. The Governess meets the mysterious stranger Tommy has become, and soon they fall in love. In the final segment, "Equilibrium," Kirk Douglas plays Pierre Narval, a high-wire artist who retired from performing after his partner died while performing a trapeze act, an accident Pierre blames on himself. He begins to reconsider his decision when he saves the life of Nina (Pier Angeli), a woman who attempted to drown herself; her husband died in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and she feels she is to blame for his death. Their shared fatalism equals fearlessness in Pierre's eyes, and he teaches Nina the art of the trapeze; however, when he begins to fall in love with her, he's no longer so certain that he wants her to risk her life. "The Jealous Lover" and "Equilibrium" were directed by Gottfried Reinhardt, while "Mademoiselle" was directed by Vincente Minnelli. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

First published in 1932, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's speculative novel When Worlds Collide was immediately purchased by Paramount as a possible project for director Cecil B. DeMille. But because none of Paramount's scriptwriters were able to come up with an adequate screen treatment, the property lay on the shelf until 1950, when producer George Pal was casting about for a follow-up to his successful sci-fier Destination Moon. Though the film was top-heavy with special effects, Pal was able to bring When Worlds Collide in for under a million dollars, thanks to an inexpensive cast and a heavy reliance upon stock footage. The story is set in motion when Dr. Cole Henderson (Larry Keating) announces that a extraterrestrial planet is on a collision course with the Earth. No one believes Henderson's story, save for crippled financier Stanton (John Hoyt), who finances the construction of a gigantic spaceship, built for the purpose of transporting selected survivors from the doomed Earth to another Earthlike planet. As it becomes obvious that Henderson's predictions will come true, a worldwide lottery is held to select those people who will be rescued from oblivion by Stanton's spaceship. In the climactic scenes, the worlds do indeed collide, with appropriately spectacular results. But will the spaceship, overloaded with humanity, be able to take off and seek out a Brave New World? Amidst the thrills, a romantic triangle emerges, involving Richard Derr, Barbara Rush and Peter Hanson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide