Kay Linaker Movies
Of Norwegian descent, brunette Kay Linaker had graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and appeared in a couple of short-lived Broadway plays -- including Henry Rosendahl's Yesterday's Orchids (1934) with fellow Hollywood hopefuls Carleton Young and Richard Reeves -- prior to signing with Warner Bros. and later Fox, where she mainly played supporting roles in Grade-A production while earning leading assignments in programmers. With Paramount in the 1940s, Linaker usually played society women, often rather cold-hearted, but left the screen to marry writer-turned-television executive Howard Phillips. As Kate Phillips, she co-wrote (with Theodore Simonson) the screenplay to the sci-fi classic The Blob (1958) and, later still, taught courses at a university in New Hampshire. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
In his first starring role, Steve McQueen plays a typical oversexed, car-lovin' highschooler who can't get anyone to believe his story about a huge meteor, which crashes to earth and begins exuding a pink, gooey substance. Affixing itself to the body of an old man, the "blob" begins parasitically sucking the life out of several unfortunate humans, growing to an enormous size. Problem is, the disappearances of the victims can all be explained (one is supposed to be out of town, another is attending a convention), so the cops still won't believe McQueen or his girlfriend Aneta Corsaut (the future Helen Crump of The Andy Griffith Show). Rallying his teen pals, McQueen finally manages to get the adults' attention-but by now, the Blob is consuming entire city blocks. In 1972, the sequel Beware the Blob followed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, (more)
- 1945
In this high-spirited musical comedy, J. Newport Bates (Eddie Bracken) is a millionaire who finds women are only interested in him for his money. When he becomes infatuated with Teddy Collins (Veronica Lake), a cigarette girl, he tries to hide his true identity from her, hoping she'll be interested in him for himself rather than his bank account. However, once Teddy figures out who he is, Bates drops her, and he is about to give up on women entirely when he meets Sue Thomas (Marjorie Reynolds), a nice girl who isn't interested in his money (or at least not yet). Musical satirists Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appear, though most prints are missing a bit from one of their musical numbers: a verse from a song that made fun of Eleanor Roosevelt was clipped after the film's initial engagements. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Veronica Lake, Sonny Tufts, (more)
- 1944
Freely adapted from a successful Broadway musical by Moss Hart, this story stars Ginger Rogers as Liza Elliott, the editor of a popular fashion magazine. Despite her beauty, wealth, and success in business, Liza is unhappy and out of sorts. And while three men are vying for her affections -- advertising director Charley Johnson (Ray Milland), newly single Kendall Nesbitt (Warner Baxter), and youthful and handsome Randy Curtis (Jon Hall) -- Liza has been unlucky in love, and she feels that she's come to the end of her emotional rope. She begins seeing Dr. Brooks (Barry Sullivan) in hopes of resolving her emotional crises and finding happiness, and her self-searching explorations of her past take the form of a handful of musical numbers. While the stage version of Lady in the Dark featured songs written by the estimable team of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, several of them were replaced for this screen adaptation; "The Saga of Jenny", "One Life to Love", and "Girl of the Moment" were the most notable among the Weill/Gershwin tunes that survived the editing process. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1944
This peppy wartime musical stars Bing Crosby as radio crooner Johnny Cabot, the heartthrob of millions. To escape his frenzied fans, Johnny joins the Navy, where is he ordering to aid a WAVE recruiting drive. He is helped(?) in this endeavor by Betty Hutton, amusingly cast in a dual role as twin sisters Susie and Rosemary, one a shy retiring brunette, the other a bold and brassy blonde (Vera Marshe doubles for Hutton is some scenes). Part of Johnny's recruiting strategy is to stage a musical show, as good an excuse as any for a steady stream of bouncy musical numbers. This is the film in which Bing Crosby and Sonny Tufts, both in blackface, introduce the Johnny Mercer-Harold Arlen standard "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive." Sharp-eyed viewers will spot Yvonne de Carlo, Mona Freeman, Mae Clarke, and Noel "Lois Lane" Neill in small roles. Here Come the Waves was partially remade by Martin & Lewis as Sailor Beware. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, (more)
This adaptation of Vera Caspary's suspense novel was begun by director Rouben Mamoulien and cinematographer Lucien Ballard, but thanks to a complex series of backstage intrigues and hostilities, the film was ultimately credited to director Otto Preminger and cameraman Joseph LaShelle (who won an Oscar for his efforts). At the outset of the film, it is established that the title character, Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), has been murdered. Tough New York detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the killing, methodically questioning the chief suspects: Waspish columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), wastrel socialite Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), and Carpenter's wealthy "patroness" Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson). The deeper he gets into the case, the more fascinated he becomes by the enigmatic Laura, literally falling in love with the girl's painted portrait. As he sits in Laura's apartment, ruminating over the case and his own obsessions, the door opens, the lights switch on, and in walks Laura Hunt, very much alive! To tell any more would rob the reader of the sheer enjoyment of watching this stylish film noir unfold on screen. Everything clicks in Laura, from the superbly bitchy peformance of Clifton Webb (a veteran Broadway star who became an overnight movie favorite with this film) to the haunting musical score by David Raskin. Long available only in the 85-minute TV version Laura has since been restored to its original 88-minute running time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, (more)
- 1944
Perennial starlet Mary Beth Hughes has Men on Her Mind in this PRC quickie. Mary Beth plays a radio and nightclub singer to whom success means everything. Everything, that is, until she falls in love with handsome Edward Norris. Like every other male in the cast, Norris was selected not so much out of talent as from necessity: with the war on, the studios were compelled to rely upon draft-proof talent. Men on Her Mind contains one song, "Heaven on Earth", cowritten by PRC workhorse Lee Zahler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Beth Hughes, Edward Norris, (more)
To fully appreciate The More the Merrier, it is important to know that, during WW2, there was an acute housing shortage in Washington DC. This is why elderly Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) is obliged to share a tiny DC apartment with pretty Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur) and handsome Joe Carter (Joel McCrea). After nearly two reels of misunderstandings, the trio becomes accustomed to their curious living arrangement. Joe takes a platonic liking to Connie, but she's engaged to stuffy bureaucrat Charles J. Pendergast (Richard Gaines). Sizing up the situation, foxy Benjamin contrives to bring Connie and Joe together, in spite of themselves. Things get dicey when Joe endeavors to complete a top-secret mission for the Air Force, which leads to all sorts of comic complications and misguided remonstrations. Throughout the film, director George Stevens and the four-man screenwriting staff deliberately tweak the noses of the Hays Office, getting by with any number of censorable offenses by deftly and tastefully sidestepping the obvious. Especially potent is the scene in which Joe tries to seduce Connie by talking about everything except seduction: it's also fun to watch Dingle robustly repeat the word "Damn" over and over, getting away with this breach of censorship because he's quoting Admiral "Damn the Torpedoes" Farragut. An Academy Award went to Charles Coburn, while nominations were bestowed upon Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, George Stevens, the screenwriters, and the film itself. The More the Merrier was remade in 1966 as Walk Don't Run, with Cary Grant, Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1943
Let's Face It is adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the old Norma Mitchell/Russell G. Medcraft stage chestnut The Cradle Snatchers. The basic story of three neglected wives who hire a trio of young men as professional companions is updated for the World War II era: The three young men are now lonely GIs. Bob Hope is the funniest member of the threesome engaged by the wives in order to make their wandering hubbies jealous. He is paired off with vivacious Betty Hutton, both of whom fight a complex situation-comedy plotline in order to find time for their expected specialties. Hope's best moment is a parody of the cigarette-lighting bit from Now, Voyager, in which he winds up with six burning cigarettes in his mouth. The stage version of Let's Face It was essentially a vehicle for Danny Kaye, who of course played the role essayed in the film by Bob Hope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, (more)
- 1943
In her last 20th Century-Fox vehicle, skating star Sonja Henie plays, Nora, a Norwegian expatriate ice champion. Newly arrived in the U.S., Nora and her millionaire uncle Hjallmar (S. Z. Sakall) are sweet-talked into investing in a failing resort hotel, now a hostelry for showbiz folk. Unemployed musician Brad Barton (Cesar Romero) makes a play for Nora, but she winds up with hotel manager Freddy Austin (Cornel Wilde), leaving Freddy's girlfriend Flossie (Lynn Bari) literally in the cold. The film's finale is the standard fund-raising ice show, with Nora as the center of attention. It is typical of early-1940s musicals that poor Flossie, a likeable character throughout most of the film, turns into a venomous virago in the final reel to "justify" her breakup with Freddy. No matter: the film is redeemed by the sweet sounds of Woody Herman and His Orchestra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, (more)
The title of this "Lum 'N' Abner" comedy isn't explained until the film is half over. Chester Lauck and Norris Goff repeat their radio characterizations of Lum and Abner, proprietors of the Jot-Em-Down Store in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. This time, the boys journey to Chicago, where Abner hopes to collect his share of an inheritance, only to find out that they're responsible for their "benefactor's" debts. Required to take a medical exam, Abner is incorrectly informed that he has only two weeks to live (from the motion picture of the same name). In their efforts to raise enough money to square their debts, Our Heroes get mixed up with a Nazi spy ring. When this plot point is abruptly dropped (indeed, it looks as though the script was being made up as it went along), Abner agrees to take an experimental rocket trip to Mars for a huge cash sum. The climactic special effects are as ridiculous as the rest of the film; even so, Two Weeks to Live did well at the box-office thanks to the popularity of the Lum 'N' Abner radio show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, (more)
- 1942
Surprisingly little known, Universal's Men of Texas boasts an impressive cast and a fairly exciting and complex storyline. Set just after the Civil War, the film stars Robert Stack as Chicago war correspondent Barry Conovan, who is sent by his newspaper to Texas to get the low-down on the martial law that has been imposed on the state. Conovan is accompanied by Sam Sawyer (Leo Carrillo), his photographer-and never mind that newspapers didn't run photographs in 1866! Despite the good intentions of General Sam Houston (William Farnum), Texas is in the hands of carpetbaggers, scallawags and tinhorn dictators, the worst of whom is Henry Jackson (Brod Crawford), a self-styled patriot who runs his section of the territory like his own private fiefdom, with an army of outlaws at his beck and call. The plot gets even hairier when both Conovan and Jackson fall in love with Jane Baxter Scott (Anne Gwynne), whose younger brother Robert (Jackie Cooper) is a living embodiment of the ideological confusion plaguing postwar Texas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Stack, Broderick Crawford, (more)
- 1942
In this patriotic film, a good-hearted boy donates his best friend to the Dogs for Defense, an government organization that trained household dogs for the military during WW II. Following training, the canine recruit is assigned to keep a defense plant safe from saboteurs. Coincidentally, the boy's boozy father also works at the plant. The father redeems himself, and the dog becomes a hero when they team up to stop the enemy from blowing up the factory. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Lee, Addison Richards, (more)
- 1942
In this lighthearted musical comedy, Marjory Stuart (Mary Martin) is a girl who works in the hatcheck room at a Manhattan nightclub and dreams of being a rich socialite herself. Toward that end, Marjory wants to land a rich husband, so she saves up her money and takes a cruise to the Caribbean, where she poses as wealthy debutante. Marjory quickly makes friends with Bubbles Hennessy (Betty Hutton), a brassy but good-natured singer who's on board to rendezvous with her boyfriend Wally Case (Eddie Bracken). Tagging along with Wally is his pal Pete Hamilton (Dick Powell), a beach bum with charm and personality but no bankroll. Bubbles, Wally, and Pete soon realize that Marjory is hardly a member of the upper crust, but they like her enough to help her snag the man she has her eye on, stiff-as-a-board millionaire Alfred Monroe (Rudy Vallee). However, just as Marjory begins making progress with Alfred, she and Pete begin to realize that they've fallen in love. Both Betty Hutton and Mary Martin sing several songs along the way (Hutton's standout number, "Murder, He Says," later found it's way into Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors), and legendary calypso performer Sir Lancelot performs "Ugly Woman" (later a hit for Jimmy Soul under the title "If You Want To Be Happy"). Hutton and Bracken were reunited a year later in the Preston Sturges classic The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Martin, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1942
Cinderella Swings It was the last in a series of RKO programmers based on the popular radio series Scattergood Baines (its original title, Scattergood Swings It, was changed in the light of the poor reception afforded the earlier series entries). Guy Kibbee stars as small-town busybody Baines, who in this outing tries to make a big star out of local songstress Betty Palmer (Gloria Warren). One of his strategies is to spotlight the girl in a USO benefit show, which takes up most of the film's 70-minute running time. The supporting cast include juvenile actors Butch and Buddy (Bill Lenhart and Kenneth Brown), who'd previously bedevilled W. C. Fields and Abbott &Costello over at Universal, and future 3 Stooges straight woman Christine McIntyre. Cinderella Swings It was packaged by Pyramid Productions, the same concern responsible for RKO's radio-inspired "Lum and Abner" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Kibbee, Gloria Warren, (more)
- 1942
William Gargan takes over from Ralph Bellamy as the title character in Columbia's A Close Call for Ellery Queen. Unlike Bellamy, who played the role of Ellery Queen for laughs, Gargan adopts a more sober approach, much to the overall benefit of the film. The story takes place at the lavish country estate owned by wealthy Alan Rogers (Ralph Morgan). Two young ladies show up at Rogers' doorstep, both claiming to be his long-lost daughter. Concurrently, a pair of unsavory gentlemen (Andrew Tombes, Charles Judels) from Rogers' checkered past arrive with blackmail on their minds. Ellery tries to make heads or tails of all this intrigue before Rogers ends up losing his fortune, aided by his "girl Friday" Nikki Porter (Margaret Lindsay)-but our hero is unable to prevent a pair of nasty murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
- 1942
The Night Before the Divorce is when Lynn Thorndike (Lynn Bari) seeks out her ex-husband George (Joseph Allen Jr.), begging for help. Lynn claims she is in trouble with cops, a contingency tied in with the murder of bandleader Victor Roselle (Nils Asther), whom she has been dating. George immediately drops his current girl friend Lola May (Mary Beth Hughes) like a hot potato to come to his former wife's rescue. It turns out, however, that Lynn isn't in any trouble at all; she's just been playing dumb and helpless to win back her husband, who'd always been jealous of her superior intellect. Wonder what the chances are for a screening of The Night Before the Divorce at the next N.O.W. meeting? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn Bari, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1941
A nostalgic and patriotic film from director Henry King similar to such later films as The Corn Is Green (1945). Claudette Colbert, stars as Nora Trinell, an aging schoolteacher awaiting a meeting with presidential candidate Dewey Roberts (Shepperd Strudwick). As Nora waits, she reflects on the past. It seems that a young Dewey (Douglas Croft) is Nora's pupil many years earlier in 1916, and has developed a schoolboy crush on his teacher, who encourages him to pursue his dreams. Nora, however, is quietly married to a fellow teacher, Dan Hopkins (John Payne), which inspires Dewey's jealousy when he discovers the truth. Tragedy awaits Dan, however, when he joins with the Canadian forces entering World War I. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, John Payne, (more)
Based on the novel by Vincente Blasco Ibanez, Blood and Sand is the beautifully rendered story of the rise and fall of a young, cocksure Spanish bullfighter, played by Tyrone Power. Working his way slowly up the ladder to success, Power achieves fame when he is praised to skies by fatuous, fickle critic Laird Cregar. A country boy at heart, Power finds himself way over his head with sophisticates, and is soon torn between his pious and faithful wife Linda Darnell and sexy, mercenary Rita Hayworth. It is Darnell, however, who comforts Power after his final, fatal goring in the bull ring. The film's best scenes depict the curious combination of horror and fascination with which bullfighting aficionados treat this most barbaric of "sports." Blood and Sand was previously filmed in 1922 with Rudolph Valentino; a Valentino contemporary, Alla Nazimova, plays Power's mother in the remakes. Portions of this film turned up as stock footage in the 1945 Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bullfighters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, (more)
- 1941
Jane Darwell is the whole show in the 61-minute 20th Century-Fox programmer Private Nurse. The formidable Ms. Darwell is first scene at a birthday party, thrown in her honor by her favorite charge, little Ann Todd. The daughter of ex-gangster Sheldon Leonard, Todd has been raised to believe that her mother is dead and that her father has always been a paragon of virtue. Upon learning the truth, Todd is told the whole story by nurse Darwell. Essentially an extended flashback, Private Nurse served as an acceptable lower-berth entry at the double-feature houses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Darwell, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1941
Charlie Chan in Rio is a remake of 1931's Black Camel, one of the few pre-1934 "Charlie Chan" entries still in existence. While the original film was set in Hawaii, the remake takes place in Brazil, but the basic intrigues remain the same. While vacation in Rio de Janeiro with his son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), Honolulu detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is asked by the local constabulary to help solve a double homicide. The motivation behind the two murders is apparently tied in with sinister psychologist Alfredo Marana (Victor Jory), who utilizes hypnotism as an adjunct to a clever blackmailing scheme. Cobina Wright Jr. shows up early on as one of the murder victims, alongside Jory, Mary Beth Hughes and the ubiquitous Harold Huber, cast as a foreign police official. Hamilton Macfadden, who directed the original Black Camel, shows up as one of the suspects in Charlie Chan in Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Mary Beth Hughes, (more)
- 1941
In this drama, which blends romance with suspense, Prince Kurt von Rotenberg (George Brent) is attempting to flee his native Austria one step ahead of German troops. In his travels, he meets Marta Keller (Martha Scott), and amidst the chaos that surrounds them, the two fall in love, even though she is already engaged to another. Kurt and Marta set their sights on Czechoslovakia, but they lose track of each other along the way, and in time Kurt decides to make a profound sacrifice for the woman he loves -- when he learns that Marta's fiancé has been captured by Nazi troops, Kurt offers to turn himself in to German authorities in exchange for his release. They Dare Not Love proved to be the last feature film credited to British director James Whale, though he did not in fact complete the project; midway through the shooting, Whale was replaced by Charles Vidor. Lloyd Bridges and Peter Cushing both appear in minor roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Brent, Martha Scott, (more)
- 1940
Though the 1931 Fox release Charlie Chan Carries On apparently no longer exists, modern viewers can get a general idea of the film's quality by taking a look at its 1940 remake, Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. On the verge of revealing the identity of an international murderer, a Scotland Yard man is himself killed in the Honolulu offices of detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). The only existing clues point to the fact that the murderer is one of several passengers on a ship bound for San Francisco. In time-honored movie-mystery tradition, the ship's manifest is chock full of such suspicious types as Dr. Sudermann (Lionel Atwill), Professor Gordon (Leo G. Carroll) and religious fanatic Mr. Walters (Charles Middleton). Another murder takes place before Chan is able to expose the perpetrator with the help of the supposedly blinded widow (Kay Linaker) of the original victim. Comedy relief is provided by Victor Sen Yung as Chan's eternally bumbling Number Two son and by Cora Witherspoon as man-chasing spinster Susie Watson (a character originally portrayed as a youthful gold-digger by Marjoire White in Charlie Chan Carries On). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Marjorie Weaver, (more)
- 1940
To fully appreciate Buck Benny Rides Again, one must have some familiarity with Jack Benny's radio programs of the 1939-40 season. During this period, Jack's broadcast costars included bandleader Phil Harris, announcer Don Wilson, singer Dennis Day and comedians Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Andy Devine. All five supporting players appear in this film, all playing "themselves" just as Benny does. Falling in love with aspiring singer Joan Cameron (Ellen Drew), Jack vows to go out of his way to impress her. When he learns that Joan is headed for a western dude ranch, he poses as "Buck" Benny, a rootin'-tootin'-shootin' 100% genuine cowboy. In truth, both Jack and his valet Rochester are terrified at the Wide Open Spaces, certain that they'll be scalped by Indians at the first opportunity, but through a series of silly coincidences Benny manages to convince Joan that he's an honest-to-goodness frontiersman. The plot thickens when a pair of modern-day desperadoes (Ward Bond and Morris Ankrum) plot to rob the dude ranch's safe, but our hero saves both the day and his girlfriend, with the unsolicited but very welcome assistance of his pet polar bear Carmichael (the same bruin who allegedly ate the gas man on Jack's radio show). Benny fans will get an extra kick out of seeing his legendary Maxwell in all its sputtering, backfiring glory, while old-time radio aficionados will enjoy hearing the voices of Mary Livingstone (Mrs. Benny) and Jack's "friendly enemy" Fred Allen. Frank Loesser's musical score includes such hit-parade favorites as "Say It (Over and Over Again)" and "My! My!", the latter sung by Rochester to his sweetie Josephine (Theresa Harris). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Ellen Drew, (more)
- 1940
Dispensing with the melodramatic excesses of Universal's previous "Invisible Man" films, 1941's The Invisible Woman aims strictly for laughs. Virginia Bruce stars as Kitty Carroll, an outspoken department store model fired from her job by tyrannical Mr. Growley (Charles Lane). Intrigued by an ad in the personal columns requesting the services of an "adventurous woman", Kitty offers her services to eccentric scientist Professor Gibbs (John Barrymore, doing a dead-on impression of his brother Lionel). Much to the dismay of his timorous butler George (Charles Ruggles), his housekeeper Mrs. Jackson (Margaret Hamilton), and his nephew-financier Richard Russell (John Howard), Gibbs has been experimenting with an invisibility formula, and Kitty turns out to be a most willing guinea pig. Cloaked in her new invisibility, our heroine gets even with her old nemesis Growley and sets out for new escapades, while Gibbs and his entourage anxiously search for the girl lest harm befall her. The whole affair ends up in the Mexican refuge of gangster Blackie (Oscar Homolka), who hopes to use Gibbs' formula for his own nefarious purposes. Given the fact that Blackie is saddled with such moronic henchmen as Bill (Ed Brophy) and Frankie (Shemp Howard), he doesn't stand a chance against the resourceful Kitty, who thoughtfully permits the nonplussed Richard into thinking that he's rescuing her. Shakespeare it isn't, but The Invisible Woman is consistently funny and inventive, enhanced by Universal's usual excellent special effects. Future leading lady Maria Montez shows up as one of the models in the early scenes, along with former Warner Bros. star Anne Nagel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, (more)
- 1940
Angry natives or a beautiful widow -- which poses the greater threat? Keith Brandon (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is an archeologist leading a team of researchers -- Richardson (Vincent Price), Loren (Alan Hale), Forrester (George Sanders), and Scott (John Howard) -- who are exploring the jungles of South America in search of Inca artifacts. The scientists discover they are not welcome when Richardson is felled by a poisoned dart, and a difficult situation is made all the more complicated when Stephanie (Joan Bennett), Richardson's wife, appears unannounced to pay her husband a visit. Stephanie must join Brandon's party as they make their way through the wilderness, with angry and armed natives surrounding them on all sides, and in the midst of the tension and danger, both Brandon and Forrester discover they're attracted to to Stephanie, leading to a dangerous rivalry among the crew. Green Hell would turn out to be the last feature film completed by the noted and idiosyncratic horror director James Whale; while he was credited with another film, They Dare Not Love, Whale in fact backed out of the project before shooting was finished. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Vincent Price, (more)
