Harold Lloyd, Jr. Movies
- 1965
Lunar astronauts explore strange ice caves on the moon and end up becoming hosts for a bizarre, deadly parasitic fungus. Unaware of their contamination, the explorers return to their space station. One of them dies and a biochemist investigates. The ship's physician is the next to suffer. He and the surviving astronaut attempt to convince the ship's captain to radio in a warning to Earth, but the commander refuses. The two then try to contact Earth on their own, but the communication officer, who loves the captain, stops them, leaving the twosome to figure out another way to save their planet from catastrophe. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Leslie, Dolores Faith, (more)
- 1962
In this drama, high-school sweethearts elope while still in school, and later have a second ceremony to please their parents. When reality sets in, the new husband abandons his dream of becoming a doctor to become a mechanic. They then move into the father of the bride's home where he lays down strict rules. When the groom gets involved with auto thieves, trouble ensues until both sets of in-laws team up to send him to college where he belongs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1960
This is a low-budget, standard drama by Charles Haas (his last film) in which a father investigates the mysterious death of his son in a military school. Steven Conway (Mickey Rooney) never knew his son who was raised by the ex-Mrs. Conway after their divorce. The son had been enrolled in a hard-as-nails military school, a place of last resort for delinquents of wealthy families unable to straighten out in any other way. Once he learns of his son's death, Conway goes to the school and comes up against a stone wall when he tries to find out how he died. As his investigation raises dangerous confrontations with school authorities it becomes more than apparent that his son was murdered. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, (more)
- 1960
Curvaceous Mamie Van Doren plays a super-genius who finds herself in charge of a college science department. Mamie would like to be appreciated for her intellect alone, but her male students (and most of the faculty) are preoccupied by her monumental breasts. The science department is virtually controlled by a huge robot called Thinko, which plays bets on horses. Gangsters Mickey Shaughnessy and Allan Drake try to neutralize Thinko, who's been right once too often. Strongarming their way on campus, the two crooks recognize Mamie as a former striptease artist. Forced to resign, she marries professor Martin Milner, who has loved her pure and chaste from afar. One expects to see such people as Jackie Coogan, John Carradine and Louis Nye in garbage like this-but how did Tuesday Weld get talked into participating? And wait till you see that nightclub number performed by Conway Twitty. Beauty and the Robot played in many markets under the step-right-up-folks title Sex Kittens Go to College. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
This sexually explicit, low-budget film makes no pretensions about being anything other than offensive. There is no plot since none is especially necessary. Director Charles Haas (his last film was the following year), opens with a scene of sexually active men and women at a party. Then one of these women, Silver Morgan (Mamie Van Doren), is mistakenly accused of a crime and sent to an institution, run by Catholic nuns, for wayward young women. As it turns out, the inmates in the institution actually run it through sadistic means. One of them is even more seriously mentally disturbed than the others, and so the nuns welcome her as a novitiate, making even a non-Catholic viewer grimace. The content of this story, such as it is, is made all the worse by an accompanying disregard of the craft of filmmaking. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mamie van Doren, Mel Tormé, (more)
Frankenstein's Daughter, a low-budget American horror movie badly directed by Richard E. Cunha, is another in a series of poorly made adaptations of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel. Here, the original Dr. Frankenstein's grandson, Oliver Frankenstein (Donald Murphy), now living in Los Angeles, creates a female version of the Monster from sweet teenage girl, Trudy (Sandra Knight) who then goes on a killing rampage. This thriller, with poor production values and bad sets, has some intentional humor, but little real horror. Also released as She Monster of the Night, Frankenstein's Daughter was featured in It Came from Hollywood, an amusing and loving tribute to horror films and their makers. Also, lovers of trivia should note that Sandra Knight, who plays Trudy, would later become the wife of actor Jack Nicholson. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- 1955
In this comedy, an American learns that he is an English earl. He travels to Great Britain to run his estate. Mayhem ensues when he falls in love with a girl there. His girl friend back home is not amused until she finds a new love of her own. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1953
This cheap independent film was heralded as being "torn from today's headlines." A pyromaniac is on the loose in a small town. Several good-looking young people fall under suspicion. Is it the obvious "punk" type, or the clean-cut kid? The Flaming Urge is one of the few films made by Harold Lloyd Jr., whose showbiz career never did get off the ground, despite extensive help and support from his famous dad. Lloyd's costar is Cathy Downs, who'd seen better days cinematically. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Joyfully preparing for her high-school graduation, and her 18th birthday, Gail Macauley (Ann Blyth) stumbles across a family secret. Contrary to what she's been raised to believe, Gail's parents (Jane Wyatt, Donald Cook) are not her biological parents; she was adopted. Setting a precedent that would be followed by many adoptees of the 1970s and 1980s, Gail will not rest until she tracks down her natural mother. A soap opera deluxe, Our Very Own should not be too closely scrutinized in terms of plot and logic. It is best to revel in the performances by such surefire veterans as Ann Dvorak (as Gail's biological mother) and Gus Schilling (as a flustered television installer), and by such talented "youngsters" as Joan Evans, Phyllis Kirk and Natalie Wood. And as a bonus to Baby Boomers, the film offers a glimpse of the legendary "Indian Head" TV test pattern (yes, it goes back that far!) Our Very Own was written by F. Hugh Herbert, produced by Sam Goldwyn, and directed by David Miller, none of whom make a false move throughout the film's 93 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Farley Granger, (more)
