Collette Lyons Movies
Actress Collette Lyons appeared many times in Broadway musicals and reviews from the late '30s through the '40s. She also appeared in a few Hollywood films. At one time she was married to newspaper heir George Hearst. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
If anything, this star-studded sequel is even sillier than the original, adding to its problems by completely recasting all the roles, combining several of them into existing characters. Carol Lynley is the heroine this time, and she leaves Peyton Place for New York to write a book about the hypocrisy of her hometown. The book causes lots of trouble back home, getting Mike (Robert Sterling) fired as principal, angering Lynley's mother (Eleanor Parker), and stirring such horrible memories in Selena (Tuesday Weld) that she brains her new boyfriend with a fireplace poker, thinking he is her dead rapist stepfather. The film really belongs to Mary Astor, in a hilarious turn as a smotheringly possessive mother. She tries to come between her son and his new bride (Luciana Paluzzi) in some unintentionally hilarious scenes, causing Paluzzi to fling herself down a ski slope in an attempt at a self-induced miscarriage. Overwrought and overblown, the film is still a treat for fans of campy "suburban sin" melodramas. Look for Bob Crane as an unctuous talk show sidekick. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Lynley, Jeff Chandler, (more)
A standard crime story with a dash of a disillusioned generation of men thrown in for good measure, The Rebel Set, also known as Beatsville, is about an armored car hold-up. Mr. Tucker (Edward Platt) is the man who comes up with the idea and plan of how to carry out the robbery, and he recruits three men who are down on their luck. John Mapes (Gregg Palmer), is an out-of-work actor, Ray Miller (John Lupton) is a writer who cannot get published, and George Leland (Don Sullivan) is the wastrel son of a has-been movie star. Tucker should have thought twice about who he was recruiting -- if these men have failed at life so far, why should they succeed in something as daring as a million-dollar robbery? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregg Palmer, Kathleen Crowley, (more)
- 1950
When You're Smiling is distinguished by the presence of several top recording artists of 1950. The wafer-thin plotline concerns the misadventures of Texan Gerald Durham (Jerome Courtland), who arrives in the Big City to learn the ropes of the music business. Durham not only ends up with a recording contract, but also wins heroine Peggy Martin (Lola Albright) in the bargain. So much for the story. The principal selling card of When You're Smiling consists of the guest-star turns by Frankie Laine, Bob Crosby, The Modernaires, The Mills Brothers, Kay Starr and Billy Daniels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerome Courtland, Frankie Laine, (more)
- 1950
Betty Grable's Wabash Avenue is an agreeable remake of Grable's 1943 hit Coney Island. The locale is changed from New York to Chicago, but the plot remains basically the same. Once again, the star is cast as a honky-tonk singer, Ruby Summers, who is groomed for classier show-business endeavors by a handsome producer -- in this case, Andy Clark (Victor Mature). Saloon owner Uncle Mike (Phil Harris) doesn't want to lose Ruby (Grable) for both professional and personal reasons, but Clark is more persuasive, and, frankly, better-looking. Once she reaches the top in a Hammerstein show, Ruby's head is turned by Clark's suave, sophisticated partner English Eddie (Reginald Gardiner). Margaret Hamilton has a wonderful cameo as a Carrie Nation-style saloon basher, while old-time vaudevillian James Barton steals the show with his rendition of such standards as "Harrigan" and "Green River." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Victor Mature, (more)
- 1949
When a priceless diamond is stolen from a museum exhibition all suspicion falls upon the notorious Lone Wolf, a former jewel thief who became a reporter. It doesn't help that he was in the museum to write a story on the gem at the time of its theft. Now he and his gal pal must play amateur detectives in order to ring the real crooks to justice. This was the final entry in the "Lone Wolf" series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Randell, June Vincent, (more)
- 1949
Blondie's Big Deal was the 24th entry in Columbia's popular "Blondie" series. Since the actors were getting a bit too long-in-tooth to be thoroughly convincing in their characterizations, Big Deal is for the most part played on a farcical level. This time around, Dagwood (Arthur Lake) invents a nonflammable paint, much to the delight of his boss Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan), who hopes to snag a lucrative contract. Dishonest competitors plan to sabotage Dag's invention, but Blondie (Penny Singleton) and neighborhood boy-genius Rollo (Alan Dinehart III) do a little detective work and save the day. Director Edward Bernds handles the material in the manner of his "Three Stooges" 2-reelers: At one point, Blondie is decorously tied to a chair by the villains, while at another juncture Dagwood causes an outsized slapstick explosion. Bernds' breezy approach may not have pleased diehard "Blondie" fans, but it turned out to be a much-needed booster shot for this flagging film series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1945
In this costume drama, a woman travels from New England to California's Barbary coast to avenge her brother's death. There she becomes a saloon singer in a sleazy bar, the bar frequented by the killer. The bar's owner, and the local crime lord begin fighting over control of coastal operations. The woman falls for the bar owner until she learns that he may have been involved in her brother's demise. Happiness ensues when it is discovered that the brother is not dead at all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey, (more)
- 1945
Blonde Ransom revives a plot that dates back at least to Broadway's David Belasco era. Virginia Grey plays Vicki, the niece of irascible old scoundrel Uncle William (George Barbier). When Vicki's boyfriend Duke (Donald Cook), owner of a Broadway nightclub, needs $63000 in a hurry, Vicki fakes her own kidnapping to raise the ransom money from her uncle. Things get sticky when the phony abduction turns real, but nothing really bad ever happens in a Universal musical comedy. TV buffs might get a kick out of comedy relief Pinky Lee, performing several of his tried-and-true burlesque routines. As proof that everything old is new again, the storyline of Blonde Ransom was reworked as late as 1997 for the Alicia Silverstone vehicle Excess Baggage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Cook, Virginia Grey, (more)
The Dolly Sisters is the heavily Hollywoodized biopic of Jennie and Rosie Dolly, Hungarian-born entertainers who took Broadway by storm in the early 1900s. Betty Grable plays Jennie and June Haver plays Rosie; their uncle is the inevitable "funny foreigner" S.Z. Sakall, who manages their career from childhood. Passing an important audition for Oscar Hammerstein, the Dolly girls become international stage headliners, but in so doing they find that their private life is strained. Jennie in particular is perplexed by the dilemma of devoting herself to a career while still finding time to romance handsome composer John Payne. The Dolly girls are separated permanently when Rosie is fatally injured in an auto accident, but Jennie finds lasting happiness with her composer. Despite the pre-World War I ambience of the film, both Grable and Haver show off a lot more skin than would have been permissible in earlier times. But Dolly Sisters producer George Jessel knew what he was doing, and the Technicolor film was a major hit in 1945. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, John Payne, (more)
- 1939
Forever switching its time-frame from past to present, Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" series returned to a contemporary milieu for Three Texas Steers. The story revolves around a bankrupt circus, and the efforts made by Stony (John Wayne), Tucson (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby (Max Terhune) to save the show from going under. Carole Landis, a starlet on the verge of bigger things, plays circus owner Nancy, whose efforts to stay afloat are undermined by the covert machinations of her "faithful"manager Ward (Ralph Graves). The film's outcome hinges on a Big Race, with the circus' dancing horse as a contestant; this scene includes an unexpected moment of high comedy, at once relieving and compounding the tension! Three Texas Steers represented Max Terhune's "adios" to the Mesquiteers; his replacement in Wyoming Outlaw was Raymond Hatton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, (more)
- 1938
Silent-film leading man Ralph Forbes is given another shot at a starring role in the low-budget talkie Woman Against the World. Forbes plays kindly attorney Larry Steele, who champions the cause of distraught young mother Anna Masters (Alice Moore). When her baby is snatched away from her by her domineering aunt (Ethel Reese-Burns), Anna accidentally kills the old lady and is carted off to jail. While behind bars, Anna secures the services of a seedy detective agency to locate her missing child, leading to even more trouble for the beleagured heroine. Having been absent from the proceedings for several reels, lawyer Steele endeavors to see that justice is done in the climactic footage. Woman Against the World was written by Edgar Edwards, who shows up briefly on screen as Anna Masters' ill-fated husband. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Forbes, Alice Moore, (more)
- 1937
This musical chronicles 15 years in the life of a New York City Street. In 1912, 52nd Street is a peaceful residential neighborhood and by 1937 it has become a bawdy red-light district. As the street changes, so do the lives of a brother and his two sisters who become estranged when he marries an actress at the beginning of the film. The two snooty sisters find their brothers' actions distasteful and consider the lowly actress unworthy of their high-born brother. Songs include: "I Still Love to Kiss You Goodnight," "Nothing Can Stop Me Now," "52nd Street," "23 Skiddoo," "Let Down Your Hair and Sing," and "We Love the South." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hunter, Leo Carrillo, (more)
- 1937
The inimitable Preston Sturges originally scripted Hotel Haywire with George Burns and Gracie Allen in mind, but by the time the film went before the cameras, the Burns and Allen roles had been recast with Benny Baker and Colette Lyons -- and significantly abbreviated in the process. A dentist named Parkhouse (Lynne Overman) plays a practical joke on a poker-playing buddy by sending him home with a lady's chemise stuffed in his coat pocket. The gag backfires, whereupon Parkhouse finds himself in hot water with his own wife (Spring Byington). Threatened with divorce, Parkhouse is advised by a zany astrologer to frame Mrs. P. in a compromising situation at the Hotel Haywire, enlisting amateur detectives Bert and Genevieve Sterns (Baker and Lyons) in his scheme. Things get really hectic when Parkhouse's daughter Phyllis (Mary Carlisle) and her sweetheart Frank (John Patterson) show up at the same hotel. The film is dominated by the antics of larcenous astrologer Zodiac Z. Zippe, played with comic ferocity by Leo Carrillo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Carrillo, Mary Carlisle, (more)
- 1937
This drama is based upon a play by George S. Kaufman, The Butter and Egg Man. It tells the tale of Erwin, a naive yokel who dreams of making it in show biz. He comes to the big city with $20,000. In the city he gets involved with some crooked promoters who manage to con him into backing a dreadful play. Later, Erwin gets even by fixing up the show's accounts. He then turns the production into a New York hit. He takes the play back to the promoters and sells it to them. They buy it and immediately find themselves slapped with a plagiarism suit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Erwin, Jean Muir, (more)
