Wally Maher Movies

Right Cross stars Dick Powell as cynical sportswriter Rick Gavery and Powell's wife June Allyson as boxing manager Pat O'Malley. Subbing for her incapacitated father (Lionel Barrymore), Pat grooms prizefighter Johnny Monterez (Ricardo Montalban) for the championship. Johnny holds a grudge against the world because he feels that his Mexican heritage has made him an outcast, though curiously the audience never sees any prejudice levelled against him. Gradually, Pat falls in love with the tempestuous Monterez, while Gavery, who's always carried a torch for Pat, observes from the sidelines. The film wisely avoids the usual boxing-flick cliches, most commendably during the climactic Big Bout. Marilyn Monroe appears unbilled in the opening scene as Dick Powell's dinner companion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blonde good-time girl Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling), who lives in a cheap rooming house in a working-class section of Boston, run by the inquisitive and neurotic Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester), goes out one night after a phone conversation with her boyfriend, proclaiming that she's got big plans and might even move to a nicer place. After putting in her shift as a waitress at a cheap dive called The Grass Skirt, she latches onto Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson), an innocently drunk patron, who's trying to wash away his sadness over his wife's stillborn child. She uses Henry's car with him in tow to drive out to Cape Cod, then strands him on foot and meets her boyfriend -- but when she arrives, he puts a bullet into her, then strips the body, throws it into the sea, and drops the clothes and the car into a lake. Six months later, an ornithologist from the cape spots the skeleton of a human foot sticking up through the sand.

Enter Lt. Peter Morales (Ricardo Montalban) of the Boston PD; he and his partner on this case, Det. Sharkey (Wally Maher), bring the bones to Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennett), of Harvard University's forensic medical laboratory. Over the next few days, McAdoo and his staff are able to determine the gender, age, and general appearance of the person to whom the bones belonged, and that this is a case of murder -- and that the victim was pregnant. Morales and Sharkey, combing through what they know about the victim and the missing persons records of six nearby states, eventually tie the skeleton up with Vivian Heldon, who disappeared on just about the same day the victim was killed, and also to Shanway's car, which he reported stolen that day. The poor slob, who is merely trying to cover up a drunken lapse from his wife (Sally Forrest), acts guilty enough and lies about just enough so that Morales is certain that he's the murderer. His investigation isn't helped by the interference of Mrs. Smerrling, who sold Vivian's belongings when she didn't return to her room, and now seems fixated, even obsessed with the details of the case and its connection to her rooming house. While the police tighten the screws on Shanway, she backtracks Vivian's phone calls and makes contact with the woman's boyfriend, James Joshua Harkley (Edmon Ryan), member of a wealthy Boston family, and a married man; she also manages to steal a vital piece of evidence. But instead of turning it over to the police, she uses it to blackmail Harkley.

Meanwhile, the district attorney sets an early trial date for Shanway, but with the opening arguments only a week away, Morales begins to develop doubts about Shanway's guilt, in addition to harboring his own sympathy for Grace Shanway, whose life is being gradually destroyed by the prosecution on her husband -- not that Morales thinks he's innocent, but there's enough that's not right about the case, including the missing murder weapon, that he's not 100-percent sure. And that's when Vivian's friend and neighbor, Jackie Elcott (Betsy Blair) reports how strangely Mrs. Smerrling is acting, and the fact that she's got a gun. But before they can question her, Harkley kills Mrs. Smerrling -- now it's a race between Morales and Harkley to see who can get to the murder weapon first. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Crane Wilbur, whose film career stretched all the way back to The Perils of Pauline, brings the benefit of his accumulated directorial expertise to The Story of Molly X. The title character, played with verve by June Havoc, is a hard-bitten gun moll who takes over management of a criminal gang when her husband is bumped off. One of her first official acts as leader is to track down and personally kill the man responsible for her husband's death. The rest of the story deals with Molly X's efforts to evade detection by the law, and her ultimate hoisting on her own petard. Though the supporting-cast performances are wildly variable, June Havoc carries the dramatic and emotional weight of the film with sure-handed professionalism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series focuses on customs evasion. It shows how even wealthy people, not just career criminals and smugglers, attempt to evade paying customs tax on items they bring back from overseas. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide

Pulp-novel detective Nick Carter was created in the 1880s, but most film versions of the character have been updated to modern times. Such was the case with MGM's three-episode "Nick Carter" series, which got off to a good start with Nick Carter, Master Detective. Walter Pidgeon plays the title character, who in this episode gets mixed up with industrial espionage. Posing as one "Robert Chalmers", Nick gets the goods on a gang of foreign spies (no country names, please!), bringing them to heel during a serial-like waterfront chase. Rita Johnson essays a rare sympathetic role as stewardess Lou Farnsby, while Donald Meek steals the show as Bartholomew the beekeeper (a character who would grow increasingly annoying as the series went on). Nick Carter, Master Detective was coscripted by Bertram Millhauser, who also penned several of the Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Star Maker is the story (with variations) of vaudeville enterpreneur Gus Edwards, here played by Bing Crosby. Determining that he can attain the uppermost showbiz rungs by spotlighting new, untried talents, Edwards rises to fame by hiring preteen boys and girls for his touring acts, the most famous of which is his "schoolroom" routine. Among Edwards' more prominent discoveries were Eddie Cantor, Georgie Jessel, Bert Wheeler, Walter Winchell and Mae Murray, none of whom are depicting in the film (though composer Walter Damrosch is portrayed "By Himself"). Paramount intended The Star Maker as a showcase for a whole new crop of "stars in the making", though the studio's own discoveries were destined for obscurity--with the exception of Janet Waldo, who in 1997 was still providing the voice of Judy Jetson for a series of TV commercials. Louise Campbell provides the nominal romantic interest as Edwards' super-supportive wife, while a welcome note of cynicism is introduced by the ineffable Ned Sparks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fifteen thousand dollars may have been a fortune back in 1938, but to high-powered literary agent Lynn Conway (Virginia Bruce), it's next to nothing. Unfortunately, Lynn is married to chauvinistic Massachusetts shipbuilder David Conway (Robert Montgomery), who stubbornly insists that she quit her job and live on his measly 15-thou-per-year income alone. David also demands that Lynn move from her posh New York apartment to a tiny cottage in provincial New Bedford. Lynn's ex-partner Harry Borden (Warren William), who's always carried a torch for her, tries to convince her to leave David and return to Manhattan. But love conquers all, and Lynn ultimately realizes that a woman's place is in the home -- especially when there's a baby on the way. One suspects that Patricia Ireland and Gloria Steinem will not be entertained by The First Hundred Years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this backwoods musical, two feudin' families provide the basis of the action. The tale begins as the head of one family asks his son to marry the daughter of the other to bring peace. Unfortunately the son knows that it is his brother that really loves the girl and so takes off. The travelin' son has many adventures as he suffers from a rare condition that causes him to lose his memory every time he is struck upon the head. The only way he can regain it is to be splashed with water. While in one of his phases, he meets and falls in love with a young woman until he encounters water; he then forgets all about her and their romance. Romantic mayhem ensues until the whole mess is straightened out. Songs include: "If I Put My Heart in a Song," "Can't You Hear That Mountain Music?" "Thar She Comes," "Hillbilly Wedding," "Good Morning," and "Mama Don't 'Low No Bull Fiddle Playin' in Heah" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Carole Lombard stars as Helen Bartlett, a compulsive liar who always tips the audience to an oncoming whopper by sticking her tongue in her cheek. Helen is married to a Kenneth Bartlett, a scrupulously honest lawyer whose integrity has always held him back professionally. Hoping to help Kenneth get ahead, Helen confesses to a murder she obviously didn't commit, confident that he'll get her off and make his reputation. But things don't go exactly as planned, thanks largely to a mysterious eccentric named Charley (John Barrymore), who assures the heroine over and over that she'll "fry." Once considered a prime example of screwball comedy, True Confession is now regarded by film buffs as one of Carole Lombard's worst pictures: it wasn't much better when remade by Betty Hutton in 1946 as Cross My Heart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the considerable input of ex-Navy officer Frank Wead (who wrote the script) and technical adviser Cmdr. G. W. D. Dashielle, Submarine D-1 is far more realistic than the usual run of maritime melodramas. Pat O'Brien and Wayne Morris star as Butch Rogers and Sock McGillis, old submarine hands stationed in Panama. On land, Butch and Sock battle over pretty Ann Sawyer (Doris Weston). At sea and underwater, however, our two heroes are virtually inseparable. The documentary-style direction of Lloyd Bacon serves to heighten suspense when, during war games, Submarine D-1 is disabled deep, deep below the surface, endangering the lives of all on board. Ronald Reagan originally had a sizeable supporting role in this heady combination of laughs, thrills, and romance, but Reagan was cut from the final release print (though he still received billing in the film's pressbook). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A never-completed stage musical was the source for the MGM superproduction Born to Dance. The plot is another three-sailors-on-leave affair, with Ted (James Stewart), Mush (Buddy Ebsen) and Gunny (Sid Silvers, who also co-wrote the script) romancing the eminently romanceable Nora (Eleanor Powell), Peppy (Frances Langford) and Jenny (Una Merkel). Nora aspires to become a dancing star, but her career nearly ends before it begins when she inadvertently comes between Broadway luminary Lucy James (Virginia Bruce) and her producer-lover McKay (Alan Dinehart). If anyone watching back in 1936 really cared about the plot, they probably weren't music lovers. The lovely Cole Porter score (his first written directly for the screen) includes "I've Got You Under My Skin", sung by Virginia Bruce to James Stewart, and "Easy to Love", warbled by Stewart to Eleanor Powell. Highlights include Reginald Gardiner's impersonation of a symphony-conducting traffic cop (a routine he'd previously performed on stage) and Eleanor Powell's climactic tap routine on board an art-deco battleship (a sequence later re-deployed for the climax of 1944's I Dood It). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lavishly appointed Sam Goldwyn soap opera is set in Ireland during "the troubles." Irish rebel leader Dennis Reardon (Brian Aherne) falls in love with Lady Helen Drummond (Merle Oberon), the aristocratic daughter of British diplomat Lord Athleigh (Henry Stephenson). Reardon's underground associates, not so romantically inclined, assume that their leader has sold out to the enemy, when in fact he is working tirelessly for an honorable and equitable end to the hostilities. His best friend O'Rourke (Jerome Cowan) is given the job of assassinating Reardon, leading to a tragic climax more suited to an Italian opera than an Irish political meller. Beloved Enemy was very loosely based on the exploits of Irish patriot Michael Collins, who of course was the subject of the far more accurate 1996 biopic starring Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This espionage thriller with romantic comedy touches was loosely based on the book American Black Chamber by the real-life head of the U.S. Secret Service during World War I, Herbert O. Yardley. Bill Gordon (William Powell) is a newspaper puzzle editor who becomes a lieutenant in 1917 when he enlists to fight in the First World War. Before shipping out, Bill meets and becomes attracted to Joel Carter (Rosalind Russell), the niece of John Carter (Samuel Hinds), the Assistant Secretary of War. When Joel learns about Bill's former occupation, she arranges for his transfer to the War Department, where he is put to work code breaking for Major Brennan (Lionel Atwill). When Brennan is murdered as the result of a German-Russian spy ring's machinations, Bill investigates the spies and a comely secret agent (Bonnie Barnes), which jeopardizes his newfound romance with Joel. Russell received the role because MGM's first choice, Myrna Loy, was refusing to work for the studio at the time. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide