Barbara Bates Movies

A wandering cowboy endeavors to save a wagon train from an Apache attack in this western that is based upon a Louis L'Amour novel. The settlers are frightened and flee. They all end up dead, but for one little girl, whom the cowboy saves. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this suspenseful crime drama, a decent British sailor stationed in France is forced to smuggle gold when one of the gang members mistakes him for their contact who was killed. Real trouble ensues when the seaman is arrested and interrogated by a group of international police. He finally proves his innocence to them and at their request becomes their spy. He returns to the gang and soon finds that they and the police think he is double-crossing them all. The poor sailor ends up badly beaten by cops and crooks alike until at last he helps the cops get the smugglers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Martin and Lewis tee each other off on a PGA tour in The Caddy. Harvey Miller (Jerry Lewis) is an expert with his golf club, except when he tries to play in front of a crowd -- then he completely loses control. With his mind set on getting into the PGA one way or another, he latches onto Joe Anthony (Dean Martin), a stylish gadabout. Harvey teaches Joe everything he knows about the game, and when Joe enters a tournament, Harvey does too -- as his caddy. But while the golf fans still make Harvey go wild, laid-back Joe feeds upon their applause. As Joe's game improves, his ego grows, and he begins to think Harvey is useless and wants to take the tour alone. The Caddy introduced the Dean Martin classic That's Amore to the world of kitsch and features a bevy of real life professional golfers in cameo roles -- including Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, and Julius Boros. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This last of several movie adaptations of Bret Harte's The Outcasts of Poker Flat stars Cameron Mitchell as a murderous western outlaw, Anne Baxter as his wife, Dale Robertson as a disgraced gambler and Miriam Hopkins as a faded dance hall floozie. All these characters (with a few other socially undesirable types) are trapped in a snowbound mountain cabin. As the chances for rescue fade, the true natures of the cabin's occupants rise to the surface. It is the gambler, outwardly the most cowardly of the bunch, who takes on the outlaw when he threatens the survival of the others. Outcasts of Poker Flat is less downbeat than earlier versions of the story...and, accordingly, less memorable. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Glenn Ford plays a convict who breaks out of a 19th century Nevada prison in the company of several less handsome inmates. When they enter a snowbound California village, they find that all the men have left to prospect for silver; only the women remain. The village is known as Convict Lake because, years earlier, $40,000 of stolen money was hidden somewhere in the area. Town matriarch Ethel Barrymore seems to know where it is, but she ain't talkin'. After recovering the money, the convicts are forced to shoot it out with the returning menfolk. All prisoners are rounded up by the law except for Glenn Ford, who has fortuitously been cleared of false charges, allowing him a fadeout embrace with costar Gene Tierney. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Let's Make It Legal begins at the end--the end of the long marriage between beautiful grandmother Miriam (Claudette Colbert) and her chronic-gambler husband Hugh (Macdonald Carey). Barbara (Barbara Bates), the daughter of the couple, hopes to bring her parents back together, which proves to be a difficult proposition when Miriam's old flame Victor (Zachary Scott), now a millionaire, arrives in town. Hugh tries all sorts of comic strategies to win his ex-wife back, but to no avail. Ultimately, Miriam must choose between the financially solvent Victor and the impishly irresponsible Hugh. This being a comedy, it isn't hard to figure who's going to be headed to the altar at fade-out time. Let's Make It Legal was partly designed to showcase two of Fox's up-and-coming contract players: Robert Wagner and Marilyn Monroe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mickey Rooney, with his kid roles and musicals behind him, went for a major change of image in this harrowing film noir. He gives what many consider to be the best performance of his career as Danny Brady, a well-meaning grease monkey whose life is destroyed in less than a week. Danny finds himself short of cash when he's supposed to take out Vera (Jeanne Cagney), a waitress whom he's just met who works at a hash-house. He borrows 20 dollars from the cash register, planning on paying it back with 20 dollars that a buddy owes him the next day, but the friend doesn't turn up. To get the 20 dollars, he buys a 100-dollar watch on a payment plan and then hocks it for the 20 dollars, but a detective picks up on the purchase and threatens to have him jailed if he doesn't pay the full 100 dollars immediately; desperate to raise the money, he robs a drunken bar patron of his bill-fold. His money problems seemingly behind him, Danny takes Vera out with the extra cash, but gets into a fight with her former boss, Nick (Peter Lorre), who picks up a clue that Danny did the robbery. Nick pressures Danny to provide him with a new car (a hard-to-get commodity in 1950) from the garage where he works, in return for keeping quiet. Danny steals the car and turns it over to Nick, but he and Vera decide to get even by robbing Nick's safe that night -- now they've got 3,600 dollars, which they split. But Danny's boss, Mackey, tells him he knows who stole the car, and wants either the car back or the full value, or he'll turn Danny in to the police. Vera has already blown her share on a mink coat, and he goes back to Mackey with what he has, 1,800 dollars. Mackey takes it and proceeds to call the police. Danny attacks him and leaves him for dead. Danny goes on the run, convinced he's wanted for Mackey's murder. Danny runs into Helen (Barbara Bates), a nice girl that he was dating and then dumped, and they end up fleeing together, hijacking a car and holding an innocent man at gunpoint. Impending tragedy seems to loom up even larger when they cross paths with police officers on a manhunt. Realizing that Helen has been good to him, he ends up on the run alone, with a gun in hand, as the law closes in. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

House Across the Street was the second remake of the 1933 Paul Muni starrer Hi, Nellie. The original's satirical jibes against columnist Walter Winchell are downplayed in favor of undistilled concentration on the plot. Crusading newspaperman Dave Joslin (Wayne Morris) is kicked downstairs to the "Advice to the Lovelorn" column when he manages to offend a politically powerful racketeer. While pretending to stick to his job, Joslin conducts his own investigation to bring the villain to justice. Bruce Bennett, Warner Bros' busiest general-purpose actor (next to John Ridgely, that is!) brings subtlety and shading to the two-dimensional role of the racketeer. Likewise, Janis Paige avoids cliches as an intrepid girl reporter. One of the shortest top-of-the-bill Warners releases of 1949, House Across the Street clocks in at 69 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Zachary Scott uncharacteristically plays for laughs in Warner Bros.' One Last Fling. Scott plays Larry Pearce, the dullish husband of Olivia Pearce (Alexis Smith). When Larry enters into a perfectly innocent business arrangement with gorgeous Gay Winston (Veda Ann Borg), Olivia misunderstands, as does Gay's pugnacious husband Victor (Douglas Kennedy). The ensuing complications are fairly predictable, indicating perhaps that the screwball-comedy format was wearing thin in 1949. Some of the best moments are provided by stalwart supporting players Ann Doran and Jim Backus. Also featured in the cast is legendary radio humorist Ransom Sherman, who never did find a suitable screen vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This cute film is Doris Day's film debut and in it she plays Georgia Garrett, a substitute traveller on an ocean cruise. Her friend Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) had scheduled the cruise but at the last minute cancels when she suspects that her husband is cheating on her and she decides to stay at home to check up on him. So she gets her friend Georgia to go on the cruise in her stead. Meanwhile the husband hires a detective to watch Elvira while on the cruise, because, he too, suspects cheating. Of course, the detective falls for the substitute Elvira (Doris Day), making a somewhat complicated scenario with many possibilities. This is a fun-filled spoof with lots of good tunes by Doris Day. ~ Rovi

In this outtake from the "Hal Roach Comedy Carnival," a talking dog lends support to a harried husband (Walter Abel). ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

This campy little drama launched the career of B-girl Yvonne De Carlo. It is set during the Franco-Prussian war and chronicles the exploits of Salome, a beautiful Viennese dancer who falls for an American reporter and for him gets involved in cloak-and-dagger activities involving the Bismarck, before returning to Arizona with him. There, she uses her talent and abundant charms to inspire the lawless residents of his hometown to reform. They in turn, name the town after her. She then goes to San Francisco where she seduces and marries a wealthy Russian who builds her an opera house and gives her the happy life she had always craved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In many ways, the history of the cautionary fable Strange Holiday is more fascinating than the film itself. Written and directed by radio's Arch Oboler (of "Lights Out" fame), the story concerns American businessman John Stephenson (Claude Rains), who returns home after an extended vacation to discover that the U.S. has been taken over by a fascist dictatorship. Completed sometime between 1940 and 1942, the film was originally produced by General Motors as a morale-booster for the company's employees (it should be noted that the story insists that the strongest defense against totalitarianism is Big Business!) GM decided not to screen the picture, whereupon Arch Oboler sold the property to MGM. That studio also eventually passed on distributing the film, at which point Oboler and star Claude Rains, forming their own production company, repurchased the film and distributed it on a limited basis in 1945. The following year, Strange Holiday finally received a widespread national release through the auspices of PRC Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi