Frank Marlowe Movies

While having lunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York, advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) has the bad luck to call for a messenger just as a page goes out for a "George Kaplan." From that moment, Thornhill finds that he has stepped into a nightmare -- he is quietly abducted by a pair of armed men out of the hotel's famous Oak Room and transported to a Long Island estate; there, he is interrogated by a mysterious man (James Mason) who, believing that Roger is George Kaplan, demands to know what he knows about his business and how he has come to acquire this knowledge. Roger, who knows nothing about who any of these people are, can do nothing but deny that he is Kaplan or that he knows what they're talking about. Finally, his captors force a bottle of bourbon into Roger and put him behind the wheel of a car on a dangerous downhill stretch. Through sheer luck and the intervention of a police patrol car and its driver (John Beradino), Roger survives the ride and evades his captors, and is booked for drunk driving. He's unable to persuade the court, the county detectives, or even his own mother (Jesse Royce Landis) of the truth of his story, however -- Thornhill returns with them to the mansion where he was held, only to find any incriminating evidence cleaned up and to learn that the owner of the house is a diplomat, Lester Townsend (Philip Ober), assigned to the United Nations. He backtracks to the hotel to find the room of the real George Kaplan, only to discover that no one at the hotel has ever actually seen the man. With his kidnappers once again pursuing him, Thornhill decides to confront Townsend at the United Nations, only to discover that he knows nothing of the events on Long Island, or his house being occupied -- but before he can learn more, Townsend gets a knife in his back in full view of 50 witnesses who believe that Roger did it. Now on the run from a murder charge, complete with a photograph of him holding the weapon plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the country, Thornhill tries to escape via train -- there he meets the cooly beautiful Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), who twice hides him from the police, once spontaneously and a second time in a more calculated rendezvous in her compartment that gets the two of them together romantically, at least for the night. By the next day, he's off following a clue to a remote rural highway, where he is attacked by an armed crop-dusting plane, one of the most famous scenes in Hitchcock's entire film output. Thornhill barely survives, but he does manage to learn that his mysterious tormentor/interrogator is named Phillip Vandamm, and that he goes under the cover of being an art dealer and importer/exporter, and that Eve is in bed with him in every sense of the phrase -- or is she? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Chicago Confidential may not have been the best of the late-1950s "expose" films, but it certainly boasted one of the most impressive casts. Based on the factual best-seller by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, the film stars Brian Keith as a State Attorney who vows to bring corrupt Chicago union officials to justice. It turns out that the union crooks are in cahoots with a gambling syndicate, conspiring to frame uncooperative union leader Dick Foran for murder. With the considerable assistance of his coworker-fiancee Beverly Garland, Keith strives to prove Foran's innocence and punish the genuine miscreants. Crucial to the plotline is nightclub comedian Buddy Lewis, cast as an impressionist who helps to frame the troublesome Foran; also in the cast are such crime-flick perennials as Elisha Cook Jr., Paul Langton, Douglas Kennedy, Jack Lambert, John Indrisano, Phyllis Coates, and Thomas B. Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carol Lynley makes her first significant TV appearance in this episode, which also represents an early directorial effort by Robert Altman. Lynley is cast as Janice, a psychotic 17-year-old girl who uses a thirtysomething lout named Tex (Vince Edwards) as a pawn in her scheme to rid herself of her nagging aunt, Mae (Jeanette Nolan), so that she can marry her impoverished boyfriend Stan (Stephen Joyce). At episode's end, it appears that the conniving Janice has outsmarted herself...or has she? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical, an ex-fan dancer leaves the burlesque to start a new in a small town with her two teenage children. There she soon becomes one of the most respected women in town; she also falls in love with the school principal. Unfortunately, her happiness disintegrates when her past is revealed. Fortunately, the townsfolk respect her too much to hold it against her. Songs include: "We're on Our Way", "Why Can't I?", "Is It Love?", "I'd Rather Be", "My Calypso Baby" (Paul Dunlap), and "Teenage Cutie" (Dick Kallman, sung by Luis Amando). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is one of the last episodes of the long-running Bowery Boys film series. This time the trouble begins when a spoiled child television star swipes their car. They go to get it back and in so doing teach the kid a lesson or two. TV executives, frustrated from trying to deal with the youth on their own are so impressed that they hire the boys to keep the kid in line. Of course, that's not nearly as easy as it sounds, especially after the little star gets kidnapped. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When Otto Preminger was willing to release his drug-addiction drama Man With the Golden Arm without the sanction of a Production Code seal, it proved to be yet another nail in the coffin of that censorial dinosaur. Based on the novel by Nelson Algren, the film stars Frank Sinatra as Frankie Machine, expert card dealer (hence the title). Recently released from prison, Frankie is determined to set his life in order -- and that means divesting himself of his drug habit. He dreams of becoming a jazz drummer, but his greedy wife Eleanor Parker wants him to continue his lucrative gambling activities. Since Parker is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a car accident caused by Frankie, he's in no position to refuse. Only the audience knows that Parker is not crippled, but is faking her invalid status to keep Frankie under her thumb. Gambling boss Robert Strauss wants Frankie to deal at a high-stakes poker game; terrified that he's lost his touch, Frankie asks dope pusher Darren McGavin to supply him with narcotics. When McGavin discovers that Parker is not an invalid, she kills him, and Frankie (who is elsewhere at the time) is accused of the murder. He is willing to go to the cops, but he doesn't want to show up with drugs in his system. So with the help of sympathetic B-girl Kim Novak, Sinatra locks himself up and goes "cold turkey"-a still-harrowing sequence, despite the glut of "doper" films that followed in the wake of this picture. After Parker herself is killed in a suicidal fall, the path is cleared for Frankie to pursue a clean new life with Novak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This time the criminal at large is a con artist who poses as a "displaced person" in need of quick cash. Each of the con man's victims is offered a handful of genuine "perfect cut" blue-white diamonds for a fraction of what they are worth--but by the time the victim has made the purchase, the real gems have been switched with all-but-worthless zircon. When Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) catch up with the phony diamond merchant, he minces no words congratulating himself for proving the old adage "You can't cheat an honest man." This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of February 16, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the strangest westerns on record, Johnny Guitar has less in common with Zane Grey than it does with Sigmund Freud and Krafft-Ebbing. The title character, played by Sterling Hayden, is a guitar-strumming drifter who was once the lover of Arizona saloon-owner Vienna (Joan Crawford). Though her establishment doesn't make a dime, Vienna doesn't care because the railroad is going to come in soon, bringing a whole slew of thirsty new customers. This puts her at odds with bulldyke rancher Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), who doesn't want any new settlers on her land. Hating Vienna with a purple passion, Emma will do anything to drive her out of the territory...and even worse, Emma's got the law and the other ranchers on her side. Hoping to keep Emma at bay, Vienna hires Johnny Guitar, who unbeknownst to everyone else in town is a notorious gunslinger. But Johnny prefers to bide his time, waiting for Emma to strike before he makes his move. As a result, Vienna endures several life-threatening experiences, culminating with a feverish chase through the Arizona wilds with lynch-happy Emma and her minions in hot pursuit. According to most sources, the animosity between Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge was quite real, added several extra dimensions to their scenes together. Director Nicholas Ray and screenwriter Philip Yordan stuff the film with so much sexual symbolism that one wonders why they left out a train going into a tunnel. Ms. Crawford's vivid red-and-blue wardrobe scheme was later appropriated by Ray for James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause--with equally stunning results. In addition to the stars, Johnny Guitar is well stocked with reliable supporting players, including Ernest Borgnine, Ben Cooper, Royal Dano (superb as a consumptive, book-reading hired gun) and Paul Fix. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Mickey Spillane, The Long Wait stars Anthony Quinn as an amnesiac who may or may not have committed a murder. Picking up the pieces of his life, Quinn wanders into a hotbed of small-town intrigue and corruption. Characters essentially to the action are highly respectable bank president Charles Coburn, gangster Gene Evans, and silky femme fatale Peggie Castle. The climax, described by historian William K. Everson as "a typical Spillane head-on collision of sex and violence", finds the trussed-up Quinn and Castle struggling to kiss each other while being goaded on by sadistic gunsel William Conrad. As for the story's surprise outcome. . .well, some things are better seen than said. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

They don't really go to Mars, they go to Venus, but first they go to New Orleans. While working at a missile base, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello inadvertently launch a rocket ship with themselves aboard. After a wild ride around New York City (the Statue of Liberty ducks when the rocket heads her way), Bud and Lou land in the outskirts of New Orleans. The boys are convinced that they've reached Mars, and their faith in this supposition is affirmed when they come across several strangely costumed "creatures" (actually revellers at the Mardi Gras). Meanwhile, bank robbers Jack Kruschen and Horace McMahon stow away on A&C's rocketship. When Bud and Lou return, the crooks force them to make a quick getaway into outer space. After several days of weightlessness, the four space travellers land on Venus, a planet populated by the gorgeous winners of the Miss Universe contest (including Anita Ekberg). Venusian queen Mari Blanchard falls in love with Costello, only to order him and his companions to return to earth when Lou proves to be unfaithful. Reportedly, this bizarre melange of sci-fi and slapstick was based on a story by Charles Beaumont, who received no screen credit (it's worth noting that Beaumont's later Queen of Outer Space boasts a remarkably similar plotline). Long considered the team's worst film, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars ("and about time!" quipped the New York Times' TV-movie reviewer) is rather likeable in its own incoherent way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steel Town top-bills Ann Sheridan, but the bulk of the story is carried by John Lund. Cast as Steve Kostane, the nephew of a steel-plant proprietor, Lund must prove his value to by learning the business from the ground up as a steelworker. It isn't easy: throughout the film, Kostane is weighed down by personal problems that threaten to overwhelm him -- and to financially ruin the little steel town where he works. Sheridan does her usual competent job as "Red" McNamera, the down-to-earth restaurant cashier who ends up the romantic bone of contention between Kostane and veteran open-hearth worker Jim Denko (Howard Duff). A heart-pounding climax finds Kostane rescuing Red 's father (William Harrigan) from a horrible fate. Steel Town was lensed on location at California's Kaiser-Fontana steel plant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as The Rebel, The Bushwackers was coscripted by director Rodney Amateau and actor Tom Gries (later the director of such big-budgeters as Will Penny). Tired of senseless bloodshed, civil war veteran John Ireland vows never to use a gun again. This proves difficult when Ireland runs afoul of town despot Lon Chaney Jr. It seems that Chaney takes special delight in tormenting the local newspaper editor, who happens to be the father of pretty heroine Dorothy Malone. Effectively avoiding stereotypes and cliches, The Bushwackers is a virtually a model of everything a good program western should be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide