Harry Martin Movies
- 1953
Framed for robbery, 18th century medical student Alan Ladd is sentenced to a New South Wales penal colony. En route to the prison, Ladd is tormented by sadistic ship's captain James Mason, while Mason's beloved Patricia Medina takes a fancy to the new prisoner. Once at the colony, Ladd is befriended by governor Sir Cedric Hardwicke, since the populace is in desperate need of a qualified physician. Mason's efforts to continue persecuting Ladd are foiled when Mason is killed by a group of disgruntled aborigines. Though it sounds a lot like Captain Blood, Botany Bay was based on a novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, James Mason, (more)
- 1951
- NR
Allegedly based on a Rudyard Kipling novel, this draws most of its inspiration from the 1939 film made of Kipling's narrative poem Gunga Din. Stewart Granger, Robert Newton and Cyril Cusack play three boisterous English soldiers stationed on the Northern India frontier. Walter Pidgeon and David Niven are the threesome's superior officers, who are aggravated by the soldiers' drunken exploits but who appreciate how valuable they are to the regiment. The soldiers three become heroes once more when they thwart a native uprising. Producer Pandro S. Berman, coincidentally, had been in charge of production at RKO when Gunga Din was filmed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stewart Granger, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1951
The Son of Dr. Jekyll is Edward Jekyll, played by Louis Hayward. The film's events take place long after the unpleasantness involving Dr. J's doppelganger Mr. Hyde. Young Edward hopes to prove that his father was a dedicated scientist, and not merely a mad monster. His nemesis in this endeavor is Curtis Lanyon (Alexander Knox), executor for the Jekyll estate, who hopes to drive Edward into insanity and irrational behavior so he can keep the late doctor's legacy for himself. Much to the disappointment of the audience, Eddie Jekyll never turns into Hyde, no matter how hard he and Lanyon try to re-create the original doctor's experiments. Thus, Son of Dr. Jekyll can scarcely be designated a horror film; it looks more like a period-costume Charlie Chan picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Hayward, Jody Lawrance, (more)
Based on the autobiographical book by Agnes Newton Keith, Three Came Home stars Claudette Colbert as Mrs. Keith. Trapped in Borneo during the Japanese invasion, Mrs. Keith and her British husband (Patric Knowles) are penned up in a prison camp along with several other subjects. Despite the humanitarian views of camp commander Col. Suga (Sessue Hayakawa), Mrs. Keith is subject to torture, starvation, and humiliation at the hands of the guards, with Suga helpless to intervene lest he incur the wrath of his own superiors. Three Came Home contains several unforgettable moments, including a comic interlude between the male and female prisoners that ends abruptly with a barrage of Japanese bullets, and the heartwrenching scene wherein Suga learns that his family has been killed in a bombing raid. Since lapsing into the public domain in 1977, Three Came Home has popped up innumerable times on cable television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, (more)
Fancy Pants is a musicalized remake of the oft-filmed Harry Leon Wilson story Ruggles of Red Gap, tailored to the talents of "Mr. Robert Hope (formerly Bob)". The basic plotline of the original, that of an English butler entering the service of a rowdy nouveau-riche family from the American West, is retained. The major difference is that main character (Bob Hope) plays a third-rate American actor who only pretends to be a British gentleman's gentleman. Social-climbing American heiress Lucille Ball hires Hope to impress her high-society English acquaintances, then takes him back to her ranch in New Mexico. Though there are many close shaves, Hope manages to convince the wild and woolly westerners that he's a genuine British Lord--even pulling the wool over the eyes of visiting celebrity Teddy Roosevelt (John Alexander). Never as droll as the 1935 Leo McCarey-directed Ruggles of Red Gap, Fancy Pants nonetheless works quite well on its own broad, slapsticky level. If the ending seems abrupt, it may be because the original finale, in which a fleeing Bob Hope and Lucille Ball were to be rescued by surprise guest star Roy Rogers, was abandoned just before the scene was shot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1950
Set in Paris, Under My Skin stars John Garfield as a washed-up jockey who has stolen money from a crooked gambler (Luther Adler). Anxious to escape with his life, Garfield leaves his young son (Orley Lindgren) in the care of his nightclub chanteuse girlfriend (Micheline Presle). While on the lam, Garfield has a change of heart and decides to make good for his son's sake. The gambler catches up with the jockey and demands that he throw an upcoming race, or else. Garfield makes the ultimate sacrifice so that his son will grow up remembering him with pride. Under My Skin was based on the Ernest Hemingway story My Old Man, which was refilmed for television in 1979 with Warren Oates as the father and Kristy McNichol as his daughter (one supposes that it was contract-commitment time). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Luther Adler, (more)
