Billy Mauch Movies

People Will Talk was less a movie than a conduit for the genteel liberalism of screenwriter/director Joseph M. Mankiewicz. Cary Grant plays Dr. Praetorius, an unorthodox medical professor at a sedate midwestern college who seems more interested in the human soul than in the cold facts of the human body. Praetorius' nemesis is a conservative rival doctor (Hume Cronyn) who presses for an investigation of our hero's clouded past--with special emphasis given the mysterious old man (Finlay Currie) who lives with Praetorius and waits on him hand and foot. In the course of the film, Praetorius falls in love with one of his students, an unmarried pregnant girl (Jeanne Crain). At the climactic hearing concerning Praetorius' fitness, the presiding judge (Basil Ruysdael) decides that Praetorius' "modern" methods are more worthwhile than the pragmatic, cut-and-dried theories of his enemies. Based on a German play by Curt Goetz, People Will Talk is a bit too proud of its own cleverness, with Mankiewicz' political planks being wedged in at all the inappropriate times (while conversing with the father of the pregnant girl, Praetorius launches on a gratuitous attack against farm subsidies!) Still, the film is ten times more intelligent than most of Hollywood's 1951 output, and contains one of Cary Grant's best and subtlest seriocomic performances. Bonus: In the first scene of People Will Talk, the snoopy lady who brings Praetorius' "shady" past to the attention of Hume Cronyn is played by an uncredited Margaret ("Wicked Witch of the West") Hamilton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

FBI operative Mark Stevens is dispatched by his boss Lloyd Nolan to infiltrate a criminal gang. Stevens ingratiates himself with Richard Widmark, the gang's leader, then helps concoct a robbery that will deliver the criminals into the hands of the authorities. But there's an informant in the police department, who gets word back to Widmark. Aware that there's a stoolie in his gang, Widmark automatically assumes that his wife Barbara Lawrence is the guilty party, and beats her senseless. Eventually determining that Stevens is the "mole," Widmark methodically plans to kill Stevens during a holdup; by this time, however, the FBI is a step or so ahead of him. Remade in 1955 by Samuel Fuller as House of Bamboo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "He" of the title is Richard Basehart, a clever but psychopathic burglar (based on real-life criminal Erwin Walker) Basehart stays one step ahead of the law by listening in to the police band on his radio. To avoid detection, he changes his M.O. on each crime, making it seem that the string of burglaries is the work of several thieves. But Basehart trips himself up when he kills a cop. His own personal Waterloo occurs in the Los Angeles sewer system--a stylish predecessor to the similar (and more widely praised) climax in Sir Carol Reed's The Third Man. Though the direction is credited to Hollywood old-timer Alfred Werker, most of He Walked By Night is the handiwork of an uncredited Anthony Mann. Featured in the film's cast is Jack Webb in the small role of a police lab technician. Impressed by first-hand experience with police procedure and by the semi-documentary quality of He Walked By Night Webb expanded on these elements for his own radio and TV project, Dragnet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once they had twin child actors Billy and Bobby Mauch on their payroll after The Prince and the Pauper, Warner Bros. had to work overtime to come up with suitable vehicles. One of the Mauch twins' best efforts was Penrod and His Twin Brother, based loosely on the "Penrod" stories by Booth Tarkington. Actually, 14-year-old "All American boy" Penrod (Billy Mauch) isn't really the brother of tough kid Danny (Bobby Mauch), but they do look exactly alike, leading to trouble for Penrod when he gets blamed for Danny's misdeeds. Eventually, Pen and Danny team up to vanquish a common enemy: a gang of mobsters who've squirreled themselves away in a desolate hideout. Among the supporting players are two recent "Our Gang" graduates, Jerry Tucker and Philip Hurlic. Penrod and His Twin Brother did well enough to warrant a follow-up, Penrod's Double Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1882, Mark Twain published a delightful fairy tale "for young people of all ages"; 45 years later, Warner Bros., inspired by the real-life coronation of Edward VII, created a lavish screen version starring radio favorites Billy and Bobby Mauch in the title roles and Errol Flynn as their dashing savior. As Jane Seymour (Helen Valkis), consort of King Henry VIII (Montagu Love), gives birth to the heir to the throne, the later Edward VI (Bobby Mauch), Tom Canty (Billy Mauch) is born in the nearby slums. Years later, as King Henry is near death, providence brings the two together and they discover that they share a striking resemblance. Having changed clothes with Tom during play, Edward Tudor is mistaken for a pauper by the Captain of the Guard (Alan Hale) and evicted from the palace. In contrast, Tom is believed to be the Prince of Wales by all of sundry and, when protesting, is treated as mentally unsound. Only the Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains), the king's scheming advisor, realizes the truth but keeps quiet to further his own career. With a price on his head, the real Edward lives the life of a pauper among the thieves and beggars of London, befriended only by Miles Hendon (Flynn), whom he, to Miles' great amusement, creates an earl. But despite his skepticism, Miles is right there to rescue Edward from the murderous Captain of the Guard and return him to the palace just as Tom is about to be crowned king. Proving his true identity by locating the missing Seal of England, Edward is restored to the throne and Hertford is banished from the realm. Miles is recognized for his bravery and Tom is made a ward of the king for life. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Briefly breaking away from her high-gloss modern soap operas, Kay Francis stars as Florence Nightingale in this reverent Warner Bros. biopic. The screenplay concentrates on Nightingale's humanitarian activities during the Crimean War of 1854-55. Defiant in the face of military bureaucracy and the male hierarchy, she organizes a volunteer group of nurses to tend to the military wounded, and also works tirelessly to update and improve the primitive, almost barbaric medical conditions of the Victorian Era. Of the supporting characters, only Ian Hunter as Fuller evinces any sort of humanity; the rest, especially Montague Love, are grim-visaged stereotypes. Critics were unkind to Kay Francis' performance in White Angel, with the New York Times speaking for many by suggesting that Francis was too overwhelmed by the historical importance of her character to deliver a believable performance. By today's standards, however, Francis is most effective despite her miscasting, delivering her difficult speeches with quiet and assured eloquence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide