Sharon McManus Movies
- 1950
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ethel Barrymore, Gary Cooper, (more)
- 1949
This cautionary fable was produced by the Protestant Film Commission. The main character is plant-manager Joe Hanson (David Bruce), who manages himself to be free of all forms of racial prejudice. Yet when he feels that his job is being threatened by Jewish co-worker Al Green (Bruce Edwards), Joe can't keep his inbred hostilities to himself. He inadvertently causes Al to be transferred to a less-desirable job, resulting in misery all around. The timely intervention of Joe's minister (James Seay) rights the wrongs caused by careless talk. Featured in the cast of Prejudice as Mrs. Green is none other than Barbara "June Cleaver" Billingsley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bruce, Mary Marshall, (more)
- 1949
This slightly bowdlerized version of Irving Shulman's The Amboy Dukes was used by Universal-International to showcase several of its new male contractees. Set in the slums of Brooklyn, the film follows the exploits of the Amboy Dukes, a teenaged street gang. Foremost among the Dukes is Frank Cusack (Peter Fernandez), who loses all opportunity to escape his grim existence when he accidentally kills his high-school teacher. The film tries to demonstrate that the so-called "code of the streets"--never rat on a pal--is possibly more destructive than any brass knuckle or switchblade. Maxwell Shane and Dennis Cooper's screenplay resists any temptation to sentimentalize the kids or trivialize their plight; the closest the film comes to comedy relief are the shattered romantic illusions of the near-moronic Crazy Perrin. Prominent among the supporting players are Thelma Ritter as Frank Cusack's anguished mother, Stephen McNally as a community center counselor, and Anthony (Tony) Curtis as the leather-jacketed gang leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen McNally, Thelma Ritter, (more)
Bob Hope's Technicolor western spoof The Paleface was one of the comedian's biggest box-office hits. Hope plays Painless Potter, a hopelessly inept dentist who heads west to seek his fortune. Meanwhile, buxom female outlaw Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is engaged in undercover work on behalf of the government, in the hopes of earning a pardon for her past crimes. Jane is on the lookout for notorious gun-runner Robert Armstrong. To put up an innocent front, Jane marries the befuddled Potter, then keeps the criminals at bay by convincing everyone that Potter is a rootin'-tootin' gunslinger (actually, it's Jane who's been doing all the shooting). Armstrong, who has been selling guns to the Indians, arranges for Jane to be captured by the scalp-hungry tribesmen, but Potter comes to the rescue. Somewhere along the way, Bob Hope and Jane Russell get to sing the Oscar-winning Jay Livingston/Ray Evans tune "Buttons and Bows". There are many hilarious moments in The Paleface, but screenwriter Frank Tashlin felt that director Norman Z. McLeod failed to get the full comic value out of his material. To prove his point, Tashlin directed the side-splitting sequel, Son of Paleface (1952), which once more teamed Hope and Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Jane Russell, (more)
- 1948
Another interesting effort from independent Enterprise Productions, No Minor Vices stars recent French import Louis Jourdan. Into the staid, conservative lives of pediatrician Perry Ashwell (Dana Andrews) and his wife April (Lilli Palmer) comes the flamboyantly eccentric Greenwich Village artist Otavio Quaglini (Jourdan). Insisting upon sketching the hidden "inner selves" of the Ashwells, Quaglini causes nothing but disharmony and dissension between Perry and April. Conversely, the artist's visit has a positive effect on Ashwell's lovelorn assistants Miss Darlington (Jane Wyatt) and Dr. Sturdivant (Norman Lloyd). No Minor Vices doesn't always work, but it's fun to watch Louis Jourdan plug his way through a role that Burgess Meredith or Hans Conried could have played blindfolded. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Lilli Palmer, (more)
- 1947
MGM's newest child star Jackie "Butch" Jenkins--lisp and all--is the title character in this overlong family drama. The setting is a postwar army camp, where returning GIs live in Quonsets with their families. Jenkins' mother dies, whereupon his soldier dad becomes an alcoholic. Both father and son are saved by the realization that life goes on. It was MGM's notion to reteam three of the stars from the previous season's Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (Butch Jenkins, James Craig and Frances Gifford) in hopes of lightning striking twice at the box office; no such strike occurred. Little Mr. Jim was adapted from the Tommy Wadelton novel Army Brat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Butch Jenkins, James Craig, (more)
- 1947
In this aqueous musical comedy, an opera singer brings his son to Michigan's Mackinac Island where the son falls in love with the star of the "aquacaper." It is difficult to woo her as she is constantly surrounded by her piano-playing bodyguard and her ever-present grandmother. It's musical and comedic chaos as the son attempts to overcome these and other obstacles while trying to win her heart. Highlights include Jimmy Durante singing his trademark tune "Inka Dinka Do." Other songs include: "M'Appari" from "Martha," "La Donna E Mobile" from "Rigoletto," Cole Porter's "You Are So Easy to Love," "A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That," "Chiquita Banana," and "When It's Lilac Time on Mackinac Island." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Williams, Lauritz Melchior, (more)
- 1946
Boys' Ranch was conceived as a showcase for MGM's newest juvenile star, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins. James Craig is billed second as baseball player Dan Walker, who sets up a Texas ranch for disadvantaged city kids. Jenkins plays Butch, the cutest and most precocious of the boys, while Skip Homeier is Skippy, an unregenerate juvenile delinquent who thinks that Walker's ranch is for "suckers". Eventually, Homeier is won over, but only after a series of intense dramatic complications. MGM had done variations of this story several times before, in such films as Boys Town and Lord Jeff, but audiences never seemed to tire of the formula. Boys Ranch was filmed on location at a real-life boys' ranch near Amarillo, Texas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Butch Jenkins, James Craig, (more)
This mammoth musical is at base the story of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Brash Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) has promised his shy pal Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) that he will introduce Clarence to all the glamorous movie starlets whom he allegedly knows so well. Actually, the only actress whom Joseph meets is bit player Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). He arranges for the golden-throated Susan to be auditioned by musician José Iturbi, but when she seems to want to return the favor romantically, Brady tries to foist the girl off on Clarence. But Clarence only has eyes for a fellow Brooklynite (Pamela Britton). Also involved in the plot machinations is runaway orphan Donald Martin (Dean Stockwell). Featuring Kelly dancing with such partners as a cartoon mouse (courtesy of MGM's house animators Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera), Anchors Aweigh was a huge hit in 1945, assuring audiences future Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra teamings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, (more)
- 1945
Radio legend and 3-D pioneer Arch Oboler brings his story, Alter Ego, to the screen in a low-budget yarn that benefits from a strong cast and direction. Joan Ellis (Phyllis Thaxter) hears a voice in her head (in flashbacks) shortly before she is to be married. She flees to another city and even takes up with another man to rid herself of the voice, but random words bring it back at unexpected moments. The voice ultimately tells her to kill her husband-to-be, and when a psychiatrist (Edmund Gwenn) determines on the eve of her execution that Joan is possessed by a split personality, a struggle ensues to see which one will survive. Oboler uses radio techniques and tense scripting to bring his thriller to visual life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Thaxter, Edmund Gwenn, (more)
- 1944
Summer Storm is a remarkably effective Hollywood filmization of Anton Chekhov's The Shooting Party. Linda Darnell stars as the young and beautiful wife of a middle-aged Russian civil servant (Hugo Haas). Darnell becomes the object of the affections of her husband's employer, a lecherous count (Edward Everett Horton). The girl in turn is enamored of a provincial judge (George Sanders). At first, all flirtations are playful and harmless, but the judge takes Darnell so seriously that he ends up killing her in a jealous rage. Her husband is blamed for the crime, but the Count gets his comeuppance during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution (which didn't figure into the original Chekhov story, inasmuch as the author died in 1904). The big surprise in this is not that it works as well as it does, but that it features comic actor Edward Everett Horton in a straight, almost unsympathetic role, which he underplays beautifully. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Linda Darnell, (more)
- 1944
One of Hollywood's favorite film titles (next to Never a Dull Moment and The Man Who Dared) is given another go-round with 1944's Till We Meet Again. Ray Milland stars as an American combat pilot forced to crash-land in occupied France. He is sheltered by nun Barbara Britton, who finds herself attracted to the brash flyboy. Britton poses as Milland's wife when the twosome becomes involved with the activities of the French underground. This being a 1944 film, it wouldn't do for Britton to renounce her vows in favor of connubial bliss, so someone (guess who?) has to conveniently die before the climax of Till We Meet Again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Barbara Britton, (more)
