Mary Bear Movies

Susan Hayward pulls out all the stops, and then some, in this cinemadaptation of singer Lillian Roth's autobiography I'll Cry Tomorrow. In as harshly realistic a manner as possible in the still censor-dominated Hollywood of 1955, the film recounts Roth's rise to fame, her precipitous fall and her tearful comeback. The fact that Roth loves not wisely but too well is only part of the problem (only two of her eight husbands are portrayed in the film); contributing factors to her self-destruction also included her witchlike "stage mother" (Jo Van Fleet) and the pressures of fame and fortune. The principal reason for Roth's fall from the height of fame to the depths of squalor and despair is booze -- at least until she begins to pull herself together with the help of Alcoholics-Anonymous representative Burt McGuire (Eddie Albert). The story concludes with a testimonial staged in Roth's honor on the TV series This is Your Life (the original of which still exists in kinescope form). Having been personally coached by the real Lillian Roth, Susan Hayward does an excellent job of copying the singer's unique style. Though Hayward did not win an Oscar for her performance, she did cop the "Best Actress" prize at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beautiful Adele Mara, who Republic Pictures took for granted for far too long, finally gets a chance to shine in this fine Western produced and directed by the dependent Joseph Kane. Mara plays Beth Martin, an Easterner traveling west to be reunited with her brother, Bob (Bill Williams). But Bob is not quite the hard-working miner that Beth and kid brother Tommy (Peter Miles) believed him to be and the newcomers quickly find themselves caught between double-crossing saloon owners Mike Prescott (Forrest Tucker) and Lincoln Corey (Jim Davis). Estelita Rodriguez, as Bob Martin's faithful girlfriend, performs "Second Hand Romance" and "I'm Goin' Round in Circles," both by Jack Elliott and Harold Spina. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

What mother didn't tell Dorothy McGuire was that it's hard to be a doctor's wife. Marrying physician William Lundigan, Dorothy finds herself home alone most of the time, and also fumes silently as she watches her husband's parade of beautiful female patients. Further problems arise due to Dorothy's snooty mother-in-law (Jessie Royce Landis), who feels the girl isn't good enough for her precious son. When a pretty nurse (Joyce MacKenzie) sets her sights on the doc, Dorothy nearly packs and leaves, but relents when she realizes that her husband is faithful after all. Mother Didn't Tell Me was based on The Doctor Wears Three Faces a novel by Mary Baird. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A reformed gangster, accustomed to a life of danger, finds himself dealing with a new and different threat in this adventure thriller. Johnny Allegro (George Raft) is a former mobster who has gone over to the other side and now works for the U.S. Treasury Department as an undercover agent. Allegro is asked to help get the goods on Morgan Vallin (George MacReady), a polished counterfeiter who is involved in a right-wing plot to bring down the American government by flooding the U.S. economy with bogus currency. Allegro makes his way to the island that's Vallin's base of operations, with Glenda Chapman (Nina Foch) in tow, and he convinces Vallin that he's a fugitive from American justice. Vallin takes Allegro and Glenda in, but he soon discovers Johnny's true identity, and Allegro learns that Vallin has a bizarre hobby -- he likes to hunt, but he feels that humans are a more interesting quarry than animals. Vallin gives his guests a head start, then sets out to capture them, hoping to fell Johnny and Glenda with silver-tipped arrows, while the two agents hope that their associate Schultzy (Will Geer) will arrive in time to save them. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

That Lady in Ermine tells two parallel stories, both taking place in the small Mittel-European duchy of Bergamo, but one set in the 19th century and the other in the 16th. In 1861, the Countess Angelina (Betty Grable) and her newlywed husband, Baron Mario, have just entered the bridal chamber when a Hungarian army regiment under the command of Colonel Teglash (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) invades. Mario flees the castle, leaving Angelina to face the invaders, just as her 16th --century ancestor Francesca (also Betty Grable) was forced to protect her turf under similar circumstances. Colonel Teglash is struck by a portrait of Francesca (the lady in ermine of the title), and the resemblance between her and Angelina makes it difficult for him to rule with his customary iron fist. Meanwhile, Francesca haunts the dreams of both Angelina and Teglash. She appears to advise Angelina to pretend interest in the colonel and then kill him, much as she herself did so many years ago. At the same time, Teglash dreams that Francesca/Angelina overcomes the desire to kill him and falls in love with him. The 19th-century couple play out their story against the backdrop of Francesca's own tale, but with the twist that Angelina really does find herself caring for Teglash. Although the direction is credited to Ernst Lubitsch, he died after 8 days of filming; the film was completed by Otto Preminger. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide