Eve Miller Movies

Perry (Raymond Burr) receives an envelope containing $500 from Marian Fargo (played by a redheaded Angie Dickinson), who wants him to exchange the money for documents pertaining to her brother, a fugitive from justice. Things get sticky when the "drop-off" point turns out to be a murder scene. Compelled to clear Marian of charges that she killed not only a blackmailer named Renault (Jan Arvan) but her own husband Arthur (Peter Adams), Perry must rely upon a witness (Dorothy Green) whose eyesight is very seriously impaired--and who may have a hidden agenda of her own. (In an unintentionally amusing scene, Perry complains that the coffee in an expensive French restaurant costs an outrageous one dollar per cup!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W. Lee Wilder, the prolific but markedly less talented brother of Billy Wilder, both produced and directed The Big Bluff. Handsome but unscrupulous John Bromfield comes into the life of beautiful and wealthy Martha Vickers. Knowing that she has only a year to live, Bromfield marries her, then settles back to wait for his inheritence. But then she begins showing signs of recovery, forcing the caddish Bromfield to radically alter his plans. The Big Bluff was scripted by Fred Freiberger, who later served as producer of Star Trek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Louis B. Appleton Jr. was the director of the low-low-budget Desperate Women, while Anne Appleton was the star. Hmm. . .a subtle pattern begins to emerge. Originally ballyhooed as "adults only" and shown only to segregated-by-sex audiences, the film is a cheesy but sincere plea for proper sex education--and against illegal abortion. The impressionable heroine is foolishly led to believe that birth-control devices are a certain protection against unwanted pregnancy; the film argues that the word "No" is the most effective contraceptive of all. Upon finding herself with child, the poor girl attempts to abort the baby, with tragic results (it goes without saying that the film was made several years before Roe vs. Wade). The director of photography on Desperate Women was Russ Meyer, who'd later go on to a spectacular career as producer-director of nudie exploitation films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ronald Reagan delivers one of his best screen performances as baseball great Grover Cleveland Alexander in The Winning Team. The title refers to the mutually supportive relationship between Alexander and his loving wife Aimee (top-billed Doris Day); with this in mind, is it any surprise that the real Aimee Alexander served as the film's technical advisor. While the basic milestones of Alexander's career are adhered to, the film is a typical Hollywood blend of fact and fancy-plenty of fancy. While playing in the minors, Alexander is is hit on the heat by a batted ball, resulting in the dizziness and double vision that would ever after plague him. After toting up a record of 28 wins with the Philadelphia Phillies, Alex is traded to the Cubs, but World War 1 intervenes. On the battlefield, Alex suffers a recurrence of his double vision; and when he plays his first postwar game with the Cubs, he collapses on the field. Warned that his seizures will persist if he doesn't retire, Alex swears the doctor to secrecy. When the dizzy spells continue, Alex turns to drink. Branded an "alky", he descends to the depths of a House of David-style team, thence to the humiliation of carnival side shows. With the help and support of both Aimee and his old pal Rogers Hornsby (Frank Lovejoy), Alex stages a spectacular comeback, striking out Yankee Tony Lazzeri during the 1926 World Series and leading his team to victory. The script rearranges the chronology of Alexander's life, suggests incorrectly that the Lazzeri strikeout was the last play in the deciding Series game, and-most amusingly-depicts the unloveable Rogers Hornsby as a 100 % sweetheart. Otherwise, The Winning Team provides an excellent showcase for Ronald Reagan-though in later years he expressed some reservations about the script, noting that, by adhering to Warner Bros' insistence that the word "epilepsy" never be spoken, the picture confused audiences as to the true nature of Alexander's affliction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

She's Working Her Way Through College is a completely depoliticized remake of the liberal-minded comedy The Male Animal (1942). Virginia Mayo plays an exotic dancer, Angela Gardner, who decides to improve her mind; she enrolls in a college where Professor John Palmer (Ronald Reagan) teaches English. In between Angela's lively musical numbers, the film concentrates on an old rivalry between the bookish Palmer and onetime college football jock Shep Slade (Don DeFore, who'd played a bit in The Male Animal). When the college trustees oppose Angela's presence on campus, Palmer staunchly defends her right to an education. In the original Male Animal, the climactic scene involved a controversial public reading of a letter by anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti; in She's Working Her Way Through College, Palmer stands up at a public assembly to convince the populace that exotic dancers have the same rights as anyone else. Of course, Ronald Reagan could take a political stance if he wanted to...but not in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will Rogers Jr. stars as his own father in this slow, sentimental biopic. The film begins with Rogers' days on his father's ranch in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). We see Will court his future wife, Betty (Jane Wyman), just before he strikes out on his own as a rodeo performer. Attempting to break into vaudeville with a roping act, Will gets nowhere until he starts cracking extemporaneous jokes about current events. Using the newspapers as his "material," Will rises to the pinnacle of show business in the 1910s and '20s as a star comedian in Flo Ziegfeld's Follies. He matures into a devoted family man, a rancher, a film star, an aviation enthusiast, and America's unofficial goodwill ambassador. During the darkest days of the Depression, Rogers works long and hard on behalf of poverty-stricken farmers in his own home state and elsewhere. In 1935, Rogers joins his old pal Wiley Post (Noah Beery Jr.) for an airplane trip to Alaska -- from which he never returns. The Story of Will Rogers sticks to the facts, but the film is surprisingly dull and pedantic considering the director (the usually vigorous Michael Curtiz) and the fascinating subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though filmed in Hollywood, The Vicious Years is set in postwar Italy. Tommy Cook plays a homeless orphan named Mario, who happens to witness a murder committed by the son of a wealthy family. The enterprising Mario moves in with the family, promising to keep his mouth shut in exchange for food, shelter, and creature comforts. Gradually, a genuine affection develops between the boy and the family. But the homicidal son (Gar Moore) unrepentantly schemes to rid himself of Mario at the first opportunity. The slow, leisurely pace of The Vicious Years accelerates dramatically during the climactic scenes. Way down on the cast list is future MGM leading man Russ Tamblyn, here billed as Rusty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The gestation of Arctic Fury is more interesting than the film itself. In 1936, pioneer cinematographer Norman Dawn joined forces with Universal head Carl Laemmle to produce Tundra, a semidocumentary account of the life of Alaska's "flying doctor," Thomas Barlow. When the Laemmle regime collapsed at Universal, cameraman/co-director Dawn received funding from Burrough-Tarzan productions, an independent firm set up by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. After seven months' location filming in the Yukon and Arctic Ocean region, Dawn filled the gaps in the film's continuity with snippets from SOS Iceberg (1933) and newly-shot scenes of former football coach Del Cambre (as Dr. Barlow) and trained bears Tom and Jerry. In 1949, 13 years after the release of Tundra, the film was purchased by Plymouth Productions. Most of the location footage and the Del Cambre re-enactments were retained, but a new subplot, directed by Dan Riss and featuring Eve Miller and Gloria Petroff as Dr. Barlow's wife and daughter, was grafted onto the proceedings. Merrill McCormick, who'd played a crusty old trapper in Tundra, was rehired to repeat his role and provide linking narration. This "new" film, retitled Arctic Fury, was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Durango Kid rides again in the person of Charles Starrett in Buckaroo From Powder River. The story concerns the efforts made by Steve Lacey (Starrett) to break up the outlaw family headed by Pop Ryland (Forrest Taylor). Posing as a hired killer, Lacey infiltrates the Ryland gang, rescuing the only "good" member of the family along the way. And when the necessity arises, Lacey dons the mask of the mysterious Durango Kid. The love interest is provided by Eve Miller, the laughs by Smiley Burnette, and the music by the Cass County Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now is the heavily laundered musical biopic of sentimental songwriter Joe E. Howard. As played by Mark Stevens (whose singing voice was dubbed by Buddy Clark), Howard is a humble 19th century organ salesman who rises to Broadway fame as the composer of maudlin ballads like "What's the Use of Dreaming" and jaunty ditties like "Hello My Baby". Along the way, he enjoys several romantic interludes, but it is fresh-faced American chorine Katie (top-billed June Haver) who lands Howard as her hubby. In real life, Joe E. Howard, who lived well into his eighties, was married several times; he was also a notorious "lifter" who regularly claimed credit for songs he never wrote (including this film's title tune!) But producer George Jessel chooses not to let the facts get in the way of a good story, maintaining a policy established by his earlier The Dolly Sisters and sustained through such subsequent musical life stories as Oh, You Beautiful Doll The I Don't Care Girl. Singer/dancer/director Gene Nelson makes his screen debut as Tommy Yale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide