Don Beddoe Movies

Set during WWII, this taut and suspenseful espionage outing chronicles the courage of a brand-new cadre of specially trained American O.S.S. agents who parachute into France to destroy the vital Corbett Mallon tunnel to stop the German invaders from shipping supplies to their troops. One of the spies is a woman, and this bothers the group leader, who doubts her abilities. She soon proves herself, and the two embark on several exciting adventures before and after the completion of their mission. Along the way, the two manage to fall in love. Unfortunately, their commitment to duty is necessarily greater than their love and one of them will make a great sacrifice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

There's only one magnum of French champagne left in all of San Francisco, and both Navy lieutenant Briggs (Ray Milland) and bride-to-be Margie (Olivia De Havilland) want it. Briggs needs the magnum to christen a new aircraft carrier. Margie craves the bottle as the centerpiece for her upcoming wedding reception. Fiercely combative throughout most of the proceedings, hero and heroine eventually fall in love, much to the discomfort of Margie's cloddish fiancee Torchy (Sonny Tufts). Some good location filming helps, but otherwise The Well-Groomed Bride is strident and obnoxious, unworthy of the talents of its stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The postwar classic The Best Years of Our Lives, based on a novel in verse by MacKinlay Kantor about the difficult readjustments of returning World War II veterans, tells the intertwined homecoming stories of ex-sergeant Al Stephenson (Fredric March), former bombadier Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), and sailor Homer Parrish (Harold Russell). Having rubbed shoulders with blue-collar Joes for the first time in his life, Al finds it difficult to return to a banker's high-finance mindset, and he shocks his co-workers with a plan to provide no-collateral loans to veterans. Meanwhile, Al's children (Teresa Wright and Michael Hall) have virtually grown up in his absence. Fred discovers that his wartime heroics don't count for much in the postwar marketplace, and he finds himself unwillingly returning to his prewar job as a soda jerk. His wife (Virginia Mayo), expecting a thrilling marriage to a glamorous flyboy, is bored and embittered by her husband's inability to advance himself, and she begins living irresponsibly, like a showgirl. Homer has lost both of his hands in combat and has been fitted with hooks; although his family and his fiancée (Cathy O'Donnell) adjust to his wartime handicap, he finds it more difficult. Profoundly relevant in 1946, the film still offers a surprisingly intricate and ambivalent exploration of American daily life; and it features landmark deep-focus cinematography from Gregg Toland, who also shot Citizen Kane. The film won Oscars for, among others, Best Picture, Best Director for the legendary William Wyler, Best Actor for March, and Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, a real-life double amputee whose hands had been blown off in a training accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Getting Gertie's Garter is an updated adaptation of the venerable stage farce by Wilson Collison and Avery Hopwood. Dennis O'Keefe, newly married to lovely Sheila Ryan, is in a jam. O'Keefe's former girl friend, exotic dancer Marie McDonald, has in her possession an expensive, jeweled garter given to her by O'Keefe in his bachelor days. McDonald intends to show the garter to O'Keefe's suspicious wife, so Our Hero must retrieve the embarrassing accouterment without tipping off the missus. Previously filmed in 1927, Getting Gertie's Garter was one several enjoyable films produced by Edward Small and directed by Allan Dwan, all based on popular stage comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, two competing reporters get involved in a mystery when they find a gangster's corpse in a wax museum. As no one has reported the death, the two rivals begin racing to get the scoop. Unfortunately the uncooperative corpse keeps disappearing. Also looking for the body is the killer who does not want his murder to become public as he has also stolen some jewels. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

What happens when "freedom of the press" is abused in wartime? In Power of the Press, the consequences are nearly catastrophic. Otto Kruger plays ruthless newspaper publisher Howard Rankin, who uses his journalistic privileges to destroy his political enemies. When the usual methods of character assassination fail him, Rankin resorts to murder. Honest editor Griff Thompson (Lee Tracy), working hand-in-hand with his faithful secretary Edwina Stephens (Gloria Dickson), sets the wheels in motion for Rankin's downfall. Top-billed Guy Kibbee plays a supporting role as a "solid citizen" who's actually a nefarious hoarder (this was WW II, remember), while Victor Jory is slime personified as Rankin's chief henchman. Power of the Press is based on a story by former newspaper editor (and future director) Sam Fuller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The best of Joe E. Brown's Columbia starring vehicles, Shut My Big Mouth is also one of Joe's funniest efforts since his heyday at Warner Bros. Brown is cast as wealthy easterner Wellington Holmes, who heads to the Wild West in search of peace and quiet (!) When Wellington's stagecoach is held up by masked bandit Buckskin Bill (Victor Jory), our hero accidentally fires off a lucky shot that sends the villain and his minions scurrying off into the hills. The local townsfolk appoint Wellington sheriff, failing to inform him that this "honor" is tantamount to a death sentence in these here parts. Several unbelievable complications and coincidences later, Wellington dresses up as a Mexican senorita in order to rescue heroine Conchita Montoya (Adele Mara) from Buckskin Bill's clutches. Incredibly, the villain falls madly in love with the disguised Wellington, resulting in the film's biggest bellylaughs. Though pushing fifty, Joe E. Brown could still pull off his "babe in the woods" act, which he does with finesse in Shut My Big Mouth. The film also served as stepping stones in the careers of up-and-coming Columbia contractees Lloyd Bridges and Forrest Tucker, billed eleventh and twelfth respectively. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tales of Manhattan is a sumptuous multipart film centered around a formal tailcoat. The coat is specially designed for stage actor Charles Boyer, who wears it during a rendezvous with his lady friend (Rita Hayworth). The lady's husband (Thomas Mitchell) shoots Boyer, thus the tailcoat is damaged merchandise and sold at a discount to a bridegroom (Cesar Romero). When the groom's peccadillos catch up to him, the bride (Ginger Rogers) chooses to marry the best man (Henry Fonda) instead, and the coat is shipped off to a second hand store. It is purchased by a would-be composer (Charles Laughton), who wears it the night that he is to conduct his first symphony; alas, the coat is too tight and tears apart, nearly ruining the conductor's debut. Stitched back together, the coat is donated to a skid row mission, wherein the kindly proprietor gives the coat to a down and out drunkard (Edward G. Robinson) so that the shabby gentleman can attend his 25th college reunion. Later on, the coat is stolen by a crook (J. Carroll Naish) in order to gain entrance to a fancy charity ball. The crook holds up the ball and stuffs the loot in the pockets of the coat, but while escaping in an airplane he loses the outer garment. The coat floats down to an impoverished African American shanty community; a farmer (Paul Robeson) decides to distribute the "money from heaven" amongst his needy neighbors. At the end, the tattered coat adorns the shoulders of a scarecrow. Tales of Manhattan is one of the best "portmanteau" dramas turned out by Hollywood; it was directed by French expatriate Julien Duvivier, a past master of the multi-story technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Stevens' Talk of the Town is a quick-witted comedy driven by wonderful performances by Cary Grant, Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur. Michael Lightcap (Colman) is a stuffy law professor in line to a Supreme Court appointment, who is spending the summer at the house of schoolteacher Nora Shelley (Arthur). But Lightcap is not the only guest at the house. Shelley has also let Leopold Dilg (Grant)--a man who had recently escaped from prison, where he was serving a sentence for false accusations of immolating a local factory--stay at the house, telling Lightcap that he is a gardener. In addition to striking up a friendship, Lightcap and Dilg also compete for the affections of Shelley. Eventually, the professor learns of Dilg's true identity, finding out that Leopold was framed by a crooked government, led by the foreman of the factory, who supposedly died in the fire. When Dilg is captured by the police, Lightcap comes to his defense, bringing the still-alive foreman out of hiding and, in the process, clearing Leopold of all the charges. Talk of the Town received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Original Story, Best Score, Best Editing, and Best Interior Decoration, yet it lost in all of the categories. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures evidently felt that ex-boxer "Slapsy" Maxie Rosenbloom was the funniest man on earth, despite the fact that he consistently proved otherwise in vehicles like Harvard, Here I Come. This little masterpiece finds Rosenbloom, playing himself, receiving an award from the satirical Harvard Lampoon for his well-known stupidity. Instead of being enrage, Slapsie Maxie is delighted by the "honor", and promptly tries to enroll at the ivy-league university. Upon arriving on campus, our punchy hero is pounced upon by a group of eccentric scientists led by Professor Alvin (Byron Foulger), who is convinced that Rosenbloom is the "missing link" that science has long been searching for. The professors subsidize Maxie's education, which seems to consist exclusively of fraternity hazings and product endorsements! Though a zaftig Yvonne de Carlo shows up in several publicity stills for Harvard, Here I Come, she is nowhere to be seen in the film itself; instead, the leading-lady duties were handled by Marie Wilson, whose character comes across as even dumber than Maxie Rosenbloom, if such a thing is possible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title of this series entry may strike some as a tad redundant: After all, isn't crook-turned-sleuth Michael Lanyard, aka the Lone Wolf, always taking a chance? On this occasion, Lanyard (Warren William) and his trusty valet Jamison (Eric Blore) are framed on a murder charge. The actual miscreants are a gang of counterfeiters, shipping their plates into the country in a thief-proof carrier invented by Johnny Baker (Lloyd Bridges). In the course of clearing their names, Lanyard and Jamison are sealed up with poor Johnny in one of his own carriers, which is then filled with poison gas. Will they escape? Is there really any doubt? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though the United States still wasn't at war when Phantom Submarine was made, the film emphasizes the importance of "preparedness." Plucky newspaperwoman Madeleine (Anita Louise) is sent to the Panama Canal to get the lowdown on a mysterious enemy submarine that has been bedevilling Allied shipping lanes. Stowing away on a salvage vessel, Madeleine immediately runs afoul of diver Sinclair (Bruce Bennett), who's ostensibly looking for sunken gold off the Carribean. In truth, Sinclair is testing out a diving suit of his own invention, which previously had been rejected by the Navy. Between them, Madeleine and Sinclair manage to discover the purpose behind the "phantom submarine", exposing an Axis spy ring in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide