Frank Moran

Two star-crossed lovers promise that they will be united after death in this drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A remake of the 1931 film of the same name, Iron Man stars Jeff Chandler as up-and-coming boxer Cokie Martin. A relatively pleasant fellow outside the ring, Martin turns into a monster whenever he dons boxing gloves and trunks. As a result, he becomes "the man you love to hate" so far as the fans are concerned. Only his fiancee Rose (Evelyn Keyes) is willing to stand by him, but even her devotion is sorely tested when Cokie continues displaying his killer instinct. Only the intervention of "clean" fighter Speed O'Keefe (Rock Hudson) prevents Cokie from destroying himself. Told in flashback, Iron Man is at its best in its expository scenes, showing the hero working his way out of a coal mining town and into the championship. Joyce Holden co-stars as a good-time girl who enjoys a brief fling with the hero; in the original 1931 version, Holden's character was played by Jean Harlow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman whose addiction to gambling all but ruins her life. Stanwyck's husband Robert Preston tries to stand by her side, but even he is driven away by her gambling mania. Stanwyck lies, cheats and steals in order to raise capital for her addiction, descending from comparative wealth to grinding poverty in the process. Eventually she is reduced to gambling for penny-ante stakes in back alleys, before she is rescued by her still-faithful spouse. The Lady Gambles includes an appearance by young Tony Curtis, in the bit role of a helpful bellhop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as A Miracle Can Happen, On Our Merry Way is a multipart comedy linked by inquiring reporter Burgess Meredith. It is Meredith's job to interview several people, asking them what effect children have had on their lives. First he checks with two itinerant musicians (James Stewart and Henry Fonda), who earn extra under-the-counter money by fixing a music contest so the mayor's son will win. Next he meets Hollywood extras Dorothy Lamour and Victor Moore, who are hired to work with a precocious child star. Finally, the old "Ransom of Red Chief" twist is given to the tale of hoboes Fred MacMurray and William Demarest, who find themselves at the mercy of a preteen prankster, whose wealthy uncle (Hugh Herbert) won't take the kid back unless the hoboes pay him. Meredith returns to the newspaper office with a black eye, which earns him the sympathy and affection of coworker Paulette Goddard. Though the direction is credited to Leslie Fenton, portions of On Our Merry Way were actually directed (sans credit) by George Stevens and King Vidor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Absent from films since 1938 (except as producer of a brace of RKO Radio features), silent-screen comedy favorite Harold Lloyd returned before the cameras in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock. The project began as a labor of love between Lloyd and the brilliant, innovative producer/writer/director Preston Sturges. Though these two comedy geniuses eventually had a stylistic falling out, resulting in an uneven, spasmodically dreary film, on the whole Harold Diddlebock is well worth having. Sturges cleverly opens the picture with the final reel of Lloyd's silent classic The Freshman(1925), in which the drudge of the college football team makes good and scores the winning touchdown. The story proper begins in the locker room, where football hero Harold Diddlebock (Lloyd, looking three decades younger than his 53 years) is impulsively offered a job by banker J.E. Wagglebury (Raymond Walburn). Taking his place at his new desk and festooning his walls with inspirational homilies, Harold starts to work, supremely confident that he's poised on the brink of bigger things. Twenty-three years pass: In 1946, a weary, stoop-shouldered Harold is still at the same desk at the same job, his dreams of success but a dim memory. Summarily fired by the pompous Wagglebury ("You have not only ceased to go forward, you have gone backward"), Harold collects his final paycheck, cleans out his desk, and bids farewell to office girl Miss Otis (Frances Ramsden), all of whose older sisters had previously been Harold's sweethearts. Wandering aimlessly on the street with his severance pay in hand, Harold is spotted by a dessicated street hustler named Wormy (Jimmy Conlin), who inveigles the newly fired clerk to join him at a nearby bar. Informed that Harold has never taken a drink in his life, the bartender (Edgar Kennedy) lights up and declares, "Sir, you rouse the artist in me!" With great ceremonial flourish, the bartender concocts a potent beverage called the Diddlebock. Harold takes one sip of the brew, lets out a yell, and immediately loses all the inhibitions that have kept him from advancing himself in the past two decades. With Wormy in tow, Harold goes on a wild spending and carousing spree, totally losing track of an entire day-and-a-half.

At the end of his revelry, the hung-over Harold is awakened by his sister (Margaret Hamilton), who informs him that he's bought a garish new wardrobe, a ten-gallon hat, and goodness knows what else. He soon finds out what else when he ventures into the street and is informed that he's bought a horse-drawn cab (with driver!) -- and a circus, complete with hungry lions. Quickly formulating a plan to get rid of the circus at a substantial profit, Harold decides to elicit bids from the town's various bankers, bringing Jackie the Lion along with him so that the bank guards won't stop him at the door. All of this leads to a wild recreation of Lloyd's skyscraper-teetering gags from his silent days, a noisy episode at the local jail, and a romantic tête-à-tête with Miss Otis, who reveals at the very end how Harold really spent his "missing" Wednesday! Though it tested well upon its first release, Sin of Harold Diddlebock was abruptly withdrawn from circulation by its co-producer Howard R. Hughes, who spent four years reediting and sometimes reshooting the film before finally releasing it through RKO as Mad Wednesday. Both this version and the original Sin of Harold Diddlebock still exist; while the earlier version is undeniably richer in comic invention and characterization, the shortened Mad Wednesday works better in front of an audience. Neither version completely fulfills the potential of its premise, however. Though not to be missed, this final Harold Lloyd vehicle pales in comparison with his vintage silent comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danny Kaye's The Kid From Brooklyn is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of Harold Lloyd's The Milky Way (1936), with music and Technicolor added to the proceedings. Kaye is cast as timid milkman Burleigh Sullivan, who through a fluke knocks out prizefighting champion Speed McFarlane (Steve Cochran). Sensing a swell publicity angle, McFarlane's manager Gabby Sloan (Walter Abel) promotes Burleigh as the next middleweight champ-and to insure this victory, Gabby fixes several pre-title bouts. Unaware that his fighting prowess is a sham, Burleigh develops a swelled head, which alienates him from everyone he cares about, including his sweetheart Polly Pringle (Virginia Mayo). The truth comes out during the climactic title fight, but a chastened Burleigh emerges victorious thanks to a series of incredible plot twists. The strong supporting cast includes Vera-Ellen as Burleigh's sister Susie, Eve Arden as Gabby's wisecracking girl friday Ann Westley, and, repeating his role from Milky Way, Lionel Stander as Speed's lamebrained trainer Spider Schultz. Danny Kaye does his best to play Burleigh Sullivan rather than Danny Kaye, though his efforts are undermined by the interpolated "specialty" number "Pavlova," which just plain doesn't belong in this picture. Like The Milky Way, The Kid From Brooklyn was adapted from the Broadway play by Lynn Root. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A case of mistaken identity leads to hilarity in this comedy. Eddie (Fred MacMurray) and Chuck (William Demarest) are a pair of GIs who've just been sprung from the service and plan to open a mink ranch in Wisconsin. No sooner do they arrive in the Cheese State than one Jim Arnold (Akim Tamiroff) mistakes Eddie for Francis Pemberton, a footloose playboy who owes Jim a very large gambling debt. Hard as he tries, Eddie can't convince Jim that he isn't Pemberton -- and Jim's strong-arm men demand that Eddie pay up. Eddie goes to Pemberton's estate in hopes of clearing up the confusion, but he learns that the gambler has apparently fled to Mexico. Eddie meets Joan (Marguerite Chapman), a poor but pretty relative of the Pembertons who strikes his fancy, but several other members of the family also think that Eddie and Francis are the same person -- and they're none too fond of their absent relation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

It took nerve for writer/director Preston Sturges to lampoon the whole concept of hero worship in the middle of World War II, but once more Sturges' oddball sense of taste and propriety paid off at the box office in Hail the Conquering Hero. Eddie Bracken plays the son of a World War I Marine hero who is the first in his small town to sign up for military service. When Bracken is discharged from the Marines for hay fever, he hasn't the nerve to go home and tell his mother and the rest of the townsfolk. Fortunately, he is befriended by a bunch of good-hearted Marines, led by sergeant William Demarest. Bracken's new buddies decide to help him save face by accompanying him to his home and telling one and all that Bracken has served valiantly in the Pacific. Lauded as a hero thanks to this subterfuge, the hapless Bracken finds himself being coerced into running for mayor! When he finally does confess the truth, the townspeople decide that only a real hero would own up to his lies in public. As always, Preston Sturges' richly varied supporting cast makes the most of every scene they're in, especially Raymond Walburn as a blustering politico and Franklin Pangborn as a persnickety councilman. Special mention must be made of Ella Raines as a refreshingly non-cliched heroine, and ex-boxer Freddie Steele as a morose Marine with a Mother complex. While Eddie Bracken's nerdish mannerisms can wear on the viewer, he is kept marvelously in check throughout Hail the Conquering Hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Campy Bela Lugosi plays a deranged scientist in this Monogram -produced horror movie. This time, Lugosi and his partner John Carradine accidentally discover a Neanderthal frozen in ice. Elated, they haul the iceman back to their lab and prepare to free him. Sure enough the beetle-browed fellow is alive, but he isn't very bright, so Lugosi decides to give him a brain transplant. Carradine is appalled and unfortunately ends up as the donor. After the operation, Lugosi attempts to civilize the missing link. Unfortunately, he cannot and the early hominid ends up on a murderous rampage and must finally be destroyed. This was the last film Lugosi made for the low-budget movie studio. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Firmly in the latter category is Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), a feckless wartime 4-F who must stand by helplessly as his sweetheart Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) entertains every visiting GI in town. One morning after a particularly wild night, Trudy labors under the apprehension that last eve, she'd married a soldier named Ratzkywatzky or something. Evidently something had happened that night, for soon Trudy discovers that she's pregnant. Hiding this information from her bombastic policeman father (William Demarest), Trudy begs Norval to tell the world that he's the father. He agrees, but only after secretly wedding Trudy under an assumed name. Complications and disasters pile up thick and fast, and before long Norval is facing arrest on a variety of charges. Providentially, Trudy gives birth to sextuplets-and suddenly Norval is a national hero! This vintage Preston Sturges farce plays so fast and loose with the censorial restrictions of mid-1940s Hollywood that critic James Agee was moved to comment that, "the Hays office must have been raped in its sleep." As usual, Sturges populates his cast with steadfast members of his stock company-- including, in guest roles, Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff, the stars of his previous film, The Great McGinty. Originally filmed in 1942, Miracle was held from release from two years, not because of censor problems but because its parent studio, Paramount, was overloaded with product. Miracle of Morgan's Creek was remade (and considerably laundered) as the 1958 Jerry Lewis vehicle Rock-a-bye Baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic musical, a chipper radio crooner does everything she can and is still unable to get a break. Later her agent comes up with a sure-fire scheme to get her some publicity by announcing that she is the true love of a WW II hero who has just come home. Fortunately for her, the agent's ploy is quite prophetic and by the story's end, the hero and the singer are hopelessly in love. Musical numbers and songs include: "My Wife's a WAAC", "What Do You Do When It Rains?", "I'd Do It for You", "Left, Right" and ""Valse Continental"". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ghosts on the Loose (which features no ghosts whatsoever) is perhaps the best-known of Monogram's "East Side Kids" series. This time, Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Glimpy (Huntz Hall), and the rest of the kids offer to decorate the honeymoon cottage of Glimpy's sister, Betty (Ava Gardner), and her new husband, Jack (Rick Vallin). Unfortunately, the boys end up at the wrong house, a sinister mansion that serves as the headquarters for a Nazi spy ring headed by Emil (Bela Lugosi). The rest of the film is an extended chase -- first the Nazis chasing the boys, then the boys chasing the Nazis. Incidentally, this is the film in which Bela Lugosi allegedly sneezes out an obscenity. Ghosts on the Loose has been reissued under several titles, notably The East Side Kids Meet Bela Lugosi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide