Charles Morton Movies

Gary Cooper added "producer" alongside "star" on his resume with this light-hearted Western about a mild-mannered cowboy (Cooper) who drifts into a small town with his sidekick (William Demarest). Naturally, he's mistaken for a notorious highway robber (Dan Duryea), although he can barely handle a gun. His impersonation of the menacing gunman falls apart when his skills are put to the test, and he faces certain doom when challenged by the returning gunman himself. In the end, however, our hero defeats the villain and even ends up with his girl (Loretta Young). A send-up of both Western clichés and Cooper's own heroic persona, Along Came Jones is brisk, amusing entertainment. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

One of the best of the High Noon derivations, At Gunpoint is the story of reluctant hero Fred MacMurray. When a band of gunmen invade a small frontier town, storekeeper MacMurray fires off a lucky shot and kills the leader. Hailed as a hero, MacMurray realizes deep down that he's a coward. When the surviving gunmen return to town, thirsting for revenge, the townsfolk expect MacMurray to singlehandedly stand up to the villains. When he asks for help, his neighbors turn their backs on him, ordering him to get out of town to avoid further trouble. Only doctor Walter Brennan and MacMurray's wife Dorothy Malone remain loyal. Facing certain death,MacMurray discovers that he's not as yellow as he thought he was-a revelation that brings about a change in the rest of the town. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This early talkie is the third version of the popular Booth Tarkington play. It is set in the mid 19th-century and centers upon a good-hearted riverboat gambler who takes on a group of criminals in New Orleans during Mardis Gras when he rushes in to save a young woman from ruination. But she is a tough cookie and doesn't even thank him. Instead, she runs away. Later he meets her again after he wins her daddy's cotton plantation in a card game. None of the locals are pleased by the gambler's presence and he is nearly lynched. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Check and Double Check brought radio's highest-rated program to the big screen. Amos 'N' Andy were two black characters played by two white men, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. Donning blackface, Gosden and Correll are seen as well as heard as A&A, partners in the Harlem-based Fresh Air Taxicab Company. Our heroes spend most of their time helping the white romantic leads (Sue Carol and Charles Morton) try to locate a missing deed to some property owned by Morton's family. Eventually, Amos 'N' Andy unwittingly end up in a haunted house. Virtually the only genuine African Americans in the film are the members of Duke Ellington's Cotton Club orchestra, whose appearance at a high society ball is the device that brings A&A into the plot. Though no other Amos 'N' Andy films would follow, a popular TV series later aired in the 1950s with black actors cast in the leads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This part-talkie (17 minutes of dialogue in its 83-minute running time) stars Janet Gaynor as Christina, the daughter of Dutch toymaker Niklaas (Rudolph Schildkraut). Much to her dad's dismay, Christina falls in love with sideshow huckster Jan (Charles Morton). Likewise disapproving of the romance is Jan's jealous employer Mme. Bosman (Lucy Dorraine), who frames the young man on an embezzlement charge. Escaping conviction, Jan rushes back to Christina's village to rescue her from an arranged marriage. It says here that Christina was based on a story by Tristan Tupper, but it sure sounds a lot like Ferenc Molnar's Liliom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this convoluted western, a sickly cowboy sidekick gets into a terrible fix when he is mistaken for a notorious bank robber and tossed in the clink. There is a huge bounty on the villain's head, and the sheriff happily anticipates the arrival of that bounty on the next stage, unaware that the real crook is waiting in ambush to steal the money. Meanwhile the sidekick's heroic compadre convinces the sheriff that he has the wrong man. Unfortunately, the robbery takes place before they can free the sidekick. The sheriff and the hero ride off to capture the crook. Unfortunately, by this time, the villain has snuck into the jail and has exchanged places with his doppleganger so when the sheriff and the hero bring the outlaw into prison they once again have the wrong man. The hero is then left to try to figure out which of the look-a-likes is really his partner and save him before hanging day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The circus provides the backdrop for this melodrama that chronicles the lives of four children raised within the big top. Two of them have grown to be lovers. Though they appear inseparable, trouble ensues when a usurper takes the girl away. The picture is considered a lost work -- no copies are known to have survived. It was nonetheless regarded as an excellent film upon release (hence the 3.5 star rating); a 1928 Variety review proclaimed it "an elegantly produced, photographed, and directed picture by Fox, of high value regular release quality, and missing the super height class only because it is missing any one big kick." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Goldie dreams of being a movie star. One day she decides to leave her New Jersey home and her boy friend to head for Hollywood. She eventually arrives, but not before having a close call with a crooked beauty contest promoter. Once in Tinseltown, the is surprised to discover that her old boyfriend got their first and he is a major star. Wasting no time, she becomes one too, but by that time, the luster of stardom has worn off for the fellow and he exchanges the excitement for the quiet life back home. Will Goldie go too? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though it's not readily obvious from the title, Lumberjack is the 52nd entry in the long-running "Hopalong Cassidy" series. In this one, Hoppy (William Boyd) and his pals California (Andy Clyde) and Jimmy (Jimmy Rogers) come to the rescue of recently widowed Julie (Ellen Hall). It so happens that Julie has fallen heir to a valuable spread of timber property, meaning that any one of her business rivals could have been the murderer of her husband. Not only does Hoppy reveal the killer's identity, but he also moves heaven and earth to make sure that Julie's mortgage-lifting lumber shipment arrives at its destination on time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Failing miserably in the business world, a college hero becomes a lifeguard and falls for a pretty concessionaire in this breezy comedy which greatly benefitted by incorporating a beauty pageant filmed in Technicolor. Two of Fox studios' newest contract players, Charles Morton and Sally Phipps, starred as the lifeguard and concessionaire, respectively. Although throwing an obstacle race to aid an injured competitor, Morton emerges the winner when it comes to romance. A 1927 WAMPAS Baby Star, Sally Phipps was quite popular in the late '20s, especially in campus comedies, but left films in 1929 to marry department store heir Benedict Gimpel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This flimsy but entertaining comedy-drama was based on a story by Arthur Somers Roche. It's a typical yarn of the era, about two girls who are first seen working behind the counter at a department store but who manage to become chorus girls with the help of Diamond Jim (J. Farrell MacDonald). Maybelle (Marjorie Beebe) plays for comedy and winds up being a hit, but the pretty, blonde Flo (Nancy Nash) has a tougher time. She is forced to play Lady Godiva and Bob, her steady beau (Clifford Holland), decides that this must mean she's "fast." He makes Flo a sleazy proposition, and it leads to their breakup. Waiting in the wings, however, is the "rich but honest" Dick (Charles Morton), a wealthy idler who is the backer of the show. He proves his faith in Flo by presenting her with a marriage license, and the two of them wind up happily together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Helen Gurley Brown's self-help best-seller was the nominal source for this Hollywood sex romp, directed by Richard Quine, co-scripted by Joseph Heller and David R. Schwartz, and starring Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Tony Curtis plays Bob Weston, a writer for the scandal sheet "Dirt," who is working on an article on research psychologist Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood) and her best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl. Bob needs to interview Helen, but she refuses to see him. Bob impersonates one of her neighbors, Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda), as a ruse in order to see her on the pretext of marital counseling. After several meetings, Bob attempts to seduce her; after they fall out of a boat and head back to Helen's apartment to dry out, Bob plies her with martinis. Rip-roarin' drunk, Helen confesses her love for Bob. He assures her it's fine, since he's not legally married, but Helen doesn't believe him and asks to meet his wife, Sylvia (Lauren Bacall). To fill up the breach, Bob mistakenly sends both his secretary, Susan (Leslie Parrish), and his ex-girlfriend Gretchen (Fran Jeffries) to see Helen -- both impersonating Sylvia. When the real Sylvia arrives at Helen's apartment with the two other women, Sylvia has her hapless husband Frank put in jail for bigamy. By this point, Helen has realized Bob's skullduggery and leaves town with her colleague Rudy DeMeyer (Mel Ferrer). Bob chases Helen onto the San Diego Freeway, where they also encounter Frank, who is being followed in a cab by Sylvia. A wild chase ensues as the bickering couples try to make it to their flights at the L.A. airport. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A sequel to Bob Hope's 1948 box-office success The Paleface, 1952's Son of Paleface is a superior product in every way, thanks largely to the spirited, creative direction of Frank Tashlin. Hope is cast as Junior Potter, a Harvard-educated dude who heads West to claim the inheritance left him by his gunslinger father. Much to his chagrin, Junior discovers that his dad has left him nothing but debts. To stave off Potter Sr.'s angry creditors, Junior pretends that his father has salted away a fortune somewhere in the hills. This arouses the attention of curvaceous saloon owner Mike (Jane Russell), who doubles as a mysterious masked bandit known as The Torch. Meanwhile, Roy Rogers (playing a federal agent named Roy Rogers) keeps tabs on Junior, hoping that he'll lead him to The Torch and her gang. True to form, ex-cartoonist Tashlin fills the screen with a wealth of inventive sight gags and inside jokes: Cecil B. DeMille shows up as a photographer in one scene, while in another, Hope, about to embark on the film's wild climactic chase sequence, shoos away a couple of vultures wearing bibs, warning them that "You'll make the whole thing look impossible." Our favorite scenes: Hope's Wile E. Coyote-like reaction to a particularly potent drink, and his bedroom scene with Roy Rogers' wonder horse Trigger. And don't forget the film's slightly risque punch line "Let's see them top that on television," (you have to be there). Songs in Son of Paleface include "You Are My Valley of Sunshine," "Four-Legged Friend," "Wing Ding Tonight," "What A Dirty Shame," and a reprise of The Paleface's Oscar-winning "Buttons and Bows," performed by Hope, Russell and Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide