John Mylong Movies

Working at the office late at night ("like the last living cell in a dead body"), an overtired Rob (Dick Van Dyke) hears and sees what he thinks is a flying saucer. Alerting his writing partner Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), the two men follow the strange-looking (and stranger-sounding) object to a room in the office building that they never knew existed. Sure enough, our heroes have stumbled into the experimental lab of a scientist who, if not technically "mad,"is certainly a bit off-center. And don't think for a moment that we're going to explain the significance of the episode's title! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This gripping drama uses archival footage combined with new footage to re-create the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It is also the love story between a devout communist woman and the liberal son of a prominent professor. Because of their political differences, the two can never be together. Central to the story is the conflict between the father and the son. It is only after his father dies, that the son sees the ugly reality of communism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

No sooner has Lucy (Lucille Ball) arrived in Paris than she is greeted by a friendly citizen (Larry Dobkin) -- who is willing to exchange her dollars for French francs, at bargain prices. She is then introduced to a "starving" artist (Shepard Menken), who at great personal loss to himself sells her his masterpiece for a mere 1,000 francs. As the day progresses, Lucy gets into a brouhaha at a French restaurant -- and then ends up in "the bastille" when her money turns out to be counterfeit. Episode highlights include a hilarious round-robin "translation" sequence involving Lucy, Ricky (Desi Arnaz), a gendarme, and a German drunk, and the closing gag, wherein the true value of that "artistic masterpiece" is finally revealed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode is based on a famous urban legend, previously filmed as the 1949 theatrical feature. Patricia Hitchcock (daughter of the boss) stars as Diana Winthrop, who attends the 1899 Paris World's Exposition in the company of her mother (Mary Forbes). Having left their hotel room to fetch some medicine for her ailing mother, Diana returns a few hours later, only to be told that she has not been registered. Further investigation reveals that no one can remember ever seeing Diana or her mother -- and there is serious doubt that her mother ever existed! The key to the mystery is a patch of wallpaper...and the solution involves an elaborate ruse to save the Exposition from being closed down before it has a chance to open. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second film version of Lloyd C. Douglas' spiritual novel Magnificent Obsession is in its own way as successful as the first (filmed in 1935) in glossing over the plot holes and logic gaps in the original novel. Rock Hudson plays Bob Merrick, a reckless playboy who is indirectly responsible for the death of a kindly and much-beloved doctor. The dead man's wife, Helen Phillips (Jane Wyman), refuses to accept Bob's apologies. When Helen is accidentally blinded, Bob decides to "do right" by her anonymously, illustrating author Douglas' curious edict that the best sort of good deed is the one for which you're not rewarded. In record time, Bob becomes a brilliant physician, and it is he who performs the sight-restoring surgery on Helen. Rather than fade into the woodwork unheralded, Bob is at last forgiven by Helen, who has fallen in love with him during her sightless months without even knowing it. Luxuriously produced by Ross Hunter and directed con brio by Douglas Sirk, Magnificent Obsession was one of the most successful of Universal's big-budget "weepers" of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young boy named Johnny (Gregory Moffett) is on a picnic with his widowed mother (Selena Royle) and sister (Claudia Barrett, ($Pamela Paulsen), when he meets a pair of archeologists (John Mylong, George Nader) exploring a nearby cave. Later, while napping, he has a dream -- that the Earth has been attacked by an alien named Ro-Man (played by George Barrows in a gorilla suit with a diving helmet), using the "calcinator death ray," and that he and his family (with Mylong and his mother now married) and scientist Nader are the only survivors. They try to elude capture by Ro-Man, who turns out to have some very human failings despite his mechanized mentality, including a desire to experience human emotions, which greatly complicates his efforts to destroy the family. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

His Kind of Woman directed by veteran John Farrow, is a convoluted mystery thriller which tries unsuccessfully to combine slapstick comedy with excessive violence, resulting in a film that depends more on stereotypes than on plot development. Nick (Raymond Burr), is a deported gang boss who needs to get back to the United States to run his operation. Dan Miller (Robert Mitchum) is a hard-up guy, who is persuaded, both by a series of beatings and a substantial sum of money, to sell his identity to Nick. Lenore (Jane Russell) a singer, poses as a heiress, trying to marry a millionaire. They all meet up in a resort in Mexico where Nick intends to have plastic surgery to alter his looks. There, a number of double-crosses, shootings, and chases all culminate in an exciting confrontation aboard ship. His Kind of Woman, a Howard Hughes production designed to be a showcase for Jane Russell, is entertaining when viewed as a comedy. As a serious film-noir thriller, it lacks suspense and depth. However, the film has its moments, and Robert Mitchum is in his element as the loner anti-hero. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Young David Bruce plays Young Daniel Boone in this above-average Monogram actioner. Taking time off from hunting and settling, Young Daniel attempts to rescue two white girls from their Indian captors. He also hopes to expose a French spy on behalf of the colonial British government. One of the kidnapped ladies is Rebecca (Kristine Miller), who later becomes Mrs. Daniel Boone. Playing fast and loose with the facts, Young Daniel Boone nonetheless serves its purpose: to thrill and entertain the audience. In addition, the film is lensed in the eye-pleasing Cinecolor process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cecil B. DeMille's first postwar production, the $5 million Technicolor historical spectacular Unconquered lacks only the kitchen sink. The story begins in England in the 1760s, as Abigail Martha Hale (Paulette Goddard), unjustly accused of a crime against the Crown, is sentenced by the Lord Chief Justice (C. Aubrey Smith) to 14 years' forced servitude in North America. Carted off to the auction block, Abigail is highly coveted by slavemaster Martin Garth (Howard da Silva), but the highest bidder turns out to be Virginia militiaman Captain Christopher Holden (Gary Cooper). Having been jilted by his aristocratic fiancee Diana (Virginia Grey), Holden harbors no romantic feelings for Abigail, but he's determined not to let her fall into Garth's grimy clutches. The patriotic Holden also knows that Garth, who is married to the daughter (Katherine de Mille) of Indian chief Pontiac (Robert Warwick), has been trading firearms to the Ottawas. The treacherous Garth later participates in the "Pontiac Conspiracy," an allegiance of 18 Indian nations forsworn to wipe out every colonist on the East Coast. To put Holden out of the way, Garth arranges for him to be court-martialed and sentenced to death on a trumped-up desertion charge. But Abigail, partly in repayment for her rescue from Seneca chief Guyasuta (Boris Karloff) and partly because she's fallen in love with Holden, helps him escape, just in time to save a nearby military fort from an Indian massacre -- a feat accomplished by a subterfuge straight out of Beau Geste, which also starred Gary Cooper! As historically suspect as any Cecil B. DeMille epic, Unconquered is still marvelous escapist entertainment, especially during the time-honored bathtub scene involving a bare-shouldered Paulette Goddard (who spends most of the film in either a state of dishabille or bondage, or both!) Once again, however, Mr. "Spare No Expense" DeMille cuts corners by filming most of his major exterior scenes within the artificial confines of the Paramount sound stages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The troublesome years "between the wars" provide the backdrop for the romantic drama The Searching Wind. Adapted by Lillian Hellman from her own stage play, the film stars Robert Young as Alex Hazen, an idealistic but incredibly naïve US ambassador who fails to heed the warning signals when Mussolini and then Hitler ascend to power in Europe. Feeding into Hazen's ingenuousness is his beautiful but shallow wife Emily (Ann Richards), who is far more preoccupied with tuxedos and dinner gowns than with brown shirts and Nazi armbands. Only journalist Cassie Bowman (Sylvia Sidney), a character obviously based on playwright Hellman, can foresee the impending horror-even when her judgment is occasionally clouded by her undying love for Hazen. Benefiting from the mistakes of his elders is the Hazens' son Sam (Douglas Dick), who represents the "Never Again" viewpoint of the post-WW2 years. The Searching Wind was the sort of politically supercharged fare that earned Hellman condemnation as a "premature anti-fascist" during the infamous Hollywood Blacklist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vicki Baum, the author of the novel Grand Hotel, also wrote this similarly structured tale about a group of disparate characters brought together in a towering hotel in Germany as the nation teeters on the verge of collapse near the end of World War II. Martin Richter (Helmut Dantine), a member of Germany's anti-Nazi underground, has escaped from a prison camp and is now on the run from the Gestapo; he's hiding out at the Hotel Berlin, once a palace of luxury but now a shadow of it's former glory. Martin used to work with Johannes Koenig (Peter Lorre), once a renowned scientist before he was forced to use his gifts for his Nazi captors; he now lives under an assumed name and scrapes by as a waiter rather than support the Axis war machine. Arnim Von Dahnwitz (Raymond Massey) is a disgraced Nazi general on the outs with Gestapo leader Joachim Helm (George Coulouris), who has a lot on his mind -- he's looking for Martin, he's riding herd over Arnim, and he has designs on Arnim's mistress, Lisa Dorn (Andrea King). Lisa, a stage actress of some success, is one of the few at the hotel who is able to live in some semblance of the glamour of Berlin's glory days; her wardrobe makes her the envy of Tillie Weiller (Faye Emerson), the hotel's concierge who pretends to be everyone's friend but is actually keeping tabs on the anti-Nazi activities of her tenants and is preparing to turn them in to the Gestapo. Hotel Berlin was completed in great haste, since midway through production it became obvious that Berlin would soon fall and the war in Europe would be over. Warner Bros. was so eager to get the film into theaters -- before the war's end would make the film seem dated -- that Hotel Berlin went through the studio's editing department in less than a week. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The genesis of The Story of Dr. Wassell is said to have been a story told by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to director Cecil B. DeMille. Gary Cooper stars as Corydon M. Wassell, a real-life country doctor from Arkansas who worked as a medical missionary in China in the years prior to WWII. When America enters the war, Dr. Wassell joins the Navy and is shipped to Java. As the Japanese overtake the island, Wassell is placed in charge of the wounded evacuated marines. Ordered to leave the area immediately, the doctor disobeys his commands, staying behind to care for ten seriously wounded men from the USS Marblehead, even as Japanese bombs rain down upon his staff. With the help of other stranded allied troops, Wassell and his wounded make it to Australia, where despite his insubordination he is lauded as a hero. Not as much of a spectacular as earlier DeMille films, The Story of Dr. Wassell concentrates on personalities, with mixed results. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this downbeat drama based on a novel by John Steinbeck (which was also adapted for the stage), German troops invade Norway during WWII, and Nazi forces occupy a small town. Col. Lanser (Cedric Hardwicke), the officer in charge of the occupation, believes that reason and the illusion of cooperation will achieve more than open hostility against the townspeople, and he tries to persuade the city fathers to work with him. However, an anti-Nazi resistance force soon springs into action, and they begin sabotaging German installations and materiel and assassinating Axis officers. Mayor Orden (Henry Travers) gently but stubbornly refuses to assist Lanser in any way, as he tacitly aids the resistance movement. Eventually, Lanser is forced to respond to the continuing anti-Nazi actions with a series of arrests and executions, but the Norwegians bravely remain steadfast against the enemies to the end. One of the children in the village is played by Natalie Wood, who was a mere five years old at the time (it was her second film, following a small role in Happy Land). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide