Lou Nova Movies

George Roy Hill directed this original musical set the 1920s that mixes pop standards with new tunes written by Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen. Julie Andrews, in a role that recalls her Broadway triumph in The Boy Friend, stars as Millie Dillmount, who comes to New York is search of a secretarial job and an unattached boss. She moves into a hotel for women, run by kindly Mrs. Meers (Beatrice Lillie), and she befriends the pretty, petite orphan Dorothy Brown (Mary Tyler Moore). Millie finds work with the handsome bachelor Trevor Graydon (John Gavin), but Trevor has his eyes on Dorothy. So too does Mrs. Meers, who despite her kindly exterior is actually an unscrupulous white slaver. Paper clip salesman Jimmy Smith (James Fox), on the other hand, pledges his undying love to Millie. One day, after attending a weekend party being given at the opulent Long Island mansion of Muzzy Van Hossmere (Carol Channing), Dorothy disappears. When Jimmy and Millie smell opium in Dorothy's room, they realize the awful truth about Mrs. Meers. Trying to rescue Dorothy and find the location of Mrs. Meers' hideout, Jimmy disguises himself as an orphaned woman and tries to get himself kidnapped. The scheme backfires, however, and Mrs. Meers drugs and kidnaps both Jimmy and Trevor. It is left to Millie to find the white slavers, free her friends from bondage and save the day. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The Leather Saint is an uneasy blend of religious drama and prizefight picture. John Derek stars as Father Gil Allen, an Episcopalian minister who relaxes on weekends by indulging in a few rounds of boxing. Allen hopes to use the prize money to finance a medical center for young polio victims, but he doesn't offer this information--nor does he reveal his true identity--to his hard-bitten, money-grubbing manager Gus MacAuliffe (Paul Douglas). When he's not duking it out in the ring, Allen works overtime to save a pretty young girl named Pearl (Jody Lawrance) from becoming a hopeless alcoholic. Mildly entertaining, The Leather Saint used to be an Easter-weekend perennial on certain Midwestern TV stations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

World for Ransom is an unofficial extension of the popular 1950s TV series China Smith. Most of the Smith personnel, including star Dan Duryea, director Robert Aldrich and cinematographer Joseph Biroc, are on hand for this inexpensive but well-mounted melodrama. Duryea plays a mercenary adventurer who gets mixed up in a scheme by foreign spies (who wear baggy suits and speak with Slavic accents) to kidnap a nuclear scientist. Actually it isn't the whole world that's held for ransom--only the city of Singapore, which the spies threaten with nuclear annihilation. World for Ransom star Dan Duryea is solidly supported by old pros Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Reginald Denny and Nigel Bruce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the Bowery Boys go to visit a friend on an Air Force base, they are pulled into an investigation to discover why their friend is being accused of treason. Accidentally enlisting in the service, they continue their investigation and eventually stumble on a Nazi plot. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

The backstory of The Red Badge of Courage involves the toppling of MGM's old Louis B. Mayer regime in favor of Dore Schary and his young Turks. It is also the tale of how an intended epic was ruthlessly whittled down to a lower-berth programmer. Since this story has already been related in detail in Lillian Ross' Picture (not to mention several John Huston biographies), the focus here will be what shows up on screen in Red Badge of Courage. Based on the novel by Stephen Crane, the film stars real-life war hero Audie Murphy as a Civil War soldier who must redeem himself in his own eyes after an act of cowardice. When he finally gets his opportunity, he realizes that he is no less frightened than before; it is simply that he has learned to push on in spite of that fear. A comparative newcomer to films, Murphy acquits himself magnificently in the difficult title role; equally impressive are political cartoonist Bill Mauldin as "The Loud Soldier," John Dierkes as "The Tall Soldier" and Royal Dano as "The Tattered Man." When Red Badge of Courage tested poorly in preview, the studio sliced it down to 69 minutes and added a narrator (James Whitmore) to clarify the more obscure plot passages. Further hurting the film was Bronislaus Kaper's overbaked musical score, which seemed more suited to a gung-ho John Wayne flick than a comparatively intimate tale of personal fortitude. Though the finished product plays like a Reader's Digest adaptation, a few brilliant passages remain, notably the sequence in which a commanding officer ingratiatingly lies to his troops for the sake of morale. Like Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, Red Badge of Courage is a truncated classic -- but a classic, all the same. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Gerry Mayer, nephew of MGM-head Louis B. Mayer, proved that nepotism had nothing to do with his hiring by turning out the first-rate historical melodrama Inside Straight. The film begins in 1870 San Francisco, as the city is threatened with financial disaster due to overspeculation on the Comstock Lode. David Brian stars as local tycoon Rip MacCool, who in a series of flashbacks recalls his rise to prominence. While wheeling and dealing with other people's money, MacCool loves and loses two wives: Lily Douvane (Arlene Dahl) takes him for every penny he's got, while Zoe Carnot (Paula Raymond) dies in childbirth. Back in the present, MacCool is forced to make a fateful decision that will, for once, benefit someone else rather than himself. In a supporting role as town banker Ada Stritch, Mercedes McCambridge figures prominently in the final sequence, in which everything hinges on the titular poker hand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jim Bannon's final "Red Ryder" western was the Cinecolor effort Cowboy and the Prizefighter. Aiding and abetting the red-headed Ryder is his youthful Indian sidekick Little Beaver (Don Kay Reynolds, aka Little Brown Jug) and a tough galoot named Steve (Don Haggerty), whose life the hero saves in the opening reel. This time, Ryder takes on a crooked boxing promoter who's been fleecing the locals. The villain is played by John Hart, who later went straight as TV's Lone Ranger (replacing Clayton Moore in 26 episodes). Hart's cohort is real-life pugilist Lou Nova, with whom Ryder squares off in the boxing ring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Republic musical, all heck breaks loose when the girlfriend of an aspiring composer becomes a model for the starving artist who lives next door. The story takes place at the turn of the 19th century and is set in Miss Rich's boardinghouse, the temporary home of many young artists and performers hoping to make it big in New York. Songs include "Have I Told You Lately?" and "A Bluebird Is Singing to Me." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this first entry in the pugilistic comedy series based on Ham Fishers long-running comic strip, Joe Palooka is seen before his boxing career took off. The story begins as he is discovered by Knobby Walsh, a keen-eyed manager. As Knobby trains Joe, gangsters intervene and attempt to insure that the young fighter takes a dive. When a wealthy socialite sees the handsome boxer she ignores the vast class differences and falls in love with him. The film features cameo appearances by real life boxing greats Joe Louis, Manuel Ortiz, Ceferino Garcia and Henry Armstrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide