William Benedict Movies
Oklahoma-born William Benedict is fondly remembered by fans for his shock of unkempt blond hair; ironically, he lost his first job at a bank because he refused to use a comb. Stagestruck at an early age, the skinny, ever-boyish Benedict took dancing lessons while in high school and appeared in amateur theatricals. After phoning a 20th Century-Fox talent scout, the 17-year-old Benedict hitchhiked to Hollywood and won a film contract (if for no other reason than nerve and persistence). He appeared in the first of his many office-boy roles in his debut film, $10 Raise (1935), and spent the next four decades popping up in bits as bellboys, caddies, hillbillies, delivery men and Western Union messengers. He portrayed so many of the latter, in fact, that Western Union paid tribute to Benedict by giving him his own official uniform -- an honor bestowed on only one other actor, Benedict's lifelong friend Frank Coghlan Jr. (the two actors costarred in the 1941 serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel). In 1939, Benedict played a bicycle messenger in the Little Tough Guys film Call a Messenger; four years later he appeared with another branch of the Little Tough Guys clan, the East Side Kids, in Ghosts on the Loose. He remained with the Kids as "Skinny," then stayed on when the East Siders transformed into the Bowery Boys in 1946. As "Whitey," Benedict was the oldest member of the team, a fact occasionally alluded to in the dialogue -- though Leo Gorcey, two months younger than Benedict, was firmly in charge of the bunch. Benedict left the Bowery Boys in 1951, gradually easing out of acting; for several years, he worked as an assistant designer of miniature sets for movie special-effects sequences. He returned to performing in the 1960s, still playing the newsboy and delivery man roles he'd done as a youth. Film and TV fans of the 1970s might recall Billy Benedict as a world-weary croupier in the early scenes of The Sting (1973), and in the regular role of Toby the Informant on the 1975 TV series The Blue Knight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
In this drama, a mild-mannered bookkeeper has trouble asserting himself in both his personal and professional life. His boss is a real tightwad and the poor clerk is basically working for nothing. To show his gal that he isn't a total wimp, he finally screws up his courage and asks for a well-deserved raise. At first things don't turn out as well as he had hoped. Fortunately, his future is assured when he learns that some land he owns is worth a fortune. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Karen Morley, (more)
- 1942
Brian Aherne stars as a successful murder-mystery novelist; his wife, Loretta Young, wishes Aherne would switch to writing love stories (Young doesn't have a very realistic grasp on the literary marketplace, but we'll let that pass). Young sweet-talks Aherne into vacating their apartment and moving into a Greenwich village basement, thereby hoping that he'll be inspired to pen words of romance. Unfortunately for Young (but not the audience), their new flat is a hotbed of murderous intrigue, sparked by the discovery of a corpse. The police are completely baffled, so Aherne sets about to solve the mystery himself-while Young, in spite of herself, starts behaving like The Thin Man's Nora Charles. Columbia Pictures had an absolute genius in the early 1940s for churning out fast-moving, star-studded programmers that delivered all the popular elements and left the public panting for more; A Night to Remember was no exception to this winning formula. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1971
Comedian Shelley Berman) guest stars as a crooked Hollywood agent who is running a scam with a sexy starlet (Katie O'Price). There is also a third player in this intrigue, a tough customer named Jack Donahue (Leo Gordon). Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) are disinheartened by the knowledge that Donahue is a former cop who has apparently gone astray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1943
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Four enterprising air cadets are suspected of a series of murders actually committed by The Black Hangman, a mysterious Nazi agent. A typical war-time serial, this Universal offering basically wasted the talents of one of the best screen villains in Hollywood history, the demonic-looking Eduardo Cianelli. Cianelli plays Karl Von Heiger, alias The Black Hangman, who has discovered a lost helium deposit in Darkest Africa. To safeguard the location, Von Heiger and mining engineer Arthur Galt (Robert Armstrong) kill the members of an expedition except for Professor Mason (Selmer Jackson) and his lovely daughter Andre (Jennifer Holt), whom they imprison. To clear their names, the four cadets -- Danny Collins (Johnny Downs), Jinx Roberts (Bobby Jordan), Scrapper MacKay (Ward Wood), and Zombie Parker (Billy Benedict) -- go in search for the villains, rescuing Mason & daughter along the way. By the 13th and final chapter, "The Toll of Treason," the boys have more or less singlehandedly wiped out the Nazi presence in Africa. Top-billed Johnny Downs, a former child actor, was better known for a series of lightweight campus comedies. Leading lady Jennifer Holt was the daughter of veteran action star Jack Holt and sister of Tim Holt. She spent most of her screen career in B-Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Downs, Bobby Jordan, (more)
- 1949
The 15th film in the Bowery Boys series, Angels in Disguise combines lowbrow humor with "film noir" melodramatics. Bowery boys Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are copy boys for a crusading newspaper, whose publisher (Ray Walker) is trying to crush the notorious "Loop Gang". When the boys' policeman pal Gabe (Gabriel Dell) is wounded in a shoot-out with the Loop mob, Slip and Sach take it upon themselves to expose the gang. All the Bowery boys (including sweet-shop proprietor Louie) disguise themselves as gangsters and infiltrate the Loop Gang, which is run by a young, erudite intellectual (Mickey Ryan). The scheme to destroy the Loop mob from the inside is flummoxed by the crusading newspaper's cartoonist, actually a member of the crooked gang who has been sending out coded tips in his comic strip. The Loop Gang gives the Bowery Boys a real "going over", but the cops arrive in time to round up the crooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Blonde Dynamite was the 17th of Monogram/Allied Artists' 48 Bowery Boys entries. This time, the boys have transformed Louie's Sweet Shop into an escort bureau. Louie (Bernard Gorcey) has little to say on the matter, since he's on vacation and knows nothing about this new business enterprise. The boys' steadiest customers are a group of gorgeous ladies who are in the employ of a bank-robbery gang. The girls keep Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the others busy while their confederates dig a tunnel between the sweet shop and a neighboring bank. Gabe Marino (Gabe Dell), a bank employee, manages to alert the police, but it's lame-brained Sach who turns out (inadvertently, of course) to be the hero of the hour. One of the gun molls in Blonde Dynamite is Beverlee Crane, who in the 1930s was teamed with her twin sister Bettie Mae to deliver the "talking credits" for Hal Roach's Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang and Charley Chase comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1950
Blues Busters is a first-rate entry in the otherwise hit-and-miss "Bowery Boys" series. After having his tonsils removed, Sach (Huntz Hall) finds himself blessed with a beautiful singing voice. He becomes a popular crooner, inspiring Slip (Leo Gorcey) to convert Louie's sweet shop into a swanky nightclub (in the Bowery?) Rival club owner Craig Stevens tricks Sach into signing with him, which causes a rift in the lifelong friendship between Sach and Slip. But Sach returns to his old friends in the end--just in time for his mellifluous singing voice to disappear, replaced by his old familiar nasal bray. In addition to the surprising presence of the classy Craig Stevens (eight years removed from Peter Gunn), Blues Busters boasts fine supporting performances from a brace of favorite B-picture babes, Phyllis Coates and Adele Jergens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1978
- PG
President Richard Nixon's legal counsellor Charles Colson was tried for several criminal charges relating to the Watergate cover-up, eventually spending some time in prison. This film explores Colson's personal crisis, and the religious convictions which, crossing party boundaries, worked to bring about his conversion from being a cynical politician to becoming a committed Christian. Far from being corrupted in prison, Colson (Dean Jones) became a missionary for his beliefs and worked to reform many of the 'hard cases" he encountered there. After the period covered by the film, it is worthwhile to note that Colson chose a new career for himself following his release from prison -- prison missionary. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Jones, Anne Francis, (more)
- 1951
Mistakenly believing that America has gone to war, the Bowery Boys (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Benedict, et al.) join the army. Our heroes get off to a bad start when they crash a party at the Officer's Club, a breach of protocol that earns them the undying enmity of Sergeant Frisbie (the ever-flustered Donald MacBride). Meanwhile, sweet-shop owner Louie Dumbrowski (Bernard Gorcey), feeling lonely without the boys around to cheat him out of sodas and candy, heads down to the recruiting office to enlist. Because of his stellar World War I record, Louie is promoted to the boys' commanding officer, a job he takes quite seriously. A gang of sinister spies kidnaps Louie in the hope of extracting vital top secrets, but the boys come to the rescue. Even non-Bowery Boys fans will find this an enjoyable diversion; the film was one of the best of the series' several "service" comedies (Let's Go Navy, Here Come the Marines, Clipped Wings, etc.). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1966
Lola Albright returns in the role of crusading frontier newspaperwoman Ann Williams. Once again, Jason McCord (Chuck Connors) comes to Ann's aid in her efforts to break an important news story. This makes Jason a very busy man: He has already hired on as surveyor for a railroad, thus also making him a target for extermination by train-hating freight line owner Tad Evers (John Ireland). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Based on the popular comic strip by Dale Messick, this Sam Katzman-produced Columbia serial starred the beautiful and talented Joan Woodbury, an actress who never really lived up to her early potential. Brenda Starr, Reporter didn't exactly change that sad fact; a rather straightforward tale of a girl reporter who is mistakenly believed to possess the key to the whereabouts of a hidden fortune, the serial was a typically shoddy Katzman effort. A gang of crooks headed by the always watchable Wheeler Oakman spend 13 chapters attempting to force the secret out of poor Brenda, who is always saved in the nick of time by handsome Kane Richmond. In the end, Brenda Starr, Reporter had a couple of attractive leads, and a wonderfully hammy master criminal, but very little else. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
To most outside observers, Bride of the Monster probably seems like a ridiculously inept horror film, and in many ways it is just that. To connoisseurs of the work of director Edward D. Wood Jr., however, it is the biggest budgeted film in his entire output, made with the resources of a normal B-movie (as opposed to his usual totally emaciated finances) and the most easily accessible of his three horror films. Bela Lugosi, in his final complete performance, portrays Dr. Eric Vornoff, a renegade Eastern European scientist with a plan to create a race of atomic supermen, giants charged with radioactivity. The problem is that the hapless hunters and other passersby at Lake Marsh, where he has set up shop with his hulking, mute assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson), whom the pair waylay, keep dying when he straps them in and switches on his atomic ray machine (which is a not-at-all disguised photographic enlarger). A dozen victims later, reporter Janet Lawson (Loretta King) goes out to investigate the disappearances -- attributed to a monster -- and falls into Vornoff's hands, with her police detective fiance Dick Craig (Tony McCoy) hot on her trail, and a devious spy (George Becwar) from Vornoff's former nation also nosing his way around the swamp and the old house. Vornoff dresses Lawson in a wedding gown and plans to irradiate her but Lobo refuses to allow it, straps Vornoff into the machine, and turns him into a radioactive giant (and into stuntman Eddie Parker, totally unconvincing in his doubling for Lugosi). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, (more)
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this inspired comedy about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets an absent-minded paleontologist and unwittingly makes a fiasco of both their lives. David Huxley (Grant) is the stuffy paleontologist who needs to finish an exhibit on dinosaurs and thus land a $1 million grant for his museum. At a golf outing with his potential benefactors, Huxley is spotted by Susan Vance (Hepburn) who decides that she must have the reserved scientist at all costs. She uses her pet leopard, Baby, to trick him into driving to her Connecticut home, where a dog wanders into Huxley's room and steals the vital last bone that he needs to complete his project. The real trouble begins when another leopard escapes from the local zoo and Baby is mistaken for it, leading Huxley and Susan into a series of harebrained and increasingly more insane schemes to save the cat from the authorities. Inevitably, the two end up in the local jail, where things get even more out of hand: Susan pretends to be the gun moll to David's diabolical, supposedly wanted criminal. Naturally, the mismatched pair falls in love through all the lunacy. Director Howard Hawks delivers a funny, fast-paced, and offbeat story, enlivened by animated performances from the two leads, in what has become a definitive screwball comedy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, (more)
- 1939
Call a Messenger is the second entry in Universal's "Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys" series. In this one, the Little Tough Guys (Hally Chester, Harris Berger, David Gorcey) cede most of the screen time to Dead Enders Billy Halop (as Jimmy Hogan) and Huntz Hall (as Pig). When he and his pals are caught robbing their local branch of the Postal Union, Jimmy valiantly takes the blame for his friends' action. Given a choice between going to reform school and taking an honest job as a messenger boy, Jimmy opts for the latter-and before long, all of his buddies are wearing messenger uniforms. With the help of his Postal Union confreres, Jimmy manages to thwart the criminal activities of his ex-con brother Ed (Victor Jory) and Ed's gangster partner Chuck Walsh (Larry "Buster" Crabbe). Billy Benedict makes his first appearance as a Dead End Kid/East Side Kid/Bowery Boy in Call a Messenger, while comedy relief is provided by veteran funster El Brendel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, (more)
Previously filmed as a vehicle for Baby Peggy Montgomery in 1922, Laura E. Richard's Captain January was warmed up as a Shirley Temple picture 14 years later. Temple plays Star, a child of divorce who is looked after by crusty-but-lovable lighthouse keeper Captain January (Guy Kibbee). Truant officer Agatha Morgan (Sara Haden) determines that the Captain is not providing Star with suitable surroundings or a proper education, and before long our sobbing heroine is whisked away to a boarding school. She is rescued by kindly Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (George Irving and Nella Walker), distant relatives who try to provide the girl with a decent home, but the poor child still yearns for the company of Captain January and his friends Paul (Buddy Ebsen) and Nazro (Slim Summerville). All ends happily when January and his two chums are hired as crew members on the Morgans' yacht. One of Shirley Temple's best films, Captain January would be memorable if only for her singing-dancing duet with Buddy Ebsen, "At the Codfish Ball." Thanks to a legal loophole, the film has lapsed into public domain, joining A Little Princess as the most accessible of Temple's vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, Guy Kibbee, (more)
- 1941
Citadel of Crime was the original title of the Republic John Wayne vehicle which eventually emerged as A Man Betrayed (TV title: Wheel of Fortune). Never a studio to let anything go to waste, Republic redirected the cognomen Citadel of Crime to one of their minor but entertaining crime melodramas its original title was Ten Nights in Barroom). Don Ryan's well-honed screenplay unfolds the tale of a gang of mobsters trying to take over the various moonshine operations in the hills of West Virginia. To gain the confidence of the local hillbillies, the crooks send out Cal Fullerton (Robert Armstrong), a former moonshiner who's spent several years in "the rackets," as their advance man. The villains' plans are foiled by handsome revenuer Jim Rogers (Frank Albertson), likewise a true son of the Hills. Slickly produced, Citadel of Crime packs plenty of action in its brief 58 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Armstrong, Frank Albertson, (more)
- 1939
Universal's Code of the Streets stars the Little Tough Guys, an offshoot of Warner Bros.' Dead End Kids. This time Frankie Thomas plays Bob Lewis, leader of a gang consisting of Sailor (Harris Berger), Murph (Hally Chester), Monk (Charles Duncan), Trouble (Billy Benedict) and Yap (David Gorcey). The son of disgraced police officer Lt. Lewis (Harry Carey), Bob vows to clear his dad's name, and also to prove that accused murderer Tommy Shay (Paul Fix) is innocent. With the help of Tommy's brother Danny (James McCallion), the kids track down and trap the real culprits, who in addition to their other crimes had been responsible for Lt. Lewis' demotion. The nominal leading lady in Code of the Streets is Juanita Quigley, who during her child star days was billed as Baby Jane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, Frankie Thomas, (more)
- 1935
Never mind the title and the musical content: College Scandal is at heart a murder mystery, and a pretty suspenseful one at that. Several mysterious killings have taken place at a co-ed college, and it looks as though there won't be anyone left alive to appear in the annual campus musical. The police, headed by the irascible Chief Magoun (William Frawley) are at a loss to solve the murders, so the students take it upon themselves to play detective. It is college cutie Sally Dunlap (Arline Judge) who discovers that the killing spree is related to the accidental death of a student during a long-ago fraternity hazing. The film's most startling moment occurs when music student Paul Gedney (Johnny Downs) is knocked off while singing his latest composition, ironically titled "In the Middle of a Kiss." College Scandal was remade in 1942 as Sweater Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arline Judge, Kent Taylor, (more)
- 1941
Chester Morris makes his second screen appearance as crook-turned-detective Boston Blackie in this superior series entry. This time, Blackie gets into trouble when he attends an art auction with his millionaire pal Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan). It so happens that the auction gallery is run by thieves, which heroine Diane Parrish (Harriet Hilliard) has just discovered. To keep her quiet, head crook Joe Buchanan (Ralph Theodore) takes a shot at Diane, but though he only wounds her he kills sculptor Allison (Walter Soderling). Conclusion-jumping Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) assumes that Blackie fired the shot, forcing our hero to spend the rest of the film eluding both the police and the criminals. Highlights include a hilarious fit of rage perpetrated by secondary villainess Joan Woodbury, and an amusing if slightly sadistic running gag involving hapless ice-cream vendor Billy Benedict. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Richard Lane, (more)
Thanks to its Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin/Yip Harburg score and the luminescence of stars Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, Cover Girl has taken on a legendary status in recent years. In truth, the film has a banal and predictable premise: a chorus girl (Hayworth) is given a chance for stardom by a wealthy magazine editor (Otto Kruger), who years earlier had been in love with the girl's mother. Offered an opportunity to be a highly-paid cover girl, our heroine would faithfully remain with her tacky nightclub act if only the club manager (Kelly), whom she pines for, would ask her. He loves her too, but doesn't want to stand in her way, so he fakes an argument to send her packing. You don't need a crystal ball to known that the girl and her guy will be reunited for the finale. Phil Silvers, everybody's best friend, and Eve Arden, Kruger's acid-tongued assistant, provide comic relief. The story sags badly at times, but the fans went home happy thanks to the powerhouse musical numbers, including Long Ago and Far Away and Kelly's famous "alter-ego" dance. The film skyrocketed both Hayworth and Kelly to superstardom, and didn't do Silvers any harm, either. Cover Girl is an extraordinarily lavish Technicolor production from the usually parsimonious Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, (more)
- 1951
On a pure storytelling level, Crazy Over Horses is one of the best entries in Monogram's "Bowery Boys" series. This time, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the gang come into possession of a race horse. Slip is convinced that the horse, which he'd picked up as payment for a debt owed to sweet-shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) by stable owner Flynn (Tim Ryan), is a thoroughbred. For once, he's right: the nag had been left with Flynn by a group of gamblers who'll do anything to get her back, even unto switching horses on the boys. The film leads steadily and logically to an exciting racetrack climax, capped by a final confrontation with the crooks. Comic patsy Huntz Hall is curiously unpleasant and abrasive in Crazy Over Horses, though he reverts to his old bumbling self in an extended sequence wherein he disguises himself as a black stablehand (this scene is usually removed when the film is shown on television). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1946
That new-fangled swing music is the focus of this musical comedy. The trouble begins when a music school dean boards a train to meet her husband the symphony conductor. En route she meets Harry James, the big band leader. She is deeply impressed by the swingin' beat of the new music. It becomes her newest passion. Unfortunately, back at her school, her superiors do not share her enthusiasm and she is fired. She remains determined to introduce the kids to the new sound. She and James team up to perform the music on campus. Songs include: "As If I Didn't Have Enough on My Mind," "I Didn't Mean a Word I Said," "Moonlight Propaganda," and "Do You Love Me?" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Dick Haymes, (more)
- 1935
Doubting Thomas is the 1935 film version of George Kelly's satirical comedy The Torch Bearers, tailored for the talents of Will Rogers. Billie Burke, Will's wife, becomes so involved in a local amateur theatre group that she has no time for her husband. In retaliation, Will pretends to "go Hollywood," proving that he is stage-struck by doing an extended imitation of Bing Crosby. The film's highlight is the "opening night" scene, a cornucopia of missed cues, inappropriate costumes and collapsing scenery. An earlier, silent version of The Torch Bearers has unfortunately been lost to the ages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Billie Burke, (more)
- 1956
Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set their sights on a forger who has been passing phony payroll checks all over town. Working on fragmentary evidence, the detectives conclude that the forger is driving a flashy rented convertible, and is frequently seen in the company of an equally flashy blonde. Once in custody, the criminal doles out a sob story about turning to crime for the sake of his sweet, innocent wife--who is neither of the above! This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of June 28, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
