Debra Paget Movies

The opening scene of Robert Siodmak's grim film noir depicts police lieutenants Candella (Victor Mature) and Collins (Fred Clark) observing wounded cop killer Martin Rome (Richard Conte) receive last rites. Though Rome recovers, he still must elude Candella and Collins in his desperate attempt to escape his fate. Rome has two visitors in the hospital: his girlfriend, Teena (Debra Paget), who goes into hiding, and Niles (Berry Kroeger), a crooked lawyer. Niles tries to bribe Rome to take a jewel theft and homicide rap for a client of his since Rome is facing the electric chair anyway. When Rome refuses, Niles threatens to frame Teena as the client's female accomplice. Worried that Candella might find Teena, Rome breaks out of jail and goes to Niles' office to accept the offer, but he actually plans to leave the country with Teena. When Niles reneges, Rome kills him, but not before learning the accomplice's identity and discovering the stolen jewels in the lawyer's safe. Rome finds the accomplice, Rose Given (Hope Emerson), and offers to trade the jewelry for the means to leave the country. She agrees, and they arrange a meeting in the subway, but Rome informs Candella of the plan. When the police arrive, Candella is shot, Rose is arrested, and Rome escapes to meet up with Teena in a church. As he is trying to convince Teena to run away with him, a wounded Candella shows up and tells Teena how Rome uses people and that everyone who helped in his escape will be paying a price. Teena rejects Rome, and he runs again, only to be shot down by Candella. The moral order is ultimately restored, but no one has been left unscarred. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

House of Strangers is the first of three film versions of Jerome Weidman's I'll Never Go Home Any More, each of which was scripted by Philip Yordan. Edward G. Robinson plays a Giannini-like Italian-American banker, Gino Monetti, who runs roughshod over his four grown sons. The ruthless Gino engages in several illegal activities to build up his business, and is arrested as a result. Though the sons have always been fully aware of their father's questionable business practices, they refuse to help him stay out of prison; led by oldest son Joe (Luther Adler), three of the sons take over the business and kick their father out. Only son Max (Richard Conte) remains loyal to his father, whereupon his three brothers conspire to have Max thrown into prison as well. Max promises the dying Gino that he'll exact vengeance on the treacherous sons; but when he is released, Max hasn't the stomach for revenge, not even after one of his brothers (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) tries to kill him. Max leaves his brothers to stew in their own juices, and heads to California for a new life with his fiancée, Irene Bennett (Susan Hayward). Subsequent film versions of the Jerome Weidman novel included Broken Lance (1954) and The Big Circus (1961). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Indian scout Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) is sent out to stem the war between the Whites and Apaches in the late 1870s. He learns (through an uncomfortably close encounter) that the Indians kill only to protect themselves, or out of retaliation for white atrocities. Befriending the sagacious Apache leader Cochise (Jeff Chandler), Jeffords ensures safe passage for white mail-carriers through Indian territory. As he becomes closer to his Native American "brothers", Jeffords falls in love with and weds a pretty Apache girl (Debra Paget). This being a 1950 film (miscegenation was frowned upon by the Production Code), you can guess what happens to her. Jeffords wants to avenge his bride's death at the hands of white renegades, but it is the so-called "savage" Cochise who advises him not to. Having learned much from each other, Jeffords and Cochise symbolize the white/Indian detente with the traditional broken arrow. This superb, non-condescending film has been criticized in some circles because of the alleged depiction of Cochise as an Indian "Uncle Tom", and because actor Jeff Chandler was not a genuine Native American. Nonetheless, Broken Arrow stands the test of time far more successfully than the later, politically correct Dances with Wolves. In 1956, Broken Arrow was adapted into a TV series starring John Lupton as Jeffords and Michael Ansara as Cochise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean Peters is at her feisty best in Anne of the Indies. Harboring a grudge against all men (and not without reason), Anne becomes "Captain Providence," one of the most notorious pirate leaders of the Spanish Main. Anne is pursued by French captain Pierre la Rochelle (Louis Jourdan), who intends to bring her to justice. To this end, La Rochelle makes romantic overtures to Anne, but she gloms onto his scheme and abducts the captain and his wife Molly (Debra Paget). After leaving her victims to die on a desert island, Anne relents and rescues them. She later fully redeems herself (at great personal cost) during a battle with her fiercest rival, Blackbeard (Thomas Gomez). Few actresses could have pulled off the contrarily-written title character in Anne of the Indies with as much determination and conviction as Jean Peters; surprisingly, the actress was reportedly never comfortable before the cameras, often insisting that she'd rather be a schoolteacher! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Myrna Loy returns as Mrs. Gilbreth -- efficiency expert, industrial engineer, and mother of twelve -- in this sequel to Cheaper By The Dozen. After the death of her husband, Gilbreth is forced to take over as the family's primary breadwinner, but she soon discovers that not every company who hired her and her husband in the past is eager to work with her on her own. Facing prejudice from many of her prospective clients, Gilbreth finally makes good training engineers for Sam Harper (Edward Arnold), putting her family back on solid financial ground. In the meantime, the dozen Gilbreth children are growing up, most notably eldest daughter Ann (Jeanne Crain), who enters into a serious romance with Bob Grayson (Jeffrey Hunter), a young doctor. The supporting cast includes Hoagy Carmichael, Debra Paget, Barbara Bates and Robert Arthur. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Not up to the classic 1935 presentation, this is still an excellent adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel. The familiar characters of Valjean and Javert and the agonies of injustice are all portrayed convincingly against a backdrop of 18th century France. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Debra Paget displays as much epidermis as the 1954 censors would allow in the escapist adventure Princess of the Nile. Ms. Paget is cast as Taura, a fearless 13th century princess who does her best to defend Egypt against an invading Bedouin (Michael Rennie). When not wielding her trusty scimitar, Taura poses as a dancing girl to undermine the Bedouin's plans. She is aided by the Prince Haidi (Jeffrey Hunter), son of the Caliph of Baghdad. The plotline is negligible: the audience was more interested in watching Debra Paget and scores of underclad lovelies undulating to the quasi-Eastern musical score by Lionel Newman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gambler From Natchez is one of a group on non-Cinemascope films released by 20th Century-Fox's Panorama Pictures subsidiary. Dale Robertson stars as a 19th century adventurer who returns to his home town of New Orleans, only to find that his father has been killed for allegedly cheating at cards. The father's disgrace trickles down to Robertson, and soon he, too, is an outcast. Grimly determined to clear his name, our hero methodically tracks down the three reprobates responsible for his father's death, intending to ruin them by any means available. Gambler From Natchez boasts two leading ladies: Debra Paget plays a spitfire swamp girl, while Lisa Daniels is a more socially respectable heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Seven Angry Men, Raymond Massey stars as controversial 19th-century abolitionist John Brown, a role he'd previously essayed in 1940's Santa Fe Trail. Without glossing over Brown's murderous fanaticism and cold-bloodedness, the film manages to invoke a degree of sympathy for the man, whose intentions were honorable even if his methods were not. After cutting a bloody swath through Kansas, Brown and his followers hole up in a warehouse at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, where he meets his own personal Waterloo at the hands of federal troops. The romantic subplot is handled by Jeffrey Hunter, cast as Brown's son Owen, and Debra Paget as Owen's sweetheart Elizabeth. James Edwards offers another strong characterization as an articulate freed slave who follows John Brown to his doom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in the West of the late 19th century, Richard Brooks' film stars Robert Taylor as Charles Gilson, a brutal buffalo hunter who kills purely for sport and enjoyment. Stewart Granger portrays Sandy McKenzie, a former hunter on whom Gilson is seeking revenge. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Based on the Holy Scriptures, with additional dialogue by several other hands, The Ten Commandments was the last film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The story relates the life of Moses, from the time he was discovered in the bullrushes as an infant by the pharoah's daughter, to his long, hard struggle to free the Hebrews from their slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. Moses (Charlton Heston) starts out "in solid" as Pharoah's adopted son (and a whiz at designing pyramids, dispensing such construction-site advice as "Blood makes poor mortar"), but when he discovers his true Hebrew heritage, he attempts to make life easier for his people. Banished by his jealous half-brother Rameses (Yul Brynner), Moses returns fully bearded to Pharoah's court, warning that he's had a message from God and that the Egyptians had better free the Hebrews post-haste if they know what's good for them. Only after the Deadly Plagues have decimated Egypt does Rameses give in. As the Hebrews reach the Red Sea, they discover that Rameses has gone back on his word and plans to have them all killed. But Moses rescues his people with a little Divine legerdemain by parting the Seas. Later, Moses is again confronted by God on Mt. Sinai, who delivers unto him the Ten Commandments. Meanwhile, the Hebrews, led by the duplicitous Dathan (Edward G. Robinson), are forgetting their religion and behaving like libertines. "Where's your Moses now?" brays Dathan in the manner of a Lower East Side gangster. He soon finds out. DeMille's The Ten Commandments may not be the most subtle and sophisticated entertainment ever concocted, but it tells its story with a clarity and vitality that few Biblical scholars have ever been able to duplicate. It is very likely the most eventful 219 minutes ever recorded to film--and who's to say that Nefertiri (Anne Baxter) didn't make speeches like, "Oh, Moses, Moses, you splendid, stubborn, adorable fool"? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A bank robber's avarice and obsessive quest for freedom lead to his downfall in this adventure-packed crime drama that was shot on location in Mexico. After lifting a cool million from a U.S. bank, the crook is anxious to sneak across the border into Mexico, but to do so he must hire an experienced wilderness guide. He goes to the guide's ranch and finds his ex-lover, now the guide's wife, preparing to leave her husband. The crook offers to take her to her home town. There is trouble with a border guard and the crook runs him over with his car. Terrified, the girl tries to escape, but the crook runs after her and they go back to the ranch where they meet the guide (who was beside the border guard when he died). Desperately, the crook forces the guide and his wife to head into the mountains with him. As they traverse the treacherous terrain, the crook becomes increasingly desperate and makes it plain that he will kill anyone who stands in his way. He also makes it clear that he would rather die himself than give up the money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is the third and least successful version of screenwriter Thea von Harbou's original story, Das Indische Grabmal, written around 1919. Her ex-husband, Fritz Lang directs this routine, outdated drama about an exotic dancer named Seetha (Debra Paget) who is hired by Chandra (Walther Reyer), an Indian maharaja. Chandra is having problems keeping his domain in order and his subjects are on the verge of rebellion. To make matters worse, Seetha is not interested in him but in Harald Berger (Paul Hubschmid), an architect. Harald is there to construct colonial-style architecture, but between the rebellious peasants and the Maharaja, he and Seetha have dim prospects for a future here. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide