Robert Paige Movies

Robert Paige pursues the hand of a singer Jane Frazee when he wants to get out of a dreaded engagement. She agrees to the marriage-of-convenience, and they find that after the ceremony they actually are starting to like each other. ~ All Movie Guide

George Sidney's adaptation of the satiric Broadway musical smash by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse, and Lee Adams -- about an Elvis Presley-inspired rock star, who is drafted into the army and who creates a near-riot in a small Midwestern town when he stops there for one last publicity junket -- takes good-natured swipes at popular culture, rock n' roll, and American family life. Dick van Dyke re-creates his Broadway role of Albert Peterson, a down-on-his-luck songwriter for the rock-n'-roll idol Conrad Birdie (Jesse Pearson). When Birdie is drafted into the army, Peterson is worried about his future as a songwriter. His secretary, Rosie (Janet Leigh in a brunette wig), with whom Albert has long been romantically attached, convinces Albert to write a farewell song for Birdie that he will sing on The Ed Sullivan Show to a specially selected fan. The lucky fan turns out to be Kim McAfee (Ann-Margaret) of Sweet Apple, Ohio. When Birdie arrives in this hick town, the population goes crazy and in the ensuing madness, Albert must deal with the celebrity-fawning population, Kim's manic father (Paul Lynde, also re-creating his Broadway role), and his own domineering mother (Maureen Stapleton), while he loses Rosie to the Shriners. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Deanna Durbin's first Technicolor feature is a lavish musical western, replete with a Jerome Kern-E. Y. Harburg score. Set in the mid-19th century, the story finds Caroline (Durbin), daughter of a wealthy senator, bound and determined to wed dashing cavalry officer Lawlor (Robert Paige). When the officer is transferred to California, Caroline chases after him, encountering prospectors, bandits and Indians all along the way. That's about all that happens, save for a few awkward slapstick moments wherein the pleasantly plump Ms. Durbin falls into various bodies of water. Lensed on location in Utah, Can't Help Singing is entertaining enough, but wasn't sufficient to halt the downward slide of Deanna Durbin's popularity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Olsen and Johnson's followup to their zany, iconoclastic Hellzapoppin' was the more conventional Crazy House. The premise: Having nearly laid waste to Universal while filming Hellzapoppin', O & J are thrown out of the studio when they arrive with plans for a new picture. Only momentarily daunted, our heroes decide to produce the film themselves, renting a studio and hiring carhop Margie (Martha O'Driscoll) as their leading lady. The success of this plan hinges upon an "angel", self-proclaimed millionaire Col. Merriweather (Percy Kilbride), who promises to advance the money for the new film. Things get sticky when the Colonel turns out to be a balmy eccentric with nary a cent to his name. After a wild courtroom trial presided over by ever-scowling Edgar Kennedy, it is decided that Olsen and Johnson will be permitted to screen their new film before a gathering of Hollywood studio executives, with distribution rights going to the highest bidder. The finale devolves into frantic slapstick when the last reel of the film turns up missing (a plot device later utilized in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie). Though Crazy House gets off to a suitably wacky start-when word arrives at Universal that Olsen and Johnson are coming, barricades are set up and armed guards posted, while every studio contractee from Leo Carrillo to "Sherlock Holmes" (Basil Rathbone) and "Dr. Watson" (Nigel Bruce) brace themselves for the comedians' invasion-the film quickly settles into a standard musical-comedy groove, complete with such guest stars as Allan Jones, Count Basie, the Delta Rhythm Boys and the Glenn Miller Singers. Still, there are plenty of hilarious moments along the way, most of them handled by raucous comedienne Cass Daley, playing a dual role. And there's seldom been a more satisfying movie finale than the last gag of Crazy House, which literally disposes of tiresome romantic leads Martha O'Driscoll and Patric Knowles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A champion Great Dane is the murder victim in this mystery. Investigating the case is the youthful assistant of a travelling salesman and telepathist. Unfortunately, the young man's attempts to find the show dog's killer fail. He winds up getting both himself and his boss in trouble. Now it is up to the young man's mentor to solve the case. The prime suspect is a friend of the dog owner's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this B movie actioner, a plucky female cub reporter is determined to get her boss a front page scoop and so finagles a way to spend a few days with two drivers in the title squad. While with them she finds herself reporting a huge fire at a chemical plant. She gets herself in real danger when she begins looking into a disaster-plagued tunnel construction site and finds that a racketeer is in cahoots with a crooked contractor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The then-popular government agents, the so-called G-Men, took to the air in this standard 15-chapter serial thriller courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Hal Andrews, known under the colorful alias "The Black Falcon," and his two fellow operatives, Bart Davis (Robert Fiske) and John Cummings (James Craig), track down the villain who killed one of their colleagues. The murderer proves to be the head of a gang of saboteurs who are planning a strike on the country's air defense. Lorna Gray, later known as Adrian Booth, lent a bit of feminine appeal to the otherwise decidedly masculine goings-on. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Get Going is typical of the 60-minute musical comdies being churned out by Universal in the 1940s. A topical twist is added by predicating many of the laughs on the wartime housing shortage in Washington DC, with heroine Judy King (Grace McDonald) and her pal Doris (Lois Collier) sharing a cramped apartment with eccentrics Matilda Jones (Vera Vague) and Horace Doblem (Walter Catlett). The plot proper concerns the efforts by Judy, a typist in a government agency, to attract the attention of her handsome boss Bob Carlton (Robert Paige). To do this, she pretends to be in the employ of an enemy spy ring. It's hardly surprising that, before the end of the 5th reel, both Judy and Bob get mixed up with a genuine nest of spies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed with the full cooperation of the Golden Gloves Tournament Association, this Paramount programmer stars Richard Denning as promising pugilist Bill Crane. Though tempted to sign up with crooked Joe Taggerty (J. Carrol Naish) for a series of fixed bouts, Crane is saved from himself by sportswriter Wally Matson (Robert Paige), the organizer of the local Golden Gloves program. Taggerty tries to get even by pitting the amateur Crane against a seasoned professional, but to no avail. James Cagney's sister Jeanne Cagney is an appealing heroine, while Crane's duplicitious ring opponent is played by Robert Ryan in his first screen appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crazy comedy, a casino worker writes a book about headhunters and finds himself the target of the leader of an anthropological society who is determined to prove that the book is phony. The writer tricks the woman into going on a head-hunting expedition to prove his claims. He dresses up as a headhunter, and allows her to capture and return him to her society for study. Dressed as a native, the writer also manages to secure a $10,000 advance from his publisher to write an expose of the wealthy society-leader's life. Meanwhile, another heiress pursues the writer to collect on a $10,000 debt. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dick Foran and Harriet Hilliard (aka Harriet Nelson) top the cast of the Universal musical quickie Hi, Buddy. Foran plays GI Dave O'Connor, who comes to the rescue when a boy's club is threatened with foreclosure. Upon learning that the money targetted for the club has been appropriated by a crooked manager, O'Connor calls upon his army buddies to stage a big, fundraising show. Surprisingly, O'Connor doesn't get heroine Gloria Bradley at the end; instead, radio crooner Johnny Blake (Robert Paige) claims Gloria as his bride. But since O'Connor's gal is lissome Mary Parker (Marjorie Lord), who's complaining? 18 songs are squeezed into the 66-minute running time of Hi, Buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the verge of superstardom, Rita Hayworth played in scores of minor dramas like Homicide Bureau, an entertaining little crime story released a scant three months before her big breakthrough, Howard Hawk's Only Angels Have Wings. She plays J.G. Bliss, a girl scientist assigned to help the city's beleaguered homicide squad. When an accused murderer, Chuck Brown (Marc Lawrence), is released for lack of evidence, J.G. and Lieutenant Jim Logan (Bruce Cabot) do their best to have the decision reversed. Jim discovers that Brown is a member of a secret society hiding behind the seemingly innocent name of "the Junk Dealer's Trade Organization," which in reality is engaged in selling scrap metal to a certain enemy power (read: Germany). But with the adoring J.G. at his side, the intrepid hero not only saves his boss, Captain Haines (Moroni Olsen), from a kidnapping, but manages to catch the entire gang of crooks, including their leader, Ed Briggs (Norman Willis). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide