Nat Pendleton Movies

After serving with a notable lack of distinction in WW2, Corporal Slicker Smith (Bud Abbott) and Private Herbie Brown (Lou Costello) return to the US. Unbeknownst to their sourpussed sergeant Collins (Nat Pendleton), Slicker and Herbie have smuggled cute little war orphan Evie (Beverly Simmons) past the immigration authorities. In their efforts to find a decent home for Evie, our heroes return to the prewar "jobs" as sidewalk salesmen, then make a disastrous attempt to collect their GI bonus money. They also struggle to save Evie from deportation, hiding her from the prying eyes of the ubiquitous Collins, who has likewise returned to his civilian job as a police officer. The climax finds Herbie participating in a big-money midget-car race, feverishly dodging pedestrians and motorists as he tries to escape the authorities. The film also includes a romantic subplot involving Tom Brown and Joan Fulton (later known as Joan Shawlee). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The titular valley is the locale for an inordinate amount of double-crosses and betrayals. Young prospector Carroll Nye thinks he's doing a good deed when he rescues heroine Rada Rae, whom he finds wandering aimlessly in the desert. Little does Nye realize that Rae is in cahoots with claim-jumping Raymond Wells, who intends to get his hands on a valuable gold mine, the location of which is known only by our hero. Upon realizing he's been duped, Nye begins to punch out the girl (a startling scene!), but comes to regret his rash behavior when it develops that Rae has been forced to betray him under threat of death. By film's end, however, it is the villainous Wells who suffers the most. Death Valley was remade, scene-for-scene, in 1946, with Helen Gilbert and Nat Pendleton in the main roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In most of his movie vehicles, bandleader Kay Kyser played a bandleader named Kay Kyser. In Swing Fever, however, Kyser is cast as aspiring songwriter Lowell Blackford. Though he isn't too successful at peddling his songs, Blackford does have one unique talent: The ability to hypnotize boxer Killer Kennedy (Nat Pendleton) into winning fights. Blackford is coerced into using his "whammy" on Kennedy by Ginger Gray (Marilyn Maxwell). On the night of the championship bout, Blackford finds out he's being used, but goes through with his hypnosis to save Ginger from gangsters. The whole thing ends rather incongruously with a patriotic floor show, a specialty of MGM films of the period. Several guest performers lift Swing Fever out of the ordinary, including Lena Horne and the Merrill Abbott Dancers. Also appearing is an uncredited Ava Gardner as a sarcastic receptionist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical, a convict finds his life calling after a prison show is staged and he discovers a talent for stage production. He becomes obsessed with it until his sentence ends. Once outside, he begins recruiting new talent for the prison. Later his effort pays off and he is finally Broadway bound. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Considering the fact that it was the only Universal horror film directed by cult favorite Joseph H. Lewis, it's a shame that Mad Doctor of Market Street isn't better than it is. Lionel Atwill dominates the proceedings as Dr. Benson, an addlepated medico obsessed with the notion of restoring the dead to life. After his experiment on the unfortunate William Saunders (Hardie Albright) goes awry, Benson escapes from the authorities by boarding a passenger ship. When the vessel sinks during a storm at sea, Benson and several survivors manage to pull ashore on a remote tropical island. Here the mad doctor wows the natives with his scientific knowhow, and before long he is appointed king of the tribe. In this capacity, he hopes to marry helpless heroine Patricia (Claire Dodd) and to use the rest of the shipwreck survivors as guinea pigs for his experiments. The main problem with Mad Doctor of Market Street is the inclusion of youthful Una Merkel as the heroine's aunt, a role obviously intended for an older, less prominent actress. Obliged to radically alter and "beef up" Merkel's part, the screenwriters were forced to shortchange the rest of the picture, and as a result Mad Doctor of Market Street is nowhere near as frightening or atmospheric as it should have been. Still, the film is worth the price of admission for its chilling closing sequence alone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Top Sergeant Mulligan was Monogram Pictures' attempt to cash in on the popularity of such service comedies as Abbott & Costello's Buck Privates and Laurel & Hardy's Great Guns. Frank Faylen and Charlie Hall (a longtime Laurel & Hardy foil) star as Dolan and Doolittle, a pair of goofy druggists who join the army to escape the wrath of bill collector Mulligan (Nat Pendleton, a carryover from Buck Privates). So guess who turns out to be our heroes' drill sergeant? (Hint: the film's title gives it away). Evidently deciding that Faylen and Hall couldn't carry the picture by themselves, Monogram stocked the supporting cast with an abundance of top laughmakers, including black comedian Wonderful Smith, late of Red Skelton's radio show. The film's two leading ladies are Carol Hughes (Mrs. Frank Faylen in real life) and Marjorie Reynolds, the latter singing (in a dubbed voice) the topical song hit "21 Dollars a Day-Once a Month." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dr. Kildare's Crisis is actually one suffered by his fiancee, nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day). Mary's financier brother Douglas Lamont (Robert Young) is subject to unpredictable seizures, and for a while it seems that he is suffering from hereditary epilepsy. This being 1940, Douglas' affliction carries an onus which seriously threatens the impending marriage between Mary and Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres); after all, who knows how their children will turn out? But by using an unorthodox therapeutic method, Dr. Kildare proves that Douglas' medical condition was borne of an accident rather than a genetic disorder. The final diagnosis is rendered by crusty Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who thereby manages to justify his appearance in the film in the very last reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Morgan and Billie Burke, who'd previously costarred in MGM's Wizard of Oz, head the cast of the minor but entertaining The Ghost Comes Home. Based on a play by George Kaiser, the story revolves around one Vern Adams (Morgan), who through a series of bizarre circumstances is declared legally dead. Returning home after a two-month absence, Vern discovers that his family has already collected on his life insurance, and are far better off than they were when he was "alive". As a result, Vern hides out in his own attic, awaiting an opportunity to declare his presence without ruining his family's windfall. Billie Burke plays Mrs. Adams, while Ann Rutherford portrays their daughter Billie, whose romance with local boy Lenny Shea (John Shelton) provides an antiseptic subplot to the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second entry in MGM's three-film "Nick Carter" series, Phantom Raiders is undeniably the best, and not just by default. In this one, super-sleuth Nick Carter (Walter Pidgeon) arrives in Panama to investigate the destruction of several Allied supply vessels. It's going to be an uphill battle for our hero, who must not only defeat erudite saboteur Al Taurez (Joseph Schildkraut) but also the villain's dumb but deadly henchman Gunboat Jackson (Nat Pendleton). The film builds up skillfully to an exciting conclusion, in which Carter corners the bad guys on a ship doomed for extinction. Donald Meek provides a few laughs as Nick's overenthusiastic assistant Bartholomew the Bee Keeper, who in the film's best scene convinces the heavies that he's a homicidal maniac! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kenneth Roberts' fact-based novel Northwest Passage would seem too raw and explicit a book to be considered for an MGM film adaptation-much less one in Technicolor. Amazingly, MGM retained many of the grim episodes from the Roberts' novel, though - thanks to the Hays Code - most are discussed rather than shown. The film is set in 1759, when the headstrong and gifted young artist Langdon Towne (Robert Young) is expelled from Harvard much to the chagrin of his parents and his fiancee, Elizabeth Browne (Ruth Hussey). Towne and his tough-as-nails sidekick, Hunk Marriner (Walter Brennan) get soused one night in a pub and - while intoxicated - viciously insult Elizabeth's father, Rev. Browne (Louis Hector). The two men are nearly arraigned for the incident, but escape just in time and ultimately wind up at the camp of famed Indian hunter Major Robert Rogers (Spencer Tracy). Rogers then invites Towne to join his troupe as a cartographer, and suggests that Marriner tag along. Together, the hundreds of Indian fighters under Rogers's aegis team up and chart their way through the wilderness, headed straight for St. Francis, the base of the French-supported Abenaki tribe, notorious for bloodily wiping out British-controlled colonies, after which they will forge the titular 'northwest passage' to the Pacific. Along the route, the boys counter such obstacles as traitorous Native American guides and exploding gunpowder. Metro Goldwyn-Mayer originally slated this production for Tracy, Wallace Beery, Robert Taylor and Franchot Tone, but only Tracy signed on; the studio reeled in Brennan and Young as last-minute additions, to support Tracy's lead. Northwest Passage marked Vidor's first Technicolor film. William V. Skall and Sidney Wagner received Oscar nominations for their outstanding cinematographic work on the film. Nineteen years after its premiere, Northwest Passage later became an NBC TV series between 1959-60, starring Keith Larsen in the Tracy role, Buddy "Jed Clampett" Ebsen in the Brennan role, and Don Burnett in the Young role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The zippy world of auto-racing provided the basis of this off-beat actioner that centers on an auto magnate who is relentlessly driven to break every speed record with his cars. Unfortunately, his drivers keep dying on the track. This doesn't stop the obsessed manufacturer from continuing his quest. One day the tycoon and his daughter are at the race track scouting new drivers when he spots a talented young hayseed who wins the race. Impressed, he signs the naive lad on. The magnate's daughter meets the driver and soon falls in love with him. Even though the rube is well aware that his predecessors have died, he vows that he will succeed. He does, but not before learning the real reason behind the mysterious string of deaths. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this third installment of MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, Dr. James Kildare (Lew Ayres) comes to the rescue when his supervisor/mentor Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore) nearly collapses from overwork. Gillespie is seeking a permanent cure for pneumonia, and must ask Kildare for assistance when the task proves beyond his physical ability. The older doctor eventually does collapse, and the diagnosis is cancer. Gillespie recovers, while Kildare finds his hands full in juggling both the pneumonia cure and the case of a woman (Helen Gilbert) suffering from psychosomatic blindness. But what's the "secret" of Dr. Kildare? Well...that's a secret (until you see the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Old Gramps (Lionel Barrymore) is not about to go gentle into that good night when Mr. Brink (Cedric Hardwicke), who sometimes travels under the name of the Grim Reaper, comes calling. Through a ruse, Gramps chases Brink up a tree in his garden, rendering the mysterious stranger helpless. As a result, no one dies throughout the world, and disease and misery runs rampant. Dispassionately, Mr. Brink decides to "reach" Gramps through his beloved grandson (Bobs Watson). He talks the boy into climbing the tree and then suffering a crippling fall. Realizing that the only way he can stem his grandson's pain is by surrendering to Mr. Brink, Gramps does so--and discovers that Crossing Over wasn't as painful as he thought. Together with his grandson, who has likewise expired, Gramps joyfully strolls into a most pastoral-looking Heaven. The final shots of Lionel Barrymore walking into Paradise under his own power represent a triumph of misdirection and special effects. In truth, the wheelchair-confined Barrymore was placed on a treadmill, and merely simulated his walking movements as a process screen enhanced the illusion; for long shots, a double was used. While Barrymore's performance naturally dominates On Borrowed Time, Cedric Hardwicke is equally effective in the role of Mr. Brink (his favorite role). A great early vignette finds a consumptive motorist (Hans Conried) offering Brink a lift; the latter waves the motorist on, politely saying "No, not yet." On Borrowed Time was based on the novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin and the popular Broadway play version by Paul Osborne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide