Ralph Peters Movies

When media mogul Amos Kyne (Robert Warwick) dies, his business, which includes a major newspaper, a television station, and a wire news service, is turned over to his sole heir, his foppish, ne'er do well son (Vincent Price). The younger Kyne has no knowledge of how to run the company his father built, preferring to spend his time spending the money that it generates, and he decides to let the heads of the three divisions -- newspaper editor John Day Griffith (Thomas Mitchell), wire service chief Mark Loving (George Sanders), and photo chief Harry Kritzer (James Craig) -- fight it out among themselves, winner-take-all. Each one has a key alley: Griffith, in Edward Mobley (Dana Andrews), a top reporter who is lately appearing on television as well; Loving, in resourceful but sluttish columnist Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino), who has her own way of digging up secrets; and Kritzer, who doesn't think he needs to dig up secrets because he's sitting on the biggest one of all, his "friendship" with Kyne's ex-model wife, Dorothy (Rhonda Fleming). Mobley becomes a focal point because the story-of-the-moment concerns the "Lipstick Killer," a serial murderer, burglar, and sex fiend who has been terrorizing the city -- break that case first and the job is won, and Mobley's specialty is crime reporting. The Lipstick Killer, a disturbed teenager named Robert Manners (John Drew Barrymore), continues to elude the police, and Loving's stumbling attempts to get information out first don't aid in the manhunt. Meanwhile, Mobley, using his own deductive powers and some basic psychology, manages to get under the killer's skin from afar on television and in print; however, unbeknownst to the reporter, the murderer is feeling more pressure to commit his crimes, and taking a very personal interest in targeting Mobley and his fiancée, Nancy Liggett (Sally Forrest). The two interwoven stories all get pulled together in a chase through the streets and into the city's subway tunnels, with Mobley, Nancy, Police Lieutenant Kaufman (Howard Duff), and the killer all crossing paths. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock's second directorial effort for his popular suspense anthology is one of the series' best ever episodes. Joseph Cotten stars as William Callew, a hard-nosed and hard-hearted businessman who holds in contempt such human failings as sentiment, pity, and tears. While racing to keep an appointment in New York, Callew is involved in a spectacular car accident. Awakening, he finds that he is completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak -- though we hear his every thought on the soundtrack. Everyone who comes across Callew assumes that he is dead, including the police and the coroner...and as the episode draws to its conclusion, the horrified Callew is being wheeled into the autopsy room of the morgue! "Breakdown" was re-filmed for the 1985 revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with John Heard in the Joseph Cotten role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

According to some eyewitness reports, the feud between Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was at its peak during the filming of Three Ring Circus. Other observers have noted that the boys behaved with thorough professionalism throughout the shoot. Whatever the case, the film offers a comparatively relaxed Martin and Lewis, wandering through a thinnish plot with amiable finesse. The boys play a couple of ex-GIs who use their discharge money to finance a trip to Florida, where Jerry Hotchkiss (Lewis) hopes to land a job as a circus clown. Pete Nelson (Martin) isn't quite as ambitious, though he decides to stick around when he meets gorgeous circus owner Jill Brent (Joanne Dru). As the plot rolls merrily on, Pete finds himself assisting temperamental aerialist Saadia (Zsa Zsa Gabor), while Jerry does his best (which is none too good) as the assistant to lion tamer Schlitz (Sig Ruman). When Puffo the Clown (Gene Sheldon) drinks himself into oblivion, Jerry takes Puffo's place, proving his worth by getting a crippled child to laugh. The songs are mostly forgettable, with the exception of the now-standard "It's a Great, Wide, Wonderful World." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "regeneration" of blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk was expedited when he was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to helm the location-filmed melodrama The Sniper. In the interests of political expediency, Dmytrk was required to direct Adolphe Menjou, one of the most virulent Red-baiters of the HUAC hearings. Shorn of his trademarked mustache, and with his famous expensive wardrobe replaced by a humdrum business suit, Menjou turns in one of his best performances as a world-weary San Francisco detective assigned to track down a mad sniper. From the beginning, the audience knows that the criminal is psycho Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz), who is possessed of the notion that he must kill every beautiful brunette woman who crosses his path. Some audience sympathy is elicited by Miller's pathetic attempts to rid himself of his obsession, but this never gets in the way of the film's suspense. The excellent supporting cast includes Richard Kiley as a police psychiatrist, Marie Windsor as Miller's first victim, and Mabel Paige as the sniper's snoopy landlady. An unbilled Wally Cox shows up briefly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Cinecolor "A" western Slaughter Trail anticipated High Noon by having its story narrated in song by troubadour Terry Gilkyson. The basic plotline is a traditional Indians-vs.-whites affair, with cavalry officer Dempster (Brian Donlevy) trying to undo the damage created by Indian-hating bandit Vaughn (Gig Young). Upon cold-bloodedly murdering two Navajos, Vaughn has fomented a deadly tribal war, with Dempster's cavalry post right in the middle. Other endangered species include a supposed damsel-in-distress (Virginia Grey), who turns out to be Vaughn's accomplice. Filmed in 1950, Slaughter Trail was purchased by RKO head-man Howard R. Hughes in 1951. Hughes withheld release of the film until he was able to reshoot all scenes involving Howard da Silva, who'd originally been cast in the Brian Donlevy role. Da Silva was under a political cloud as an alleged pro-communist at the time, and the xenophobic Hughes wasn't about to release any film with a "Pinko" in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gasoline Alley was based on Frank King's popular comic strip of the same name. The strip's central characters, service station owner Walt Wallet (Don Beddoe) and his adopted son Skeezix (James Lydon), take a back seat to newlyweds Corky (Scotty Beckett) and Hope (Susan Morrow). Hoping to establish his independence from his family, Corky opens up his own restaurant, which results in nothing but headaches. The film tries as best it can within 76 minutes to recreate the 30-year continuity of the original comic strip. Director Edward Bernds, a graduate of Columbia's short-subject department, relies upon a couple of his 2-reeler colleagues, Dick Wessel and Gus Schilling, to provide a soupcon of slapstick. Because of legal entanglements, neither Gasoline Alley nor its sequel Corky of Gasoline Alley are available for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dana Andrews is brutal metropolitan police detective Dixon, who despises all criminals because his father had been one. When the cops pick up two-bit gambler Ken Paine (Craig Stevens) as a murder suspect, Dixon subjects Paine to the third degree -- and accidentally kills him. In disposing of the body, Dixon inadvertently places the blame for the killing on cab driver Jiggs Taylor (Tom Tully). Having fallen in love with Jigg's daughter, Morgan (Gene Tierney), Dixon tries to clear the cabbie without implicating himself, but ultimately he becomes trapped in a web of his own making; luckily Morgan promises to stand by him. Where the Sidewalk Ends was adapted from a novel by William L. Stuart; its director was Otto Preminger, who'd previously put Andrews and Tierney through their paces in Laura (1944). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though he had previously appeared in David Bradley's film adaptation of Julius Caesar, Dark City marked Charlton Heston's first role in a major Hollywood production. Danny (Heston) and his pals Augie (Jack Webb), Soldier (Henry Morgan), and Barney (Ed Begley Sr.) set up a poker game to take Arthur Winant (Don DeFore) for all his money, but after the fact they discover that the money he lost wasn't really his and, in desperation, Arthur killed himself. Arthur's brother Sidney (Mike Mazurki), a large man not known for his emotional stability, becomes enraged when he learns the facts about Arthur's death, and he vows to kill the men responsible. When his friends start dropping like flies, Danny hides out with his girlfriend, nightclub singer Fran Garland (Lizabeth Scott), and pays a visit to Arthur's widow Victoria (Viveca Lindfors) in hopes of finding out who the killer might be. Jack Webb and Henry Morgan later reformed after their first appearance together as criminals when they co-starred in the TV show Dragnet. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the 1949 hit A Letter to Three Wives, this takes the other side of the coin with a deceased playboy leaving letters to the husbands accusing their wives of having had affairs with him. Although the 1949 hit was done as a dramatic treatise on the reactions of the wives to the revelations, this movie is played strictly for laughs as the husbands stumble all over themselves trying to dig out the truth behind the allegations. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry and his horse Champion play "themselves" in Columbia's Beyond the Purple Hills. This one finds Autry serving as a cattle-town sheriff. When his best friend is accused of murder, Gene does his duty and arrests the man--then conducts his own investigation to prove that his pal is innocent. Pat Buttram goes through his usual sidekick paces, while young Autry protégé Don Reynolds does some impressive horse-riding stunts. Of interest to TV-western fans is the actor playing Autry's wrongly accused buddy: it's none other than Hugh O'Brian, later to gain fame as television's Wyatt Earp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tough reporter Ed Adams (Alan Ladd) wants to get the full story behind the apparent suicide of a young woman. It seems that the girl left behind a notebook with a list of seemingly unrelated names. Adams tracks down each one of the persons cited in the notebook, slowly but surely putting the pieces together. Once the basic mystery is solved, however, there's one surprising loose end left to be tied up. June Havoc co-stars as Leona, self-styled best friend of the decedent, who helps Adams in his quest. As the victim, Donna Reed appears exclusively in flashbacks. Based on a story by veteran suspense scrivener Tiffany Thayer (of Thirteen Women fame), Chicago Deadline was remade for television in 1966 as Fame is the Name of the Game. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker," or IOU. When the father is killed by mobster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot), Sorrowful decides to hide Martha Jane from the authorities, lest the poor girl get tossed in an orphanage. Lucille Ball co-stars as Sorrowful's erstwhile girlfriend Gladys, who along with Mary Jane is instrumental in "reforming" the cynical Jones. The climactic scenes, wherein Sorrowful tries to smuggle a horse into a hospital in order to bring the little girl out of a coma, deftly combines slapstick with pathos. A remake of 1934's Little Miss Marker, which starred Shirley Temple in the title role, Sorrowful Jones was itself remade in 1962 as the Tony Curtis vehicle Who's Got the Action; it was filmed again in 1980, once more as Little Miss Marker, with Curtis as the villain and Walter Matthau in the Bob Hope role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide