Lee Phelps Movies

After several years of supporting roles, Edward Arnold once again enjoys top billing in the independently produced Man of Conflict. Arnold plays powerful industrialist J. R. Compton, who tries to force his son Ray (John Agar) to become as ruthless and hard-hearted as his dad. But Ray is cut from a different cloth; he treats the employees like human beings, rather than automatons. The father-son conflict rages on until the elder Compton finally realizes that his way is not always the best way. Well cast with some of the best character actors in the business, Man of Conflict makes up in good intentions and good acting what it lacks in production values. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Curt Siodmak's The Magnetic Monster (1953) is a truly novel science fiction film, in terms of its rather cerebral plot and low-key, quietly intense execution. As much a mystery and, in its first half, a manhunt, as it is a sci-fi-thriller, the movie pushed lots of suspense buttons for viewers in 1953 and still holds up more than a half century later. Richard Carlson (who also co-produced) plays Dr. Jeff Stewart, an agent for the Office of Scientific Investigation. Stewart and his colleague, Dr. Dan Forbes (King Donovan), begin searching for a dangerously radioactive element, which they have good reason to believe is somewhere in the Los Angeles area. They soon learn that this is no ordinary investigation -- among its other attributes, the unknown element generates enough radiation to kill, and also manifests a powerful magnetic field. The trail leads them to Dr. Howard Denker (Leonard Mudie), a rogue scientist who, working on his own, has created a new isotope of an element called serranium, which proves to be not only highly radioactive, but dangerously unstable in ways that science has never seen before. Every 11 hours, the serranium mass enters a growth cycle requiring massive amounts of energy, which it obtains by absorbing the energy from the atomic structure of any matter around it, releasing huge amounts of radiation in the process. The serranium mass doubles in size with each cycle, doubling its energy needs in the process, as well as the potential destructiveness of the next cycle. The danger lies not only in the potential for destruction in the serranium's rapidly increasing energy absorbtion, but its ever-increasing mass, which, at some point, will threaten to unbalance the Earth itself, in its rotation and orbit. Long before that, however, the resulting radiation is going to start killing large numbers of people, and the destructive force accompanying it will threaten to split the Earth's surface apart. Stewart and Forbes soon recognize that the only hope they have of stopping the process is to get ahead of it, by bombarding the serranium with enough energy to force it to divide into two relatively stable elements. The only possible source of sufficient energy is the world's largest cyclotron, which has been built by the Canadian government in Nove Scotia -- but is even it powerful enough to do the job, and can they get the deadly isotope there in time? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

The Farmer Takes a Wife is a musicalized remake of the 1935 film of the same name. Betty Grable and Dale Robertson star in the roles originally essayed by Janet Gaynor and Henry Fonda. Set in the early 19th century, the plot details the trials and tribulations of those hardy souls who settled along the Erie Canal. Grable plays Molly Larkin, the girlfriend of rough-and-tumble canal-boat captain Jotham Klore (John Carroll). Much to Klore's dismay, she hires mild-mannered farmer Daniel Harrow (Robertson) to work on the boat. Molly and Daniel fall in love and marry, but there's many a heartbreak and letdown before a happy ending can be reached. Though not in any way a "typical" Betty Grable musical, Farmer Takes a Wife was misleadingly advertised as such: one promotional still showed a grinning Grable anachronistically garbed in tight jeans and a bare-midriff blouse! Both versions of The Farmer Takes a Wife were adapted from the stage play by Frank B. Elser and Marc Connelly. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Kansas City Confidential, Phil Karlson's low (low) budget, B-grade film noir, opens on a Kansas City armored-car robbery perpetrated by cynical, corrupt ex-policeman Timothy Foster (Preston S. Foster). Foster devises an outrageous scheme: he will recruit three of the most vicious and unrelenting criminals he can find (screen heavies Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and Neville Brand) to undertake a robbery, blackmailing them into the heist with incriminating evidence from other "jobs." As an eccentric and clever conceit, Foster forces each of the perpetrators to wear masks, thus concealing their identities from one another and preventing the old pitfall of the men squealing and backstabbing. The heist comes off without a scratch, but a complication arises when the ignorant cops pick up an unrelated fellow, Joe Rolfe (John Payne) for his ownership of a van similar to the one used in the caper. In time, Rolfe is cleared, but he grows irate over the accusations and sets off to find Foster and co. and teach them a lesson. He finally happens upon one of the perpetrators in Mexico, beats him nearly to death, and assumes the victim's identity - and that's when things really get complicated. Though produced under the Hays Code censorship regulations, Kansas City Confidential constituted one of the most brutal and violent crime pictures made up through that time; as such, it retains historical significance. It also claims a strong cult following. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Fish-market worker Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) is named as a suspect when his boss -- with whom he had a dispute the previous day -- is shot to death in an apparent robbery. When he's arrested, his family appeals to their old friend James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), who was once a renowned criminal attorney but is now in civil practice. He resists their entreaties until he realizes that no decent attorney will handle the case properly; his daughter (Diana Lynn) watches with alarm, however, for we soon learn that Curtayne is an alcoholic, and that the major factor in his life that pushed him over the edge was the stress of having someone's life in his hands. He discovers soon enough just how much Johnny's life is in his hands when his client refuses to level with him about his real whereabouts on the night of the murder. He also realizes as the trial starts precisely how rusty he is in the courtroom, and the old stresses return -- and with them, his drinking. Curtayne not only manages to lose the case but destroys his career when he tries to buy off a larcenous prosecution witness. His client facing a death sentence and his own life and career in ruins, he's seemingly hit bottom, but then new evidence surfaces, of a nature that not even the ambitious prosecutor (John Hodiak) can ignore. Recognizing that his client was actually innocent and also acting in his silence -- however stupidly -- from the noblest of motives, Curtayne is willing to redeem himself by putting his own life on the line, confronting a killer who has taken more than one life without any compunction whatsoever, and who has no reason to spill anything.

The People Against O'Hara was a well-made, largely location-shot crime drama set in New York City, but it wouldn't have been nearly so prestigious a movie were it not for the presence of Spencer Tracy in the role of Curtayne. Ironically enough, he only agreed to do the film on the condition that his friend Pat O'Brien, who hadn't been in a major studio release in a couple of years, be given a large role, which he got as the lead detective on the case, and O'Brien and Tracy get a couple of really good scenes together. The film also includes an unbilled appearance by Charles Bronson, who was still working as Charles Buchinski in 1951, and is highlighted by a superb prominent supporting performance by William Campbell, who seems to quietly relish every nuance of his portrayal of a totally slimy character. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Pistol Harvest starred RKO's "house cowboys" Tim Holt and Richard Martin. In this one, the two heroes are accused of killing their boss. They are saved from the hangman's noose when two other guys are arrested, but Holt feels as though justice is still not being served. On their own, Holt and Chito set about to track down the genuine killer. Joan Dixon, whose previous RKO endeavor was the tense film noir Roadblock, trods a more virtuous path as Tim Holt's romantic interest. Pistol Harvest was budgeted at $93,000, an indication that even a "B" western was a costly proposition in the postwar years. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Timber Fury was based on a story by North-Woods specialist James Oliver Curwood. The plot concerns the efforts of a timber shipper to get his logs to the mill on time. Callow young engineer Jim (David Bruce) comes up with a new, efficient method to expedite the shipment, and in so doing wins the undying affection of heroine Phyllis (Laura Lee). Meanwhile, villainous rival McCabe (George Slocum) plots and plans to prevent the shipment from proceeding. Also featured in the cast is ubiquitous character-actor Sam Flint, playing an ill-fated lumberman who seems to have the words "Kill Me First" tattooed on his forehead. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical, an ambitious young singer and her band leave their small hometown to head for the Big Apple in hopes of finding fame and fortune. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Arrogant Mike Brannan (Clark Gable) is a famous driver of midget race cars and is the type of man crowds love to hate. He earned his bad-boy image after he is blamed for causing a fatal crash during a race. Wanting to see if all the hoopla is true, tough columnist Regina Forbes (Barbara Stanwyck) tries to interview her, but Mike refuses. Later she watches as he is involved in another deadly crash. Believing he deliberately caused the accident, she rakes him over the coals in her column and this leads to his disbarment from the racing circuit. In order to make ends meet, the disgraced Mike begins driving in a stunt show. Eventually, he earns enough money to allow him to buy a full-sized race car. The film's exciting finale was shot at the Indianapolis Speedway. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In their last feature film, the Cisco Kid (Duncan renaldo) and Pancho (Leo Carrillo) come up against a vicious gang who is robbing stagecoaches in their likenesses. But when the latest holdup injures driver Jerry Todd (Bill Lester), the real Cisco and Pancho make sure that the youngster gets medical treatment, much to the surprise and gratitude of his intended, Nora Malloy (Jane Adams), who agrees to help set a trap for the real culprits. Filmed at Pioneertown, a popular movie location just east of Los Angeles, The Girl From San Lorenzo was the last of producer Philip N. Krasne's Cisco Kid feature films for United Artists. It was followed by the 1950-1956 television series, again produced by Krasne and starring Renaldo and Carrillo. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Taken (as far as possible) from the Cole Porter musical comedy of the same name, Red, Hot and Blue stars Betty Hutton as an ambitious chorus girl. Hutton gets a job with a musical comedy bankrolled by gangsters, and is the wrong girl at the wrong place when one of the show's backers (William Talman) is bumped off. She is arrested for suspicion of murder, then is kidnapped by the villains to keep her from spilling the beans. The plot requires that she be rescued by hero Victor Mature, though many disgruntled audience members may have been rooting for the boisterous Hutton to be dumped in the East River. The stage version of Red Hot and Blue starred Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope. Hutton is no Merman, but she gives her all to the brassy production numbers and the self-absorbed ballads--written not by Cole Porter, whose score was dispensed with, but by Paramount's in-house tunesmith Frank Loesser, who also plays a small role as one of the gangsters. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When a priceless diamond is stolen from a museum exhibition all suspicion falls upon the notorious Lone Wolf, a former jewel thief who became a reporter. It doesn't help that he was in the museum to write a story on the gem at the time of its theft. Now he and his gal pal must play amateur detectives in order to ring the real crooks to justice. This was the final entry in the "Lone Wolf" series. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Virginia Mayo is Flaxy Martin in this complicated Warner Bros. melodrama. Flaxy is a bad girl but good company, especially when she's around criminal attorney Walter Colby (Zachary Scott). When Colby begins to have second thoughts about his gangster cohorts, Flaxy arranges a murder frame, forcing the attorney to go on the run. The bulk of the film is a thrill-packed chase teaming Colby with the film's resident Good Girl, Nora Carson (Dorothy Malone). Also figuring into the proceedings is Elisha Cook Jr., playing his usual shifty little creep. Director Richard L. Bare had only recently moved up from the "Joe McDoakes" comedy shorts to features when he guided Flaxy Martin with skill and aplomb. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi