Walter Pidgeon Movies
MGM's resident "perfect gentleman," Canadian-born Walter Pidgeon was the son of a men's furnishing store owner. Young Walter Pidgeon planned to follow his brothers into a military career, but was invalided out of the service after a training accident. Pidgeon moved to Boston in 1919, where he worked as a banker until the death of his first wife. He gave up the world of finance to study singing at the New England Conservatory of Music, then in 1924 joined E.E. Clive's acting company. With the help of his friend Fred Astaire, Pidgeon (using the stage name Walter Verne) was hired as the touring partner of musical comedy star Elsie Janis; this led to his first Broadway appearance in Puzzles of 1925. Pidgeon was signed by film producer Joseph Schenck for a string of silent-film leading-man assignments in 1926, making his talkie debut in Universal's Melody of Love (1928). He starred or co-starred in several First National/Warner Bros. musicals of the early-talkie era, but this stage of his movie career ended when the musical craze petered out in 1931. Deciding to switch professional gears, Pidgeon returned to Broadway in order to establish himself as a dramatic actor. He returned to Hollywood in 1936, spending most of the next two decades at MGM, where he was cast opposite such stellar leading ladies as Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, and Hedy Lamarr. His most famous screen teammate was Greer Garson; the sophisticated twosome co-starred in seven films, including the Oscar-winning Mrs. Miniver. In the early '40s, MGM made the most of Pidgeon's popularity by loaning him out to other studios. It was on one of these loanouts to 20th Century Fox that the actor was cast in one of his favorite films, How Green Was My Valley (the 1941 Oscar winner). In 1955, the same year that he starred in the sci-fi favorite Forbidden Planet, Pidgeon hosted his home studio's TV anthology series The MGM Parade. After ending his 20-year association with MGM, Pidgeon returned to Broadway, where he starred in The Happiest Millionaire and Take Me Along. He continued accepting character assignments that intrigued him into the 1970s, notably the brief role of Florenz Ziegfeld in Funny Girl (1968). When asked if he minded that most of his screen and TV assignments were secondary ones in his last two decades, Walter Pidgeon replied that he always strove to follow the advice given to him by Lionel Barrymore: even when your character has nothing to do, do nothing magnificently. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1949
Though one might have expected friction between MGM's resident "nice lady" Greer Garson and Warner Bros. notorious "bad boy" Errol Flynn, the two got along splendidly during the filming of That Forsyte Woman. Based loosely on The Man of Property, book one of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, the film casts Garson as Irene Forsyte, the independently-minded wife of tradition-bound Victorian "man of property" Soames Forsyte (Flynn). Rebelling against her husband's repressed nature and preoccupation with material possessions, Irene falls in love with unconventional architect Philip Bossiney (Robert Young). When he proves to be too free-spirited even for her, Irene moves on to the Forsyte clan's black sheep, Young Jolyon (Walter Pidgeon). Soames makes a belated attempt to win his wife back, but once again proves incapable of warmth, compassion or understanding. The casting-against-type of Garson and Flynn was fascinating, even when the film itself dragged (Flynn in fact was slated to play either Bossiney or Young Jolyon, but insisted upon taking the less characteristic role of Soames). That Forstye Woman was lavishly photographed in color on MGM's standing "British" sets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, (more)
- 1949
One of the more palatable of Hollywood's anti-communist tracts of the late 1940s-early 1950s was MGM's The Red Danube. Janet Leigh plays Maria Buhlen, an Eastern Bloc ballerina who seeks political asylum in the British-occupied zone of Vienna. Maria's plight turns into a political tug-of-war involving a British colonel (Walter Pidgeon) and a Soviet colonel (Louis Calhern). Their ideological hagglings spill over into spiritualism, as represented by Mother Superior Ethel Barrymore, and romance, as personified by Maria's ardent suitor Major John McPhimister (Peter Lawford). Like earlier anti-Red cinematic exercises, The Red Danube failed to connect at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Ethel Barrymore, (more)
- 1948
After suffering nobly in several heavyweight MGM dramas, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon begged the studio to cast them together in a comedy. Though not an all-out laff riot, Julia Misbehaves strives hard to please. Garson plays an ever-in-debt British music-hall performer who relies on the largess of her friends to keep the wolf from the door. Pidgeon portrays Garson's ex-husband, who for the past 20 years has lived in Paris with their daughter Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor becomes engaged, she sends Garson a wedding invitation. Broke again, Garson hastily joins an acrobatic act to earn steerage money, and charms British nobleman Nigel Bruce into giving her enough cash for a wedding present. Once she arrives in Paris, Garson sticks her nose into everyone's affairs, much to the dismay of the uptight Pidgeon. Garson even advises daughter Taylor to marry someone other than her betrothed. Despite her screwball behavior, Pidgeon can't help falling in love with Garson all over again--but it takes a zany sequence in and around a mountain chalet to knot together the many loose plotlines. Julia Misbehaves was adapted from The Nutmeg Tree, a novel by Margery Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
Command Decision is a stagebound but consummately acted adaptation of William Wister Haines' Broadway play. Clark Gable, starring in the role essayed on Broadway by Paul Kelly, plays Air Force Brigadier General "Casey" Dennis. With time at a premium, Dennis sends waves of bomber squadrons into Germany to knock out the enemy's jet plane factories. Though Dennis seems utterly unconcerned about the fate of his pilots (even his superior officer Walter Pidgeon is appalled by the heavy losses), the audience knows that his duty is exacting a severe emotional toll on him. Thanks to pressure from a misguided US senator, "butcher" Dennis is replaced by the supposedly more humane Brian Donlevy. But Donlevy realizes that Gable's decisions were the correct ones, and he vows to continue his predecessor's "suicide missions". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1947
In this drama, set in England, an honorable textbook writer in a village becomes friends with a pregnant girl. The friendship costs him his marriage. Later, the girl dies, and the authorities wonder if it is murder. A coroner's inquest is held, and for a while the writer's social and professional standing sets on the brink of ruin. In the end, he is finally cleared and is therefore free to court his true love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, John Abbott, (more)
- 1946
The Secret Heart is a psychological drama starring June Allyson as a disturbed teenager obsessed with the memory of her dead father and unable to embrace her stepmother. Following the suicide of her father, Penny Addams (Allyson) begins to behave strangely, even locking herself in her room and playing the piano in his memory. Greatly worried, Penny's brother, Chase (Robert Sterling), and stepmother, Lee (Claudette Colbert), consult a psychiatrist, Dr. Rossiger (Lionel Barrymore), who suggests that Penny be returned to the family's country home. Since the site is where the suicide took place, Rossiger believes that confronting the scene will force the young woman to mentally face the reality of her father's death. Once there, however, Penny becomes disenchanted with her father's memory -- which causes her to become even more despondent than ever. Eventually, Penny tries to kill herself in the same manner of her father, but she fails, and the healing process proceeds for all concerned. This dark tale, offbeat for its time, was narrated by Hume Cronyn. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, June Allyson, (more)
- 1946
Too long by at least two reels, Holiday in Mexico is nevertheless one of the more enjoyable MGM Technicolor musicals of the 1940s. Walter Pigeon is top billed as Jeffrey Evans, American ambassador to Mexico. Captivated by the charms of her adopted homeland, Evans' impulsive daughter Christine falls in love with the decidedly mature piano virtuoso Jose Iturbi (cast as himself). Amused by Christine's ardor, Iturbi agrees with Evans that the girl would be far better off with someone closer to her own age-namely, British ambassador's son Stanley Owen (Roddy McDowell). Meanwhile, Christine plays matchmaker between her widowed father and glamorous Hungarian Toni Karpathy (Ilona Massey). Holiday in Mexico was Jane Powell's first MGM effort, and it is clear that producer Joe Pasternak intended to transform the teenaged soprano into the "new Deanna Durbin", though of course Powell eventually developed her own distinctive style. In addition to the musical contributions of stars Powell and Iturbi, the film costars the inimitable Xavier Cugat, doing his Xavier Cugat thing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Christian, Ann Codee, (more)
- 1945
Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays the Garbo counterpart, a successful but severely depressed movie star who wants to be alone. Walter Pigeon steps into John Barrymore's role, sort of; whereas Barrymore was a thief posing as nobility, Pigeon is a war correspondent posing as a thief. Hotel stenographer Lana Turner (originally Joan Crawford) latches onto tycoon Edward Arnold (originally Wallace Beery) in hopes of a life of luxury. And, in the film's biggest adaptation stretch, Van Johnson is cast as a war hero who, about to undergo life-threatening surgery, wants to thoroughly enjoy what may be his last days on earth. It takes a while to figure this out, but Johnson is supposed to be the character played in Grand Hotel by Lionel Barrymore: the meek clerk who, upon discovering that he's dying, blows his life savings on one last fling. On the whole, Weekend at the Waldorf is a lot more light-hearted than Grand Hotel, as indicated by the expository character played by humorist Robert Benchley, not to mention the presence of Xavier Cugat as the Waldorf's orchestra leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1944
The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield's best-selling novel covers the years 1875 through 1938. Eightyish widow Mrs. Susie Parkington (Garson) gathers together all of her grown children in an effort to bail out son-in-law Amory Stilham (Edward Arnold), who's gotten in Dutch through crooked financial deals. As the children and grandchildren bicker over the "impossibility" of giving up any part of their inheritance, Mrs. Parkington's mind wanders back to her marriage to wealthy mine owner Maj. Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and her own efforts, as an unlearned Nevada serving girl, to fit into proper Manhattan society. Augustus' ex-love Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead, in a surprisingly sexy role) is engaged to teach Susie the in and outs of which fork to use and how low to curtsy. Shut out by the "400," Susie is avenged by her husband, who wheels and deals to ruin the snobs financially. Later on, he assuages his anger by conducting several extramarital affairs, before perishing in one of those convenient movie auto accidents. Just how all these incidents strengthen Mrs. Parkington's resolve to rescue her wastrel son-in-law is a mystery that even two viewings of this overlong soap opera may not solve. Incidentally, Greer Garson isn't the only one who is prematurely aged in Mrs. Parkington; keep an eye out for 27-year-old Hans Conried, convincingly playing a doddering musician. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon team for the third time in this fact-based biography directed by Mervyn Leroy, based on Eve Curie's book about her mother. In early 1900s Paris, poor Polish student Marie (Greer Garson) gets a chance to study magnetism with kindly professor Jean Perot (Albert Basserman). Perot also arranges for the shy scientist Pierre Curie (Walter Pidgeon) to share the lab with Marie. As they work together, Pierre and Marie fall in love. Pierre eventually musters up the courage to ask her to marry him, and she accepts. After their honeymoon, Marie becomes obsessed with a piece of pitchblende that has been displaying some peculiar properties. After five years of work, Marie discovers radium. But as the years go on, Marie and Pierre struggle to raise money to continue their research, hoping to one day be able to isolate radium from the pitchblende. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1943
In this charming episodic comedy, a giddy group of adolescent girls form a movie-star fan club. Their favorite pastime is collecting the autographs of major stars. Led by their determined president, the gals stalk the streets and train stations of New York in search of big-name stars. Their expeditions are frequently successful, and during the film they garner the John Hancocks of such stars as Lana Turner, Greer Garson, William Powell, Walter Pidgeon, and Robert Taylor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Weidler, Edward Arnold, (more)
As Academy Award-winning films go, Mrs. Miniver has not weathered the years all that well. This prettified, idealized view of the upper-class British home front during World War II sometimes seems over-calculated and contrived when seen today. In particular, Greer Garson's Oscar-winning performance in the title role often comes off as artificial, especially when she nobly tends her rose garden while her stalwart husband (Walter Pidgeon) participates in the evacuation at Dunkirk. However, even if the film has lost a good portion of its ability to move and inspire audiences, it is easy to see why it was so popular in 1942-and why Winston Churchill was moved to comment that its propaganda value was worth a dozen battleships. Everyone in the audience-even English audiences, closer to the events depicted in the film than American filmgoers-liked to believe that he or she was capable of behaving with as much grace under pressure as the Miniver family. The film's setpieces-the Minivers huddling in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, an annual flower show being staged despite the exigencies of bombing raids, cleric Henry Wilcoxon's climactic call to arms from the pulpit of his ruined church-are masterfully staged and acted, allowing one to ever so briefly forget that this is, after all, slick propagandizing. In addition to Best Picture and Best Actress, Mrs. Miniver garnered Oscars for best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), best director (William Wyler), best script (Arthur Wimperis, George Froschel, James Hilton, Claudine West), best cinematography (Joseph Ruttenberg) and best producer (Sidney Franklin). Sidebar: Richard Ney, who plays Greer Garson's son, later married the actress-and still later became a successful Wall Street financier. Mrs. Miniver was followed by a 1951 sequel, The Miniver Story, but without the wartime setting the bloom was off the rose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1942
The once-notorious theatrical chestnut White Cargo was toned down for public consumption in this 1942 MGM-ized adaptation (the property had been previously filmed in England in 1929). More sullen than sexy, Hedy Lamarr stars as Tondelayo, the libidinous African native girl who nearly drives rubber-plantation manager Langford (Richard Carlson) to ruin and madness. Though warned by local English magistrate Witzel (Walter Pidgeon) not to "mammy-palaver" with the natives, Langford falls hopelessly in love with Tondelayo, marrying her in defiance of convention and anti-miscegenation laws. Alas, the restless Tondelayo soons tires of married life, just as Langford wearies of his bride's near-manic possessiveness. She tries to come on to Witzel, who'll have none of it, then plots to rid herself of her husband by systematically poisoning him during a bout of fever. A studio-imposed prologue and epilogue set in the 1940s was inserted to assure the audiences from the outset that Langford would eventually wise up and divest himself of the troublesome Tondelayo. Though corny and campy in the extreme, White Cargo is one of the films for which Hedy Lamarr is best remembered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hedy Lamarr, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1941
A hunter finds himself in a world of danger when he decides to stalk Adolf Hitler in this taut WWII thriller. Capt. Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) is an expert big-game hunter from England. While hunting in Bavaria, he happens upon Hitler's Berchtesgaden estate and spots the Fuhrer; he has his rifle in tow, and he toys with the idea of firing at the dictator, even raising the unloaded weapon, putting Hitler in the crosshairs, and pulling the trigger to make the gun click. Unfortunately, this draws the attention of Maj. Quive-Smith (George Sanders), a Gestapo leader assigned to guard the Führer, who promptly apprehends Thorndike, drags him off and attempts to force him to sign a confession. When he refuses, he's brutally beaten and dumped into a hole in the woods, and must climb out and make his way to safety, by hiding as a stowaway on a Danish steamer. The poor fellow then runs afoul of the menacing Mr. Jones (John Carradine), who steals his passport and identity. By the time Thorndike returns to London, the hunter has become the hunted, with Gestapo agents combing the streets looking for the would-be assassin. Thorndike finds an unlikely ally in Jerry (Joan Bennett), a seamstress and sometimes streetwalker who takes him in and helps him hide from the German forces closing in around him. And meanwhile, he must still contend with teh nefarious doings of Mr. Jones Man Hunt was directed by Fritz Lang, the great German director who fled to Paris in 1933 rather than accept a commission from Joseph Goebbels to make Nazi propaganda films. He came to America the following year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1941
Rosalind Russell stars as a no-nonsense judge who dabbles in sculpting in her spare time. Walter Pidgeon costars as a reporter assigned to discredit Rosalind after she rules against his boss (Edward Arnold) in a divorce case. Pidgeon plans to frame the judge in a compromising situation, then blackmail her into reducing the alimony. He succeeds in humiliating Rosalind, but regrets his actions when he realizes he's fallen in love with her. All ends happily in this glossy derivative of MGM's earlier Libelled Lady (36). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
Spanning 50 years, director John Ford's How Green Was My Valley revolves around the life of the Morgans, a Welsh mining family, as told through the eyes of its youngest child Huw (Roddy McDowall). Over the years, the family struggles to survive through unionization, strikes, and child abuse. As they do so, their hometown and its culture begins to slowly decline. Donald Crisp portrays Gwilym, the patriarch of the Morgan household, who dreams of a better life for young Huw. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley won five Academy Awards in 1941, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Crisp), Best Art Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Picture (beating Citizen Kane). The book was later adapted into a 1975 BBC miniseries. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
Greer Garson is dignity and integrity personified in the role of the real-life Edna Gladney. After several life experiences which rival daytime drama for unrelenting misery and melodrama, Edna marries flour-mill owner Sam Gladney (Walter Pidgeon). They have a baby, who dies shortly after Edna discovers that she can never have any other children. To give her life some meaning, Edna sets up the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society, which specializes in caring for illegitimate children and offering them for adoption. After her husband's death, Edna becomes a powerful political figure, succeeding in removing the stigma of illegitimacy by having that word stricken from all future Texas birth certificates; in this way, she honors the memory of her own half sister, who had killed herself upon discovering she was born out of wedlock. MGM thought enough of Blossoms in the Dust to film the production in Technicolor, a luxury usually reserved in 1941 for musicals or Westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
- 1940
Producer Walter Wanger's House Across the Bay serves as an excellent showcase for Wanger's then-wife Joan Bennett. She is cast as nightclub singer Brenda Bentley, the wife of high-rolling gambler Steve Lawrett (George Raft). When Steve is railroaded into Alcatraz by duplicitous attorney Slant Kolma (Lloyd Nolan), Brenda promises to remain faithful to her husband during his incarceration, even going so far as to purchase an apartment "across the bay" from the island prison so that she can be near him. But while Steve is serving his time, he discovers that Brenda has succumbed to the charms (and innate decency) of handsome Tim Nolan (Walter Pidgeon). Enraged, Steve vows to kill Nolan, staging a daring escape attempt to realize his goal. But will Steve be able to get off "the rock" in one piece, succeeding where so many others have failed? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1940
In It's a Date, the teenage diva Deanna Durbin is cast as Pamela Drake, the daughter of celebrated stage actress Georgia Drake (Kay Francis). Hoping to find success as an actress herself, Pamela energetically lobbies for the role of the maid in an upcoming play based on the life of St. Bernadette -- a role that has already been given to Georgia. When those conducting the auditions hear Pamela's singing, however, they quickly change their mind and offer the part to her. The rivalry between Pamela and Georgia intensifies when both fall in love with handsome middle-ager John Arlen (Walter Pidgeon). Innumerable complications follow, leading to a happy ending for both mother and daughter, though not quite the ending that either one had in mind. Deanna Durbin's musical repertoire this time out includes "Musetta's Street Song" from La Bohème, "Loch Lomond," "Love Is All," and a curious climactic rendition of "Ave Maria." It's a Date was remade in 1950 as Nancy Goes to Rio, with Jane Powell and Ann Sothern. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Kay Francis, (more)
Set in the years leading up to the Civil War and its outbreak, Dark Command tells a fictionalized version of the story of William Clarke Quantrill, the schoolteacher-turned-renegade, whose raids -- ostensibly on behalf of the Confederacy -- turned Kansas into a charnel house. John Wayne plays Bob Setton, a young Texan who arrives in Lawrence, KS, in 1859 on his way west, partnered with George "Gabby" Hayes. He meets Marie McCloud (Claire Trevor) and her younger brother, Fletch (Roy Rogers), and takes a liking to them, especially Marie. His only competition for her is William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon), the local schoolteacher, who has big ambitions in life. He is nominated for town marshal and seems a shoo-in, especially as his only rival is Bob Setton, who admits he knows nothing about the law and can't even read, but Setton wins with his honest, unpretentious speech. At the time, Kansas is riven by strife, as settlers from the North opposed to slavery and those from the South supporting it pour into the territory, and Setton has his hands full. His most difficult personal moment comes when he must arrest Fletch for shooting an anti-slavery farmer (Trevor Bardette) to death. Cantrell leads a campaign of terror against the jury, however, which finds the young man not guilty just as the Civil War breaks out. In the months that follow, Setton and his posse go after the raiders who are stealing and destroying huge amounts of property in Kansas on behalf of the Confederacy. He suspects Cantrell is their leader, but can't prove it, and has to tread carefully. As the raids worsen, and the war drags on -- even Marie's pro-Confederacy banker father is murdered during a run on his bank -- their conflict comes to a violent end as Cantrell launches an attack on Lawrence, vowing to destroy the town, with only Bob Setton and Cantrell's own mother (Marjorie Main) standing in his way. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Trevor, John Wayne, (more)
- 1940
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
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Joseph Schildkraut, (more)
- 1940
MGM had a tendency to overglamorize the sort of rough-hewn film fare that Warner Bros. offered to its public without adornments. Such was the case of Flight Command. Instead of Warners' streetwise James Cagney, the MGM film stars pretty-boy Robert Taylor as the obligatory hotshot cadet who chafes at the authority and discipline of a naval flight squadron. While Warners might have done without a romantic subplot, MGM contrives to have Taylor fall for the wife (Ruth Hussey) of squad commander Walter Pidgeon. And whereas Warners would have told this story compactly in 90 minutes, MGM lolls around for nearly two hours before Taylor's anticipated redemption and "make good" scene. MGM newcomer Red Skelton shows up in Flight Command for comedy relief, which turns out to be neither. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, (more)
- 1940
The last of MGM's "Nick Carter" trilogy, Sky Murder is a tad too cute and clever for its own good, but its mystery angle holds up pretty well. Returning from a weekend party, amateur sleuth Nick Carter (Walter Pidgeon) boards a private plane, where urbane Fifth Columnist Andrew Hendon (Tom Conway) is murdered in a locked compartment. Suspicion immediately falls upon refugee Pat Evans (Kaaren Verne), who was being blackmailed into helping Hendon smuggle secrets to the Nazis. Dividing his time between the land and the air, Carter is eventually able to expose the real murderer, and to smash the Nazi spy ring for good and all (or at least until the next spy movie). The film is hampered by the excessive comedy relief of Carter's self-appointed assistant Bartholomew the Bee Man (Donald Meek), who once upon a time was an amusing character. Far better attuned to the film's framework is perennial dumb blonde Joyce Compton, here cast as deceptively scatterbrained female detective Chris Cross. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, (more)
- 1939
Pulp-novel detective Nick Carter was created in the 1880s, but most film versions of the character have been updated to modern times. Such was the case with MGM's three-episode "Nick Carter" series, which got off to a good start with Nick Carter, Master Detective. Walter Pidgeon plays the title character, who in this episode gets mixed up with industrial espionage. Posing as one "Robert Chalmers", Nick gets the goods on a gang of foreign spies (no country names, please!), bringing them to heel during a serial-like waterfront chase. Rita Johnson essays a rare sympathetic role as stewardess Lou Farnsby, while Donald Meek steals the show as Bartholomew the beekeeper (a character who would grow increasingly annoying as the series went on). Nick Carter, Master Detective was coscripted by Bertram Millhauser, who also penned several of the Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson, (more)
- 1939
Stronger Than Desire is a streamlined remake of 1934's Evelyn Prentice. Instead of the earlier film's William Powell and Myrna Loy, we are offered Walter Pidgeon and Virginia Bruce in the roles of a dynamic attorney and his wife. Little has changed storywise from Evelyn Prentice: Bruce kills (or thinks she kills) a man who is blackmailing her; another woman is accused of the crime; and as luck would have it, Pidgeon defends the accused woman. The remake is inferior to the original, save for the presence of child actress Ann Todd, who as the couple's daughter is a lot more appealing than Evelyn Prentice's nails-on-the-blackboard moppet Cora Sue Collins. Sidebar: Ann Dvorak, playing an "other woman" role originated by Rosalind Russell in Evelyn Prentice, is directed in Society Lawyer by her then-husband, Leslie Fenton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
