Francis Pierlot Movies

Excluding a brace of 1980s TV-movie appearances, It Happens Every Thursday was the final feature film appearance of Loretta Young. As radiantly beautiful at 40 as she'd been as a teen-aged ingenue, Young plays Jane McAvoy, the pregnant wife of big-city newspaper reporter Bob McAvoy (John Forsythe). Tired of the urban rat race, Bob moves to a small California town and assumes ownership of a just-getting-by weekly paper. It's a hand-to-mouth existence for the first few editions, and the situation isn't remedied by the cloistered, resentful behavior of the local citizenry. The outcome of the plot hinges on a publicity stunt engineered by Bob: an attempt to artificially create rain for the drought-ridden community. The well-chosen supporting cast of It Happens Every Thursday includes Edgar Buchanan, Jimmy Conlin, Willard Waterman, and in her last film, Gladys George. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Kefauver Committee's ongoing investigation of organized crime spawned several "Torn from Today's Headlines!" films in the early 1950s. Republic's Hoodlum Empire concerns the efforts by gangster Joe Gray (John Russell) to get out of the rackets after WW II. Part of Gray's "reclamation" is to testify at a public hearing, prompting a series of flashbacks. Part of the fun is to guess who all the "fictional" criminals are really supposed to be: Luther Adler's character may be called "Nicky Mancini," for example, but for all intents and purposes Adler is playing Frank "Fifth Amendment" Costello. Other famous underworld personages are impersonated by Claire Trevor, Forrest Tucker and Roy Barcroft, while the steadfast Estes Kefauver counterpart is portrayed by Brian Donlevy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jean Peters is at her feisty best in Anne of the Indies. Harboring a grudge against all men (and not without reason), Anne becomes "Captain Providence," one of the most notorious pirate leaders of the Spanish Main. Anne is pursued by French captain Pierre la Rochelle (Louis Jourdan), who intends to bring her to justice. To this end, La Rochelle makes romantic overtures to Anne, but she gloms onto his scheme and abducts the captain and his wife Molly (Debra Paget). After leaving her victims to die on a desert island, Anne relents and rescues them. She later fully redeems herself (at great personal cost) during a battle with her fiercest rival, Blackbeard (Thomas Gomez). Few actresses could have pulled off the contrarily-written title character in Anne of the Indies with as much determination and conviction as Jean Peters; surprisingly, the actress was reportedly never comfortable before the cameras, often insisting that she'd rather be a schoolteacher! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis' second starring vehicle was the odd mixture of slapstick and sentiment known as That's My Boy. Lewis is cast as Junior Jackson, the milquetoast son of former college football All-American "Jarrin' Jack" Jackson (Eddie Mayehoff). Regarding Junior as a disgrace, Jarrin' Jack hires amiable jock Bill Baker (Dean) to make a man out of his son. The film's climax is the inevitable Big Game, in which Junior fumbles and stumbles about before finally proving his mettle. Ruth Hussey plays Junior's understanding mother, while Marion Marshall and Polly Bergen portray Martin and Lewis' respective girlfriends. By 1990s standards, That's My Boy is more melancholy than funny, with Jarrin' Jack coming across as a neurotic blowhard who takes out his frustrations on his clumsy but likeable offspring. Audiences in 1951 were convulsed, however, and the film was a huge success. A TV-sitcom version of That's My Boy, starring Eddie Mayehoff, Rochelle Hudson, and Gil Stratton Jr., appeared in 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Damon Runyon's Broadway fable The Lemon Drop Kid was filmed twice by Paramount Pictures, but only the 1934 version with Lee Tracy paid more than lip service to the original Runyon story. The second version, filmed in 1951, was completely retooled to accommodate the talents of Bob Hope. Known far and wide as the Lemon Drop Kid because of his fondness for that particular round, yellow confection, Hope is a bookie who finds himself deeply in debt to Florida gangster Fred Clark. Magnanimously, Clark permits Hope to head to New York to raise the money--but he'd better have the dough ready by Christmas, or else. Ever on the lookout for Number One, Hope decides to exploit the Christmas spirit in order to get the money together. With the help of unsuspecting nightclub-singer Marilyn Maxwell, Hope sets up a charity fund to raise money for an "Old Doll's Home"--that is, a home for down-and-out little old ladies. He claims to be doing this on behalf of big-hearted Jane Darwell, but he has every intention of double-crossing Darwell and all the other elderly women by skipping town with the charity funds and leaving them at the mercy of the authorities. By the time Hope has seen the error of his ways and tries to do right by the old dolls, Maxwell's boss Lloyd Nolan has decided to muscle into the racket by using the ladies' home as a front for a gambling casino. To set things right, Hope finds it necessary to disguise himself as a fussy old spinster at one point. The best line in the film goes to William Frawley, playing one of many Broadway toughs who are being pressed into service as street-corner Santas. "Will you bring me a doll for Christmas?" asks a little girl. "Naw, my doll's workin' Christmas Eve" is Frawley's salty reply. The Lemon Drop Kid is the film in which Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell introduced the enduring Yuletide ballad "Silver Bells", written (reportedly in a real hurry) by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set just after the close of the Civil War, a former Confederate officer (Ray Milland) joins a vaudeville target-shooting show to avoid detection by the Union army. Working his way West, he falls in league with a group of Southern copper-miners being harassed as they try to make a living. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

William Powell stars in Take One False Step as a happily married college professor who foolishly agrees to a reunion supper with old flame Shelley Winters. Winters later disappears, and the evidence points to murder. To allay suspicion--and to avoid losing an important financial grant to his university--Powell starts his own investigation. The trail leads him to San Francisco, where poor Powell becomes mired in a confusing crime plot. Fortunately, Winters is still alive; unfortunately, Powell may not be for long. Adapted from the Irwin Shaw novel Night Call, Take One False Step is saved from tawdriness by the innate dignity of William Powell. Also, the film is leavened by unexpected moments of humor, notably the relaxed banter between Powell and Shelley Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

My Friend Irma was supposed to be a straightforward adaptation of the popular radio sitcom of the same name. The film's focus therefore was supposed to be on air-headed Irma Peterson (Marie Wilson), her levelheaded roommate, Jane Stacy (Diana Lynn, taking over from the radio series' Cathy Lewis), and their various romantic misadventures. But the audience tended to ignore Irma, Jane, and the others in favor of two movie newcomers: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, cast respectively as would-be singer Steve Laird and dumb-dumb restaurant employee Seymour. Having risen to the top of the heap in the nightclub world, Martin and Lewis were discovered for films by producer Hal Wallis, who decided to test the boys out in secondary roles in an established property. Wallis felt that while Martin had potential as a singing star, Lewis was hopelessly inept as an actor. As the whole world knows by now, it was Lewis who ended up as the team's main attraction with his own inimitable brand of wacko humor. Even as early as Irma, Lewis manages to dominate every scene he's in, often by sheer force of will. Pretty soon, the viewer has forgotten the gossamer-thin plot (Irma's Runyonesque boyfriend, Al, played by John Lund, tries to promote Dino into stardom) and is waiting anxiously to get back to Jerry. When time came for the 1950 sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West, virtually the entire plot revolved around Martin and Lewis, with the official "stars" relegated to supporting roles. Like Marie Wilson, several of the My Friend Irma cast members were holdovers from the radio series, including Hans Conried as Professor Kropotkin. Felix Bressart had originally been slated to play Kropotkin on film, but when he died during shooting, Conried was brought in to complete his scenes (Bressart can still be glimpsed in a few medium and long shots). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Capra's only MGM film, State of the Union was adapted by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Spencer Tracy plays an aircraft tycoon who is coerced into seeking the Republican Presidential nomination by predatory newspaper mogul Angela Lansbury. Campaign manager Van Johnson suggests that, for appearance's sake, Tracy be reunited with his estranged wife Katharine Hepburn (replacing Claudette Colbert, who'd ankled the project after a pre-production donnybrook with director Capra). Realizing that Tracy and Lansbury are having an affair, Hepburn nonetheless agrees to grow through the devoted-wife charade because she believes that Tracy just might make a good President. Her faith is shattered when Tracy, corrupted by the Washington power brokers, publicly compromises his values in order to get votes. Only in the film's last moments does Tracy prove himself worthy of Hepburn's love and his own self-respect by admitting his dishonesty during a nationwide radio-TV broadcast. Much of the biting wit in the original Broadway production of State of the Union is sacrificed in favor of the director's patented "Capracorn," but the film is no less entertaining because of this. As usual, the supporting cast is impeccable, from featured players Adolphe Menjou (whose off-camera political arguments with Hepburn threatened to shut down production at times) and Margaret Hamilton, to bit actors like Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tor (Plan 9 From Outer Space) Johnson. Because the television rights to State of the Union belonged to Capra's Liberty Films, the picture was released to TV by MCA rather than MGM's syndication division. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this courtroom drama, a French girl stands trial for murder. Flashbacks tell the grim story of how, during the Great War she got involved with a wealthy soldier and married him. He disappeared after the war. She then came to the U.S. There she finds him married to another woman. To cover himself, he tries to get her deported. In the ensuing argument, she accidently kills him. She is found guilty, but when they learn that she is expecting, the widow helps her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this lightweight musical comedy, Judy Foster (Jane Powell) and Carol Pringle (Elizabeth Taylor) are teenagers and best friends who find their loyalties tested when they both fall for the same good-looking older man, Stephen Andrews (Robert Stack). This situation is particularly troublesome for Judy, who already has a boyfriend, "Oogie" Pringle (Scotty Beckett), Carol's brother. Meanwhile, the girls join forces for a little sleuthing when Judy discovers that her father, Melvin Foster (Wallace Beery), has been spending time with Brazilian bombshell Rosita Conchellas (Carmen Miranda). Judy and Carol suspect hanky-panky, but actually Melvin is taking dancing lessons from Rosita as a surprise for his wife. A Date With Judy certainly offers your only opportunity to see Wallace Berry dance the mambo, and it also features a guest appearance by Xavier Cugat and his band. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

That Wonderful Urge is the second remake of Love is News (37), and is much closer to the original than the first remake (the Betty Grable musical Sweet Rosie O'Grady). Tyrone Power repeats his role from the 1937 film as a handsome reporter who targets a flighty heiress (Gene Tierney, taking over from Loretta Young) for ridicule. Sick of unwanted public attention, the heiress announces that she has secretly married Power, forcing him to endure the spotlight for a change. Several crosses and double-crosses later, Power and Tierney find that they're really in love after all. Personal item: This writer's favorite version of Love is News is the 1940 radio adaptation, which starred a wildly adlibbing Bob Hope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide