Albert Pollet Movies

This Sam Katzman costume quickie stars Sterling Hayden as 17th-century privateer Kit Gerardo, and (inevitably in a buccaneer meller of this sort) Rhonda Fleming as a gorgeous female pirate named Rouge. When Rouge's vessel is besieged by the minions of evil Caribbean governor Luis del Toro (John Sutton), Gerardo comes to her rescue. As the film unfolds, it turns out that practically no one is who they seem to be--especially the mysterious Rouge. Producer Katzman cannily fleshes out the film with miles of stock footage from earlier pirate epics. Apparently contemptuous of his role, Sterling Hayden delivers an uncharacteristically awful performance, but Rhonda Fleming makes the whole enterprise worthwhile. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Federal agent Robert Taylor journeys to a mythical South American community, there to break up a war-surplus contraband racket. American playboy Vincent Price is the brains of the outfit, aided and abetted by the disreputable Charles Laughton and John Hodiak. Ava Gardner, Hodiak's wife, takes over for her husband when he's sidelined by a heart condition. Taylor tries to get to the gang boss by romancing Gardner; she eventually shifts loyalties, but Price tries to frame both Gardner and Taylor so that he can get off scot-free. Taylor finally manages to overcome Price during a oversized fireworks display at a local festival. Hampered by the old-fashioned direction of Robert Z. Leonard, The Bribe is slow going until its spectacular climax, which was later excerpted in toto and re-used in Steve Martin's detective spoof Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (82). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred Astaire had announced his retirement before the cameras began to roll on Easter Parade, but he decided to accept the film's leading role when its original star Gene Kelly became incapacitated. The thinnish plot, which finds Astaire trying to turn chorus girl Judy Garland into a star in order to show up his former partner Ann Miller, is hardly what keeps the audience's eyes riveted to the screen. All that truly matters are the 17 musical numbers, all written by Irving Berlin (ten were standards, while seven were new to this film). Among the many highlights are Astaire's slow-motion version of "Steppin' Out," the Astaire/Garland duet "We're a Couple of Swells," the opening rendition of "Happy Easter," and the closing performance of the title number. So successful was Easter Parade that plans were immediately drawn to reteam Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in The Barkeleys of Broadway; this time, however, it was Garland who withdrew, to be replaced by Astaire's most famous vis-à-vis, Ginger Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Homecoming was first released in 1948, some observers felt that Clark Gable's unusually sensitive performance was based on his own memories of losing his wife Carole Lombard in a 1942 plane crash. Intriguingly, Gable's Homecoming co-star is Lana Turner, with whom it was rumored that he was having an affair at the time of Lombard's death. Told in flashback, the story concerns the romance of war-time army surgeon Ulysses Delby Johnson (Gable) and Red Cross nurse Lt. Jane "Snapshot" McCall (Turner). Though married, Johnson cannot help to be drawn to Jane as they slog through the hellish battlegrounds of Italy and France. As the war draws to a close, Johnson is faced with a dilemma: how can he find happiness with Jane without bringing misery to his beloved wife Penny (Anne Baxter). As it turns out, Fate intervenes to solve Johnson's problem. Though well-acted and directed, Homecoming is just too thin to be spread out over 12 reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alan Ladd stars in Calcutta as devil-may-care pilot Neale Gordon. With his equally fearless partners Pedro Blake (William Bendix) and Bill Cunningham (John Whitney), Gordon handles the air-freight route between Calcutta and Chungking. When Cunningham meets his death at the hands of jewel smugglers, Gordon vows to play judge and jury and bring the criminals to justice himself. Among the suspects are the film's two gorgeous leading ladies, sweetie-pie Virginia Moore (Gail Russell) and sultry nightclub singer Merina Tanev (June Duprez). Once Gordon figures out who his real friends are, he relies on his fists to mete out retribution, resulting in one sequence that's guaranteed to raise the hackles of every feminist in the crowd. Even with a short running time of 73 minutes, Calcutta secured top-of-the-bill bookings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When wealthy Ballin Mundson (George Macready) rescues down at his heels gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) and invites him to the Buenos Aires casino he owns, both men get more than they wagered on. Farrell convinces Mundson to hire him as casino manager, but is shocked when Mundson introduces his new bride, and Farrell's old flame, Gilda (Rita Hayworth).Though Farrell is unwavering in his loyalty to his employer, and he and Gilda treat each other with contempt, Mundson realizes that the torch never died for either of the former lovers. Ordered to guard Gilda, Farrell tries to convince himself that he's protecting Mundson's interests, but Gilda sees through his self-deception. Meanwhile, Mundson reveals to Farrell that his primary business is control of an international tungsten cartel that he plans to use to further his fascist ends. With the police closing in on the cartel, Mundson fakes his death, apparently leaving Gilda and Farrell free to marry. They do so: Gilda for love, but Farrell to punish her for being unfaithful to Mundson. When Mundson returns to kill them, it is he who dies, thereby freeing the lovers to apologize to each other and return to the U.S. Charles Vidor's Gilda is a voyeuristic film noir treat that engages the viewer in a complex web of sado-masochistic triangles. When, for example, Gilda performs her signature number, "Put the Blame on Mame," she is not simply enraging both Mundson and Farrell with her open sexuality, she is also crying out in pain for the love she is being denied. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

Well-known New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is the prime suspect in the murder of Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), a successful model and would-be actress. Questioned relentlessly by the police, and particularly by hulking detective squad commander Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar), he maintains his innocence. Meanwhile, Vicky's sister Jill (Betty Grable) is also being questioned. Their answers, given in adjoining interrogation rooms, become the basis for brief, neatly constructed interlocking flashbacks at the opening of the movie that explain a ton of plot in very little time. Both are released after admitting nothing, and the police begin working on other suspects, including journalist Larry Evans (Allyn Joslyn), aging actor Robin Ray (Alan Mowbray), and hotel clerk William Harrison (Elisha Cook Jr.) Jill had little use for Frankie, the man who had been promoting her sister's career, but the two are drawn together in the course of trying to sort out their lives and the murder of her sister, and her realization that Frankie is capable of truly loving a woman, and not just exploiting her. Meanwhile, Cornell makes it his business to pressure and torment Frankie, illegally entering his apartment and promising him an arrest and a death sentence. Eventually, the noose seems to tighten around Frankie as the circumstantial evidence piles up, until Frankie, trying to clear himself, uncovers a clue leading back to the real killer -- who was known to Cornell all along. Confronting the detective in his apartment, Frankie discovers a veritable shrine to Vicky -- copies of her magazine covers and photos filling the walls of his apartment -- and learns that the man had his own dark reasons for wanting to kill him. His psychosis finally catching up with him, his career and reputation in ruins, Cornell reveals the truth to Frankie as he proceeds to take his own life. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Norwegian skating star Sonja Henie reached an early pinnacle with this romantic comedy co-starring Tyrone Power as a Ruritanian prince impersonating an American reporter. They fall in love, of course, and the whirlwind romance threatens to interrupt an important treaty between three rival principalities. In between Henie's skating extravaganzas -- which reportedly involved more that 100 skaters and a rink 100 by 145 feet in length -- vocalist Leah Ray and the company perform "My Secret Love Affair," "Over Night," and "My Swiss Hilly Billy," all by Lew Pollack and Sidney D. Mitchell, while comedienne Joan Davis takes care of "I'm Olga From the Volga" by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. Both Thin Ice and Paramount's simultaneous (and better) Easy Living were partially based on a 1922 Hungarian play, Der Komet, leading Fox to briefly entertain the idea of suing the rival company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

After a year-long period of starring in such heavy fare as Maid of Salem, Claudette Colbert returned to comedy with I Met Him in Paris. Colbert plays a successful American fashion designer, squired by three suitors: playwright Melvyn Douglas, playboy Robert Young and hometown lad Lee Bowman. Bowman is fourth-billed, so that lets him out. Young is already married: Strike Two. That leaves Melvyn Douglas, who is indeed the winner of this three-way race. Most of the film takes place at a vacation resort in Switzerland (actually Sun Valley, Idaho), where several minutes of humor is extracted from the three suitors' clumsiness on skis. I Met Him in Paris charmed the critics in 1937; today it seems like just another pleasant diversion, served up by experts in the comedy field. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this frothy romantic adventure, Marlene Dietrich plays Madeleine de Beaupre, a devious jewel thief. After sneaking a valuable string of pearls away from jeweler Aristide Duval (Ernest Cossart), Madeleine attempts to flee Paris, leaving a trail that will instead implicate psychiatrist Dr. Pauquet (Alan Mowbray). While headed for the Spanish border, she nearly runs into Tom Bradley (Gary Cooper), an American auto engineer vacationing in Europe. Madeleine spots Tom again as she waits to go through Spanish Customs; worried that the stolen pearls will be found in her handbag, she slips them into Tom's pocket. After they both make their way through inspection unscathed, Madeleine flirts with Tom in an attempt to get the valuables back; he's too shy to respond in kind, so she gets his attention by trying to "repair" the engine of her car with a hammer. Madeleine lures Tom to the San Sebastian estate of her partner in crime, Carlos Margoli (John Halliday). It doesn't take long for Tom to figure out what Madeleine and Carlos are up to; however, he also knows that he's fallen in love with her, and he is willing to play along if it allows him to be near her. Carlos was originally to have been played by John Gilbert; Halliday was a last-minute replacement after the one-time silent screen star died a week before shooting was to begin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, Marilyn David (Claudette Colbert) is a stenographer who has become good friends with Peter Dawes (Fred MacMurray), a newspaper reporter who takes the same subway as she does each morning. While Peter is crazy about Marilyn, she has her eye on Charles Gray (Ray Milland), a wealthy Englishman. Charles is the son of Lloyd Granville (C. Aubrey Smith), a titled British nobleman, which means Charles is rich, good looking, and minor royalty, tipping the scales in his favor. Charles proposes marriage to Marilyn, but after a sudden argument, she turns him down. Peter is ecstatic at this bit of news and publishes an article about the working girl who passed on a chance to marry into money and nobility. Marilyn is suddenly famous as "The No Girl," and is even able to turn her sudden notoriety into a new career as a nightclub performer. Marilyn's fame causes Charles to take a second look at her; he asks her to reconsider, but Marilyn wonders if she might be better off with Peter after all. The Gilded Lily was the first co-starring vehicle for Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, who would go on to make seven movies together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The first cinematic teaming of horror greats Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi is a bizarre, haunting, and relentlessly eerie film that was surprisingly morbid and perverse for its time. Peter (David Manners) and Joan Allison (Julie Bishop) are honeymooning in Budapest when they meet mysterious scientist Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Lugosi) aboard a train. When the trio's bus from the train station gets into an accident, the young couple accompanies Verdegast to the castle of the spectral Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), an architect and the leader of a Satanic cult. Poelzig's treachery in World War I caused the deaths of thousands of his and Verdegast's countrymen, as well as Verdegast's own internment as a prisoner of war. While Verdegast was detained, Poelzig married first his wife, who later died, then his daughter. Now Verdegast has come back for retribution, and the honeymooners are trapped in the two men's horrifying battle of wits. Corpses preserved in glass cases, frightening Satanic rituals, and a climactic confrontation in which one of the characters is skinned alive add to the film's pervasive sense of evil and doom, along with the stark black-and-white photography by John Mescall that makes Poelzig's futuristic mountaintop mansion even more disturbing. Karloff and Lugosi are both excellent, with Lugosi doing a rare turn as a good guy, albeit one who has gone off the rails. Having little to do with the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name, The Black Cat has grown in stature over the years and is now widely regarded as the masterpiece of director Edgar G. Ulmer and one of the finest horror films ever made. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Based on a lugubrious novel by Ludwig Wolff, The Mysterious Lady is a romance/espionage tailored to the talents of Greta Garbo. The divine Miss G plays an alluring Russian spy, directly answerable to satanic-featured general Gustav von Seyffertitz. While she's accustomed to fomenting suicides and apoplexy amongst her male victims, Garbo cannot help but become romantically involved with Austrian-officer Conrad Nagel. Forced to choose between her love of Russia and her love for Nagel, Garbo decides upon the latter--meaning that there's a bullet in the future for vonSeyfertitz. For all its MGM gloss, Mysterious Lady would be just so much borscht without the ethereal presence of its female star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide