Rags Ragland Movies

This tender but fluffy romantic comedy centers on the romantic travails of a beautiful European princesss who goes to New York to find the newspaper reporter she fell for when he was visiting her mythical country. She stays at the Big Apple's finest hotel and while there finds herself mistaken for a maid by a sweet-natured bellhop. Charmed by his confusion, she insists that he become her personal escort. She does not realize that the impressionable fellow has fallen in love with her and so misconstrues her every kindness. When not with her, the bellhop is visiting a beautiful invalid, who is secretly in love with him. Meanwhile the princess eventually finds the reporter. She makes him a proposition, but he, believing them to be too different, rejects the offer. Later, she takes the bellhop and goes to the reporter's favorite bar in hopes of seeing him. Unfortunately, the joint gets raided and she ends up in jail until the reporter shows up to bail her out. Soon afterward, she learns that her father has died and that she is now queen. Things get sticky then, as both the bellboy and the new queen find themselves faced with choosing between wealth and power or true love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This mammoth musical is at base the story of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Brash Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) has promised his shy pal Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) that he will introduce Clarence to all the glamorous movie starlets whom he allegedly knows so well. Actually, the only actress whom Joseph meets is bit player Susan Abbott (Kathryn Grayson). He arranges for the golden-throated Susan to be auditioned by musician José Iturbi, but when she seems to want to return the favor romantically, Brady tries to foist the girl off on Clarence. But Clarence only has eyes for a fellow Brooklynite (Pamela Britton). Also involved in the plot machinations is runaway orphan Donald Martin (Dean Stockwell). Featuring Kelly dancing with such partners as a cartoon mouse (courtesy of MGM's house animators Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera), Anchors Aweigh was a huge hit in 1945, assuring audiences future Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra teamings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM's popular Dr. Kildare series spanned 1938-47. Lew Ayres played the title character, but parted in 1942. Though crusty and craggly Lionel Barrymore, portrayed Dr. Gillespie (one of {%Kildare's contemporaries at Blair General Hospital)) from the beginning of the series, he initially came second billed, and only received first billing in the six films that followed Ayres's departure, thus becoming the central character. 1944's Three Men and White marks the fourth such instance. As in prior entries, the premise of Three Men revolves around Gillespie solving medical mysteries and fixing romantic problems. Here, Gillespie is forced to decide between Keye Luke (as Dr. Lee Wong How) and Van Johnson (as Dr. Randall Adams) as his new assistant. To make the call, he assigns a medical case to each. Wong How must help a child overcome his allergy to sugar; Johnson must work a female patient through 'insurmountable' arthritis. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The last of three films starring Red Skelton as ace radio detective Wally "The Fox" Benton, Whistling in Brooklyn opens with Fox and girl friend Carol Lambert (Ann Rutherford) making final preparations for a trip to Niagara Falls, where they intend to get married. Of course, they've made these plans before, and true to form, something comes up to derail the trip to the altar. The something this time is Constant Reader, a murderer who delights in taunting the police by letting newspapers know about his latest victims and where their bodies can be found. Through an error on his valet's part, the police come to believe that Wally is Constant Reader, forcing him to delay his plans, go undercover and search out the killer himself. After being chased through various warehouses and creaky old houses, Wally eventually ends up disguised as a member of a bearded baseball team playing the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Leo Durocher makes his screen debut, playing himself.) All gets straightened out in the end, and even the real Constant Reader is apprehended. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a city slicker con man -- the better to accommodate that film's stars, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The 1943 remake does without the comic relief, concentrating on Rooney, a teenaged playboy who is sent to a Western mining school by his father (Henry O'Neill), in the hopes that the Rooney will forsake his wastrel ways. Judy Garland is cast in the role originated on stage by Ginger Rogers: the feisty, lovelorn frontier postmistress Ginger Gray, who falls in love with the hero -- the difference being that Garland has been promoted from postmistress to the daughter of mining-school dean Phineas Armour (Guy Kibbee). The new plot involves a contest for rodeo queen, pitting Ginger against Marjorie Tait (Frances Rafferty), who is also her rival for Rooney's affections. The contest serves a double purpose: Rooney is hoping that the publicity engendered by the rivalry will attract students to the failing school, proof positive that for all of his bravado, he's a swell, altruistic guy underneath. These plot complications are merely prologue for a gargantuan musical finale built upon the Gershwin standard "I Got Rhythm," staged by the film's original director, Busby Berkeley. Other musical carryovers from the stage play include "Embraceable You," "Bidin' My Time," and "But Not for Me." Featured in the cast are June Allyson, Rags Ragland, and the Tommy Dorsey Band. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another graduate of MGM's short-subject department, director David Miller proved he had what it took to helm a feature film for the studio in Sunday Punch. The harmless but diverting story concerns the rivalry, in and out of the ring, between prizefighters Ken Burke (William Lundigan) and Olaf Jensen (Dan Dailey Jr.). Both boxers are sweet on showgirl Judy Galestrum (Jean Rogers), and in fact it was for the love of Judy that shy, oafish Olaf quite his janitorial job to become a pugilist. When Olaf realizes that it's Ken whom Judy truly loves, he does the "right thing" by sending Ken off to dreamland during an important match, thereby encouraging the latter to give up boxing and return to his medical studies. The best aspect of Sunday Punch is the performance of Dan Dailey Jr., whose portrayal of a simpleminded Swede is convincing without ever lapsing into stereotype or condescention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The combination of Ann Sothern and Red Skelton pays off in giggles, chortles and guffaws in Maisie Gets Her Man. Broke and stranded once more, showgirl Maisie Revere briefly works as the wrong end of a knife-throwing act, then dedicates herself to helping would-be comedian Hap Hixby (Skelton) overcome his debilitating stage fright. The plot then goes off on an entirely new tangent, as the hapless Hap gets mixed up with cherubic con artist Denningham (Lloyd Corrigan). Things end happily for both Maisie and Hap, but not quite in the way that either one of them would have predicted. It's a tribute to the comedy genius of Red Skelton that he can raise laughs while playing a character who can't raise laughs! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unable to convince their isolationist New York editor (Charles Dingle) that America must be alerted to the threat of encroaching Nazism, pugnacious war correspondents Johnny and Kirk Davis (Clark Gable and Robert Sterling) are relieved of their European assignments. Back in the USA, Johnny inagurates a rogueish flirtation with Paula Lane (Lana Turner), an aspiring reporter who has harbored a long-standing crush on Johnny. Even so, Paula enters into a romantic relationship with Kirk, prompting Johnny to break up the affair-for Kirk's own good, of course. Paula's hopes for a lasting romance with Johnny are crushed when he refuses to discourage her from accepting an assignment in IndoChina. Later on, both Johnny and Kirk are sent off to cover the war in the Far East, where they are reunited with Paula, now busily shepherding Chinese war orphans to safety. The action moves to Bataan, where Kirk is killed in service of his country, leaving Johnny to write a passionate tribute to his brother-and, by extention, everyone else who has lain down his or her life for the cause of Democracy. During production of Somewhere I'll Find You, Clark Gable's actress-wife Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash while participating in a war-loan drive; the impact of the tragedy is painfully obvious in Gable's performance, which becomes abruptly less playful and more somber in the final reels. New MGM recruits Van Johnson and Keenan Wynn make impressive appearances in uncredited roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though based on a stage play by Laurence Gross and Edward Childs Carpenter (previously filmed as an Ernest Truex vehicle in 1933), MGM's Whistling in the Dark was clearly inspired by the success of Paramount's Bob Hope comedy-mystery The Ghost Breakers. In his first film starring role, Red Skelton plays radio actor Wally Benton, better known to his fans as that intrepid crime-solver "The Fox". On the eve of his wedding to perennial fiancee Carol Lambert (Ann Rutherford), Wally is summoned to the mansion of cult leader Joseph Jones (Conrad Veidt). Though he preaches a message of "radiant contentment" to his followers, Jones is actually a racketeer who hopes to get his hands on a $1,000,000 inheritance. The only person standing in the way of Jones' windfall is the sole heir, mild-mannered Mr. Upshaw (Lloyd Corrigan), who is about to take a business trip by plane. Impressed by "The Fox"'s encyclopedic knowledge of crime, Jones wants Wally to plan a "perfect murder", one which will put Upshaw out of the way without detection. Naturally, Wally balks at this, but he is persuaded to go along with Jones when the latter kidnaps both Carol and Fran Post (Virginia Grey), the daughter of Wally's sponsor (Henry O'Neill). Considerately, Jones gives Wally till 11 o'clock to come up with his plan, leaving our hapless hero in the "care" of hulking henchman Sylvester (Rags Ragland). Fully aware that neither his life nor those of Carol and Fran will be worth five cents once Upshaw is murdered, Wally spends most of the evening trying to concoct a way out of his jam. Full of hilarious one-liners and sidesplitting slapstick, Whistling in the Dark is also quite suspenseful--especially in the final reel, wherein the best line is delivered by the pop-eyed potential murder victim. So well received was Whistling in the Dark that MGM rushed out two sequels, also starring Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford and a "reformed" Rags Ragland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide