Marcia Ralston Movies

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

Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Abbott and Costello play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). When Jinx joins the Army Air Corps-the better to be nearer pretty USO singer Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce)-Blackie and Heathcliff loyally join up as well, obtaining low-echelon ground crew jobs. While Jinx tries to cure Linda's brother Jim (Charles Lang) of his fear of flying, Heathcliff pursues a romance with wisecracking waitress Gloria Phelps (Martha Raye), never quite catching on that Gloria has an identitical-twin sister (also Martha Raye). A bit too plot-heavy for its own good, Keep 'Em Flying is at its best when concentrating on Abbott & Costello, who in addition to performing their patented cross-talk routines participate in a zany runaway-torpedo chase and a gratuitous but amusing episode in a spooky carnival funhouse. As a bonus, Costello gets to do a bit of "straight" acting, and he's quite good at it. Deleted scenes include a comedy magic act (later restaged in Abbott & Costello's Lost in a Harem) and a wild episode at a skating rink (reworked two years later in Hit the Ice). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

W.C. Fields heads to Esoteric studios to pitch a story idea to producer Franklin Pangborn. The producer wants to make a conventional romantic musical starring Fields' niece, teen-aged soprano Gloria Jean, but "The Great Man" has other ideas. As Pangborn sits in dumbfounded silence, Fields unravels an incoherent farrago which begins with him travelling to a Russian colony in Mexico--by way of an airliner with an open observation platform. Fields dives from the plane when his precious flask of gin falls overboard; he lands safely at the mountaintop mansion of the formidable Mrs. Hemoglobin (Margaret Dumont). Playing a kissing game with Hemoglobin's beauteous daughter (Susan Miller), who has never seen a man before, Fields decides to make a quick exit when Mama wants to get in on the game too. Reunited with Gloria Jean in the Russian colony, Fields learns that Mrs. Hemoglobin is worth millions, so he climbs back up the mountain, ignoring such obstacles as a displaced African gorilla. Disposing of his rival Leon Errol, Fields is about to wed Mrs. Hemoglobin, but is talked out of it at the last moment by Gloria Jean. At this point in the narrative, producer Pangborn can stand no more. He tells Fields to take his nonsensical screenplay and vacate the premises. After a brief episode at a soda fountain ("This scene was supposed to be in a saloon, but the censors made us cut it out"), Fields drives off to new adventures with his niece--but not before a zany slapstick car-chase finale, prompted by Fields' mistaken belief that he's rushing a corpulent middle-aged lady to the maternity hospital. W. C. Fields' original screenplay for Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (written under the fanciful pseudonym of Otis Criblecoblis) made a lot more sense than what ended up on screen, but Fields' extended absences from the studio, coupled with Universal's desire to reshape the film into a vehicle for their new star Gloria Jean, necessitated a complete restructuring of the plot. While hardly Fields' best or most representative film, Sucker is an excellent example of the sort of nonsensical "nut" humor in vogue in 1941 thanks to Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin'. And, occasionally, the film stands still long enough to allow W. C. Fields to mutter a priceless aside or toss off a perfectly timed double-take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Michael Curtiz directs this Technicolor Western based on the familiar story by Clements Ripley about the rivalry between farmers and miners in the Sacramento valley during the years following the California Gold Rush. Handsome engineer Jared Whitney (George Brent) from the Golden Moon mining company arrives in a small town to supervise their operations. He oversees boorish mining foreman Slag Minton (Burton MacLane), then goes to bar where he befriends Lance (Tim Holt), the son of prominent wheat farmer Colonel Chris Ferris (Claude Rains). He ends up falling in love with Lance's sister, Serena (Olivia deHavilland), despite their alliances with opposing forces. They are forbidden to see each other when her father finds out, so Jared goes back to San Francisco to work with his boss, Harrison McCooey (Sidney Toler), on a dam construction project. Meanwhile, Lance chooses the side of the miners over the farmers when he leaves the town to stay with his Uncle Ralph (John Litel). When local farmer John McKenzie (Russell Simpson) loses his family and his farm due to the destruction caused by the miners, Chris supports him in a law suit against the mining company. This all escalates into a violent armed confrontation between the farmers and the miners, leading up to an explosive conclusion and a romantic reunion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

In her only Warner Bros. starring film, Carole Lombard plays a Hollywood movie actress who makes the park-bench acquaintance of an impoverished French marquis (Fernand Gravet). Hoping to coerce Carole into marriage, the nobleman poses as a butler and enters her household. His plan is to compromise Lombard and force her to make him an "honest man"--with the attendant cash settlement. Ralph Bellamy, as ever, is the poor clod who really loves Lombard but who loses her in the end to the chastened Gravet. Rodgers and Hart were commissioned to write several songs for this film, but found most of their efforts consigned to the cutting room floor. Fools for Scandal was based on Nancy Hamilton's stage play Return Engagement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is the second entry in the Torch Blane reporter series. In this episode, ace reporter Torchy, wanting to impress her beau the police lieutenant, begins looking into a notorious murder. She gets a hot tip, boards a plane and sets off to follow up. She is accompanied by two rival journalists. En route, it is discovered that one of them is the murderer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sh! The Octopus is a low-budget remake of Ralph Spence's oft-filmed stage melodrama The Gorilla. The old-dark-house setting of the original has been changed to a lonely lighthouse, while Spence's marauding gorilla has metamorphosed into a giant special-effects octopus. Detectives Kelly (Hugh Herbert) and Dempsey (Allen Jenkins) are summoned to the lighthouse to prevent harm from befalling heiress Verta Vernoff (Marcia Ralston). The two gumshoes seem far too preoccupied to perform their duties (Kelly is awaiting the birth of his first son), and indeed they prove so inept that at one point the heroine screams "What's the matter with you?" A series of murders occur, all attributed to the king-sized octopus, but it turns out that one of Verta's oldest and most trusted friends is responsible. Without giving anything away, it must be said that the "surprise" ending of Sh! The Octopus is one of the stupidest ever captured on film, though at least it affords Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins the opportunity to dress up in baby clothes! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Call It a Day is a Warner Bros. attempt at British light comedy. Nothing much happens of any consequence in this story of a day in the life of a typical middle-class London family, headed by accountant Ian Hunter. The husband is tempted by a seductress (Marcia Ralston), the wife (Freda Inescourt) tries but fails to have a "fling" herself, the daughter (Olivia De Havilland) throws herself at a married artist (Walter Woolf King), and all is set aright before the sun goes down. The film's funniest moments belong to droll Roland Young and sharp-tongued Alice Brady. Call it a Day was adapted from Dodie Smith's gossamer-thin stage play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide