Ron Randell Movies

Story of Esther Costello is the cinematic equivalent of eating a whole box of potato chips; you may hate yourself, but you'll relish every bite in the meantime. Joan Crawford plays a well-meaning woman who throws herself whole-hog into every charitable cause that comes down the pike. She is married to Rossano Brazzi, who is as greedy as Crawford is generous. Crawford rescues blind deaf-mute Heather Sears from her squalid surroundings, leading to her creation of a charity campaign on behalf of handicapped children, with Sears as "poster child." Brazzi, in league with crooked promoter Ron Randell, seizes upon this as a means to line his own pocket--and one night, he decides to assert his manhood with the helpless Sears. The shock of this assault causes the girl to instantly regain her sight and hearing! Crawford reacts to her husband's outrage by driving her car into a tree, snuffing out Brazzi's life as well as her own. Sears--or Esther Costello, for she is indeed the title character--finds happiness with an honest young reporter (Lee Patterson). Set in America and released by an American company (Columbia), Story of Esther Costello was nonetheless filmed in its entirety in England. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The lovely assistant of an evil hypnotist has no idea that she is the descendant of a horrifying prehistoric sea monster she is mesmerized by her boss. When the monster comes forth, she goes on a killing spree. A promoter learns about the hypnotist's shenanigans and figures a way to cash in on the death and destruction. Meanwhile, each time the assistant is hypnotized and the monster emerges, she is able to better control it. The monster costume was created by master make-up artist Paul Blaisdell and is considered one of his best. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Singer Tony Martin plays the non-musical title role in United Artists' Quinannon, Frontier Scout. Sent on a top-secret mission by the government, Quincannon tries to find out who's been selling repeating rifles to the Indians. The culprit turns out to be an old friend of the hero--and, for plot purposes, the brother of heroine Maylene (Peggie Castle). Throughout the film, Tony Martin appears uncomfortable and uncertain, a bad combination when you're dealing with taciturn Indians and renegade whites. On the plus side, Quincannon, Frontier Scout is gorgeously photographed on location in the Utah desert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this political thriller, set within an unnamed country, revolutionaries try to prevent their leader's execution by kidnapping the president's daughter. A brave hostage pilot, breaks out and heroically saves the girl as the revolutionary leader is killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This crime drama is made up of two different tales of murder gone awry. In the first episode, an angry man plans a murder/suicide to protect his daughter from an extortionist. In the other story, a vengeful doctor hypnotizes his wife's unsuspecting lover and suggests that he break into her room late one night. The doctor hopes that his wife will be so frightened that she will kill her lover. But things don't quite go as planned and when the wife learns the truth about her husband, he finds himself in mortal danger. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Julie Harris repeats her stage portrayal of the irrepressible Sally Bowles in John Van Druten's I Am a Camera. Set in pre-Hitler Berlin, the film details the curious, chaste relationship between Sally, an entertainer at a bawdy nightclub, and fledgling writer Christopher Isherwood (Lawrence Harvey). Shelley Winters co-stars as Natalia Landauer, whose impending marriage to a wealthy young Jewish man is imperiled by the anti-Semitism which envelops Berlin as the Nazis gain political power. If all this sounds familiar to you, it is because I Am a Camera is the non-musical precursor to the Broadway musical hit Cabaret. Both properties were based on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories. Those familiar with the film version of Cabaret will notice that certain plot elements have been watered down in Camera. Examples: Isherwood's homosexuality is left unmentioned, save for Lawrence Harvey's opaque opening comment that he is "a confirmed bachelor;" and Sally Bowles' third-act abortion is changed into a false-alarm pregnancy. Also, Julie Harris' dynamic but rather overbaked interpretation of Sally is not nearly as memorable as Liza Minelli's Oscar-winning interpretation of the character in Cabaret. Still, I Am a Camera is well directed and deftly adapted for the screen (by John Collier); and even taking into consideration Ms. Harris' hamminess, she remains one of the most fascinating stage personalities of the mid-20th century. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alexander Knox is the One Just Man in this British crime melodrama. Knox plays a judge who takes the law in his own hands when obviously guilty miscreants get off scot-free. When Knox's tale is told, we are introduced to Peter Reynolds as a duplicitous playboy who attempts to defraud an insurance company. One Just Man looks suspiciously like two half-hour TV pilot films strung together. This 55-minute package was prepared by the brothers Danzinger, purveyors of many a pulse-pounding British programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Death is the subject of this dramatic trilogy. In the first vignette, an agonizing woman must decide whether she should give her single dose of antidote to her poisoned son or her equally ailing husband. The second story centers on a deadly love triangle between a stage producer, his fiancee, and a jealous dancer. In the last tale, a smitten young girl, determined to be with her beloved music teacher, hides herself in one of his trunks and nearly suffocates. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate is a musical within a musical -- altogether appropriate, since its source material, Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, was a play within a play. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson star as famous Broadway singing team who haven't worked together since their acrimonious divorce. Keel, collaborating with Cole Porter (played by Ron Randell), plans to star in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew titled "Kiss Me Kate." Both he and Porter agree that only one actress should play the tempestuous Katherine, and that's Grayson. But she isn't buying, especially after discovering that Keel's latest paramour, Ann Miller, is going to be playing Bianca. Besides, Grayson is about to retire from showbiz to marry the "Ralph Bellamy character," played not by Bellamy, but by Willard Parker. A couple of gangsters (James Whitmore and Keenan Wynn) arrive on the scene, convinced Keel is heavily in debt to their boss; actually, a young hoofer in the chorus (Tommy Rall) owes the money, but signed Keel's name to an IOU. But since Grayson is having second thoughts about going on-stage, Keel plays along with the hoods, who force Grayson at gunpoint to co-star with her ex-husband so that they'll get paid off. Later the roles are reversed, and the gangsters are themselves finagled into appearing on-stage, Elizabethan costumes and all, though that scene is less of a comic success. This aside, Kiss Me Kate is a well-appointed (if bowdlerized) film adaptation of the Porter musical. Virtually all of the play's songs are retained for the screen version, notably "So in Love," "Wunderbar," "Faithful in My Fashion," "Too Darn Hot," "Why Can't You Behave?," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" (a delightful duet delivered delightfully by Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore), and the title song. Additionally, Porter lifted a song from another play, Out of This World, and incorporated it in the movie version of Kiss Me Kate; as a result, "From This Moment On" has been included in all subsequent stagings of Kate. This MGM musical has the distinction of being filmed in 3-D, which is why Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson throw so many chairs, dishes, and pieces of fruit at the camera in their domestic battle scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Assembled by the same production team responsible for the science fiction mini-classic The Man From Planet X, Captive Women is a mixed-bag post-apocalyptic melodrama. After a windy opening lecture about the dangers of atomic power, the story moves ahead to the year 3000. New York City is now a radioactive, bombed-out shell, populated by three groups: the "Norms," the "Mutes," and the "Uprivers." The Norms are cavedwellers, the Uprivers a barbarous people who demonstrate lawlessness and territorial aggression and live in a tunnel beneath the Hudson River, and the Mutes hideously disfigured yet peaceloving surface dwellers. The groups engage in many violent skirmishes, until the Uprivers are wiped out by a massive flood. Now, the only hope for mankind's future is the romance between Mute-man Riddon (Ron Randell) and Norm-woman Ruth (Margaret Field, the mother of actress Sally Field). Production values are better than one might expect, though the film suffers from rather shoddy special effects. Captive Women was released in England as 3000 AD. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lorna Doone is based on the oft-filmed novel by Richard D. Blackmore. Set in 17th century Scotland during the reign of Britain's Charles II, the story concerns young Lorna (Barbara Hale), a member of a much-hated landowning family. Lorna falls in love with a humble villager (Richard Greene), who like the rest of community has suffered under the rule of the despotic Doones. The villagers revolt against their oppressors, but when it is revealed that Lorna is not a genuine Doone, she is able to marry her low-born swain. Star Barbara Hale was pregnant throughout the filming of Lorna Doone; thus it can be said that the film "co-starred" her son, future actor William Katt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rhys Williams is afforded the leading role in Columbia's Tyrant of the Sea. The film borrows a few pages from Jack London's The Sea Wolf by depicting Captain William Blake (Williams) as a power-hungry despot, who runs his ship like a private fiefdom. In contrast, Blake is a perfect gentleman on shore, especially when dealing with his pretty daughter Betsy (Valentine Perkins) and her various beaux. The story comes to a rousing climax during a pitched sea battle between English and French vessels, with Captain Blake not only contending with the enemy, but with a mutinous crew. Some of the action highlights have been culled from Columbia's stock-footage library, which did yeoman service for producer Sam Katzman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a priceless diamond is stolen from a museum exhibition all suspicion falls upon the notorious Lone Wolf, a former jewel thief who became a reporter. It doesn't help that he was in the museum to write a story on the gem at the time of its theft. Now he and his gal pal must play amateur detectives in order to ring the real crooks to justice. This was the final entry in the "Lone Wolf" series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide