Joey Ray Movies
In films from 1929, Joey Ray was a busy, albeit nearly anonymous, American general-purpose actor. During the 1930s and 1940s, Ray could usually be found at RKO Radio, playing one-scene bits as nightclub singers, gang leaders, gamblers, and thugs. One of his more noticeable roles was Joe Talbot in Paramount's The Big Clock (1948), an A-budget production which afforded generous screen time to several of Hollywood's most familiar character players. Joey Ray made his final screen appearance as a bartender in Republic's Girl in the Woods (1957). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1958
The Toughest Gun in Tombstone, at least according to this film, as Arizona ranger Matt Sloane (George Montgomery). Working undercover, Sloane infiltrates an all-star outlaw gang consisting of Johnny Ringo (Jim Davis), Ike Clanton (Gerald Milton), Curly Bill Broces (Lane Bradford) and several other sagebrush celebrities. His purpose: to put an end to the smuggling of silver bullion across the Mexican border. Complicating matters is Sloane's concern over his young son Terry (Scott Morrow), who is being pursued across the territory by the man who murdered Sloane's wife. Not exactly an "A" picture, Toughest Gun in Tombstone is too well-mounted to be dismissed as a "B." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Beverly Tyler, (more)
Ernest Hemingway's short novel The Old Man and the Sea was probably unfilmable to begin with, but this didn't stop John Sturges from trying to cinematize Hemingway's tight little character study. Spencer Tracy is the Old Man, a Cuban fisherman who tries to haul in a huge fish that he catches far from shore. Tracy's tiny boat is besieged by sharks and by natural elements, but the Old Man stubbornly sticks to his job. In the end, the fish is nothing more than a skeleton, and the Old Man returns to his tiny hovel to "dream about the lions." Spencer Tracy may have been dreaming about the Oscar when he agreed to make this film, but Old Man and the Sea is defeated by pretentiousness and by several unconvincing "sea" scenes shot in a studio tank (even though both Tracy and director Sturges underwent incredible hardships filming in a real boat on the real ocean). Old Man and the Sea was remade as a 1990 made-for-TV movie starring Anthony Quinn, which compounded the mistakes made in the Tracy version by grafting on a pointless love story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Felipe Pazos, (more)
- 1958
After the mysterious death of her motel-owner father Glenn (Russell Thorson), Stephanie Falkner (Peggy McCay) is left with nothing but her dad's property and a huge pile of debts. Enter big-time gambler George Castle (Joe De Santis), who dearly covets Stephanie's land. Unbeknownst to the girl, George had killed her father over a gambling debt--or perhaps Stephanie has known this all along. Whatever the case, when George himself turns up murdered, Stephanie is charged with the crime...and that's when Perry Mason (Perry Mason) takes a hand in matters. This episode is based on a 1958 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Perry's client Janet Morris (Bethel Leslie) is charged with poisoning her husband Dr. Morris (Sheppard Strudwick), who has been reported killed in a plane crash. As it turns out, however, the crash victim is not Dr. Norris but instead David Kirby (Dabbs Greer); Norris has faked his demise so he can run off to Mexico with his girlfriend (played by Maxine Cooper, best known for her work in the 1955 cult film favorite Kiss Me Deadly). No matter: Janet must now stand trial for Kirby's murder, meaning that Mason will have to dig up the elusive Dr. Morris to prove his client's innocence...but who exactly is guilty? Based on a 1954 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, this episode would be remade in 1965 as "The Case of the Vanishing Victim". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
A series of jewel robberies leads Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to begin surveillance of the city's pawnshops. Sure enough, the two detectives manage to nab a suspect--but the robberies continue unabated. A break in the case occurs when the suspect's brother offers to cooperate with the police...but can he be trusted? Featured in the cast is Bill Brauer, who as Harold "Tiny" Brauer was a familiar "heavy" in the Three Stooges comedies of the 1940s and 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Republic Studios' B pictures were generally more exciting than their As, as was certainly the case with Girl in the Woods. The eponymous heroine is Bell Cory, played by Maggie Hayes. Bell is the wife of restless lumberman Steve Cory (Forrest Tucker), who'd been in constant trouble with the authorities if his wife weren't around to provide a calming influence. It is also Bell who saves the day when Steve is ostracized by the lumber community for supposedly casting his lot with crooked land baron Whitlock (Murvyn Vye). Perennial "dumb blonde" Joyce Compton makes her final film appearance in Girl in the Woods as Bell's pragmatic Aunt. The film was based on Blood on the Branches, a novel by Oliver Crawford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forrest Tucker, Maggie Hayes, (more)
- 1957
Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to a bakery where two of the owners have been shot during a holdup. Shortly afterward, the detectives receive a taunting letter from the elusive assailant, who promises to repeat his crime in the near future. Can the bragging perp be stopped before more blood is shed? Featured as the sister of one of the crime victims is statuesque 1950s starlet Greta Thyssen, better known for her appearances in such Three Stooges comedies as Quiz Whizz and Sappy Bullfighters. This final episode of Dragnet's sixth TV season is based on a radio play first heard on September 14, 1950. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Chicago Confidential may not have been the best of the late-1950s "expose" films, but it certainly boasted one of the most impressive casts. Based on the factual best-seller by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, the film stars Brian Keith as a State Attorney who vows to bring corrupt Chicago union officials to justice. It turns out that the union crooks are in cahoots with a gambling syndicate, conspiring to frame uncooperative union leader Dick Foran for murder. With the considerable assistance of his coworker-fiancee Beverly Garland, Keith strives to prove Foran's innocence and punish the genuine miscreants. Crucial to the plotline is nightclub comedian Buddy Lewis, cast as an impressionist who helps to frame the troublesome Foran; also in the cast are such crime-flick perennials as Elisha Cook Jr., Paul Langton, Douglas Kennedy, Jack Lambert, John Indrisano, Phyllis Coates, and Thomas B. Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Beverly Garland, (more)
- 1957
Among the reasons that Doris Cole (Hillary Brooke) has left her husband Peter (John McNamara) is that she once awoke to find him standing over her bed, brandishing a knife. Peter insists that he is a chronic sleepwalker and had no idea what he was doing. Even so, when Phillip Kendall (Harry Hickox), an extortionist who has threatened to block the divorce that Peter so desperately wants, is found stabbed to death, Peter is charged with murder. It is up to Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to prove Cole's innocence--and to reveal the guilty party. This episode is based on a 1936 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
If Jet Pilot seems hopelessly out of date today, imagine how filmgoers in 1957 reacted when this relic from 1949 was taken off the shelf. Many, many years in the making due to the maniacal tinkering by producer Howard Hughes (who reportedly lost $4 million on it - a massive sum back then), the film was deemed unreleasable upon completion; only when Universal-International took over distribution of a handful of RKO Radio productions did it finally see the light of day. John Wayne stars as an air force colonel stationed in an Alaskan outpost only 40 miles or so from the Soviet Union. Wayne is put in charge of Russian jet pilot Janet Leigh, who claims that she wants to defect. Actually, Leigh is a Communist spy, but thanks to Wayne's affectionate attentions she is won over to the side of Democracy. Thus it is that Leigh rescues the Duke when he is kidnapped and nearly brainwashed by her Commie comrades. Jet Pilot was eventually bought back from U-I by Hughes for his personal collection; not only did he buy into the propagandistic plotline, but he was also enthralled by the aerial scenes, some of which were staged by legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager. The 1949 production date for a number of sequences explains not only why so many of the actors look young for 1957, but the existence of several supporting cast members who had died in the interim (such as Jack Overman and Richard Rober). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1956
- NR
Crusading publisher Austin Spenser (Sidney Blackmer) wants to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence. Spencer talks his prospective son-in-law Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) into participating in a hoax, the better to expose the alleged ineptitude of conviction-happy DA (Philip Bourneuf). Tom will plant clues indicating that he is the murderer of a nightclub dancer, then stand trial for murder; just as the jury reaches its inevitable guilty verdict, Spencer will step forth to reveal the set-up and humiliate the DA. Somewhat surprisingly, Tom eagerly agrees to this subterfuge. Unfortunately, an unforeseen event renders their perfectly formed scheme useless. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was the last American film of director Fritz Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1956
In this entry in the Bowery Boys series, one of the members suddenly finds that he can predict winning numbers after he suffers an electrical shock. He and the boys take this special talent and use it on a TV game show. They win a trip to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, his winning streak attracts the interest of local gangsters who trick the clairvoyant lad into believing he killed a man. They use this to blackmail him into forking over his winnings. The gang comes to his aid. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Mrs. Sarah Vesper (Grace Field), a lifelong friend of police detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander), reports that several items in her home have been stolen, apparently by her new maid Margaret. It turns out that the name "Margaret" is as artificial as the references which the thief supplied to Mrs. Vesper and her other victims. When Smith and his partner Joe Friday (Jack Webb) catch up with the phony maid, she provides them with a most curious "excuse" for her misdeeds. In a sequence more bizarre than amusing, Friday tries to suppress his laughter as Mrs. Vesper recalls that Smith had been quite a poet in his younger days! This episode was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of July 26, 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Wayne plays anti-Nazi Prussian sea captain Karl Erlich in Sea Chase, one of the many film commentaries released post WWII. Though staunchly opposed to the Nazi regime, Karl (Wayne) feels it would nevertheless be unpatriotic should he refuse to save his ship from destruction. His ship--an old, rusty 5,000 ton freighter named the Ergenstrasse--is being pursued by a British warship on his journey from Australia back to Germany. Captain Erlich does everything he can to save his ship and his crew, but the process is long and dangerous, particularly without a plentiful supply of fuel and provisions. Erlich must face obstacles ranging from horrendous sea storms and shark attacks to false murder accusations, and it seems his only devotee is Elsa (Lana Turner), a beautiful German spy. Despite nearly falling to the determined English ship and a mutiny attempt by his own crew, Captain Erlich manages to survive what was anything but a routine trip back to his home country. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1955
An unusually matronly Jane Wyman plays the title character in Lucy Gallant. Adapted from a novel by Margaret Cousins, the story concerns the efforts by Lucy Gallant to make the wide-open spaces of Texas a mecca for High Fashion. Jilted at the altar, Lucy retreats to a booming oil town, where she courageously opens up a gown shop. Rancher Casey Cole (Charlton Heston) is disdainful of "working women", but he never hides the fact that he's madly in love with Lucy. As the film progresses, Lucy nearly loses her business due to financial reverses, but Casey secretly pumps money into her operation, all the while declaring publicly that she's doomed to failure. Lucy's gowns were actually designed by Edith Head, who makes an appearance towards the end of the film, as does the then-governor of Texas, Allan Shivers. Lucy Gallant was the last of the incredibly successful Pine-Thomas productions for Paramount Pictures; there might have been more had not William H. Pine died shortly after completing the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Wyman, Charlton Heston, (more)
- 1953
This tuneful remake of 1937's The Awful Truth centers on the rocky marriage of a philandering composer and the wife who has her fill and decides to get even by having an "affair" of her own. Actually, hers is quite innocent. Unfortunately, her husband doesn't known this and the couple get a divorce. But somehow, beneath all their anger, the two are still in love and show it by trying to make the other jealous at every opportunity. The wife allows a handsome Alaskan tycoon to court her while the composer uses a pretty young woman. Of course, it doesn't take the pair too long to realize the awful truth and reunite. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Wyman, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1953
The Metropolis underworld is informed of a remarkable plastic surgeon (John Crawford) who is able to transform the faces of criminals and change their fingerprints. As proof, gangster Marty Mitchell (Frank Scannell) resurfaces to commit a series of crimes, his face obscured with a lead mask so that Superman (George Reeves) cannot use his X-Ray vision to confirm Mitchell's identity. It turns out, however, that this is all part of a scam operation cooked up by a pair of con artists who hope to fool both the Underworld and the reporters of the "Daily Planet"--and it is Superman who exposes the scheme just in time to prevent a couple of murders. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Set in the southernmost regions of Texas, Ride, Vaquero stars Robert Taylor as a steely-eyed gunman named Rio. In league with Mexican bandit Jose Esqueda (Anthony Quinn), Rio participates in the sacking of Brownsville. Only one man seems to have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the villains: homesteader King Cameron (Howard Keel), who's already been burned out of one home by Esqueda and doesn't intend to allow it to happen again. Cameron's wife Cordelia (Ava Gardner) stands by her husband, which of course puts her in harm's way when Rio sets his romantic sights upon her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1952
Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) runs across a pair of mysterious men who are going around Metropolis, purchasing cheap plaster statuettes at various gift shops and then smashing them. Intrigued by their bizarre behavior and positive that there's a story behind it somewhere, she enlists the help of Clark Kent (George Reeves) to see what they're up to and even gets ahead of them, purchasing some of the statues herself and smashing them, whereupon she discovers some small, seemingly meaningless objects inside. But before she can figure out what it all means, she's kidnapped out of her own apartment. Kent and Inspector Henderson (Robert Shayne) are positive that notorious international criminal Paul Martin (Tris Coffin) is behind the kidnapping and the plot, but can't get a lead on his whereabouts, or the meaning of it all. Inspector Henderson is slowly sweating the truth out of one of Martin's henchmen, but it looks as though only Superman can help Miss Lane, if he can find out where she's being held. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Library footage from the 1940 Paramount feature The Forest Rangers is used sparingly but effectively in the 1952 Pine-Thomas production The Blazing Forest. John Payne plays troubleshooting logger Kelly Hanson, who is hired by timber baroness Jessie Crain (Agnes Moorehead). Hanson is promised a huge bonus and percentage if he can deliver his quota of logs ahead of time, so that Jessie can afford to pay for her niece Sharon's (Susan Morrow) education. Along the way, Sharon falls in love with Hanson, only to have her heart broken when it appears that Hanson is carrying on with another woman (Lynne Roberts). All of the film's various subplots come to a head during a climactic forest fire, vividly photographed in Technicolor by Oscar-winning cinematographer Lionel Lindon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, William Demarest, (more)
- 1952
Joseph Cotten plays a assistant bank manager who steals $500,000 from the safe late on a Friday. He plans to fly to Brazil with his wife (Teresa Wright) and child. They get as far as New Orleans; the wife finds out about the robbery and walks out on Cotten. Stricken by guilt, Cotten must now return to his home town and replace the money before he's found out on Monday morning. Writer/director Andrew L. Stone smooths out the unrealistic elements of The Steel Trap by filming extensively at real locations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, (more)
- 1952
Douglas Sirk directed this frothy musical comedy set in the 1920s starring Charles Coburn as Samuel Fulton, an elderly man with a multi-million dollar fortune. With no family of his own to whom he can leave his money, Fulton is pondering what to do with his estate. Years ago, he was in love with a woman named Harriet, whom he asked to marry. She turned him down and married another someone else, but he's still fond of her and considers leaving his millions to her family. However, Fulton decides to first give them a test. Posing as an eccentric and threadbare artist, he rents a room from Harriet (Lynn Bari) and her husband Charles (Larry Gates). He then arranges for an anonymous gift of $100,000 to be presented to them so that he can watch their reactions. Sadly, things don't go well; Harriet browbeats the rest of the family into moving into a mansion and tries to convince her daughter Millicent (Piper Laurie) to break up with her boyfriend, poor but good-hearted soda jerk Dan (Rock Hudson), in favor of a wealthier and more socially prominent man. Songs include "Tiger Rag," "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along," "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More," and "Gimme a Little Kiss, Will Ya, Huh?" James Dean has a tiny part as a customer at the soda fountain; it was his first appearance onscreen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, (more)
- 1952
Bantam-weight Stanley Clements is Army Bound in this breezy Monogram programmer. Clements plays midget-car driver Frank Cermak, who upon being drafted discovers that his C.O., Lt. Peters (John Fontaine), is a rival racer, and not a particularly friendly one at that. Complicating matters is the fact that Cermak has just fallen in love with Jane Harris (Karen Sharpe), and of course romance is "off limits" to trainees. The climax finds Cermak overcoming his dislike of Peters during a life-or-death situation. At the time Army Bound was put into release, Monogram was in the process of matriculating into Allied Artists, and as such the studio was making noises about dropping its "B"-picture manifest and concentrating only on "A"s: as the subsequent Allied Artists "Bowery Boys" entries proved, this isn't quite what happened. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Clements, Karen Sharpe, (more)
- 1951
An insurance investigator, a dame with a yen for the finer things in life and a mail robbery gone horribly wrong are the ingredients in this low-budget but highly engrossing film noir. Charles McGraw and Louis Jean Heydt are tough insurance agents but their partnership comes in for some rough sailing when he former falls head over heels for Joan Dixon, a lady apparently not averse to letting herself be wined and dined by an obvious gang leader (Lowell Gilmore). In an attempt to win the lady's favors, McGraw concocts a plan to rob a mail train insured by his own company. Too late does he discover that the girl is perfectly willing to accept him as he is. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles McGraw, Joan Dixon, (more)
- 1951
Through an incredible series of circumstances, the Bowery Boys sign up for a hitch in the Navy. While clumsily going about the shipboard duties, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the rest of the gang search high and low for a couple of crooks disguised in sailor suits who've stolen a large sum of money intended for charity. They don't find the bad guys right away, but dimwitted Sach manages to replace the money through a lucky gambling streak. Finally collaring the villains, the Bowery Boys head to Navy headquarters for a reward--only to end up accidentally signing for another hitch at sea. Silly though it sounds, Let's Go Navy is one of the most believable Bowery Boys comedies, as well as one of the funniest. Contributing to the general hilarity is prune-faced Allen Jenkins as the Boys' chief petty officer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
