Paula Raymond Movies

Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Adam's Rib is a peerless comedy predicated on the double standard. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner, a husband-and-wife attorney team, both drawn to a case of attempted murder. The defendant (Judy Holliday) had tearfully attempted to shoot her husband (Tom Ewell) and his mistress (Jean Hagen). Adam argues that the case is open and shut, but Amanda points out that, if the defendant were a man, he'd be set free on the basis of "the unwritten law." Thus it is that Adam works on behalf of the prosecution, while Amanda defends the accused woman. The trial turns into a media circus, while the Bonners' home life suffers. Adam's Rib represented the film debuts of New York-based actors Jean Hagen, Tom Ewell, and David Wayne (as Hepburn's erstwhile songwriting suitor), and the return to Hollywood of Judy Holliday after her Born Yesterday triumph. One of the best of the Tracy-Hepburn efforts, it inspired a brief 1973 TV series starring Ken Howard and Blythe Danner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dracula carries on his blood-drinking tradition in modern-day California, joined by his bride in a castle into which an unsuspecting couple have just moved. (Talk about incompatible roomies!) The Count and Countess (Alex D'Arcy & Paula Raymond) abduct a smorgasbord of cuties in miniskirts and go-go boots and chain them up in the castle dungeon for later consumption. John Carradine loiters about this Al Adamson non-masterpiece on his way to an easy paycheck, though he does not actually assay the role of Dracula, playing instead a small part as the Count's butler. Unbelievably, the cinematography on this ultra-cheapie is credited to acclaimed DP Laszlo Kovacs. Well-photographed by Laszlo Kovacs, the film is still notoriously dreadful and includes far too much stock footage of Sea World along with the usual deadly Adamson pacing. Some versions feature additional violent footage involving a rampaging werewolf. Trivia buffs will note that Paula Raymond's role as the Countess was originally intended for Jayne Mansfield. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

John Auer directed and Steve Fisher wrote this police procedural film in the vein of the popular Detective Story of two years earlier. The film juggles around four characters through a particularly bad night in a Chicago precinct -- Johnny Kelly (Gig Young), a stressed out cop ready to crack; Sally "Angel Face" Connors (Mala Powers), a cheap strumpet lounge singer; Hayes Stewart (William Talman), a former magician and present thug; Penrod Biddel (Edward Arnold), a smooth and corrupt district attorney; and Sgt. Joe (Chill Wills), an Everyman character, known as "The Voice of Chicago." The skimpy plot concerns Kelly, who is having an affair with Angel Face and is ready to quit his job and leave his wife Kathy (Paula Raymond) at the drop of a hat. In order to get quick money to escape Chicago and start life anew with Angel Face, Kelly accepts an assignment and a payment from Biddel to escort low-life Stewart across the state line. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Devil's Doorway was the first of many top-rank westerns directed by Anthony Mann. RobertTaylor is cast against type as a Native American named Lance Poole. Returning to his people's land after the Civil War, Poole discovers that the Indians are being victimized and persecuted--and, thanks to machinations of crooked lawyer Verne Coolan (Louis Calhern), it's all legal. Unable to turn to the Law to protect his tribesmen, Lance becomes what white men call a "renegade." Devil's Doorway was the vanguard of a new western cycle of the early 1950s, wherein the Indians were the good guys and the whites the villains. Had it been made 30 years later, it is likely that the star would have been a genuine Native American, rather than a white matinee idol in "redface." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ben Thompson (Robert Dix) rides through the wilds of Arizona seeking revenge in this violent, low-budget Al Adamson Western. For many years, Thompson has been searching for the Indian who killed his bride on their wedding day, with Death as his only companion. The man he seeks is Satago (John Cardos), the chief of the Yaqui, a renegade Apache tribe that has declared war on all white settlers. Ben teams up with Satago's half-brother, Joe Lightfoot (also played by Cardos), and when the duo comes upon a wrecked stagecoach, they try to keep the survivors safe in dangerous Indian territory. Along with hard-boiled gambler Jim Wade (Scott Brady) and his high-strung wife, Lavinia (Julie Edwards), are a mysterious preacher (John Carradine), hard-drinking madam Kansas Kelly (Paula Raymond), and Althea (Darlene Lucht), one of Kelly's "working girls" who takes a shine to stoic cowboy Ben. There's more danger than just the Yaqui to deal with when a pair of unscrupulous gun runners join the group, and revenge and bloodshed rules the day despite Ben's struggle to get the women to safety. The action is commented upon with a philosophical air by the Voice of Death (Gene Raymond) in this downbeat film, which was released under several titles including Five Bloody Graves, The Gun Riders, and Five Bloody Days to Tombstone. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Scientist Alex March (John Agar) is working on developing what he hopes will be a new, non-lethal form of nerve gas -- but following an accident in his lab, he discovers that not only is the gas deadly, but also that it has invaded his entire body, and his touch is instantly fatal to any other living thing. He also realizes that the only thing keeping him alive is the partial immunity that he has developed over the course of months of work, which will soon wear off. He goes into hiding in his employer's home, hoping that a cure can be found, but he's already begun to go mad, tormented by the deaths he's caused and the mounting pain as the gas begins to affect him. Finally, the gas transforms him into a scaly, misshapen creature (vaguely resembling the Lizard from Marvel Comics, who was also, interestingly, a stricken research chemist). He goes on a rampage through suburban Los Angeles while the police hunt for him, and his fiancée (Paula Raymond) desperately hopes that he'll come to his senses long enough to surrender and allow himself to be confined to a hospital. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Paladin (Richard Boone) is among those startled when Miss Macintosh (Paula Raymonds) walks into the lobby of the Hotel Carleton and begins firing a rifle. It turns out that Miss Macintosh had been gunning for Rudy Rossback (Jack Weston), the man who killed her brother during the Civil War. Subsequently failing in her efforts to hire Paladin to knock off Rossback, Miss Macintosh then engages the services of a sadistic gunslinger (Ron Soble) who intends to kill both Paladin and Rossback in a grimly unique fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Gerry Mayer, nephew of MGM-head Louis B. Mayer, proved that nepotism had nothing to do with his hiring by turning out the first-rate historical melodrama Inside Straight. The film begins in 1870 San Francisco, as the city is threatened with financial disaster due to overspeculation on the Comstock Lode. David Brian stars as local tycoon Rip MacCool, who in a series of flashbacks recalls his rise to prominence. While wheeling and dealing with other people's money, MacCool loves and loses two wives: Lily Douvane (Arlene Dahl) takes him for every penny he's got, while Zoe Carnot (Paula Raymond) dies in childbirth. Back in the present, MacCool is forced to make a fateful decision that will, for once, benefit someone else rather than himself. In a supporting role as town banker Ada Stritch, Mercedes McCambridge figures prominently in the final sequence, in which everything hinges on the titular poker hand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bart (Jack Garner) offers a helping hand to farmer Henry Albright (John Qualen), who wants to start a gold mining company. Briefly putting his gambling activities on the back burner, Bart goes into the stockbroking business, issuing certificates for Albright's mine in a frontier "Chinatown" district. As usual, however, things go awry for Mr. Maverick, and before long the only thing he is brokering is a heap of trouble. The great Asian character actor Richard Loo plays a key role in this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Skeptical about paranormal phenomena, Arthur Douglas (Lin McCarthy) hypnotizes a woman named Ellen Larrabee (Jocelyn Brando), who claims to have experienced psychic visions. Awakening from her hypnosis, Ellen warns Douglas that he will soon be involved in a horrendous train wreck. Even so, Arthur has trouble believing Ellen's prognostications. . .until. . . Some sources have incorrectly identified this episode as "The Vision", which was telecast seven weeks later on One Step Beyond. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much to her astonishment, Eva Martell (played by Maggie Mahoney, the mother of Oscar-winning actress Sally Field) is paid $100 a day and installed in a luxurious apartment: all she has to do is impersonate another woman named Helen Reynolds (Paula Raymond). Eva and her Aunt Agnes (Sheila Bromley) begin to smell a rat when they notice that the apartment is being watched day and night by seedy private eye Melvin Slater (Joe De Santis). Investigating of Eva's behalf, Perry (Raymond Burr) is assured by the real Helen Reynolds that everything is on the up-and-up, though she won't reveal the reasons for the deception. Things take a really sinister turn when Slater is murdered and Aunt Agnes is arrested for the crime. This episode is based on a 1946 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perennial loser Larry Benton (Wynn Pearce) is convinced that he has killed a guy named Mike during a poker-game argument. Actually, Larry is the victim of a blackmail scam, perpetrated by a shady customer named Johnny Clay. After Larry forges his brother Steve's name on a check to Johnny, the blackmailer is murdered, whereupon Steve (Dick Foran) tries to cover for his ne'er-do-well sibling. In his efforts to save Steve from the gas chamber, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) must prove that the "late" Mike is still alive--if indeed he IS still alive! This episode is based on a short story by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Years before she played Dennis Mitchell's mom in TV's Dennis the Menace, Gloria Henry was a B-picture ingenue at Columbia. In Racing Luck, Gloria is top-billed as Phyllis Warren, sister of headstrong jockey Boots Warren (Stanley Clements). There's plenty of stock racetrack footage, intermingled with newly-lensed sequences of staged races. The plot is the usual "disgraced jockey redeems himself" folderol, told with speed if not freshness. Of special interest is the presence in the supporting cast of Dooley Wilson, who as we all know portrayed the legendary "Sam" in Casablanca (1942). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide