Rex Reason Movies

'Tis murder most foul when actor Franz Lachman (Jeff Morrow), starring in a stage production of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", is stabbed to death during Romeo's duel with Paris. There needs no ghost come from the grave to tell you that the police charge Steve Brock (Rex Reason), the actor playing Paris, with murder. In his efforts to save the star-cross'd Brock from the gas chamber, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) concludes that "the play's the thing," wherein he'll catch the conscience of the real murderer. Thus, Perry moves the trial to the scene of the crime--then asks the "Romeo and Juliet" troupe to re-enact the events leading up to the moment that Lachman shuffled off his mortal coil. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A depressed race horse and a lonely boy come together in this touching drama. The horse gets the blues when it loses the dog that was his constant companion. The boy is lonely after his father remarries and sends him to live on his grandfather's ranch. While wandering around one day, the boy and his own dog encounter a rattler and a cougar; they then meet a young girl and the blue racer. Upon seeing the boy's dog, the horse immediately perks up, and the two become friends. This causes the girl to beg the boy to let the dog stay with the horse. At the story's end, the boy finally relents and allows the dog to be with his new friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this drama, a former Air Force hero becomes frustrated when he is pulled from active duty and is forced to train recruits at Edwards Air Force Base. He finds instructing the young fighter pilots terribly tedious. His frustration is compounded by his fear that one of his handsome bucks will steal his pretty girl friend. This causes him to become an angry, unfair teacher. Later, the reluctant instructor learns an invaluable lesson when he is forced to save one of his best students from certain death. Suddenly he begins taking his job seriously; as a result he becomes a respected and beloved teacher. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren, this Southern potboiler stars Yvonne DeCarlo as Amantha Starr, the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner. When her father unexpectedly dies, Amantha discovers that her father was deep in debt and the family is penniless, and she is forced to drop out of the exclusive girls' school she was attending. What's more, it is discovered that Amantha has a small amount of African-American blood, and under the laws she is to be sold into slavery in New Orleans. Amantha is purchased by Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), a dashing, wealthy, but mysterious landowner. While Amantha is at first terrified by her new situation, in time she grows fond of Hamish and becomes romantically involved with him. However, the outbreak of the Civil War leads to Union forces taking New Orleans; RauRu (Sidney Poitier), Hamish's trusted overseer, joins the Northern forces as the Rebels go down in defeat. RauRu hates Amantha for literally sleeping with the enemy, and Hamish for the corrupt system he represents, but his last remaining threads of loyalty prevent him from taking them prisoner. With his crops destroyed, Hamish must rebuild his empire from the ground up, and, as he joins forces with his former associate Capt. Canavan (Torin Thatcher), he must reveal a shameful secret to Amantha: he once earned his living as a slave trader. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Another "pocket" adventure film from 20th Century-Fox's Regal Films subsidiary, Under Fire is set during WW2. Four American soldiers are charged with desertion and murder. Their counsel (Rex Reason) tries to get to the bottom of his clients' motivations. It turns out that the actual culprits were Germans dressed as American GIs. Why, then, won't the accused men tell this to the judge? Surprisingly, the answer lies in the old adage "Love of money is the root of all evil." Billed second in Under Fire is Henry Morgan--not the comedian of the same name, but instead the character actor better known as Harry Morgan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This is the final installment in Universal's uneven "Gill Man trilogy," which began with Creature From the Black Lagoon and was followed by Revenge of the Creature, is the least interesting of the bunch. The story finds the prehistoric amphibian far from his Amazon home, kept under close scientific scrutiny in a special facility in Florida. After a laboratory fire severely damages the creature's gills, the head of the research team (Jeff Morrow) initiates an operation that will allow their subject to breathe through a set of latent lungs. After some attempts are made to acclimate the creature to life among human beings, Morrow's plans are destroyed by his own pettiness when one of his colleagues (Gregg Palmer) makes romantic overtures toward his wife, leading to a violent confrontation that leaves the creature badly injured. Alone in alien territory, the Gill Man resolutely shuffles off into the sea -- presumably to commit suicide, since he no longer possesses the ability to breathe underwater. This disappointing conclusion to the series makes little use of the 3-D thrills that enlivened the original and forsakes the opportunity to present a literal fish-out-of-water story in favor of hackneyed melodrama. Champion diver Ricou Browning again portrays the creature in the underwater sequences, with Don Megowan donning the gill-less Gill Man suit on land. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

For reasons that defy logic, the excellent This Island Earth was held up for ridicule as an allegedly bad movie in the film version of TV's Mystery Science Theater. If not the best science-fiction film of the 1950s, Earth is certainly one of the most intelligent and elaborate. The story begins when the image of Exeter (Jeff Morrow), a huge-domed scientific genius from the planet Metaluna, appears on an experimental 3D television screen. Exeter invites several noted scientists from around the world to work on a top-secret project at Exeter's earthly mansion. Among those accepting the invitation are Cal Meacham (Rex Reason) and his ex-fiancee Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue). Soon, Cal and Ruth learn Exeter's true motives; to use the Earth's atomic knowhow in building a defense shield to protect Metaluna against the enemy planet Zahgon. Eventually, Exeter boards his high-tech flying saucer and whisks Cal and Ruth off to his dying planet, where, among other perils, they are menaced by a hideous mutant. Based on a novel by Raymond F. Jones, This Island Earth is one of those rare 1950s speculative films that holds up as well today as it did when first released, despite the comparative quaintness of the special effects and high-tech paraphernalia. Incidentally, the climactic Metalunan scenes were directed by Universal's resident sci-fi specialist, Jack Arnold. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

To say that Lady Godiva is historically inaccurate is a moot point, since most historians agree that the whole Lady Godiva story never happened. At any rate, Maureen O'Hara stars in the title role, as the rebellious Saxon wife of a Norman nobleman. To show her fidelity to her people, and to protest Norman taxation, Lady Godiva rides naked through the streets of Coventry. All the elements of the original middle-ages legend are in attendance, including the blinding of "Peeping Tom" (about the only effective moment in the whole film). Whatever audience titillation there might have been in the dreary climactic ride was dissipated by tons of studio publicity which insisted that Maureen O'Hara wasn't really naked under her long red tresses. Lady Godiva is interesting only for its supporting cast, including such veterans as Victor McLaglen and a few newcomers like Clint Eastwood. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Captain George Slocum (John Hodiak) and First Lieutenant Jerry Barker (Todd Karns) are longtime friends, assigned to the same US Army outfit in Korea during 1950, training South Korean army pilots in flying L5 observation planes. The L5's are slow-moving propeller aircraft, made mostly of wood and fabric and seemingly out-of-place in modern warfare -- but they're absolutely essential to military maneuvers and gunnery, even in the post-World War II era. George is sent to Japan just before Jerry's younger brother Pete (John Derek), also a pilot and a newly-minted second lieutenant, is due to arrive there. Pete is bold and brash, with his plane and his women, far beyond his early twenty-something age -- this gets him nowhere, either with hard-boiled nurse Audrey Totter or the brass, and he quickly reveals himself a to be a hot-headed screw-up who cannot follow orders or obey regulations. Slocum would like to take Pete under his wing, but the younger pilot isn't getting the message, and a day later North Korea invades its neighbor to the south and both men are ordered into combat. Their arrival at Kimpo Air Base -- where Jerry is stationed -- is a true baptism-of-fire, the field littered with bodies and wrecked aircraft and under attack by insurgents with automatic weapons. The wounded Jerry is killed before they can get him to safety, and only Slocum's cool head saves him and Pete, or their planes, which allows them to spirit two VIP passengers to safety -- and Pete nearly manages to turn that into a disaster as well. Slocum recognizes the emergency before them and wants everything done by the book, but Pete can't let go of the idea of revenge, and soon rigs his slow-moving low-altitude L5 plane with a bazooka, with which he plans to hit any targets of opportunity that come up on his observation flights. For his trouble he loses his plane and comes close to getting captured. Pete would be treading dangerously close to a court martial, but for the fact that their CO (Rex Reason) is desperately short of pilots. It takes a North Korean attack on their headquarters and its aftermath to get Pete to literally straighten up and fly right. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

"Her Salome Will Steal Your Breath Away" was the classic advertising slogan attached to this opulent Rita Hayworth epic -- a slogan which became laughable whenever a radio announcer would mispronounce Salome as "salami." Using the very sketchy Biblical story of the death of John the Baptist as its springboard, Salome depicts its title character, the stepdaughter of King Herod, as a victim of circumstance rather than a wanton temptress. Banished from Rome because of an unfortunate romance with the nephew of Caesar, Salome (Rita Hayworth) declares that all men are her enemies, but her resolve weakens when she falls in love with Claudius (Stewart Granger), the military commander of Galilee. Meanwhile, Salome's wicked mother, Herodias (Judith Anderson), plots the demise of John the Baptist (Alan Badel), who currently enjoys the protection of the superstitious Herod (Charles Laughton). At this point, the story departs radically from Scripture. Salome is no longer coerced by Herodias to demand the head of John the Baptist; instead, Herodias, on her own, promises Herod that Salome will perform the "Dance of the Seven Veils" for him -- but only if he beheads John first (Salome has been misinformed that the dance will save John from the headsman's sword). Somehow, scriptwriter Jesse Lasky Jr. even manages to concoct a happy ending for poor Salome, which is a lot more than Oscar Wilde or Richard Strauss were able to do. Considered an artistic flop in 1953, Salome seems somewhat better today, if only because of that powerhouse cast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi