Allene Roberts Movies

Sterling Holloway returns as eccentric scientist Uncle Oscar, who while trying to cook up a formula for flavored stamp glue ends up with a powerful explosive. Rather than write down the entire formula, Uncle Oscar teaches vital segments of the formula to his talking parakeet Schuyler. A pair of foreign spies steal Schuyler and substitute a lookalike, then kidnap Oscar and his niece Nancy (Allene Roberts) in order to steal the explosive. This looks like a job for Superman (George Reeves)--but it may also prove to be his undoing, inasmuch as the loquacious Schuyler is savvy to Superman's "Clark Kent" guise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go after a particularly vicious gang of con artists who prey on the grieving relatives of recently deceased servicemen. The crooks' M.O. involves scanning the obituary columns, then persuading the families of dead soldiers to spend huge amounts of money on cheap merchandise which was ostensibly purchased by the decedents (a variation of this scam was later used by door-to-door Bible salesman Ryan O'Neal in the theatrical feature Paper Moon). The final scene finds Joe and Frank catching up with gang leader Betty McGraw (Gloria Saunders) during a party in her apartment. This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of November 23, 1950. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when the body of 21-year-old Helen Corday, who has been bludgeoned to death with a tire iron, is found in a vacant lot. Unfortunately, the only clue is the footprint of a very popular brand of tennis shoe. After several dead-end interrogations and dozens of false leads, the detectives arrest Frank Larson (Stacy Harris), who has been caught in the act of attack a young babysitter. Even so, there isn't quite enough proof to put the noose around Larson's neck---obliging Joe and Frank to indulge in a neat bit of psychological warfare. This episode is based on one of the earliest Dragnet radio broadcasts, originally heard on July 7, 1949. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson) pays a visit to his Aunt Louisa (Sarah Padden) who lives in a lighthouse off the coast of Maine. Upon arrival, Jimmy begins to suspect that something is amiss: Though he's never met Aunt Louise, she sure doesn't live up to her description. And besides, there's a sinister looking "cousin" (Jimmy Ogg) and a very terrified young woman (Allen Roberts) on the premise. It is up to Clark Kent (George Reeves) to figure out that the lighthouse is being used by a gang of smugglers--and it's up to Kent's alter ego Superman to save Jimmy from a watery doom.. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the words of its star Leonard Nimoy, Kid Monk Baroni was the sort of film that "made unknowns out of celebrities." The young Nimoy is actually quite good as the title character, a boxer whose misshapen face has earned him the unwelcome nickname "Monk." Formerly an unregenerate street punk, Baroni is set on the proper path by parish priest Father Callahan (Richard Rober). Unfortunately, a run-in with his old gang forces Baroni to skip town. He becomes a professional pugilist under the aegis of manager Hellman (Bruce Cabot), taking out his pent-up frustrations in the ring. Able to afford plastic surgery, Baroni buys himself a handsome new face--and, with it, a dangerously oversized ego. Hoping to protect his new face from harm, Baroni washes out in the boxing ring, but redemption--and a lasting romance with Emily Brooks (Allene Roberts)--await just around the corner. Kid Monk Baroni was well-directed by Harold Schuster, whose previous efforts included My Friend Flicka and So Dear to My Heart. A flop at the box office, the film did nothing for the career of Leonard Nimoy, who was obliged to spend the next 15 years in relative obscurity before attaining a second chance at big-time stardom with TV's Star Trek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The creative team of producer Harry Joe Brown and star Randolph Scott turned out some of the best westerns of the 1950s, and Santa Fe is no exception. Set in the years following the Civil War, the film casts Scott as Britt Canfield, one of four ex-Confederate brothers who head West to carve out a new life. While his three siblings (Jerome Courtland, Peter Thompson and John Archer) cast their lot on the wrong side of the law, Britt accepts a job with the Santa Fe Railroad. Inevitably, Britt is obliged to bring his wayward brothers to justice, though he knows full well that the person responsible for their downfall is "untouchable" gambling boss Cole Sanders (Roy Roberts). In a well-staged climax, Britt squares accounts with the evil Sanders and his hulking henchman Crake (Jock O'Mahoney). Curiously, many TV prints of Santa Fe were processed with the soundtrack slightly out of sync with the action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Union Station is a tense crime thriller in the tradition of The Naked City that unfolds in Los Angeles. William Holden plays railroad worker Lt. William Calhoun. Calhoun goes into action when Lorna Murchison (Allene Roberts), the sightless daughter of millionaire Henry Murchison (Herbert Heyes), is kidnapped by ruthless Joe Beacon (Lyle Bettger). The abduction is witnessed by Joyce Willecombe (Nancy Olson), Murchison's secretary. Using the handful of clues provided by Joyce, Calhoun and his associate, Inspector Donnelly (Barry Fitzgerald) do their best to second-guess the kidnapper. The film's most harrowing scene finds Beacon abandoning the blind and helpless Lorna in a deserted car barn in the deepest recesses of the titular station. Jan Sterling co-stars as Marge, Beacon's conscience-stricken moll. Former cinematographer Rudolph Mate does a nice, neat job as director, seamlessly matching location shots with studio mockups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though Humphrey Bogart is the official star of Knock on Any Door, the film is essentially a showcase for Columbia's newest young male discovery John Derek. The first production of Bogart's Santana company, the film casts Bogart as attorney Andrew Morton. A product of the slums, Morton is persuaded to take the case of underprivileged teenager Nick Romano (Derek), who has been arrested on a murder charge. Through flashbacks, Morton demonstrates that Romano is more a victim of society than a natural-born killer. Though this defense strategy does not have the desired result on the jury thanks to the badgering of DA Kernan (George Macready), Morton does manage to arouse sympathy for the plight of those trapped by birth and circumstance in a dead-end existence. As Nick Romano, John Derek would never be better, nor would ever again play a character who struck so responsive a chord with the audience. Nick's oft-repeated credo--"Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse"--became the clarion call for a generation of disenfranchised youth. Director Nicholas Ray would later expand on themes touched upon in Knock on a Any Door in his juvenile delinquent "chef d'oeuvre" Rebel without a Cause. Viewers are advised to watch for future TV personalities Cara Williams and Si Melton in uncredited minor roles. Knock on Any Door spawned a belated sequel in 1960, Let No Man Write My Epitaph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Susan Peters, a fine actress of the 1940s whose career was curtailed by an accident which left her wheelchair-bound, utilizes her handicap to her advantage in Sign of the Ram. Peters plays an invalid wife and mother who exercises dictatorial control over all around her. Peters' loved ones are willing to forgive her nastiness due to her condition--a fact that she realizes fully and exploits to the utmost. Eventually her atrocious behavior leaves Peters alone and friendless, but even in her darkest moments she insists upon being a "control freak" and engineers her own spectacular death. Far more tasteful than it sounds, Sign of the Ram was a worthwhile valedictory vehicle for Susan Peters, who died a few years after the film's release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide