Charles Russell Movies
Top-notch action sequences and exciting stunt work highlight this fast-moving thriller. John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a top agent in the U.S. Marshalls' Witness Protection Program; it's his job to "erase" the pasts of Federal witnesses under his watch and deal with anyone who tries to hurt them. Kruger's latest assignment is to protect Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams), who while working for a major weapons manufacturing firm discovered evidence that the company was selling new, high-tech weapons to intentional terrorists groups with the cooperation of a faction of enemy agents within the United States government. However, when Kruger discovers that the Witness Protection Program has a rat in the house -- and that rat is his boss, U.S. Marshall Robert Deguerin (James Caan) -- Kruger has to guard his own life while trying to protect Lee's. The supporting cast is highlighted by James Coburn, Robert Pastorelli, and James Cromwell. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, (more)
Hyperactive mayhem results when a mild-manned banker discovers an ancient mask that transforms him into a zany prankster with superhuman powers in this special-effects-intensive comedy. The wildly improvisational Jim Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a decent-hearted but socially awkward guy who one night finds a strange mask. Carrey's trademark energy reveals itself after Stanley puts on the mask and the banker transforms into The Mask, a green-skinned, zoot-suited fireball. The rubber-faced Mask possesses the courage to do the wild, fun things that Stanley fears, including romancing Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz). In addition to Carrey's physical talents, the film makes effective use of digital visual effects that bestow the Mask with superhuman speed, insane flexibility, and popping eyes out of a Tex Avery cartoon. The larger narrative, involving the efforts of Tina's gangster boyfriend to destroy Stanley and use the mask's powers for evil, prove less interesting than the anarchic comic set pieces, including a particularly memorable dance number to "Cuban Pete." The film delivered enough laughs to become a surprise hit and, along with the same year's Dumb and Dumber, establish Carrey's status as a comedy superstar. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, (more)
- 1964
Based on a novel by Laurence Meynell, this film tells of a young businessman from England who who gets involved in a scheme to inundate a small communist country in the Middle East with counterfeit money. Things do not go as planned when his wife begins digging into matters. This thriller runs a short 59 minutes. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Reynolds, Dermot Walsh, (more)
- 1961
Placed in command of France's Chateau de la Marre district in 1944, sadistic Nazi general Guenther Hautmann (Andrew Morell) prepares to ship all of the locals to work camps. First, however, he perversely throws the unfortunates a lavish party in a luxurious chateau, the site of a similar celebration held in 1723 by a despotic landowner. Hautmann even goes to great lengths to recreate the original party, down to the tiniest detail. But the guests who show up for the festivities are definitely not on the General's invitation list. This is one of several One Step Beyond episodes filmed in England. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Boris Sagal directs this film about a pair of crime-fighting motorcycle cops. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The 20th Century-Fox "B" unit under Sol M. Wurtzel was still alive and kicking as late as 1949. Wurtzel's Trouble Preferred stars Peggy Knudsen and Lynne Roberts as policewomen-in-training Dale Kent and Madge Walker. In Charlie's Angels fashion, the ladies are bored by the humdrum assignments they're given. Soon however, they get thrills and spills in spades when they come to the rescue of a would-be suicide. Equal portions of drama and comedy keep the film simmering for a full 63 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peggy Knudsen, Lynne Roberts, (more)
- 1949
Marsha Hunt seems far too mature and intelligent for the pulpish goings-on in Mary Ryan, Detective. Still, Hunt was a pro (for that matter, she still is), and she managed to survive this Columbia "B" without egg on her face. Assigned to get the goods on a notorious fence, detective Mary Ryan (Hunt) poses as a prison inmate to gain the confidence of one of her quarry's confederates. Upon being sprung from jail, Mary goes to work for the fence--and, predictably, nearly gets bumped off when her ruse is revealed. Featured in the cast are such crime-meller habitues as John Dehner, Ben Welden, Paul Bryar and Ralph Dunn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marsha Hunt, John Litel, (more)
- 1949
Former "Henry Aldrich" Jimmy Lydon had matured into a capable leading man by the time Tucson went before the cameras. Lydon plays Andy Bryant, a University of Arizona student whose grades suffer because of his preoccupation with an upcoming intercollegiate rodeo. Andy's father (Joe Sawyer) is more interested in embarrassing a rival at the rodeo than he is with his son's academic progress. When his lack of focus nearly causes a tragic accident in the university chemistry lab, Andy decides to hunker down and study. Western leading lady Penny Edwards has a thankless role as Lydon's campus sweetheart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Lydon, Penny Edwards, (more)
- 1949
Hurd Hatfield, star of MGM's lavish Picture of Dorian Gray (1944) finds himself in shabbier surroundings in Columbia's Chinatown at Midnight. Hatfield is cast as a homicidal thief Clifford Ward who picks no favorites when choosing his victims. The film is evenly divided between Ward's heinous activities and the methodical police investigation conducted by San Francisco police captain Howard Brown (Tom Powers). Columbia contractee Jean Willes plays a young innocent who is forced to accompany Ward during his escape, while Jacqueline de Wit is cast as the killer's foredoomed accomplice. Other performers on the premises include the always reliable Benson Fong and Victor Sen Yung. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hurd Hatfield, Jean Willes, (more)
- 1948
This preposterous post-WWII drama stars Flame the dog as a retired military pooch who lost his beloved master to the murderous hands of a trench-coat wearing Nazi. After the war, Flame was sent to retire in a peaceful hunting lodge. One day, three visitors come to the cabin. One of the suspicious fellows wears a trenchcoat identical to the one the killer war. Overcome by memories, Flame attacks the trio. Later his instincts are proven true when the three are proven to be German spies come to steal information about a nearby nuclear project. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Russell, Virginia Christine, (more)
- 1948
Charles Winninger plays the head of a vaudevillian family who, when jobs become scarce, takes a humble factory job. He dreams of sustaining a show-biz dynasty with his grown children, but none of them show any real interest in trodding the boards. Realizing that the golden days are past, Winninger allows his children to follow their own desires. Give My Regards to Broadway is a regulation 20th Century-Fox Technicolor musical, with all the story elements falling into place precisely when the audience expects them to. The film comes to life during the song and dance sequences featuring Winninger and top-billed Dan Dailey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Dailey, Charles Winninger, (more)
Based on the radio show of the same title, a young woman meets a gypsy who reads her fortune and predicts a terrible fate for the young woman. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1948
This suspenseful crime drama reenacts the famed 1947 prison break out of the Canon City, Colorado corrections facility and features the actual warden, Roy Best playing himself. The trouble begins when one prisoner manages to fashion a crude pistol. Enlisting the aid of eleven others, they successfully escape and terrorize the town until the warden and his men manage to round up the survivors and bring them back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Bennett, Warden Roy Best, (more)
- 1947
Based on John P. Marquand's Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical novel of the same title, this film stars Ronald Colman as George Apley, a Beantown blueblood passionately in love with his hometown. In his mind, Boston is the world's center of modern civilization and gentility and he has made it very clear that his son and daughter are to remain there for their entire lives and only associate with native Bostonians. Imagine poor Apley's horror, then, when his Harvard-student son falls in love with a Worcester girl and his daughter falls in love with a Yale student. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Edna Best, (more)
- 1946
In this adventure, a young woman travels across Europe in search of her brother who was listed as missing in action during WW II. He had earlier told her that should he ever disappear, he could be found on a certain tiny island. She and her brother's girl friend head off and meet a strange old man. Though his boat is 300 miles from the nearest sea, she asks him to take her to this strange "dream" island. Suddenly a violent storm comes up and the land is flooded. The little boat is flushed out to sea. The hapless drifters end up saved by the Coast Guard who returns them to the brother who has at long last returned. Songs include: "Give Me the Simple Life," "I Wish I Could Tell You," "Into the Sun" (Harry Ruby, Rube Bloom), and "Who Knows?" (Don Raye, Gene De Paul). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, June Haver, (more)
- 1946
In this drama, three veteran pilots from WW II decide to start their own air freight business. In order to earn enough money, one of them takes a dangerous job as a test pilot. His very pregnant wife objects, but this does not stop him. Fortunately, another partner scams him and ends up doing the testing himself despite that fact that he was grounded during the war for a strange nerve ailment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Crane, Faye Marlowe, (more)
- 1946
In this police drama, a busy precinct is thrown into chaos when the murdered corpse of a local detective is found in an abandoned car. Now the press is demanding to learn details. Meanwhile, an ambitious officer finds himself sorely tempted to use dishonest means to advance his political career. Things get even more muddled up when he falls in love with a female murder suspect. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Landis, William Gargan, (more)
- 1945
Famed WW1 aviator Eddie Rickenbacker once more entered the public's consciousness during WW2 when, while serving as an Air Force officer, he and several other pilots crashed into the Pacific. While the world anxiously awaited news of his fate, Rickenbacker and a handful of survivors floated for 19 days in a tiny rubber raft. Captain Eddie recreates this incident, using it as a framework for a series of flashbacks in which Rickenbacker (Fred MacMurray) reminisces on the high points of his life. He is seen experimenting with aviation in his backyard, working in an auto factory to finance his earliest flights, and wooing and winning the lovely Adelaide (Lynn Bari). When America enters WW1, Rickenbacker immediately signs up, eventually shooting down more enemy planes than any other American aviator. Back in "the present", Rickenbacker and his comrades (including Lloyd Nolan and Richard Conte as Lt. Whittaker and Private Bartek) struggle to stay alive while awaiting rescue. Darryl Hickman plays Rickenbacker as a boy, while Charles Bickford portrays his father William. The huge supporting cast includes amusing unbilled contributions by Grady Sutton ("The schottische is my fav-or-ite dance!") and George Chandler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Lynn Bari, (more)
The year is 1942: eight American airmen crash-land during the Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo and are taken prisoner. Though slated for execution, the pilots are put through a "show trial" by the military, on a charge of committing war crimes. The Japanese judges promise to be merciful if only the Americans will reveal vital US military secrets. But captain Dana Andrews speaks for the rest of his melting-pot crew-some of whom have been subjected to the most horrific of tortures--when he chooses death before dishonor. In its own way, The Purple Heart is as racist a piece of propaganda as was ever produced by Hollywood. The Japanese are shown to be little more than sadistic beasts (at one point, the judges interrupt the trial by moronically shouting "Banzai" after receiving news of a military victory), while hissing, buck-toothed interrogator Richard Loo ("I attended your...Amelican universities"), unable to admit that he's been wrong about Yankee resilience, commits hara-kiri. Remember, however, that The Purple Heart was made at a time when America was still at war with Japan, and political correctness was hardly a consideration. Its jingoism aside, the film is a first-rate piece of moviemaking, socked across by director Lewis Milestone with the same fervor that he'd expended on his anti-war masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, (more)
- 1943
Lupe Velez is "The Mexican Spitfire" in everything but name in the frantic baseball farce Ladies Day. Eddie Albert plays Wacky Waters, star pitcher of the Sox, a league-leading contender for the World Series. Alas, whenever Wacky falls in love, his game suffers-and so do the wives of his teammates, who are counting on that Series bonus money. When Wacky marries vivacious movie star Pepita Zorita (Velez), the wives, led by Hazel Jones (Patsy Kelly), take drastic action, kidnapping Pepita and hiding her out in a hotel room. But Pepita manages to wriggle out of the hotel towels that bind and gag, disguise herself as a bellboy, and head to the ballpark during the Big Game. Fortunately, Pepita turns out to be Wacky's prime motivation for winning the Series, and there's a happy ending for one and all. Pretty lame as far as baseball films go, Ladies Day will be best appreciated by fans of Lupe Velez and Patsy Kelly, who never speak when shouting will do. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1943
- NR
A major moneymaker for RKO Radio, Bombardier stars Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott as trainers at a school for bomber pilots. O'Brien and Scott argue over teaching methods, while their students vie for the affections of Anne Shirley. O'Brien's methods prove sound during a bombing raid over Tokyo. Scott and his crew are captured and tortured by the Japanese, but the mortally wounded Scott manages to set fire to a gas truck, providing a perfect target for his fellow bombardiers. Stylistically, Bombardier is one of the most schizophrenic of war films, with moments of subtle poignancy (the death of trainee Eddie Albert) alternating with scenes of ludicrous "Yellow Peril" melodrama (the Japanese literally hiss through their teeth as they torture the helpless Americans). Though it can't help but seem dated today, Bombardier remains an entertaining propaganda effort (the film is sometimes erroneously listed as the debut of Robert Ryan, who'd actually been appearing before the cameras since 1940). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, (more)
- 1943
After several months' heavy war duty, the crew of the British submarine Sea Tiger is enjoying a much-deserved leave, when suddenly they're called back to active duty. Sub commander John Mills has been ordered to pursue and sink the formidable German battleship Brandenburg. A series of nailbiting seaborne perils, each one more life-threatening than the last, awaits the Sea Tiger as Mills endeavors to carry out his orders. Setting the British We Dive at Dawn apart from the usual Hollywood submarine epic is the fact that all the characters-include the senior officers-are between the ages of 19 and 23; There's no room for an "old sea dog" Alan Hale or Charles Bickford in this one. Though modestly produced, We Dive at Dawn offers a million dollars (or a million pounds)' worth of pulse-pounding excitement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Portman, John Mills, (more)
Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British destroyer Torrin. Torpedoed in battle, the Torrin miraculously survives, and is brought back to English shores to be repaired. The paint is barely dry and the nuts and bolts barely in place before the Torrin is pressed into duty during the Dunkirk evacuation. The noble vessel is finally sunk after being dive-bombed in Crete, but many of the crew members survive. As they cling to the wreckage awaiting rescue, Coward and his men flash back to their homes and loved ones, and, in so doing, recall anew just why they're fighting and for whom they're fighting. Next to Coward, the single most important of the film's characters is Shorty Blake, played by John Mills. (Trivia note: Mills' infant daughter Juliet Mills appears as Shorty's baby.) Even so, the emphasis in the film is on teamwork; here as elsewhere, there can be no stars in wartime. For many years, the only prints available to television were from the bowdlerized American version, which crudely cut out all "hells" and "damns." Fortunately, this eviscerated American release has since been shelved in favor of the full, glorious 115-minute version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Noël Coward, John Mills, (more)
- 1941
This stirring wartime morale-booster stars John Clements in a virtual reprise of his "redeemed hero" role in The Four Feathers. Clements is cast as Lieutenant Stacey, a Fleet Arm Pilot whose recklessness causes the death of a fellow airman. Cashiered from the Service, Stacey becomes a mercenary charter pilot in the Mediterranean Island of Palmos. When the Nazis take over the island in the early stages of WWII, Stacey remains, but only because of his romance with cabaret singer Kay Gordon (Ann Todd). After his best friend (Edward Chapman) is murdered by the Nazis, Stacey's long-suppressed patriotism resurfaces, prompting him to embark upon a suicide mission to destroy a German dam site. Reportedly in production for 18 months, Ships With Wings was largely filmed on the decks of such authentic British aircraft carriers as the Ark Royal. At 140 minutes, the film is too long by half, but it never fails to come to life during the heart-stopping aerial sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Clements, Leslie Banks, (more)
