Ralph Sanford Movies

In this entry in the "Henry Latham" comedy series, the parsimonious Henry protests the rising cost of meat and decides to take up hunting for wild game. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While far from the only good film on boxing, Champion is perhaps the best drama ever based on the fight game. It is remarkable for a number of things: the unrelenting, grinding logic that leads to the hero's tragic fate; the beautiful cinematography and editing that make it a masterpiece of light and shadow; near-perfect performances by everyone, from Kirk Douglas as Midge Kelly, down to the actor who plays a sleazy small-time ring manager; and the boost it gave to the budding careers of Douglas and others. The basic story has been told many times, but never so powerfully: a poor, ambitious boy accidentally learns that he is a "natural" boxer, and that he might "go all the way." He wins his early fights with ease and, at last, in the big one, he becomes champion of the world. Then rot sets in. He lives it up, deserts his loved ones and best friends, and loses his physical and moral advantages. Near the end -- out of condition, demoralized -- the champion loses (or almost loses) his boxing crown. Finally, he grits his teeth, returns to rigorous training and to people he really likes, and he regains (or holds onto) the championship.

Part of Champion's dramatic superiority is in its brilliant revealing of the boxer through the eyes of other people in his life. There are good guys: Midge's brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy); his tough but honest trainer (Paul Stewart); his wife, Emma (Ruth Roman); and Johnny Dunne, the up-and-coming contender he eventually beats. There are bad guys: the manager who cheats him in his first, amateurish fight; two successive "owners," of the diner where Midge and Connie try to be entrepreneurs and end up as dishwashers; the blonde siren (Marilyn Maxwell) who abandons Johnny Dunne and helps corrupt Midge; and the mob-connected promoter Harris, who gets Midge his championship bout. There are ambiguous in-betweens, like Palmer (Lola Albright) who is Harris' wife, but who loves Midge and is, perhaps, loved in return. Then there is Midge himself. Unlike Charlie in Body and Soul (John Garfield, 1947) or the hero of the Rocky quintuplets (Sylvester Stallone, 1976-1990), Midge is not a basically nice guy who's been led astray. His ambition, arrogance, and stubbornness make him at once villain and hero. These "fatal flaws" contain, as surely as in Macbeth or Othello, the seeds of the champ's ultimate dissolution. Midge is dealt his share of life's unfairness and bad luck. Yet it is not the events themselves, but his bitter, violent responses to each blow that seal his doom. The final irony comes when he makes his comeback. In the last round of the last fight, his most manly virtues -- bull-like strength and stubborn stamina -- bring about both victory and defeat.

Too bad that this wonderful film -- nominated for six Oscars including Best Actor -- won only an Academy Award for Film Editing (Harry Gerstad) and a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography (Franz Planer). All the acting performances are superb: Champion was the breakthrough role for Douglas; his Oscar nomination led to many later starring vehicles. Champion also launched the careers of actresses Roman and Albright, and has what is probably Marilyn Maxwell's finest performance as the unforgettable gold digger Grace Diamond. And all that terrific acting certainly implies some credit for director Mark Robson, who went on to do award winners like Bright Victory and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Regardless of what Oscars it won or didn't win, Champion is a landmark film that should be on everyone's must-see list. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide

This comedy focuses on a nuclear scientist who believes that his dead brother has been reincarnated as a dog. ~ All Movie Guide

Ham Fisher's comic-strip pugilist Joe Palooka is once more visualized on-screen in Monogram's Winner Take All. In this one, soft-hearted boxer Joe (Joe Kirkwood) is approached by a trio of gamblers, who want him to throw an upcoming bout. Naturally he refuses, but has cause to regret this decision when the crooks claim to have kidnapped Joe's young ward Tommy (Stanley Clements). When he discovers that the abduction is a hoax, Joe wins the fight and settles accounts with the bad guys. William Frawley costars as Joe's trainer Knobby Walsh (a role played in subsequent "Joe Palooka" entries by Leon Errol), while Elyse Knox, real-life wife of athlete Tom Harmon, plays Palooka's ever-loving fiancee Ann Howe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Shaggy is a lovable dog, owned by equally lovable young George Nokes. The put-upon pooch is accused of killing sheep by a grouchy neighbor. The real villain is a wolf, which is eventually dispatched by faithful, fearless Shaggy. Before this happens, however, Nokes spends most of his screen time trying to establish a common ground with his new stepmother Brenda Joyce, who hates the great outdoors and everything connected with it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An unimportant but likeable Republic drama, Web of Danger revolves around the rivalry between two hardhat bridge-builders. Ernie (Bill Kennedy) and Bill (Damian O'Flynn) spend most of the footage duking it out, usually over a "dame". But when the chips are down, our heroes work side by side to complete the bridge on time. The climax finds Ernie, Bill and their coworkers rushing to finish a bridge in order to evacuate a flooded valley (courtesy of generous stock footage from previous Republic epics). Adele Mara plays the romantic bone of contention between the two pugnacious protagonists. For the record, director Phillip Ford was the nephew of John Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a novelist visits a local nightclub to do some research for her upcoming novel. Her husband, away on a business trip, knows nothing of her shenanigans. While in the club, the novelist sees her boss out with a stripper. To help her husband's flagging career, the writer begins blackmailing her employer into promoting him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

If Eagle-Lion's Out of the Blue looks more like a slick Warner Bros. product at times, it's because the film was peopled by former Warners personnel, both in front of and behind the cameras. George Brent and Carole Landis play the Earthleighs, tenants in a roomy Greenwich Village apartment. When Mr. Earthleigh isn't being nagged by his domineering bride, he's enmeshed in a feud with his neighbor, loose-living artist David (Turhan Bey). During his wife's absence, Earthleigh makes the mistake of inviting Olive (Ann Dvorak), a glamorous interior decorator who's somewhat the worse for drink, to his apartment. When Olive passes out on his floor, Earthleigh assumes that she's dead-and in the course of subsequent events, so does everyone else. Adding to the general zaniness is Deborah (Virginia Mayo), one of David's sexier models, who weaves in and out of the proceedings at the most inopportune moments, and a huge, cantankerous canine named Rabelais. Despite some formidable competition, the comedy honors in Out of the Blue are won hands-down by Ann Dvorak, in a truly offbeat performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Pine-Thomas Production was scripted by Geoffrey Homes (aka Daniel Mainwaring), best known as the author of the novel upon which the "film noir" classic Out of the Past was based. Robert Lowery plays victim-of-circumstance Tom Durling, in the wrong place at the wrong time when a bank robbery occurs. As the only witness to the crime, Durling is sought after by June Reynolds (Barbara Britton), who wants to prove that her brother, killed in the holdup, was innocent of complicity. Trouble is, the police have fingered Durling as their primary suspect, so he naturally wants to remain scarce. By film's end, however, Durling and June have taken it upon themselves to track down the villains. Unusual for its time was the film's depiction of its policeman characters, who are shown to be reasonable and intelligent rather than conclusion-jumping and dull-witted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This gentle, tuneful western is one of cowboy crooner Roy Rogers' best and most successful films; it is also his personal favorite. The fanciful tale tells how Rogers obtained his magnificent horse Trigger and begins with horse trader Rogers as he prepares to breed his best mare with his best friend's glorious Palomino stallion. Trouble comes in the form of a villainous gambler who has similar plans for his own mare. He attempts to rustle the stud, but the attempt fails, the stallion escapes and breeds with Roger's mare. Angrily, the gambler shows up and shoots the beautiful horse, leaving Rogers to shoulder the blame. Fortunately, Roy and his impregnated mare flee. Later she gives birth to Trigger who helps Rogers get revenge after he grows up. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In his first film after four-years of military duty, Gene Autry returns to a familiar setting: a modern western musical-comedy with accent on music and comedy. Crooning Jimmie Hodges' lilting "Someday You'll Want Me to Want You", cattle rancher Gene Autry is discovered by Hollywood talent scouts Sue Warner (Lynne Roberts) and Nelson "Nellie" Bly (Sterling Holloway), who convince him to give up ranching in favor of movie stardom. But unbeknownst to Gene only his voice is needed -- to flesh out cartoon character Ding Dong Donkey -- and the results prove highly embarrassing. Ashamed of her own part in the deception, Sue quits her job and obtains a position as Gene's ranch cook. Back at Paragon Pictures, a surreptitiously produced screen-test brings Autry's unquestionable talents to the attention of studio boss G.W. Rhodes (Pierre Watkin), who assigns former cartoon producer Jefferson Lang (Richard Lane) to lure the cattle rancher back to Hollywood. Desperate to get out of the animated movie business, Lang forms an alliance with Gene's sworn enemy, Big Gulliver (Ralph Sanford), but the resulting near-disaster is prevented in the nick of time by Sue and the ranch hands. Nearly wiped out, Gene signs a contract with Paragon and becomes a huge success as Hollywood's newest singing cowboy. Backed by the Cass County Boys, Autry performs Dick Thomas & Ray Freedman's title tune; "Oklahoma Hills" by Leon Guthrie; "Riding Double" by John Rox; and "Yours" by Gonzalo Roig and Jack Sherr. In accordance with a then new Republic Pictures policy, the latter is sung in both English and Spanish. A restored version of Sioux City Sue was released in 2001 by Gene Autry Entertainment. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this engagingly silly musical fantasy from the waning days of WW2, Fred MacMurray stars as Bill, who wants to serve his country but has been classified 4-F. While working at a local USO, Bill falls in love with the fickle Lucilla (June Haver, soon to be Mrs. Fred MacMurray), never realizing that he himself is worshipped from afar by the sensible Sally (Joan Leslie). Stumbling across an old lamp donated to a scrap drive, Bill impulsively rubs the lamp--and out pops Ali (Gene Sheldon), a bibulous, bumbling genie. Hoping to become a hero in Lucilla's eyes, Bill asks Ali to put him in the US Army. The genie complies, but gets his wires crossed, and Bill ends up in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In short order, Bill meets two lookalikes of the girls in his life at "Ye U.S.O.", shows up at Valley Forge and trades quips with General Washington (Alan Mowbray)--who, in anticipation of MacArthur and Eisenhower, bombastically insists that he has no political aspirations--unsuccessfully tries to alert Washington of the duplicity of Benedict Arnold (John Davidson), and ultimately finds himself behind enemy lines with a troop of Hessians, whom he tries to hoodwink by delivering a Nuremberg-style speech, replete with "Sieg Heils." Arrested and sentenced to a Hessian firing squad, Bill again summons Ali, who whisks him off to the year 1492. In an elaborate "opera bouffe", Bill musically dissuades the sailors serving under Christopher Columbus (Fortunio Bonanova) from staging a mutiny, convincing them to continue seeking out the New World (as represented by a group of Cuban natives in a conga line). Once on dry land, Bill is entranced by a comely Indian maiden who looks a lot like Lucilla, only to be entrapped in an old-fashioned "badger game" cooked up by the girl's wily Native American boyfriend (Anthony Quinn). Buying his way out of an embarrassing situation by agreeing to purchase Manhattan Island for $24, Bill is then transported to "New Amsterdam" in the mid-1600s. In his efforts to persuade the local Dutch elders that he is the rightful owner of Manhattan, Bill succeeds only in getting arrested again. This time, however, the drunken Ali manages to zap our hero back to the 20th Century--with the 17th-century equivalent of Sally in tow. The songs, by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, are appropriately bright and satirical, but none are standouts. Still, Where Do We Go From Here? is one of those frothy 1940s concoctions that is absolutely impossible to dislike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Twentieth Century-Fox couldn't make a film version of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Oklahoma in 1945--that particular Broadway musical would remain a "hot ticket" until the end of the decade--so the studio did the next best thing by hiring Rodgers & Hammerstein to pen the score for the Technicolorful State Fair. Fox had previously made a non-singing movie of Philip Stong's novel in 1933, with Janet Gaynor and Will Rogers in the leads. The musical remake downplayed the older characters in favor of the younger members of the cast. Set during the annual Iowa State Fair, the story concentrates on the Frakes family: father Charles Winninger, mother Fay Bainter, and grown-up children Jeanne Crain and Dick Haymes. Each has his or her own reason for attending the fair: Winninger intends to win the "prize hog" ribbon, Bainter hopes to defeat her longtime snooty rival in the "best pickle contest" (she wins when the judges get schnockered on the alcoholic "special ingredient" in her pickles), Crain falls in love with fast-talking journalist Dana Andrews, and Haymes woos footloose and fancy-free vocalist Vivian Blaine. Musical highlights include the Oscar-winning "It Might as Well be Spring," "It's a Grand Night for Singing," and the title number. To avoid confusion with the 1962 remake, the 1945 State Fair was for many years retitled It Happened One Summer for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide