Gloria Saunders Movies
- 1961
Taking a midnight stroll on a London bridge, starving artist Ralph Terrance (Herbert Patterson) makes the acquaintance of a beautiful but strange young girl named Lilith (Gloria Saunders). Despite the girl's curiously fatalistic view of life, Ralph agrees to meet her again on several successive nights, just as Big Ben strikes 12. Slowly and inexorably, Ben is drawn into a life of crime by the predatory Lilith--who seems determined to live up to the reputation of her Biblical namesake, the legendary "storm demon" who destroyed everything she touched. Though included in the One Step Beyond syndication package, this episode was actually filmed for the earlier TV anthology Stars Over Hollywood, and was first telecast November 8, 1950. (The June 13, 1961 rebroadcast date is in doubt: According to TV Guide, One Step Beyond was pre-empted that particular evening for an ABC news special). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1953
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
- 1953
When Gloria Grahame signed her contract at Columbia Pictures, she had no idea the studio would require her to appear in anything available. Rather than go on suspension, she consented to star in the "Arabian nights" fiasco Prisoners of the Casbah, but her discomfort with the assignment is obvious in every scene. Grahame plays a Moroccan Princess, while Turhan Bey is the lowborn thief who loves her. The plot decrees that Grahame must marry Turhan to escape death at the hands of her enemies, and the script has a lot of fun with the custom of a groom being able to wed or cast away his bride simply by saying "I Marry You" or "I Divorce You" three times. Cesar Romero, playing the villain, is the only actor who looks like he's enjoying himself. Prisoners of the Casbah was another tarnished gem from anything-for-a-buck producer Sam Katzman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Grahame, Cesar Romero, (more)
- 1953
In this pivotal episode (written directly for television, with no previous radio version) Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate a series of robbery-assaults committed by a husband-and-wife team of criminals. The couple has been checking into various hotels, whereupon the woman (Gloria Saunders) feigns illness. When a doctor is summoned, the couple rob him of his narcotics. Catching up with the crooks, Friday is forced to shoot it out with the male suspect--and in so doing he kills a man for the first time in his police career. The climax finds a shaken Joe Friday discussing the events of the day with his sympathetic girlfriend Ann Baker (Dorothy Abbott). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Historically important as the first CinemaScope feature film, 20th Century-Fox's The Robe is fine dramatic entertainment in its own right. Based on the best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, the film stars Richard Burton as the wastrelly Roman tribune who is assigned by a weary Pontius Pilate (Richard Boone, who spends the whole of his single scene washing his hands) to supervise the crucifixion of Christ. After the Seven Last Words, the jaded Burton wins Christ's robe in a dice game. Gradually, the mystical influence of the holy garment transforms Burton from a roistering cynic into a True Believer--at the cost of his own life, which he willingly gives up in the service of his Lord. Also starring in The Robe are Jean Simmons as Burton's pious childhood sweetheart, Victor Mature as his Christian-convert slave Demetrius (an excellent performance--in fact, Mature is more believable than Burton!), Michael Rennie as the disciple Peter, and Jay Robinson as the raving Emperor Caligula. Mature, Rennie and Robinson would appear in the 1954 sequel to The Robe, the hurriedly assembled Demetrius and the Gladiators. Watch and listen for the unbilled contributions of Michael Ansara as Judas and Cameron Mitchell as the voice of Jesus. The film won three Academy Awards, and a special Oscar bestowed upon Fox for the development of CinemaScope. For many years, the TV prints of the Robe were struck from the "flat," standard-ratio version shot simultaneously with the widescreen version. Only recently has the CinemaScope The Robe been made available to cable TV (shown in "letterbox" format to allow home viewers the full picture). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1953
A priceless Chinese jade statuette is stolen just before it is to be donated to the National Museum. The culprit is the misguided Harry Wong (Victor Sen Yung), a resident of Metropolis' Chinatown, who has arranged the theft because of a falling out with his prospective father-in-law. Superman (George Reeves) works together with Inspector Henderson (Robert Shayne) to recover the statuette and prevent Wong from ruining his life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Based on the popular long-running comic strip by Milton Caniff, Terry and the Pirates was an adventure series starring John Baer as Colonel Terry Lee, who travels the Orient in search of a gold mine he inherited from his grandfather. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Baer, William Tracy, (more)
- 1952
Assembled by the same production team responsible for the science fiction mini-classic The Man From Planet X, Captive Women is a mixed-bag post-apocalyptic melodrama. After a windy opening lecture about the dangers of atomic power, the story moves ahead to the year 3000. New York City is now a radioactive, bombed-out shell, populated by three groups: the "Norms," the "Mutes," and the "Uprivers." The Norms are cavedwellers, the Uprivers a barbarous people who demonstrate lawlessness and territorial aggression and live in a tunnel beneath the Hudson River, and the Mutes hideously disfigured yet peaceloving surface dwellers. The groups engage in many violent skirmishes, until the Uprivers are wiped out by a massive flood. Now, the only hope for mankind's future is the romance between Mute-man Riddon (Ron Randell) and Norm-woman Ruth (Margaret Field, the mother of actress Sally Field). Production values are better than one might expect, though the film suffers from rather shoddy special effects. Captive Women was released in England as 3000 AD. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, (more)
- 1952
Monogram's on-and-off "Northwest Mountie" series was on again with 1952's Northwest Territory. Ostensibly based on a James Oliver Curwood story, the film stars Kirby Grant as RCMP officer Rod Webb and Webb's dog Chinook as "himself." Left in charge of the grandson of a murdered prospector, Webb vows to bring in the killers. This he does, but not before encountering all sorts of perils in the Great North. The heroine is played by Gloria Saunders, an actress normally associated with such exotic roles as "The Dragon Lady" on the TV version of Terry and the Pirates. Star Kirby Grant would later achieve TV fame as the star of Sky King. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirby Grant, Gloria Saunders, (more)
- 1952
Red Snow utilizes several reels of documentary footage around which to construct a fictional Cold War plotline. Guy Madison stars as a US pilot, sent to the Bering Straits to investigate suspicious activities. Madison teams with Eskimo soldier Ray Mala to discover that the rascally Russians--only 35 miles away from Alaska--are up to no good. It's up to the Good Guys to stop the Reds from developing a top-secret weapon. Much of Red Snow is taken up by pedestrian footage of real Eskimos going about their usual daily activities, while the narrative contrives to impose a hidden meaning on the most innocent of gestures and reactions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Madison, Ray Mala, (more)
- 1951
On a pure storytelling level, Crazy Over Horses is one of the best entries in Monogram's "Bowery Boys" series. This time, Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the gang come into possession of a race horse. Slip is convinced that the horse, which he'd picked up as payment for a debt owed to sweet-shop owner Louie (Bernard Gorcey) by stable owner Flynn (Tim Ryan), is a thoroughbred. For once, he's right: the nag had been left with Flynn by a group of gamblers who'll do anything to get her back, even unto switching horses on the boys. The film leads steadily and logically to an exciting racetrack climax, capped by a final confrontation with the crooks. Comic patsy Huntz Hall is curiously unpleasant and abrasive in Crazy Over Horses, though he reverts to his old bumbling self in an extended sequence wherein he disguises himself as a black stablehand (this scene is usually removed when the film is shown on television). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1951
Dick Powell stars in this suspenseful melodrama, directed by Robert Parrish. Rocky Mulloy (Powell) has recently returned from prison, after being pardoned from a life sentence when new evidence clears him from a robbery conviction. Delong (Richard Erdman), a crippled Marine veteran who concocted the new evidence that got Mulloy released, thinks that Mulloy will be so grateful that he will cooperate with him and share some of the $100,000 Mulloy supposedly has hidden somewhere from the robbery. But Mulloy has other ideas -- instead he wants the use his pardon as a chance to bring the real guilty parties involved in the crime to justice and to help out a needy friend who is still in the penitentiary. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, (more)
- 1946
Set during WWII, this taut and suspenseful espionage outing chronicles the courage of a brand-new cadre of specially trained American O.S.S. agents who parachute into France to destroy the vital Corbett Mallon tunnel to stop the German invaders from shipping supplies to their troops. One of the spies is a woman, and this bothers the group leader, who doubts her abilities. She soon proves herself, and the two embark on several exciting adventures before and after the completion of their mission. Along the way, the two manage to fall in love. Unfortunately, their commitment to duty is necessarily greater than their love and one of them will make a great sacrifice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Geraldine Fitzgerald, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, a messenger boy does a remarkable imitation of Bing Crosby and finds himself surrounded by luscious little bobby-soxers. One woman is so impressed by his Crosbiesque crooning that she takes him New York and convinces investors to bank on him. Unfortunately, she accidentally sells the shares for 125 percent of the profits. Fortunately, by the end, the situation is rectified. Songs include: "June Comes Around Every Year," "Out Of This World" (Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen), "I'd Rather Be Me" (Eddie Cherkose, Felix Bernard, Sam Coslow), "All I Do Is Beat That Golden Drum" (Coslow, sung by Cass Daley), "It Takes A Little Bit More" (Coslow), "A Sailor With An Eight-Hour Pass" (Ben Raleigh, Bernie Wayne, sung by Daley) and "The Ghost Of Mr. Chopin" (Coslow). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake, (more)
