William Schallert Movies

A blend of melodrama and film noir, The Reckless Moment stars Joan Bennett as Lucia Harper, a suburban housewife whose husband is away on business. Her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), an aspiring artist, has fallen for Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), a shady older man from Los Angeles who claims to be an ex-art dealer. One night, after a secret rendezvous in the Harpers' boathouse that turns into an argument, Bea accidentally kills Darby. When Lucia discovers his body in the morning, she panics and dumps it in the lagoon instead of contacting the police, who would surely charge her daughter with murder. Her problems only increase when a suave Irish gangster named Donnelly (James Mason) shows up with a package of love letters from Bea to Darby, and blackmail on his mind. With her husband out of town, Lucia has no choice but to give in to his demands, and brings him along on a desperate quest to raise the money that takes them from bank to loan office to pawn shop. Along the way, Donnelly seems to develop sympathy -- even affection -- for her. When his boss shows up to pressure him into finishing the job, Donnelly's surprising decision sets up the film's startling climax. The Reckless Moment was remade in 2001 by Scott McGehee and David Seigel as The Deep End. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide

Fish-market worker Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) is named as a suspect when his boss -- with whom he had a dispute the previous day -- is shot to death in an apparent robbery. When he's arrested, his family appeals to their old friend James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), who was once a renowned criminal attorney but is now in civil practice. He resists their entreaties until he realizes that no decent attorney will handle the case properly; his daughter (Diana Lynn) watches with alarm, however, for we soon learn that Curtayne is an alcoholic, and that the major factor in his life that pushed him over the edge was the stress of having someone's life in his hands. He discovers soon enough just how much Johnny's life is in his hands when his client refuses to level with him about his real whereabouts on the night of the murder. He also realizes as the trial starts precisely how rusty he is in the courtroom, and the old stresses return -- and with them, his drinking. Curtayne not only manages to lose the case but destroys his career when he tries to buy off a larcenous prosecution witness. His client facing a death sentence and his own life and career in ruins, he's seemingly hit bottom, but then new evidence surfaces, of a nature that not even the ambitious prosecutor (John Hodiak) can ignore. Recognizing that his client was actually innocent and also acting in his silence -- however stupidly -- from the noblest of motives, Curtayne is willing to redeem himself by putting his own life on the line, confronting a killer who has taken more than one life without any compunction whatsoever, and who has no reason to spill anything.

The People Against O'Hara was a well-made, largely location-shot crime drama set in New York City, but it wouldn't have been nearly so prestigious a movie were it not for the presence of Spencer Tracy in the role of Curtayne. Ironically enough, he only agreed to do the film on the condition that his friend Pat O'Brien, who hadn't been in a major studio release in a couple of years, be given a large role, which he got as the lead detective on the case, and O'Brien and Tracy get a couple of really good scenes together. The film also includes an unbilled appearance by Charles Bronson, who was still working as Charles Buchinski in 1951, and is highlighted by a superb prominent supporting performance by William Campbell, who seems to quietly relish every nuance of his portrayal of a totally slimy character. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

An inexpensive but atmospheric sci-fi film, Man from Planet X takes place on a lonely Scottish island. Science professor Raymond Bond is monitoring the orbit of the mysterious "Planet X," which has entered the solar system and is travelling close to Earth. A spaceship lands from this planet, out of which pops a strange little man who looks something like an Easter Island statue. He has come to make contact with friendly Earthlings, but evil scientist William Schallert wants to exploit the spaceman's highly developed intellect for his own selfish ends. Schallert's nastiness turns the alien against the other Earthlings; the creature enslaves their minds and transforms them into zombies. Both Schallert and the alien are eventually destroyed--as Planet X, failing to establish a bond with Earth, spirals off into deep space. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In an obvious attempt to recreate some of the power and impact of Henry King's Twelve O'Clock High, Lesley Selander's Flat Top tells its story in flashback as Dan Collier (Sterling Hayden), a senior officer, recalls from the bridge of the carrier Princeton during the Korean War, the first squadron he commanded on the ship during World War II. Arriving as green recruits, the men resent Collier's grounding the most dedicated man in the squadron (Keith Larsen) for ignoring a wave-off; even more so, they fail at first to understand his sometimes harsh efforts at preparing them for battle against the Japanese -- we also get to meet the various men of the squadron, who are mostly identified by what they did in civilian life -- William Schallert plays a poet-turned-pilot named "Longfellow"; John Bromfield plays an ex-football player nicknamed "Snakehips". Most of the conflict centers on Collier and his efforts to make a good executive officer out of Joe Rodgers (Richard Carlson), who was already in the navy when he transferred to aviation but is too concerned with being popular with the men to be a good commanding officer. Meanwhile, the pilots face various conflicts, psychological and personal, as they move toward the thick of battle. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

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

Port Sinister was produced by the team of Aubrey Wisberg and Jack Pollexfen, whose chief claim to fame was the 1951 sci-fi "sleeper" The Man From Planet X. Soldier of fortune Tony Ferris (James Warren) leads an expedition to an island threatened with extinction by a volcano. No, Ferris isn't crazy: it is his belief that the eruption will reveal a fortune in buried pirate treasure. Surrounded by highly suspicious-looking characters, Ferris can trust only his longtime companion, Jean Hunter (Lynne Roberts) -- and even she doesn't seem too trustworthy. Originally distributed by RKO Radio, Port Sinister was re-issued by Realart Pictures in 1961 under the title Beast of Paradise Isle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The best film of Don Siegel's career to date, this surprisingly intelligent B-picture describes the dramatic arc of an organized rebellion at Folsom prison. The inmates, who are sick of living conditions which include rundown cells, brutal guards, dreadful food, and the presence of the seriously deranged in the general prison population, decide to stage a riot to demand change. Neville Brand stars as Dunn, the vocal prisoner who leads the uprising. After the inmates take some guards hostage, Dunn makes the prisoner's demands for reform known to the warden Emile Meyer. While acknowledging the validity of their grievances, for which he's already harangued politicians without success, he warns them that there's nothing that can be done immediately. As Dunn contacts media outlets to further publicize his cause, word of the riot spreads to other cell blocks, and they too become involved. Fearing a bloody mass insurrection, Meyer reluctantly calls in the militia. Dunn, who thus far has been able to restrain his disturbed cohort Carnie (Leo Gordon) from inciting violence, is beginning to lose control. Considering its limited budget, the film's impressive sense of authenticity derived partly from the experience of veteran producer Walter Wanger, who had spent four months in a minimum security facility for shooting the agent and lover of his wife, Joan Bennet. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

For The High and the Mighty, director William Wellman made a point of using Cinemascope to heighten the dramatic content of a confined screen space -- in this instance, the cockpit of a plane in flight. Copilot Dan Roman (John Wayne) seems a lot more in control of things than Captain John Sullivan (Robert Stack) when the plane loses an engine during a flight from Honolulu to San Francisco. Wellman crosscuts from the tension in the cockpit to the various subplots involving the plane's passengers, among them May Holst (Claire Trevor), Lydia Rice (Laraine Day), Howard Rice (John Howard), Sally McKee (Jan Sterling), Ed Joseph (Phil Harris), and Humphrey Agnew (Sidney Blackmer) (as a character named Humphrey Agnew -- a remarkable prescient cognomen given the future of the U.S. vice presidency!). Adapted by Ernest K. Gann from his best-selling novel, The High and the Mighty was one of the first (and most profitable) entries in the "terror in the sky" genre. Its theme music, written by Dimitri Tiomkin and whistled incessantly by John Wayne in the film, would later become a best-selling hit throughout the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A corrupt cop creates all kinds of problems in this crime drama. The trouble begins when he kills a bookie and then grabs $25,000. Later he tells his chiefs that he did it because he had to, but as no one was there to witness the killing, they are forced to take his word for it. Unfortunately for the bad egg, there was one witness. Fortunately for him, he manages to kill that witness. The killing alerts a detective who was once framed by the crook and another gangster. The detective's investigations lead him to the bad apple's newly built suburban home, in which his illicit money is hidden. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed -- in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry -- Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation -- properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there -- until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" -- and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The faces are new and the settings up-to-date, but otherwise An Annapolis Story is the tried-and-true "two guys and one girl" formula. Filmed on location at the titular Maryland naval academy, the story centers upon two sibling cadets, Tony (John Derek) and Jim (Kevin McCarthy). The boys battle over the affections of Peggy (Diana Lynn), a triangle that seriously strains their fraternal relationship and compromises their effectiveness as officers-to-be and gentlemen. In the tradition of 1927's Wings, the conflict is resolved when one brother sacrifices his life for the other while serving in Korea. Among the other cadets in An Annapolis Story are Alvy Moore and L. Q. Jones, who twenty years later would team up to produce the cult-fave science fiction film A Boy and His Dog. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title refers not to James Cagney's curtain line in White Heat but to Northern Alaska, where this film is set. Dale Robertson plays an Air Force jet pilot who resents the fact that he's been transferred from Hawaii to the frozen north. He changes his mind when he meets his ex-wife (Evelyn Keyes), now the proprietress of an Alaskan nightclub. Alas, Evelyn is planning to get married again -- and her intended is none other than her ex-husband's commanding officer (Frank Lovejoy)! Hostilities build to a fever pitch, but all petty differences are forgotten when the commander oversees a rescue mission to save the pilot and his crew from a floating glacier. The aerial photography is the most entertaining ingredient of Top of the World. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Raw Edge is a modest Universal western from the peak of the double-feature era. Rory Calhoun plays a rancher whose "equal opportunity" hiring policies backfire. Calhoun learns that several of his ranch hands plan to kill him and take over the property. The treacherous employees further intend claim Calhoun's widow-to-be (Yvonne de Carlo) along with the ranch. Mara Corday plays the other woman in Calhoun's life: Can she, or anyone else in this picture, be trusted? While the plotline of Raw Edge has its esoteric moments, the film is brought down to earth by the perfunctory direction of John Sherwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide