Rolfe Sedan Movies
Dapper character actor Rolfe Sedan was nine times out of ten cast as a foreigner, usually a French maître d’ or Italian tradesman. In truth, Sedan was born in New York City. He'd planned to study scientific agriculture, but was sidetracked by film and stage work in New York; he then embarked on a vaudeville career as a dialect comic. Sedan began appearing in Hollywood films in the late '20s, frequently cast in support of such major comedy attractions as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chase, the Marx Brothers, and Harold Lloyd. He was proudest of his work in a handful of films directed by Ernst Lubitsch, notably Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938). Though distressed that he never made it to the top ranks, Sedan remained very much in demand for comedy cameos into the 1980s. Rolfe Sedan's television work included the recurring role of Mr. Beasley the postman on The Burns and Allen Show, and the part of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee in several TV commercials of the mid-'70s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1974
In one of his last TV roles, Sam Jaffe guest stars as Alex Zubatuk, a retired cobbler. When Zubatuk comes forth and confesses to a killing, detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) are reluctant to take the old man at face value. And for good reason: what the viewer knows (but the detectives don't) is that the meek, self-deprecating Mr. Zubatuk is taking the rap to protect the grandson of his best friend Victor Karlinsky (Victor Karlinsky). The real killer is played by prolific character actor Zooey Hall, here billed as David Z. Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
After missing several episodes due to illness, Bea Benaderet returns to her familiar Petticoat Junction role as Kate Bradley, owner of Hooterville's Shady Rest Hotel. The entire town gears up for a gala homecoming party in Kate's honor, but there are a few hitches along the way--including a fireworks display which ends up destroying the depot in nearby Pixley! Rufe Davis makes his last regular appearance as railroad engineer Floyd Smoot in this, the final episode of the series' fifth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Adapted by John Collier from a story by H.G. Wells, this episode is built around the talents of child actor John Megna, best remembered for his role as the Truman Capote counterpart in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. Obsessed by magic and magicians, Tony Grainger (Megna) begs his father, Steven (Leslie Nielsen), to take him to Mr. Dulong's magic shop as a ninth birthday present. What seems to be a harmless excursion into the black arts becomes something else entirely when Tony steps into a magic cabinet and temporarily disappears -- followed by Mr. Dulong (David Opatoshu), who disappears for keeps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Nielsen, John Megna, (more)
- 1963
Every time Lucy (Lucille Ball) and Viv (Vivian Vance) embark on a double date with Harry (Dick Martin) and Eddie (Don Briggs), the girls spend the evening quarrelling over where to go. Thus, when Saturday night rolls around again, Lucy and Harry decide to go out alone. So as not to hurt Viv and Eddie's feelings, Lucy concocts a story about she and Harry acquiring two tickets for an otherwise sold-out Broadway show. Not surprisingly, our heroine's lies come back to bite her in the you-know-where! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Martin, Donald Briggs, (more)
- 1963
Ordered to London, Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) finds he has been selected for a dangerous espionage mission in Occupied France. Teamed with veteran OSS agent Ted Slocum (J.D. Cannon), Hanley must rescue a French physicist who is being forced to work on a top-secret German project (could it be The Bomb?) The assignment turns out be a personal matter for Hanley: one of his college friends, the physicist's son, had been killed in a previous rescue attempt. Undermining the mission is an unidentified traitor in the ranks of the French Resistance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Having been invited to spend the weekend at a lavish estate, Donald Stuart (John Hudson) is upstairs preparing for dinner when he sees a man (Francis Bethencourt) beating his wife (Narda Onyx) to death. Rushing downstairs, Donald is surprised to see the same couple, happily exchanging affectionate words as if nothing has happened. In truth, nothing HAS happened: the murder which Donald saw won't occur until tomorrow...unless he does something to prevent it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
No sooner has Lucy (Lucille Ball) arrived in Paris than she is greeted by a friendly citizen (Larry Dobkin) -- who is willing to exchange her dollars for French francs, at bargain prices. She is then introduced to a "starving" artist (Shepard Menken), who at great personal loss to himself sells her his masterpiece for a mere 1,000 francs. As the day progresses, Lucy gets into a brouhaha at a French restaurant -- and then ends up in "the bastille" when her money turns out to be counterfeit. Episode highlights include a hilarious round-robin "translation" sequence involving Lucy, Ricky (Desi Arnaz), a gendarme, and a German drunk, and the closing gag, wherein the true value of that "artistic masterpiece" is finally revealed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fritz Feld, Lawrence Dobkin, (more)
- 1956
Dishonest politician Duke Taylor (George E. Stone) and his henchman Little Jack (Richard Reeves) conspire with crooked Dr. Watts (Rolfe Sedan) to rid Metropolis of Superman (George Reeves) just before an important election. Luring the Man of Steel into a locked room, the trio turn the temperature down to 2000 degrees below zero. Thus frozen, Superman not only loses his super-strength but also the color in his face, and must put on makeup when disguised as Clark Kent--thereby making an embarrassing situation even more so. As it turns out, Superman's only hope to return to normal is to expose himself to extreme heat--a blazing fire, for example! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Warner Bros.' followup to its 3D hit House of Wax, Phantom of the Rue Morgue bears only the slightest resemblance to its alleged inspiration, the Edgar Allan Poe mystery yarn Murders in the Rue Morgue. Karl Malden delivers one of the hammiest performances on record as mad scientist Dr. Marais, who uses a trained gorilla to exact revenge on those who've wronged him. At the top of Marais' hit list are the many beautiful women who've spurned his advances, including such French pastries as Yvonne (Allyn McLerie), Arlette (Veola Vonn) and Camille (Dolores Dorn). Each of these unfortunate ladies have been given bracelets decorated with bells, designed to attract the homicidal ape's attention. Psychology professor Paul Dupin (Steve Forrest) conducts a private investigation of the killings, only to be arrested for the murders himself by the supremely confident (and rather dense) Inspector Bonnard (Claude Dauphin). This leaves Dupin's sweetheart Jeanette (Patricia Medina) virtually defenseless when she is targetted for extermination by Doc Marais. Outside of such incidental pleasures as seeing Merv Griffin play a French medical student, Phantom of the Rue Morgue offers a vast array of unsubtle 3D "shock" effects, which come off as hilarious when the film is shown "flat" (as it always is these days). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karl Malden, Claude Dauphin, (more)
- 1954
Tony Curtis makes his musical-comedy debut in the frolicsome Universal production So This is Paris. Curtis, Gene Nelson and Paul Gilbert play three American sailors on leave in the City of Light. In record time, the trio makes the acquaintance of three lovely lasses: Gloria de Haven, Corinne Calvert and Mara Corday. Before the boys' 24 hours are up, they are inveigled into staging a benefit show for a group of tousle-haired war orphans. The whole thing resembles a Gallic variation of MGM's On the Town, except that the songs aren't quite as memorable. So This is Paris was directed by Richard Quine in much the same manner as his previous musical confections for Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Gloria de Haven, (more)
Second-billed Marilyn Monroe is the blonde in question in this second film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Miss Lorelei Lee, whose philosophy is "diamonds are a girl's best friend." Together with her best human friend Dorothy (top-billed Jane Russell), showgirl Lorelei embarks upon a boat trip to Paris, where she intends to marry millionaire Gus Esmond (Tommy Noonan). En route, the girls are bedeviled by private detective Malone (Elliot Reid), hired by Esmond's father (Taylor Holmes) to make certain that Lorelei isn't just another gold-digger. When Dorothy falls in love with the poverty-stricken Malone, Lorelei decides to find her pal a wealthier potential husband, and that's how she gets mixed up with flirtatious diamond merchant Sir Francis Beekman (Charles Coburn) and precocious youngster Henry Spofford III (George "Foghorn" Winslow). Most of the Leo Robin-Jule Styne songs from the Broadway show remain intact, including Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," a production number later imitated by pop icon Madonna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, (more)
- 1953
1953's The Mississippi Gambler was the third Universal Studios film to bear this title--though with a different plot each time. Tyrone Power plays an all-around adventurer who cuts quite a swath through antebellum New Orleans. In between scenes of gambling, fist-fighting and swordplay, Power woos Piper Laurie, who chooses to marry wealthy Ron Randell; in turn, Power is wooed by Julie Adams, whose ardor is not reciprocated. The climax finds Power in a card table showdown with Ms. Laurie's ill-tempered brother John Baer. Mississippi Gambler is consistently good to look at, even when the storyline threatens to snap under the pressure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Piper Laurie, (more)
- 1952
Something to Live For is the last of director George Stevens' "small" films, before he concentrated full-time on such blockbusters as Shane and Giant. Joan Fontaine plays a popular actress who descends into alcoholism. Ray Milland, in an unofficial extension of his Lost Weekend role, plays a reformed drunkard who comes to Fontaine's rescue. He encourages her to join Alcoholics Anonymous--one of the first times that this organization was given any kind of screen treatment. Milland's concern strains his relationship with his wife (Teresa Wright), who doubts that Ray's interest in Fontaine is merely humanitarian. But Milland refuses to endanger his marriage no matter how strong his feelings towards Fontaine--nor how much the audience wants him to. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1951
Bob Hope is up to his famous nose in danger in this espionage comedy. Second-rate burlesque comic Peanuts White (Hope) is approached by federal agents who think that he's international spy Eric Augustine, to whom Peanuts bears a striking resemblance. When they realize that Peanuts and Eric are two different people, the FBI persuades him to travel to Africa posing as Eric and fetch a batch of microfilm that could prove vital to national security. With reluctance, Peanuts flies to Tangiers and arranges a rendezvous with Lily Dalbray (Hedy Lamarr), Eric's beautiful girlfriend and an agent of shifting alliances herself. However, Lily's superior Karl Brubaker (Francis L. Sullivan) wants the microfilm, and he will stop at nothing to get it. As Peanuts tries to rescue the microfilm, make time with Lily, and avoid Karl, things become even more confused when Eric escapes from hiding and re-enters the picture. Both Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr contribute songs to the soundtrack, though unlike Bob, Hedy's vocals were dubbed in by a studio vocalist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, (more)
- 1950
Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton make a surprisingly copacetic screen team in Let's Dance. Hutton plays a more sedate role than usual as war widow Kitty McNeil. Not wishing to have her young son Richard (Gregory Moffatt) grow up in the stiff and stuffy environs of her Boston in-laws' mansion, Kitty sneaks off with the kid and resumes her prewar show-business career. She is reunited with her USO dancing partner Donald Elwood (Astaire), who hopes to give up performing in favor of the business world. Inevitably, Kitty and Donald resume their old act, while, equally inevitably, Kitty's Bostonite grandmother-in-law Serena Everett (Lucille Watson) sets the legal wheels in motion to gain custody of little Richard. Fred Astaire manages to match Betty Hutton's patented raucousness during the hillbilly musical number "Oh, Them Dudes", though he is given the opportunity to do the sort of dancing he does best--notably a brilliant routine atop and around a piano. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Betty Hutton, (more)
- 1949
Though one might have expected friction between MGM's resident "nice lady" Greer Garson and Warner Bros. notorious "bad boy" Errol Flynn, the two got along splendidly during the filming of That Forsyte Woman. Based loosely on The Man of Property, book one of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, the film casts Garson as Irene Forsyte, the independently-minded wife of tradition-bound Victorian "man of property" Soames Forsyte (Flynn). Rebelling against her husband's repressed nature and preoccupation with material possessions, Irene falls in love with unconventional architect Philip Bossiney (Robert Young). When he proves to be too free-spirited even for her, Irene moves on to the Forsyte clan's black sheep, Young Jolyon (Walter Pidgeon). Soames makes a belated attempt to win his wife back, but once again proves incapable of warmth, compassion or understanding. The casting-against-type of Garson and Flynn was fascinating, even when the film itself dragged (Flynn in fact was slated to play either Bossiney or Young Jolyon, but insisted upon taking the less characteristic role of Soames). That Forstye Woman was lavishly photographed in color on MGM's standing "British" sets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, (more)
- 1941
In this sad drama, a remake of Oil for the Lamps of China, a South American rubber planter nurses a broken heart after his U.S. fiancee jilts him. In addition, he has trouble with the natives who do not respect him. His troubles ease when he meets a caring nightclub singer who he marries against the wishes of his employers. He is hoping that marriage will protect her from the U.S. detective who has been looking into her past. Unfortunately, the investigator finds her and extradites her back to the States where she must stand trial. Her husband accompanies her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Jeffrey Lynn, (more)
