Anabel Shaw Movies

This exciting caper outing is loosely based on the famous robbery of Brinks in Boston that netted the crooks $2.5 million. The story covers the six years small-time hood Jerry Florea (Tony Curtis) spent planning the heist. The story begins with the events that led a young Florea (played by Sal Mineo) to become a crook. Hoping to save him from a life of crime, a kindly policeman and his wife take him under their wing. Though he appreciates their kindness, Florea seems destined to become a criminal. As a young man, he begins pretending to reform and even gets a job at Brinks. The loving couple have no clue that it is only a ruse and that he is preparing to rob the establishment. It is only after he and his gang pull-off the job that Florea reconsiders his actions and then makes a daring attempt to make amends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

One of the best of the High Noon derivations, At Gunpoint is the story of reluctant hero Fred MacMurray. When a band of gunmen invade a small frontier town, storekeeper MacMurray fires off a lucky shot and kills the leader. Hailed as a hero, MacMurray realizes deep down that he's a coward. When the surviving gunmen return to town, thirsting for revenge, the townsfolk expect MacMurray to singlehandedly stand up to the villains. When he asks for help, his neighbors turn their backs on him, ordering him to get out of town to avoid further trouble. Only doctor Walter Brennan and MacMurray's wife Dorothy Malone remain loyal. Facing certain death,MacMurray discovers that he's not as yellow as he thought he was-a revelation that brings about a change in the rest of the town. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The definitive Joseph H. Lewis-directed melodrama, Gun Crazy is the "Bonnie and Clyde" story retooled for the disillusioned postwar generation. John Dall plays a timorous, emotionally disturbed World War II veteran who has had a lifelong fixation with guns. He meets a kindred spirit in carnival sharpshooter Peggy Cummins, who is equally disturbed -- but a lot smarter, and hence a lot more dangerous. Beyond their physical attraction to one another, both Dall and Cummins are obsessed with firearms. They embark on a crime spree, with Cummins as the brains and Dall as the trigger man. As sociopathic a duo as are likely to be found in a 1940s film, Dall and Cummins are also perversely fascinating. As they dance their last dance before dying in a hail of police bullets, the audience is half hoping that somehow they'll escape the Inevitable. Some critics have complained that Dall is far too effeminate and Cummins too butch, but Joseph H. Lewis was never known to draw anything in less than broad strokes: recall the climax of Terror in a Texas Town, wherein Sterling Hayden participates in a western showdown armed with a whaler's harpoon. The best and most talked-about scene in Gun Crazy is the bank robbery sequence, shot in "real time" from the back seat of Dall and Cummins' getaway car. Originally slated for Monogram release, Gun Crazy enjoyed a wider exposure when its producers, the enterprising King Brothers, chose United Artists as the distributor. The film was based on a magazine article by MacKinlay Kantor; one of the scenarists was uncredited blacklistee Dalton Trumbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This boxing drama focuses on the manager rather than the fighter. The story begins as a corrupt manager fakes the death of his fighter's sparring partner after he refuses to take a dive knowing that it will push him over the edge and destroy his career as he accidently killed a man while boxing in the military. Fortunately, the boxer has a devoted, supportive girlfriend who investigates the "death" and brings the dead partner to ringside at the crucial moment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A woman looks back at her childhood in show business in this musical comedy. At the turn of the century, Myrtle McKinley (Betty Grable) is working her way through business school and gets a job dancing at a San Francisco vaudeville house. She meets fellow hoofer Frank Burt (Dan Dailey), and they soon fall in love. Marriage follows, and Myrtle and Frank begin performing a song and dance act on the road. Myrtle leaves the act when she becomes pregnant with the first of two children, but when the kids are old enough to go out on tour, she and Frank work them into the act, and they learn to live out of a suitcase like their parents. Years later, Iris (Mona Freeman) and Mikie (Connie Marshall) are attending college when they learn that Mom and Dad have pulled their act out of mothballs -- and are booked to perform at a theatre near their campus. Mother Wore Tights won an Academy Award for Best Musical Score, and it was nominated for Best Song ("You Do") and Best Color Cinematography; the great Mexican ventriloquist Senor Wences appears as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, set within the newspaper industry, a detective is hired to protect the editor who believes that someone is out to kill him. The editor is the real villain having killed the publisher, the publisher's detective, and a friend so that he could grab the reigns of the company. The detective was hired to cast suspicion elsewhere. It backfires when the private eye finds out the truth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a young juvenile delinquent convinces other teens to join his gang. The gang raids a warehouse and there he ends up killing the school's most beloved teacher. The boy is tried. In court the D.A.'s adopted daughter stands up for the boy. Years before, when they were both orphans, he had done the same for her. The D.A. is unmoved an tries to prosecute to the full extent of the law. The defense, says the real blame should be upon the boy's parents. The boy is given a life sentence. Unbeknownst to the self-righteous D.A., the boy is his long-lost son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Craig Rice, Home Sweet Homicide is a delightful blend of domestic comedy and murder mystery. Peggy Ann Garner, Dean Stockwell and Connie Marshall play Dinah, Archie and April Carstairs, the precocious offspring of widowed mystery writer Marian Carstairs (Lynn Bari). When a real-life murder occurs, the kids join forces to solve the crime over their mother's objections. It isn't that Dinah, Archie and April are all that interested in serving the cause of justice: it's simply that they want to play matchmaker for Marian and handsome homicide lieutenant Bill Smith (Randolph Scott). The revelation of the killer will come as no surprise to dyed-in-the-wool mystery movie fans, but this shouldn't spoil the fun. Incidentally, the actor billed as "John Shepard" is actually Shepperd Strudwick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This peppy wartime musical stars Bing Crosby as radio crooner Johnny Cabot, the heartthrob of millions. To escape his frenzied fans, Johnny joins the Navy, where is he ordering to aid a WAVE recruiting drive. He is helped(?) in this endeavor by Betty Hutton, amusingly cast in a dual role as twin sisters Susie and Rosemary, one a shy retiring brunette, the other a bold and brassy blonde (Vera Marshe doubles for Hutton is some scenes). Part of Johnny's recruiting strategy is to stage a musical show, as good an excuse as any for a steady stream of bouncy musical numbers. This is the film in which Bing Crosby and Sonny Tufts, both in blackface, introduce the Johnny Mercer-Harold Arlen standard "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive." Sharp-eyed viewers will spot Yvonne de Carlo, Mona Freeman, Mae Clarke, and Noel "Lois Lane" Neill in small roles. Here Come the Waves was partially remade by Martin & Lewis as Sailor Beware. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide