Arthur Shields Movies

The second of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the only one of the three to be lensed in Technicolor. In an Oscar-calibre performance, 42-year old John Wayne plays sixtyish Cavalry Captain Nathan Brittles. In his last days before his compulsory retirement, Brittles must face the possibility of a full-scale attack from the Arapahos, fomented by the recent defeat of Custer and by double-dealing Indian agents. After a series of minor victories and major frustrations, Brittles decides to ride into the Arapaho camp, there to smoke a pipe of peace with his old friend, Chief Pony That Walks (Chief John Big Tree). Before he leaves, he is presented with his retirement present by his troops: a pocket watch, with the inscription "Lest We Forget"(Wayne's playing of this scene, barely holding back tears as he adjusts his spectacles to read the inscription, is one of his finest moments on film). Brittles is able to forestall an Indian attack, just in time for his official retirement. The film really ends here, but there are two more potential climaxes before the words THE END dissolve into view. The patchiness of the Frank Nugent/Lawrence Stallings screenplay (attributal to the fact that it is adapted from two different short stories) prevents She Wore a Yellow Ribbon from reaching the same lofty heights as the Ford/Wayne collaborations Fort Apache (1947) and Rio Grande (1949). The gratuitous offscreen narration of Irving Pichel is also rather distracting. Even so, Wayne's flawless performance, coupled with the supporting contributions of Ford's stock company (John Agar, Harry Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen et al) and the Academy Award-winning photography by Winston C. Hoch, automatically elevates She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to classic status. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Boys Town" goes to turn-of-the-century St. Louis in this moving drama that chronicles the love of a determined priest struggling to turn around the lives of a street-wise gang of newsboys living at his homeless shelter. The good father has little money and must use his wits and ability to convince others to help out to supply the little shelter. Much of the story centers on his relationship with a troubled lad who accidentally kills someone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set at the beginning of the Civil War, Tap Roots is all about a county in Mississippi which chooses to secede from the state rather than enter the conflict. The county is protected from the Confederacy by an abolitionist (Ward Bond) and a Native American gentleman (Boris Karloff). The abolitionist's daughter (Susan Hayward) is courted by a powerful newspaper publisher (Van Heflin) when her fiance (Whitfield Connor), a confederate officer, elopes with the girl's sister (Julie London). The daughter at first resists the publisher's attentions, but turns to him for aid when her ex-fiance plans to capture the seceding county on behalf of the South. A pocket-edition Gone With the Wind, Tap Roots is way too ambitious for its smallish budget. Modern viewers can have fun spotting such anachronisms as the Southern troops' use of dynamite--several years before it was invented. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fifth film version of the play by George M. Cohan and Earl Derr Biggers, Phillip Terry portrays a mystery novelist who wagers that he can write a complete story in one night. To this end, he arranges to sequester himself in a remote rustic inn, assuming that he has the only key to the place. As the evening wears on, the inn becomes the rendezvous for several mysterious characters--all of whom have keys of their own--and the site of a startling murder. Terry tries to figure out the goings-on, but just when he's put the clues together, the lock in the door clicks. The seventh key! We'll withhold the climactic dual plot twist for the benefit of those who've never seen any of the filmizations of Seven Keys to Baldpate, including the misbegotten 1983 version House of the Long Shadows (which starred Desi Arnaz Jr.!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical set in late 19th-century Boston, a suffragette secretary finds that her political beliefs are standing in the way of her romantic bliss with her beloved boss. Back then the notion of women's rights was considered scandalous and her lover will not stand for such nonsense in his office. Mayhem and music ensue until he is eventually convinced. Some of the tunes were composed by the late George Gershwin to which lyricists Kay Swift and Ira Gershwin added new words. These songs include: "For You, for Me, for Evermore," "Aren't You Glad We Did?," "Stand up and Fight," and "Waltz Me No Waltzes." Other songs include: "Changing My Tune," "Back Bay Polka," "One, Two, Three," "But Not in Boston," "Sweet Packard," "Waltzing Is Better Sitting Down," and "Demon Rum." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Romantic comedy was never Errol Flynn's forte, but he occasionally gave it the old college try in such films as Never Say Goodbye. Flynn plays Phil Gayley, a Petty-like magazine illustrator, whose close proximity with gorgeous female models ruins his marriage to the lovely Ellen (Eleanor Parker). When the Gayleys divorce, their precocious 7-year-old daughter Flip (Patti Brady) contrives to bring them back together. She does, of course, but not before several by-the-number comic complications, not least of which finds Phil and his romantic rival Rex DeVallon (Donald Woods) dressed in lookalike Santa Claus suits. The film's biggest laughs are garnered whenever Errol Flynn lampoons his established "swashbuckler" image, which he does with apparent relish. At one point, Flynn even imitates Humphrey Bogart-an effect accomplished by dubbing in the voice of the real Bogart! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The novel The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill had been filmed in 1928 as The Perfect Crime and again in 1934 as The Crime Doctor. This 1946 version was the best and marked the directorial debut of Don Siegel. It also paired the popular duo of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet for the last time. Greenstreet plays George Grodman, a veteran Scotland Yard chief who is forced out after a murderer that he helped convict is found innocent after his execution. His successor is the pompous Buckley (George Coulouris), who vows to do much better. Lorre plays Victor Emmric, an artist illustrating a crime book that Grodman is writing. A tenant in a building near Grodman's apartment is found dead by a landlady who summons Grodman to the scene. The victim's door appears to have been locked from the inside. Chief Buckley fingers Clive Russell (Paul Cavanagh), a friend of Grodman. With only circumstantial evidence, the superintendent railroads Russell into a conviction that carries the death sentence. Grodman tries to prove his friend innocent, but the only woman who can provide Russell an alibi is dead. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This odd combination of roughneck comedy and serious domestic drama was adapted by Louise Randall Pierson from her own autobiographical novel. Rosalind Russell is cast as young Louise Randall, the headstrong daughter of a New England merchant. Inheriting her father's business, Louise intends to persevere in a "man's world," and to that ends takes business courses at Yale. Here she meets and marries banker's son Rodney Crane (Donald Woods), with whom she has four children. When wishy-washy Rodney runs off with another woman, Louise marries a second time to irresponsible but likable gambler Harold Pierson (Jack Carson) -- and gets pregnant again. Though Louise and Harold are as different as night and day, theirs is a lasting union, which remains solid despite whatever misfortunes come their way. The story ends at the outbreak of WW II, with Louise and Rodney bidding a tearful but hopeful goodbye to their three grown sons as the boys prepare to enter military service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Marcia Davenport's novel and set in 1870, Valley of Decision details the romance between a housemaid named Mary Rafferty (Greer Garson) and her employer's son, Paul Scott (Gregory Peck). Paul's father, William (Donald Crisp), owns a Pittsburgh steel mill where Mary's father, Pat (Lionel Barrymore), was crippled; Pat believes he wouldn't have suffered his accident if William had taken more safety precautions. Once Mary and Paul fall in love, both fathers fight against their relationship, and soon their romance is plagued by not only familial tensions, but also a worker's strike at the steel mill. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Although National Velvet was the first starring role for 11-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, the early part of the film belongs to Mickey Rooney in the showier role of Mike Taylor, a headstrong English ex-jockey. Soured on life by a serious accident, Mike plans to steal from the country family that has taken him in, but his resolve is weakened by the kindness of young Velvet (Taylor). The two find a common bond in their love of horses. Velvet wins an "unbreakable" horse in a raffle, and enters the animal in the Grand National Sweepstakes. Though Mike is unable to ride the horse, he aids Velvet in her plan to disguise herself as a jockey; she wins the race...but the story isn't over quite yet. Co-starring as Velvet's mother is Anne Revere, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance. National Velvet is based on the novel by Enid Bagnold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The White Cliffs of Dover is one of those overlong MGM wartime films that everyone seems to have seen a part of, but no one can remember the film as a sum total. Based on a poem by Alice Duer Miller, the story chronicles the trials and tribulations of one courageous woman through two world wars. Irene Dunne plays an American girl who, in 1914, falls in love with titled Englishman Alan Marshal. At the end of World War 1 in 1918, it is painfully clear that Marshal will not be returning from the battlefields. Remaining loyal to her husband, Irene vows to raise their child in England. Played by Roddy McDowell in his early scenes, Irene's son grows up to be Peter Lawford. At the outbreak of World War 2, Irene despairs at the thought of losing another loved one, but Lawford convinces her that his dad would have wanted him to answer his country's call to the colors. While working as a Red Cross volunteer, Irene finds that she must tend her own mortally wounded son. Unable to save his life, she is grief-stricken, but is gratified with the notion that neither her husband nor her boy have died in vain. Like many films of its ilk and era, White Cliffs of Dover struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, to the tune of a $4 million profit. Watch for a touching scene between Roddy McDowell and 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor; 19 years later, lifelong friends Roddy and Liz would be playing mortal enemies in Cleopatra (1963). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Female dogs tend to shed while in heat; this is why all the collies who've played doggy heroine Lassie in the movies have actually been well-disguised males. A magnificent animal named Pal was the screen's first Lassie in 1943's Lassie Come Home. Set in Yorkshire during the first World War, the film gets under way when the poverty-stricken parents (Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester) of young Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) are forced to sell his beloved Lassie. While her new master, the duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), is pleasant enough, Lassie prefers the company of Joe and repeatedly escapes. Even when cared for by the duke's affectionate granddaughter, Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor), Lassie insists upon heading back to her original home. This time, however, the trip is much longer, and Lassie must depend upon the kindness of strangers, notably farmers Dally (Dame May Whitty) and Dan'l Fadden (Ben Webster) and handyman Rowlie (Edmund Gwenn). Based on the novel by Eric Knight (originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post), Lassie Come Home was released quite some time after Knight's death. Like all the Lassie sequels turned out by MGM between 1943 and 1951, Lassie Come Home was lensed in Technicolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide