George Spaulding Movies

In this subtle 1954 comedy with feminist overtones, Clifton Webb plays Gifford, an executive with a large automobile manufacturer who is having trouble deciding who to hire as his chief sales manager. His three candidates are equally competent, so he brings their wives with them to New York headquarters, planning to hire the one whose wife is most suited to be an executive's wife. Elizabeth (Lauren Bacall) is the wife of Sid (Fred MacMurray), a company man. Elizabeth knows that Sid is such a workaholic that she will never see him if he gets the new job, but she is loyal to her husband and impresses the hiring team with her competency. Bill Baxter (Cornel Wilde) is handicapped in the competition by his wife Katie (June Allyson), a clumsy but sweet small-town girl from the Midwest. Katie dutifully tries to impress the big boss but proves inept at handling the social responsibilities. She would prefer to stay in Kansas City anyway. Jerry (Van Heflin) is married to Carol (Arlene Dahl), a seductive gold-digger who sexually teases various executives in the hopes that her assets can help land Jerry the job. Instead, her out-of-bounds behavior gets Jerry eliminated from the list, at least until Jerry tells Gifford that he doesn't sanction his wife's behavior. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Lure of the Wilderness is a remake of 1941's Swamp Water, with Walter Brennan repeating his role as a half-crazed fugitive from justice. Living in the deepest recesses of the Okeefenokee Swamp with his daughter Laurie (Jean Peters), Jim Harper (Brennan) is discovered by young hunter Ben Tyler (Jeffrey Hunter). Believing in Harper's innocence, Tyler tries to raise enough money to mount a decent courtroom defense for the old man. Meanwhile, the actual perpetrators of the crime attributed to Harper do their best (or worst) to see to it that he never gets out of the swamp alive. While the original Swamp Water was the better of the two films, Lure of the Wilderness has the advantage of rich Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nineteenth-century saloon gal Roxy McClanahan (Yvonne DeCarlo) manages to inveigle herself into the uppermost rungs of polite New Orleans society. But Roxy has not reckoned with her old friendly nemesis, merchant seaman Frank Truscott (Rock Hudson), whose bankroll Roxy had lifted back in her wilder and woollier days. For a price, Frank agrees not to blow the whistle on Roxy's checkered past. He further agrees to allow her to pass off an orphaned child as her own daughter, the better to maintain her pose as a fabulously wealthy widow. Several rambunctious scenes later, Frank and Roxy finally realize that they're made for each other, and to heck with Society. More fun than most costume melodramas of its kind, Scarlet Angel benefits from attractive production values and a top-flight supporting cast, included future Gunsmoke co-star Amanda Blake as a viper-tongued society belle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beautiful Adele Mara, who Republic Pictures took for granted for far too long, finally gets a chance to shine in this fine Western produced and directed by the dependent Joseph Kane. Mara plays Beth Martin, an Easterner traveling west to be reunited with her brother, Bob (Bill Williams). But Bob is not quite the hard-working miner that Beth and kid brother Tommy (Peter Miles) believed him to be and the newcomers quickly find themselves caught between double-crossing saloon owners Mike Prescott (Forrest Tucker) and Lincoln Corey (Jim Davis). Estelita Rodriguez, as Bob Martin's faithful girlfriend, performs "Second Hand Romance" and "I'm Goin' Round in Circles," both by Jack Elliott and Harold Spina. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

County Fair is an amiable racetrack drama starring Rory Calhoun. A veteran horse trainer, Calhoun has developed a somewhat unsavory reputation. He redeems himself by arranging for near-impoverished matron Florence Bates to win an important race. It's all for the love of a good woman--in this case, Bates' niece Jane Nigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman whose addiction to gambling all but ruins her life. Stanwyck's husband Robert Preston tries to stand by her side, but even he is driven away by her gambling mania. Stanwyck lies, cheats and steals in order to raise capital for her addiction, descending from comparative wealth to grinding poverty in the process. Eventually she is reduced to gambling for penny-ante stakes in back alleys, before she is rescued by her still-faithful spouse. The Lady Gambles includes an appearance by young Tony Curtis, in the bit role of a helpful bellhop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though she may have won an Oscar in 1948, Jane Wyman still had a Warner Bros. contract to fulfill, even if it meant appearing in frivolities like The Lady Takes a Sailor. It all begins when Jennifer (Wyman), the head of an oceanographic research institute, claims to have made a fascinating underwater discovery. It is suspected that she's made this claim so that her funding will be continued, so the money-men send Bill Craig (Dennis Morgan) to investigate. Disguised as a sailor, Bill accompanies Jennifer on her next expedition, just to see if her story was true. Jennifer falls in love with Bill, neglecting her work in the process. When Bill is revealed to be a fake, things look bleak--but not for long. Eve Arden has all the best lines as Jane Wyman's sarcastic best friend (the sort of role Wyman used to play in her blonde-ingenue days). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Dorothy Fields-Sigmund Romberg Broadway musical Up in Central Park has been retooled as a vehicle for a pleasantly plump Deanna Durbin. Set in New York in the 1870s, the film casts Durbin as hoydenish Irish immigrant Rosie Moore, who becomes the romantic bone of contention between muckraking newspaper reporter John Matthews (Dick Haymes) and corrupt but charming political boss Tweed (Vincent Price, considerably handsomer and slimmer than the real Tweed). With Rosie's help, John manages to expose Tweed's Tammany Hall shenanigans. Though only two songs have been retained from the original Broadway production, both Durbin and Haymes are afforded several opportunities to sing. Featured in the cast as Durbin's father is Albert Sharpe, who'd just completed a run in the smash New York musical Finian's Rainbow and who later played the title role in Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). Best scene: The Currier & Ives ballet, one of the few holdovers from the stage version of Up in Central Park. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Accused is a mystery melodrama with a predictable plot involving blackmail, attempted rape and murder. Loretta Young stars as Wilma Tuttle, a prim and proper college professor who unwittingly arouses the libido of student Bill Perry (Douglas Dick). When Perry tries to rape Wilma under cover of darkness, she beats him to death with a tire iron. Appalled by her own rash behavior, she tries to cover up her crime by making it seem as though Perry was killed while diving into the sea from a precipitous cliff. But as she follows the police investigation of Perry's death, Wilma realizes that she'll never be able to escape the prison of her own conscience -- especially when she falls in love with Warren Ford (Robert Cummings), the dead boy's guardian. Wendell Corey delivers the film's best performance as a quietly efficient homicide lieutenant who suspects that Wilma knows more than she's letting on. The Accused was adapted by Ketti Frings from the novel by June Truesdell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this documentary-inspired thriller, P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) is a reporter who is asked by his editor to look into a potential story: their newspaper has been carrying an ad offering a substantial reward for information regarding the murder of a policeman that occurred eleven years ago. It turns out the ad was placed by a cleaning woman named Tillie Wiecek (Kasia Orzazewski); her son Frank (Richard Conte) was convicted of the crime, but she is thoroughly convinced her son had nothing to do with the killing. McNeal doesn't believe for a moment that Frank could be innocent, but he sees a good human interest story in Tillie and writes a piece that receives a great deal of favorable attention. Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb), McNeal's editor, thinks there might be more to this story and asks P.J. to look into the original murder case. To McNeal's surprise, Frank passes a lie detector test in which he proclaims his innocence, and the more he digs into records on the case, the more he finds wrong with the original investigation; some evidence is missing, much is inconclusive, and the reporter begins to wonder if Frank might have been railroaded after all, or if the police might be trying to keep something quiet. Call Northside 777 was based on a true story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Many film critics felt that Wallace Reid graduated from mere leading man to full-fledged star in his 1917 vehicle The Hostage. The story is set in an unidentified European country, where civil war rages between the Lowlanders and Highlanders. Circumstances dictate that Brigadier Kemper of the Lowlanders offer his son Ivo (Reid) as a hostage during a temporary truce. Kemper expects Ivo to escape at the first opportunity, but instead the young man casts his lot with Highland leader Boyadi (Noah Beery Sr.), an honorable man. He also wins the love of Boyadi's lovely daughter Nathalea (Dorothea Abril). Alas, the time comes that Ivo must choose between loyalty to his homeland and his friendship with Boyadi -- a dilemma that is resolved in a surprisingly quick and perfunctory manner. It was said at the time that author Beulah Marie Dix wrote The Hostage as an act of attrition for her previous pacifist sentiments, which had been rendered unfashionable (to say the least) by 1917. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide