Jean Sullivan Movies
A versatile actress of stage and screen whose graceful demeanor also found her landing the position as principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater, Jean Sullivan's main passion in life may have been the theater, though her remarkable work in numerous other realms of the entertainment industry truly bear the mark of a genuinely gifted woman. Born in Logan, UT, in 1923, Sullivan was immediately hired by a Warner Bros. scout who spotted her on-stage while performing in a play during her stint at U.C.L.A. Sullivan was quickly ushered into an onscreen career with roles in Uncertain Glory (1944), Roughly Speaking (1945), and Escape in the Desert (also 1945). She would soon relocate to New York in order to delve more deeply into acting studies. It was while rehearsing the Flamenco at Carnegie Hall that Sullivan was discovered by choreographer Anthony Tudor, and after being the American Ballet Theater's principal dancer, Sullivan would appear as the lead in Agnes de Mille's Tally Ho. She was also adept at the flamenco guitar (as well as cello and piano), and she would often moonlight in the Latin nightclubs of Manhattan. Her performances as a dancer later lead to roles on the Steve Allen Show, and numerous roles on daytime television were soon to follow. Her passion for theater propelled Sullivan back to the stage in the '70s, serving as both director of New York's South Street Seaport Museum and co-artistic director and performer at the museum's Theater-on-the-Pier. A constant contributor to the stage, Sullivan would return to the screen in 1976's Squirm. In late February of 2003, Jean Sullivan died of cardiac arrest in Woodland Hills, CA. She was 79. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A "critic's darling" of 1979, the modestly produced French Postcards has an appeal that goes beyond the wine and cheese crowd. Miles Chapin plays Joel, an American student in France on an exchange program. Joel's teacher, Mme. Tessier (Marie-France Pisier), is a "Miss Jean Brodie" type whose ideas of education are highly unorthodox. One of Mme. Tessier's extracurricular activities consists of a torrid romance with the impressionable Joel. Of interest to contemporary viewers are the supporting-cast appearances of future stars Debra Winger and Mandy Patinkin. The "coming-of-age" through-line of French Postcards was second nature to screenwriters Gloria Katz and Willard Hyuck, whose previous projects included American Graffiti. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miles Chapin, Blanche Baker, (more)
The success of Willard, in which a young man trained his pet rats to kill at his command, inspired a rash of horror films featuring animals run amok, including snakes (Stanley), frogs (Frogs) and even rabbits (Night Of The Lepus). Squirm was one of the more interesting films spun off this subgenre, in which a town is terrorized by bloodthirsty worms who've been angered by a downed power line during a rainstorm. Better than it sounds, and packs a few good scares (especially if worms make you squeamish). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, (more)
- 1945
Escape in the Desert is a thinly disguised remake of The Petrified Forest (1936), updated with a WW II angle. Cynical Dutch pilot Philip Artveld (Philip Dorn) pays a visit to the American desert before being shipped off to the Front. He wanders into a lonely inn, where he befriends starry-eyed watiress Jane (Jean Sullivan). Before long, Philip, Jane, and several other innocent bystanders find themselves being held captive by a group of escaped German POWS, led by Captain Becker (Helmut Dantine). The existentialist philosophy of the original Robert E. Sherwood play is replaced with a great deal of Nazified prattle and All-American flagwaving, with misplaced moments of comedy relief from Alan Hale and Irene Manning. While Petrified Forest is regarded as a classic, Escape in the Desert is generally dismissed as a contrived propaganda piece. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Sullivan, Philip Dorn, (more)
- 1945
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
- Starring:
- Ray Collins, Kathleen Lockhart, (more)
- 1944
Uncertain Glory finds Errol Flynn atypically cast as French criminal Jean Picard, a craven coward whose many misdeeds have earned him a date with the guillotine. Detective Marcel Bonet (Paul Lukas) intends to see that Picard keeps his appointment with the executioner, despite the fact that there's a war on. When the Nazis capture 100 French hostages to force a resistance saboteur to surrender himself, Picard offers to pose as the saboteur and thereby save the lives of the innocent villagers. In truth, he plans to escape once he's turned himself over to the Nazis, leaving the villagers in the lurch, but at the last moment his latent patriotism overcomes his sense of self-preservation. Errol Flynn's character is almost as inconsistent as the script, but war films invariably made money in 1944. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Paul Lukas, (more)
