Lyle Talbot Movies
Born into a family of travelling show folk, Lyle Talbot toured the hinterlands as a teen-aged magician. Talbot went on to work as a regional stock-company actor, pausing long enough in Memphis to form his own troupe, the Talbot Players. Like many other barnstorming performers of the 1920s, Talbot headed to Hollywood during the early-talkie era. Blessed with slick, lounge-lizard good looks, he started out as a utility lead at Warner Bros. Talbot worked steadily throughout the 1930s, playing heroes in B pictures and supporting parts in A pictures. During a loanout to Monogram Pictures in 1932, he was afforded an opportunity to co-star with Ginger Rogers in a brace of entertaining mysteries, The 13th Guest and The Shriek and the Night, which were still making the double-feature rounds into the 1940s. In 1935, Talbot and 23 other film players organized the Screen Actors Guild; to the end of his days, he could be counted upon to proudly display his SAG Card #4 at the drop of a hat. As his hairline receded and his girth widened, Talbot became one of Hollywood's busiest villains. He worked extensively in serials, playing characters on both sides of the law; in 1949 alone, he could be seen as above-suspicion Commissioner Gordon in Batman and Robin and as duplicitous Lex Luthor in Atom Man Vs. Superman. He remained in harness in the 1950s, appearing on Broadway and television. Two of his better-known assignments from this period were Joe Randolph on TV's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and as Bob Cummings' lascivious Air Force buddy Paul Fonda on Love That Bob. Seemingly willing to work for anyone who met his price, Talbot had no qualms about appearing in the dregs of cheapo horror films of the fifties. He was prominently cast in two of the estimable Edward D. Wood's "classics," Glen or Glenda (1953) and Plan Nine From Outer Space (1955). When asked what it was like to work for the gloriously untalented Wood, Talbot would recall with amusement that the director never failed to pay him up front for each day's work with a handful of stained, crinkly ten-dollar bills. Though he made his last film in 1960, Lyle Talbot continued touring in theatrical productions well into the late 1970s, regaling local talk-show hosts with his bottomless reserve of anecdotes from his three decades in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1956
Based on a novel by television producer Al Morgan, The Great Man is a Citizen Kane-style look at the private life of a public figure. The Great Man is a beloved radio and television personality who dies suddenly. Jose Ferrer (who also directed) plays a writer/commentator who has a chance to break into the Big Time by preparing a eulogistic broadcast concerning the deceased celebrity. As he interviews the various people who knew the Great Man on the way up (including Julie London and Ed and Keenan Wynn) he learns that the "idol of millions" was actually a conniving, duplicitous scoundrel who stepped on everyone in his path and who took credit for the hard work of others. Warned by his boss (Dean Jagger) that his career will be ruined if he tells the truth, Ferrer nonetheless takes to the airwaves with a "warts and all" biography--and the results are surprising only to those with no cynicism in their souls. The Great Man stirred up a sensation in 1956 because it was perceived to be an a clef study of the enormously popular (and ruthlessly powerful) media star Arthur Godfrey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- José Ferrer, Dean Jagger, (more)
- 1956
Calling Homicide was another of Bill Elliot's "working-man detective" efforts of the 1950s. This time, Elliot plays LA sheriff's department operative Lieutant Doyle. While searching for a cop killer, Doyle discerns a connection between the first murder and the strangling of a pretty model. The villain's modus operandi involves dynamite and nitroglycerine, leading to quite a few hairy suspense sequences. One of the victims is played by Jeanne Cooper, future TV soap opera doyenne and the mother of actor Corbin Bernsen. Calling Homicide benefits from the brisk direction of Edward Bernds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Haggerty, Kathleen Case, (more)
- 1956
Happy-go-lucky photographer Bob Collins (Bob Cummings) continues to ardently pursue his lovely models -- and for that matter, any other lovely lady who tickles his fancy -- as Love That Bob (originally The Bob Cummings Show) enters its third season. Also still on hand are future Brady Bunch co-star Ann B. Davis as Bob's "gal Friday" Schultzy, who secretly pines for her boss; Rosemary de Camp as Bob's widowed sister Margaret, still hoping that her randy brother will stop playing the field and settle down to marriage; and Dwayne Hickman as Margaret's son and Bob's nephew, Chuck, now an 18-year-old who is even more determined to follow in his Uncle's footsteps as God's Gift to Women (late 1956 model). New to the series is Mary Lawrence as Ruth Helm, the wife of Bob's Air Force Reserve buddy Harvey Helm. Fully aware of Bob's reputation with the opposite sex, jealous Ruth keeps Harvey on a short leash, but she can't censor the gleam in her otherwise 100 percent faithful husband's eye whenever he gets a gander at Bob's harem of lady friends. Also conspicuous by her frequent appearances this season is Nancy Kulp as gangly bird-watcher Pamela Livingston, who'd like to feather Bob's nest someday (this character is virtually a "dress rehearsal" for Kulp's more famous role as Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies, which like Love That Bob, was executive-produced by Paul Henning).
And finally, there are several more appearances this season by Bob's aged but spry grandfather Josh Collins, who is even more of a wolf than his grandson. (Both Bob and Josh are, of course, played by Bob Cummings.) Ol' Josh is in fact the focal point of the season opener, "Grandpa Meets Zsa Zsa" -- and it is surely unnecessary for us to mention who "portrays" Zsa Zsa! Of Season three's 35 episodes, several stand out. "Bob Clashes With His Landlady" is a film buff's dream, offering a romantic pairing of Amazonian character actress Hope Emerson and dialect comedian El Brendel. "Bob Meets Miss Sweden" introduces a new recurring player, real-life Miss Sweden Ingrid Goude." Former child actress Bonita Granville, on the verge of becoming co-producer of the TV series Lassiewith husband Jack Wrather, plays the cousin in "Bob Meets Schultzy's Cousin." And "Chuck at College" was originally intended as the pilot episode for a spin-off series starring Dwayne Hickman; though no such series materialized at the time, Hickman would eventually headline his own sitcom, Dobie Gillis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
And finally, there are several more appearances this season by Bob's aged but spry grandfather Josh Collins, who is even more of a wolf than his grandson. (Both Bob and Josh are, of course, played by Bob Cummings.) Ol' Josh is in fact the focal point of the season opener, "Grandpa Meets Zsa Zsa" -- and it is surely unnecessary for us to mention who "portrays" Zsa Zsa! Of Season three's 35 episodes, several stand out. "Bob Clashes With His Landlady" is a film buff's dream, offering a romantic pairing of Amazonian character actress Hope Emerson and dialect comedian El Brendel. "Bob Meets Miss Sweden" introduces a new recurring player, real-life Miss Sweden Ingrid Goude." Former child actress Bonita Granville, on the verge of becoming co-producer of the TV series Lassiewith husband Jack Wrather, plays the cousin in "Bob Meets Schultzy's Cousin." And "Chuck at College" was originally intended as the pilot episode for a spin-off series starring Dwayne Hickman; though no such series materialized at the time, Hickman would eventually headline his own sitcom, Dobie Gillis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Cummings, Rosemary de Camp, (more)
- 1955
Having forsaken westerns for detective melodramas in Dial Red O, William "Wild Bill" Ellliot continues in this vein in Sudden Danger. Elliot is cast as detective lieutenant Doyle, who at present is investigating the alleged suicide of a clothing manufacturer. Doyle suspects that the victim was murdered, and that the perpetrator was the dead man's blind son, Curtis (Tom Drake). Hoping to clear himself, Curtis begins searching for clues on his own, and by fadeout time he and Doyle have cornered the actual killer. Though obviously made in a hurry, Sudden Danger is elevated by better-than-usual scripting and a well-chosen supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Drake, Beverly Garland, (more)
- 1955
In this entry in the long-running series, the Bowery Boys must help a reporter who was beaten up during an undercover investigation at a local prison. With the consent of the reporter's editor, the boys pull off a phony jewel caper and two of them are imprisoned. In the pokey, they learn that the editor is the real thief and that they really are in prison. Hijinks ensue until they expose a scam surrounding prison guards on the take from inmates who pay them to give them easier jobs. This allows them to prove their innocence and eventually expose the evil editor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
"Hold it! I think you're gonna like this picture!" With this jaunty assurance, Bob Cummings calmly snuggled into the late-Sunday-night NBC time slot previously occupied by The Hunter for the first season of the breezy sitcom Love That Bob (originally The Bob Cummings Show). Little time is wasted establishing professional photographer Bob Collins (Cummings) as an insatiable skirt-chaser, who uses his profession primarily as an excuse to romance a variety of curvaceous models and starlets. Nor is Bob the only person on the series with an ulterior motive. His widowed sister Margaret MacDonald (Rosemary de Camp), with whom he shares a tasteful little L.A. bungalow, is forever doing her best to undermine Bob's love life -- not out of any sisterly concern, but because she feels that Bob's hedonistic behavior sets a bad example for her teenaged son Chuck (Dwayne Hickman).
In the same vein, Bob's "gal Friday" Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz (Ann B. Davis) never tires of delivering little verbal zingers calculated to throw Bob's models off the track -- not because she feels her boss would be better off keeping his mind on his work, but because she secretly yearns to be "Mrs. Collins" herself. The series' first episode finds Bob going through the motions of finding a suitable second husband for Margaret (again, there's that ulterior motive: Marry Margaret off, and she'll stop meddling in his affairs). Later on, he attempts to fix up Schultzy with a girl-shy soda jerk, and still later he gives her the "glamour" treatment so she'll be more appealing to her erstwhile sailor beau Frank (Dick Wesson). Of course, these missions of mercy are secondary to Bob's own never-ending pursuit of the fairer sex -- said pursuit arousing the envy -- and emulation -- of his two Air Force reserve buddies, Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot) and Harvey Helm (King Donovan). Paul, in fact, evinces so many "wolf-like" tendencies that a panicky Bob tries to discourage what he thinks is a budding romance between Paul and Margaret. Love That Bob did not crack the Top Twenty ratings during its first season, and in fact never would rank any higher than 32nd or 33rd place. But the series was popular and a solid performer -- so much so that when NBC decided to cancel at the end of the first season, the series' sponsor simply shifted the program over to rival CBS, where it remained for the next three years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the same vein, Bob's "gal Friday" Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz (Ann B. Davis) never tires of delivering little verbal zingers calculated to throw Bob's models off the track -- not because she feels her boss would be better off keeping his mind on his work, but because she secretly yearns to be "Mrs. Collins" herself. The series' first episode finds Bob going through the motions of finding a suitable second husband for Margaret (again, there's that ulterior motive: Marry Margaret off, and she'll stop meddling in his affairs). Later on, he attempts to fix up Schultzy with a girl-shy soda jerk, and still later he gives her the "glamour" treatment so she'll be more appealing to her erstwhile sailor beau Frank (Dick Wesson). Of course, these missions of mercy are secondary to Bob's own never-ending pursuit of the fairer sex -- said pursuit arousing the envy -- and emulation -- of his two Air Force reserve buddies, Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot) and Harvey Helm (King Donovan). Paul, in fact, evinces so many "wolf-like" tendencies that a panicky Bob tries to discourage what he thinks is a budding romance between Paul and Margaret. Love That Bob did not crack the Top Twenty ratings during its first season, and in fact never would rank any higher than 32nd or 33rd place. But the series was popular and a solid performer -- so much so that when NBC decided to cancel at the end of the first season, the series' sponsor simply shifted the program over to rival CBS, where it remained for the next three years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Cummings, Rosemary de Camp, (more)
- 1955
Moving from NBC to CBS for its second season, Love That Bob (originally The Bob Cummings Show) also moved to a more advantageous time slot, Thursday nights at 8:00 PM. Here it would remain for the next two years -- never a huge ratings hit, but always consistently popular with its target audience, which seemed to be comprised of women who were attracted to star Bob Cummings, and men who envied Cummings' incredible luck with the opposite sex (at least on his TV show!) As was the case back at NBC, the CBS version of Love That Bob finds professional photographer Bob Collins (Cummings) ardently pursuing every beautiful and unattached girl who sashays into his studio.
Meanwhile, Bob's "gal Friday" Schultzy (Ann B. Davis) employs a full arsenal of wisecracks to cover up the fact that she carries a torch for her boss; and Bob's widowed sister Margaret (Rosemary de Camp), with whom he lives in a suburban L.A. bungalow , wishes that Bob would stop chasing about and get married, if only to provide a worthwhile role model for her teenaged son Chuck (Dwayne Hickman) -- who, more than ever during season two, is exhibiting a desire to emulate his uncle's Lothario tactics. In another carryover from season one, overprotective Bob is determined to save Margaret from the "lecherous" clutches of his airline pilot pal Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot), even though Paul is basically a nice guy and a gentleman. Once he decides that Paul and Margaret should be together after all, Bob nearly louses up the relationship by being an overbearing buttinsky. And near the end of the season, Margaret tires of Bob's interference and sets about to "trap" Paul all by herself by shedding her sweet, domestic image and transforming into a Sadie Thompson-like vamp. Season two inagurates the series' policy of featuring story arcs that carry over from one episode to the next, a technique producer Paul Henning would hone to a fine science on such series as The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. Typical is the two-episode arc in which Bob Collins follows guest star Jack Carson to Hawaii, hoping to dally amongst the sun-kissed island lovelies -- only to inadvertently become engaged to a local girl with a large and rather intimidating family! The most amusing development during Love That Bob's second season is the introduction of a "new" character: Bob's peppery, harmlessly wolfish grandfather Josh Collins -- also played by Bob Cummings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Meanwhile, Bob's "gal Friday" Schultzy (Ann B. Davis) employs a full arsenal of wisecracks to cover up the fact that she carries a torch for her boss; and Bob's widowed sister Margaret (Rosemary de Camp), with whom he lives in a suburban L.A. bungalow , wishes that Bob would stop chasing about and get married, if only to provide a worthwhile role model for her teenaged son Chuck (Dwayne Hickman) -- who, more than ever during season two, is exhibiting a desire to emulate his uncle's Lothario tactics. In another carryover from season one, overprotective Bob is determined to save Margaret from the "lecherous" clutches of his airline pilot pal Paul Fonda (Lyle Talbot), even though Paul is basically a nice guy and a gentleman. Once he decides that Paul and Margaret should be together after all, Bob nearly louses up the relationship by being an overbearing buttinsky. And near the end of the season, Margaret tires of Bob's interference and sets about to "trap" Paul all by herself by shedding her sweet, domestic image and transforming into a Sadie Thompson-like vamp. Season two inagurates the series' policy of featuring story arcs that carry over from one episode to the next, a technique producer Paul Henning would hone to a fine science on such series as The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. Typical is the two-episode arc in which Bob Collins follows guest star Jack Carson to Hawaii, hoping to dally amongst the sun-kissed island lovelies -- only to inadvertently become engaged to a local girl with a large and rather intimidating family! The most amusing development during Love That Bob's second season is the introduction of a "new" character: Bob's peppery, harmlessly wolfish grandfather Josh Collins -- also played by Bob Cummings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Cummings, Rosemary de Camp, (more)
- 1954
Anthony Dexter, who had essayed the title role in the 1951 biopic Valentino, plays a beardless Captain Kidd. Eva Gabor, who would later costar with Arnold the Pig on TV's Green Acres, is the slave girl. Gabor has been dispatched by the villains to seduce Kidd and determine the whereabouts of the pirate's legendary buried treasure. She falls in love with him instead, standing by his side as he fights his way through reels and reels of stock footage from old Hollywood swashbucklers. Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl was produced by Edward Small--and is "small" in every sense of the word. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
- Add There's No Business Like Show Business to QueueAdd There's No Business Like Show Business to top of Queue
Like Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), 20th Century-Fox's There's No Business Like Show Business is a "catalogue" film, its thinnish plot held together by an itinerary of Irving Berlin tunes. The story chronicles some twenty years in the lives of a showbiz family, headed by Dan Dailey and Ethel Merman. Two of the couple's three grown children -- Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor -- carry on the family tradition, while the third, Johnny Ray, decides to become a priest. There are a few tense moments when O'Connor falls in love with ambitious chorine Marilyn Monroe and loses all sense of perspective, but the family reunites during a splashy production-number finale. Highlights include Dailey and Merman's Play a Simple Melody duet, O'Connor's A Man Chases a Girl solo, and Monroe's tempestuous rendition of Heat Wave (her delivery and stage presence both compensate for her unflattering bare-midriff costume). Of historical interest, There's No Business Like Show Business was Fox's first CinemaScope musical; as such, it is best viewed on TV in "letterbox" format. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, (more)
Jail Bait was the place where Edward D. Wood Jr.'s career as a director entered the mainstream. Having exposed the world of transvestism in Glen or Glenda, he now turned to less ambitious fare in an effort at commercial success. Loosely patterned after the television series Dragnet, Jail Bait tells the story of Don Gregor (Clancey Malone), the spoiled, arrogant son of a successful plastic surgeon (Herbert Rawlinson), who is out for some kicks and excitement and hooks up with Vic Brady (Timothy Farrell), a career criminal. Opening with Don's arrest for illegal possession of a pistol, the film tracks his interaction with a pair of detectives (Lyle Talbot, Steve Reeves); his deceiving of his sister (Dolores Fuller) and his father; the robbery that goes wrong and leads him to murder an ex-cop; and his attempt to go straight, which gets him killed. That action, and Brady's attempt to force Dr. Gregor to alter his face, leads to a bizarre revenge that makes up the final 15 minutes of the movie. Little of this plot is unfolded skillfully -- Wood was already out of his depth in directing actors -- but having access to Howco's finances (meager as they were) and facilities gives Jail Bait a slightly smoother, less emaciated look than most of Wood's later movies. Coupled with the fact that he was trying to do a straight crime film, and the resulting restraint he showed in the writing, Jail Bait can just about "pass" as a normal, albeit very low-budget film, although, as with all of Wood's movies, there is still an unintended laugh every minute or so. And just to show how close to the edge Wood was working even at the outset of his career, in terms of using marginal talent, neophyte performers, and one-time successful actors, Bela Lugosi was not the first leading actor in a Wood movie to die during production -- that distinction went to Herbert Rawlinson, who played Dr. Gregor here. The former silent-era leading man reportedly died the night after he finished shooting his role in Jail Bait. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Fuller, Lyle Talbot, (more)
This children's sci-fi adventure chronicles the friendship between an 11-year-old and his grandfather's robot Tobor, who was designed to explore deep space. Tobor, unlike other machines, was endowed with human emotions. Trouble erupts when the communists kidnap him and try to make him do their evil bidding. Fortunately, Tobor is mind-linked to his creator and cannot be easily reprogrammed. The adventure begins when the boy and the scientists attempt to save the robot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Drake, Karin [Katharine] Booth, (more)
- 1954
Yet another serial from penny-pinching producer Sam Katzman, the fifteen chapter Gunfighters of the Northwest suffered from the usual Katzman shortcomings, including grainy stock-footage and slapdash writing. As an added economy measure, not a single scene was filmed indoors! Jock Mahoney plays Northwest Mounted Police Constable O'Mahoney, assigned to track down a mysterious villain known only as The Leader. Trying to locate a secret gold mine, The Leader pits the Indians against the Mounties, whom he blames for creating trouble. All in all, Gunfighters of the Northwest did nothing to re-establish the serial genre as a viable alternative to cheap television Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Siege of Red River stars Van Johnson as a Confederate officer, who "appropriates" a shipment of gatling guns from the Northern troops in the waning days of the Civil War. Posing as a medicine show entrepreneur, Johnson smuggles the guns through enemy lines in his wagon. Renegade rebel Richard Boone steals the guns in order to sell them to the Indians. Surrendering himself to Union troops, Johnson sets after Boone with Yankee reinforcements in tow before the Indians can get their hands on the weapons. After Boone is killed, a northern nurse (Joanne Dru) pleads eloquently for the Yanks to be easy on Johnson; he is allowed to escape, but not before promising to marry the nurse at war's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Joanne Dru, (more)
- 1954
A feature version of a twelve chapter Republic Pictures, this drama starred Harry Lauter as Tom Rogers, an enterprising South Seas island trader who gets involved with Nazi thugs, a native revolution and smugglers, ably assisted by a lovely emissary from the United Nations, Aline Towne. One of the studio's final chapterplays, the original Trader Tom of the China Seas had adhered to the venerable serial tradition of promoting a supporting actor to hero status. A somewhat nondescript presence, Harry Lauter also starred in the studio's final serial King of the Carnival. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Like its predecessor Duffy of San Quentin, The Steel Cage is made up of episodes from a never-telecast TV series based on the career of progressive prison warden Clinton T. Duffy. Paul Kelly plays Duffy, while his wife is portrayed by Maureen O'Sullivan. Divided into three separate playlets, the film begins with the semi-comic story of an ill-tempered chef (Walter Slezak) who is railroaded into San Quentin by a gourmet prisoner. The second story concerns a tense hostage situation fomented by would-be escapees John Ireland and Lawrence Tierney. The closing story deals with an incarcerated painter (Kenneth Tobey), whose belief in God is renewed by an idealistic young priest (Arthur Franz). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Kelly, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1953
Wayne Morris plays a Texas ranger who goes undercover to trap a criminal gang. Posing as a wanted killer, Morris is able to move freely amongst the town riffraff, unencumbered by the innocent ingenue (mainly because there is no innocent ingenue). The marshal learns that the brains behind the gang is a group of supposed respectable businessmen. Star of Texas was directed with verve by Thomas Carr, best known to modern viewers for his long association with the Superman TV series (Jack Larson, Superman's Jimmy Olsen, shows up in a supporting role). The film was one of a quartet of Wayne Morris vehicles produced in 1953-54 by Allied Artists, representing the last-ever Hollywood "B" western series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wayne Morris, Paul Fix, (more)
Mutated spiders, mad geniuses, childlike mental patients, gold-digging blondes, and vengeful little people are only part of the madness in this legendary bit of oddball science fiction. Grant (Robert Knapp) and Doreen (Mary Hill) wander into a shack in the wastelands of Mexico's Muerto Desert, where the sunburned and dehydrated pair tell their tale to a surveyor for an American petroleum firm. Grant was working as a pilot for millionaire businessman Jan Van Croft (Nico Lek), who was to marry the much younger Doreen when engine trouble stranded them in a Mexican border town. Jan and Doreen were killing time in a roadhouse when they were joined by the eccentric Dr. Leland Masterson (Harmon Stevens), who had recently escaped from a mental hospital. Before Masterson's nurse, George (George Barrows), can lure his patient back to the hospital, Masterson pulls a gun and shoots entertainer Tarantella (Tandra Quinn) while she performs a wild dance routine; Masterson then takes Jan and Doreen hostage and demands that Grant fly them away. Further engine trouble strands the traveling party on a mesa, where they discover a handful of strange, tiny men and statuesque women. In time, we discover that Masterson knows the story behind the Mesa's unusual residents -- they're the products of a series of experiments by Dr. Aranya (Jackie Coogan), whose research into the pituitary glands of spiders has produced unusual results. The only screen credit for screenwriter and co-director Herbert Tevos (who helmed the project with Southern exploitation icon Ron Ormond), Mesa of Lost Women also features a memorably irritating guitar-and-piano score and a brief appearance by Dolores Fuller, best known for her work with one-time beau Edward D. Wood Jr. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Richard Travis, (more)
- 1953
Audie Murphy plays wagon train scout Jim Harvey in Universal-International's Tumbleweed. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Harvey is wrongly accused of saving himself while allowing the people under his protection to be slaughtered by Indians. With the help of sheriff Murchoree (Chill Wills) and his Native American friend Tigre (Ernesto Iglesias), Harvey breaks out of jail to prove his innocence. Figuring largely in the proceedings are horse-rancher Nick Buckley (Roy Roberts) and his wife Louella Buckley (K.T. Stevens), who provide Harvey with a "loser" horse that turns out to be a winner when the hero needs it most. The revelation of the film's true villain should be amusing for fans of TV's Gilligan's Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Audie Murphy, Lori Nelson, (more)
- 1953
This colorful musical comedy was obviously inspired by the success of Broadway's South Pacific. Army Captain Bill Willoby (William Lundigan) is ordered to make sure that his men do not fraternize with the girls at a South Sea island base. His mission is forgotten when he himself falls in love with Diana Forrester (Jane Greer), the daughter of a local missionary. The fun begins when a native girl (Mitzi Gaynor) is offered to the captain as a goodwill gift by island chieftain Jilouili(!) Naturally, there's a major breakdown in protocol, quite similar to the one found in John Patrick's 1954 Broadway hit Teahouse of the August Moon. Featured in the cast as a woman-hungry lieutenant is Jack Paar, which is why this film got so much TV play in the 1960s. The incidental songs in Down Among the Sheltering Palms were written by Harold Arlen and Ralph Blane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Lundigan, Jane Greer, (more)
In his heart-felt cinematic debut, Edward D. Wood, Jr. himself stars under the pseudonym Daniel Davis as a young man with a dilemma: should he tell his lovely young fiancee (played by real-life girlfriend Dolores Fuller) about his burning desire to cross-dress? She has begun to notice articles of clothing missing from her closet; the suspense builds...what should he do? Bela Lugosi plays the omniscient narrator; note his conviction as he "pulls the strings." Amidst this unintentionally hilarious mish-mash of melodrama, social commentary and inexplicable stock footage, there is something for every taste: countless cross dressers, hallucinatory dream sequences, sex-change surgeries, spirited cat fights, borderline-pornographic simulated sex scenes, poetic monologues, a haunted house, and a stampede of wild buffalo. Released under various titles across the country -- I Lived Two Lives, I Changed My Sex -- this fiasco bombed across the board but managed to gain Wood enough notoriety in the "B"-movie world to launch a career that is today the stuff of legend. Hailed by most critics as the worst film of all time, Wood nearly matched his first effort with such atrocities as Bride of the Monster, Night of the Ghouls, the infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space, and, perhaps the world's first topless horror film, Orgy of the Dead. Although few may count Wood among the best American cinema has to offer, Glen or Glenda certainly places him among its most memorable. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bela Lugosi, Daniel Davis [Edward D. Wood, Jr.], (more)
- 1953
When the Bowery Boys go to visit a friend on an Air Force base, they are pulled into an investigation to discover why their friend is being accused of treason. Accidentally enlisting in the service, they continue their investigation and eventually stumble on a Nazi plot. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1953
No relation to the 1973 Burt Reynolds vehicle of the same name, White Lightning is a passable programmer about a champion ice hockey team. Stanley Clements plays Mike, an arrogant young hockey player who immediately alienates his new teammates. Team manager Jack (Steve Brodie) tries to convince Mike to quit grandstanding, but to no avail. The plot rears its ugly head when a group of gangsters try to coerce Mike into fixing a few games. At long last, Mike's responsibility to his fellow players is awakened, and a happy ending is had by all (except the gangsters). White Lightning was the first Monogram "B" picture to be released by Monogram's successor Allied Artists; it would not be the last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Clements, Steve Brodie, (more)
- 1952
The self-styled son of Indian chief Geronimo gets himself involved with a gang of nasty whites in this typical low-budget 15 chapter serial, which benefitted from a great deal of footage from the the stock piles at Columbia Pictures. Jim Scott (Clayton Moore) and wagon train boss Tulsa (Bus Osborne) are on to the nefarious schemes of Rance Rankin (Marshall Reed) and Ace Devlin (John Crawford), getting words of warning through to Portico (Rodd Redwing), the Son of Genronimo. With Portico's help, the white renegades are finally destroyed in the serial's concluding chapter, "Peace Treaty." Moore, the future star of the television series The Lone Ranger, was here billed "Clay Moore." Usually cast as a villain, mustachioed Bud Osborne turned in a rare "good guy" performance in this serial. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1952
This off-beat western is set in a remote western town that has made it illegal for men to enter. The town is owned by a powerful female gambler whose reign is toppled by a handsome and persistent cowboy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Windsor, Richard Rober, (more)
