Loren Tindall Movies

One wonders if Donald O'Connor would have consented to star in Francis if he knew that a series was to follow. Adapted by David Stern from his own novel, the film stars O'Connor as GI Peter Sterling, who appears to be bucking for a Section Eight. Seems that Sterling keeps insisting that Francis, a cantankerous Army mule, has the power of speech. It turns out that Francis not only can talk, but is also a superb military strategist. With Francis' help, Sterling breaks up a Nazi spy ring and becomes a hero -- but this is only the beginning, as the future entries in Universal's Francis series would prove over and over. Providing able support to the hapless O'Connor are Patricia Medina, Ray Collins, and especially ZaSu Pitts as a bewildered Army nurse. The voice of Francis is provided by Chill Wills, who likewise showed up in most of the Francis sequels, and who, like O'Connor, bailed out before the final entry, Francis in a Haunted House (1956). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Meet Me on Broadway is a pocket Columbia musical about aspiring performers and a shoestring production (though the dialogue is careful to include a reference to Columbia's Cover Girl, just to prove that the studio was capable of an "A" product). Fred Brady plays an overbearing director who has been blackballed by Broadway and must settle for staging country-club charity events. Marjorie Reynolds plays the daughter of the country club's owner, who helps Brady mount his Big Comeback Show--which has the ancillary effect of making stars of the whole cast. Jinx Falkenberg is the show's leading lady, while Spring Byington and Gene Lockhart are around as stuffy society types who un-stuff themselves by film's end. Among the performers are the dance team of Gloria Patrice and Nita Bieber, who enjoyed a better showcase in the concurrently filmed Columbia "Three Stooges" short Rhythm and Weep (46). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sometimes dismissed as a derivation of Samuel Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives, RKO Radio's superb Till the End of Time was actually based on Niven Busch's novel They Dream of Home, and was completed and released several months before the Goldwyn film. The story concentrates on three ex-marines: Cliff Harper (Guy Madison), Bill Tabeshaw (Robert Mitchum) and Perry Kincheloe (Bill Williams). Harper falls in love with emotionally distraught war widow Pat Ruscomb (Dorothy McGuire); Tabeshaw endures one disappointment after another as he tries to buy his own ranch; and Kincheloe, rendered legless by the war, intends to spend the rest of his life wallowing in self-pity. All three men find a new lease on life when they engage in a cathartic barroom brawl against a bigoted group of self-styled patriots led by hate-spouting Ray Teal (forever typecast as rabid racists during the postwar years). It was this climactic scene, which remains the most memorable aspect of Till the End of Time (outside of its Chopin-inspired theme song) that caused a lot of headaches for producer Dore Schary, screenwriter Allen Rivkin and director Edward Dmytryk during the House Unamerican Activities hearings a few years later: what was accepted as pro-American in 1946 would soon be labelled "Pinko" by the anti-Red zealots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third of Columbia's "Whistler" series, Power of the Whistler once more stars Richard Dix as the tortured protagonist. This time, Dix is cast as an amnesiac named William Everett, who is given aid and comfort by pretty Jean Lang (Janis Carter). Assuming that Everett has been victimized by someone, Jean tries to help him regain his memory. This proves to be a major mistake, which Jean's sister Frances (Jeff Donnell) discovers to her horror. Though it was fascinating to see Richard Dix in an off-the-beaten-track role, Power of the Whistler isn't up to the standard set by the first two "Whistler" films: even so, the climax, staged in the loft of a deserted barn, is a beaut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this patriotic war drama, a soldier becomes quite upset when he is transferred from the highly coveted machine-gun unit to the canine corps. He begins to change his opinion when he learns that his army dog Mike was a gift from an 8-year-old whose father was killed in the war. Now the soldier becomes committed to training Mike into the best army dog there ever was. Later Mike is paired with Pearl and together the two dogs become renowned for their uncanny ability to ferret out Japanese machine-gun nests. Even though Pearl is killed during one such mission, brave Mike carries on. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a play by Ruth Gordon, Over 21 represents the felicitous teaming of two middle-aged but attractive film favorites. Alexander Knox plays newspaper editor Max Wharton, who despite his age, patriotically signs up for Officer Candidate School. The humor arises from the fact that Wharton has trouble adjusting to the rigors of Army life, not to mention the good-natured competition of much-younger OCS aspirants. Meanwhile, Wharton's wife Paula (Irene Dunne) does her best to accommodate her husband's peripatetic military existence, and to ward off Wharton's boss Robert Gow (Charles Coburn), who insists that Max give up this "nonsense" and return to civilian life. Sharply directed and cleverly cast, Over 21 still delivers a full quota of laughs despite the dated quality of the storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide