Les Tremayne Movies

A Man Called Peter is the story of Scottish-born Presbyterian minister and world-renowned author Peter Marshall, here played by Richard Todd. In his youth, Marshall moves to Washington DC, where he becomes pastor of the Church of the Presidents. His wisdom and conviction enables Marshall to communicate with men of all faiths. In private life, the pastor is given moral support by his loyal wife Catherine Marshall (Jean Peters). At the time of his comparatively early death, Marshall has become chaplain of the US Senate. Interestingly enough, while Marshall and his family are identified by name, the peripheral political characters are given fictional monickers--and sometimes, as in the case of the President played by William Forrest, no names at all. Director Henry Koster expertly avoids filming Marshall's sermons in a static, declamatory fashion. As Catherine Marshall, Jean Peters does wonders with a comparatively limited role; her best scene is her last, when she overcomes her lifelong fear of the ocean for the sake of her son (Billy Chapin). A Man Called Peter was certainly not conceived out of any box-office considerations, but it still paid its way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alfred Hitchcock Presents moved from its familiar Sunday-night slot on CBS to a new Tuesday-night berth for rival network NBC to launch its sixth season with this amusingly ironic tale from the pen of frequent series contributor Roald Dahl. Audrey Meadows adroitly suppresses her familiar "Alice Kramden" characterization in the role of Mrs. Bixby, the pampered -- and faithless -- wife of a prosperous doctor (Les Tremayne). When Mrs. Bixby's latest paramour, a colonel (Stephen Chase), decides to break off their relationship, he gives her a costly mink coat as a parting gift. Not wanting to have her husband find out how she really got the coat, Mrs. Bixby works out an elaborate subterfuge involving a "found" pawn ticket. But it turns out that Dr. Bixby is not entirely above a bit of subterfuge himself! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Making her second Bonanza appearance, Mercedes McCambridge is cast as wealthy widow Matilda Curtis, who helps Ben Cartwright establish a free school for the children of Ponderosa's employees and tenant farmers. When the schoolmaster is murdered, troublesome student Billy Burgess (a pre-Partridge Family David Cassidy) angrily confesses to the crime. To save Billy from being hanged, Matilda insists that he be placed in her custody without the formality of a court trial. But Ben, unconvinced by Billy's confession, demands that the boy get his day in court-even if it may cost him his life. Comedian Foster Brooks, aka "The Lovable Lush", plays the stone-sober role of Judge Rogers. Originally telecast on February 15, 1970, "The Law and Billy Burgess" was written by Stanley Roberts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Legendary bad-movie maven Larry Buchanan does a virtual remake of The She Creature (for reasons unknown) with this enjoyably silly outing. The story involves deranged stage mesmerist Dr. Basso (Les Tremayne), whose sessions with his pretty assistant Doreena (Pat Delaney) result in her regression into a hideous (or at least hideously-made) prehistoric sea monster, which he then manipulates into committing a series of gruesome murders at a remote resort -- all of which fulfill his earlier on-stage prophecies. One of Buchanan's many remakes of cheesy American International monster films, all of which made the originals seem positively brilliant by comparison, the film even features one of AIP's stock "heroes" -- the absolutely wooden Aron Kincaid, horrendously miscast as a psychiatrist. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is the kind of man who wants to marry an old-fashioned girl, one who will stay home and take care of her husband. However, he's fallen in love with Priscilla "Effie" Effington (Deborah Kerr), who has an exciting career with the State Department that she has no intention of giving up. Clemson has the poor timing of proposing marriage to Effie just as she's in the middle of trying to resolve a major political crisis with the Middle Eastern nation of Bukistan; the United States wants to stay on Bukistan's good side, thanks to their plentiful reserves of oil. Tired of waiting for Effie, Clemson decides that he needs to find a potential bride who will follow his lead instead of her own, and he soon meets Princess Tarji (Betta Saint John), daughter of the King of Bukistan, who has spent her life learning to faithfully serve her man. Clemson half-seriously sends a telegram proposing marriage to Tarji, which touches off a political tempest in a teapot when Tarji responds by visiting the United States. The State Department decides that someone should look after Tarji while she's in America, and who should be given the assignment but Effie; to Clemson's chagrin, Effie uses her time with Tarji to enlighten her about the more liberated status of women in the West. By the way, don't bother looking for Bukistan in your atlas, the country doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When evil villagers kill Mr. Snakey's favorite snake, he sends out the rest of his snakes to enact their revenge. ~ All Movie Guide

Francis Goes to West Point is the third entry in Universal's money-spinning series about a talking mule. Donald O'Connor once again stars as Peter Sterling, who with the garrulous Francis' helps prevent the destruction of an atomic energy plant. As a reward, Peter is given a scholarship to West Point, where he quickly distinguishes himself as the military academy's biggest foul-up. Peter's future as an officer and a gentleman is saved by the timely arrival of Francis, who functions as the West Point football team's mascot. This time around, O'Connor is allotted two lovely leading ladies, played by Lori Nelson and Alice Kelly. Two of the West Point cadets are played by future TV favorites David Janssen and James Best. And as always, Francis' Southern-fried voice is supplied by Chill Wills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Irene Dunne made her final film appearance in the frothy fantasy It Grows on Trees. Looking at least two decades younger than her 52 years, Dunne plays Polly Baxter, the ebullient wife of Phil Baxter (Dean Jagger). Miracle of miracles, two of the trees in Polly's backyard garden begin sprouting paper currency! Assuming that it's genuine mazumah, Polly goes on a spending spree, and also pays off the long-standing mortgage on the house. The money-yielding trees soon become a nationwide sensation, drawing thousands of interested parties to the Baxters' tiny backyard. A major setback is inevitable, but the manner in which the dilemma is solved is both clever and logical. When it isn't concentrating on the plot proper, It Grows on Trees offers some amusing jibes at the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and small-town pretentiousness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This preposterous battle between the huge ape King Kong and the fire-breathing dinosaur Gojira marked the beginning of Toho Studios aiming their monster films at children rather than general audiences. Director Ishiro Honda stages the battle scenes atop Mt. Fuji for laughs, as the two lovable beasts play ball with a large boulder and generally behave like professional wrestlers horsing around for the camera. Persistent rumors claim that there exist two different endings to this film, with Godzilla winning in the Japanese version and Kong prevailing in the American print. These rumors are incorrect, as Kong wins in both versions. Gojira survived to battle Mothra the following year in Mosura Tai Gojira, while the Asian Kong returned in King Kong No Gyakushu (1967). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Having made a bundle on their 130-episode package of Mr. Magoo TV cartoons, the folks at UPA studios decided to star Magoo in a 60-minute musical version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. First telecast over the NBC network on December 18, 1962, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol deftly uses the device of depicting Magoo as a famous Broadway star, returning to the stage to essay the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge. This "framing" device has, unfortunately, been eliminated from currently available TV and video versions of this hour-long animated special. Still, Magoo has plenty of time to shine as Scrooge, a role ideally suited for the character's crotchety demeanor and comic nearsightedness. The five original songs by Jules Styne and Bob Merrill are wonderful-far more so than the disposable score of the 1970 live-action Christmas Carol musical adaptation Scrooge. The principal voices are provided by Jim Backus as Magoo, Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit, Royal Dano as Marley's Ghost, and Joan Gardner, Morey Amsterdam and Paul Frees. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol served as the pilot for the 1964 animated anthology series The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, wherein Magoo essayed such literary roles as Friar Tuck, Gunga Din, and all seven of Snow White's dwarves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While having lunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York, advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) has the bad luck to call for a messenger just as a page goes out for a "George Kaplan." From that moment, Thornhill finds that he has stepped into a nightmare -- he is quietly abducted by a pair of armed men out of the hotel's famous Oak Room and transported to a Long Island estate; there, he is interrogated by a mysterious man (James Mason) who, believing that Roger is George Kaplan, demands to know what he knows about his business and how he has come to acquire this knowledge. Roger, who knows nothing about who any of these people are, can do nothing but deny that he is Kaplan or that he knows what they're talking about. Finally, his captors force a bottle of bourbon into Roger and put him behind the wheel of a car on a dangerous downhill stretch. Through sheer luck and the intervention of a police patrol car and its driver (John Beradino), Roger survives the ride and evades his captors, and is booked for drunk driving. He's unable to persuade the court, the county detectives, or even his own mother (Jesse Royce Landis) of the truth of his story, however -- Thornhill returns with them to the mansion where he was held, only to find any incriminating evidence cleaned up and to learn that the owner of the house is a diplomat, Lester Townsend (Philip Ober), assigned to the United Nations. He backtracks to the hotel to find the room of the real George Kaplan, only to discover that no one at the hotel has ever actually seen the man. With his kidnappers once again pursuing him, Thornhill decides to confront Townsend at the United Nations, only to discover that he knows nothing of the events on Long Island, or his house being occupied -- but before he can learn more, Townsend gets a knife in his back in full view of 50 witnesses who believe that Roger did it. Now on the run from a murder charge, complete with a photograph of him holding the weapon plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the country, Thornhill tries to escape via train -- there he meets the cooly beautiful Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), who twice hides him from the police, once spontaneously and a second time in a more calculated rendezvous in her compartment that gets the two of them together romantically, at least for the night. By the next day, he's off following a clue to a remote rural highway, where he is attacked by an armed crop-dusting plane, one of the most famous scenes in Hitchcock's entire film output. Thornhill barely survives, but he does manage to learn that his mysterious tormentor/interrogator is named Phillip Vandamm, and that he goes under the cover of being an art dealer and importer/exporter, and that Eve is in bed with him in every sense of the phrase -- or is she? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This is the first of four consecutive episodes in which Perry Mason appears only briefly, while a "guest" lawyer handles the case at hand (Raymond Burr was at the time recovering from minor surgery). No less than Bette Davis is cast as female attorney Constant Doyle, the widow of famed defense attorney Joe Doyle. Taking her late husband's place, Constant agrees to defend young Cal Leonard, who is accused of burglarizing the offices of Otis Industries and beating up a night watchman. Actually, Constant doesn't like Cal very much and was thinking of dropping the case until her curiosity was aroused by the fact that Lawrence Otis was all too willing to drop the charges against the boy. As it turns out, Cal is lucky to have Constant on his side when he charged with the murder of his cousin Steven (Jerry Oddo). Removed from the original Perry Mason syndicated rerun package in 1966, this episode remained unseen until it was telecast on cable TV in the mid-1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide