Lana Turner Movies
One of the most glamorous superstars of Hollywood's golden era, Lana Turner was born February 8, 1921, in Wallace, ID. At the age of 15, while cutting school, she was spotted by Hollywood Reporter staffer Billy Wilkinson in a Hollywood drugstore; enchanted by her beauty, he escorted her to the offices of the Zeppo Marx Agency, resulting in a bit part in 1937's A Star Is Born. Rejected by RKO, Fox, and any number of other studios, Turner next briefly showed up in They Won't Forget. Mervin LeRoy, the picture's director, offered her a personal contract at 50 dollars a week, and she subsequently appeared fleetingly in a series of films at Warner Bros.When LeRoy moved to MGM, Turner followed, and the usual series of bit parts followed before she won her first lead role in the 1939 B-comedy These Glamour Girls. Dancing Co-Ed, a vehicle for bandleader Artie Shaw, followed that same year, and after starring in 1940's Two Girls on Broadway, she and Shaw married. Dubbed "the Sweater Girl" by the press, Turner was touted by MGM as a successor to Jean Harlow, but audiences did not take her to heart; she did, however, become a popular pin-up, especially with American soldiers fighting overseas. In 1941 she starred opposite Clark Gable in Honky Tonk, her first major hit. They again teamed in Somewhere I'll Find You the next year. Upon separating from Shaw, Turner married actor Stephen Crane, but when his earlier divorce was declared invalid, a media frenzy followed; MGM chief Louis B. Mayer was so incensed by the debacle that he kept the now-pregnant Turner off movie screens for a year.
Upon returning in 1944's Marriage Is a Private Affair, Turner's stardom slowly began to grow, culminating in her most sultry and effective turn to date as a femme fatale in 1946's The Postman Always Rings Twice. The film was a tremendous success, and it made Turner one of Hollywood's brightest stars. Both 1947's Green Dolphin Street and Cass Timberlane were hits, but a 1948 reunion with Gable in Homecoming failed to re-create their earlier sparks. After appearing in The Three Musketeers, she disappeared from screens for over a year, resurfacing in the George Cukor trifle A Life of Her Own. Turner's box-office stock was plummeting, a situation which MGM attempted to remedy by casting her in musicals; while the first, 1951's Mr. Imperium, was an unmitigated disaster, 1952's The Merry Widow was more successful. However, a string of failures followed, and after 1955's Diane, MGM opted not to renew her contract.
When Turner's next project, The Rains of Ranchipur, also failed to ignite audience interest, she again took a sabbatical from movie-making. She returned in 1957 with Peyton Place, director Mark Robson's hugely successful adaptation of Grace Metalious' infamous best-seller about the steamy passions simmering beneath the surface of small-town life. Turner's performance won an Academy Award nomination, and the following year she made international headlines when her lover, gangster Johnny Stampanato, was stabbed to death by her teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane; a high-profile court trial followed, and although Crane was eventually acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide, Turner's reputation took a severe beating.
The 1959 Douglas Sirk tearjerker Imitation of Life was Turner's last major hit, however, and after a string of disappointments culminating in 1966's Madame X, she did not reappear in films for three years, returning with The Big Cube. Also in 1969, she and George Hamilton co-starred in the short-lived television series The Survivors. After touring in a number of stage productions, Turner starred in the little-seen 1974 horror film Persecution, followed in 1976 by Bittersweet Love. Her final film, Witches' Brew, a semi-comic remake of the 1944 horror classic Weird Woman, was shot in 1978 but not widely released until 1985. In 1982, she published an autobiography, Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, and also began a stint as a semi-regular on the TV soap opera Falcon Crest. After spending the majority of her final decade in retirement, Lana Turner died June 29, 1995, at the age of 74. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Lana Turner stars as an ambitious model who seeks her fortune in New York City. She is befriended by over-the-hill cover-girl Ann Dvorak, whose performance carries the story until she commits suicide twenty minutes into the film. Turner promises herself that she won't end up burned out like Dvorak, but as her fame grows, she is inexorably drawn into the hectic social whirl that sealed Dvorak's doom. Enjoying the favors of wealthy Ray Milland, Turner seeks out Milland's wife (Margaret Phillips), hoping to convince the woman to give up her husband. When she meets the crippled Mrs. Milland, Turner is made painfully aware of the length and breadth of the woman's love for her husband. Turner pulls out of the relationship, and we are encouraged to believe that hers will be a much happier and more fulfilling life than that of the unfortunate Ann Dvorak (ironically, in real life Ann Dvorak's final days were relatively contented ones, while Lana Turner spent her twilight years wondering where the looks, the men and the money had gone). Though not so noted in the credits, A Life of Her Own was inspired by The Abiding Vision, a novel by Rebecca West. Bronislau Kaper's musical score was later recycled for the 1951 MGM romantic drama Invitation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Ray Milland, (more)
A Star is Born came into being when producer David O. Selznick decided to tell a "true behind-the-scenes" story of Hollywood. The truth, of course, was filtered a bit for box-office purposes, although Selznick and an army of screenwriters based much of their script on actual people and events. Janet Gaynor stars as Esther Blodgett, the small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood stardom, a role later played by both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 remakes. Jeered at by most of her family, Esther finds an ally in her crusty old grandma (May Robson), who admires the girl's "pioneer spirit" and bankrolls Esther's trip to Tinseltown. On arrival, Esther heads straight to Central Casting, where a world-weary receptionist (Peggy Wood), trying to let the girl down gently, tells her that her chances for stardom are about one in a thousand. "Maybe I'll be that one!" replies Esther defiantly. Months pass: through the intervention of her best friend, assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), Esther gets a waitressing job at an upscale Hollywood party. Her efforts to "audition" for the guests are met with quizzical stares, but she manages to impress Norman Maine (Fredric March), the alcoholic matinee idol later played by James Mason and Kris Kristofferson. Esther gets her first big break in Norman's next picture and a marriage proposal from the smitten Mr. Maine. It's a hit, but as Esther (now named Vicki)'s star ascends, Norman's popularity plummets due to a string of lousy pictures and an ongoing alcohol problem. The film won Academy Awards for director William Wellman and Robert Carson in the "original story" category and for W. Howard Greene's glistening Technicolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, (more)
Lana Turner stars as Sara Scott, an American war correspondent whose whirlwind romance with a young British journalist (Sean Connery) ends in tragedy when his plane crashes while covering an assignment. After recovering from a nervous breakdown, Sara tries to come to terms with her grief by visiting her lover's widow (Glynis Johns). Based on the novel Weep No More by Lenore Coffee, Another Time, Another Place did excellent box-office business thanks to the concurrent real-life scandal involving the death of Turner's gangster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato at the hands of her teenage daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Barry Sullivan, (more)
- 1961
Bob Hope was in the first stages of his cinematic decline when he starred in Bachelor in Paradise. Hope plays a "romance expert" who is contracted to write an expose on the sexual habits of suburban California housewives. For research purposes, he moves into a subdivision called Paradise, populated exclusively by good-looking young newlyweds. Much to the dismay of the men in the community, all of the gorgeous young wives gravitate to Hope-especially Paula Prentiss, the sexy bride of nonplussed Jim Hutton. Fortunately for all concerned, Hope is "claimed" by the only other single resident of Paradise, the glamorous Lana Turner. Frequent Bob Hope collaborator Hal Kanter cowrote the screenplay of Bachelor of Paradise with Valentine Davies; the script was based on a story by Vera Caspary, who in better days wrote Laura. Henry Mancini and Mack Davis' Oscar-nominated title song is the only true distinction of this lesser Hope farce. He seems to be sleepwalking while the rest of the cast is trying way too hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1954
Clark Gable's final effort for his longtime home studio MGM, Betrayed is an exciting espionage thriller set during World War II. Intelligence agent Gable is ordered to keep tabs on suspected Nazi collaborator Lana Turner (a brunette for the occasion). Both Gable and Turner join the Dutch underground, making contact with a flamboyant resistance leader known as "The Scarf" (Victor Mature). Turner poses as a sexy chanteuse, the better to gain the confidence of the lascivious Nazi officers. Within the next few weeks, several underground operatives are captured and shot, and it begins to look as though Gable's suspicions concerning Turner are correct. The real collaborator is revealed some twenty minutes before the finale, but the suspense level is expertly maintained throughout. The location-filmed Betrayed would later be mercilessly lampooned in the 1984 spy spoof Top Secret! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1976
Michael and Patricia meet in an unusual way – while he is on a date and is trying to retrieve his date’s car keys from a fountain. When Michael’s date abandons him, he hangs out with Patricia and these two nice young people soon find themselves falling in love. They decide to wed and hold the ceremony in Canada, where Michael’s family lives. Patricia’s parents, who have been on a lengthy cruise and have never met Michael, cannot attend, but they meet their new daughter-in-law soon afterward. While reviewing pictures from the wedding, Michael’s mother is shocked to discover that she knows Patricia’s father. Even more shocking is the revelation that Patricia’s father is also Michael’s father, the result of a one-night stand many years before, and that the happily married couple are therefore half-siblings. To make matters worse, it turns out that Patricia is pregnant. The rest of Bittersweet Love is taken up with Michael and Patricia deciding what they should do about this situation, as well as with reactions and advice from their family members. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Robert Lansing, (more)
- 1961
There's always something simmering beneath the quaint and placid surface of small-town New England lives -- and that includes the usual maladies of alcoholism, rape, and suicide. At least this is the case if you go by the tortuous tale told in By Love Possessed, a Peyton Place knock-off, directed with glossy intensity by the usually reliable action director John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock and The Magnificent Seven). The tale chronicles the miserable lives of Arthur Winner (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), Julius Penrose (Jason Robards Jr.), and Noah Tuttle (Thomas Mitchell) -- legal counseling partners in a law firm that could probably use some good counseling themselves. Arthur's wife Clarissa (Barbara Bel Geddes) has nothing but contempt for poor Arthur because she considers their marriage as more a business deal than a love match. Then there's Julius's wife Marjorie (Lana Turner) who has become a full-time alcoholic ever since Julius has been rendered impotent by an automobile accident. Arthur and Marjorie's frustrations both gel into an illicit romantic union. Arthur certainly needs some kind of diversion since his son Warren (George Hamilton) refuses to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a lawyer. As if that weren't enough, he also refuses to marry Helen Detweiller (Susan Kohner), the girl Arthur wants him to marry because she is rolling in money and is also the ward of Noah. Instead, Warren runs off with the local town whore (Yvonne Craig), who accuses Warren of raping her. Despondent, Helen resorts to desperate measures when she is rejected, and Arthur realizes that he must begin to reconsider his life choices. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., (more)
- 1939
The second of MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series, Calling Dr. Kildare finds the title character (Lew Ayres) transferred to Blair General's downtown outpatient clinic by his crusty superior Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore). It is Gillespie's hope that Kildare will gain valuable experience by working in less than ideal circumstances. A wounded gangster stumbles into the clinic; he is treated by Kildare, who is almost immediately tagged as the criminal's accomplice by the police. Kildare clears himself after burrowing through several subplots and the sporadic comedy relief of ambulance jockey Nat Pendleton. Calling Dr. Kildare was primarily a showcase for MGM's new starlet Lana Turner, here playing the gangster's cute sister. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Lew Ayres, (more)
- 1947
A visibly uneasy Spencer Tracy plays the title role in this lavish MGM screen version of Sinclair Lewis' 1945 magazine serial. A small-town bachelor judge, Cass Timberlane, takes a personal interest in beautiful stenographer Jinny Marshland (Lana Turner), who appears one day as a witness in his court. They marry after a whirlwind courtship, but Jinny soon finds herself stifled among Cass' country club cronies and their haughty wives. A stillborn baby makes things even worse and the young wife attempts to find solace in amateur theatrics. Thus she is easy prey for suave lawyer Bradd Criley (Zachary Scott), who nevertheless does the decent thing and moves to New York. Jinny convinces her husband to follow, but after halfheartedly attempting to find a practice in the Big City, he discovers that there's no place like home. A terrible car accident that almost costs Jinny her life bring husband and wife together, however, and both discover that they belong in Grand Republic, MN, in general and with each other in particular. MGM apparently had a difficult time finding Spencer Tracy's co-star and at one point attempted to borrow Jennifer Jones from producer David O. Selznick. Vivien Leigh and Virginia Grey were also considered before the role of Jinny finally was awarded to Lana Turner. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1939
Lana Turner (a mere 19 years old at the time) stars in this lighthearted musical comedy as Patty Marlow, a dancer fighting her way up the show business ladder. Famous hoofer Freddie Tobin (Lee Bowman) is about to start work on a new movie when his dance partner becomes pregnant and drops out of the project. Press agent Joe Drews (Roscoe Karns) dreams up a publicity stunt to find Freddie's new co-star: he'll stage a contest on college campuses to find a dancer among the student body. However, the contest is merely a ruse, and, when Joe and his cronies spot Patty, they realize she is the perfect girl for the job. Now, they have to pass Patty off as a studious co-ed for the sake of the "contest," which has begun to attract the suspicious attention of student journalist Pug Braddock (Richard Carlson). Artie Shaw and his band perform several numbers (Shaw and Turner would marry two years later), and keep an eye peeled for Veronica Lake in a bit part (she was still known as Constance Keane at the time). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, (more)
- 1955
Lana Turner stars as Diane in this opulent costume drama. Set in 16th century France, the film finds the gorgeous Diane de Pottiers rising to a position of absolute power through her manipulation of the men in her life. Those men include King Francis I (Pedro Armendariz), Prince Henri (Roger Moore) and Diane's husband, the Count de Breze (Torin Thatcher). Diane's principal foe is the scheming Catherine de Medici (Marisa Pavan), who for the first time in her life has met her match in Our Heroine. Christopher Isherwood's screenplay is literate to a fault, though the film could have used a few more action highlights. The tepid box-office receipts of Diane hastened the end of Lana Turner's long association with MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Pedro Armendáriz, (more)
- 1941
- G
1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the second sound version of the Robert Louis Stevenson "doppelganger" tale. This time Spencer Tracy plays the benevolent Dr. Jekyll, whose experiments in releasing the evil impulses within himself transform him into the bestial Mr. Hyde. The problem here is that while Tracy is convincing enough as Hyde, we have trouble accepting him as the kindly Jekyll--exactly the opposite of the 1931 version, in which Fredric March was credible as both Jekyll and Hyde (in fairness to Tracy, it must be noted that he didn't want to play the role and had to be forced into it). MGM decreed that no publicity pictures be released showing Tracy in his Hyde makeup, thereby building up audience anticipation. It's just as well that MGM kept these pictures under wraps: Tracy's Hyde looks less like the Living Personification of Evil than like a man who's been on a three-day bender. The most fascinating aspect of this version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the casting of the two leading ladies. Ever since the 1920 John Barrymore version of this story, it has been de rigeur to symbolize the schism between Jekyll and Hyde by giving him both a "good" and "evil" girlfriend. Originally, MGM adhered to typecasting by assigning the good girl to Ingrid Bergman and the bad one to Lana Turner. But Bergman begged the studio to be allowed to play the more wicked of the two ladies; as a result, hers is by far the best performance in the picture. Neither as lively as the 1920 version nor as innovative as the 1931 remake, MGM's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is weighted down with tiresome dialogue and over-obvious symbolism (catch that dream sequence in which Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner make like racehorses!) Despite its shortcomings, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was infinitely preferable to the next remake, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, (more)
- 1938
Viennese-born Luise Rainer plays a young Parisian girl who attends an exclusive drama school, working nights at a factory to pay the tuition. Despite the jealousies of her fellow students, Luise allows nothing to discourage her from her goal to become as great an actress as her idol (Gale Sondergaard). The girl wins the coveted role of Joan of Arc in an upcoming play, but the victory has a bitter taste when she realizes she's beaten out her idol for the part. At the end, Luise manages to have both a happy career and a successful marriage, even though her friends (and enemies) insist that such a combination is impossible. Dramatic School is a film buff's banquet; virtually every bit player in the cast (Ann Rutherford, Lana Turner, Dick Haymes, Hans Conried, etc.) later graduated to show-biz prominence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luise Rainer, Paulette Goddard, (more)
The racy, ribald Cole Porter musical Du Barry Was a Lady is here given a thorough dry-cleaning by prudish MGM. Richard "Red" Skelton takes over the role of Louis Blore (played on Broadway by Bert Lahr), while Lucille Ball steps into the shoes of the original play's Ethel Merman. The story proposes that Blore is a men's room attendant in a New York nightclub who has a yen for gorgeous showgirl May Daly (Lucille Ball). After drinking a potent mixture, Louis dreams that he is King Louis XV of France, and May is the magnificent Madame Du Barry. Also showing up in Louis' dream is Alex Howe (Gene Kelly), who in "real life" is the guy who ends up with May at fade out-time. It's hard to determine what's more fun to watch in Du Barry Was a Lady: the three stars, the antics of supporting player Zero Mostel, or the incredible sequence in which Tommy Dorsey & His Band -- including drummer Buddy Rich -- perform in 18th century garb and powdered wigs. Five of the original Cole Porter songs are retained for this Technicolor-ful film: "Katie Went to Haiti," "Do I Love You, Do I?," "Well, Did You Evah?," "Taliostro's Dance,", and, best of all, "Friendship." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1982
Much of the action in Season Two of Falcon Crest is precipitated by the murder of Carlo Agretti (Carlos Romero) the father of Melissa Agretti (Ana Alicia), the ambitious wife of Lance Cumson (Lorenzo Lamas)--who in turn is the playboy grandson of ruthless Tuscany Valley winery owner Angela Channing (Jane Wyman). The marriage between Lance and Melissa had been engineered by Angela as a power play against her nephew Chase (Robert Foxworth), who owns half of Angela's thriving Falcon Crest winery, and who has joined the Tuscany Board of Supervisors as a means of lessening Angela's financial hold on the valley. In this endeavor, he is assisted by his mother, Jacqueline Perrault (Lana Turner), and by the owner of the muckraking "San Francisco Globe", Richard Channing (David Selby), the illegitimate son of Angela's ex-husband Douglas Channing. But while Chase's opposition to Angela is altruistic in tone, Richard is motivated by greed and an all-consuming lust for power. Recognizing the double threat of Richard and Chase's, Angela's unscrupulous attorney Phillip Erikson (Mel Ferrer) does everything in his power to discredit both men. Meanwhile, Lance cheats on Melissa with his girlfriend Lori, played this season by Maggie Cooper; this so aggravates Melissa that she delivers her baby son Joseph prematurely. Elsewhere, Chase's daughter Victoria falls in love with Nick Hogan (Roy Thinnes), another member of the Board of Supervisors whom Angela has pressured to thwart Chase's plans. In other developments, Chase's son Cole (William R. Moses) is arrested on suspicion of murdering Carlo Agretti, but a series of mysterious accidents befalling various cast members makes it quite clear that the actual killer is still at large. In the tradition of the "Who Shot J.R.?" story arc on Dallas, the cast of Falcon Crest was kept in the dark as to the identity of Carlo's murderer; several possible ending were filmed, with virtually every person in the show being revealed as the culprit. Only in the season's cliffhanger finale is the truth revealed (much to the surprise of the "guilty" actor, who didn't know the outcome of the mystery until the night the episode was telecast!)--at which point both Chase and Jacqueline are shot down and left for dead! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Wyman, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1938
A standard-issue "screwball comedy" of the 1930s, Four's a Crowd starred a quartet of Warner Bros' biggest stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles. Flynn plays a publicity agent hired to stir up "good press" for a nasty millionaire (Walter Connolly). Errol accomplishes this by going back to his old job as editor of a newspaper owned by Knowles, then using the paper to elucidate Connolly's virtues. Along the way, he romances Olivia de Havilland, who plays Connolly's daughter, and Rosalind Russell, portraying--surprise, surprise--Knowles' star reporter. Much to the amazement of the audience, Flynn ends up not with his frequent costar DeHavilland but with Russell. Fast-moving and chucklesome, Four's a Crowd was nothing new; chances are it would never have been made had it not been for the success of the vaguely similar MGM comedy Libelled Lady (36), which likewise had a quadruple-barreled starring lineup (Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell and Myrna Loy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1947
The 161-minute costume drama Green Dolphin Street is set in 1840, on an island off the coast of Newfoundland, (or at least, the MGM backlot facsimile of same). Boiled down to essentials, it's the story of two sisters, blonde Marguerite Patourel (Donna Reed) and brunette
Marianne Patourel (Lana Turner), daughters of the wealthy Octavius Patourel (Edmund Gwenn). The two women meet New Zealander William Ozone (Richard Hart) and both quietly fall in love with him, though he's far more interested in Marguerite. To get William away from her sister, the conniving Marianne encourages the young man to fulfill his dreams by enlisting in H.R.H.'s Navy, whereby he'll be shipped off to China. But William misses the boat (no pun intended) and becomes a fugitive. He and buddy Timothy Haslam (Van Heflin) pair up and ship out to New Zealand, where they found a lumber business. William gets soused one night and writes to the sister he loves, inviting her to join him in marriage - but drunkenly uses the other sister's name by mistake. Marianne, believing he meant to write to her, decides to set off for New Zealand to be with her intended. Meanwhile,
Timothy secretly pines for Marguerite - and that's only the set up for this broadly-scaled melodrama. Reportedly budgeted at $4 million, Green Dolphin Street was based on the somewhat better bestseller by Elizabeth Goudge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Marianne Patourel (Lana Turner), daughters of the wealthy Octavius Patourel (Edmund Gwenn). The two women meet New Zealander William Ozone (Richard Hart) and both quietly fall in love with him, though he's far more interested in Marguerite. To get William away from her sister, the conniving Marianne encourages the young man to fulfill his dreams by enlisting in H.R.H.'s Navy, whereby he'll be shipped off to China. But William misses the boat (no pun intended) and becomes a fugitive. He and buddy Timothy Haslam (Van Heflin) pair up and ship out to New Zealand, where they found a lumber business. William gets soused one night and writes to the sister he loves, inviting her to join him in marriage - but drunkenly uses the other sister's name by mistake. Marianne, believing he meant to write to her, decides to set off for New Zealand to be with her intended. Meanwhile,
Timothy secretly pines for Marguerite - and that's only the set up for this broadly-scaled melodrama. Reportedly budgeted at $4 million, Green Dolphin Street was based on the somewhat better bestseller by Elizabeth Goudge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Patrick Aherne, (more)
- 1948
When Homecoming was first released in 1948, some observers felt that Clark Gable's unusually sensitive performance was based on his own memories of losing his wife Carole Lombard in a 1942 plane crash. Intriguingly, Gable's Homecoming co-star is Lana Turner, with whom it was rumored that he was having an affair at the time of Lombard's death. Told in flashback, the story concerns the romance of war-time army surgeon Ulysses Delby Johnson (Gable) and Red Cross nurse Lt. Jane "Snapshot" McCall (Turner). Though married, Johnson cannot help to be drawn to Jane as they slog through the hellish battlegrounds of Italy and France. As the war draws to a close, Johnson is faced with a dilemma: how can he find happiness with Jane without bringing misery to his beloved wife Penny (Anne Baxter). As it turns out, Fate intervenes to solve Johnson's problem. Though well-acted and directed, Homecoming is just too thin to be spread out over 12 reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1941
- NR
The marvelous rapport between stars Clark Gable and Lana Turner makes MGM's Honky Tonk seem far more substatianal than it really is. About to be tarred and featherd by an angry mob, frontier con artists Candy Johnson (Gable) and his pal Sniper (Chill Wills) manage to make a quick getaway via train. While on board, Candy strikes up a friendship with Boston-bred Lucy Cotton (Turner), whose "respectable" daddy Judge Cotton (Frank Morgan) turns out to be as big of a sharpster as Candy. For Lucy's sake, Candy decides to use his huckstering skill to good use by helping to build a small-town church, but soon he's up to his old tricks, managing a dance hall and gambling emporium. Growing more ambitious by the minute, Candy intends to take over the whole town with the covert assistance of Judge Cotton. But when Candy marries Lucy (who still doesn't know that he's really a crook at heart!), the enraged Judge exposes Candy's takeover scheme, only to be shot down by the gambling hall's straw boss Hearn (Albert Dekker). In his efforts to set things right and atone for past misdeeds, Candy is separated from Lucy time and time again, but there's never any doubt that a happy ending awaits them both. A TV remake of Honky Tonk surfaced in 1974, with Richard Crenna in the Gable role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Lana Turner, (more)
This glamorized remake of the 1934 film Imitation of Life bears only a passing resemblance to its source, the best-selling novel by Fannie Hurst. Originally, the heroine was a widowed mother who kept the wolf from the door by setting up a successful pancake business with her black housemaid. In the remake, Lana Turner stars as a would-be actress who is raising her daughter on her own. She chances to meet another single mother at the beach: African-American Juanita Moore. Moore goes to work as Turner's housekeeper, bringing her light-skinned daughter along. As Turner's stage career goes into high gear, Moore is saddled with the responsibility of raising both Turner's daughter and her own. Exposed to the advantages of the white world, Moore's grown-up daughter (Susan Kohner) passes for white, causing her mother a great deal of heartache. Meanwhile, Turner's grown daughter (Sandra Dee), neglected by her mother, seeks comfort in the arms of handsome photographer John Gavin. When Moore dies, her daughter realizes how selfish she's been; simultaneously, Turner awakens to the fact that she hasn't been much of a mother for her own daughter, whose romance has gone down the tubes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, John Gavin, (more)
- 1941
Robert Taylor toughened up his image considerably with this gangster movie, which was unusual both in its plot and origins, having come from MGM, which was generally not known for its crime movies. Taylor plays a parolee who is pretending to follow the straight-and-narrow as a hardworking cabbie, but is really the mastermind behind a dog-racing track being built with mob money. Eager works every angle, has a gang that's generally in line, and also has a loyal right-hand man in Jeff Hartnett (Van Heflin, who won an Oscar), his educated assistant, who drinks too much and waxes poetic when he isn't looking after Johnny's interests (and sometimes when he is, too). Eager has only one problem, special prosecutor John Benson Farrell (Edward Arnold) -- who was also the attorney instrumental in sending Eager up -- who has gotten an injunction against the track's opening. But the hood sees an opening when he accidentally crosses paths with a young sociology student, Lisbeth Bard (Lana Turner), who is drawn to him romantically, and then finds out that she's Farrell's step-daughter. After romancing her for a few months, he sets her up in a scam, making her believe that she killed one of Eager's men (Paul Stewart). He "generously" gets her away from the scene and then informs Farrell of what has happened, pointing out that he holds the evidence against Lisbeth. Farrell has no choice but to withdraw the injunction, and the track opens, but problems ensue when rival mobsters decide to try and cut in on Eager and his racket, and he finds out that Lisbeth is so guilt-ridden over her "crime," that she's destroying herself mentally. Eager can't figure out why she feels the way she does or what to do about it, or even if he should do anything to help her, but with Jeff's help, he discovers a nobler side to his nature. Realizing that she really does love him, and knowing it's not possible for the two of them to be together, he goes out in a blaze of glory -- laced with a special irony built into the plot -- solving Lisbeth's problem and also curing her of her love for him, and settling a score or two in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1945
A disparate group of women join the Women's Army Corps to fight WW II in this upbeat war-time drama. One of the women is a frivolous debutante who is informed that she will not receive a dime from the family fortune until she can prove herself mature enough not to squander it on nightclubs and fancy cafes. She joins up with no intention of remaining a WAC; as soon as she gets the money, she is planning to leave. Another recruit comes from an Army family and sees no other recourse than to join up to. The third gal is married to a soldier and wants to be close to him. The army brat and the debutante constantly lob barbed remarks at each other leaving the wife to try to make peace. Things get even more out of hand when the Army brat gets promoted and begins abusing her rank. Things come to a head when the debutante slaps her and is brought up on charges. Meanwhile the wife is devastated to learn that her husband has been killed. Still she says nothing and instead tries to get her other two cohorts to make up. Ironically, it is the pain of her loss that brings the three together and cements their friendship and commitment to the Corps. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Laraine Day, (more)
- 1953
Lana Turner stars in this musical/romantic comedy amalgam from director Mervyn Leroy. Turner plays Nora Taylor, a wealthy heiress who finds herself seeing a psychiatrist because she can't decide whether she is loved for herself or her money. When her rich boyfriend (John Lund) takes off for Brazil, Nora tags along with him, hinting that the trip will improve their relationship. But once in Brazil, her boyfriend seems more interested in business dealings than love. As she waits around for her disinterested suitor, she meets a handsome Latin millionaire (Ricardo Montalban), and his charm makes her fall for him immediately. While this relationship is coalescing, Nora's boyfriend is beginning to notice her vivacious secretary Anne Kellwood (Jean Hagen). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Ricardo Montalban, (more)
The third of MGM's Andy Hardy series (discounting the "pilot" film, A Family Affair) stars, as ever, Mickey Rooney as the teenaged protagonist. Andy finds himself in dutch with girlfriend Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford) when he agrees to escort his best friend's gal, Cynthia Potter (Lana Turner). Having gone out of town, Andy's buddy wants Cynthia kept out of circulation, and pays Andy to make sure she stays that way. Andy is in no position to refuse: he needs the dough to pay for a car he's just purchased. Further complications ensue when Andy falls for a third girl, Betsy Booth (Judy Garland). It is up to Betsy to play little miss fix-it when Andy's romantic entanglements threaten to overwhelm him. (Mickey Rooney could have used a "Betsy Booth" in real life as well!) Originally running shorter than its present 90 minutes, Love Finds Andy Hardy was expanded during filming to showcase the splendid singing talents of Judy Garland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, (more)
- 1965
Repeated infidelities and an unexplained death set the stage for this glossy soap opera. Kit Jordan (Lana Turner) is a wealthy woman slipping into middle age who likes attractive men and isn't averse to the notion of paying for their company. Her husband Pete (Cliff Robertson) is a one-time gigolo whom Kit met on the beach of the ocean side community in Acapulco she calls home. Neither are much on fidelity, and Pete sometimes has mistresses just as Kit has her boy-toys whom she meets in much the same way as she met him. One day, a dead body washes up to the shore wearing a bracelet with the inscription "Love Is Thin Ice." It turns out that the man was one of Kit's many former boyfriends, and the police are not sure if the death was an accident, suicide, or possibly murder -- with the Jordans as suspects. Carol Lambert (Stefanie Powers), the dead man's sister, arrives in town to get to the bottom of her brother's death, but she falls into a fling with Pete. Meanwhile, Hank (Hugh O'Brien), another beach bum, has been dallying with rich widow Margot Eliot (Ruth Roman), but with Pete getting more serious about Carol, he begins to think that Kit might be a more lucrative target for his affections. As the police step up their investigation of the death, the parties involved begin to realize that they're all going to have to settle on one partner, once and for all. Turner's costumes were designed by Edith Head, who spent a then-record $1 million on the many stylish beach outfits which are frequently changed by the cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson, (more)
