Lola Albright Movies

Alexander Singer directed this low-budget independent American film from 1961 featuring Lola Albright in a sexy, tactile performance as a bored stripper in her late 30s who, as an afterthought, seduces her 17-year-old downstairs neighbor (Scott Marlowe). After bedding down the young virgin, the stripper discovers a kind of sexual ecstasy she never imagined in her wildest burlesque hallucinations. Unfortunately for her ecstasies, when the boy finds out her line of work, he is shocked and disgusted and he leaves her, moving on to sexual conquests with women closer to his own age. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Monogram Studios certainly got its money's worth out of contractee Wayne Morris, profitably plunking him into virtually every film genre known to man. In Arctic Flight, Morris plays an Alaskan bush pilot named Mike, hired to take a tenderfoot named Wetherby (Alan Hale Jr.) on a hunting trip. It soon develops that Wetherby is actually--gasp--a communist spy, who intends to take photos of Alaskan military installations on behalf of the Kremlin. By the time Mike finds this out, Wetherby has ingratiated himself with everyone in the region, thus no one believes Our Hero's shouts of "Red! Red!" The tension mounts steadily to an edge-of-seat climax. Lola Albright delivers the film's best performance as a self-reliant schoolteacher assigned to the desolate Little Diomede region. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The TV-generated popularity of professional wrestling in 1950 inspired a brief cycle of inexpensive films on the subject. Columbia's C-plus Bodyhold borrows the old Kid Galahad formula of a naive young man becoming a wrestler by accident, only to be exploited by crooked promoters. Willard Parker plays a plumber who is forced to subdue a champion grappler. Duplicitous manager Roy Roberts promotes Parker as the successor to the ex-champ, who has been sidelined by a suspicious injury. When Parker refuses to throw a match, Roberts sees to it that Our Hero is incapacitated in the same manner as his predecessor. Thanks to Parker's girlfriend Hillary Brooke, Roberts is caught in the act, and banned from wrestling for life. Of historical interest in Bodyhold is the presence in the cast of real-life wrestlers Henry Kulky, Wee Willie Davis and Ed "Strangler" Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pernell Roberts plays a dual role in this February 14, 1965 installment of Bonanza. Adam Cartwright discovers that his exact double, a man named Tom Burns, is posing as Adam to raise money under false pretense. With the help of a saloon girl named Ann (Lola Albright), Adam attempts to track down his lookalike-only to be threatened by Tom's apparent murderer. "The Search" was written by series "regular" Frank Cleaver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Child actress Suzanne Cupito, who went on to a long and rewarding adult career under the name Morgan Brittany, essays the title role in this, the final episode of Branded. The daughter of a bank robber, 11-year-old Kellie has sworn to kill the man responsible for her father's death: namely, Jason McCord (Chuck Connors). Making return appearances in this series finale are Lola Albright as feisty newspaperwoman Ann Williams and John Carradine as Jason's grandfather, General Joshua McCord. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While far from the only good film on boxing, Champion is perhaps the best drama ever based on the fight game. It is remarkable for a number of things: the unrelenting, grinding logic that leads to the hero's tragic fate; the beautiful cinematography and editing that make it a masterpiece of light and shadow; near-perfect performances by everyone, from Kirk Douglas as Midge Kelly, down to the actor who plays a sleazy small-time ring manager; and the boost it gave to the budding careers of Douglas and others. The basic story has been told many times, but never so powerfully: a poor, ambitious boy accidentally learns that he is a "natural" boxer, and that he might "go all the way." He wins his early fights with ease and, at last, in the big one, he becomes champion of the world. Then rot sets in. He lives it up, deserts his loved ones and best friends, and loses his physical and moral advantages. Near the end -- out of condition, demoralized -- the champion loses (or almost loses) his boxing crown. Finally, he grits his teeth, returns to rigorous training and to people he really likes, and he regains (or holds onto) the championship.

Part of Champion's dramatic superiority is in its brilliant revealing of the boxer through the eyes of other people in his life. There are good guys: Midge's brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy); his tough but honest trainer (Paul Stewart); his wife, Emma (Ruth Roman); and Johnny Dunne, the up-and-coming contender he eventually beats. There are bad guys: the manager who cheats him in his first, amateurish fight; two successive "owners," of the diner where Midge and Connie try to be entrepreneurs and end up as dishwashers; the blonde siren (Marilyn Maxwell) who abandons Johnny Dunne and helps corrupt Midge; and the mob-connected promoter Harris, who gets Midge his championship bout. There are ambiguous in-betweens, like Palmer (Lola Albright) who is Harris' wife, but who loves Midge and is, perhaps, loved in return. Then there is Midge himself. Unlike Charlie in Body and Soul (John Garfield, 1947) or the hero of the Rocky quintuplets (Sylvester Stallone, 1976-1990), Midge is not a basically nice guy who's been led astray. His ambition, arrogance, and stubbornness make him at once villain and hero. These "fatal flaws" contain, as surely as in Macbeth or Othello, the seeds of the champ's ultimate dissolution. Midge is dealt his share of life's unfairness and bad luck. Yet it is not the events themselves, but his bitter, violent responses to each blow that seal his doom. The final irony comes when he makes his comeback. In the last round of the last fight, his most manly virtues -- bull-like strength and stubborn stamina -- bring about both victory and defeat.

Too bad that this wonderful film -- nominated for six Oscars including Best Actor -- won only an Academy Award for Film Editing (Harry Gerstad) and a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography (Franz Planer). All the acting performances are superb: Champion was the breakthrough role for Douglas; his Oscar nomination led to many later starring vehicles. Champion also launched the careers of actresses Roman and Albright, and has what is probably Marilyn Maxwell's finest performance as the unforgettable gold digger Grace Diamond. And all that terrific acting certainly implies some credit for director Mark Robson, who went on to do award winners like Bright Victory and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Regardless of what Oscars it won or didn't win, Champion is a landmark film that should be on everyone's must-see list. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide

Fred Astaire had announced his retirement before the cameras began to roll on Easter Parade, but he decided to accept the film's leading role when its original star Gene Kelly became incapacitated. The thinnish plot, which finds Astaire trying to turn chorus girl Judy Garland into a star in order to show up his former partner Ann Miller, is hardly what keeps the audience's eyes riveted to the screen. All that truly matters are the 17 musical numbers, all written by Irving Berlin (ten were standards, while seven were new to this film). Among the many highlights are Astaire's slow-motion version of "Steppin' Out," the Astaire/Garland duet "We're a Couple of Swells," the opening rendition of "Happy Easter," and the closing performance of the title number. So successful was Easter Parade that plans were immediately drawn to reteam Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in The Barkeleys of Broadway; this time, however, it was Garland who withdrew, to be replaced by Astaire's most famous vis-à-vis, Ginger Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV crime melodrama, Robert Wagner plays a handsome ex-GI determined to wreak vengeance on millionaire Peter Lawford, who caused Wagner to suffer public humiliation. Getting himself invited for a cruise on Lawford's yacht, Wagner dallies with the millionaire's bikini-clad daughter Jill St. John before returning to the matters at hand. It turns out that Lawford has been involved with an international political conspiracy, all evidence of which is destroyed by coconspirator Walter Pidgeon, to whom Wagner has been relating his story in flashback. The story ends with the destruction of Lawford's yacht, followed by a closeup of Robert Wagner winking at the audience. The film was released theatrically in Europe as Deadly Roulette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After suffering nobly in several heavyweight MGM dramas, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon begged the studio to cast them together in a comedy. Though not an all-out laff riot, Julia Misbehaves strives hard to please. Garson plays an ever-in-debt British music-hall performer who relies on the largess of her friends to keep the wolf from the door. Pidgeon portrays Garson's ex-husband, who for the past 20 years has lived in Paris with their daughter Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor becomes engaged, she sends Garson a wedding invitation. Broke again, Garson hastily joins an acrobatic act to earn steerage money, and charms British nobleman Nigel Bruce into giving her enough cash for a wedding present. Once she arrives in Paris, Garson sticks her nose into everyone's affairs, much to the dismay of the uptight Pidgeon. Garson even advises daughter Taylor to marry someone other than her betrothed. Despite her screwball behavior, Pidgeon can't help falling in love with Garson all over again--but it takes a zany sequence in and around a mountain chalet to knot together the many loose plotlines. Julia Misbehaves was adapted from The Nutmeg Tree, a novel by Margery Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not long after a brand-new staff goes to work at the Duchess Jewelry Company, the owner is found murdered. At first, it looks like a simple mugging, but Kojak (Telly Savalas) suspects that something more sinister is afoot. Launching an investigation, Kojak ends up targeting a smuggling ring trafficking in stolen jewelry--but first he must find out the identity of the inevitable "inside" person, and figure out how the crooks are transporting their illicit cargo without arousing suspicion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oregon Passage proves that even out west, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. John Ericson plays idealistic young Cavalry lieutenant Niles Ord, who hopes to peacefully capture renegade Shoshone chief Black Eagle (H. M. Wynant). Ord is convinced that his knowledge and understanding of Shoshone traditions and battle strategies will enable him to complete his mission without bloodshed. Alas, Ord's commanding officer Roland Dane (Edward Platt) is thoroughly and belligerantly ignorant of the ways of the Indian, and it is his pigheadedness that results in tragedy. Though relatively light in the action department, Oregon Passage succeeds by virtue of its avoidance of cliches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this volume of episodes from the stylish and exciting television detective series from the late '50s, the suave and sexy detective Gunn solves two puzzling cases: "Lyn''s Blues" and "Take Five for Murder." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide