Luis Van Rooten Movies

Forced to bail out over the Sahara desert, WW2 flyer Harold Wilenski (Wesley Lau) is eventually taken to a field hospital to recuperate from a bad case of desert sunstroke. As he lies in his hospital bed, his face swathed in bandages, Wilenski suddenly begins taking on the mannerisms of ancient Egyptian prince, whose tomb has never been found. An Egyptologist named Brimley (Luis Van Rooten) confirms that there is indeed something amiss about Wilenski--but the extent of the "possession" is not revealed until the startling finale. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Wounded in the French-Algerian war, Sgt. Andre Doniere (Jacques Bergerac) heads back to France in the company of his friend Marcel (Marcel Dalio), who lost a leg saving Andre's life. Although Doniere's return is eagerly awaited by his adoring fiancée, Sybil (Lilyan Chauvin), he is consumed by guilt over the fact that, during his hospital stay, he has fallen in love with another woman named Therese (Susan Kohner). It falls to Marcel to "rescue" his comrade for a second time. This is one of the few Hitchcock episodes without a humorous epilogue -- and for good reason. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

About the only perils that heroine Dana Wynter avoids in Fraulein are being tied to the buzzsaw and chased across the ice by bloodhouds. Wynter plays a German girl of genteel upbringing who is forced to wake up and smell the coffee when her family is killed in a WW2 air raid. She helps American officer Mel Ferrer escapes the Gestapo, then must figure out a way to elude her Russian Army captors, headed by Theodore Bikel (who later ruefully commented that more people remembered him for this film than for anything else). Escaping to the American sector of Berlin, Wynter naively registers herself as a prostitute, leading to a daunting series of tribulations. The upshot of all this is that German officer Helmut Dantine lusts after Dana because of what he thinks she is, while American officer Ferrer loves her because he knows deep down that she's not what she's supposed to be. Filmed on location, Fraulein was based on a novel by James McGowan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Wayne plays anti-Nazi Prussian sea captain Karl Erlich in Sea Chase, one of the many film commentaries released post WWII. Though staunchly opposed to the Nazi regime, Karl (Wayne) feels it would nevertheless be unpatriotic should he refuse to save his ship from destruction. His ship--an old, rusty 5,000 ton freighter named the Ergenstrasse--is being pursued by a British warship on his journey from Australia back to Germany. Captain Erlich does everything he can to save his ship and his crew, but the process is long and dangerous, particularly without a plentiful supply of fuel and provisions. Erlich must face obstacles ranging from horrendous sea storms and shark attacks to false murder accusations, and it seems his only devotee is Elsa (Lana Turner), a beautiful German spy. Despite nearly falling to the determined English ship and a mutiny attempt by his own crew, Captain Erlich manages to survive what was anything but a routine trip back to his home country. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Bob Hope is up to his famous nose in danger in this espionage comedy. Second-rate burlesque comic Peanuts White (Hope) is approached by federal agents who think that he's international spy Eric Augustine, to whom Peanuts bears a striking resemblance. When they realize that Peanuts and Eric are two different people, the FBI persuades him to travel to Africa posing as Eric and fetch a batch of microfilm that could prove vital to national security. With reluctance, Peanuts flies to Tangiers and arranges a rendezvous with Lily Dalbray (Hedy Lamarr), Eric's beautiful girlfriend and an agent of shifting alliances herself. However, Lily's superior Karl Brubaker (Francis L. Sullivan) wants the microfilm, and he will stop at nothing to get it. As Peanuts tries to rescue the microfilm, make time with Lily, and avoid Karl, things become even more confused when Eric escapes from hiding and re-enters the picture. Both Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr contribute songs to the soundtrack, though unlike Bob, Hedy's vocals were dubbed in by a studio vocalist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cinderella was Walt Disney's return to feature-length "story" cartoons after eight years of turning out episodic pastiches like Make Mine Music and Three Caballeros. A few understandable liberties are taken with the original Charles Perrault fairy tale (the wicked stepsisters, for example, do not have their eyes pecked out by crows!) Otherwise, the story remains the same: Cinderella, treated as a slavey by her selfish stepfamily, dreams of going to the Prince's ball. She gets her wish courtesy of her Fairy Godmother, who does the pumpkin-into-coach bit, then delivers the requisite "be home by midnight" warning. Thoroughly enchanting the prince at the ball, our heroine hightails it at midnight, leaving a glass slipper behind. The Disney people do a terrific job building up suspense before the inevitable final romantic clinch. Not as momentous an animated achievement as, say, Snow White or Fantasia, Cinderella is a nonetheless delightful feature, enhanced immeasurably by the introduction of several "funny animal" characters (a Disney tradition that has held fast into the 1990s, as witness Pocahontas), and a host of a sprightly songs, including "Cinderelly," "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and -- best of all -- "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Long before he became a highly respected Wall Street financial adviser, Richard Ney was a minor-league film star. In Secret of St. Ives, Ney plays Anatole de Keroual, the unofficial head of a group of French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars. Organizing an escape from his British captors, Anatole leads his fellow prisoners to Scotland, thence to London. Doggedly pursued by nasty British major Chevenish (Henry Daniell), Anatole is recaptured and sentenced to hang. How he wriggles out of this dilemma is the dramatic thrust of the film's last reel. Vanessa Brown co-stars as Floria, Anatole's British sweetheart. The Secret of St. Ives was adapted from a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The relatively relaxed movie censorship in the postwar years enabled Columbia to produce To the Ends of the Earth, a film which dealt with the previously taboo subject of drug smuggling. T-man Dick Powell is sent to several foreign locales to track down an Opium ring. The villains are subversives (Red? Fascist?) who plan to take over the world by hooking everyone on the "hard stuff." The film is chock full of mysterious European and Oriental types like Vladimir Sokoloff, Ludwig Donath and Fritz Leiber; even leading lady Signe Hasso speaks with an accent, which in 1948 was enough to immediately put her under suspicion. Lending credence to this sprawling adventure yarn is the presence of several actual treasury agents in bit parts, including commissioner Harry J. Anslinger. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A man who dreams of seeing the future discovers the horrible burden that it can carry in this film noir suspense story. Suicidal Jean Courtland (Gail Russell) is prevented from killing herself by her fiancée Elliot Carson (John Lund). When they consult psychic John Triton (Edward G. Robinson), he confesses that he used his powers to bring on her death. Years ago, Triton was a phony mentalist in a vaudeville act, but he began seeing genuine visions of the future, most of which portended tragic results. After a premonition of the death of his wife Jenny (Virginia Bruce) in childbirth, a terrified Triton went into hiding for five years; upon his return, he discovered that his wife had married Whitney (Jerome Cowan) shortly after John was declared dead...and she died giving birth. Years later, Jenny's child grew up to be Jean Courtland, and when Triton receives a vision of Whitney's death in a plane wreck, he rushes to California in hopes of stopping fate. However, he's foreseen a tragic future for both Jean and Whitney and is afraid of the agony that awaits them. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes was adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

John Farrow's movie adaptation of Kenneth Fearing's The Big Clock, based on a screenplay by Jonathan Latimer (and produced by future James Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum), is a near-perfect match for the book, telling in generally superb visual style a tale set against the backdrop of upscale 1940s New York and offering an early (but accurate) depiction of the modern media industry. Told in the back-to-front fashion typical of film noir, it opens with George Stroud (Ray Milland) trapped, his life in danger, his survival measured in the minute-by-minute movements of the huge central clock of the office building where he's hiding. In flashback we learn that Stroud works for media baron Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), loosely based on Henry Luce, as the editor of Crimeways magazine. Janoth is a manipulative, self-centered megalomaniac with various obsessions, including clocks; among other manifestations of the latter fixation, the skyscraper housing his empire's headquarters has as one of its central features a huge clock that reads out the time around the world down to the second.

Twenty-four hours earlier, on the eve of a combined honeymoon/vacation with his wife, Georgia (Maureen O'Sullivan), that has been put off for seven years, Stroud was ordered by Janoth to cancel the trip in order to work on a special project, and he resigned. As the narrative picks up speed, in his depression, Stroud misses the train his wife is on and crosses paths with Pauline York (Rita Johnson), a former model for Janoth's Styleways magazine, who is also Janoth's very unhappy mistress, and the two commiserate by getting drunk together in a night on the town. While hurriedly leaving Pauline's apartment, he glimpses Janoth entering. Janoth and York quarrel, and the publisher kills her in a jealous rage, using a sundial that she and Stroud picked up the night before while wandering around in their revels. Janoth and his general manager, Steve Hagen (George Macready), contrive to pin the murder on the man that Janoth glimpsed leaving York's apartment, whom he thinks was named Jefferson Randolph -- the name Stroud was drunkenly bandying about the night before. He gets Stroud back to Crimeways to lead the magazine's investigators in hunting down "Jefferson Randolph," never realizing that this was Stroud. And Stroud has no choice but to return, desperately trying to gather evidence against Janoth and, in turn, prevent the clues gathered by the Crimeways staff from leading back to him. The two play this clever, disjointed game of cat-and-mouse, Janoth and Hagen planting evidence that will hang "Randolph" (and justify his being shot while trying to escape), while Stroud, knowing what they don't about how close the man they seek to destroy is, arranges to obscure those clues and, in a comical twist, sends the least capable reporters and investigators to follow up on the most substantial clues.

Janoth sometimes seems to be unraveling at the frustrating pace and lack of conclusion to the hunt, but Stroud can't escape the inevitable, or the moments of weakness caused by fear and his own guilt over his near-unfaithfulness to his wife or the inscrutable gaze of Janoth's mute bodyguard Bill Womack (Harry Morgan), a stone-cold killer dedicated to protecting his employer. The trail of proof and guilt winds ever tighter around both men, taking some odd twists courtesy of the eccentric artist (Elsa Lanchester) who has seen the suspect. Milland is perfect in the role of the hapless Stroud, and Laughton is brilliant as the vain, self-centered Janoth, but George Macready is equally good as Hagen, his smooth, upper-crust Waspy smarminess making one's skin crawl. Also worth noting is Harry Morgan's sinister, silent performance as Womack, and sharp-eyed viewers will also recognize such performers as Douglas Spencer, Noel Neill (especially memorable as a tart-tongued elevator operator), Margaret Field (Sally's mother), Ruth Roman, and Lane Chandler in small roles. Additionally, the Janoth Publications building where most of the action takes place is almost a cast member in itself, an art deco wonder, especially the room housing the clock mechanism and the lobby and vestibules, all loosely inspired by such structures as the Empire State Building and the real-life Daily News headquarters on East 42nd Street. This film was later remade as No Way Out. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Based on a famous book by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., this grueling saga of shipboard oppression is set in the mid-19th century. Charles Stewart (Alan Ladd), the wealthy son of a Boston shipowner, is hijacked by Amazeen (William Bendix), the first mate on a ship bound for California. Francis Thompson (Howard Da Silva) is the tyrannical captain of the Pilgrim who was booted out of the U.S. Navy for mistreating his sailors. Now he wants to set a record sailing time, and he and Amazeen mete out severe punishment for the slightest of infractions. They even deny the men permission to go ashore and pick fruit when they stop in California and pick up the beautiful Maria Dominguez (Esther Fitzgerald). Without fruit, the men develop scurvy and begin to mutiny. Stewart allies himself with the author Dana (Brian Donlevy), whose brother died on one of Captain Thompson's previous voyages. Dana wants to write an expose of Thompson. Stewart steals guns and tries to take over the ship, but Amazeen subdues and imprisons him. The film was shot on a Hollywood set, but with devices on the set that simulate rolling waves so effectively that much of the cast got seasick. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi