Charles Victor Movies

American-International's standing "haunted castle" set is exhibited to peak advantage in Roger Corman's Pit & the Pendulum. Save for the climax, Richard Matheson's script bears but little resemblance to the Edgar Allen Poe original, though there are pronounced echoes throughout of Poe's The Premature Burial. Vincent Price stars as Nicholas Medina, the son of a notorious Spanish Inquisition torturer. Nicholas' wife Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) has died under mysterious circumstances, prompting Elizabeth's brother Francis (John Kerr) to arrive at the Medina castle to investigate. The tormented Medina believes that Elizabeth was buried alive, and is convinced that he can hear his wife's voice calling out to him. In truth, Elizabeth has faked her death, part of a plan concocted with her lover Dr. Leon (Anthony Carbone) to drive Medina mad. She succeeds in this goal (albeit to her own grief, as the film's very last shot reveals), pushing Medina over the brink. Convinced that he's his own father, Medina dons Inquisition robes, straps Francis to a table, and arranges for a huge steel-bladed pendulum to slowly, slooooowwly descend on his helpless victim. You'd never know that Pit & The Pendulum was shot on the budget and schedule of a B western; the film is consistently good to look at, with eerily evocative color camerawork (Floyd Crosby) and sumptuous art direction. Stock footage of the climactic torture sequence would later find its way into the 1966 spy spoof Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which also starred Vincent Price. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The title of the Anglo-American The Prince and the Showgirl could well have alluded to the genuine stations in life of stars Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. Based on the Terence Rattigan play The Sleeping Prince, the film casts Olivier as Charles, prince regent of Carpathia, who is in London to attend the 1911 coronation of King George V. Monroe is deceptively dizzy American chorus girl Elsie Marina, who while performing in a West End revue catches Charles' eye. The prince arranges for Elsie to attend an "intimate supper" at his hotel suite. Though Elsie successfully wards off Charles' advances, she drinks too much bubbly and ends up falling asleep. Comes the dawn, and Prince Charles is anxious to show the awkward Elsie the door. She, however, has fallen in love with the prince, and sticks around long enough to upset a plan to overthrow the Carpathian throne, and to patch up a feud between Charles and his son Nicholas (Jeremy Spencer). Olivier directed as well as starred in The Prince and the Showgirl; he knew he had his work cut out for him in dealing with the mercurial Marilyn Monroe, but he managed to hold his temper and to extract a delightful comic performance from the actress. Alas, the film was a box-office disappointment, leading many Hollywood insiders to moan and wail that Monroe was "washed up" in films -- at least until her spectacular comeback in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, the lives of two families get turned topsy-turvy when their respective young sons win a large football pool. The two share the winning ticket and the trouble begins when their parents get greedy and begin trying to devise way to get the hefty pot all to themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this thriller a woman witnesses a robbery, runs away from the scene and is rundown by a bus. The two thieves, realizing that she could get them arrested, sneak into the hospital where they plan to kill her. Their repeated attempts all end in failure. At the end, one of the thieves, feeling guilty about killing her, murders the other thief and saves the woman's life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Best Things in Life are Free is the tuneful if uninspired life story of popular composers DeSylva (Gordon MacRae), Brown (Ernest Borgnine) and Henderson (Dan Dailey). Pooling their talents, the trio rises from Tin Pan Alley to fame and fortune. The team's future is threatened when Buddy DeSylva becomes a big-time movie mogul, his ego expanding with his new responsibilities. But there's a happy ending, replete with a big, blow-out production number. Highlights include Sheree North and Jacques D'Amboise's dance deut to the tune of "Birth of the Blues"; this was North's first opportunity to play something other than a Marilyn Monroe type, and she acquits herself quite nicely. Other DeSylva-Brown-Henderson songs showcased throughout the film include "Button Up Your Overcoat", "Black Bottom", "Sunny Side Up" and the title number. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Way Out was originally released in Great Britain as Dial 999. The eponymous telephone number is the emergency line to Scotland Yard, which in this film is represented by detective John Bentley. Hollywood's Gene Nelson plays a philandering husband who tries to hide the fact that he's killed a man. Nelson's wife Mona Freeman and brother-in-law Michael Goodliffe concoct an elaborate scheme to evade the authorities, but it all proves futile in the film's ironic climax. Assembled by Merton Park productions, the low-budget firm later responsible for Edgar Wallace mysteries, Dial 999 was spun off into a 39-week TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This exciting caper outing is loosely based on the famous robbery of Brinks in Boston that netted the crooks $2.5 million. The story covers the six years small-time hood Jerry Florea (Tony Curtis) spent planning the heist. The story begins with the events that led a young Florea (played by Sal Mineo) to become a crook. Hoping to save him from a life of crime, a kindly policeman and his wife take him under their wing. Though he appreciates their kindness, Florea seems destined to become a criminal. As a young man, he begins pretending to reform and even gets a job at Brinks. The loving couple have no clue that it is only a ruse and that he is preparing to rob the establishment. It is only after he and his gang pull-off the job that Florea reconsiders his actions and then makes a daring attempt to make amends. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on the radio series of the same name, Gang Busters was an episodic documentary-style tale of criminals brought to justice. Veteran screen baddie Myron Healey plays John Omar Pinson, a real-life criminal once rated Public Enemy #4. The film recounts the many prison breaks staged by Pinson, all of which resulted in his recapture. Gangbusters was comprised of three half-hour episodes from the Gangbusters TV series (53), stitched together into an ersatz feature film. This pastiche approach proved successful enough to spawn two subsequent films, again culled from Gang Busters TV footage: Guns Don't Argue (57) and Ma Barker's Killer Brood (60). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this police drama, a cop finds his recently killed partner replaced by an Alsatian police dog. While he adjusts, the one who killed his partner plans to crack a safe. After he breaks in, he is accosted by the cop and his dog. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Completed in 1953, Dragon's Gold was released by United Artists early the following year. John Archer (the father of present-day leading lady Anne Archer) stars as an insurance investigator, sent to China to locate a missing client. The official story is that the client stole $7 million from his employer, but Archer smells a rat. His olfactory senses are right on target: The supposed theft was actually a smokescreen, contrived by a Red Chinese general (Noel Cravath). Also intimately involved in the intrigue is Hillary Brooke, playing straight once more after several years' worth of TV work on The Abbott and Costello Show and My Little Margie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Horseracing provides the framework of this British drama. The story begins as a former champion jockey Sam Lilley is barred from racing. Although he himself can no longer race, the jockey decides to live his dreams through Georgie Crain, who becomes his youthful protege. Sam teaches George all he knows, and also insists that he keep his morals high. But when Georgie's mother encounters financial disaster, the lad and his mentor decide they have no choice but to throw a race for a gang of criminals. Unfortunately, this leads to even more ethical problems. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

David Niven returns to his native England to star in the frothy comedy The Love Lottery. Niven plays a Hollywood movie star who is the "prize" in a lottery dreamed up by his press agent. The lucky lady who "wins" Niven will be able to spend a week in his company. Sensing the silliness of the whole enterprise, Niven promises publicly to marry the winner--and that's where starry-eyed fan Peggy Cummins enters the proceedings. Herbert Lom is the film's fly in the ointment, dogging Niven's trail to Italy to make certain that he keeps his promise. There's an amusing celebrity cameo in The Love Lottery, but to reveal the identity of the film's "special guest star" might spoil the viewer's fun. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi