Evelyn Wahl Movies
- 1943
Deanna Durbin is all grown up in Hers to Hold, the unofficial sequel to her "Three Smart Girls" films of the 1930s. Durbin plays Penelope Craig, the starry-eyed daughter of wealthy Judson and Dorothy Craig (Charles Winninger, Nella Walker). Developing a crush on much-older playboy Bill Morley (Joseph Cotton), Penelope stops at nothing to land the elusive Morley as her husband. Highlights include Durbin's renditions of "Begin the Beguine" and the "Seguidilla" from Carmen, and a captivating sequence that includes highlights from Durbin's earlier films, presented as home movies! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Joseph Cotten, (more)
- 1942
Burlesque stripper-turned-thespian Ann Corio plays yet another white girl brought up in the jungle after her missionary parents are killed in this unintentionally funny espionage thriller from PRC. As Kuhlaya, Corio rescues a couple of Americans, Captain Gary Hart (!) (Buster Crabbe) and Sgt. Mike Jenkins (Paul Bryar), from the ubiquitous Nazis. But just as they all feel safe, the party discovers that their hotel in the jungle is operated by a fifth columnist named Herr Lukas (Arno Frey). The latter's bored wife, Anna (Evelyn Wahl), attempts to seduce Captain Hart, much to the consternation of Kuhlaya, who has fallen in love with the handsome American. An evil chief (Jess Brooks) performs a bit of voodoo but Dr. Harrigan (Milton Kibbee), Kuhlaya's foster-father, calls his bluff and the jungle is soon free from both Nazi sympathizers and evil natives. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Though released before Atlantic Convoy, Columbia's Parachute Nurse didn't make it to New York until after Convoy had already made the rounds. Typical of Columbia's B-grade wartime melodramas, the film trots out the old "girls in training" plot device that the studio would later apply to films about policewomen and airline stewardesses. Among the lissome lovelies training to be parachute nurses are Marguerite Chapman, Louise Allbritton, Kay Harris, Catherina Craig and Shirley Patterson, all of whom emerge from their grueling responsibilities looking as fresh as if they'd spent the afternoon at the beauty parlor. The film's dramatic conflict arises from the presence of a German-American nurse whose brother is currently fighting for the Nazis; also thickening the plot is nurse Glenda White's (Marguerite Chapman) sudden attack of nerves as she's make her first parachute chump. William Wright, a newcomer to films, plays the nominal male lead; Wright would later move to PRC, where he briefly starred in that studio's Philo Vance series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marguerite Chapman, William Wright, (more)
