Ray Walker Movies

Superman, the comic-book "Man of Steel" created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made his feature-film debut in Lippert's Superman and the Mole Men. The story takes place in the small town of Silsby, where the local oil company is drilling what will become the world's deepest well. When the drillers reach the six-mile point, the results are astonishing: four subterranean Mole Men (Jack Banbury, Billy Curtis, Jerry Marvin and Tony Barvis) emerge from the well. Though basically harmless, the Mole Men are regarded as a threat by the citizens of Silsby, especially lynch-happy Luke Benson (Jeff Corey). Reporters Clark Kent (George Reeves) and Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) arrive in town to do a story on the well. When Kent realizes that the Mole Men are in danger of falling victim to mob violence, he tears off his glasses and street clothes to become Superman. In this guise, he endeavors to rescue the Mole Men and to convince the townsfolk that blind prejudice is both stupid and dangerous. Rather mild by today's standards (the audience never gets to see Superman fly), Superman and the Mole Men served its primary purpose: to act as a theatrical pilot for the very popular Superman TV series, which also starred Reeves and (for the first season, at least) Coates. The feature film was later edited into two half-hour installments of the Superman series, and retitled "The Unknown People." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The story of the legendary Harlem Globetrotters takes second place to the rise to prominence of All-American athlete Billy Brown (a star Globetrotter, here playing himself). While still in college, Brown drops his education in favor of joining the famed basketball team. Lacking the esprit de corps of his teammates, Brown is only interested in fattening his bank account. It takes a few major setbacks, coupled with the no-nonsense devotion of his sweetheart Ann Carpenter (a surprisingly subdued Dorothy Dandridge) to realign Brown's priorities. Thomas Gomez heads the cast as Abe Saperstein, the real-life entrepreneur who organized the Trotters back in 1927. Oddly enough, The Harlem Globetrotters suggests that the team is comprised of serious hoopsters, rather than the zany clowns we've come to know and love. There are even times that it seems that the hand-picked other team will actually win! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Originally slated for release by Eagle Lion, Skipalong Rosenbloom purchased by United Artists -- who gave it a cursory theatrical release before selling the film to television. As it turned out, TV was the appropriate medium for this heavy-handed satire of video westerns. Former boxing champ Maxie Rosenbloom plays a lampooned variation of Hopalong Cassidy, with all the standard western cliches in evidence. "Skipalong" Rosenbloom is depicted as the star of a heavily commercialized TV kiddie show, presided over by a smarmy announcer. The plot proper finds "Skipalong" at odds with western bad guy Butcher Baer, played by Rosenbloom's onetime ring opponent Max Baer. Others in the cast are Jackie Coogan, Fuzzy Knight and Hillary Brooke, who seem to be having fun with the dreadful material foisted upon them. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As an actor, Eddy Arnold was a good country-western singer. In Hoedown, Eddy plays himself, while the acting burden was carried by Miss Jeff Donnell, Jock O'Mahoney (aka Jock Mahoney), and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. O'Mahoney plays Stoney Rhodes, a cowboy star who is fired from his studio because he can't sing. Accompanied by Vera Wright (Donnell), Rhodes heads southward, where he attends a hoedown staged by Arnold and his C&W confreres. When bank robbers invade the party, Rhodes finds that he's not much help without his stuntmen to back him up. Eventually, however, he proves that he's a genuine hero, thereby assuring himself a renewed movie contract, not to mention the undying adoration of Wright. Among the musical guest stars featured in Hoedown are Carolina Cotton, The Pied Pipers and the Oklahoma Rangers. ~ 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

In this musical, an ambitious young singer and her band leave their small hometown to head for the Big Apple in hopes of finding fame and fortune. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Under Mexicali Stars spotlights Republic's newest singing cowboy, Rex Allen. Our hero plays a U.S. treasury agent, hot on the trail of gold smugglers. It's a plot as old as the movies itself, but Allen was a fresh new personality in 1950, thus the film takes on some of his freshness. Besides, the methods utilized by the smugglers are intriguing, especially to the coin collectors in the audiences. Republic's all-purpose leading lady Dorothy Patrick co-stars. Under Mexicali Stars manages to evenly balance its action highlights and musical numbers, to everyone's satisfaction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's definitive jazz-age novel The Great Gatsby stars Alan Ladd in the title role. Jay Gatsby, formerly Jake Gatz, is a successful bootlegger with aspirations of being accepted in the highest social circles of Long Island. Once he's done this, Gatsby devotes his time to winning back the love of his former lady friend Daisy (Betty Field), now married to boorish "old-money" millionaire Tom Buchanan (Barry Sullivan). Gatsby's obsession with rekindling old flames results in disillusionment and, ultimately, tragedy. Sidelines observer Nick Carraway, the narrator of the original Fitzgerald novel, is expertly played by MacDonald Carey, while Shelley Winters makes an excellent impression as Buchanan's slatternly mistress Myrtle Wilson. Cast as Myrtle's dour optometrist husband is Howard Da Silva, who essayed a minor role in the 1974 remake of Great Gatsby. That 1974 version has unfortunately kept the 1949 Gatsby from being released to television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hurd Hatfield, star of MGM's lavish Picture of Dorian Gray (1944) finds himself in shabbier surroundings in Columbia's Chinatown at Midnight. Hatfield is cast as a homicidal thief Clifford Ward who picks no favorites when choosing his victims. The film is evenly divided between Ward's heinous activities and the methodical police investigation conducted by San Francisco police captain Howard Brown (Tom Powers). Columbia contractee Jean Willes plays a young innocent who is forced to accompany Ward during his escape, while Jacqueline de Wit is cast as the killer's foredoomed accomplice. Other performers on the premises include the always reliable Benson Fong and Victor Sen Yung. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 15th film in the Bowery Boys series, Angels in Disguise combines lowbrow humor with "film noir" melodramatics. Bowery boys Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are copy boys for a crusading newspaper, whose publisher (Ray Walker) is trying to crush the notorious "Loop Gang". When the boys' policeman pal Gabe (Gabriel Dell) is wounded in a shoot-out with the Loop mob, Slip and Sach take it upon themselves to expose the gang. All the Bowery boys (including sweet-shop proprietor Louie) disguise themselves as gangsters and infiltrate the Loop Gang, which is run by a young, erudite intellectual (Mickey Ryan). The scheme to destroy the Loop mob from the inside is flummoxed by the crusading newspaper's cartoonist, actually a member of the crooked gang who has been sending out coded tips in his comic strip. The Loop Gang gives the Bowery Boys a real "going over", but the cops arrive in time to round up the crooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Adam's Rib is a peerless comedy predicated on the double standard. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner, a husband-and-wife attorney team, both drawn to a case of attempted murder. The defendant (Judy Holliday) had tearfully attempted to shoot her husband (Tom Ewell) and his mistress (Jean Hagen). Adam argues that the case is open and shut, but Amanda points out that, if the defendant were a man, he'd be set free on the basis of "the unwritten law." Thus it is that Adam works on behalf of the prosecution, while Amanda defends the accused woman. The trial turns into a media circus, while the Bonners' home life suffers. Adam's Rib represented the film debuts of New York-based actors Jean Hagen, Tom Ewell, and David Wayne (as Hepburn's erstwhile songwriting suitor), and the return to Hollywood of Judy Holliday after her Born Yesterday triumph. One of the best of the Tracy-Hepburn efforts, it inspired a brief 1973 TV series starring Ken Howard and Blythe Danner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

April Showers stars Jack Carson and Ann Sothern as a pair of small-time vaudevillians whose act gets nowhere until their young son (Robert Ellis) joins them. The threesome form a knockabout acrobatic turn which propels them into the big time. Jealous of his son's success, Carson takes to the bottle, and the act breaks up in a spirit of mutual recrimination. This being a Warner Bros. musical, the three family members are reunited for a sentimental climax. April Showers was based in great part on the vaudeville career of Buster Keaton, who chose after much consideration not to pursue the matter in court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide