Philip Warren 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

Ralph Byrd returns to the character he had originated ten years earlier in the serial Dick Tracy. This time, Chester Gould's immortal comic strip hero is called in to handle a fur theft. The owner of Flawless Furs, Humphreys (Charles Marsh), has just signed on with the Honesty Insurance Company whose investigator, Cudd (Al Bridge), made him change the combination to the vault. The insurance policy --as the head of Honesty, Peter Premium (William B. Davidson), explains -- holds the company liable if the stolen furs haven't been recovered within 24 hours of the theft. The trail leads to Longshot Lily (Bernadene Hayes), a would-be fence who is promptly arrested. But when Tracy's snitch, Sightless (Jimmy Conlin), is found brutally murdered, the detective realizes that he has more than a simple fur theft on his hands. With the help of master thespian Vitamin Flintheart (Ian Keith) and ever-present sidekick Pat Patton (Lyle Latell), Tracy follows a series of clues that leads him to a deserted junkyard and a fateful confrontation with fiendish killer "the Claw" (Jack Lambert). Dick Tracy's Dilemma was followed by Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947), after which RKO retired the series. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In the RKO swashbuckler Sinbad the Sailor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. nostalgically emulates his famous father. The first seven voyages of Sinbad have come and gone: now he is on an eighth mission, in search of the island where Alexander the Great allegedly hid his treasure. Participants in the proceedings are the incredibly gorgeous Maureen O'Hara as a feisty princess, Walter Slezak as a duplicitous green-skinned barber, George Tobias and Mike Mazurki as two of Sinbad's faithful seamen, and Anthony Quinn as the villain of villains, who meets a suitably fiery demise. If the plot seems well nigh impossible to follow at times, you can always wallow in the splendiferous Technicolor and the eye-popping stunt work of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (and, it must be admitted, his uncredited stunt double). Budgeted at nearly $3 million, Sinbad the Sailor was one of the few postwar RKO flicks to post a profit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third of western hero James Warren's trio of RKO Radio vehicles, Code of the West was like its predecessors based on a story by Zane Grey. Warren plays Bob Wade, a settler on the Arizona Strip, circa 1880. Representing his fellow settlers, Wade stands up to gambling boss Carter (Raymond Burr), who knows that the railroad intends to extend through Arizona and plans to drive the homesteaders out of the territory. Likewise defying the crooked Carter is Wade's Mexican-Irish sidekick, Chito Rafferty (John Laurentz). Code of the West was previously filmed in 1925 and 1934 (the latter version, titled Home on the Range, starred Randolph Scott). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Soon to be married in real life, Barbara Hale and Bill Williams also played sweethearts on screen in the frantic farce A Likely Story. After a routine medical examination, ex-GI Bill Baker (Bill Williams) overhears a conversation between two doctors, leading him to the mistaken conclusion that he's doomed to die from a rare heart condition. Chancing to meet aspiring artist Vickie North (Barbara Hale), Baker resolves to help Vickie realize her dream by bankrolling her career. He takes out a huge life insurance policy, then talks a couple of gangsters (Sam Levene and Nestor Paiva) into bumping him off so that Vickie and her kid brother Jamie (Lanny Rees) can collect immediately. Things get complicated when Baker discovers that he's as hale and hearty as the next fellow, prompting him to try to weasel out of his bargain with the gangsters-who, having financed the insurance policy in the first place, aren't inclined to let our hero off the hook so easily. Curiously, what should have been a frothy comedy plays more like a film noir, complete with a brief, hallucinatory nightmare sequence! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Elevating Criminal Court above the B-picture norm is the inventive direction by Robert Wise and the better-than-usual performances by all concerned. In a break from his heroic "Falcon" role, Tom Conway stars as Steve Barnes, a criminal attorney known for his unorthodox courtroom tactics. After accidentally killing a crooked nightclub owner, Barnes is stuck on the horns of a dilemma when his sweetheart, cabaret singer Georgia Gale (Martha O'Driscoll), is arrested for the crime The problem: How can Barnes clear Georgia of the murder without implicating himself? As for the solution...well, best not to reveal that here. All that keeps Criminal Court from A-picture status is its 62 minute running time; on the other hand, the film's impact might have been blunted had it been any longer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Deadline at Dawn represented not only the sole film directorial effort of Broadway's Harold Clurman, but also the only cinematic collaboration between Clurman and his former Group Theatre associate, screenwriter Clifford Odets. While on shore leave in New York, sailor Alex (Bill Williams) is slipped a doped-up drink by B-girl Edna (Lola Lane). When he awakens, Alex discovers that she has been murdered. Though he believes that he's the killer, our hero is talked into locating the actual miscreant by philosophical cab driver gus (Paul Lukas) and nightclub dancer June (Susan Hayward). Adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich, Deadline at Dawn leans towards pretentiousness at times, but is redeemed by the no-nonsense performance by Susan Hayward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

RKO's prefabricated comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney came to an abrupt end with Genius at Work. A slapsticky remake of 1937's Super Sleuth, the film casts the stars as Jerry and Mike, the stars of a weekly radio "unsolved mysteries" series. Ellen (Anne Jeffreys), the show's head writer, is given invaluable script advice by famed criminologist Marsh (Lionel Atwill). Little do our heroes or heroine realize that Marsh is actually The Cobra, a wily murderer who kills for the thrill of it. When Mike, Jerry and Ellen pay a visit to Marsh's baronial estate, the villain and his faithful servant Stone (a sadly wasted Bela Lugosi) do their best to kill off the troublesome radio sleuths with an abundance of old-dark-house gadgetry. But Mike and Jerry have the last laugh in a tension-filled climax. Though Genius at Work represented the last joint starring appearance of Brown and Carney, the two actors would be reunited as supporting characters in Disney's The Absent Minded Professor (1961). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eve Lorraine (Jan Wiley), an exotic dancer at a club, is arrested for allegedly performing in a manner intended to corrupt the morals of the community -- it turns out that her own boyfriend/publicist called in the complaint to the local precinct to instigate the arrest to get publicity for her act. Before Eve's troubles are over, however, she's going to find herself in deeper, hotter water as she gets roped into a plot to pass her off as a long-missing heiress. And soon, in addition to fraud, there will murder in the mix, and Eve will be at the center of the investigation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Dick Foran and Harriet Hilliard (aka Harriet Nelson) top the cast of the Universal musical quickie Hi, Buddy. Foran plays GI Dave O'Connor, who comes to the rescue when a boy's club is threatened with foreclosure. Upon learning that the money targetted for the club has been appropriated by a crooked manager, O'Connor calls upon his army buddies to stage a big, fundraising show. Surprisingly, O'Connor doesn't get heroine Gloria Bradley at the end; instead, radio crooner Johnny Blake (Robert Paige) claims Gloria as his bride. But since O'Connor's gal is lissome Mary Parker (Marjorie Lord), who's complaining? 18 songs are squeezed into the 66-minute running time of Hi, Buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this tuneful comedy, a would-be actor and playwright is deeply in debt, and to keep away from his creditors, begins pretending to be his aged uncle. Unfortunately he ends up getting hit by a limousine. The rich woman inside takes the wounded "codger" home to her manhungry old aunt. The actor uses the old woman's desire to con her into financing his "nephew's" play. Things are going well until the actor's real uncle appears. Mayhem and a double wedding ensue. Songs include: "St. Louis Blues" (W.C. Handy, sung by the Delta Rhythm Boys), "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell, sung by the Delta Rhythm Boys), "Liza" (George Gershwin, sung by the Tailor Maids), "That's the Way It Goes" (Milton Rosen, Everett Carter, sung by Mary O'Brien), "You're Driving Me Crazy" (sung by Jan Garber and his Orchestra), "Dark Eyes" (sung by Mary O'Brien, with Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra). Other songs were penned by Walter Donaldson and W.C. Handy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cult-favorite director Anthony Mann's second filmic effort was the unprepossessing Universal mini-musical Moonlight in Havana. Allan Jones stars as hotshot baseball player Johnny Norton, in Havana for spring training. It turns out that Johnny has a beautiful singing voice, but only when he's suffering from a cold. Enterprising nightclub manager Barney Crane (William Frawley) attempts to inflict poor Johnny with cold germs, resulting in unchecked zaniness whenever our hero recovers sufficiently to lose his voice. The film's 63-minute running time manages to accommodate the drunken comedy relief of Hugh O'Connell and Jack Norton, and an abundance of musical numbers, courtesy of Allan Jones, Jane Frazee, the Horton Dancing Group, the Jivin' Jacks and Jills and Grace & Nicco. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Abbott and Costello play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). When Jinx joins the Army Air Corps-the better to be nearer pretty USO singer Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce)-Blackie and Heathcliff loyally join up as well, obtaining low-echelon ground crew jobs. While Jinx tries to cure Linda's brother Jim (Charles Lang) of his fear of flying, Heathcliff pursues a romance with wisecracking waitress Gloria Phelps (Martha Raye), never quite catching on that Gloria has an identitical-twin sister (also Martha Raye). A bit too plot-heavy for its own good, Keep 'Em Flying is at its best when concentrating on Abbott & Costello, who in addition to performing their patented cross-talk routines participate in a zany runaway-torpedo chase and a gratuitous but amusing episode in a spooky carnival funhouse. As a bonus, Costello gets to do a bit of "straight" acting, and he's quite good at it. Deleted scenes include a comedy magic act (later restaged in Abbott & Costello's Lost in a Harem) and a wild episode at a skating rink (reworked two years later in Hit the Ice). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide