Robb Wilton Movies

Most screenwriters fight to protect their creative vision, but one man goes a good bit farther than most in this sequel to the made-for-TV horror flick Cabin by the Lake. Murderous scriptwriter Stanley Caldwell (Judd Nelson) is missing and thought to be dead, but the strange stories of his grisly crimes have made the project he was writing at the time of his death a hot property, and director Mike Helton (Brian Krause) has hired writer Allison Gaddis (Dahlia Salem) to polish Caldwell's rough draft as he prepares to bring Stanley's final work to the big screen. But it turns out Stanley isn't dead after all -- he managed to escape and has gone into hiding, but the news that his work is being tampered with brings him back to the scene of his crimes. Posing as J.C. Reddick, a relative of the producer, Caldwell gets hired as an assistant director on the film, and claiming to have known the late Caldwell, he sets out to reshape the movie so that it reflects his own twisted ideals. Produced for the USA cable network, Return to Cabin by the Lake was first aired on December 15, 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Sgt. Andy Mason Jr. (James Ellison) is on the eve of shipping out from New York with his unit -- he's the son of Andrew Mason Sr. (Eugene Pallette), a wealthy, blustery Wall Street financier. While paying respects to his father and the latter's business partner, dithering fuss-budget Peyton Potter (Edward Everett Horton), at the Club New Yorker, he spots chorus girl Eadie Allen (Alice Faye) and turns on the charm and all of the allure that the ne'er-do-well son of a Wall Street millionaire can muster. That, however, doesn't impress Eadie, who ignores his invitation so she can do her patriotic bit helping servicemen at the Stage Door Canteen (or, as it's called here, the "Broadway Canteen"). Realizing how down to earth and genuine she is -- exactly the kind of girl who doesn't care about his money or social position -- Andy shows a bit of the boyish innocence he has hidden beneath the arrogance that comes from his background of wealth and privilege, and also some humility, hiding that background and his real name. Before the night and their "date" on the Staten Island Ferry are over, they're genuinely in love with each other, but that presents a problem -- since age 12, Andy has been unofficially "engaged" to Potter's daughter Vivian (Sheila Ryan), who expects to marry him, and he can't quite bring himself to hurt Vivian by telling her that he's met someone else.

Flash forward a few months, and Andy is on his way home on leave, a hero in the Pacific, and his father is so proud that he has to do something special to honor him, trying to rent out the Club New Yorker for a party but discovering that it's closed for rehearsals of a new production. Suddenly, his fatherly devotion, patriotism, and Wall Street experience all click together -- he brings the entire performing company, plus Benny Goodman's band, up to his and Potter's adjoining estates in Westchester to stage their act for his upscale neighbors and friends as part of the biggest War Bond rally ever seen (minimum admission a new 5,000-dollar War Bond), and in the process giving his son the biggest party he's ever seen. This leads to more comic turns for Horton's Potter, as a man who would make coffee nervous -- especially around show people -- but delights his ex-dancer wife (Charlotte Greenwood). That's also how Eadie and Vivian end up at the Potter mansion together, comparing notes on their remarkably similar respective fiancés. When the show's star, Dorita (Carmen Miranda), lets the cat out of the bag, it looks like Andy may lose Eadie, who can't bear to lose Andy but also won't even try to take him away from Vivian, who loves him too, but has loved him a lot longer. But while they sort out their romance, the show must go on, and go on it does. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this youthful musical, a young Sea Scout is suspended from his troop. He reclaims his honor and standing in the troop by catching a ring of smugglers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a wealthy couple is duped out of their money. They decide to capture the crook themselves by dressing up as servants and working in their former butler's hotel. They masquerade as several different characters before they manage to recover their wealth and bring the crook to justice. Songs include: "I Was Anything but Sentimental" and "I'm Like a Little Birdie out of My Cage." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anti-gambling society members Wilton and Haddon are tempted and cannot resist the gambling activities in London. ~ All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a helpful friend offers to care for the apartment of a honeymooning couple. As soon as they leave, he brings his mistress to the place to spice it up. Meanwhile, in Paris, the honeymooners experience trouble after the husband accidently kisses a jealous man's wife. They quickly flee from France fighting all the way home. The couple is quite surprised by what they find at the apartment. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The inimitable Gracie Fields illuminates the screen in her sole 1935 vehicle Look Up and Laugh. The Lancashire-born comedienne is cast as Gracie Pearson, one of several clerks in a small-town market. When Gracie and her co-workers are threatened with dismissal by a chain-store takeover, they manage to save their jobs by digging up a Royal Charter, declaring their store an autonomous nation. The film was based on a story by J. B. Priestley, who undoubtedly didn't include Gracie's traditional cheer-up songs in his original synopsis. Billed 15th in Look Up and Laugh is 22-year-old Vivien Leigh, whose third film this was. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Haddon plays Dorothy L. Sayers' amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey in the Anglo-American The Silent Passenger. A scurrilous blackmailer is murdered by one of his victims, but it is innocent John Loder who is suspected of the crime. Making the casual acquaintance of Loder, Lord Peter Wimsey sets about to prove his new friend's innocence. It all takes place on a train trip from London to the English Channel, with Loder acting as bait to flush out the real killer. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote the original story for Silent Passenger directly for the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This fairly amusing British monster movie concerns a professor (Seymour Hicks) and a young reporter (Frederick Peisley) searching for the Loch Ness monster. There's romance between Peisley and the professor's charming daughter Maggie (Rosamund John), a good deal of comedy, and a final confrontation with the creature itself. Some sources claim that the monster was really an iguana or even a plucked chicken. Future filmmaker David Lean edited this obscure but entertaining oddity. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide