Marie Windsor Movies

Edward Arnold made the first of his two screen appearances as Bayard Kendrick's blind detective Captain Duncan McLain in MGM's Eyes in the Night. The plot is set in motion by Norma Lawry (Ann Harding), whose stepdaughter Barbara (Donna Reed) has been keeping company with washed-up actor Paul Gerente (John Emery). Norma feels that Gerente, an ex-lover of hers, is a bad influence for Barbara, but the girl merely assumes that Norma wants Gerente all to herself. When the ageing actor is murdered, Barbara assumes that Norma committed the crime. Rather than go to the police, Norma heads to her old friend Duncan McLain, but when the detective arrives at the scene of the murder, the body has disappeared. Detecting the odor of violets in the room, McLain uses this tiny clue to build a case against a gang of Nazi spies, headed by the Lawry's butler Hansen (Stanley Ridges), with whom the late Mr. Gerente had been collaborating. Just knowing who did it isn't enough in this case, however: getting the drop on McLain and his associates, the villains hold the detective and Lawry prisoner until they are able to get their hands on a secret formula developed by Barbara's father (Reginald Denny). In true movie-serial fashion, it is McLain's faithful seeing-eye dog Friday (played by "himself") who saves the day. A "B" picture with "A" entertainment value, Eyes in the Night proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, 1945's The Hidden Eye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though it ain't Noel Coward, Chatterbox is the funniest of the two Judy Canova-Joe E. Brown vehicles for Republic. Brown is hilariously cast as Rex Vane, a pompous radio cowboy star who's never been any further west than his living room. When Rex is signed to appear in a film, it becomes painfully apparent that he can neither ride nor shoot. But rambunctious Judy Boggs (Judy Canova) can do both, and it is Judy who helps guide the vain Vane through his moviemaking experiences. Rex proves himself to be a genuine hero in a slapstick finale "borrowed" from Chaplin's The Gold Rush. Naturally, both Brown and Canova are given ample opportunity to sing, as are guest performers Spade Cooley and the Mills Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pilot No. 5 is an oddly liberal-minded film to come from conservative old MGM. Franchot Tone plays an army pilot stationed in Java who volunteers for a suicide mission. He is chosen from five possible Allied candidates, hence the title. We learn via flashback just why Tone holds his life at so low a price; among his less pleasant reminiscences are his brief association with a demagogic Southern governor, blatantly based on Huey Long. Pilot No. 5 served to introduce Gene Kelly in a supporting role--as a nasty, pugnacious young jerk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the sixth and final Thin Man whodunit, Nick (William Powell) and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) look into the mysterious killing of bandleader Tommy Drake (Phillip Reed). The police quickly hone in on the owner of a gambling ship, Phil Brant (Bruce Cowling), who was about to lose Drake's band to a competitor. Also among the many and varied suspects are: Phil's new wife, socialite Janet Thayar (Jayne Meadows); the band's voluptuous vocalist, Fran Page (Gloria Grahame); and the troubled clarinetist, Buddy Hollis (Don Taylor). With the assistance of jive-talking "Clinker" Krause (Keenan Wynn) and the clever terrier Asta, Nick and Nora are soon able to gather all the suspects at the reopening of the floating gaming establishment. In between the skullduggery and the usual wisecracks, Gloria Grahame performs a sultry version of Herb Magidson and Ben Oakland's "You're Not So Easy to Forget." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

John Garfield, in the best performance of his career, portrays Joe Morse, an ambitious attorney who has long since abandoned his scruples in favor of monetary reward. Morse now represents the interests of crime boss Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts), who plans to take over the numbers racket in New York. Morse has devised a way of doing this legally and above-board, with no violence: Tucker's people will bring about the collapse of the illegal numbers racket in the city, using a race track-betting scam that will bankrupt the small-time underworld numbers banks; an investigation will ensue, along with a call for a legal numbers operation in the form of a lottery, which Tucker will control through Morse's machinations. The whole plan hinges on Morse's estranged brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez), a small-time numbers banker who is to be shielded from the collapse, and who will serve as the "legitimate" front for Tucker. Leo is the flaw in the plan, however, because not only can't he stand the sight of Joe, but he is also too honest to participate in the plan -- he doesn't want his employees, all decent people just looking to earn a living, forced into the employ of real gangsters. Joe orchestrates a series of police raids that force Leo into his corner, and Joe's plan seems to be working out, but then the whole enterprise is threatened when a rival mob, run by Tucker's former Prohibition-era partner, Fico (Paul Fix), starts pressuring Leo, trying to get to Joe and Tucker. Fico and his men aren't any different from Tucker's mob, except that they're prepared to start shooting sooner to get what they want. Tucker decides to hang tough and expects everyone, including Leo, to do the same, even when Fico starts sending thugs around to frighten everyone. Soon Joe is beset by problems on three fronts -- he wants his brother out of Tucker's combination and safe; he is trying to romance Leo's bookkeeper (Beatrice Pearson), who is too nice a girl for who he is; and his own well-being is threatened by both Fico and Tucker, and a state investigator who has already tapped the phone of Joe's otherwise respectable partner. All of these threads are pulled together in the final section of the film, which is as violent and disturbing, yet poetic and graceful a resolution as any crime film of the 1940s ever delivered. Force of Evil was star-crossed almost from the start, as many of the people involved, including star John Garfield and director Abraham Polonsky (a writer making his debut behind the camera, with help from assistant director Don Weis in doing the camera set-ups and blocking), were suspect at the time for their leftist political views. Indeed, the company that made Force of Evil, Enterprise Productions, was also in trouble for the leftist leanings of its films in the midst of the Red Scare, and went out of business just as the movie was finished -- dropped by United Artists and picked up by MGM, of all studios, Force of Evil made it into theaters during Christmas week of 1948, not the ideal schedule for something as grim (albeit great) as this film was. As it turned out, it was Polonsky's last chance to direct for more than 20 years, and Garfield's last completely successful film. And a movie that should have been a triumph for all concerned ended up a cult favorite. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Preston Sturges' final American film was generally conceded to be a disaster in 1949; even star Betty Grable publicly bad-mouthed the finished product. When seen today, Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, while no classic, seems a lot better than it did five decades ago. Grable plays a western dancehall girl named Freddie, who is forced to take it on the lam after accidentally shooting a judge (she'd been aiming at her faithless boyfriend Blackie Jobero, played by Cesar Romero). Arriving in the tiny burg of Bashful Bend, Freddie is mistaken for the schoolmarm whom the town elders have recently hired. Taking advantage of this mistaken-identity situation, Freddie puts the make on wealthy banker Charles Hingelman (Rudy Vallee, a Sturges "regular"), who owns a valuable gold mine. Before the film's 77 minutes are over, Freddie finds herself smack dab in the middle of a shootout between the Good Guys and a family of dimwitted outlaws. As was always the case in a Preston Sturges production, Beautiful Blonde of Bashful Bend is chock full of colorful supporting players, including Hugh Herbert (hilarious as a myopic dentist), El Brendel, Sterling Holloway, and Margaret Hamilton. Also on hand are stalwart Sturges stock company players Porter Hall, Alan Bridge, J. Farrell McDonald, Georgia Caine, Esther Howard, Torben Meyer, Dewey Robinson, and Harry Hayden--many of whom, in keeping with 20th Century-Fox's curious billing policy, are denied on-screen credit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While under contract to Warner Bros., George Raft turned down picture after picture as being "unimportant" and thus unworthy of his talents. Among his turned-down projects were such minor items as High Sierra and Casablanca. By 1949, however, Raft's star had eclipsed, and he was obliged to accept whatever came along. Outpost in Morocco wasn't exactly a "B" picture -- it was expensively filmed on location -- but neither was it in the same league as Raft's earlier vehicles. Cast as Capt. Paul Gerard, a foreign-legion officer, Raft finds himself on the horns of a dilemma. He must protect his garrison from the rebel hordes of a native Emir (Eduard Franz) -- who happens to be the father of Cara (Marie Windsor), the woman Gerard loves. Akim Tamiroff easily steals the show as Gerard's slovenly second-in-command. The film truly comes to life only during the battle scenes, which utilize the services of hundreds of genuine Legionnaires and Moroccan cavalrymen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Marie Windsor plays the title role in Dakota Lil, she is shunted away to third billing, right after male leads George Montgomery and Rod Cameron. Montgomery is cast as a secret service agent Tom Horn, sent West to round up a gang of counterfeiters. He starts by gaining the confidence of dance-hall girl Lil (Windsor), one of the ringleaders. She, in turn, leads Horn to the brains of the operation, Harve Logan
(Cameron). When Lil finds out that Horn is a Fed, she's tempted to fill him full of holes; instead, having fallen in love with him, she tries to help him get the goods on Logan. Dakota Lil was based on a story by Frank Gruber, later one of the leading lights of the TV-western craze. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Showdown is the story of a trail boss named Shad Jones (Bill Elliott) whose younger brother is murdered. Knowing that a member of a wagon train is responsible for the killing, Shad joins the train in attempt to discover who the guilty man is. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Ninety per cent of Little Big Horn takes place before Custer's Last Stand; thus, the emphasis is on character and suspense rather than spectacle (just as well, since spectacle was well out of the range of parsimonious Lippert Studios). Lloyd Bridges heads a small band of cavalrymen who desperately try to reach the Little Big Horn in time to warn Custer of a Sioux ambush. One by one, the men are picked off by Indian sharpshooters. The only survivors are Bridges and John Ireland, longtime enemies who may very well knock each other off before ever getting to Custer. Little Big Horn was the first directorial assignment for western-writer Charles Marquis Warren. It was hardly the last: Warren would later be one of the most prolific contributors to the Gunsmoke TV series of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jon Hall is right in his element in the Columbia low-budgeter Hurricane Island. Hall plays Captain Carlos Montalvo, second-in-command to Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon (Edgar Barrier). Engaged in a search for the Fountain of Youth, Montalvo gets mixed up with lady buccaneer Jane Bolton (Marie Windsor) and Indian princess Okahia (Jo Gilbert). The villains, who lurk at every plot turn, are thwarted in a climactic hurricane, chiefly comprised of stock footage from earlier films (a specialty of producer Sam Katzman). Hurricane Island is in and out in 71 breezy minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This off-beat western is set in a remote western town that has made it illegal for men to enter. The town is owned by a powerful female gambler whose reign is toppled by a handsome and persistent cowboy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide