Alan Young Movies
Born in England, Alan Young was raised in Canada, where his precocious talents won him work on network radio while he was still a teenager. Already quite popular in his adopted country, Young was given an ABC network radio program in the States in 1944, which confined his wide-ranging talent for music and mimicry in a standard sitcom format. Still youthful looking enough to pass for a high school kid, Young's screen debut was in the teen romance Margie (1946), which led to several years of collegiate roles (he was a college senior in Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, even though he was 30 at the time). In 1950, the actor headlined a comedy-variety TV series, CBS' The Alan Young Show, which spotlighted his pantomime skills; unfortunately, the series degenerated into yet another situation comedy when it returned to CBS in 1953 after an 11-month hiatus. In the mid-'50s, Young was offered the lead in a comedy series about a talking horse, but turned it down cold; after several years of relative inactivity, Young was more responsive to the offer, and in 1961 began a five-year run on Mister Ed as the horse's bemused master, Wilbur Post. Upon Ed's cancellation in 1965, Young turned his back on show business to devote himself to the Christian Science movement. By 1980, the actor and the Movement had come to a parting of the ways, and he was free to accept performing work again. Very little happened until Young was hired to provide the voice of Scrooge McDuck in the 1983 Disney cartoon short Mickey's Christmas Carol. He did so well with this assignment that he became the permanent voice of Scrooge in the TV cartoon series Duck Tales, which ran from 1987 through 1990 and yielded 100 episodes. In 1988, Alan Young could be seen as well as heard in Coming of Age, a CBS sitcom set in an Arizona retirement community -- the closest Young has ever come to true and full retirement. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1952
Except for a few later guest-star spots, Dinah Shore ended her film career with Aaron Slick From Punkin Crick. Based on an old stock-company perennial by Walter Benjamin Hare, the film stars Dinah as Josie, a farm gal who is slickered out of her life land by big-city con artists Bill Merrydew (Robert Merrill) and Gladys (Adele Jergens). Unbeknownst to Josie, her farm is rich with oil. Upon finding this out, Josie's neighbor and erstwhile beau Aaron Slick (Alan Young) heads to town to retrieve her holdings. Since the film stars three well-established singers--Dinah Shore, Alan Young, and Robert Merrill--the Hare original has been transformed into a musical (though truth to tell, it isn't exactly on the level of Oklahoma). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alan Young, Dinah Shore, (more)
- 1985
This live action trip back to Wonderland finds Alice dodging the Jabberwocky and encountering a Wonderland crew including Humpty Dumpty, Tiger Lily, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The voice cast is staggering, including (to mention a few) father and son Lloyd Bridges and Beau Bridges, Phyllis Diller, and George Gobel, Ringo Starr, Jonathan Winters, Sally Struthers, Karl Malden, and many, many more. ~ Rovi
- 1952
With George Bernard Shaw safely in his grave, RKO chief Howard Hughes had no qualms about twisting and bending Shaw's Androcles & the Lion to accommodate his own notions of entertainment. Happier, wiser heads prevailed before the Hughes-commissioned "Vestal Virgins" sequence, complete with near-naked dancing girls, was foisted on the public. Originally, Harpo Marx was to have played Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum. A few days into shooting, however, Harpo was replaced by Alan Young, who was okay but not in Marx's league. RKO habitués Jean Simmons and Victor Mature co-star as, respectively, a courageous Christian girl and the bullheaded Roman captain who falls in love with her. Every Shaw play has one character who acts as the playwright's alter ego; in Androcles, it's none other than Caesar himself, here wittily essayed by Maurice Evans. Director Chester Erskine co-adapted the play for the screen with Ken Englund; serving as producer was Gabriel Pascal. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jean Simmons, Alan Young, (more)
- 1991
Based on a popular brace of children's books, the 30-minute cartoon Bad Cat was originally telecast as an episode of the ABC Weekend Special anthology. Recognized as the "King of Fulton Street," Bad Cat is not really all that terrible, despite his name and reputation. In fact, when his human family, the Harrisons, move to another city, Bad Cat wants nothing more than to be accepted by the local feline populace. Alas, our hero runs afoul of a genuine "bad cat" named Riff, who challenges B.C. to a down 'n' dirty mouse-catching contest. Produced by Ruby-Spears, Bad Cat made its initial appearance on April 14, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bart Braverman, Hal Smith, (more)
Baker's Hawk is an old-style Western starring old-style Clint Walker. Burl Ives plays a recluse plagued by vigilantes. Ives is protected by Walker and his son, Lee H. Montgomery, on the basis of the lad's friendship with the old man. Baker's Hawk is based on a novel by Jack Bickham. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Walker, Burl Ives, (more)
- 1983
This animated version of DeBeaumont's classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast throws in a dash of Cinderella. The kind, virtuous, generous Beauty lives in a mansion with her five spoiled-rotten sisters. Of her avaricious siblings, only Beauty can adjust when her father loses all his money and they must live in reduced circumstances. And only Beauty has the courage to sacrifice her future to live with the hideous Beast in order to save her father's life. Produced by Ruby-Spears, this half-hour version of Beauty and the Beast originally aired November 25, 1983, on CBS as a "Kenner Family Classics" Thanksgiving special. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Janet Waldo
The third entry in the popular Beverly Hills Cop series finds Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returning yet again to Southern California, this time on the trail of two car thieves turned murderers. As he teams up again with L.A. cop Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), Foley's investigation leads him to Wonder World, a theme park that is also the front for a major counterfeiting ring. More action and less wit are the trademarks of this film, which features Murphy dishing out his usual wisecracks, but with less flair and freshness than in the original film. Alan Young plays the old man who runs the amusement park, an interesting setting that still adds little to the tired premise. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, (more)
- 1948
George Seaton's 1948 comedy Chicken Every Sunday was based on the play by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein as well as the original memoirs of Rosemary Taylor. Set during the turn of the century on the American frontier, Emily Heffernan (eleste Holm) is the practical wife of foolish would-be businessman Jim Heffernan (Dan Dailey). While Emily struggles to keep the household together by renting out rooms to boarders, Jim wastes the family's earnings on get-rich-quick schemes. Told in flashback, Emily recalls her 20-year marriage before filing for divorce. Emily has had enough and wants to leave, but their friends try to get them back together. Also starring Colleen Townsend, Alan Young, and a ten-year-old Natalie Wood. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dan Dailey, Celeste Holm, (more)
- 1990
- G
Based on the popular Disney animated afternoon television adventure series, which was in turn based on such supporting characters from earlier Donald Duck films and comic books as Scrooge McDuck and Donald's mischievous nephews Huey, Duey and Louie, this adventure chronicles the attempts of the four quackers to find a valuable lamp and its powerful genie. Complicating matters is the intervention of the wicked magician Merlock. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alan Young, Russie Taylor, (more)
- 2000
Alan Young guest stars as Archie Mellonston, a nursing-home patient who raises a ruckus in the ER when he flashes back to a traumatic incident during the Korean War. Other developments: blacklisted throughout Chicago by the vengeful Romano (Paul McCrane), the unemployed Benton (Eriq La Salle) is saddled with additional problems courtesy of his pugnacious nephew Jesse (Andrew McFarlane); Greene (Anthony Edwards) treats a beauty contestant who was injured in a freak "cosmetic" accident; and Chen (Ming-Na) takes care of a terminal patient whose mother is in a state of denial. All this, plus a shoot-out in the ER -- and a mugging in which Kovac (Goran Visnjic) ends up killing his attacker. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The made-for-TV Earth Angel stars Cathy Bodewell as Angela, a prom queen who dies in 1962. Unfortunately, Angela has not always lived up to her name, and her entry into Heaven is held up indefinitely. She is given a chance to redeem herself by returning to earth in 1990, where she is to successfully complete an important mission. Thing of it is, she has no idea what her mission is-though she suspects it has something to do with romance. Clearly intended as a hybrid of Ghost and Peggy Sue Got Married, Earth Angel was first telecast March 4, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cathy Podewell, Cindy Williams, (more)
- 1955
In this tuneful, romantic sequel to the classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, two gorgeous brown-haired Broadway chorines head for the City of Light to escape their ardent, predatory fans and find true love after having many adventures. The story is paralleled by that of their mother and aunt who did the same thing during the 1920s. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Russell, Jeanne Crain, (more)
- 1994
In this feature-length continuation of the popular husband-and-wife television detective series, the fabulously wealthy and impossibly attractive Jonathan (Robert Wagner) and Jennifer (Stephanie Powers) Hart travel to the town of Kingman's Ferry to mourn the death of Jennifer's mentor. Suspecting foul play, the duo launch an investigation that reveals that burg's idyllic appearance masks a seething underbelly of deception. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1946
Nostalgic and sweet, this tuneful comedy centers on a mother's reminiscence of her wild time as a 1920s teenage flapper. Margie is first seen fully grown telling her stories to her own teenage daughter. Back then, Margie was a typical adolescent, crazy about boys (especially those in raccoon coats) and an expert on the day's fashions. Margie was quite the cat's meow back then and found herself pursued by a handsome young man. Unfortuantely for him, Margie and the other girls only have eyes for the dashing new French teacher. Though busy vying for the teacher's affections, the teens still have time to perform many of the 1920's most popular songs. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lynn Bari, Vanessa Brown, (more)
- 1949
Clifton Webb recreates his Sitting Pretty role as Mr. Lynn Belvedere, the World's Greatest Genius. Belvedere discovers that he is ineligible for an honorary award because he never attended college. So he enrolls as a freshman in a major university, becoming the target for "hazing" from obnoxious upper classman Alan Young. The middle-aged Belvedere rapidly builds himself into Big Man on Campus, which complicates his intention of remaining incognito while attending college. Journalism major Shirley Temple likewise threatens to blow Belvedere's cover by writing an article about him for a major magazine. Before earning his college degree (four years' worth of study in six months!), Belvedere plays Cupid for Temple and her estranged boyfriend Tom Drake. Mr. Belvedere Goes to College proved successful enough for a follow-up film, 1951's Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Shirley Temple, (more)
- 1986
Along with her friends Amos (Tom Bosley) and Seth (William Windom), Jessica (Angela Lansbury) decides to sample the cooking at Cabot Cove's newest tourist attraction, the Joshua Peabody Inn. Casting a pall over the evening is a batch of spoiled strawberry preserves, causing several patrons to become seriously ill. When one of these patrons subsequently dies, Jessica begins to suspect that the "accidental" poisoning was deliberately contrived. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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