Adrian Movies

In this courtroom drama, two opposing lawyers lead a double life. In the courtroom they are ruthless toward each other, but once the day is over they become passionate lovers. Unfortunately their newest case may well threaten their relationship as the defense attorney is defending a corrupt district attorney who happens to be her ex-husband. The prosecutor knows nothing of their past relationship; all he knows is he wants to nail the crook and his cronies to the wall. Unfortunately, the truth comes out in court and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

We first meet Joan Crawford, star of the moody flashbackfest Possessed, wandering aimlessly through the city streets, moaning "David....David." She goes to pieces in public and is rushed to the mental ward, where a team of psychiatrists try to find out who she is and where she's been. Who she is is a practical nurse, hired by Raymond Massey to care for Massey's invalid wife. While going about her duties, Crawford renews her acquaintance with an old flame, architect Van Heflin. Though Heflin is indifferent, Crawford is still crazy for the man. She remains so even after marrying her employer Massey, whose wife has committed suicide. Any further details would give away the ending, but we can note that Van Heflin's character name is David. Best scene: Crawford, descending into schizophrenia, imagining that she's killed Massey's vitriolic daughter Geraldine Brooks. While the psycho-babble delivered in the asylum scenes is laughable, Possessed still holds up well as one of the best of Joan Crawford's Warner Bros. soap operas. This black-and-white film is also available in a colorized version, but don't blame us. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Teresa Wright plays Charlie, a small-town high-schooler who enjoys a symbiotic relationship with her favorite uncle, also named Charlie (Joseph Cotten). When young Charlie "wills" that old Charlie pay a visit to her family, her wish comes true. Uncle Charlie is his usual charming self, but he seems a bit secretive and reserved at times. Too, his manner of speaking is curiously unsettling, especially when he brings up the subject of rich widows, whom he characterizes as "swine." When a pair of detectives (MacDonald Carey and Wallace Ford), posing as magazine writers, arrive in town and begin asking questions about Uncle Charlie, young Charlie's curiosity is aroused. Why, for example, has Uncle Charlie torn an article out of the evening newspaper? Rushing to the library, Young Charlie locates the missing item: the headline screams WHO IS THE MERRY WIDOW MURDERER? As the horrified Charlie reads on, the conclusion is inescapable: her beloved Uncle Charlie is a mass murderer, preying upon wealthy old women. And what happens next? Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville (Mrs. Hitchcock) based their screenplay on a story by Gordon McDowell, who in turn was inspired by real-life "Merry Widow Murderer" Earle Leonard Nelson. The casting, from stars to bit players, is impeccable; the best of the batch is Hume Cronyn, making his film debut as a wimpy murder-mystery aficionado. Lensed on location in Santa Rosa, California, The Shadow of a Doubt wasAlfred Hitchcock's favorite film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this frothy musical comedy, Ann Carter (Deanna Durbin) is an aspiring singer from the Midwest who decides to move to New York in hopes of advancing her career. Her half brother, Martin Murphy (Pat O'Brien), is already living in the Big Apple, and has told her that he's doing well as a businessman; however, when she arrives at his door, she discovers that he's actually working as a valet for Charles Gerard (Franchot Tone), a well-known composer. This is good news for Ann, since Charles could doubtlessly do a great deal to give her career a boost, but Martin is hesitant to talk to his boss about Ann. Charles is inundated with pleas from semi-talented would-be musicians all day long, and putting another in his path would earn Martin no favors. However, Martin soon has bigger worries; it seems that Charles has developed an interest in Ann which Martin is convinced has nothing to do with music. As you might expect, Durbin sings several songs, including "In the Spirit of the Moment," "When You're Away," and an aria from Puccini. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

If you're wondering what Citizen Kane might have looked like had it been produced by MGM, we submit for your approval Keeper of the Flame. War correspondent Spencer Tracy is assigned to write the life story of a recently deceased super-patriot. One would suppose that the much-beloved decedent's life would be an open book, yet his widow Katharine Hepburn refuses to release any details concerning her late husband. Tracy gains Hepburn's confidence, and she agrees to help him with his article. Several curious incidents lead Tracy to believe that Hepburn was in some way responsible for her husband's death. While this is not entirely the case, Tracy stumbles upon a truth that has been carefully hidden from the public by the dead man's "damage control" people. Adapted by Donald Ogden Stewart from a novel by I. A. R. Wylie, Keeper of the Flame is perhaps the most dour of the Tracy/Hepburn vehicles; those expecting the usual battle-of-the-sexes repartee between the two stars would be better off with Adam's Rib or Pat and Mike. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Hope's first starring vehicle for producer Sam Goldwyn borrows the title of Bob's 1942 autobiography They Got Me Covered and very little else. Co-scripted by Leonard Q. Ross (aka Leo Rosten), Leonard Spigelgass and Harry Kurnitz (among many others!), the film casts Hope as Robert Kittredge, the Moscow correspondent for a major American news service, who is fired when he neglects to file a report about Hitler's invasion of Russia. Hoping to get back in the good graces of his boss Norman Mason (Donald MacBride), Kittredge steals another reporter's story about a Nazi spy ring operating in New York. Though officially a comedy, the film is curiously unfunny at times, with Hope playing an unsympathetic, unappealing character who'll step on anyone -- including his long-suffering sweetheart (Dorothy Lamour) and a hysterical kidnap victim (Phyllis Povah) -- to get ahead. Otto Preminger is funnier (perhaps intentionally) as the head Nazi. A few good gags notwithstanding, They Got Me Covered is nowhere near as satisfying as Hope's second Goldwyn effort, The Princess and the Pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An expert cast of farceurs goes through its customary paces in MGM's The Feminine Touch. Don Ameche plays college professor-turned-author John Hathaway, who hits upon a potential best-seller with his book on marital jealousy. He heads to New York with his lovely wife Julie (Rosalind Russell), there to commisserate with publisher Elliot Morgan (Van Heflin), whose job it is to "popularize" Hathaway's scholarly tome. Instead, Morgan falls head over heels in love with Julie, forcing John to consult his own book as a balm to his own jealousy. Meanwhile, Morgan's sweetheart Nellie Woods (Kay Francis) tries to take drastic measures to win back her beau, leading Julie to conclude that Nellie is making a play for John! And that's the name of the tune for the remainder of the film's 97 minute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the second sound version of the Robert Louis Stevenson "doppelganger" tale. This time Spencer Tracy plays the benevolent Dr. Jekyll, whose experiments in releasing the evil impulses within himself transform him into the bestial Mr. Hyde. The problem here is that while Tracy is convincing enough as Hyde, we have trouble accepting him as the kindly Jekyll--exactly the opposite of the 1931 version, in which Fredric March was credible as both Jekyll and Hyde (in fairness to Tracy, it must be noted that he didn't want to play the role and had to be forced into it). MGM decreed that no publicity pictures be released showing Tracy in his Hyde makeup, thereby building up audience anticipation. It's just as well that MGM kept these pictures under wraps: Tracy's Hyde looks less like the Living Personification of Evil than like a man who's been on a three-day bender. The most fascinating aspect of this version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the casting of the two leading ladies. Ever since the 1920 John Barrymore version of this story, it has been de rigeur to symbolize the schism between Jekyll and Hyde by giving him both a "good" and "evil" girlfriend. Originally, MGM adhered to typecasting by assigning the good girl to Ingrid Bergman and the bad one to Lana Turner. But Bergman begged the studio to be allowed to play the more wicked of the two ladies; as a result, hers is by far the best performance in the picture. Neither as lively as the 1920 version nor as innovative as the 1931 remake, MGM's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is weighted down with tiresome dialogue and over-obvious symbolism (catch that dream sequence in which Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner make like racehorses!) Despite its shortcomings, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was infinitely preferable to the next remake, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 1924 George Gershwin stage hit Lady Be Good was brought to the screen by MGM; any resemblance (beyond the Gershwin score) to the original play is purely accidental. The MGM scriveners came up with a new story concerning married songwriters Ann Sothern and Robert Young, who can't live with each other and can't live without each other. Top billing goes to dancing star Eleanor Powell, who certainly deserves it. Red Skelton is around and about as well, inserting a few much-needed laughs. While such Gershwin songs as "So Am I", "Fascinating Rhythm" and "Hang on Me" are well showcased, the hit of the evening is a new song by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, the Oscar-winning "The Last Time I Saw Paris". Our favorite scene: Ann Sothern and Robert Young composing "Lady be Good" out of thin air in two minutes flat! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This remake of Ferenc Molnar's play The Guardsmen focuses on an opera star (Nelson Eddy) who tests the fidelity of his wife (Rise Stephens) by wooing her in disguise. The film was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Score. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

James Stewart's last Hollywood film before entering military service, Come Live with Me teams Stewart with the hauntingly beautiful Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr plays a wealthy Austrian emigree, in love with a married American publisher. The girl must quickly find an American husband or she'll be deported. Along comes Stewart, an idealistic (and starving) writer given to quoting poetry in moments of crisis. He marries her on a "strictly business" basis...but Love finds a way, especially after Stewart wins fame by writing a story about his companionate marriage. Come Live with Me served as the screen debut of 80-year-old actress Adeline de Walt Reynolds, who as Jimmy Stewart's grandmother launched a twenty year career as everyone's favorite matriarch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Greer Garson is dignity and integrity personified in the role of the real-life Edna Gladney. After several life experiences which rival daytime drama for unrelenting misery and melodrama, Edna marries flour-mill owner Sam Gladney (Walter Pidgeon). They have a baby, who dies shortly after Edna discovers that she can never have any other children. To give her life some meaning, Edna sets up the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society, which specializes in caring for illegitimate children and offering them for adoption. After her husband's death, Edna becomes a powerful political figure, succeeding in removing the stigma of illegitimacy by having that word stricken from all future Texas birth certificates; in this way, she honors the memory of her own half sister, who had killed herself upon discovering she was born out of wedlock. MGM thought enough of Blossoms in the Dust to film the production in Technicolor, a luxury usually reserved in 1941 for musicals or Westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide