Helen Ainsworth Movies
- 1958
When seen today, Bullwhip seems to be a dry run for the 1975 Jack Nicholson-Mary Steenburgen western Goin' South. To save himself from being hanged on a trumped-up murder charge, frontiersman Guy Madison agrees to marry whip-wielding spitfire Rhonda Fleming. Once the ceremony is over, Fleming wants nothing to do with her new husband, but he insists upon insinuating himself in her burgeoning fur-trading business. How long will it be before the heroine succumbs to Madison's rakish charms? When Shakespeare wrote this story, he called it Taming of the Shrew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Madison, Rhonda Fleming, (more)
- 1957
In this western, a Texas Ranger quits his job after he is chastised for bringing back so many dead outlaws. When he gets a deputy sheriff's job, he soon finds himself mixed up in a range war against an avaricious rancher determined to have the whole range for himself. The deputy simultaneously begins an affair with the greedy rancher's wife who wants him to kill her husband. In the end, she kills him herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Madison, Valerie French, (more)
- 1957
A locked-in-the-fifties science fiction film, The 27th Day begins with five different people from five different countries suddenly disappearing from view. They have been gently abducted by the agent (Arnold Moss) of a faraway dying planet, who gives each of the five earthlings a "killing capsule" that will destroy everything on Earth and allow the residents of the alien planet to re-colonize the planet--but which will be ineffective if not used after 27 days. In typical Cold War fashion, the representatives of the "good" countries (including Gene Barry) refuse to utilize the capsules, while the Soviets, (personified by Azemat Janti and Stefan Schnabel) intend to deploy the capsules for their own nefarious purposes. Their perfidy only results in the utter decimation of the USSR. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Barry, Valerie French, (more)
- 1942
Mitchell Leisen directed this romantic comedy with melodramatic overtones, starring Marlene Dietrich in a sympathetic role as famed stage star Elizabeth Madden. Elizabeth longs for motherhood but has no husband. Her desire appears to be fulfilled when she finds an abandoned baby, but she doesn't have a clue on how to raise it. She finds divorced pediatrician, Dr. Corey McBain (Fred MacMurray), to help her with the child. Elizabeth names the child after him and makes Corey an offer. Since she's single, she cannot adopt the child. But if Corey would marry her in name only, she could be the adopted mother and Corey could stay in a section of her apartment where she would support his research. Corey agrees to the deal, but it's not too long before Corey and Elizabeth fall in love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlene Dietrich, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1940
Fiercely independent authoress June Cameron (Loretta Young) has no time for men in her life. Chauvinistic medical college professor Timothy Sterling (Ray Milland) has no use for women. So guess who is mistaken for June's husband, and guess who is forced by circumstances to pretend that she's married? The Doctor Takes a Wife maintains its exhausting comic pace until about five minutes before the end, when the scriptwriters are forced to take a breather to tie up all the loose plot ends. The "fantasy" closing gag went over so well that Columbia Pictures utilized variations of it in several subsequent screwball comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Ray Milland, (more)
