Robert Hardy Andrews Movies

Lost while on patrol in Occupied territory, Hanley (Rick Jason) and his men are ambushed and pinned down by enemy fire. Suddenly out of nowhere an American tank race to the rescue, driven by world-weary Sgt. Dane (Jeffrey Hunter). Joing Hanley in his efforts to return to their own lines, the dour, dissillusioned Dane comes face to face with his French counterpart in the form of a troubled priest (Martin Brandt) who worries that he has "lost the calling." This is the first of several Combat! episodes directed by action-film veteran Burt Kennedy (Welcome to Hard Times, The War Wagon, Hannie Caulder). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When gold is discovered in the Colorado Territory at the start of the Civil War, Confederate Owen Pentecost (Robert Stack) and Union agent Stephen Kirby (Alex Nicol) battle with each other in a struggle to obtain the most gold to give to their respective armies. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

"Winning isn't everything -- it's the only thing." These words were spoken not by Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi but by Steve Williams, the fictional college athletics instructor played by John Wayne in Trouble Along the Way. Recently divorced, Williams has trouble finding a job due to his inability to get along with his superiors. If he doesn't find work soon, he'll lose custody of his daughter Carole (Sherry Jackson). Meanwhile, St. Anthony's College, heavily in debt, may have to close its doors. Father Burke, rector of St. Anthony's, reasons that the school could get back on its feet if it had a winning football team, thereby securing the support of the alumni. Thus, against his better judgment, Father Burke hires the troublesome Steve Williams, who'll stop at nothing to assemble a winning team. Somehow, Williams has to turn into a regular human being, and that's where social worker Alice Singleton (Donna Reed) comes in. More sentimental than most Wayne vehicles, Trouble Along the Way is well worth the ride. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of only five films directed by Academy Award-nominated editor Stuart Gilmore, this 1951 Western stars Robert Young as Dan Craig, a gambler who may be the only man who can stop a war between a tribe of Native Americans and a group of white settlers. Shortly after the U.S. Civil War, Frank Crawford (Reed Hadley), a crooked politician, concocts a scheme to pillage the vast quantities of gold present on Apache tribal land. If Crawford can incite a war, he can clear the Apaches from the area and the gold will be his. Luckily Craig steps in, and with the help of Charlie Wolf (Jack Buetel), a half-Apache, helps prevent the tribe members from playing into Crawford's plan. But when Wolf's sister is murdered, he can no longer resist the urge to rise up, leaving Craig as the only one to avert a disastrous battle. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Wyoming Mail stars Stephen McNally as frontier postal inspector Steve Davis. Assigned to break up a gang of outlaws who prey upon mail trains, Davis goes undercover, posing first as a fugitive from justice. Joining the bandit gang run by the ruthless Cavanaugh (Howard da Silva), Davis discovers that the crooks have an "inside man" within the railroad company itself. Alexis Smith co-stars as the "bad" girl who turns good to save Davis. Universal-International's knack for turning out superior westerns on modest budgets is entertainingly demonstrated in Wyoming Mail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Undercover Girl was leading-lady Alexis Smith's least-favorite film, though she is professional enough to give it her all. Per the title, the film casts Smith as rookie policewoman Christine Miller, who volunteers to go undercover to avenge her father's death. Posing as a drug dealer, Christine inveigles her way into a vicious narcotics ring. Inevitably, she is found out, and it's up to police-lieutenant Mike Trent (Scott Brady), who's fallen in love with Christine, to come to her rescue. Few surprises await the viewer in Undercover Girl, though director Joseph Pevney manages to extract a great deal of suspense during the climax. Nineteen-thirties leading-lady Gladys George has a poignant minor role as a homeless woman ruined by drugs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Maureen O'Hara plays the daughter of a Sheikh who returns from being educated in London, only to find her father is dead and his palace looted. Handsome Paul Christian is suspected of the murder, as is lecherous pasha Vincent Price, but the real villain may be one of the Sheikh's most trusted aides. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

There's propaganda aplenty in RKO's I Married a Communist, the first of producer Howard R. Hughes's many anti-Red broadsides. Robert Ryan plays shipping executive Brad Collins, whose youthful flirtations with certain left-wing causes have made him ripe for plucking by Commie cell leader Vanning (Thomas Gomez). Threatening to reveal Collins' "pinko" past, Vanning orders the executive to deliberately sabotage the shipping industry in the Frisco Bay area. Other characters essential to the plotline are Collins' wife Nan (Laraine Day), who knows nothing of her husband's politics, and his idealistic brother-in-law Don (John Agar) who spouts Marxist dogma at the drop of a hat. Apparently at a loss as to how to depict communist villainy, the screenwriters hark back on the gangster films of the 1930s, notably in the scene where a hapless stoolie (the inevitable Paul Guilfoyle) is taken for a ride. When the title I Married a Communist proved an audience turn-off during previews, the film was rechristened The Woman on Pier 13. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

John Cleveland Carter (Minor Watson) is the publisher of a once-great newspaper, who discovers too late that his editor, Howard Rankin (Otto Kruger), has been subverting his paper, turning it into a yellow scandal sheet. Before he can take action against Rankin, however, he is shot by one of the editor's strong-arm men. Before he dies, Carter leaves his majority interest to his harshest critic, small-town newspaperman (and one-time admirer) Ulysses Bradford (Guy Kibbee), who is persuaded by Carter's assistant Edwina Stevens (Gloria Dickson) to try to take control of the huge New York paper from the scheming Rankin. The unscrupulous editor is in the midst of trying to pin Carter's murder on an innocent ex-employee, using his chief henchman (ictor Jory) to plant incriminating evidence, but he goes along with this interruption to his plans for a short time, hoping that Bradford will fall on his face. Caught between the upright but too-trusting Bradford and the corrupt Rankin is managing editor Griff Thompson (Lee Tracy), a basically decent sort who has been compromised by too many years of listening to Rankin. When the paper unearths a supposed hoarding scandal involving a top government official (and one-time political rival to Rankin), matters come to a head -- Rankin ousts Bradford, but the riot (and the ensuing death of an innocent man) fomented by the paper leaves Thompson so outraged that he changes sides. But can these three get the goods on Rankin before he covers the tracks on the two murders (at least) with which he was involved? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

From the first frame of its opening credits, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror promises (and subsequently delivers) mystery and thrills several layers deep -- following a short prologue intended to introduce Holmes to contemporary England (circa 1942), there is a series of terror broadcasts from Germany, announcing destruction throughout the British isles, and a montage of explosions and other disasters causing havoc. Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) are called in by Sir Evan Barham (Reginald Denny) of British intelligence's Inner Council to investigate the Voice of Terror and the accompanying sabotage. The other members of the council are disdainful of Holmes' presence, and express heightening doubts as his investigation seems to take him up several blind alleys. The case starts to break when a dying informant gives Holmes a tip that takes him and Watson to London's seedy Limehouse district, where they get a hostile reception until Kitty (Evelyn Ankers), the widow of the murdered informant, makes a patriotic speech reminding her friends that regardless of their class or their feelings about British society, this is a war for the survival of England. With Kitty leading them, the men and women of Limehouse form an invisible army and go out in search of the saboteurs. Holmes determines that the Voice of Terror is recorded on phonograph records in England and flown to Germany for broadcast; with Kitty's help, he traces the saboteurs to a deserted dockside location where he and Watson, along with intelligence chief Mr. Lloyd (Henry Daniell), are nearly killed by Meade (Thomas Gomez), the leader of the saboteurs. Holmes and company are rescued at the last moment by Kitty's army, but Meade escapes. He crosses paths with Kitty, who pretends to be a thief on the run and joins him. Working her way into his trust, she finds evidence that Meade plans to kill Sir Evan Barham; Holmes arrives just minutes behind Meade and heads off an attempt by a German plane to land on Barham's remote estate. All of these incidents of sabotage and attempted assassination are serious enough, but Holmes suspects they're part of a larger, more sinister plot that could lead to the destruction of England. The film ends with a chase to the South Coast and a bombed-out church, where Meade and his men are preparing to take over the country. Holmes captures Meade and unmasks the man behind him, and reveals just how far ahead of the Germans he has been, turning their certain victory into defeat, but he loses a good friend and ally in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Ruby Keeler made her final screen starring appearance in the Columbia musical Sweetheart of the Campus. Keeler plays Betty Blake, lead vocalist for Ozzie Nelson's orchestra. While performing a one-night stand at a college campus, Betty vows to prevent a hostile takeover of the establishment by puritanical trustee Minnie Sparr (Kathleen Howard). To this end, Betty, Ozzie and his entire band enroll as college students. The best musical number finds star Keeler tap-dancing to a boogie-woogie rhythm, while cinematographer Franz Planer indulges in all manner of innovative camera angles and process trickery. Also in the cast as co-ed cutie Harriet Hale is Harriet Hilliard, real-life wife of costar Ozzie Nelson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Following in the footsteps of Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre turns sadist in this routinely made but efficient little potboiler from Columbia Pictures. Lording over Dead Man's Island where he uses paroled convicts as slaves, Stephen Danel frames G-Man Mark Sheldon (Robert Wilcox) for murdering a colleague and then arranges for the convict's transfer to the island. Mark immediately becomes attracted to Danel's glamorous wife, Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson), beautifully gowned and bejeweled but like the slaves, a caged bird susceptible to her husband's rages. With the assistance of Cort (Charles B. Middleton), the two attempt to escape, but are eventually caught by Danel's spy, Brand (Don Beddoe). Happily, when all seems lost, the sadistic Stephen is killed by one of his own men, the disgruntled Siggie (George E. Stone). Although most of Island of Doomed Men was produced on sound stages, some scenes were filmed at famous Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi