Robert Arthur Movies

Before he "reinvented" himself as Robert Paige, actor David Carlyle headed the cast of Republic's Meet the Boy Friend. Paige/Carlyle plays radio crooner Tony Page, billed as "America's Boy Friend" (hence the title). Despite all the publicity hype, Tony is a "regular fellow" who despises the phoniness of show business. When predatory actress Vilma Vlare (Gwili Andre) sets her sights on Tony, his sponsor takes out a $300,000 no-marriage insurance policy. Our hero figures incorrectly that the policy was the handiwork of the insurance agent's niece June (Carol Hughes), who has made no secret that she's crazy about the boy. Tony disdainfully challenges the policy by proposing to Vilma but changes his mind when June is kidnapped, rushing to her rescue as a prelude to wedding bells. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A musical comedy star whose career is just starting to take off returns home from military school. En route, he meets a pretty girl whom he begins to woo. Unfortunately his hometown girl friend is waiting for him at the station and typical romantic mayhem ensues amidst many lively songs and dances. Songs include: "Is It Good or Is It Bad?" "Mighty Nice to Have Met You," "Spelling Prep," "I Gotta Give My Feet A Break," "Love Is Like Music," "My Song," and "Sailor Song." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Abbott & Costello western spoof The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap is predicated on an actual Montana law of the 19th century, which dictated that if a man killed another in a gun duel, that man was responsible for the care and support of the victim's family. The film gets under way with an introductory title: "MONTANA: Where Men Are Men? With Two Exceptions." Those exceptions are travelling salesmen Duke (Bud Abbott) and Chester (Lou Costello), freshly arrived in the wide-open western town of Wagon Gap. No sooner has Chester reached Main Street than he is falsely arrested for the murder of Hawkins, the town layabout. He and Duke are spared the hangman's noose when the genially corrupt Judge Benbow (George Cleveland) reminds the jury that Chester is now responsible for Hawkins' debts and family. In short order, Chester is moved bag and baggage into the ramshackle home of the rowdy Widow Hawkins (Marjorie Main) and her brood of seven noisy children. Forced to do all the chores around the Widow's home, poor Chester must also put in overtime at Jake Frame's (Gordon Jones) saloon to pay off Hawkins' debts. While the crafty Duke tries to figure out various methods of extricating Chester from his dilemma, the Widow uses all of her wiles to get Chester to propose marriage to her. The plot goes off on a new tangent when it is discovered that none of the town desperadoes are willing to shoot down Chester, lest they inherit the Widow and her brats. Emboldened by his "untouchable" status, Chester swaggers around town striking fear in the hearts of the local menfolk, bosses Duke around for a change, and is even appointed sheriff! Alas, his invulnerability comes to an abrupt end when it turns out that the Hawkins spread is the most valuable property in town, thereby making Widow Hawkins the territory's most eligible bachelorette. The story comes to an uproarious conclusion when Chester and Jake Frame confront each other in a "high noon" gun duel. Incredibly, screenwriters D.D. Beauchamp and William Bowers originally intended The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap as a vehicle for James Stewart! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cole Porter's Broadway musical Mexican Hayride was optioned by Universal in the mid-1940s, then remained in "development hell" until 1948. By the time the property made it to the screen, the entire Porter score had been removed, and the play's original star Bobby Clark was replaced by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The story takes place South of the Border, where American fugitive from justice Joe Bascom (Costello) searches for con man Harry Lambert (Abbott), for whom Bascom had been a fall guy. Also in Mexico is Joe's hometown-sweetheart Mary (Virginia Grey), now known as Montana, the country's foremost female bullfighter. Joe catches up with Harry at the bull arena, where Montana is about to choose the "Amigo Americano" in a publicity scheme cooked up by Harry. When she spots Joe in the crowd, Montana (angry at our tubby hero for bilking her out of her life savings -- it was actually Harry's doing), furiously throws her hat at him. When Joe catches the hat, he's elected Amigo Americano and extended every hospitality that Mexico can afford. Sensing yet another opportunity to make a dishonest dollar, Harry exploits Joe's newfound celebrity to promote a phony gold-mining scheme. The gorgeous Dagmar (Luba Malina), Harry's partner in crime, romances Joe to secure his cooperation. Somehow all of this ends up back in the bull ring, with poor Joe facing a very belligerent "el toro." A bit too plot-heavy for Abbott & Costello, Mexican Hayride still has several choice moments, including a priceless verbal exchange involving gold ore ("gold or what?") and a "Mother Lode." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It seems that Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), in league with a beautiful but diabolical lady scientist (Lenore Aubert), needs a "simple, pliable" brain with which to reactivate Frankenstein's creature (Glenn Strange). The "ideal" brain belongs to the hapless Lou Costello, whom the lady doctor woos to gain his confidence and lure him to the operating table. Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), better known as the Wolf Man, arrives on the scene to warn Costello and his pal Bud Abbott of Dracula's nefarious schemes. Throughout the film, the timorous Costello witnesses the nocturnal rituals of Dracula and the Monster, but can't convince the ever-doubting Abbott--until the wild climax in Dracula's castle, where the comedians are pursued by all three of the film's monstrosities. As a bonus, the Invisible Man (voiced by an unbilled Vincent Price) shows up for "all the excitement." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For some reason, whenever Universal used the word "Gal" in a film's title, Yvonne de Carlo usually headed the cast. In Gal Who Took the West, de Carlo plays Lillian Marlowe, an New York songstress who heads Thataway. She becomes the romantic bone of contention between the feuding O'Hara cousins, Grant (John Russell) and Lee (Scott Brady). The hostilities boil over into an all-out range war, and federal troops are summoned. Can Lillian succeed where other, better-armed negotiators have failed. The lighthearted nature of Gal Who Took the West is underlined by staging the film in flashback, as related by a pair of toothless old codgers (Clem Bevans and Houseley Stevenson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One wonders if Donald O'Connor would have consented to star in Francis if he knew that a series was to follow. Adapted by David Stern from his own novel, the film stars O'Connor as GI Peter Sterling, who appears to be bucking for a Section Eight. Seems that Sterling keeps insisting that Francis, a cantankerous Army mule, has the power of speech. It turns out that Francis not only can talk, but is also a superb military strategist. With Francis' help, Sterling breaks up a Nazi spy ring and becomes a hero -- but this is only the beginning, as the future entries in Universal's Francis series would prove over and over. Providing able support to the hapless O'Connor are Patricia Medina, Ray Collins, and especially ZaSu Pitts as a bewildered Army nurse. The voice of Francis is provided by Chill Wills, who likewise showed up in most of the Francis sequels, and who, like O'Connor, bailed out before the final entry, Francis in a Haunted House (1956). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Curtain Call at Cactus Creek is an agreeable combination of the western, comedy and musical genres. Donald O'Connor plays Edward Timmons, a mild-mannered stagehand for a travelling repertory troupe. Edward is in love with ingenue Julie Martin (Gale Storm), but there's no love lost between Edward and the troupe's hammy leading man Tracy Holland (Vincent Price). Things begin percolating when Edward gets mixed up in the activities of infamous outlaw Rimrock (Walter Brennan). Even allowing for the considerable singing and dancing skills of Donald O'Connor and Gale Storm, the film's best musical number is rendered by Eve Arden, cast as an over-the-hill soubrette who happens to be the heroine's mother (and never mind that she was only ten years older than Gale Storm!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play wrestling promoters whose star attraction, Wee Willie Davis, skips town to return to his home in Arabia. While scouring the desert in search of Davis, Bud and Lou inadvertently purchase slave girl Patricia Medina, and with equal inadvertence join the Foreign Legion. In their own bumbling, inept fashion, our heroes manage to foil a desert uprising fomented by shiek Douglas Dumbrille and traitorous Legion commandant Walter Slezak. The film's highlights include an opening-scene parody of pre-rehearsed wrestling matches, a "mirage" routine capped by one of the hoariest vaudeville punchlines in history, and a runaway-jeep climax. All in all, however, Abbott & Costello in the Foreign Legion is one of the team's lesser efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

There's stock footage galore in The Golden Horde, a second-feature recreation of the Arabian Nights era. Sir Guy (David Farrar) defends Christianity by lopping off heads in Samarkand. Ann Blyth is the non-distressed princess who uses strategy to save her city from invasion--and to keep Sir Guy at arm's length, at least until the fade-out. Among the Mongols, one can glimpse such veteran villains as Henry Brandon and Marvin Miller, the latter as Genghis Khan Himself. The Golden Horde was run on TV on a near-hourly basis in the 1960s thanks to its garish Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will Rogers Jr. stars as his own father in this slow, sentimental biopic. The film begins with Rogers' days on his father's ranch in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma). We see Will court his future wife, Betty (Jane Wyman), just before he strikes out on his own as a rodeo performer. Attempting to break into vaudeville with a roping act, Will gets nowhere until he starts cracking extemporaneous jokes about current events. Using the newspapers as his "material," Will rises to the pinnacle of show business in the 1910s and '20s as a star comedian in Flo Ziegfeld's Follies. He matures into a devoted family man, a rancher, a film star, an aviation enthusiast, and America's unofficial goodwill ambassador. During the darkest days of the Depression, Rogers works long and hard on behalf of poverty-stricken farmers in his own home state and elsewhere. In 1935, Rogers joins his old pal Wiley Post (Noah Beery Jr.) for an airplane trip to Alaska -- from which he never returns. The Story of Will Rogers sticks to the facts, but the film is surprisingly dull and pedantic considering the director (the usually vigorous Michael Curtiz) and the fascinating subject matter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tony Curtis always seemed a little uncomfortable in costume epics, but this trait serves him well in Black Shield of Falworth. Based on the robust novel Men of Iron by Howard Pyle, the film casts Curtis as Miles, the son of a disgraced knight. Through the sponsorship of the Earl of Mackworth Herbert Marshall, Miles is trained for knighthood, an arduous process that earns him the ridicule of his fellow trainees, who regard him as little better than a peasant. Eventually, Miles proves his mettle by squelching a plan to oust King Henry IV Ian Keith from the throne of England. On a more personal level, Miles carries on a romance with Mackworth's daughter Lady Anne Janet Leigh, while Miles' sister Meg Barbara Rush finds happiness in the arms of knight-in-training Francis Gascoyne Craig Hill. The heavy of the piece is the Earl of Alban David Farrar, whom Miles must ultimately face down in a well-directed climactic set-to. Torin Thatcher, who'd previously costarred with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in Houdini, delivers another topnotch characterization as the no-nonsense trainer of Miles and his fellow aspirant knights. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The life story of West Point athletic director Marty Maher was the inspiration for John Ford's The Long Gray Line. Told in flashback, the film recalls the first days at the Point for Irish immigrant Maher (Tyrone Power), a pugnacious boy who can't seem to fit in with the institution's regimen of unquestioning discipline. Athletic director Ward Bond takes a liking to Maher and arranges for the young man to become his assistant; Bond also plays Cupid between Maher and Irish maidservant Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara). When Mary's baby is stillborn, the Mahers begin to regard the West Point cadets as their surrogate children: this eventually leads to the film's most touching scene, in which Mary bids farewell to her son-substitute as he marches off to World War II. Following Mary's death, Marty stays on at the Point, until the place seems somehow incomplete without his presence. On the occasion of his forced retirement, Maher gently pleads with one of his former students--President Dwight D. Eisenhower--to permit him to remain at his post (Ike is played by Harry Carey Jr. in his early scenes, and by the voice of Paul Frees in the wraparound White House scenes). Based on Marty Maher's autobiography, The Long Gray Line seems at first glance too leisurely for its own good, but this appealing film gradually grows on its audience--just like Marty Maher himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide