John H. Auer Movies

In this gentle, non-melodramatic drama, an elderly, wealthy widow will not leave her apartment even after her building is slated to be converted into a dormitory by the university that purchased it. She refuses to leave because she is convinced that her son, who disappeared 27 years before after being expelled from the college, will comeback. The university lets her stay and she becomes the house "Nana" for the students that live there. When an ex-Marine moves in, the woman is sure that he is her grandson as he has the same name as her son. She begins helping the young man with his personal and academic life. Just before his father is to arrive for a visit, the woman dies. She never knows that the boy is not her grandson. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Hell's Half Acre was written directly for the screen by Steve Fisher, whose I Wake Up Screaming remains one of the definitive "film noirs". The scene is a rundown section of Honolulu, where there dwells a group of wannabes, hasbeens and never-weres. While trying to go straight in this environment, ex-racketeer Chet Chester (Wendell Corey) is shaken down by his former criminal cohorts. Chester's girl friend Rose (Nancy Gates) kills one of his tormentors, whereupon Chester takes the blame, assuming that he's still got enough pull to get off with a light sentence. Meanwhile, Dona Williams (Evelyn Keyes) arrives on the scene, certain that Chester is her long-lost husband. When Rose is murdered, Chester escapes from jail, intending to prove Dona's innocence--and to square accounts with the 10-year-old son he never knew he had. Elsa Lanchester provides much-needed laughs as a dotty cabdriver. Dismissed upon its first release, Hell's Half Acre is now considered one of the most durable of Republic's mid-1950s features. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Not to be confused with a 1942 20th Century-Fox aviation actioner with the same title, Thunderbirds is a Republic Pictures war flick. John Derek and John Barrymore Jr. play two handsome flyboys with the Oklahoma National Guard who are pressed into service at the outbreak of World War II. They spend most of the war in the Italian campaign, then blast their way into Berlin. By way of a plot complication, Ward Bond shows up as a tough veteran sergeant who turns out to be the long-lost father of hotheaded Barrymore. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmed in Argentina, Republic's The Avengers stars John Carroll as a handsome adventurer known as Don Careless. Our Hero hopes to save heroine Maria Moreno (Adele Mara) from a forced marriage to a ruthless revolutionary (Roberto Airaldi). Both Carroll and supporting actor Vincente Padula play dual roles, for reasons that the film makes clear (even though the official studio resumé does not). Billed tenth, Fernando Lamas is given "and introducing" billing in the credits, and never mind that he'd been in films since 1942. The Avengers is based on a novel by Rex Beach. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Angel on the Amazon gives the viewer a pretty good notion of what Lost Horizon or She might have looked like had they been produced by Republic Pictures. Vera Ralston stars as huntress Christine Ridgeway, who embarks on one of her many hunting expeditions in the company of her husband Anthony Brian Aherne. While deep in the jungles of the Amazon, the Ridgeways and their party come across the wreckage of a plane. Among the survivors are pilot Jim Warburton George Brent and Dr. Karen Lawrence Constance Bennett. Warburton is impressed by the fact that, though apparently well on in years, Christine has retained her youthful appearance. Dr. Lawrence eventually discovers the secret of Christine's eternal beauty, which by film's end has atrophied considerably. The rambling screenplay whisks the viewer from Brazil to the Riviera to Pasadena, all courtesy of the Republic back lot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Broadway musical Beat the Band was boiled down to B-picture terms in this RKO Radio programmer. The plot concerns Damon (Philip Terry), a bandleader who finds himself financially embarrassed when he returns from WW2. In order to earn enough money to reassemble his orchestra, Damon poses as a famed Italian voice teacher. His first pupil is would-be songstress Ann (Frances Langford), whose family fortune figures prominently in Damon's comeback scheme. Ralph Edwards, emcee of the then-popular radio series "Truth or Consquences," provides comic relief as Damon's crooked business manager. The musical highlights include a "hot" arrangement performed in a boiler room by the Gene Krupa Orchestra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A journalist for a popular travel magazine goes looking for interesting stories in Latin America and finds love instead in this colorful musical. The love angle comes from her fiance who lives there, and from the dashing photographer who accompanies her. Included are many South American acts including flamenco dancers Rosario and Antonio. Songs include: "Ba-Ba-Lu" (Bob Russell, Marguerita Lecuna), "Stars in Your Eyes", "La Morine de Mi Copla" (Gabriel Ruiz, Mort Greene), "Rhumba Matumba" (Bobby Collazo, Greene), "Guadalajara" (Pepe Guizar, Greene), "Negra Leona" (A. Fernandez, Greene), and "Baramba" (Margarita Lecuona, Greene). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Ostensibly a vehicle for RKO Radio's new comedy duo Wally Brown and Alan Carney, Seven Days Ashore actually casts Brown & Carney in subordinate roles. The plotline is carried by furloughed sailor Dan Arland (Gordon Oliver), who while docked in San Francisco gets mixed up with three amorous females. Hoping to avoid breach-of-promise suits from two of the girls, Arland palms them off to his pals Monty (Brown) and Orville (Carney), while he devotes his time to debutante Annabelle (played by future news journalist Elaine Shepard). One of the "castaway" girls is portrayed by Virginia Mayo, on the verge of stardom. Musical relief is provided by Dooley Wilson ("Sam" in Casablanca), Freddie Slack and His Orchestra, and the zany "corn aggregation" led by Freddie "Schnickelfritz" Fisher. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A grown-up Jane Withers is joined by a whole slew of former child stars in the lightweight Republic musical Johnny Doughboy. Withers capably essays the part of a teenaged movie star who tires of the spotlight and runs away from Hollywood. Adopting an alias, she joins "The Junior Victory Caravan", a group of youthful USO performers. She also pursues a romance with much-older playwright Henry Wilcoxon, only to be (deliberately) disillusioned by the man. Among the juvenile favorites making cameo appearances in Johnny Doughboy are Bobby Breen, Baby Sandy, Butch & Buddy, Cora Sue Collins, Robert Coogan (Jackie's brother) and ex-"Little Rascals" George "Spanky" McFarland and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, set at a WW II munitions plant, the lives of five workers are chronicled. Their stories are told via flashback. Though they all ride together to work everyday, and they think they know each other very well, the stories they tell show them otherwise. The group of workers is made up of: a fighter for the French underground who came to America to help her countrymen back home; a race-car driver who, while racing, sustained serious injuries that rendered him unfit for military service; a disillusioned "Miss America"; a prison warden who was ordered to execute his own brother; and a hobo who decided to do something to help his country. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A collegiate football player becomes the campus laughing-stock when he scores the winning touchdown--for the wrong team. The bungler's life doesn't get much better when a gangster, the only one who is happy about the player's mistake because it earned him a bundle, hires him and hands him a fortune worth over $100,000 to transport from California to Chicago. While at the airport the player gets distracted by a lovely reporter and misses his flight. He then rents a private plane. The fun really begins after he accidentally fumbles the cash and it plummets into the midst of a prison yard. Now he must somehow retrieve every penny lest he lose more than another game. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The price of integrity is sweet in this instance, since Wayne happens to be in love with the politician's daughter (Frances Dee). Man Betrayed can be viewed from the vantage point of the 1990s as an attempt by Republic Pictures to broaden the range of its biggest star, John Wayne. That it doesn't quite work is forgotten as the audience luxuriates in the sheer professionalism of the whole endeavor--and besides, the Duke does get to put up his dukes on more than one occasion. Man Betrayed has been released under two alternate titles: Wheel of Fortune for American television, and Citadel of Crime (coincidentally the title of a like-vintage Republic "B" picture) for British audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Musical comedy favorite Elsie Janis, who gained renown in WW1 as "The Sweetheart of the AEF", returned to the screen after a long absence in Republic's Women in War. The story is the old chestnut about two volunteer Red Cross nurses, Pamela (Wendy Barrie) and Gail (Mae Clarke), both in love with dashing aviator Larry (Patric Knowles). The producers brought the storyline up-to-date by plunking it in the middle of the London Blitz, German air raids and all. As a result, Women in War was one of the first Hollywood productions to recreate the Nazi bombing of London, which it did with commendable credibility. Top-billed Elsie Janis plays O'Neill, "den mother" of the volunteer nurses; surprisingly, she is afforded no singing opportunities, but manages to light up the screen all the same. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi