Ralph Brooke Movies
- 1963
In this crime drama, an East Coast gangster comes to LA and sets up operations in an abandoned mansion where he and his cohorts plan a caper involving the box-office at the Hollywood Sports Arena. To make the job easier, the handsome gangster pitches woo to the pretty, but lonely arena cashier who becomes the sole witness to the crime. After the robbery, the nefarious villain kills his helpers and dissolves their corpses in a bathtub full of stolen acid. After disposing of them, the murderous crook heads for Brazil and spends all of the loot. Eventually he decides to return and that is where he makes his fatal mistake. Right Hand of the Devil was shot on a low-low-budget and is essentially a vanity film for director Aram Katcher who also wrote, produced and starred in the picture. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aram Katcher, Lisa McDonald, (more)
Green cheese? Men in the Moon? Nah, everyone knows that the moon is really populated by beautiful women wearing silk underwear and spiked heels. They are ruled by an evil temptress and share the moon with giant rock men and an enormous spider. Honest. Just watch this campy remake of Cat Women of the Moon and see for yourself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Richard Connell's story The Most Dangerous Game has offered a big, fat target for dull low-budget thrillers since the dawn of movie-making itself, and this is truly one of the dullest. The first (and apparently the last) directorial effort from Ralph Brooke was saved from cinematic obscurity only through its movie-trivia value, thanks to the presence of Brady Bunch dad Robert Reed as the thick, hunky non-hero in upsettingly-tight clothing. There is little variation on the timeworn theme of a wealthy madman (Wilton Graff) hunting shipwreck survivors for sport -- perhaps aside from this villain's tendency to store his human trophies in cleverly-designed, glass-walled dioramas which presaged the popular horror model kits of the 1960's. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Irish McCalla, the statuesque heroine of TV's Sheena Queen of the Jungle, heads the cast of She Demons. Shipwrecked on a volcanic island, spoiled heiress Jerrie Turner (McCalla) and explorers Fred (Tod Griffin) and Sammy (Victor Sen Yung) fall into the clutches of unreconstructed Nazi scientist Osler (Rudolph Anders). Experimenting exclusively on beautiful, busty women, Osler hopes to create a race of super-persons, infusing his subjects with a powerful element known only as Character X. Fred and Sammy race against time to save Jerrie from becoming another of Osler's hideously mutated victims. She Demons is another triumph from director Richard Cunha, whose science-fiction quickies of the 1950s are among the worst films ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irish McCalla, Tod Griffin, (more)
In Richard Cunha's Giant from the Unknown, scientists come upon a petrified lizard in the California Mountains. The lizard revives, proving the theory of suspended animation. Excitedly, scientist Wayne Brooks (Ed Kemmer) begins searching for a legendary Spanish giant called Vargas, who disappeared in the region 500 years earlier and who also may be in a suspended-animation state. Brooks discovers all too soon that his instincts a correct: a bolt of lightning releases Vargas (Buddy Baer) from his centuries-long slumber, whereupon the big brute goes on a homicidal rampage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser, (more)
- 1953
With all those flaming arrows being aimed directly at the audience, it is fairly obvious that Charge of Feather River was originally released in 3D. Fresh from his TV success as Wild Bill Hickok, Guy Madison stars as frontiersman Miles Archer (his character name will be amusing to fans of The Maltese Falcon). In the company of cavalry sergeant Baker (Frank Lovejoy) and a column of troops, Archer heads into Indian country to rescue a pair of white female captives. One of the two girls, Ann McKeever (Helen Westcott), is reluctant to return because she's been despoiled by her Indian captors; the other girl, Ann's sister Jennie (Vera Miles), is in love with the tribal chief and intends to betray her rescuers at the first opportunity. The rescue has been staged to divert the Indians' attention away from the railroad that is being constructed across their territory. The trick now is for Archer, the soldiers and the women to return to Cavalry headquarters in one piece. The film ends with the eponymous charge, excitingly staged by director Gordon Douglas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guy Madison, Frank Lovejoy, (more)
- 1950
The trendy elegance of director Douglas Sirk's later big-budget soap operas is nowhere to be found in Sirk's Atomic-Age melodrama Mystery Submarine. MacDonald Carey stars as Brett Young, a U.S. undercover agent whose job it is to prevent atomic secrets from falling into the wrong hands. Marta Toren co-stars as Madeline Brenner, a woman of mystery who is seemingly in cahoots with enemy agents. The film's "maguffin" consists of the top-secret info stored within the brain cells of scientist Adolph Guernitz (Ludwig Donath). The titular mystery submarine figures into the film's climax, which takes place just off the coast of Mexico. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- MacDonald Carey, Märta Torén, (more)
- 1945
The little-known Twice Blessed was an MGM vehicle for the Wilde Twins, who were first introduced in Andy Hardy's Double Trouble. Not surprisingly, the film is predicated on a mistaken-identity gimmick, with "typical" teenage girl Terry Turner (Lee Wilde) trading places with her high-IQ look-alike Stephanie Hale (Lyn Wilde). Amidst a welter of comic complications, romance blooms between Terry's father Jeff (Preston S. Foster) and Stephanie's mother Mary (Gail Patrick). Fresh from Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series, Jimmy Lydon co-stars as the boyfriend of one of the twins, though he isn't sure which one. Twice Blessed was directed by Harry Beaumont, whose association with MGM extended back to the early-talkie era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Gail Patrick, (more)
- 1944
The oft-used movie title Between Two Women was resurrected once more for this entry in MGM's "Dr. Kildare" series. Though Kildare is nowhere to be found, Lionel Barrymore is very much in evidence as Dr. Leonard Gillespie, crusty chief surgeon of Blair General Hospital. Gillespie's assistant is Dr. Red Adams (Van Johnson), who spends the early part of the film fending off the romantic advances of social worker Ruth Edley (Marilyn Maxwell)-a carryover subplot from the previous "Kildare" entry Three Men in White. Adams is also romantically involved with ailing socialite Cynthia Grace (Lucille Bremer), who suffers from a life-threatening blood clot. As the story draws to a close, Adams must choose between a lucrative practice in the Big City, or a lower-paying but more professionally rewarding post in a small town. Here's a hint to the outcome: in the next (and last) "Kildare" film, Dark Delusion, Gillespie's assistant is played by James Craig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1944
This fifth entry in MGM's off-and-on "Thin Man" series maintains the high production and story values of the first four. Per the title, retired private detective Nick Charles (William Powell) pays a visit to his home town of Sycamore Springs, with wife Nora (Myrna Loy) in tow. Poor Nick is amusingly browbeaten by his parents (Harry Davenport and Lucile Watson), who wanted their boy to study medicine, is frustrated by the fact that there isn't a good stiff drink to be had in town, and is hilariously defeated by a recalcitrant hammock. In a more serious vein, Nick and Nora become involved in international intrigue while investigating the murder of a local house painter. If the identity of the murderer seems obvious today, it is only because the actor in question has played so many "surprise killers" in other films of this genre. A refreshing change of pace for the usually urbanized "Thin Man" series, The Thin Man Goes Home features such colorful suspects as Gloria DeHaven, Edward Brophy, Lloyd Corrigan, Leon Ames, and, best of all, Ann Revere as a local eccentric named "Crazy Mary". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Myrna Loy, (more)
