Sydney Chaplin Movies

The cheerleaders of Benedict High are a rowdy, randy bunch with little regard for rules, decorum, or anything that gets in the way of a good time with the stud football players they date. The big game against Baker High is coming up, and the intense rivalry between the schools leads to spirited chicken fights on the beach and extensive T.P. sessions. The cheerleaders' chaperone, Ms. Johnson (Jacqueline Cole), tries hard to rally her charges and keep their restless libidos from distracting the star players, but they continually take advantage of her sweet nature and naïveté, leading to high jinks which get some of their boyfriends suspended from the team. However, high school politics will soon be the least of their troubles. Benedict High's creepy janitor, Billy (Jack Kruschen), is a member of a local Satanic group, and he wants revenge against all the kids who ridicule him on campus. He kidnaps the four cheerleaders and Ms. Johnson, then drives them to a remote location to sacrifice and ravage his victims on a Satanic altar. Suddenly overcome by the dark forces of the underworld, Patti (Kerry Sherman) strips naked of her own volition and climbs upon the altar, where she is imbued with a strange power that knocks Billy cold. The girls seek out the nearest law, which turns out to be Sherriff Bubb (John Ireland); he also doubles as the Satanic High Priest of the area. When his wife, Emma (Yvonne DeCarlo), senses the dark power that has invaded Patti, they decide that they have been delivered the perfect virgin sacrifice to their evil Lord. The girls make a hasty escape, but discover that the tiny town they've landed in is a hotbed of Satanism, so they are recaptured and brought once again before the devil's altar for a Black Mass. But which of these sassy, over-sexed girls is the virgin meant for sacrifice? The shocking answer leads to death, destruction, and a whole new way of life for the cheerleaders of Benedict High. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

The only noteworthy element of this otherwise undistinguished low-budget suspense flick is the presence of director Reginald LeBorg, who helmed numerous Joe Palooka comedies and several horror projects (including the excellent Vincent Price thriller Diary of a Madman) before taking a career dive into drive-in exploitation fare. As polished as its miniscule budget permits, this lurid psychological thriller involves the plight of a distraught widow (Susan Strasberg), whose fearsome fits of uncontrollable grief land her in the questionable care of her sister (Faith Domergue)... who, fresh out of a sanitarium, is not exactly a pillar of mental stability herself. In no time, the pair skip right through the tearful reunion and go straight to psychological warfare (shades of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), escalating, of course, to the point of murder. Other than some silly psychedelic depictions of the psycho siblings' increasing delirium, this film lacks the kind of operatic campiness of the suspense melodramas that inspired it. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this whimsical French comedy, Cookie (Sheila White) is a tough, sweet little rich girl, and is rather smart, too. She's smart enough and charming enough to outwit her kidnappers by setting one against the other until they have all killed each other or died trying to prove their worth to her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this French crime/action thriller, set in New York City, the young French waiter who stumbles on a killing at his restaurant could not be considered lucky, by any means. He decides to leave New York and return to France to avoid pursuit by the mobster who committed the murder. Unfortunately, he has left too powerful a memento with his American mistress for her to forget that she loves him, for she is pregnant. Even though she marries another, this only adds another person to the list of people searching for him: police, mobster, mistress, mistress's husband. Things look even worse for him when the mobster and the police join forces. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This satirical fantasy is based upon an Elmer Rice play from 1923. A hard-working office employee is rewarded for his years of slavish devotion to the company by getting fired just prior to retirement and being replaced with an adding machine. Now, with only his nagging wife waiting at home to add more misery to his dreary life, the man has nothing left and goes over the edge. He murders his boss and then goes on trial. He is convicted and put to death. He dies a happy and free man, thinking that he will surely go to Hell. Strangely enough, he ends up in a heavenly waiting area with other killers who are all there to be reassigned to new lives back on Earth. While waiting, he meets his new guardian angel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, an engimatic stranger stops a stage from being robbed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Charles Chaplin wrote, directed, and scored this old-fashioned romantic comedy, which proved to be his last film. Wealthy American diplomat Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando) is sailing from Hong Kong to Hawaii, where he hopes to meet and reconcile with his estranged wife Martha (Tippi Hedren). However, while the ship takes on passengers in Hong Kong, a stowaway slips into Mears' suite. Natascha (Sophia Loren) is a White Russian countess who was forced to flee the country following the revolution and ended up in Hong Kong, where she earns a meager living as a dime-a-dance girl in a sleazy ballroom. When Mears discovers that Natascha is an uninvited guest in his quarters, she begs him to help her emigrate to the United States; when he refuses, Natascha tries a new tack, threatening to tell Martha that they've been sharing a stateroom if he doesn't cooperate. Mears grudgingly allows Natascha to stay with him and keep her secret until he can figure out a clever way to get rid of her. Margaret Rutherford has a showy supporting role as an eccentric passenger, and Chaplin gives himself a silent cameo as a bumbling porter (no fewer than four of his children also appear). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Crook Chaplin hides from the police while pretending to be a Swedish widow's long-lost son. Unfortunately, the widow wants more than a son! ~ All Movie Guide

Four Girls in Town is essentially an excuse by Universal-International to test out several of their newer contractees. The plot is motivated by a worldwide movie talent hunt, which naturally arouses the attentions of a bevy of pretty young aspiring actresses. The four girls of the title are Kathy Sonway (Julie Adams, who'd been appearing in films since 1950), Ina Schiller (Germany's Marianne Cook, nee Koch), Maria Antonelli (Italy's Elsa Martinelli) and Vicki Dauray (Gia Scala, also from Italy but herein portraying a Frenchwoman). Conducting the screen tests is budding director Mike Snowden (George Nader), who predictably falls in love with one of the hopefuls. Some laughs are had at the expense of Universal's rival 20th Century-Fox in the person of Helene Stanton, cast as a Marilyn Monroe clone named "Rita Holloway". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pillars of the Sky is the lyrical title bestowed upon this cinemadaptation of Will Henry's novel Frontier Fury. Jeff Chandler stars as Sgt. Emmett Bell, whose job it is to put down an Indian uprising. Since converting to Christanity, the local tribe has done its best to keep the peace. But Chief Kamiakan (Michael Ansara), understandably angered over an impending government plan to build a road through his territory, intends to break that peace, despite the strenuously pacifistic efforts of missionary Joseph Holden (Ward Bond). A subplot involves a romantic triangle between Bell, Calla Gaxton (Dorothy Malone), and Calla's husband Tom (Keith Andes), Bell's superior officer. Magnificently photographed in Technicolor, Pillars of the Sky is a better-than-average Universal oater. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide