Adele Comandini Movies
- 1955
Yvonne de Carlo is at her most smokily exotic in the Republic "special" Flame of the Islands. Filmed on location in the Bahamas, the story focuses on Rosalind Dee (Ms. DeCarlo), a cabaret singer who aspires to enter High Society. To this end, she comes into possession of a great deal of money through rather underhanded means. Rosalind forms a partnership with gambling-club owners Wade Evans (Zachary Scott) and Cyril Mace (Kurt Kasner), building the establishment into a gathering place for the Elite. Along the way, she attempts to rekindle a romance with randy playboy Doug Duryea (Howard Duff), but it is true-blue Kelly Rand (James Arness) who rescues Rosalind from gangland intrusion in the final reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, (more)
- 1948
So often wasted in passive roles, Evelyn Keyes is virtually the whole show in The Mating of Millie. Keyes is cast as pretty businesswoman Millie McGonigle, who hopes to fill a gap in her life by adopting orphan boy Tommy Bassett (Jimmy Hunt, future star of 1953's Invaders from Mars). But this is 1948: self-supporting though she may be, Millie must have a husband to qualify as an adoptive parent. With the help of her neighbor Doug Andrews (Glenn Ford), Millie tries to trap an acceptable hubby. Guess who Millie falls in love with in the last reel. Just guess. Columbia mounted an elaborate and expensive promotional campaign for The Mating of Millie, resulting in excellent returns at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
War hero Dennis Morgan becomes the object of a publicity stunt staged by magazine publisher Sidney Greenstreet. The corpulent print mogul announces that Morgan has won a Christmas dinner, to be prepared by the magazine's housekeeping expert Barbara Stanwyck in her own Connecticut home. The catch: Not only does Stanwyck not have a home in Connecticut, but she's never been in a kitchen in her life! She also doesn't have a husband (as her articles claim), so Stanwyck's erstwhile beau Reginald Gardiner is pressed into service as the hubby. As for the cooking, that will be handled by master chef S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall. This solves everything, right? No way, Jose. Long dismissed as a lesser film farce, Christmas in Connecticut has its own irresistible charm, and has in recent years become a perennial Christmas-eve TV attraction. Pay absolutely no attention to the 1992 TV remake, starring Dyan Cannon and directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, (more)
- 1945
In this drama, an amoral, manipulative womanizer gets his comeuppance. The story begins as the handsome cad is witnessed quickly leaving a hotel room in the East. He has just stolen money, and a wedding band from a dead woman. He is next seen in L.A. living under an alias. There, he begins victimizing two naive sisters and uses them to substantially increase his wealth. Eventually, the two figure out the man's evil game, but there is little they can do to thwart him. Meanwhile, the gigolo is being stalked by the husband of the woman he robbed in the film's beginning. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Emerson, Zachary Scott, (more)
Strange Illusion is really several movies in one, part dark psychological chiller, part unsettling murder mystery, and part breezy B-movie thriller, although most of its plot is derived from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Jimmy Lydon, best-known to audiences for his screen portrayal of Henry Aldrich during the early '40s, plays Paul Cartwright, the son of a respected judge who died under mysterious circumstances two years earlier. Paul is haunted by nightmares in which his father warns him of danger to his mother, and in which a mysterious stranger seems to threaten him and his family. He dismisses these dreams until his mother (Sally Eilers) introduces him to a new man in her life, Brett Curtis (Warren William), who says some of the very same things that Paul heard from the mystery man in his dream. There's a lot to dislike about Curtis despite his smooth, genial ways -- he seems too eager to please, and also offers an oily solicitousness to Paul's teenaged sister that's downright disturbing. Paul openly distrusts Curtis and opposes his mother's impending marriage to him. Most of those around him think Paul is overreacting and he is maneuvered into checking himself into a sanitarium run by a psychiatrist friend (Charles Arnt) of Curtis'. Trapped there and kept under constant surveillance, Paul is in danger, but he manages to find a clue that proves not only that his father's death was no accident, but that Curtis was involved in it. His discovery may be too late, however -- not only is his life in jeopardy, but it turns out that Curtis is really a career criminal that Paul's father had pursued from the bench for years, and that his real goal, having killed the judge, is to destroy the judge's family, including Paul's mother and sister. The plot of Strange Illusion works on many levels, as mystery and a dark psychological study, and it is told so smoothly and well by director Edgar G. Ulmer and his cast, that it may require multiple viewings to fully appreciate, though it is enjoyable on any level. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Night Club Girl was designed as a feature-length "screen test" for new Universal contractee Vivian Austin. The plot is the old one about a couple of young showbiz aspirants who are given their Big Break by a hotshot journalist. In this instance, the aspirants are tapdancer Ellen (Austin) and Betty Huttonish songstress Janie (Judy Clark), while the benevolent journalist is columnist Clark Phillips (Edward Norris). In a cute cliché reversal, Ellen and Janie's debut at Maxie Rosenbloom's nightclub proves to be a disaster. Even so, there's a happy ending, not to mention dozens of music numbers performed by the likes of the Mulcays, The Delta Rhythm Boys and Paula Drake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Norris, "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, (more)
- 1943
In this drama, set during WW II, a teacher at a military school is derided by his students because he has not joined the military. The man is deeply disturbed by their ridicule and disrespect and so pleads with the draft-board to reconsider his "essential" status and allow him to join. He is allowed to enlist, but still, because he has a punctured ear-drum, is not allowed to join. Unable to face his students, the teacher gets a job at a shipyard, then deceives his students into believing that he is at war by having a buddy at boot camp forward their letters to him. Soon ugly rumors begin to circulate amongst the suspicious students. One is that their teacher went AWOL. The other is that he is really a Nazi spy. The students' actions threaten to destroy the teacher's new romance with a female welder. In the end everything comes out hunky-dory when the teacher proves himself a courageous hero during a shipyard fire. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edgar Buchanan, Jess Barker, (more)
- 1942
A real four-hanky picture, Always in My Heart was loosely adapted from the stage play by Dorothy Bennett and Irving White. Walter Huston is a tower of strength as MacKenzie Scott, a brilliant musician falsely convicted of murder and sentenced to Life. While Scott languishes in prison, his long-suffering ex-wife Marjorie (Kay Francis) raises their two children to adulthood. Out of respect for Scott, whom she still loves, Marjorie never reveals to the kids that their father is in jail, insisting instead that Scott has long since died. Enter Philip Ames (Sidney Blackmer), who falls in love with Marjorie and lavish expensive gifts on the children. It must needs be that Scott is proven innocent and pardoned, whereupon he journeys home to visit his grown daughter Victoria (Gloria Warren), now a promising singer. At first hesitant to reveal his identity, Scott is finally urged to do so by Marjorie, who has never really given up hope that her family will one day be reunited. In the midst of all these soap-operaish intrigues, some welcome comedy relief is provided by Borrah Minevitch and his Harmonica Rascals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Walter Huston, (more)
- 1940
In this musical comedy, two rival sisters, one plain-but-good-hearted, and one a gorgeous manipulator, compete for the love of a handsome man. They are assisted by their pretty cousin who is involved in a tempestuous engagement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Harry Carey Sr., C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Winninger play three wealthy bachelors who have spent their lives wrapped up in themselves. Left all alone on Christmas eve, the elderly trio invite a couple of strangers to dinner: misplaced cowpoke Richard Carlson and pretty, but aimless, Jean Parker. Hoping that they've accomplished a bit of matchmaking, the three old duffers board a plane and head off to an important business meeting. The plane crashes, killing all three men. They return to their mansion as ghosts, only to discover that Carlson is making the same mistake they made: he's allowing his drive for success to override his affection for Parker. Feeling as though they won't be welcome in Heaven until they rectify this situation, Carey, Smith, and Winninger stick around to set things right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, (more)
- 1938
In this lively musical western, a cowboy's wife heads for Reno for a quickie divorce. Meanwhile her husband finds himself in competition with a suave Easterner who has fallen in love with her. The cowboy is dismayed and embarrassed when the city-slicker easily out rides him during a bronc-riding exhibition. Fortunately, for the red-faced cowboy, his wife comes back and happiness ensues. Songs include: a snippet from "La Boheme", "I Gave My Heart Away", "Ridin' Home" and "Tonight Is The Night" (Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Hope Hampton, (more)
- 1936
The Country Beyond is based on one of the scores of Canadian-Northwest yarns written by James Oliver Curwood. Robert Kent plays Corporal Robert King, a Mountie who has sworn to "get his man" -- the man in question being suspected fur thief Jim Alison (Alan Hale). Kings's resolve is weakened when he falls in love with Alison's pretty daughter Jean (Rochelle Hudson). For her sake, he vows to prove that Alison is innocent of the charges levelled against him. Sure enough, the real culprit is Ray Jennings (Alan Dinehart), who spends the last ten minutes or so of the film trying to bump off everyone in general and Kent in particular. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Paul Kelly, (more)
- 1936
Deanna Durbin, the teenaged soprano who literally saved Universal Pictures from bankruptcy, made her feature-film debut in Three Smart Girls. Durbin, Nan Grey and Barbara Read play three wealthy young sisters, living with their divorced mother (Nella Walker) in Europe. The girls learn that their father (Charles Winninger) has made plans to remarry. Correctly sensing that the bride-to-be (Binnie Barnes) is a fortune hunter, the sisters head to Manhattan to save Daddy from himself. Durbin is the primary architect in reuniting her parents, but not before satisfying her fans with several arias. Three Smart Girls not only spawned a sequel (Three Smart Girls Grow Up), but even a 2-reel Three Stooges parody titled Three Dumb Clucks! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Binnie Barnes, (more)
- 1934
Set within the steamy Louisiana bayous, this melodrama chronicles the reconciliation between an embittered bereaved mother and the daughter she always blamed for her husband's demise. The woman lost her spouse just before her daughter was born. Though she was very pregnant, she and her husband decided to go for a walk through the swamp one day. Unfortunately, he got trapped in quicksand. Encumbered by the baby within, the woman could do nothing but watch him slowly die. Upon her daughter's birth, the angry mother refused to care for the infant and later refused to allow her schooling. Finally, the caring neighbors intervene and take charge of the child. Eventually, the mother sees the light and begins loving the child when she discovers that her beloved spouse had been having an affair. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Dresser, Ralph Morgan, (more)
This version of the Charlotte Bronte classic is the first to use sound. The story closely follows the book as it chronicles the romantic travails of a troubled orphan girl who grows up to be a governess in love with her employer who returns her affections. She has finally found happiness. Alas, her happiness is short-lived as she learns that her love has locked his crazy wife in a remote wing of the house. The distraught governess flees and gets engaged to a new man. Just before they marry, she learns that her true love's house has burned down, immolating his wife and leaving him nearly blind. Without hesitation she returns to him and romantic bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Bruce, Colin Clive, (more)
- 1931
A "B" picture with "A" ambitions, Hell Bound stars Leo Carrillo as ruthless but basically decent racketeer Nick Cotrelli. Worried that singer Platinum Reed (Lola Lane) may know too much about his crooked operation, Cotrelli marries the girl so that she can't testify against him in court. Believing that Cotrelli isn't interested in her, Platinum falls in love with Robert Sanford (Lloyd Hughes), the young doctor who nursed her through a serious illness. At first inclined to bump off both his wife and her lover, Cotrelli thinks the better of it and in the end sacrifices his own life to insure Platinum's future happiness. Singer Russ Columbo is credited with writing the film's signature tune "Is It Love?" but did not appear in the film, as has sometimes been reported. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Carrillo, Lola Lane, (more)
- 1930
Adapted from Vina Delmar's Sheba, Playing Around stars saucer-eyed blonde Alice White as Bronx stenographer Sheba Miller. Though she's sweet on 30-buck-per-week soda jerk Jack (William Bakewell), Sheba craves excitement and finds it in the arms of two-bit hoodlum Nick Solomon (Chester Morris). Unaware that Nick is a crook (she's that dumb), Sheba wises up in a hurry when her new boyfriend holds up the drugstore run by her own father (Richard Carlyle). Nick shoots down the old fellow and winds up in jail, whereupon the sadder-but-wiser Sheba returns to true-blue Jack. A holdover from the "flapper" era, Alice White had a tough time acclimating herself to talkies, but she makes a game effort to perform a couple of arbitrarily inserted song-and-dance numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice White, Chester Morris, (more)
- 1929
The Girl From Woolworth's was an appropriate title for this bargain-counter musical. Alice White stars as Pat King, a salesgirl in Woolworth's musical department. Naturally, Pat's job requires that she sing for her supper, as good an excuse as any for several otherwise superfluous musical numbers. With the help of Broadway entrepreneur Lawrence Mayfield (Wheeler Oakman), our heroine achieves success as a musical-comedy star. But in the end, she gives it all up for the love of down-to-earth Bill Harrigan (Charles Delaney). Reviewers singled out supporting player Rita Flynn as the film's best actress; Flynn is best known today for her uncredited appearance as James Cagney's sister-in-law in Public Enemy (1931). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice White, Charles Delaney, (more)
- 1929
In this drama, a woman finds herself abandoned when the man she assumed was her husband suddenly marches in, announces that they were never legally married, and leaves. Many years pass and the woman is on a jury for a murder case involving a woman in similar straits as she once was. It is then revealed that the man she killed was the same one who left the woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
