Richard Day Movies
American production designer Richard Day first gained industry notice as one of the most trusted associates of director Erich von Stroheim. After successfully translating Stroheim's designs to on-set reality in 1919's Blind Husbands, Day remained as the director's principal set decorator throughout the '20s. Day's cathedral altar set for 1928's The Wedding March was so authentic looking that cinematographer Hal Mohr elected to be married before it! Working in collaboration during the early-talkie years, Day went solo as a production designer in 1930, then latched onto Samuel Goldwyn studios, where he won Academy Awards for his work on The Dark Angel (1935) and Dodsworth (1936). While with 20th Century-Fox in 1942, Day conceived the meticulously detailed Welsh village set for How Green Was My Valley (1941), which would see service in several subsequent productions until it was bulldozed along with the rest of the studio backlot in 1962. Richard Day went on to win additional Oscars for This Above All (1942) and My Gal Sal (1942) at Fox, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) at Warner Bros., and On the Waterfront (1954) at Columbia. Richard Day's final assignment was 1970's Tora! Tora! Tora!, a painstakingly accurate restaging of the Pearl Harbor attack, for which 20th Century-Fox spent more money than the Japanese had on the original attack in 1941. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This period swashbuckler film is based on the adventure novel Benjamin Blake by Edison Marshall, who also wrote The Vikings (1958). When his brother dies, scheming Arthur Blake (George Sanders) kidnaps his own nephew, Benjamin (played as a youth by Roddy McDowall and as an adult by Tyrone Power). Arthur's purpose is to claim his brother's dukedom for himself. Put to work as a stable boy, Benjamin grows up and develops a crush on his own cousin Isabel (Frances Farmer). When Arthur discovers this, he mercilessly beats Benjamin, who runs away and sails to India on a cargo ship to make his fortune. In Polynesia, he and a friend, Caleb (John Carradine), jump ship and set up camp on a tropical island paradise. There, Benjamin and Caleb become rich mining pearls, while Benjamin falls in love with a native girl, Eve (Gene Tierney). Now that he has amassed wealth, however, Benjamin is determined to return to England and get his revenge on Uncle Arthur. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, (more)
In his last screen appearance, bandleader Glenn Miller plays--are you sitting down?--a bandleader. The film's main plot involves small-town girl Ann Rutherford, who impulsively marries George Montgomery, a trumpeter in the Miller band. Rutherford soon finds that she isn't particularly suited for life on the road, nor is she prepared for the petty jealousies and backstabbings prevalent among the other orchestra wives (Lynn Bari, Carole Landis et. al.) She eventually leaves Montgomery, an event which coincides with the breakup of the band. But both the band and the marriage are salvaged through the benign conspiratorial schemes of Glenn Miller and a repentant Rutherford. Those who aren't interested in the various plots and subplots in Orchestra Wives will be captivated by the endless supply of blue-ribbon tunes, including I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, At Last, and Serenade in Blue. Guest stars include Tex Beneke, The Modernaires and the Nicholas Brothers. Watch for an uncredited Jackie Gleason as a bass player and Dale Evans as Ann Rutherford's friend in the soda-fountain scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Ann Rutherford, (more)
- 1942
One of two 20th Century-Fox horror melodramas released in 1942 (Dr. Renault's Secret was the second), The Undying Monster is a well-crafted variation on Universal's "Wolf Man" series. Ever since the suicide of its patriarch, the Hammonds, an old and wealthy English family has seemingly lived under a curse. When a number of murders occur on the Hammond estate, Scotland Yard inspector Bob Curtis (James Ellison) and his garrulous female assistant Christy (Heather Thatcher) are sent out to investigate. Everyone on the premises-Helga Hammond (Heather Angel), her brother Oliver (John Howard), family doctor Geoffrey Covert (Bramwell Fletcher), family servants Mr. and Mrs. Walton (Halliwell Hobbes and Eily Malyon)-seems to know more than he or she is letting on. Only in the final few minutes of the film is the horrible family secret revealed and the murderer dispensed with. Atmospherically directed by John Brahm on several impressive standing sets (that gigantic stained-glass window is a knockout!), The Undying Monster is a model "B" picture, hampered only by Heather Thatcher's intrusive comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Ellison, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1942
A public library at night is the setting for this fast-moving crime caper. George Sanders is a gentleman crook specializing in selling forgeries of rare books. In the company of phony policemen, Sanders enters the library unmolested and pilfers a priceless Shakespeare folio in order to expedite his operation. The criminal's girl friend/accomplice Gail Patrick is willing to go along with the crime until Sanders begins displaying a homicidal streak. She calls in a detective (Richard Denning) to foil the criminal. A murder or two later, Sanders is tracked down amidst the dark, forbidding library shelves. It's no small trick to make a library exciting, but Quiet Please, Murder pulls this off with speed and economy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Gail Patrick, (more)
- 1942
Director Rouben Mamoulian completed a three-picture 20th Century Fox deal with this airy comic romance that attempted to ape the story and style of the previous year's The Lady Eve (1941) but without that film's success. While vacationing in Southern California, accountant John Wheeler (Henry Fonda) intends to purchase a boat, a luxury for which he's saved long and hard on his limited income. Maybelle (Spring Byington) and Warren (Laird Cregar), a pair of grifters on the prowl for a mark, overhear John discussing the upcoming transaction and mistake him for a millionaire. They persuade pretty sales clerk Susan Miller (Gene Tierney) to help them dupe John by pretending to be their daughter and fall in love with him. As the couple spends time together, however, Susan really does fall in love with John. She backs out of her agreement with the con artists, tells John the truth, and learns that he's not a man of means. The truth does nothing to diminish their feelings for each other, and the happy couple marries, but Warren and Maybelle are not quite done with Susan yet, and they embark on a scheme to find her a real millionaire. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, (more)
- 1942
A private investigator flees from jury duty to prove the defendant's guilt in this detective story. He and his girlfriend, a reporter, begin looking into the suspect's alibis and discover that in addition to the murder he stands trial for, the man has also killed two others. Afterward, the detective is jailed of 60 days for defecting from the jury. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, (more)
- 1942
When the US marines land in Iceland during WW2, camp lothario John Payne wastes no time scoping out the local female population. He makes a casual pass at skating champ Sonja Henie, only to discover that she has taken his attentions as a marriage proposal! Unable to weasel out of his situation thanks to the rigidity of Icelandic customs, Payne conspires with his buddy Jack Oakie to discourage Henie from making any further wedding plans. By the film's 70-minute mark, of course, our hero is madly in love with our heroine and wants to skate down the aisle with her. Curiously, given the fact that there is plenty of natural ice in Iceland, most of Sonja Henie's musical numbers take place in a lavish Reykjavik nightclub. The tuneful Harry Warren-Mack Gordon musical score includes the popular "There Will Never Be Another You". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Henie, John Payne, (more)
- 1942
In order to be permitted to appear in "prestige" items like Grapes of Wrath and The Ox-Bow Incident, Henry Fonda had to agree to appear in such inconsequential fluff as The Magnificent Dope. On its own terms, however, this gentle satire of the "Dale Carnegie" school of self-help is pretty funny. Don Ameche plays Dwight Dawson, the owner of a success school which isn't all that successful. Dawson's secretary-sweetheart Claire Harris (Lynn Bari) suggests a publicity stunt which might improve business: If Dawson can make a success out of the laziest man in America, the world will beat a path to his door. After an extensive search, the perfect candidate for Dawson's academy is found: Cheerful, laid-back country boy Tad Page, who prefers happiness and serenity to hard work and wealth. In true "reverse procedure" tradition, it is Tad's take-it-easy philosophy, rather than Dawson's "get up and go" dictum, that eventually wins the hearts of the American public. Fourth-billed Edward Everett Horton has little to do other than his inimitable double takes, one of which amusingly closes the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Don Ameche, (more)
- 1942
One of the shortest and sweetest of Betty Grable's Technicolor musicals, Song of the Islands casts the Leggy One as Eileen, the daughter of Hawaii-based Irish planter Dennis O'Brien (Thomas Mitchell). For many years, O'Brien has been carrying on a feud with local cattle baron Harper (George Barbier), who covets a patch of beach land that O'Brien owns but won't relinquish. It so happens that Barbier has a handsome son named Jeff (Victor Mature), who upon returning to Hawaii from the Mainland immediately falls in love with Eileen. Before the feud can be patched up, the audience is treated to an endless supply of music and dancing, with both Betty Grable and Victor Mature generously displaying the physical attributes which brought them worldwide fame. Incidentally, some wonderful outtake footage of Song of the Islands exists, featuring Grable and Mature giggling their way through a tender love scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Victor Mature, (more)
- 1942
Filmed in the months immediately following Pearl Harbor, 20th Century-Fox's Little Tokyo USA is 63 minutes' worth of speculation about prewar Japanese espionage activities. Los Angeles cop Preston Foster suspects that there's dirty work afoot in the city's Japanese community, but no one will believe him except for intrepid girl reporter Brenda Joyce. When the spies frame Foster on a trumped-up murder charge, Joyce does a little detective work herself. The enemy agents are rounded up just before they can do any real damage. Because of its strident insistence that most (if not all) Japanese-American citizens were secretly loyal to the Rising Sun, Little Tokyo USA is seldom seen these days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1942
Eric Knight's wartime novel This Above All was given the Tiffany treatment in the this 20th Century Fox big-budgeter. Tyrone Power plays Clive Briggs, a conscientious objector from humble origins, who deserts the British Army because he doesn't believe in fighting to preserve his country's oppressive class structure. But Briggs is no coward, and he performs admirably in rescuing air-raid victims. Through the love of Prudence Cathaway (Joan Fontaine), a doctor's daughter and member of the women's air corps, Briggs realizes that love of country supersedes all social outrage. This Above All ends with Briggs seriously wounded, though given a good chance to survive. In the original novel, the hero not only dies, but also has a censor-baiting love affair with the Prudence character (who, of course, is as pure as the driven snow in the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1942
Victor Mature plays an arrogant champion boxer who opts for an acting career on Broadway. He falls in love with his costar Betty Grable, who's secretly married to actor John Payne. Unwilling to make public her marriage lest it adversely affect her career, Grable is unsuccessful in fending off Mature's advance, which causes her hubby's blood to boil. As it happens, Payne is also in the show, cast as Mature's sparring partner, and it is within the bounds of this role that he gets his revenge on the pushy pugilist. With the three leading actors playing for laughs, one wonders why 20th Century-Fox put Phil Silvers in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Betty Grable, (more)
- 1942
It Happened in Flatbush is a likable baseball comedy inspired by the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers' pennant win. Lloyd Nolan portrays an ace ballplayer who was disgraced while still in college and is only able to secure work as a team manager. He takes charge of an unnamed Brooklyn team and whips in into a World Series contender. The players resent Nolan's drill-sergeant tactics, and when Nolan falls in love with the pretty owner of the team (Carole Landis), the players use this as an excuse to circulate a petition demanding Nolan's ouster. The manager pays no attention to the petition and leads his team to a league pennant, finding time along the way to help out a trouble-prone young ballplayer (George Holmes) on the verge of throwing away his career. Bolstered by film clips of actual Dodgers games (including one in which an anxious fan jumps out of the stands and attacks the umpire), It Happened in Flatbush is an enjoyable second-feature effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Carole Landis, (more)
- 1942
Cesar Romero plays an outwardly tough bookie with the proverbial golden heart. Romero falls in love with Carole Landis, an art shop proprietor who introduces her raffish romeo into the world of fine art. Utilizing his gambling skills, he amasses an impressive collection of valuable paintings, only to discover that there are just as many crooks and phonies in the art world as there are at the race track. At first attempting to cash in on the clever forgeries of a duplicitous painter (J. Carroll Naish), Romero is redeemed by the love of Carole Landis and ends up scamming the scammers. Gentleman at Heart includes a brashly amusing performance by Milton Berle as Cesar Romero's chief flunky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cesar Romero, Carole Landis, (more)
- 1942
Laurel & Hardy's second starring vehicle for 20th Century-Fox is arguably their weakest feature film, with the laughs few and far between. Broke as usual, the duo is given 24 hours to get out of town by the local constabulary. In dire need of travelling expenses, they take a job accompanying a coffin to Dayton, Ohio. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the coffin contains a live gangster: one Darby Mason (James Bush), who wants to get to Dayton to claim an inheritance without risking arrest by the Feds. Chugging towards their destination by train, Stan and Ollie lose their money to a pair of slick con artists but are bailed out by another passenger, Dante the Magician (played by "himself", aka Harry A. Janssen), who takes a liking to the boys and hires him as assistants for his magic act. It so happens that one of Dante's illusions involves a coffin -- and you guessed it, this coffin gets mixed up with the one bearing Darby Mason. Aside from a few slapstick contributions to Dante's stage act, Laurel & Hardy barely have any purpose in this picture at all: to paraphrase L&H buff Randy Skretvedt, the two comedians have been reduced to supporting players in their own film. A-Haunting We Will Go seemed much funnier when it was cut from 67 to 9 minutes and released to the 8-millimeter home movie market back in the mid-1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sheila Ryan
- 1942
This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early 19th Century, Congress appropriated the money to build the school, but opponents who believed it to be an illegitimate expansion of the powers of the federal government decided to sabotage the school. They put the hard-as-nails Major Sam Carter (Laird Cregar) in charge of the academy, and he ruthlessly put the recruits through grueling training -- until only ten prospective soldiers remained. They include Dawson (George Montgomery), a patriotic farm boy and Howard Shelton (John Sutton), a selfish playboy who has come to West Point only because of its prestige. The two vie for Carolyn Bainbridge (Maureen O'Hara), while they, along with the other eight, try convince Carter that the school is worth keeping. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1942
A musical remake of the 1936 comedy Second Honeymoon and the starring debut of Betty Grable, Springtime in the Rockies tells the not unfamiliar story of Vicky Lane (Grable, a Broadway dancer despairing over the tardiness of her partner Dan Christy (John Payne) who, as it turns out, has instead been busily engaged in a bit of extracurricular activities with socialite Marilyn Crothers (Trudy Marshall). In disgust, Vicky teams up with a former partner, Victor Prince (Cesar Romero), and leaves for the great outdoors while Dan attempts to go on without her. Unfortunately, the Commissioner (Jackie Gleason), Dan's harried agent, can only find backing for a new show if Dan and Vicky reunite and soon everyone, including ditzy secretary Rosita Murphy (Carmen Miranda) and Dan's flibbertigibbet valet McTavish ($Edward Everett Horton), descends on the Canadian resort of Lake Louise where Harry James and His Music Makers make their headquarter. The usual complications arise but McTavish suddenly inherits a handsome sum of money and agrees to back a new show starring Vicky and Dan, Victor and Rosita, and the ubiquitous Harry James.Betty Grable performs "Ciribiribin and other popular selections, Carmen Miranda makes mincemeat of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (in Portuguese, no less!), while band vocalist Helen Forrest and the Music Makers take care of the film's hit tune, Harry Warren and Mack Gordon's "I Had the Craziest Dream". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, John Payne, (more)
- 1942
A remake of the 1927 horror melodrama The Wizard (which, alas, no longer exists), 20th Century-Fox's Dr. Renault's Secrets packs a real wallop in its brisk 58-minute running time. The scene is a remote French village, where the murder of drunken tourist Austin (Jack Norton) coincides with the arrival of young doctor Larry Forbes (John Sheppard, aka Sheppard Strudwick). It develops that Sheppard is the house guest of the outwardly benign Dr. Renault (George Zucco), who lives with his pretty niece Madeline (Lynne Roberts) and his bizarre manservant Noel (J. Carroll Naish), who possesses more than a few apelike tendencies. Several more murders occur, and the clues point in a number of directions. Upon learning Dr. Renault's secret -- which is something straight out of H. G. Well's The Island of Dr. Moreau -- the audience is able to discern the killer's identity. Alas, it may be too late for heroine Madeline, at present being kidnapped by a local hooligan (Mike Mazurki) and thus apparently at the mercy of the rampaging murderer. Dr. Renault's Secret was frequently shipped out on a double bill with Fox's other 1942 horror piece, The Undying Monster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- J. Carrol Naish, John Shepperd, (more)
- 1942
This final entry in 20th Century-Fox's "Charlie Chan" series is set in a huge mansion, smack-dab in the middle of the Mojave desert. When snoopy weekend guest Professor Gleason (Lucien Littlefield) is murdered, every member of the household falls under suspicion-none more so than Mr. Manderly (Douglass Dumbrille), the surly and highly secretive master of the household. Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) and number two son Jimmy (Sen Yung) stumble into this nest of vipers and quickly get to work trying to unravel the mystery, which involves a collection of priceless artifacts and an old-fashioned torture chamber. An excellent series entry, Castle in the Desert would have been a worthy screen finale for the inscrutable Mr. Chan; alas, the character would be revived two years later in a much inferior series at Monogram. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Arleen Whelan, (more)
- 1942
In this comedy, set in WW II, a Venezuelan rubber planter's son must travel to New York to try and secure a loan for the expansion of the family business. There he encounters an impoverished American girl whose fortune lies frozen in England until the war ends. To make ends meet, she rents her apartment to the Venezuelan and becomes his personal maid. Mayhem ensues as the two get involved in merry mix-ups, fall in love, fall out of love, and fall in love again. Eventually, she helps him get the loan he needs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1942
Monty Woolley plays an irascible Englishman who insists that he dislikes children. While on a vacation in France, the Nazis invade the country. Reluctantly, Woolley agrees to transport several French children into England. As the flight to freedom becomes more treacherous, Woolley grows fonder of his young charges and vows that they'll be kept safe. The group is detained by German officer Otto Preminger, who finally allows Woolley and the children safe passage--provided they take Preminger's niece to England as well. Pied Piper was based on a novel by British author Nevil Shute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Woolley, Anne Baxter, (more)
- 1942
Those obviously hastily assembled to cash in on current headlines, Manila Calling shows no signs of this haste in its execution. Lloyd Nolan stars as Lucky Mathews, the leader of an American guerilla unit, sworn to keep fighting even after the Japanese invasion of Mindano. Likewise staying on is nightclub entertainer Edna Fraser (Carole Landis), who has fallen in love with Mathews, and radio engineer Jeff Bailey (Cornel Wilde). Relying on Bailey's electronic knowhow, the guerillas construct a short-wave radio station and continue broadcasting information of Japanese troop movements to the Allies. As in MGM's Bataan, the ultimate deaths of the courageous protagonists is treated as a moral and spiritual victory. Of interest in the cast is Martin Kosleck, frequent screen impersonator of Joseph Goebbels, in a rare sympathetic role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Carole Landis, (more)
Forced to flee Paris during the Occupation, the great French leading man Jean Gabin starred in a brace of Hollywood films, the best of which was the first, 20th Century-Fox's Moontide. Cast to type, Gabin plays Bobo, a brooding itinerant dock-worker who gets mixed up in a drunken brawl. Upon awakening, Bobo is convinced that he has killed a man by his mercenary "pal" Tiny (Thomas Mitchell). Despairing at the thought of having committed murder, not to mentioned being blackmailed for the rest of his life by the treacherous Tiny, Bobo is able to find a few fleeting moments of happiness with Anna (Ida Lupino), a suicidal young girl whom he has saved from a watery grave (The intensity of the love scenes may well be due to the allegedly real-life romance between Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino). Novelist John O'Hara adapted the screenplay from a book by actor Willard Robertson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1942
That Other Woman in this 20th Century-Fox programmer turns out to be Emily (Virginia Gilmore), faithful secretary to master architect Henry Summers (James Ellison). Hoping to trap her boss into marriage, Emily begins sending "mash notes" to Henry, purportedly from a mysterious female admirer. She then coerces her old pal Ralph (Dan Duryea) to pose as her jealous Southern-fried boy friend of the nonexistent letter-writer. Poor Henry, convinced that Ralph is the gangster who's been threatening him with bodily harm, skeedaddles to parts unknown. Our heroine spends the rest of the picture chasing Henry until he finally catches her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Gilmore, James Ellison, (more)
On a secluded base in Arizona, veteran World War One pilot Steve Britt (Preston Foster) trains flyers to fight in World War Two. One of his trainees, Englishman Peter Stackhouse (John Sutton), competes with Britt for the affections of Kay Saunders (Gene Tierney), the daughter of a local rancher. Despite their differences, Britt makes sure Sutton passes his training and becomes a combat pilot -- even though he loses Kay to the young man in the process. Note the photos of director (and former flying ace) Wellman, which are used as the pictures of Sutton's father displayed by Britt and Sutton's grandmother, Lady Stackhouse (Dame May Whitty). ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Tierney, Preston S. Foster, (more)
