Robert de Grasse Movies

Alcoholic Bill Cannon's (Dan Duryea) past sins catch up with him in Chicago Calling. Cannon's daughter Nancy (Melinda Plowman) is seriously injured in an accident while out of town, and his wife Mary (Mary Anderson) has promised to call him back as soon as she learns the result of Nancy's operation. Unfortunately, Cannon's phone service is cut off for nonpayment, forcing him to go begging for the $50 necessary to square his phone bill. Only through the kindness of waitress Peggy (Marsha Jones) and telephone engineer Jim (Ross Elliot) is Cannon able to make the crucial call to his wife. Alas, the operation has proved unsuccessful. Will the impact of this tragedy push Cannon over the brink, or will it inspire him to seek out a new lease on life? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Since its lapse into public domain in 1978, First Legion has joined Love Affair and Algiers as the most readily available of Charles Boyer's films. Boyer plays Fr. Marc Arnoux, the head of St. Gregory's seminary, who can never quite shake the feeling that he shouldn't have given up his career as an attorney. His fellow Jesuit priests likewise occasionally question their calling, especially crotchety Msgr. Michael Carey (William Demarest). One by one, however, the priests are won over by various "miracles" visited upon them. Barbara Rush co-stars as a crippled girl who indirectly benefits from the priests' renewed faith. The First Legion was produced and directed with surprising restraint by Douglas Sirk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Arthur Laurents' play Home of the Brave concerned a paralyzed Jewish war veteran who begins to walk again only when he confronts his fear of forever being an "outsider." The film version of the Laurents play changes the protagonist into an African-American, played by James Edwards. The soldier's comrades include his lifelong white friend Lloyd Bridges, whose death leaves Edwards racked with guilt; redneck-bigot corporal Steve Brodie; and troubled sergeant Frank Lovejoy. In the film's crucial scene, the doctor Jeff Corey forces Edwards to overcome his paralysis by yelling a racial slur; from this point on, Edwards will never again kowtow to prejudice. As corny and condescending as it may sound, Home of the Brave is one of the few films produced during the late-1940s "tolerance" cycle that plays as well today as it did when first released. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Granite-jawed Lawrence Tierney is the Bodyguard in this second-echelon noir thriller. Invited to resign from the LA police, short-tempered Mike Carter (Tierney) hires on to protect wealthy dowager Eugenia Dyson (Elizabeth Risdon). Before the film has reached its halfway point, Carter has been accused of murder, and is being hunted down by his former fellow officers. Only his file-clerk fiancee Doris Brewster (Priscilla Lane) believes in Carter's innocence, and it is she who is instrumental in cornering the actual killer. After a few more films like Bodyguard and The Narrow Margin, it was obvious that director Richard O. Fleischer had outgrown B pictures and was ready for more prestigious assignments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lieutenant Harry Grant (William Lundigan) and Sgt. Art Collins (Jeff Corey) have been handed the unenviable assignment of tracking down "The Judge," a mysterious serial murderer responsible for seven deaths over the past few months. The police have plenty of clues and forensic evidence, but no solid leads to who this highly resourceful strangler is. Complicating Grant's work is the presence of Ann Gorman (Dorothy Patrick), an ambitious reporter for a sensationalistic crime magazine, who keeps sticking her nose into this case and into his work. In exasperation over The Judge's latest victim, a newspaper editor named McGill (Frank Ferguson), Grant decides to take a novel approach to catching the killer -- he prepares a life-size blank-faced dummy using all the clues the police have, as to height, weight, physique, preferred way of dressing etc., in order to give his officers a clearer picture of who and what they're looking for. The result is creepy but effective, and soon Grant is getting closer to the killer -- but The Judge is insane, and agitated by all manner of outside stimuli, and he might prove too much even for a police detective to deal with in a direct confrontation. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Shirley Temple's final starring film, A Kiss for Corliss is a sequel to the actress' 1945 hit Kiss and Tell. The 21-year-old Temple again stars as impulsive teenager Corliss Archer, who on this occasion harbors a crush on notorious playboy Kenneth Marquis (David Niven), who has already been to the altar many times and to the boudoir many more. So moonstruck is she by Marquis (who barely acknowledges her existence) that Corliss begins writing down her imaginary romantic trysts with him in her diary. Naturally, the book falls into the hands of Corliss' parents (Tom Tully and Gloria Holden), who believe every word...especially when Marquis, evidently hoping to teach Corliss a lesson, "verifies" that the diary speaks the truth. Our heroine tries to extricate herself from this embarrassing situation by relying on one of moviedom's oldest clichés; no mean trick, inasmuch as this film is virtually a cliché smorgasbord, albeit an enjoyable one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Casting Frank Sinatra as a Pennsylvania priest is but one of the many miscalculations made by the producers of Miracle of the Bells. Adapted by Ben Hecht and Quentin Reynolds from the best-selling novel by Russell Janney, the story revolves around an aspiring actress named Olga Treskovna (Alida Valli). Escaping the sooty environs of Coaltown, Pennsylvania, Olga heads to Hollywood, where through a series of incredible circumstances she manages to land the highly coveted leading role in a film based on the life of Joan of Arc. Tragically, Olga dies suddenly after wrapping up the film's final scene. Producer Marcus Harris (Lee J. Cobb) wants to reshoot the film with another, better-known actress, rather than risk losing a fortune on an "unknown" whom he can no longer groom for stardom. But press agent Bill Dunnigan (Fred MacMurray), who has journeyed to Coaltown to learn Olga's life story, tries to persuade Harris to release Joan of Arc as filmed, and to this end he enlists the aid of local priest Father Paul (Sinatra). To show their support for the late, lamented Olga, all the churches of all denominations in Coaltown ring their bells, nonstop, for three days. This man-made miracle not only convinces Harris to change his mind, but leads to a genuine miracle at the fadeout. Reviewers were unanimous in condemning Miracle of the Bells as a pretentious failure: the kindest comments ranged from "mawkish" to "nauseating." The picture hasn't improved much with age, but should be seen at least once on the strength of its cast alone. If it is seen, however, it's best to stick with the original black-and-white version and avoid the colorized TV print. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Somehow the titles of the films of hardcase actor Lawrence Tierney seemed to be extensions of the man's personality, as witness such films as The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Born to Kill. In the latter picture, Tierney starts the ball rolling by committing a double murder in a jealous pique. Claire Trevor discovers the bodies, but says nothing to the police; she's leaving town and doesn't want to be impeded. Trevor and Tierney meet and fall in love on the train to San Francisco. Unfortunately, Trevor is married, so Tierney shifts his affections to her sister, Audrey Long (later the wife of director Billy Wilder). He marries Long, though he keeps up his illicit affair with Trevor. When detectives investigating the murders come snooping, they are bought off by Tierney's pal Elisha Cook Jr.--who is then murdered by Tierney, who suspects that Cook is carrying on with Trevor (Cook seldom survived to the end of any of his films). When Tierney finally does face arrest, it's at the instigation of the jealous Trevor, who is shot full of holes for her trouble. Born to Kill was based on James Gunn's novel Deadlier Than the Male. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set upon the mighty Mississippi, this comedy chronicles the travails of a showboat captain trying to keep his operation financially afloat. He barely has enough money to do so and with no license, operates illegally. He finds more trouble when he moors at a posh hotel, pretends that he is a fine Southern colonel and gets himself embroiled in a huge feud. Things get worse when the town sheriff enters the mix. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

RKO's prefabricated comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney came to an abrupt end with Genius at Work. A slapsticky remake of 1937's Super Sleuth, the film casts the stars as Jerry and Mike, the stars of a weekly radio "unsolved mysteries" series. Ellen (Anne Jeffreys), the show's head writer, is given invaluable script advice by famed criminologist Marsh (Lionel Atwill). Little do our heroes or heroine realize that Marsh is actually The Cobra, a wily murderer who kills for the thrill of it. When Mike, Jerry and Ellen pay a visit to Marsh's baronial estate, the villain and his faithful servant Stone (a sadly wasted Bela Lugosi) do their best to kill off the troublesome radio sleuths with an abundance of old-dark-house gadgetry. But Mike and Jerry have the last laugh in a tension-filled climax. Though Genius at Work represented the last joint starring appearance of Brown and Carney, the two actors would be reunited as supporting characters in Disney's The Absent Minded Professor (1961). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were given top billing in the Val Lewton-produced The Body Snatcher, but the film's protagonist is played by Henry Daniell. A brilliant 18th century London surgeon, Daniell can only make his humanitarian medical advances by experimenting on cadavers, which is strictly illegal. Karloff plays a Uriah Heep-type cabman who is secretly a grave robber, providing corpses for Daniell's research. The low-born Karloff enjoys blackmailing the aristocratic Daniell into silence; the two actors' cat-and-mouse scenes are among the film's highlights. Eventually, Karloff turns to murder to supply fresh bodies to Daniell. The doctor can stand no more of this, and kills Karloff. But though Daniell may be able to escape the law, he cannot escape his conscience, which manifests itself in the voice of the dead Karloff, whose repeated mantra "NEVER get rid of me! NEVER get rid of me!" drives Daniell to his death. Though billed second, Lugosi has an embarrassingly small part, though the scene he shares with Karloff is one of his best-ever screen moments. The Body Snatcher was based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, which in turn was inspired by the homicidal career of notorious grave-robbers Burke and Hare. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide