Howard Dimsdale Movies

An affirmative-action program at a major metropolitan hospital is threatened when a young African American resident, who owes his job to the program, is suspected of causing a patient's death through negligence (to use the old cliché, the operation was successful but the patient died). The young man's mentor, Dr. Frank Matthews (Brock Peters), takes the blame for the tragedy, arousing the suspicions of Matthews' longtime friend Quincy (Jack Klugman). Racing against time, Quincy must determine the actual cause of the patient's death--and, hopefully, save the affirmative-action program from being eliminated by a disgruntled hospital official. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This was the last in a string of spoofs that found the comedy duo tangling with various classic Universal Studios monsters. In this case, Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) play American detectives who cross wits with Dr. Henry Jekyll (Boris Karloff) in Edwardian-era London when they visit to compare techniques with their British counterparts. Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll is conducting the usual lab experiments on animals before injecting himself with serum, transforming into the vicious Mr. Hyde and launching a killing spree against fellow doctors who scoffed at him. Slim and Tubby participate in the ensuing investigation, and havoc breaks out when Tubby himself is injected, with predictable results. Karloff lends gravity to the film, but by the time this one followed up earlier efforts like Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy, the team had mostly exhausted the series' comic possibilities. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Though out of favor with many Abbott and Costello buffs, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd is actually a lot of fun, so long as the viewer parks logic and dignity at the door. Captain Kidd is played by no less than Charles Laughton, who reportedly agreed to sign up for this film because he wanted to learn how to perform a comedy double-take. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are cast as Rocky and Puddn'head, waiters at a pirate hangout on the island of Tortuga. Entrusted with a love letter written by the beautiful Lady Jane (Fran Warren) to cabaret singer Bruce Martingale (Bill Shirley), Puddn'head manages to get this missive mixed up with a treasure map coveted by both Captain Kidd and his rival, lady pirate Captain Bonney (Hillary Brooke). The upshot of all this finds Rocky, Pudd'nhead, Lady Jane and Bruce being shanghaied by Kidd, setting the stage for a climactic treasure hunt and chase on a faraway island. Laughton takes to broad slapstick comedy like a fish to water; indeed, at times he's a lot funnier than Bud and Lou! Filmed in Cinecolor, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd was the second of the team's independent productions for Warner Bros. release; like the first, Jack and the Beanstalk, it was well received by the public, even while critics tore their hair and gnashed their teeth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the late 1940s - early 1950s, Columbia Pictures enjoyed a great deal of success with a series of slapsticky feature films built around the talents of such gifted funsters as Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, William Bendix and Jack Carson. In this tradition, Columbia's Traveling Saleswoman is a showcase for the delightful Joan Davis. The star plays Mabel King, who heads westward to sell her father's soap. Tagging along is Mabel's erstwhile beau Waldo (Andy Devine). In the course of the film's 74 minutes, Mabel wins over a hostile Indian tribe, makes short work of an outlaw named Cactus Jack (Joe Sawyer) and a saloon chirp named Lilly (Adele Jergens), and even gets to warble a song or two in her own inimitable fashion. Traveling Saleswoman was produced by Tony Owen, who later prospered as producer of a long-running TV sitcom starring his wife, Donna Reed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Lady Without Passport stars Hedy Lamarr in the title role. Lamarr plays Marianne Lorress, a concentration-camp refugee who takes up residence in Cuba while waiting permission to enter the U.S. Immigration agent Pete Karczag (John Hodiak) decides to use Marianne as bait to entrap Palinov (George Macready), the brains of an alien-smuggling ring. Pete eventually falls in love with Marianne, but she despises him for using her--at least until fade-out time. Despite the tattoo on her arm, it is difficult to believe that Hedy Lamarr has survived a Nazi concentration camp; she appears instead to have staged a desperate escape from the MGM makeup department. This aside, A Lady without Passport is an acceptable (and commendably short) crime meller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For his first post-WWII starring film, 26-year-old Mickey Rooney returned to familiar territory in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy. In true Art-Imitates-Life fashion, Rooney plays returning GI Andy Hardy, who arrives in his home town of Carvel to the open arms of his family: Father Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone), mother Mrs. Hardy (Fay Holden) and Aunt Milly (Sara Haden). After reels and reels of "Gee, Mom and Dad, it's great to be home", Andy launches into a new romance with college coed Kay Wilson (Bonita Granville). His boundless ebullience is dampened when Kay elects to marry another, setting the stage for a another of those man-to-man talks between Judge Hardy and Son. Fortunately, Andy bounces back to his old self when he meets Latin American exchange student Isobel Gonzales (Lina Romay). Wisely, MGM decided that Mickey Rooney was too old to continue to play Andy Hardy, and the studio dropped the series with this entry (there would be a so-so "reunion" picture, Andy Hardy Comes Home, in 1958). If it seems nowadays as though Love Laughs at Andy Hardy is being telecast at least seven times per week, it may be because the film lapsed into public domain in 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If Penthouse Rhythm is paced more like a two-reel comedy than a mini-musical, it may be because the director was Mack Sennett alumnus Eddie Cline. Kirby Grant, Lois Collier, Judy Clark and Edward Norris play Dick, Linda, Patty and Junior, young members of a singing quartet. The kids have trouble getting their career started until given a boost by boxer-nightclub manager Maxie Rosenbloom (playing himself). Their success seems to hinge on a mere handful of songs, a fact that many genuine musicians found laughable. Halfway down the cast list as "Jank" is Jimmy Dodd, ten years away from his Mickey Mouse Club fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At MGM, the studio's youth musicals were more rural than urban -- find a barn, get some friends together, and hey kids, let's put on a show. At Universal, for this musical for its young contract players, the atmosphere is more urban -- the kids at a settlement house, led by Trudy Costello (Peggy Ryan), have to raise $200 a month to support scholarships so that 10 of them can go to music school; they're helped by Carol Curtis (Ann Blyth), a wealthy young heiress who's in love with Billy Harper (Billy Dunn), who's too poor to afford the scholarship but also too proud to take her help. The kids decide to organize a night club for teenagers, and try to get help from Carol's eccentric uncle Malcolm (Leon Errol, who's never been comfortable with his upper-crust family's staid outlook on life. But standing in their way is Carol's aunt Martha Alma Kruger, who doesn't like music and sees no reason for her niece or any member of her family to be involved with this group of under-privileged kids. And running interference for the teenagers is her attorney, Dick Lorimer (Kirby Grant), who sympathizes with Carol and Malcolm and happens to like the director of the settlement house (nne Gwynne) a great deal. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide