Irving Elman Movies

Working the late shift at the neighborhood cop shop, beleaguered Captain Shaw (John Larch) finds himself saddled with a pair of lost souls: an old man (Claude Rains) suffering from amnesia and a little boy (Bill Mumy) abandoned by his parents. Instinctively, Shaw is persuaded that the oldster and the youngster belong together -- and in his efforts to expedite this bonding, the lieutenant is in for a surprise. This episode reunites John Larch and Bill Mumy, previously cast as father and son in the chilling Twilight Zone entry "It's a Good Life." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The husband of compulsive gambler Fran Holland (Jan Sterling) has threatened to leave her if she ever places another bet. At the same time, Fran's bookie demands that she make good a 25-dollar debt, or he'll go to her husband. In desperation, Fran turns to shoplifting -- thereby setting off a chain reaction of disastrous events, one of which involves an overly compassionate store detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Second-echelon leading man Don Castle (later a TV producer) stars in yet another Sol M. Wurtzel production, Roses Are Red. Kidnapped by political boss Locke (Edward Keane), honest district attorney Throne (Castle) is replaced by his less-than-honest look-alike. Even the DA's intimates are fooled by the substitution, which is only one of the many hard-to-believe contrivances of Irving Elman's screenplay. Before the film's 65 minutes have expended themselves, the real DA escapes -- then pretends to be his look-alike so that he can catch Locke at his own game. Incredibly, the film's two leading ladies -- Peggy Knudsen and Patricia Knight -- more closely resemble one another than the two Don Castles! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this suspense film, a detective must find the murderer of a rich and jealous wife and her husband, a doctor with a tendency to work late into the night. After many missteps and false leads, he finally finds himself confronted with a sexy former patient of the deceased doc. Is she the guilty party, or does the determined detective find another guilty party? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Accomplice was the "pilot" for a proposed PRC series based on Frank Gruber's short-tempered detective hero Simon Lash. Commendably, Richard Arlen plays Lash as written-brusque, nasty, antisocial. The plot gets under way when socialite Joyce Bonniwell (Veda Ann Borg) hires Lash to located her missing husband Jim (Edward Earle). The fact that Joyce is Lash's former sweetheart heightens the detective's interest in the case-so much so that, for most of the film's running time, he doesn't realize that he's being set up by a pair of extremely clever con artists. Four murders later, however, Lash ties up all the loose ends and turns the crooks over to the authorities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made during World War II, the Soviet No Greater Love (the original Russian title translates to She Defends Her Country) is a tribute to the brave women in combat on the front lines. Vera Maretskaya joins the Soviet army when her family is wiped out. She locates the Nazis responsible for the atrocity and kills them in as brutal a manner as possible. The justifiable savagery of the Russian women combatants was so intense that Americans never saw a complete print of No Greater Love. Those lucky critics who did see the film intact praised it to the skies, in keeping with the then-popular intellectual allegiance with the Soviet cause; those same critics found themselves up a creek without a paddle during the "Red scare" of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide