Chester Erskine Movies
A stage actor by the late '20s, Chester Erskine came to New York, where he scored a hit writing, producing, and directing the all-black revue Harlem in 1929. He produced and directed several Broadway plays and then went to Hollywood in 1932 and assisted Lewis Milestone on Rain. He began directing films with the psychological drama Midnight in 1934; as a writer/director, his credits include The Egg and I, the debut film of the characters Ma and Pa Kettle; the mystery Take One False Step, co-scripted with Irwin Shaw; the comedy A Girl in Every Port, starring Groucho Marx; and the Shaw adaptation Androcles and the Lion. As a writer/producer, Erskine made the Arthur Miller adaptation All My Sons and the thriller Witness to Murder starring Barbara Stanwyck, as well as episodes of television's Reader's Digest anthology series. ~ All Movie Guide- 1973
- PG
In this actioner, Irish rum-runners working in America during Prohibition attempt to send their profits back to Erin to help the IRA cause. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1968
There must be some significance to the fact that neither Jean Negulesco nor chroniclers of his career are eager to include The Invincible Six in the director's credits. This US/Iran coproduction (obviously filmed before 1977) stars Stuart Whitman as the top dog of a group of criminals. Failing to swipe the Tehran crown jewels, Whitman's gang heads for the rural regions, where they offer protection (for a price) to a small village. Elke Sommer wants the crooks to help her find a treasure, using a map that she's appropriated through questionable means. But when Whitman's minions defend the village against an attack by Iranian bandits, the map is destroyed. Only momentarily daunted, Elke joins the Invicible Six for the next adventure. Oh, almost forgot: There's some dancing in The Invincible Six, choreographed by Rudolph Nureyev. No, really. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Although a mood of melancholy or worse pervades this excellent western, it remains an honest and hard-hitting look at the realistic adventures of Martin Brady (Robert Mitchum -- who produced). Brady fled to Mexico while still quite young in order to avoid prison in the U.S. -- he had killed his father's murderer. After years spent working as a gunman for a wealthy "padron," he hates white Americans but has to go north to get weapons. Once on the wrong side of the border, he gets into trouble with U.S. Army for not helping them hunt down Apaches. But the people he meets in a small town, one a European immigrant, begin to change his black-and-white view of the world. Meanwhile, he and Ellen Colton (Julie London), the unhappy wife of an army major, begin to fall in love. Several more adventures and a tragedy or two affect the unlikely couple's future -- ultimately for the better. Baseball hero "Satchel" Paige shows up in a cameo role, leading an Afro-American unit of the U.S. army. Mexican star Pedro Armendariz is Brady's boss, Governor Castro. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Julie London, (more)
- 1954
The witness of the title is Barbara Stanwyck, who insists she's seen a man strangling a girl in the apartment across the street. The murderer is George Sanders, an ex-Nazi with plenty of experience in covering his tracks. Deftly disposing of body and clues, Sanders is able to convince the authorities that Stanwyck is hallucinating. But Stanwyck persists, forcing Sanders to show his hand in a fateful climax. Witness to Murder is far beneath the talents of its stars, though both Stanwyck and Sanders, pros that they are, give the material the old "Academy Award" treatment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, (more)
- 1953
Actor Dick Powell made an impressive film debut with the taut atomic-age suspenser Split Second. Convicts Stephen McNally, Paul Kelly and Frank DeKova escape to a ghost town in the Nevada desert. Only it isn't exactly a ghost town, but a "dummy village" constructed for the purpose of A-bomb testing. The criminals hold several hostages, including reporter Keith Andes, nightclub singer Jan Sterling, selfish socialite Alexis Smith, her doctor-husband Richard Egan and her newest boyfriend Robert Paige. Andes suspects that the deserted town is at Ground Zero of the latest bomb test, but he can't convince the convicts until it's almost too late. The best and most horrifying sequence occurs near the end, when the criminals, accompanied by the duplicitous Ms. Smith, discover that they're driving towards the A-bomb target instead of away from it. Novelist Irving Wallace collaborated on the script of Split Second with Chester Erskine and William Bowers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, (more)
Jean Simmons' fascinating interpretation of an uncharacteristic role is the main drawing card of Otto Preminger's Angel Face. The daughter of Charles Treymayne (Herbert Marshall), who remarried a wealthy woman (Barbara O'Neil), Diane Treymayne's (Simmons) angelic countenance masks an unbridled psychotic who'll let nothing stand in the way of her happiness. Diane arranges for Catherine's death, making it look like an auto accident. Coveting family chauffeur Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum), Diane steals Frank away from his sweetheart Mary (Mona Freeman) and forces him to become her spiritual accomplice in her stepmother's murder. And when Diane finally realizes that she'll never, ever, be able to hold Frank, she... well, enough said. If Angel Face doesn't look like a typical early-1950s RKO Radio film, it may be because its director was borrowed from 20th Century-Fox, and its cinematographer (Harry Stradling) was a loan-out from Sam Goldwyn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, (more)
- 1952
With George Bernard Shaw safely in his grave, RKO chief Howard Hughes had no qualms about twisting and bending Shaw's Androcles & the Lion to accommodate his own notions of entertainment. Happier, wiser heads prevailed before the Hughes-commissioned "Vestal Virgins" sequence, complete with near-naked dancing girls, was foisted on the public. Originally, Harpo Marx was to have played Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum. A few days into shooting, however, Harpo was replaced by Alan Young, who was okay but not in Marx's league. RKO habitués Jean Simmons and Victor Mature co-star as, respectively, a courageous Christian girl and the bullheaded Roman captain who falls in love with her. Every Shaw play has one character who acts as the playwright's alter ego; in Androcles, it's none other than Caesar himself, here wittily essayed by Maurice Evans. Director Chester Erskine co-adapted the play for the screen with Ken Englund; serving as producer was Gabriel Pascal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Simmons, Alan Young, (more)
- 1952
A lesser Fred Astaire effort, Belle of New York is set during the turn of the century. Astaire plays a footloose and fancy-free playboy who falls in love with Salvation Army lass Vera-Ellen. To prove his worth to the girl, Astaire breaks down and gets a job. Naturally, there's plenty of terpsichorean activity from the two stars, but nothing truly worth remembering save for Astaire's solo "I Wanna be a Dancin' Man". The film's best moments belong to such stellar supporting players as Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main, Keenan Wynn, Henry Slate, and the ubiquitous Percy Helton. Belle of New York was adapted by Chester Erskine from a play by Hugh Morton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, (more)
- 1951
The unique comic talents of Groucho Marx, William Bendix and Marie Wilson are hardly exploited to their fullest in RKO's A Girl in Every Port. Groucho and Bendix play Benny Linn and Tim Dunnevan, respectively, a couple of scheming sailors who embark upon one get-rich-quick scheme after another. This time around, our heroes use a small inheritance to purchase two horses, one for racing purposes and one to be sold at a tidy profit. After a series of bizarre complications, both horses are pitted against each other in a crucial race which could spell either triumph or ruin for the two goofy gobs. Wilson co-stars as a birdbrained carhop who owns one of the horses coveted by Linn and Dunnevan. No stone is left unturned so far as wheezy comedy routines are concerned: writer-director Chester Erskine even manages to revive the old chestnut wherein the sailors sneak both horses on board their ship. The likeable supporting cast includes Don DeFore as a disgruntled stable owner, Dee Hartford (who later became Groucho Marx's sister-in-law) as DeFore's financially savvy fiancee, Gene Lockhart as a seedy horse dealer, Hanley Stafford ("Daddy" on radio's Baby Snooks) as the two protagonists' flustered commanding officer, and Teddy Hart as a Runyonesque gangster. A box-office disappointment, A Girl in Every Port ended Groucho Marx's efforts to become a solo screen star; fortunately, he still had TV's You Bet Your Life to fall back on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson, (more)
- 1949
William Powell stars in Take One False Step as a happily married college professor who foolishly agrees to a reunion supper with old flame Shelley Winters. Winters later disappears, and the evidence points to murder. To allay suspicion--and to avoid losing an important financial grant to his university--Powell starts his own investigation. The trail leads him to San Francisco, where poor Powell becomes mired in a confusing crime plot. Fortunately, Winters is still alive; unfortunately, Powell may not be for long. Adapted from the Irwin Shaw novel Night Call, Take One False Step is saved from tawdriness by the innate dignity of William Powell. Also, the film is leavened by unexpected moments of humor, notably the relaxed banter between Powell and Shelley Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1948
Based on the play by Arthur Miller, All My Sons is a drama of man's duty to man that retains a potent impact. Edward G. Robinson plays a manufacturer of parts for World War II airplanes who lives a full, satisfied life in a small town. But his idyll is shattered by the arrival of the fiancée of the manufacturer's oldest son, who is missing in action. The younger son begins to fall in love with the girl, but her own brother is against the relationship because, he claims, the manufacturer and his partner delivered defective parts to the war effort. The younger son (Burt Lancaster) investigates, even going as far as visit his father's former partner in jail, and discovers the awful truth -- that his father's corrupt actions were responsible for both the partner's incarceration and the deaths of 21 U.S. pilots. The tale ends with a bitter and tragic confrontation that drives home the message that we are all our brother's keepers, and we cannot push aside that responsibility for personal gain. Thoughtful and intense performances by Robinson and Lancaster bring humanity and life to this powerful theme. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, (more)
- 1947
Based on the humorous autobiographical book by Betty McDonald, The Egg & I casts Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray as Manhattan-dwelling newlyweds. When MacMurray enthusiastically purchases an upstate farm in the hopes of cleaning up in the egg business, Colbert cautiously goes along. The film's humor is derived from the efforts of these two hopelessly citified slickers to adapt themselves to the rigors of rural life. In a plot complication added to the film, pretty neighbor Louise Allbritton upsets the equilibrium of MacMurray and Colbert's union, but both husband and wife are happily reunited at the finale (in real life, Betty McDonald and her husband were splitsville before the book even hit the stands). Retained from the novel, though heavily laundered, were the earthy characters of farmers Ma and Pa Kettle and their huge brood of children. Marjorie Main as Ma and Percy Kilbride as Pa struck so responsive a chord with filmgoers that Universal headlined them in their own "Kettle" series of B pictures, which endured until 1956. The Egg & I would be adapted into a live TV comedy serial in 1952, with Pat Kirkland and John Craven in the leading roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1946
A quickie post-WWII marriage becomes complicated in this romantic comedy, the second film pairing of Robert Walker and June Allyson. Swept off her feet in one whirlwind night by dashing U.S. Navy man John (Walker), the young, attractive Mary (Allyson) agrees to a fast, ill-considered wedding. John ships out immediately afterward, with no time for a honeymoon or even a consummation of the marriage. Much to Mary's chagrin, John is quickly discharged from the service for medical reasons and returns home. The transition to domestic bliss is an uneasy one for Mary and John, who are essentially strangers. Each becomes the object of affection for others. Mary fends off the unwelcome advances of her boss Freddie (Hume Cronyn), who wants to break up her fragile relationship so he can ask for her hand. At the same time, the innocent John is slow to realize that a war refugee neighbor who lives in their apartment building is interested in more than a platonic friendship. The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945) costarred popular comic actors Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Joe De Rita, better known as "Curly Joe" of The Three Stooges. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Walker, June Allyson, (more)
- 1936
This low-budget musical drama is based on the famous song and tells the story of Frankie, a cat-house singer (famed singer Helen Morgan), and the naive country boy Johnny who comes to St. Louis to seek his fortune. They fall in love and marry. Unfortunately, the country boy learns fast and soon begins fooling around with the sexy Nellie Bly. It is a tragic mistake, for when Frankie tires of his philandering she opts to stop Johnny with a bullet. Before she can do the deed though, another beats her to it. The fact that this picture was shelved for two years explains the presence of Lilyan Tashman, who died in the interim. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Morgan, Chester Morris, (more)
The old "If it were your own daughter" plot device forms the basis of the independently-produced crime melodrama Midnight. O.P. Heggie plays jury foreman Edward Weldon, who has no qualms about sentencing a woman to death for a crime of passion. His unpopular decision makes Weldon persona non grata even in his own home, but he sticks to his firm belief that all murderers must pay the supreme penalty, no matter what the provocation. He soon has cause to regret his intractability when his own daughter Stella (Sidney Fox) kills a former lover who betrayed her. In addition to Humphrey Bogart, who plays the small but memorable role of one of the murder victims, this New York-filmed oddity also features such Broadway-bred talent as Margaret Wycherly, Henry Hull, Granville Bates, Helen Flint, and, in their film debuts, Lynne Overman and Richard Whorf. Midnight was later reissued by Astor Films as Call it Murder to cash in on Bogart's latter-day popularity (Bogie was also "promoted" to top billing in the refilmed opening credits). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Fox, O.P. Heggie, (more)
- 1933
One of ten films that Fay Wray made in 1993 (including King Kong), Master of Men casts her as Kay Walling, a woman who is being ignored by her husband, Buck (played by Jack Holt). Buck owns a prosperous steel mill and they make a very good living, but he is ambitious and wants more. To this end, he is devoting considerable amounts of time to expanding his finances -- and doing quite well. Not satisfied with his success, he journeys to New York, where his wrangling further increases his bank account. Unfortunately, his stock with his wife is dropping steadily. Jealous and unhappy, she fights back by giving one of Buck's business rivals details about what he is up to. This proves disastrous for Buck -- although, as the stock market crashes the day after his bankruptcy, he would have been ruined anyway. Now that the distraction of wealth is out of the way, Buck and Kay are able to settle down and make a real life for themselves. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
