Frank Fenton Movies
Georgetown University graduate Frank Fenton established himself as an actor on the New York and London stage. Fenton's Broadway credits include Susan and God and Philadelphia Story; he also toured extensively with Katherine Cornell. He launched his film career as a screenwriter at Fox Studios in 1935, spending two decades contributing to the scripts of such major productions as Out of the Past (1947) and The Wings of Eagles (1957). His first screen-acting assignment was as seedy burlesque tenor (and erstwhile murder suspect) Russell Rogers in Lady of Burlesque (1943). Fenton's movie roles ranged from a secondary villain for Laurel and Hardy (1944's The Big Noise) to a take-charge military officer for director Billy Wilder (1947's A Foreign Affair). Frank Fenton enjoyed a rare starring role in PRC's Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943), in which he and John Carradine were somewhat incongruously cast as virile deep-sea divers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Texans Never Cry but they sure do sing a lot in this Gene Autry western. Cast as a Texas Ranger, Autry is trying to get the goods on a frontier numbers racket. Perpetrating the crime is Tracy Wyatt (Richard Powers, who'd previously been a western hero himself under the name of Tom Keene). Adding to the fun is the presence of two leading ladies: conventional ingenue Gail Davis (later TV's Annie Oakley) and villainess Mary Castle. At the time Texans Never Cry was first released, critics were amused by the film's sound effects, which seemed more appropriate for a Three Stooges comedy than a Gene Autry vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, (more)
- 1951
An excellent cast brings distinction to the pedestrian goings-on in Silver City. Per its title, the film is set in silver-mining country, with hopeful prospectors and greedy claim-jumpers abounding. The villain of the piece is miserly R. R. Jarboe (Barry Fitzgerald), who holds the lease on the silver lode worked by heroine Candace Surrency (Yvonne DeCarlo) and her father Dutch (Edgar Buchanan). Meanwhile, mining expert Larkin Moffatt (Edmond O'Brien) is prevented from finding work by the vengeful Charles Storrs (Richard Arlen), who happens to be Candace's boyfriend. Murder rears its ugly head, resulting in all sorts of skullduggery, culminating in true melodramatic fashion in an old sawmill. The "bad girl" in Silver City is played by Laura Elliot, who later changed her name to Kasey Rogers and essayed the benign role of Mrs. Larry Tate on TV's Bewitched. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmond O'Brien, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1951
Rogue River stars Rory Calhoun as Ownie Rodgers, the nephew of crooked Oregon police chief Joe Dandridge (Frank Fenton). A $70,000 windfall, bequeathed to Dandridge by a man he'd once framed on a bank robbery charge, unleashes innumerable family skeletons. Ownie is obliged to solve the long-ago bank job himself, and in so doing he discovers that his "faithful" girl friend Judy (Ellye Marshall) was in on the scheme. The last-minute return of Dandridge's estranged son Pete (Peter Graves) leads to an ending that cannot truly be described as happy. More talky than most westerns of the era, Rogue River still contains much to please the eye, especially when one is lucky enough to see an original Cinecolor print. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Calhoun, Peter Graves, (more)
- 1951
Set in 19th-century New York, this mystery begins when a Frenchwoman shows up at the home of one of Napoleon's former marshals. The alcoholic man is badly crippled and slowly dying, but this doesn't stop the forthright lady from pushing him to change his will to include his estranged grandson so that he can help out the struggling French Republic. Unfortunately, the dying man's conniving housekeeper and butler, already planning murder to get the money themselves, overhear her and begin plotting her demise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
- 1950
The fabled 19th-century clashes between U.S. Marines and the pirates of Tripoli have provided story material for dozens of films. Tripoli stars John Payne as two-fisted marine lieutenant O'Bannon, though top billing is bestowed upon Maureen O'Hara as Countess D'Arneau, who has come to Tripoli hoping to wed a local prince. Also appearing is Howard Da Silva as Captain Demetrios, leader of a band of mercenaries who sell their loyalties to the highest bidder. After a great deal of byplay between the three stars, the action comes thick and fast as the marines and the pirates "have at" each other. Tripoli's strongest selling card is the Technicolor cinematography of James Wong Howe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, (more)
- 1950
Sideshow was the last starring effort of Don McGuire, who would soon abandon acting in favor of writing, producing and directing. McGuire plays Steve Arthur, an undercover T-Man (or Treasury Agent), hot on the trail of jewel smugglers. He traces the crooks to a travelling carnival, where he takes a job as a barker in order to maintain surveillance without arousing suspicion. Among the suspects are sideshow-entrepreneurs Pierre (John Abbott) and Sam (Ray Walker), "kootch" dancer Dolly (Tracey Roberts), and general helpers "Big Top" (Eddie Quillan) and Johnny (Jimmy Conlin). In the course of the film's 67 minutes, Arthur faces death at the tunnel of love, aboard a roller-coaster ride, and within the walls of a wax museum. Sideshow gets by on the novelty of its surroundings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don McGuire, Tracey Roberts, (more)
- 1950
The sexual dysfunction of a married couple provides the basis of this thought-provoking drama that was originally released in 1950 and was then re-released 11 years later with a prologue tacked on. In the prologue, the couple begin attending a group therapy session helmed by a prominent doctor. Neither the husband and wife are able to enjoy sex. The doctor then tells them a story and this story is the original 1950 film of a sexually repressed and unresponsive bride who ends up trying to kill herself. Fortunately, a psychiatrist helps her to see that her overbearing mother is the cause of her difficulty. This story inspires the first couple to keep working on their problem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reed Hadley, Margaret Field, (more)
- 1950
The Lawless was director Joseph Losey's second feature-length film. The story concerns a group of Mexican-American migrant workers who are subjected to all sorts of abuse and intolerance by their California bosses. A violent clash between whites and Latinos at a dance results in a torrent of bigotry. Seemingly the only Californian willing to champion the workers' cause is crusading newspaperman Larry Wilder, and soon he too is the victim of senseless mob violence. The story boils to a manhunt for a fugitive fruit-picker who has been accused of fomenting the aforementioned riot. Director Losey, producers William Pine and William Thomas and screenwriter Geoffrey Homes (aka Daniel Mainwaring) are to be commended for tackling a controversial issue in an honest, no-nonsense fashion; even so, the film ends in standard Hollywood-liberal fashion with a white man coming to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- MacDonald Carey, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1950
Wyoming Mail stars Stephen McNally as frontier postal inspector Steve Davis. Assigned to break up a gang of outlaws who prey upon mail trains, Davis goes undercover, posing first as a fugitive from justice. Joining the bandit gang run by the ruthless Cavanaugh (Howard da Silva), Davis discovers that the crooks have an "inside man" within the railroad company itself. Alexis Smith co-stars as the "bad" girl who turns good to save Davis. Universal-International's knack for turning out superior westerns on modest budgets is entertainingly demonstrated in Wyoming Mail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1950
Once more, Charles Starrett hits the trail as the masked do-gooder known as The Durango Kid in Streets of Ghost Town. Also once more, Starrett spends his "unmasked" scenes playing a character named Steve, in this case Steve Woods. The slender plot concerns a treasure hunt in a supposedly deserted town. This premise is used as an excuse to showcase lengthy excerpts from previous "Durango Kid" westerns, offered herein as "flashbacks." Columbia Pictures had a positive genius for recycling old footage into new movies: as proof, one need only peruse all those patchwork Three Stooges comedies of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1950
Joseph Cotten stars in Walk Softly, Stranger as Chris Hale, a fugitive criminal who decides to hide out in a small Midwestern town. Here, Hale makes the acquaintance of Elaine Corelli (Alida Valli), who has had a grudge against the world since being crippled in a skiing accident. While endeavoring to help Elaine come out of her shell, Hale falls in love with her, and vows to mend his own ways. Though not released until 1950, Walk Softly, Stranger was filmed in 1948, a year before Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli were teamed in the more celebrated The Third Man. Future talk-show host Jack Paar appears in a fascinating supporting role as a suburban hubby. Walk Softly, Stranger was the last co-production between RKO and David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Cotten, Spring Byington, (more)
According to Roy Rogers himself, this action-packed western remained one of his favorites. The manager of a traveling show, Rogers is wintering at a ranch belonging to wheelchair-bound Colonel Harkrider (George Cleveland), his daughter Kay (Dale Evans) and grandson Larry (Peter Miles). The latter, whose mother, a circus bareback rider, was killed during a performance, grows up with a paralyzing fear of horses. In contrast, Roy wants to purchase a wild stallion accused of being a killer but his bid is turned down and the stallion instead condemned to death. Unbeknownst to Roy, however, Monty Manson (Grant Withers), who heads a crooked "Range Patrol," saves the beast and uses it to terrorize the area's horse-breeders. Putting two and two together, Roy attempts to unmask Manson for the criminal he is but is ambushed by the patrol. The stallion, meanwhile, attacks both Colonel Harkrider and Roy's horse Trigger, Jr. but is chased off the property by Trigger himself. Overcoming his fears, Larry mounts Trigger, Jr. and joins the party searching for Roy. With Trigger's aid, Roy destroys the killer stallion in a final battle and Manson is brought to justice. Backed by Foy Willing, The Riders of the Purple Sage and Dale Evans, Roy Rogers takes time out to perform "May the Good Lord Take a Likin' to Ya", by Peter Tinturin; "The Big Rodeo", by Foy Willing; and "Stampede", by Willing and Carol Rice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dale Evans
- 1949
Randolph Scott both co-produced and starred in this above average Western chronicling the career of one of the last of the legendary Western outlaws. When the Dalton gang is ambushed by U.S. Marshals, Bill Doolin (Scott), the last surviving member, forms his own group of bank robbers that includes Red Buck (Frank Fenton), Arkansas Tom Jones (Charles Kemper), and Bitter Creek (John Ireland). Although the gang is widely successful, things quickly heat up to a point where Doolin advises his men to lay low before reuniting after three months. Hiding out in a church in Claymore, Doolin is befriended by Deacon Burton (Griff Barnett), whose daughter, Elaine (Virginia Huston), he begins to court and eventually marries under the alias of Daley. But the past catches up with the former outlaw soon enough and he is forced to skip town. Resuming their illegal occupation, the Doolin gang is finally cornered in Ingalls, where Tulsa (Jock Mahoney) is killed and Arkansas captured. Doolin and surviving gang member Little Billy (Noah Beery Jr.) hide out at the former Daley homestead, where, to their surprise, Elaine has been patiently waiting for the return of her husband. Determined to leave his old life for good, Doolin plans to flee with Elaine to an unclaimed area between Kansas and Texas, but an old foe, Marshal Sam Hughes (George Macready), is waiting in the wings. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, George Macready, (more)
- 1949
Another of RKO's profitable Tim Holt western series, Rustlers costars Holt with his popular sidekick Richard Martin (as Chico Rafferty). Holt and Martin are arrested by sheriff Harry Shannon, who accuses them of being members of a vicious rustling gang. Actually Shannon is the head of the operation; he hopes to throw suspicion off himself by framing Our Heroes for the crime. Holt and Martin bust out of jail, prove their innocence, and fix Shannon's wagon. Rustlers was one of a handful of Holt westerns directed by Lesley Selander, later a minor favorite of auteur critics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Holt, Richard Martin, (more)
- 1949
Ranger of Cherokee Strip stars Republic horse-opera hero Monte Hale. This time, Steve Howard (Hale) comes to the aid of Joe Bearclaws (Douglas Kennedy), a patriotic Cherokee tribesman who tries to halt the exploitation of his people by unscrupulous cattlemen. The villains manage to frame Joe for murder, but the Indian escapes from jail. Assigned to track down Joe and return him to prison, Howard instead champions the Cherokee's cause and endeavors to bring the true culprits to justice. Roy Barcroft does his usual scowling-badman bit, while George Meeker turns in an interesting portrayal as a ham actor who figures prominently in the murder plot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monte Hale, Paul Hurst, (more)
- 1949
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
- Starring:
- Lawrence Tierney, Priscilla Lane, (more)
- 1949
Part of the Roy Rogers series, this film focuses on Roy Roger's horse, Trigger, and his infatuation with a handsome palomino mare. When Trigger discovers the mare being beaten by her lowlife owner, he kills him, leaving Rogers to take the blame. However, it seems that Trigger's new girlfriend might be unwittingly involved in some underhanded activity. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, (more)
- 1949
Monogram's low-budget, high-grossing "Joe Palooka" series carries on in this 66-minute entry. Joe Kirkwood plays Joe Palooka, the soft-hearted pugilist created for the funny papers by Ham Fisher. This time, Joe is framed on a bum rap by a group of gamblers who hope to fix the outcome of an upcoming bout. When Joe manages to clear himself, the gamblers go a step farther by having the scrupulously honest boxer accused of murder. On the lam from the law, Joe is forced to solve the murder himself--and he'd better hurry if he's going to get to the Big Fight on time. Virginia Welles is cast as Joe's love interest Ann Howe, while comedian Leon Errol is afforded top billing as Joe's manager Knobby Walsh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., (more)
- 1949
Spencer Tracy and James Stewart team up for this World War II adventure, based on an supposedly true incident from World War II. Stewart plays John Royer, an ex-newspaper reporter with a backhand knowledge of Malaya, and Tracy plays a criminal named Carnaghan, doing time in Alcatraz for smuggling. They are brought together for an undercover assignment -- to smuggle a large shipment of rubber out of Japanese-held territory in Malaya and deliver the tonnage to awaiting U.S. ships. Carnaghan and Royer plod through the jungles and have to deal with several unscrupulous contacts including a man calling himself The Dutchman (Sydney Greenstreet), a helpful FBI agent named Kellar (John Hodiak), and a sneaky Japanese officer by the name of Colonel Tomura (Richard Loo). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, (more)
- 1949
Richard O. Fleischer made his feature-film directorial debut with the well-crafted melodrama Clay Pigeon. Inspired by a true story, the film stars Bill Williams as Jim Fletcher, whose wartime experiences in a Japanese POW camp have left him with profound emotional problems. Awakening from a coma in a naval hospital, Jim is astonished to learn that he's been accused of murder. Not quite certain of his own guilt or innocence, he escapes from the hospital in search of his best friend, another ex-POW named Ted Niles (Richard Quine). En route, he is forced to kidnap Martha Gregory (Barbara Hale, Williams' real-life wife), the widow of the murdered man. Martha despises Jim at first, but is won over to his side when it becomes obvious that someone has set Jim up as a fall guy. Clay Pigeon was the first RKO film produced under the new Howard Hughes regime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Williams, Barbara Hale, (more)
- 1948
Chronic gambler Ellen Crane (Paulette Goddard) indulges in games of chance to compensate for the loss of her boyfriend during WW2. Heavily in debt to gambling czar Lonnie Burns (Fred Clark), Ellen promises to marry him to clear her financial slate, but in the cold light of day she rethinks her decision and takes it on the lam. The irascible Burns hires detective J. D. Storm (Macdonald Carey) to track Ellen down and bring her back. After a hectic cross-country pursuit, Ellen and Storm come to realize what the audience has predicted all along: they've fallen in love with each other. This very standard assembly-line comedy is redeemed by its character actors, notably squeaky-voiced Percy Helton as a "three time loser" jailbird. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paulette Goddard, MacDonald Carey, (more)
- 1948
Cole Porter's Broadway musical Mexican Hayride was optioned by Universal in the mid-1940s, then remained in "development hell" until 1948. By the time the property made it to the screen, the entire Porter score had been removed, and the play's original star Bobby Clark was replaced by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The story takes place South of the Border, where American fugitive from justice Joe Bascom (Costello) searches for con man Harry Lambert (Abbott), for whom Bascom had been a fall guy. Also in Mexico is Joe's hometown-sweetheart Mary (Virginia Grey), now known as Montana, the country's foremost female bullfighter. Joe catches up with Harry at the bull arena, where Montana is about to choose the "Amigo Americano" in a publicity scheme cooked up by Harry. When she spots Joe in the crowd, Montana (angry at our tubby hero for bilking her out of her life savings -- it was actually Harry's doing), furiously throws her hat at him. When Joe catches the hat, he's elected Amigo Americano and extended every hospitality that Mexico can afford. Sensing yet another opportunity to make a dishonest dollar, Harry exploits Joe's newfound celebrity to promote a phony gold-mining scheme. The gorgeous Dagmar (Luba Malina), Harry's partner in crime, romances Joe to secure his cooperation. Somehow all of this ends up back in the bull ring, with poor Joe facing a very belligerent "el toro." A bit too plot-heavy for Abbott & Costello, Mexican Hayride still has several choice moments, including a priceless verbal exchange involving gold ore ("gold or what?") and a "Mother Lode." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
- 1948
Writer/director Billy Wilder (in collaboration with producer/writer Charles Brackett) earned his first critical condemnation with A Foreign Affair. Reviewers accused Wilder (as they would so often in the future) of moral bankruptcy, challenging him to prove what could possibly be funny about the Nazi war guilt, the bombed-out city of Berlin, the postwar European black market or attempted suicide. All of these elements are in Foreign Affair, and all are very funny. John Lund is an American army captain carrying on a casual affair with Berlin songstress Marlene Dietrich, who accepts Lund's attentions so long as there are contraband cigarettes and nylons added to the bargain. Iowa congresswoman Jean Arthur is sent as part of an American fact-finding delegation to Berlin, and Lund is compelled to clean up his act--or at least pretend to. Despite her initial shock at the corruption all around her, straitlaced Arthur eventually falls for Lund, but Dietrich has been at this game a lot longer. For an interesting cinematic and sociological exercise, A Foreign Affair should be shown in tandem with Wilder's 1961 Cold War comedy One, Two, Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
- 1948
- NR
Station West may look like a western, but it sure sounds like a contemporary film noir. Dick Powell stars as Haven, a government private investigator assigned to investigate the murders of two cavalrymen. Travelling incognito, Haven arrives in a small frontier outpost, where leggy saloon singer Charlie (Jane Greer) controls all illegal activities. After making short work of Charlie's burly henchman (Guinn Williams), Haven gets a job at her gambling emporium, biding his time and gathering evidence against the gorgeous crime chieftain Cast as a philosophical bartender, Burl Ives is afforded at least one opportunity to sing. Station West was one of a handful of RKO Radio films released to the 8-millimeter home-movie market in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Jane Greer, (more)
- 1948
Described by one critic as a western version of The 39 Steps, Relentless stars Robert Young as a cowboy on the lam. Framed for murder, Young must find the one man who can clear him, while a posse dogs his trail. He briefly becomes an outlaw, hoping to make contact with his quarry by befriending the dregs of the west, notably mercenary saloon keeper Akim Tamiroff. Marguerite Chapman plays the love interest, while Barton MacLaine does his usual as the main heavy. Directed at a rapid clip by George Sherman, Relentless does its best to live up to its title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Marguerite Chapman, (more)
