Barbara Brown Movies

At the height of his TV fame, flamboyant pianist Liberace starred in the lavish Warner Bros. production Sincerely Yours. A remake of the old George Arliss vehicle The Man Who Played God, the film casts "Mr. Showmanship" as famed concert pianist Anthony Warren, who at the height of his popularity is stricken with deafness. Learning to lip-read in record time, Warren sits in his luxurious New York penthouse apartment, using high-powered binoculars to spy on the various strollers in Central Park. Warren soon discovers that others have problems worse than his own and sets out to help those less fortunate souls.
~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The faces are new and the settings up-to-date, but otherwise An Annapolis Story is the tried-and-true "two guys and one girl" formula. Filmed on location at the titular Maryland naval academy, the story centers upon two sibling cadets, Tony (John Derek) and Jim (Kevin McCarthy). The boys battle over the affections of Peggy (Diana Lynn), a triangle that seriously strains their fraternal relationship and compromises their effectiveness as officers-to-be and gentlemen. In the tradition of 1927's Wings, the conflict is resolved when one brother sacrifices his life for the other while serving in Korea. Among the other cadets in An Annapolis Story are Alvy Moore and L. Q. Jones, who twenty years later would team up to produce the cult-fave science fiction film A Boy and His Dog. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1952, the comedy team of Abbott and Costello entered into a joint agreement with producer Alex Gottlieb and Warner Brothers, whereby two color musical comedies would be produced: Bud Abbott would serve as producer--owner of one of the films, while Lou Costello would do same for the other. Costello's contribution to this agreement was Jack and the Beanstalk, a kiddie-matinee adaptation of the famed fairy tale. Constructed along the lines of The Wizard of Oz, the film begins in black and white. Jack (Costello) is a professional baby-sitter, while Dink (Abbott) is Jack's "agent." After a run-in with a gargantuan cop (Buddy Baer) and a statuesque waitress (Dorothy Ford), Jack and Dink show up at the home of Eloise Larkin (Shaye Cogan), there to look after Eloise's troublesome nephew Donald (David Stollery) while the girl and her boyfriend Arthur Royal (James Alexander) rehearse at their community theatre. While reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to the bratty Donald, Jack falls asleep, and begins dreaming himself, and his cohorts, into the story as the impoverished boy sent out to sell the family cow. While en route to town with his cow, he encounters a shady butcher (Abbott) who bilks him out of his broken-down bovine for the price of a few 'magic' beans. In keeping with the traditional tale, Jack plants the beans and from them a magnificent vine grows and reaches into the clouds. Along with the butcher, Jack climbs into a fantastic world inhabited by a terrifying giant (Baer) and other magical creatures, including a gold egg-laying hen, a singing harp, and a distressed prince and princess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After Columbia's 1951 biopic Valentino laid an egg, leading man Anthony Dexter was persona non grata at the studio. Still, Columbia couldn't very well pay Dexter his weekly salary for doing nothing, and that's why The Brigand was born. Dexter does his best in the dual role of King Lorenzo, monarch of a mythical Latino country, and adventurer Carlos DeLargo. When Lorenzo is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, DeLargo is coerced into posing as the ailing King. Scheming would-be usurper Prince Ramon (Anthony Quinn), sensing that something's fishy, plots to do in both the King and his look-alike. Meanwhile, DeLargo discovers the fringe benefits of royal life as he woos the King's betrothed Princess Teresa (Jody Lawrance) and Lorenzo's mistress Countess Flora (Gale Robbins). The story is supposedly based on an Alexandre Dumas novel, though it more closely resembles Prisoner of Zenda. It is fun to watch Anthony Quinn, clearly contemptuous of his role, pulling all sorts of thespic tricks to add variety to the proceedings: during one dungeon scene, Quinn delivers all his lines with a cigar clenched firmly between his teeth! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this entry in the "Henry Latham" series, set during WW II, an independent young woman takes control of a flying school after the owner is called for military duty. She is assisted by her father, his friend, and the mayor who were all fliers during WW I. They all have a rip-roarin' time until a bank robber hijacks the mayor's plane with the mayor in it. Trouble ensues when the plane runs out of gas and crashes. The police capture the crooks. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The "bandit" of the title is notorious 18th-century British highwayman Dick Turpin, herein portrayed by Louis Hayward. The lady is the high-born Joyce Greene (Patricia Medina), who becomes Turpin's bride. Motivated by Irish patriotism and revenge against the man who hanged his father, Turpin cuts quite a swath through the British countryside, relieving wealthy passengers of their riches. For his wife's sake, Turpin briefly gives up his life of crime, but not for long. Upon learning that his wife is slated to be hanged as his accomplice, Turpin embarks upon a 200-mile ride from St.Alban's to York, knowing full well that by rescuing his bride, he will forfeit his own life. Well produced (especially for a Columbia costumer of the era), Lady and the Bandit is based on the Alfred Noyes poem Dick Turpin's Ride--and not on Noyes' The Highwayman as claimed by previous sources. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, a local citizen, miffed by the mayor's new milk tax, buys his own cow. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this entry in the "Henry Latham" comedy series, the parsimonious Henry protests the rising cost of meat and decides to take up hunting for wild game. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The first of Monogram's "Father" series was Henry, the Rainmaker, assembled in a fast seven days. Raymond Walburn stars as Henry Latham, an average family man who is galvanized into entering a mayoral race over the issue of garbage disposal. When incumbent mayor Colton (played by Walburn's lifelong friend Walter Catlett) solves this issue himself, Henry turns his attentions to the current water shortage. His efforts to become a rainmaker prove cataclysmic, to say the least. Henry, the Rainmaker did well enough on the neighborhood-house circuit to warrant a sequel, Leave it to Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The second entry in Monogram's "Father" series was 1949's Leave It to Henry. Raymond Walburn returns as small-town blowhard Henry Latham, while Walter Catlett reprises his portrayal of bombastic Mayor Colton. Preparing for their town's Centennial celebration, Henry and the Mayor stage a reenactment of a famous steamboat fire. Things get out of hand, and the upshot of this is a stiff jail term for poor Henry. The supporting cast includes such never-fail character players as Ida Moore, Olin Howlin and Harry Harvey. But the principal attraction of Leave it to Henry is the comic rapport between Raymond Walburn and Walter Catlett (who, offscreen, had been close friends since boyhood). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pity poor James Clark (Richard Crane). Wed to the lovely Margaret (Lois Collier), Arthur is forced to keep the marriage a secret from Margaret's social-climbing mother (Barbara Brown)-which, of course, results in separate sleeping quarters. Coming to the rescue is Margaret's kid brother Arthur (Skip Homeier), who tries to throw his mom off the track by pretending to be engaged himself. Alas, Arthur's noble gesture only makes a bad situation worse, at least until Mother finally figures things out for herself. So lightweight that it's hardly there, ArthurTakes Over was produced by Sol Wurtzel and directed by Malcolm St. Clair, the same team responsible for 20th Century-Fox's much-maligned Laurel & Hardy comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jack Carson and Robert Hutton make a curious but copacetic comedy duo in the Warner Bros. musical Love and Learn. The stars are cast as Jingles and Bob, a pair of would-be songwriters hoping to get a break on Broadway. Along comes Barbara Wyngate (Martha Vickers), a wealthy young woman who hopes to make it on her own in the Big Apple. Hiding her true identity, Barbara helps the boys behind the scenes without their knowing it. Inevitably, Jingles and Bob clash over Barbara's affections, a problem that isn't resolved until the last possible moment. Craig Stevens, TV's future Peter Gunn, is featured in another of those "stuffed shirt" characterizations in which he was then specializing at Warners. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 1931 George Arliss vehicle The Millionaire was updated and retailored in 1947 as That Way With Women. Sidney Greenstreet plays the old Arliss role as automobile tycoon James P. Alden, forced into involuntary retirement by his well-meaning wife Minerva (Barbara Brown) and family doctor Harvey (Howard Freeman). Anxious to get his hands grimy with good honest work once more, Alden assumes the identity of family gardener Herman Brinker and takes a grease-jockey job at the corner gas station run by pugnacious Greg Wilson (Dane Clark). It so happens that Wilson, unaware of Alden's true identity, has fallen in love with Alden's snobbish daughter Marcia (Martha Vickers)-and though she won't admit it, she's crazy about Wilson too. The plot thickens when a group of corrupt local-government officials, in league with Marcia's duplicitous fiance Carter Andrews (Craig Stevens), use underhanded methods to force the honest Wilson out of business. As an upshot, the flustered Alden, still posing as Brinker, spends a night in the hoosegow. Eventually everything turns out OK, permitting Sidney Greenstreet to give out with his trademarked gravelly chuckle. More slapstick-oriented than the original The Millionaire (which was based on a story by Earl Derr Biggers, of "Charlie Chan" fame), That Way With Women was perfectly attuned to postwar audience tastes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi