Peter Godfrey Movies

With cheerful shamelessness, Walt Disney managed to use several first-season episodes of his Disneyland TV anthology to plug his newest live-action theatrical feature, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Disney introduces this episode by strolling into his studio's "Monster Room", where reams of research material concerning squids, octopi and the like are kept on reserve for the benefit of his animators and photographers. The rest of the episode features candid shots of the film's stars, Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre, as they prepare to interact with the fabricated monstrosites created for the picture. According to Douglas, he waived his usual salary to appear in this episode, opting instead for copies of Disney films for his youngsters. Monsters of the Deep was shown three times during Disneyland's inaugural season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed on location in Mexico (one of several Hollywood-financed films of the 1950s to take advantage of the lower production and labor costs south of the border), One Big Affair stars Evelyn Keyes as Jean Harper, a scatter-brained American schoolteacher and Dennis O'Keefe as Jimmy Donovan, a stateside lawyer. When Jean is separated from her tour group, it is assumed that she's been kidnapped. In fact, she has fallen in love with fellow tourist Donovan, and has joined him in his journey to Acapulco. The local constabulary refuse to believe that Donovan isn't a kidnapper, and a zany chase across Mexico ensues. One Big Affair was produced by the estimable Benedict Bogaeus, on the verge of his lucrative association with RKO Radio, and director Allan Dwan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Great Jewel Robber is based on the true story of Gerard Dennis, who during a 12-month period managed to steal more than a million dollars' worth of gems. As played by David Brian, Dennis is an incorrigible ladies' man, who uses women to help him pull off his heists. The first of his conquests, played by Claudia Barrett, pays for his escape from the Canadian authorities. The second (Perdita Chandler) is his partner in crime in Buffalo, New York. The third woman in his life, played by Marjorie Reynolds, ultimately brings about his downfall. For the sake of verisimilitude, Mayor Stanley Church of New Rochelle, Connecticut (where Dennis was finally caught) appears in the prologue as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Zachary Scott uncharacteristically plays for laughs in Warner Bros.' One Last Fling. Scott plays Larry Pearce, the dullish husband of Olivia Pearce (Alexis Smith). When Larry enters into a perfectly innocent business arrangement with gorgeous Gay Winston (Veda Ann Borg), Olivia misunderstands, as does Gay's pugnacious husband Victor (Douglas Kennedy). The ensuing complications are fairly predictable, indicating perhaps that the screwball-comedy format was wearing thin in 1949. Some of the best moments are provided by stalwart supporting players Ann Doran and Jim Backus. Also featured in the cast is legendary radio humorist Ransom Sherman, who never did find a suitable screen vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Woman in White attempts to translate the archaic prose of 19th century gothic-mystery writer Wilkie Collins to the medium of film. Gig Young plays a 19th century painter who, while en route to a country estate, encounters a strange, ethereal young lady (Eleanor Parker) who both begs his help and insists that he keep their meeting a secret. He will meet the girl again at several crucial junctures -- though she will fail to recognize him. The painter has unknowingly stumbled upon a scheme by the diabolical Count Fosco (Sydney Greenstreet) to claim an inheritance on behalf of a dissipated nobleman (John Emery); the plan involves a marriage of convenience to the hapless lady of the house (Alexis Smith), blackmail, hidden siblings, and the suppression of a dark family secret involving Fosco's neurotic wife (Agnes Moorehead). The full plotline is far too labyrinthine to go into detail here -- in fact, it can barely be followed in the film itself. While The Woman in White suffers from excess verbiage, the film is at its best in its shadowy, nocturnal "conspiracy" set pieces and in the scenes with timorous aristocrat John Abbott, to whom every raised voice is a threat to his fragile health. And keep an eye on Sidney Greenstreet's pet monkey, Iago, easily the most well-adjusted character in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The tense psychological drama Cry Wolf offers a fascinating if not altogether successful change of pace for action star Errol Flynn. Most of the story takes place at a remote and forbidding mansion, where Sandra Marshall (Barbara Stanwyck), the widow of the house's owner, arrives to take charge. An apparent golddigger, Sandra refuses to be bought off with a small cash settlement and insists on claiming her late husband's entire estate, which earns her a powerful enemy in the form of research scientist Mark Caldwell (Flynn). Upon learning that her headstrong sister-in-law Julie (Geraldine Brooks) is kept a virtual prisoner in the house, Sandra begins suspecting that Caldwell is up to no good-a suspicion seemingly confirmed when Julie dies under mysterious circumstances. But as the story slowly unravels, it becomes clear that Caldwell is actually the hero of the piece, while the villain is...well, best not to give too much away here. Cry Wolf was Geraldine Brooks' first film, and the second for her costar Richard Basehart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Humphrey Bogart plays a psychotic killer who disposes of his wives through slow ingestion of poison in The Two Mrs. Carrolls, made in 1945 but shelved for two years because of its similarity to Gaslight. Bogart is Geoffrey Carroll, an artist who paints a portrait of his wife as "The Angel of Death" and then meets Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck), with whom he quickly falls in love. In order to get rid of his wife and take up with Sally, Geoffrey slowly poisons his spouse by lacing her nightly glass of warm milk with liberal doses of toxic chemicals. He sends his daughter Beatrice (Ann Carter) away to school and, while the daughter is away, his wife dies. He immediately marries Sally and they appear to be happily together. But a few years pass and Geoffrey begins to work on another "Angel of Death" portrait of Sally, this time after he falls in love with his attractive neighbor Cecily (Alexis Smith). As before, Sally begins to grow weak from the daily nightcap of tainted milk. But complications set in when Cecily demands that she and Geoffrey run away together and the local druggist, Mr. Biagdon (Barry Bernard), presents Geoffrey with a blackmail demand. But Geoffrey overplays his hand when he once again tries to send Beatrice away to school. Sally now begins to suspect her husband is a serial killer. Borrowing a gun from a friend, Sally must defend herself against her deranged and murderous husband. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, an adaptation of the play The Animal Kingdom, a liberal, social reformist photographer falls in love with a wealthy gadabout, and finds she abhors his decadent life even though she loves him. She then takes up with another whom she marries. Unfortunately, she still loves the playboy. This does not make her new hubby very happy especially when she and her ex-love meet again and begin carrying on. The husband ends up headed for a quickie divorce in Reno. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Vicki Baum, the author of the novel Grand Hotel, also wrote this similarly structured tale about a group of disparate characters brought together in a towering hotel in Germany as the nation teeters on the verge of collapse near the end of World War II. Martin Richter (Helmut Dantine), a member of Germany's anti-Nazi underground, has escaped from a prison camp and is now on the run from the Gestapo; he's hiding out at the Hotel Berlin, once a palace of luxury but now a shadow of it's former glory. Martin used to work with Johannes Koenig (Peter Lorre), once a renowned scientist before he was forced to use his gifts for his Nazi captors; he now lives under an assumed name and scrapes by as a waiter rather than support the Axis war machine. Arnim Von Dahnwitz (Raymond Massey) is a disgraced Nazi general on the outs with Gestapo leader Joachim Helm (George Coulouris), who has a lot on his mind -- he's looking for Martin, he's riding herd over Arnim, and he has designs on Arnim's mistress, Lisa Dorn (Andrea King). Lisa, a stage actress of some success, is one of the few at the hotel who is able to live in some semblance of the glamour of Berlin's glory days; her wardrobe makes her the envy of Tillie Weiller (Faye Emerson), the hotel's concierge who pretends to be everyone's friend but is actually keeping tabs on the anti-Nazi activities of her tenants and is preparing to turn them in to the Gestapo. Hotel Berlin was completed in great haste, since midway through production it became obvious that Berlin would soon fall and the war in Europe would be over. Warner Bros. was so eager to get the film into theaters -- before the war's end would make the film seem dated -- that Hotel Berlin went through the studio's editing department in less than a week. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old manor house in London, built in 1804 by a British admiral (C. Aubrey Smith) and blitzed in 1940 by one Adolf Hitler. Through the portals of this house pass a vast array of Britons, from high-born to low. The earliest scenes involve gay blade Lt. William Trimble (Ray Milland), wronged country-girl Susan (Anna Neagle), and wicked landowner Ambrose Pomfret (Claude Rains). We move on to a comic interlude involving dotty Mr. Simpson (Reginald Owen), eternally drunken butler Bellamy (Charles Laughton), and cockney plumbers Mr. Dabb (Cedric Hardwicke) and Wilkins (Buster Keaton). Maidservant Jenny (Ida Lupino) takes over the plot during the Boer War era, while the World War I sequence finds the house converted into a way-station for soldiers (including Robert Cummings) and anxious families (including Roland Young and Gladys Cooper). Finally we arrive in 1940, with American Gates Pomfret (Kent Smith) and lady-of-the-house Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick) surveying the bombed-out manor, and exulting over the fact that the portrait of the home's founder, Adm. Eustace Trimble (Smith), has remained intact -- symbolic proof of England's durability in its darkest hours. The huge cast includes Dame May Whitty, Edward Everett Horton, Wendy Barrie, Merle Oberon, Nigel Bruce, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp, and a host of others -- some appearing in sizeable roles, others (like Arthur Treacher and Patric Knowles) willingly accepting one-scene bits, simply to participate in the undertaking. Seven directors and 21 writers were also swept up in the project. Forever and a Day was supposed to have been withdrawn from circulation after the war and its prints destroyed so that no one could profit from what was supposed to have been an act of industry charity. Happily for future generations, prints have survived and are now safely preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the second sound version of the Robert Louis Stevenson "doppelganger" tale. This time Spencer Tracy plays the benevolent Dr. Jekyll, whose experiments in releasing the evil impulses within himself transform him into the bestial Mr. Hyde. The problem here is that while Tracy is convincing enough as Hyde, we have trouble accepting him as the kindly Jekyll--exactly the opposite of the 1931 version, in which Fredric March was credible as both Jekyll and Hyde (in fairness to Tracy, it must be noted that he didn't want to play the role and had to be forced into it). MGM decreed that no publicity pictures be released showing Tracy in his Hyde makeup, thereby building up audience anticipation. It's just as well that MGM kept these pictures under wraps: Tracy's Hyde looks less like the Living Personification of Evil than like a man who's been on a three-day bender. The most fascinating aspect of this version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the casting of the two leading ladies. Ever since the 1920 John Barrymore version of this story, it has been de rigeur to symbolize the schism between Jekyll and Hyde by giving him both a "good" and "evil" girlfriend. Originally, MGM adhered to typecasting by assigning the good girl to Ingrid Bergman and the bad one to Lana Turner. But Bergman begged the studio to be allowed to play the more wicked of the two ladies; as a result, hers is by far the best performance in the picture. Neither as lively as the 1920 version nor as innovative as the 1931 remake, MGM's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is weighted down with tiresome dialogue and over-obvious symbolism (catch that dream sequence in which Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner make like racehorses!) Despite its shortcomings, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was infinitely preferable to the next remake, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The schizophrenic screenplay of The Earl of Chicago is rendered even more bizarre by the uneven performance by Robert Montgomery. He plays Silky Kilmont, a Runyonesque American gangster who inherits a British title (Earl of Gorley) and mansion. Taking charge of his new estate, Silky has an amusing time trying to acclimate himself to the customs of the "landed gentry". Things take a sinister turn when Silky discovers that his trusted attorney Doc Ramsey (Edward Arnold) is actually a bigger crook than he is. In a rage, Silky murders Ramsey, then goes into what appears to be a catatonic shock, refusing to defend himself at his murder trial. Blood finally tells at the climax when Silky Kilmont, aka the Earl of Gorley, meets his fate with a dignity and decorum worthy of his aristocratic forebears. The queasy atmosphere of the film is heightened by its utter lack of romance; outside of character actress Norma Varden, there are barely any women in the film at all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide