Leon Gordon Movies

Roger Corman's stripped-down remake of Universal's 1939 period classic elevates that film's supporting player Vincent Price to the starring role, essayed in the original by Basil Rathbone. Price chews scenery as hunchbacked mad monarch Richard III, who ascends the throne through murder (including the Duke of Clarence's wine-vat drowning), torture (lovely Sandra Knight gains a few inches on the rack), and elaborate deception. Bloody events and plot twists notwithstanding, this low-budget outing is painfully threadbare for a period piece, even in comparison to Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films for AIP from the same period. The film's saving grace is found in Price's manic performance, which ranks among the horror legend's most flamboyant. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

This hysterical drive-in favorite pits a community of swamp-dwelling yokels against the silliest-looking monsters since the shag-rug aliens of The Creeping Terror. Despite the strange sucker-marks found on a dead trapper's blood-drained body, and a man's story of seeing his unfaithful wife and her lover dragged into the swamp by the creatures, the police refuse to acknowledge that something freaky is going on. Only after more trappers disappear does the local game warden decide to take action, which he does with a vengeance. When the leech lair is discovered in a cave beneath the swamp, explosives are employed to blow them to little rubber bits. It's hard to be too critical of this early film from prolific TV-director Bernard L. Kowalski (Night of the Blood Beast), since executive producer Roger Corman allocated a budget for this production that would hardly cover the catering bill on a major studio film -- even in 1960! Look carefully to spot the scuba tanks beneath the leech costumes. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

George Montgomery both produced and starred in the psychological western Black Patch. Written by character actor Leo Gordon (who also appears on screen), the story revolves around one-eyed marshal Clay "Black Patch" Morgan (Montgomery). The marshal is delighted to find out that his old buddy Hank Danner (Leo Gordon) is riding into town, but less than thrilled to learn that Danner is now a wanted outlaw. Reluctantly throwing his friend into jail, Morgan sets off a chain reaction of terror, beginning with a jailbreak engineered by crooked saloonkeeper Frenchy De Vere (a particularly vicious performance by Sebastian Cabot) and culminating in a showdown between the marshal and Danner's young protégé Flytrap (Tom Pittman). This is the sort of film in which a rape is represented by the symbolic opening and closing of a screen door. Black Patch seems pretentious when seen today, but in 1957 a western never lost money at the box-office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rogue's March was described by one observer as an eastern western. A mustachioed Peter Lawford stars as Capt. Dion Lenbridge of His Majesty's Service. Branded a traitor, Lenbridge is cashiered from the regiment. In fact, Lenbridge isn't a traitor, but he spends the next 84 minutes proving it. He makes it his mission in life to rid India of the insidious influence of Russia, whose leaders intend to establish a stronghold in the Jewel of the British crown. Though the Russians depicted herein are of the Czarist variety, they spout curiously communistic dialogue, a reflection of the Red paranoia then prevalent in Hollywood. With the grudging assistance of Captain Thomas Garron (Richard Greene), Lenbridge valiantly thwarts the rascally Russians' schemes during a climactic desert battle. Janice Rule is on hand as the nominal love interest, while Leo G. Carroll does a C. Aubrey Smith routine as Lenbridge's stiff-upper-lip father. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though one might have expected friction between MGM's resident "nice lady" Greer Garson and Warner Bros. notorious "bad boy" Errol Flynn, the two got along splendidly during the filming of That Forsyte Woman. Based loosely on The Man of Property, book one of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga, the film casts Garson as Irene Forsyte, the independently-minded wife of tradition-bound Victorian "man of property" Soames Forsyte (Flynn). Rebelling against her husband's repressed nature and preoccupation with material possessions, Irene falls in love with unconventional architect Philip Bossiney (Robert Young). When he proves to be too free-spirited even for her, Irene moves on to the Forsyte clan's black sheep, Young Jolyon (Walter Pidgeon). Soames makes a belated attempt to win his wife back, but once again proves incapable of warmth, compassion or understanding. The casting-against-type of Garson and Flynn was fascinating, even when the film itself dragged (Flynn in fact was slated to play either Bossiney or Young Jolyon, but insisted upon taking the less characteristic role of Soames). That Forstye Woman was lavishly photographed in color on MGM's standing "British" sets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield's best-selling novel covers the years 1875 through 1938. Eightyish widow Mrs. Susie Parkington (Garson) gathers together all of her grown children in an effort to bail out son-in-law Amory Stilham (Edward Arnold), who's gotten in Dutch through crooked financial deals. As the children and grandchildren bicker over the "impossibility" of giving up any part of their inheritance, Mrs. Parkington's mind wanders back to her marriage to wealthy mine owner Maj. Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and her own efforts, as an unlearned Nevada serving girl, to fit into proper Manhattan society. Augustus' ex-love Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead, in a surprisingly sexy role) is engaged to teach Susie the in and outs of which fork to use and how low to curtsy. Shut out by the "400," Susie is avenged by her husband, who wheels and deals to ruin the snobs financially. Later on, he assuages his anger by conducting several extramarital affairs, before perishing in one of those convenient movie auto accidents. Just how all these incidents strengthen Mrs. Parkington's resolve to rescue her wastrel son-in-law is a mystery that even two viewings of this overlong soap opera may not solve. Incidentally, Greer Garson isn't the only one who is prematurely aged in Mrs. Parkington; keep an eye out for 27-year-old Hans Conried, convincingly playing a doddering musician. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The once-notorious theatrical chestnut White Cargo was toned down for public consumption in this 1942 MGM-ized adaptation (the property had been previously filmed in England in 1929). More sullen than sexy, Hedy Lamarr stars as Tondelayo, the libidinous African native girl who nearly drives rubber-plantation manager Langford (Richard Carlson) to ruin and madness. Though warned by local English magistrate Witzel (Walter Pidgeon) not to "mammy-palaver" with the natives, Langford falls hopelessly in love with Tondelayo, marrying her in defiance of convention and anti-miscegenation laws. Alas, the restless Tondelayo soons tires of married life, just as Langford wearies of his bride's near-manic possessiveness. She tries to come on to Witzel, who'll have none of it, then plots to rid herself of her husband by systematically poisoning him during a bout of fever. A studio-imposed prologue and epilogue set in the 1940s was inserted to assure the audiences from the outset that Langford would eventually wise up and divest himself of the troublesome Tondelayo. Though corny and campy in the extreme, White Cargo is one of the films for which Hedy Lamarr is best remembered. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Those popular MGM co-stars William Powell and Myrna Loy take a break from their usual Thin Man duties to star in the zany comedy I Love You Again. The film opens with Loy prepared to divorce her dull businessman husband Powell. A blow on the head causes Powell to remember his former life as a notorious con man. No one in town has any knowledge of Powell's criminal past, a fact he hopes to use to his advantage. Loy, astounded at Powell's sudden surge of amorous ardor, reconsiders her divorce. When she learns of his true identity, she is even more fascinated. Another blow on the head restores the non-criminal Powell--at least, that's what he and Loy would like you to believe. The film's highlight is a screamingly funny sequence in which Powell plays scoutmaster to a group of surly youngsters (including Our Gang veterans Carl Switzer and Mickey Gubitosi, aka Robert Blake). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This remake of Penthouse (33) stars Walter Pidgeon as a smooth attorney with a few embarrassing friends. One of these is a gangster (Leo Carrillo) whom Pidgeon has successfully defended. When Pidgeon must go after his "pal" for murder, he is forced to go into hiding. He is also compelled to set up house with a sexy nightclub entertainer (Virginia Bruce), whose encyclopedic knowledge of the gangster's illicit activities will come in handy in court. It doesn't have quite the same bite as Penthouse, thanks mainly to tighter censorial restrictions; the nightclub singer, for example, was a hooker in the original. Both films were based on the same story by Arthur Somers Roche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Yank at Oxford was filmed in England at MGM's "sister studio", Elstree. Robert Taylor plays Lee Sheridan, an arrogant young American scholar/athlete who intends to show the "Brits" a thing or two while attending Oxford University. His abrasive attitude grates against the Oxonian students, who retaliate by subjecting Sheridan to a rather humiliating hazing. Romance enters the picture in the form of Molly Beaumont (Maureen O'Sullivan), the sister of Sheridan's chief academic rival Paul Beaumont (Griffith Jones). When Paul faces disgrace over a breach of student ethics, Sheridan nobly shoulders the blame, simultaneously endangering his own future at Oxford and proving that he's really a "right guy" underneath. All is forgiven during the annual rowing competition against Cambridge, with Sheridan coming through in jolly good fashion. Cast as campus vamp Elsa Craddock is the stunningly beautiful Vivien Leigh, still two years away from Gone With the Wind. A Yank at Oxford was remade in 1984 as Oxford Blues, and mercilessly lampooned by Laurel & Hardy in 1940's A Chump at Oxford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Unguarded Hour opens with prosecutor Sir Alan Deardon (Franchot Tone) in the midst of a murder trial. He gets his conviction, while his wife, Lady Helen (Loretta Young), sits furrow-browed on the sidelines. Helen had witnessed the murder and thus can prove that the condemned man (Dudley Digges) is innocent. But she cannot come forth with this information without revealing a past indiscretion in her husband's life, for which she is being blackmailed. To make a long story short, which MGM didn't, Sir Alan ends the film not as a prosecutor in a murder case, but as the prosecuted. Based on a play by Ladislas Fodor and Bernard Merivale, The Unguarded Hour represented the Hollywood debut of that splendidly satanic villain Henry Daniell, cast to type as the blackmailer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Critics in 1935 recognized immediately that Age of Indiscretion drew its inspiration from the well-publicized Gloria Vanderbilt custody battle. Paul Lukas plays publisher Robert Lenhart, a man of conservative tastes who is unfortunately saddled with a footloose socialite wife named Eve (Helen Vinson). When Lenhart begs his wife to curb her excesses, she retaliates by entering into an illicit affair with Felix Shaw (Ralph Forbes), deserting her young son Bill (David Jack Holt). Providing moral support for Lenhart and his son during this crisis is faithful secretary Maxine Bennett (Madge Evans). Upon paying a visit to Lenhart's home, Felix Shaw's wealthy and powerful mother Emma (May Robson) finds Maxine in the living room. Assuming the worst, Emma forces Eve to sue for custody of her child, then distorts the evidence in court to paint Lenhart as a philandering monster. The outcome of the case hinges on the child's testimony, and it is this which forces Emma to realize how wrong she's been. Too bad that the litigants in the Vanderbilt case weren't as polite and reasonable as the characters in Age of Indiscretion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide