Arthur Horman Movies

Juvenile Jungle looks suspiciously like a standard kidnap drama, rewritten to conform with the "juvernile delinquent" cycle of the late 1950s. Gang leader Hal McQueen (Corey Allen) goes out of his way to ingratiate himself with Caroline Elliot (Anne Whitfield), the daughter of a wealthy shopkeeper. It's all part of McQueen's master plan to fake Caroline's abduction and extort a great deal of money from her daddy. Trouble begins brewing when Hal falls in love with Caroline, while his hoodlum buddies intend to go through with the snatch for real. Director William Witney struggles manfully to inject some excitement into the plodding plotline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The best way to described the economically assembled religious picture Day of Triumph is "sincere". Though the film details the Last Days of Jesus Christ (Robert Wilson), top billing is bestowed upon Lee J. Cobb as Zadok, leader of the Zealots. The all-character-actor cast includes James Griffith as Judas, Tyler McVey as Peter, Lowell Gilmore as Pilate and veteran western heavy Anthony Warde as Barabbas. The biggest "name" in the cast is Joanne Dru as Mary Magdalene, while relative newcomer Touch (later Michael) Connors appears as Andrew. The film was directed by Irving Pichel, who'd previously helmed the independently produced religious drama Martin Luther. Once an annual Easter TV attraction, Day of Triumph has in recent years been relegated to limited exposure on America's UHF religious stations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Estelita Rodriguez, Republic Pictures' own Latin Bombshell, is back in Tropical Heat Wave. Once again, Rodriguez, playing herself, is a new arrival from Cuba who sets the U.S. on its ear with her unbounded enthusiasm. Taking a singing job at her uncle's Manhattan nightclub, Rodriguez is threatened with abduction or worse by mobster Norman James (Grant Withers) unless he is allowed to gain control of the nitery. Professorial criminologist Stratford Carver (Robert Hutton) comes to the heroine's rescue by posing as a hard-bitten hoodlum (though in fact he seems a lot less frightening than Rodriguez!) Like the concurrently produced Judy Canova musicals, Tropical Heat Wave consists of several rambunctious musical numbers, a kidding-on-the-square romance, and a slapstick finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Undertow stars Scott Brady as a gambler just out of wartime military service. No longer interested in wagers and speculations, Brady wants only to open up a mountain vacation lodge. Before this can take place, Brady is framed for murder, and forced to hide out in the home of Peggy Dow. With the help of Dow and a policeman friend, Brady searches for the real murderer--who turns out to be an old friend who is in cahoots with Brady's fiancee. Watch carefully in Undertow and you'll spot new Universal contractee "Roc" Hudson as a plainclothes detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Runaround is a game attempt to return to the "screwball comedy" genre so popular in the 1930s. Rival detectives Kildane (Rod Cameron) and Prentice (Broderick Crawford) are hired simultaneously by millionaire Norman Hampton (Samuel J. Hinds). Their client informs the two gumshoes that he has a daughter named Penelope (Ella Raines) who has run off to get married, and he wants her back. After a chase extended from New York to San Francisco, Kildane manages to get the better of Prentice and catches with to Penelope. The two antagonists then embark on a riotous cross-country tug-of-war, with poor Penelope in the middle. Only upon returning to New York with Penelope does Kildane discover that he's been deliberately sent on the wrong track by Hampton, whose interest in the heroine-who isn't all that she seems--is anything but paternal. Throughout The Runaround, Ella Raines seems far too intelligent to be involved in the silly goings-on, and thoroughly undeserving of the rather rough treatment afforded her by her two leading men. Even so, the film is a pleasant diversion, with a satisfying (if not altogether logical) conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At 88 minutes, Here Come the Co-Eds is one of the longest of Abbott & Costello's Universal starring vehicles, and though not necessarily the best, it manages to sustain a high comic content throughout. The scene is a financially strapped girl's college, where professional dancer Molly (Martha O'Driscoll) lands a scholarship. Molly's manager-brother Slat (Bud Abbott) has arranged this as a means to publicize his sister's showbiz career, which angers the college's chairman of the board (Charles Dingle), who threatens to foreclose on the school. To keep tabs on Molly and also find ways of raising the mortgage money, Slats and his pal Oliver (Lou Costello) takes jobs as school caretakers, immediately running afoul of ill-tempered groundskeeper Johnson (Lon Chaney Jr.) One of Slats' schemes involves a championship basketball game, in which Oliver, hypnotized into thinking that he's petite female student "Daisy Dimple", effortlessly sinks one basket after another (Costello, a top high school athlete, performed these scenes without the aid of a double). What ultimately saves the college is a concert by Phil Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra, featuring "Evelyn and Her Magic Violin." While the obligatory chase scene in Here Come the Coeds (this time involving a sailboat on wheels!) is a disappointment, several of Abbott & Costello's comic setpieces are hilarious, notably the time-honored "Jonah and the Whale" routine and the "oyster in the chowder" bit. Funniest line: while performing a musical duet with costar Peggy Ryan, Costello sighs "I feel just like Donald O'Connor." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two Bowery vaudevillians compete to be the first to produce shows on Broadway. They might be friends were they not so convinced that each has stolen ideas from the others. This bouncy musical chronicles their rivalry and the success they find after they finally team up. Unfortunately the success is short-lived when one of them suddenly departs to work for a beautiful woman. This time the feud erupts with a vengeance. Fortunately, their paths again cross and a happy ending follows. Songs include: "Just Because You Made Dem Goo Goo Eyes at Me", "There'll Always Be a Moon", "Coney Island Waltz", "Yippie-I-Addy-I-Ay", and "Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this, one of many World War II propaganda films of the early 1940s, Errol Flynn is one of five RAF pilots to survive a crash-landing in occupied Poland. They are relentlessly pursued by Nazi officer Raymond Massey, who despite his erudition and poise comes across as one of the densest men on earth--not that his Nazi underlings are any brighter. After repeatedly humiliating Massey and laying waste to most of the Third Reich installations in Poland, Flynn and cohort Ronald Reagan steal a German bomber and head back to England. "Now for Australia and a crack at those Japs!" declares Flynn at the end, admirably maintaining a straight face. Desperate Journey gained some negative fame in the 1980s because of its brief scenes in which Ronald Reagan dons a Nazi uniform. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of his best early Westerns, Tim Holt avenges the accidental shooting of his father by robbing the Cedar Fork bank, who owes him 20,000 dollars. With his uncle Red Haggerty (Morris Ankrum) and old friend, Whopper (Lee White), in tow, Tim then plans to take on the bank in Remington. The Haggerty gang, however, arrives just in time to see the bank getting robbed by a gang controlled by saloon owner Joel Nebitt (Roy Barcroft) and Tim and Whopper instead join the sheriff's posse. The grateful citizenry elects Tim marshal and with the help of Red, the youngster manages to clean up the lawless town. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Filmed on a B-picture budget, Buck Privates was Universal's biggest box-office hit of 1941, firmly securing the movie popularity of the studio's hot new team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The story is fairly evenly divided between the antics of Bud and Lou-here cast as sidewalk salesmen Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown-and the romantic triangle involving Randolph Parker III (Lee Bowman), Judy Gray (Jane Frazee) and Bob Martin (Alan Curtis). Escaping the wrath of policeman Mike Collins (Nat Pendleton), Slicker and Herbie duck into a nearby movie theater, which unbeknownst to them has been converted into a US Army recruiting center. As the boys are reluctantly inducted into the Service, wealthy draftee Parker hopes to pull a few strings to avoid putting on a uniform, while Parker's former chauffeur Martin willingly answers his call to the Colors. Once ensconced in boot camp, Slicker and Herbie continually run afoul of their sergeant, who is none other than their old nemesis Mike the cop. Meanwhile, Parker and Martin vie for the attentions of USO hostess Judy, who'll have nothing to do with Parker until he proves his worth as a soldier. Poor Slicker and Herbie are shunted into the background as the romantic subplot is resolved, but at least our heroes get to steal the film's closing scene. It's hard to believe that anyone cared about the Parker-Martin-Judy triangle with Abbott & Costello on hand to perform their classic "dice game", "awkward squad", "turn on the radio" and "boxing ring" routines-not to mention their timeless verbal exchanges, the best of which finds Bud convincing Lou that if he marries an underage girl, she'll eventually be older than he (it plays better than it reads!) As a bonus, the film spotlights the Andrews Sisters, performing such top-ten tunes as "Apple Blossom Time" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". Even from the vantage point of six decades, with the WWII draft but a dim memory, it is easy to see why Buck Privates was such a huge success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The comic effusions of Hugh "woo woo" Herbert helps to keep this otherwise forgettable farce afloat. It all begins when Bob Wade (Tom Brown) and Rosalie Brown (Peggy Moran), are conned into buying a run-down vaudeville agency. Upon taking charge of the failing enterprise, they find they have a partner named Hubert (Herbert),who's likewise been victimized by con artists. Pooling their wits and resources, the three suckers put some life back into their agency by promoting variety acts for department-store window displays. A stupid misunderstanding nearly breaks up the budding romance between Bob and Rosalie, but helpful Hubert patches things up in his own inimitable fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal Studios had their "B" musicals down to a science in the 1940s. All that was needed was a cast of talented contractees, four or five modest production numbers, and a title based on a popular song hit. In I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby, Broderick Crawford plays a sentimental gangster who abducts songwriter Johnny Downs and forces him to write a love ballad. It is Crawford's hope that the song will reach out and touch his long-lost childhood sweetheart. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby was based on James Edward Grant's short story Trouble in B Flat; echoes of the basic premise later resurfaced in the 1957 "A" picture The Girl Can't Help It. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Andrews Sisters made their screen debut in Argentine Nights, but the stars of the show are the Ritz Brothers, in the first of their four Universal vehicles. The wafer-thin plotline finds the Ritz boys showing up flat broke in Argentina with an all-girl band. Despite their utter lack of funds, the zany trio tries to save a local hotel from the clutches of a con man. Highlights include the Ritz Brothers' famous "hero sandwich" routine (repeated by the two surviving brothers in 1975's Blazing Stewardesses) and a perversely hilarious climax in which the Ritzes are called upon to impersonate the Andrews Sisters (which may have given rise to Patty Andrews' oft-quoted observation "We looked like the Ritz Brothers in drag"). As a bonus for fans of the Superman TV series, nominal romantic lead George Reeves warbles the deathless tune "Amigo We Go Riding Tonight". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide