Robert Hutton Movies

Though its purely propagandastic aspects are never far from surface, Destination Tokyo must rank as one of the most intelligent and objective of wartime thrillers. Cary Grant is a tower of strength as Captain Cassidy, skipper of an American submarine bound for Tokyo harbor. Its mission: to allow a Navy meterologist to survey Japanese weather conditions, in preparation for a major Allied assault. Many of the individual incidents in Delmar Daves' script are based on fact, notably an episode in which a pharmacist's mate is called upon to perform an emergency appendectomy. Admittedly, some of the secondary characters are WWII stereotypes, but they're never played that way. Particularly good isDane Clark, in his first important screen role; also registering well as a radio man is John Forsythe, in his first screen role ever. From the sub's embarkation in San Francisco to its climactic retreat from Japan, there's not a single solitary dull moment in the 135 minutes of Destination Tokyo. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The West Coast's answer to Broadway's Stage Door Canteen, the Hollywood Canteen was created as a GI morale-booster by film stars Bette Davis and John Garfield. The Canteen was established so that Our Boys on leave in Tinseltown could have a good time with good food and good dancing -- and, as a bonus, rub shoulders with their favorite movie personalities, who functioned as waiters, chefs, busboys and dancing partners. Since the 1944 all-star flick Hollywood Canteen was produced by Warner Bros., it was only to be expected that the celebrities seen herein would consist mostly of Warner Bros. contract players. The frail plot concerns a soldier on medical leave (played by Robert Hutton) who falls in love with lovely leading lady Joan Leslie (played by Joan Leslie) while visiting the Canteen. Bette Davis and John Garfield are on hand to emcee the Canteen's variety acts, and to act as cupids for the Hutton/Leslie romance. The "supporting cast" includes the likes of The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, Sidney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Roy Rogers, S.Z. Sakall, Barbara Stanwyck, and the Jimmy Dorsey and Carmen Cavallaro musical aggregations. Virtually everyone involved donated their salaries to the Canteen fund--even Jack Benny. As with most of these patriotic wartime star rallies, the results are a mixed bag: the best sequences include Benny's violin "duel" with Joseph Szigeti and Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers introducing Cole Porter's Don't Fence Me In. Hollywood Canteen won three Oscar nominations, more for its good intentions than its inherent excellence. Still, don't pass up the opportunity when this "movie star salad" shows up on cable TV. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This odd combination of roughneck comedy and serious domestic drama was adapted by Louise Randall Pierson from her own autobiographical novel. Rosalind Russell is cast as young Louise Randall, the headstrong daughter of a New England merchant. Inheriting her father's business, Louise intends to persevere in a "man's world," and to that ends takes business courses at Yale. Here she meets and marries banker's son Rodney Crane (Donald Woods), with whom she has four children. When wishy-washy Rodney runs off with another woman, Louise marries a second time to irresponsible but likable gambler Harold Pierson (Jack Carson) -- and gets pregnant again. Though Louise and Harold are as different as night and day, theirs is a lasting union, which remains solid despite whatever misfortunes come their way. The story ends at the outbreak of WW II, with Louise and Rodney bidding a tearful but hopeful goodbye to their three grown sons as the boys prepare to enter military service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Adapted from a novel by Rachel Field, Time Out of Mind is a slow-moving costume drama enlivened by its stars. Servant girl Kate Ferald (Phyllis Calvert, in her first Hollywood film) falls in love with Christopher Fortune (Robert Hutton), the scion of a wealthy New England sailing family. Chistopher is likewise smitten by Kate, but the class structure of the 19th century precludes their marriage. Aware that their union is not to be, Kate renounces Christopher and encourages him to wed someone from his own social class. As the years go by, Kate is the mute witness to Christopher's frustration and unhappiness, culminating in a fatal bout with alcohol. Standing out in the huge cast are Ella Raines as Christopher's "sensible" sister Rissa and Eddie Albert as the obligatory best friend/severest critic Jake Bullard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this frothy, star-studded Warner Brothers outing, tightwad tycoon Jonathan Turner, believing himself at death's door, gives star-struck movie buff Jane Barker a million bucks. Problems begin when Jane's hubby, an aspiring writer, finds out about her new fortune. Marital turmoil ensues causing Jane to launch divorce proceedings. He in turn begins demanding alimony. The situation seems at a permanent impasse until the Turner miraculously recovers and decides he wants the money back. ~ Rovi

In this comedy, two stepsisters fight for the love of the same man. One of the sisters is good-looking and vivacious. She is also an utter fluffhead. Her sister is pragmatic and plain, but in the end, she gets the man. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The story of the outlaw Younger Brothers is duly Hollywoodized in this Technicolor western. Wayne Morris, Bruce Bennett, Robert Hutton and James Brown star as Cole, Jim, Johnny and Bob Younger, who as the film begins have just been released from jail. They try hard to follow the straight and narrow path, but when ex-Pinkerton man Ryckman (Fred Clark) launches a campaign of vengeance against the boys, out come the six-guns. One of Ryckman's schemes is to use female bandit Kate (Janis Paige) to lure the Youngers back into a life of crime. The villain very nearly succeeds, but the boys are saved by the beneficence of the screenwriters. Prominent in the cast of The Younger Brothers is Alan Hale, who showed up in practically every Warner Bros. western made between 1939 and 1950. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

As indicated by the title, Beauty on Parade is largely an excuse to display beautiful, well-proportioned young women in the latest swimming attire. That's okay for the men in the audience, but the ladies needed a plot to hold their attention, so here goes. Future All My Children-star Ruth Warrick plays aging beauty queen Marian Medford, who attempts to vicariously regain her past glories through her pretty daughter Kay (Lola Albright). Marian's relentless promotion of her daughter on the beauty-contest circuit has an injurious effect on Kay's romantic life, not to mention her own marriage to Jeffrey Woodstock (John Ridgely). "B"-picture "regular" Robert Hutton co-stars as a journalist who follows the beauty contestants from pageant to pageant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Cinecolor "A" western Slaughter Trail anticipated High Noon by having its story narrated in song by troubadour Terry Gilkyson. The basic plotline is a traditional Indians-vs.-whites affair, with cavalry officer Dempster (Brian Donlevy) trying to undo the damage created by Indian-hating bandit Vaughn (Gig Young). Upon cold-bloodedly murdering two Navajos, Vaughn has fomented a deadly tribal war, with Dempster's cavalry post right in the middle. Other endangered species include a supposed damsel-in-distress (Virginia Grey), who turns out to be Vaughn's accomplice. Filmed in 1950, Slaughter Trail was purchased by RKO head-man Howard R. Hughes in 1951. Hughes withheld release of the film until he was able to reshoot all scenes involving Howard da Silva, who'd originally been cast in the Brian Donlevy role. Da Silva was under a political cloud as an alleged pro-communist at the time, and the xenophobic Hughes wasn't about to release any film with a "Pinko" in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Writer and director Samuel Fuller enjoyed his first box-office and critical success with this hard-boiled but human tale of men at war, informed by his own experiences in the armed forces. Zack (Gene Evans) is a gruff U.S. Army sergeant who is the lone survivor of an attack on his outfit in North Korea. Rescued by a friendly Korean orphan he dubs Short Round (William Chun), Zack tries to make his way back to friendly territory with the boy as his guide. Zack crosses paths with Thompson (James Edwards), an African-American medic who like Zack narrowly escaped death after an enemy attack, and as they make their way through the jungle they encounter a platoon led by Lt. Driscoll (Steve Brodie), a humorless by-the-books type who has no use for Zack. Zack, Thompson and Driscoll's men -- among them Japanese-American "Buddhahead" Tanaka (Richard Loo), former conscientious objector Bronte (Robert Hutton) and nervous grunt Baldie (Richard Monahan) -- make their way to an abandoned Buddhist temple to set up an observation post, but they soon run afoul of the enemy. Shot in a mere ten days, with the battle scenes staged in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, The Steel Helmet captured the tension and gritty circumstances of war with commendable accuracy and Evans delivered a superb performance in his first starring role as Zack. The film proved controversial in some quarters due to scenes in which Fuller's characters discuss racism against Asians and Blacks in the United States, though the film manages to be resolutely patriotic at the same time. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The fraternal comedy team of George and Bert Bernard gained fame in the 1950s with their "record act," wherein they pantomimed to the popular recordings of the day (other aspiring comics who labored in this peculiar brand of humor included Jerry Lewis and Dick Van Dyke). Republic Pictures decided that the time was ripe to turn the Bernard Brothers into movie stars, and so it came to pass that Gobs and Gals were born. George and Bert play a couple of sailors stationed at a remote South Sea weather station. To keep themselves well stocked with cookies, candy and the like, the boys send out love letters to various stateside girls, enclosing photographs of their much handsomer commanding officer (Robert Hutton). Somehow this harmless subterfuge gets the Bernard boys mixed up with a nest of Soviet spies, headed by modern-day Mata Hari Sonya Dubois (Florence Marly). Some of the jokes at the expense of Stalinist communism are amusing, as is the film's zany slapstick finale. Otherwise, Gobs and Gals was proof positive that George and Bert Bernard posed no threat to Martin and Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bob Hope tries to capture the comic magic of his 1946 costume farce Monsieur Beaucaire with the splashy Technicolor romp Casanova's Big Night (filmed in 1952, released in 1954). Set in 18th century Venice, the film casts Hope as Pippo, the humble tailor of notorious ladies' man Casanova (an unbilled Vincent Price). When Casanova skips town without paying his debts, the local tradesman's guild, led by Casanova's butler Lucio (Basil Rathbone), conspire to pass off one of their number as the great lover and arrange a profitable marriage. Selected to impersonate Casanova is the hapless Pippo, who soon afterward is hired by the imperious Duchess of Castelbello (Hope Emerson) to test the fidelity of the duchess' future daughter-in-law Elena (Audrey Dalton). Along the way, Pippo is given lessons in etiquette and swordsmanship by both Lucio and tradeswoman Francesca (Joan Fontaine). Eventually, Pippo finds himself up to his neck in court intrigue, courtesy of the scheming Doge of Venice (Arnold Moss). Further complications include a couple of hilarious swashbuckling scenes, an interlude in a dungeon with addlepated prisoner Emo (Lon Chaney), and the obligatory disguise scene. The Pirandellian ending of Casanova's Big Night was later imitated by such films as The Maltese Bippy (1969) and Wayne's World (1992). Bob Hope is in fine form, the production is sumptuous and the supporting cast superb, but somehow there's a little something missing in Casanova's Big Night. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi