Fred Johnson Movies

In this slick melodrama, a sort of film-noir for women, a nightclub singer has an affair with an unhappily married San Francisco doctor. Though the physician desperately wants to leave his wife, he lacks the courage to ask for a divorce. In retaliation, the singer accepts an offer to move East and start up a new club in New York. Lost without the singer, the doctor is without option until his partner suddenly dies. With a burst of inspiration, he fakes his own death and flees to New York. Later, he is horrified to learn that his death has been officially declared a homicide, and so he goes into hiding in the singer's apartment. To cope with his fear and the increasing success of his lover, the physician begins drinking heavily. This only makes him paranoid and more depressed and he begins to suspect his lover is having an affair. Upon confronting the "lover," a fight ensues, the doctor wins, and thinking he killed his rival, he takes off -- only to end up in a horrible traffic accident that leaves his face unrecognizable. Though plastic surgery gives him a new identity, it is at that time that he is arrested and sent back to California to stand trial for his own murder. Rather than burden his family with the shock that he is still alive, the doctor insists that his lover keep mum, and he stoically goes to trial where he is sentenced to Death Row. Beautifully photographed by James Wong Howe in typically expressionistic style, the film focuses on the desperation and entrapment of the characters and expresses a true bleak, fatalistic film-noir sensibility which makes this film unique in the genre. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this costume drama, a woman finds herself the prize in a battle between two jealous brothers. Eventually she marries the suave one, but finds that he is most displeased by her inability to behave in a matter he deems appropriate for a woman of her station. The sad wife takes her troubles to the other brother who suggests she divorce her husband and take up with him. She ignores the advice and reconciles with her man. The angered brother then poisons the husband and tries to get the wife blamed for the death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Just before directing the comedy classic The Lavender Hill Mob, Charles Crichton dashed off the romantic melodrama Dance Hall. The story takes place in a London dance emporium, frequented by the local working girls. Natasha Parry stars as Eve, whose marriage to Phil (Donald Houston) is imperiled when she takes a different partner for an upcoming dance contest. Her reasoning is that Phil is a lousy dancer, but she loves him all the same; Phil, however, is the jealous type, who doesn't quite see things Eve's way. Among the familiar faces floating by in Dance Hall are Bonar Colleano, Diana Dors, and Petula Clark (yes, her career went back that far). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three generations of a Scottish clan are chronicled in this melodramatic saga. The film starts with the death of a sickly med student in a Glasgow slum. His fiancee also dies in childbirth. Her brother, who survives, begins raising her baby girl who grows up to have an affair with a lab assistant. Her "father" disapprove and threatens to destroy the wedding. She retaliates by poisoning him and then gets married. She bears a son. Unfortunately she has never recovered from the guilt of her earlier murder and ends up taking her own life. Later her son grows up to discover a vaccine for a fatal disease. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Widely considered to be the definitive of the many film versions of Charles Dickens' classic novel is this 1951 British adaptation, starring Alastair Sim (entitled "Scrooge" in its U.K. release). Sim plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a London miser who, despite his wealth, refuses to make charitable contributions and treats his sole employee, Bob Cratchit, as an indentured servant. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his late business partner, Jacob Marley, who was as selfish as Scrooge in life and has been condemned to an eternity of wandering the Earth in shackles. Marley informs Scrooge that he's to receive a trio of spirits that night who will take him on a journey through Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As Scrooge encounters each apparition, he is taken on a tour of his life and realizes what a wretch he is, transformed by greed from an idealistic youth into an embittered ogre. Infused with a new, cheery outlook, Scrooge sets about earning his redemption. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The blarney is as thick as the characters' brogues in You Can't Beat the Irish. Jack Warner stars as lazy but enterprising Irish paterfamilias Bartley Murnahan. To support his family, Bartley has hit upon a foolproof scam. By arranging a series of subtle subterfuges, he convinces his neighbors that he has fallen heir to a huge fortune. Before long, Bartley is the cock of the walk, never having to pay a cent for anything because all the local merchants assume he's going to reimburse them tenfold when the legacy is settled. The beautiful part of the scheme is that Bartley himself never has to tell a lie: he merely relies upon the gullibility and greed of those around him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Mills followed his successful Gentle Gunman with the tensioned-filled meller The Long Memory. Convicted for a murder he did not commit, Davidson (Mills) spends 12 long years in prison. Upon his release, he vows to get even with the three witnesses who perjured themselves and clenched his conviction. Returning to the scene of the crime, he begins gathering clues as to the whereabouts of the witnesses. That's when he discovers that the alleged murder victim is alive and well! John McCallum co-stars as Inspector Lowther, who has spent the past dozen years mulling over the Davidson case, wondering if the man was innocent after all. For the sake of plot convenience, it turns out that Lowther is married to one of the lying witnesses! The Long Memory was based on a novel by Howard Clewes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Land of Fury is an austere "western" set in New Zealand during the 1820s. The epic-proportioned storyline involves a group of British pioneers seeking a new life in Down Under. Sailor Jack Hawkins and his wife Glynis Johns are the central characters, struggling to impose their British sense of order upon their primitive surroundings. Hostilities between native tribes and greedy settlers lead to a tragic, but not unexpected climax. Land of Fury was originally released in Great Britain as The Seekers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though filmed ten years after The Saint Meets the Tiger, the British The Saint's Girl Friday is generally regarded as the final entry in RKO's "Saint" series of 1938-43. Louis Hayward, who first played Leslie Charteris' soldier-of-fortune Simon Templar in the 1938 film The Saint in New York, returns to the role after a 16-year absence. This time, Templar comes to London at the invitation of an old female acquaintance. When he arrives, he discovers that the woman is dead, the possible victim of a vicious gambling syndicate. Together with chronic gambler Carol Denby (Naomi Chance), who is being blackmailed into acting as a come-on for the crooks, Templar takes on chief heavy Max Lennar (Sidney Taffler), all the while keeping one step ahead of Scotland Yard inspector Teal (Charles Victor). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in Ireland, The March Hare stars Terence Morgan as Sir Charles Hare, a wastrelly aristocrat who gambles away his family fortune. About to be evicted from his ancestral racing stables, Hare decides to stay on when he's mistaken for a groom by the new American owner's pretty daughter Pat Maguire (Peggy Cummins). Continuing to conceal his true identity, Hare helps Pat to raise a colt for racing purposes, leading to a lengthy but exciting Derby Day finale. Though The March Hare has lapsed into public domain, most existing prints retain the vivid color cinematography of Patrick Hildyard. The film was based on Gamblers Sometimes Win, a novel by Captain Field. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Break in the Circle is one of several late-1950s British films given American distribution by 20th Century-Fox. Forrest Tucker heads the cast as American soldier of fortune Skip Morgan, who is hired by German millionaire Baron Keller (Marius Goring). The baron wants Skip to smuggle a Polish scientist out of East Germany and into England. Our hero agrees, little knowing that the greedy Baron is pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with freedom and democracy. Eva Bartok plays the requisite mystery woman who, like the baron, hides her true intentions from Morgan until the very end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Curse of Frankenstein was the "breakthrough" picture for the fabled Hammer Studios. Told in flashback, the story centers around Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), a dangerously arrogant scientist who takes it upon himself to play God. Using portions of dead bodies, Victor fashions a synthetic monster (Christopher Lee) with a bad attitude. In a radical departure from the Frankenstein canon, it is the imperious Victor who orchestrates the film's two murders by "borrowing" the brain of a learned professor, then leaving his next victim at the mercy of the monster. In 1958, the film spwaned the sequel Revenge of Frankenstein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide