Nancy Kelly Movies

In this pilot film for a never-sold weekly series, Paul Hecht stars as Joe Tyler, a former Army intelligence officer turned private investigator. For a tidy fee of 5,000 dollars, Tyler agrees to impersonate a businessman who has been slated for assassination. Unearthing a vast conspiracy to defraud a land-development firm, the hero may well get blown to bits before he can make his findings public. Clearly, the planned series was to have Paul Hecht pose as a different person each week, with similar explosive results. The Impostor was broadcast by NBC on March 18, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Can evil be inherited? That's the question posed by Maxwell Anderson in his stage play The Bad Seed. This 1956 film adaptation stars many actors from the Broadway version, including Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart. Young McCormack plays Rhoda, a too-good-to-be-true grade schooler who occasionally exhibits a vicious streak whenever things don't turn out her way. During a picnic, one of Rhoda's schoolmates is drowned; the victim is a boy who'd won a penmanship medal that Rhoda had coveted. Nancy Kelly, the girl's mother, slowly comes to the horrible conclusion that Rhoda was responsible for the boy's death--a suspicion fueled by the discovery that Kelly, who was adopted as an infant, is the daughter of a convicted murderess. Meanwhile, a moronic handyman (Henry Jones) accidentally tumbles to Rhoda's secret, whereupon he is "accidentally" burned to death. Realizing that Rhoda must be stopped before she can kill again, and reasoning that the authorities would never believe the truth, Kelly tries to put the girl to sleep permanently with barbituates, then shoots herself. The play's ironic ending--the mother dies, while the unsuspected Rhoda lives on--is sacrificed for a "divine retribution" finale in the film, with Rhoda being punished by a convenient bolt of lightning. This alteration is acceptable, but director Mervin LeRoy further gilds the lily with an asinine closing-credits sequence wherein Nancy Kelly throws Patty McCormack over her knee and administers a spanking! The 1985 TV movie remake of The Bad Seed retains the play's original ending, but all in all is not half as entertaining as the 1956 version (its hokey denouement notwithstanding). McCormack later starred in Max Allan Collins' unofficial 1995 sequel Mommy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Most of this Republic B-plus mystery yarn is set in a penthouse, next door to a music hall where a strange song-and-dance extravaganza is being staged. This production incorporates several ice-skating sequences--a good excuse as any for the presence of leading lady Vera Hruba Ralston, Republic's answer to Sonja Henie. Ralston and orchestra leader William Marshall come across the body of producer Edward Norris. Almost everyone in the cast is placed under suspicion, since Norris was a cad and blackmailer. The surprise killer is (as usual) not that much of a surprise, though the scenarists keep us going with some last-minute red herrings. Murder in the Music Hall was reissued in a shortened version titled Midnight Melody in 1951. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Follow That Woman is a tad more light-hearted than most Pine-Thomas adventure efforts. William Gargan plays private eye Sam Boone, who is about to be inducted into the Army. Before donning uniform, Boone attempts to solve a murder, but Uncle Sam is a little faster than he is. Still on the "outside", Boone's wife Nancy (Nancy Kelly) takes it upon herself to finish the case that Sam started. Yes, it's another "Thin Man" derivation, given a bit of currency by its wartime setting. The story doesn't always make sense, but William Gargan and Nancy Kelly work together quite well. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

With famed journalist Drew Pearson appearing in the film's prologue and epilogue, it was easy in 1945 to confuse Betrayal from the East with Real Life. Lee Tracy is once again cast as a seemingly disreputable type with a heart of gold, in this case an expatriate ex-GI named Eddie. Believing that he'd be willing to sell out his country, a Japanese spy ring approach Eddie and ask him to get his hands on secret American war plans. But Eddie is still a true-blue Son of Uncle Sam; at the behest of Army Intelligence, Eddie agrees to play counterspy, using dictaphones, phony messages and other such devices to pull the wool over the enemy's eyes. The results aren't very pretty for either Eddie or his fellow counterspy Peggy (Nancy Kelly), though the audience can take some comfort in the fact that their sacrifice was for the good of Democracy. Fairly slow going during most of its 82 minutes, Betrayal From the East comes to a startling conclusion as Peggy suffers mightily at the hands of her Japanese captors. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After a year's absence, entertainer Eddie Cantor returned to the screen in the self-produced Show Business. The plot is loosely based on Cantor's own rise to fame, from vaudeville to Broadway. Covering the years 1914 to 1929, the film reflects the changing tastes in entertainment, though Cantor (as in real life) steadfastly remains the same. Co-stars George Murphy and Joan Davis likewise borrow from their own showbiz experience in playing their characters, while Constance Moore, who was still in her playpen when Cantor was at the height of his Ziegfeld Follies fame, provides the standard love interest. Highlights include such Cantor standards as "Curse of an Aching Heart," "Whoopee," and "Dinah," the latter performed in blackface. The best ensemble number is a devastating satire of Grand Opera, with Joan Davis particularly amusing as a Wagnerian soprano. A few excerpts from Show Business were reused as "flashbacks" in the subsequent Cantor-Davis starrer If You Knew Susie (1948). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit continued humming profitably along with 1943's Tornado. Chester Morris (who eventually appeared in eight Pine-Thomas efforts) stars as coal miner Pete Ramsey, who falls in love with, and secretly marries, scheming showgirl Victory Kane (Nancy Kelly). Anxious to escape her poverty-stricken surroundings, Victory urges Pete to lobby for the position of mine superintendent. Climbing ever upward on the social and economic ladder, Victory has an affair with wealthy mine operator Gary Linden (Morgan Conway). She finally receives her comeuppance during the tornado of the title-an impressive piece of special effects, though obviously not in the league of Twister. Tornado was scripted by Maxwell Shane and directed by William Berke, two stalwarts of the Pine-Thomas operation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The luridly titled Women in Bondage was Monogram's "answer" to RKO Radio's wartime melodrama Hitler's Children. The plot concerns the nationalization and subjugation of Germany's women during the Third Reich. Expected to devote their every waking moment to the cause of Nazism -- and this includes bearing strong Aryan children for Der Fatherland -- several women, notably Margot Bracken (Gail Patrick), begin to rebel. When she finally determines that Hitler has gone to far in his regimentation of the populace, Margot casts her lot with the Allies, becoming a martyr to the cause of freedom. Unusually well-acted for a Monogram film, Women in Bondage boasts an especially strong cast, including Nancy Kelly, Gertrude Michael, Anne Nagel, Tala Birell and H.B. Warner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this remake of the 1925 silent film, the breakup of a lifelong friendship between two German millionaires is chronicled. The trouble begins as WW II erupts. One of the men becomes sympathetic to the U.S. while the other becomes a Nazi sympathizer. They spend most of the film arguing about political philosophy. The trouble really starts when the Nazi millionaire is tricked into paying for German sabotage operations. One of the vehicles he inadvertently destroys carries his own son. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this remake of the 1930 film of the same name, a bank robber suffers a war wound and undergoes plastic surgery. Upon his recovery, he discovers that he is the exact double of a banker (who is trapped in a German POW camp). Being an opportunist, the fellow then assumes the banker's identity and his wife while he plans another caper. Fortunately, an observant Yard inspector sees through the robber's masquerade. Later the robber goes straight after revealing the plans of a German spy ring to steal every penny from the bank. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though it isn't obvious from the outset, A Very Young Lady is a remake of 20th Century-Fox' Girl's Dormitory; both films were based on a Hungarian play by Ladislas Fodor. Stepping into the old Simone Simon role is Jane Withers as hoydenish Kitty Russell, who is packed off to finishing school in the hopes that the experience will turn her into "a lady". Falling in love with headmaster Dr. Meredith (John Sutton), Kitty dares not express her ardor verbally, so she writes passionate love letters to the teacher, never intending to mail the mushy missives. Alas, one of the letters finds its way to Meredith's desk, resulting in a big-time scandal. It's up to teacher Alice Carter (Nancy Kelly), who also harbors a crush on Meredith, to straighten out the mess. Among other things, A Very Young Lady was the film in which Jane Withers receives her first screen kiss (Trivia alert: the boy is played by Richard Clayton). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The third film version of Earl Derr Biggers' novel Love Insurance, One Night in the Tropics stars Allan Jones as a hotshot insurance salesman who sells a policy to his best pal Robert Cummings. Cummings will earn $1 million if he fails to marry his fiance Nancy Kelly. Half of the policy is underwritten by tough gambling-house owner William Frawley, who panics when Cummings heads for a Caribbean isle in pursuit of Peggy Moran. As for Kelly, she wants no part of Cummings once she finds out she's a pawn in his policy. Well, who cares? The real attraction of One Night in the Tropics is the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, here making their feature film debut in the roles of Frawley's flunkeys. Though they never get in the way of the plot (worse luck!), Abbott and Costello have plenty of time to perform several of their best routines, including "Mustard," "Jonah and the Whale," and a tantalizingly brief excerpt of "Who's on First?" Outside of A&C's contributions, the film boasts several pleasant if forgettable tunes by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Though not a big box-office success, One Night in the Tropics garnered such positive reviews for Abbott and Costello that the team was rewarded with its own vehicle, the 1941 cash cow Buck Privates. Note: many TV prints of Tropics are struck from the 69-minute reissue of the late 1940s, in which the "straight" plot was pared to down to give more emphasis to Abbott and Costello. The original 82 minute version was recently restored for videocassette release. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This slick marital farce features Joel McCrea as T. H. Randall, a race horse owner whose devotion to his work causes a strain in his relationship with wife Valerie (Nancy Kelly). Unable to stand any more neglect, Valerie divorces Randall, even though the audience is well aware that she's still in love with him. Reduced to poverty by his huge alimony payments, Randall cooks up a scheme with lawyer Bill Carter (Roland Young) to marry off Valerie to staid Paul Hunter (Lyle Talbot). But during a weekend party at the home of dowager Ethel (Mary Boland), Randall resents the attentions lavished upon Valerie by rakish young Freddie (Cesar Romero). It doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out who winds up with whom in the last scene. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi