Michael Kraike Movies

A circus goes to the dogs (or, more accurately, the dogs come to the circus) in this light-hearted action-adventure tale. Lucky Vincent (James Franciscus) is a gambler who, after a stretch of bad luck, owes over $12,000 to mobster Solly Kramer (Jack Carter). Lucky is rescued from Solly's goons by Daniel Hughes (Fred Astaire), a born-again Christian with a team of trained Doberman pinschers. After going undercover at a circus, Lucky persuades Hughes to work up an act with his dogs and join the carnival; when Lucky discovers that Solly and his gang intend to rob an armored car hauling the circus's box office take, Hughes and his canine friends step forward to help thwart the plot. Along the way, Lucky also finds time to make romance with a beautiful circus performer named Justine Pirot (Barbara Eden). The Amazing Dobermans was the second in-name-only sequel to The Doberman Gang, which shared the same director and talented four-footed performers, but none of the same plot points or characters. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The slimy underbelly of psychiatry is revealed in this nasty exploitation drama that centers on a female psychiatrist who talks about her tawdriest cases, examples of which, including incest, masochism, impotency and prostitution, are illustrated. When not talking, the doctor and her daughter get involved in a few wild adventures of their own including an orgy and a campus riot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Charlotte Hastings' West End stage hit Bonaventure was adroitly translated to the American screen as Thunder on the Hill. The bulk of the action takes place at convent, presided over by Sister Mary (Claudette Colbert). Circumstances -- namely, a dangerous rainstorm and raging flood -- dictate that the convent become a stopover for Valerie Carns (Ann Blyth), a convicted murderess who is being escorted to Death Row by a brace of guards. Slowly becoming convinced that Valerie is innocent, Sister Mary sets about to clear the girl and bring the genuine killer to justice. It goes without saying that said killer is also a reluctant guest of the convent. A superb shadow-laden climax in the convent's belltower caps this heart-pounding mystery meller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though the title role of Frenchie goes to Shelley Winters, top billing in this period actioner is bestowed upon Joel McCrea as sheriff Tom Banning. Hoping to find her father's murderers, New Orleans gambling-house proprietress Frenchie Fontaine (Shelley Winters) sets up shop in the Wild West. With the help of sheriff Banning, Frenchie is able to locate one of the two killers. But after tracking down the second culprit, Banning finds himself facing a murder charge. Though it isn't readily obvious, Frenchie is actually a reworking of 1939's Destry Rides Again, with Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters playing variations of the characters originally essayed by James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

South Sea Sinner is a remake of 1940's Seven Sinners, with Shelley Winters in the Marlene Dietrich role and MacDonald Carey as the John Wayne counterpart. Winters plays cabaret singer Coral, who manages to spark a riot wherever she goes. Carey co-stars as Jake Davis, who has been wandering aimlessly throughout the South Seas ever since he was framed on a gun-smuggling charge. These two volatile personalities become embroiled in the crooked schemes concocted by all-around villain Cognac (Luther Adler). Featured in the cast are Frank Lovejoy as Jake's best friend, and Helena Carter as the "right" girl for Our Hero. But the film's main attraction for modern audiences is the one and only Liberace, making his film debut as Coral's sardonic accompanist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

So far as the rest of the world is concerned, Deborah Chandler Clark (Ida Lupino) is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband (Stephen McNally), Deborah had intended to commit suicide. Now she is the "woman in hiding" of the title, living in mortal fear that someday her husband will catch up with her again. Howard Duff, Ida Lupino's husband-to-be, co-stars as a returning GI who turns out to be the hero of the piece. One particularly suspenseful sequence takes place during a noisy convention, with Joe Besser scoring as an obnoxious reveller. Woman in Hiding would make an interesting companion piece to Julia Roberts' Sleeping with the Enemy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) returns home after a few years of knocking around the country following his divorce from good-time girl Anna (Yvonne De Carlo). Getting his old job back driving an armored car, and not even convincing himself that he's making a new start, he also wants his old wife back. When he finds Anna, he quickly learns that she is involved with gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). Nonetheless, they carry on a clandestine affair, with Steve foolishly believing that Anna will return to him. Even after she marries Slim, Steve, with her encouragement, masochistically clings to this doomed obsession. So when Slim catches them together, Steve ad libs plans for an armored car robbery that includes Slim. The two rivals form an uneasy and untrusting collaboration, but Steve and Anna plan to double cross Slim. However, the title of Robert Siodmak's film noir gem is, not incidentally, Criss Cross. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

With 1947's Desperate, a disturbing, noirish twist on traditional moral values, responsibility, and guilt, director Anthony Mann entered the ranks of class-A directors, though he'd still have to spend a few more years in "B" pictures. In his first important role, Steve Brodie plays newlywed trucker Steve Randall, who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time during a fur robbery. Kidnapping Steve, the criminals, led by Walt Radak (Raymond Burr), threaten to mutilate Mrs. Randall (Audrey Long) unless Steve confesses to a murder committed by Radak's brother during the theft. Pretending to play along with the villains, Steve manages to escape with his wife in tow. The rest of the film is a prolonged chase, with the Randalls pursued by both the crooks and the cops. A surprise ending caps this film noir mini-classic, which is best appreciated when not seen in its computer-colorized version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Whenever budget-conscious Columbia laid out good money for Technicolor in the 1940s, it was usually for a musical or an "A" western. Renegades falls into the latter category. Fresh from The Jolson Story, Larry Parks stars as the son of a notorious, Scripture-spouting outlaw (Edgar Buchanan). Parks tries to go straight, but eventually succumbs to expectations and becomes a renegade along with his father and brothers. Willard Parker is the peaceable town doctor who guns down Parks in the climax, while Evelyn Keyes is the leading lady, who insists upon finding Parks fascinating despite of (or maybe because of) his reputation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures' entree into the swashbuckling genre was the opulent 18th century costumer The Fighting Guardsman. Willard Parker stars as Baron Francois de Sainte Hermaine, who is in reality the Robin Hoodlike righter-of-wrongs Roland. Robbing the wealth-laden coaches of King Louis XVI (Lloyd Corrigan), Roland redistributes the wealth to the poor and oppressed. Complicating his mission is the fact that Roland has fallen in love with French aristocrat Amelie de Montreval (Anita Louise), whose family is perceived to be enemies of "the people". Everything is resolved during the French Revolution, which in this instance seems to exist solely to straighten out the hero's love life. Were it not for the presence of such Columbia contractees as Edgar Buchanan and George Macready, The Fighting Guardsman might well have been taken for an MGM or Warners epic. Stock footage from Fighting Guardsman would pop up for years to come in the cheapie adventure films of producer Sam Katzman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, two young women make their money scamming dance hall patrons. The two conniving gals attempt to victimize two handsome GIs, but change their minds when they fall in love with them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

New chorus member Eadie Allen (Ann Miller) is the only thing that's good or lively or fresh in a run-down burlesque revue run by Tommy Farley (William Wright). He gives her a featured number and soon she's the star of the show, and he'd like to get to know her better because, conniver though he is, he's also genuinely falling in love with her, but she won't let him know anything about herself. And with good reason -- Eadie is a socially prominent debutante, a member of an old-money family of blue-noses; she wants to be an actress (something they wouldn't hear of) and Farley was the only producer willing to hire her. She's appalled by burlesque, and the physical comedy she's forced to perform, but the audience loves her and she gets to prove she can do a good song, and is also conned by Farley -- appealing to her patriotism and her good nature -- to stay with it. And she becomes a star, which is wonderful until the two sides of her life start to collide at the edges. Her college roommate Pepper (Miss Jeff Donnell) is attracted to the eccentric Professor Diogenes Dingle (Joe Besser), who is no professor but a burlesque comic himself impersonating a teacher; and one of Eadie's legitimate teachers twice spots her performing on stage and otherwise identified in public. The complications pile up until it looks as though Eadie will lose her chance at real love and also her chance to graduate from college. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

This was the seventh entry in Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series, and there were still two more to come. Per the title, trouble-prone high schooler Henry (Jimmy Lydon) finds himself in charge of a contentious group of scouts. He nobly takes the blame for the pranks perpetrated by young Ramsey Kent (Darryl Hickman), to spare Ramsay's dad, a friend of Henry's father (John Litel) from embarrassment. After numerous zany complications, the film wraps up with the old "hanging from a cliff by a rope" scene, which seems to be obligatory in every Boy Scout movie ever made. Though panned at the time of its release, Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout is one of the series' funnier entries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide