Richard Lane Movies

A would-be nightclub entertainer finds her life jeopardized after she inadvertently witnesses a gangland murder while heading for an audition. Fortunately, a brave photographer is there to save her and this crime drama ends on a happy note. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Boston Blackie is back and in hot pursuit of a jewel thief and killer in this mystery. The reformed thief soon tracks the thief to the domicile of a suspicious spiritualist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Boston Blackie's Rendezvous quite transcended its B-picture origins, and was easily the best of Columbia's "Boston Blackie" series. In this one, crook-turned-sleuth Blackie (Chester Morris) tries to track down homicidal maniac James Cook (Steve Cochran). This time it's personal: Cook has been committing a number of violent murders while posing as Blackie. Stuck in the middle is Sally Brown (Nina Foch), who is kidnapped by the villain so that Blackie will lay off. When asked in later years about Boston Blackie's Rendezvous, Nina Foch couldn't remember too many plot details, but did note with pride that costar Richard Lane (cast as Blackie's perennial nemesis Inspector Farraday) later became a prominent TV sportscaster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an amnesiac awakens and finds himself accused of murder. Fortunately, a female cabbie helps prove his innocence. Things look bleak until a bullet wound helps him regain his memory and he can prove he didn't kill anyone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

What a Blonde gets under way when wealthy lingerie manufacturer Fowler (Leon Errol) runs out of valuable gas-ration coupons. Knowing that he can secure additional coupons if he forms a car pool, Fowler orders his butler Pomeroy (Richard Lane) to seek out a few "riders." Pomeroy returns with a group of brassy showgirls, headed by boisterous blonde Pat (Veda Ann Borg). In the fine tradition of RKO Radio's Leon Errol 2-reelers, Fowler is saddled with a jealous wife (Lydia Bilbrook) who looks askance when her husband piles into his car with a bevy of gorgeous girls. Hardly the "mirthquake" advertised by the studio, What a Blonde is still an enjoyable time-killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Laurel & Hardy's last American film is a marked improvement over their previous 20th Century-Fox features, though still not in the same league as their 1930s classics. Stan and Ollie play a couple of detectives from Peoria, Illinois, who fly to Mexico City to arrest the notorious Larceny Nell (Carol Andrews). Their South-of-the-Border visit coincides with the much-anticipated arrival of famed Spanish bullfighter Don Sebastian-who happens to be the exact double of Stan Laurel! When Don Sebastian's Mexican debut is delayed by passport problems, press agent Hotshot Coleman (Richard Lane) persuades Stan to take the toreador's place in the bullring. Stan is understandably reluctant until Hotshot threatens to turn the boys over to his business partner, sports promoter Richard K. Muldoon (Ralph Sanford). It seems that several years earlier, Stan and Ollie wrongly sent Muldoon to prison; upon his release, he vowed to someday catch up with the boys and literally skin them alive ("First the little one, then the big one!") With this threat hanging over their heads, Laurel & Hardy are forced to acquiesce to Hotshot's scheme-leading to a chaotic nightclub incident, a hectic misadventure at a bull farm, and a climactic riot at the bull arena when the real Don Sebastian finally shows up. Though it falls apart in the final reel thanks to an overabundance of mismatched stock footage gleaned from Blood and Sand (1941), The Bullfighters is for the most part a fond throwback to Laurel & Hardy's glory days: the highlight is an egg-breaking routine revived from 1934's Hollywood Party. Curiously, none of the reviewers in 1945 mentioned the film's grotesquely hilarious closing gag, which must be seen to be believed. Rory Calhoun (billed as Frank McCown) shows up in a bit as a rival bullfighter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy of mistaken identity, a group of young of budding theatrical performers endeavor to put on their own show and enlist the aid of twin brothers. One of them is a producer while the other is a business magnate. Songs include "Hold That Line," "A Dream Said Hello" (sung by Rooney and the Stardusters), "Me and My Whistle," "Come Back Erin," "Rhythm's What You Need," "The Happy Polka," "Stars and Violins" (Everett Carter, Milton Rosen), "The Blue Danube" (Johann Strauss, adapted by Katherine Bellamann), "Put Your Arms around Me Honey" (June McCree, Albert von Tilzer). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The year is 1942: Mr. Winkle (Edward G. Robinson), a mild-mannered bank clerk, decides to quit his job and open a fix-it shop in his garage. Winkle's wife Amy (Ruth Warrick) disapproves of this, and orders her husband to move into his little shop. Tired of being browbeaten, Winkle is delighted when his draft notice shows up. Fitted for a uniform, Winkle has the wind taken out of his sails in basic training, but soon finds that army life agrees with him; when given a chance to go home when the draft age is lowered to 38, he refuses to do so. Transferred to the South Pacific, Winkle instinctively performs a conspicuous act of bravery. He returns home a much-decorated hero, but he's too shy to partake in the ceremonies in his honor, opting instead to return to his shop, and to his now-loving wife Amy. A tailor-made Edward G. Robinson vehicle, Mr. Winkle Goes to War was adapted by Waldo Salt, George Corey and Louis Solomon from a novel by Theodore Pratt. Watch for Robert Mitchum, Hugh Beaumont and Miss Jeff Donnell in unbilled bits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

But for the presence of the Columbia "torch lady" in the opening credits, it would be easy to mistake Judy Canova's Louisiana Hayride for one of her concurrently-produced Republic musicals. The rambunctious Canova is cast as backwoods heiress Judy Crocker, who comes to Hollywood in hopes of crashing the movies. Con artists J. Huntington McMasters (Richard Lane) and Canada Brown (George McKay) try to use Judy's presumed gullibility to their advantage, but she proves a little shrewder than she looks. Several of Canova's cornpone tunes were co-written by Saul Chaplin, later a top Hollywood musical director. And that's not all: the star's two handsome leading men are none other than Lloyd Bridges and future producer-director Ross Hunter! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Released by Monogram, A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine was packaged by Biltmore Productions, a partnership consisting of Abbott and Costello's agent Eddie Sherman and Lou Costello's father Sebastian Cristillo. Though Elyse Knox, Sally Eilers and Ann Gillis head the cast, the film is a showcase for nightclub comedian Henny Youngman, here cast as a Hollywood agent named (what else?) Henny. Sent out by his studio to sign up a pair of gorgeous Broadway stars (Ramsay Ames and Marjorie Woodworth) Henny signs the stars' understudies (Knox and Gillis) by mistake. Fortunately, the "substitutes" are every bit as talented as the real stars, and as a result are contracted to appear in a big-budget film, cast as the aforementioned WAVE and WAC (who's the Marine)? Henny Youngman's delivery was as sharp then as it is now, but he was undermined by substandard sound recording. More impressive was the first-time direction of former Universal production assistant Philip Karlstein, who went on to auteur fame as Phil Karlson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A nebulously sinister title disguises the fact that this is actually a "Boston Blackie" mystery, the seventh in Columbia's series. Reformed criminal Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) is accused of stealing the Niles diamond from a charity function. The police cut a deal with Blackie: If he'll locate the gem, they'll drop the charges. This time the cops go so far as issuing Blackie a police badge, which he uses with amusing abandon. One Mysterious Night, together with The Chance of a Lifetime (43) and The Phantom Thief (46), was given a non-identifiable title so that Columbia could coerce non-"Boston Blackie" fans into the theatre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This lively entry in the "Boston Blackie" series finds Blackie (Chester Morris) acting as spiritual leader of a group of ex-convicts. The plan is for the former inmates to redeem themselves by working in a defense plant. Only problem: some of the cons (Douglas Fowley, Arthur Hunnicutt et. al.) have no intention of going straight and are planning a major robbery. Predictably, suspicion falls upon the only honest one (Erik Rolf) in the bunch -- and upon Blackie, who is himself a previous "guest of the state." Chance of a Lifetime represents the first directorial effort of William Castle, who later claimed that, saddled with a hopeless project, he made the film "work" by re-arranging the reels in the editing room (it sure doesn't look like it was put together that way!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Practically everybody on the Warner Bros. lot shows up in the wartime morale-boosting musical extravaganza Thank Your Lucky Stars. Believe it or not, this one has a wisp of a plot. A pair of enterprising producers, played by S.Z. Sakall and Edward Everett Horton, want to hire singer Dinah Shore for their upcoming Cavalcade of Stars. Unfortunately, this means they must deal with Shore's boss, radio comedian Eddie Cantor. The egotistical Cantor insists upon joining the show himself, driving everyone crazy with his take-charge attitude. Meanwhile, singer Dennis Morgan, hoodwinked by a crooked agent into thinking he's signed a contract with Cantor, shows up backstage at Sakall and Horton's rehearsal, only to be given the boot. While all this is going on, aspiring actress Joan Leslie has befriended a bus driver named Joe Simpson--who happens to be a dead ringer for Eddie Cantor (and why not? Ol' "Banjo Eyes" plays both parts). Turns out that Joe is another showbiz wannabe, but he has been denied a break because he looks too much like Cantor. You see what's comin' now, right, folks? Morgan and Leslie will get their big breaks when Joe Simpson impersonates Eddie Cantor, who's been kidnapped by Indians (bet you didn't see that one coming!) All of this expository nonsense is merely an excuse to show off Warners' talent roster in a series of engaging specialty numbers: John Garfield talk-sings Blues in the Night, Jack Carson and Alan Hale do a buck-and-wing, a jitterbug number is performed by Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and George Tobias, Hattie McDaniel and Willie Best strut their stuff in Ice Cold Katie, and so on. Highlights include Errol Flynn's That's What You Jolly Well Get, an English music hall-style sendup of Flynn's movie heroics, and Bette Davis' peerless (and endearingly off-key) rendition of They're Either too Young or Too Old. As a bonus, Humphrey Bogart shows up long enough to be browbeaten and intimidated by S.Z. Sakall ("Gee, I hope none of my movie fans see this!" moans Bogart as the soundtrack plays a mocking rendition of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?) Subtle and sophisticated it isn't, but Thank Your Lucky Stars is so entertaining that you'll forget all about its multitude of flaws. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide