Mary C. McCall, Jr. Movies

After he is accidentally struck on the mouth by the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), Gilligan (Bob Denver) discovers that one of his loose tooth fillings has been transformed into a radio receiver (at one point, he evidently picks up the audio feed from the CBS television network--plug, plug!) This freak occurrence proves to be invaluable when the Castaways' radio dies just as a typhoon approaches the island. With vital weather reports continuously emanating from his bridgework, Gilligan becomes indispensable to his companions--until the filling goes on the fritz. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A European princess and her aunt come to New York to buy clothes for the royal coronation, Riff Manson (Jack Jones) is employed by unknown clothier and former junkman Brodine (Hans Conried) to sway the royals to purchase his designs. Broadway revue rehearsals and parties provide the backdrop for the musical selection. George Jessel plays himself and sings "Spring Is The Time For Remembering". The princess (Jo Morrow) sings "Let's Fall In Love". Jones sings the title tune. Other songs are performed by the Earl Grant Trio, The Treniers and The Nitwits, while Johnny Otis renders the classic rock & roll anthem "Willie And The Hand Jive". ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Will Ballard (Rod Cameron) is the longtime foreman of the Hatcher ranch, a spread renowned for its size and the wealth it contains. When owner Phil Evarts dies suddenly, the speculation in the territory is that Hatcher will be broken up, especially since it was Evarts' determination coupled with Ballard's skills as a foreman and gunman that held it together -- but Ballard decides that the ranch is worth saving, even though the only help he really has is one top hand (Chill Wills, in a beautifully restrained performance) and a couple of young brothers (Al Caudebec, Roydon Clark) picked up on the trail. He figures it's worth saving for what it is, and also for Evarts' daughter, Celia (Ella Raines), who is engaged to marry neighboring rancher Sam Danfelser (Forrest Tucker). Ballard and Sam were once friends, but as the foreman discovers, there's been bad blood brewing on the other side of the friendship for a long time, mostly out of Sam's jealousy -- not only is Ballard a better rider and a better gun, but he's a better man than he is, and he can't abide the fact that Celia knows this deep in her heart, even though she and Sam are engaged. Then there's Bide Marriner (Brian Donlevy), a local "operator" who'd love to get a range war started and grab up some land and cattle, and immediately uses friends and intermediaries, plus a few hired guns, to start spreading the word, convincing the neighboring ranchers that Hatcher land is free and open. And then there's Lottie Priest, whom Ballard figured to marry soon -- is she more interested in what her greedy father can make from the breakup of Hatcher? Caught in the middle of it all is the county sheriff, Joe Kneen (J. Carrol Naish), who'd like to stay civil with all of those involved but soon finds out that he's going to have to choose sides, and that he's too good a man for that to be the "easy" choice. There's a lot of back-shooting in Ride the Man Down, as well as some brilliantly and cleverly designed action sequences, and a level of duplicity in the characters that makes this picture play at time almost more like a film noir of the period. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Clifton Webb recreates his Sitting Pretty role as Mr. Lynn Belvedere, the World's Greatest Genius. Belvedere discovers that he is ineligible for an honorary award because he never attended college. So he enrolls as a freshman in a major university, becoming the target for "hazing" from obnoxious upper classman Alan Young. The middle-aged Belvedere rapidly builds himself into Big Man on Campus, which complicates his intention of remaining incognito while attending college. Journalism major Shirley Temple likewise threatens to blow Belvedere's cover by writing an article about him for a major magazine. Before earning his college degree (four years' worth of study in six months!), Belvedere plays Cupid for Temple and her estranged boyfriend Tom Drake. Mr. Belvedere Goes to College proved successful enough for a follow-up film, 1951's Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A disparate group of women join the Women's Army Corps to fight WW II in this upbeat war-time drama. One of the women is a frivolous debutante who is informed that she will not receive a dime from the family fortune until she can prove herself mature enough not to squander it on nightclubs and fancy cafes. She joins up with no intention of remaining a WAC; as soon as she gets the money, she is planning to leave. Another recruit comes from an Army family and sees no other recourse than to join up to. The third gal is married to a soldier and wants to be close to him. The army brat and the debutante constantly lob barbed remarks at each other leaving the wife to try to make peace. Things get even more out of hand when the Army brat gets promoted and begins abusing her rank. Things come to a head when the debutante slaps her and is brought up on charges. Meanwhile the wife is devastated to learn that her husband has been killed. Still she says nothing and instead tries to get her other two cohorts to make up. Ironically, it is the pain of her loss that brings the three together and cements their friendship and commitment to the Corps. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this eighth film in MGM's "Maisie" series, Ann Sothern is back as ever-stranded chorus girl Maisie Revier. As the story opens, Maisie has a steady non-showbiz job as a defense plant riveter (it's wartime, of course); still, she utilizes a two-week vacation to take a singing job in a Reno night spot. This small Nevada town being the Divorce Capital of America, Maisie finds herself involved in the crumbling marriage between a GI (Tom Drake) and his wealthy wife (Ava Gardner). Meanwhile, Maisie's own well-being is threatened by a conniving businessman who has her committed to an asylum when she threatens to squeal about his crooked business practices. Like most "Maisie" pictures, Maisie Goes to Reno suffers from a surfeit of plotting, but is redeemed by the insouciant Ann Sothern. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In her seventh outing as irrepressible vaudeville entertainer Maisie Revere, Ann Sothern aided the war effort by working the swing shift in an airplane factory. Taking in a seemingly suicidal co-worker, Iris (Jean Rogers), Maisie can only watch as the girl steals her beau, handsome pilot James McLaughlin (James Craig). Promising to be faithful to James, who is going away on a training course, Iris promptly flirts with everyone in pants, much to chaperone Maisie's chagrin. When Maisie catches the selfish Iris in the middle of staging yet another "suicide," the vaudeville trouper turned everyone's favorite riveter threatens to spill the beans to Lieutenant James. In retaliation, Iris accuses Maisie of spying for the Nazis but everything is cleared up before the fadeout. MGM had at first assigned the male lead to newcomer Jim Davis, but he proved too inexperienced and the role eventually went to Craig, the studio's all-purpose Clark Gable lookalike. (As a consolation, Davis played a G.I. instead.) Starlet Jean Rogers, formerly Dale Arden in Flash Gordon (1936), does surprisingly well in her unsympathetic part and, doubled only partially by Jacqueline Wiere, performs a funny acrobatic number with the Wiere Brothers. Sothern leads a rousing chorus of the morale-boosting "There's a Girl Behind the Boy Behind the Gun" and remains her usual delightful self throughout what is one of MGM's better wartime potboilers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Having tried to wrest Shirley Temple away from 20th Century-Fox for nearly seven years, MGM was finally able to put the enormously popular child star under contract in 1941. Alas, by this time the bloom was off the rose for 13-year-old Temple, and her inaugural MGM production Kathleen was met with sublime indifference. For the record, the film casts Temple as Kathleen Davis, the irritatingly forthright daughter of neglectful widower John Davis (Herbert Marshall). Fed up with being left in charge of her superstrict nursemaid (Nella Walker), Kathleen welcomes the arrival of her new governess, warm-hearted Dr. A. Martha Kent (Laraine Day). In her usual take-charge manner, our heroine begins trying to arrange a marriage between her father and Martha, choosing to ignore the fact that Mr. Davis already has a fiancee in the form of actress Lorraine Bennett (Gail Patrick). So poorly did Kathleen fare at the box office that MGM dropped Shirley Temple's contract after this one film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Broke and stranded once more, golden-hearted showgirl Maisie Revere (Ann Sothern) finds herself in upstate New York in general proximity with a prizefighting camp. She meets and ultimately falls in love with up-and-coming boxer Terry Dolan (played by Ann Sothern's future husband Robert Sterling). Upon realizing that her heart belongs to Terry's manager Skeets Maguire (George Murphy), our heroine finds herself on the horns of an emotional dilemma-especially after Dolan is blinded in a fight, possibly permanently. The film's best moments belong to "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom, typecast in his usual role of a pugilist who's suffered one too many blows to the cranium. Also worth the price of admission is Maisie's opening dance-hall scene, highlighted by the terpischorean skills of the star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This third installment in MGM's "Maisie" series finds eternally stranded showgirl Maisie Revere (Ann Sothern) stuck in a deserted mining camp. Here she links up with Davises, an impoverished migrant family which hopes to strike gold somewhere in the neighboring hills. Their efforts are resisted by hard-hearted local rancher Bill Anders (Lee Bowman), who orders the family off his property. With Maisie's assistance, the Davises are offered the opportunity to launch a cooperative farming project, with Anders' blessing. Evidently inspired by The Grapes of Wrath, Gold Rush Maisie is hardly in the same league, but it passes the time painlessly. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Boy soprano Bobby Breen dons a pair of skates in the oddball musical Breaking the Ice. Escaping his super-strict Mennonite relatives, our hero gets a job singing at a Philadelphia ice-skating rink. Here he tries to earn enough money to help his beloved widowed mother (Dolores Costello) wrest herself free of those selfsame relatives. The plot requires canary-voiced Breen to share the spotlight with six-year-old skating sensation Irene Dare. Within a year, Breaking the Ice producer Sol Lesser attempted to launch another series of family musicals built around the talents of little Ms. Dare, but the first entry in this project--Everything's on Ice--was also the last. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Women of Glamour is a considerably toned-down remake of Frank Capra's pre-code drama Ladies of Leisure. Virginia Bruce steps into the old Barbara Stanwyck role as streetwise good-time girl Gloria, who falls in love with wealthy playboy Dick (Melvyn Douglas). Not only must she contend with Dick's snooty society pals, but she must also cross claws with the hero's rich-bitch lady friend Carol (Leona Maricle). The dilemma almost leads Gloria to suicide, but there's a happy ending in the offing. Counterpointing the Gloria-Dick romance is the comic courtship of Gloria's dance-hall chum Fan (Pert Kelton) and silly socialite Fritz (Reginald Denny). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi