Ken Murray Movies
The son of a vaudeville comedian, American actor Ken Murray entered the "family business" over his father's objections. Not a natural talent, Murray taught himself to dance, sing, tell jokes and even perform rope and whip tricks; by 1925 he was touring in an act with his first wife. Within a year Murray was headlining the Palace Theatre as a monologist, and soon became one of the top acts in vaudeville's declining years. He first went to Hollywood for a stage engagement in 1927, and at that time bought a home movie camera, hoping to take a few shots to send home to his family. He began filming celebrities of the era, the first one being movie star Lew Cody. By the time Murray returned to Hollywood to film his first picture, 1929's Half Marriage, he'd invested a lot of money in his home-movie hobby and was able to coerce even more stars to mug as themselves. By the mid '30s, Murray's candid movies were being used in Columbia's short subject series Screen Snapshots, clips of which still make the rounds as stock footage whenever TV puts together a special on Hollywood's golden era. In 1942, Murray settled into a long Hollywood run as producer/star of Ken Murray's Blackouts, a strange stage conglomeration of racy humor, busty young ladies, musical numbers and novelty acts (the most popular of these being a dog act that never quite seemed to go quite right - perhaps on purpose). Blackouts ran 3,844 performances, a legitimate theatre record. Working in Las Vegas and on TV in the '50s, Murray became a fixture of talk shows by trotting out his venerable home movies. In the '60s, he returned to film acting with a sparkling character role in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). To the end, however, Ken Murray's national fame rested on his ubiquitous "amateur" films of Southern California and its celebrated denizens. Murray's short film on the history of William Randolph Hearst's huge estate San Simeon is still being shown every day to visitors touring that awe-inspiring California landmark. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1979
Comedian Ken Murray had been taking "home movies" of his movie-star friends for nearly 50 years when he decided to compile them into this 1979 feature-length documentary film. There is no storyline, and the stars aren't doing anything except what they would normally do "offstage." Among the many Hollywood luminaries shown are Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (in a 1930 sequence), Dick Powell, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn and Dolores Del Rio. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
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This spoof makes fun of a certain famous German shepherd movie star from the 1920s. The mayhem begins when the head honcho of a financially struggling studio turns a lost dog into a legend. The story features a number of old stars making cameo appearances. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, (more)
- 1968
A team of research scientists believe they have discovered a superior intelligence. Jim Tanner (George Hamilton) and his pretty partner Margery Lansing (Susan Pleshette) have discovered the entity through their work on human endurance. The Power is able to control the minds of others, but Jim can't substantiate his suspicions that the force comes from one of the members of the scientific staff. A series of murders has Jim under suspicion by the police, as he tries to uncover the identity of the killer. Yvonne De Carlo, Earl Holliman, and Miss Beverly Hills also star in this sci-fi mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, (more)
Senator William J. Tadlock (Kirk Douglas) enlists the help of veteran scout Dick Summers (Robert Mitchum) to lead a wagon train of settlers from Missouri to Oregon in this plodding, routine western. A scared settler accidently shoots an Indian boy who is mistaken for a wolf, prompting Summers to order newlywed triggerman Johnny Mack (Michael Witney) to be hanged to avoid an Indian attack. Sally Field appears in her first big-screen role as the slatternly Mercy McBee. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, (more)
Follow Me, Boys!, Disney's paean to the Boys Scouts of America, leaves no cliché unturned: we're even offered the old reliable "kid hanging over cliff by rope" bit. Corny, sentimental and obvious though it may be, the film is a delight to watch, especially whenever Fred MacMurray dominates the screen. MacMurray plays Lem Siddons, a 1930s musician who decides to settle down in a small Midwestern town. Here he meets pretty bank teller Vida Downey (Vera Miles), who bemoans the fact that the local boys have no organized activities with which to occupy their time. Volunteering to be a scoutmaster, Lem begins a local scout troop. There are some tense moments when banker Ralph Hastings (Elliot Reid) demands that Lem's scouts vacate their headquarters, but Reid's feisty millionaire Aunt Hetty (Lillian Gish) comes to the rescue. The film's throughline is the regeneration of local "tough kid" Whitey (Kurt Russell), who, after joining the Boy Scouts, straightens out and matures into a solid citizen. The film's lachrymose climax is kept "honest" by the sincere underplaying of Fred MacMurray. Though lambasted by reviewers, Follow Me, Boys! struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, to the tune of a $5.5 million box-office take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Vera Miles, (more)
- 1965
This compilation documentary contains numerous film clips of some of Tinseltown's biggest stars in rather private moments behind the scenes. Ken Murray hosts the shows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Son of Flubber represented the first time that Walt Disney ever attempted a theatrical feature sequel: in this case, the earlier film was the 1961 moneyspinner The Absent-Minded Professor. While Flubber is more formula-bound than Professor, it proved an instant audience-pleaser, and a hit to the tune of nine million dollars. Fred MacMurray returns as professor Ned Brainerd, currently working on his new discovery, "dry rain." The comically destructive side effects of this discovery seemingly doom the professor to failure -- at least until the closing courtroom sequence -- but meanwhile he has better luck with Flubbergas, a byproduct of the antigravity glop he'd invented in the first film. In addition to MacMurray, Absent-Minded Professor alumni Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames, Elliott Reid, Alan Carney, Gordon Jones, Forrest Lewis, and James Westerfield reprise their roles from the earlier film, while Ed Wynn shows up in a new guise as a nervous agricultural agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, (more)
- 1962
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Like Pontius Pilate, director John Ford asks "What is truth?" in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--but unlike Pilate, Ford waits for an answer. The film opens in 1910, with distinguished and influential U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) returning to the dusty little frontier town where they met and married twenty-five years earlier. They have come back to attend the funeral of impoverished "nobody" Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). When a reporter asks why, Stoddard relates a film-long flashback. He recalls how, as a greenhorn lawyer, he had run afoul of notorious gunman Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who worked for a powerful cartel which had the territory in its clutches. Time and again, "pilgrim" Stoddard had his hide saved by the much-feared but essentially decent Doniphon. It wasn't that Doniphon was particularly fond of Stoddard; it was simply that Hallie was in love with Stoddard, and Doniphon was in love with Hallie and would do anything to assure her happiness, even if it meant giving her up to a greenhorn. When Liberty Valance challenged Stoddard to a showdown, everyone in town was certain that the greenhorn didn't stand a chance. Still, when the smoke cleared, Stoddard was still standing, and Liberty Valance lay dead. On the strength of his reputation as the man who shot Valance, Stoddard was railroaded into a political career, in the hope that he'd rid the territory of corruption. Stoddard balked at the notion of winning an election simply because he killed a man-until Doniphon, in strictest confidence, told Stoddard the truth: It was Doniphon, not Stoddard, who shot down Valance. Stoddard was about to reveal this to the world, but Doniphon told him not to. It was far more important in Doniphon's eyes that a decent, honest man like Stoddard become a major political figure; Stoddard represented the "new" civilized west, while Doniphon knew that he and the West he represented were already anachronisms. Thus Stoddard went on to a spectacular political career, bringing extensive reforms to the state, while Doniphon faded into the woodwork. His story finished, the aged Stoddard asks the reporter if he plans to print the truth. The reporter responds by tearing up his notes. "This is the West, sir, " the reporter explains quietly. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Dismissed as just another cowboy opus at the time of its release, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has since taken its proper place as one of the great Western classics. It questions the role of myth in forging the legends of the West, while setting this theme in the elegiac atmosphere of the West itself, set off by the aging Stewart and Wayne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, James Stewart, (more)
- 1953
To fully appreciate the western comedy The Marshal's Daughter, one must be aware that its star, a zaftig, wide-eyed lass named Laurie Anders, was in 1953 a popular TV personality. A regular on The Ken Murray Show, Anders had risen to fame with the Southern-fried catchphrase "Ah love the wi-i-i-ide open spaces!" Striking while the iron was hot, the entrepreneurial Murray produced this inexpensive oater, which cast Anders as Laurie Dawson, the singing daughter of a U.S. marshal (Hoot Gibson). Teaming with her dad to capture outlaw Trigger Gans (Bob Duncan), Laurie briefly disguises herself as a masked bandit. Amidst much stock footage from earlier westerns and a plethora of lame jokes and dreadful puns, The Marshal's Daughter is a treat for trivia buffs, featuring such virile actors as Preston S. Foster, Johnny Mack Brown, Jimmy Wakely and Buddy Baer as "themselves." Ken Murray himself makes a supporting appearance as a leering frontier wiseacre named "Sliding Bill Murray." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurie Anders, Hoot Gibson, (more)
- 1950
Written by Royal Foster, this program features rare candid footage of Hollywood's royalty, filmed by actor Ken Murray. Over the decades, Murray built an unparalleled collection of home movies of Hollywood's rich and famous. Highlights of this compilation include the television debuts of Marilyn Monroe and Kirk Douglas, and documentary footage of the filming of Gunga Din (1939). Other stars seen in unguarded, relaxed, or playful moments include Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Dick Powell, Mae West, Humphrey Bogart, Laurel and Hardy, Jane Mansfield, the Marx Brothers, John Wayne, Robert Taylor, Walt Disney, and others. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Infused with religious themes, this crime drama is considered a minor example of film noir. Set in Los Angeles, it tells the grim story of vengeful embezzler Nick Cherney, who plots murderous revenge after he is fired from Johnny Torno's freight company. He gets it by killing Johnny's brother Jess, a chaplain who has just returned from the war. Johnny arrives at the hotel room of his brother Jess and finds him dying. Just before Jess expires he tells Johnny that the identity of his killer can be found in his Bible. Though every hotel room has a Bible, the one belonging in his brother's is missing. Though his girl friend, the priest and the police warn against a private investigation, Johnny ignores their advice and goes looking for that Good Book. His girl friend goes along with him. Before they go, they leave Warni Hazard in charge of the freight company. Nick Cherney shows up and takes off after Hazard who flees until finding safety beneath the tires of an enormous trailer. Nick sees him cowering there and in the film's most shocking sequence, coolly kicks one of the jacks holding up the trailer and while Hazard is crushed, Nick calmly takes a drag on his cigarette. Meanwhile, Johnny and his gal finally find the Bible and see that Jess had underlined a couple of verses that seem to suggest that Johnny leave the matter of revenge in God's hands. Johnny pays no heed to the message until the story's grim climax. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Virginia Mayo, (more)
- 1947
Reviewing Bill and Coo for a major magazine, an otherwise restrained critic was moved to describe the film as "by conservative estimate, the God-damnedest thing I've ever seen." Conceived by producer/comedian Ken Murray as a showcase for George Burton's trained birds, who'd previously been featured in Murray's long-running Los Angeles stage review Blackouts, the film is set in the mythical all-bird community of Chippendale. The characters -- hero, heroine, villain -- are all birds, displaying the most human of emotions and impulses. When the romance between lovebirds Bill and Coo is threatened by the evil Jimmy the Crow, all Heck breaks loose, culminating in Bill's rescue of Coo from a burning building. As a bonus,the feathered featured players sing, dance and play musical instruments! The winner of a special Academy Award, Bill and Coo was later reissued with a new introduction by the enterprising Ken Murray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Back in the 1940s, it was not uncommon for recording artists to cut records exclusively for the jukebox trade, and sometimes to perform musical numbers "live" to jukeboxes via telephone hookup. Perhaps it is necessary for one to know these things before viewing Jukebox Jenny, very much a product of its time. Vaudevillian Ken Murray stars as Malcolm Hammond, sales manager for the record-company owner by Roger Wadsworth (Don Douglas). Engaged to Genevieve Horton (Harriet Hilliard), daughter of his financial backer (Marjorie Gateson), Wadsworth is strong-armed into a marriage with brash Jinx Corey (Iris Adrian). Hammond tries to rescue Wadsworth from this contentious union, but in the process he falls in love with Genevieve himself, and endeavors to turn her into a top recording star, utilizing his know-how of the mechanics of the "juke" business. With eight musical numbers, it's a wonder that there's time in Jukebox Jenny for any plot at all! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Murray, Harriet Hilliard, (more)
- 1941
In this musical comedy, a pregnant disc jockey misses her husband who is fighting overseas. Stressed out by the situation and her job, she decides to take some time off and convinces her twin sister to trade places with her. The switcheroo causes the soldier her husband appointed as her unofficial guardian no end of confusion. Songs include: "Annie Laurie," "Rug Cuttin' Romeo" (sung by Susan Miller), "My Melancholy Baby" (Ernie Burnett, George A. Norton, sung by Frances Langford), "I'm Gonna Swing My Way to Heaven" (Eddie Cherkose, Jacques Press, sung by Langford), "Got Love" (sung by Langford). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Murray, Frances Langford, (more)
- 1940
For the purposes of this inconsequential 61-minute musical, Paramount Pictures shelled out a great deal of money to film on location at showman Earl Carroll's Hollywood cabaret, and to highlight several of the performers appearing therein on a nightly basis. Since Carroll claimed to have "The Most Beautiful Girls in the World" in his chorus line, audiences could be forgiven if they didn't remember the particulars of the film's plotline. For the record, the story hinges on the kidnapping of Carroll and his star players so that the show won't go on. But retired showgirl Ramona Lisa (Rose Hobart) and press agent Barney Nelson (Ken Murray) save the day by slapping together an "instant" floor show featuring an entourage of veteran vaudevillians. Heavy doses of politically incorrect humor are provided by comic drunk Jack Norton and by Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman in their radio characterizations of man-hungry spinsters Brenda and Cobina. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Murray, Rose Hobart, (more)
- 1938
In this musical comedy, two star-struck small town kids head for the Big Apple and become famous for their jitterbug act. Their fame doesn't last long, but they had fun anyway. Songs include: "Baltimore Bubble," "Gingham Gown," "Just a Bore," "Wasn't It You," "Kaneski Waltz" (Frank Skinner, Charles Henderson). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Murray, Johnny Downs, (more)
- 1937
In this musical, the only one singer/dancer Alice Faye, made for Universal, a Broadway producer is in a quandary when he discovers that the opening of his newest big production coincides with that of a major charity event. He despairs that the show will close after opening night until an ingenious writer suggests that he simply give the production snob-appeal by making the tickets nearly impossible to get by fabricating a story that they were all purchased by a flamboyant Texas oil baron who is totally besotted by the show's star, Faye. Unfortunately things go haywire when a young fellow suggests that the writer (who impersonates the oilman) sign to a lucrative advertising contract. Songs include: "You're a Sweetheart," "My Fine Feathered Friend," "Who Killed Maggie?" "Scraping the Toast" and "So It's Love." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, George Murphy, (more)
- 1933
Long-suffering screen favorite Helen Twelvetrees is Disgraced again in this Paramount soap opera. Twelvetrees is cast as Gay Holliday, whose romance with Kirk Underwood Jr. (Bruce Cabot) turns sour when Kirk turns out to be a jerk. A murder inevitably follows, whereupon Gay gallantly takes the blame. The only person who knows the whole story is the heroine's father Captain Holloway (William Harrigan), who has been moved to dishonorable behavior by the most honorable of intentions. Comedian-impresario Ken Murray steals the show as a comedy-relief character who's smart enough to turn serious at the right time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Bruce Cabot, (more)
- 1933
In the tradition of Bureau of Missing Persons, Warner Bros's From Headquarters offers a methodical, semi-documentary look at modern law-enforcement methods. The story concentrates on the investigation of a single murder. The victim, seemingly respectable, was actually a vicious blackmailer, a fact that brings several shady supporting characters into the story. Chief detective Stevens (George Brent) divides half his time to the tedium of police procedure and forensic work, and the other half to his romance with Lou Ann Winton (Margaret Lindsay), who may or may not be mixed up in the murder. Dorothy Burgess delivers a chillingly convincing performance as a cocaine addict, while comedian (and home-movie enthusiast) Ken Murray is equally effective as a snide reporter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
- 1932
Edna May Oliver portrays a society dowager called for jury duty on a murder trial wherein a pretty young woman is accused of killing her older husband. She takes her job quite seriously, and soon is playing both "prosecutor" and "DA" with judge and witnesses alike. In this unorthodox but highly entertaining fashion, Ms. Oliver gets to the truth and exposes the genuine murderer before the final fade-out. Incidentally, despite the title, there are gentlemen on the jury, but all eyes are on the formidable Ms. Oliver. Ladies of the Jury was remade in 1937 as We're on the Jury, with Helen Broderick in the Edna May Oliver role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna May Oliver, Ken Murray, (more)
- 1932
Sudden success can be a double-edged sword as this drama aptly proves. An aspiring musician finds success when his manager has him switch from playing the sax to vocals. He soon becomes a popular star. Unfortunately as his popularity swells, so does his head. His arrogance and megalomania cause his downfall. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Manners, Ann Dvorak, (more)
- 1930
In this musical, adapted from the earlier Musical Present Arms, a Marine private falls in love with a socialite and is willing to do anything to win her affections--even if it means stealing his captain's uniform and posing as an officer. When that doesn't work, he tries faking a shipwreck that goes awry and turns into the real shipwreck of the woman's yacht. Eventually the sailor's determination pays off and the girl is his. Songs include: "You Took Advantage of Me", "A Kiss for Cinderella", "All My Life", "Careless Kisses", "Evening Star", "Brightly Nice And So Peculiar", and "Shake It Off and Smile". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Ken Murray, (more)
- 1929
This loosely-constructed romantic melodrama stars Olive Borden as society girl Judy Paige, who defies her parents by eloping with Dick (Morgan Farley), a handsome young architect. To the rest of the world, it appears as though Judy and Dick are living together without benefit of clergy, and soon the two young lovers find themselves ostracized by their friends and loved ones. Only after the suicide of Judy's jilted suitor (Anderson Lawler) does the truth come out: Judy and Dick have been secretly married all along. A hodgepodge of illogical scripting and poorly developed characterizations, Half-Marriage holds some interest to modern-day viewers by virtue of two of its supporting players: vaudeville monologist and "home-movie" buff Ken Murray, and future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Also worth noting are the film's two songs, both co-written by Oscar Levant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olive Borden, Morgan Farley, (more)
