Eric Orbom Movies

Based on a novel by television producer Al Morgan, The Great Man is a Citizen Kane-style look at the private life of a public figure. The Great Man is a beloved radio and television personality who dies suddenly. Jose Ferrer (who also directed) plays a writer/commentator who has a chance to break into the Big Time by preparing a eulogistic broadcast concerning the deceased celebrity. As he interviews the various people who knew the Great Man on the way up (including Julie London and Ed and Keenan Wynn) he learns that the "idol of millions" was actually a conniving, duplicitous scoundrel who stepped on everyone in his path and who took credit for the hard work of others. Warned by his boss (Dean Jagger) that his career will be ruined if he tells the truth, Ferrer nonetheless takes to the airwaves with a "warts and all" biography--and the results are surprising only to those with no cynicism in their souls. The Great Man stirred up a sensation in 1956 because it was perceived to be an a clef study of the enormously popular (and ruthlessly powerful) media star Arthur Godfrey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of director Douglas Sirk's best and most successful romantic soapers of the 1950s, All That Heaven Allows is predicated on a May-December romance. The difference here is that the woman, attractive widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), is considerably older than the man, handsome gardener-landscaper Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson). Sirk builds up sympathy for Cary by showing how empty her life has been since her husband's death, even suggesting that the marriage itself was no picnic. Throwing conventionial behavior to the winds and facing social ostracism, Cary pursues her romance with Ron, who is unjustly perceived as a fortune-hunter by Cary's friends and family--especially her priggish son Ned (William Reynolds). Amusingly, Conrad Nagel was to have had a much larger part as Harvey, an elderly widower who carries a torch for Cary, but his role was trimmed down during previews when audiences disapproved of an implicit romance between a sixtyish man and a fortysomething woman! All That Heaven Allows was remade by unabashed Douglas Sirk admirer Rainer Werner Fassbinder as Ali--Fear Eats the Soul (1974), in which the age gap between hero and heroine was even wider. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The title tells all in this seventh entry in Universal's "Ma and Pa Kettle" series. This time around, Ma (Marjorie Main) and Pa (Percy Kilbride) take their brood to Hawaii, where Pa is to take over management of his cousin's fruit processing operation. The villains are a group of rival businessmen who kidnap Pa and spirit him off to a remote island. Before long, however, it's the bad guys who need rescuing. Some of the funnier scenes involve Ma and Pa's Hawaiian counterparts, played by Hilo Hattie and Charley Lung. With this entry, Percy Kilbride bade adieu to the role of Pa Kettle, leaving Marjorie Main to carry on alone in the remaining two series installments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The muscular physique of Rock Hudson is given plenty of screen exposure in the British-India actioner Bengal Brigade. Adapted from a novel by Hall Hunter, the film casts Hudson as Captain Jeffrey Claybourne of Her Majesty's Service, who is severely disciplined after defying orders. Feeling unworthy of his fiancee Vivian Morrow Arlene Dahl, the daughter of his superior officer, Claybourne breaks off the engagement until he can restore his reputation. When the duplicitous Rajah Karam Arnold Moss launches an all-out attack against the British forces in India, Claybourne finds his opportunity for redemption--as do several other "outcasts". Costarring in Bengal Brigade as an alluring native girl is Ursula Theiss, later the wife of actor Robert Taylor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This was the last in a string of spoofs that found the comedy duo tangling with various classic Universal Studios monsters. In this case, Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) play American detectives who cross wits with Dr. Henry Jekyll (Boris Karloff) in Edwardian-era London when they visit to compare techniques with their British counterparts. Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll is conducting the usual lab experiments on animals before injecting himself with serum, transforming into the vicious Mr. Hyde and launching a killing spree against fellow doctors who scoffed at him. Slim and Tubby participate in the ensuing investigation, and havoc breaks out when Tubby himself is injected, with predictable results. Karloff lends gravity to the film, but by the time this one followed up earlier efforts like Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy, the team had mostly exhausted the series' comic possibilities. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair was Number Four in Universal's immensely successful "B"-picture series. It is giving away nothing to reveal that Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride once more assume the title roles. The plot is motivated by Ma's desire to send daughter Rosie (Lori Nelson) to college. To that end, she intends to win a big cash prize at the upcoming county fair. Meanwhile, Pa uses his half of the winnings (which no one, as yet, has really won!) to purchase a race horse. When Mafails to win the money, the Kettles are forced to rely on the horse to save the day during a sweepstakes race. Towards the end of Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair, a close-up of the racing statistics sheet is shown, revealing that one of the owners is "Quinn Martin"--a cute inside joke, inasmuch as Mr. Martin was a prolific scriptwriter and a friend of Ma and Pa Kettle producer Leonard Goldstein. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi