Rod Cameron Movies

When Zoë Akins' play The Old Maid (based on a novel by Edith Wharton) won the 1934-1935 Pulitzer Prize, the selection was roundly condemned by critics, who felt that Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour was more deserving, but had lost because of its lesbian theme. Certainly, Akins' story of the relationship between two Southern cousins in the years between 1833 and 1854 is nothing spectacular. Delia Lovell marries James Ralston, leaving her old beau Clem Spender out in the cold. Delia's cousin Charlotte comforts Clem by spending the night with him. Charlotte becomes pregnant, secretly farming out her daughter, Tina, to another family. The years pass; Charlotte sets up a day nursery so that she may remain close to her daughter (still in the dark as to the true identity of her mother). Meanwhile, Charlotte has become engaged to Ralston's brother Joseph. The troublesome Delia, who discovers her cousin's secret, contrives to prevent Charlotte from marrying Joseph, then arranges to have Charlotte raise Tina as her niece rather than her daughter. More years pass; Tina regards Delia as her mama and Charlotte as just an "old maid." At Tina's wedding, Charlotte almost reveals the truth to her daughter, but.....It's all slick romance-magazine stuff, and hardly worthy of the Pulitzer. On the other hand, the film version of The Old Maid, starring Bette Davis as Charlotte and Miriam Hopkins as Delia, is a classic of its kind, and one of Davis' best vehicles. The story is given additional substance by moving the early scenes up to the time of the Civil War, making Clem Spender (George Brent) less of a cad by killing him off at Vicksburg, thus rendering it impossible for Clem to make an honest woman of Charlotte. From the vantage point of the 1990s, when film stars find it difficult to turn out more than one picture a year, it is incredible that The Old Maid was but one of four first-rate Bette Davis films to be released in 1939; the others were Dark Victory, Juarez, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred MacMurray stars as a US Army misfit who, with pals Albert Dekker and Gilbert Roland, roam the west in search of adventure. Arriving in a small town, they befriend the elderly newspaper editor (Arthur Allen) and his young granddaughter (Betty Brewer). The trio learns that the community is under the thumb of a covetous land baron (Joseph Schildkraut), who is endeavoring to push out the ranch owners and take over the territory. Advertised by Paramount Pictures as a standard western, Rangers of Fortune is full of startling surprises, not the least of which is the fact that Fred MacMurray doesn't get the girl (Patricia Morison). In one scene, villain Joseph Schildkraut explains his motivations so persuasively that he seems to be more in the right than the heroes. And despite Paramount's promotional buildup of their new child star Betty Brewer, the studio had no qualms about killing off her character some ten minutes before the end! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cecil B. De Mille directed this lavish all-star spectacular paying tribute to America's neighbors to the North. In 1885, as Louis Riel (Francis J. McDonald) tries to organize Indians and French settlers into a fighting force that will battle against the ruling British, Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (Gary Cooper) arrives in Canada to arrest Jacques Corbeau (George Bancroft), one of Riel's associates who is wanted for murder in the U.S. Rivers promptly falls for nurse April Logan (Madeleine Carroll), which triggers jealously in the straightlaced Mountie sergeant Jim Brett (Preston S. Foster), who is also in love with April. Meanwhile, April's brother, Ronnie Logan (Robert Preston), also a member of the North West Mounted Police, is in love with Louvette (Paulette Goddard), Corbeau's sister and a fiery "half-breed" who lives among the Indians. When Dusty arrives in Canada, he joins forces with the mounties, who are looking for Corbeau on another murder charge, and soon joins the fight against Riel's rebel factions. De Mille imported 300 pine trees for his "forest" set, believing that a woods created on the controlled environment of a soundstage would look more "real" onscreen than location shooting in Canada. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The leader of the gang begins to have a change of heart after he begins falling for a local girl. He decides to use the "protection money" his gang has been pocketing to benefit the townsfolk. This feels good to the tough and thug-like gangsters who begin embracing the ideals of good citizenship in favor of a life of crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Detective Chester Morris and his nosy wife Jean Parker set up housekeeping in a small Reno hotel room, whence Morris conducts his investigation of a kidnap case. It appears that the abduction has some tenuous connection with a recent bank robbery. As Morris digs deeper, he finds that virtually all of his neighbors either have something to do with cases at hand, or else they have something to hide. Its screenplay sticking fairly closely to the source novel by Daniel Mainwaring (writing under the pseudonym of Geoffrey Holmes), No Hands on the Clock is a rare foray into mystery for Paramount's action-picture production team of Pine and Thomas. The title refers to a handless clock hanging inside a Reno mortuary--which of course turns out to be a vital clue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Midnight Angel was the title of this Paramount actioner when it was first released in December of 1941. But by the time the film reached the hinterlands, America had entered WW2, and thus it was that Midnight Angel was rechristened Pacific Blackout, which remained its title to this very day. Falsely convicted of murder (in one of those movie trials that takes only a few minutes!), young Robert Draper (Robert Preston) escapes custody during a practice blackout drill. Under cover of darkness, Draper hopes to find the real killer, who turns out to be a member of a Nazi sabotage ring. Our hero is helped along by Mary (Martha O'Driscoll), one of the most refreshingly self-reliant heroines in B-picture history. Among the secondary players are a young Hungarian immigrant named Eva Gabor and a portly German refugee named John Banner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ayn Rand's Broadway stage hit The Night of January 16th was distinguished by a clever gimmick, wherein members of the audience sat in the jury box while a fictional murder trial was conducted: the outcome of the play was thus totally in the hands of the spectators, and accordingly Rand penned two different endings, depending on whether the jury voted "guilty" or "not guilty". This marvelous theatrical device was unfortunately absent in the film version of Night of January 16th, which was also hampered by a B-grade budget. Even so, the story, concerning the murder trial of stenographer Kit Lane (Ellen Drew), moves along swiftly and entertainingly. Accused of killing her employer, financier Bjorn Faulkner (Nils Asther), Kit is championed by wisecracking sailor-on-leave Steve Van Ruyle (Robert Preston), who has a vested interest in the outcome of the trial. As was typical of the Paramount B product of the time, Night of January 16th spotlights several established contract players (Drew, Preston et.al.), along with a number of actors on the way up (Rod Cameron, Margaret Hayes) and the way down (Nils Asther, Alice White). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Henry Aldrich for President was the second of Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series to star Jimmy Lydon in the teenaged title role. This time Henry is pitted against an arrogant jock for the presidency of the Centerville High School student council. Henry's chances don't seem bright, especially since a pompous teacher (Lucien Littlefield) is writing the opponent's speeches for him. As often happens in these films, a misunderstanding threatens not only to lose Henry the election but to get him expelled from school as well. Somehow the plot is resolved by a wild climactic airplane ride, with hapless Henry at the controls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Star-Spangled Rhythm is a typical wartime all-star musical-comedy melange, this time from Paramount Pictures. The slender plot involves the efforts by humble studio doorman Pop Webster (Victor Moore) to pass himself off as a big-shot Paramount executive for the benefit of his sailor son Jimmy (Eddie Bracken). The overall level of humor can be summed up by the scene in which Webster is advised that the best way to pretend to be a studio big-shot is to say "It stinks!" to everything -- whereupon Cecil B. DeMille shows up to ask Webster's opinion about his current production. Betty Hutton, cast as studio switchboard operator and co-conspirator Polly Judson, is at her most rambunctiously appealing here. The huge lineup of guest performers includes Bing Crosby (and his 8-year-old son Gary!), Bob Hope, Veronica Lake, Dorothy Lamour, Dick Powell, Mary Martin, Alan Ladd, Fred MacMurray, William Bendix, Paulette Goddard, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, most (but not all) of them going through their characteristic paces. Highlights include a surrealistic rendition of That Old Black Magic with Johnnie Johnston and Vera Zorina; a frantic staging of the old George S. Kaufman sketch "If Men Played Cards as Women Do" with MacMurray, Ray Milland, Franchot Tone, and Lynn Overman; and The Sweater, the Sarong and the Peekaboo Bang, first performed by Goddard, Lamour and Lake, then lampooned in drag by Arthur Treacher, Sterling Holloway and Walter Catlett! PS: The actor playing Rochester's chauffeur in the Smart as a Tack number is John Ford "regular" Woody Strode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Very much a product of its times, Priorities on Parade was disliked by everyone but the public when it was first released in 1942. The story takes place in a wartime aircraft plant, where a group of entertainers secure jobs putting on shows for the workers during lunch and dinner breaks. The troupe's duties also include a bit of spot-welding and assembly-line work as well, leading to a variety of mildly comic complications. Naturally, all plot roads lead to a big, morale-boosting musical finale, highlighted by choreographer Jack Donahue's precision-dance routines, wherein the entertainers elect to turn down a Broadway show in favor of defense-plant work (this is a fantasy, isn't it?) The four protagonists are played by zany Jerry Colonna, handsome Johnnie Johnston, and gorgeous Ann Miller (in a blonde wig) and Betty Rhodes, while Vera Vague supplies her usual dizziness as a Rosie-the-Rivetter type. The Frank Loesser-Jules Styne-Herb Magidson score includes the hit tune "You're in Love With Somebody Else But I'm in Love With You". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The winner of four Oscar nominations, Wake Island was one of the first major Hollywood films to deal with America's forced participation in World War II. The first two reels takes place in the weeks prior to Pearl Harbor, as Wake Island military commander Brian Donlevy carries on a friendly rivalry with Seabee supervisor Albert Dekker. Once the US is in the shooting war, all previous differences are forgotten and the Wake Island personnel begin pulling together. Despite being heavily outnumbered during the subsequent Japanese attack on Wake, the Americans put up a valiant fight, at great cost to the Imperial Forces. In a scene calculated to evoke long, loud cheers from the audience, Donlevy, weary and battle-stained, relays to the American mainland the legendary (if offensive) challenge "Send us more Japs!" As in the like-vintage Bataan, the military defeat of the Americans is treated-and justifiably so--as a moral victory. Utilizing some of the top male talents in Paramount's contract pool-Donlevy, Dekker Robert Preston, MacDonald Carey, William Bendix--Wake Island remains an excellent example of propaganda-as-entertainment ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Andrew Jackson is very happy to serve as the secretary of the society that honors his presidential namesake until he is arrested for embezzling from the town coffers. With no one to speak on his behalf, poor innocent Jackson is tossed into jail. There he finds himself haunted by several ghosts, including Presidents Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Each of this sagacious specters offers his advice to the incarcerated Andrew. Then Jesse James shows up and helps Andrew, the only one who can see them, escape and with their help, bring the real crooks to justice. When not helping Andrew, the ghosts have great fun adjusting to the modern world. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A typical war time Republic Pictures serial, G-Men vs. the Black Dragon featured the combined efforts of three allied operatives -- Rex Bennett of the USA (Rod Cameron), Vivian Marsh of the British Secret Service (Constance Worth, an Australian) and Chang Sing (Roland Got) of the Chinese counter-espionage division -- who battle the Japanese Black Dragon Society. Headed by the maniacal Oyama Harushi (Nino Pipitone, Sr.), the notorious society conducted a campaign of terror and sabotage against America until stopped by the united heroes in the 15th and final chapter, "Democracy in Action." That the Japanese master spy was played by an Italian-American was only par for the course. Much of the footage from this serial -- including a spectacular exploding submarine -- was re-used many times over, notably in the 1951 serial Flying Disc Man from Mars. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide