Norman Panama Movies
While attending the University of Chicago in the early 1930s, Norman Panama collaborated on a play with his classmate Melvin Frank. It was the beginning of a partnership that would span nearly thirty years. Panama and Frank went on to write sketches for the 1939 Shubert revue Keep Off the Grass, and to provide gags for such radio yockmeisters as Rudy Vallee, Groucho Marx, and especially Bob Hope. The team followed Hope to Hollywood, where they received their first screenwriting credit in the 1942 Hope vehicle My Favorite Blonde. This led to a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures, thence to Panama and Frank' s first producer-director assignment, MGM's The Reformer and the Redhead (1950). Alternating producing and directing responsibilities, they were responsible for such memorable 1950s comic efforts as Danny Kaye's The Court Jester (1956) and the 1959 film version of their own 1956 Broadway musical, Li'l Abner. Occasionally, and effectively, the team would go "straight" with hard-hitting dramatic fare like 1952's Above and Beyond, a dramatization of the dropping of the A-bomb on Hiroshima. The team dissolved amicably in 1966; on his own, Panama directed Bob Hope's How to Commit Marriage (1966), the Rowan and Martin vehicle The Maltese Bippy (1969), and the oddball Elliott Gould-Diane Keaton romantic comedy I Will, I Will...For Now. Norman Panama's last credit was the Australian TV movie Barnaby and Me. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Having decided to ditch the city in favor of the suburbs, a newly formed family purchases a quaint "fixer-upper" that proves to be more trouble than they could have ever anticipated in a rollicking family comedy that's half sequel to Are We There Yet?, and half remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Nick (Ice Cube) and Suzanne (Nia Long) have tied the knot, and now the couple is looking for a suitable home in which to raise their family. What better place to bring up adolescents Lindsey (Aleisha Allen) and Kevin (Philip Daniel Bolden) than a quiet house in the suburbs? Despite their outward excitement at the prospect of moving into their very own home, the family soon discovers that dreams don't come easy as eccentric contractor Chuck Mitchell (John C. McGinley) clashes with the head of the family while forming a frustratingly close bond with his wife and two step-children. As the promising fixer-upper begins to pose a serious threat to the burgeoning family's bank account, Nick gradually begins to realize that the suburban dream doesn't come cheap. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Norman Panama's penultimate directorial effort, Barnaby and Me was originally filmed for Australian television. The title character is a talented Koala Bear, who is to Australian fans what Benji is to Americans. Pausing in his escape from a vengeful mobster, American con artist Caesar falls in love with Juliet Mills, whose daughter Sally Boyden keeps Barnaby as her pet. The kooky koala teans up with Caesar for a series of picaresque adventures. It's hardly The Sting, but it's easy to take. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
Norman Panama directed and wrote (along with Albert E. Lewin) this mediocre piece of fluff about unhappily divorced marriage partners. Elliot Gould stars as Les Bingham, who takes umbrage that his ex-wife Katie (Diane Keaton) has a new love in life. What Les doesn't realize is that her new paramour is lawyer Lou Springer (Paul Sorvino). When Katie's sister Sally (Candy Clark) arrives and tells the two about her new, hip '70s marriage contract, Les and Katie decide to try to get together again under a more liberal marriage contract, like Katie's sister. But, unfortunately for the couple, the contract is planted with the seeds of self-destruction, having been drafted by Lou. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Diane Keaton, (more)
- 1973
A dirty joke that became a "clean" TV movie, Coffee, Tea or Me stars Karen Valentine, cast to type as a perky stewardess. In a chaste variation of The Captain's Paradise, Valentine finds herself married to two different men in two different countries. Since the men are played by John Davidson and Michael Anderson Jr., each in his own way as cute as Valentine, the girl's dilemma is profound. Until its cop-out ending, Coffee Tea or Me glides through its risque situations with class and finesse. The film was directed by Norman Panama, who earlier had been responsible (in collaboration with Melvin Frank) for such comedies as Danny Kaye's The Court Jester (56) and the film version of the Broadway musical Li'l Abner (59). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karen Valentine, John Davidson, (more)
- 1969
- G
Cashing in on the popularity of their comedy series Laugh-In, comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin team up ala Abbott and Costello in this spoof of old horror movies and mysteries. Rowan plays a pornographic film producer and Martin plays his star, who is having trouble sleeping at night and seriously suspects that he has become a werewolf. To verify this, the two travel to a "haunted" Gothic Long Island mansion and end up embroiled with Julie Newmar while searching, amidst a series of murders, for a missing diamond. Rowan and Martin's television show was hip and funny. Alas, this film is neither and bombed at the box-office. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, (more)
Frank Benson (Bob Hope) and his wife, Elaine (Jane Wyman), decide to end their marriage after 20 years. Their daughter, Nancy (Joanna Cameron), announces she wishes to marry her college sweetheart, David Poe (Tim Matheson). David's father, Oliver (Jackie Gleason), is against the union and tries to sabotage the relationship. Nancy ends up pregnant and puts the baby up for adoption. Frank and Elaine become the foster parents to their grandchild. Frank poses as the young couple's guru to get them to raise the child themselves. Leslie Nielsen plays Phil, a divorced man who dates Elaine, while Frank takes up with Lois (Maureen Arthur). Comedy ensues when, at Oliver's urging, Frank and Elaine join the rock group the Comfortable Chair. Another sequence has a chimpanzee beating a frustrated Frank easily in a game of golf. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, (more)
- 1966
In the words of Hamlet, there's a plentiful lack of wit in Not with My Wife, You Don't! Korean war vet Tony Curtis is living in London, blissfully married (so he thinks) to Virna Lisi. In strolls old air force buddy George C. Scott, who has a history of stealing Curtis' ladies away from him. Unable to woo Lisi by fair means, Scott resorts to foul; he exercises his prerogative as Curtis' superior officer, shipping him out to a faraway post. George C. Scott may have been right to refuse his Oscar for Patton; he doesn't look like much of an award-winner in Not With My Wife, You Don't! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi, (more)
This romantic comedy stars Rock Hudson as Carter Harrison, an executive rising through the ranks of a major oil company. When he meets Toni Vincente (Gina Lollobrigida), a beautiful but hot-tempered artist, it's love at first sight and they quickly marry. The bloom is soon off the rose, however, and, five years later, Carter and Toni are about to finalize their divorce. However, just as the final paperwork is about to go through, Carter learns that he's up for a major promotion which would hinge on his being married. Carter is able to engineer a reconciliation with Toni with the help of his friend Richard Bramwell (Gig Young), a PR agent with the firm who hopes that a happy marriage will improve Carter's reputation. Since his separation from Toni, Carter has become known as something of a lothario, a reputation that the family-oriented company would like to avoid. But even though the couple patches things up, Richard has his work cut out for him when Toni announces that she'll be reenacting Lady Godiva's naked ride as part of a protest organized by an artists' group. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
This was the last trip in the "road" comedies that Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and a bevy of female stars that featured Dorothy Lamour once made famous. In this road to Hong Kong and parts far beyond, Chester and Harry (Hope and Crosby) are a couple of failed vaudeville stars looking for a way to riches in the confidence game. Chester's memory goes kaputz, and the two end up involved with Diane (Joan Collins), a spy looking for a secret formula, and a bunch of hoodlums who plan on sending up a rocket to the moon with special equipment allowing them to rule the planet earth. The pair of heroes gets caught in the rocket instead of the originally intended monkeys, and the monkey business continues in outer space -- where it seems to be all along. In this mixed collage of events, several stars pop up in cameo roles: Peter Sellers, Dean Martin, David Niven, Frank Sinatra among them. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, (more)
- 1960
Unlike the typical Bob Hope and Lucille Ball vehicles, The Facts of Life is essentially a domestic drama with comic undertones. Hope is married to Ruth Hussey, while Ball is the wife of Don DeFore. All four are old friends, who for many years have taken each other for granted. A series of unforeseen circumstances requires Hope and Ball to spend a great deal of time together without their spouses, and as a result they fall in love. Though the affair is never consummated, Hope and Ball are prepared to run off together, but in the end they decide that adultery at their age just isn't worth the trouble. Long unavailable for viewing due to legal tangles, The Facts of Life has gained legendary status as one of the few Bob Hope films of the 1960s to concentrate on character development rather than silly one-liners. Recent viewings have revealed that, though a far more mature work than one might expect from Hope or Ball, Facts of Life still relies to a great extent on the sort of TV sitcom material that the fans of the two stars had come to expect by 1960. Still, the film was considered offbeat enough to warrant an Oscar nomination for best screenplay (by longtime Hope associates Norman Panama and Melvin Frank). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1959
Set in the Kansas territory during the middle of the 19th century, this is a visually evocative but conventional western. The story deals with Darcy (Jeff Chandler), a ruthless man, one of the raiders known as "Jayhawkers" who wants more than what life is willing to offer. Starting out as anti-slavery activists, the Jayhawkers' origins are barely mentioned in the story, as Darcy uses them to support his growing power. Opposing his unscrupulous bid for control of the region is Cam (Fess Parker, of Davy Crockett fame on American TV) an ex-convict. Cam knows that Darcy is responsible for the death of his wife while he was in prison and he plans to bring him down. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Chandler, Fess Parker, (more)
- 1959
This is a routine, sometimes unintentionally funny drama about a man whose moral backbone straightens up as he sets his sights on capturing a gangster -- his own boss. Richard Widmark is Ralph Anderson, the petty criminal who returns to his hometown with his mob boss Victor Massonetti (Lee J. Cobb). Massonetti is running from the law and waiting for a plane to come and take him away to safety. His henchmen make the mistake of killing Ralph's father (Carl Benton Reid), who just happens to be the sheriff. That act turns Ralph around, and the plot thickens as he plans to capture Massonetti and his men in spite of the hindrance of his alcoholic brother (Earl Holliman) and the amorous attentions of his sister-in-law (Tina Louise). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, (more)
1959's Li'l Abner was adapted from the hit 1956 Broadway musical--which, in turn, was inspired by the satirical comic strip by Al Capp. Peter Palmer recreates his Broadway role as Li'l Abner Yokum, the handsome, muscle-bound, muscle-brained leading hillbilly of Dogpatch, USA. The citizens of Dogpatch are in an uproar because their ramshackle community has been designated the "most useless" town in America, and therefore a prime candidate for an atomic bomb testing site. At first, the Dogpatchers consider their least-desirable status a great honor, but then they despair upon realizing that they'll have to vacate the premise before the annual girl-chases-boy Sadie Hawkins Day race. Together with his Mammy (Billie Hayes) and Pappy (Joe E. Marks), Li'l Abner is dispatched to Washington DC, to argue that Dogpatch has some vital significance: after all, only in Dogpatch can one partake of the Yokumberry Tonic, the source of Abner's super strength. Shifty billionaire General Bullmoose (Howard St. John) wants that Yokumberry tonic for his own devices, and to that end dispatches his lady friend Appasionatta von Climax (Stella Stevens) to Dogpatch to catch Li'l Abner during the Sadie Hawkins race and thus secure the mountain boy's cooperation via marriage. Li'l Abner's erstwhile girl friend Daisy Mae Scragg (Leslie Parrish) would likewise like to snare Abner in the race, but Appasionata wins, thanks to the squirrelly Evil Eye Fleegle (Al Nesor), whose "triple whammy" paralyzes Abner just inches before the finish line. If you think all this is unbelievable, wait till you see how the story resolves itself. Featured in the cast is Stubby Kaye as Marryin' Sam, who leads the hillbilly chorus in the musical's best number, "Jubilation T. Corpone". Other Johnny Mercer-Gene de Paul tunes carried over from the Broadway version of Li'l Abner are "A Typical Day," "If I Had My Druthers," "Namely You," "The Country's in the Very Best of Hands," "Past My Prime," "Put 'Em Back (The Way They Wuz)" and "The Matrimonial Stomp."The film is staged in the same broad, caricatured manner as the play, which only adds to the fun. An earlier, unrelated movie adaptation of Li'l Abner, filmed in 1940, is best forgotten, as is a series of lukewarm Abner cartoons produced by Screen Gems in the late forties. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Palmer, Leslie Parrish, (more)
- 1956
For reasons unknown, the change-of-pace Bob Hope vehicle That Certain Feeling is out of favor with many Hope buffs. Bob plays Francis X. Dignan, the overly neurotic "ghost" for popular comic-strip artist Larry Larkin (George Sanders). When Larkin's syndicate complains that his work isn't as amusing as it once was, he anxiously tries to hire back Dignan, who walked out on his boss over a petty disagreement. Dignan needs the money, but he'd rather do without the aggravation; this won't be easy, since Larkin is on the verge of marrying Dunreath Henry (Eva Marie Saint), Dignan's ex-wife. Enusing complications include the pompous Larkin's efforts to adopt a troublesome young boy (played by future "Beaver" Jerry Mathers) as a publicity stunt, and a wild night of drunken revelry which leads to the rekindling of Dunreath's affection for Dignan. The story comes to a raucous conclusion during a chaotic "Person to Person"-style interview show. Pearl Bailey adds spice to the program as a musical maidservant, while real-life cartoonist Al Capp (no stranger to "ghosts" himself) appears as himself. That Certain Feeling was based on The King of Hearts, a play by Jean Kerr and Eleanor Brooke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Eva Marie Saint, (more)
Danny Kaye spoofs medieval swashbucklers in this classic musical comedy. While the infant King of England awaits his rightful place as leader of the British Empire, his rule is usurped by Roderick (Cecil Parker), an evil pretender to the throne. Brave rebel leader The Black Fox (Edward Ashley) intends to remove Roderick from the palace and bring the crown back to its true owner, but in the meantime the baby king needs to be looked after, which is the job of a man named Hawkins (Kaye). The Black Fox travels with the little king and his rebels as they search for the key to a secret tunnel that will allow them passage into the castle. Maid Jean (Glynis Johns), one of the rebels, meets a man en route to the Castle who is to be Roderick's new jester. The rebels quickly hatch a plan: detain the jester and send Hawkins in his place; the king can then find the key and initiate the overthrow. Hawkins is able to persuade Roderick and his men that he is indeed a jester, but his espionage work gets complicated when Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury) falls in love with him, and he runs afoul of Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone), the evil genius behind Roderick. Court Jester features Kaye's famous "Pellet with the Poison" routine. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, (more)
- 1954
With the exception of the brilliant The Court Jester, Knock on Wood must rank as the best of Danny Kaye's movie vehicles. Capitalizing on the star's recent successful engagement in London, the film casts Kaye as a neurotic American ventriloquist performing in England and Europe. In a parody of the 1946 thriller Dead of Night, Kaye is unable to control the words coming out of his dummy, resulting in a near-nervous breakdown. On the advice of his manager (David Burns), Kaye seeks out the help of a psychiatrist, who turns out to be beautiful Mai Zetterling. But first, he heads to a local repair shop to pick up one of his dummies. What Kaye doesn't know is that a set of stolen blueprints for a top-secret weapon have been secreted into his dummy's head. Before he knows what's happening, our hero is up to his ears in spies, counterspies, and corpses. Falsely accused of murder, Kaye spends the rest of the film adopting one disguise after another to elude both the authorities and the various enemy agents roaming about. Filled to overflowing with musical and comedy highlights, Knock on Wood includes the famous "under the table" bit wherein Kaye finds himself literally between two warring spy factions, and a climactic ballet sequence reminiscent of (and superior to) the comic-opera finale of Kaye's Wonder Man (1945). And of course, the audience is treated to the tongue-twisting patter songs written for Kaye by his wife Sylvia Fine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Kaye, Mai Zetterling, (more)
White Christmas, Paramount's belated follow-up to the 1942 hit Holiday Inn, was the studio's first VistaVision production. A veritable warehouse full of oldie-but-goodie Irving Berlin tunes are woven into the film's simplistic plotline, along with a handful of new songs, of which "What Can You Do With a General?" is the least memorable. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye (replacing an ailing Donald O'Connor) play nightclub entertainers Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, while Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen are cast as singing-sister act Betty and Judy. The foursome travel to Vermont to visit Bob and Phil's WII commanding officer, General Waverly (Dean Jagger, who looks and sounds like Dwight D. Eisenhower!), who now runs a rustic old inn. Discovering that the general is in dire financial straits, the four entertainers secretly make plans to bail the old guy out with a big musical show, enlisting the aid of Bob and Phil's army buddies. Corny in the extreme, White Christmas evidently struck a responsive note with film fans; it was the high-grossing picture of 1954, and a decade later proved to be a ratings bonanza when it was given its network-TV premiere. Of the four stars, Crosby comes off best, especially when singing the title song at the beginning and end of the film; Kaye is a bit overshadowed this time out, though he's quite funny camping it up in a "drag" version of Irving Berlin's "Sisters." Still a big favorite on the home-video circuit, White Christmas may not be the best Bing Crosby musical on the market, but it's certainly one of the most heartwarming. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, (more)
- 1952
- NR
Above and Beyond is the story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as told from the perspective of the man who flew the mission. Robert Taylor stars as Col. Paul Tibbetts, commander of the Enola Gay. Once selected for this extremely dangerous mission, Tibbetts must hand-pick a crew worthy of the task. He is also forced to keep his mission a closely guarded secret, even unto withholding all information from his loving and patient wife Lucey (Eleanor Parker). The film concentrates on the strain placed upon Tibbetts, his crew and their families in the crucial days before the "big drop". The bombing itself is handled with taste and decorum, though the horror and mixed emotions of the moment are brilliantly conveyed on the faces of Tibbetts and his men. Above and Beyond represents a rare noncomedy endeavor from the writer-director team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, (more)
- 1951
Strictly Dishonorable is a musicalized version of Preston Sturges' cynical Broadway comedy of the same title, previously filmed sans songs in 1931. Ezio Pinza, fresh from his stage triumph in South Pacific, stars as Augustino Caraffa, an opera star whose amorous adventures are legend. Janet Leigh plays green-as-grass Southern belle Isabelle Perry, Caraffa's biggest fan. To rescue her idol from a vengeful publisher (Hugh Sanders), Isabelle agrees to an "in name only" marriage, hoping that Caraffa will eventually fall in love with her for real. Several romantic complications later, Caraffa finally begins to change his rakish ways. In keeping with Sturges' original scenario, Strictly Dishonorable is set in the late 1920s, allowing for a scene in which Isabelle is amorously inspired by a silent John Gilbert-Greta Garbo picture (accompanied on the Mighty Wurlitzer by organist Kathleen Freeman). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ezio Pinza, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1951
Callaway Went Thataway is an amiable spoof of early television's "Hopalong Cassidy" craze. Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire star as Mike Frye and Deborah Patterson, advertising copywriters who have pulled off quite a coup by purchasing the old "Smokey Callaway" Westerns for TV. Trouble begins when the sponsor wants to meet up with Callaway (Howard Keel) and sign him to a long-term contract. But Smokey, a notorious boozer and womanizer, has dropped out of sight and left for parts unknown. In desperation, Mike and Debbie hire a Callaway look-alike named Stretch Barnes (also Howard Keel), whom they give a crash course in the art of being a boyhood idol ("You're a cowboy star. You have two expressions: hat on and hat off"). Barnes not only pulls off the ruse with the greatest of ease, but also takes his responsibilities to his young fans quite seriously. The plot thickens when the real Smoky Callaway emerges from a ten-year bender to demand a piece of the action. Callaway Went Thataway is full of wonderful moments, not least of which is a climactic fistfight between Callaway and Barnes, adroitly edited and photographed so as to make it appear that Howard Keel is actually punching out himself! The supporting cast includes future TV favorites Jesse White, Stan Freberg, and Hugh Beaumont (unbilled), while several MGM stars make surprise cameo appearances. Perhaps to avoid potential lawsuits, the film ends with a timorous disclaimer, stating that most Western stars are generous, upstanding individuals -- and not at all like the bibulous, mercenary Smoky Callaway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, (more)
- 1950
MGM's The Reformer and the Redhead was the first directorial collaboration of longtime screenwriting partners Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. The reformer is Andrew Rockton Hale (Dick Powell), a mayoral candidate. Hale butts heads with a corrupt political machine, which has recently ordered the firings of several innocent city employees, including zookeeper Kevin Maguire (Cecil Kellaway). The redhead in the case is Maguire's daughter Kathleen (June Allyson), who joins Hale's election team, only to turn on him after a series of misunderstandings. The farcical proceedings culminate in a bit of Bringing Up Baby-style slapstick involving a ferocious lion. By the time Reformer and the Redhead was filmed, Dick Powell and June Allyson had been married for five years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Allyson, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1948
- NR
- Add Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House to QueueAdd Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House to top of Queue
Fed up with crowded big-city living, advertising executive Mr. Blandings (Cary Grant) decides to seek out a big, roomy house in the country. Armed with more enthusiasm than common sense, Blandings causes many a headache for his lawyer/business manager Melvyn Douglas, who tries to keep the costs within a reasonable amount. Alas, Blandings bulls ahead on his own, first purchasing an estate on the verge of collapse, then opting to build his dream house from scratch. An unpleasant legal squabble over the fact that Blandings purchased his new property without checking with the prior owners throws even more good money after bad. The construction of the new Blandings digs is slowed down to a walk by doors and windows that don't fit, plumbing that fails to function, doorknobs that break upon contact with human flesh, temperamental workmen, and various and sundry other homeowners' nightmares (if all this sounds like the much-later Tom Hanks/Shelley Long comedy The Money Pit, it only shows to go how little has changed in forty years--except, of course, for the costs of things). Attempting to keep a level head throughout the proceedings is Mrs. Blandings (Myrna Loy), though even she is guilty of pretensions and excess, especially in the classic "choice of colors" scene. The humor in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House springs so naturally from the central situation that it seems intrusive when the scriptwriters throw in an arbitrary French-farce scene wherein Blandings suspects that his wife and his lawyer are fooling around (a plot point that the original Eric Hodgins novel did just fine without). One of the best bits comes near the end, when Louise Beavers, the Blandings' cook, saves the day for everyone by ad libbing "If you ain't eating Wham, you ain't eating Ham." Why should we spoil your enjoyment by explaining that line? Now you'll have to see the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Louise Beavers, (more)
- 1948
Hot on the heels of Columbia's The Fuller Brush Man, MGM released another Red Skelton gagfest, A Southern Yankee. Set during the Civil War, the film casts Skelton as bumbling bellboy Aubrey Filmore. Yearning to help the Northern cause by becoming an undercover spy, Aubrey succeeds beyond his wildest dreams when circumstances force him to pose as notorious Southern secret agent Major Drumman (George Coulouris), aka "The Grey Spider". Infiltrating rebel territory, our hero does his best (which is none too good) to intercept the Grey Spider's messages and smuggle them to the North. Along the way, he falls in love with pert Southern belle Sallyann Weatherby (Arlene Dahl). Many of the side-splitting gag routines were devised by Buster Keaton, notably the now-famous scene in which Aubrey gingerly walks across the battlefield between Northern and Southern lines carrying a two-sided flag -- the Northern Stars and Stripes on one side, the Southern Stars and Bars on the other -- a strategy that works until the wind suddenly changes! Though Edward Sedgwick is credited with the direction, Red Skelton later revealed that A Southern Yankee was actually directed by S. Sylvan Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Red Skelton, Brian Donlevy, (more)
- 1948
In this whimsical fantasy, a young girl suddenly discovers that her horse is really a reincarnation of her beloved uncle who upon his death bed was heard to say that if could ever come back, he would want to be a race horse that wins the Kentucky Derby. When the girl's relatives learn of her beliefs, the greedily try to have her declared incompetent so they can get a hold of her estate. Fortunately, October the horse (it really is her reincarnated uncle!) intervenes, wins the Derby and gives them all pause for thought. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Terry Moore, (more)
- 1947
A precursor of sorts to the 1999 Julia Roberts vehicle The Runaway Bride, It Had to Be You stars Ginger Rogers as Victoria Stafford, a wealthy girl who has been engaged three times, and has three times chickened out at the altar just before saying "I do." Determined to wed her fourth fiancé, Oliver H.P. Harrington (Ron Randell), Victoria is on the verge of saying those two little words, when suddenly she sees the vision of her "dream lover," George (Cornel Wilde), whom she has envisioned since childhood. Ultimately our heroine meets an in-the-flesh lookalike for her imaginary sweetheart: a no-nonsense fireman named Johnny Blaine, who indeed was a childhood friend of Victoria's. So, do wedding bells finally ring? Not on your life. Though Victoria is ga-ga over Johnny, the feeling is far from mutual -- and besides, there are several reels to go before the end title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Cornel Wilde, (more)
