Raymond Schrock Movies

Jim Davis, better known to contemporary audiences as Josh Ewing, J.R.'s (Larry Hagman) father on Dallas, is the two-fisted star of 1950's Hi-Jacked. Davis plays truck driver Joe Harper, who after his rig is stolen is accused of masterminding the theft himself. To clear his name, Joe sets out on his own to trap the real thieves. What he doesn't know is that one of his own co-workers has been tipping off the crooks whenever the trucking routes are changed. Joe's wife Jean is played by Marsha Jones, who during her child-star days was known as Marcia Mae Jones. Inasmuch as Hi-Jacked was produced by Lippert Films, it is perhaps inevitable that Sid Melton shows up in the supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The film career of actress Leslie Brooks lasted long enough for her to contribute several mesmerizingly bitchy performances. In Blonde Ice, Brooks is cast as Claire, a society reporter who'll do literally anything for a story. She manages to keep herself in the headlines by marrying and romancing a series of wealthy men, all of whom die under mysterious circumstances. To deflect suspicion from herself, Claire frames her erstwhile boyfriend, sportswriter Les Burns (Robert Paige). Because the police department is incredibly obtuse throughout the film, it's up to a criminal psychologist (David Leonard) to expose Claire as a homicidal sociopath. Blonde Ice might make a fascinating double feature with Nicole Kidman's 1994 starrer To Die For. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this mystery, the Crime Doctor, an amnesiac ex-crook, takes on yet another intriguing psychological murder case. This time he is on vacation, but the kindly fellow cannot help but look into a murder to help a troubled soul. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

With a little extra effort, Columbia's Key Witness might have been a model B picture. John Beal plays inventor Milton Higby, whose treacherous ex-girlfriend is mysteriously murdered. As the number one suspect, Higby is in the doghouse witht he Law. Fortunately, it seems as though someone witnessed the crime; less fortunately, that someone has apparently disappeared from the face of the earth. Higby also tries to disappear by disguising himself as a bum, which only adds to his already mounting problems. So little critical attention was paid to Columbia's B product in the late 1940s that one reviewer labelled Key Witness costar Trudy Marshall as a "newcomer", even though she'd been in pictures since 1942 (Marshall, incidentally, is the mother of 1970s star Deborah Raffin). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Edgar G. Ulmer's Club Havana is Grand Hotel, PRC style. The titular club is a popular nightspot where everyone who is anyone congregates. Six couples, none of whom are acquainted with the others, show up at Club Havana on one fateful evening, and the result is sheer murder-literally. Among the participants in the heavily plotted proceedings are suicidal socialite Rosalind (Margaret Lindsay), novice doctor Bill Porter (Tom Neal), callous playboy Johnny Norton (Don Douglas) and would-be philanderer Willy Kingston (Ernest Truex). Former Paramount leading lady Gertrude Michael delivers a poignant cameo as a worn-out powder room attendant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sidney Toler seems listless and barely awake throughout the intrigues of the Monogram "Charlie Chan" opus Shadows over Chinatown. This time out, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) and his erstwhile assistants, son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) and chauffeur Birmingham (Mantan Moreland), investigate a clever insurance scam. The crooks are using a series of brutal "torso murders" to rip off an insurance company by claiming that the long-missing Mary Conover (Tanis Chandler) is a victim of the unknown murderer. Actually, Mary is in hiding from the insurance hucksters themselves, forcing Chan to race against time (if "race" is the correct word) to save the girl from certain doom. Perennial movie drunk Jack Norton has all the film's best lines as a garrulous boozer who isn't quite what he seems. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The PRC "special" Danny Boy stars Ace the Dog in the title role. Danny Boy, a highly decorated war dog, is kidnapped by a nasty sort who gets his jollies out of mistreating animals. While he comes dangerously close to turning vicious and unmanageable, Danny Boy manages to escape with his basic good nature intact. After a torturous journey home, Danny Boy is reunited with his young master, Buzzy Henry. In real life, Ace the Dog was nowhere near as docile as the character he was playing, and it is obvious throughout that he'd just as soon take a bite out of Buzzy Henry as nuzzle the kid. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set at a major newspaper, this crime drama centers on a fellow who returns to newspaper reporting after he bombs as a playwright. Believing his grown son is in danger of marrying a gold digger, the paper's publisher assigns his new reporter to expose her. In order to do so, he cons the gal's maid into letting him into her apartment. There he hides a camera. Later that night, the gold digger is murdered there. Fortunately, the reporter's camera caught the killer in the act. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

African explorers hit the Congo in search of a rare white gorilla in this campy jungle adventure filled with deliciously goofy special effects. The British biologists believe the white ape will prove to be the missing link. A British undercover cop accompanies the explorers because he believes the guide to be a killer. The cop's theory proves to be right and the guide soon causes the native bearers to revolt. He abandons the scientists to face the jungle alone. Before leaving, the guide kidnaps the expedition leader's lovely daughter. He then sets off to find some legendary gold. He ends up stumbling into the ancient home of the blonde ape. The primate doesn't like visitors and so strangles the killer and takes the hapless girl, her terrified bosom heaving seductively through her tattered blouse, to his lair. There the blonde ape must fight a regular gorilla. While the two muscle-bound hairballs fight it out, the undercover bobby and the scientists arrive. The white gorilla tosses his rival off a cliff and returns for some booty. Unfortunately, the explorers wound him and put him in a cage. They then return to England with their prize. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Perennial starlet Mary Beth Hughes has Men on Her Mind in this PRC quickie. Mary Beth plays a radio and nightclub singer to whom success means everything. Everything, that is, until she falls in love with handsome Edward Norris. Like every other male in the cast, Norris was selected not so much out of talent as from necessity: with the war on, the studios were compelled to rely upon draft-proof talent. Men on Her Mind contains one song, "Heaven on Earth", cowritten by PRC workhorse Lee Zahler. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a truck driver will do almost anything to keep his son in a prestigious military academy. To pay the tuition, the trucker becomes a prizefighter. Unfortunately the pugilist is drug down by booze and a gold-digging blond. His friends assist him, he makes up with his former gal, and gets together with his son who wasn't interested at all interested in attending that expensive school. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Great Mike is a horse owned by sensitive farm boy Jimmy (Buzzy Henry). Though the nag is prestently hitched to a milkwagon, Jimmy is convinced that he's got a racing champ on his hands. Convincing big-time sportsman Whitley (Pierre Watkin) that The Great Mike has what it takes, Jimmy and veteran trainer Spencer (Stu Erwin) begin prepping the horse for an important race. A gang of crooks intrudes upon this set-up, threatening the horse's future well-being, but The Great Mike is rescued through the timely intervention of Jimmy's faithful dog. At the time of its release, The Great Mike garnered some good notices, many of them reserved for "Our Gang" alumnus Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, who essays a comedy-relief part. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi