Billy Bevan Movies
Effervescent little Billy Bevan commenced his stage career in his native Australia, after briefly attending the University of Sydney. A veteran of the famous Pollard Opera Company, Bevan came to the U.S. in 1917, where he found work as a supporting comic at L-KO studios. He was promoted to stardom in 1920 when he joined up with Mack Sennett's "fun factory." Adopting a bushy moustache and an air... (read more) of quizzical determination, Bevan became one of Sennett's top stars, appearing opposite such stalwart laughmakers as Andy Clyde, Vernon Dent and Madelyn Hurlock in such belly-laugh bonanzas as Ice Cold Cocos (1925), Circus Today (1926) and Wandering Willies (1926). While many of Bevan's comedies are hampered by too-mechanical gags and awkward camera tricks, he was funny and endearing enough to earn laughs without the benefit of Sennett gimmickry. He was particularly effective in a series of "tired businessman" two-reelers, in which the laughs came from the situations and the characterizations rather than slapstick pure and simple. Bevan continued to work sporadically for Sennett into the talkie era, but was busier as a supporting actor in feature films like Cavalcade (1933), The Lost Patrol (1934) and Dracula's Daughter (1936). He was frequently cast in bit parts as London "bobbies," messenger boys and bartenders; one of his more rewarding talkie roles was the uncle of plumbing trainee Jennifer Jones (!) in Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown (1946). Among Billy Bevan's final screen assignments was the part of Will Scarlet in 1950's Rogues of Sherwood Forest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
30 Years of Fun
1963
The fourth of Oscar-winning short-subject director Youngson's comedy compilations (the earlier ones were Golden Age of Comedy, When Comedy was King, and Days of Thrills...
Fortunes of Captain Blood
1950
Though usually associated with westerns, Columbia producer Harry Joe Brown proved to be up to the challenge of producing a satisfactory swashbuckler with Fortunes of Captain...
Rogues of Sherwood Forest
1950
Decked out with leftover sets and stock footage from 1946's Bandit of Sherwood Forest, Columbia's Rogues of Sherwood Forest stars John Derek as the son of legendary...
That Forsyte Woman
1949
Though one might have expected friction between MGM's resident "nice lady" Greer Garson and Warner Bros. notorious "bad boy" Errol Flynn, the two got along splendidly during...
Tell It to the Judge
1949
Though divorced from attorney Robert Cummings, Rosalind Russell continues hoping that she can arrange a reconciliation. This proves difficult due to Cummings' fascination...
The Secret of St. Ives
1949
Long before he became a highly respected Wall Street financial adviser, Richard Ney was a minor-league film star. In Secret of St. Ives, Ney plays Anatole de Keroual, the...
The Secret Garden
1949
The oft-filmed Frances Hodgson Burnett novel The Secret Garden was given the usual plush MGM treatment in 1949. Tempestuous orphan girl Mary Lennox (Margaret O'Brien) is...
Let's Live a Little
1948
Sexual harassment can work both ways as can be seen in this romantic comedy when ad man endeavors to maneuver out of a relationship with his girlfriend. This is difficult as she...
The Black Arrow
1948
This commendably short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow stars Louis Hayward in the title role. Returning from duty in the 15th-century War of the...
Love from a Stranger
1947
Based on the novel by Agatha Christie and play by Frank Vosper, Love From a Stranger isn't quite as good as the 1937 version of the same property. This time, Sylvia Sidney and...
Moss Rose
1947
A woman trying to solve the mystery of a friend's murder finds that she may be the next victim in this suspense story set in turn-of-the-century London. Belle Adair (Peggy...
It Had to Be You
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...
The Swordsman
1947
Capitalizing on Larry Parks' "overnight" success in The Jolson Story, Columbia Pictures rushed their hottest new star from one picture to another, whether he was suited to...
Cluny Brown
1946
The time is just prior to World War II. Lovely Cluny Brown (Jennifer Jones) is the niece of a London plumber; when her uncle is indisposed, Cluny rolls up her sleeves and takes...
Terror by Night
NR 1946
The penultimate entry in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series, Terror by Night takes place almost exclusively on a speeding train, en route from London to Edinburgh....
Devotion
1945
Roundly blasted upon its release because of the extreme liberties it takes with the truth, Devotion is better as cinema than as history. Not that it's great cinema, mind you,...
The Picture of Dorian Gray
1945
The Picture of Dorian Gray was writer/director Albert E. Lewin's fascinating follow-up to his expressive-esoterica masterpiece The Moon and Sixpence. Hurd Hatfield...
The Woman in Green
NR 1945
Based on Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House, this "Sherlock Holmes" entry finds Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) trying to solve the case of the...
The Invisible Man's Revenge
1944
The fifth in the Invisible Man series stars Jon Hall as Robert Griffin, a convict who takes the invisibility serum and then goes on a crime spree. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi...
National Velvet
G 1944
Although National Velvet was the first starring role for 11-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, the early part of the film belongs to Mickey Rooney in the showier role of {%Mike...