Nolan LearyFilmography

A Family Upside Down

Synopsis: A Family Upside Down stars Fred Astaire and Helen Hayes as a retired married couple. Always proud of his independence and resilience, Astaire suffers a sudden heart attack. Though he recovers, Hayes is unable to care for Astaire herself, so she and her husband are compelled to move in with son Efrem Zimbalist Jr Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Let's Pretend We're Strangers

Synopsis: SFPD homicide inspector Robbins (Richard Hatch) falls in love with attractive public defender Susan Harper (Linda Kelsey). Unfortunately, the course of romance proves to be a bumpy one when Susan champions the cause of a murder suspect whom has been charged on the basis of prima facie evidence. Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Murder By Proxy

Synopsis: This time, Stone (Michael Douglas) and Keller (Michael Douglas) comes up against a ruthless international executive determined to force several stubborn homeowners off their property. Carefully keeping his name out of the proceedings, the executive hires several sinister minions to get what he Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Tower Beyond Tragedy

Synopsis: Stone ({$Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) match wits with Amory Gilliam, a wealthy but demented executive who "molds" his women into his own special image of perfection--then murders them if they fail to live up to his standards, or dare to walk out on him. Gilliam's latest girlfirend is Read More

Bonanza: Riot!

Actors: Michael Landon, David Canary, Aldo Ray, Marco St. John, Gregory Walcott

Synopsis: The shadow of the recent Attica uprising looms large over the October 3, 1972 Bonanza episode "Riot!" While on a tour of the Nevada State Prison, Ben Cartwright and several other prominent men are taken hostage by rioting prisoners. Though some of the inmates hope to escape, most of the others Read More

Sweet Charity

Actors: Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban, Sammy Davis, Jr., Chita Rivera

Synopsis: Shirley MacLaine plays Charity Hope Valentine who, despite her job at a seedy dime-a-dance joint, is an incurable optimist. Charity never stops looking for true love and never seems to look for it in the right places. We first see her in the company of Charlie (Dante DiPaolo), a slimeball who Read More

The Fugitive: The Blessings of Liberty

Synopsis: Posing as "Ben Russell", Kimble finds refuge in the home of the Koraks, a family of Hungarian emigres. When the police put the family's apartment building under surveillance while searching for an escaped murderer, Josef Korak (Ludwig Donath) begins to worry that his past criminal record as an Read More

The Munsters: Will Success Spoil Herman Munster?

Synopsis: When Eddie (Butch Patrick) brings home a tape recorder he has borrowed from friendly disc jockey Dick Willet (Gary Owens), Herman (Fred Gwynne) amuses himself by recording his own rendition of "Dry Bones." Upon hearing Herman's vocal histrionics, Willet declares publicly that the "unknown"singer Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Golden Oranges

Synopsis: Returning to work after a four-week absence, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) makes up for lost time by agreeing to represent cantankerous orange grower Amos Keller (Arthur Hunnicutt). To get even with Amos for messing up his plans to bulldoze the local orange groves, land developer Gerald Thornton is Read More

The Fugitive: Glass Tightrope

Synopsis: Posing as "Harry Carson", Kimble (David Janssen) witnesses an accidental homicide committed by wealthy Martin Rowland (Leslie Nielsen). When a drifter named Arthur Tibbets (Jay Adler) is arrested for the killing, Kimble worries that if he comes forward to exonerate Tibbets, he is almost certain to Read More

Pollyanna

Actors: Jane Wyman, Hayley Mills, Richard Egan, Karl Malden, Nancy Olson, Adolphe Menjou

Synopsis: Eleanor H. Porter's story of Pollyanna, "The Glad Girl," was first filmed in 1920 by Mary Pickford. While entertaining, the Pickford version tended to reduce the supporting characters to stereotypes. Disney's 1960 remake of Pollyanna wisely offers three-dimensional characterizations, enhancing the Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Hatchet Man

Synopsis: Summoned to San Francisco's chinatown by the city's police department, Paladin (Richard Boone) agrees to provide protection to Chinese detective Joe Tsin (Benson Fong). But there are two major complications: Tsin has been marked for death by a vicious Tong, whose hatchet men have never failed to Read More

Ten North Frederick

Actors: Gary Cooper, Diane Varsi, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ray Stricklyn, Tom Tully, Suzy Parker

Synopsis: Ten North Frederick is a generally satisfying adaptation of one of John O'Hara's weaker novels. Gary Cooper plays wealthy businessman Joe Chapin, whose politically ambitious wife Edith (Geraldine Fitzgerald) hopes to ramrod into the White House. To this end, Edith donates tons of money to the Read More

Money, Women and Guns

Actors: Jock Mahoney, Kim Hunter, Tim Hovey, Gene Evans, Tom Drake

Synopsis: In this curious blend of Western and detective melodrama, Jock Mahoney plays a frontier gumshoe named Hogan. When an old prospector is murdered, Hogan takes on the assignment of finding the four heirs to the prospector's fortune. Briefly sidetracked by a romance with Mary Kingman (played by Kim Hunter Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Jilted Jockey

Synopsis: Jockey Billy Pearson, who skyrocketed to fame by winning big-time on the 1950s TV game show The $64,000 Question, is appropriately cast in this episode--not as a game-show winner, but as a jockey named Tic Barton. Banned from the track after losing a fixed race, Tic confronts the man who arranged Read More

No Down Payment

Actors: Joanne Woodward, Tony Randall, Jeffrey Hunter, Sheree North, Cameron Mitchell

Synopsis: A handful of suburban couples discover that emotional turmoil lurks behind the placid exterior of the planned community of Sunrise Hills in this drama based on the novel by John McPartland. David and Jean Martin (Jeffrey Hunter and Patricia Owens) find their relationship starting to crumble after Read More

The Persuader

Actors: William Talman, James Craig, Kristine Miller, Darryl Hickman, Georgia Lee

Synopsis: In one of his rare movie starring assignments, William Talman (Hamilton Burger on TV's Perry Mason) plays a dual role in The Persuader. Talman is seen as gunslinger Matt Bonham and his twin brother, preacher Mark Bonham. When Mark is killed by outlaw leader Bick Justin (James Craig), Matt takes Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Drowning Duck

Synopsis: The title of this episode refers to a curious chemical process created by college student Marv Adams (Gary Vinson). Alas, Marv may not only be a drowning duck but a dead duck when he is charged with the murder of unscrupulous private detective Donald Briggs (Harry Landers). Acting as Marv's Read More

Man of a Thousand Faces

Actors: James Cagney, Dorothy Malone, Jane Greer, Jim Backus, Robert Evans, Marjorie Rambeau

Synopsis: One screen legend tips his hat to another as James Cagney portrays horror film icon Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces. Joseph Pevney's bio-pic takes a somewhat whitewashed view of Chaney's career, but Cagney is nothing short of riveting in the lead. The film begins as Chaney, the son of two Read More

The Adventures of Superman: The Wedding of Superman

Synopsis: Put in charge of the "Daily Planet"'s advice-to-the-lovelorn column, Lois Lane (Noel Neill) begins to brood over the lack of romance in her own life. Just as mind begins wandering, Lois is astonished when Superman (George Reeves) shows up to declare his love for her--and to propose marriage! Read More

Climax!: The Day They Gave Babies Away

Synopsis: The Christmas, 1955 presentation of the CBS anthology Climax! was based on a true story in the lives of the ancestors of co-scenarists Dale and Katherine Eunson. Set in rural Wisconsin in the 1860s, the story begins on a somber note, as both parents of 12-year-old Robbie Eunson (Brandon De Wilde Read More

Tall Man Riding

Actors: Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone, Peggie Castle, John Baragrey

Synopsis: Who else but Randolph Scott could be the Tall Man Riding in this rugged western? Forced to lay low for several years after being forced out of town by land baron Tucker Ordway (Robert Barrett), Larry Madden (Randolph Scott) returns to wreak vengeance against Ordway and claim the land that is Read More

There's No Business Like Show Business

Actors: Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray

Synopsis: Like Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), 20th Century-Fox's There's No Business Like Show Business is a "catalogue" film, its thinnish plot held together by an itinerary of Irving Berlin tunes. The story chronicles some twenty years in the lives of a showbiz family, headed by Dan Dailey and Ethel Merman Read More

Scandal at Scourie

Actors: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Corcoran, Agnes Moorehead, Arthur Shields

Synopsis: Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were together again for the last time in Scandal at Scourie. Filmed on location in Canada, the plot concerns a childless Protestant couple, the McChesneys (Garson and Pidgeon), whose lives are profoundly altered by an orphaned Catholic girl named Patsy (Donna Corcoran Read More

The Adventures of Superman: The Face and the Voice

Synopsis: George Reeves plays a triple role in this episode, as reporter Clark Kent, Kent's alter ego Superman, and a lookalike gangster named Boulder. With the help of a plastic surgeon and an acting coach named Hamlet (Percy Helton), Boulder is able to impersonate Superman, committing a series of crimes Read More

Carrie

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Jennifer Jones, Eddie Albert, Miriam Hopkins, Basil Ruysdael

Synopsis: Carrie is based on Sister Carrie, a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Dreiser's clumsy, unwieldy prose is streamlined into a neat and precise screenplay by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Jennifer Jones stars as Carrie, who leaves her go-nowhere small town for the wicked metropolis of Chicago. Here she becomes Read More

Carbine Williams

Actors: James Stewart, Jean Hagen, Wendell Corey, Carl Benton Reid, Paul Stewart

Synopsis: The tougher postwar screen image of James Stewart is given a good workout in the fact-based Carbine Williams. In 1952, the world at large knew Marsh Williams as the developer of the US Army's M-1 carbine rifle. The film builds up to this event by detailing Williams' previous existence as a Read More

Scarlet Angel

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Rock Hudson, Richard Denning, Bodil Miller, Whitfield Connor, Amanda Blake

Synopsis: Nineteenth-century saloon gal Roxy McClanahan (Yvonne DeCarlo) manages to inveigle herself into the uppermost rungs of polite New Orleans society. But Roxy has not reckoned with her old friendly nemesis, merchant seaman Frank Truscott (Rock Hudson), whose bankroll Roxy had lifted back in her Read More

The Sniper

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor, Frank Faylen

Synopsis: The "regeneration" of blacklisted director Edward Dmytryk was expedited when he was hired by producer Stanley Kramer to helm the location-filmed melodrama The Sniper. In the interests of political expediency, Dmytrk was required to direct Adolphe Menjou, one of the most virulent Red-baiters of the Read More

High Noon

Actors: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger

Synopsis: This Western classic stars Gary Cooper as Hadleyville marshal Will Kane, about to retire from office and go on his honeymoon with his new Quaker bride, Amy (Grace Kelly). But his happiness is short-lived when he is informed that the Miller gang, whose leader (Ian McDonald) Will had arrested, is Read More

Gene Autry and the Mounties

Actors: Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Elena Verdugo, Carleton Young, Richard Emory

Synopsis: Gene Autry is back in the saddle again, albeit North of the Border. Montana marshal Autry and another lawman pursue a bank robber into Canada. Teaming with a straight-arrow Mountie, Autry tracks down the criminal in the Canadian wilderness, taking time out once in a while to sing one of his host's Read More

The Prince Who Was a Thief

Actors: Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Everett Sloane, Jeff Corey, Betty Garde

Synopsis: Universal's newest "heartthrobs" Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie were first teamed in this lavish adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's The Prince Who Was a Thief. Curtis stars as Julna, the rightful heir to a Middle Eastern throne. Kidnapped in infancy, Julna is raised as a thief by the roguish Yussef (Everett Sloane Read More

The Lady Pays Off

Actors: Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Virginia Field, Ann Codee

Synopsis: The Lady Pays Off is a formative example of filmmaker Douglas Sirk's elegant exotica. Linda Darnell plays the title character, a vacationing schoolteacher and one-time gambler named Evelyn Warren. Unfortunately, that "one time" leaves Evelyn indebted to casino owner Matt Braddock (Stephen McNally) Read More

The Furies

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland

Synopsis: Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston give standout performances in this dark, psychological western, which Martin Scorsese has compared to the work of Dostoevsky. T.C. Jeffords (Huston) is a cunning and highly successful ranch owner who has announced his engagement to a wealthy socialite, Flo Read More

County Fair

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Jane Nigh, Florence Bates, Warren Douglas, Raymond Hatton

Synopsis: County Fair is an amiable racetrack drama starring Rory Calhoun. A veteran horse trainer, Calhoun has developed a somewhat unsavory reputation. He redeems himself by arranging for near-impoverished matron Florence Bates to win an important race. It's all for the love of a good woman--in this case, Bates Read More

Side Street

Actors: Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, James Craig, Paul Kelly, Jean Hagen

Synopsis: Farley Granger plays a casually larcenous New York City mailman who steals a shipment of money. Granger's excitement over this windfall turns to terror when he discovers that the money was part of a transaction between gangsters. Harassed by both crooks and cops, Granger lives to regret his Read More

Between Midnight and Dawn

Actors: Mark Stevens, Edmond O'Brien, Gale Storm, Donald Buka, Gale Robbins

Synopsis: Between Midnight and Dawn is a solid, no-frills detective drama from the Columbia studio mills. Mark Stevens and Edmond O'Brien star as police officers Barnes and Purvis, who tool around in their prowl car in the wee hours of the morning. Vengeful gangster Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka) would like Read More

Annie Get Your Gun

Actors: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern, J. Carrol Naish, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: Judy Garland was originally slated to star in MGM's film version of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, but she was forced to pull out of the production due to illness (recently discovered out-takes reveal a gaunt, dazed Garland, obviously incapable of completing her duties). She was replaced by Betty Hutton Read More

Riders of the Whistling Pines

Actors: Gene Autry, Patricia White, Jimmy Lloyd, Douglas Dumbrille, Damian O'Flynn

Synopsis: Gene Autry's second 1949 release for Columbia was Riders of the Whistling Pines. As was customary for Autry, the title refers to one of the songs heard in the film, rather than the plotline at hand. The villains busy themselves destroying all the timber in a government forest preserve. When Autry Read More

The Barkleys of Broadway

Actors: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant, Billie Burke, Gale Robbins

Synopsis: The Barkleys of Broadway became Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' "reunion" picture purely by accident. Originally conceived as a follow-up to the successful Astaire-Judy Garland vehicle Easter Parade, Barkleys was to have starred Fred and Judy as a successful musical comedy team that breaks up when Read More

Laramie

Actors: Charles Starrett, Smiley Burnette, Fred Sears, Tommy Ivo

Synopsis: Heavily trimmed prior to release, this entry in the Charles Starrett "Durango Kid" Western series for Columbia includes leading man Starrett dressed up as John Wayne's stunt double Yakima Canutt in order to match an entire sequence of stock footage lifted from the classic Stagecoach (1939). Read More

Tulsa

Actors: Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Pedro Armendáriz, Lloyd Gough, Chill Wills

Synopsis: Tulsa was, in 1949, the most elaborate production released to date by the Eagle-Lion corporation-though all evidence, especially the technical credits, suggests that the film was put together at Universal-International, then merely distriibuted by Eagle-Lion (who made a fortune at the box office). Read More

Follow Me Quietly

Actors: William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Lieutenant Harry Grant (William Lundigan) and Sgt. Art Collins (Jeff Corey) have been handed the unenviable assignment of tracking down "The Judge," a mysterious serial murderer responsible for seven deaths over the past few months. The police have plenty of clues and forensic evidence, but no Read More

Come to the Stable

Actors: Loretta Young, Celeste Holm, Elsa Lanchester, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: A Christmastime TV perennial, Come to the Stable is the gentle saga of two French nuns (Celeste Holm with accent, Loretta Young without) who come to America in hopes of raising funds for a children's hospital. Travelling to a small New England town presciently named Bethlehem, the nuns befriend Read More

Roaring Westward

Synopsis: In his second-to-last Monogram Western, country & western singer Jimmy Wakely does hardly any singing at all as he and sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) attempt to catch the villain who caused the death of 16-year-old Perry Andrews (Buddy Swan), a student at the Sheriff's Association School. Perry Read More

Act of Violence

Actors: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Phyllis Thaxter, Mary Astor, Berry Kroeger

Synopsis: An unusually disturbing noir from a director better known for more mainstream fare like High Noon and From Here to Eternity, Act of Violence focuses on a WWII veteran haunted by his past. A film that was close to the director's heart, he said that it represented "the first time that I felt Read More

The Cowboy and the Indians

Actors: Gene Autry, Sheila Ryan, Frank Richards, Hank Patterson, Jay Silverheels

Synopsis: In this western, a cowboy comes to the aid of the Indians. The story begins as hero, Gene Autry, begins an investigation of a series of Indian raids. They had been stealing food from homesteads located around the reservation. Autry is appalled to discover that they have been taking the food Read More

The File on Thelma Jordon

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel, Stanley Ridges

Synopsis: No one is as good as Barbara Stanwyck when she's bad. Here Stanwyck plays Thelma Jordon, a woman who late one night shows up in the office of happily married Assistant DA Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) to seek help in solving the string of robberies at her wealthy aunt's estate. Before Cleve can Read More

White Heat

Actors: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Steve Cochran, Margaret Wycherly

Synopsis: In later years, James Cagney regarded White Heat with a combination of pride and regret; while satisfied with his own performance, he tended to dismiss the picture as a "cheap melodrama." Seen today, White Heat stands as one of the classic crime films of the 1940s, containing perhaps Cagney's best Read More

Outlaw Brand

Synopsis: Hired to catch a killer horse named Midnight, Jimmy Wakely and sidekick Cannonball (Dub Taylor) get themselves in trouble with a couple of confidence artists, Monica (Christine Larson) and Brent (Leonard Penn). The latter accidentally kills Jimmy's employer, horse breeder Tom Chadwick (Tom Chatterton Read More

Homecoming

Actors: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Anne Baxter, John Hodiak, Ray Collins

Synopsis: When Homecoming was first released in 1948, some observers felt that Clark Gable's unusually sensitive performance was based on his own memories of losing his wife Carole Lombard in a 1942 plane crash. Intriguingly, Gable's Homecoming co-star is Lana Turner, with whom it was rumored that he was Read More

The Scar

Actors: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz, Leslie Brooks, John Qualen

Synopsis: John Muller (Paul Henreid), an intelligent, arrogant criminal who has been a medical student and a phony psychoanalyst, believes that people are only interested in themselves and do not notice what is happening around them. Paroled from prison to a boring job, Muller is more interested in a big Read More

On an Island with You

Actors: Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban, Jimmy Durante, Cyd Charisse

Synopsis: The title of this MGM musical alone should tip you to the fact that Esther Williams is the star. In this one, she plays a movie star (what an innovation!), Rosalind Reynolds, who is on location in Hawaii to shoot a picture. Peter Lawford plays the film's naval technical advisor, Lt. Lawrence Y. Read More

Secret Beyond the Door

Actors: Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, Anne Revere, Barbara O'Neil, Natalie Schafer

Synopsis: Even star Joan Bennett and director Fritz Lang regarded The Secret Beyond the Door as the weakest of their collaborative efforts. Bennett plays spoiled socialite Celia, who falls recklessly in love with the handsome but emotionally complex Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave, in his first American Read More

The Accused

Actors: Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey, Sam Jaffe, Douglas Dick

Synopsis: The Accused is a mystery melodrama with a predictable plot involving blackmail, attempted rape and murder. Loretta Young stars as Wilma Tuttle, a prim and proper college professor who unwittingly arouses the libido of student Bill Perry (Douglas Dick). When Perry tries to rape Wilma under cover of Read More

I, Jane Doe

Actors: Ruth Hussey, John Carroll, Vera Ralston, John Howard, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: In this courtroom drama, a French girl stands trial for murder. Flashbacks tell the grim story of how, during the Great War she got involved with a wealthy soldier and married him. He disappeared after the war. She then came to the U.S. There she finds him married to another woman. To cover Read More

Easter Parade

Actors: Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin

Synopsis: Fred Astaire had announced his retirement before the cameras began to roll on Easter Parade, but he decided to accept the film's leading role when its original star Gene Kelly became incapacitated. The thinnish plot, which finds Astaire trying to turn chorus girl Judy Garland into a star in order Read More

The Sea of Grass

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Walker, Melvyn Douglas, Phyllis Thaxter

Synopsis: Usually associated with erudite, urbane comedies, the legendary screen team of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy goes intensely dramatic in the expensive western Sea of Grass. Tracy plays cattle baron Colonel James Brewton, who staunchly opposes opening the western frontier to homesteaders. Read More

Saddle Pals

Actors: Lynne Roberts, Sterling Holloway, Irving Bacon, Damian O'Flynn

Synopsis: Saddle Pals hits a new low for Gene Autry's postwar Republic westerns, containing literally no action at all. Autry is drawn into the plot when he's given power of attorney in a property settlement involving his old pal (Sterling Holloway) and a gang of land swindlers. The pal then goes on an Read More

The Egg and I

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Louise Allbritton

Synopsis: Based on the humorous autobiographical book by Betty McDonald, The Egg & I casts Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray as Manhattan-dwelling newlyweds. When MacMurray enthusiastically purchases an upstate farm in the hopes of cleaning up in the egg business, Colbert cautiously goes along. The Read More

The Last Round-Up

Actors: Gene Autry, Jean Heather, Ralph Morgan, Carol Thurston, Mark Daniels

Synopsis: Dissatisfied with his postwar Republic westerns (not to mention his comparatively low salary), Gene Autry switched his base of operations to Columbia in 1947, where he wore two hats as both star and producer. Autry's first Columbia effort, The Last Round-Up, is a vast improvement over the Read More

Love from a Stranger

Actors: John Hodiak, John Howard, Ann Richards, Isobel Elsom

Synopsis: 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 John Hodiak play the roles originally filled by Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone. Falling under the romantic spell of Read More

The Devil Bat's Daughter

Actors: Rosemary La Planche, John James, Michael Hale, Molly Lamont, Nolan Leary

Synopsis: This bargain-basement sequel is unusual in that it completely contradicts the conclusions drawn by its predecessor, Bela Lugosi's 1941 horror film The Devil Bat. It all begins with Nina, the daughter of the notorious Dr. Paul Carruthers, the crazed, vengeful scientist who allegedly created a Read More

Girl on the Spot

Synopsis: A would-be nightclub entertainer finds her life jeopardized after she inadvertently witnesses a gangland murder while heading for an audition. Fortunately, a brave photographer is there to save her and this crime drama ends on a happy note. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Killers

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Albert Dekker, Jeff Corey, Sam Levene, Jack Lambert

Synopsis: The Killers uses Ernest Hemingway's short story as a springboard for a complex film noir. Two mysterious men (William Conrad and Charles McGraw) muscle their way into a small town and kill an aging boxer (Burt Lancaster, making his screen debut), who offers no resistance and seems to be welcoming Read More

Out California Way

Actors: Monte Hale, Adrian Booth, John Dehner, Nolan Leary

Synopsis: Republic Pictures trotted out some of their popular Western stars -- including Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Trigger, Allan Lane and Don "Red" Barry -- for this backstage musical starring the company's newest singing cowboy, Monte Hale. To top it all off, the studio "inaugurated" Trucolor, which, in Read More

Cross My Heart

Actors: Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts, Ruth Donnelly, Al Bridge, Iris Adrian

Synopsis: True Confession was one of the unfunniest of the "screwball" comedies of the 1930s, and its musical remake, Cross My Heart, isn't much of an improvement. Betty Hutton steps into the old Carole Lombard role as Peggy, a compulsive liar who'll do anything to help her attorney fiance Oliver Clarke (Sonny Tufts Read More

Heading West

The Hoodlum Saint

Actors: William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, James Gleason, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: William Powell plays a cynical con man who graduates from penny-ante operations to a big-time charity racket. The scam involves collecting money on behalf of St. Dismas, bringing Powell in close contact with several men of the cloth. As the racket rolls on, Powell is touched by the sincerity of Read More

Murder in the Music Hall

Actors: Vera Ralston, William Marshall, Helen Walker, Nancy Kelly, William Gargan

Synopsis: Most of this Republic B-plus mystery yarn is set in a penthouse, next door to a music hall where a strange song-and-dance extravaganza is being staged. This production incorporates several ice-skating sequences--a good excuse as any for the presence of leading lady Vera Hruba Ralston, Republic's Read More

Queen of Burlesque

Actors: Evelyn Ankers, Carleton Young, Craig Reynolds

Synopsis: Its title notwithstanding, there's precious little female epidermis on display in PRC's Queen of Burlesque. Real life stripteaser Rose la Rose is cast in the title role, a burleycue "peeler" named Blossom Terraine, but the storyline is carried by Evelyn Ankers and Carleton Young, as exotic dancer Read More

The Lone Texas Ranger

Synopsis: Red Ryder rounds up a crooked sheriff in this western adventure. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Great John L.

Actors: Greg McClure, Linda Darnell, Barbara Britton, J.M. Kerrigan, Lee Sullivan, Otto Kruger

Synopsis: Greg McClure stars as legendary boxer John L. Sullivan in this screen biography of the famous fighter. Known as "The Boston Strong Boy," Sullivan was a bare-knuckle brawler who rose from humble circumstances to become the world's heavyweight champion from 1882 to 1892. While Sullivan was a skilled Read More

Experiment Perilous

Actors: Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Carl Esmond

Synopsis: Officially based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter, Experiment Perilous would seem to be more inspired by MGM's psychological thriller Gaslight. Set at the turn of the century, the film stars Hedy Lamarr as Allida, the beautiful young wife of an elderly "gentleman" named Nick (Paul Lukas). Treating Read More

Thoroughbreds

Actors: Tom Neal, Adele Mara, Roger Pryor, Paul Harvey, Gene Garrick

Synopsis: Rusty Curtis wants his beloved cavalry horse back, but unfortunately the former sergeant's steed has been sold to a society woman desiring to turn it into a steeplechaser. This drama chronicles Rusty's endeavors to get the horse back. He does so by having Sally Crandall, the woman, hire him as the Read More

Blazing the Western Trail

Actors: Charles Starrett, Tex Harding, Dub Taylor, Al Bridge

Synopsis: Columbia Pictures once again trotted out the old tale of rival stage lines competing for the valuable government mail contract in this routine entry in the long-running Durango Kid series. This time, the Halliday stage line of Quanto Basin is all but forced out of business when old man Halliday Read More

Strangler of the Swamp

Actors: Robert H. Barrat, Rosemary La Planche, Blake Edwards, Charles B. Middleton

Synopsis: In this low-budget thriller, a ferry captain named Douglas (Charles Middleton) is accused of a murder he did not commit and is eventually executed for the crime. Douglas' ghost begins to walk the marshlands he once called home, searching for revenge against those who wronged him. Beautiful Maria (Rosemary LaPlanche Read More

This Love of Ours

Actors: Merle Oberon, Charles Korvin, Claude Rains, Carl Esmond, Sue England

Synopsis: Doctor Charles Korvin walks out on his musician wife Merle Oberon when he suspects her of infidelity. Twelve years later their paths cross again; Oberon is now saddled with an abusive husband. Possessed of a protective instinct that he hadn't evinced in the first part of the film, Korvin rescues Read More

Santa Fe Saddlemates

Synopsis: The first of actor Sunset Carson and director Thomas Carr's collaborations, Santa Fe Saddlemates is about a U.S. marshal (Carson) attempting to break a diamond smuggling ring at the U.S./Mexican border. Accompanied by a female reporter (Linda Stirling), Carson has to pose as a bandit in order to Read More

Mrs. Parkington

Actors: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Edward Arnold, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway, Peter Lawford

Synopsis: The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield Read More

The Man from Frisco

Actors: Michael O'Shea, Anne Shirley, Gene Lockhart, Dan Duryea, Stephanie Bachelor, Tommy Bond

Synopsis: This 91-minute Republic "special" stars Michael O'Shea as Matt Braddock, an aggressive Henry Kaiser-like shipbuilder operating in 1880s California Though his business innovations are brilliant, Braddock's pugnacious attitude loses him the support of the locals when he plans to build a big new Read More

Sheriff of Sundown

Synopsis: In his third western for Republic Pictures, Allan Lane plays Tex Jordan, a cattle rancher en route to sell his stock to cattle baron Jack Hatfield (Roy Barcroft). But in the town of Sundown, our hero finds that the omnipotent Hatfield has been squeezing the small ranchers in general and Tex's Read More

Two Girls and a Sailor

Actors: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven, Jimmy Durante, Lena Horne

Synopsis: Two Girls and a Sailor is another of those all-star, no-plot wartime musicals turned out by the bushel basket in the 1940s. Its lack of nuance does not lessen its entertainment value in the least. Gloria DeHaven and June Allyson play a couple of well-meaning sisters who stage their own USO shows Read More

Once Upon a Time

Actors: Cary Grant, Janet Blair, James Gleason, Ted Donaldson, Howard Freeman, William Demarest

Synopsis: Based on Norman Corwin's satirical radio play My Client Curley, Once Upon a Time is an engaging bit of whimsy, completely dominated by the personality of star Cary Grant. It all begins when fly-by-night Broadway producer Jerry Flynn (Grant) learns of a trained caterpillar (!) that dances to the Read More

Outlaws of Santa Fe

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Helen Talbot, Wally Vernon, Twinkle Watts, Charles Morton

Synopsis: Western star Don "Red" Barry essays a dual role in Republic's Outlaws of Santa Fe. Actually, the two "characters" are one: Barry plays a reformed bank robber named Bob Hackett, who starts life anew as Bob Conroy. This he does to track down the no-good, dirty skunk who murdered his father. Read More

My Buddy

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Ruth Terry, Lynne Roberts, Alexander Granach, Emma Dunn

Synopsis: A priest relates the tale of his friend, a WWI veteran, to the Post-War Planning Committee. Unable to get a job upon his return from the war, he puts off his marriage and works for a bootlegger. He is forced to take a rap for his boss, goes to prison, and forms a gang. After his release, a gang Read More

The Tiger Woman [Serial]

Actors: Allan Lane

Synopsis: The most obvious discrepancies concerning this otherwise well-remembered cliffhanger from genre specialist Republic Pictures are the quite demure-looking leopard outfit worn by the serial's heroine, Linda Stirling, and that Darkest Africa looks suspiciously like the hills of suburban Chatsworth. Read More

Code of the Prairie

Synopsis: Code of the Prairie was among the first of cowboy star Sunset Carson's vehicles for Republic Pictures. There is nothing extraordinary about the plot, in which Carson, wrongly accused of a crime, vanquishes the villains with a spectacular (and undoubled) display of fisticuffs. What is unusual is Read More

Air Raid Wardens

Synopsis: Set in wartime (WW II), this film finds the fat guy, skinny guy comedy duo not much good at any attempted professions; they can't even enlist in the war effort. None of the services want them. But they do become air raid wardens, at least for a while, until their misadventures continue. They get Read More

The Ghost Ship

Actors: Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Edith Barrett, Lawrence Tierney, Ben Bard, Edmund Glover

Synopsis: RKO horror producer Val Lewton dished up seven reels of brooding psychological terror with The Ghost Ship. Richard Dix stars as the ship's captain, a tortured soul who teeters on the verge of madness. Seaman Russell Wade notices the captain's deterioration, but his warnings are dismissed by the Read More

Days of Old Cheyenne

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Lynn Merrick, William Haade, Emmett Lynn, Herbert Rawlinson

Synopsis: Some clever directorial touches by veteran Elmer Clifton help lift Days of Old Cheyenne from the B-western norm. Don "Red" Barry stars as Clint Ross, whose skill at fisticuffs earns him the town marshal's job in the titular western town. Thanks to the string-pulling of political boss Big Bill Read More

Make Way for Tomorrow

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell, Ray Mayer

Synopsis: While not a box-office success, this drama, directed by Leo McCarey, developed a potent reputation among film critics and movie buffs for its sensitive and perceptive treatment of the problems of the elderly. When McCarey won the Oscar for Best Director the same year for The Awful Truth, he Read More