Showing posts with label Richard Carlson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Carlson. Show all posts
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| Lana Turner and Richard Carlson |
"She stinks!"
Just when the Dancing Tobins are to begin a new film, Toddy Tobin (a barely-seen Mary Beth Hughes) gets pregnant, and the search is on for someone to co-star with her husband, Freddy (Lee Bowman sans mustache). Learning that the studio is to conduct a talent search on college campuses, Freddy protests that he needs a professional, so it is decided to fix the contest, send talented Patty Marlowe (Lana Turner) to one of the institutions, and make damn certain that she is the winner. Patty gets involved with the editor of the school paper, "Pug" Braddock (Richard Carlson), who figures there has to be a "plant" and decides to ferret out who she is even as Patty assists him as a way of hiding the truth. Will Patty go to Hollywood, or will her scheme come undone? The movie begins well, but the fun peters out halfway through or earlier, and you'll find that you couldn't care less how it comes out. The script lets down the players, who are game and enthusiastic throughout, with Turner [Love Has Many Faces] and Carlson [All I Desire] swell in the leads, Ann Rutherford perky as a secretary who helps Patty, Leon Errol his usual fun self as Patty's father, and Thurston Hall and Monty Woolley also briefly on hand as well. I think I spotted drummer Buddy Rich a couple of times. Band leader Artie Shaw, playing himself, is third-billed but only gets one line of dialogue! He must have impressed Lana Turner, however, because she married him the following year [he also married Ava Gardner and Evelyn Keyes, among others]. Hal Le Sueur, Joan Crawford's brother, plays a handsome college student but has no lines. S. Sylvan Simon also directed the far superior The Fuller Brush Man.
Verdict: Picture could have been cute but it turns into a stink bomb.**
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| Fred MacMurray |
Lawyer J. C. Thompson (Douglass Dumbrille) dispatches his secretary, Christy (Eleanor Parker) to tell radio personality Peter Lockwood (Fred MacMurray) that he's inherited two million dollars, but not before she's importuned by Patsy (Una Merkle) to go after the guy and get herself a wealthy husband. The trouble is that Peter is just about to get married to fiancee June (Kay Buckley), and neither he nor anyone else believes Christy about the money. Peter's rival, Dr. Roland Cook (Richard Carlson of All I Desire) thinks Christy is a mental case who needs his help -- and so on. A Millionaire for Christy is frenetic but absolutely and completely laughless -- you sit there and watch this, utterly stupefied, helplessly observing McMurray and Parker [Lizzie] struggling to bring life to an utterly hopeless script. Dumbrille [Alimony] is completely wasted. Nestor Paiva has a small role.
Verdict: Not even Fred can save this one. Atrocious. *.
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| Lana Turner and Lew Ayres |
"Darling, I'm in the most awful man-jam!"
Upper-crust Philip (Lew Ayres) sort of has a fiancee, but when he's inebriated he invites a dance hall girl, Jane (Lana Turner), to the big dance on campus over the weekend. It's a little awkward when she actually shows up where she has to deal with all the college snobs. Other characters include man-hungry Daphne (Anita Louise); stalwart Carol (Jane Bryan); chatty Mary Rose (Ann Rutherford); Jane's roommate, Mavis (Dennie Moore); Betty (Marsha Hunt), who hangs around college in desperate fashion even though she's older than the rest; and Joe (Richard Carlson), who isn't too proud to be a waiter in the dining hall. The movie leads into highly melodramatic developments concerning the character of Betty. Most of the performances are good, with Turner, Hunt [Raw Deal], and Moore getting top honors. Rutherford [Fighting Marines] basically plays Polly Benedict in college -- where's Andy? Simon also directed The Fuller Brush Man and many others.
Verdict: This glamor you can keep. **.
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| Marsha Hunt and Richard Carlson |
The town of Rock Bay, Long Island is in an uproar when a columnist publishes an item about how one of the maids is going to publish a memoir about the family she works for. The ladies of the town hold one meeting, while all of the maids hold another. Meanwhile Martha (Marsha Hunt), who works for the Sommerfields and is secretly married to son Jeff (Richard Carlson), has to deal with romantic overtures from her publisher, Joel (Allyn Joslyn), as well as a young lad named Danny (Barry Nelson), when she then discovers that Jeff has come home with a fiancee (Frances Drake). While Martha has some similarities to the earlier Theodora Goes Wild, it has much less on its mind, although a spirited cast makes certain that the picture is generally fun. In addition to the already named there are good performances from Marjorie Main [The Law and the Lady] as the Sommerfield cook, Spring Byington as Mrs. Sommerfield, and Virginia Weilder as her precocious daughter, Miranda. Sara Haden, Margaret Hamilton and Grady Sutton all have smaller roles. Jules Dassin also directed Thieves' Highway.
Verdict: Cute if minor comedy. **1/2.