HELLO FROM FRED & ETHEL'S HOUSE: January 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

GILDA, released in 1946 by Columbia Pictures, directed by Charles Vidor, stars Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, and George Macready. Just arrived in Argentina, small-time crooked gambler Johnny Farrell is saved from a gunman by the sinister boss of a South American casino, who makes Johnny his right-hand man. Their friendship becomes strained when the older man returns from a trip with a wife, the supremely desirable Gilda, whom Johnny once knew and learned to hate.

NOTORIOUS (1946)

NOTORIOUS, released in 1946 by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, stars Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, and Frank Wilcox. (Look for Bea Benaderet and Virginia Gregg is cameo roles as file clerks!) Following the conviction of her German father for treason against the United States, a young woman is approached by a government agent who asks her to spy on a group of her father's Nazi friends operating out of Rio de Janeiro.

THE STRANGER WORE A GUN (1953)

THE STRANGER WORE A GUN, released by Columbia Pictures in 1953, directed by Andre de Toth, stars Randolph Scott, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Claire Trevor, and George Macready. Having been a spy for Quantrill's raiders during the Civil War, Jeff Travis thinks he is a wanted man and flees to Prescott, Arizona, where he runs into a man named Jules Mourret who knows of Travis' past. He takes a job on the stage line that Mourret is attempting to rob for the gold shipments. When Mourret's men kill a friend of his, Travis sets out to get Mourret and his gang.

THE GUNFIGHTER (1950)

THE GUNFIGHTER, released in 1950 by 20th Century Fox Pictures, directed by Henry King, stars Gregory Peck, Karl Malden, Elen Corby, Alan Hale Jr., Skip Homeier, Verna Felton, and Richard Jaeckel. An aging gunslinger rides into a strange town where he is immediately recognized in order to see his sweetheart whom he hasn't seen in more than eight years.

Monday, January 28, 2013

THE BAD MAN (1941)

THE BAD MAN, released in 1941 by MGM Pictures, directed by Richard Thorpe, stars Ronald Reagan, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Chill Wills, Henry Travers, Chris-Pin Martin, and Nydia Westman. A ranch owner in Mexico is overjoyed to discover that his childhood sweetheart has returned to town but is dismayed by her marriage to a Manhattan businessman.

BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF (1953)

BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF, released in 1953 by 20th Century Fox Pictures, directed by Robert D. Webb, stars Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Gilbert Roland, Peter Graves, Richard Boone, Jay Novello, J. Carrol Naish, and Jacques Aubuchon. After a Greek father and son team diving for sponges are robbed, they decide to take their crew to the dangerous 12-mile reef to dive for more sponges.

THE BANK DICK (1940)

THE BANK DICK, released in 1940 by Universal Pictures, directed by Edward F. Cline, stars W.C. Fields, Una Merkel, Shemp Howard, Cora Witherspoon, and Grady Sutton. When a fleeing bank robber is knocked cold after tripping over the park bench where Egbert Souse is sitting, he is hailed a hero and offered the job of bank guard.

BACKLASH (1956)

BACKLASH, released in 1956 by Universal International Pictures, directed by John Sturges, stars Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, John McIntire, Harry Morgan, Roy Roberts, Barton MacLane, Edward Platt, and William Campbell. A cowboy hopes to prove that his down-and-out father was not involved in a gold robbery. To prove this, he has to find the money, which is the goal of the widow of one of the thieves.

CRISS CROSS (1949)

CRISS CROSS, released in 1949 by Universal Pictures, directed by Robert Siodmak, stars Burt Lancaster, Yvonne de Carlo, Dan Duryea, Percy Helton, Stephen McNally, Richard Long, Raymond Burr, and Tony Curtis in his film debut. A young man returns to Los Angeles and resumes an affair with his ex-wife who soon marries a local gangster. The man plans the heist of an armored car he drives, expecting to double-cross the gangster and escape with his ex-wife to begin a new life in another city.