71% (1) Mystery Street 93 min, Passed, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller] [John Sturges] [20 Aug 1950]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, External Reviews
Actors: Bruce Bennett, Elsa Lanchester, Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest
Writer: Sydney Boehm (screenplay), Richard Brooks (screenplay), Leonard Spigelgass (story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Vivian, a B-girl working at "The Grass Skirt," is being brushed off by her rich, married boyfriend. To confront him, she hijacks drunken customer Henry Shanway and his car from Boston to Cape Cod, where she strands Henry...and is never seen again. Months later, a skeleton is found (sans clothes or clues) on a lonely Cape Cod beach. Using the macabre expertise of Harvard forensic specialist Dr. McAdoo, Lt. Pete Morales must work back from bones to the victim's identity, history, and killer. Will he succeed in time to save an innocent suspect?
Rotten Tomatoes: This taut film noir begins as blonde tart Vivian Hedron seduces Henry Shanway so she can swipe his car. She speeds off to meet her married lover, who promptly murders her. When Hedron's skeleton eventually is discovered and the police find Shanway's car nearby, he becomes the prime suspect,
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66% (1) Never Fear 82 min, Passed, [Drama] [Ida Lupino] [01 Jan 1950]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Actors: Eve Miller, Hugh O'Brian, Keefe Brasselle, Sally Forrest
Writer: Ida Lupino (written for the screen by), Collier Young (written for the screen by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Spanish Country: USA
Plot: A dancer who has just gotten engaged to her partner and choreographer and is about to embark on a major career is devastated to learn that she has contracted polio.
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64% (1) The Strange Door 81 min, Approved, [Film-Noir, Horror, Thriller] [Joseph Pevney] [15 Apr 1952]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Richard Wyler, Sally Forrest
Writer: Jerry Sackheim (screenplay), Robert Louis Stevenson (story "The Sire de Maletroit's Door")
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, French Country: USA
Plot: Noble-born cad Denis (Stapley) has been tricked into a forced stay at the eerie manor of the Sire de Maletroit (Laughton), an evil madman who can't get over the death of his beloved, twenty years after she married his brother (Cavanagh) instead and subsequently passed away during childbirth. Maletroit is determined to have his revenge: the brother has been stowed away in the dungeon for two decades, while he's convinced his disreputable house guest will make a suitably hellish husband for his niece. As luck would have it, the young couple manage to fall in love, and with the help of manservant Voltan (Karloff), they try to make their escape, but not before a final confrontation with Maletroit in the dungeon's crushing deathtrap.
Rotten Tomatoes: Based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, this 17th Century set chiller features Charles Laughton as a callous French nobleman whose desire for a young woman leads to betrayal and murder.
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62% (1) Hard, Fast and Beautiful 78 min, APPROVED, [Drama, Sport] [Ida Lupino] [21 Apr 1952]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 62%, External Reviews
Actors: Carleton G. Young, Claire Trevor, Robert Clarke, Sally Forrest
Writer: Martha Wilkerson (screenplay), John R. Tunis (novel)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Boy (Gordon) meets girl (Florence), sharing an interest in tennis. But Florence has a supremely ambitious mother who intends to push her ahead regardless (she barely knows her own husband exists). Florence's tennis career rapidly advances, thanks to mother's manipulation and a promotion-minded coach; building toward the inevitable conflict between the fulfilment of Mother's dreams...and daughter's.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this drama, a forceful, socially ambitious mother seeks to fulfill her dreams through her daughter, a talented young tennis player.
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61% (1) The Strip 85 min, PASSED, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir] [László Kardos] [01 Aug 1951]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 61%, External Reviews
Actors: James Craig, Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest
Writer: Allen Rivkin
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
Rotten Tomatoes: Mickey Rooney returned to his "home" studio MGM, after a three-year absence, in the location-filmed melodrama The Strip. Rooney is cast as Stanley Maxton, an aspiring drummer who has the misfortune to fall within the orbit of bookie Sunny Johnson (James Craig). Out of the goodness of his heart, Stanley introduces aspiring actress June Tafford (Sally Forrest) to Johnson, hoping that the latter's Hollywood connections will help the girl find success. Stanley also quits the rackets to play drums at a nightclub owned by his pal Fluff (William Demarest). Things take a sorry turn when Johnson decides to make a play for June; Stanley interferes and gets beaten up by the bookie's goons. June's response to this outrage results in tragedy for everyone. The Strip is a surprisingly downbeat effort for producer Joe Pasternak, a man usually associated with happy, wholesome Technicolor musicals. The film is highlighted by jazz performances from Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Earl "Fatha" Hines and Barney Bigard.
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60% (1) Vengeance Valley 83 min, APPROVED, [Western] [Richard Thorpe] [05 May 1951]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 60%, External Reviews
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Joanne Dru, Robert Walker, Sally Forrest
Writer: Irving Ravetch (screenplay), Luke Short (based on a novel by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: A cattle baron takes in an orphaned boy and raises him, causing his own son to resent the boy. As they get older the resentment festers into hatred, and eventually the real son frames his stepbrother for fathering an illegitimate child that is actually his, seeing it as an opportunity to get his half-brother out of the way so he can have his father's empire all to himself.
Rotten Tomatoes: The old "Cain and Abel" plot device is redefined within Western terms in MGM's Vengeance Valley. Burt Lancaster stars as ranch-hand Owen Daybright, who has been raised as a son by rancher Arch Stroble (Ray Collins). Stroble's natural son Lee (Robert Walker) has always been envious of Owen, who in turn has spent most of his life pulling Lee out of trouble and keeping the boy's misdeeds a secret from the elder Stroble. When Lee fathers an illegitimate child, he tries to shift the responsibility on Owen, leading to a life-threatening confrontation with the vengeance-seeking brothers of the baby's mother (Sally Forrest). There's plenty more plot twists before virtue finally triumphs. Joanne Dru co-stars as Lee's long-suffering wife Jen, who harbors a secret yen for Owen. Since lapsing into public domain, Vengeance Valley has shown up with increasing frequency on cable television; it has also been made available in a narrated version for the visually impaired.
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56% (1) Son of Sinbad 91 min, PG, [Action, Adventure, Fantasy] [Ted Tetzlaff] [02 Jun 1955]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 56%, External Reviews
Actors: Dale Robertson, Lili St. Cyr, Sally Forrest, Vincent Price
Writer: Jack Pollexfen, Aubrey Wisberg
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Sinbad was pursuing a secret weapon: Greek Fire. Attributed to the ancient Greeks, it was composed of pitch or bitumen, sulfur, and other ingredients. It was used in naval warfare and the Romans also made use of it but with the fall of the ancient Western world, it was temporarily forgotten, but it was rediscovered by the Arabs from whom European Crusaders also learned the method of making it.
Rotten Tomatoes: This Howard Hughes production features a bunch of barely-clad gals parading about the screen. Of course, it is about the adventures of Sinbad, who must gain freedom from the clutches of Baghdad's Khalif by procuring the Greeks' secret of fire for him.
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