I remember going to see this film at our local cinema but I think that it was after 1959 – the year that it is shown as being released. As always I went with some excitement for a new Tarzan film but I have to say how disappointed I was.

It was made by MGM so you would expect it to have a decent budget and production values. This was not the case.

Certain dramatic sequences used the original 1932 Johnny Weismuller version footage and it was quite poorly tinted – certainly not colorised as we see today. It really did look so poor.

Denny Miller to be fair, was OK as Tarzan and he had Joanna Barnes as his ‘Jane’ – she was a good actress and had quite a long career.

The Film Trailer makes it look so thrilling – maybe I have mis-judged it and will have to view it again :-

Tarzan

Tarzan and his friends

Tarzan and Jane enjoy a swim – ABOVE

Tarzan – A PUBLICITY STILL

Tarzan IN ACTION above

The film was made at the same time as another Tarzan film, Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure – although that was filmed at Shepperton Studios in England and Kenya – both being produced by Sy Weintraub. MGM had kept the remake rights to the 1932 Tarzan the Ape Man, enabling them to make this film. The rights to the bulk of the Tarzan stories were owned by Sy Weintraub

I must view this film again

It is great to realise that Cinemas are still wanted and even better to see this underlined with the news that a brand new complex is being built in the town of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire – and in the Town Centre at that

The New Cinema will be called The Savoy

Coming Shortly

Soon we shall see the finished cinema – as below

ABOVE – An artist’s impression of what it will be like

Construction work on a new cinema in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is well underway this summer.

Scheduled to open in June 2025, the four-screen cinema complex and attendant leisure and retail development are the anchor properties at the heart of the multi-million pound initiative by West Lindsey District Council to regenerate Gainsborough’s historic town centre.

Gainsborough is the third Lincolnshire location – the others are in Grantham & Boston – for Savoy Cinemas Ltd, a growing regional chain whose other locations include two in Nottinghamshire, one in Northamptonshire and another in South Yorkshire.

James Collington, Managing Director, Savoy Cinemas Ltd, added, “We’re glad to be adding Gainsborough as the newest location to our growing portfolio of cinemas across this part of the country.  The fact that our new complex gives new life to a derelict site and is at the heart of the revival of the town centre gives the project extra significance for all involved.”

Moving back in time 71 years t9 1954 Gainsborough had the Gaumont Cinema – and some very well known actors visited :-

None other than Joan Rice accompanied by Donald Sinden who had starred together in ‘A Day to Remember’ visited the lovely town of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire – a town situated on the banks of the River Trent.

The cinema had been re-named the Gaumont in 1949 and was modernised in early-1954, Reopening on 29 March 1954 with Edward G. Robinson in “The Glass Webb” showing.and with film stars Joan Rice and Donald Sindon making personal appearances.

I haven’t been able to locate any pictures of the visit which is a shame – but above we the Two stars together.

However there have been references to this visit on Facebook by people who remember it and were there as young children. At that time Joan Rice was quite a big name after The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men  and His Majesty O’Keefe.

Donald Sinden though had yet to make his mark in film terms but of course he had a much longer and more varied career than Joan Rice.

I understand that there was quite large crowd out to see them in the Town. One woman from Gainsborough seems to remember a Norman Wisdom film being the first one shown after the Cinema re-vamp – and she could well be right because it would be at the time when one of his films was on release – and in fact Joan Rice had been the female lead in that – the film was One Good Turn although on checking this was not released until February 1955.

Anyway – if anyone reads this and was there at the time, or has photographs of this visit –  please do let us know.

BELOW – that same Gaumont Cinema in Gainsborough givng these youngsters an exciting Saturday morning no doubt.

I remember seeing the Trailer to this in the Cinema at the time, and what stood out for me was, again the fabulous Technicolor and I have even viewed the trailer again recently and I can see why – it just looked so good.

As I have remarked so often on this Blog, the Technicolor of that era has never been bettered – that time to me represented the pinnacle of Colour photography in films.

The Painted Hills 1951

The Painted Hills 1951

The Painted Hills 1951

Shep looks frightening

The plot of the film – an aging prospector living in the California hills during the gold rush days. Paul Kelly’s character has spent a long time in the hills eking out a meagre existence, following his gut instinct that there must be a rich vein of gold nearby.

While continuing to dig for treasure, he is joined by his faithful companion Shep. They are like two peas in a pod and go everywhere together. One place they visit at Christmas is the home of his godson (Gray) whose father recently died. Gray forms an attachment to the dog, and he joins Kelly and the animal in their digs.

Meanwhile, a lawyer has learned that Kelly found some small nuggets and may be close to striking more. The role of the lawyer is played by MGM contract player Bruce Cowling, who usually specialised in villainous characters. This is no exception. The lawyer is a crook and while befriending Kelly, the boy and the dog, he plans to take all the gold for himself.

Kelly suspects the lawyer plans to file a claim with an assayer behind his back. He also worries that the lawyer may do something dangerous, so he sends the boy away.

In the next sequence, the lawyer leads him to a hilltop where he insists he found the gold. But there is no gold there, just a confrontation between the two men. Shep watches as the lawyer pushes the old prospector off the cliff in a horrifying scene. The lawyer then decides to get rid of the dog, and he poisons Shep’s food. Shep survives because some concerned Indians find him dying along the road and nurse him back to health.

Gray learns the dog nearly died, and he returns to the cabin. He does not find his godfather, only the lawyer. Shep shows the boy where Kelly’s body was buried. The lawyer insists the old man died because of an accidental fall. The boy spends the night at the cabin, but this is not a safe environment. The lawyer still wants to get rid of Shep.

A pastor stops by the cabin the next day but doesn’t believe the boy’s story about a possible murder. Also, the boy is at the mercy of the lawyer, but is somehow spared. When the boy leaves with the pastor, to return to his mother, it is up to Shep to carry out justice. There is a climactic finale, where Shep is chased up the hill by our gun-toting villain who intends to blast him to smithereens. However, Shep is too smart and lures the big bad man to the edge of a snowy peak, so he will fall off the cliff the same way the old man did.

A good Technicolor Film

Well, although this superb BBC dramatisation was well out of the fifties era as regards when it was shown, the actual play and West End production was in 1950.

It was the type of play I love – lovely setting with fascinating characters where not a lot happens but it is our getting to know the people involved and their interaction and eventually how the story works out that holds our interest the whole time. Absorbing.

Also at this time the BBC were very good at staging this type of production – I think of ‘Mary Rose’ around the same time which featured a small Scottish Island with water all around and a small boat – all Studio work

‘Waters of the Moon’ has the setting of a small Devon Hotel in Winter and again the Studio set was marvellous with a large outside formal garden covered in snow where a lot of the action later in the play takes place

ABOVE – Virginia McKenna

As the story starts we are introduced to the relatively the dull lives of a group of people in a residence hotel in Devonshire.

There’s the retired colonel (Richard Vernon) and an Austrian Jew (Ronald Pickup), and two women at opposite ends of the pole: Mrs. Whyte (Virginia McKenna), a brittle upper-class woman who has fallen on hard times financially , and Mrs, Ashmore (Joan Sims), a jolly type.

The hotel is run by the dour Mrs. Daly (Dilys Laye) and her adult children.

Then as if to upset the applecart – on a snowy night, in comes Helen Lancaster (Penelope Keith) with husband and daughter who come to the Hotel after their car skidded off the road and they are stranded.

She immediately takes over the household, asking for rooms, hot soup, and a place by the fire.

As the storm rages and the days go by, Helen Lancaster is still there and disrupting the lives of the residents. She plays particular attention to the displaced Austrian and chats about Old Vienna and music and art. As New Year’s Eve approaches, she decides they must have a party.

The party does not go well. Mrs. Whyte becomes more and more resentful of the breezy Helen. Mrs. Daly’s daughter (Lesley Dunlop) also grows weary of the obvious wealth Helen displays, and the sickly son (Dean Allen) gets drawn into the talk about continental travel and skiing in Switzerland with Miss Lancaster (Clare Byam-Shaw).

On New Year’s Day, the weather changes and a thaw means the Lancasters may soon be leaving. As they pack up to leave it becomes obvious that Helen’s casual invitations to visit London are meaningless. The lives she has disrupted are already forgotten as she stresses about meeting city friends for lunch.

Ronald Pickup ( Mr Winterhalter) seems to have fallen for Helen Lancaster (Penelope Keith ) but on leaving she just casts him aside

All this time Mrs Daley’s daughter played by Lesley Dunlop has been in love with Mr Winterhalter the Austrian but nothing has ever materialsied between them – but maybe as the Play closes we realise that things could change in that direction

In this adaptation the whole cast are terrific. The outside set of terraced garden and house exterior is excellent as can be seen from these stills.

I just love this BBC TV play

A few days ago on Good Friday ‘The Robe’ was shown on BBC2 in the UK along with ‘King of Kings’ with Jeffrey Hunter, and so I thought it was appropriate that we should post pictures from the film on this site.

Below:  Victor Mature in a superb piece of acting in the film. My Dad loved this scene and the acting performance of Victor Mature – and so did his co-star Richard Burton who was also full of praise describing Victor as a ‘wonderful man’ after having played opposite him in The Robe

I have said before that producers loved Victor Mature because all the films he appeared in made money – and here is a classic example.

The Robe was the highest grossing film of 1953 – and the next one Demetrius and the Gladiators was 4th biggest of 1954. We must also remember that only a few years before in 1949 he had played Samson in Samson and Delilah which again was the biggest grossing film of that year.

This was a big film – and went equally big at the Box Office.   I remember my Father taking us to see it on the huge Cinemascope Screen – with Stereophonic Sound – and it did not disappoint in any way. Tremendous Film.

Richard Burton spoke very highly of Victor Mature calling him a ‘wonderful man’ – and I have to say that he lifted the acting honours with his convincing performance.

I have read that it was estimated that Victor Mature’s fee for the film would have been 100,000 US Dollars equating to 1.2 million now.

The follow up ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators’ he was estimated to have been paid 80,000 US Dollars and then of course ‘The Egyptian’ came very quickly after these two.

Trouble in the Glen is a comedy set in the Scottish Highlands and featuring Orson Welles as the new laird who seems to stir up some of the locals. He is from South America and has purchased of inherited the Highland Estate.

This film did ok at the British Box Office – it is packed with Film Stars of the time including none other than Orson Welles – plus Forrest Tucker, Margaret Lockwood, Victor McLaglen and John McCallum.

I have to say that I like this film

The film was shot in TruColor and it certainly looked good. Scottish Highland scenes are just made for Colour.

It was made at Elstree Film Studios for Republic Pictures  – with location filming in Perthshire

I remember seeing this at The Gaumont Cinema in St.Albans when very young – and remember bits of it.

My Brother and I went with My Uncle and Aunt who lived in the City – as we had gone on holiday to their home at the time which  we often did in the Summertime.  I loved it there.

In the Film Forrest Tucker’s Daughter who was crippled following Polio, is played by Margaret McCourt who had quite a busy career through the Fifties as a child actress – She was in The Invisible Man

ABOVE – Margaret McCourt in Trouble in the Glen

ABOVE – Margaret McCourt in The Invisible Man

Margaret McCourt, Margaret Lockwood and Forrest Tucker

Orson Welles

‘Trouble in the Glen’ was planned to attempt to replicate the success a few years earlier of Republic’s biggest hit “The Quiet Man” – same writer and same formula. It didn’t quite do that though

I don’t think that Orson Welles helped this film – he seemed well ‘over the top’ in his acting and stifled some of the actors around him – Victor McLaglen who had a prominent part in ‘The Quiet Man’ however could hold his own against him – but I am not sure that Forrest Tucker could.

Forrest Tucker came to England quite often to make films.

In the film he and Margaret Lockwood play the romantic leads.

A set of Stills from the film – I used to love these and gaze at them when passing the cinema on my way to School for whichever film was showing that week – sometimes two programmes per week though -in the town  I have seen better than these but nevertheless these are good examples of what we would see.

Forrest Tucker

Margaret Lockwood with Forrest Tucker

Trouble In the Glen

BELOW – Orson Wells

I did notice that Ann Goodrun was in this who later became Goodrun Ure. She appeared in a lot of films through the fifties when she was billed as Ann Goodrun – including this one

Eileen Bennett who starred with George Formby in one of my favourites ‘Much Too Shy’ has died at her home in the USA a few days ago – at the age of almost 106

I hadn’t realised that she had a son – in fact two sons – but her son Nicholas Hammond was also an actor and he achieved lasting fame playing Friedrich Von Trapp in ‘The Sound of Music’

Eileen Bennett

Eileen Bennett BELOW – On the cover of ‘Illustrated’ at the time that she had just finished ‘Much Too Shy’

Eileen Bennett

After ‘Much Too Shy’ she made one other film and about that time must have met her future husband who was a High Ranking Officer in the US Army and stationed over here in the latter stages of the Second World War.

She then travelled back to the US and lived there for the rest of her long life

Eileen Bennett, who has died aged 105, was known to George Formby fans as his love interest in the 1942 comedy Much Too Shy and, during the war, played the ingénue lead, from 1942 to 1945, at the Strand Theatre in the West End production of Arsenic and Old Lace, when she was described by one critic as “the very essence of blonde pulchritude”.

In July 1945, however, she married Col Thomas Hammond, an American soldier stationed in London as an adjutant to General Eisenhower, and gave up her acting career for family life.

Eileen Mary Bennett was born in London on July 8 1919. Her father had been killed in the First World War and her mother Phyllis worked at the Royal College of Midwifery. From St Christopher’s School, Letchworth, she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1936. During the war years she performed in BBC radio plays, had mostly small roles in films, and was one of the first on-air announcers for the BBC’s early television broadcasts.

In ‘Much Too Shy’ she played Jackie, a milkmaid who catches the eye of Formby’s handyman-artist. She recalled the production as a hand-to-mouth affair: “We even did our own hair and make-up,” she told the George Formby Society website. “Wartime rationing meant few precious clothing coupons so we had to provide our own clothes. Luckily I owned a smart Hyde Park riding outfit consisting of some good-looking riding boots and breeches, so I became one of the best dressed milkmaids in England.”

Eileen had a Hillman Minx and was allowed just enough petrol coupons to get her to and from the studios at Borehamwood, so she would give other cast members a lift.

Filming took place under the watchful eye of Formby’s famously domineering wife Beryl, but Eileen recalled that when Beryl had to go to a dental appointment, Formby’s manner underwent a dramatic change: “George and I were sitting in the milk wagon… Suddenly [he] started uttering all sorts of endearments and moving closer until our legs were touching.

“He was trembling with emotion. Poor man, he was so frustrated. I was petrified that Beryl would appear and could see that the crew knew what was going on by their winks.”

Eileen appeared in one more film, the comedy Thursday’s Child (1943) starring Sally Ann Howes and Wilfrid Lawson. Otherwise her main memory of the war years was being bombed out twice: “Fortunately I was out both times. The second time I was out gallivanting. I came back… and found the street cordoned off, my flat completely demolished, and my dog killed.”

She recalled that actors and audiences became quite insouciant about bombing raids. One day during a matinee performance of Arsenic and Old Lace, the theatre received a direct hit: “There was a tremendous explosion. The dust… was so overwhelming that we couldn’t see each other. We just waited for it to settle a bit and then continued. No one on stage or in the audience had moved.”

Eileen left Arsenic and Old Lace after her marriage, in September 1945. Postwar she followed her husband around military postings, to Paris and the US, and brought up their two sons, of whom Nicholas would follow his mother into acting, starring as Friedrich von Trapp in the film version of The Sound of Music (1965).

In 1970, soon after retirement in Washington, Thomas Hammond died from a heart attack. Eileen remained in Washington working as a guide for visiting foreign diplomatic families and at the Hillwood museum, home to a large decorative arts collection. Later she moved to an army retirement community

I have recently been asked about a British TV Series which was, it seems, also shown in the USA.

Peter asks and describes the opening sequence and I think this could be the series ‘ Fabian of Scotland Yard’

So here we go again

Who could forget this excellent BBC Television series in the mid 1950s – Bruce Seton was Fabian  in our eyes – such was the impact of the show.

I must admit I loved this series – particularly the Opening Sequence – when Bruce Seton as Fabian, sitting in the back seat of a speeding Humber Hawk said in a terse voice ‘This is Fabian – Of Scotland Yard’

Great stuff !!

ABOVE – Bruce Seton as Fabian of Scotland Yard

ABOVE – Bruce Seton in Scenes from an episode of  Fabian of Scotland Yard

Beautiful RUTH ROMAN  was a versatile actress

In two of her most famous films: The Window (1949), she plays a murderer and in  Strangers On A Train (1951), as FARLEY GRANGER’s fiancée, she is high-class and elegant.  

I remember her in ‘Lightning Strikes Twice’ with Richard Todd – not a particularly good film and maybe not the best of parts for Ruth

RUTH ROMAN was born Norma Roman on December 22, 1922, in Lynn, Massachusetts, Nr Boston. Ruth’s father died when she was eight, and her mother was forced to move her and her two sisters, Ann and Eve, to Boston’s West End tenement district. Mrs. Roman took on menial jobs to keep the family afloat. They moved often because they couldn’t afford the rent.

Mrs. Roman created a loving home for her girls, and as Ruth would later say, “It wasn’t dreary at all. When you start out poor, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’ve never met a family, rich or poor, who had a happier life than we did together.”

Ruth started acting at school. She knew this was her destiny. After two years of high school, she dropped out to pursue her career full-time.

She worked as a Cinema usherette during the day while working at the New England Repertory Company at night. For three years, she appeared in small roles and worked as a stagehand.

Ruth was determined to learn  

Ruth then set out to try her luck on Broadway but she struggled there for three years with no luck.

In the meantime, she paid the rent by working as a waitress, babysitter, salesgirl, and other odd jobs. She then got a break in 1942 when she won a small role in the musical film Stage Door Canteen (1943), which was filmed in New York.

Everyone of note seemed to be in this film. With the money she made for her four days of filming, Ruth bought herself a one-way ticket to Hollywood, where her luck would change. 

ABOVE – One of her first breaks – this time in a Serial with her in the title role – ‘Jungle Queen’

Some time later Ruth got a good part – the title role in the lively western Belle Starr’s Daughter (1948), in which she arrives in a rough town to avenge her mother’s murder.

However, her real breakthrough came when producer Stanley Kramer cast her as Kirk Douglas’s wife in Mark Robson’s Champion (1949).

A Warner Bros contract followed, and the Studio immediately cast her in three 1950 Westerns, opposite Randolph Scott (Colt ’45), Gary Cooper (Dallas) and Dane Clark (Barricade).

Ruth was also in a favourite of mine ‘ Tanganyika’ – a film that doesn’t often see the light of day unfortunately but it is a good action packed adventure

Van Heflin and Ruth Roman star. Ruth Roman looks very beautiful in those African locations – in fact the locations were Studio Sets on the backlot of Universal in Hollywood with some location work in the US plus stock footage – but to me, it all works pretty well.

In 1956 Roman had the most exciting role of her life; she and her three year old son were returning from Italy aboard the luxury liner Andrea Doria when it was struck by another ship and sunk.

She became separated from her son =- they ended up in different lifeboats, and she and her child were finally among the 760 survivors of the disaster in which 50 people drowned.

In the late 1950s, Ruth Roman gradually scaled down her work. After appearing with Curt Jurgens and Richard Burton in Bitter Victory (1958), she started to appear more often in television shows such as Naked City, Route 66, The Defenders and Dr Kildare, and later in the 1975 mini-series The Long Hot Summer.

Ruth Roman, disliked the trappings of stardom – she claimed that her only extravagance was a collection of 35 pairs of Indian moccasins.

TANGANYIKA 1954

Van Heflin and Ruth Roman star but there seems little chemistry between them although Ruth Roman looks very beautiful in those African locations – in fact the locations were Studio Sets on the backlot of Universal in Hollywood with some location work in the US plus stock footage – but to me, it all works pretty well.

I must have said this before, but again this is a film I saw many years ago in St. Albans where we always holidayed and stayed with my Mother’s family. So it would be shown at either The Odeon on London Road, The Gaumont or The Chequers – the Odeon is now the wonderful Odyssey Cinema after being saved from extinction by the local hard working community

The film made in Hollywood by Universal Pictures, TANGANYIKA (1954) takes place in 1903 in the territory of East Africa

The story is of a hunt for a fugitive white man who’s stirred up the a tribe of natives into making raids on white settlements. Directing the hunt is John Gale (Van Heflin) who leads a group of native porters from East Africa into Tanganyika.

On the way he picks up Peggy Marion (Ruth Roman), a schoolteacher from Canada, and her young niece and nephew (Noreen Corcoran, Gregory Marshall), after rescuing them from a native attack that killed Peggy’s brother. He also picks up a wounded white man, Dan Harder (Howard Duff) who, we learn early on, is the brother of the renegade white man, although he keeps that little fact a secret.

This film I remember well although I always thought that it was in Colour which it isn’t.

Directed by Anthony Mann

Cast: James Stewart (Lin McAdam), Shelley Winters (Lola Manners), Dan Duryea (Waco Johnny Dean), Stephen McNally (Dutch Henry Brown), Millard Mitchell (High-Spade Frankie Wilson), Charles Drake (Steve Miller), John McIntire (Joe Lamont), Will Geer (Wyatt Earp), Jay C. Flippen (Sergeant Wilkes), Rock Hudson (Young Bull)

Winchester ’73 is the first of Anothony Mann’s pictures with James Stewart, The film was a big hit, and James Stewart’s deal was very good for him financially. After this others followed suit, which ultimately helped bring to an end the Studio system.

Anthony Mann and James Stewart would make four more Westerns together in one of Hollywood’s most significant director-star collaborations.

The prize rifle of (James Stewart) is stolen by (Stephen McNally), apprehended by a gun-trader (John McIntire), involved in a cavalry vs. Indian clash, and ends up in the hands of a man who struggles with cowardice (Charles Drake) before being taken by outlaw (Dan Duryea). Meanwhile Lin McAdam ( James Stewart) searches and chases to get the rifle back

Although “Winchester ’73” (1950) was shot Black and White, it’s an action-packed Western with a strong cast, which also includes Will Geer and Shelley Winters. Look out for Rock Hudson as the brave Young Bull and Tony Curtis as a cavalry trooper.

.

Anthony Mann keeps us on edge throughout Winchester ’73.. 

For some reason I always thought that this film was in Technicolor but it was not. The later ones like ‘Where the River Bends’ certainly is I am happy to say

Where the River Bends 1952

Where the River Bends 1952

Julie Adams – then Julia Adams  – starred alongside   James Stewart in  Where The River Bends (1952), William Powell in The Treasure of Lost Canyon (1952), Rock Hudson in The Lawless Breed (1953) and Van Heflin in Wings of the Hawk (1953).

As a publicity stunt, Universal Studios once declared her legs “the most perfectly symmetrical in the world” and insured them for $125,000. And in “The Case of the Deadly Verdict,” a 1963 episode of Perry Mason, Adams’ character had the notable distinction of being one of the lawyer’s few clients to be found guilty.

Then the actress was offered the role that assured her a place in monster-movie history.