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Best Foot Forward (1943), starring Lucille Ball, Harry James

Best Foot Forward

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Best Foot Forward (1943), starring Lucille Ball, Harry James

A fun musical, that frequently had me asking, “When is Lucy coming back on screen?” Please understand, that even without Lucy on screen, it’s a fun musical farce.  There are several nice musical numbers and some Wonderful music by the Harry James band.  I was absolutely transfixed by their rendition of Flight of the Bumblebees.  But there’s a definite decrease in the comedy, and in the pace of the film, when Lucille Ball is off-screen. With a few notable examples.

Best Foot Forward

Calling Dr. Death

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Calling Dr. Death (1943), starring Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, Patricia Morison

Synopsis of Calling Dr. Death

Losing his memories for the last few days, neurologist Dr. Steele is told his wife has been brutally murdered. Aware of his wife’s infidelity he believes he may have been the killer and enlists the aid of his pretty nurse to hypnotize him.

Calling Dr. Death

Hangmen Also Die

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Hangmen Also Die! (1943), by Fritz Lang, starring Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Gene Lockhart, Anna Lee

Synopsis of Hangmen Also Die

Hangmen Also Die is set in occupied Czechoslovakia.  It revolves around the successful plot by the Czech resistance to assassinate Deputy Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia Hangman Reinhard Heydrich.  And the hunt by the Gestapo to track down the killers that follow.

Hangmen Also Die

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

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Synopsis of  Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Larry Talbot, the unwilling Wolf Man, is returned to life with the unwitting help of grave robbers.  He wishes only to die, in order to avoid hurting anyone else as the Wolf Man.   So, he gets the help of the old gypsy from the original Wolf Man film. He is striving to get the assistance of the reviled Dr. Frankenstein … A man who supposedly discovered the secrets of life and death.   The doctor isn’t available, but Talbot uncovers his monster (played by Bela Lugosi).  With a confrontation between the two monsters being inevitable.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Sahara

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Sahara (1943) starring Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett,  J. Carrol Naish,  Lloyd Bridges

Sahara is, in short, an excellent movie — €” set in World War II, in the desert conflict, it involves a ragtag multi-national group of Allied soldiers (Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges) as well as their Italian prisoner of war (played memorably by J. Carrol Naish) who come upon an oasis in the desert — €” a crumbling ruin.

The ruin has a cistern — €” not a well, but a storage place for water, that’s nearly dry. The GI’s no sooner find it than they’re surrounded by Nazi soldiers, who are dying of thirst — €” but are armed to the teeth.

Sahara

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) By: The Masked Reviewer

The movie begins on a full moon in a graveyard, with two grave robbers robbing Larry Talbot’s tomb. Too bad werewolves don’t die. Larry wakes up in a hospital 40 miles away, with a severe head injury. He later escapes the hospital to find the infamous Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein, only to find out that the doctor had died, but his monster hasn’t.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Thousands Cheer

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Thousands Cheer (1943) starring Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson

Thousands Cheer is a  musical romance, set in the U.S.A. during World War II.   The first half of the movie deals with Kathryn Roberts (played by Kathryn Grayson). She’s a  concert singer who is retiring from the stage to work on putting on shows for the Army, to help morale.   This is also designed to let her bond with  her father, an Army colonel. Whom she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, after her parents’ divorce.  

Thousands Cheer

Whistling in Brooklyn [Red Skelton]

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Whistling in Brooklyn (1943) starring Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Rags Ragland

Movie review of Red Skelton’s third, and final, appearance as Wally Benton, aka. The Fox, a radio personality and amateur detective. In this installment, The Fox is still trying to marry his fiancee. But he’s on the run from the police after being blamed for the murders of the mysterious “Constant Reader”. Danger and comedy in equal parts, with an appearance by the Brooklyn Dodgers as well!

Whistling in Brooklyn [Red Skelton]
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