Flight Command (1940) starring Robert Taylor, Walter Pidgeon, Ruth Hussey, Red Skelton
I originally watched Flight Command because it was one of Red Skelton‘s earliest movie roles — which is technically true; Red’s in the film as part of the Hellcats squadron, acting as the class clown, but he’s definitely a secondary character. Flight Command is primarily about a brash young pilot, Alan Drake (played by Robert Taylor) who’s recruited straight out of college to join the premier squad of Navy Hellcats. He has trouble fitting in at first, although the flight commander (played by a young and dashing Walter Pidgeon) tries to help — as does the commander’s wife (played by Ruth Hussey). There’s a suspected romantic triangle between Drake and the commander’s wife (which was only him trying to console her on the death of her brother) — but all turns out well in the end.
movie review of Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), starring Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, Buddy Ebsen, Billy Gilbert, Judy Garland
Synopsis of Broadway Melody of 1938
Steve Raleigh (Robert Taylor) wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a financial backer, Herman Whipple as well as a dancing leading lady, Sally Lee (Eleanor Powell). But Whipple’s scheming wife, Caroline, wants to force Steve to use a known star, not a newcomer. In a subplot, Sally (a former farm girl, who used to train horses on her parents’ farm before they lost everything in the Depression) purchases a horse and with two ex-vaudevillians, Sonny Ledford and Peter Trott (Buddy Ebsen), she trains it to win a race, providing the money Steve needs for his show.
Quo Vadis (1951) starring Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov
Quo Vadis is the kind of movie that Hollywood doesn’t, and won’t, make anymore. It’s a three-hour epic, telling the story of Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor). He’s a Roman general returning to Nero’s Rome after 3 years of service in the field. There, he swiftly falls in love with a lovely Christian, Lygia (Deborah Kerr). This star-crossed romance is interwoven among the spectacle, and debauchery, of Nero’s Rome.