Ugetsu (1953-Japanese) 96m. ½ D: Kenji Mizoguchi. Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sakae Ozawa. Eerie ghost story set in 16th-century Japan tells of two peasants who leave their families; one seeks wealth in the city and the other wishes to become a samurai warrior. Superbly photographed by Kazuo Miyagawa. Full title UGETSU MONOGATARI.

Ugly American, The (1963) C-120m. ½ D: George H. Englund. Marlon Brando, Sandra Church, Pat Hingle, Eiji Okada, Arthur Hill, Kukrit Pramoj, Jocelyn Brando. Brando is American ambassador to Asian country; his arrival stirs up pro-communist elements, leading to havoc. Political revelations of U.S. power struggle aren’t meat for exciting film. Adapted by Stewart Stern from the William J. Lederer–Eugene Burdick book.

Ulysses (1954-Italian) C-104m. D: Mario Camerini. Kirk Douglas, Silvana Mangano, Anthony Quinn, Sylvie, Rossana Podesta. Hokey, lumbering costumer with Douglas as Ulysses, on his Odyssey home to Penelope after the Trojan War. Watch Kirk speak in dubbed Italian, then English. Seven writers are credited for this, including Ben Hecht and Irwin Shaw.

Ulysses Against Hercules (1961-Italian) C-99m. ½ D: Mario Caiano. Georges Marchal, Michael Lane, Alessandra Panaro, Gianni Santuccio. Childish blend of myth and muscleman antics with Hercules (Lane) sent to punish Ulysses (Marchal); special effects of bird-men not up to snuff. Aka ULYSSES AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES.

Umberto D (1952-Italian) 89m. D: Vittorio De Sica. Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari. Ex-bureaucrat on a meager fixed pension is about to be forced out into Rome streets with only his beloved mongrel to comfort him. De Sica is said to have considered this his greatest work, and he may have been right; subplot about Battisti’s relationship with an unmarried, pregnant woman is as touching as predominant storyline. Shattering, all the way up to the tear-jerking conclusion. Screenplay by Cesare Zavattini.

Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964-French) C-91m. ½ D: Jacques Demy. Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Ellen Farnen. Haunting music (score by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Demy) and gorgeous photography make this an outstanding romantic drama. All dialogue is sung. Followed by THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT.

Un Carnet de Bal (1937-French) 109m. D: Julien Duvivier. Marie Bell, Francoise Rosay, Louis Jouvet, Harry Baur, Pierre-Richard Willm, Raimu, Pierre Blanchar, Fernandel, Robert Lynen, Roger Legris. Wealthy widow travels to various locales, intent on looking up the former beaux who filled her dance card (“carnet de bal”). What she finds surprises her, and viewer is treated to a number of poignant vignettes (some ahead of their time) acted by the cream of 1930s France. Hugely successful, this was the inspiration for all the episodic films that followed. (Duvivier even reworked it in Hollywood in 1941 as LYDIA.) Coscripted by the director, from his story. Music by Maurice Jaubert.

Uncertain Glory (1944) 102m. D: Raoul Walsh. Errol Flynn, Jean Sullivan, Paul Lukas, Lucile Watson, Faye Emerson, Douglass Dumbrille, Dennis Hoey, Sheldon Leonard. Wavering script about French criminal Flynn deciding to give his life for his country.

Unchained (1955) 75m. D: Hall Bartlett. Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, Barbara Hale, Chester Morris, Todd Duncan, Johnny Johnston, Peggy Knudsen, Jerry Paris. Fair drama of life at prison farm at Chino, California; highlighted by Alex North–Hy Zarek theme song: “Unchained Melody.” Saxophonist Dexter Gordon is seen briefly as a musician (though his playing was dubbed by Georgie Auld).

Uncle Harry SEE: Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, The

Uncle Moses (1932) 87m. ½ D: Aubrey Scotto, Sidney Goldin. Maurice Schwartz, Rubin Goldberg, Judith Abarbanel, Zvee Scooler, Mark Schweid, Rebecca Weintraub. Schwartz stars as the title character, a prosperous, patronizing, womanizing sweatshop proprietor who falls for the young daughter of one of his employees, as his workers threaten to go on strike. To say this Yiddish-language film is dramatically overwrought would be an understatement, but it remains intriguing as a mirror of the Jewish immigrant experience and life on N.Y.C.’s Lower East Side. Based on a novel by Sholem Asch; scripted by Schwartz.

Uncle Silas SEE: Inheritance, The (1947)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927) 112m. D: Harry Pollard. James B. Lowe, Virginia Grey, Margarita Fisher, George Siegmann, Eulalie Jensen, Arthur Edmund Carew, Vivien Oakland, Lucien Littlefield, Gertrude Astor. Ingratiatingly heart-tugging (albeit occasionally overwrought) version of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famed abolitionist novel, which charts the plight of various slaves and slave owners in the Deep South prior to and during the Civil War. Sets out to humanize African Americans by depicting the heartlessness of slavery, yet also reflects its era with the worst kind of “dancin’ darkie” stereotypes.

Uncle Was a Vampire (1959-Italian-French) C-85m. ½ D: Steno (Stefano Vanzina). Renato Rascel, Sylva Koscina, Lia Zoppelli, Kai Fischer, Franco Scandurra, Christopher Lee. Penniless baron Rascel works as a bellboy in the hotel that used to be his family’s castle. Pale, towering (and undead) uncle Lee arrives and vampirizes Rascel, who in turn puts the bite on pretty tourists. Forced comedy does not translate well, but Lee is impressive (though dubbed by another actor) and there’s lots of beautiful coastal scenery. Ultrascope.

Unconquered (1947) C-146m. ½ D: Cecil B. DeMille. Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, Howard da Silva, Boris Karloff, Cecil Kellaway, Ward Bond, Katherine DeMille, C. Aubrey Smith, Porter Hall, Mike Mazurki. Gargantuan DeMille colonists-vs.-Indians nonsense, one of his most ludicrous films but still fun.

Undead, The (1957) 75m. D: Roger Corman. Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Allison Hayes, Mel Welles, Billy Barty, Richard Devon, Bruno VeSota. One of Corman’s best early films, coscripted by Charles Griffith. A scientist, investigating the possibility of reincarnation, manages to transport himself back into the Dark Ages. Lots of atmosphere and black humor, with a neat twist ending.

Under California Stars (1948) 70m. D: William Witney. Roy Rogers, Jane Frazee, Andy Devine, George Lloyd, Wade Crosby, Michael Chapin, House Peters, Jr., Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. Roy plays himself, returning to his ranch after shooting a movie, but all is not well: someone kidnaps Trigger and holds him for a huge ransom. Entertaining yarn puts Roy’s golden palomino in the spotlight again.

Under Capricorn (1949-British) C-117m. D: Alfred Hitchcock. Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker. Stuffy costumer set in 19th-century Australia; Bergman is frail wife of hardened husband Cotten; Wilding comes to visit, upsetting everything. Leighton excellent in supporting role. One of Hitchcock’s few duds. Remade as an Australian miniseries in 1983.

Undercover Doctor (1939) 66m. ½ D: Louis King. Lloyd Nolan, Janice Logan, J. Carrol Naish, Heather Angel, Broderick Crawford, Robert Wilcox, Richard Denning. Satisfying crime programmer finds Naish firmly in his element as an alcoholic sawbones who goes to work for the mob; Nolan is the G-man hunting him down. Based on a story by F.B.I. chief J. Edgar Hoover.

Undercover Girl (1950) 83m. D: Joseph Pevney. Alexis Smith, Scott Brady, Richard Egan, Gladys George, Regis Toomey. Smith in title role joins police to locate her father’s killer; George in cameo is outstanding.

Undercover Maisie (1947) 90m. D: Harry Beaumont. Ann Sothern, Barry Nelson, Mark Daniels, Leon Ames, Clinton Sundberg. The brassy chorine joins the police as a special agent in this routine finale to the series.

Undercover Man (1942) 66m. ½ D: Lesley Selander. William Boyd, Andy Clyde, Jay Kirby, Antonio Moreno, Nora Lane, Chris-Pin Martin. When Hopalong Cassidy visits the Gonzales hacienda in Mexico, a troublemaker tries to make each friend suspect the other of misdeeds, including border raids and robberies. Partial reworking of IN OLD MEXICO has too many slow, stage-bound scenes and unsubtle dialogue expounding President Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor” policy. Series debut of the unmemorable Kirby, as “Breezy,” yet another would-be replacement for “Windy” (George Hayes).

Undercover Man, The (1949) 85m. D: Joseph H. Lewis. Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore, Barry Kelley, Howard St. John. Realistic drama of mob leader (loosely based on Al Capone) being hunted down by Secret Service men who hope to nail him on tax-evasion charge. Whitmore’s film debut.

Undercurrent (1946) 116m. ½ D: Vincente Minnelli. Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Edmund Gwenn, Marjorie Main, Jayne Meadows, Clinton Sundberg. Stale melodramatics of newly married Hepburn, whose husband (Taylor) is bitterly estranged from his brother; however, there’s more to the story than she realizes. Saved only by the fine cast and usual high MGM production quality.

Under 18 (1932) 79m. D: Archie Mayo. Marian Marsh, Regis Toomey, Warren William, Anita Page, Norman Foster, Joyce Compton, J. Farrell MacDonald. Seeing what poverty has done to her sister’s marriage, tenement teen Marsh won’t marry trucker Toomey until he makes some money; then she gets involved with rich playboy William. Expected spice is missing from this bland romantic melodrama. One great scene: William has a wild party in his penthouse, replete with girls diving for jewels in a swimming pool!

Under Fiesta Stars (1941) 64m. ½ D: Frank McDonald. Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Carol Hughes, Frank Darien, Joseph Strauch, Jr., Pauline Drake, Ivan Miller, Sam Flint, John Merton. Rodeo star Autry and spoiled city girl Hughes jointly inherit a ranch and mining property; he wants to run it as his adoptive dad always did, but she wants to sell out and hooks up with some lawyers who use rougher tactics than she ever envisioned to get rid of Gene. OK Autry Western with a great two-men-on-one-horse fight at the end. Series debut for Strauch as Frog’s sidekick Tadpole.

Under Fire (1957) 78m. D: James B. Clark. Rex Reason, Steve Brodie, Jon Locke, Harry Morgan, Robert Levin. Bland war tale about soldiers alleged to have deserted under enemy fire. Regalscope.

Underground (1941) 95m. D: Vincent Sherman. Jeffrey Lynn, Philip Dorn, Kaaren Verne, Mona Maris, Frank Reicher, Martin Kosleck. Gripping story of German underground movement, with Dorn shielding his activities from loyal soldier-brother Lynn. Kosleck is definitive Nazi swine.

Under My Skin (1950) 86m. ½ D: Jean Negulesco. John Garfield, Micheline Presle, Luther Adler, Orley Lindgren, Noel Drayton. Pensive study of troubled, crooked jockey Garfield, attempting to reform for the sake of son Lindgren and pretty widow Presle. Based on Ernest Hemingway’s My Old Man; remade for TV in 1979 under that title.

Under Nevada Skies (1946) 69m. D: Frank McDonald. Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, George “Gabby” Hayes, Douglass Dumbrille, Leyland Hodgson, Tristram Coffin, Rudolph Anders, LeRoy Mason, George J. Lewis, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. Strangers come to town in search of a jeweled crest that contains a map to a rich deposit of pitchblende, which is used to manufacture atomic bombs! In the midst of this plotty Rogers film there’s an incongruous musical production number, “Sea Going Cowboy.”

Under Pressure (1935) 70m. D: Raoul Walsh. Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe, Florence Rice, Marjorie Rambeau, Charles Bickford, Sig Rumann. Lowe and McLaglen team up again, this time as “sand hogs” digging a tunnel under the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan, brawling over reporter Rice and racing to beat Bickford and his crew, who are tunneling from the other direction. Fast, snappy action-comedy with an unusual setting and a great climax.

Under-Pup, The (1939) 81m. ½ D: Richard Wallace. Gloria Jean, Robert Cummings, Nan Grey, Beulah Bondi, Virginia Weidler, Margaret Lindsay, C. Aubrey Smith, Billy Gilbert. Hokey but heartwarming tale of singing tenement child who attends exclusive summer camp as charity guest of a snobbish girls’ club. Film debut for Gloria Jean, Universal Pictures’ “successor” to Deanna Durbin. Originally released at 88m.

Undersea Girl (1957) 75m. BOMB D: John Peyser. Mara Corday, Pat Conway, Dan Seymour, Florence Marly, Myron Healey. Corday is a reporter (and diver) who joins the police and the Navy in trying to track down a gang that’s looted a sunken ship. Sunk is right.

Under Suspicion SEE: Innocent Affair, An

Under Ten Flags (1960-U.S.-Italian) 92m. ½ D: Duilio Coletti. Van Heflin, Charles Laughton, Mylene Demongeot, John Ericson, Cecil Parker, Liam Redmond, Alex Nicol. German attack-ship during WW2 uses a variety of dodges to elude British pursuers, in naval cat-and-mouse game, told from Axis point of view. Filmed in Italy.

Under the Gun (1950) 83m. D: Ted Tetzlaff. Richard Conte, Audrey Totter, John McIntire, Sam Jaffe, Philip Pine, Shepperd Strudwick, Royal Dano. N.Y. racketeer winds up in a Florida prison camp—from which he’s determined to escape. Original crime yarn enhanced by excellent location work and a strong supporting cast.

Under the Red Robe (1937-British) 82m. ½ D: Victor Seastrom. Conrad Veidt, Raymond Massey, Annabella, Romney Brent, Sophie Stewart. Diverting costumer with Veidt as hero, Annabella lovely heroine, and Massey the cruel villain in story of French Cardinal Richelieu’s oppression of the Huguenots. Offbeat sense of humor adds to film’s enjoyment.

Under the Roofs of Paris (1930-French) 92m. ½ D: René Clair. Albert Prejean, Pola Illery, Gaston Modot, Edmond Greville, Paul Olivier. Mime and song, with a minimum of dialogue, tell the story in this wonderful film about two ordinary Parisians (Prejean, Greville) involved with the same woman (Illery). A groundbreaking link between silent and sound cinema; Lazare Meerson’s sets are outstanding. Written by Clair.

Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) C-110m. ½ D: David Swift. Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, Dean Jones, Edie Adams, Imogene Coca, Paul Lynde, Robert Lansing. Obvious sex comedy owes most of its enjoyment to Lemmon as love-hungry landlord trying to romance tenant Lynley who’s living with her fiancé (Jones).

Undertow (1949) 71m. ½ D: William Castle. Scott Brady, John Russell, Dorothy Hart, Peggy Dow, Bruce Bennett, Gregg Martell. Well-done if predictable film noir. WW2 vet Brady, just separated from the service, yearns for a quiet, peaceful future. Instead, he’s framed on a murder rap. Appearing briefly as an unnamed detective is Rock Hudson, billed here as “Roc.”

Under Two Flags (1936) 96m. D: Frank Lloyd. Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen, Rosalind Russell, Gregory Ratoff, Nigel Bruce, Herbert Mundin, John Carradine, J. Edward Bromberg. Debonair legionnaire Colman is caught between two women (aristocratic Russell and camp follower Colbert), and the envy of jealous commandant McLaglen in this unbelievable but entertaining Foreign Legion story, from the book by Ouida (filmed before in 1916 and 1922). Originally ran 110m.

Underwater! (1955) C-99m. D: John Sturges. Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Richard Egan, Lori Nelson, Jayne Mansfield. Standard skin-diving fare, with Roland and Egan seeking out treasure in the deep. Russell in a bathing suit is the main attraction. SuperScope.

Underwater City, The (1962) C-78m. D: Frank McDonald. William Lundigan, Julie Adams, Roy Roberts, Carl Benton Reid, Chet Douglas, Paul Dubov. Mildly diverting sci-fi about engineer who builds experimental underwater city. Released theatrically in b&w.

Underwater Warrior (1958) 91m. ½ D: Andrew Marton. Dan Dailey, Claire Kelly, James Gregory, Ross Martin. On-location filming in the Philippines adds zest to narrative-style account of frogmen in action during closing days of WW2. CinemaScope.

Under Western Skies (1945) 57m. D: Jean Yarbrough. Martha O’Driscoll, Noah Beery, Jr., Leo Carrillo, Leon Errol, Irving Bacon, Ian Keith, Jennifer Holt. Silly, innocuous grade-B Universal musical about a traveling revue in the Old West that runs afoul of the townspeople at their latest stop.

Under Western Stars (1938) 65m. D: Joseph Kane. Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, Carol Hughes, Guy Usher, Tom Chatterton, Kenneth Harlan, Alden (Stephen) Chase. Roy’s first starring vehicle finds him elected to Congress, where he attempts to draw attention to the plight of Western ranchers beset by dust-bowl conditions. (In fact, Roy sings “Dust.”) Film’s huge box-office success launched the career of the King of the Cowboys.

Underworld (1927) 85m. D: Josef von Sternberg. George Bancroft, Clive Brook, Evelyn Brent, Larry Semon, Fred Kohler, Helen Lynch, Jerry Mandy. Landmark silent film may not have been the first gangster movie, but it created archetypes of the genre that continue to this day: colorful character names, slangy mob argot, and a glamorized, sympathetic portrayal of criminals. Former Chicago crime reporter Ben Hecht won an Oscar for his story of a drunken lawyer who becomes a mobster’s mouthpiece and falls for his moll. Von Sternberg’s impressionistic direction and Bert Glennon’s cinematography create a seminal and stylish piece of cinema that is still remarkably entertaining.

Underworld After Dark SEE Big Town After Dark

Underworld Informers (1965-British) 105m. D: Ken Annakin. Nigel Patrick, Catherine Woodville, Margaret Whiting, Colin Blakely, Harry Andrews, Frank Finlay. Tight, taut crime tale as Scotland Yard inspector Patrick must clear his name by bringing in notorious gangland leaders. Vivid atmosphere, fine acting by all. Original British title: THE INFORMERS.

Underworld Scandal SEE: Big Town Scandal

Underworld Story, The (1950) 90m. D: Cy Endfield. Gale Storm, Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Mary Anderson, Michael O’Shea. Surprisingly effective gangster yarn of reporter joining small town newspaper and uncovering corruption; cast is uniformly good.

Underworld U.S.A. (1961) 99m. ½ D: Samuel Fuller. Cliff Robertson, Dolores Dorn, Beatrice Kay, Robert Emhardt, Larry Gates. Robertson sees his father murdered and develops lifetime obsession to get even with the mob responsible. One of director Fuller’s most visually striking films; unfortunately, his script goes astray and doesn’t fulfill initial promise.

Undying Monster, The (1942) 63m. ½ D: John Brahm. James Ellison, John Howard, Heather Angel, Bramwell Fletcher. OK chiller of a werewolf on the prowl around an English estate; nothing new, but atmospherically photographed by Lucien Ballard.

Unearthly, The (1957) 73m. ½ D: Brooke L. Peters (Boris Petroff). John Carradine, Allison Hayes, Myron Healey, Sally Todd. Mad scientist Carradine’s experiments in immortality have resulted only in a basement full of deformed morons. Don’t you join them.

Unearthly Stranger (1963-British) 78m. ½ D: John Krish. John Neville, Gabriella Licudi, Philip Stone, Patrick Newell, Jean Marsh, Warren Mitchell. A scientist, one of a team trying to find a way of using the power of the human mind to reach other planets, gradually comes to fear his charming wife may be an alien who’s here to halt the research. Compact little film with only a few sets and a small cast; intelligent and serious, with occasionally sharp dialogue and well-drawn characters, but diminished by some heavy-handed editing and an overstated score.

Une Parisienne SEE: La Parisienne

Unexpected Guest (1947) 61m. ½ D: George Archainbaud. William Boyd, Andy Clyde, Rand Brooks, Una O’Connor, John Parrish, Patricia Tate. Bar 20 boys accompany Clyde to claim inheritance, then watch as his relatives are murdered one by one at the hands of a dark-cloaked, masked villain. Focus is on mystery, not Western action, in this modest “old dark house” Hopalong Cassidy whodunit. Boyd spends too much time indoors and quickly changes out of his trademark dark outfit into light-colored civilian duds. Reissued as SADDLE AND SPURS.

Unexpected Uncle (1941) 67m. D: Peter Godfrey. Anne Shirley, James Craig, Charles Coburn, Ernest Truex, Astrid Allwyn, Hans Conried. Fairly strained comedy-drama does at least prove a pleasant showcase for Shirley, as young woman with romantic entanglements aided by benevolent millionaire Coburn. Based on a novel by Eric Hatch (MY MAN GODFREY).

Unfaithful, The (1947) 109m. ½ D: Vincent Sherman. Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Steven Geray, John Hoyt. Sheridan kills an intruder in her home—but is she telling the truth about what happened? Diluted post–WW2 rehash of THE LETTER.

Unfaithfully Yours (1948) 105m. D: Preston Sturges. Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence, Kurt Kreuger, Lionel Stander, Robert Greig, Edgar Kennedy, Julius Tannen, Al Bridge. Brilliant Sturges comedy of symphony conductor Harrison, who suspects his wife of infidelity and considers three courses of action (including murder) during concert. Great moments from Vallee and Kennedy; often side-splittingly funny. Remade in 1984.

Unfaithfuls, The (1960-Italian) 89m. ½ D: Stefano Steno. Mai Britt, Gina Lollobrigida, Pierre Cressoy, Marina Vlady, Anna Maria Ferrero, Tina Lattanzi, Carlo Romano. Multifaceted film of life among rich, corrupt society of Rome.

Unfinished Business (1941) 96m. D: Gregory La Cava. Irene Dunne, Robert Montgomery, Preston Foster, Eugene Pallette, Dick Foran, Esther Dale, Walter Catlett. Ordinary romance about ambitious singer Dunne, loving Foster, marrying his brother Montgomery for spite—and promptly regretting it. Good cast wasted.

Unfinished Dance, The (1947) C-101m. ½ D: Henry Koster. Margaret O’Brien, Cyd Charisse, Karin Booth, Danny Thomas, Esther Dale. Sugar-sweet story of young dancer O’Brien whose idol is ballerina Charisse. Remake of French film BALLERINA (LA MORT DU CYGNE).

Unforgiven, The (1960) C-125m. D: John Huston. Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, John Saxon, Charles Bickford, Lillian Gish, Doug McClure, Joseph Wiseman, Albert Salmi. Western set in 1850s Texas tells of two families at odds with Indians over Hepburn, whom the latter claim as one of theirs. Gish and Bickford are outstanding in stellar-cast story, with rousing Indian attack climax. Panavision.

Unguarded Hour, The (1936) 90m. ½ D: Sam Wood. Loretta Young, Franchot Tone, Lewis Stone, Roland Young, Jessie Ralph, Dudley Digges, Henry Daniell, Aileen Pringle. Young is being blackmailed and cannot prove an accused murderer’s innocence without damaging her own reputation—and embarrassing her prosecutor husband. Intriguing story comes to silly conclusion, but cast maintains interest (though the three leads are not terribly convincing as British subjects).

Unguarded Moment, The (1956) C-95m. ½ D: Harry Keller. Esther Williams, George Nader, John Saxon, Edward Andrews, Les Tremayne, Jack Albertson. Mild drama of schoolteacher whose emotional stability is endangered by lusting pupil. Film noteworthy only for Williams’ nonaquatic role; based on a story by Rosalind Russell!

Unholy Four, The (1954-British) 80m. ½ D: Terence Fisher. Paulette Goddard, William Sylvester, Patrick Holt, Paul Carpenter, Jeremy Hawk. Muddled drama of amnesiac Sylvester caught up in a murder plot. Original British title: A STRANGER CAME HOME.

Unholy Garden, The (1931) 74m. ½ D: George Fitzmaurice. Ronald Colman, Fay Wray, Estelle Taylor, Tully Marshall, Warren Hymer, Mischa Auer, Henry Armetta. Forgettable but very entertaining fluff with Colman an adventurer/thief in desert setting; murder, action, romance neatly blended, carried by Colman’s effortless charm. Written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

Unholy Night, The (1929) 94m. D: Lionel Barrymore. Ernest Torrence, Dorothy Sebastian, Roland Young, Boris Karloff, Natalie Moorhead, Sidney Jarvis, Polly Moran, Sojin. With the murder of several members of their regiment, veterans from the Indian war gather at Young’s London home to ferret out the murderer. Stagy Ben Hecht melodrama with much hamming, especially by unbilled Karloff.

Unholy Partners (1941) 94m. D: Mervyn LeRoy. Edward G. Robinson, Edward Arnold, Laraine Day, Marsha Hunt, William T. Orr, Don Beddoe, Walter Kingsford. Intriguing premise: Robinson starts sensationalistic newspaper after WW1, is forced to bargain with underworld king Arnold. Day gives fine performance as E.G.’s girl Friday; Hunt sings “After You’ve Gone.”

Unholy Three, The (1925) 86m. ½ D: Tod Browning. Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore, Victor McLaglen, Harry Earles. In departure from horrific roles, Chaney plays sideshow ventriloquist who teams with strongman and midget to form underworld trio. Corny aspects of story can’t mar fascination with basic idea, or Chaney’s performance. Remade in 1930.

Unholy Three, The (1930) 72m. ½ D: Jack Conway. Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, Elliott Nugent, Harry Earles, John Miljan, Ivan Linow. Almost scene-for-scene remake of 1925 film was Chaney’s only talkie; he’s terrific, other players less so. Denouement rewritten for this remake to take advantage of sound. Midget Earles is largely incomprehensible.

Unholy Wife, The (1957) C-94m. ½ D: John Farrow. Rod Steiger, Diana Dors, Tom Tryon, Beulah Bondi, Marie Windsor. Muddled melodrama about farmer’s wife attempting to kill husband and mistakenly shooting someone else.

Uninhibited, The (1965-Spanish) C-104m. D: Juan Antonio Bardem. Melina Mercouri, Hardy Kruger, James Mason, Didier Haudepin, Jose Maria Monpin. Good cast can’t save muddled drama of troubled souls whose lives intertwine in picturesque seaside village on the Costa Brava.

Uninvited, The (1944) 98m. ½ D: Lewis Allen. Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Gail Russell, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Dorothy Stickney, Barbara Everest, Alan Napier. Eerie ghost suspenser about Russell disturbed by dead mother’s specter; Milland and Hussey, new owners of haunted house, try to solve mystery. No trick ending in this ingenious film, which introduced Victor Young’s melody “Stella by Starlight.” Spooky cinematography by Charles Lang, Jr. Scripted by Dodie Smith and Frank Partos, from Dorothy Macardle’s novel.

Union Depot (1932) 68m. D: Alfred E. Green. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Alan Hale, David Landau, Frank McHugh. Fast-paced, eventful yarn that brings sharpie Fairbanks and stranded chorus girl Blondell together at a bustling train station where a hundred subplots crisscross. Great fun, brimming with early-1930s flavor.

Union Pacific (1939) 135m. D: Cecil B. DeMille. Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Robert Preston, Akim Tamiroff, Brian Donlevy, Anthony Quinn, Lynne Overman, Evelyn Keyes, Fuzzy Knight, J. M. Kerrigan, Regis Toomey. Brawling DeMille saga about building the first transcontinental railroad; McCrea the hero, Donlevy the villain, Stanwyck (with Irish brogue!) caught between McCrea and likable troublemaker Preston. Action scenes, including spectacular train wreck, Indian attack, and subsequent cavalry rescue via railroad flat cars are highlights.

Union Station (1950) 80m. ½ D: Rudolph Maté. William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Jan Sterling, Allene Roberts, Lyle Bettger. Dated police techniques, plus general implausibility, detract from well-made film about manhunt for kidnapper (Bettger) of young blind woman (Roberts).

Unknown, The (1927) 50m. D: Tod Browning. Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, Norman Kerry, Nick De Ruiz, John George. Wild and wooly silent Chaney chiller about a criminal on the lam who hides out in a gypsy circus and pretends he has no arms. Ultra-creepy, even by Browning’s bizarre standards, with an unforgettable finale.

Unknown, The (1946) 70m. D: Henry Levin. Jim Bannon, Barton Yarborough, Karen Morley, Jeff Donnell, Robert Scott, Robert Wilcox. So-so entry in brief I Love a Mystery series with Bannon as Jack Packard, Yarborough as Doc Young. This one involves oddball family, with amnesiac daughter Donnell coming home to see her deranged mother (Morley) after 20 years.

Unknown Guest (1943) 64m. ½ D: Kurt Neumann. Victor Jory, Pamela Blake, Veda Ann Borg, Harry Hayden, Emory Parnell. Murder whodunit manages to create suspense and perk interest, largely due to Jory’s performance in this programmer.

Unknown Island (1948) C-76m. ½ D: Jack Bernhard. Virginia Grey, Philip Reed, Richard Denning, Barton MacLane. Boring story of adventurers searching for prehistoric monsters on strange island features men in dinosaur suits.

Unknown Man, The (1951) 86m. ½ D: Richard Thorpe. Walter Pidgeon, Ann Harding, Barry Sullivan, Keefe Brasselle, Lewis Stone, Eduard Franz, Richard Anderson, Dawn Addams. Capable cast enhances this yarn of scrupulously honest lawyer Pidgeon and his strange triumph of justice upon discovering the guilt of his client in a murder trial.

Unknown Terror, The (1957) 77m. D: Charles Marquis Warren. John Howard, Paul Richards, Mala Powers, May Wynn, Sir Lancelot. Unremarkable chiller set in South America, involving uncontrollable fungus. Regalscope.

Unknown World (1951) 74m. D: Terrell O. Morse. Bruce Kellogg, Marilyn Nash, Victor Kilian, Jim Bannon. Overbaked relic of its era, with geologist Kilian and colleagues boring to the earth’s core in a Cyclotram (mechanical mole). Their purpose: to find a haven from the A-bomb. Nash’s character, that of an (at first) icy-cold “feminist” scientist, is alone worth the price of admission. Unabashedly moralistic screenplay by Millard Kaufman; music by Ernest Gold.

Unnatural (1952-German) 78m. D: Arthur Maria Rabenalt. Hildegarde Neff, Erich von Stroheim, Carlheinz (Carl) Boehm, Harry Meyen, Rolf Henniger, Harry Halm. Too much talk and not enough chills do in this tale of demented professor von Stroheim, who has used artificial insemination to create alluringly beautiful Neff. A curio, mostly of interest to von Stroheim completists. Based on an oft-filmed novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers. Originally 92m. Full title is UNNATURAL . . . THE FRUIT OF EVIL.

Unseen, The (1945) 81m. D: Lewis Allen. Joel McCrea, Gail Russell, Herbert Marshall, Phyllis Brooks, Isobel Elsom, Norman Lloyd. Man who made THE UNINVITED with Gail Russell tries similar venture but doesn’t succeed. Governess Russell haunted again by strange mystery, but film haunted by very weak ending. Screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Hagar Wilde.

Unsinkable Molly Brown, The (1964) C-128m. D: Charles Walters. Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley, Jack Kruschen, Hermione Baddeley, Audrey Christie, Martita Hunt, Harvey Lembeck. Big, splashy, tuneful adaptation of Broadway musical. Debbie is energetically entertaining as backwoods girl who knows what she wants, eventually gets to be wealthiest woman in Denver in the late 1800s. Based on a true story! Meredith Willson score includes “I Ain’t Down Yet,” “Belly Up to the Bar, Boys.” Video version runs 135m. with overture and exit music. Panavision.

Unsuspected, The (1947) 103m. ½ D: Michael Curtiz. Claude Rains, Joan Caulfield, Audrey Totter, Constance Bennett, Hurd Hatfield. Predictable melodrama with good cast; superficially charming radio star Rains has murder on his mind, with niece Caulfield the victim.

Untamed (1929) 88m. D: Jack Conway. Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Ernest Torrence, Holmes Herbert, John Miljan, Gwen Lee. Cornball early talkie with Crawford as Bingo, an oil heiress reared in the tropical wilds, who falls in love with poor boy Montgomery.

Untamed (1940) C-83m. ½ D: George Archainbaud. Ray Milland, Patricia Morison, Akim Tamiroff, William Frawley, Jane Darwell, Esther Dale. Milland is a brave doctor trying to get serum through a blizzard in this hokey remake of Clara Bow’s MANTRAP.

Untamed (1955) C-111m. D: Henry King. Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Egan, Rita Moreno, John Justin. Quite vivid account of Boer trek through hostile South African country, with Power romancing Hayward. CinemaScope.

Untamed Breed, The (1948) C-79m. D: Charles Lamont. Sonny Tufts, Barbara Britton, William Bishop, Edgar Buchanan. Routine trials and tribulations of breeding cattle in old Texas, amid romance and gunplay.

Untamed Frontier (1952) C-75m. ½ D: Hugo Fregonese. Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters, Scott Brady, Suzan Ball. Range war between Texan cattle owners is basis for this Western improved by good cast.

Untamed Heiress (1954) 70m. ½ D: Charles Lamont. Judy Canova, Donald Barry, Taylor Holmes, George Cleveland, Chick Chandler, Jack Kruschen, Ellen Corby. Slight Canova vehicle involving an aged prospector who once loved Judy’s late mother and a villain intent on pilfering the prospector’s fortune.

Untamed Women (1952) 70m. ½ D: W. Merle Connell. Mikel Conrad, Doris Merrick, Richard Monahan, Mark Lowell, Midge Ware, Carol Brewster. Campy nonsense about Air Force flyers stranded on Pacific island ruled by strange women, last descendants of the Druids. Caveat emptor!

Untamed Youth (1957) 80m. BOMB D: Howard W. Koch. Mamie Van Doren, Lori Nelson, John Russell, Don Burnett, Eddie Cochran, Lurene Tuttle, Robert Foulk, Yvonne Lime, Jeanne Carmen, The Hollywood Rock and Rollers. Side-splitting camp masterpiece has sisters Mamie and Lori railroaded onto yucky prison work farm owned by hissably slimy Russell. You know something’s wrong when Mamie sings four songs and Cochran only one. Best line: “Don’t hit me in the mouth again! You’ll break my dental plate!”

Until They Sail (1957) 95m. ½ D: Robert Wise. Paul Newman, Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons, Sandra Dee, Piper Laurie, Charles Drake, Patrick Macnee, Dean Jones. Soaper courtroom story set in WW2 New Zealand, with sisters (Fontaine, Simmons, Laurie, and Dee) involved in love, misery, and murder. From James Michener story. Dee’s film debut. Eydie Gorme sings title song. CinemaScope.

Unvanquished, The SEE: Aparajito

Unwed Mother (1958) 74m. ½ D: Walter Doniger. Norma Moore, Robert Vaughn, Diana Darrin, Billie Bird, Jeanne Cooper. Country girl Moore arrives in L.A. and is promptly seduced and impregnated by smarmy Vaughn. Unexciting programmer.

Up From the Beach (1965) 99m. ½ D: Robert Parrish. Cliff Robertson, Red Buttons, Francoise Rosay, Irina Demick, Marius Goring, Slim Pickens, James Robertson Justice, Broderick Crawford. Static film of American sergeant Robertson involved with French civilians in love and war during Normandy invasion. CinemaScope.

Up Front (1951) 92m. ½ D: Alexander Hall. David Wayne, Tom Ewell, Marina Berti, Jeffrey Lynn, Richard Egan. Sometimes amusing WW2 comedy based on Bill Mauldin’s cartoon characters Willie and Joe, and their military shenanigans. Sequel: BACK AT THE FRONT.

Up Goes Maisie (1946) 89m. D: Harry Beaumont. Ann Sothern, George Murphy, Hillary Brooke, Stephen McNally, Ray Collins, Jeff York, Paul Harvey. Maisie gets a job as secretary to a helicopter inventor and battles crooks who are trying to pilfer the patent. Stock series entry.

Up in Arms (1944) C-106m. ½ D: Elliott Nugent. Danny Kaye, Dana Andrews, Constance Dowling, Dinah Shore, Louis Calhern, Lyle Talbot, Margaret Dumont, Elisha Cook, Jr. Danny’s first feature film (about a hypochondriac in the Army) doesn’t wear well, biggest asset being vivacious Dinah Shore; Virginia Mayo is one of the chorus girls. Only those great patter songs—including “The Lobby Number” and “Melody in 4F”—hold up. Based on The Nervous Wreck, filmed before in 1926 and later with Eddie Cantor as WHOOPEE!

Up in Central Park (1948) 88m. D: William A. Seiter. Deanna Durbin, Dick Haymes, Vincent Price, Albert Sharpe, Tom Powers. Disappointing screen version of Broadway musical hit (minus many of its songs) about an Irish colleen in turn-of-the-20th-century N.Y.C. who helps expose the crooked Tammany Hall tactics of Boss Tweed (Price).

Up in Mabel’s Room (1944) 76m. D: Allan Dwan. Dennis O’Keefe, Marjorie Reynolds, Gail Patrick, Mischa Auer, Charlotte Greenwood, Lee Bowman. Engaging comedy of innocent O’Keefe embarrassed by presence of old flame (Patrick) in front of his wife (Reynolds). Based on a stage play filmed before in 1926; director and star reteamed in 1945 for GETTING GERTIE’S GARTER.

Up in Smoke (1957) 64m. ½ D: William Beaudine. Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Eddie LeRoy, David Gorcey, Judy Bamber, Benny Rubin, Jack Mulhall. The Bowery Boys trash Faust, as Sach makes a pact with Satan in exchange for some sure bets at the track.

Up in the World (1956-British) 91m. ½ D: John Paddy Carstairs. Norman Wisdom, Maureen Swanson, Jerry Desmonde, Colin Gordon, Lionel Jeffries. Typical Wisdom comedy, anticipating Jerry Lewis’ solo vehicles. He’s a bumbling window cleaner involved with aristocrats and kidnappers, and even gets to sing.

Up Periscope (1959) C-111m. ½ D: Gordon Douglas. James Garner, Edmond O’Brien, Andra Martin, Alan Hale, Carleton Carpenter, Frank Gifford. Garner is Navy lieutenant transferred to submarine during WW2, with usual interaction among crew as they reconnoiter Japanese-held island. WarnerScope.

Upperworld (1934) 72m. D: Roy Del Ruth. Warren William, Mary Astor, Ginger Rogers, Dickie Moore, Andy Devine, J. Carrol Naish, Mickey Rooney, Sidney Toler. Rich businessman William, wed to Astor, becomes involved with burlesque performer Rogers—much to his regret. Entertaining Ben Hecht drama, uplifted by William’s charm, Rogers’ presence, marred only by an unsatisfying conclusion.

Upstairs and Downstairs (1959-British) C-100m. D: Ralph Thomas. Mylene Demongeot, Michael Craig, Anne Heywood, James Robertson Justice, Daniel Massey, Claudia Cardinale. Witty study of human nature: Craig marries boss’ daughter (Heywood) and they must entertain firm’s clients. Traces chaos of party-giving, and odd assortment of servants who come and go.

Upstream (1927) 60m. D: John Ford. Nancy Nash, Earle Foxe, Grant Withers, Lydia Yeamans Titus, Emile Chautard, Raymond Hitchcock, Ted McNamara, Sammy Cohen, Jane Winton, Francis Ford. Amusing comedy about the colorful tenants of a show-business boardinghouse and what happens when a hammy vaudevillian (Foxe) gets his big break: playing Hamlet in London. Breezy film may not have familiar Ford touches but it’s still fun to watch. This long-lost silent was discovered in New Zealand and restored in 2010.

Up the Creek (1958-British) 83m. ½ D: Val Guest. David Tomlinson, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Peter Sellers, Vera Day, Michael Goodliffe. Broad naval spoof à la MISTER ROBERTS, which leans too much on slapstick rather than barbs; Hyde-White is best as nonplussed admiral. Previously filmed as OH, MR. PORTER! Hammerscope.

Up the River (1930) 92m. ½ D: John Ford. Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer, Humphrey Bogart, William Collier, Sr. Silly but disarmingly funny comedy about a pair of habitual convicts, played by Tracy (dynamic in his feature-film debut) and Hymer, and their efforts to help fellow inmate Bogart (in his second feature), who’s fallen in love with female prisoner Luce. Notable for its confluence of great talents at the beginnings of their careers—but it’s also fun to watch.

Up to His Ears (1965-French-Italian) C-108m. D: Philippe De Broca. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Ursula Andress, Maria Pacome, Valerie Lagrange, Jess Hahn. Wealthy young man decides to end his troubles by hiring a killer to do him in, then changes his mind. Energetic comedy runs hot and cold, but has many delicious moments. Beware of 94m. version.

Uptown New York (1932) 80m. ½ D: Victor Schertzinger. Jack Oakie, Shirley Grey, Leon Waycoff (Ames), George Cooper, Raymond Hatton. Modest, occasionally entertaining soaper about young Grey, who’s loved by successful but slimy surgeon Waycoff and decent, enterprising bubble-gum salesman Oakie.

Upturned Glass, The (1947-British) 89m. D: Lawrence Huntington. James Mason, Pamela Kellino (Mason), Rosamund John, Ann Stephens, Henry Oscar, Morland Graham. Mason stars as a doctor who is driven to murder to avenge the death of his lover (John). Somber psychological thriller that starts slowly but builds suspensefully to a powerful conclusion. Mason coproduced; Kellino coscripted.

Uranium Boom (1956) 67m. ½ D: William Castle. Dennis Morgan, Patricia Medina, William Talman, Tina Carver. Dull account of two ore prospectors striking it rich, but more concerned with who will win Medina’s love.

Utah (1945) 78m. ½ D: John English. Roy Rogers, George “Gabby” Hayes, Dale Evans, Peggy Stewart, Beverly Lloyd, Grant Withers, Hal Taliaferro, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. Musical star Evans is willing to sell the ranch she’s just inherited in Utah, since she needs an infusion of cash to keep her show going. Ranch foreman Rogers tries to make her see that Withers is going to cheat her on the deal. Would have been better without the intrusion of an Oklahoma-style finale.

Utah Blaine (1957) 75m. ½ D: Fred F. Sears. Rory Calhoun, Angela Stevens, Max Baer, Paul Langton. Undistinguished Western about Calhoun helping to overcome land-grabbing outlaws.

Utamaro and His Five Women (1946-Japanese) 95m. D: Kenji Mizoguchi. Minosuke Bando, Kinuyo Tanaka, Kotaro Bando, Hiroko Kawasaki, Toshiko Iizuka. Stylized, beautifully made period piece about the life of 18th-century Japanese printmaker Utamaro Kitagawa and his intense relationships with the coterie of models that inspired him. Much more than a biography, this highly stylized film is one of the best ever made about artists and the creative process, as well as an evocative portrait of Japan’s demimonde of the late 1700s.

Utopia (1950-French) 80m. ½ D: Leo Joannon. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Suzy Delair, Max Elloy. L&H’s final film saddles the great comics with poor script and production, despite decent premise of the duo inheriting a uranium-rich island. Aka ATOLL K and ROBINSON CRUSOELAND.