Louise Currie
Acting
Biography
a B movie and serial actress of the 1940s. Born Louise Gunter in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, she attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Moving to Hollywood, Currie enrolled in Max Reinhardt's drama school. “At the time, I was not necessarily a movie fan, but once I came to California, of course, that’s what California’s all about, the movie industry.” Attracting the interest of movie scouts while appearing in one of the school’s stage productions, Currie surprised them by expressing no desire at that point to enter movies. She wanted to wait until she graduated, and was better equipped as an actress, before she decided her next career move. When she was ready, she signed with agent Sue Carol. After she made a movie at Columbia, Harry Cohn wanted to put her under contract, but Currie would have none of it – she thought it “would maybe be more interesting to freelance.” She stated in 1999 that that was “more fun for me because I was able to pick and choose and do what I wanted, rather than all the little contract players who had to do exactly as they were told and go into films that they didn’t want or like. So, I had my independence, and I chose to do it that way.” The not-overly-ambitious Currie worked steadily during the next few years, with small, uncredited parts in As and leads in Poverty Row flicks. She found herself in a bunch of Westerns – her bullwhip-carrying role in GUN TOWN was her favorite – and also as the heroine in Bela Lugosi’s THE APE MAN. She was again menaced by Bela in VOODOO MAN. Her most enduring and fondly remembered credit is ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, considered by many the greatest cliffhanger of all time; two years later, she acted for 12 episodes opposite another serial marvel: THE MASKED MARVEL. Currie enjoyed the fast-paced shooting schedules of her B movies and serials: “Fortunately, I had enough training that I could do my scenes and not mess them up, not muff the lines. And I thought that was more stimulating and interesting than pictures like CITIZEN KANE [in which she played a reporter], where you just sat on a set for endless hours, doing nothing – which to me was just a trial and a bore. So I sort of enjoyed the activity, and the fact that you could do something quickly and do it well, and have it finished... But I’m sure that most of the people that started with big A productions would never have understood that, or been able to cope with it!”
Known For
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
Citizen Kane
An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.
Make Way for Tomorrow
Second serial featuring The Green Hornet and Kato.
A Volta do Besouro Verde
Soon after a Chinese princess comes to the US to buy planes for her people, she is murdered by a poison dart fired by an air rifle.
The Chinese Ring
A young femme fatale realizes that the man she married is an incorrigible wastrel.
Christmas Holiday
On a scientific expedition to Siam young Billy Batson is given the ability to change himself into the super-powered Captain Marvel by the wizard Shazam, who tells him his powers will last only as long as the Golden Scorpion idol is threatened. Finding the idol, the scientists realize it could be the most powerful weapon in the world and remove the lenses that energize it, distributing them among themselves so that no one would be able to use the idol by himself. Back in the US, Billy Batson, as Captain Marvel, wages a battle against an evil, hooded figure, the Scorpion, who hopes to accumulate all five lenses, thereby gaining control of the super-powerful weapon
Adventures of Captain Marvel
Harry Langdon and Charley Rogers star in this 1941 Monogram comedy, about two bumbling brothers who take jobs at a New York food cannery and accidentally lose a valuable diamond inside a can of pork-and-beans.
Double Trouble
After several female motorists begin disappearing en route to Twin Falls, a Hollywood screenwriter and the cousin of his bride-to-be discover that they've all been abducted by the mysterious Dr. Marlowe, who is attempting to resurrect his dead wife.
Voodoo Man
Escaping from the law once again, Billy, Fuzzy, and Jeff ride to the ranch of Jeff's uncle only to find another family living their. They soon learn of Cobb Allen's scheme where he sells a ranch, makes sure the rancher can't pay off his note, kicks him out, and resells the ranch. But Billy has a plan to recover the ranchers' money and he sends Fuzzy to town with a fake map to a gold treasure.
Billy the Kid's Gun Justice
The manager of Kay Kyser’s band books them for a birthday party bash for an heiress at a spooky mansion, where sinister forces try to kill her.
You'll Find Out
A recently divorced couple see things differently after learning they are going to be parents.
And Baby Makes Three
In a series of flashbacks, shows that attorney John Morland has given a lift to a hitchhiker who turns out to be a murderer. As a result, Morland himself is implicated in a killing. A pair of detectives discover that Morland has been having business problems and no end of difficulties with his wife Catherine. The trail of clues leads to a surprising revelation.
Backlash
A scientist is turned into an ape man.
The Ape Man
Larry Morgan, a private detective, is hired by a woman who wants Larry to trail her husband. The husband is murdered and, shortly afterwards, the wife is also killed. Larry shuffles through a long list of suspects before revealing the killer...
The Crimson Key
Fibber McGee enlists the help of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy in enticing an aircraft manufacturer to build a factory in the small town of Wistful Vista. Based on the "Fibber McGee and Molly" radio series
Look Who's Laughing
Lum Edwards is annoyed with his partner in Pine Ridge's Jot-'em-Down general store, Abner Peabody, because Abner has swapped their delivery car for a racehorse. Lum, meanwhile, is too timid to propose to Geraldine.
The Bashful Bachelor
Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula uncovers the life and career of legendary actor Bela Lugosi, examining his early life in Hungary and Germany through his Hollywood successes and eventual decline. The film features a vast array of never-before-seen footage of the actor, ranging from remains of his 1918 film Struggle for Life to behind-the-scenes home movies on the set of RKO Studios. Lugosi is peppered with dozens of rare films clips and photographs, with the story itself coming to life thanks to the vast array of on-camera interviewees.
Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula
Adapted from the TV and radio series of the same name, the producer of said show reads letters from three woman providing the framing story for this melodrama anthology film. The tales focus on parenting and family struggles.
Queen for a Day
Bandleader Kay Kyser takes his troupe of nutty musicians, goofball comics and pretty girl singers on a tour around the world to entertain the troops during World War II.
Around the World
When he runs for sheriff, Hoppy is beaten by Jerry Doyle, the gutless wonder voted for by every crook in town. When Hoppy moves to have the new sheriff impeached, outlaw leader Tad Hammond hires forty gunslingers to stop him. Stop Hoppy? Hah!