IN OLD OKLAHOMA was set in 1906, on Oklahoma's Indian lands, where a cowboy (John Wayne) fights for oil lease rights against a greedy oilman (Albert Dekker) while a pretty schoolteacher (Martha Scott) steals both men's hearts. Rhonda Fleming made her film debut in the picture, in a bit part as a dance hall girl.
Albert S. Rogell directed the 1943 film. Walter Scharf received an Academy Award nomination for Best Score, losing to Alfred Newman for THE SONG OF BERNADETTE.
The New York Theatre Guild sued Republic Pictures over the use of the title IN OLD OKLAHOMA, arguing that it was "unfair competition" for their musical “Oklahoma!”. The case was settled when Republic agreed to withdraw the film from distribution in the United States by 1 January 1945, and not re-release it under the same title. The film was re-released in both 1950 and 1959 under the title WAR OF THE WILDCATS.
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, David O. Selznick's film about the home front during World War II, was released less than two months after D-Day, on July 20, 1944. Shirley Temple played “‘Brig’ Hilton” in the film, one of the daughters (along with Jennifer Jones) of Claudette Colbert's “Anne Hilton,” whose husband has gone off to war. Stage actress Katharine Cornell wanted to play the role of "Anne," but Selznick desired a bigger star. Colbert, when approached about playing the part of "Anne," was at first reluctant because she didn't want to play the mother of two adolescent daughters. Colbert was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the film. Rhonda Fleming had a bit part as a girl at a dance.
John Cromwell directed the film. Max Steiner’s Oscar-winning score was released by Brigham Young University in 2012.
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, David O. Selznick's film about the home front during World War II, was released less than two months after D-Day, on July 20, 1944. Shirley Temple played “‘Brig’ Hilton” in the film, one of the daughters (along with Jennifer Jones) of Claudette Colbert's “Anne Hilton,” whose husband has gone off to war. Stage actress Katharine Cornell wanted to play the role of "Anne," but Selznick desired a bigger star. Colbert, when approached about playing the part of "Anne," was at first reluctant because she didn't want to play the mother of two adolescent daughters. Colbert was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the film. Rhonda Fleming had a bit part as a girl at a dance.
John Cromwell directed the film. Max Steiner’s Oscar-winning score was released by Brigham Young University in 2012.
Since You Went Away seems to be left in the background of the fine The Best Years of Our LIves. It actually is a fine companion piece to Best. Both are beautifully produced examples of families and the effects on them by WWII. Both have classic scores (Steiner, Friedhofer) which add immeasurably to the whole. Performances are stellar all around. Both are long films at about 3 hours each, but they’re so good you enjoy every minute.
In the Alfred Hitchcock thriller SPELLBOUND, a psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) protects the identity of an amnesia patient (Gregory Peck) accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory. Rhonda Fleming had her first named part in a film, playing “Mary Carmichael,” a violent nymphomaniac. Producer David O. Selznick borrowed Rhonda Fleming from Fox for the production.
Between mid-May and mid-July 1944, Selznick submitted various drafts of Ben Hecht’s screenplay for censorship approval. Production Code Authority director Joseph I. Breen strongly objected to words and phrases in the script such as "sex menace," "frustrations," "libido" and "tomcat," which he pointed out was an expression "on the Association's list of forbidden words." Some of these words appeared in early scenes involving the character of "Mary Carmichael.” The words were removed from the screenplay.
Miklos Rozsa’s Oscar-winning score was re-recorded by Ray Heindorf and the Warner Bros. Orchestra in 1958 (Warner Bros. LP, Stanyan CD) and by Allan Wilson and the Slovak Radio Symphony in 2007 (Intrada CD). Rozsa’s “Spellbound Concerto,” derived from the score, has seen numerous recordings.
In the 1946 western ABILENE TOWN, marshal “Dan Mitchell” (Randolph Scott) tries to stop homesteader conflicts in the West after the Civil War. Rhonda Fleming played “Sherry Balder,” the daughter of Abilene’s foremost merchant. She received her first poster credit on this film.
Ann Dvorak, Randolph Scott, Rhonda Fleming, and Lloyd Bridges in ABILENE TOWN
Edwin L. Marin directed the film. Five composers contributed to the film’s score, including Albert Glasser.
THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE is set at the “Warren” family mansion, where “Helen” (Dorothy McGuire) works as a companion to the bedridden “Mrs. Warren” (Ethel Barrymore), the matriarch of the family who has moments of lucidity but others of apparent confusion. Others in the household include Elsa Lanchester as “Emma Oates,” Mrs. Warren’s housekeeper, who’s too fond of the brandy; Sara Allgood as “Nurse Barker,” whom Mrs. Warren loathes; and Rhonda Fleming as “Blanche,” her stepson’s secretary.
Rhonda Fleming in THE SPIRAL STAICASE
Robert Siodmak directed the 1946 suspense thriller. Roy Webb’s score has not had a release.
In the late 1800's, among the crew of a stranded sailing ship are “Capt. Donald Lochlin” (Paul Kelly), first mate “Mr. Herrick” (Rory Calhoun), and “Faith Wishart” (Rhonda Fleming), the daughter of the ship’s former captain. They are marooned on ADVENTURE ISLAND, where they are the “guests” of a maniacal self-made ruler (Alan Napier).
During filming on the ship, Rory Calhoun lay down beneath a hatch to take a nap in its shade. Rhonda Fleming sat on the hatch and it collapsed, breaking Calhoun's nose. Being far from medical facilities and on a tight shooting schedule, leeches were placed under Calhoun's eyes to drain the blood and bring down the swelling.
This was Rhonda Fleming’s first co-starring role, and her first film in color. Subsequently, the film fell into the public domain, and it’s not clear whether any color prints survive. Sam Newfield directed this 1947 film. Darrell Calker provided the unreleased score.
In the classic film noir OUT OF THE PAST, Kirk Douglas played “Whit Sterling” a gambler who hires private detective “Jeff Bailey” (Robert Mitchum) to track down his girlfriend (Jane Greer), who had shot him and then disappeared with $40,000 of his money. Later, Jeff feels pressured to accept a job retrieving some tax documents that Whit claims are being used by “Leonard Eels” (Ken Niles), a San Francisco lawyer, to blackmail him. As prearranged by Whit, Jeff accompanies Eels's secretary, “Meta Carson” (Rhonda Fleming), to Eels's apartment, where Meta is to steal the lawyer's briefcase and then pass the damning tax papers on to Jeff.
Rhonda Fleming and Robert Mitchum in OUT OF THE PAST
Jacques Tourneur directed, and RKO stalwart Roy Webb scored the 1947 film.
Rhonda Fleming co-starred with Bing Crosby in the 1949 adaptation of Mark Twain’s 1889 satire A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT. In the story, a singing mechanic from 1912 finds himself in Arthurian Britain, where he falls in love with “Alisande La Carteloise” (Rhonda Fleming), the King’s beautiful niece.
Rhonda Fleming and Bing Crosby in A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT
Tay Garnett directed the film, which was scored by Victor Young. Mark Twain’s novel had been turned into a Broadway musical, A Connecticut Yankee, back in 1927, with songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The producers of this film, however, were unable to use the musical’s songs because they had already been purchased by MGM for use in their 1948 film WORDS AND MUSIC, their biopic of Lorenz Hart. So, James Van Heusen and Johnny Burke wrote six new songs for the film. Rhonda Fleming’s big solo number was “When is Sometime?”
Fleming also sang with Crosby on “Once and for Always.” All of the film’s songs were re-recorded for an album of 10” shellac singles, but as a set, these have never been released on LP or CD. The songs on which Crosby sang were released on his 1962 Decca LP “Sunshine Cake.” Fleming’s solo number also appeared on a Brunswick 78 in the UK, and is ironically the only one of the film’s numbers to appear on CD—a gray market Fleming compilation from UK’s Sepia label.
Rhonda Fleming went directly from co-starring with Bing Crosby to co-starring with Bob Hope in 1949’s THE GREAT LOVER. The comedy found Hope on an ocean liner, as “Freddie Hunter”, an inept scoutmaster pursuing “Duchess Alexandria” (Fleming) while a killer (Roland Young) pursues him.
Bob Hope and Rhonda Fleming in THE GREAT LOVER
Alexander Hall directed the film, which had an unreleased score by Joseph J. Lilley. "Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 22, 1951 with Bob Hope and Rhonda Fleming reprising their film roles.
THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK is set in 1863, when Texas Ranger “Todd Croyden” (John Payne) and Union spy “Whitney Randolph” (Dennis O’Keefe) cross into Mexico to investigate a growing struggle for power between the French-supported Maximilian and the native-born Benito Juarez. In Mexico they meet “General Liguras” (Thomas Gomez), who is loyal to Juarez, and the beautiful “Madeline Danzeeger” (Rhonda Fleming)--related to the powerful and manipulative ex-German officer “Basil Danzeeger” (Fred Clark). But is she his daughter, or his wife?
Rhonda Fleming and John Payne in THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK
Lewis R. Foster directed the 1950 film, which had an unreleased score by Rudy Schrager.
Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming co-starred in the 1951 film noir CRY DANGER. Powell plays ex-convict "Rocky Mulloy," fresh from serving five years of a life sentence for robbery and murder. Richard Erdman is "Delong," the decorated, disabled Marine who provided Rocky with the alibi that finally freed him. Rhonda Fleming plays “Nancy Morgan,” the wife of Rocky’s best friend “Danny,” who was also found guilty of the holdup and is still in prison.
Rhonda Fleming and Dick Powell in CRY DANGER
CRY DANGER marked the first feature-film directing credit for Robert Parrish, a former editor and actor. In an interview with Tom Weaver, Jean Porter said the film was "directed by Dick Powell, and he wasn't given director credit. Dick gave Robert Parrish the director's credit, but Dick did all the directing." Emil Newman and Paul Dunlap collaborated on the score for the film. The film was a middling grosser, with a $2.4 million take.
Olympic Productions, which was owned by Sam Wiesenthal and W. R. Frank, borrowed Rhonda Fleming from David O. Selznick's company for the production. This was one of Rhonda Fleming's favorite films, despite it being associated with some bad memories for her. First, filming was delayed a week when she had to undergo an emergency appendectomy. Later, when the film opened in San Francisco, her father, who lived there, died suddenly. She skipped the screening and for a long time afterward couldn't bear to watch the film because of the bad memories it stirred up. When she finally did watch it, she loved it.
Fleming generously donated to the film’s restoration and preservation by the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA's Film and Television Archive. Restoration was complicated because by the early 2000's, Paramount Pictures owned the rights to the film but had no prints or negatives, and Warner Bros. had prints, but no rights. Fortunately, both companies co-operated. To accomplish the restoration, UCLA used two 35mm acetate composite master positives. A restored print was premiered in 2011.
In the seventeenth century on a Caribbean island, a group of pirates, headed by the infamous French sea captain “Christopher ‘Kit’ Gerardo” (Sterling Hyden), who is known as THE GOLDEN HAWK for his daring privateering exploits against England and Spain, learn of the approach of Kit's arch enemy, “Luis del Toro” (John Sutton) on the Garza. Without his own vessel, Kit commandeers the fastest pirate ship, the Sea Flower. In the midst of the battle between Kit and del Toro, several women prisoners, led by the renowned woman pirate, “Captain Rouge” (Rhonda Fleming), who is masquerading as Dutch maid “Jane Van Corte,” break out from below deck on the Garza.
Rhonda Fleming in THE GOLDEN HAWK
Rhonda Fleming had the lead role in this 1952 romantic swashbuckler, which was directed by Sidney Salkow. The stock music score was compiled by Columbia’s music director Mischa Bakaleinikoff. At the box office, the film was a poor performer, grossing just $1.6 million.
Rhonda Fleming played Cleopatra in SERPENT OF THE NILE, which picks up the story in 44 BC, after the assassination of the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. Queen Cleopatra begins a tragic love affair with one of the highest ranking Roman generals, and Caesar's possible successor, Mark Anthony (Raymond Burr).
Rhonda Fleming in SERPENT OF THE NILE
William Castle directed the 1953 production. Producer Sam Katzman promoted the film by saying that it took two years of preparation. But Castle said in his biography that it was instead two years of talking and twelve days of shooting. The film’s low budget was matched by its low box office receipts of $1 million. The stock music score was compiled by Columbia’s music director Mischa Bakaleinikoff.
In 1860, Buffalo Bill (Charlton Heston) and Wild Bill Hickock (Forrest Tucker) work to establish the PONY EXPRESS and fight Indians and California Separatists who seek to destroy it. Rhonda Fleming plays “Evelyn Hastings,” a wealthy Californian.
Charlton Heston, Rhonda Fleming, Jan Sterling, and Forrest Tucker in PONY EXPRESS
Jerry Hopper directed the 1953 film. Paul Sawtell provided the unreleased score. PONY EXPRESS was one of Fleming’s better-performing films at the box office, with a $4.2 million gross.
A tough, hard-driving business tycoon (Robert Ryan) suffers a broken leg and is left to die in a desert INFERNO by his scheming wife (Rhonda Fleming) and her greedy lover (William Lundigan).
Rhonda Fleming and William Lundigan in INFERNO
When the cast and crew arrived at the Mojave Desert location it was covered in snow, and Rhonda Fleming subsequently developed pneumonia. Roy Ward Baker directed this 1953 suspenser. Paul Sawtell’s score appeared as an isolated score track on the 2017 Twilight Time Blu-ray release of the film. The novelty of 3-D did not translate to big box office, and the film had just average grosses of $3 million.
