Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: Newlyweds Horace and Millie Jason travel to New York City for a one-night honeymoon before the drafted Horace is forced to report for military service. Their romantic evening, however, is interrupted by a dead body and a group of gangsters who mistakenly believe Horace is a rival who has stolen $50,000. Who's in it? The movie stars John Beal , Wanda McKay , Warren Hymer, J. Farrell MacDonald , Tom Neal and Barbara Pepper . Review: I had One Thrilling Night in my library for some time but always found another movie to watch instead. I finally decided to pick it this morning, and it turned out to be a good choice. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like this film. There were a lot of jokes that were dated to the point they didn't hit as well as they probably did 80 years ago and the early scenes involving the "dead" body they discover in their room only to have it disappear were getting repetitive. Once the movie got going, however, it became a lot mo...

Synopsis: After his girlfriend, Sue, travels to Los Angeles to attempt to make it in Hollywood, New York pianist Al Roberts decides to follow her. Short on money, he hitchhikes across the country and thinks he finally caught a lucky break when Charles Haskell offers to drive him the rest of the way. When Haskell dies unexpectedly, Roberts becomes panicked and paranoid, believing he would be blamed. Desperate, he steals Haskell's wallet, clothes and car, intending to pretend to be the other man until he reached his destination. He seems to be in the clear but mistakenly picks up another hitchhiker, Vera, who knew the real Haskell, and uses that information to her advantage. Who's in it? The movie stars Tom Neal , Ann Savage , Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald and Tim Ryan. Review: I had another movie in mind this morning but couldn't find it right away in my library (wouldn't be the first time) so I wound up choosing Detour just because it was readily available. It end...

Synopsis: During the daytime, Professor Brenner is a noted expert teaching a college class in criminal psychology. At night, he runs a soup kitchen in the Bowery neighborhood of Manhattan, where he recruits men to help in his criminal endeavors, often killing them after the job is done (or as a distraction during a daytime robbery). What Brenner doesn't know is one of his accomplices, the drug-addicted Doc Brooks, has been conducting experiments on the bodies of the men he has killed. Who's in it? The movie stars Bela Lugosi , John Archer, Wanda McKay , Tom Neal and Lew Kelly . Review : I've had Bowery at Midnight in my movie library for several months and, while I did start watching it at one point, I just now finally got around to seeing the entire movie this morning. While I wouldn't describe this as one of Bela Lugosi's better movies, it still turned out to be a reasonable choice.  Professor Brenner (Lugosi) was an intriguing character, running a criminal en...