Dennis Morgan Movies

23 thoughts on “Dennis Morgan Movies”

1. Without the school I eventually got to see Cattle Town at a normal showing and that and two other movies were the only ones that I ever saw Dennis in. Those remaining two were an adventure yarn Pearl of the South Pacific with Virginia Mayo and The Gun that Won the West which were two humdrum affairs with Dennis overweight and past his heyday. Steve’s video covers all 3 of those movies.

   This video is therefore awarded 98.5% satisfaction rating for (1) its own considerable merits (2) providing me with a visual learning curve in relation to many of Dennis’ pre-1950s films. BEST STILLS/LOBBY CARDS

   1/Perfect Strangers
   2/two with iconic Joan –“Two of anything’s better than one!” – The Duke pointing to his guns.
   3/One Sunday Afternoon
   4/Flight Angels
   5/two for Affectionately Yours
   6/Desert Song
   7/two for Time/Place/Girl
   8/It’s a Great Feeling – my young pristine darling Doris!
   9/Cheyenne – great old western still
   10/Shine on Harvest Moon
   11/One More Tomorrow
   12/Two for Captains of the Clouds
   13/The Fighting 69th
   14/The Hard Way
   15/In This Our Lives
   16/My Wild Irish Rose

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2. Some time ago I mentioned on this site that in 1953 my school booked for my class a special morning showing of Brando’s Julius Caesar as part of our classical education. I didn’t know who Brando was at the time and had no interest in Shakespeare at the age of 12 of course; but the afternoon and evening performances had Dennis Morgan in Cattle Town as a supporting feature and I wouldn’t have minded seeing THAT. So I complained to the teacher in class so much about our being denied Cattle Town that his temper finally broke and he threw a piece of chalk and a duster at me!

   BEST POSTERS in STEVE’s VIDEO [FL= Foreign Language poster]

   1/Cattle Town – My old friend of long ago! Surprised Steve included it.
   2/1st two crackers for Pearl of the South Pacific – very raunchy!
   3/two for Paining the Clouds with Sunshine
   4/FL for This Woman is Dangerous
   5/Tear Gas Squad-very early John Payne [my 1950s cowboy hero] entry
   6/1st one for Dr X – Bogie does horror and then gets mega stardom!
   7/One Sunday Afternoon
   8/1st one for Bad Men of Burnley
   9/Wings for the Eagle
   10/Two for The Desert Song – especially FL one
   11/FL one for Cheyenne
   12/2nd one for Shine on Harvest Moon
   13/Joel is my Co-pilot
   14/1st one for Thank Your Lucky Stars
   15/first one for The Hard Way
   16/In This Our Life – vintage one from peak of Bette’s heyday
   17/2nd one for Kitty Foyle
   18/1st one for Christmas in Connecticut 1945

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing my Dennis Morgan video, the generous rating and anecdotes are appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the picture gallery.

      I wasn’t very familiar with Morgan until Bruce produced a page on him, seems he was a 2nd tier star and well known in Hollywood’s hey day. He toplined a bunch of films, unless of course there was a strong female lead and than he was bumped to 2nd place. [Bob grins]

      Three films with Ann Sheridan and 11 films with Jack Carson, an old friend.

      Jack Carson has appeared in nearly 100 films and might be worthy of a UMR page some day, if by a miracle Bruce is reading this.

      One film scored 9 out of 10 in Morgan’s filmography – Kitty Foyle. Five more scored 8 including – Christmas in Connecticut, The Hard Way and In This Our Life.

      “What has blown Hollywood apart is paying the superstars $2 million for a picture. There’s nothing left over for anyone else.”

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      1. HI STEVE: Valuable and enjoyable feedback as always: your consistency is impressive. You quote Dennis saying “What has blown Hollywood apart is paying the superstars $2 million for a picture. There’s nothing left over for anyone else.” However for better or worse we live in an openly-recognized and generally-accepted capitalist economic order and “the market” determines what is paid out.

         Anyway why pick on movie stars? Roger Federer for example has a reported fortune of $450 million. When the Great Mumbler was confronted by some Joel-type critic over the massive record salary Mr Mumbles was paid for 1978’s Superman he retorted “Who do YOU want to give it to: some rock star with bubbles coming out of his ears?”

         “Are you going to tell me that the difference between THIS man here and THAT man there is just luck?” – Gordon Gekko pointing to on the one hand a down-and-out looking road sweeper and on the other a confident-looking and smartly-dressed stock broker at traffic lights in Wall Street. Gord didn’t suffer “losers” gladly and would have had no time for “whiners” like Dennis Morgan!

         ENGLISH FILM CRITIC in the 1970s: “They have done Steptoe and Son for American television but they have made the father and son stock brokers because the British pair are rag and bone men and portrayed as a couple of “losers” and Americans don’t like “losers”.

         ADDITIONAL TRIVIA: Mike Douglas tells how he nearly got beaten up in a bar by some guy who didn’t like the things Gekko came out with in Wall Street [“Lunch is for wimps Sport!”] and Mike had to explain that a lot of Gord’s ideology wasn’t Mike’s own.

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         1. Dennis Morgan was born in Wisconsin USA but for a long time I thought he was actually Irish because: (1) both Dennis and Morgan are popular names here in Northern Ireland.

            (2) he made films with Cagney and Pat O’Brien who were part of Hollywood’s “Irish Mafia” buddy-buddy clique along with Spencer Tracy. However I later found that whereas all three of those actors were of Irish descent Dennis was from a Swedish family tree; though ironically both O’Brien and Tracy were like Dennis born in Wisconsin. Dan’s radar didn’t pick up all that linkage! The state has been in the political news a lot lately being one of the potential crucial “swing” states in the US elections.

            (3) Dennis appeared in It’s a Great Day for the Irish and My Wild Irish Rose-

            If you listen to me and I’ll sing you a sweet little song
            Of a flower that’s now drooped and dead;
            Yet dearer to me yes than all of its mates
            Though each holds aloft its proud head.

            It was given to me by a girl that I know
            Since we met faith I’ve known no repose.
            For she’s dearer by far than the world’s brightest star
            And I call her my wild Irish rose.

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