Women from Headquarters ** (1950, Virginia Huston, Barbra Fuller, Robert Rockwell, Frances Charles) – Classic Movie Review 12,892

Virginia Huston, Barbra Fuller and Robert Rockwell star in the short and pacy 1950 crime film noir Women from Headquarters, in which a female ex-Army nurse re-trains as police officer with the LAPD.

Virginia Huston, Barbra Fuller, Robert Rockwell and Frances Charles star in director George Blair’s 1950 American crime film noir Women from Headquarters, in which a female ex-Army nurse re-trains as police officer with the LAPD. This female-focused thriller comes from humble studio Republic Pictures, and is humble, but it gains respect as a bit of a pioneer in its day.

Women from Headquarters is a short and humble programmer, but pacy, punchy, efficient and interesting, especially as an early movie take on a female cop, with a game B-movie cast, especially its two stars Virginia Huston and Barbra Fuller, both of whom deserved much better film careers.

Virginia Huston stars as ex-US Army nurse Joyce Harper who trains to become an LA policewoman. Barbra Fuller also stars as her friend Ruby, who gets involved with petty crook Max Taylor (Norman Budd) and marries him. Joyce and her new detective partner Harvey Gates (Robert Rockwell) are ordered to bust a narcotics gang run by Richard Cott (Grandon Rhodes).

The cast are Virginia Huston as Joyce, Barbra Fuller as Ruby, Frances Charles as Ann Rogers, Robert Rockwell as Harvey Gates, Norman Budd as Max Taylor, K Elmo Lowe as Police Captain Parr, Otto Waldis as Joe Calla, Grandon Rhodes as Richard Cott, Jack Kruschen as Sam, Bert Conway as Leo Pawley, Marlo Dwyer as Bessie Collier, Sidney Marion as Drunk Customer, John De Simone as 2nd Drunk, Gil Herman as Police Captain Brady Leonard Penn as Police Officer Allen, and Luther Crockett as Police Chief.

Women from Headquarters is directed by George Blair, runs 60 minutes, is made by Republic Pictures, is released by Republic Pictures, is written by Gene Lewis, is shot in black and white by John MacBurnie, is produced by Stephen Auer, and is scored by R Dale Butts and Stanley Wilson, with art direction by James W Sullivan.

Release date: May 1, 1950.

Barbra Fuller signed a contract with Republic Pictures in 1949. The Red Menace, made at the height of the HUAC and the McCarthy persecution, is her first screen credit. Republic sought to cast an unknown as Mollie O’Flaherty and her unaffected acting is ideal for their purposes. Unfortunately, the film was hardly a great start for her short-lived movie career. Nevertheless, Republic kept her busy and she starred in nine films in 1950 alone.

She followed it with Flame of Youth (1949), Alias the Champ (1949), Harbor of Missing Men (1950), Women from Headquarters (1950),  Trial without Jury (1950), Unmasked (1950), Crosswinds (1951) and City of Bad Men (1953). Her last movie parts came in How Sweet It Is! (1968) and The Roommates (1973).

Before her film career, she was featured in 25 radio serials by the age of 18. After her contract with Republic expired, she worked mainly in TV, and made many TV performances, beginning with a 1953 episode of The Adventures of Superman, and including two episodes of Perry Mason (1960, 1964), reuniting her with Raymond Burr.

Barbara Deane Fuller was born in Nahant, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1921. She married Western star Lash LaRue on February 23, 1951, in Yuma, Arizona, but divorced him on June 2, 1952, claiming he ‘treated her mean’. She did not remarry or have children.

Barbra Fuller died on May 15, 2024, aged 102.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,892

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