Frederick Burt Movies

Harold Lloyd plays Ezekial Cobb, a missionary's son who has spent his entire life in China. Cobb is sent to his father's home church in California, where it is hoped he will find a wife. A true babe in the woods, Cobb is befriended by politician Jake Mayo (George Barbier). Mayo is a cog in a crooked political machine whose bosses plan to set up a "reform" candidate for mayor, so that they can continue their underhanded activities unmolested. The candidate drops dead, so Mayo sets up the innocent Cobb as the mayor-to-be--a "cat's paw" to deflect attention from the system's corruption. But once elected, Cobb takes his duties quite seriously and begins to clean up the town. The machine frames Cobb with planted evidence of wrongdoing, destroying the lad's political career. Undaunted, Cobb remembers the story of an ancient Chinese leader, who, similarly disgraced, took the law in his own hands and executed all known criminals in his last days of power. Cobb orders that every crook in town be rounded up and brought to a dark cellar. He insists that they confess their crimes or face instant death--and backs up his words by "beheading" two of the crooks on the spot! Actually, these executions are cleverly designed magical illusions, and no one is really killed; but the terrified criminals are so hoodwinked by Cobb's apparent cold-bloodedness that they literally climb over one another to confess. Cobb is exonerated, and honesty is restored to his administration. While not Harold Lloyd's best feature film, The Cat's Paw is definitely his most unorthodox. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based upon a much-filmed play by Michael Morton (which may in turn have been based upon a story by Frank Harris, The Yellow Ticket is also an indirect descendant of the opera La Tosca. In pre-Revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant girl named Marya Kalish (played by Elissa Landi) has reason to believe that her poor father is dying in St. Petersburg. She wishes to visit him, but the only way she can obtain passage is through disguising herself and obtaining a yellow ticket -- a pass that will mark her as a woman of low repute. Once in St. Petersburg, she discovers that her father has died. She also encounters the sinister Baron Andrey (Lionel Barrymore), head of the Czar's secret police, who comes to have designs upon her. She, however, develops an interest in British journalist Julian Rolphe (Laurence Olivier). She tells Rolphe the truth about life for most people in Russia, and his stories begin to change in tone, becoming critical and unflattering. This does not escape the attention of the secret police, who attempt to imprison the journalist. Meanwhile, Baron Andrey tells Marya that he will give her his own card with which she may travel, thereby eliminating the stigma and the difficulties that the yellow ticket presents. This is actually just a ploy to lure her into his clutches, and when he makes a move on her, she shoots him. Rescuing Rolphe, the two lovers flee via an airplane as Austria invades the country. Yellow Ticket features Olivier's second U.S. appearance, as well as Boris Karloff in a small role as a drunken orderly. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

In this melodrama, a cub reporter falls for the society editor who is already the mistress of the publisher. The two men begin a rivalry that culminates with the publisher's death. Of course, the reporter stands trial. He is sentenced to hang. Fortunately, he is proven innocent before the floor drops and the noose tightens. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A remake of his 1921 film of the same name, Tod Browning's Outside the Law offers Edward G. Robinson in an incisive, pre-Little Caesar gangster portrayal. Robinson, however, is not the star of the picture: that honor goes to Owen Moore, cast as enterprising bank robber Fingers O'Dell. As part of his plan to knock over the City National Bank, Fingers poses as an advertising mannequin in the bank's window, allowing himself to case the joint while in full view of the police and public. Gangster boss Cobra Collins (Robinson) gets wind of Fingers' scheme and demands a 50-percent piece of the action. Fingers' girlfriend Connie (Mary Nolan) tries to throw Collins off the track by giving him the wrong date of the scheduled heist, but this plan falls through at the last minute. After blowing the bank's safe, Fingers hides out in an apartment which happens to be next door to a flat owned by a policeman. Thus it is that when Collins shows up, demanding his share of the dough, the cops are ready for him. Browning's directorial technique and Robinson's energetic performance help to obscure the plot idiocies in this outlandish cops-and-robbers yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this suspenseful crime drama a woman is threatened by an angry husband and a man comes to her aid. Unfortunately, after he accidentally kills the husband, the woman flees the crime scene and he ends up imprisoned. While doing his time, he and his cell mate, a con artist, become friends. The con man helps the fellow escape. He then goes to a small town, changes his identity and gets a job as a mill worker. To make himself more anonymous, the fellow sticks his fingers in a milling machine to scrape off his fingerprints. Later, his cell-mate breaks out and the fellow sends him to New York to find the woman so she can help clear his name. Unfortunately, the woman has become a famous extortionist and immediately turns the con artist in to the cops. She then makes a beeline to the hapless millworker to begin blackmailing him. Unfortunately for her, he refuses to let her intimidate him and in the end proves his innocence and gets her arrested instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi