Helen Jerome Eddy Movies

Frank Capra's classic comedy-drama established James Stewart as a lead actor in one of his finest (and most archetypal) roles. The film opens as a succession of reporters shout into telephones announcing the death of Senator Samuel Foley. Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), the state's senior senator, puts in a call to Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Guy Kibbee) reporting the news. Hopper then calls powerful media magnate Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), who controls the state -- along with the lawmakers. Taylor orders Hopper to appoint an interim senator to fill out Foley's term; Taylor has proposed a pork barrel bill to finance an unneeded dam at Willet Creek, so he warns Hopper he wants a senator who "can't ask any questions or talk out of turn." After having a number of his appointees rejected, at the suggestion of his children Hopper nominates local hero Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), leader of the state's Boy Rangers group. Smith is an innocent, wide-eyed idealist who quotes Jefferson and Lincoln and idolizes Paine, who had known his crusading editor father. In Washington, after a humiliating introduction to the press corps, Smith threatens to resign, but Paine encourages him to stay and work on a bill for a national boy's camp. With the help of his cynical secretary Clarissa Sanders (Jean Arthur), Smith prepares to introduce his boy's camp bill to the Senate. But when he proposes to build the camp on the Willets Creek site, Taylor and Paine force him to drop the measure. Smith discovers Taylor and Paine want the Willets Creek site for graft and he attempts to expose them, but Paine deflects Smith's charges by accusing Smith of stealing money from the boy rangers. Defeated, Smith is ready to depart Washington, but Saunders, whose patriotic zeal has been renewed by Smith, exhorts him to stay and fight. Smith returns to the Senate chamber and, while Taylor musters the media forces in his state to destroy him, Smith engages in a climactic filibuster to speak his piece: "I've got a few things I want to say to this body. I tried to say them once before and I got stopped colder than a mackerel. Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir. And as a matter of fact, I'm not gonna leave this body until I do get them said." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a New York physician takes a much-needed vacation down South. Unfortunately, he encounters a nurse working in the backwoods and ends up helping her to combat an epidemic that rages through the mountain communities. The doctor she works for prefers traditional herbs to modern medicine. At first the locals resent the big city doctor's intervention, but when he stops the scourge, they change their opinions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This tragedy has pathos to spare as it presents the story of a crippled orphan who finds support in a kindly storekeeper who loves her. To help her the older man must constantly deal with the well-intentioned welfare representative who constantly interfere. To pay for an operation for the stricken girl, the man sells his store. He loses everything when the state takes her back. The man successfully rallies to get her back only to die of a stress-related disease he caught while fighting for her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this detective story, a super sleuth is hired by an insurance company to find a stolen emerald belonging to a rich man's daughter. He soon discovers that the theft was a hoax precipitated by the girl's boyfriend, an aspiring novelist doing research for his forthcoming novel. Real trouble ensues when the gem really is taken. Again the detective begins investigating. He soon discovers that the crook is an official at the insurance company. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This second film version of the Edna Ferber/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat is considered by many film buffs to be the best of the three. Covering nearly four decades (was there ever an Edna Ferber novel that didn't?), the film stars Irene Dunne as Magnolia Hawks, a role she'd previously played on stage, though not in the Broadway version. The daughter of showboat impresario Captain Andy (Charles Winninger, who was in the Broadway original), Magnolia is swept off her feet by dashing gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Allan Jones). Yearning to appear on the showboat stage, Magnolia gets her chance when Captain Andy's leading lady, the tragic Julie (Helen Morgan, likewise a holdover from Broadway), is ordered not to perform by a small-town sheriff because she is Mulatto. Julie's husband Steve (Donald Cook) loyally walks out with his wife, thereby leaving the leading-man position open--but not for long, since Gaylord Ravenal agrees to take over for Steve, the better to stay close to Magnolia. Despite the disapproval of Magnolia's mother Parthy Hawks (Helen Westley), Magnolia and Ravenal are married. Later on, the couple has a baby girl named Kim. At first, the young family is blissfully happy, but as Ravenal's gambling debts begin to mount, things turn sour. Unable to support Magnolia and Kim, Ravenal walks out on them both. Desperately, Magnolia tries to get a job as a singer in Chicago. She auditions at a night spot where, fortuitously, Julie is the featured attraction. Hoping to give Magnolia a break, Julie gets drunk, forcing the manager to hire Magnolia as a replacement. During her New Years' Eve debut, Magnolia "chokes up" in front of the raucous audience--and then, who should emerge from the crowd but lovable Captain Andy, who gives Magnolia the encouragement she needs. Magnolia goes on to become a famous musical comedy star, as does her grown-up daughter Kim (played as an adult by Sunnie O'Dea). On the eve of Magnolia's retirement from the theater, she is reunited with her now-contrite husband Gaylord Ravenal. While the second half of Show Boat departs radically from both the novel (in which Ravenal never returns ) and the Broadway show, the film manages to capture the spirit of its literary and theatrical ancestors. Of the original score, "Cotton Blossom," "Ol' Man River," "Where's the Mate for Me?" "Make Believe," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," You are Love" and "Bill" are retained, while most of the other songs are heard as background accompaniment. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II penned three new tunes for the film version: "Ah Still Suits Me," "Gallavantin' Around" and "I Have the Room Above." As in all stage and screen versions of Show Boat, the Charles K. Harris standard "After the Ball" is heard in the New Year sequence. In addition to the aforementioned Dunne, Jones, Winninger, Westley, Morgan, and O'Dea, the Show Boat cast includes the magnificent Paul Robeson as Joe (his rendition of "Ol' Man River" can still induce goosebumps), Hattie McDaniel as Queenie and Sammy White and Queenie Smith as the engagingly second-rate vaudeville team of Frank and Ellie Schultz. Though James Whale of Frankenstein fame seems an odd choice for director, he brings a vibrant theatricality to the proceedings that is lacking in other versions. Show Boat literally saved the financially strapped Universal Pictures from receivership--but not soon enough to prevent the ousters of Carl Laemmle Sr. and Jr. in favor of a new administration. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mae West butts heads with Victor McLaglen in Raoul Walsh's Klondike Annie, but the real victor was the Legion of Decency, whose censorship strictures transformed a saucy and spicy gumbo into something closer to chicken noodle soup. West plays Rose Carlton, the kept woman of Chan Lo (Harold Huber), who takes her from walking the streets to pacing the floors of her high rent apartment. Rose ends up killing Chan and beats it from San Francisco to the frozen north. She boards a ship where burly sea captain Bull Brackett (McLaglen) takes a shine to her; when he finds out she killed Chan, he blackmails her into coming up and seeing him sometime. Boarding the ship in Seattle is missionary Annie Alden (Helen Jerome Eddy), who dies on the way to Alaska. Rose assumes Annie's identity and, upon arrival in Alaska proceeds to preach the Good Book, saving sinners by unorthodox methods. Mountie Jack Forrest (Philip Reed) arrives in town searching for Chan's murderer and he falls in love with Rose, unaware that the woman he loves is the killer he seeks. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The well-publicized (and overexploited) birth of Canada's Dionne Quintuplets in 1934 formed the basis of The Country Doctor. Jean Hersholt starred as Dr. Allan Dafoe, the real-life medico who delivered the famous quints (who appear in person towards the end of the film). The film recounts Dafoe's difficulties in ministering to the somewhat backward residents of his tiny Canadian community, and his battle with a local bigwig who wants to bring in a "modern" doctor. The Dionne births transform Dafoe into a local hero, leading to his winning of the Order of the British Empire. In real life, Dr. Dafoe effectively wrested custody of the Dionne quints away from the parents, then cashed in on the subsequent merchandising; later on, public opinion would turn against Dafoe, defiling him as an opportunistic cad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A popular title, a mystery death and college hi-jinks are the ingredients in this pleasant little whodunit from lower-rung company Chesterfield. Charles Starrett stars as Ken Harris, a college football hero whose roommate, Byron Coates (James Bush), is found dead outside their dormitory, a murder camouflaged as a suicide. Suspicion briefly centers on Byron's look-alike half-brother (also Bush) but he, too, is found slain by the mystery killer. Assisted by Byron's sister Jean (Marian Shilling), an at times confounded Ken manages to get to the bottom of the alarming goings-on and unmask the murderer, whose identity will come as little surprise to fans of low-budget 1930s crime thrillers. A Shot in the Dark was filmed on rental stages at the former Pathé studios. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In early 1930s, Monogram pictures held a virtual monopoly on the bucolic novels of Gene Stratton Porter. When Monogram absorbed by the new Republic Pictures in 1935, several Porter properties were included in the merger, among them the 1875 best-seller Keeper of the Bees. In one of her largest screen roles, Emma Dunn plays backwoods faith-healer Aunt Margot. In addition to her duties as county bookkeeper, the old woman is in charge of her daughter Molly (Betty Furness) and niece Scout (Edith Fellows), who loyally protect one another when trouble arises. The story proper gets under way when disillusioned artist Jamie (Neil Hamilton) has his will to live restored by the lovely Molly and her colorful family. Keeper of the Bees was remade virtually intact in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This well-mounted Majestic Pictures effort was inspired by Collusion, a novel by Theodore D. Irwin. Edward Arnold is in his element as Frank Rodie, an honest lawyer who turns dishonest to pay off his wife's stock-market losses. Still desperate for money, Rodie offers to serve as a co-respondent in a divorce case. His far-from-grateful wife (Helen Jerome Eddy) uses this as an excuse to divorce him and desert him for her paramour. Rodie spends the rest of the picture proving that his wife was a fool for deceiving and underestimating him. The "blonde" of the title is played by Dorothy Revier, actually one of the more sympathetic characters in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of three Kay Francis films in which the star was cast as a dedicated lady physician, Doctor Monica was adapted from a Polish play by Marja Morozowicz Szezepkowska. Francis plays obstetrician Dr. Monica, whose husband John (Warren William) cheats on her with young Mary (Jean Muir). When Mary becomes pregnant, the selfless Monica befriends her, provides her with advice, and delivers the baby. The good doctor even offers to give up John so that the child will have a father. But after giving birth, Mary calmly tells John to go back to Monica -- even though there's every indication that he'll never give up his philandering ways! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jenny (Ruth Chatterton) becomes pregnant by a young man who is killed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Bearing her child in secret, Jenny gives up custody to a wealthy couple. The years pass, and through the auspices of a crooked politician (Louis Calhern), Jenny becomes the number one "madame" of San Francisco, with interests in several other illicit activities. Crusading district attorney Dan Reynolds Donald Cook decides to rid the city of Jenny's operations -- little suspecting that the notorious woman is actually his own mother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide