Harriet Hilliard Movies

Amidst its usual yearly quota of adventure films, Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit turned out a handful of comedies and musicals. One of these was Take it Big, starring Jack Haley and Harriet Hilliard. Haley plays Jack North, the nether end of a vaudeville horse act who inherits a western ranch. When he heads to the Great Outdoors to take possession, Jack winds up at the wrong place: a swanky dude ranch. He immediately begins running things, at it's quite a while before his error is discovered. By the time he shows up at his own ranch, he's up to his ears in unpaid debts-which naturally requires a fund-raising musical show as a bail-out. Harriet Hilliard handles the romantic portion of the proceedings, occasionally dueting with her real-life husband, bandleader Ozzie Nelson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of opportunistic gold diggers con an aging millionaire playboy into investing in a night club in this musical comedy. The trouble begins when the millionaire's daughter shows up to stop them from stealing all his assets. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dick Foran and Harriet Hilliard (aka Harriet Nelson) top the cast of the Universal musical quickie Hi, Buddy. Foran plays GI Dave O'Connor, who comes to the rescue when a boy's club is threatened with foreclosure. Upon learning that the money targetted for the club has been appropriated by a crooked manager, O'Connor calls upon his army buddies to stage a big, fundraising show. Surprisingly, O'Connor doesn't get heroine Gloria Bradley at the end; instead, radio crooner Johnny Blake (Robert Paige) claims Gloria as his bride. But since O'Connor's gal is lissome Mary Parker (Marjorie Lord), who's complaining? 18 songs are squeezed into the 66-minute running time of Hi, Buddy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another timely entry from the Columbia assembly line, Canal Zone stars Chester Morris as flight instructor "Hardtack" Hamilton (his nickname sums up his personality with sublime perfection). Our hero's students will eventually help ferry bombing planes across the Atlantic-with the possible exception of stuck-up civilian pilot Harley Ames (John Hubbard), who shows no signs of acquiring discipline and responsibility. When the chips are down, however, Ames proves he's got the Right Stuff, rescuing Hardtack after a particularly nasty plane crash. The heroine is Harriet Hilliard, later beloved by millions as one-half of TV's "Ozzie and Harriet", while one of the pilots is portrayed by future Jolson Story star Larry Parks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Chester Morris makes his second screen appearance as crook-turned-detective Boston Blackie in this superior series entry. This time, Blackie gets into trouble when he attends an art auction with his millionaire pal Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan). It so happens that the auction gallery is run by thieves, which heroine Diane Parrish (Harriet Hilliard) has just discovered. To keep her quiet, head crook Joe Buchanan (Ralph Theodore) takes a shot at Diane, but though he only wounds her he kills sculptor Allison (Walter Soderling). Conclusion-jumping Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) assumes that Blackie fired the shot, forcing our hero to spend the rest of the film eluding both the police and the criminals. Highlights include a hilarious fit of rage perpetrated by secondary villainess Joan Woodbury, and an amusing if slightly sadistic running gag involving hapless ice-cream vendor Billy Benedict. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The legendary Cocoanut Grove nightclub is the setting for this all-star Paramount musical. Fred MacMurray heads the cast as Johnny Prentice, a small-time bandleader who heads to the Grove for an all-important audition. He is accompanied by his foster son Half-Pint (Billy Lee), a talented drummer in his own right. Joining the troupe is Linda Rodgers (Harriet Hilliard), ostensibly Half-Pint's tutor but actually an aspiring vocalist. The thinnish plot serves as an excuse for an unending stream of specialty numbers featuring Royal Hawaiian orchestra leader Harry Owens, comedian Ben Blue, the zany Yacht Club Boys (a WASP version of the Ritz Brothers), funny-noise specialist Rufe Davis and bandmaster Red Stanley. In the course of events, nine new original songs are performed, none of which graduated to hit-parade status. Curiously, the real Cocoanut Grove is never seen, though the Paramount mockup is reasonably convincing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

New Faces of 1937 was supposed to be the vanguard of a series of annual musical comedies -- RKO Radio's latest attempt to revive its long-dormant "Radio City Revels" concept. The plot is based on an old show-business legend, later immortalized in Mel Brooks' The Producers: Crooked Broadway producer Robert Hunt (Jerome Cowan) deliberately produces flops so that he can pocket the backers' money himself. His next sure-fire disaster is a show built around talented unknowns (there actually was such a "New Faces" series on Broadway, yielding such stars-to-be as Imogene Coca and Henry Fonda, but it was produced on the up-and-up). When the show threatens to become a hit, the producer desperately seeks a method to sabotage the production. The various subplots involve such vaudeville and radio comedians as Milton Berle (who performs a side-splitting "stockbroker" sketch with Richard Lane), Joe Penner, Bert "Mad Russian" Gordon and Parkyakarkus (aka Harry Einstein, the father of present-day comedians Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks). Among the New Faces displayed herein are 14-year-old dancer Ann Miller, The Brian Sisters, The Three Choclateers and the Four Playboys. Perhaps the fictional Robert Hunt would have been pleased to find out that New Faces of 1937 was a box-office bomb, precluding any follow-ups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide