Eric Mayne Movies

There's That Woman Again was the second and last entry in Columbia's own spin on MGM's "Thin Man" series. Virginia Bruce and Melvyn Douglas star as Sally and Bill Reardon, husband-and-wife private eyes (Bruce took over from Joan Blondell, who costarred with Douglas in 1938's There's Always a Woman). This time around, the Reardons investigate a series of jewel robberies which lead to a brace of murders. At times the comedy threatens to overwhelm the mystery angle, but rest assured that Bill Reardon will have collared the guilty party (or, in this case, guilty parties) a few minutes before closing. In emulation of MGM's "Thin Man" art direction, the leading characters in There's That Woman Again live in a lavishly furnished apartment roughly the size of Rhode Island. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Eccentric professor Einfeld (Lee Kohlmar) is lecturing a select group of scientists at a darkened planetarium when one of the spectators is shot to death. Homicide detective Ted Mallory (Russell Hopton) can't get a straight story from the witnesses and refuses to allow reporter Kay Palmer (Lola Lane) to file her story until he can determine the direction from which the murderer fired the shots. Kay manages to phone in her story anyway, putting Mallory on the spot with the DA. Burying the hatchet, Mallory and Kay combine forces to nab the killer and expose his diabolically clever method of firing a gun without being present in the room! Though filmed on a tiny budget, Death from a Distance is an impressively spooky whodunit, benefitting immeasurably from the special-effects expertise of Jack Cosgrove. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"Every time Paul Muni parts his beard and looks through a microscope, we lose a million dollars." Producer Jack Warner's lament concerning Muni's historical dramas is cute enough, but hardly backed up by facts; the economically produced The Story of Louis Pasteur proved to be a surprise hit for the Brothers Warner. The Sheridan Gibney-Pierre Collings screenplay concentrates on Pasteur's tireless efforts to find a cure for anthrax and hydrophobia. The famed French scientist is continually challenged and thwarted by his principal rival, hidebound bacteriologist Dr. Charbonnet (Fritz Leiber). The film's climax, involving a desperate Pasteur, the immovable Charbonnet, Pasteur's ailing daughter (Anita Louise), and a hydrophobia-infected youngster (Dickie Moore), is straight out of the Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight school of melodrama. Within the film's context, however, this contrivance works magnificently. Virtually thrown away by Warners upon its first release, The Story of Louis Pasteur was finally awarded class-A treatment when the picture proved to be favorite with audiences and critics alike; Paul Muni's Academy Award win was the mere icing on the cake. The film's success led to Warners' decision to go ahead with 1937's The Life of Emile Zola, also starring Muni. This time, the studio copped its first Best Picture Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

College football is satirized in this comedy that begins as racketeer "Knucks" McGoin buys Canarsie College and fills it with hoods and professional wrestlers posing as students. When football season comes, these "students" beat the tar out of their rivals during the games. Naturally the stands are SRO during home games; naturally, the racketeer keeps all the money. Things are going well until his rival gang figures out his scam and does the same thing. In the end, the two teams meet during the championship and all heck breaks loose when the gridiron heros are found to be packing iron of their own. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Long believed lost, this fascinating John Ford-directed silent film was rediscovered and restored in the early 1970s. Based on the 1926 novel by Donn Byrne, the film stars Hobart Bosworth as Irish "hanging judge" James O'Brien. Even on his deathbed, O'Brien cannot stop meddling in the affairs of his daughter Connaught (June Collyer), insisting that the girl marry wealthy wastrel John Darcy (Earl Foxe). Alas, Connaught despises Darcy, preferring instead the poor-but-decent Donnaugh McDonnaugh (Larry Kent). Meanwhile, Irish expatriate Hogan (Victor McLaglen) returns to the Auld Sod to avenge his family's honor by killing the caddish Darcy. One of the highlights of Hangman's House is a steeplechase sequence, predating a similar sequence in Ford's The Quiet Man by 25 years. A young, unbilled John Wayne can clearly be spotted in this scene, enthusiastically urging on his favorite horse; reportedly, Wayne also appears as a condemned prisoner in a flashback sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This characteristically grim Lon Chaney/Tod Browning collaboration stars "The Man of a Thousand Faces" in two distinct characterizations. By day, the crippled Bishop of Limehouse (Chaney) is a kindly, beneficent figure, ministering to the needs of the poor and destitute. But by night, the Bishop sheds his clerical garb-and his physical handicap-to become the Black Bird, mastermind of a vast underworld organization. Completely undetectable and untouchable, the Black Bird can only be destroyed by himself-a fact that consumes the film's final reels. Renee Adoree and Owen Moore also star in this atmospheric melodrama, which was adapted by Waldemar Young from Tod Browning's story The Mockingbird. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This melodramatic quickie was adapted from a novel by Reginald W. Kaufmann. The scene is a mythical South American country, where beautiful heiress Dolores Valdez (Dorothy Devore) is being forced into a marriage of convenience by her sinister guardian Don Diego (Eric Mayne). Handsome American doctor Dan Stone (Malcolm McGregor) who previously rescued Dolores from a shipboard masher, is brought into the intrigue when he is hired to take care of a mysterious patient, who never emerges from his bedroom. Eventually, Dan discovers that his patient is an engraver of counterfeit plates, held prisoner by Don Diego and his partner, Dolores' oily fiancee Ortego (George Cheseboro). Rallying a company of American Marines, Dan rescues Dolores from the altar and routs the villains. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a Pushkin novel, The Eagle stars Rudolph Valentino as a Russian cossack who is the special favorite of the formidable Catherine the Great (Louise Dresser). He spurns her attentions, preferring not to be a kept consort. When his lands are stolen from him, Valentino transforms into a Robin-Hood-like masked avenger. Vilma Banky plays the daughter of the man who killed Valentino's own father. Despite his thirst for revenge, our hero falls in love with Vilma, who goes the "Lois Lane" route of adoring the masked-avenger Valentino but disdaining the unmasked Rudy, little guessing that the two are one in the same. Watch quickly for Gary Cooper as one of Valentino's masked minions. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Handsome action star Reed Howes, the former "Arrow Collar Man," starred in this low-budget silent melodrama as an adventuresome Yankee who saves the duly elected president of a South American republic from being overthrown by his unscrupulous secretary. Having fallen in love with Rosita Gonzales (Carmelita Geraghty), the daughter of the president of Costa Blanca, Ted Clayton accidentally overhears El Diablo (Jack Mower) discussing a scheme to illegally take control of the government. Braving a series of perils, Ted manages to get an audience with the president (Eric Mayne) and later helps defend the palace from El Diablo and his gang of cutthroats. Produced by Harry Joe Brown for small-scale Rayart Pictures, Cyclone Cavalier was a fast-paced yarn with more than a passing resemblance to the average low-budget B-Western. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Pert comedienne Constance Talmadge is virtually the whole show in Goldfish. A newly married husband (Jack Mulhall) and wife (Talmadge) make a curious agreement: should either party want to terminate the relationship, that party will present the other one with a bowl of goldfish (there has to be some justification for the film's title, hasn't there?) One bowl and two husbands later, the wife is at the pinnacle of social respectability, while her songwriter ex-husband is still struggling away in poverty. Eventually, her first husband achieves success, whereupon the woman presents her latest fiance with a bowl full of fish and returns to hubby number one. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Madge Bellamy and Warner Baxter (in that order -- Bellamy was the bigger star at the time) have the leads in this improbable but well-done melodrama. When David Allen (Baxter) is reported killed during World War I, his fiancée, Corinne McRea (Maude Wayne), is willed all his property. Though the report was wrong and Allen is really alive -- he is shell-shocked and has lost his memory. His nurse, Suzanne (Bellamy), doesn't know who he is, so she gives him the name of a dead man, John Rolfe. They get married and come to America, finding work as the butler and maid of a mansion that just happens to be Allen's old home. Although the servants and Corinne recognize him, he doesn't know them. Finally the estate's trustee, Judge Henry (Tom Guise), comes to the conclusion that Rolfe is Allen and makes attempts to recover the estate, though Corinne wants to keep it and attempts to do so by taking the securities from the bank. Suzanne chases after her and gets them back, and Allen has an operation that restores his memory prior to the War, but he doesn't remember Suzanne -- until Corinne tries to have her arrested. When he sees his forgotten wife in trouble, Allen's memory of her returns and the couple is reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Wealthy John Woodbury (Douglas MacLean) is mistaken for a patient by a trio of overeager doctors. After being put through a battery of tests (one of which involves blindfolding Woodbury, who promptly walks out on the ledge of the high rise building), he is told he only has three months left to live. Woodbury's pal, Hector Walters (Hallam Cooley), convinces him to marry his girl, Violet Stevenson (Lillian Rich), so she can clean up financially when he kicks the bucket. Unfortunately -- for Waters, at least -- Woodbury survives the three months and keeps on going. Subsequent attempts on his life don't have the desired effort, either. Eventually, Woodbury really falls in love with his wife and they head off on a belated honeymoon, with a gunman not far behind. This picture was adapted from the play by William H. Post. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi