Harry Todd Movies
- 1935
Anxious to graduate from 2-reel comedies to feature films, producer Hal Roach began phasing out his short-subject manifest in 1935. Up until that year, his only talkie features had starred Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, so Vagabond Lady can be seen as the vanguard in Roach's new policy of turning out "sophisticated" pictures a la Sam Goldwyn. Evelyn Venable delivers a remarkably good comic performance as Josephine Spriggins, daughter of "Spriggs" Spriggins (Frank Craven), faithful janitor for the department-store firm of R. D. Spear & Company. Prodigal son Tony Spear (Robert Young) falls in love with Josephine and proposes marriage, but his stuffy older brother John (Reginald Denny) vows to save Tony from making so disastrous a social gaffe by marrying the girl himself. The disgruntled Tony retreats to his yacht, where he finds himself saddled with a reluctant passenger -- Josephine. The two spend the rest of the picture getting on each other's nerves, until at the very last moment they realize they're still madly in love after all. Clearly inspired by It Happened One Night (the twist being that the girl is poor and the boy is rich), Vagabond Lady is a minor but agreeable entry in the screwball-comedy genre. The only clue as to the identity of its producer is the film's utilization of stock Hal Roach background-music themes during a nightclub sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Evelyn Venable, (more)
- 1935
Directed by former screenwriter Ford I. Beebe, this Tim McCoy Western from Columbia co-starred Robert Allen, a handsome studio contractee groomed for Western stardom. Allen played Johnny Kane, an escaped prisoner wrongly convicted of murder. McCoy, as Texas Ranger Tim McDonald, believes in Johnny's innocence and prevents a fellow lawman (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) from killing him. Kicked out of the corps for helping Johnny escape, Tim goes to Mill Valley where he takes over the local newspaper, bequeathed to him by Alexander (Samuel S. Hinds), the slain publisher of "the Ledger." He lands in the middle of a political struggle between two factions, one of whom is headed by Daniel Heston (Guy Usher), a corrupt politician, and the man who killed the publisher. Tim takes up the fight against Heston, who hires gunslinger Garvey (Jack Rockwell) to assassinate him. The former ranger is saved by Johnny, who arrives at the last moment to rope the gun from Garvey's hand. Heston retaliates by revealing Tim to have been dishonorably discharged from the rangers and "the Ledger" is mysteriously fire-bombed. Despite the odds, Tim and Gloria (Billie Seward), Alexander's daughter, manage to print an election day edition by using old wallpaper. A button found at the scene of a crime proves to belong to Heston and both Tim and Johnny are vindicated. Leading lady Billie Seward would appear in a total of five Tim McCoy Westerns, Robert Allen in three. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Just after completing It Happened One Night, director Frank Capra churned out a bread-and-butter picture titled Broadway Bill. Warner Baxter plays the carefree scion of a wealthy, highly-respected family. Baxter's cold but socially correct wife Helen Vinson forces her husband into the family business, but Baxter would rather spend his time at the racetrack. He buys a nag named Broadway Bill and tries to build the horse into a winner--if he doesn't bankrupt himself first. Only Baxter's sister-in-law Myrna Loy and black stable hand Clarence Muse have faith in Broadway Bill. The horse wins a crucial race, but dies suddenly at the finish line. Baxter is comforted and given encouragement by Loy, who is now his sweetheart, Vinson having long since washed her hands of her "irresponsible" husband. Broadway Bill was remade by Capra as Riding High (1950), utilizing generous portions of stock footage and even going so far as to rehire several of the original film's cast members (Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Charles Lane, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Frankie Darro) to recreate their roles and match up their scenes from the earlier production. Long withheld from distribution due to Riding High, Broadway Bill was made available for videocassette in the mid-1980s. Keep an eye out for Lucille Ball as a blonde telephone operator and Alan Hale Sr. as a racetrack announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1934
Filmed at the Columbia ranch in ten days in September of 1934, this Tim McCoy Western did not enjoy a wide release until October of 1936, at which time the star had left Columbia in favor of small-time Puritan Pictures. McCoy played cowboy Tim Hamlin who arrives in a town plagued by a gang of cattle rustlers. Obtaining a job at the Ortega Ranch, Tim comes to the aid of the owner, Don Rafael (Carlos De Valdez), who cannot meet his payments to villainous saloon keeper Bonner (Hooper Atchley) because his cattle are being stolen. When Don Rafael is wounded in yet another raid, Tim, whose horse is found sweaty from a hard ride, is suspected of the attack and forced to flee a group of vengeful vigilantes. Bonner's chief lieutenant, Ed Walton (Alden Chase), is willing to help the Ortegas if only Dolores Ortega (Sheila Manners) agrees to marry him. Arrested by Town Marshal Willoughby (Joe Sawyer), Tim manages to escape and force Bonner to confess. Willoughby arrives to arrest the villains and Tim is free to romance lovely Dolores. The Prescott Kid was one of nine McCoy Westerns directed by David Selman, a former assistant director. The film was in all likelihood kept out of wide release in 1934 because Columbia was busy promoting McCoy in a series of (unsuccessful) non-Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy
- 1934
A rather weak entry in Tim McCoy's Columbia oeuvre, this Western was released to smaller venues in December of 1934, but not widely shown until 1936. McCoy, a rather stolid type of cowboy hero, is rather miscast as a rodeo performer competing for the affection of Juanita Barnes (Marion Shilling) with Bob Lockhart (Joe Sawyer). Juanita chooses the latter, but comes to regret her decision when she discovers that she really loves Tim. Meanwhile, Tim's father, Zack (Edward J. LeSaint), is killed by the rodeo rider's horse, Midnight. With his inheritance, Tim buys the ranch next to Senator Lockhart (John H. Dilson), Bob's father, and has a run-in with Lockhart's crooked foreman, Wallace (Hooper Atchley). There is a fight during which Bob is badly injured. Tim is arrested but escapes with the assistance of Uncle Ben, an old family retainer (Harry Todd). Together, they learn that Zack's death was no accident, and that the sheriff (Albert J. Smith) may be implicated. After the climactic shootout, Bob's name is cleared, the villains apprehended, and Tim free to pursue a future with Juanita. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Marion Shilling, (more)
Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Claudette Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has married fortune-hunting aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas), despite her father (Walter Connolly)'s objections. To keep Ellie from marrying this lothario, her father has been holding her prisoner aboard his yacht. But Ellie bolts from the yacht, swims ashore in her clothes, and eventually slips onto a Greyhound bus bound for New York. Aboard the bus is newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who has recently been fired for drinking on the job. Peter gets the last seat on the bus -- but when he gets up to argue with the bus driver, Ellie takes his seat. Since it is the last seat on the bus, they have to share it. When Ellie has her purse stolen and she refuses to report it, Peter begins to suspect something. The next morning, they both miss the bus after a leisurely breakfast, and Peter reveals that he knows her identity. She makes a deal with him: if he helps her get to New York, he can write a scoop about her for his paper. Peter thinks she is a spoiled brat, however, and refuses a monetary bribe: "I'm not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father -- you're all a lot of hooey to me!" But as they travel northward and engage in a series of misadventures, the gruff newspaperman and the spoiled rich girl, thrown together by circumstances, fall in love with each other. This movie set the pace for the "screwball" comedy, the witty and romantic clash of temperaments between a man and a woman mismatched in both personality and social position, a type of movie often associated with Katherine Hepburn in such classics as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), and, with Spencer Tracy, Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957), among others. The only other movies to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay) were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, (more)
- 1933
A cowboy (Jack Hoxie) and his partners are known as "trouble busters," men who look for adventure and help out people in need. They discover that a ranch owned by a crotchety old man and his daughter has large oil deposits. They also discover that a local gang has found out about it and plans to take the land from the pair. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1933
This dark, brooding ancestor to Hang 'Em High features Buck Jones as a happy-go-lucky cowpoke who is duped by a gang of rustlers into "guarding" their camp. When the camp is raided, Jones is caught and savagely branded by a group of heavy-handed lawmen in spite of his protests of innocence. Jones survives the ordeal and seeks revenge. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Barbara Weeks, (more)
- 1933
In his penultimate Western, former silent screen cowboy Jack Hoxie plays The Sonora Kid, an outlaw who, to spare an old blind woman's feelings, pretends to be her long-lost son. The nasty Nevada Smith (J. Frank Glendon), a cattle rustler, confuses things considerably by pretending to be The Sonora Kid himself, with the real kid unable to defend himself because of his own deception. Nevada is killed in the ensuing fight and buried as The Kid. The U.S. marshal (Bob Burns) realizes the truth but leaves well enough alone. A free man at last, the former Sonora Kid can settle down with the old woman's pretty niece (Betty Boyd). Playing the blind victim of Hoxie's deception, white-haired Mary Carr was Hollywood's most motherly mother. Years younger than she appeared, Carr became a major star playing the prototype of suffering motherhood in the classic tearjerker, Over the Hill to the Poorhouse (1920). But as one noted film historian put it, "Mrs. Carr could arouse sympathy from an audience without evidencing that she could really act." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Columbia's The Thrill Hunter is more of straight action film than a western, though leading man Buck Jones still wears his traditional cowboy garb. Jones plays a small-town spinner of tall tales who claims to be a top-notch stuntman. He's forced to put up or shut up when a movie company, filming an adventure flick, shows up in town. Offering his services as a stunt double, Jones passes muster as a racecar driver, but he loses his job when he cracks up an airplane. Our hero redeems himself by catching a bunch of criminals who aren't play-acting. Dorothy Revier, allegedly the girlfriend of Columbia Pictures chieftain Harry Cohn, is the incongruously glamorous heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Dorothy Revier, (more)
- 1933
Her Splendid Folly is an old-fashioned comedy/drama from the misleadingly named firm of Progressive Pictures. Lillian Bond plays a dual role, a famous film star and her look-alike, a humble stenographer. The plot requires the stenog to pose as the movie queen, and in so doing she falls in love with Theodor von Eltz, the star's boyfriend. Her 15 minutes of fame brings Bond together with her long-lost mother Beryl Mercer, who has taken a job as a studio scrubwoman to be nearer to her daughter. Jewish-dialect comedian Alexander Carr is featured as the obligatory English-fracturing studio boss. Her Splendid Folly seems to have been filmed through the facilities of General Service Studios, then the home of Educational Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lillian Bond, Beryl Mercer, (more)
- 1932
Ostensibly based on a story by pulp writer William Colt McDonald, this minor Western, filmed at Lone Pine, CA, starred Lane Chandler, a former Paramount player. Chandler plays Keen Wallace, a wanted outlaw with a price on his head, who returns to the old homestead only to find his father murdered and the killer (Al Bridge), having forged his victim's last will and testament, residing in his place. Outfoxing the local sheriff (Harry Fox), Wallace (aka the Lone Wolf) not only wins the love of the lawman's pretty daughter (Adele Tracy) but also manages to bring the villain to justice and clear his own name. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lane Chandler, Adele Tracy, (more)
- 1932
In this western a falsely accused convict is paroled. He goes home and finds himself ostracized by his neighbors who believe he killed a detective. The detective had been looking for a rustler. Only two people, a little boy, and his ex-girlfriend, believe the parolee is telling the truth. The ex-con goes looking for and finds the real killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Loretta Sayers, (more)
- 1932
A Texas Ranger (Rex Lease) searches for the killer of his sister in this cheap and often incomprehensible Western produced by Harry S. Webb and Flora E. Douglas, the latter being one of Hollywood's few women executives at the time. In tracking down the mysterious killer -- a villain known only as The Tiger (Jack Mower) -- the ranger is ably assisted by his faithful dog, King (Muro, a low-budget Rin Tin Tin "wannabe"). The Lone Trail was a re-edited feature version of a 1931 serial, The Sign of the Wolf. Webb and Douglas, in an attempt to squeeze every dime possible of out the footage, recycled it once again for the 1936 serial, Crown and Skull. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rex Lease, Edmund Cobb, (more)
- 1932
Tim McCoy is falsely accused of killing his own father in this typical low-budget oater directed by the generally efficient but unexciting D. Ross Lederman. Framed in the killing of his own father, Tim Benton (McCoy) escapes from prison along with brutish Red Larkin (Matthew Betz). The fugitives head for the former Benton mine now operated by the villainous John Sebastian (Ethan Laidlaw), where Tim plans to rob the payroll. En route, they are discovered by Bob Dinsmore (William A. Howell), the new marshal of Silver City, who is killed by Red. Tim, who believes the marshal to be merely knocked unconscious, decides to impersonate him in order to get the goods of the two men, Stevens and Ainsley, who framed him on behalf of Sebastian. Accepted by the townspeople in general and the sheriff's daughter Alice (Gulliver) in particular, Tim's scheme is endangered by the arrival of both Stevens (Bob Perry) and Ainsley (Dick Dickinson). After quickly arresting the two henchmen, Tim tells Red that he no longer wishes to go through with the planned payroll robbery. Red, in anger, frames his former partner for Dinsmore's murder. In the ensuing shootout, Red is mortally wounded, but manages to clear Tim's name before he expires. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Dorothy Gulliver, (more)
- 1932
In this western, a Chicago slicker begins grabbing land and using it to scam city dwellers by selling it first to locals, and then, once it is developed by selling it again to city folk desiring to come West. Naturally there are conflicts when the owners meet up. Fortunately, the town sheriff gets wise to the scam, settles it all, and stops the slicker. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Robert Ellis, (more)
- 1932
The second of six sound Westerns starring Jack Hoxie and produced by poverty row company Majestic, this film, like most B-Westerns at the time, features long stretches of what for all intents and purposes is silent action briefly interrupted by somewhat awkward dialogue sequences. Jack (Hoxie) and Jeff Sellers (Lafe Mckee) are partners in search of gold who are joined by the latter's lovely daughter, Marion (Alice Day). Jeff sells his part of the claim to Boss Kramer (Hooper Atchley) and is soon after found murdered. Marion accuses Jack of killing her father and he is arrested by the sheriff (Tom London). Together with sidekick Elmer (Matthew Betz), Jack devises a plan in which Kramer, riding Elmer's wagon, is mistakenly shot by his own henchman (Robert Kortman). With their leader dead, the gang members give themselves up to the authorities, and Jack is cleared of any wrongdoing. This Western marked the last screen appearance for silent screen ingenue Alice Day. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hoxie, Alice Day, (more)
- 1932
In his fourth Western for Columbia Pictures, Tim McCoy played a lawman chasing a masked villain known only as "the Shadow." The would-be express office robber proves to be Grip Mason (Robert Ellis), who mistakenly blames Tim for his brother's death. There is a treacherous saloon femme fatale (Dorothy Granger of two-reel comedy fame), a comic sidekick (Harry Todd), and the inevitable ingénue. The latter was played by Marceline Day, a 1926 WAMPAS Baby Star best remembered today as Buster Keaton's girl in The Cameraman (1928). Typical of McCoy's Columbia Westerns, The Fighting Fool was well made in spite of budget constrictions. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Marceline Day, (more)
- 1931
Wolf Hardy (Nelson McDowell), the wounded leader of an outlaw gang, takes great pains to insure that his young protégé, Phil "The Cub" Norris (Bob Custer), will return to the straight and narrow. The hot-headed Norris is almost convinced to join a gang headed by the notorious Blanco Kid (Edmund Cobb), but he is persuaded otherwise by Blanco's bride-to-be, Judy Lanning (Betty Mack). Norris rescues the pretty girl from her brutal boyfriend and is offered a job by her father (Carlton King) in gratitude. Blanco threatens to reveal the former outlaw's past, but a recovered Hardy intervenes. Two former silent screen cowboys -- Custer and Cobb -- came face-to-face in this above-average low-budget oater produced by Harry S. Webb and Flora E. Douglas for release by the redoubtable Syndicate Film Exchange, a forerunner to Poverty Row company Monogram. Nearing the end of his screen career, Custer was a bit long in the tooth to play someone's young protégé. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Mack, Edmund Cobb, (more)
- 1931
A cowpoke is duped and made to appear drunk by an unscrupulous foreman in this Western from small-scale Sono Art-World Widewhich benefited from location filming in the Mojave Desert. Losing his job at the Sutter ranch as a result, Jim (Rex Lease) vows to catch the true culprits, foreman Winslow (Harry Woods) and his gang of horse thieves. Disguised as one of Winslow's henchmen, Jim discovers that the gang is employing a specially trained white stallion to round up Sutter's mares and herd them into a secret mountain pass. Along with his sidekick Ben (Harry Todd), Jim follows the stallion and catches the gang red-handed, earning the love and respect of lovely Helen Sutter (Dorothy Gulliver). In all likelihood the opener of a proposed series, In Old Cheyenne failed to garner much interest. More a general purpose actor than a classic hero, Rex Lease would have to wait until 1935 to star in his own series, and then it was for Superior Talking Pictures, which, despite its name, was even lower on the Hollywood totem-pole than Sono Art-World Wide. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rex Lease, Dorothy Gulliver, (more)
- 1931
A minister's daughter finds fame as an evangelist but struggles with her own lack of faith in Frank Capra's impassioned drama. Inspired by the true story of Aimee Semple McPherson, the film follows the rise to prominence of Florence Fallon (Barbara Stanwyck). Disillusioned by the mistreatment of her dying father by his church, Florence grows cynical about religion. She nevertheless retains an intimate knowledge of the Bible and natural flair for preaching, talents put to use by promoter Bob Hornsby (Sam Hardy) in a series of phony revival meetings, complete with staged healings and other stunts. Florence plays along, but she soon comes to take her religious mission more seriously, especially after a blind songwriter John Carson (David Manners) claims that her preaching saved his life. Guilt-ridden Florence decides to go straight, but Hornsby sets out to stop her, seeing her new-found morality -- and her budding romance with John -- as a threat to his lucrative business. Foreshadowing many of his better-known classics, Capra addresses issues about the manipulation of the public and the importance of truth while also presenting an unlikely romance. The film's treatment of religion was considered controversial on its initial release; it now seems justifiably complex but far from critical. The film's most notable element is the intense lead performance from Stanwyck, whose combination of fiery charisma and vulnerability is magnetic and convincing, providing Capra's ambitious drama with a gripping emotional core. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, (more)
- 1931
Ten cents a dance, that's what they pay her -- "her" being downtrodden taxi dancer Barbara (Barbara Stanwyck). The only thing Barbara sells is her time, or at least that's the story she gives her jellyfish husband Eddie (Monroe Owsley). But when wealthy Carlton (Ricardo Cortez) starts making goo-goo eyes at Barbara, Eddie accuses his wife of infidelity. This, in Eddie's mind, provides him with an adequate excuse to steal money from Carlton, which action leads to the no-good husband's downfall. Barbara's fate is more merciful: she ends up with Carlton, with whom she has fallen in love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
- 1931
King, the clever pooch publicized as "Emperor of All Dogs" (played by Muro), starred in this very low-budget serial produced by Harry S. Webb's Metropolitan Pictures. Muro had earlier appeared in Webb's Untamed Justice and Phantoms of the North, both cheap action features, but in The Sign of the Wolf you could at least hear him bark. The serial, whose human stars were Rex Lease and Virginia Brown Faire, silent actors who had seen better days, concerned an invention that could turn sand into precious jewels. The device is stolen in the Himalayas by an explorer (Harry Todd) who, during his escape through the jungle, picks up a little dog sacred to the Native population. Years later, in the American Southwest, the explorer, his daughter (Faire), and King find themselves besieged by villains (including the always despicable Al Ferguson) out to get their hands on the wondrous device. Ranchers Tom (Lease) and Bud (Joe Bonomo) come to the assistance of the embattled explorer, whose enemies are finally disarmed in the tenth and final chapter, "The Lost Secret." In an attempt to squeeze every dollar possible out of The Sign of the Wold, Webb and co-producer Flora E. Douglas re-edited and released the serial as a 61 minute feature entitled The Lone Trail. Much of the footage was used a second time in 1936, for the serial Skull and Crown, this time starring Rin Tin Tin, Jr. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1931
After unsuccessfully impersonating a Mexican in his previous The Avenger, cowboy star Buck Jones returned to form in The Texas Ranger. Jones plays the title character, who on this occasion has been assigned to bring lady bandit Carmelita Geraghty to justice. Upon learning that the heroine turned to a life of crime because she was falsely accused of murder, Jones sets about to find the real killer. Briefly posing as an outlaw, our hero infiltrates Geraghty's outlaw gang, ultimately exposing the Benedict Arnold who framed her. A few clever directorial touches aside, Texas Ranger is a traditional Jones vehicle, but that's what the fans craved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Carmelita Geraghty, (more)
- 1931
Ten Nights In a Bar-room is as corny and hackneyed as its title, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun to watch. Based on the warhorse cautionary stage play by Edwin Waugh (previously filmed six times during the silent era), the story concerns Joe Morgan (William Farnum), a highly respected business executive and family man who throws his life away by consuming mass quantities of booze. His sweet little daughter Mary Morgan (Patty Lou Lynd) wanders into the saloon, tugs her tosspot father by his tattered sleeve and whines "Daddy, won't you come home with me now?" This proves to be the first step (of 12, perhaps?) towards Morgan's redemption, but first he has a score to settle with Simon Slade (Tom Santschi), the double-dyed villain who dragged him to degragadation. The film's highlight is a knock-down, drag-out fistfight between William Farnum and Tom Santschi, in emulation of their famous battle in 1914's The Spoilers. Ten Nights In a Bar-Room was distributed through the auspices of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, who were blissfully unaware that audiences were more prone to laugh at the antiquated production rather than renounce Demon Rum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Farnum, Tom Santschi, (more)
