Max Davidson Movies

Whole films had been written around song titles before, but it had been years since the ditty "Second Hand Rose" had been popular, and a revival wasn't likely. But then, Gladys Walton was one of Universal's lesser lights, so the studio probably wasn't trying exceptionally hard. Walton did, however, have a solid supporting cast here. Issac Rosenstein, a kind-hearted Jewish man who owns a second hand store (George B. Williams), adopts an Irish orphan, Rosie O'Grady (Walton). "Popa" Rosenstein's son Nat (Eddie Sutherland) works for a silk manufacturing company, and while delivering lunch to the young man, Rosie meets shipping clerk Terry O'Brien (Jack Dougherty). Nat, who's not a terribly ambitious sort, stops by the pool room while on his way home from his job and his cohorts there steal his shipping instructions. The goods are stolen, and Nat is sent to jail. An old Irishman, Tim McCarthy (Walter Perry), offers to help Nat out if Rosie will marry him. She agrees, only to discover that Nat is robbing his former employers. But then the truth comes out -- he was only pretending to be in league with his pool room pals so that he could trap them. All is well in the Rosenstein family, and McCarthy graciously hands Rosie back to O'Brien. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this campus musical, the 1928 big game between USC and Stanford provides the impetus for music and mayhem. The story centers upon two USC teammates, Eddie and Biff, who share just about everything, even their girl friend, Babs. The trouble is, they don't know they are both dating Babs until just before the crucial game. Fortunately, the coach is there to mediate between the two angry men. He reminds them that women are not as important as winning the game. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This comedy is last entry in the five-movie series "The Cohens and Kellys." In this episode, Sidney and Murray are competing tugboat captains. They fight over the ownership of the waterways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Henry Fonda made his screen debut in this filmization of his Broadway success The Farmer Takes a Wife. The story is set along the Erie Canal in the 1850s. Fonda plays a farmer who takes a river job to make ends meet. He falls in love with Janet Gaynor, daughter of a canal-boat cook, who thinks very little of farmers. Nonetheless, Fonda and Gaynor marry, much to the displeasure of canal skipper Charles Bickford, who'd assumed that Janet was his girl. When Fonda avoids a fight with Bickford, Janet believes that he's yellow, but he eventually proves otherwise. It is said that during his first day on the set, movie novice Henry Fonda, noting the camera direction "dolly with Dan and Molly" in the script, asked director Victor Fleming who Dolly was. Adapted from the play by Frank B. Elser and Marc Connelly, The Farmer Takes a Wife was remade with Betty Grable and Dale Robertson in 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The rollicking music of Gilbert and Sullivan is featured in this musical. It tells the story of a dance hall girl with a love of money. She will spend it every chance she gets as long as it is not hers. Trouble ensues when she sponges off a bookie during a date. To get revenge, he becomes her manager and forces her to join a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe. Any money she makes is to be his. Songs include: "The Mikado," "Patience," "Pirates of Penzance," and "Ruddigore." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Amy Burke (Mary Pickford) is as spoiled, temperamental and contrary a lass as her grandfather, Alexander Guthrie (Ralph Lewis), is ruthless and cutthroat a businessman. Amy is bored with the privileged life on Riverside Drive, so when her father, John Burke (Dwight Crittenden), returns to New York, she demands that she go with him instead of traveling through Europe with her grandfather. It comes as a shock to Amy that her father, a writer, is living in a tenement and that she has lost all the perks she had as a child of wealth. But soon she adjusts to life in the slums, wearing loud, mismatched outfits and shooting craps with the best of the kids. And through fraternizing with neighbors, such as the ever-battling Pat O'Shaughnessy (Andrew Arbuckle) and Abram Issacs (Max Davidson) and the nice, but mysterious John Graham (Kenneth Harlan), she learns to be a real person. Watching over the transformation is her grandfather, who has come in disguise to keep an eye on her. But his own transformation is not complete until one night, when Amy and John -- who is now her beau -- break into the Guthrie residence in search of papers which were falsely used to send him to prison. Although they are caught, Guthrie not only forgives them, he consents to their marriage. This was the second of three films Pickford made for First National. In spite of the stellar cast, and the help of director idney A. Franklin and screenwriter Frances Marion, this picture -- based on Burkses' Amy by Julie M. Lippman -- is not one of Pickford's very best. Amy is far too nasty at the beginning, and it takes the audience quite a few reels to forgive her ill-tempered antics. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Famed screenwriter June Mathis wrote the screenplay to this comedy from Kennett Harris's Saturday Evening Post story, "Junk." Sam Weatherbee (Bert Lytell) was born into money, and he seems to think his whole purpose in life is to spend it. But in the midst of a party he is throwing, the young millionaire receives word that his fortune is gone. The concept of working for a living is completely beyond him until he inherits his aunt's cottage in Los Angeles He goes West to discover that the place is loaded with junk, but he realizes that this supposedly worthless stuff may be of use to somebody. So he opens up a trading post in the front yard, which eventually develops into the West Coast Barter and Exchange Company. Weatherbee is once again in the money, and is able to win pretty Mattie Walling (Virginia Valli from his rival, Dillingham Coolidge (John Davidson). ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Based on "Bride 66", a tone poem by composer Herbert Stothart, The Lottery Bride takes place in a distinctly Hollywoodized Norway. Ever on the lookout for extra cash, heroine Jenny Swanson (Jeanette MacDonald) coerces her sweetheart Chris Svenson (John Garrick) to participate with her in a three-day marathon race. When the exhausted couple fails to win first prize, Jenny enters herself in a "wife lottery." Though the lucky winner appears to be Chris's older brother, it is actually Chris himself -- but he isn't aware of it, having embarked on a dirigible expedition to the Yukon. Only after surviving a crash landing does Chris return home for a blissful reunion with Jenny. With a plot this silly, why did the producers bother to hire Joe E. Brown and ZaSu Pitts as comedy relief? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Jackie Coogan is dressed up (or rather, down) for this comedy in much the same way he was for Charles Chaplin's The Kid, there are two big differences -- he's four years older than when he made the Chaplin film and starting to lose his childish charm. A fire breaks out at an orphanage in New York's Lower East Side, and young Tim Kelly (Coogan) escapes in his nightshirt. He hides from the cops by ducking into a junk wagon belonging to Max Ginsberg (Max Davidson). Ginsberg takes him in, and when Tim proves himself to be an excellent "rag man," the two become partners. Years before, Ginsberg had invented a type of sewing machine, but Bernard (Robert Edeson), a crooked lawyer, cheated him out of the patent. Tim tracks down the devious Bernard and makes him square things with Ginsberg. The two rag men, now incredibly wealthy, become New York's most exclusive antiques dealers. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

When prize fighter Johnny Duffey (Bert Lytell) breaks his hand, the doctor orders him to rest for three months before he returns to the ring. Vacationing in Craigmoor, he falls for society-debutante Constance Talbot (Virginia Valli) but later discovers she is engaged to the pompous Roy Van Twiller (Philo McCollough). When Constance's father (DeWitt Jennings) learns about Johnny, he befriends the boxer and conspires with Johnny to get rid of his prospective son-in-law. Without revealing his identity, Johnny is set up with Roy to drive him away from Constance. After his victory, Johnny is welcomed into the family by routing the rogue but the final blow re-injures his hand and prompts Johnny to enter the world of business. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide