Alan Hale Movies

John Garfield once more plays a social outcast who's had nothing but lousy breaks. Released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, Garfield is promptly arrested as a vagrant and sent to a work farm. He falls in love with Priscilla Lane, stepdaughter of the farm's no-good foreman. Garfield marries Priscilla, but his happiness is short-lived when the foreman drunkenly goads him into a fight. Arrested again for killing the foreman, Garfield is defended by a compassionate attorney (Moroni Olsen), whose summation to the jury places the blame for Garfield's plight squarely on the shoulders of Society. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The popular husband-wife team of John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte starred in Flattery. Bowers plays civil engineer Reginald Mallory, who having been reared in the lap of luxury has turned into an insufferable wastrel. Extremely susceptible to flattery (hence the film's title), Reggie is sweet-talked into purchasing substandard material for his latest building project. Before disaster can strike, however, Reggie is redeemed by the love of a good woman (De La Motte). John Bowers' later fall from popularity and his suicide by drowning is said to be the inspiration for the 1937 and 1954 versions of A Star is Born. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Footsteps in the Dark is a comedy/mystery, starring Errol Flynn as a wealthy investment counselor who secretly doubles as a dilettante detective, the better to write mystery novels. Brenda Marshall plays his wife, who can't understand why he is never home and begins to suspect hanky-panky. In fact, Flynn is investigating the murders of a jewelry smuggler and an exotic dancer. The trail of evidence leads to the Least Likely Suspect -- portrayed, as is often the case, by an actor who's always the one who "did it" in murder mysteries. Not nearly as funny a film as the producers seem to think it is, Footsteps in the Dark is an obvious attempt by Warner Bros. to create a "Nick and Nora Charles" team, in emulation of MGM's popular Thin Man series. Footsteps ends with wife Marshall vowing to join hubby Flynn in his next murder mystery, leaving the door wide open for a sequel...which was never filmed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by actor Alan Hale, this romantic comedy stars Priscilla Dean as Nancy Bell, whose former husband, Austin (Walter McGrail), willingly comes to her aid when she is arrested for speeding. Unfortunately, Austin is not immune to Ruby (De Sacia Moors), a local gold digger, who will do anything to prevent Austin from falling for his former wife. But she goes too far and is arrested by the police, leaving Nancy and Austin to remarry by, as the film's press-book states, "a bemused preacher." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The six-year-old son of director B. Reeves Eason, Breezy Eason Jr., was killed by a runaway truck during the filming of this silent Western. Little Breezy played Pard, the adopted son of drifter Santa Fe (Harry Carey). The latter gets a job as porter in a Caliente bank, where he discovers that the banker (Alan Hale) is actually the leader of a gang of outlaws. The villain frames Johnny Harron, Carey's young friend, in a robbery and both Harron and Carey are later captured by the outlaw gang. They escape via a subterranean river and arrive in town just in time to save the sheriff (George Nichols) from an angry mob. Carey reveals himself as a special agent sent to catch the villainous Hale, and, with the assistance of the U.S. Cavalry, charges the bandit's lair. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Vivacious Patsy Ruth Miller was a light comedienne on the rise when she starred in this amusing picture. Flapper Kitty Shayne (Miller) is the life of the party everywhere she goes. She realizes that it's the nice girls who are landing husbands and decides to start over by moving in with her Aunt Clara (Carrie Clark Ward), who lives in another town. She changes into a sweet, innocent maiden and wins the heart of Russell Baldwin (Johnnie Walker), who hates flappers. Mrs. Baldwin (Frances Raymond) throws an engagement party for the happy couple, but it's a bust. She is so upset that her party is a failure that Kitty drops the sweet facade and livens things up. Her sweetheart is shocked at her sudden change, but when he realizes she did it for his mother's sake, he forgives her behavior. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Rivalry, romance, and brotherly love in logging camps are chronicled in this drama. The trouble begins when the brother of a lumber company owner arrives from Paris to work for him. Upon seeing the beautiful owner of the rival logging camp, the newly arrived brother immediately defects to begin working for her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Like the contemporaneous Columbia feature Party Wire, RKO Radio's Grand Old Girl paints a surprisingly bleak and cynical portrait of "respectable" small-town America. After 38 years of faithful service as a schoolteacher, Laura Bayles (May Robson) is unceremoniously fired when she challenges local gambling interests in a heated political campaign. Evidently, virtually everybody in town knows that the gamblers are corrupting their youth in the back room of the local drug store, but nobody cares. In fact, many are hostile toward Laura for blowing the whistle. Refusing to give up on her campaign, Laura ultimately brings the sordid situation to the attention of the President of the United States (Gavin Gordon), who, as luck would have it, was one of Mrs. Bayles' former pupils. Although Fred MacMurray and Mary Carlisle were borrowed from Paramount and MGM (respectively) for box office insurance, Grand Old Girl is May Robson's show all the way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount was taking a chance by making this picture -- based on a novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim -- almost two years after the end of World War I. It's a spy story that takes place in the days prior to the "war to end all wars" -- not a popular subject by the end of 1921. Perhaps the studio recognized that the story had potential beyond its historical backdrop, and James Kirkwood rose to the occasion with the dual roles he portrayed. Two former college chums, Englishman Sir Everard Dominey (Kirkwood) and German Leopold Von Ragastein (Kirkwood again) go on a trek to Africa. But the real purpose of the trip is so that Von Ragastein can murder Dominey and gather information for the Fatherland by impersonating the Englishman. Only one man returns from the trip, and he draws the suspicion of Dominey's insane wife, Rosamond (Ann Forrest) and Dominey's uncle, the Duke of Oxford (Winter Hall). The Duke puts Scotland Yard on the case and after an investigation, the man known as Dominey is arrested as a German spy. But there's a twist -it turns out that the man really is Dominey, and any secrets England may want to keep from Germany are safe. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This independently produced silent action melodrama starred the husband-and-wife team of John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte. Bowers played Larry Pond, a young man inheriting an almost bankrupt lumber company. Attempting to save the business, Larry finds himself in trouble with a rival lumberman (Alan Hale), who hires a thug to prevent him from getting his logs to the mill. Fighting back, Larry not only manages to scare off the hired terrorist but ends up marrying his rival's erstwhile fiancee (de la Motte. Director Lloyd Ingraham's young daughter Jean appeared in a supporting role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The premise is clichéd -- it's the usual tale of a pretty girl from the sticks trying to break into movies -- but this satire gives it a number of unexpected turns. In addition, just about every star in Hollywood -- not just those at Paramount, the releasing studio -- has a cameo at one point or another during the film's eight reels. Ironically, nearly all of the lead actors are unknowns (although George K. Arthur would become a noted character comedian). Angela Whitaker (Hope Brown) of Centreville is convinced she has a chance in Hollywood -- all her friends tell her so. So she heads West with her Uncle Joel (Luke Cosgrave) in tow. But Angela has no luck in Tinseltown, while her uncle starts landing roles left and right because of his curious image. Eventually the rest of the family, including Angela's sweetheart Lem Lefferts (Arthur), her grandmother (Ruby Lafayette), and her aunt (Eleanor Lawson) come to Hollywood. All Angela's relatives get movie work because they're character types. Finally a screenwriter tries to help Angela out, but Lem winds up landing a role instead. He becomes a star, which suits Angela just fine because she has married him. The couple have twins, and the babies -- not to mention the couple's pet parrot -- wind up in films, while Angela remains at home. The most notable cameo in this picture is Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who had been shunned in motion pictures since the 1921 scandal surrounding a Labor Day party that allegedly resulted in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe. Here he returns as a man standing in a casting line. When it's his turn to come up to the window, it is shut in his face and a "closed" sign put out. Unfortunately this gag turned out to be all too true; Arbuckle was not seen in front of a camera again until 1932. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Vicki Baum, the author of the novel Grand Hotel, also wrote this similarly structured tale about a group of disparate characters brought together in a towering hotel in Germany as the nation teeters on the verge of collapse near the end of World War II. Martin Richter (Helmut Dantine), a member of Germany's anti-Nazi underground, has escaped from a prison camp and is now on the run from the Gestapo; he's hiding out at the Hotel Berlin, once a palace of luxury but now a shadow of it's former glory. Martin used to work with Johannes Koenig (Peter Lorre), once a renowned scientist before he was forced to use his gifts for his Nazi captors; he now lives under an assumed name and scrapes by as a waiter rather than support the Axis war machine. Arnim Von Dahnwitz (Raymond Massey) is a disgraced Nazi general on the outs with Gestapo leader Joachim Helm (George Coulouris), who has a lot on his mind -- he's looking for Martin, he's riding herd over Arnim, and he has designs on Arnim's mistress, Lisa Dorn (Andrea King). Lisa, a stage actress of some success, is one of the few at the hotel who is able to live in some semblance of the glamour of Berlin's glory days; her wardrobe makes her the envy of Tillie Weiller (Faye Emerson), the hotel's concierge who pretends to be everyone's friend but is actually keeping tabs on the anti-Nazi activities of her tenants and is preparing to turn them in to the Gestapo. Hotel Berlin was completed in great haste, since midway through production it became obvious that Berlin would soon fall and the war in Europe would be over. Warner Bros. was so eager to get the film into theaters -- before the war's end would make the film seem dated -- that Hotel Berlin went through the studio's editing department in less than a week. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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