David Landau Movies

One of the more prestigious films of its time, John Ford's film adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has a sleek Art Deco look strangely out of tune with its tale of moral struggle. Ronald Colman stars as Martin Arrowsmith, an idealistic young doctor, who, after graduating from medical school, must forego a research position with Dr. Max Gottlieb (A.E. Anson) due to his marriage to nurse Leora Tozer (Helen Hayes). He returns to her rural hometown and establishes a small practice, and in his spare time eventually develops a serum for a deadly cow disease. Based on this work he is able to return to work under Dr. Gottlieb. When Dr. Gustav Sondelius (Richard Bennett), a friend of the researchers, informs them about a plague devouring the West Indies, Arrowsmith decides to travel to the area to test whether the serum he's working on might be effective in combatting it. The white citizens of the area refuse to allow themselves to be the subjects of an experiment, but black Harvard-educated Dr. Oliver Marchand (Clarence Brooks) persuades the island's native population to go along with Arrowsmith's plan. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Street Scene was purchased for the screen by producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1931. The entire story takes place on the street in front of a foreboding old New York brownstone, between one evening and the next afternoon. The individual fates of eight neighboring Manhattan families intertwine during this brief stretch of time. Special emphasis is given the Maurrant family: the philandering mother (Estelle Taylor), the drink-sodden husband (David Landau) and long-suffering daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney). When the husband catches the wife "in the act" with bill-collector Russell Hopton, the resulting tragedy is not shown, but reflecting in the wildly varying reactions of neighbors and passersby. Though resisting the temptation to "open up" the play, director King Vidor nonetheless injects his cinematic know-how into the proceedings, by utilizing an entirely different camera setup or angle for each individual "take." The cast of Street Scene includes several carry-overs from the Broadway original, including David Landau, Max Montor, Matt McHugh (brother of Frank), John Qualen, George Humbert, Tom H. Manning, and Anna Konstant (Sidebar: Shirley Kaplan, the role played by Ms. Konstant, was portrayed in the London production of Street Scene by Greer Garson). Unavailable for TV for many years due to legal tangles, Street Scene was freed up for the small screen when it lapsed into public domain in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The air-mail pilots who fly from a small airport in the Rocky Mountains are determined but not paid well, and there are occasional fatal crashes. It's a tradition of long standing that when this happens, chief pilot Mike Miller (Ralph Bellamy) makes the next flight himself. Daredevil Duke Talbot (Pat O'Brien) is hired; he starts an affair with Irene Wilkins (Lilian Bond), wife of pilot Dizzy (Russell Hopton). A fierce snowstorm rages when Dizzy next takes off. He crashes and is killed, so Mike makes the next flight. He crashes in an inaccessible valley, but survives. Although Duke has now run off with Irene, when he hears about Mike's crash, he decides to fly to the rescue. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a sleazy plastic surgeon from Chicago bungles an operation and causes the amputation of his patient's legs. Naturally, she takes the quack to court. Unfortunately she loses the case. The enraged patient then fatally shoots the doctor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

If ever there was an archetypal Marx Brothers comedy, it was the team's 1932 offering Horse Feathers. Groucho Marx is cast as Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the newest president of Huxley College. As he delivers his introductory speech before the assembled student body ("As I look out among your smiling, eager faces, I can readily understand why this college is flat on its back"), he maps out his plans for the future by singing those deathless hits Whatever It Is, I'm Against It and I Always Get My Man. He then has a powwow with his son Frank (Zeppo Marx), who has been a Huxley student for 12 years. Frank tells his old man that Huxley has had a new president every year since 1888, the year the college won its last football game. The only way to save the establishment is to hire a couple of good football players, Mullen and McHardie (Jim Pierce and Nat Pendleton), who hang out at the local speakeasy. With his usual efficiency, Professor Wagstaff signs up the wrong men for the Huxley team: Baravelli (Chico Marx), the ice man/bootlegger, and Pinky (Harpo Marx) the dog catcher. Meanwhile, gambler Jennings (David Landau), who has all his money bet on Darwin College in the upcoming Thanksgiving Day football game, instructs his girlfriend Connie Bailey (Thelma Todd), the college widow, to get her hands on Huxley's secret football signals. This leads to a frenetic four-way courtship in Connie's apartment, as Wagstaff, Baravelli, Pinky and Frank duck in and out of doors and windows to romance the heroine. Later on, Baravelli and Pinky try to kidnap Mullen and McHardie to keep them out of the Big Game, only to end up kidnapped themselves. Miraculously, all four of our heroes show up at the Huxley-Darwin game in time, achieving victory through some of the most creative cheating in gridiron history. Written by such renowned wits as S. J. Perelman, Will B. Johnstone, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Horse Feathers is a comedy smorgasbord, offering generous doses of all four Marx Brothers performing some of their best-ever material. Who could not love a film in which, just before Chico Marx launches into his obligatory piano solo, Groucho saunters up to the camera and growls "I've got to stay here, but that's no reason why you folks can't go into the lobby until this thing blows over"? In addition, this is the film that introduced the semi-satirical romantic ballad Everyone Says I Love You, which was used over six decades later as the title of a Woody Allen picture. Unfortunately, current prints of Horse Feathers are incomplete, with nearly five minutes of comedy material missing; the search goes on for a pristine, uncut negative. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Undoubtedly inspired by Charles Lindbergh's unprecedented sudden fame (but not the ensuing tragedy), Mary McCall's 1932 novel The Goldfish Bowl was turned into a satirical comedy-drama featuring an engaging Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as a navy captain thrust into the limelight after saving his crew during a submarine disaster. With an unsolicited "personal manager" (played to the hilt by Walter Catlett) and a greedy corporation taking care of both ticker tape parades and all kinds of silly public relations stunts, Fairbanks discovers that he no longer has control of his life. He is constantly embarrassed by a novelty song, "Scotty Boy" (vigorously performed by Broadway crooner Clarence Nordstrom), and even wedded bliss to the understanding Mary Brian is turned into a public spectacle. Fortunately, a Danish sailor (Ivan Linow) saves a dog from drowning and instantly takes Fairbanks' place in the public awareness. Afraid of becoming celebrities once again after saving a car from being wrecked by an express train, the reluctant hero and his bride drive away as fast as they can, happy to begin a new, anonymous life in teeming New York City. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A huge box office success and a key film in James Cagney's rise to stardom, this drama stars Cagney as Matt Nolan, a gritty New York City cab driver who is being squeezed by a monopolistic taxi trust which uses force to run him and other independent cabbies away from the most profitable locations. Nolan joins forces with Pop Riley (George Kibbee), whose cab is smashed by a truck when he refuses to cooperate with the syndicate. Kibbee is sent to prison for shooting at the truck driver. Nolan is dating his daughter, Sue (Loretta Young), and they enter a Peabody dance contest at a local nightclub. Cagney dances on screen for the first time, and so does George Raft as Willie Kenny, another dancing tough guy who was a friend of Cagney's, who pushed Warner Bros. to give Cagney the role. Nolan marries Sue Riley, and she tries to get him to cool down. But the taxi trust goons kill his brother Danny (Ray Cooke), and Nolan goes on a rampage. In several filmed gun battles, live machine-gun bullets are used, as they were in Cagney's famed The Public Enemy. This is the last time Cagney allowed that. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Barbara Stanwyck, displayed in all her pre-Code glory, once again plays "damaged goods" in Warner Bros.' The Purchase Price. Hard-boiled nightclub singer Joan Gordon (Stanwyck) gets fed up being the kept woman of her married boss, bootlegger Ed Fields (Lyle Talbot). Fleeing New York City, she ends up in North Dakota as the mail-order bride of wheat farmer Jim Gilson (George Brent). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An early comedy about the generation gap, this 1932 movie was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who went on to write and direct films such as Guys and Dolls and Cleopatra. Director Frank Tuttle co-wrote the script, based on a successful play called The Goose Hangs High by Lewis Beach. Donald Ingals (Richard Bennett) and his wife Eunice (Frances Starr) are conventional and loving parents who are shocked when their son Bradley (Buddy Rogers) comes home from college with ideas that they consider to be outrageous. His parents would like him to get involved with Mary Burke (Peggy Shannon), a prim and proper young lady. More complications ensue because Bradley's sister Lois (Frances Dee) is attracted to the flapper lifestyle, but she isn't sure whether she can handle its emotional demands. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

A Grand Hotel derivation set in a major metropolitan train terminal, Union Depot features most of the reliable Warner Bros. stock company. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars as a slick thief; Joan Blondell costars as a stranded chorus girl; Alan Hale Sr. is featured as a phony baron absconding with company funds; and Frank McHugh does his drunk act. Other arrivals and departures include Guy Kibbee, David Landau, and George Rosener (as a sexual deviate stalking Ms. Blondell!) The huge depot set built for this film may seem like an unnecessary expenditure, but the set would come in handy for future, less costly Warners endeavors. The British title for Union Depot was Gentleman for a Day, reflecting the crooked Fairbanks' good-guy turnaround at the end of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Powell is a poor East Side lawyer who works his way up the ladder to assistant prosecutor. He isn't too particular how he uses and misuses the law, much to the dismay of his faithful secretary (Joan Blondell). Powell's downfall comes when he falls for a shady lady (Claire Dodd) who blackmails him for a past misdeed. He escapes prosecution with a hung jury, but the experience rekindles his conscience. With his loving secretary at his side, Powell returns to his old neighborhood to set up an honest legal practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lionel Barrymore plays one of those selfless general practitioners that seem to exist exclusively in the movies in One Man's Journey. Though his efforts go unappreciated by his patients and even by his own family, the far-from-wealthy Dr. Eli Watt (Barrymore) continues to dedicate his life to medicine, ultimately inspiring his son Jimmy (Buster Phelps as a child, Joel McCrea as an adult) to follow in his footsteps. As a result of his tireless efforts to pull his community through a deadly epidemic, Dr. Watt is at last honored at a testimonial dinner, where his richer and more famous colleagues lift their glasses in praise of our hero. Of course, Watt also finds time to patch up the romance between his son Jimmy and Jimmy's sweetheart Joan (Frances Dee, Mrs. Joel Crea in real life). One Man's Journey was remade by director Garson Kanin as A Man to Remember (1938) -- a rare instance in which a remake was actually better than the original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This unique thriller chronicles the exploits of a doctor who will do almost anything to please his young, second wife. She wants more money. He arranges to get it by hypnotizing a bank official and making him extract $100,000 from the vault. The doctor then plans to murder him and then rob him. Before he acts, the physician comes to his senses and confesses his scheme to the police. He then swears he will have the bank officer return the cash. Unfortunately, the bank official is killed and robbed. The doctor, who had come to hypnotize him, is found unconscious. Someone chloroformed him. At this point the movie grinds to a halt and an intermission is inserted. It's purpose is to allow the viewer one minute to look back upon the clues and try to solve the murder. A clock ticks off the seconds, and the characters and clues quickly flash across the screen. It is still very difficult to determine "whodunit" until the very end of the picture. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide