Carole Lombard Movies

The homely but likable Monte Blue teams up with director Allan Dwan for this pleasing comedy-drama, adapted from a short story that ran in the Saturday Evening Post. Wally Griggs (Blue) is your classic meek, mild bank messenger, destined to a threadbare life of earning 63 dollars a month. At least this is what he seems to be. But when he's not working Griggs is the dashing James Brown, an adventurer and storyteller who is familiar with bank president Halliday (Hardee Kirkland). A publisher, fascinated by Brown's wild tales, offers him a deal. Griggs also uses his alter ego to help Mary Oliver, the girl her loves (Jacqueline Logan). District attorney "Big Bill" Thaine (Stanton Heck) has cheated her out of her fortune and is now trying to force her to marry him. Griggs is given twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of bonds to deliver but he mysteriously disappears. Thaine figures out the Brown-Griggs connection and Wally is arrested. After being given the third degree, Brown sues for false imprisonment, and the mayor forces Thaine to make restitution out of his own pocket. Griggs gives this sum to Mary. Meanwhile, he pretends amnesia and shows up at the bank with the bonds. Because of the proceeds from the book, Griggs is able to quit his low-paying job and wed Mary. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Fox company signed young Carole Lombard (billing her "Carol") to a contract after she tested for and won the female lead opposite Edmund Lowe in Marriage in Transit (1925). This average Buck Jones western was her follow-up. Carole plays a young prairie flower whose brother (Freeman Wood) is on a path to a life of crime. Along comes cowboy Jones, who gallantly takes the blame for a killing to save Carole's brother. Lombard suffered a near-fatal car accident shortly after finishing this film, returning to Fox after months of recuperation only to find her contract cancelled. Happily, she was immediately signed up by Mack Sennett, who obviously knew what he was doing. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This melodrama featured Edmund Lowe in a dual role, and a very young Carole Lombard. Cyril Gordon (Lowe) joins the secret service, and since he is a dead ringer for international crook Harry Holden (also Lowe), he is assigned the task of retrieving a stolen government code from Holden's gang. He discovers that Celia Hathaway (Lombard) is being forced into a loveless marriage with the crook, so, still posing as Holden, he marries her himself. As they head for Chicago by train, they are pursued by the real Holden. Gordon tells Celia his true identity and the couple goes to Washington, D.C., where he reports to his higher ups. Holden breaks into Gordon's apartment and the two men fight it out. Holden loses and his gang is jailed. Celia decides she loves Gordon and wants to stay married to him. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

After several years' experience as a screenwriter, Howard Hawks made his directorial debut with Fox Films' The Road to Glory. Though based on a story by Hawks, the film that emerged bore little resemblance to the director's original concept. Judith (May McCoy) and David (Leslie Fenton) are a pair of jazz-age libertines who care about nothing but satisfying their own desires. After suffering an injury in a car accident brought about by David's reckless driving, Judith discovers that she is slowly but surely going blind. This tragedy convinces Judith that God does not exist, while a penitent David desperately tries to convince her otherwise. In an excessively melodramatic climax, David is seriously injured by a falling tree, whereupon Judith abandons her agnosticism and prays for her sweetheart's recovery. Not only does David survive, but all the excitement has completely restored Judith's eyesight! Whether or not Road to Glory measures up to Howard Hawks' later classics is open to conjecture, since the film no longer exists. (Incidentally, Hawks' 1936 war film Road to Glory was not a remake). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although it ran a very scant four reels (it was actually 3,303 feet in length), comedy producer Mack Sennett marketed this film as a feature. In spite of its short length, it did have quite a bit going for it, not the least being the scenes of the Sennett bathing beauties, which were shot in Technicolor, and the presence of a very young Carole Lombard (with her first name spelled "Carolle") in a small role. On the negative side was the plot (typical for a Sennett film). Apparently, the original concept was to show where the bathing beauties came from, but after a reel, this idea was tossed out the window and the usual Sennett mayhem ensued (including a climax featuring a bunch of lions on the loose). Wilfred Ashcraft is a director of bathing beauty films (Mack Swain, creating a complete comic portrayal of Cecil B. DeMille, down to the puttees). As Minnie Stitch, tiny Daphne Pollard plays a wardrobe mistress. Ashcraft decides they need a big star and import the exotic Madam Zwibach from somewhere or another (Dot Farley). That's pretty much all there is to the story -- the rest is left up to witty title cards and, of course, the Technicolor bathing beauties. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A former leading lady for director Cecil B. DeMille, vivacious Vera Reynolds was experiencing somewhat of a career slump when she starred in this romantic melodrama from poverty row producer Trem Carr. She played Lillia, a small town girl who gets involved with the wrong crowd in Paris. Arrested by police prefect Nigel De Brulier, Lillia agrees to seduce a politically important foreign prince Ernest Hilliard in exchange for her freedom. They fall in love, of course, and when the prince is informed of his succession to the throne, he chooses love instead of power and abdicates. A very young Carole Lombard (still spelling her first name "Carol") appeared in a supporting role as one of the heroine's Parisian friends. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Me, Gangster was director Raoul Walsh's third 1928 film -- and, according to some historians, the blueprint for such future Walsh crime dramas as Me and My Gal, The Roaring Twenties and White Heat. Told in the form of a diary, the story details the rise and fall of gangster boss Jimmy Williams, played by future serial favorite Don Terry. Shown to be a layabout and ne'er-do-well in his youth, Jimmy falls in with a gang of petty thieves, working his way up the professional ladder through a combination of brains and cold-blooded ruthlessness (not unlike the characters played by frequent Raoul Walsh collaborator James Cagney). He finally comes acropper when he tries to pull off a $50,000 heist by himself, which earns him a stiff jail term. The death of his beloved mother Lizzie (Stella Adams), combined with the good influence of heroine Mary Regan (June Collyer), prompts Jimmy to try to turn over a new leaf upon his arrest. Alas, he must now contend with his former gangland buddies, who don't cotton to "turncoats" and begin drawing up plans to put Jimmy "on the spot" for keeps. On the whole, Me Gangster is a bit more sentimental than one might expect from Raoul Walsh, but at least it's honest sentiment and doesn't weaken the picture as a whole. Filmed silent, Me, Gangster was released with a Fox Movietone music score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Power is a rubber-stamp adventure flick from the very prolific Paramount Pictures. William Boyd and Alan Hale star as a pair of dam workers who, despite their strong friendship, duke it out on a regular basis. But when the dam threatens to burst, the battling buddies work side by side to rescue the deluge-threatened townsfolk. The principle source of friction between Boyd and Hale are a pair of "dames," played by Carole Lombard and Joan Bennett. Both ladies are ill-served by their tiny roles at this early stage of their respective careers, though Lombard exhibits more camera know-how than Bennett. Power was scripted by future director Tay Garnett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide