Ralph Bellamy Movies

Surrender is yet another triangular romance set against the backdrop of WWI. French POW Dumaine (Warner Baxter) is sequestered near the castle of a prideful Prussian nobleman, Count Reinmacher (C. Aubrey Smith), who lives for the day that his four sons will march triumphantly into Paris. Axelle (Leila Hyams), the daughter of one of the sons, makes periodic goodwill visits to the prison compound, and by-and-by she falls in love with Dumaine. Things take a dirty-work-at-the-crossroads turn when Captain Elbing (Ralph Bellamy), the martinet prison commandant, likewise develops an interest in Axtelle. Though Surrender hasn't been seen in years, outtakes from the film -- in which the dignified C. Aubrey Smith swears like a sailor after blowing his lines -- have long been on the public-domain video market. The film was based on Axelle, a play by Pierre Benoit, previously filmed in France. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bootleggers Louis Scorpio (Wallace Beery) and Johnny Franks (Ralph Bellamy), with the advice of their alcoholic lawyer Richard Newton (Lewis Stone), try to muscle in on the territory of gangster "Smiling Joe" Colimo (John Miljan). Franks kills Colimo's brother and tries to frame Scorpio, but Scorpio kills both him and olimo. Newspaper reporters Hank Rogers (Johnny Mack Brown) and Carl Luckner (Clark Gable) investigate with help from "The Secret Six," a consortium of businessmen eager to fight crime, but when Scorpio's moll Anne Courtland (Jean Harlow) tries to help them, Scorpio kidnaps her and Carl. The two hostages are rescued by "The Secret Six" and the police, and Scorpio and Newton shoot each other fighting over their money. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Bret Harte's story Salomy Jane's Kiss provided the basis for a play (by Paul Armstrong and a number of films, including 1932's Wild Girl. Set in the High Sierras at the end of the Civil War, the "wild girl" of the title is Salome Jane Clay (Joan Bennett). Rather tomboyish and determined, she isn't the vixen that the title suggests; as a matter of fact, she is upset and angry over a man who has tried to take liberties with her. A stranger Charles Farrell shows up, looking for the same man who has incurred Jane's enmity. Farrell has a score to settle, for this man ruined the life and reputation of Farrell's sister. He shoots him, then flees the town with Jane's help. They are pursued by numerous individuals; as they overcome various obstacles, they find themselves falling in love. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Originally filmed with Mary Pickford in 1917, the Kate Douglas Wiggin children's classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was remade as a talkie in 1932. Though a bit long in tooth to play the leading character, Marian Nixon (replacing a recalcitrant Janet Gaynor) makes a charming Rebecca. Placed in the custody of her wealthy, spiteful old Aunts Miranda (Louise Closser Hale) and Jane (Mae Marsh), the heroine eventually wins the two biddies over with her relentless good nature, charm and optimism. She also reforms avowed atheist Zion Simpson (Alan Hale), convincing the old reprobate to marry his common-law wife (Eula Guy). As a reward for all her good works, Rebecca wins the love of local doctor Ladd (Ralph Bellamy). An in-name-only adaptation of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was filmed six years later, with Shirley Temple in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beautiful composer Laura Ramsey (Elissa Landi) is the principal suspect when her lover, philandering singer Victor Legrand (Gilbert Roland), is found murdered in his apartment. Having "bugged" Legrand's room with Dictaphone equipment, detective John Bruce (Ralph Bellamy), who happens to be Laura's former husband, decides to tighten the noose around his ex-wife's neck by fabricating evidence against her. Our heroine's current husband, Paul Ramsey (Neil Hamilton), nobly confesses to the murder himself and is carted off to prison. Seeking revenge against Bruce, and hoping to ascertain the killer's identity herself, Laura turns the tables on the detective by recording a few of his intimate conversations. Woman in Room 13 is sometimes cited as the first film to use a hidden microphone and a secret recording device as a plot development, though chronologically it was preceded by the lesser-known Sin's Payday. ~ 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

An espionage drama set in the early 20th century, Ever in My Heart stars Barbara Stanwyck as a New England naif who marries a German citizen (Otto Kruger). In 1915, Stanwyck and her husband suffer a brace of blows: The death of their son, and the sinking of the Lusitania, the latter incident sparking a wave of anti-German sentiment. Hounded out of their small town by the angered citizens, Stanwyck and Kruger move to Europe, where the husband voluntarily leaves his wife to join the Kaiser's army. In 1917, Stanwyck, working as a canteen volunteer in France, discovers that her once pro-American husband is now a German spy. To save him from a firing squad, she poisons his wine, then kills herself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic drama, a woman inadvertently assists a con artist in his scheme to rob a store manager and ends up in prison. After helping to put out the very fire she herself started in the prison shop, the woman receives early parole and heads back to the con-artist. She then returns to the store manager to make peace, but finds herself falling in love with him. Unfortunately their affair is interrupted when the manager's wife is also sprung from prison. The girl immediately bows out, but when the wife tells him that she divorced him in prison, the girl comes running back, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sally Eilers plays Sandra, a secretary who falls for her boss in this passable marital drama from Fox. The attraction is mutual and when Carter Cavendish (Ralph Bellamy) learns that his wife, Betty (Helen Vinson), is having an affair, he divorces her and marries Sandra. But Betty wants sole custody of their young daughter, Patsy (Karol Kay), a potentially wealthy child prodigy, and does what she can to embarrass her former husband. Sandra, however, calls her bluff and the greedy Betty is eventually forced to relinquish custody of the child. Second Hand Wife was based on a serialized novel by Kathleen Norris. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

After saving RKO Radio from receivership with King Kong, producer-director Ernest B.. Schoedsack relaxed a bit with the comparatively sedate crime caper Blind Adventure. King Kong co-star Robert Armstrong plays Richard Bruce, an American in London who stumbles into the lair of a kidnap-blackmail gang. Playing his cards close to his vest, Bruce manages to get his hands on the "secret papers" that are so important to everyone in the story. He also wins the heroine, the aptly named Rose Thorne (Helen Mack, Armstrong's vis-a-vis in Son of Kong). Of the supporting players, Roland Young is terrific as a dry-witted burglar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An admirably tough B-picture enlivened by an energetic James Cagney performance, Picture Snatcher stars Cagney as Danny Kean, a former gangster who has decided to go straight after a stretch in the big house. Danny has fallen for Patricia (Patricia Ellis), the daughter of the cop who put him away (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Dad isn't convinced that Danny has left his life of crime behind him, and he isn't too impressed with his new career taking pictures for a sleazy tabloid newspaper. Between getting a lurid photo of a fireman in front of a burning building (where his wife and her lover met their fate) and a daring shot of a woman being executed (based an actual incident when a New York Daily News photographer got a photo of Ruth Snyder in the electric chair), Danny's work is selling papers but hardly making Officer O'Connor think his daughter is in good hands (especially since he was in charge of press security for the execution). Short, sweet and sassy, Picture Snatcher is the sort of gutsy fare Warner Bros. did best in the 1930's; Ralph Bellamy turns in a great supporting performance as Danny's boozy editor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This film offers melodrama on the high-seas as it follows the miraculous salvation of a becalmed ship filled with bootleg liquor. To make matters worse, they are out of fresh water, the captain and mate drowned during a storm, and the boat is sinking. The bo'sun has taken charge, and the crew is growing mutinous. Things couldn't get any worse when a mysterious stowaway suddenly crawls out from the hold. He tells the crew that the casks really contain fresh water, not liquor. He then uses a strange power to save the ship. He next uses the power to straighten out the crew. He then disappears. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Columbia's Once to Every Woman was the first of A. J. Cronin's medical novels to be adapted for the screen. The drama of the piece hinges on the conflict between brilliant young surgeon Barclay (Ralph Bellamy) and crusty hospital head Dr. Selby (Walter Connolly). On another, less-crucial front, Barclay and playboy physician Preston (Walter Byron) vie for the attentions of pretty nurse Miss Farnshawe (Fay Wray). The story comes to a tension-laden climax as Barclay prepares for a delicate brain operation -- a revolutionary procedure which has been opposed by Dr. Selby throughout the picture. Once to Every Woman was scripted by frequent Frank Capra collaborator Jo Swerling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide