Ralph Bellamy Movies
From his late teens to his late 20s, Ralph Bellamy worked with 15 different traveling stock companies, not just as an actor but also as a director, producer, set designer, and prop handler. In 1927 he started his own company, the Ralph Bellamy Players. He debuted on Broadway in 1929, then broke into films in 1931. He went on to play leads in dozens of B-movies; he also played the title role in the "Ellery Queen" series. For his work in The Awful Truth (1937) he received an Oscar nomination, playing the "other man" who loses the girl to the hero; he was soon typecast in this sort of role in sophisticated comedies. After 1945 his film work was highly sporadic as he changed his focus to the stage, going on to play leads in many Broadway productions; for his portrayal of FDR in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) he won a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Award. From 1940-60 he served on the State of California Arts Commission. From 1952-64 he was the president of Actors' Equity. In 1986 he was awarded an honorary Oscar "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting." He authored an autobiography, When the Smoke Hits the Fan (1979). ~ All Movie Guide- 1933
Ralph Bellamy is incongruously cast as a he-man deep sea diver in the Columbia meller Below the Sea. The plot is set in motion by former U boat commander Frederick Vogeding, who seeks out a fortune in gold and jewels which sank to the bottom of the sea during World War I. There's plenty of wet and wild action towards the end, with Bellamy battling the villains, the elements and a fake octopus to retrieve the loot and rescue the leading lady. At the time he filmed Below the Sea, Bellamy was being rushed from one picture to another at Columbia. When he took a gander at the script and discovered that it was wall-to-wall fistfighters and heavy lifting, the exhausted Bellamy insisted that he be doubled in the more strenuous scenes. Columbia president Harry Cohn agreed, on one condition: that Bellamy not tell the studio's reigning action star Jack Holt, lest Holt demand his own stunt man. From this point onward, all of Bellamy's contractual negotiations at Columbia would invariably end with Cohn screaming "And remember: DON'T TELL JACK HOLT!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1933
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
- Starring:
- Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, (more)
- 1933
When Merian C. Cooper was in charge of production at RKO Radio, virtually every other film produced at the studio had an aviation theme or tie-in. Set against the backdrop of a barnstorming air circus, the story concerns the travails -- both in the air and on the ground -- of flyboys Bud (Eric Linden), Ace (Bruce Cabot) and Speed (Ralph Bellamy), and female pilot Ann (Arline Judge). Speed is married to Ann, who falls in love with Bud. Seeking revenge, Speed intends to murder Bud during an air show, hoping to make it look like an accident. But Bud's brother Ace foils Speed's scheme, saving Bud's life at the expense of his own. Flying Devils was one of a handful of films directed by legendary press agent Russell Birdwell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arline Judge, Bruce Cabot, (more)
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
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1933
Headline Shooter is a brisk comedy/melodrama about a newsreel photographer (William Gargan). He prefers to risk his neck to get "swell" pictures, while his reporter girl friend (Frances Dee), though no less fearless, would prefer that he give up his dangerous profession. Ralph Bellamy (as always!) is around as Frances' "stable" boyfriend, who of course loses the girl. The story wraps up as Gargan rescues Dee from a band of kidnapping gangsters (though neither the girl nor her captors seem to regard the situation as life-threatening!) Padded out with yards and yards of stock newsreel footage, Headline Shooter is highlighted by the opening-scene appearance of humorist Robert Benchley, playing a radio announcer at a beauty contest who can't think of any descriptive phrase other than "feminine pulchritude." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Frances Dee, (more)
- 1933
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
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1932
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
- 1932
Though Spencer Tracy is top-billed in Young America, the film is by no means a star vehicle. Tommy Conlon and Raymond Borzage (the son of director Frank Borzage) play budding juvenile delinquents Arthur and Nutty. After their latest misdemeanor, the boys are paroled by Judge Blake (Ralph Bellamy) in the custody of Arthur's nasty aunt Mrs. Taylor (Sarah Padden), who treats them atrociously. When Arthur's grandma (Beryl Mercer) falls ill, the boys are unable to awaken pharmacist Jack Doray (Spencer Tracy) and are forced to break into Doray's drugstore to steal the necessary medicine. Touched by the boys' plight, Doray's wife Edith (Doris Kenyon) assumes custody of Arthur, who demonstrates his unbounded gratitude by rescuing the druggist from a gang of homicidal burglars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Doris Kenyon, (more)
- 1932
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
- Starring:
- Marian Nixon, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1932
To help her escape from Russia, British diplomat Deene Maxwell (Ralph Bellamy) marries Anita Mellikovna (Violet Heming), planning to annul the marriage later. However, she reveals she's already married -- to the insane Capristi (Alexander Kirkland), who escapes from an English asylum in order to force them into helping him flee to South America. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Violet Heming, Alexander Kirkland, (more)
- 1932
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
- Starring:
- Elissa Landi, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1932
In this romance a school marm takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to a crippled woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
- 1932
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
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1932
The troubled career of a luckless motorcycle cop provides the basis for this police drama. His difficulties begin when he arrests the woman his captain has been dating for speeding. Unfortunately, her father is one of the most powerful (and villainous) men in town. The cop's eagerness gets him promptly demoted. Angrily, he gets revenge by warning the local gangster of an impending raid. When his captain finds out, he punishes the cop by forcing him to lead that raid. In doing so, the young cop sees the captain's girl in cahoots with the crime boss. Helping her escape, the cop turns around and begins blackmailing her father. Time passes and eventually the gangster boss gets out of prison. He immediately heads out for revenge on the double-crossing copper by killing his nephew. Suddenly filled with guilty remorse, the cop decides to reform and so kills the crook, gives back the extortion money, and confesses his crime to the captain. In turn the captain rewards the repentant officer by restoring him to his previous status. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, Spencer Tracy, (more)
- 1931
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
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Leila Hyams, (more)
- 1931
The only thing magnificent about Magnificent Lie is its title. As usual, Ruth Chatterton plays a woman of variable morals, this time a seedy cafe entertainer. Ralph Bellamy costars as a recently blinded man, whose sole reason for living is his adulation of a famous French singing star. To boost the man's morale, Chatterton impersonates the star in his presence. They fall in love...but will it last once the ruse is revealed? Magnificent Lie features Charles Boyer in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Chatterton, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1931
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
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Johnny Mack Brown, (more)
- 1931
Though silent star John Gilbert's talking pictures were habitual money-losers, the stubborn actor insisted that MGM honor his $250,000-per-picture contract, signed just before talkies came on. West of Broadway wasn't a bad Gilbert vehicle by any means, but the star's previous failures worked against its success. Gilbert is cast as cynical millionaire Jerry, who, after being snubbed by his sweetheart Anne (Madge Evans), marries Dot (Lois Moran) on the rebound -- and while blind stinking drunk. Sobering up, Jerry treats Dot atrociously, letting her know that he's not in love with her. By the time he realizes that he is, she has had enough of his oafish behavior and has walked out on him. The scene then shifts to Jerry's Arizona ranch, where after much verbal dueling, the reluctant husband is tenderly reunited with his now-forgiving wife. El Brendel, borrowed from Fox Studios, enlivens the picture with his trademarked Swedish-dialect humor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, El Brendel, (more)
