Charles G. Clarke Movies

It Happened in Flatbush is a likable baseball comedy inspired by the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers' pennant win. Lloyd Nolan portrays an ace ballplayer who was disgraced while still in college and is only able to secure work as a team manager. He takes charge of an unnamed Brooklyn team and whips in into a World Series contender. The players resent Nolan's drill-sergeant tactics, and when Nolan falls in love with the pretty owner of the team (Carole Landis), the players use this as an excuse to circulate a petition demanding Nolan's ouster. The manager pays no attention to the petition and leads his team to a league pennant, finding time along the way to help out a trouble-prone young ballplayer (George Holmes) on the verge of throwing away his career. Bolstered by film clips of actual Dodgers games (including one in which an anxious fan jumps out of the stands and attacks the umpire), It Happened in Flatbush is an enjoyable second-feature effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Thru Different Eyes is a remake of the 1929 film of the same name. The original was hailed for its creative use of sound and subjective photography; the remake is a standard crime melodrama, elevated slightly by an engaging narrative gimick. In trying to explain how the American judicial system works, district attorney Steve Pettijohn (Frank Craven) harks back to a murder conviction predicated upon circumstantial evidence. Going over the testimony of the witnesses, it was discovered that each account was incorrect in one respect or another. By piecing together all the accounts, it was possible to exonerate the suspect and reveal the guilty party. The story's "prismatic" approach was similar to that adopted by Citizen Kane, which would continue to influence American filmmaking for the rest of the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This back-stage romantic comedy pokes fun at Hollywood cowboys as it tells the story of a champion rodeo rider who is contracted to work in a series of low-budget westerns. He has rootin' tootin' fun until he meets a spoiled, volatile actress. He decides to personally take responsibility for "gentling" this tempestuous mare and that is when all the fun begins. Unfortunately, she is not easily broken, he gets fed up and returns to being a real cowboy. Fortunately, by that time, the gal has developed a few feelings for him and decides to go with him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Marjorie Weaver, frequently cast as the "Girl Friday" in 20th Century-Fox's Michael Shayne pictures, is permitted to solve a mystery on her own in Murder Among Friends. Weaver plays Mary Lou, an insurance agent who smells a rat when several elderly men, all beneficiaries to a "Tontine" insurance policy taken out by one of them years earlier, die under suspicious circumstances. Accompanied by her doctor boyfriend Tom Wilson (John Hubbard), she rushes from one policy holder to another in hopes of stemming the killing spree. Through the process of elimination-elimination of the beneficiaries, that is-Mary Lou finally figures out who's responsible for the skullduggery. Featured in the cast as Dr. Wilson's neglected fiancee is New York debutante Cobina Wright Jr., who'd later be cast as a murder victim herself in Fox's Charlie Chan in Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this B- romance, an innocent young man endeavors to find his fortune in the Big Apple and ends up finding a dog instead. Fortunately, the furry fellow belongs to a successful businessman's daughter who convinces her daddy into giving the newcomer a job. When the earnest young man discovers errors in company files, he tells the boss, gets a promotion and a fiancee-- the boss's daughter, of course. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this sentimental drama, a real estate executive tires of his privileged life working for his wealthy father-in-law and decides to leave his job and family to become a WPA ditch digger. While laboring, he meets a lovely immigrant, with whom he falls in love. He then begins working to help the residents of a slum better their lives. He even manages to convince his wife's father to help him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ubiquitous 20th Century-Fox contractee Lynn Bari is the heroine of The Perfect Snob. Carefully raised by her social-climbing mother Martha (Charlotte Greenwood) to seek out a millionaire husband, debutante Chris Mason (Bari) throws herself at wealthy Freddie Browning (Alan Mowbray) during a Hawaiian vacation. But Chris secretly intends to follow the advise of her doctor father (Charles Ruggles) and marry for love rather than money. In this spirit, she pledges her troth to the handsome but apparently impoverished Mike Lord (Cornel Wilde). Much to everyone's surprise and delight, Mike turns out to be the owner of a thriving sugar plantation! Still several years removed from film stardom, Anthony Quinn goes through the "other man"paces generally reserved for Ralph Bellamy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The physically challenged bride of the title is played by Lynne Roberts, but it's reporter Ted North who's the film's true central character. Low man on the newspaper totem pole, North gets a chance to scoop everyone in town when he witnesses a bank robbery. Rather than file his story, North tracks down the crooks himself, infiltrates their gang, and helps deliver them to the cops. The whole megillah is over in a brisk 55 minutes. Incidentally, Lynne Roberts has two perfectly good legs (does she ever!) during most of the proceedings, despite the title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This domestic comedy is the final episode of the 17-film "Jones Family" series. The story begins as restless Father decides to leave the simplicity of small-town life for the sophistication and excitement of the city, so he sells the family drugstore and moves his family to the Big Apple. Soon they find themselves surrounded by con men, and sleazy women trying to steal everything they own. Mayhem ensues until they decide they've had enough and hightail it for the safety of home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A sequel of sorts to 1938's Meet the Girls, Pardon Our Nerve stars as Lynn Bari and June Gale (replacing June Lang) as intrepid chorus girls Terry Wilson and Judy Davis. Unable to find any showbiz work, our heroines take jobs with a dating service. Before getting fired as usual, Terry and Judy overhear a telephone conversation wherein society matron requests the services of a prizefighter for a novelty party. The girls talk a dimwitted waiter named Samson Smith (Guinn Williams) into posing as a pugilist, leading to a successful career in the boxing ring-at least until the authorities find out that they've been flummoxed by Terry and Judy. Chester Clute has a good comedy part as a hapless bill-collector who invests his life savings in Samson's ill-fated career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Mexican version of the popular southwestern series, Cisco barely escapes the deadly bullets of a firing squad. He later meets a lovely señorita and falls in love, but before he can dally romantically, he must first help her and her papa get back the money they were bilked out of. More trouble ensues when the woman's old lover reappears and she would rather be with him. to take care of that, Cisco sends the man on a suicidal assignment. Fortunately, he changes his mind, captures the crooks himself, saves the man, and rides away. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide