Robert Stevenson Movies

The Battle is the English-language version of the French La Bataille; both versions starred Charles Boyer in one of his oddest screen roles. Adapted from a novel by Claude Farrere, the film casts Boyer as Marquis Yorisaka, a patriot Japanese nobleman in charge of a vast naval fleet. He strikes up a friendship with British navy officer Fergan (John Loder), in hopes of harvesting new information concerning maritime maneuvers. Yorisaka even goes so far as to push his own wife Marquise (Merle Oberon) into a romantic liaison with Fergan, even though this cruel deed will bring him disgrace as a Japanese gentleman. Even after emerging victorious from a naval battle, Yorisaka grimly realizes he's betrayed his own people through his disgraceful treatment of Marquise, leaving him with no other option but an honorable suicide. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, two rival reporters vie for the scoop on the whereabouts of a missing heiress. They find her in Switzerland. One of the journalists falls in love with her and saves her from marrying an aristocrat. His rival gets to write the story as a consolation prize. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This musical tells the love story of a manicurist and a night waiter who discover that they are sharing the same apartment. ~ All Movie Guide

This drama is set upon a floating platform, used for oil drilling, located in the Atlantic. The owners of a rival platform are desperate to destroy it. The film was originally made in German and titled F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this British musical, a shop assistant attempts to impress a girl by telling her that he is actually the manager. Unfortunately, when he is fired, he is also alone. Later he catches robbers trying to pillage the place. He is then rehired as the store manager for real. The girl comes back and he puts her in charge of the music department. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This romance, based on a surprisingly sophisticated story by Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne, teams up Herbert Marshall with his then-wife Edna Best. Best is Mary Price, deserted by her husband when he leaves England to seek his fortune during the Boer War in 1900. Destitute and desperate, she meets aspiring author Michael Rowe (Marshall) at a museum. Rowe offers to share what little money he has with her and soon a romance develops. They agree to marry, in hopes that her husband has disappeared for good. And, as the years pass, it seems like he has. Rowe becomes a successful and respected writer and he and Mary raise a son, David (Frank Lawton). On the night that David becomes engaged to pretty society girl Romo (Elizabeth Allan), however, Price (D.A. Clarke-Smith) reappears, and while the young couple is away, Rowe has a fight with Price, who dies at the scene from a heart attack. Michael and Mary are interrogated, but Scotland Yard never makes the connection between Price and Mary, and the investigators assume that Michael was merely protecting himself from an intruder. While the couple is off the hook legally, they feel it is morally necessary to come clean about their past in front of David and his fiancée. David is more than willing to forgive his parents their sins, and Romo stands by them, too. What could have been a tiresome subject is brought to life by the talent of all involved -- not only the actors, but also writers Angus MacPhail, Robert Stevenson, and Lajos Biro, who brought Milne's story to the screen. Stevenson, incidentally, would become one of Britain's most respected directors, and MacPhail would frequently work with Alfred Hitchcock -- though apparently not on The Man Who Knew Too Much, which gave Best one of her best screen roles. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Released in the U.S. as The Office Girl, Sunshine Susie is the English-language version of the German comedy hit Die Privatsekretarian. The charming Renate Muller repeats her role from the German version as Susie, the perky new stenographer for a stuffy Viennese banking firm. Here she falls in love with Arvay (Owen Nares), whom she assumes is a lowly clerk. In fact, Arvay is the bank's managing director, but he doesn't let on, fearful that Susie has a prejudice against wealthy men. Reviewers in 1931 were most impressed by the breezy comic performance of Jack Hulbert, who was hailed as a "new find," even though he'd been a stage favorite since 1916! Enlivening the proceedings are four songs, carried over from Die Privatesekretarian but "English-ized" by Paul Abraham and Desmond Carter. Sunshine Susie was distributed in the U.S. by RKO Radio Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide