Frank Strayer Movies
As a director of comedies with small budgets, Frank Strayer showed considerable talent. Beginning in the silent days, Strayer was considered a capable hand with second features. He directed, among many efforts, several horror films with comic overtones which featured such monster-movie stalwarts as Lionel Atwill and Dwight Frye; a Joe E. Brown vehicle. A graduate of Carnegie Tech and the Pennsylvania Military Academy, Frank Strayer saw service in the U.S. Navy during World War I as an ensign, and after the war joined Metro studios--later MGM--as an assistant director and sometime actor. He moved to Columbia Pictures during the '20s and carved out a successful career for himself in "B"-pictures (in fairness, Columbia only had one confirmed "A"-director in those years, Frank Capra), including the dozen or more entries in the Blondie movie series, starring Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake. Strayer also directed the "Blondie" star, Penny Singleton, in a musical, Go West, Young Lady, in 1938. Besides Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake, Strayer guided many comedy performers through their paces, including Mischa Auer, Willie Best, Gene Lockhart, Jonathan Hale, Esther Dale, William Frawley, Edgar Kennedy, and Mary Wickes. In later years, Strayer turned to religious themes, directing films with titles such as Messenger of Peace (1950), and The Sickle or the Cross (1951). He also directed one early-sound horror film that occasionally gets reshown to interested audiences, The Vampire Bat (1932). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Something of a sleeper in its 1990 release, White Hunter, Black Heart is one of Clint Eastwood's most engaging films. It is based on Peter Vietel's novel about the location shoot of John Huston's immortal The African Queen. But the focus is never on Bogie and Hepburn. Egomaniacal director John Wilson (Eastwood) is far more interested in killing an elephant than in making a movie. His old friend and scriptwriter Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey) and his producer, Paul Landers (George Dzundza), are on hand to try and talk him down from this pursuit. Eastwood's verbose, outlandish performance will be particularly remarkable to fans who tend to think of him as the soft-spoken tough guy. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
This romantic comedy is based on a true story that happened in California in 1944. Sonny Wisecarver (Patrick Dempsey) is 15 year old who has an affair with his older neighbor Judy (Talia Balsam). The two run off and get married, but a stern judge has the union annulled. Sonny is hauled before the same judge when he gets involved with another older woman (Beverly D'Angelo), and the publicity makes him the object of affection for millions of young women who believe Sonny has something special. Michael Constantine and Betty Jinnett play Sonny's concerned parents. Carl Reiner is the uncredited narrator, and the real-life Elliott "Sonny" Wisecarver has a cameo appearance as a mailman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Dempsey, Beverly D'Angelo, (more)
Woody Allen's gentle and nostalgic tribute to the glory days of radio and coming-of-age during World War II plays like Fellini's Amarcord filtered through Neil Simon. The nominal star is Seth Green as Joe, a teenage Jewish boy, growing up with a house full of relatives in Brooklyn. Allen cuts between Joe's working class neighborhood of Rockaway Beach, Queens, and the glittery and glamorous world of radio in Manhattan. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Seth Green, (more)
- 1986
- R
- Add Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling to QueueAdd Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling to top of Queue
Popular African-American comedian Jo Jo Dancer is severely burned while free-basing cocaine. Producer/director/writer Richard Pryor insists that the movie is not autobiographical. While hovering between life and death, Dancer flashes back to his childhood, when he grew up in a brothel. Producer/director/writer Richard Pryor insists that the movie is not autobiographical. Dancer decides to become a comic, but has a great many difficulties rising to stardom until he begins making scatological comments about race relations. Producer/director/writer Richard Pryor insists that the movie is not autobiographical. As he rises to fame, Jo Jo has problems controlling his drug addiction and womanizing. Producer/director/writer Richard Pryor insists.....Well, you've caught on by now. If one were able to excise the excruciatingly boring "introspection" scene, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling would stand as an excellent testimonial to Richard Pryor's cutting-edge comic brilliance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Pryor, Debbie Allen, (more)
- 1952
This ultra-low-budget melodrama once more warns us to be on guard against the Red Menace. Kent Taylor stars as an outwardly all-American type who is actually a Soviet agent. He insinuates himself into a small town, hoping to win converts to the hammer and sickle. Why, he even prattles on about something called civil rights! (gasp!) Fortunately, Taylor is saved from himself in the nick of time, and at film's end he has embraced the tenets of the Good Ol' USA. Gene Lockhart, Gloria Holden and David Bruce costar in this subtle-as-a-sledgehammer period piece. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Originally designed for church showings, Messenger of Peace was blown up from 16mm to 35mm and given a brief theatrical distribution early in 1950. Told in flashback, this is the inspirational story of Pastor Armin Ritter (John Beal), whose faith remains unshakable despite the most extreme forms of personal tragedy. Peggy Stewart co-stars as Ritter's ever-supportive wife, while Paul Guilfoyle has a plum role as an alcoholic who "sees the light." Though excessively hokey at times, the film scores on its obvious sincerity. Messenger of Peace was filmed by Roland Reed Productions, the same firm responsible for TV's religious weekly This is the Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Beal, Peggy Stewart, (more)
- 1949
Nelson Leigh assumes the role of Jesus Christ in this drama that depicts such historical events as the Sermon on the Mount and the Last Supper while portraying the period in which Christ roamed the countryside preaching the gospel. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nelson Leigh, Alden Chase, (more)
- 1946
Set at a major newspaper, this crime drama centers on a fellow who returns to newspaper reporting after he bombs as a playwright. Believing his grown son is in danger of marrying a gold digger, the paper's publisher assigns his new reporter to expose her. In order to do so, he cons the gal's maid into letting him into her apartment. There he hides a camera. Later that night, the gold digger is murdered there. Fortunately, the reporter's camera caught the killer in the act. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Gwynne, Robert Shayne, (more)
- 1945
A loose remake of the 1935 Charlie Ruggles-Mary Boland comedy of the same name, Mama Loves Papa stars Elisabeth Risdon in the title role. Thanks to the efforts of his social-climbing wife Jessie (Risdon), furniture store employee Wilbur Todd (Leon Errol) is tossed headfirst into the world of small-town politics. Sized up as a patsy by crooked politician Kirkwood (Edwin Maxwell), poor Wilbur is plied with champagne as part of Kirkwood's scheme to land a sweetheart playground-equipment contract. Awakening with a huge hangover and minus his trousers, Wilbur finds that he has inadvertently brought disgrace to everyone concerned, including his wife. Everything turns out all right, of course, but only when Jessie agrees to allow Wilbur to stay in his own backyard. The film is highlighted by Leon Errol's classic "rubber legs" routine, which was already familiar to aficionados of Errol's two-reel comedy escapades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Errol, Elizabeth Risdon, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, a young woman from a small town heads for New York where she hopes to become a famous singer. She has no idea that she is going to inherit millions; her relatives keep this a secret so that she will not be taken advantage of by a gigolo. They are wise, for soon she falls in love with an amiable but goofy singer who makes his living dubbing the singing voice of an aging singer. When the almost has-been singer learns of the girl's financial worth, he tries to break in on the happy couple. Fortunately he fails and their romance is only strengthened. Songs include: "Lonely Love" (Everett Carter, Ray Sinatra), "Lou Lou Louisiana" (Carter, Milton Rosen), "What a Change in the Weather" (Kim Gannon, Walter Kent), "These Hazy, Lazy Old Hills" and "All the Things I Wanna Say." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allan Jones, Bonita Granville, (more)
- 1943
Footlight Glamour is one of two "Blondie" series entries in which Blondie's name isn't included in the credits. Otherwise, the film adheres strictly to formula, with Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) getting into a mess and Dagwood's wife Blondie (Penny Singleton) getting him out of it. This time around, Dagwood's boss Dithers (Jonathan Hale) is hoping that wealthy tool manufacturer Randolph Wheeler (Thurston Hall) will be a war plant on some of Dithers' real estate. Wheeler's daughter Vicki (Ann Savage) wants to be an actress, but her father strongly opposes her pursuing a theatrical career. Trouble begins to brew when Vicki is cast in a community-theatre production written by Blondie, who is unaware of Wheeler's anti-showbiz stance. Poor Dagwood is forced to prevent Wheeler from seeing the play, leading to a slapsticky denouement on opening night. Many of the amateur-theatrical gags (props that don't work, actors who can't remember their lines) are straight out of George Kelly's The Torch Bearers, but they're just as funny the second time around. Particularly amusing is "Blondie" regular Irving Bacon (Mr. Crum the Postman) ineptly portraying a British butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1943
When the profits of their various film series began slumping in the mid-1940s, Columbia Pictures tried to broaden the appeal of these films by disguing the fact that they were indeed series entries. Thus it was that Columbia's 12th "Blondie" picture was shipped out as It's a Great Life. The comic confusion begins when Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake), intending to buy a house, buys a horse instead. Before the film's 75 minutes have run their course, Dagwood gets mixed up in a fox hunt. But Blondie (Penny Singleton) saves the day as usual, with the help of eccentric millionaire Timothy Brewster (Hugh Herbert). After It's a Great Life and Footlight Glamour, Columbia restored the name "Blondie" to the titles of all subesequent installments in this long-running comedy series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1942
Anxious to do her bit for the war effort, Blondie (Penny Singleton) joins the Housewives of America, a home defense league. Husband Dagwood (Arthur Lake) soon finds that Blondie is neglecting her responsibilities at home in favor of her war work; also disgruntled are Dagwood's chauvinistic boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) and a newlywed husband (Stu Erwin) whose wife is never home thanks to the defense league. Following a slapstick denouement at a power plant, in which the husbands are shown the error of their macho attitude, Blondie promises to devote more time to Dagwood--but at the same time delivers a patriotic speech to the women in the audience, exhorting them to align with the "Home Front". Blondie for Victory was twelfth in Columbia's series of comedy films based on Chic Young's popular comic strip Blondie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1942
One of the most fondly remembered of the "Blondie" series entries, Blondie Goes to College is predicated on the notion that Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) must receive a college diploma or lose his job with the Dithers Construction Company. Not wishing to be separated from her husband, Blondie (Penny Singleton) enrolls in college as well-but the rules stipulate "no married couples", forcing our hero and heroine to pretend that they're not married. This causes quite a dilemma when coed Laura Wadsworth (Janet Blair) begins flirting with Dagwood and B.M.O.C. Rusty Bryant (Larry Parks) does same with Blondie. Making things worse-Blondie is expecting another child (who will make her first appearance in the next installment, Blondie's Blessed Event), but she daren't tell anyone lest both she and Dag be expelled. The student body at this particular seat of learning is comprised of quite a few familiar faces (most well past college age), including Lloyd Bridges, Sid Melton, and Adele Mara. The biggest laughs in Blondie Goes to College are garnered by famed double-talk expert Al Kelly, playing an uncredited cameo as a tangle-tongued professor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1942
An historical entry in Columbia's Blondie series, Blondie's Blessed Event recreates the moment in Chic Young's original comic strip wherein Blondie and Dagwood were blessed with baby daughter Cookie. The first portion of the film involves the tribulations of Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) as he tries to take his wife Blondie (Penny Singleton) and his new daughter (Norma Jean Wayne) home from the hospital. The bulk of the story concerns a get-rich-quick scheme involving Dagwood and an eccentric artist (Hans Conried). There's also a few frantic moments at a convention where Dagwood embarrasses his boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale). The eleventh of Columbia's "Blondie" B-pictures, Blondie's Blessed Event is one of the best of the batch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1942
In this war comedy, an army reject becomes a war hero by rounding up a ring of Nazi spies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1941
Blondie in Society is another delightful excursion into comic insanity for Blondie (Penny Singleton), Dagwood (Arthur Lake) and Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms). The trouble begins when Dagwood brings home a huge Great Dane as a favor to an old friend. It turns out that the gigantic hound is a pedigree, and that Waldo Pincus (William Frawley), an important client of Dag's boss Mr. Bumstead (Jonathan Hale) would like to buy the dog. Alas, Blondie has already entered her new pet in a dog show, ultimately winning a $500 prize and beating out the previous champion-which, of course, belongs to Mr. Pincus. On the verge of losing his job, Dagwood is rescued one more by the resourceful Blondie, with the help of irascible veterinarian Edgar Kennedy. Like the previous Blondie Goes Latin, Blondie In Society affords Penny Singleton the opportunity to display her musical skills, as she sings two songs with the Mitchell Boys' Choir. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1941
A sequel to the zany backstage comedy Curtain Call, RKO Radio's Footlight Fever once again stars Alan Mowbray and Donald MacBride as fly-by-night theatrical producers Avery and Crandall. This time, our heroes try to weasel money out of a potential backer, spinsterish millionaire Hattie (Elisabeth Risdon). Part of the scheme requires Avery and Crandall to pose as the seafaring buddies of Hattie's long-lost fiance, leading to the usual complications when said fiance finally shows up. The romantic leads in this one are played by Elyse Knox, later the mother of actor Mark Harmon, and Lee Bonnell, later the producer-husband of Gale Storm. Posting a $40,000 loss, Footlight Fever effectively ended RKO's burgeoning Mowbray-MacBride comedy series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Mowbray, Donald MacBride, (more)
- 1941
Taking a vacation from her "Blondie" movies, Penny Singleton plays an Eastern girl who follows Horace Greeley's advice and heads westward. She arrives in a flea-bitten frontier town where Marshal Glenn Ford is trying to rid the community of the vicious Pecos Pete. Singleton vies with saloon gal Ann Miller over Glenn Ford's affections, and along the way both actresses perform a few musical numbers. In the end, Singleton helps Ford lasso the villain. Go West, Young Lady takes great pains to avoid originality, especially in a knock-down, drag-out fight scene between Penny Singleton and Ann Miller which was clearly inspired by the Marlene Dietrich-Una Merkel battle in Destry Rides Again (39). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Glenn Ford, (more)
- 1941
Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) is invited by his boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) to accompany Dithers on an ocean cruise to South America. Dagwood's whole family comes along, including wife Blondie (Penny Singleton), son Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) and Daisy the dog and her pups. Just before sailing, Dagwood is compelled to stay behind and watch over Dithers' business. Determined to rejoin his family, Dagwood dresses up in drag and joins the ship's all-girl orchestra. The ruse continues all the way to South America, where Dagwood must fume while Blondie is serenaded by dashing Tito Guizar. Blondie Goes Latin is the eighth in the Columbia series based on the comic strip by Chic Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1940
Few of Columbia's "Blondie" films went as far off the beaten path as the bizarre Blondie Has Servant Trouble. Things get under way when Blondie Bumstead (Penny Singleton) demands that her husband Dagwood (Arthur Lake) request a raise from his boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale), so that Blondie can afford to hire a maid. But Dithers has no time for any salary disputes: his construction firm is currently stuck with an unsaleable old mansion, which is rumored to be haunted. To disprove this theory, Dithers asks the Bumstead family to spend a night in the crumbling old house, throwing a retinue of servants into the bargain. Unfortunately, the mansion's butler is waylaid and replaced by homicidal maniac Vaughn (Arthur Hohl), who spends the rest of the picture stalking Dagwood, Blondie and Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) with a huge, gleaming knife at the ready! Placing the lovable Bumsteads in dire jeopardy worked rather well in Blondie Has Servant Trouble, but it's just as well that this formula was not repeated too often, as it was in Columbia's Three Stooges and Hugh Herbert 2-reel comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1940
The Bumstead family-Blondie (Penny Singleton), Dagwood (Arthur Lake) and Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms)-embark on a long-delayed vacation in this series entry. While en route to their out-of-town relatives, the Bumsteads are forced to make an emergency stopover in a small town, where they get mixed up in an elopement. By the time Dagwood is through offering his well-intentioned assistance, the elopers are on the verge of a breakup, but Blondie (per the film's title) manages to smooth things out. Blondie Plays Cupid is distinguished by the appearance of Glenn Ford as flustered groom-to-be Charlie (the bride-to-be is Columbia contractee Luana Walters, who later played the title character's mother in the 1948 serial The Adventures of Superman). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1940
This is the celebrated Blondie episode that costars Rita Hayworth, who in 1940 was still just another Columbia contract actress. Hayworth plays an old flame of Dagwood Bumstead's (Arthur Lake), who moves into the Bumstead household when wife Blondie (Penny Singleton) advertises for a boarder. Blondie (Penny Singleton) tries to be civil when she meets Rita, but her true feelings are manifested in a superimposed montage of explosions and gunshots. Innocently caught in a compromising position with Hayworth at a local movie house, Dagwood is shown the door by the heartbroken Blondie. All misunderstandings are swept away by fadeout time in this fifth installment in Columbia's Blondie series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1939
Columbia's new "Blondie" series continued its winning streak with its fourth entry, Blondie Brings Up Baby. So much happens within the film's 67 minutes that it's best to boil things down to the central storyline. Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms), the six-year-old son of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead (Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake) disappears from sight during his first day at school. While Dagwood frantically combs the city in search of the boy, Baby Dumpling spents a nice, safe afternoon with poor little rich girl Melinda Mason (Peggy Ann Garner), who with her new playmate's help arises from her sickbed to walk across the room for the first time in months. Other plot threads include Dagwood's disastrous confrontation with an important business client (Robert Middlemass), and Daisy the Dog's ongoing battle of wits with the local dog-catcher. Like many of the "Blondie" films, Blondie Brings Up Baby serves as a showcase for young talent on the way up: Robert Sterling is seen as one of Dagwood's office buddies, while Bruce Bennett plays a uniformed chauffeur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
