Herbert Wilcox Movies
One of England's top producer-directors from the '20s until World War II, Herbert Wilcox was born in Ireland and worked as a journalist before serving as a flyer with the British during World War I. He entered the movie business as a distributor in 1919, and three years later began producing movies. Wilcox was one of the few producers in England during the '20s with a Hollywood-style flair for showmanship, and occasionally imported American stars such as Dorothy Gish for his films. He made his greatest single contribution to films in 1926 by founding Elstree Studios, which remained a major production facility right into the '80s. As a producer, he had no peer during the '20s, and was rivalled in the '30s only by Sir Alexander Korda. Korda quickly succeeded in international production on a scale that Wilcox found hard to top, but in England, Wilcox remained a major figure, especially in connection with the movies he directed and produced for actress Anna Neagle, his future wife. Sixty Glorious Years (1939) was a groundbreaking film, as a dramatization of the life of a British monarch. He went to Hollywood in the wake of the latter movie, but was not able to repeat its success, and returned to England, where he was never able to repeat his pre-war success, although he did co-produce one superb film, The Beggar's Opera (1954), starring Laurence Olivier and directed by Peter Brook. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1937
In this British comedy, the last in the "Splinter" series, an inventor designs a helicopter. He is then mistaken for his twin brother and accidentally drafted into the RAF. It is difficult and it looks as if the hapless inventor is going to have nothing but trouble until he uses his invention to save his CO's wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
In this British comedy, a millionaire deals with his wild son by cutting him off the family dole. To regain his father's trust, respect, and fortune, the errant son masquerades as a composer. Unfortunately, his father's rival presents an obstacle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Comic actor Sydney Howard stars as obsequious department-store floorwalker Oswald Bertwhistle. Our hero's life is significantly altered when he wins a contest and is whisked off for a movie screen-test. With visions of stardom dancing in his head, Bertwhistle is riding for a fall, but not before he and his old cronies lay waste to a film studio. Most of the sight gags and one-liners in Fame were old even in 1936, but they earned loud laughter all the same. It's perhaps superfluous to add that the 1980 MGM drama Fame is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sydney Howard, Muriel Aked, (more)
- 1936
The Three Maxims are trapeze artists Pat (Anna Neagle), Toni (Tuilio Carminati) and Mac (Leslie Banks). After spending most of their careers in the small time, the threesome finally get their big chance in Paris, at which point Mac realizes he's in love with Pat. Too shy to propose, he asks Toni to do it for him. But it's "Miles Standish" time, since Pat has been crazy about Toni all along. When Mac finds this out, he threatens to kill Toni, whereupon a nervous Pat agrees to marry him. Finally Mac wises up, removing himself from the picture to allow nature -- and true romance -- to take its course. Three Maxims was released in the U.S. as The Show Goes On. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Tullio Carminatti, (more)
- 1936
This period drama is based on the relationship between 18th-century British stage stars Peg Woffington and David Garrick. The story begins as Woffington leaves Dublin to be with her lover who is an aspiring actor. Unfortunately, by the time she arrives, he has found another, causing her to try her hand at acting which in turn gives her the chance to meet Garrick, a popular actor who becomes her mentor. Under his expert tutelage, she becomes a famous actress at the Drury Lane Theatre where they eventually fall in love. Unfortunately, Woffington has a weak heart and during a performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It collapses and dies soon afterward. Actually, Peg Woffington lived three years beyond the attack, but that isn't nearly as dramatic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1936
Adapted from a popular West End stage musical, This'll Make You Whistle has been refashioned as a suitable vehicle for Jack Buchanan. Surprisingly, all of the music has been excised from the film version, denying Buchanan the opportunity to display his considerable singing and dancing skills. No matter: the star is in fine fettle, cast as a playboy who's trying to ditch the blue-nosed guardian of his fiancee (Bobbie Rivers). Somehow this requires our hero to pose as a notorious forger, a masquerade he pulls off all too well. This'll Make You Whistle takes place on the French Riviera, which looks suspiciously like a British seaside resort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph, (more)
- 1935
Alice Duer Miller's 1921 play Come out of the Kitchen was filmed during the silent era with Marguerite Clark, then musicalized (and Americanized) by Paramount in 1930 as Honey with Nancy Carroll. A second musical version, with brand-new songs, surfaced five years later as Come Out of the Pantry. Flat broke thanks to a series of bad business decisions, Lord Robert Brent (Jack Buchanan) wanders through New York's Central Park, wondering where his next meal is coming from. Here he meets his former butler Eccles (Ronald Squire), who suggests that Lord Brent take a footman's job at the home of millionaire Mr. Beach-Howard (James Carew). This he does, and it isn't long before Lord B. falls in love with Beach-Howard's gorgeous niece Hilda (Fay Wray). The winning Jack Buchanan-Fay Wray combination, which contributed so much to the 1935 comedy thriller Bulldog Jack, is equally effective in this more sentimental effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1935
Anna Neagle is every other inch a lady in the frolicsome costume epic Nell Gwyn. The star is of course cast as the title character, the lusty orange vendor-turned-actress who becomes the "great and good friend" of merry monarch King Charles II (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). This is not to the liking of the King's current favorite, the Duchess of Portsmouth (Jeanne De Casalis), who wastes no time plotting Nell Gwyn's downfall -- only to be banished from court herself. Meanwhile, essayist Samuel Pepys (Esme Percy), the Walter Winchell of his day, records every aspect of the scandalous romance between Nell and the King in colorful detail. Perhaps as a balm to the censors, the story is told in flashback form from the point of view of an aging, dissipated Nell, who has come to learn the terrible price of living life too fully. Despite this cautionary framing device, the film was never meant to be taken seriously: in the opening titles, the screenplay is credited to Miles Malleson, "in collaboration with King Charles II, Samuel Pepys and Nell Gwyn." The film was produced by Anna Neagle's future husband Herbert Wilcox, who'd made a silent version of the same story with Dorothy Gish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1935
Brewster's Millions was the fourth film version (and first talkie adaptation) of the war-horse Winchell Smith/Byron Ongley play. This being a British film, it's only logical that popular British musical comedy star Jack Buchanan should portray hero Jack Brewster. Once more, Brewster will inherit his uncle's huge estate only if he's able to spend one million pounds within two months. Our hero invests in several "lost cause" stocks and businesses, only to suffer as each one of his investments makes money. A last-act surprise enables Brewster to come out on top--and to claim as his bride the lovely Nancy O'Neil, who would love him even if he were broke. Brewster's Millions would be remade three more times over the next five decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Lili Damita, (more)
- 1935
In this musical, set in the mythical country of Ruritania, a princess finds herself exiled by revolutionaries before she can ascend her rightful throne. She returns and takes over as soon as the revolution fails; soon she and the former leader fall in love, marry, and form a democratic monarchy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Blacksmith Howard turns to a career of soccer in this comedy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1935
Margaret Kennedy, whose novel The Constant Nymph dealt with a musician's love for a pretty young gamin, penned a variation of the same concept in Escape Me Never. Elizabeth Bergner stars as an unwed mother, who is befriended by impoverished composer Hugh Sinclair. He marries her out of pity, but his heart belongs to Penelope Dudley Ward, the wife of his brother. Sinclair is shaken out of his infidelity when his own wife's baby dies. This popular British version of Escape Me Never was remade by Warner Bros. in 1946, which though not as well cast (Ida Lupino is not a fair exchange for Elizabeth Bergner) boasts a superb musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold--who'd also scored Warners' filmization of Margaret Kennedy's Constant Nymph. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elisabeth Bergner, Hugh Sinclair, (more)
- 1934
A winning lottery ticket is left in an antique desk which was recently sold and the rightful owner spends the remainder of the film chasing after the desk. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
In this drama, a prominent playwright and thespian prides himself on his ability to take any woman and turn them into excellent actresses. He discovers a Russian girl whom he falls in love with. He convinces her to marry him, but when she meets his friend, she falls for him instead and leaves the marriage. It has been suggested that the film was based on the career of French playwright Sacha Guitry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cedric Hardwicke, Marie Glory, (more)
- 1934
College students Baxter and Underdown fall in love and are harassed by gym teacher Howard who wants to break up their relationship to the extent of pretending to be the school's headmistress in this comedy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
No relation to the 1963 Sidney Poitier film of the same name, the 1934 British feature Lilies of the Field is based on an oft-filmed play by John Hastings Turner. Winifred Shotter and Judy Gunn star as Betty and Kitty Beverley, rivals for the affections of handsome Guy Mallory (Anthony Bushell). Rejecting the notion that Guy is interested only in "modern" women, Betty elects to go the prim-and-proper route. To absolutely no one's surprise, she wins her man in the last reel. Lilies of the Field was distributed stateside by United Artists (who ironically also released the much-later Poitier film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winifred Shotter, Anthony Bushell, (more)
- 1934
The venerable Warwick Deeping story Sorrell and Son was dusted off again for this 1934 screen incarnation. Repeating his role from the 1927 film version, H.B. Warner plays Captain Stephen Sorrell, a WW I hero reduced to scrubbing floors in a hotel. This he does for the sake of his beloved son Kit (Hugh Williams), who thanks to his father's sacrifices becomes a successful surgeon. The film's emotional undercurrents boil over in the climax, when Kit must decide whether or not to put his father out of his misery when the old man is stricken with a fatal disease. The most memorable characterization is delivered by Wally Patch as a sadistic bellboy, whose bullying of Sorrell senior literally makes the flesh creep. Featured in a minor role is Louis Hayward, just before embarking upon his Hollywood career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- H.B. Warner, Peter Penrose, (more)
- 1934
No relation to the 1968 John Cassavetes film of the same name, the 1934 Faces is a compact British romantic melodrama. Anna Lee plays a beautician who harbors dreams of wealth and luxury. She becomes the mistress of a millionaire, leaving her poor-but-true boyfriend Harold French in the lurch. Lee quickly changes her ways when she befriends the amiable wife of her wealthy "protector". Faces was adapted from a play by Patrick Ludlow and Walter Soames; the latter appears in the film as the philandering millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
In this frothy farce, the personal secretary to a boorish lord finds himself in romantic trouble after he falls in love with his employer's niece. Because he cannot afford to marry her, he decides to steal his master's prize porker. Later he "finds" the missing pig and returns it in hopes of currying the favor of his boss. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winifred Shotter, Dorothy Bouchier, (more)
- 1933
In this drama, a gambler takes a bet and marries a strong-willed showgirl. Sometime after the wedding, the two fall in love, but then she decides to divorce him and go back to dancing. The broken hearted fellow decides to kill himself, but he wants to make it look like an accident so that she will be able to collect the insurance. Fortunately, she goes back to him before it is too late. Happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Benita Hume, (more)
- 1933
A feisty Irish lad leaves his home village to find fortune in bustling London. Things start off well when he lands a good job working as the partner of a wealthy young nobleman in his new company. The young Irishman got the job after helping the inebriated aristocrat out of a scuffle with an irate cabby. The lad does quite well and helps make the company successful. But his dreams turn to nightmares one day when his master falsely accuses him of rigging the books and embezzling. The young lord does this to conceal the fact that he has squandered the company's money on gambling and carousing. Because the Irish youth has fallen in love with the lord's sister and wants to protect her family's reputation, he takes the fall and goes to prison. Later the nobleman's guilty conscience prompts him to tell the truth before he commits suicide. Happiness ensues when the youth and the sister finally marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1933
This British musical comedy is based on a German play and tells the story of Nicholas Baumann, an ambitious representative of a US company who plies his trade in his native Vienna. When he learns that his American employer, Mr. Brown, is coming to Vienna, Baumann hopes that he will become a partner in the successful company. Just before he comes, Baumann and his wife have a big fight and she leaves him. He then recruits his secretary, Anne Weber, to pose as his wife. Naturally, that is a big mistake and mayhem ensues. In the end, the secretary ends up in the arms of the American while Baumann becomes the new partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Hartley Power, (more)
- 1933
In this domestic comedy, a married couple gets a divorce and goes their separate ways. Several years pass and they run into each other. It doesn't take long before their love rekindles and they decide to marry again. It's about that time they discover that their divorce was never finalized. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
