Astrid Allwyn Movies

This drama, made while New York mayor Jimmy Walker was still being reviled by newspapers for similar actions, follows a big-city mayor who loves sports, the theater, the night life, and a beautiful actress. When the press gets a hold of this information and a scandal ensues, he has the actress marry his writer friend to get the media off his back. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Rian James, Hat Check Girl stars Sally Eilers as the title character, a pert little number named Gerry Marsh. Despite her lowly station in life, Gerry manages to fall in love with millionaire playboy Buster Collins (Ben Lyon). The fly in the ointment is blackmailing newspaper columnist Tod Reese (Monroe Owsley), who is killed by one of his many victims. Since Buster had been targeted for persecution by Reese, he finds himself the leading suspect, obliging Gerry to play detective to solve the mystery. Ginger Rogers, still a year or so removed from full stardom, steals the show as Gerry's wise-lipped best friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love turns into an unhealthy obsession in this offbeat drama. Millie (Zasu Pitts) and Peggy (Boots Mallory) are two friends who leave behind the small town where they were raised to try their luck in New York City. Before long, Millie and Peggy meet Jimmy (James Dunn) and Mac (Terrance Ray); Millie is immediately attracted to Jimmy, but much to her displeasure she learns he's more interested in Peggy. Determined to have Jimmy as her own, Millie attempts to sew discord between Jimmy and Peggy by telling each of them foul lies about the other; when this fails, Millie becomes desperate and attempts to kill herself as an attention-getting device. The production history of Hello, Sister! was in many ways more interesting than the film itself. Originally titled Walking Down Broadway, the film was the first sound picture from the legendary Erich von Stroheim; hoping to mend the reputation as an egocentric spendthrift he acquired while directing epic-scale silent films, von Stroheim managed to bring in Walking Down Broadway on time and on budget. However, executives at 20th Century Fox were a bit puzzled by the film, which originally had a sub-plot suggesting a lesbian relationship between Millie and Peggy and other sexual undercurrents which were quite daring for the time. Uncertain about audience reactions to the movie, Fox brought in the less-than-distinguished Alfred Werker to re-shoot and re-edit von Stroheim's urban melodrama, and the resulting picture, entitled Hello, Sister!, was released without an on-screen directorial credit, and died a quick and little noticed death at the box office. No print of von Stroheim's original cut is known to exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this grim drama, a conniving young man is brought up on charges of reckless driving. To "prove" his innocence and good character, he goes to a nursing home and adopts an old woman whom he presents as his loving mother. Unfortunately for him, she really gets into her role and when he falls in love with a seductive, shady lady, the old lady does all she can to protect him from her; this includes getting him tossed in jail and shooting the young trollop. Afterward, the old lady must stand trial. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, policemen pursue a convicted killer as he diligently searches for the real culprit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Inasmuch as the film was based on a novel by Swedish author Sigrid Boo, Fox's Servant's Entrance is logically set in Sweden. Heiress Hedda Nillson (Janet Gaynor) certain that her family is about to lose all its money, takes a job as a maid. After the usual trials and tribulations, Hedda falls in love with humble chauffeur Eric Landstrom (Lew Ayres). When it turns out she's not going to go broke after all, Hedda despairs, believing that she will be forced to give Eric up -- but of course nothing like that ever happens. The highlight of Servant's Entrance is an animated nightmare sequence, courtesy of Walt Disney studios, wherein poor Hedda is "attacked" by a barrage of anthropomorphic pots and pans (Disney's previous contribution to Fox Studios was a futuristic television sequence in the 1933 Lilian Harvey vehicle My Lips Betray). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A rather nifty little science fiction-thriller/murder mystery from Poverty Row company Monogram, Mystery Liner was based on a Saturday Evening Post story by British pulp writer Edgar Wallace. Noah Beery starred as John Holling, the captain of an ocean liner equipped with a powerful scientific gadget, the S-505, capable of steering the vessel by remote control. The captain is taken unaccountably ill and replaced by First Mate Downey (Boothe Howard), who might or might not have poisoned him to get the job in the first place. But then the inventor of the S-505 (Ralph Lewis) is found strangled and all hell breaks loose. During the voyage, Downey suffers the same fate as the professor and foreign agents attempt to sabotage the steering device. The liner is virtually overrun with murder suspects -- from a mysterious foreigner (Gustav von Seyffertitz) to a cantankerous elderly passenger (Zeffie Tilbury) -- and the sudden reappearance of Captain Holling complicates matters to no end for the detective in charge (Edwin Maxwell). The culprit, needless to say, proves to be the least likely among the suspects although director William Nigh and screenwriter Wellyn Totman tip their hands a little too early. Typical low-budget fare, Mystery Liner is nevertheless well photographed by Archie Stout and for the most part capably acted. Astrid Allwyn (billed, for some reason, "Astrid Allyn") and mustachioed Cornelius Keefe, often seen as society snobs or outright villains, are pleasantly cast against type as the ship's nurse and second mate, respectively. A clean-shaven George "Gabby" Hayes lurks about in the background as the ship's watchman and British character actor Olaf Hytten pulls various scientific-looking levers and knobs as the professor's harried assistant. Top-billed Noah Beery has only two scenes and his casting seems to have been for name recognition only. Amazingly, despite its overall look of poverty, Mystery Liner was entered as a feature attraction at the 1934 International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art in Venice, Italy, the forerunner of the Venice Film Festival. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A serial-like pace and some stylish directorial choices by Gordon Wiles distinguish this "Charlie Chan" entry. The reading of a will is delayed until one of the principal heirs to the fortune, can be located. He shows up at the family mansion, only to be promptly murdered. It is now up to detective Charlie Chan (Warner Oland), an old friend of the family, to protect dowager Henrietta Lowell (Henrietta Crossman), from harm. Alas, Chan apparently fails, and Henrietta falls victim to the mysterious killer -- or does she? The suspect roster includes a pair of phony mystics, an ill-tempered caretaker and a stock swindler -- but it's the least-likely suspect who proves to be the guilty party, one of several of the many surprises packed into the final reel. The appealing heroine in Charlie Chan's Secret is played by Rosina Lawrence, who later gained lasting fame as the schoolteacher in Hal Roach's Our Gang one-reelers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After nearly a decade of nominal "leading lady" roles, Carole Lombard landed her first genuine starring vehicle with Hands Across the Table. Reasoning that the way to a man's heart is through his cuticles, Regi Allen (Carole Lombard) takes a job as a manicurist at a fancy barbershop, unabashedly admitting that she hopes to use this position to snag a rich husband. Sure enough, Regi's charms prove irresistable to Allen Macklyn (Ralph Bellamy) a wealthy and charming invalid, who knows that the girl is a golddigger but doesn't care. The other man in Regi's life is Theodore "Ted" Drew III (Fred MacMurray), who though born into a wealthy family is stone broke, and on the verge of marrying a rich debutante (Astrid Allwyn) to replenish his lost fortune. Hoping to briefly escape this fate and his other financial problems, Theodore hides out in Regi's apartment. It is, of course, a platonic relationship: Having been burned in the past, Regi doesn't want to get romantically entangled with a pauper, while Ted is already promised to someone else. But, as is often the case in 1930s comedies, things don't quite turn out the way that either Regi or Ted expect. Full of delightful, unexpected touches, Hands Across the Table proved to be a major boost for Carole Lombard's career, and didn't exactly do any harm to up-and-coming Fred MacMurray either. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This tragic melodrama is a remake of Griffith's 1920 film, Way Down East. The story centers upon a starving, impoverished gamin who lost everything after a wicked millionaire tricked her into a marriage and impregnated her. The baby doesn't survive the ordeal and the poor girl ends up sheltered by a puritanical farm family. While there, she falls in love with the son. Unfortunately, as soon as they learn of her checkered past, the woman is tossed out. The distraught young woman is trying to cross a frozen river when a sudden thaw strikes, stranding her upon the treacherous floes. As they drift inexorably towards a deadly waterfall, her lover tries to save her. Unfortunately he cannot, and as the film ends, she is seen tumbling over the falls to certain doom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This lavish Shirley Temple starrer is set in New York, sometime in the 1850s. While lovable pickpocket "Professor" Eustace Appleby works the crowd, his talented granddaughter Dimples (Temple) dances for pennies. Dimples demands that Appleby stop his thieving ways, but every time he tries to follow the straight and narrow, he comes out the loser (most memorably when he's hoodwinked by a dapper con man played by John Carradine). While Dimples entertains at the home of society matron Mrs. Caroline Drew (Helen Westley), Appleby pilfers several valuable objects. This time he's caught with the goods, but Dimples gallantly takes the blame. Touched by this, Mrs. Drew adopts the little girl, enabling her to find success on the legitimate stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stranded in Shanghai, orphaned Ching-Ching (Shirley Temple), the ward of Chinese missionaries, is rescued from harm by playboy Tommy Randall (Robert Young). Through a series of unbelievable but entertaining circumstances, Ching-Ching inadvertently stows away on a boat bound for San Francisco, which happens to include Tommy on the passenger list. During the long voyage, our heroine plays little-miss-fixit for the shipboard romance between Tommy and Susan Parker (Alice Faye). The two marry to give Ching-Ching a proper home, but their clashing personalities lead inexorably to the divorce court. Once again, however, Ching-Ching saves the day, this time with the assistance of twinkly-eyed Judge Booth (J. Edward Bromberg). Stowaway is the one in which Shirley dispenses oriental aphorisms a la Charlie Chan, speaks Chinese, and offers imitations of Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson and Fred Astaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide