Astrid Allwyn Movies
There was always something calculating about Astrid Allwyn. "Scratch a chilly 'other woman' and if she were not Helen Vinson, she usually turned out to be Astrid Allwyn," as one commentator put it. Allwyn was certainly "chilly" toward little defenseless Shirley Temple when their paths crossed in both Dimples (1936) and Stowaway (1936) and you could hardly blame freshman senator James Stewart for running the other way when he encountered a slightly predatory Astrid in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Allwyn had made her stage bow in Elmer Rice's Street Scene back in 1929 and her screen debut three years later. She was busiest in the 1930s and retired in 1944 to raise her family with second husband Charles O. Fee, a brood that included future actresses Melinda O. Fee and Vicki Fee Steele. An earlier marriage, to screen actor Robert Kent, had ended in divorce in 1941. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1935
Based on Samson Raphaelson's stage play, Accent on Youth focuses on a May-December romance. Herbert Marshall (46 years old at the time) is a successful middle-aged playwright; Constance Cummings is his young secretary, who prefers the company of mature men. She sets her cap on marrying the playwright, while he fends off her attentions. By the time Marshall has grown fond enough of Constance to propose, she has changed her mind and fallen for a man her own age. Accent on Youth was remade as Mr. Music (50) and But Not For Me (59), with, respectively, 49-year-old Bing Crosby and 58-year-old Clark Gable as the "elderly" hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1933
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
- Starring:
- Evelyn Knapp, Margaret Seddon, (more)
The Mongram "special" Beggars in Ermine was based on a novel by Esther Lynd Day. Having lost both legs in an accident, steel-mill owner John Dawson (Lionel Atwill) disconsolately goes among "the people" in hopes of finding a reason for living. Upon befriending blind peddler Marchant (Henry B. Walthall), Dawson puts his organizational skills to practical use by "unionizing" Walthall's beggar pals, doubling and tripling their effectiveness. His new "street" friends help Dawson get the goods on his crooked business manager James Marley (Jameson Thomas), who had arranged Dawson's "accident." It's quite refreshing to see perennial screen-villain Lionel Atwill in a 100% sympathetic role, which he carries off in grand style. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Henry B. Walthall, (more)
- 1943
Change of Heart is the reissue title of the Republic musical Hit Parade of 1943. The studio had been turning out these annual Hit Parade extravaganzas since 1941, but only the 1943 edition truly hit the bullseye. The plot, wherein fading songwriter John Carroll steals a tune from aspiring composer Susan Hayward, was used in several other Republic efforts between 1937 and 1947 (right down to the closing verbal exchange about "the elephants in the lobby"). No matter: the film positively sparkles during its musical numbers, featuring such talent as Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, Count Basie, The Harlem Sandmen and Dorothy Dandridge. The film's theme song, Harold Adamson and Jule Styne's "A Change of Heart," won Republic its first-ever Oscar nomination. As a bonus, Eve Arden is on hand for her evergreen wisecrackery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Carroll, Susan Hayward, (more)
- 1935
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
- Starring:
- Warner Oland, Rosina Lawrence, (more)
A girl reporter discovers that her own father runs a shady "school of fine arts" (read brothel) in this independently made potboiler directed by former silent screen actor Elmer Clifton. When several naive young girls turned "nightclub entertainers" end up dead, snoop sister Nora Page (Astrid Allwyn) enrolls herself in the Crescent School of Fine Arts, a recruiting center for King Peterson's (Philip Van Zandt) notorious nitery. Things get a bit dicey when Nora's ally, a young district attorney (John Archer), is found in a compromising situation with one of the girls (Patricia Knox) but Nora, with the assistance of Police Captain McVeigh (H. B. Warner), follows a different trail, a trail that leads directly to her own father, a supposedly upstanding theatrical agent (Boyd Irwin). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- H.B. Warner, Astrid Allwyn, (more)
- 1941
No relation to the Cracked Nuts he directed in 1931, this hokey sci-fi-comedy from director Edward F. Cline stars Stuart Erwin as Lawrence Trent, a country rube who wins a refrigerator-slogan contest and gets some money for his efforts. Meanwhile, mad scientist Boris Kabikoff (Mischa Auer) builds a silly-looking robot in his own image and hooks up with a New York patent attorney (William Frawley from I Love Lucy) to bilk Trent out of his prize money. Shemp Howard plays the robot as a lusty creature with a penchant for skirt-chasing and is used by black servant Chloe (Hattie Noel) to do housechores and frighten her husband Burgess (Mantan Moreland), who has a gambling problem. Una Merkel co-stars with Astrid Allwyn and Pierre Watkin. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Carnival barker Spencer Tracy befriends elderly concessionaire Henry B. Walthall, who owns a picturesque but stodgy display depicting Dante's Inferno. Walthall is more interested in the spiritual aspects of Man's fascination with Hell, but Tracy uses hoopla and exaggeration to get the suckers into the Inferno. His interest isn't altruistic; Tracy is enamored of Walthall's niece, Claire Trevor. Through his publicity savvy, Tracy builds the Inferno into a major attraction, complete with full orchestra and scantily clad "devil girls". He also buys up the rest of the carnival, using cold-blooded tactics that result in the suicide of a fellow concessionaire. Within five years, Tracy is a millionaire tycoon of the Entertainment industry. While loved by his wife (Trevor) and son (Scotty Beckett), Tracy conducts his business ruthlessly, bribing a city official to look the other way regarding structural defects in his Inferno display. When this duplicity results in a disastrous accident at the exhibit, the bribed official kills himself. Tracy is exonerated thanks to legal chicanery, but his wife is fed up; she walks out on him, taking their son along. Injured in the accident, Inferno creator H. B. Walthall warns Tracy of the pitfalls of success, using an illustrated edition of Dante to make his point. For nearly ten minutes, the movie audience is treated to a lavish depiction of Hell, magnificently photographed by Rudolph Mate. When the plot resumes, Tracy is on hand for his latest venture, a sumptuous gambling ship. Thanks to the drunken negligence of the crew, the ship catches fire, and it is only upon learning that his son has sneaked aboard that Tracy realizes the consequences of his greed. Tracy labors heroically to rescue the passengers--and, incidentally, to atone for his past sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor, (more)
- 1936
- NR
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
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, Frank Morgan, (more)
- 1936
Flying Hostess stars Judith Allen as the title character, rookie airline stewardess Helen Brooks. William Gargan co-stars as Hal Cunningham, the tough-but-likeable man in charge of the stewardess training program. Helen proves she's stayed awake during classes when a pilot is knocked out by a criminal during a TWA passenger flight. With Cunningham guiding her in via radio, plucky Helen takes over the controls herself, guiding the plane to safety. Featured in an unsympathetic minor role is Addison Randall, who later achieved stardom as cowboy hero Jack Randall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Judith Barrett, (more)
This lesser Astaire/Rogers vehicle is one of several screen versions of the venerable Hubert Osborne stage play Shore Leave. For reasons unknown, Fred and Ginger are virtually supporting players here, spending most of their time trying to patch up the romance between Fred's fellow sailor Randolph Scott and Ginger's sister Harriet Hilliard (better known as Harriet Nelson, of Ozzie and Harriet fame). One of the sillier aspects of the plot hinges on raising enough money to renovate a broken-down old ship; to do this, Fred and Ginger stage a lengthy musical number that must have cost five times as much money as they raised! But that number, a languorous dance rendition of Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance", compensates for all the nonsense that has gone before. One fringe benefit of Follow the Fleet is spotting two fresh-faced starlets named Betty Grable and Lucille Ball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1940
In this crime drama, a young man becomes a criminal lawyer after witnessing the police shooting of his father, a thief. Most of his clients are criminals and he soon finds himself involved with a mob boss. Together they build a new crime syndicate. Unfortunately, the attorney's partner is secretly an FBI spy. When the agent is shot, his partner, the lawyer saves his life. He then reconsiders his life and rats on his gangster client to the cops. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Nolan, Barton MacLane, (more)
- 1935
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
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1932
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
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1934
Ray Walker plays Jimmy Case, a combustible young man who loses one job after another because he can't keep his fists to himself. On the verge of losing his girl friend Grace (Dorothy Granger), Walker agrees to hold his temper and try once more. He lands a job as a process server, only to find out that his first assignment is to serve a summons to equally temperamental nightclub singer Eleanor Rogers (Virginia Cherrill, best remembered as the blind flower girl in Chaplin's City Lights). For an early Monogram film, this one is surprisingly high-budgeted, with a particularly impressive cabaret set. Scripted by a very young Dore Schary, He Couldn't Take It was remade three times, most famously as the 1946 "Bowery Boys" series entry Live Wires. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Walker, Virginia Cherrill, (more)
- 1933
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
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Boots Mallory, (more)
- 1939
My Love for Yours is the alternate title for Paramount's Honeymoon in Bali. Madeline Carroll pulls a "Rosalind Russell" as a hard-shelled businesswoman with no time for romance. Fred MacMurray is determined to melt down her resistance, hoping to do so during a vacation to Nassau. Carroll almost capitulates, but backs off when she mistakenly believes that MacMurray loves someone else. Contrary to the film's "other" title, the situation is resolved not in Bali but in cold old New York. Allan Jones, stuck with a standard-issue "other man" role, is at least given a few opportunities to sing. Scandanavian actress Osa Massen makes her American debut in the comparatively thankless role of the gal who doesn't land MacMurray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Madeleine Carroll, (more)
International Crime is the second of two Grand National programmers inspired by the popular "Shadow" pulp novels by Maxwell Grant. Rod La Rocque plays Lamont Cranston, famed criminologist and (in this film at least) radio crime reporter. This time around Cranston does not "cloud men's minds" hypnotically to become the invisible Shadow: he remains fully visible from beginning to end, with nary a clouded mind in sight. In attempting to solve the murder of a wealthy financier, Cranston exposes a gang of foreign saboteurs. Based on the story "The Fox Hound" by Ted Tinsley (not Maxwell Grant, as the credits claim), International Crime includes several of the supporting characters from the "Shadow" pulps. However, the heroine (Astrid Allwyn) is Phoebe Lane, not Margot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod La Rocque, Astrid Allwyn, (more)
- 1937
It Could Happen to You is one of those captivating "little" pictures whose reputation is built up via word of mouth. Alan Baxter and Owen Davis Jr. star as Bob and Fred, the sons of immigrant Pa Barrett (Al Shean). Fred is a dutiful offspring, but Bob, an adoptee, is a no-good, stealing money from the old man to further his ambitions. When Pa Barrett confronts Bob with this discovery, the young man accidentally kills his stepfather. As fate would have it, Fred has become a lawyer, and it is he who takes on the job of defending Bob in court. Fred wins an acquittal, but Bob learns to his chagrin that he will never be able to escape the "judge and jury" of his own conscience. The script for It Could Happen to You was co-written by Nathaniel West, later the author of the trenchant anti-Hollywood novel Day of the Locust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Baxter, Andrea Leeds, (more)
- 1935
It's a Small World was the latest in a long line of It Happened One Night clones, this time starring Spencer Tracy and Wendy Barrie as rough approximations of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. It all begins when spoiled socialite Jane Dale (Barrie) and abrasive lawyer Bill Shevlin (Tracy) "meet cute" in a small-town auto accident. The couple is arrested by Julius B. Clummerhorn (Raymond Walburn), the local judge, justice of the peace, sheriff, notary public and everything else. Clummerhorn subjects Jane and Bill to a farcical trial, which is continually interrupted by a wide variety of oddball characters and silly emergencies. In the course of events, our hero and heroine fall in love? But that's not the end of the story by a long shot! Future singing star Dick Foran plays a motorcycle cop, while perennial Abraham Lincoln impersonator Frank McGlynn Sr. shares an amusing scene with his real-life son Frank McGlynn Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Wendy Barrie, (more)
- 1932
This droll, sophisticated comedy stars Constance Bennett as Venice Muir, a shy young lady with no "past" of any kind -- and very little romance in her life. Hoping to overcome her bashfulness during a trip to Europe, she invents a lurid history for herself, then engages the services of paid escort Guy Bryson (Ben Lyon) to accompany her to all the continent's hot spots. Through word of mouth, Venice gains the reputation of being a sexual adventuress (though she's still nothing of the kind), and soon she is headline fodder for all the Parisian newspapers. Her fabricated randy reputation catches the eye of wealthy Donnie Wainright (David Manners), but it is Guy Bryson who ultimately makes an "honest woman" out of her. Lady With a Past was adapted from the equally delightful novel by Harriet Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Ben Lyon, (more)
Leo McCarey's classic tale of romance stars Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer as two strangers who fall in love on an ocean voyage. Charles Boyer is Michel Marnet, engaged to be married to Lois Clarke (Astrid Allwyn). Irene Dunne is Terry McKay, also engaged to be married, in this case to Kenneth Bradley (Lee Bowman). But when Michel and Terry meet aboard a ship, they fall instantly in love. In order to prove to themselves their love affair is not just a shipboard romance, they agree to meet six months hence on the top of the Empire State Building. If they still feel the same way about each other, they will bid adieu to their fiancees and start their affair anew. Six months later, they are still thinking about each other and proceed to their meeting at the Empire State Building. Michel awaits Terry's arrival, but Terry, on the way to their meeting, is involved in a terrible car accident, leaving her a cripple. Later, by a twist of fate, they are reunited and Michel vows to stay with Terry to help her walk again. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, (more)
- 1932
Based on a story by Ursula Parrott, this romantic drama from Columbia Pictures was one of Humphrey Bogart's first leading roles. Working-class pilot and mechanic Jim Leonard (Bogart) gives flying lessons to wealthy heiress Carol Owen (Dorothy Mackaill).They fall in love throughout the teaching process, but marriage seems impossible due to their differing social standings. Jim develops an airplane motor that could help him make some money, but he needs the upfront cash to finance it. Carol would be glad to help, but it turns out that she really had no money after all. She finds out that her father died broke and she has been supported by her financial advisor, Bruce Hardy (Hale Hamilton), who also wants to marry her. The conclusion involves a daring rescue and stunt flying sequence. Running just over an hour long, Love Affair was originally distributed in 1932 as a double-bill feature. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Mackaill, Humphrey Bogart, (more)
- 1937
Though he would later dismiss it as "just a ten-day job," actor Conrad Nagel made a remarkably smooth directorial debut with Grand National's Love Takes Flight. Bruce Cabot stars as Neil Bradshaw, an egotistical commercial pilot in love with stewardess Joan Lawson (Beatrice Roberts). Somewhat incredibly, Neil becomes a movie star, jilting Joan in the process to taking up with vampish actress Diane Audre (Astrid Allwyn). Joan takes small comfort in the fact that she is also offered a Hollywood contract; to show up the swell-headed Neil, she matriculates into a champion aviatrix, breaking airborne records left and right. Before the inevitable reunion between Neil and Joan, the audience is treated to dozens of "product placement" plugs for American Airlines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Beatrice Roberts, (more)
- 1940
The Higgins family gets in another comical bind when Ernest loses the fortune in bonds he was hired to deliver. In order to recoup the lost $5,000, Papa Higgins decides to try and marry Grandpa to the wealthiest old widow in town by sending her a steamy love letter and signing his own father's name to it. Meanwhile, Papa also goes to the bank and much to his surprise, is granted a loan. Unfortunately for Grandpa Higgins, the widow has received the letter and joyfully accepted his proposal. When he tries to back out, she promptly sues him leaving the family in a real pickle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roscoe Karns, Ruth Donnelly, (more)
