Don Castle Movies

Kenneth Roberts' fact-based novel Northwest Passage would seem too raw and explicit a book to be considered for an MGM film adaptation-much less one in Technicolor. Amazingly, MGM retained many of the grim episodes from the Roberts' novel, though - thanks to the Hays Code - most are discussed rather than shown. The film is set in 1759, when the headstrong and gifted young artist Langdon Towne (Robert Young) is expelled from Harvard much to the chagrin of his parents and his fiancee, Elizabeth Browne (Ruth Hussey). Towne and his tough-as-nails sidekick, Hunk Marriner (Walter Brennan) get soused one night in a pub and - while intoxicated - viciously insult Elizabeth's father, Rev. Browne (Louis Hector). The two men are nearly arraigned for the incident, but escape just in time and ultimately wind up at the camp of famed Indian hunter Major Robert Rogers (Spencer Tracy). Rogers then invites Towne to join his troupe as a cartographer, and suggests that Marriner tag along. Together, the hundreds of Indian fighters under Rogers's aegis team up and chart their way through the wilderness, headed straight for St. Francis, the base of the French-supported Abenaki tribe, notorious for bloodily wiping out British-controlled colonies, after which they will forge the titular 'northwest passage' to the Pacific. Along the route, the boys counter such obstacles as traitorous Native American guides and exploding gunpowder. Metro Goldwyn-Mayer originally slated this production for Tracy, Wallace Beery, Robert Taylor and Franchot Tone, but only Tracy signed on; the studio reeled in Brennan and Young as last-minute additions, to support Tracy's lead. Northwest Passage marked Vidor's first Technicolor film. William V. Skall and Sidney Wagner received Oscar nominations for their outstanding cinematographic work on the film. Nineteen years after its premiere, Northwest Passage later became an NBC TV series between 1959-60, starring Keith Larsen in the Tracy role, Buddy "Jed Clampett" Ebsen in the Brennan role, and Don Burnett in the Young role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Thunder Afloat is set during the first world war. Wallace Beery plays an veteran tugboat captain who harbors a grudge against younger ex-pal Chester Morris. When Morris joins the navy as an officer, he runs across Beery, who resparks the feud. Both men bury the hatchet and work shoulder to shoulder when German U-boats threaten innocent shippers. Though the action takes place in 1918, the film was intensely topical in 1939 given the renewal of maritime hostilities in Europe and the Far East. Thunder Afloat made money by the bushel basket, as did most of Wallace Beery's formula vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pulp-novel detective Nick Carter was created in the 1880s, but most film versions of the character have been updated to modern times. Such was the case with MGM's three-episode "Nick Carter" series, which got off to a good start with Nick Carter, Master Detective. Walter Pidgeon plays the title character, who in this episode gets mixed up with industrial espionage. Posing as one "Robert Chalmers", Nick gets the goods on a gang of foreign spies (no country names, please!), bringing them to heel during a serial-like waterfront chase. Rita Johnson essays a rare sympathetic role as stewardess Lou Farnsby, while Donald Meek steals the show as Bartholomew the beekeeper (a character who would grow increasingly annoying as the series went on). Nick Carter, Master Detective was coscripted by Bertram Millhauser, who also penned several of the Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In director Reinh Schunzel's film Rich Man, Poor Girl, the upper crust collides with the more financially unfortunate members of society. When wealthy young executive Bill Harrison (Robert Young) falls in love with Joan Thayer (Ruth Hussey), his secretary, she doesn't believe he would be able to accept her boisterous relatives. Determined to marry Joan (Hussey), Bill (Young) moves in with her family in order to prove his love for her. Though Joan's sister Helen (Lana Turner) is thrilled with the idea, Joan still has a host of reservations. During his stay, Bill learns about the struggles of the lower middle class, and eventually decides to sell his property and use the money to help fund a hospital for the poor. Convinced his feelings are genuine and his mind open, Joan agrees to marry Bill. Rich Man, Poor Girl is a remake of the 1929 film The Idle Rich

~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Though not the first Dr. Kildare film ever made, this is the first entry in MGM's long-running series set at Blair General Hospital. With the ink still wet on his diploma, Dr. Kildare is faced with a difficult decision: should he return home to work in his father's quiet country practice, or work at exciting, New York-set Blair General Hospital? Though his parents and his girlfriend are against it, Kildare chooses the latter and promptly gets into trouble after one of his first patients, a prominent politician dies. All kinds of turmoil follows as Kildare tries to clear his name and treat his other patients. Just as it seems like the strong-willed Kildare's career is to die on the vine, curmudgeonly but always capable Dr. Gillespie becomes his mentor. For trivia buffs, the first Dr. Kildare film was Interns Can't Take Money made in 1937 for Paramount. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Nineteen-year-old British actress Nora Swinburne was already a stage star of seven years' standing when she appeared in the 1921 silent film Autumn of Pride. Swinburne plays a young farm girl who is in danger of losing her house in a foreclosure case. The man holding the mortgage is taciturn country squire Cecil Morton York. To save her from eviction, York's son David Hawthorne buys the farm from his father-but doesn't tell him why until the wedding bells peal. Autumn of Pride was adapted from a novel by E. Newton Bungey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide