Arthur Greville Collins Movies

The Little Australians was based on a best-selling children's novel by Ethel Turner. The minimal storyline concerns a group of mischievous Aussie kids, the source of eternal bewilderment for their straight-laced father, Captain Woolcott (Charles McCallum). In the original novel, Woolcott was a stern but not altogether unlikeable chap. The film makes things easier for the audience by retooling Woolcott as an unrelenting villain , assuring that the juvenile characters would come off sympathetically while disturbing the integrity of the source material. Originally released in Australia as a Christmas attraction in 1939, The Little Australians was distributed in the US the following Spring. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mexican actress Movita, who rose to fame as one of the native girls in the Oscar-winning Mutiny on the Bounty, heads the cast of Monogram's Paradise Isle. On a remote South Sea Island, sun-kissed maiden Ila (Movita) finds white man Richard Kennedy (Warren Hull) washed up on shore. Once a celebrated painter, Kennedy has been stricken blind, and was on his way to a European eye specialist when his ship was destroyed in an explosion. Confused, disillusioned and embittered, Kennedy is nursed back to health by Ila, who tries her best to restore his will to live. Complicating her efforts are her jealous native boyfriend Tono (George Pilita) and scurrilous pearl trader Hoener (William B. Davidson). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Small-town waiter Will Wright (Edward Everett Horton) can't help but feel that his Kansas community has lost its civic pride. After attending a speech delivered by a New York Realtor, Will takes it upon himself to head to the Big Apple to promote a real-estate deal for the benefit of his friends and neighbors. It isn't long before he gets mixed up with two rival gangsters, Dizzy Rantz (Cesar Romero) and Jake Cavendish (Frank Conroy). But with the help of moll Ruby Miller (Glenda Farrell), Will manages to convince the two mobsters to bury the hatchet -- and to invest their money in a real estate development that will result in big bucks for all concerned. Edward Everett Horton's flawless performance is the glue that holds Nobody's Fool together. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

High-rolling gambler "Odds" Owen (Warren William) establishes an American insurance agency created along the lines of Lloyd's of London. Owen insures Kentucky colonel Jefferson Davis Youngblood (Guy Kibbee) against the possibility that Youngblood's actress daughter Marilyn (Claire Dodd) might get married, thereby cutting off the Colonel's allowance. After scaring away several prospective suitors, Owen messes things up by falling in love with Marilyn himself. Odds are that the 60-minute Don't Bet on Blondes would be completely forgotten were it not for the presence of new Warner Bros. contractee Errol Flynn, who appears in two brief scenes as one of Marilyn's boyfriends. It was Flynn's first speaking role at Warners, and he carried it off with class if not distinction. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Produced by Warner Bros. in 1934, A Modern Hero was the only American talkie directed by the great German filmmaker G. W. Pabst. Richard Barthelmess plays Pierre, the bastard son of blowzy, besotted circus performer Mme. Azais (Marjorie Rambeau). Fiercely ambitious, Pierre enters the world of automobile manufacturing, rising to the heights of success by callously using wealthy women to get ahead. After breaking one heart after another, Pierre is finally beaten at his own game by a disgruntled young lady who walks out on him, forcing him to admit that he's an utter flop as a human being. Jean Muir co-stars as Joanna, seduced and abandoned early in the proceedings, while other women crucial to Pierre's ascension are played by Veree Teasdale and Florence Eldredge. Based on a novel by Louis Bromfield, A Modern Hero has been correctly assessed by one of the director's devotees as having "little of Pabst in it." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi