George Somnes Movies
- 1934
Adapted from an earlier European film, Wharf Angel stars Dorothy Dell as Toy, a golden-hearted prostitute stranded in San Francisco. Toy finds hope for redemption when she falls in love with Como (Preston S. Foster), a sailor on the lam from a murder charge. In Madame Butterfly fashion, the heroine promises to wait for Como until he is able to clear himself. The fly in the ointment is Como's buddy Turk (Victor McLaglen), who has known Toy (in the Biblical sense) for several years. An inexpensive but fairly credible reconstruction of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (courtesy of legendary art director William Cameron Menzies) caps this intriguing little romantic melodrama. Alas, leading lady Dorothy Dell was killed in a car crash after appearing in only three films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Dorothy Dell, (more)
- 1933
Everybody in The Midnight Club is seeing double, and it's all the handiwork of slick London criminal mastermind Colin Grant (Clive Brook). Anyone who wants to commit a crime and get away with it had better get in touch with Grant, who obligingly provides exact doubles of the criminals so as to establish an alibi. At present, Grant and his minions are planning a big-time society jewel heist. Admittedly baffled by Grant's near-perfect racket, Scotland Yard commissioner Hope (Sir Guy Standing) calls in American sleuth Nick Mason (George Raft) to help out. Nick wastes no time going to work, not only insinuating himself into the "Midnight Club" gang but also wooing away Grant's sweetheart Iris Whitney (Helen Vinson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, George Raft, (more)
- 1933
In this musical drama from directors Alexander Hall and George Somnes, Claudette Colbert stars as Sally Trent, a children's radio show host by day and a nightclub singer by night. After giving her only child (a daughter) up for adoption amid hard times, Sally uses the listeners of her show as surrogate children while she searches for the girl in hopes of being reunited. Unfortunately, the girl's father also has plans of tracking him down. Penned by songwriters Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, some of the songs in the film include "Don't Be a Cry Baby," "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Love," "It's a Long Dark Night," "The Torch Singer". ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
- 1933
A large urban hospital provides the setting for this drama. The staff there has seen it all and this is reflected in their hard-bitten demeanor, their cynicism, and the cruel jokes they play. One of them, an excellent surgeon gains a new outlook on life after he gets involved with investigating the death of a mobster, fatally shot in his hotel suite during a card game. The police call him to the scene to look at the corpse. There he discovers a lipstick-stained cigarette butt. He begins to search for the woman who smoked it. Later that day, the woman, severely beaten, shows up in the hospital emergency room. The surgeon miraculously saves her, and then falls for her. As she lays healing, she is seen by a mobster who had come to pay his respects to the cop who killed two members of his rival gang. The mobster later sends one of his thugs to make sure that the woman stays eternally quiet. The thug's attempt to kill her is thwarted by a young intern who is wounded in the ensuing scuffle. The gangster then gets himself admitted into the hospital where he plans to kill the woman himself. This proves to be a fatal mistake as the vengeful intern "accidently" injects the gangster with a deadly poison and then claims that the mobster was D.O.A. The woman is now safe. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Gloria Stuart, (more)
