Walter Catlett Movies

In this comedy drama, a medicine show con-man pretends to be a wealthy man to impress his long-lost daughter who is slated to inherit a vast fortune. Unfortunately, she turns out to be someone else's daughter. Later he finds his own and discovers that she has less money than he does. They decide to continue the con together and head for New York. There, they stay in a boarding house for theatrical performers. When their ruse is discovered, mayhem ensues. Fortunately, by the end of the film, the two fakers encounter better luck. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A man trying to make his dying father happy makes his love life very complicated indeed in this musical comedy starring Deanna Durbin. Jonathan Reynolds Jr. (Robert Cummings) is the playboy son of multi-millionaire business magnate Jonathan Reynolds, Sr. (Charles Laughton). Junior has told his father that he's finally met the woman he's going to marry while on a recent trip to Mexico, and Father, who has been given a very short time to live by his doctors, wants to meet her right away. However, the woman in question is not available, so Junior persuades Anne Terry (Durbin), a hat-check girl and aspiring singer, to pose as his fiancée for the sake of his father's peace of mind. Father takes quite a liking to Anne, which is fine and good until he defies all the expectations of his doctors and makes a complete recovery. Now Father is spending a great deal of time with the woman he thinks is going to be his future daughter-in-law, and Junior isn't sure how to tell him that Anne isn't really the woman he wants to marry. As usual, Durbin sings several songs, including "Clavelitos" by Valverde and "Going Home," adapted from Symphony for the New World by Dvorak. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Rather than play famous outlaw Cole Younger in this film, Warner Bros. contract star Humphrey Bogart chose suspension. Ronald Reagan was considered, and so were James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft, but, happily, the role eventually went to the more age-appropriate Dennis Morgan, a former band singer. Like MGM's Billy the Kid, also from 1941, Bad Men of Missouri emerged as a complete whitewash of the title outlaws. Returning from fighting on the Confederate side in the Civil War, the Younger brothers -- Cole (Morgan), Bob (Wayne Morris), and Jim (Arthur Kennedy) -- find their money no longer viable currency and their homestead about to be usurped by carpetbagger William Merrick (Victor Jory). Standing up to Merrick and his chief henchman, Greg Bilson (Howard DaSilva), old Hank Younger (Russell Simpson) is shot dead, and, in frustration, the sons take up train and bank robbing, eventually joining the even more notorious James brothers, Jesse (Alan Baxter) and Frank. Of course, the celluloid Youngers steal only from the rich to give to the displaced poor. When they are finally caught in Minnesota, the citizenry of Missouri, viewing the Youngers as local heroes, take up a petition for their immediate release. Despite the many historical inaccuracies, Bad Men of Missouri makes for exciting, fast-paced Western entertainment; quite the opposite, in fact, of MGM's staid, overly glamorous depiction of Billy the Kid. Filmed at Sonora, CA, and cast with veterans such as Erville Alderson, Sam McDaniel (who replaced Willie Best in the role of the Younger's devoted servant), and a very funny Walter Catlett, the film premiered in Harrisonville, MO, the birthplace of the Younger brothers and the town where the elder Younger had once been elected mayor. Jane Wyman appears as the nominal heroine, the upstanding girlfriend of Jim Younger, and the film marked the screen debut of Faye Emerson as Cole Younger's ill-fated fiancée. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

It's hard to believe that Wild Bill Hickok Rides is a Warner Bros. picture-and harder still to believe that Constance Bennett deigned to star in the film. Wavering uncomfortably between comedy and drama, this patchwork western features Bruce Cabot as Wild Bill Hickok, who on this occasion goes on the warpath against despotic land baron Harry Farrel (Warren William). When Hickok's rancher friend is lynched by Farrel's flunkeys, the fur-and bullets-really start to fly. Constance Bennett does her best to convincingly portray gambling-hall proprietress Belle Andrews, but it's an impossibly written role. Critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times summed the whole thing up in a terse single sentence: "Will be remembered as the one in which a Bennett sister slummed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The virile Warner Bros. programmer Steel Against the Sky stars Lloyd Nolan and Craig Stevens as steelworkers Rocky and Chuck Evans. Already on the outs due to a few on-the-job mishaps, Chuck gets further in dutch with his family when he falls in love with Rocky's girl Helen (Alexis Smith). The plot is secondary to the film's bridge-building sequences, breathtakingly photographed by Edmund Grainger. Steel Against the Sky was essentially a showcase for two of Warners' newest contractee, Craig Stevens and Alexis Smith. Their professional relationship quickly deepened into something else, and within a few years the two young contractees were husband and wife, which they remained until Smith's death in 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The comic effusions of Hugh "woo woo" Herbert helps to keep this otherwise forgettable farce afloat. It all begins when Bob Wade (Tom Brown) and Rosalie Brown (Peggy Moran), are conned into buying a run-down vaudeville agency. Upon taking charge of the failing enterprise, they find they have a partner named Hubert (Herbert),who's likewise been victimized by con artists. Pooling their wits and resources, the three suckers put some life back into their agency by promoting variety acts for department-store window displays. A stupid misunderstanding nearly breaks up the budding romance between Bob and Rosalie, but helpful Hubert patches things up in his own inimitable fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this upbeat drama, a lovely European heiress is disturbed to discover from her lawyer that her father made his fortune by cheating his own partner. This precipitates her hasty return to the US where she meets the partner's granddaughter. The heiress then moves into the girl's boarding house and gives her a million dollars. Unfortunately, her newfound wealth causes the girl, untold trouble as her lover, a proud musician, refuses to marry a woman with more money than he. The girl solves the problem by donating her fortune to charity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When the gentle woodcarver Geppetto (Christian Rub) builds a marionette to be his substitute son, a benevolent fairy brings the toy to life. The puppet, named Pinocchio (Dick Jones), is not yet a human boy. He must earn the right to be real by proving that he is brave, truthful, and unselfish. But, even with the help of Jiminy (Cliff Edwards), a cricket who the fairy assigns to be Pinocchio's conscience, the marionette goes astray. He joins a puppet show instead of going to school, he lies instead of telling the truth, and he travels to Pleasure Island instead of going straight home. Yet, when Pinocchio discovers that a whale has swallowed Geppetto, the puppet single-mindedly journeys into the ocean and selflessly risks his life to save his father, thereby displaying that he deserves to be a real boy. Based on a series of stories by 19th century Italian author Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio came under fire for being a sugarcoated version of its original tale, but the film's moral did have a strong educational effect on children. Soon enough, a 16 mm excerpt from the picture, titled "Pinocchio: A Lesson in Honesty," was released for teachers to use in schools. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide

In addition to his yearly manifest of six 2-reel comedies, Leon Errol always managed to squeeze a few feature-film appearances into his RKO Radio contractual duties. In Pop Always Pays, Henry Brewster (Errol) disapproves of the romance between his daughter Edna (Adele Pearce, aka Pamela Blake) and local spendthrift Jeff Thompson (Dennis O'Keefe). He finally agrees to give his blessing to the union if Jeff is able to save $1000, whereupon Brewster will match Jeff's thousand with the same amount as a wedding present. Confident that Jeff will never be able to raise that kind of cash, Brewster is decidedly nonplussed when the boy does come up with the necessary funds-especially since Brewster doesn't have his thousand, and isn't likely to ever have it. The film really comes to life wheneve Leon Errol shares the screen with his old Ziegfeld Follies cohort Walter Catlett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is the first of two filmed adaptations of Al Capp's classic comic strip, in which the title hillbilly (Granville Owen) does his best to avoid the marital advances of girlfriend Daisy Mae (Martha O'Driscoll). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This mistaken-identity concoction takes place on a college campus--a familiar locale for Paramount B-pictures. Wayne Morris plays the dual role of scholarly Jimmy Jones and his athlete brother Bill. Jimmy is in line for a professorship, while Bill can hardly qualify for grade school. The fun begins when Bill ends up with an athletic scholarship intended for his brother, obliging both men to trade identities. Everyone is confused, none more so than cute co-ed Kay Merrill (Virginia Dale), who is actively courted by both brothers. The stereotypical supporting cast includes Alan Mowbray as a stuffy pedant, William Frawley as a dyspeptic coach, and Jerome Cowan as a point-shaving gambler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Exile Express was the last film produced by Grand National Pictures, and a worthy farewell it was. Anna Sten, former Sam Goldwyn protegee and the wife of Exile Express producer Eugene Frenke, stars as Nadine Nikolas, a young European girl whose chances of becoming an American citizen are scotched when she is implicated in a murder. About to be deported, Nadine is rescued by reporter Steve Reynolds (Alan Marshall), who suspects that the killing was engineered by a gang of international spies. One delightful scene permits the haughty Ms. Sten to "let herself go" by dancing an energetic jitterbug. Directed by Universal contractee Otis Garrett, Exile Express is a satisfying blend of comedy, romance, and edge-of-the-seat suspense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Louis Armstrong steals the show as the groom to Jeepers Creepers, a skittish racehorse that can only settle down and run when Armstrong croons him the horse's namesake song. The main story concerns a plucky, ingenious salesman, who needing business, poses as a steeplechase jockey and endears himself to a prominent stable owner and his lovely niece. Romantic sparks fly between the girl and the sly fellow and his ruse works well until he is assigned to ride Jeepers Creepers, in the big race. The trouble is, the salesman doesn't know how to ride. On the day of the big race, the horse is extra nervous until Armstrong and a full band ride up beside him and begin performing. The horse then runs like the champ he is, insuring that the salesman gets his girl. Sure, it's a lot of horsefeathers, but who watches these old musicals for the plot? The story was filmed twice before as Hottentot and Polo Joe. Look for Ronald Reagan in a minor role as the stable owner's playboy son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide