George B. French Movies
Fourteen scriptwriters spent five years toiling over a movie adaptation of war correspondent Vincent Sheehan's Personal History before producer Walter Wanger brought the property to the screen as Foreign Correspondent. What emerged was approximately 2 parts Sheehan and 8 parts director Alfred Hitchcock--and what's wrong with that? Joel McCrea stars as an American journalist sent by his newspaper to cover the volatile war scene in Europe in the years 1938 to 1940. He has barely arrived in Holland before he witnesses the assassination of Dutch diplomat Albert Basserman: at least, that's what he thinks he sees. McCrea makes the acquaintance of peace-activist Herbert Marshall, his like-minded daughter Laraine Day, and cheeky British secret agent George Sanders. A wild chase through the streets of Amsterdam, with McCrea dodging bullets, leads to the classic "alternating windmills" scene, which tips Our Hero to the existence of a formidable subversive organization. McCrea returns to England, where he nearly falls victim to the machinations of jovial hired-killer Edmund Gwenn. The leader of the spy ring is revealed during the climactic plane-crash sequence--which, like the aforementioned windmill scene, is a cinematic tour de force for director Hitchcock and cinematographer Rudolph Mate. Producer Wanger kept abreast of breaking news events all through the filming of Foreign Correspondent, enabling him to keep the picture as "hot" as possible: the final scene, with McCrea broadcasting to a "sleeping" America from London while Nazi bombs drop all around him, was filmed only a short time after the actual London blitz. The script was co-written by Robert Benchley, who has a wonderful supporting role as an eternally tippling newsman. Foreign Correspondent was Alfred Hitchcock's second American film, and remained one of his (and his fans') personal favorites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, (more)
- 1937
Carole Lombard stars as Helen Bartlett, a compulsive liar who always tips the audience to an oncoming whopper by sticking her tongue in her cheek. Helen is married to a Kenneth Bartlett, a scrupulously honest lawyer whose integrity has always held him back professionally. Hoping to help Kenneth get ahead, Helen confesses to a murder she obviously didn't commit, confident that he'll get her off and make his reputation. But things don't go exactly as planned, thanks largely to a mysterious eccentric named Charley (John Barrymore), who assures the heroine over and over that she'll "fry." Once considered a prime example of screwball comedy, True Confession is now regarded by film buffs as one of Carole Lombard's worst pictures: it wasn't much better when remade by Betty Hutton in 1946 as Cross My Heart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1928
Fans of stunt pilot Al Wilson had no reason for complaint when their favorite flyboy brought forth his 1928 vehicle Won in the Clouds. There's a plot of sorts, as Wilson tries to save the heroine -- and his father's diamond mine -- from the clutches of the villains. Other than that, the film is virtually all action, with most of that action taking place thousands of feet above the clouds. The highlight is a brutal fistfight on the wing of Wilson's plane, with nary a stunt double or process screen to be found anywhere. Won in the Clouds was one of the few Al Wilson films to enjoy a "second life" on the 8-millimeter home-movie market of the 1960s and 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Wilson, Helen Foster, (more)
- 1928
Released as part of producer Trem Carr's "Famous Authors" series, this silent whodunit was based on a 1912 story by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. Thomas Curran, as elderly Silas Lathrop, comes into possession of a jewel stolen from the brow of a sacred Indian idol. The gem, unfortunately, brings nothing but trouble and Silas hurriedly prepares a new will. The old man is promptly murdered, but who among his heirs is the killer? This time, however, the butler didn't do it, said factotum being in reality detective Bertram Chisholm (Carl Stockdale) in disguise. Lila Lee headed a cast of mostly veteran players, which also included Ray Hallor, Adele Watson and George K. French. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was no newcomer to the screen either, having penned the 1916 mystery series Who's Guilty. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lila Lee, Ray Hallor, (more)
- 1926
One of Universal's better Blue Streak Westerns, Red Hot Leather starred the company's number two cowboy hero at the time, Jack Hoxie. (The lackadaisical Hoot Gibson was Universal's premiere Western star of the 1920s.) Unlike Gibson, Hoxie was not much of an actor but looked good on a horse, which was all this story of a rancher who discovers an oil deposit on his land called for. Returning from the East where he has tried in vain to borrow money to save his father's ranch, Hoxie's Jack Lane meets nurse Ellen Rand (Ena Gregory), herself en route to care for the elder Lane (William Malan). A neighbor, Morton Kane (William H. Turner), meanwhile, has discovered oil on the Lane property, a fact he attempts to keep to himself. When Jack enters the rodeo hoping to earn enough money to save the ranch, Kane has him abducted. The intrepid cowboy escapes in Kane's car, wins the rodeo, saves the ranch, and marries his father's nurse. Leading lady Ena Gregory, an Australian, appeared in four Westerns opposite Hoxie, married his director, Albert S. Rogell, and changed her name briefly to Marian Douglas. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hoxie, Ena Gregory, (more)
- 1923
Not unexpectedly, the benign title of this silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy is a misnomer. Escaping from the local cop on the beat, the Our Gang kids take refuge in a railway station, where they exchange clothes with a group of runaway boys scheduled to be returned to their home in San Francisco. Unaware that a "good licking" awaits the kids in Frisco, the gang boards the train, where they are immediately placed in the care of the persnickety, child-hating boyfriend (William Gillespie) of a temporarily incapacitated welfare worker. Inevitably the kids wreak all sorts of havoc on the train and its passengers, especially when they come across the wares of a traveling fireworks salesman. Originally released on March 18, 1923, A Pleasant Journey was partially remade as the 1932 Our Gang entry Choo-Choo! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
The first Tarzan starring Elmo Lincoln did so well that, in time-honored cinematic tradition, the studio, First National, made a sequel. This picture covers the last chapters of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, Tarzan of the Apes, and brings Tarzan back to civilization -- jungle man or not, Tarzan is still the son of Lord and Lady Greystoke and needs to claim the family fortune. He sets sail for England, along with his ladylove, Jane Porter (Enid Markey) and the villainous Clayton (Colin Kenny), who wants to get his hands on the Greystoke millions. The ship is attacked by natives, and although Tarzan saves everyone else, they sail away without him because Clayton claims he was killed. But this doesn't stop Tarzan -- he swims out and boards another boat. Eventually he lands in California, where Jane and her father (Thomas Jefferson) are entertaining Clayton at their ranch. When Tarzan shows up, Clayton enlists the help of a dance hall girl, La Belle Odine (Cleo Madison). Odine compromises Tarzan and Jane rejects him. So Tarzan returns to the jungle. But Odine, who has fallen for Tarzan herself, goes to Jane and tells her the truth. So Jane goes to Tarzan in the jungle and they reunite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Elmo Lincoln became the first actor to play Edgar Rice Burrough's "Lord of the Jungle" on the screen when he replaced the now-forgotten Winslow Wilson in the 1918 8-reeler Tarzan of the Apes. During the first portion of the film, Tarzan -- aka Lord Greystoke -- is portrayed by juvenile actor Gordon Griffith. The earlier reels detail the deaths of Greystoke's British parents in the jungle, and how the boy was raised by female ape Kala. Years pass: a rescue party, including high-born Jane Porter (Enid Markey), arrives in the jungle, in search of the long-lost Lord Greystoke. When Jane gets lost in the foliage, it is Tarzan who rescues her from predatory beasts. He then tries to put the make on Jane, as any good ape would, whereupon she stops him with the gentle remonstration "Tarzan is a man, and men do not force their attentions upon women." His aristocratic breeding thus invoked, Tarzan is at last tamed. By any standards, Elmo Lincoln was an awful actor; in addition, he looked about twenty years too old and fifty pounds too fat for the role of Tarzan. Nonetheless, he had great presence, and Tarzan of the Apes made him a star (at least until the talkies came around). Though crudely directed, the film has a lot of energy, especially in the famous scene wherein Lincoln actually kills an attacking lion with his knife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elmo Lincoln, Gordon Griffith, (more)
