Wallace Evennett Movies

As with any film featuring the outrageously operatic antics of early horror star Tod Slaughter, this slow, stagebound murder-mystery would be completely unwatchable without the producer-star's presence. A third adaptation of the stage play by F. Brooke Warren, this film stars Slaughter as Chevalier Lucio del Gardo, a respected Parisian aristocrat responsible for the ghastly crimes previously attributed to a notorious killer known only as "The Wolf." Del Gardo has concocted a devious plan with his deranged, brutish brother to pull off a rash of bank robberies, using The Wolf's murderous ways to throw police off their trail. Their plans are foiled in the end, though del Gardo apparently escapes the clutches of the law. One of Slaughter's better efforts, made bearable by a brief running time. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

In this taut drama, a wealthy financier is tried for the murder of his brother-in-law after the damning corpse is found floating in his garden pond. He is eventually acquitted. Upon his return home, he is angered to find his lawyer has become romantically involved with his wife. An argument ensues, during which the financier confesses his guilt and then makes a fatal leap from a balcony. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

When his Hollywood starring career dried up in the mid-1930s, matinee idol Charles Farrell headed to England, where he played newspaper reporter Brian Gaunt in the fast-paced meller Midnight Menace. The storyline acknowledges the fact that Television was firmly established in England in 1937, with the BBC beaming out programs on a regular schedule. On this occasion, however, a TV device is being used for nefarious purposes by a gang of foreign munitions manufacturers, operating out of a stationery shop in Soho. Head villain Peters (Fritz Kortner) intends to destroy a London disarmament conference in a midnight air raid, all the while posing as the head of a pacifistic organization. The fearless Brian Gaunt gets wind of this scheme and races against time to avert disaster. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This first film version of George Bernard Shaw's witty comedy of questionable manners stars Barry Jones as soldier Captain Bluntschli. Having deserted from his regiment, Bluntschli takes refuge in the apartment of beautiful young Russian girl Raina Petkoff (Anne Grey). Raina is all for turning in the captain until he wins her over with the Shavian logic of his argument against warfare. Shaw was so disappointed in this cinemization of Arms and the Man that he vowed never again to allow his works to be filmed -- at least not until the price was right. This play was filmed once again in Germany in 1962; Oscar Strauss' operetta adaptation of Arms and the Man, The Chocolate Soldier, was filmed (sort of) in 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi