Lew Cody Movies

The Ben Hecht-Gene Fowler Broadway flop The Great Magoo formed the basis of the 1934 Paramount comedy Shoot the Works. Jack Oakie stars as seedy sideshow barker Nicky, who uses everyone he meets to get ahead. Nicky isn't even above exploiting his singing sweetheart Lily (Dorothy Dell) to suit his purposes, but this time it is he who ends up the loser -- at least until he gets wise to himself. Bandleader-comedian Ben Bernie and perennial second lead Arline Judge contribute a few laughs, but the hit of the show is gorgeous Dorothy Dell, who tragically died in a car crash just before this film was released. Shoot the Works was remade by Bob Hope as Some Like It Hot (1939). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a patient dies of heart failure, society doctor Michael Travers (Lew Cody), takes an interest in her 14-year-old daughter Judy (Sally O'Neil), whom he makes his ward. Against the wishes of his fiancée, socialite Diane Manners (Aileen Pringle), Michael leaves for an extended business trip to Europe. Upon his return three years later, the good doctor falls desperately in love with his now fetching teenage ward, and is angered by the news that she is engaged to young Dick Manners (Edward Morgan, Diane's brother. When Judy agrees to delay her upcoming wedding, a furious Dick crashes his car. Badly hurt in the accident, Judy is saved on the operation table by Michael, who begs her forgiveness. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This drama chronicles the devoted love of a woman who tries to reform her lover, a black marketeer with a compulsive gambling problem. Unfortunately, he is killed by two crooks whom he bilked. Just before he dies, he marries his loyal girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A rare "prestige" item from low-budget Allied Pictures, Parisian Romance boasts a screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert, of The Moon is Blue fame. Lew Cody stars as a libidinous French baron whose love-'em-and-leave-'em philosophy is seriously challenged when he falls for the beautiful Claudette (Marion Shilling). Realizing that Claudette would be happier with someone else, the Baron has the wisdom to do the wrong thing at the right time. Our hero's sang froid is never more pronounced than when he stoically accepts two socks on the chin from his rival Victor (Gilbert Roland). Joyce Compton, a specialist in "dumb Southern belle" roles, is incongruously cast as Parisian coquette Marcelle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his first starring role, George Raft plays Nick Darrow, a fence convinced by the police to go undercover after his father is killed in a Wall Street heist. Teaming up with Lora Madigan (Nancy Carroll), yet another victim of the gang, Nick gets close to the gang boss, Mason (Lew Cody), and his moll (Noel Francis), but is almost killed when Mason becomes suspicious. In the end, however, Nick manages to kill the man who murdered his father, a vile Russian (Gregory Ratoff), and is able to hand over Mason to the authorities. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this murder mystery, everyone around a murdered movie producer is a suspect, including his girl friend. Most of those involved have good reason to kill him. The murder occurred on a ship bound for a new location; all the suspects are aboard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A goodly portion of this boxing drama was filmed on location at the real-life Madison Square Garden. Jack Oakie stars as Eddie Burke, a wise-guy pugilist whose talent is unevenly matched by his ego. Despite his character flaws, Eddie knows the meaning of loyalty. When his manager Doc Williams (William Collier Sr.) is offered the opportunity to stage a match at Madison Square Garden, but only if he gets rid of his stable of fighters, Eddie fabricates an alibi and stages a walkout on Doc. Our hero returns to the fold in time to foil a gang of gambler-bootleggers, headed by Sloane (William "Stage" Boyd) and Roarke (Lew Cody). Thomas Meighan, one of Paramount Picture's most popular silent-era leading men, made his last appearance for his home studio as the leader of the Garden's board of directors. Madison Square Garden includes cameo appearances by such famed athletes as Jack Johnson, Tom Sharkey, Ted Sloan, and Mike Donlin and by such stellar sports reporters as Damon Runyon, Grantland Rice, Westbrook Pegler, Paul Gallico, Jack Lait and Edward W. Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A wealthy man's mistress abandons her luxurious life as a kept woman to be with the struggling Paris artist she has come to love in this third version of Robert W. Chambers' novel. It all began when she agreed to be his model. Soon they fall in love, and she decides to dump her rich old sugar daddy. Unfortunately, her relationship with the artist is tempestuous, and matters aren't helped by her former lover who tries to sabotage them at every turn. Though the artist wants to marry her, the woman isn't interested because he is too Bohemian and irresponsible. Fortunately, it all turns out to be an act and thanks to pressure from his conservative American family, marital bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this western, three disreputable cowboys begin pursuing a beautiful lady because she possesses a map to a valuable gold mine. All three compete to win her hand because by law a wife must share all her belongings with her spouse. Despite their efforts, the woman falls in love with a decent fellow who takes her far from the three bad men. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A troubled production that suffered from both severe cuts and retakes under a different director (Edward H. Griffith), this World War I melodrama fell far short of becoming another All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) as had obviously been the original intention. Told in flashbacks, the antiwar drama stars William Boyd as Sergeant Bill Thatcher, the head of an American battalion fighting for control of a French village. As Thatcher listens, three wounded soldiers under his command recall how they came to the battlefields of World War I: A farm boy, Bud (Russell Gleason), defied his mother (Mary Carr) and enlisted despite being the family's sole breadwinner; a New York playboy, trapped between two women, Ina (Marion Shilling), his newest conquest, and a former mistress, Lew (Lew Cody), sought the easy way out by enlisting; finally, Private Jim Mobley (James Gleason) tells the heartfelt story of how his wife, "Mademoiselle" Fritzi (ZaSu Pitts), a carnival knife thrower, got very upset when he decided to escape housekeeping duties by joining the army. Back on the battlefield, Jim finds Bill at the machine gun, where the latter finally tells his own story of how he came to hate his German-born fiancée, Katherine (Lissi Arna), when she warned him of the futility of war. Before blowing up a railroad bridge, Bill admits to Jim that he now fully understands Katherine's sentiments. Wounded in the battle, both soldiers end up in a German Red Cross hospital where Bill is reunited with Katherine. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Clark Gable went from supporting actor to star in the space of one year with Sporting Blood, adapted from a novel by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan. Gable is top-billed as a gambling house proprietor named Rid Riddell. When the owner of a prize thoroughbred loses heavily in Riddell's establishment, he is forced to give up the horse to the gambler as security. Rid enters the horse in several honest races, then pulls the animal during a crucial race in order to collect big money on the losses; then he plans to dope up the horse to assure future wins. But when the horse loses, the gambler, deeply in debt to mobsters, transfers ownership to one of his female dealers (Madge Evans), and then drops out of the plotline. Clark Gable isn't really the lead in Sporting Blood--actually he's something of a rat--but he's the one whom everybody in the audience remembers long after the final fadeout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two holdovers from the silent-film era top the cast of Columbia's Meet the Wife. Laura La Plante and Lew Cody are cast respectively as scatterbrained wife Gertrude Lennox and Getrude's first husband Phillip Lord. Long believed dead, Lord returns from the ashes as a successful writer. Meanwhile, poor Gertrude has taken a second husband, Harvey Lennox (Harry Myers). When the heroine proves incapable of choosing between her two spouses, Phillip and Harvey put their heads together to come up with a solution of their own. A subplot concerns the romantic travails of Gertrude's sister Doris (Joan Marsh), who is ardently pursued by gormless juvenile Gregory Brown (William Janney) and silly-ass Englishman Victor Staunton (Claud Allister). Meet the Wife is based on the play of the same name by Lynn Starling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide