Charles Coleman Movies

In his starring film for Universal Pictures, W.C. Fields plays circus manager and all-around flim flam man Larson E. Whipsnade. When he's not trying to fleece the customers or elude the sheriff, Whipsnade busys himself trying to break up the romance between his daughter Vicky (Constance Moore) and carnival ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (playing himself). He also carries on a running feud with Bergen's nattily attired dummy Charlie McCarthy ("I'll slash you into venetian blinds!"). Bergen's other dummy is Mortimer Snerd, who occasionally comments upon the action in his own thickheaded fashion. Anxious to arrange a marriage between Vicki and the wealthy Roger Bel-Goodie III (James Bush), Whipsnade disposes of Bergen and his dummies by sending them aloft in a hot-air baloon. Attending a party at the Bel-Goodie mansion, Whipsnade makes a pest of himself by constantly referring to snakes, a subject that invariably causes Mrs. Bel-Goodie (Mary Forbes) to swoon. He also engages in a zany ping-pong tournament with socialite Ronnie (Ivan Lebedeff). But it is Vicki, and not Whipsnade, who breaks up the engagement by telling off her pompous fiance. At that very instant, Bergen, having escaped from the balloon, arrives to claim Vicki and to help Whipsnade escape the sheriff once more. A partial remake of the W.C. Fields silent Two Flaming Youths, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man was scripted by Fields under the pseudonym "Charles Bogle." As published in the 1973 compendium W.C. Fields by Himself, the original screenplay was to have had dramatic overtones, including the death of Fields' trapeze-artist wife and a climactic soul-baring scene wherein Fields expresses his genuine love for his daughter. All this was jettisoned when it was decided to capitalize on the Fields-Charlie McCarthy "feud" then blazing on radio's Chase and Sanborn Show. While nowhere near as funny as Fields' subsequent Universal feature The Bank Dick, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man still contains a generous supply of laughs. Our favorite line: "Somebody's taken the cork out of my lunch." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Under-Pup served to introduce Universal's new preteen songstress--and potential Deanna Durbin replacement--Gloria Jean. Producer Joe Pasternak sagaciously based the leading character on Jean herself: A shy, self-effacing 11 year old girl, thrust into a glamorous lifestyle beyond her ken. She plays a small-town thrush who wins a music scholarship to a fancy Interlochen-style music camp. Her rich classmates snub Jean at first, but she wins them over with her indefatigable good spirits and her angelic singing voice. While The Under-Pup made Gloria Jean a star, she never did become the new Deanna Durbin as planned--partly because the old Deanna Durbin still had a decade's worth of movies left in her. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Borzage directed this doomed romance starring Joan Crawford as Olivia Riley, the young bride of Henry Linden (Melvyn Douglas), an upper-crust conservative. Olivia is a show girl in a New York nightclub and when Henry brings her home to his family -- his brother David (Robert Young) and spinster sister Hannah (Fay Bainter) -- on his family's estate, Olivia is given the cold shoulder, particularly by David, who is actually attracted to Olivia himself. Olivia strikes up a friendship with David's wife Judy (Margaret Sullivan), who feels as shut out from the family as Olivia does. Olivia is attracted to David herself, and Hannah tries to drive Olivia away before things really heat up. Judy recognizes the attraction and is willing to leave David so he can pursue his romance with Olivia. David has no idea how to handle the situation, and Henry is blissfully unaware of the simmering passions between David and his wife. But Hannah brings the situation to its inevitable, and tragic, outcome buy setting fire to the estate. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Lucille Ball landed her first starring comedy role in the mile-a-minute farce The Affairs of Annabel. Lucy of course plays the title character, a screwball movie actress who indulges in one wacky publicity stunt after another at the behest of her press agent Morgan (Jack Oakie). To promote an upcoming prison picture, Annabel gets herself arrested-and has quite a time extricating herself from behind bars. The limit comes when she gathers research for her next film by hiring on as a housemaid, culminating in a fake kidnapping that turns out to be the real thing. Matching Ball and Oakie laugh for laugh is Fritz Feld as a bombastic foreign director. Cowritten by future Desilu Studios executive Bert Grant, The Affairs of Annabel was popular enough to inspire an equally hilarious sequel, Annabel Takes a Tour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy a millionaire must somehow dissuade his daughter from marrying a money-grubbing social-climber. In desperation he offers to back the show of a beautiful starlet--provided she break his daughter's heart. Things don't go exactly as planned, but a lot of fun is had along the way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Harold Gray's long-running comic strip Little Orphan Annie was first brought to the screen in 1932, with Mitzi Green as Annie. This 1938 version was produced by Paramount, with Ann Gillis (best known for her performance as Becky Thatcher in Selznick's Adventures of Tom Sawyer) as Gray's resourceful, saucer-eyed heroine. Surprisingly, there's no "Daddy Warbucks" in this story of Annie's efforts to help the impoverished residents of a tenement neighborhood. Befriending would-be boxer Johnny Adams (Robert Kent), Annie persuades the tenement dwellers to subsidize Johnny's pugilistic career, with the promise that they'll be compensated with his championship prize money. Unfortunately, the loan sharks who've been terrorizing the neighborhood get wind of Annie's scheme, and it looks bad for both Annie and Johnny until a group of angry housewives come a-marching to the rescue! Needless to say, this Little Orphan Annie bears zero resemblance to the hit Broadway musical of the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

En route to America, Irish immigrant Arleen Whelan is the victim of shipboard masher Raymond Walburn. Pushed away by the girl, Walburn is slightly injured, whereupon he brings up charges against Whelan and holds up her entry visa at Ellis Island. War correspondent Don Ameche comes to the rescue, but Whelan's problems are far from over thanks to her involvement with another immigrant, gangster Gilbert Roland. Gateway represents perhaps the best screen opportunity for 20th Century-Fox starlet Arleen Whelan, who faded from prominence in the 1940s. Other than that, the film is an intriguing glimpse of immigration procedures in the prewar years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Thorpe's comedy Double Wedding (1937) marked the seventh screen pairing of William Powell and Myrna Loy, known for their popular appearances together in the Thin Man series. Powell is Charlie Lodge, a bohemian artist who lives in a trailer, camped in an auto parking space in a busy city. Lodge believes that work is meaningless - that life should be full of entertainment and relaxation and nothing else. Loy is Margit Agnew, a stylish dress-shop proprietor who constantly works herself into the ground. Margit has picked a suitable husband for her younger sister Irene (Florence Rice), a rather dull and ineffectual young man named Waldo Beaver (John Beal). While together, Irene and Waldo happen upon the improvident Lodge. Charlie subsequently encourages the girl to break free of the oppressive constraints of her fiance and sister, and to pursue her dreams of heading out to Hollywood and becoming an actress; Irene immediately fancies herself in love with Charlie. Loy intervenes by confronting Powell --and anyone who can't guess who's going to fall in love at this point should be drummed out of the theater. This amusing and affable by-the-numbers MGM comedy was based on a play by Ferenc Molnar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The seventh of RKO's Fred Astaire--Ginger Rogers musicals, Shall We Dance casts Astaire as a world-renowned ballet dancer and Rogers as a musical comedy headliner. Rogers' manager Jerome Cowan concocts a phony romance between his client and Astaire in order to garner publicity for them both. Eventually, of course, the twosome falls in love for real, but not before a cornucopia of confusion, complications and misunderstandings. Highlights include a number performed on roller skates and Astaire's dance solo in the art-deco boiler room of an ocean liner. The George and Ira Gershwin score (their last for Astaire and Rogers) includes "Slap That Bass," "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They All Laughed," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," and the title number. Shall We Dance was slated as the last of the Fred-and-Ginger romps, but within a year they were together again in Carefree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Merry-Go-Round of 1938 was the first (and last) of a proposed series of films spotlighting top Broadway talent. Three headliners from the Great White Way--comedian Bert Lahr, pantomime artist Jimmy Savo and monologist Billy House--team with veteran Hollywood scene-stealer Mischa Auer. The storyline has our four heroes taking care of a cute little girl, but the plot is forgotten amidst a series of choice specialty acts, including Lahr's legendary "Woodman Spare That Tree." Universal took a bath with Merry-Go-Round of 1938, which explains why you never saw the 1939 edition. As for the stars, Bert Lahr went on to Wizard of Oz; Jimmy Savo returned to Broadway; Billy House became a Hollywood character actor; and Mischa Auer continued to be everyone's favorite "Gloomy Russian." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The girl is teenaged singing sensation Deanna Durbin; the one hundred men are out-of-work musicians. Still in her "little miss fix-it" stage, Durbin connives to help the musicians crack the big time. The person Durbin is most concerned with is her father (Adolphe Menjou) the 100th and most underemployed of the bunch. The men organize their own orchestra; all they need is a prestigious leader. Enter legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who after several refusals to listen to Durbin's entreaties is captivated when he hears the sounds of Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody, as played by 100 shabby instrumentalists camped out on the stairway of his house. This film literally saved Universal Studios from receivership in 1937, assuring Ms. Durbin a movie career until she was too rich to care. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An intrepid amputee must pass a test to prove his devotion to his sweetie in this romantic drama. The hero lost his leg during the crash of a navy dirigible. Later he gets a job with a lumber company. He soon falls for the boss's daughter. Unfortunately, the general manager is also interested in her and so requires that the young man pass the notorious "blue vase test" in hopes of stumping the lovesick lad. The test involves retrieving a sketchily described vase and bringing it to headquarters on the railway. The plucky lad succeeds, marries his gal, and becomes the new general manager to boot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Slightly reminiscent of Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde (31), this screwball comedy features those two stalwarts of 1930s comedies: The brash reporter and the giddy heiress. Tyrone Power is the reporter, who makes his living writing about the foibles of the idle rich. His special target is heiress Loretta Young, the daughter of an influential financier (Dudley Digges). Young gets even by announcing her engagement to Power; now it's his turn to have his every movement scrutinized by the Public. Both reporter and heiress connive to embarrass one another, but (as expected) they're headed for the altar at fadeout time. Love is News was remade in 1949 as That Wonderful Urge, with Tyrone Power reprising his role and Gene Tierney in the Loretta Young part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide