Claudia Coleman Movies

Test Pilot is one of those irresistible MGM potboilers of the 1930s that coast along on sheer star power. Clark Gable plays a courageous test pilot, who compromises his achievements with his frequent bouts of drinking. Gable's mechanic, Spencer Tracy, does what he can to keep his boss out of trouble. While testing a new aircraft, Gable is forced to land on a Midwestern farm, where he meets and falls in love with Myrna Loy. Gable and Loy marry, whereupon he is fired by his boss Lionel Barrymore, who is of the opinion that flying and dames don't mix. Gable goes off on another bender, compelling Loy to leave him. Once more, Tracy comes to Gable's rescue by reuniting the couple and arranging for Barrymore to give Gable his job back. Later, Gable and Tracy are assigned to test a huge army bomber. Something goes wrong, and the plane goes into a dive. The self-sacrificing Tracy sees to it that Gable is saved from a flaming death--at the cost of his own life. Gable is so devastated by Tracy's death that it looks as though he'll never fly again. But with Loy's help, Gable regains his self-confidence. As one can see, there's little in Test Pilot that hasn't been done before. But with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy at the controls, the film proved a real audience-pleaser in 1938. In fact, it's still pretty good today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once they had twin child actors Billy and Bobby Mauch on their payroll after The Prince and the Pauper, Warner Bros. had to work overtime to come up with suitable vehicles. One of the Mauch twins' best efforts was Penrod and His Twin Brother, based loosely on the "Penrod" stories by Booth Tarkington. Actually, 14-year-old "All American boy" Penrod (Billy Mauch) isn't really the brother of tough kid Danny (Bobby Mauch), but they do look exactly alike, leading to trouble for Penrod when he gets blamed for Danny's misdeeds. Eventually, Pen and Danny team up to vanquish a common enemy: a gang of mobsters who've squirreled themselves away in a desolate hideout. Among the supporting players are two recent "Our Gang" graduates, Jerry Tucker and Philip Hurlic. Penrod and His Twin Brother did well enough to warrant a follow-up, Penrod's Double Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Country Beyond is based on one of the scores of Canadian-Northwest yarns written by James Oliver Curwood. Robert Kent plays Corporal Robert King, a Mountie who has sworn to "get his man" -- the man in question being suspected fur thief Jim Alison (Alan Hale). Kings's resolve is weakened when he falls in love with Alison's pretty daughter Jean (Rochelle Hudson). For her sake, he vows to prove that Alison is innocent of the charges levelled against him. Sure enough, the real culprit is Ray Jennings (Alan Dinehart), who spends the last ten minutes or so of the film trying to bump off everyone in general and Kent in particular. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this children's movie, a feisty little orphan with high moral standards is literally imprisoned in a terrible orphanage. She is elated to discover that she is actually the daughter of a prominent lawyer who has been searching for her, but when she sees that another little girl needs a daddy more than she does, she exchanges papers with her and lets her go the good home. Fortunately, the truth is discovered and she too is reunited with her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Kathleen Shepard, Human Cargo is a lively, tongue-in-cheek melodrama purporting to expose the alien smuggling racket. Claire Trevor and Brian Donlevy star respectively as dizzy society reporter Bonnie Brewster and dedicated crime journalist Packy Campbell, who join forces long enough foil the villains. Their efforts take them from Los Angeles to Vancouver to L.A. again, with a few thrill-packed stopovers along the way and a particularly exciting climax on board the criminal mastermind's yacht. Highlights include Bonnie's efforts to pass herself off as a Frenchwoman (she manages to convince the bad guys, if not the audience) and some startlingly frank dialogue regarding drug addiction. Rita Cansino, still not yet billed as Rita Hayworth, is quite alluring as a Latina dancer who is killed off early in the proceedings by triggerman Tony Sculla (Ralf Harolde). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second of 20th Century-Fox's Dionne Quintuplets vehicles brings back Jean Hersholt as kindly Canadian obstetrician Dr. Dafoe. The good doctor faces none of the professional crises that plagued him in the first Dionne picture The Country Doctor. Instead, a testimonial dinner is arranged for him, where some of the thousands of people Dafoe helped bring into the world have been invited to honor the humble physician. But Dafoe gives as well as takes; sensing that some of those assembled to honor him have acute personal problems, the doctor sets about to solve them. Reunion would be rendered obsolete when the media did a turnaround in the late 1930s and began vilifying the real Dr. Dafoe for his alleged exploitation of the Dionne quints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reckless is a delightfully breezy screwball comedy from the same director (Victor Fleming) and star (Jean Harlow) responsible for the celebratedBombshell (itself a film à clef loosely based on Clara Bow) -- with the added appeal of William Powell. One can readily see the chemistry between the two stars at work, which would lead to their impending marriage at the time of Harlow's death a year later. The sets for the Broadway number that Harlow's Mona Leslie performs in are also extraordinary. Mona Leslie (Jean Harlow) is an up-and-coming Broadway actress, dancer, and singer, who leads a happy-go-lucky, freewheeling lifestyle; bailed out of jail by family friend Ned Riley (William Powell), a sports promoter who loves Mona but won't slow down his lifestyle long enough to give her the satisfaction of admitting it, she performs in a bizarre "benefit" show, only to discover that she has an audience of one, wealthy admirer Bob Harrison (Franchot Tone). He declares his love for her and a romance does develop, but when he proposes marriage, he discovers that his upper-crust set won't accept a showgirl as one of their blue-blood crowd.

Their romance leads to a marriage and desperate unhappiness for all concerned, most of all Harrison, whose basic neurotic nature gets worse as the marriage deteriorates. When Harrison takes his own life, Riley and Mona find themselves accused of every foul deed possible, and when Mona gives birth to a son, a legal battle ensues over custody of the child, with Harrison's family claiming that she is unfit. Finally, Mona decides to fight back -- she gets Harrison's family to stand down by giving up any claim to her late husband's money, but she must now contend with the nation's self-appointed moral guardians. No producer will take the risk of backing a show with Mona in it, but she finally gets a helping hand from Ned Riley. The movie has a few too many changes in tone, which detracts from the verisimilitude. The whole story is a film à clef based on the tragic romance between torch singer Libby Holman and tobacco heir Smith Reynolds (which also provided fodder for such à clef films as Brief Moment, Sing, Sinner, Sing, and Written on the Wind) -- and Harlow's singing is obviously dubbed, just as her dancing is doubled. Also, the songs -- except for the final two numbers -- don't quite fit with the melodrama, and the Damon Runyon-esque comic antics feel completely out of left field at times. But when she and Powell are onscreen together, the film just lofts into the air, past all of those flaws. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a social worker employed by Traveler's Aid finally is able to show her love to a construction foreman responsible for building the Golden Gate Bridge. She has loved him for nine years and is delighted that they can finally be together. Unfortunately, both of them are so busy that it is difficult to be together. Fortunately, they do eventually connect. The film contains actual footage of the construction of the great San Francisco Bridge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

If you can accept blonde, blue-eyed Marion Davies disguising herself in blackface, chances are you'll swallow the rest of Operator 13. Davies plays a Belle Boyd-like actress who agrees to become a Northern spy during the Civil War. She assumes the identity of an octoroon servant and heads into Southern territory. Marion meets dashing Confederate captain Gary Cooper, and instantly falls in love with him. Later, she assumes the disguise of a Southern belle to prevent Cooper from recruiting Southern sympathizers in the north. This time Cooper falls for Davies, which makes it hard for her to carry out her mission. After several more reels of espionage and romantic interludes, including a gently kinky sequence in which Cooper and Davies are handcuffed together, the lovers part company, promising to meet again when the war is over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Guy Kibbee trots out his small-town blowhard routine in the title role of Big Hearted Herbert. He plays a former plumber who strikes it rich in the bathroom-fixture manufacturing business (guess which fixture we don't see in this Post-Code film). A stingy soul, Kibbee prefers the company of pinchpennies like himself. Though it's fun to see him tweak the noses of the local big spenders, Kibbee learns the error of his strict parsimony when his wife requires an emergency operation. Based on a play by Sophie Kerr and Anna Steese Richardson, Big Hearted Herbert was remade in 1940 as Father is a Prince. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Lady from Nowhere is manicurist Polly (Mary Astor) who is the wrong girl at the wrong place when a gangland murder occurs. Taking it on the lam, Polly is pursued by both the gangsters and the police. The cops could have taken a little time to put a tail on the suspected murderer, but why let logic get in the way of a good story? Equally illogical is the decision by the fugitive Polly to pose as a small-town heiress as a means of getting her hands on some getaway money. Since such a ploy could serve only to reveal her whereabouts to the villains, it's surprising that heroic newspaperman Earl (Charles Quigley) comes to Polly's rescue instead of chastising her with a "Geez, what a dummy!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Max Miller's best-seller forms the basis of this romantic melodrama about cynical, hard-drinking reporter Joe Miller (Ben Lyon), who exploits his romance with Julie Kirk (Claudette Colbert) to hand in a sensational story to his newspaper. Julie's father Eli (Ernest Torrence) is a decrepit sea-captain who smuggles in illegal Chinese on the West Coast. For years, Joe has been promising his newspaper editor a major scoop on Chinese smuggling operations, and he finally delivers when Joe catches Eli red-handed. But his torrid affair with Julie confuses matters. Originally Joe's plan was to get to Eli through Julie, but now he is in love with her, and he is not sure what to do. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide