Elisha Cook, Jr. Movies
American actor Elisha Cook Jr. was the son of an influential theatrical actor/writer/producer who died early in the 20th Century. The younger Cook was in vaudeville and stock by the time he was fourteen-years old. In 1928, Cook enjoyed critical praise for his performance in the play Her Unborn Child, a performance he would repeat for his film debut in the 1930 film version of the play. The first ten years of Cook's Hollywood career found the slight, baby-faced actor playing innumerable college intellectuals and hapless freshmen (he's given plenty of screen time in 1936's Pigskin Parade). In 1940, Cook was cast as a man wrongly convicted of murder in Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), and so was launched the second phase of Cook's career as Helpless Victim. The actor's ability to play beyond this stereotype was first tapped by director John Huston, who cast Cook as Wilmer, the hair-trigger homicidal "gunsel" of Sidney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941). So far down on the Hollywood totem pole that he wasn't billed in the Falcon opening credits, Cook suddenly found his services much in demand. Sometimes he'd be shot full of holes (as in the closing gag of 1941's Hellzapoppin'), sometimes he'd fall victim to some other grisly demise (poison in The Big Sleep [1946]), and sometimes he'd be the squirrelly little guy who turned out to be the last-reel murderer (I Wake Up Screaming [1941]; The Falcon's Alibi [1946]). At no time, however, was Cook ever again required to play the antiseptic "nerd" characters that had been his lot in the 1930s. Seemingly born to play "film noir" characters, Cook had one of his best extended moments in Phantom Lady (1944), wherein he plays a set of drums with ever-increasing orgiastic fervor. Another career high point was his death scene in Shane (1953); Cook is shot down by hired gun Jack Palance and plummets to the ground like a dead rabbit. A near-hermit in real life who lived in a remote mountain home and had to receive his studio calls by courier, Cook nonetheless never wanted for work, even late in life. Fans of the 1980s series Magnum PI will remember Cook in a recurring role as a the snarling elderly mobster Ice Pick. Having appeared in so many "cult" films, Elisha Cook Jr. has always been one of the most eagerly sought out interview subjects by film historians. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1940
To quell the rumors that musical stars Alice Faye and Betty Grable detested each other (actually they were fast friends, if not close buddies), 20th Century-Fox cast both ladies in their 1940 "inventory" musical Tin Pan Alley. Set in the years just prior to and during WW1, the film casts Faye and Grable as Katie and Lily Blaine, a singing-sister act playing the vaudeville circuits of the land. Ambitious songwriter Skeets Harrigan (John Payne) senses star potential in Katie Blaine, and his efforts to promote her-and his tunes-at all costs result in a great deal of ill-will before the inevitable happy ending. Counterpointing the likeably ruthless Skeets is his ebullient partner Harry Calhoun (Jack Oakie), who spends most of the picture trying to find suitable lyrics for a novelty ditty he's written, a quest that proves unsuccessful until a stuttering soldier inspires him to write "K-K-Katie". With the exception of the Mack Gordon-Harry Warren song "You Say the Sweetest Things Baby", all the tunes heard in Tin Pan Alley were popular during the period depicted in the film, including "Moonlight Bay", "Honeysuckle Rose", and "Goodbye Broadway, Hello France". The film's best ensemble piece is "The Shiek of Araby", with corpulent "potentate" Billy Gilbert matching the lissome Alice Faye and Betty Grable step for step. Incidentally, this number was one of several to be severely trimmed before final release: removed entirely was a delightful sequence involving the Tin Lizzie-inspired song "Get Out and Get Under", though this scene later appeared on a cable-TV compendium of excised 20th Century-Fox musical highlights. The winner of a 1940 Oscar for Alfred Newman's score, Tin Pan Alley was remade in 1950 as I'll Get By. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, Betty Grable, (more)
- 1940
This slick marital farce features Joel McCrea as T. H. Randall, a race horse owner whose devotion to his work causes a strain in his relationship with wife Valerie (Nancy Kelly). Unable to stand any more neglect, Valerie divorces Randall, even though the audience is well aware that she's still in love with him. Reduced to poverty by his huge alimony payments, Randall cooks up a scheme with lawyer Bill Carter (Roland Young) to marry off Valerie to staid Paul Hunter (Lyle Talbot). But during a weekend party at the home of dowager Ethel (Mary Boland), Randall resents the attentions lavished upon Valerie by rakish young Freddie (Cesar Romero). It doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out who winds up with whom in the last scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Nancy Kelly, (more)
- 1940
Communism-the American variety-is given a hilarious going-over in 20th Century-Fox's Public Deb No. 1. Spoiled society girl Penny Cooper (Brenda Joyce) impulsively lends her voice to a Communist rally, which earns her a public spanking by 100% All-American waiter Alan Blake (George Murphy). Impressed by Blake's boldness, Penny's ulcerated father, soup tycoon Millburn Cooper (Charlie Ruggles), hires the young man as a vice-president, hoping in this way to keep his daughter in line. Murphy manages to win Joyce from her socialite boyfriend Bruce Fairchild (who else but Ralph Bellamy?), but she refuses to abandon her Communist ideology until she is disillusioned by Russia's invasion of Finland. The heroine's rejection of the Red cause is symbolized by an (implicit) act of defecation performed by a passing dog on a crumpled Communist pamphlet. When originally released, the film was titled Elsa Maxwell's Public Deb No. 1, in recognition of the presence in the cast of famed New York social arbiter and partygiver Elsa Maxwell, who in the film's silliest scene shows up at a costume party dressed as Benjamin Franklin! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Brenda Joyce, (more)
- 1939
The "Little Tough Guys" get involved in a circulation war between a paper with underhanded tactics and a paper being mismanaged by the woman who inherited it. The Tough Guys' leader is partial to the latter, since it took him in when his sheriff father was murdered. He helps draw readers away from the other paper and gets to avenge his father's death, since the man playing dirty is his father's killer. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Edmund Lowe, (more)
- 1939
In this drama, an ingenious journalist finds himself at odds with his brother the district attorney over his unconventional methods of investigating a story; especially when they interfere with the judicial process as they did when he began eavesdropping upon a grand jury. One of the reporter's tricks involves several ham radios strategically placed around the city. With the help of the operators, the journalist is able to get scoops. When he is kidnapped by a crime boss who is sick of his constant snooping, the operators come to his rescue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Howard, Gail Patrick, (more)
- 1938
Set during World War I, Submarine Patrol stars Preston S. Foster as a naval officer demoted for dereliction of duty. He is forced to commandeer a battered old submarine chaser and its ragtag crew. Anxious to redeem himself, Foster transforms his loser underlings into a crack combat team, chalking up numerous enemy sinkings. Richard Greene costars as Foster's junior officer, a rich wastrel who matures into a worthwhile individual during his tour of duty. Deftly directed by John Ford, Submarine Patrol was enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike in 1938. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Greene, Nancy Kelly, (more)
- 1938
Whenever things got slow at 20th Century-Fox, the studio revved up its old reliable "three girls looking for millionaires" plotline. Three Kansas sisters (Loretta Young, Marjorie Weaver and Pauline Moore) use a small inheritance to set themselves up in a Manhattan penthouse. Figuring that Young has the best chance of snaring a rich husband, she is allowed to pose as a wealthy heiress, while Weaver and Moore pose as her servants. Young wins Joel McCrea, who isn't as rich as everyone thinks. Weaver ends up with a rancher (David Niven) who likewise is cash poor. But Moore hits the jackpot with a slow-witted working stiff (Stu Erwin) who turns out to be the only millionaire in the bunch. Three Blind Mice was remade (with much of the dialogue intact) as the 1941 musical Moon Over Miami, then re-remade in period costume as Three Little Girls in Blue (47). In 1953, elements of Three Blind Mice were combined with the basic plotline of the 1932 comedy The Greeks Had a Word for Them--and the result was How to Marry a Millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1938
Sonja Henie is the "lucky star" in this enjoyable 20th Century-Fox musical. Henie plays Kristina Nelson a humble department store sales clerk who is spotted while skating by George Cabot Jr. (Cesar Romero_, son of the store's owner. George is so taken by Kristina that he gets her an athletic scholarship in a major university. It is hoped that our heroine will serve as a living advertisement for the store by strolling around in an expensive sports wardrobe; instead, she incurs the jealousy of her fellow students, causing a slump in sales. George also loses out romantically when Kristina falls in love with handsome teacher Larry Taylor (Richard Greene). Expelled from college, Kristina recovers from the blow when she's hired by a popular ice capades-style extavaganza. The film's highlight is Sonja Henie's "Alice in Wonderland" ice ballet, originally released in Sepiatone. Those not interesting in skating will be compensated by the lunatic comedy of supporting actress Joan Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Henie, Richard Greene, (more)
- 1937
Loretta Young is the wife, Warner Baxter the doctor and Virginia Bruce the nurse in this 20th Century-Fox trifle. Society gal Young marries Park Avenue medico Baxter, little guessing that humble nursie Bruce also loves the doc. Young raises vociferous objections, compelling Bruce to leave. Baxter's practice suffers due to Bruce's absence. Young realizes that the doctor needs his nurse, while Bruce comes to accept that Young needs her doctor. You may need one too after 85 minutes of this. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Warner Baxter, (more)
- 1937
Young Roger Calverton (Ronald Sinclair) and his uncle Sir Peter Calverton (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) bring their prize race-horse The Pookah to America, hoping to win a major purse and save their impoverished family estate. They cross paths with Tim Donahue (Mickey Rooney), one of the top young jockeys in the business, and also with Cricket West (Judy Garland), the niece of Mother Ralph (Sophie Tucker), who runs the boarding house where Donahue resides. Cricket likes to sing every chance she gets, and also has a terrible crush on Tim, but even she can't abide his brash, cocky attitude about himself -- and as a good hostess and also a sensible girl, she also gets just a tiny bit smitten with Roger. He and Tim have a rough first meeting but find that they do sort of like each other, and soon Tim -- who has had a tough, hard-scrabble life -- becomes very close to his new friend from England and to Sir Peter, especially when he finds out how much they love horses and racing. He agrees to ride The Pookah -- but then the young jockey is suckered by his estranged father (Charles D. Brown), a low-life member of a gambling syndicate, into throwing the race. This leads to a tragedy that forces Tim to walk away from his profession and everyone he knows, until Cricket finds him and convinces the boy that what he did wasn't entirely his fault, and that he still has the power to make up for a part of it. Tim steals some of the money he gave his father -- supposedly to save the man's life -- to help Roger get The Pookah into another race, but he still has to overcome the machinations of the mob so he can right the wrong he did to the best friends he's ever had. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, (more)
- 1937
In the fine tradition of And Sudden Death, Columbia's The Devil is Driving tabulates the dangers of drunken driving in an exciting, unabashedly melodramatic fashion. In his first true portrayal of a "little creep," Elisha Cook Jr. stars as Tony, the spoiled-rotten son of the wealthy and influential Mr. Stevens (Henry Kolker). Forever climbing behind the wheel after one too many martinis, Tony strikes and kills an old woman and later forces his sweetheart Kitty (Ann Rutherford) over an embankment. By rights, this blatant vehicular homicide should earn Tony a stiff jail sentence, but he is constantly bailed out by his father, who even buys off juries and judges to keep his son out of prison. After helping Stevens spring his son once too often, guilt-stricken district attorney Paul Driscoll (Richard Dix) joins forces with crusading reporter Eve Hammond (Joan Perry) to keep repeat offenders like Tony off the road. Be assured that Tony will receive his comeuppance in spades by fade-out time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Joan Perry, (more)
- 1937
This hard-hitting Warner Bros. courtroom drama begins with the usual "Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental" disclaimer. Filmgoers with long memories, however, recognized Robert Rossen and Aben Kandel's screenplay as a blow-by-blow recreation of the Leo Frank-Mary Phagan case of 1915. Phagan, a 14-year-old employee in a Marietta, GA pencil factory, was found murdered. The bulk of the evidence pointed to a black janitor (who actually confessed to the crime years after the fact), but race-baiting Atlanta newspaper publisher Tom Watson decided to go after Leo Frank, the Northern Jew who owned the factory where Mary worked. "We can lynch a nigger any time," the politically ambitious Watson is alleged to have said, "but when do we get a chance to hang a Yankee Jew?" Thanks largely to Watson's "guilt by headline" campaign, and to Fulton County's cooperative solicitor general, Frank was found guilty and sentenced to death. Georgia Governor John M. Slaton, who all along smelled something fishy in the case, commuted Frank's case to life imprisonment (and was ruined politically as a result). En route to prison, Frank was abducted by a mob and lynched, an incident that boosted the prestige of the Georgia Ku Klux Klan. Aben Kandel dramatized this appalling miscarriage of justice in his novel Death in the Deep South, which served as the basis for They Won't Forget. In Mervyn LeRoy's film version, Lana Turner (in a star-making turn) plays Mary Clay, a teen-aged typing school student who dresses garishly and flirts with every man she meets. Mary is later found murdered; the last person to see her alive was her teacher, recently arrived Northerner Robert Hale (Edward Norris). Once more, a black janitor (played as a superstitious moron by Clinton Rosemond) is the most likely suspect, but the ambitious district attorney (Claude Rains) seems sincere in his belief that Hale is guilty. Once Hale is sentenced to death, the governor, played by Paul Everton, commutes his sentence, serene in the belief that, once his career is finished, he'll be able to retire peacefully (real-life governor Slaton did not go down so benignly). Except for the removal of the original case's anti-Semitic elements, They Won't Forget is stark, powerhouse filmmaking, one of the best of Warners' "social protest" films of the 1930s. It was remade as the 1987 TV movie The Murder of Mary Phagan starring Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Peter Gallagher, and Charles S. Dutton (as well as as the unsuccessful 1998 Broadway musical Parade). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rains, Edward Norris, (more)
- 1937
Framed by the fast-paced world of horse racing, this romance centers upon the wealthy young owner of a racing stable who falls in love with a beautiful singer who has just been given Galaxy, a promising young horse, by one of her beaus. Galaxy is accompanied by a trainer, who is also in love with the girl. Later all three get tangled up with crooked bookies and trouble follows. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Binnie Barnes, (more)
- 1937
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
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, (more)
- 1937
The Ritz Brothers play three goofballs working their way through college by putting in time at a tailor shop. The college football team's star player is Nat Pendleton, a wealthy Native American who has donated a large amount of money to the school. As long as Pendleton is able to play, the football coach (Fred Stone) feels safe in putting the Ritz boys in the game at the last minute, when their zany antics can't possibly effect the final score. In Jim Thorpe fashion, the Indian student is disqualified when it is learned he once played professionally. Thus the coach is forced to utilize an untried player(Dick Baldwin) in the Big Game--and when that player is injured, it's the Ritz Brothers to the rescue. Life Begins in College gives plenty of attention to the comedy of the Ritz Brothers, if that's your idea of a good time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Joan Davis, (more)
- 1937
An airy screwball comedy, Danger--Love at Work explores the lives of a wealthy but wacky family. Ann Sothern plays the daughter, the only remotely "normal" member of the clan. Poor Jack Haley enters the scene as a feckless attorney who tries to get the family to finalize an important land deal. Sothern falls for Haley, and through the machinations of her looney parents the timorous lawyer winds up the object of a "shotgun wedding." The amusing but inconsequential Danger--Love at Work was the second American film of director Otto Preminger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, Jack Haley, (more)
The first of 20th Century-Fox's college musicals, Pigskin Parade is also close to the best of them in musical terms -- though they were all at least pretty good on that level -- principally thanks to the presence of 13-year-old Judy Garland, playing an Arkansas farm girl with surprising sincerity and success (in addition to belting out a couple of numbers with the depth and sincerity of a performer at least twice that age). The plot starts rolling when the Yale University football team, looking for a credible but not too tough opponent for a charity game, accidentally invites the team from tiny Tesax State University (enrollment 700) instead of the University of Texas (enrollment 7500). Texas State has also just gotten a new football coach, Slug Winters (Jack Haley), who's had a lot of success coaching high school back in Flushing, New York but still has to prove himself with college players -- he arrives with his brassy, outspoken wife (Patsy Kelly) just ahead of the invitation from Yale, which nearly sends them running back to New York. Through sheer luck and Mrs. Winters' brainstorm, however, they figure out a way they can meet the Yale team on the field and not get steamrollered -- they come up with a fast, highly mobile brand of football that makes them contenders, but then they lose their star-player. Mrs. Winters manages to stumble onto Amos Dodd (Stuart Erwin), an Arkansas farm boy who developed his arm by tossing watermelons around, and brings him and his sister (Judy Garland) to the college. But now they have to make Amos -- who never finished high school -- eligible, and keep him interested enough in the team and the college to get him to the game. It's all a lot of fun, with lots of comic antics and a song spicing up the pace every few minutes, and Haley and Kelly are a delight to watch together. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patsy Kelly, Jack Haley, (more)
- 1936
On New Year's Eve, aspiring actress Julia Wayne (Joan Bennett) and chronic gambler Larry Stevens (Joel McCrea), both flat broke, each find one-half of a $1000 banknote. They decide to invest their windfall in a race horse and jockey, in hopes of financing a theatrical career for Julia and a new start in life for Larry. Unfortunately, the thousand-dollar note turns out to be stolen, dropped in haste during a bank robbery. This gets hero, heroine and horse mixed up with the crooks, and for a while it looks as though the nag won't show up for the climactic Big Race. Even after the horse arrives at the starting gate, he refuses to gallop until he spies the cart that he used to haul around for coal peddler Jonesy (Andy Clyde). After a great opening, Two in a Crowd runs out of gas, but the two stars are always worth watching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1930
Elisha Cook Jr. made his screen debut in this early exploitation talkie from De Forest Phonofilm. Cook and Pauline Drake appear as innocent lovers who can only stand by and watch while their friend Dorothy Kennedy (Adele Ronson) becomes pregnant by careless Jack Conover (Paul Clare). When Jack refuses to marry her, Dorothy seeks an abortion from the kindhearted Dr. Remington (Harry Davenport), who instead notifies her mother (Frances Underwood). Meanwhile, Jack learns that his domineering aunt (Doris Rankin), is actually his mother and has a complete change of heart, proposing to Dorothy. Produced in New York City, Her Unborn Child also marked the screen debut of venerable Broadway actor Harry Davenport. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
