Gino Corrado Movies

James Cagney was originally pegged to play brash Broadway columnist Jimmy Russell in this pleasant if somewhat lightweight newspaper yarn, but when director William Wellman called "action," Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had replaced him. In love with pretty actress Mary Wodehouse (Frances Dee), Jimmy can only watch as gangster Eddie Shaw (Lyle Talbot) takes on the girl's mounting debt. Sending Jimmy on a wild goose chase to Atlantic City, Shaw then attempts to lure Mary to his penthouse but is instead confronted with the girl's gun-toting Aunt Hattie (Cecil Cunningham). Jimmy manages to escape Shaw's goons and arrives at Shaw's apartment just in time to watch Aunt Hattie hide the murder weapon. There is an attempt at a coverup, and the eventual ruling of the court reads suicide. The ambitious Mary, meanwhile, marries theatrical entrepreneur Max Boncour (André Luguet) and Jimmy vows to stay away from the "love racket" for good. Or at least until gal-pal Sally (Ann Dvorak) can convince him otherwise. Although George Raft is listed in most credits for Love is a Racket, he is not in the surviving print. The drama was retitled Such Things Happen for release in Great Britain, where the word "racket" meant something entirely different. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this war drama, two buddies in WW I return stateside. One of them becomes a police sergeant, but the other cannot find work and begins running booze for a small-time bootlegger. He gets greedy and sets up his own operation, thereby enraging his former employer. When the young smuggler's brother is killed, the smuggler kills his old boss. The police sergeant captures him and he is sentenced to die in the electric chair. When the fateful day arrives, the cop and a nurse, who also served with them in the war, accompany him to his death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Few movie "heroes" are as despicable as Roy (Charles Kaley), the leading character in the MGM musical Lord Byron of Broadway. A seedy pianist in a seedier dive, Roy aspires for the big time, getting his chance when he transforms a bunch of old love letters written to his casual sweetheart into a hit song. Once he's made a name for himself, he dumps his "inspiration" in favor of Nancy (Marion Shilling), who becomes his vaudeville partner. As he climbs further up the show-biz ladder, Roy neglects Nancy in favor of singing star Ardis (Ethelind Terry) then throws her over when someone younger comes along. If there's any doubt by now that Roy is a thorough heel, that doubt will be erased by the scene in which he exploits the death of his best friend Joe (Cliff Edwards) by penning a maudlin "buddy" song. Only in the last few moments does Roy change his ways and become a "right guy," but even then, one has one's doubts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sacrifice of a socialite is chronicled in this romantic drama. To be with her beloved musician, the wealthy woman gives up her wealth and social standing. Tragedy ensues when she discovers that he is having an affair with another noblewoman causing her to take up again with an old flame. When her music man becomes terribly ill, she returns to his side to help him back to health. He is so impressed by her caring and devotion that he swears he will never stray again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

MGM house director Clarence Brown's first all-talkie, this pleasantly innocuous comedy drama stars William Haines as Jack Kelly, a carefree sailor picking up innocent Alice Brown (Anita Page) at a Ladies' Uplift Society Dance. Their whirlwind romance, however, ends abruptly when the girl's mother (Edythe Chapman) throws the sailor out of her home because of his profession. Alice, who has had enough of her mother's tyranny, follows him and, before shipping out, Jack helpfully secures her a room for the night by pawning her fox stole. Returning after a tour of duty, the chastened sailor finds his girl working as a taxi dancer and physically forces her to return to home and hearth. With her parents' wholehearted approval, Alice suggests that Jack marry her -- "a second time," as she fibs -- before a preacher. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Though Universal temporarily abandoned its western product when talkies came in, a few of its 1929 silent sagebrushers were released with audible sequences. Completed as a silent, Senor Americano was 85% reshot for the benefit of the microphone. Set in Old California, the film concerns the exploits of U.S. Cavalry officer Ken Maynard, who is dedicated to keeping the territory safe from bandits and plunderers. Top-billed Katherine Crawford is cast as the fair senorita whose heart is captured by the dashing "Senor Americano". Both Maynard and Crawford are given ample opportunities to sing, which both do with enthusiasm if not great skill (Maynard, however, would continue to inflict cowboy ballads on his faithful fans for the next ten years). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Iron Mask was Douglas Fairbanks' sequel to his popular 1921 vehicle The Three Musketeers. Fairbanks returns to his original role of D'Artagnan, while Marguerite de La Motte and Nigel De Brulier briefly reprise their Musketeers roles as, respectively, Constance and Cardinal Richelieu. After tying up loose plot ends from the first film, the middle-aged D'Artagnan and his equally venerable fellow musketeers Athos (Leon Bary, also returning from the 1921 film), Porthos (Stanley J. "Tiny" Sandford) and Aramis (Gino Corrado) set about to rescue Louis XIV (William Bakewell), the rightful King of France. Louis XIV has been entombed in a dungeon by his twin brother (also Bakewell) and his head has been locked in an impenetrable iron mask. All of this is at the behest of the scheming De Rochefort (Ulrich Haupt), the real power behind the throne. The Iron Mask was Fairbanks' last silent film; perhaps in acknowledgment of the passing of a Golden era, Fairbanks "died" on screen for the first and only time in his career. Most currently available prints of Iron Mask are taken from the 1940 reissue, narrated by Douglas Fairbanks Jr; in 1974 the younger Fairbanks prepared a restored version of the original, including two brief dialogue passages filmed by Fairbanks back in 1929. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Devil's Skipper was based on Demetrios Contos, a seafaring yarn by Jack London. Effectively cast against type, Belle Bennett plays a wronged woman who becomes the most brutal and feared slave-ship captain on the Seven Seas. Though her crews constantly threaten to mutiny, "The Devil Skipper" (Bennett) is protected by her first officer Montague Love, who has carried a torch for her for nearly thirty years. Capturing an enemy ship, Bennett prepares to turn over pretty passenger Mary McAllister to her lustful crew -- only to discover that the helpless girl is Bennett's own daughter. Suddenly concerned only with McAllister's safety, Bennett lets down her guard long enough to be overtaken by her vengeful crew, leading to an operatic death scene. Gino Corrado, who later found his cinematic niche as Hollywood's favorite head waiter, appears in the opening scenes as Bennett's treacherous lover. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ricardo Cortez is The Gun Runner in this Tiffany-Stahl programmer. It all begins when devil-may-care Julio (Cortez) sets about to quell a South American revolution. Julio changes his mind when he falls in love with Inez (Nora Lane), sister of insurrectionist Garcia (Gino Corrado). Casting his lot with the revolutionaries, Julio is eventually arrested as a traitor. As he faces the firing squad, our hero discovers who his real friends are in the nick of time. One of a plethora of banana-republic actioners of the 1920s, The Gun Runner was based on a novel by Arthur Stringer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Long before he became established as Hollywood's favorite headwaiter, character actor Gino Corrado enjoyed a brief fling at stardom. Billed as Gene Corrado, he played a courageous French army captain in the 1926 cheapie Modern Youth. Tired of warfare and bloodshed, Corrado sheds his uniform and heads to America, there to start life anew as a peace-loving civilian. Instead, he is pressed into duty as a secret agent for the U.S. and shipped off to a revolution-torn banana republic. With swashbuckling panache, Corrado rescues heroine Olive Kirby from her villainous uncle, pausing only to dispatch a soldier or two with his trusty sword. So what does all this have to do with a title like Modern Youth? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amidst much fanfare, Lillian Gish was signed to a fabulous MGM contract in 1925 which not only assured her $400,000 per picture but also gave her complete control over her productions, including choice of co-stars and directors. For her inaugural MGM effort, Gish selected La Boheme, the theatrical version of Henri Murger's 1851 novel The Latin Quarter. Thanks to copyright conflicts, MGM was unable to use the plot elements from the Giacomo Puccini opera based on the Murger book (there'd been plans to prepare a musical score based on Puccini's themes, but these fell through at the last moment), so scriptwriter Ray Doyle and Harry Behn relied almost exclusively on the original novel. Gish is cast as Mimi, the fragile little seamstress who takes up residence in Paris's "artists colony." Here she falls in love with aspiring painter Rodolphe (John Gilbert), who though professing undying devotion and dedication to Mimi cannot help but dally with other girls. To finance Rodolphe's artistic career, Mimi pawns all of her belongings and takes a series of back-breaking jobs, destroying her health in the process. Only when Mimi is on her deathbed does Rodolphe realize the extent of her sacrifices -- and of his love for her. Renee Adoree co-stars as the saucy Musette, whose double-entendre antics are toned down here, while Edward Everett Horton steals several scenes as Rodolphe's musician pal Colline. Though John Gilbert hams it up, Lillian Gish's brilliant performance is a model of restraint and subtlety. For her final scene, the actress went to appalling lengths to convincingly simulate death, going without water for three days and training herself to breathe without discernible movement (even when seen today, the effect is startlingly real). Available only for archival showings until the early 1970s, a restored version of La Boheme was reissued theatrically in 1978, while an even better restoration was made available to television in the 1990s through the auspices of the Turner Classic Movies cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Coast Patrol was a threadbare silent 5-reeler starring Kenneth MacDonald as an officer in the titular patrol. Nothing much happens really, except for a few misunderstandings, fistfights and boat chases. The film was, from all reports, well photographed; too bad there wasn't anything truly worth photographing. Spottiswoode Aitken, once one of the stalwarts of D.W. Griffith's stock company, is wasted in a minor role. If Coast Patrol has any distinction, it is that it served as one of the first leading-lady assignments for the very young Fay Wray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide