Harry Crocker Movies
- 1949
This musical comedy stars William Powell as Emery Slade, who was once a major film star but lately isn't getting much work. Arrogantly determined to climb back to the top, Slade convinces studio chief Melville Crossman (Adolphe Menjou) to give him the male lead in the film version of a Broadway musical. However, Crossman's offer comes with a catch: Emery has to persuade the show's female lead to appear in the movie. Slade heads to New York to seal the deal, but instead he discovers a gifted young unknown named Julie Clark (Betsy Drake) and decides she's perfect for the role. Crossman is not too enthusiastic about this news, and neither is publicist Bill Davis (Mark Stevens), who is given his pink slip along with Slade. However, Slade is determined to make a career for Julie in Hollywood, though it's not until later that he realizes why he feels so strongly about her. Movie buffs will get a kick out of Menjou's performance, closely modeled on 20th Century Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Mark Stevens, (more)
Faced with the challenge of writing a screenplay based on the life of fabulously wealthy, fabulously successful composer Cole Porter, one Hollywood wag came up with a potential story angle: "How does the S.O.B. make his second million dollars?" By the time the Porter biopic Night and Day was released, the three-person scriptwriting team still hadn't come up with a compelling storyline, though the film had the decided advantages of star Cary Grant and all that great Porter music. Roughly covering the years 1912 to 1946, the story begins during Porter's undergraduate days at Yale University, where he participated in amateur theatricals under the tutelage of waspish professor Monty Woolley (who plays himself). Though Porter's inherited wealth could have kept him out of WWI, he insists upon signing up as an ambulance driver. While serving in France, he meets nurse Linda Lee (Alexis Smith), who will later become his wife. Focusing his attentions on Broadway and the London stage in the postwar years, Porter pens an unbroken string of hit songs, including "Just One of Those Things," "You're the Top," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Begin the Beguine," and the title number. The composition of this last-named song is one of the film's giddy highlights, as Porter, inspired by the "drip drip drip" of an outsized rainstorm, runs to the piano and cries "I think I've got it!" The film's dramatic conflict arises when Porter is crippled for life in a polo accident. Refusing to have his legs amputated, he makes an inspiring comeback, even prompting a WWI amputee to remark upon his courage! Corny and unreliable as biography, Night and Day is redeemed by the guest appearances of musical luminaries Mary Martin (doing a spirited if disappointingly demure version of her striptease number "My Heart Belongs to Daddy") and Ginny Simms, the latter cast as an ersatz Ethel Merman named Carole Hill. Jane Wyman, seen as Porter's pre-nuptial sweetheart Gracie Harris, also gets to sing and dance, and quite well indeed. Beset with production problems, not least of which was the ongoing animosity between star Grant and director Michael Curtiz, Night and Day managed to finish filming on schedule, and proved to be an audience favorite -- except for those "in the know" Broadwayites who were bemused over the fact that Cole Porter's well-known homosexuality was necessarily weaned from the screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, John Alvin, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, two writers endeavor to write an innovative operetta in order to establish themselves. They end up writing a libretto about a mid-19th-century fellow with a secret past. He was a real person, and the authors begin looking to discover the nature of his secret. Later, the man's last living relative shows up and tries to stop them from producing the show. Fortunately, she eventually gives in and even lets them stage the first production in her palatial plantation manor. In the end, the show ends up a hit on Broadway. Songs include: "It All Could Have Happened Before," "What I Like About You," "The Country Ain't the Country Anymore" and "I Love to Remember" (Marla Shelton, Louis Herscher). Also included is "Bayou Calls." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Ross, Barton Hepburn, (more)
- 1945
Greg McClure stars as legendary boxer John L. Sullivan in this screen biography of the famous fighter. Known as "The Boston Strong Boy," Sullivan was a bare-knuckle brawler who rose from humble circumstances to become the world's heavyweight champion from 1882 to 1892. While Sullivan was a skilled hand in the ring, fame and wealth took a toll on his ego, and as drinking and high-living replaced disciplined training, Sullivan's fighting edge disappeared. In 1892, Sullivan lost his title to James J. Corbett (Rory Calhoun), and after that came a slow descent into alcoholism and poverty, with Sullivan losing most of his friends and the love of his life along with his self-respect. However, Sullivan eventually cleaned himself up and rose to his feet for one final stab at the title. The Great John L. also features Linda Darnell, Barbara Britton, Otto Kruger, and Wallace Ford. The life of James J. Corbett had been made into a movie three years prior to this, as Gentleman Jim, with Errol Flynn as Corbett and Ward Bond as Sullivan. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg McClure, Linda Darnell, (more)
Maybe Errol Flynn was never the war hero that he often played, but he was a capable boxer, and Gentleman Jim makes full use of this skill. Flynn stars as Jim Corbett, the 19th-century American pugilist who introduced "scientific" methods to bare-knuckle boxing. Originally an office clerk, Corbett is introduced to the then-illegal sport of fighting when one of the bank executives sponsors the young man's training at the Olympic Club. His arrogance wins Corbett a few enemies, including high-born lady Victoria Ware (Alexis Smith), whose dislike turns to casual affection when she realizes that Corbett is a sincere young fellow who can back up his boasts. What "Gentleman Jim" desires most in life is a match with reigning heavyweight champ John L. Sullivan (Ward Bond). Corbett and Sullivan finally meet in a bout governed by those new Marquis of Queensbury rules that Corbett has helped popularize. Twenty-one epoch-making rounds later, Corbett emerges victorious. At the victory celebration, Sullivan and Corbett graciously exchange mutual words of respect and affection. At this point, Corbett has totally won over the lovely Victoria -- but hasn't quite convinced his brawling brothers that "scientific" boxing is the wave of the future, and the film ends with a typical Raoul Walsh-directed battle royal. More faithful to the facts than most Errol Flynn biopics (but still with enough poetic license to drive historical purists up a wall), Gentleman Jim is broad, boisterous entertainment. Though it looks expensive, the film was made under Warner Bros.' standard pinchpenny restrictions; if you look closely at that moored ship where Corbett has one of his first professional fights, you'll notice that it's a leftover set from the 1940 Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Sea Hawk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1942
Glenda Farrell reprises her fast-talking girl reporter persona in PRC's Night for Crime. Ms. Farrell is cast as Susan, a big-city sob sister who investigates the murder of movie extra Ellen Smith (Marjorie Manners). Adding to the confusion, movie star Mona (Lina Basquette) disappears in the middle of an important production. As clues and suspects pile up, Susan and detective Joe (Lyle Talbot) try to solve the mystery without ending up as murder victims themselves. A Night for Crime was based on a story by Hollywood columnist Jimmy Starr, who appears on-screen with his journalistic colleagues Erskine Johnson, Edwin Schallert (father of actor William Schallert) and Harry Crocker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Farrell, Lyle Talbot, (more)
- 1941
MGM was doing so well in 1941 that it could afford the occasional "prestige" film with little box-office appeal. Based on the novel by J.P. Marquand, H.M. Pulham, Esq., stars Robert Young as a successful but stuffy Boston businessman. The glimmer of sadness in Young's eyes indicates that his ascension to the top was not without its cost. In flashbacks, we see how Young considered changing the track his life was on in order to marry Hedy Lamarr. After marrying his wife, however, the man never strays. The film utilizes the Strange Interlude approach of interior monologues heard on the soundtrack, and anticipates Citizen Kane (which hadn't yet been released when Pulham was filmed) by building its entire narrative on the flashback structure. H.M. Pulham, Esq. contains what may well be Robert Young's best performance, though few filmgoers in 1941 were interested enough to see it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young, (more)
Charles Chaplin was deep into production of his silent City Lights when Hollywood was overwhelmed by the talkie revolution. After months of anguished contemplation, Chaplin decided to finish the film as it began--in silence, save for a musical score and an occasional sound effect. Once again cast as the Little Tramp, Chaplin makes the acquaintance of a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill), who through a series of coincidences has gotten the impression that the shabby tramp is a millionaire. A second storyline begins when the tramp rescues a genuine millionaire (Harry Myers) from committing suicide. When drunk, the millionaire expansively treats the tramp as a friend and equal; when sober, he doesn't even recognize him. The two plots come together when the tramp attempts to raise enough money for the blind girl to have an eye operation. Highlights include an extended boxing sequence pitting scrawny Chaplin against muscle-bound Hank Mann, and the poignant final scene in which the now-sighted flower girl sees her impoverished benefactor for the first time. Chaplin's decision to release the silent City Lights three years into the talkie era was partially vindicated when more than one critic singled out this "comedy in pantomime" as the best picture of 1931. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, (more)
The Circus is generally considered to be a lesser Charlie Chaplin effort, coming as it does between two unquestioned masterpieces, The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931). To be sure, the film is not one of Chaplin's best, but it has a lot going for it. Director Chaplin casts star Chaplin in his traditional "Little Tramp" role, who when first we see him is on the lam from the law. He takes refuge under the tent of a failing circus. Unintentionally, Charlie disrupts the show's big clown act, and the crowd roars. The ringmaster decides to hire Charlie as a clown, building the whole circus around him. Charlie has many an adventure and close shave while performing under the Big Top, the best of which involves a tightrope, a broken support wire, and a playful monkey. The standard Chaplin pathos rears its head when Charlie falls in love with pretty tightrope walker Merna Kennedy. When sweet Merna chooses handsome Harry Crocker, Charlie is left alone once more--but, with a characteristic shrug, he shuffles into the horizon and onto his next adventure. The Circus has several gaping logic holes which tend to pull the film down (we're supposed to believe, for example, that Charlie is unaware that he's a sensation as a clown, even after several weeks of performing before appreciative audiences), but the film contains several excellent setpieces, including a Hall of Mirrors sequence which anticipates Orson Welles' more serious Lady From Shanghai climax by twenty years. The Circus won Chaplin a special Oscar in 1928, then lay unseen for forty-two years; it was reissued in 1970, with a new musical score by Chaplin himself (who can be heard singing the theme song in the opening scenes). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Allan Garcia, (more)
- 1927
Despite its posh MGM trappings, Becky is at heart a "B" picture, sacrificing pretentiousness in favor of good, solid entertainment values. Sally O'Neil stars as the title character, a pretty New York salesgirl who aspires to a stage career. She gets her chance when she's hired for a Broadway show, working her way up to the leading role and ending up an overnight "smash." One of the fringe benefits of Becky's new-found celebrity is her whirlwind romance with a wealthy playboy (Owen Moore). But her new beau ultimately rejects her, prompting Becky to be more careful in her romantic selections in the future. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally O'Neil, Owen Moore, (more)
- 1927
Sally in Our Alley revives the old bromide about the orphan waif who is unofficially adopted by three men of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds. Shirley Mason plays Sally Williams, who has grown up under the watchful eyes of Scotsman Sandy Mack (Alec B. Francis), Italian Tony Garibaldi (Paul Panzer) and Jewish Abe Lapidowitz (William H. Strauss). Upon reaching maturity, Sally falls in love with a neighborhood boy, plumber Jimmie Adams (Richard Arlen). Enter wealthy Chester Drake (Harry Crocker), who offers to take Sally away from her tenement surroundings and her "low-life" friends. Jimmie and the three surrogate fathers unintentionally embarrass Sally at a party thrown at Drake's estate, whereupon the three old men slink dejectedly back to their old neighborhood, while Jimmie signs on with the merchant marine. But Sally decides to forsake wealth and luxury in favor of those who loved and cared for her throughout her life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Mason, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1927
Marion Davies has the lead role of Tillie in this adaptation of Russ Westover's popular 1920s comic strip. Tillie is bored by both her job as a stenographer and her office romance with Mr. Whipple (George K. Arthur). She's far more interested in another man in the office, Mac (Matt Moore). Mac, however, does not seem a likely candidate for advancement, and Tillie is an ambitious girl. She thinks she has found her ticket when she meets the wealthy Pennington Fish (Harry Crocker). After one date, Tillie gets engaged to Fish. But Tillie and Mac really belong together, and after she goes back to him, he gets a promotion. Harry Crocker, who played Pennington Fish, was an especially good friend of Marion's, and he frequently worked as a personal aide to her companion, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In the book, The Times We Had, Marion claims that she made this film and The Red Mill at the same time by doing day and nighttime shifts. Tillie the Toiler was reported as being one of the twenty-five top-grossing films of 1927, disproving the myth that Marion's films were inevitably financial flops. Her next film, The Fair Co-Ed, did even better. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Matt Moore, (more)
