Robert Cummings Movies

In this crime drama a convicted killer faces the chair for killing a woman. His lover goes to the governor to beg a stay of execution. She tells him the convicts story, which is told in flashback. The trouble begins when the hussy he purportedly killed invited him up to her apartment. There she throws herself at him, but the loyal man denies her. She is then killed when two other men come into the apartment. The hapless man gets blamed for her death. Unfortunately, the story doesn't convince the governor. The convict is sent to the chair. At the very moment the executioners are to throw the switch a prison break begins. One of the real killers, who was also convicted, escapes but is seriously wounded. Just before he dies, he confesses to murdering the hussy. The condemned convict is finally freed and returns to his loyal lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

So Red the Rose is a Civil War drama that plays like a warm-up for Gone With the Wind--and, unlike Wind, has two genuine Southerners in the leading roles. Margaret Sullavan is the aristocratic mistress of a sprawling Southern plantation, whose sheltered lifestyle is rent asunder by the War. All that sustains her during the conflict's darkest days is her love for her distant cousin, a Confederate officer played by Randolph Scott. Despite the incursions of Yankee troops (most of whom are portrayed as one step above gorillas), Sullavan holds her family together even after her mansion is burned to the ground. She even manages to talk her slaves out of rebelling, in a scene that must have caused embarrassment for everyone concerned in later years. The fact that So Red the Rose died at the box office (industryites dubbed the picture "So Red the Ink") was the principal reason why so many producers turned down Gone with the Wind a few years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fabled Broadway comedian Joe Cook, who hadn't been seen on screen since 1930's Rain or Shine, essayed the title role in 1937's Arizona Mahoney. As in his earlier film, the star plays a travelling circus entrepreneur, said "circus"consisting of an elephant, a goose, and a rusty old cannon. When Arizona Mahoney's partner Randall (Robert Cummings) decides to settle in one spot -- the better to woo heroine Sue Bixby (June Martel) -- Mahoney does the same, attempting to prove his mettle as a rootin' tootin' cowpoke. His efforts are largely laughed at until, almost by accident, Mahoney manages to round up a gang of rustlers (with, of course, the help of his prize elephant). Alas, Joe Cook was quite ill during filming of Arizona Mahoney, and died not long afterward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Border Flight devotes most of its running time to the exploits of the U.S. Coast Guard's airborne division. Flight lieutenants Dan Conlan (John Howard) and Pat Tornell (Grant Withers) find it impossible to get along, especially when battling over the affections of heroine Ann Blane (Frances Farmer). Hoping to get the goods on a gang of flying smugglers, Pat arranges to get thrown out of the coast guard and joins the villains. He is forced to reveal his true intentions when the villains kidnap Ann but is able to secure her rescue before dying the obligatory hero's death, leaving the romantic path clear for his former adversary Dan. Though billed third, Robert Cummings is knocked off halfway through the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Generous stock footage from Paramount's silent Zane Grey series enhances the production values of the entertaining "pocket" western Desert Gold. Though most of the storyline is taken up the romance between young pioneers Dick Gale (Tom Keene) and Jane Belding (Marsha Hunt), the most compelling character is young Indian chief Maya, played by Buster Crabbe. Faithfully guarding the gold deposits which rightfully belong to his people, Maya finds his hands full fending off the villainous incursions of claim-jumping Chetley Kasedon (Monte Blue) and his gang. Dick Gale casts his lot with Maya, forming a united front against the villains. Featured among the supporting cast are new Paramount contractees Robert Cummings as an eastern tenderfoot, and Glenn (later Leif) Erikson as Kasedon's brother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical, a young lady is sent to an East coast finishing school. She doesn't realize that it is a bogus school run by an unemployed stage troupe, her fellow students are chorus girls, and the faculty is comprised of the troupe's star act. The truth is soon revealed. Fortunately, it all turns out well when the girl's father, a prominent Hollywood-producer pays the school a call and sees their performance. He is so impressed that he offers them all contracts. Songs include: "Where Is My Heart?" "The Swing Tap," "Tap Your Feet," "Long Ago and Far Away" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin), "Learn to Be Lovely." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Paramount's answer to Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) also involved mutiny and romance on the high seas. Gary Cooper stars as Nuggin Taylor, first mate on a slave ship in 1842. Ironically, Nuggin is an abolitionist. When a mutiny overthrows the ship's skipper and leaves him in charge, he frees his cargo. Back in England, charges against Nuggin and his fellow shipmate Powdah (George Raft) are dropped. Nuggin is approached by British intelligence agents and asked to embark on a secret information-gathering mission that could end the slave trade. Nuggin agrees and Powdah accompanies him on a ship bound for America, where both men fall in love, Nuggin with Margaret (Frances Dee) and Powdah with Babsie (Olympa Bradna). However, their adventures are far from over. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Set during the terrible Spanish Civil War, this film avoids political commentary in favor of objectively centering on the plight and personal lives of refugees preparing to board a train that will take them far away from the bloody horrors of war-besieged Loyalist-controlled Madrid. Once safely on the train, the film presents snippets from their lives in the same manner as was done on Grand Hotel (1932). Among the refugees are a political fugitive, his flirtatious ex-girl friend, a hooker, a baroness, a world-weary newspaper reporter and the orphan who follows him. In charge of making sure the train safely reaches its destination is a single guard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The second of Paul Muni's biographical films for Warner Bros., the Oscar-winning The Life of Emile Zola is by far the best, even allowing for the dramatic license taken with the material. When first we meet French novelist and essayist Zola, he is starving in a Parisian garret with his painter friend, Paul Cezanne. Each time Zola attempts to write "the truth," he is stymied by governmental censors. Still, he is able to achieve both fame and fortune with the publication of "Nana," an unardorned and best-selling tale of a prostitute (whom we can safely assume was not quite as likeable or attractive as Erin O'Brien-Moore, who plays the novel's "role model"). The lion's share of the film is devoted to Zola's attempts to clear the reputation of Army captain Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut), who has been framed on a charge of treason by his superiors and condemned to Devil's Island. Publishing his famous manifesto "J'accuse," Zola leaves himself wide open for public condemnation and criminal prosecution. Though he delivers a brilliant self-defense in court, Zola is found guilty. Forced to flee to England, he continues railing against the unjust, corrupt military establishment, eventually forcing a retrial and exoneration of Dreyfus. Alas, Zola is killed in a freak accident at home before he can meet the liberated Dreyfus. At his funeral, Emile Zola is eulogized by Anatole France (Morris Carnovsky), who refers to the fallen crusader as "a moment of the conscience of man." For various reasons -- some dramatic, some legal -- the actual facts of "L'affaire Dreyfus" are altered by the Norman Reilly Raine/Heinz Herald/Geza Herczeg screenplay.

The fact that Dreyfus was railroaded because he was Jewish is obscured; in fact, except for a very brief visual reference, the word "Jew" is never mentioned. Only those villains whose names were a matter of public record (Major Dort, Major Esterhazy) are specifically identified. Others are referred to as the Chief of Staff, the Minister of War, etc. to avoid lawsuits from their descendants (remember that the events depicted in the film, most of which take place between 1894 and 1902, were still within living memory in 1937). As for Dreyfus himself, he was not freed and restored to rank in 1902, the year of Zola's death, but in 1906-after being found guilty again in an 1899 retrial (Dreyfus died in 1935, outliving everyone else involved in the case). These historical gaffes can be forgiven in the light of the film's overall message: that a single small, clear voice can fight City Hall. If for nothing else, The Life of Emile Zola deserves classic status due to Paul Muni's towering performance, most notably in the unforgettable summation scene: "By all that I have done for France, by my works -- by all that I have written, I swear to you that Dreyfus is innocent. May all that melt away -- may my name be forgotten, if Dreyfus is not innocent. He is innocent." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film is one of acclaimed director Fritz Lang's less noted achievements, a mixture of romance, comedy, drama, and satire. It includes three songs by the famed Kurt Weill, including "The Right Guy for Me." George Raft plays Joe Dennis, an ex-convict working in a department store. The store's boss, Mr. Morris (Harry Carey), likes to hire ex-cons. Joe falls in love with Helen (Sylvia Sidney), who hides the fact that she is on parole until after they marry. Since parolees can't wed, the marriage is illegal. Distraught, Joe organizes a gang to rob Morris' store. Helen intervenes and tries to convince the gang members that the potential take isn't worth the risk of returning to prison. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

This drama chronicles the different paths taken by former partners in law. One of them, an avaricious attorney who will stop at nothing to find success, becomes a lawyer for the mob. His dreams are soon realized, but their achievement cost him his marriage, family and partner. Meanwhile his ex-associate becomes assistant DA. The two lawyers must then go head-to-head in court. Despite his best efforts, the honest lawyer cannot win a case against his former partner until the dishonest lawyer comes clean and provides him with the much needed incriminating evidence to destroy the gangsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the rough-and-tumble world of post-Civil War Texas, ex-Confederate soldier Kirk Jordan (Randolph Scott) crosses paths with ranch owner Ivy Preston (Joan Bennett). Although a loyal Southerner, Jordan can't get past the waste and tragedy of the four years that have just ended, but Ivy is eager to help keep the war for the Confederacy alive, running guns to her would-be lover, unrepentant ex-Confederate captain Alan Sanford (Robert Cummings), who is prepared to ally himself with the Mexican emperor Maximilian as a means of starting a new war against the "Yankee" government. Ivy is attracted to Jordan after he boldly helps her evade an army checkpoint, until she finds out how relatively peaceable he is. Jordan and his sidekick, Cal Tuttle (Raymond Hatton), are prepared to make a cattle drive to the new railhead at Abilene and sell at a handsome profit, but Ivy wants nothing to do with the United States or Yankee money, even as her more practically minded grandmother (May Robson) and her foreman, Chuckawalla (Walter Brennan), try to convince her otherwise. Only when Isaiah Middlebrack (Robert H. Barrat), the corrupt local administrator for the occupying Northern government, arrives announcing a head-tax on cattle does she change her mind and begin to see some worth in Jordan's ambition and boldness. Two deaths, of Middlebrack and a much-loved ranch hand, allow the ranchers and the occupying soldiers to reconcile and make the drive together to the border. Jordan and his outfit find a stricken, desperate Abilene, bereft of anything to be shipped on the new rail line. Jordan's arrival accomplishes everything he hopes for and more, and in the end Ivy sees and also glories in his vision, of a United States reunited and restored, growing and thriving as never before. But Jordan can't abide her continued affection for Alan, whose continued obsession with restoring the Confederacy is wearing on him and almost everyone else by now, and he plans on leaving. Ivy doesn't want to see that happen, but is torn over her lingering affection for Alan. But then she learns that he is planning to join a new organization, the Ku Klux Klan, intended to drive the Yankees out of the South, and she suddenly has to choose with which of these men her future lies. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide