Nathan Curry Movies
- 1940
South of Suez is where diamond-mine foreman John Gamble (George Brent) plies his trade. When his boss is murdered, Gamble is held for murder, forcing him to take it on the lam. With the reluctant aid of heroine Katherine Sheffield (Brenda Marshall), Gamble endeavors to prove his innocence. He is finally cleared not because of any exceptional detective work, but through the bungling of the actual killer (no, his name will not be revealed here). Strictly B-grade material, South of Suez is a virtual compendium of stock shots from earlier Warner Bros. films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Brent, Brenda Marshall, (more)
- 1940
This is the second episode in the Maisie series, which focused upon the exploits of a feisty, clever, smooth-talking showgirl. The story begins when Maisie has hidden herself aboard a West African steamer after she discovers that she cannot pay her hotel tab. She winds up in a hospital upon a rubber plantation, which she must save from a native attack. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, John Carroll, (more)
- 1938
As indicated by the title, Harlem on the Prairie was aimed at the "all-colored" theaters which flourished in the 1930s. The star of this musical western is Herb Jeffries, a former vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra who might have been a major film personality in a more equitable world. Though the film takes place in an all-black west, the plot is indistinguishable from the many "white" B westerns of the era. Jeffries plays a heroic vigilante who hopes to purge the territory of the evil influence of big-city gangster Maceo B. Sheffield. Nightclub singer Connie Harris is the ingenue, Spencer Williams Jr. ("Andy" on TV's Amos 'N'Andy) contributes to the plotline as a glib-tongued medicine show huckster, and the comedy team of Mantan Moreland and Flournoy Miller provide the laughs. Very cheaply made, Harlem on the Prairie is nonetheless very watchable, if only because of the imposing presence of Herb Jeffries. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Herb Jeffries, Mantan Moreland, (more)
- 1934
Most Tarzan enthusiasts consider 1934's Tarzan and His Mate to be the best of the Johnny Weissmuller-Maureen O'Sullivan Tarzan efforts. Certainly it is the sexiest, with Weissmuller and especially O'Sullivan wearing next to nothing for most of the film's running time. Picking up where 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man left off, the film's plot is set in motion by avaricious ivory hunter Paul Cavanaugh, who arrives in the African jungle in search of the fabled Elephant's Graveyard. Accompanying Cavanaugh is Neil Hamilton the former fiance of Jane Porter (Maureen O'Sullivan), who for the past two years has been living with jungle lord Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) without benefit of clergy (this is strictly a pre-code effort, as evidenced by Jane's bikini-like attire and the now-famous skinny-dipping sequence). Jane briefly entertains notions of returning to civilization, but opts for her blissful outdoor existence with Tarzan. The plot rears its ugly head again when Cavanaugh shoots Tarzan and leaves him for dead, the better to seek out the precious ivory unimpeded. Rescued by his simian friends, Tarzan races towards the elephant's burial site, where Cavanaugh and Hamilton have been eaten by lions and Jane is next on the menu. A convenient elephant stampede--heralded by that classic Tarzan ahh-ee-yahhhh-ee-yahhhh--saves Jane from the lion's fangs in the nick of time. Tarzan and His Mate was the last of MGM's "Tarzan" series to be targeted for a strictly adult audience: the remaining MGM Tarzans, made under stricter censorship guidelines, were geared for the whole family. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
