Jack J. Cohn Movies
The brother of studio mogul Harry Cohn, Jack J. Cohn was a producer with Sam Goldwyn's company in the 1920s and remained with the studio when it metamorphosed into MGM. As a producer, Cohn was behind such films as The Apache (1928) and The Thirteenth Chair (1937). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1938
The title tells the story in this fourth of MGM's "Hardy Family" series. Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) takes his family to the Wide Open Spaces when a friend has legal difficulties over water rights. Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) thinks he can pass as a westerner, which results in saddle sores for the bethumped young Hardy and (hopefully) laughs for the audience. Andy's sister Marian (Cecilia Parker, who before her MGM days had been a western movie ingenue) falls in love with a handsome cowboy hero (Gordon Jones) who turns out to be a jerk. And Virginia Weidler plays a girl named Jake: ha ha. Out West with the Hardys goes through the series' usual paces with the novelty of an outdoorsy backdrop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, (more)
- 1937
The 1937 Thirteenth Chair was the third film version of the 1919 stage melodrama by Bayard Veiller. Dame Mae Whitty dominates the proceedings as Mme. La Grange, a phony mystic who is on hand when a man is killed during one of her seances. The killing takes place in the home of a provincial British Indian governor, and the victim was a blackmailer whom everyone present had good reason to despise. Complicating matters for Mme. La Grange is the fact that one of the suspects, Nell O'Neill (Madge Evans) is her own daughter. Dissatisfied with the manner in which brusque Scotland Yard inspector Marney (Lewis Stone) is investigating the case, La Grange takes matters in her own hands, stage-managing a second seance so that the guilty party will be frightened into a confession. More slickly produced than the 1929 version of Thirteenth Chair, the remake isn't quite as enjoyable, lacking two vital ingredients: Margaret Wycherly and Bela Lugosi, the earlier version's Mme. LaGrange and Inspector Marney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dame May Whitty, Madge Evans, (more)
- 1929
In this sentimental drama, the son of a Jewish pushcart vendor abandons his roots as he builds himself a successful new life and moves his family to a posh Fifth-Avenue apartment. Though he loves his parents, he is deeply embarrassed by their humble provincial ways and introduces them as his servants when the rich parents of the woman he wants to marry drop by for a chat. His father is terribly hurt. The thoughtless son then boots his sister out because she remains faithful to her lover, an aspiring composer, in spite of his being arrested for burglary. By the story's end, the family has a tearful reconciliation as they gather around the dying patriarch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Hersholt, Lina Basquette, (more)
- 1929
In this drama, an impoverished girl defies her mother and marries her employer. When she becomes pregnant, her husband accuses her of adultery and casts her out. She then moves to a boardinghouse where she is befriended by a sympathetic writer who turns her sad tale into a best seller and hit play. When the husband reads about himself, he feels bad and begs for his wife's forgiveness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Wilson, Ethel Grey Terry, (more)
- 1928
Presently unavailable for public reappraisal, the biting and cynical melodrama Power of the Press would seem to be a precursor to such Frank Capra talkies as Platinum Blonde and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Cub reporter Clem Rogers (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) wants a "big scoop" more than anything else in life. Alas, he stumbles onto a hot news story that implicates his sweetheart Jane Atwill (Jobyna Ralston), daughter of mayor candidate Atwill (Edwards Davis), in a murder. Putting his job and his future on the line, Clem endeavors to help Jane prove her innocence, and together they begin to see a connection between the murder of the district attorney and the political ambitions of her father's political rival. Curiously, Capra never mentions Power of the Press in his autobiography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jobyna Ralston, (more)
- 1928
One of the more palatable non-Frank Capra silent films from Columbia Pictures, The Apache is not a western. The title character, played by Don Alvarado, is one of those beret-wearing French dancers who tosses his partner about on stage. Alvarado commits a murder, and hero Warner Richmond is blamed. Professional knife-thrower Margaret Livingston utilizes her specialty to extract a confession from the tremulous Alvarado. The tiny Columbia backlot successfully stands in for Paris' Montmartre district, an illusion enhanced by Ted Tetzlaff's murky photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Livingston, Warner P. Richmond, (more)
- 1928
As if to justify the title of this film, leading lady Jacqueline Logan shows up wearing next to nothing in the first few reels. Once the plot gets under way, however, everyone -- including Logan -- is properly bundled up. Receiving a fur coat from her husband Theodore Von Eltz, Logan mistakenly believes that the pelt was a gift from ex-lover Bryant Washburn. She ships the coat back to Washburn, whose own wife Jane Winton likewise misinterprets the situation. When Von Eltz comes home, he can't find the coat and assumes it has been stolen. Complications pile up like cordwood, culminating in a cacophony of confusion at the local police station. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Logan, Theodore Von Eltz, (more)
