Bebe Daniels

Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy is a compilation film of the famed silent-comedy star's funniest screen scenes, lovingly assembled by Harold Lloyd himself. The film spotlights choice moments from such Lloyd silent features as Safety Last (1923), Why Worry (1923), Hot Water (1924), Girl Shy (1924) and The Kid Brother (1924). Also included are several sequences from Lloyd's talking pictures: The train chase from Professor Beware (1938), the magician's coat routine from Movie Crazy (1932), and the climb down the side of a building from Feet First (1930). Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy was actually finished two years before its release, but Lloyd, ever the perfectionist, extensively previewed the film to gauge audience reaction. World of Comedy was reasonably successful, so Lloyd followed up with another compilation, Harold Lloyd's Funny Side of Life (1963), which consisted mostly of footage from the comedian's most popular silent feature, The Freshman (1925). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, based on a popular radio series, the Lyons family goes on a Parisian holiday. The father attempts to buy tickets through a beautiful, enigmatic woman. When the children see them talking, they immediately assume the worst. When they see her again in Paris, merry mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical, the on-air rivalry between a married pair of American radio stars, each hosting a different show heats to boiling when they each have British evacuees on their shows. The wife gets a fellow who claims to live in a castle. A brouhaha ensues as he is believed to be the long-lost heir of a prominent lord. The trouble begins when her husband learns the truth about the supposed "nobleman." The wife doesn't believe her husband and so both set off for Merry Olde England to learn the truth. Many comical adventures ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, an insurance detective goes undercover to try to bring in a jewel thief. He poses as a gangster and joins a gang. They end up stealing his passport and leaving him unable to return to the US. To get back he must pose as a crewman aboard a ship. He then discovers the purloined gems have been replaced by fakes and falls in love with a female gang member. Eventually his love reforms her and she helps him solve the mystery. He in turn, saves her life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bebe Daniels, all of 34, portrays an ageing movie star who refuses to admit she's too old for the ingenue role in an upcoming musical. Alice Faye is a hopeful chorus girl, while Ray Walker is a would-be director. All the young people get their deserved breaks when Daniels gets wise to herself and settles for a character role in the film--and also admits that the young girl (Rosina Lawrence) whom she's been passing off as her sister is really her daughter. Both Alice Faye and Bebe Daniels are given plenty of opportunities to sing and dance, which is as it should be. But Music is Magic falls short of perfection thanks to the doggedly unfunny comic relief of Frank Mitchell and Jack Durant, who may well be the worst team in motion picture history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sudsy hospital melodrama, a married nurse finds herself falling in love with one of two surgeons when her husband goes mad and needs an operation. One of the surgeons regards his pursuit a lark, while the other harbors genuine affections for the nurse. At first, she is attracted to the cad, but after her husband follows the suggestion of another insane patient and dives out of a window to his death, she seeks consolation in the arms of the other surgeon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The quintessential "backstage" musical, 42nd Street traces the history of a Broadway musical comedy, from casting call to opening night. Warner Baxter plays famed director Julian Marsh, who despite failing health is determined to stage one last great production, "Pretty Lady." Others involved include "Pretty Lady" star Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels); Dorothy's "sugar daddy" (Guy Kibbee), who finances the show; her true love Pat (George Brent); leading man Billy Lawlor (Dick Powell); and starry-eyed chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler). It practically goes without saying that Dorothy twists her ankle the night before the premiere, forcing Julian Marsh is to put chorine Peggy into the lead: "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" Delightfully corny, with hilarious wisecracking support from the likes of Ginger Rogers, Una Merkel, and George E. Stone, 42nd Street is perhaps the most famous of Warners' early-1930s Busby Berkeley musicals. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes (which was a lot steamier than the movie censors would allow), 42nd Street is highlighted by such grandiose musical setpieces as "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "Young and Healthy," and of course the title song. Nearly fifty years after its premiere, it was successfully revived as a Broadway musical with Tammy Grimes and Jerry Orbach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This musical chronicles the escapades of two Spanish couples. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This first of three film adaptations of Dashiel Hammett's The Maltese Falcon plays at times like the road-company version of the more famous 1941 John Huston/Humphrey Bogart adaptation. Ricardo Cortez stars as a slick, rogueish edition of Sam Spade, using his office as a trysting place for his various amours. Bebe Daniels plays the Brigid O'Shaughnessy character, here rechristened Ruth Wonderly. Ruth hires Spade and his partner Miles Archer (Walter Long) to locate her missing sister. Archer is killed while on duty, confirming Spade's suspicion that Ruth's lost-sister story was a subterfuge. In fact, Ruth is one of several disreputable types in search of a valuable falcon statuette encrusted with jewels. Others mixed up in the quest for the "black bird" are portly Casper Gutman (Dudley Digges), Gutman's neurotic gunsel Wilmer (Dwight Frye, better known as Renfield from Dracula) and effeminate Joel Cairo (Otto Matiesen). It is giving nothing away at this stage of the game to note that, after all the various intrigues concerning the falcon have come and gone, Spade turns Ruth over to the cops as the murderer of Archer. As would be the case with the 1941 version, the 1931 Maltese Falcon does not use Hammett's original ending, in which Spade callously resumes his affair with Archer's widow (Thelma Todd). Instead, we are offered a jailhouse coda, where a suddenly compassionate Spade asks the matron to treat the incarcerated Ruth gently during her 20-year stay. When Maltese Falcon was due for a reissue in 1936, it was denied a Production Code approval on the basis of one single line: Archer's widow, spotting Ruth Wonderly in Spade's bedroom, exclaims "Who's that dame in my kimono?" In between the 1931 and 1941 versions of Maltese Falcon, there would be a heavily disguised reworking of the Hammett novel, Satan Met a Lady (1936), starring Warren William and Bette Davis. To avoid confusion with the 1941 remake, the 1931 Maltese Falcon has been retitled Dangerous Female for television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this elaborate big-budget musical, a handsome businessman follows a beautiful woman aboard a luxury liner and begins to woo her. This doesn't set well with her fiance. Later the fellow learns of the stock market crash and develops a taste for booze. Romantic mayhem ensues until the inevitable happy ending. Look for a young Bing Crosby singing Irving Berlin's "Lower Than Lowdown," as part of the "Whiteman Rhythm Boys." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bebe Daniels plays a safecracker posing as a French maid in order to gain access to wealthy homes. In the midst of a nocturnal search for a cache of valuables, Daniels is interrupted by Ben Lyon, another safecracker. Narrowly escaping arrest, Bebe and Ben decide to pool their talents, but Bebe gets the urge to reform and encourages Ben to do the same. As it turns out, both thieves are swindled out of their own savings by a seemingly benign old couple. Alias French Gertie, based on the Bayard Veiller play The Chatterbox, represents the first screen teaming of future newlyweds Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide