Frank Darien Movies

Ray Middleton portrays the title character in Republic's Hurricane Smith. Mistakenly arrested on a holdup charge, Smith escapes, catches up with the real crooks, and forces them to hand over the dough. Had he returned it then and there the picture would have been over almost before it began; instead, Smith uses the money to build a Utopian city in the desert for himself and his lovely bride Joan (Jane Wyatt). Eventually, one of the criminals, Eggs Bonelli (J. Edward Bromberg), catches up with Smith and demands an exorbitant sum to keep his mouth shut. But Bonelli is silenced permanently by faithful Joan, who's not quite as demure as she seems. The 1952 Republic feature Hurricane Smith is not a remake of this offbeat romantic melodrrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Curtis Bernhardt hadn't wanted to make Juke Girl, but he was under contract to Warner Bros. and had to tow the line lest he find himself drawing Unemployment. One of Bernhardt's gripes against the film is that it starred Ronald Reagan, whom he considered an "unimportant" screen personality. In all fairness, Reagan is pretty good in his role as itinerant fruit-picker Steve Talbot, who gets involved in the middle of a labor dispute between the farmers and the packers. Talbot casts his lot with the farmers, while his longtime pal Danny Frazier (Richard Whorf) goes with the packers. Juke-joint hostess Lola Meers (Anne Sheridan) falls for Steve and supports his cause, only to be fired for her troubles at the behest of powerful packing-plant operator Henry Madden (Gene Lockhart). She and Steve try to escape Madden's influence, but when their farmer friend Nick Garcos (George Tobias) is murdered, the couple is framed for the crime. There follows "orgies of fights" (director Bernhardt's description) and a lynching attempt before Steve's old buddy Danny comes to the rescue. Anne Sheridan is at her most gorgeous in Juke Girl, making it difficult for the viewer to remain concentrated on the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed with Mabel Normand in 1920, the old Rose Melville stage property Sis Hopkins was trotted out in 1941 for Republic's newest star, raucous cornpone comedienne Judy Canova. Sporting pigtails and dressed like a potato sack, Sis Hopkins (Canova) shows up at the doorstep of her snooty rich relations in the Big City after her family farm burns down. Though she immediately ingratiates herself to her uncle, bathroom-appliance mogul Horace Hopkins (Charles Butterworth), Sis runs afoul of her bitchy, beautiful cousin Carol (played by a pre-stardom Susan Hayward). Determined to humiliate our heroine and send her packing, Carol arranges for Sis to partipate in a sorority-initiation striptease. Fortunately, Sis wins out in the finale, while Carol must endure such indignities as a well-aimed pan of water and a misplaced bathroom plunger. As a bonus, Sis wins the heart of college bandleader Jeff Farnsworth (Bob Crosby). Adding to the general merriment of Sis Hopkins is Jerry Colonna as a zany college professor. Judy Canova sings several of her patented country-western ditties, then surprises her fans with a "straight"operatic rendition from La Traviata. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rodeo champ Gene Autry inherits half interest in both a ranch and a mine that provides steady employment for the surrounding rancheros. Unfortunately, the other half goes to Easterner Barbara Erwin (Carol Hughes), who is only interested in monetary remuneration. To convince Gene to buy her share, Barbara enters into an unholy alliance with unscrupulous attorneys Arnold (Ivan Miller) and Fry (Sam Flint), who, without their client's consent, hire a gang of thugs headed by Tommick (John Merton). When a ranchero (Elias Gamboa) is mortally wounded in the ensuing gun battle, Barbara sees the error of her way and switches sides. When not fighting for the rights of the common man, Gene Autry and sidekick Smiley Burnette perform "Under Fiesta Stars", "Purple Sage in the Twilight", "When You're Smiling" and "The Man in the Flying Trapeze". Under Fiesta Stars has been restored to its original length of 62 minutes by Gene Autry Entertainment. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Hellzapoppin' is the film version of the "anything goes" Broadway hit starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. The original production was part musical comedy, part "blackout" revue, with wild sight gags, zany props, audience participation sequences, dirty jokes, and never-ending gunshots. There was no plot, and in fact no two performances were exactly alike. When Hellzapoppin' was optioned by Universal, the original intention was to film the play as it stood (minus the more ribald one-liners), but the studio got cold feet and grafted on a conventional plot and romantic interest. The film's story concerns a musical show being staged at a fancy estate, and the romantic triangle of the show's producer (Robert Paige), the wealthy girl who lives at the estate (Jane Frazee), and the girl's erstwhile fiance (Lewis Howard). The show's stars are Olsen, Johnson, and Martha Raye. Martha is mistaken for the wealthy girl by a penniless Russian aristocrat (Mischa Auer), and the entire proceedings are "investigated" by a goofy private detective (Hugh Herbert). Olsen and Johnson are thus reduced to supporting players in their own film, but when they do manage to command the screen, the results are hilarious. The best moments range from a throwaway gag about Citizen Kane (Johnson finds a sled marked "Rosebud" and mutters "I thought they burned that!") to the more elaborate special-effects routines involving the mixed-up projectionist (Shemp Howard) who's ostensibly running Hellzapoppin for the benefit of the film audience. While the movie version fails to completely capture the spirit of the original play (except in a bizarre opening sequence), and the finale is a major disappointment, Hellzapoppin remains one of the few sustained filmic examples of the "nut humor" exemplified by Olsen and Johnson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wesley Ruggles's Arizona is an epic western set in an impoverished Arizona outpost. It tells the story of the feisty, no-nonsense Phoebe Titus (Jean Arthur). Wearing leather breeches, with a bullwhip and gun, she can out-shoot and out-fight nearly every bad hombre in town, and manages to transform the down-and-out community into Tuscon, one of the most respected towns in the West. When handsome Peter Muncie (William Holden) arrives, on his way to California, Phoebe asserts that he is the perfect person to help her run her cattle ranch, and the two fall in love. But one obstacle makes their plans extremely difficult: con man Jefferson Carteret (Warren William), who secretly hatches a plan to cheat Phoebe out of the property and annihilate Peter on the couple's wedding day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of dirt-poor Dust Bowl migrants by 4-time Oscar-winning director John Ford starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad, who opens the movie returning to his Oklahoma home after serving jail time for manslaughter. En route, Tom meets family friend Casey (John Carradine), a former preacher who warns Tom that dust storms, crop failures, and new agricultural methods have financially decimated the once prosperous Oklahoma farmland. Upon returning to his family farm, Tom is greeted by his mother (Oscar-winner Jane Darwell), who tells him that the family is packing up for the "promised land" of California. Warned that they shouldn't expect a warm welcome in California--they've already seen the caravan of dispirited farmers, heading back home after striking out at finding work--the Joads push on all the same. Their first stop is a wretched migrant camp, full of starving children and surrounded by armed guards. Further down the road, the Joads drive into an idyllic government camp, with clean lodging, indoor plumbing, and a self-governing clientele. When Tom ultimately bids goodbye to his mother, who asks him where he'll go, he delivers the film's most famous speech: "I'll be all around...Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat...Whenever there's a cop beating a guy, I'll be there...And when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build. I'll be there too." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this patriotic wartime drama set during WW II, a test plane crashes killing all aboard and causes the locals to accuse the aircraft engineer of being a traitor and sabotaging the plane. To prove his son's innocence, the engineer's father looks into the crash and soon reveals the real spies. The justifiably angry patriarch then delivers a stern lecture to the community about making hasty judgments concerning a person's patriotism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Directed with customary haste by Woody Van Dyke, Stand Up and Fight is an excellent dual vehicle for veteran Wallace Beery and up-and-coming Robert Taylor. Set in the American west in the mid-19th century, the story concerns the efforts of empire-building Blake Cantrell (Taylor) to construct a railroad across the wide open spaces. Cantrell is faced with obstacles at every turn, none more obstreperous than stagecoach-line owner Captain Boss Starkey (Beery), The film traces Cantrell's progress from drunken roisterer to pioneering visionary, and Starkey's parallel transition from deadly foe to trusted friend. The villlain of the piece is slave-trader Arnold (Charles Bickford), who exploits his friendship with Starkey to Cantrell's disadvantage. Romance enters the picture in the form of Southern belle Susan Griffith (Florence Rice), who has almost nothing to do but look demure and lovely in a series of attractive period costumes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following up their successful film Love Affair, Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne team up again for the romantic melodrama When Tomorrow Comes, based on a story by James M. Cain. Philip (Boyer) is a concert pianist who stops into a restaurant for lunch and meets waitress Helen Lawrence (Dunne). He follows her to a rally where she is planning a strike. The two fall in love despite the fact that Philip is married to Madeline (Barbara O'Neil), who suffers from psychotic spells after a miscarriage has brought her to madness. Helen goes on strike and Philip wants to take her to Long Island on his sailboat, but they are stranded by a hurricane. Taking refuge in a destroyed church, Helen learns about his wife and is forced to make a difficult decision. When Tomorrow Comes won an Academy award in 1939 for Best Sound, mostly due to the novel hurricane scene. This is one of three films by director John M. Stahl to be remade by Douglas Sirk in the late '50s and early '60s. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

A racetrack melodrama, The Long Shot features Marsha Hunt and Gordon Jones as trainers of a thoroughbred horse. Despite the rivalries of their parents, the couple prepares to jointly enter the Santa Anita handicap. The odds are against their entry, but Hunt and Jones have every confidence of winning. Just before the starting bugle, gangsters intrude, demanding that the trainers throw the Big Race. Even those audiences of 1939 who anticipated the outcome (it wasn't hard) were satisfied with The Long Shot, one of the more engaging productions from the short-lived Grand National production company. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third of MGM's Andy Hardy series (discounting the "pilot" film, A Family Affair) stars, as ever, Mickey Rooney as the teenaged protagonist. Andy finds himself in dutch with girlfriend Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford) when he agrees to escort his best friend's gal, Cynthia Potter (Lana Turner). Having gone out of town, Andy's buddy wants Cynthia kept out of circulation, and pays Andy to make sure she stays that way. Andy is in no position to refuse: he needs the dough to pay for a car he's just purchased. Further complications ensue when Andy falls for a third girl, Betsy Booth (Judy Garland). It is up to Betsy to play little miss fix-it when Andy's romantic entanglements threaten to overwhelm him. (Mickey Rooney could have used a "Betsy Booth" in real life as well!) Originally running shorter than its present 90 minutes, Love Finds Andy Hardy was expanded during filming to showcase the splendid singing talents of Judy Garland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a tuna fisherman is wrongly convicted for murder. Because he is a model, and oft-times heroic prisoner, he is up for early parole. While parole is better than prison, it is still not justice for the man as he is unable to travel far and marry his beloved. He decides that his only real option is to escape and begin looking for the real killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide