Bill Carey Movies
- 1958
Summer Love is a sequel to 1957's Rock Pretty Baby, with John Saxon repeating his role as aspiring musician Jim Daley. When his band is hired to perform at a summer resort, Jim falls in love with two girls: sweet Joan Wright (Judy Meredith) and not-so-sweet Erica Landis (Jill St. John). Meanwhile, Jim's buddy Mike (John Wilder) woos the band's pert vocalist Alice (Molly Bee). Also returning from Rock Pretty Baby are Edward C. Platt and Fay Wray as Jim's bewildered parents, Shelley Fabares as the appropriately yclept Twinkie Daley, and the inimitable Rod McKuen as funky band member Ox Bentley. Oh, and Troy Donahue also shows up, just in case there was any doubt as to when this film was made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Molly Bee, (more)
- 1956
A must-see for students of 1950s pop culture, Rock, Pretty Baby was Universal-International's earliest acknowledgement of the rock 'n' roll craze. John Saxon plays 18-year-old high schooler Jimmy Daley, who intends to pursue a musical career despite the objections of his physician father (Edward C. Platt). Daley organizes a student band, then tries his best to obtain bookings. One of Jimmy's musical cohorts is none other than Rod McKuen, cast as one "Ox Bentley". Inevitably, the film comes to a noissome conclusion during a televised "bandstand" show, hosted by LA deejay Johnny Grant. The supporting cast of Rock, Pretty Baby runs the age gamut from teenaged Sal Mineo to veteran film favorite Fay Wray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sal Mineo, John Saxon, (more)
- 1937
Jean Harlow offers her final screen performance in this witty and -- in retrospect -- quite moving racetrack comedy-drama co-starring Clark Gable and Walter Pidgeon. When her father dies shortly after losing his horse farm to Duke Bradley (Gable), Carol Clayton (Harlow) refuses the handsome bookmaker's offer to forget the debt and instead vows to pay him back in full. She even forbids her stockbroker fiancé, Harley Madison (Pidgeon), to make wagers that may benefit Duke, but promises to marry him once her champion horse wins at Saratoga. But against all the odds, Carol falls in love with Duke and when he appears in danger of ruination, she finds herself rooting for the competitor to win the all-important race. Saratoga, which was finished using both onscreen and voice doubles for Jean Harlow, was partially filmed on-location at Lexington and Louisville, KY, and in Saratoga Springs, NY. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, (more)
Battling Hoofer is the reissue title of the 1936 James Cagney vehicle Something to Sing About. Cagney plays Terry Rooney, a New York bandleader who heads to Hollywood when he is offered a movie contract. The down-to-Earth Rooney resists the "star treatment," an attitude misinterpreted by movie executive Bennett O. Regan (Gene Lockhart) as arrogance. When Terry's first film is a hit, Regan orders everyone involved to keep its success a secret from Terry, lest he develop a swelled head! (We don't believe it either.) The best sequence has Rooney chewing out his Asian houseboy, Ito (Philip Ahn), whereupon he drops his "So solly" pidgin English and begins talking like a Harvard professor! Terry gets to romance newcomer Evelyn Daw, as well as veteran vamp Mona Barrie; he also gets to participate in several lively dance numbers. Something to Sing About was the second of Jimmy Cagney's films for Poverty Row studio Grand National: the production values and snappy script work that he might have enjoyed at Warner Bros. are noticeably lacking, but Cagney is always fun to watch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Evelyn Daw, (more)
- 1923
In the final film of his First National contract (an early working title was The Tail End), Charlie Chaplin spoofs small-town life and morality. Chaplin is an escaped convict who steals the clothes of a swimming minister. At the railroad station he nearly gives himself away by guiltily running away from an eloping couple who want him to perform an impromptu wedding. He boards a train and travels to a small town, Devil's Gulch, Texas, where he is welcomed by his congregation, who have never met the new reverend they've been expecting. He meets the townsfolk and is enchanted by Edna Purviance, in whose house he will be boarding. Chaplin arrives just in time for church services and on the way he picks a liquor bottle from the pocket of a large Deacon, only to have it break when they both slip on a banana peel. The Deacon thinks that the spilled whisky has come from his pocket. The plucky fugitive goes along with the ruse and after seeing to the church collection, pitting one side of the congregation against the other in competition to see who contributes the most, he gives a wonderful sermon in pantomime -- the story of David and Goliath. His story is so effective that a young boy breaks into wild applause which Chaplin acknowledges with the aplomb of a seasoned theatrical.
At the home of Purviance and her Mother, his impersonation is severely tested by a visit from a couple with a mischievous child, Dinky Dean Riesner. (In later recollections Riesner tells of how he had to be cajoled into punching and slapping his "Uncles" Charlie and Syd, something abhorrent to him in real life). A stroll with Purviance through town brings him face to face with a former cellmate, who is invited home for tea by the unsuspecting Purviance. During the visit he observes the hiding place of Mother's mortgage money and Chaplin valiantly but unsuccessfully tries to prevent the crook from stealing it. When the thief escapes, Chaplin gives chase, but the sheriff, by now aware of Chaplin's identity as an escapee, causes everyone to believe that the two are in league. Chaplin however, overpowers the crook and returns the money to Purviance. When the Pilgrim's true intentions are revealed, rather than arresting him, the sheriff escorts him to the Mexican border. He orders the fugitive to pick a bouquet of flowers. When Chaplin obeys, the sheriff boots him across the border and takes off, leaving him stranded between warring bandit factions on one side, and arrest as a fugitive on the other, slowly walking into the sunset with one foot in Mexico and the other in the USA. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
At the home of Purviance and her Mother, his impersonation is severely tested by a visit from a couple with a mischievous child, Dinky Dean Riesner. (In later recollections Riesner tells of how he had to be cajoled into punching and slapping his "Uncles" Charlie and Syd, something abhorrent to him in real life). A stroll with Purviance through town brings him face to face with a former cellmate, who is invited home for tea by the unsuspecting Purviance. During the visit he observes the hiding place of Mother's mortgage money and Chaplin valiantly but unsuccessfully tries to prevent the crook from stealing it. When the thief escapes, Chaplin gives chase, but the sheriff, by now aware of Chaplin's identity as an escapee, causes everyone to believe that the two are in league. Chaplin however, overpowers the crook and returns the money to Purviance. When the Pilgrim's true intentions are revealed, rather than arresting him, the sheriff escorts him to the Mexican border. He orders the fugitive to pick a bouquet of flowers. When Chaplin obeys, the sheriff boots him across the border and takes off, leaving him stranded between warring bandit factions on one side, and arrest as a fugitive on the other, slowly walking into the sunset with one foot in Mexico and the other in the USA. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Allen, Monta Bell, (more)
