Jane Darwell Movies

A Kathleen Norris novel was the source for this romantic drama, which begins when widowed navy doctor Quentin Harden (Ralph Bellamy) falls in love with nurse Vicki Blake (Claire Trevor). Despite her awareness that most naval marriages end in divorce, Vicki says "yes" when Harden proposes. Soon she begins to suspect that he still carries a torch for his late wife, but she remains with Harden for the sake of his crippled daughter (Anne Howard). Vicki's loyalty is rewarded when Harden proves once and for all that he is in love with her, and only her. Warren Hymer provides comic relief as a goofy gob who deliberately gets injured so he can enjoy the attentions of a bevy of beautiful nurses. Navy Wife was largely filmed on location at the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of the oft-filmed Jean Webster novel Daddy Long Legs has been tailored to the talents of Shirley Temple. The orphaned daughter of vaudeville entertainers, Elizabeth Blair (Temple) is the most precocious charge at super-strict Lakeside Orphanage, regularly disrupting protocol with her extemporaneous performance of such songs as "Animal Crackers in My Soup" at the dinner table. While paying a visit to the orphanage, wealthy trustee Edward Morgan (John Boles) is enchanted by cute little Elizabeth -- and even more so by the girls more mature sister Mary (Rochelle Hudson). He secretly arranges for the sisters' release from the institution, sets them up in a lavish mansion, and finances their education. When Mary almost falls in love with another man, it is miss-fixit Elizabeth who brings Mary and Edward together, capping this bit of cupidity with her trademarked exclamation "Oh, my goo'ness!" The first Shirley Temple vehicle specifically aimed at children, Curly Top contains some wonderful character bits from its adult cast, notably Etienne Girardot, Rafaela Ottiano and Jane Darwell as the orphanage officials and by Arthur Treacher and Billy Gilbert as the hero's household servants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Eight year old Paddy O'Day (Jane Withers) arrives at Ellis Island after a long sea voyage from Ireland, to be with her mother. But her mother is nowhere to be found when the ship docks, and the authorities are notified that Mrs. O'Day has died, only a few days ago -- the little girl will have to be sent back. Paddy has only been told that her mother is ill, and manages to sneak out off the island. After encountering a group of street urchins who try to make trouble for her -- and proving that she's got what it takes to take care of herself -- she makes her way to the large mansion on Long Island where her mother works, and learns the truth. The home is owned by Roy Ford (Pinky Tomlin), a studious upper-class bird fancier who has been browbeaten into life as an eccentric collector of stuffed birds by his two overbearing aunts (Vera Lewis, Louise Carter) -- their intention is to notify the authorities if Paddy shows up. But the servants, led by kindly maid Jane Darwell and initially unwilling butler Russell Simpson, decide to hide the child in the house while the aunts are away. Paddy chances to meet Roy, who takes a liking to her and decides to try and help her as well -- and when Paddy's very pretty shipboard friend Tamara Petrovich (Rita Cansino) shows up, along with her restauranteur cousin Mischa (George Givot), he starts to really come out of his shell. Mischa and Tamara will hide the little girl, and Mischa -- with help from a beverage new to Roy, called vodka -- convinces the young millionaire that there is a future in investing in his establishment. Roy likes the loosening up effect that vodka has on him, and also likes even more being around Tamara, and he soon becomes a new man -- not only a partner in the business, but a performer in the stage show that Mischa works up for his now-expanded restaurant/night club, which includes Paddy along with Tamara. But Roy's aunts have returned home, and are as appalled by their nephew's new, joyful approach to life as they are by his apparent infatuation with an immigrant girl and her family. They hire an investigator (Clarence H. Wilson) to try to prove that Roy is mentally incompetent, and he soon discovers that the little Irish waif working in the act is in the United States illegally, a fact that, once reported to the authorities, will get not only get Paddy deported by Tamara as well. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Looking for all the world like a 2-reel comedy bloated to 6-reel proportions, Embarrassing Moments was directed by Edward Laemmle, one of the many salaried relatives of avuncular Universal chieftain Carl Laemmle. Chester Morris plays Jerry Randolph, an inveterate and obnoxious practical joker. Things take a serious turn when it looks as though Jerry's latest prank has resulted in the death of his best friend. But the audience is way ahead of Jerry: the whole "tragedy" has been staged to teach the jolly jokester a lesson. Billed third in Embarrassing Moments is Broadway singing star Walter Woolf, who as Walter Woolf King enjoyed a lengthy career as a supporting actor in such films as The Marx Bros.' Night at the Opera and Laurel & Hardy's Swiss Miss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ray Walker plays Jimmy Case, a combustible young man who loses one job after another because he can't keep his fists to himself. On the verge of losing his girl friend Grace (Dorothy Granger), Walker agrees to hold his temper and try once more. He lands a job as a process server, only to find out that his first assignment is to serve a summons to equally temperamental nightclub singer Eleanor Rogers (Virginia Cherrill, best remembered as the blind flower girl in Chaplin's City Lights). For an early Monogram film, this one is surprisingly high-budgeted, with a particularly impressive cabaret set. Scripted by a very young Dore Schary, He Couldn't Take It was remade three times, most famously as the 1946 "Bowery Boys" series entry Live Wires. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a bootlegger finds himself unemployed when he is finally released from prison and discovers that Prohibition is over. The impoverished fellow's luck changes when he encounters a wealthy man who is willing to pay the ex-con to kidnap him in the hopes that the abduction will prevent the wealthy fellow's mother from marrying a gigolo. Meanwhile, a small mob, not knowing the whole affair is a scam, decides to horn in on the action. Along the way, the rich boy falls in love with the bootlegger's daughter causing her father to give himself to the gang so the lovers can escape. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a wealthy socialite pursues a carefree playboy who isn't at all interested in her. After all her regular attention-getting ploys fail, the woman fakes a drowning accident in the hopes that he will save her. She is instead rescued by a brutish sailor whom she begins introducing to her blue-blooded buddies. She bets that she can make the salt socially acceptable. She first gets the man a job in her uncle's brokerage house. Next she begins cleaning him up and making him socially presentable. He goes along with the whole thing until he discovers the truth. The enraged fellow winds up injured in a car wreck. The girl suddenly feels empathy for the poor sap; she also realizes that she really loves him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Columbia's Once to Every Woman was the first of A. J. Cronin's medical novels to be adapted for the screen. The drama of the piece hinges on the conflict between brilliant young surgeon Barclay (Ralph Bellamy) and crusty hospital head Dr. Selby (Walter Connolly). On another, less-crucial front, Barclay and playboy physician Preston (Walter Byron) vie for the attentions of pretty nurse Miss Farnshawe (Fay Wray). The story comes to a tension-laden climax as Barclay prepares for a delicate brain operation -- a revolutionary procedure which has been opposed by Dr. Selby throughout the picture. Once to Every Woman was scripted by frequent Frank Capra collaborator Jo Swerling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The all-purpose title Blind Date was trotted out in 1934 for this romantic trifle. Poor Kitty Taylor (Ann Sothern) just can't choose between wealthy Bob Hartwell (Neil Hamilton) and unwealthy mechanic Bill (Paul Kelly). When Kitty gets a modelling job thanks to Bob, she feels beholden to him, even though she still carries a torch for Bill. Bob announces that he'd like to live with Kitty without bothering to get married, whereupon Kitty goes back to Bill, who by now has decided that she'd be better off with Bob, so he deliberately breaks off with her?..This could go on for years, but the film is only 71 minutes long, obliging Kitty to make her final decision a few moments before the "End" title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Wake Up and Dream was part of a concerted (and successful) effort to turn radio crooner Russ Columbo into a major movie star. The story is the old saw about a trio of vaudevillians, Paul (Columbo), Charley (Roger Pryor) and Toby (June Knight), who have a falling out when both Paul and Charley fall in love with Toby. The girl is indecisive, but she comes to the conclusion that Paul is the man for her. By this time, however, Paul is convinced that Toby is crazy about Charley, and he tries to bring the two of them together. Alas, by the time Wake Up and Dream was released in October of 1934, Russ Columbo was dead, the victim of an accidentally discharged rifle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Of the two 1934 film versions of the life of Russia's Catherine the Great, Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress was the most opulent and exotic. Marlene Dietrich plays the German-born Catherine, who is required to marry Russia's mad Grand Duke Peter (Sam Jaffe, decked out in a Harpo Marx wig). As if her joke of a marriage isn't torment enough, Catherine must endure the excesses of her new mother-in-law, Empress Elizabeth (Louise Dresser). Eventually, Catherine finds solace -- and romance -- in the form of Count Alexei (John Lodge). But even this balm is denied her when the ambitious Alexei begins wooing the much-older Elizabeth. When the old Empress dies, Catherine ascends to the Russian throne, knowing full well that her addled husband would kill her at the slightest provocation. Soon her power outstrips Peter's, and the opportunistic Alexei now comes back into her life. The finale finds Catherine emerging triumphant over all her enemies -- and, in the film's least subtle sequence (which is saying a lot!), the new Empress is shown astride a horse, to whom she displays far more affection than any of her human compatriots. The Scarlet Empress has even less to do with accuracy than Paul Czinner's Catherine the Great of the same year, which starred Elizabeth Bergner. Watch for Dietrich's real-life daughter Maria Sieber (aka Maria Riva) as the 7-year-old Catherine in the early scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

All but forgotten today, Warner Bros.' The Firebird was based on a once-popular stage mystery by Lajos Zilhany. Prohibited from seeing her actor sweetheart Herman Brandt (Ricardo Cortez) by her tyrannical parents, sweet young Vienesse lass Mariette (Anita Louise) defies authority by regularly visiting Brandt's downstairs apartment. The lovers' signal is a song called "The Firebird," which Brandt sings whenever he wants Mariette to visit him. When the actor is murdered, poor Mariette and her parents are prime suspects. But the truth is a bit more complicated than that, involving as it does a haughty aristocrat (Veree Teasdale), a powerful diplomat (Lionel Atwill) and a most unusual "candid camera" device. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide