Howard Davies Movies

David Hare adapted his play about the tensions simmering within a British family, which erupt with the death of their patriarch. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Opening in England during the middle of World War II, A Guy Named Joe tells the story of Pete Sandidge (Spencer Tracy), a tough, devil-may-care bomber pilot who's amassed an enviable record in combat, mostly by taking chances that give his C.O. (James Gleason) the shakes, much as he and the top brass appreciate the results. Pete lives to fly, but he also appreciates the fairer sex, which for the last couple of years means Dorinda Durston (Irene Dunne), herself a hot-shot air-ferry pilot. She's also worried about the chances he takes, even after Pete and his best friend, Al Yackey (Ward Bond), are transferred to Scotland and switched to flying reconnaissance missions. Pete finally agrees to take a training position back in the States, but he must fly one last mission, to locate a German force threatening an Allied convoy. He and Al do the job and have turned for home when the German fighter cover attacks; Pete's plane is damaged and he's wounded, and after his crew bails out he takes the burning ship down and drops his bomb-load on the main German attack ship (a carrier, which is totally inaccurate) at zero altitude. His plane is caught in the blast and destroyed, and that's where the main body of the movie begins.

Pete arrives in a hereafter that's a pilot's version of heaven, including a five-star general (Lionel Barrymore). He doesn't even appreciate what's happened to him until he meets Dick Rumney (Barry Nelson), a friend and fellow pilot who was previously killed in action. It seems that the powers of the hereafter are contributing to the war effort, sending departed pilots like Pete and Dick to Earth to help guide and help young pilots; Pete himself discovers that he benefited from these efforts in peacetime. Pete ends up at Luke Field near Phoenix, AZ, where he takes on helping Ted Randall (Van Johnson), a young pilot who lacks confidence. By the time he's done, riding along while Ted "solos," Ted is a natural in the air and ends up as the star of his squadron when he become operational in New Guinea -- in a group under the command of Al Yackey -- and ends up taking over command when their own leader is shot down. Pete's like a proud teacher, and also enjoys his unheard ribbing of Al and his ex-C.O. to Rumney, over their promotions, but then Dorinda shows up, and suddenly Pete finds all of his unresolved feelings about her recalled, even as he sees that she's never gotten over losing him. And when, with Al's help, she and Ted meet and seem to fall for each other, Pete's jealousy gets the better of him. It's only when he is made to realize just how important life was to him, and how important the future is for those still living, that he begins to understand that he has to let go of his feelings, and let Dorinda and Ted get on with their lives. But first he has to help Dorinda survive a suicide mission that she's taken over from Ted, attacking a huge and heavily defended Japanese ammo dump. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The only Academy Award winning picture for Fox Studios (in its pre-20th Century-Fox era), Cavalcade is a stately film adaptation of the pageant-like stage hit by Noel Coward. The film concentrates on the years 1901 through 1933, as seen through the eyes of an upper-class British family and its servants. Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard portray the "upstairs" Marryots, while Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor represent the "downstairs" Bridges (the incidents and characterizations in Cavalcade are very, very close to those seen in the popular 1970s BBC series Upstairs, Downstairs). The triumphs and tragedies of both masters and servants are placed in context with the death of Queen Victoria, the Boer War, World War I, the Jazz Age, and the Depression. Both classes have their troubles with their children, what with their offsprings' predilection for opposing authority, marrying the wrong people, and dying at the least opportune moments. The film's highlight was also the most talked-about scene in the original play: newlyweds Edward Marryot (John Warburton) and Edith Harris (Margaret Lindsay), discussing their future while on their honeymoon cruise, reveal at the scene's fadeout that they've been standing in front of a life preserver bearing the name "TITANIC". On the whole, however, Cavalcade creaks a bit when seen today, and is best viewed from a historical perspective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Long-reigning screen queen Norma Talmadge's last silent film (albeit with a synchronized musical score) was the exotic melodrama A Woman Disputed. Talmadge is cast as Mary Ann Wagner, a European orphan girl jointly (and unofficially) adopted by two young military officers: Paul Hartman (Gilbert Roland), an Austrian, and Nika Turgenov (Arnold Kent), a Russian. When her village is conquered by the Russians, Turgenov's interest in Mary Ann shifts from paternal to carnal. She submits to his desires on the condition that he agree not to execute three of the town's leading citizens, including the priest (Michael Vivitch). Naturally, Hartman believes that Mary Ann has betrayed him and renounces her in public. But a deathbed confession by Turgenov reveals that the girl's motives were purely patriotic. Based on a play by Denison Clift, A Woman Disputed also owes a debt to DeMaupaussant's Boule de Suif. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Jimmy Doyle (H.B. Warner) is released after serving yet another prison term, his dying pal, jewel thief Bill Preston (J.P. Lockney) asks him to take care of his daughter Nancy (Lillian Rich). Jimmy plans to go straight, and tries to sequester Nancy, who was never a part of her father's affairs. But then he is framed and sent to jail once again. He is there he vows to kill James Tierney (Claude Payton), the detective responsible for his capture. Since he once studied medicine, Jimmy is given work in the prison hospital and he escapes from there. He and Nancy marry and he goes to work at her uncle's hospital. Through the marriage license, Tierney is able to track Jimmy down, but on the train he suffers an attack of appendicitis. He is taken to the uncle's hospital, along with a bum who has been found unconscious. Jimmy now has his opportunity to kill Tierney but he doesn't go through with it -- which is just as well because the tramp comes to and confesses to the crime which Jimmy was thought to have committed. Tierney winds up giving Jimmy and Nancy tickets to Europe for their honeymoon. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

As an entomologist and all-around wimp, Orlando Winthrop (Taylor Holmes) gets little respect from his wealthy parents. But when business needs to be taken care at the Winthrop sheep ranches out West, Orlando is raring to go. Upon his arrival, the ranchers see Orlando as an easy mark, but it turns out they're wrong. They try to take Orlando's money in a poker game -- and wind up broke themselves. Not only that, Orlando drinks them all under the table and tackles a fierce bucking bronco. All this is viewed with disgust by villainous foreman William Cogney (Howard Davies). One of Cogney's schemes is to have some of the Winthrop sheep killed, but Orlando catches the badmen red-handed, and even beats Cogney in a fist fight. Finally, Orlando's parents and fiancee come out from the East, but when the fiancee sees Orlando biting off a hunk of chewing tobacco, she decides he has become too rough for her. This is fine by Orlando, as he's fallen for the local school teacher (Vivian Reed), and this frees him to be with her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

When mining engineer Stephen Pachmann (Jack Livingstone) is sent to Mexico to investigate a mine, his wife Paula (Velma Lefler) is so miserable that her brother, Bruce McLean (Forrest Stanley) offers to go in his place. While south of the border, Bruce gets involved with an aristocratic Spanish girl, Paula Figueroa (Leonore Ulrich). He is captured by a group of guerrillas, but Paula offers herself to their chief, Emiliano Pacheco (Howard Davies), if he is set free. Pacheco agree, at which point two endings were shot. In one, Paula goes to fulfill her half of the bargain, but is saved by McLean, who kills Pacheco. In the other version, Paula kills herself in lieu of giving herself to Pacheco. Both endings were shown to a group of critics, who were asked to vote on their favorite. It ended in a tie. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This gripping crime drama is based on the true story of the events surrounding the destruction of New York City's Knickerbocker bank, the results of which caused a major panic in 1907. The trouble began when the institution's banker president is arrested for embezzling and manipulating the money, thereby causing the bank to fold. His good wife tries to find bail, but suddenly all of her friends snub her. She becomes so desperate that she hocks her jewels and then goes to a lawyer who posts bond. The attorney, who has loved the wife for years, then uses all of his own money to get her jewelry back. Planning to escape to South America with his wife, the husband returns home, but when he sees that the lawyer is there he goes berserk with rage and forces his wife to choose between himself and the lawyer. The wife rips up one of the tickets and the banker jumps bail. Though he knows that the banker will ruin him financially by fleeing, the lawyer refuses to rat on the banker because he doesn't want his beloved to suffer further ostracism and embarrassment. Later, the banker gets his at the hands of a bankrupted depositor. Learning that she is a widow, the lawyer is free to marry the good wife and romantic bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Disappointed with the meager box-office returns from such earlier films as Patchwork Girl of Oz and His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz, the financial backers of L. Frank Baum's Oz Film Company demanded that Baum temporarily abandon the family trade and concentrate on an "adult" story. The producer/author grudgingly obliged with The Last Egyptian, an ornate costume drama based on a novel pseudonymously written by Baum. Summoned to his grandmother's deathbed, the last descendant of a royal Egyptian family is informed that his heritage has been blighted by his own father, a caddish English aristocrat who raped the hero's mother. In the manner of his ancestors, the young Egyptian exacts a terrible vengeance upon the Englishman, then willingly gives up his own life to the Gods. The Last Egyptian was successful enough to permit L. Frank Baum to return to the realm of children's fantasies without interference from the "money men." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide