Gunnis Davis Movies

Having turned down the opportunity to produce Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934), MGM's Louis B. Mayer had second thoughts when the Capra film swept the 1935 Oscars ceremony. Mayer hastily commissioned an It Happened One Night wannabe titled Love on the Run, tailored for the talents of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable (who, of course, had starred in the Capra picture, and had copped one of those Oscars). Gable and Franchot Tone play rival journalists Michael Anthony and Barnabas Pells, who travel the length and breadth of Europe to outscoop one another. Crawford portrays madcap heiress Sally Parker, who is engaged to marry fortune-hunting Prince Igor (Ivan Lebedeff). Whereas in It Happened One Night the heroine (Claudette Colbert) linked up with Gable in order to expedite her elopement with the wrong man, in Love on the Run Crawford seeks out Gable's help to escape her impending marriage with Prince Igor. The two stars combine their flight across Europe with business, dogging the trail of international aviator Baron Spandermann (Reginald Owen), whom Anthony suspects of being a spy. Pells goes along with Anthony and Parker, and soon all three of them are tied up (literally, in Pells' case) with an espionage ring. While it is Clark Gable who ends up with Joan Crawford at fadeout time, it was Franchot Tone who claimed her as his bride in real life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic drama, a horsewoman is forced to work in a society dame's stable. There she meets and falls in love with a destitute polo-player who has curried the favor of his lovely employer. The matron gets jealous of the budding relationship between the horsewoman and the player. A wealthy man, who wants the stable girl, also gets jealous. Fortunately, the young lovers are able to withstand the ensuing turmoil and they elope. A while later, the other man attends a lively party aboard a yacht. There a drunken chorine falls overboard and drowns. One of the ship's officers blames the wealthy man and says he saw him leaving with a mysterious "woman in red." During the ensuing trial, the horsewoman clears his name by admitting that he was with her. It is a difficult admission because she knows she is risking her marriage. Fortunately, her husband and his family support her all the way and the marriage is strengthened. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This greatest of all Frankenstein movies begins during a raging thunderstorm. Warm and cozy inside their palatial villa, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley's wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester) engage in morbidly sparkling conversation. The wicked Byron mockingly chastises Mary for frightening the literary world with her recent novel Frankenstein, but Mary insists that her horror tale preached a valuable moral, that man was not meant to dabble in the works of God. Moreover, Mary adds that her story did not end with the death of Frankenstein's monster, whereupon she tells the enthralled Byron and Shelley what happened next. Surviving the windmill fire that brought the original 1931 Frankenstein to a close, the Monster (Boris Karloff) quickly revives and goes on another rampage of death and destruction. Meanwhile, his ailing creator Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) discovers that his former mentor, the demented Doctor Praetorius (Ernst Thesiger), plans to create another life-sized monster -- this time a woman! After a wild and wooly "creation" sequence, the bandages are unwrapped, and the Bride of the Monster (Elsa Lanchester again) emerges. Alas, the Monster's tender efforts to connect with his new Mate are rewarded only by her revulsion and hoarse screams. "She hate me," he growls, "Just like others!" Wonderfully acted and directed, The Bride of Frankenstein is further enhanced by the vivid Franz Waxman musical score; even the film's occasional lapses in logic and continuity (it was trimmed from 90 to 75 minutes after the first preview) are oddly endearing. Director James Whale was memorably embodied by Ian McKellen in the Oscar-winning 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second and final "Bulldog Drummond" film to star Ronald Colman, finds the famed sleuth in the midst of a sinister plan orchestrated by Warner Oland. Damsel in distress Loretta Young reports that her wealthy and influential uncle is missing, but all those concerned insist that the uncle never existed, and that Young is out of her mind. Drummond suspects that she's telling the truth, and that the uncle's disappearance is tied into political intrigue of some sort or other. Before the rousing climax, Drummond, the heroine, and Drummond's pal Algy (Charles Butterworth) are repeatedly kidnapped, imprisoned, and threatened with certain death. Counterpointing the film's plot twists (a bit too convoluted to relate in full here) is a comic subplot involving the continually interrupted honeymoon of Algy and his frustrated bride (Una Merkel). Unfortunately, Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back is currently unavailable on television or on videocassette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warner Oland made his first appearance in the role of Earl Derr Biggers' sagacious, aphorism-spouting oriental detective Charlie Chan in the 1931 Fox production Charlie Chan Carries On. It all begins when Chan, on vacation from his job with the Honolulu police, tries to solve the murder of a wealthy American in a London hotel. The trail of clues leads Chan on a not-so-merry chase through Nice, San Remo, Hong Kong and Hawaii. The solution to the mystery lies in the words spoken by a temporarily blinded witness -- or at least that's what she seems to be. According to contemporary reviews, the film was enlivened by the dumb-blonde dialogue delivered by Marjorie White and by the bumbling villainy of Warren Hymer. Though Charlie Chan Carries On is no longer available, its quality can be adequately gauged by a viewing of its 1940 remake, Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cowboy star Bob Steele looks embarrassed throughout most of Headin' North, as well he should. The film begins conventionally enough, with Steele once again accused of a murder he didn't commit. Hoping to remain in hiding until he can expose the real killer, our hero disguises himself as a vaudeville entertainer, complete with a loud and vulgar "city slicker" outfit. Heroine Barbara Luddy (later a prolific radio actress) speaks for the entire audience when she gives Steele the once-over and exclaims "Where did you get those funny clothes?" Fortunately, Steele regains most of his dignity in a climactic fistfight with the villain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Almost 30 years before the Peter O'Toole picture, Joseph Conrad's novel was first filmed as a silent. It was directed in typically virile manner by Victor Fleming, starred Percy Marmont as Jim, and was actually truer to the novel than the 1964 version. Jim is a seaman under the despicable Captain Brown (Noah Beery). When his ship, carrying a load of Muslims on their way to Mecca, collides with a derelict vessel, the captain and his crew -- Jim included -- desert. As a result, Jim loses his mate's certificate. Eventually a sympathetic merchant finds him work in a Malay settlement. He works his way up in the hierarchy, eventually taking over the management of the trading post after Cornelius (Raymond Hatton), and sharing leadership with the Rajah's son. Jim also comes to love Cornelius' daughter, Jewel (Shirley Mason). Brown and his crew, also blacklisted, have become pirates, and they attack the village. Although they are captured, Jim orders them to be released. They kill the Rajah's son, and Jim pays for their act with his own life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

People do all kinds of nutty things in this silent melodrama from producer/director Maurice Tourneur. Take Ramon Martinez (Earle Williams) for example: When Ramon's wife Alice (Jane Novak) is accused of adultery, the jealous husband simply hands over their young son Bobbie (Ben Alexander) to a band of gypsies -- to spite the presumably faithless wife, who was actually only trying to protect Ramon's sister Carmen (Carmelita Geraghty), a victim of blackmailer Harvey Clegg (Carl Miller). Ramon and Alice separate, and Carmen perishes in a shipwreck. Bobbie, now known as "Spuds," takes matters into his own hands, however, and successfully proves his mother's innocence, paving the way for forgiveness. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This old-fashioned melodrama based on the play by J. W. Harkins Jr. was packed with fun and thrills. Silas Carrington (Joseph Kilgour) murders Thornton shortly after being made executor of his estate. He then tries to woo the widow, but Mrs. Thornton (Alice Calhoun) will have nothing to do with him. Finally, to get away from his attention, Mrs. Thornton takes her little girl and tries to flee, but she dies in an auto accident. The child is rescued but disappears. Her maternal grandparents, the Tilwells (George Pierce and Kittie Bradbury), spend years searching for her, as does Carrington. She turns up under the name of Sparkle (also played by Calhoun), a waif who runs a newsstand with the help of a crippled orphan, Aggie (Maxine Elliot Hicks). Carrington's attempt to destroy the papers, which identify Sparkle as the heir to the Thornton estate, are foiled by handsome fireman Harry Westmore (Percy Marmont). Carrington falls to his death while trying to escape a fire, the Tilwells reunite with their granddaughter, and Sparkle falls in love with Westmore. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This mystery melodrama was based on a novel by British author William Garrett. Antonio Moreno stands out as Guy Fenton, an American newspaper correspondent based in London. When he rescues a girl in distress he embroils himself in a mystery. The girl, Marion (Lillian Hall), has an uncle who has been murdered by fortune hunters. The code Fenton discovers leads him to a country home where his every move is watched. The house itself is full of hidden panels and secret passageways. In spite of these obstacles, Fenton is able to find the hidden book containing the rest of the code, which reveals a treasure that is buried in the Scottish highlands. He also discovers a trap door which leads him to a secret chamber where a band of counterfeiters have been doing their dirty work. Fenton manages to fend off the bad guys and recover the treasure, along with winning Marion. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide