Tyrell Davis Movies
- 1938
In this detective drama, a secret service agent is assigned to investigate the death of a bag lady who was discovered to be carrying highly classified airplane blueprints. He ends up taking a room at the boarding house where she lived. There he soon discovers that all of her housemates are part of a ring of spies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Walls, Renée Saint-Cyr, (more)
- 1937
Filmed in Paris and along the French Riviera, Dinner at the Ritz afforded David Niven the chance to play his first starring role. As Paul de Brack, he is a government agent and playboy and is quite at home among the elite set, whether in England or France. This comes in handy when he falls in with Ranie Racine (Annabella), a gay Paris socialite and the daughter of a recently murdered financier. The father's death has been ruled a suicide, but Ranie refuses to accept this. As the man assigned to investigate the banker's death, Paul accompanies Ranie on a series of undercover investigations that take them to Monte Carlo and London. Along the way, they discover the truth about a serious banking scandal, as well as evidence that the man responsible for acine's death may be someone close to Ranie. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Annabella, Paul Lukas, (more)
- 1937
In this British comedy, a middle-aged fellow set in his ways marries a sweet young thing. After the wedding, he is surprised to discover that she is not willing to give in to his desire that she take the "second best bed." Later he begins flirting with another while his wife heads for Monte Carlo with her pals. In the end, the two reconcile and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
When a bland clerk gets a small wad of cash from an inheritance, he throws all caution to the wind. He quits his job, leaves home, and takes a incredible cruise at sea. Assuming the role of a writer, he attracts women to him on the ship, but his capers also start to attract trouble. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
The fashion industry provides the satisfaction missing in Taylor's life after her lazy husband dies. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
Freedom of the Seas is sometimes listed as French stage director Marcel Varnel's first film; it's actually his first British film, after a two-year stay in Hollywood. Clifford Mollison stars as a meek London clerk who surprises his colleagues by being among the first to sign up when World War I is declared. Though he hardly cuts a dashing figure, Mollison is a steadfast and courageous soldier. In his own mild-mannered fashion, Mollison becomes a hero by foiling a German sabotage plot. Based on a Walter Hackett play, Freedom of the Seas bears a slight resemblance to the 1944 Edward G. Robinson vehicle Mr. Winkle Goes to War. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
In this crime drama, a dapper thief meets a female detective at a party and fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Miriam Jordan, (more)
- 1933
After saving RKO Radio from receivership with King Kong, producer-director Ernest B.. Schoedsack relaxed a bit with the comparatively sedate crime caper Blind Adventure. King Kong co-star Robert Armstrong plays Richard Bruce, an American in London who stumbles into the lair of a kidnap-blackmail gang. Playing his cards close to his vest, Bruce manages to get his hands on the "secret papers" that are so important to everyone in the story. He also wins the heroine, the aptly named Rose Thorne (Helen Mack, Armstrong's vis-a-vis in Son of Kong). Of the supporting players, Roland Young is terrific as a dry-witted burglar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, (more)
- 1933
The evergreen Laurette Taylor stage vehicle Peg O' My Heart was the basis for this Marion Davies picture. 36-year-old Davies plays a twentysomething Irish colleen who inherits a large sum of money from her grandfather. To collect the legacy, she must leave her beloved Pa (J. Farrell McDonald) and live in England for three years. Hoydenish Davies raises a ruckus in her staid family mansion, meanwhile falling in love with handsome young Onslow Stevens. It is Stevens who tells Davies that her father, who'd pretended to be dead so that she wouldn't return from England before the three years were up, is actually alive. Renouncing her inheritance, Davies returns to Pa, with Stevens not far behind. A silent version of Peg O' My Heart, with Laurette Taylor recreating her stage role, was filmed in 1923. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Alan Mowbray, (more)
- 1933
Our Betters is adapted from Somerset Maugham's play about the shallowness and hypocrisy of the idle rich. American heiress Constance Bennett snares a titled British husband (Alan Mobray), but when she discovers that he is merely marrying her for her money, she decides to carry on a few affairs of her own. Going from wide-eyed innocent to bitter cynic, Bennett tries to maneuver her own sister (Anita Louise) into a titled marriage so that the "gravy train" of privileges and sexual liaisons will never end. Bennett ultimately ends up alone and miserable, though she retains her wealth and puts up a good front right to the final fade-out. Maugham's original play was intended to satirize wealthy Americans who buy their way into European society, but the film version of Our Betters is far rougher on the Continental Set than it is on Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, (more)
- 1932
British supporting actor Tyrell Davis earned a rare starring role in this low-budget family drama from Poverty Row company Action Pictures. Davis plays Count Emile Borosko, an impoverished European nobleman who comes to the aid of his unfortunate in-laws, a family of former society swells living above their means. But when Emile tries to get a job and support the family, his girlfriend, Connie (Helen Foster), accuses him unfairly of dallying with wealthy Vi Rantler (Dorothy Granger). Ill and desperate, Connie's father, John Lawton (John Ince), comtemplates suicide before Emile suddenly learns that his millionaire uncle has died. With newfound wealth, the noble Emile can finally provide for the needy Lawtons and marry the girl he loves. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrell Davis, Helen Foster, (more)
- 1932
In this comedy, a nursemaid steals the heart of a wealthy socialite and thereby saves him from marrying a conniving gold-digger. The trouble begins when the fellow's newly adopted daughter arrives and decides to pair him up with the new nursemaid. Naturally the fiancee ends up most displeased by the beautiful usurper and when the socialite marries the sweet girl, the gold-digger ends up all alone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Slim" Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
Harrison Ford (the original silent era Harrison Ford) and 1924 WAMPAS Baby Star Alberta Vaughn starred in this comedy-thriller from low-budget Mayfair Pictures Corp. When fussy Ronald Courtney (Tyrell Davis) spots his fiancée, Betty (Vaughn), winking at Donald Ransome (Ford) at a friend's wedding, he demands that they get married that very night. While dumb detective Duffy (Fred Kelsey) is chatting up Marie, the French maid, someone steals a valuable diamond. Duffy demands the gates locked, but Ronald manages to get out. The thief, Donald, manages to smuggle the gem out in a suitcase belonging to Betty, who then heads upstate for her wedding to Ronald. Everybody, including Ronald's weird relatives (Ethel Wales and Arthur Hoyt), ends up at the Peak Inn, where a game of "who's got the diamond" begins. After plenty of traffic up and down stairscases and in and out of closets, Donald, who was only returning the diamond to a friend, is reunited with his highborn girlfriend (Nanette Vallon), while Ronald and Betty are finally able to get on with their nuptials. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Alberta Vaughn, (more)
- 1931
In this drama, a doctor and his wife are stationed in Singapore where the lonely wife, tired of constantly trying to get his attention, begins soliciting another man into having an affair with her. The man is reticent though. When the doctor finds out and assumes they are involved, the woman becomes so angry that she threatens to take the next boat out and leave them both. Instead it is the would-be lover who ignores the jealous doctor's loaded gun and calmly boards the boat. Songs include: "African Lament" "Hand in Hand" "Yes or No" "Singapore Tango" and ""I'm Just a Fool in Love with You"". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Doris Kenyon, (more)
- 1931
God's Gift to Women demonstrated conclusively that Warner Bros. would never make a movie star out of Broadway comedian Frank Fay. Portraying a most unlikely Frenchman, Fay pitches woo at every beautiful woman in sight, but falls in love with none of them. When Cupid genuinely strikes him for the first time, Fay is compelled by the girl's father to prove that he's honestly in love with her and not just with her millions. Fay does just that, but it takes ever so long. God's Gift to Women is injured beyond repair by the obnoxious, mannered performance of Frank Fay, and by the fact that Fay and director Michael Curtiz detested each other at first sight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Fay, Laura La Plante, (more)
- 1931
This World War I romance stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Anthony Bushell as two British officers who happen to be brothers. Both men fall for the same girl (Rose Hobart) while on furlough, resulting in dissention at the Front. What might have been a festival of cliches emerges as a superior drama, thanks to the clever (but unobtrusive) direction of Allan Dwan. In one of his first truly worthwhile roles, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is utterly convincing as a young Briton who must balance duty with desire; Anthony Bashell is far less believable, but can be forgiven his excesses since he later retired from acting to become a director. Previously produced as a silent film, Chances was based on a story by A. Hamilton Gibbs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Anthony Bushell, (more)
- 1931
The only thing magnificent about Magnificent Lie is its title. As usual, Ruth Chatterton plays a woman of variable morals, this time a seedy cafe entertainer. Ralph Bellamy costars as a recently blinded man, whose sole reason for living is his adulation of a famous French singing star. To boost the man's morale, Chatterton impersonates the star in his presence. They fall in love...but will it last once the ruse is revealed? Magnificent Lie features Charles Boyer in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Chatterton, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1931
A sophisticated, expensively-dressed group of people gather in a spooky old mansion to watch the first performance of a play. The highlight of the production is a realistic on-stage murder, wherein the victim is shot point-blank, right through the heart, as the clock strikes 12. The audience applauds enthusiastically as the "victim" falls dead, but the applause subsides and gives way to screams of terror when it turns out that the murder is for real! With everyone in the mansion under suspicion -- including, naturally, the butler -- the cops are baffled, and even more so when the primary suspect ends up as victim number two. "This isn't a murder case, it's an epidemic!" moans one of the detectives. Intricately plotted, and with a genuinely surprising solution, Murder at Midnight is far and away superior to your average low-budget mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aileen Pringle, Alice White, (more)
- 1930
Paid was the third film version of the Bayard Veiller stage play Within the Law. Joan Crawford is cast as a shopgirl falsely arrested for stealing and sent to jail for three years. She swears vengeance on the store owner (Purnell Pratt), and to that end sets up a shady but legal racket wherein she and partner Marie Prevost act as "matchmakers" for lonely old men. It's all part of a plan to fleece the store owner by placing him in a compromising position, but Joan is sidetracked when she meets the owner's son (Kent Douglass. Marrying him in order to exact revenge on his father, Crawford falls in love with the young man and abandons her scheme. But once more, Crawford is wrongly accused of a crime, this time of murder. Paid ends happily for all concerned--especially MGM, which remade this reliable property (again!) under its old title Within the Law (1939), with Ruth Hussey in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1930
In this romance, a disillusioned wife, learning that her husband has been unfaithful, divorces him and moves to Paris where she is changed from a frowsy hausfrau to a sexy, sophisticated lady. A wealthy dame asks her to help destroy the affair between her granddaughter and the woman's ex-husband. The woman agrees to do it and returns to the U.S. where she hosts a large party. Among the guests are her ex-husband and his lover--the granddaughter. The wife has become so lovely, that her former spouse does not at first recognize her. When at last he does, their romance begins anew. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Rod La Rocque, (more)
- 1930
The title character, played by Ian Keith, is wealthy diamond merchant Rupert Endon. Falling in love with gorgeous Eve Marlay (Aileen Pringle), Endon battles over her affections with far-from-wealthy squire Lord Adrian (Tyrrell Davis). Though Eve is fond of his lordship, she allows her head to be turned by Endon, but soon finds that money can't buy happiness. By this time, however, the story has ventured into Somerset Maugham territory by transplanting Eve and her husband into the steaming jungles of Africa -- with the usual results. It's hot, do you hear? Beastly hot! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aileen Pringle, Ian Keith, (more)
- 1930
Legendary Broadway comedian Joe Cook, who was capable of reducing audiences to paroxysms of helpless laughter by telling them what he wasn't going to do that evening, was invariably better than the shows in which he appeared. Fully aware of this, director Frank Capra brought Cook's 1928 stage musical Rain or Shine to the screen, cutting all of its songs and concentrating almost exclusively on the star. The mere wisp of a plot focuses on the tinker-toy travelling circus owned by heroine Joan Peers. Advance-man Cook does his best to stir up business and to avoid the sheriffs and process-servers, but it's an uphill battle. The climactic tent-fire scene is a cinematic tour de force for Capra, who'd improve upon it one year later in The Miracle Woman (1931). While Joe Cook's non-sequitur patter seems more bizarre than funny at times, he is always worth watching, as are his perennial stooges Tom Howard (who looks astonishingly like Robert Woolsey of Wheeler & Woolsey fame) and Dave Chasen (yes, the same Dave Chasen who later became a celebrated Hollywood restaurateur). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Cook, Louise Fazenda, (more)
- 1930
Adapted from a play by Gerald du Maurier, The Dancers stars Lois Moran as free-spirited Diana Snowden. Though once pure of heart and noble of mind, Diana has "strayed" rather dramatically over the years. When her childhood sweetheart Tony (Phillips Holmes) returns to London after a long absence, Diana is convinced that she is no longer good enough for him. Thus, when he proposes marriage, she hops on a plane and escapes to France. One year later, Tony finally catches up to Diana, who has been doing her own brand of penance by working as a humble schoolteacher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Moran, Walter Byron, (more)
