Alice Day Movies

Golddigging Verna Wilson (Natalie Morehead) files suit against married millionaire John Randolph (Montague Love) for breach of promise. On the verge of collecting $100,000 in "hush money," Verna discovers that her former lover (Roy D'Arcy) has broken out of jail and is heading after her with blood in his eye. Frantically, she books passage on an ocean liner bound for Europe. During the voyage, Verna is confronted by another man -- Dick Randolph (Jack Mulhall), son of the disgraced millionaire. Not long afterward, Verna's ex-lover catches up with her . . . and the result, inevitably is murder. But who done it (and who is it "done" to?) Love Bound was also released as Murder on the High Seas and Souls for Sale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As was often the case in the films of Chesterfield Studios, the title The Lady From Nowhere has little relevance to the film itself. Alice Day and John Holland play a pair of young lovers who may or may not be crooks. Or, they may or may not be detectives. Whatever the case, hero and heroine team up to trap the villains responsible for a major crime (just what that crime is was never made clear in the film, nor in the "official" synopses). Silent-screen veterans Phillips Smalley and Barbara Bedford strive hard to make their roles worthwhile, while Mischa Auer, still several years removed from his fame as one of Hollywood's most delightful character comedians, is suitably menacing as a maniacal heavy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For a "Poverty Row" production, Ladies in Love is pretty and is in fact no worse than most of the early talkies being ground out by the major studios. Alice Day stars as radio singer Brenda Lascelle, who throws a fancy party for her many male admirers. Small-town songwriter Harry King (Johnny Walker), hoping to make a sale, crashes the party, and when Brenda lays her eyes on him it's you-know-what at first sight. Messing up this pretty arrangement is the arrival of Harry's hometown sweetheart Mary Wood (Elinor Flynn), who expresses dismay at her boyfriend's infidelity -- even though she's been merrily playing the field herself. It's a typical Chesterfield production, shot almost entirely indoors and with an overabundance of dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a Viennese composer kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage, and then heads for the US with his daughter where he becomes a successful musician in a Broadway restaurant. Eighteen years later, his grown daughter gets a job as an arranger for a jazz combo. The trouble begins when she and her boyfriend arrange one of her father's old tunes. It becomes popular, and the Austrian authorities follow up on it and capture the criminal composer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The fact that "all-American" leading man Reginald Denny spoke with a pronounced British accent somewhat worked against his portrayal of a New York parole officer in Red Hot Speed. Alice Day plays the daughter of newspaper publisher DeWitt Jennings, the latter currently engaged in an "anti-speeding" campaign. Sure enough, Day is arrested by a traffic cop for going approximately 75 in a 25-mile an hour zone. She is put in the care of Denny, who sets about to "reform" the heroine while keeping her identity a secret to save her father from embarrassment. Four screenwriters were responsible for this entertaining trifle, which began life as a silent picture but emerged on screen as a part-talkie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inimitable, top-hatted clarinetist Ted Lewis stars in Is Everybody Happy? (the title, of course, was a Lewis catchphrase). Lewis plays Tod Todd, a Hungarian-emigre violinist who disdains the classics in favor of jazz, much to the dismay of his traditionalist parents (didn't we already see this plot in The Jazz Singer?) Upon discovering that his son is playing in honky-tonks and not with the New York Symphony, Todd's old-world papa Victor (Lawrence Grant) blows his top and disowns the boy. All is forgiven when Todd is headlined in a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall. Surprisingly, such trademarked Ted Lewis tunes as "When My Baby Smiles at Me" and "Me and My Shadow" are not included in Is Everybody Happy? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No, Richard Barthelmess doesn't don women's apparel in the 1929 talkie The Drag. Barthelmess plays a Vermont newspaper editor, happily married to Alice Day. That is, he was happy until the day his wife's troublesome in-laws (Lucien Littlefield, Katherine Ward) came to visit. Wifey's parents stay, and stay, and stay--and what a drag it is. The title could also refer to the film itself, since The Drag drags along at an excruciating 118 minutes (plus two arbitrarily inserted songs). This yawn-inducer was based on a (hopefully) more entertaining novel by William Dudley Perry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Basically a filmed vaudeville presentation, The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' entry in the "all star, all talking, all singing and all dancing" sweepstakes of 1929. Though slightly better than MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, the Warners entry pales in comparison to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 and Paramount on Parade, due mainly to the film's master of ceremonies, the insufferable Frank Fay. Some of the individual acts seen in Show of Shows were pretty good, notably Winnie Lightner's delightful Singing in the Bathtub (a spoof of Hollywood Revue of 1929's Singin' in the Rain) and John Barrymore's brilliant rendition of Richard III's soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry VI. Also easy to take was "Floradora Sextette," featuring such luminaries as Myrna Loy, Patsy Ruth Miller and cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin, and "Eight Sister Acts," including such Hollywood siblings as Dolores and Helene Costello, Sally Blane and Loretta Young and Shirley Mason and Viola Dana (also teamed in this number are Ann Sothern and Marion Byron, who were not sisters). But for the most part, the acts are on a par with "Skull and Crossbones," a boring production number showcasing entertainer Ted Lewis, and "Recitations," a one-joke affair in which three different anecdotes (related by Frank Fay, Louis Fazenda, Lloyd Hamilton and Bea Lillie) are melded into one. Show of Shows was originally released in two-color Technicolor but now exists only in black in white, save for the "Chinese Fantasy" number featuring crooner Nick Lucas and Warner Bros. contractee Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having played an egotistical baseball player in Slide, Kelly, Slide, an egotistical golfer in Spring Fever, and an egotistical football star in West Point, can it be any surprise that William Haines was cast as a you-know-what polo player in The Smart Set? While touring Europe, Tommy van Buren (Haines) is expelled from the U.S. polo team because of his obnoxiousness and lack of team spirit. Since even his sweetheart Polly (Alice Day) has turned her back on him, the headstrong Tommy decides to just sit back and sulk during the championship match. But when Polly is injured in a riding accident, our hero returns to the team just in time to trounce the British polo squad -- and, lest we forget, he also wins the heroine. As usual, critics gnashed their teeth over the sameness of the Bill Haines vehicles, but the public turned out in droves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While merely a program picture, this drama features an excellent cast and an entertaining story. Before the Great War, Max (John Harron) and his partner, Nick (Eddie Gribbon), had a sleight-of-hand act on vaudeville. After the war's end, the pair find themselves out of work and starving in Vienna. Out of desperation, Max puts his talents to use illicitly and becomes a thief. Business is good and Max and Nick prosper. But when they get involved with a pretty waif, Anna (Alice Day), things start to fall apart. Anna loves Max and Nick's feelings towards her are ambivalent -- on one hand, he believes her to be an intruder, on the other hand he's jealous that Max has won her heart. Anna puts their livelihood at risk when she catches Max stealing a diamond brooch. She forces him to return it and gets arrested herself. Nick, surprisingly, is the one who comes to her rescue and takes her place in the cell. After the situation is resolved, the three of them go straight and team up as an act. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

That creaky old Ralph Spence stage comedy-melodrama The Gorilla was given the first of its four screen treatments in 1927. The title character has been accused of several killings in the vicinity of a foreboding Hudson River mansion. The owner of the house, reclusive Uriah Townsend (Tully Marshall), is certain that he will be the Gorilla's next victim, so he summons bumbling detectives Garrity (Charlie Murray) and Mulligan (Fred Kelsey). But to no avail: Townsend is murdered, and everyone is placed under suspicion -- notably Stevens (Walter Pigeon), the sweetheart of Townsend's daughter Alice (Alice Day). In their own stumbling fashion. Garrity and Mulligan discover that the murderer is of the human variety, rescuing Alice from a grisly fate at the very last minute. The Gorilla was remade in 1930, with Walter Pigeon repeating his role, then again in 1937 (as Sh! The Octopus) and 1939 (with the Ritz Brothers). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide