Monte Carter Movies
- 1941
Celebrity fan-dancer Sally Rand, the undraped sensation of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, was the star of the 1938 Grand National production The Sunset Murder Case. Borrowing a page from the Bob Steele westerns, La Rand is cast as a nightclub dancer who hopes to avenge her father's murderer. She gets a job in the establishment run by the man she holds responsible for the killing, maintaining a harmless front by performing a nightly exotic dance (which by 1990s standards is about as erotic as a plastic shower curtain). In his first leading role, Reed Hadley plays the hero who rescues Sally in the nick of time, while Henry King's orchestra provides the music. In perpetual reissue well into the 1940s and 1950s (this synopsis is based on its 1941 re-release), Sunset Murder Case was sometimes retitled The Sunset Strip Case on the grind-house circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Rand, Reed Hadley, (more)
- 1937
Produced by Sam Katzman's Victory Pictures, $1,000,000 Racket stars Katzman's biggest "name," ex-Olympic athlete Herman Brix. Our hero falls in with a gang of racketeers, pretending to play along with them until he can notify the authorities. Along the way, Brix falls in love with apple-cheeked Joan Barclay. Featured in the cast are veteran silent leading man Bryant Washburn as the chief heavy, and one-time 2-reel comedy star Jimmy Aubrey as a dopey crook. Herman Brix did rather better for himself in the 1940s when he changed his name to Bruce Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Barclay, Bryant Washburn, (more)
- 1936
Charismatic Polish opera singer Jan Kiepura made his Hollywood debut in Give Us This Night. His thick Slavic accent notwithstanding, Kiepura is cast as Italian fisherman Antonio. In the habit of singing as he fishes, Antonio catches the attention of opera diva Maria (played by real-life operatic soprano Gladys Swarthout, in her second film appearance). Our hero ends up replacing Maria's burned-out leading man Forcellini (Alan Mowbray), leading to a series of duets and, naturally, romance. It was the same formula that MGM would later deploy for their Mario Lanza pictures of the 1950s, except that Lanza was a more persuasive screen presence than Kiepura. The highlight of Give Us This Night is the climactic operatic adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys Swarthout, Philip Merivale, (more)
Make a Million stars Charles Starrett in one of his last non-western roles, as idealistic college professor Jones. Because of his radical "share the wealth" theories, Jones is fired on the say-so of banker Corning (Guy Usher). Seeking a new source of income, our hero turns to panhandling, and before long he's raking in more bucks than he'd ever done as a teacher! Through a series of plot twists that would put Dickens to shame (among them a highly suspicious nationwide lottery and a chain-letter racket), Jones emerges as a millionaire at film's end, winning the hand of Corning's daughter Irene (Pauline Brooks). One of the screwiest of the screwball comedies of the 1930s, Make a Million deserves to be better known. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Pauline Brooks, (more)
One of several poverty-row films which vanished from sight during the 1935-36 movie season, Beacon Productions did its best to stay afloat as long as possible with such potboilers as What Price Crime? Future cowboy hero Charles Starrett is cast as G-Man Allan Grey, hot on the trail of a gang of firearms smugglers. Going undercover, Grey poses as an aspiring prizefighter in order to gain the confidence of gang leader Douglas Worthington (Noel Madison). The plot becomes as thick as pea soup when our hero falls in love with Worthington's sister Sondra (played by Virginia Cherrill, previously the blind flower girl in Chaplin's City Lights). Despite its urban setting, much of What Price Crime was economically filmed out-of-doors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Noel Madison, (more)
- 1934
An above-average Monogram programmer, Red Head stars the gorgeous Grace Bradley as a good-hearted photographer's model. After she is involved in a scandal, Bradley is persona non grata until she meets sympathetic playboy Bruce Cabot. Cabot marries Bradley, hoping that his wealthy father (Berton Churchill) will try to buy Bradley off and thus allow her to get back on her feet financially. Instead, the father offers Bradley a great deal of money if she will force the lazy Cabot to take a job. Cabot comes to like his new blue-collar existence until he discovers the deal Bradley has made with his father. All is forgiven when Bradley reveals that she never accepted the money and that she truly loves the now-industrious Cabot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Grace Bradley, (more)
- 1932
Crusading district attorney Jerry Bennett (Gilbert Roland) would give anything to get the goods on unscrupulous criminal lawyer Clyde Corbin (Noah Beery). Alas, Corbin proves too slippery a target -- and besides, he's got too many irons in the fire to be bothered by Bennett. Halfway through the picture, Corbin temporarily leaves the legal world behind by masterminding a race track swindle, targeting lovable Pop Everett (Otis Harlan) as his fall guy. Bennett teams with lady detective Emilia (Carmel Myers) to save Pop from losing his money, but the DA's girlfriend Carol (Barbara Kent), Pop's daughter, misunderstands the situation and walks out on Bennett. This sets the stage for a comic denouement straight out of the The Front Page. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery, Sr., (more)
- 1931
In this crime drama, an ambassador must become a police snitch for a corrupt vice squad and it nearly destroys his career. He survives the incident with reputation intact. But then the cops come 'round again. He is uncooperative until they begin threatening the woman he loves. In the end, the man gets revenge by testifying in a court case that questions the dubious practice of using informers to gather evidence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Street Scene was purchased for the screen by producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1931. The entire story takes place on the street in front of a foreboding old New York brownstone, between one evening and the next afternoon. The individual fates of eight neighboring Manhattan families intertwine during this brief stretch of time. Special emphasis is given the Maurrant family: the philandering mother (Estelle Taylor), the drink-sodden husband (David Landau) and long-suffering daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney). When the husband catches the wife "in the act" with bill-collector Russell Hopton, the resulting tragedy is not shown, but reflecting in the wildly varying reactions of neighbors and passersby. Though resisting the temptation to "open up" the play, director King Vidor nonetheless injects his cinematic know-how into the proceedings, by utilizing an entirely different camera setup or angle for each individual "take." The cast of Street Scene includes several carry-overs from the Broadway original, including David Landau, Max Montor, Matt McHugh (brother of Frank), John Qualen, George Humbert, Tom H. Manning, and Anna Konstant (Sidebar: Shirley Kaplan, the role played by Ms. Konstant, was portrayed in the London production of Street Scene by Greer Garson). Unavailable for TV for many years due to legal tangles, Street Scene was freed up for the small screen when it lapsed into public domain in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, William Collier, Jr., (more)
- 1929
In this drama, a married team of vaudeville dancers break up when the wife gets a real acting job. Time passes and the duo eventually reconcile with she as a rising star, and he a prop man. They are brought together when their daughter is mortally wounded. When her daddy sings, the girl is miraculously healed. This was Universal's first all-sound musical. Songs include: "The Song of the Islands," "Here I Am," "There's Sugar Cane Round My Door," "The Boogy Man Is Here," and "Roly Boly Eyes." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Leonard, Josephine Dunn, (more)
- 1928
Scott R. Dunlap, later a prolific and highly respected B-western producer, held the directorial reins in Midnight Life. Francis X. Bushman, a star on the downgrade, does a commendable job as the principal character in this inexpensive crime meller. When his buddy is murdered, Bushman, a dedicated cop, goes after the gang responsible. This compels him to immerse himself in the city's nightclub scene, controlled by the local mob element. Adele Buffington, who'd pen many a western for Dunlap in future years, coadapted Midnight Life from a novel by Reginald Wright Kaufman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis X. Bushman, Gertrude Olmstead, (more)
