Dudley Clements Movies

Test Pilot is one of those irresistible MGM potboilers of the 1930s that coast along on sheer star power. Clark Gable plays a courageous test pilot, who compromises his achievements with his frequent bouts of drinking. Gable's mechanic, Spencer Tracy, does what he can to keep his boss out of trouble. While testing a new aircraft, Gable is forced to land on a Midwestern farm, where he meets and falls in love with Myrna Loy. Gable and Loy marry, whereupon he is fired by his boss Lionel Barrymore, who is of the opinion that flying and dames don't mix. Gable goes off on another bender, compelling Loy to leave him. Once more, Tracy comes to Gable's rescue by reuniting the couple and arranging for Barrymore to give Gable his job back. Later, Gable and Tracy are assigned to test a huge army bomber. Something goes wrong, and the plane goes into a dive. The self-sacrificing Tracy sees to it that Gable is saved from a flaming death--at the cost of his own life. Gable is so devastated by Tracy's death that it looks as though he'll never fly again. But with Loy's help, Gable regains his self-confidence. As one can see, there's little in Test Pilot that hasn't been done before. But with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy at the controls, the film proved a real audience-pleaser in 1938. In fact, it's still pretty good today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a highly superstitious racehorse owner spends his time off the track helping the less fortunate in any way he can so that he will always have good luck. His ploy works until he is accused of murdering his ex-lover. Fortunately, the real culprit is discovered before he has to go to jail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A remake of 1932's Guilty as Hell, Night Club Scandal also borrows a page from 1934's Murder at the Vanities by depicting the "friendly adversary" relationship between a reporter (Lynne Overman) and a cop (Charles Bickford). Top-billed John Barrymore plays a respectable doctor married to a nightclub singer (Evelyn Brent), who murders his wife and frames the victim's lover for the crime. Overman and Bickford spot holes in Barrymore's story, bringing him to justice by Reel Seven. The murder plot is standard stuff, but the main attraction of Night Club Scandal is the aggressively masculine love/hate byplay between tipsy Lynne Overman and flint-eyed Charles Bickford. The best moment occurs at the end, when the wide-eyed ingenue (Louise Campbell) doesn't marry the fellow the audience expects her to! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Poor Barry Trent (John Morley) has Too Many Wives in this RKO programmer. Actually, Barry starts out with no wife at all, which doesn't rest well with his new boss. To save his job, Barry pretends to have a spouse: now all he has to do is find the girl to fill the role. Thanks to a series of misunderstandings arising from a lost stamp worth $10,000, heiress Winifred Jackson (Anne Shirley), a wisecracking secretary (Barbara Pepper) and several total strangers come forward claiming to be Mrs. Barry Trent. Some critics compared Too Many Wives to a Charley Chase two-reeler; ironically Chase later showed up in His Bridal Fright (1940), a comedy short which also involved a missing stamp and a whole passel of would-be brides. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime comedy, a lazy feller and his family take-up residence in an abandoned house. The squatters have no idea that the owners, a gang of crooks, are just about to return and use it as their hide out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide