Jack George Movies

Fred Astaire's first RKO musical without his longtime partner Ginger Rogers is one of his best from any period -- even though it's obvious that leading lady Joan Fontaine can't dance a step. Written by P. G. Wodehouse, Damsel in Distress casts Astaire as Jerry, an American entertainer appearing in London. Poor Jerry gets sucked into a wager conducted among servants of country squire Lord Mashmorton (Montague Love) He is "elected" to rescue his Lordship's daughter Lady Alyce (Joan Fontaine) from an arranged marriage with orchestra leader Reggie (Ray Noble), a likeable chap who steadfastly refuses to play the villain of the piece. Weaving in and out of all this are Jerry's business manager George (George Burns) and his daffy secretary Gracie (Gracie Allen). In addition to including such Gershwin standards as "A Foggy Day" and "Nice Work if You Can Get It," not to mention Fred Astaire's untoppable "drum dance," A Damsel in Distress affords George Burns and Gracie Allen their best-ever screen roles; the team is permitted to join Astaire in the elaborate "round-and-round" production number "Things are Looking Up," as well as a delightful whisk-broom dance (which, it is said, George and Gracie taught to Fred, rather than the other way around). As Lady Alyce's duplicitous butler, Reginald Gardiner enjoys his own comic highlight with an interesting variation on his "musical cop" routine in Born to Dance. As for 19-year-old Joan Fontaine, she's quite lovely and charming, and Astaire does his very best to camouflage her utter lack of terpsichorean ability. Amazingly, A Damsel in Distress lost money at the box office, compelling RKO Radio to play safe by quickly reteaming Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Carefree. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this highly acclaimed adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel, Walter Huston plays Sam Dodsworth, a good-hearted, middle-aged man who runs an auto manufacturing firm. His wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton) is obsessed with the notion that she's growing old, and she eventually persuades Sam to sell his interest in the company and take her to Europe. He agrees for the sake of their marriage, but before long Fran has begun to think of herself as a cosmopolitan sophisticate and thinks of Sam as dull and unadventurous. Craving excitement, Fran begins spending her time with other men and eventually informs Sam that she's leaving him for a minor member of royalty. While in Italy, Sam runs into Edith Cortright (Mary Astor), an attractive widow whom he first met while sailing to Europe. Edith seems to understand Sam in a way his wife does not, and they fall in love. However, Sam impulsively breaks off their relationship, only to discover in her absence just how deeply he cares for her. Dodsworth was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Walter Huston), and Best Supporting Actress (Maria Ouspenskaya), though only art director Richard Day walked away with an Oscar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Technicolor is the main attraction of this overheated South Seas adventure. Ray Milland, Akim Tamiroff and Barry Fitzgerald play three shifty sailors who commandeer a smallpox-ridden boat and set out to sea. A typhoon washes them ashore on a faraway Pacific island, which is ruled by a white religious fanatic (Lloyd Nolan) who has set himself up as the local god. The three sailors anxiously await an opportunity to appropriate the "god's" valuable stash of pearls and head for the mainland. Only one of the sailors escapes to tell his story; check out the cast list and guess which one survives. The third filmization of Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osborne's novel, Ebb Tide is rough going until Lloyd Nolan shows up to deliver the picture's best and subtlest performance. The story would be filmed again in 1947 as Adventure Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this swashbuckler, a princess is raised by gypsies and becomes their queen. The trouble really begins when a count is murdered and the evil, ambitious baron who really did it blames the crime on the gypsies. The baron's messenger knows the truth and tries to prove it. When he notices that the gypsy queen is wearing a pendant bearing the slain count's crest, he reveals her true identity--the count's estranged sister and heir to the throne. The messenger then accuses the baron of the death. The baron has him thrown into the same dungeon as the gypsies and together they team up and escape. Meanwhile the gypsy girl, who has finally promised to marry the wicked baron in exchange for her clan's freedom, is kidnapped by the baron. The gallant messenger rescues her, kills the baron, and gets to marry the young queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical, a chorus of convicts conspires to get a paroled crooner chucked back in the clink. Songs include: "Time Will Tell," "Now And Always," "Round The Bend," and "How Lovely." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Victor Fleming's final film features Ingrid Bergman as a vivid and luminous Joan of Arc, the 15th-century French peasant girl who led the French in battle against the invading English, becoming a national hero. When she was captured, tortured, and ultimately executed by the English, she was made a Catholic saint. Bergman's Joan is a strong and spiritual figure who proves her devotion to the Dauphin (Jose Ferrer), later to become the King of France. Joan is compelling as she wins an alliance with the Governor of Vaucouleurs and the courtiers at Chinon, leads her army in the Battle of Orleans, is betrayed by the Burgundians, and edicts that "our strength is in our faith." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a dimwitted fellow bumbles off in search of the marriage license bureau and instead finds himself in a recruiting office for the Marines. Before he knows it, the jughead has become a jarhead. Fortunately, his fiancee also joins and they go through boot camp together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical, an orphan is under the false impression that her newly found relatives are filthy rich. Lacking the heart to tell her the truth, the relatives move into an abandoned mansion to entertain her and her fiance. Songs include: "That's Good Enough for Me", "A Man Is a Brother to a Mule", "Judy and Dick", and "Cheer for the Team". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though completed in 1950, Love Is Better Than Ever was held back from release until 1952, due in great part to the "political undesirability" of star Larry Parks, whose career was effectively ruined after he humbled himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Parks plays Broadway talent agent Jud Parker, who takes a fancy to small-town dance teacher Anastacia Macaboy (Elizabeth Taylor). Parker wines and dines Anastacia during her visit to New York for the purposes of seduction. But the girl assumes that his intentions are honorable, and sends word of her "impending" engagement to her hometown newspaper. With his reputation on the line, Parker agrees to confirm the engagement if asked, with the understanding that he doesn't really mean it. Rest assured that by fade-out time, he will mean it. Gene Kelly makes an unbilled cameo appearance in Love Is Better Than Ever, which also features such reliables as Ann Doran, Kathleen Freeman, and Dick Wessel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Frank Borzage and star Ginger Rogers both came acropper in the lavish but dull historical biopic Magnificent Doll. The usually ebullient Rogers seems encased in wax as Dolly Madison, first lady of the United States in the early 19th century. The story begins as young Washington socialite Dolly Payne, previously and unhappily wed to one John Todd (Horace McNally), can't make up her mind romantically between idealistic politician James Madison (Burgess Meredith) and firebrand Aaron Burr (David Niven). Burr solves that problem when he flees the country after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, leaving the field clear for Madison. What should have been the film's highlight, Dolly's rescue of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution during the 1812 burning of Washington, is treated as a throwaway. Told in flashback, the film ends just before Madison's ascendancy to the White House, with Dolly chastely charming the current chief executive Thomas Jefferson (Grandon Rhodes). Magnificent Doll is anything but . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From a novel of the same name by "Elizabeth", the film begins in 1914, with Bette Davis cast as vain, flighty society woman Fanny Trellis. Informed by Jewish-American financier Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) that her brother Trippy (Richard Waring) has stolen money to pay his gambling debts, Fanny marries Job, securing his promise that he won't prosecute her thieving sibling. Angered by Fanny's agreeing to this loveless union, Trippy runs off to join the army, and is killed during World War I. Fanny holds Skeffington responsible for her brother's death, and demands a divorce with a generous cash settlement. Despite Job's oft-repeated belief that "a woman is only beautiful when she is loved," Fanny uses her coquettish beauty to flit indiscriminately from man to man. While on a sailing trip with her latest beau, Fanny comes down with diphtheria. The disease destroys her facial beauty, and before long the shallow Fanny is left completely alone. Her self-centered efforts to reunite all of her old boyfriends for a party is a failure due to her pathetic middle-aged efforts to be kittenish, and the grotesqueness of the mounds of facial makeup she apples. Meanwhile, Skeffington, who has resettled in Europe with his daughter, is captured by the Nazis and placed in a concentration camp. He manages to escape, returning to the US totally blind and utterly penniless. A chastened Fanny comes back to her husband, promising to care for him for the rest of his life. Most TV prints of Mr. Skeffington run 127 minutes; the videocassette and cable TV versions have been restored to the original length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "suspense" in the RKO Radio musical comedy Music for Madame lies in whether or not golden-voiced Operatic tenor Nino Martini will be permitted to sing. En route to Hollywood, Tonio (Martini) is hoodwinked into serenading a wedding party while a gang of jewel thieves clean out the place. The crooks head for the hills, but not before threatening to murder Tonio if he ever sings again (his voice, you see, is the only clue the police have to go by). While pondering the future of his career, our hero falls in love with beautiful Jean (Joan Fontaine) and is sorely tempted to express his ardor in song. Music for Madame was Jesse L. Lasky's first RKO production -- and very nearly his last when the picture lost $375,000 for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Secrets of Scotland Yard is Republic's spin on a plotline first elucidated in the old E. Phillips Oppenheim novel The Great Impersonation. After losing WW I, the German high command, with remarkable foresight, prepares for the next war by planting a spy in the British Admiralty. Edgar Barrier plays the dual role of the German spy and his British twin brother. When one twin is killed, the other assumes his identity. The question: is the surviving brother the "good" one or the bad? It is up to C. Aubrey Smith, cast as Scotland Yard inspector Sir Christopher Belt, to sort out the mystery. Though it owes a great deal to the aforementioned Oppenheim yarn, Secrets of Scotland Yard is actually based on a novel by Denison Clift, who also wrote the screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide