Jean de Briac Movies

In this espionage adventure, a courageous millworker must prove himself innocent of treason charges after the title spies purloin valuable blueprints from his plant. He also tries to bring the spies to justice, but soon finds himself in deep trouble. Fortunately, the good-guy spies show up at the crucial moment and justice is served. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Back at Hal Roach Studios for the first time since 1938's Block-Heads, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star in the uneven but generally rewarding A Chump at Oxford. The boys are cast as street-sweepers who hope to better their lot in life by attending night school. Fate intervenes when Stan and Ollie are instrumental in the capture of a bank robber, whereupon they are rewarded by the bank's grateful president (Forbes Murray) with an all-expenses-paid education at England's Oxford University. Arriving on the venerable old campus dressed in Eton jackets, our heroes are pounced upon by a group of prankish students and subjected to all manner of practical jokes. After spending most of the night trying to escape from a maze, Stan and Ollie are installed in their "new quarters"-which turns out to be the bedroom of the Dean (Wilfred Lucas). This sort of collegiate nonsense comes to an end when it is discovered that simple-minded Stan is actually Lord Paddington, the brainiest student and finest athlete that ever attended Oxford. According to Meredith the valet (Forrester Harvey), His Lordship wandered away from the university upon being rendered an amnesiac by a blow on the head. An accidental tap on the noggin restores Stan to his aristocratic Lord Paddington status, whereupon he beats up a crowd of bullying students and deposits them one by one in a nearby ditch. Though Ollie is aghast to learn that Stan-er, His Lordship-has no recollection of their previous friendship, he decides to stay on at Oxford as Paddington's manservant. After having been humiliated once too often by his vain and condescending employer, Ollie angrily packs his bags and prepares to head for home, when yet another bop on His Lordship's skull causes him to revert to lovable, bumbling old Stan again. Originally intended as a four-reeler (running approximately 45 minutes), A Chump at Oxford was completed in the spring of 1939, whereupon Laurel and Hardy were loaned out to producer Boris Morros to star in The Flying Deuces. When shooting was finished on the latter film, the team was summoned back to Roach to film a 2-reel "prologue" for Oxford, bringing the film's running time up to 63 minutes. The new footage consisted of a reworking of the boys' 1928 comedy From Soup to Nuts, with temporary servants Stan and Ollie unintentionally wrecking a dinner party held by Mr. and Mrs. Vandevere (played by veteran L&H supporting players James Finlayson and Anita Garvin). The patchwork stucture of A Chump at Oxford works against its overall effectiveness, but the scenes in which Stan Laurel undergoes a complete change of character as the genius-level Lord Paddington more than make up for the film's earlier shortcomings. One of the students (the tall, mustachioed one) is played by Peter Cushing, in his second Hollywood film appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This is an epic Darryl F. Zanuck production that plays fast and loose with historical facts regarding early 19th century French politics and the building of the Suez Canal. Tyrone Power stars as Ferdinand de Lesseps, an engineer and son of a French nobleman (Harry Stephenson). At the start of the film, he is in love with Eugenie (Loretta Young), but so is the French President Louis Napoleon (Leon Ames). After his father is appointed French consul to Egypt, the younger de Lesseps travels there and conceives the idea of a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red seas. Back in France, he is promised help by Eugenie, now Napoleon's mistress, in exchange for Count de Lesseps' agreement to dissolve the government temporarily. Napoleon then declares himself emperor, making Eugenie his empress. The elder de Lesseps dies of shock at the political betrayal, while the younger de Lesseps starts building the canal, overcoming attacks by tribal people and severe heat. France cuts off backing, and de Lesseps has to get help from England to finish the project. A sandstorm injures de Lesseps, and his French-Egyptian lover Toni (Annabella) straps him to a post to save him, sacrificing her own life for the canal. Power and Annabella married each other after the film. The descendants of de Lesseps sued 20th Century Fox for libel, but lost. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

American mousetrap salesmen Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy journey to Switzerland, reasoning that where there's cheese, there's mice. When they innocently try to pay their dinner bill with phony money, Stan and Ollie are put to work in the kitchen of the Alpen Hotel. Their enforced stay coincides with the visit of famed composer Walter Woolf King, who has come to Switzerland to soak up "local color." He also hopes to write an operetta that will succeed on its own merits, without the lovely voice of his lovely actress wife Della Lynd winning over the audience. But Lynd is determined to star in King's latest opus, and to that end she finagles Stan and Ollie into getting her a job as a hotel chambermaid. As the plot rolls along its merry way, Ollie labors under the misapprehension that Lynd is in love with him. Swiss Miss is, on the whole, one of Laurel and Hardy's weaker feature films, with far too much emphasis on the romantic leads and way too many forgettable songs ("Crick Crick Crick Here the Cricket" is a particular low point). But the team's individual scenes save the show, even though Stan Laurel, who'd been ill during production, looks like he's about to fall asleep at any moment. Best bits: Stan hoodwinking a St. Bernard out of a cask of brandy; Ollie serenading Lynd while Stan accompanies him on tube; and the legendary sequence, immortalized by film critic James Agee, wherein Stan and Ollie try to transport a piano across a rope bridge high above an alpine chasm--only to confront a gorilla! One of the screenwriters of Swiss Miss was Jean Negulesco, later the director of such memorable films as Mask of Dmitrios, Three Strangers, Titanic and How to Marry a Millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Wise Girl is a medium-level screwball comedy with faintly serious undertones. Miriam Hopkins plays an heiress whose millions can't help her gain custody of her two nieces from their stubborn widowed father (Ray Milland), an impoverished Greenwich Village artist. Hoping to win the widower over without revealing her identity, the heiress disguises herself as a penniless "Bohemian" and infiltrates the Village's artists' colony. When he finds out he's been duped, the man stubbornly insists upon remaining in jail rather than hand over custody of his daughters to the headstrong heiress (yes, that's perennial Laurel & Hardy foil James Finlayson as the friendly jailer). It all turns out for the best when hero and heroine realize they're in love with each other. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cafe Metropole stars Tyrone Power as an international playboy with a habit of writing rubber checks. Heavily in debt to cafe owner Adolphe Menjou, Power agrees to pose as a Russian nobleman and woo heiress Loretta Young, so that Menjou can get his mitts on the girl's money. Avarice gives way to love, but not before Young walks out on Power when she catches on to his original selfish intentions. The script for Cafe Metropole was written by actor/director Gregory Ratoff, who also plays a supporting role. The film's first biggest laughs are reserved for the first scene, in which mild-mannered Christian Rub attempts to collect on one of Power's debts by clumsily wielding a loaded revolver. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 1936 comedy-mystery The Princess Comes Across might well have been inspired by a real-life incident during the silent-movie era, in which a crafty San Francisco stenographer hoodwinked the Hollywood elite into believing that she was a Spanish princess. Carole Lombard stars as an alluring Swedish beauty who travels under the name of Princess Olga. Everyone whom she meets en route to America on the steamship Mammoth bows and scrapes to the Princess, while Hollywood anxiously awaits her arrival to star her in a big-budget film. Only the ship's bandleader, King Mantell (Fred MacMurray), refuses to defer to Olga, sensing that she may not be all she claims. Mantell's instincts are right on target: the "Princess" is a brass-nickel phony, a Brooklyn girl named Wanda Nash who has cooked up her royal guise with drama coach Gertrude (Alison Skipworth) as a publicity stunt to crash into movies. Unfortunately, a weaselly blackmailer Darcy (Porter Hall) gloms onto Wanda's true identity and offers to keep quiet in exchange for a huge cash settlment. At the same time, Darcy is attempting to shake down several other passengers on the Mammoth, including King Mantell. Inevitably, Darcy is found murdered in the "Princess"'s stateroom, and Wanda finds herself one of several likely suspects, among them Mantell. A quintet of international detectives, travelling to a convention in America, sets out to solve the mystery, which becomes even more mysterious when one of the detectives also turns up dead. Taking matters in his own hands, Mantell vows to clear Wanda's name, and in the course of things he realizes that he's madly in love with her--but will Wanda give up her hoax, and her future showbiz career, for Mantell's sake? Among the many highlights in this engagingly daffy film is Fred MacMurray's rendition of the enchantingly forgettable song "My Concertina." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western-style musical, a rakish gaucho rides off across the Argentine pampas to Buenos Aires in search of his stolen horse. Once there, he soon engages in hot pursuit of a lovely singing señorita. Soon he discovers that her manager just may be the thief he has been looking for. Keep a sharp eye out for a young Rita Cansino (later known as Rita Hayworth) in an early performance as a dance hall girl. Songs include: "Zamba" (Arthur Wynter-Smith), The Gaucho" (Buddy De Sylva, Walter Samuels), "Querida Mia" (Paul Francis Webster, Lew Pollack), "Love Song of the Pampas," "Veredita," and "Je t'Adore" (Miguel de Zarraga, Cyril J. Mockridge). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this convoluted drama, the jolly painted face of a circus clown is but a mask for an avaricious, ruthlessly ambitious, and deceitful man. Hap is performing in small New Orleans clubs when he saves the life of the starving Gardino, a member of a distinguished family of European clowns. Though impoverished and unemployed, Gardino is determined to avoid the family slapstick and become a "serious" performer of high-class clowning. Hap suggests they team up, but thanks to Gardino's refusal to do slapstick, their act is a dud. Gardino leaves in a huff. Later Hap finds his former partner performing Hap's proposed act with a new partner. He is doing quite well, and when he sees Hap, Gardino apologizes and they again team up. This time Gardino insists on star billing. To make matters worse, he steals Hap's girl and they marry. The honeymoon is barely over before Gardino is playing around with other women and gambling away all of their money. After his latest affair goes bust, Gardino grows despondent and so walks into the sea, never looking back. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The "Ladybirds" are a gang of crooks who prey upon the rich and famous. At present, the Ladybirds are at large in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Heroine Diane Whitman (Betty Compson) finds herself inextricably involved in the gang's criminal activities, and for a while it looks as though she's going to end up six feet under. Instead, Diane anticipates The Avengers' Emma Peel by besting the gang's leader with a fantastic display of ju-jitsu! Former Mack Sennett comedian Hank Mann plays a comparatively straight role in this colorful thriller. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In her pre-Paramount days, Clara Bow was shoved into some pretty dismal pictures. This aimless drama was one of the worst. Marie (Bow) and Armand (Donald Keith) are two lovers who belong to a band of Apaches (members of the Parisian underworld, not the Native Americans). When they believe that wealthy scientist Pierre Marcel (Lou Tellegen) is away from his home, they go with another associate, Knifer (Jean deBriac), to burglarize it. But Marcel is home, and Armand stops Knifer from killing him. The grateful man protects Armand when the police show up. Knifer is killed and Marie escapes. Armand, who has been wounded, is nursed back to health by Marcel, and he goes on to lead an honest life. Marie sees Armand kissing another girl and she becomes bent on revenge. Armand goes away on business, and with the financial aid of the Apache leader (Otto Marieson), Marie poses as a convent-bred girl. She wins Marcel's love and marries him, only telling him of her plot after the ceremony is completed. Armand returns from London and she rushes to him. The Apaches, believing that they are being double-crossed, take a shot at her. Although she is wounded, she recovers. Marcel goes to America and arranges a divorce so that the two lovers can be together. Luckily for Bow, The Plastic Age would be released just a few months later, effectively erasing the memory of poor films like this one. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

This standard but solid programmer was put out by a company called C.B.C., a Poverty Row studio derisively called "Corned Beef and Cabbage." Later in the decade, the company would change its name to Columbia, and, under the leadership of tough, plain-spoken mogul Harry Cohn, it would become a real force in the movie industry. When opera diva Julia Montfort (Irene Rich) marries Frank Travers (Albert Roscoe), she gives up her career and becomes a housewife. Travers loses his job. Julia saves them from the poorhouse by returning to the stage for impresario Sam Hermann (Willard Louis). To save her husband's dignity, she creates a job for him, but he's actually paid out of her salary. Because of an argument he overhears, Travers becomes suspicious of his wife's faithfulness. Eventually the truth comes out and the couple's relationship is saved. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Virile Jack Holt was perfectly cast as the title character in this brawling South Seas drama. New Yorker Robert Kendall (Holt) inherits a pearl fishery from his uncle. It is located next to another fishing ground, and the men of both fisheries are constantly at odds. Kendall has to make a trip to the South Seas to claim the inheritance and to bring order to the area. As is usual for Jack Holt's characters, Kendall uses his fists to solve nearly every obstacle he discovers, battling two divers, Ricardo (Edwin Stevens) and Nilsson (Clarence Burton), and fighting for his rights. Kendall also falls in love with Rita Durand (Sylvia Breamer), the beautiful daughter of the owner of the adjoining fishery. Rita's father is murdered by a thief who wants to steal his fortune in pearls. Kendall tracks down the killer and brings him to justice. The grateful Rita consents to become Kendall's wife. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi