Nick De Ruiz Movies

Love Before Breakfast was the scintillating title Universal chose over Spinster Dinner, the Faith Baldwin novel upon which this airy comedy is based. Carole Lombard is a Park Avenue beauty squired by Preston S. Foster and Cesar Romero. Since neither gentleman is a prize catch, Lombard is fey and fickle throughout the film. That's all there is to Love Before Breakfast, which might have been completely forgotten had it not been for a famous 1930s-era painting in which a detailed poster for the film is the focus of attention. There's one iconoclastic alteration in the painting: Carole Lombard has been given a black eye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A far from factual filmed biography of Mexican patriot Pancho Villa, Viva Villa! was written by lengendary screenwriter Ben Hecht. We first meet the young Villa when his father is beaten to death after protesting Diaz' seizure of the Mexican peons' land. Pancho exacts a temporary revenge by knifing one of his father's killers, then heads for the hills, where he organizes a band of renegades. As he "matures," Pancho is played by child actor Phillip Cooper and adult star Wallace Beery. Though ruthless in his treatment of the rich, Pancho is a hero to the poor, who receive the spoils of Villa's raids. Befriended by American reporter Johnny Sykes (Stuart Erwin), Villa becomes internationally famous thanks to Sykes' articles concerning his exploits. Pancho also finds a strong ally in Don Felipe de Castillo (Donald Cook), who introduces the rebel bandit to Madero (Henry B. Walthall), the leader of the peon revolt. Madero convinces Villa to join forces with him, the better to oust the Diaz regime. His principal rival in this goal is ambitious General Pascal (Joseph Schildkraut), who intends to set up an even more despotic regime once Diaz is eliminated. Emerging victorious in his fight against the federales, Villa is encouraged to go back home by Madero. Illiterate and dangerously naïve, Villa quickly runs into trouble with the new government, giving Pascal a chance to humiliate his former "comrade in arms." Later, Pascal shows his true colors by assassinating Madero and assuming control of Mexico. Thirsting for revenge, Villa and his men go on a bloody rampage, culminiating in the ritualistic murder of the treacherous Pascal (he is staked out on an anthill and covered with honey). Made president of Mexico upon the elimination of Pacal, Villa once more finds himself in over his head. Unable to deal with political infighting, Villa retires to his ranch. One day, after running into his old friend Johnny Sykes (Stu Erwin), Villa is shot and mortally wounded by his onetime friend Don Felipe, who holds Pancho responsible for the death of his sister Teresa (Fay Wray). As he dies, Villa begs Johnny to tell him what his epitaph will be. Improvising quickly, Johnny tells of Villa's love for Mexico and his many accomplishments. Partially filmed on location in Mexico, Viva Villa was plagued with a multitude of production problems, not least of which was the diplomatic gaffe committed by Lee Tracy, the film's original Johnny Sykes: While standing on a balcony watching a military parade, an inebrieated Tracy relieved himself on the troops below and was immediately fired. Another crisis arose when the Mexican government objected to star Wallace Beery, on the grounds that Beery usually played villains or buffoons. Despite these and other setbacks, Viva Villa was finally completed under the assured directorial hand of MGM troubleshooter Jack Conway and the expert supervision of David O. Selznick. Though some critics objected to the film's violence, Viva Villa was a financial success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though one would never know it from the title, Wings of Adventure is essentially a western. Rex Lease stars as aviator Dave Kent, who crash-lands in Mexico with his comedy-sidekick mechanic Skeets Smith (Clyde Cook). Here he is captured by a band of rebels, whose captain La Panthera is in love with heroine Maria (Armida). Begging Dave to rescue her from La Panthera's clutches, Maria leads our hero out of the bandit's headquarters, whereupon they board his repaired plane and fly off to the nearest U.S. Cavalry camp. This results in yet another crash, albeit one played for laughs by the ubiquitous Skeets Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rio Rita, an expensive filmization of the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld-produced Broadway musical of 1928, was the first major production for fledgling RKO Radio Studios. Bebe Daniels plays Rita, an Irish-Mexican girl (with thick Hispanic accent) who oversees a large ranch near the Mexican border. Rita's brother (Don Alvorado) is suspected of being "The Kinkajou," a notorious bandit. On the trail of the Kinkajou, an undercover Texas Ranger (John Boles) falls in love with Rita, much to the chagrin of a wealthy but despotic landowner (Georges Renavent). The villain arranges to make it appear that the Ranger is the Kinkajou, prompting Rita to consent to marriage with the cad in order to save her lover's life. The true identity of the Kinkajou is revealed at a lavish costume party, filmed in early Technicolor. Counterpointing the main plot are the antics of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, comic carryovers from the original Broadway show. Wheeler is in Mexico to arrange a quickie divorce so that he can marry his true love (Dorothy Lee). Woolsey is Wheeler's shady lawyer, who learns too late that he can't make the divorce stick. Wheeler and Woolsey have some of the film's best moments, including a riotous drunk scene and a closing musical number wherein they slap one another as their girlfriends sing inanely into the camera. Rio Rita not only made oodles of money for RKO (it was being regularly reissued throughout the 1930s), but it solidified the popularity of Wheeler and Woolsey, who'd become the studio's biggest comedy stars of the early 1930s. 1929's Rio Rita was withdrawn from circulation when MGM bought the rights for a 1942 remake, this one starring Abbott and Costello. Available only for museum screenings during the past five decades, Rio Rita has recently been released on videocassette, with its rare Technicolor sequence intact. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As a group, the silent-movie collaborations between director Tod Browning and star Lon Chaney hardly represent the best work of either man, though each film definitely has its moments. One of the best, and weirdest, of the batch is The Unknown. Chaney plays a carnival performer known as the "Armless Wonder," who performs near-miraculous stunts with his bare feet. In fact, he is in possession of both his arms, but keeps them strapped to his side to maintain the illusion of being limbless. Chaney's beautiful assistant Joan Crawford has a pathological fear of being touched by any man. This leads Chaney to believe that he is attractive to Crawford so long as his keeps his arms hidden. Halfway through the film, Chaney murders the circus manager--a crime witnessed by Crawford, who was only able to glimpse Chaney's distinctively mutated thumb. To cover up his crime, and to make himself the perfect mate for Crawford, Chaney blackmails a doctor into amputating his arms. Upon returning to the carnival, the now-genuinely armless Chaney learns to his horror that Crawford has overcome her aberration of being touched, thanks to handsome circus strong man Norman Kerry. Enraged, Chaney plots to kill Kerry in a horrible fashion...but guess who ends up seriously dead? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Awarded a higher budget than usual, Edward Laemmle, yet another relative of studio founder Carl Laemmle, directed this melodrama based on The Flower of Napoli by Gerald Beaumont. Herbert Rawlinson plays Tom Conlin, an Irish cop in an Italian neighborhood who falls in love with Tita (Madge Bellamy), the daughter of Satori (Cesare Gravina), the local florist. But although she returns Tom's affection, Tita keeps the handsome cop at an arm's length, because she mistakenly believes him to be married. But when the girl is kidnapped by Carlo Guido (André de Beranger), she is rescued by Tom, who proves to be very much eligible after all. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

John Douglas, a down-on-his-luck engineer (Ronald Coleman), takes his sweetheart, Sara Deeping (Kathleen Myers), to a play starring Carla King (Blanche Sweet), and he falls in love with the actress. Douglas proposes to Carla but, wary of marriage, she hesitates. Instead she proposes that she accompany him to his South American mine, posing as his sister, and after a year they can assess their relationship. The vengeful Sara comes down, too, and does her best to cause trouble between the couple. She creates a big enough rift between them that they wind up separating. Back in New York, Carla accepts the marriage proposal of a millionaire who offers to back Douglas in his endeavors. In the end she decides she must be with Douglas and they make plans to return to the mine, this time as husband and wife. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This adventurous drama of Russia's revolutionary days was based on the stage play by Earl Carroll. Wallace Beery -- at the time one of filmdom's most dependable villains -- has the title of role of Felix Bavu, an illiterate brute who has used the revolution to promote his own power-hungry aims. He encourages the people to pillage the castle of Prince Markoff (Josef Swickard), only because he wants the prince's jewels. Opposing him is Mischka Vleck (Forrest Stanley), an honest revolutionary of less violent disposition. Before the revolution, Vleck worked in the prince's household, and he loves his daughter, Princess Annia (Estelle Taylor). He hides Annia from Bavu, who has decided he wants her for himself. Bavu's efforts to get rid of Vleck are unsuccessful, and Vleck and Annia escape the castle. Bavu follows in pursuit, but the couple manages to escape the strife-ridden country. Now that the revolution has deemed them equals, Annia and Vleck can declare their love for each other. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This second film version of the Victor Hugo novel Notre Dame de Paris (the first was a Theda Bara vehicle, The Dancer of Paris) was a super-duper-spectacular as only Hollywood of the 1920s could make them, but it is never so large that it dwarfs the contribution of its star, Lon Chaney. As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds. While Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this expensive Universal production. Set in the walled city of Paris in the 16th century, the story is set in motion when the evil Jehan (Brandon Hurst), brother of saintly Notre Dame archdeacon Dom Claude (Nigel De Brulier), orders the dog-like Quasimodo to attempt to kidnap gypsy girl Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller). Quasimodo is captured and flogged for his crime, whereupon Esmeralda shows him kindness by offering him water. He reciprocates when Esmeralda, framed on a murder charge by the obsessed Jehan (if he can't have her, no one can), is sentenced to be hanged. Quasimodo grabs a rope and swings down from the towers of Notre Dame, rescues Esmeralda from the gallows, and carries her into the church, shouting "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" Through a series of convoluted plot twists, Clopin (Ernest Torrence), the king of beggars, leads an army of the Parisian poor to storm the gates of the cathedral and reclaim Esmeralda. Quasimodo defends both the girl and his church by tossing heavy objects and pouring molten lead upon the invaders. This climactic scene was filmed at night, requiring the services of literally every arc light in Hollywood. The Notre Dame set (which wasn't quite as large in real life as it seems on screen) remained standing on the Universal back lot for years after this film was completed, doing background service in the 1925 Lon Chaney starrer The Phantom of the Opera. With Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lon Chaney rose from mere leading player to major star, which led him to even greater success at MGM, where his reputation as "the man of a thousand faces" really got a workout. The story would be remade by in 1939 with Charles Laughton, in 1955 with Anthony Quinn, in 1982 with Anthony Hopkins, and again in 1996 as a sanitized Disney animated musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Universal drama needed a star with stronger acting capabilities than Miss DuPont (DuPont was a discovery of Erich Von Stroheim, which shows that his eye for talent sometimes missed the mark). Because she takes such a strong interest in his career, Captain Alaric Lewin (Vernon Steele) calls his wife (DuPont) "Chum." He is sent to work for Commissioner Gregory (Landers Stevens) on Key Island, off the coast of Africa. In hopes of winning her husband a promotion, Chum proceeds to vamp Gregory, while Diana Churton (Ethel Ritchie), a bored officer's wife, proceeds to flirt with Lewin. Chum's plan works too well -- Gregory falls so hard for her that when he receives orders from England to send Lewin to a better post in Malta, he sends him to the darkest part of Africa instead, hoping he'll never come back. Diana spills the beans on Gregory's plan, and Chum heads for the interior with a group of armed guards to bring her husband back. Gregory goes after her and is killed by hostile natives. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Pleasant-looking British-born Herbert Rawlinson starred in this silent comedy-drama as look-alike cousins Stuart Granger and Jack Burton. When wealthy but crooked businessman Granger gets in trouble with a gang of criminals, he switches identity with the unsuspecting Burton. After escaping several brushes with disaster, Burton falls in love with his cousin's enemy, female gang leader Merica Solano. Directed by former Griffith-actor Jack Conway, Another Man's Shoes was technically efficient but suffered from a muddled script. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Universal's manly star Frank Mayo is overshadowed for once by the female support in this South Seas drama. MacLeod Dean (Mayo) has a partnership with Captain Marston (Herbert Fortier) in a San Francisco shipping firm. He is also engaged to marry Marston's daughter, June (Doris Deane), but when he sets sail to inspect the firm's South Seas trading stations, he is shipwrecked. Dean winds up on a small island, where he meets Flame Flower (May Collins), a beautiful young white woman who is living amongst the natives. As an infant, Flame Flower was cast upon the island, and the native chief deified her and pronounced her taboo to the rest of the tribe. Now, faced with a white man for the first time in her life, Flame Flower falls in love. Dean's efforts to remain faithful to June are eventually undermined, and he winds up with the girl. June, meanwhile, sets out to find her fiancé and locates him with Flame Flower. There is a struggle between the two women to see who will ultimately end up with Dean, but since he and Flame Flower already have a child, he decides to remain on the island. A side note: Doris Deane became the second wife of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Arbuckle's career was cut short, right about the time this film was released, because a girl died at a scandalous party he was throwing. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide