Andy Devine Movies

Old stock shots are blended with freshly filmed material in the Universal programmer Hot Steel. Richard Arlen plays a metallurgist who brings his formula for super-strength steel to a mining town. The formula is promptly stolen, putting everyone under suspicion. To make matters worse, a murder is committed, and the evidence points to Arlen. Helping the hero clear himself are true-blue comic sidekick Andy Devine, Devine's kid sister Peggy Moran, and leading lady Anne Nagel. Watch for Joe "You Crazy, You!" Besser in the role of "Siggie." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Margie is one of the fast and funniest of Universal's pocket musicals, though its two-director dichotomy hardly seems necessary. Newlyweds Bret (Tom Brown) and Margie (Nan Grey) both aspire to show-biz careers: he wants to be a songwriter, while she is desirous of becoming a radio scripter. Inevitably, Bret and Margie quarrel and break up, only to be reunited by their efforts to snag "banana king" Gomez (Mischa Auer) for a lucrative radio contract. The old 1920s tune "Margie" is heard throughout the proceedings, frequently fitted out with ludicrous new lyrics ("Bananas! We're Always Thikin' of Bananas!" etc.) by a zany songwriting team (Eddie Quillan and Wally Vernon). And just in case anyone should take this thing seriously, Andy Devine bursts onto the set in full cowboy regalia, guns at the ready--only to withdraw apologetically a few seconds later, explaining that he's in the wrong movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the Daltons Rode is the much-embellished tale of that celebrated outlaw family, the Daltons. Broderick Crawford, Brian Donlevy, Stu Erwin and Frank Albertson play the gunslinging brothers, with Mary Gordon on hand as Ma Dalton. In the tradition of the 1939 western Jesse James, the film whitewashes the Daltons, showing them being forced into committing their crimes by duplicitous railroad interests. There's plenty of comic banter and byplay until about twenty minutes from the end; then the film becomes a nonstop marathon of action, halted only by the Daltons' fateful (and for the most part fatal) bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas. Randolph Scott is the nominal hero, a lawyer who befriends the boys and tries to dissuade them from their life of crime. When the Daltons Rode ends with all four brothers dead as doornails--even though the script was based on the autobiography of the surviving Dalton! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1923 as a vehicle for Marion Davies, Rida Johnson Young's warhorse theatrical property Little Old New York was dusted off by 20th Century-Fox for Alice Faye, Fred MacMurray and Richard Greene. The latter plays the nominal lead, Scottish inventor Robert Fulton, who in 1807 arrives in New York City with the intention of building a steamboat which will accelerate transportation between the many boroughs. Everyone laughs at "Fulton's Folly" with the exception of gorgeous tavern keeper Pat O'Day (Alice Faye), who offers Fulton shelter and financial assistance. This doesn't sit at all well with Pat's boyfriend Charles Brownne (MacMurray), who like most of the sailors in the region is fearful that Fulton's steamboat will put him out of business. By film's end, however, Brownne has aligned himself with Fulton, if only because of his intense dislike for the villain of the piece, rival mariner Regan (Ward Bond). Several notably 19th century New York personages show up for cute cameo bits, among them Nicholas Roosevelt (Robert Middlemass), John Jacob Astor (Roger Imhof) and Washington Irving (Theodore Von Eltz). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danger on Wheels is one of the 14 Richard Arlen-Andy Devine adventure films ground out by Universal Pictures between 1939 and 1941. Arlen is cast as daredevil test-car driver Larry Taylor, while Devine brings up the rear as Larry's mechanic. A rivalry develops between Larry and hotshot motorist Bruce Cowley (Jack Arnold), culminating in Bruce losing his job before an important race. Larry takes Bruce's place in the contest, whereupon he accidentally kills the brother of his sweetheart Pat (Peggy Moran). Our hero redeems himself in everyone's eyes by proving the efficiency of a new oil-burning motor invented by Pat's father (Herbert Cothrell). Danger on Wheels is allegedly based on the exploits of real-life stunt driver Lucky Teeter, who is represented throughout via stock footage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Trail of the Vigilantes was conceived as a straight action picture, but was reshaped during filming into a comedy western in the Destry Rides Again mode. Franchot Tone is the unlikely hero, an undercover agent sent west to halt the activities of rustler Warren William. The object of ridicule thanks to his dudelike ways, Tone makes a couple of powerful friends in the form of saloon brawlers Broderick Crawford and Andy Devine. The film proceeds in a comic vein for several reels (including setpieces featuring Mischa Auer, who'd also been in Destry) before getting down to business with a lengthy, straight-faced action finale. Trail of the Vigilantes didn't do as well as Destry Rides Again, perhaps because there was no counterpart to Destry's Marlene Dietrich (leading lady Peggy Moran is appealing, but hardly in Dietrich's league). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tropic Fury is one of several Universal programmers built around the box-office appeal of handsome Richard Arlen and ratchet-voiced Andy Devine. Arlen plays private detective Dan Burton, assigned to prevent enemy agents from taking over an old rubber plantation. Aided and abetted by his tubby partner Tiny Andrews (Devine), Burton also rescues heroine Judith Adams (Beverly Roberts) from a horrible fate at the hands of the libidinous head spy (Leonard Mudie). Lupita Tovar, who'd starred in the Spanish-language versions of such early talkies as Dracula and The Cat Creeps, is the obligatory amorous native girl. Some of the fun in watching Tropic Fury can be had by guessing the original sources of the film's innumerable stock shots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The late cinema historian William K. Everson once wrote an article titled "Movies Out of Thin Air", referring to films that were comprised almost exclusively of stock footage from earlier productions. A prime example of this sort of patchwork entertainment is the 1939 Paramount production Geronimo, which though advertised and distributed as an "A" picture was largely and economically cobbled together from existing film vignettes. Essentially a western remake of Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), the film concentrates on the rocky relationship between crusty Cavalry general Steele (Ralph Morgan) and his shavetail lieutenant son (Richard Cromwell). The boy is taken under the wing of kindly Captain Starrett (Preston Foster), who is also occupied with bringing renegade Indian warrior Geronimo (played by Native American actor Chief Thundercloud, unbilled despite his title-character status) to justice. The fly in the ointment is treacherous gunrunner Gillespie (delightfully played as a snivelling coward by Gene Lockhart) who for a price agrees to help Geronimo decimate the local white population. Nominal heroine Ellen Drew has one of the least demanding assignments in movie history, spending two-thirds of the film in a coma after being injured in a stagecoach accident! Among the previous Paramount epics represented in Geronimo via stock footage are Frank Lloyd's Wells Fargo and Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with a scandalous past who has been driven out of town by the high-minded ladies of the community. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is the wife of a cavalry officer stationed in Lordsburg, and she's determined to be with him. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a smooth-talking cardsharp who claims to be along to "protect" Lucy, although he seems to have romantic intentions. Dr. Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is a self-styled philosopher, a drunkard, and a physician who's been stripped of his license. Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is a slightly nervous whiskey salesman (and, not surprisingly, Dr. Boone's new best friend). Gatewood (Berton Churchill) is a crooked banker who needs to get out of town. Buck (Andy Devine) is the hayseed stage driver, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) is along to offer protection and keep an eye peeled for the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a well-known outlaw who has just broken out of jail. While Wilcox does find Ringo, a principled man who gives himself up without a fight, the real danger lies farther down the trail, where a band of Apaches, led by Geronimo, could attack at any time. Stagecoach offers plenty of cowboys, Indians, shootouts, and chases, aided by Yakima Canutt's remarkable stunt work and Bert Glennon's majestic photography of Ford's beloved Monument Valley. It also offers a strong screenplay by Dudley Nichols with plenty of room for the cast to show its stuff. John Wayne's performance made him a star after years as a B-Western leading man, and Thomas Mitchell won an Oscar for what could have been just another comic relief role. Thousands of films have followed Stagecoach's path, but no has ever improved on its formula. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After several years' faithful service in supporting parts, Frank Jenks and Dorothea Kent were promoted to leading roles in Universal's Strange Faces. Even so, it is fourth-billed Leon Ames who dominates the film, in the dual role of a notorious gangster and a respectable small-town citizen. Taking advantage of a "celebrity lookalike" newspaper series created by reporter Denby (Jenks), the gangster learns the identity of his double, concocting a scheme to kill off the lookalike so that he (the gangster, that is) can continue eluding the law by passing himself off as his "twin". But Denby and his girl Friday Maggie (Kent) tumble to the scheme and head to the villain's hideaway, where they team up with bucolic weekly-newspaper editor Hobbs (Andy Devine) and Hobb's sweetheart Lorry May (Mary Treen). From this point onward, melodrama takes a back seat to comedy, with Jenks, Kent, Devine and Treen going through the repertoire of their tried-and-true laughmaking bits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brash and vigorous director William Wellman always had a place in his filmography for movies glorifying the early years of aviation -- from the start of his career (Wings), until the end (Lafayette Escadrille). But, perhaps, never has his devotion to aviation been made more vivid than in his 1938 drama Men With Wings. Wellman, in this film, attempts to dramatize the history of aviation from the early days of the Wright Brothers until the 1930s, when airline transportation first became viable. The story centers upon two contrasting aviation types: the barnstormer, Pat Falconer (Fred MacMurray), and the methodical scientist of flight, Scott Barnes (Ray Milland). Through these two archetypes, Wellman follows Pat and Scott from childhood to adulthood. Pat marries childhood sweetheart Peggy Ransom (Louise Campbell) and they have a child. Scott, who had always loved Peggy, remains in the background, not wanting to break up his solid friendship with Pat. But Pat is clearly doomed by his recklessness and breakneck individuality. After fighting in the skies during World War I, he refuses to sit back and do the methodical work of flight research like Scott. Always searching for another war to fight, Falconer leaves Scott and Peggy behind, taking off for China to help the Chinese fight Japanese invaders. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Ever youthful Tom Brown once more plays a campus football hero in Swing That Cheer. Undeniably talented on the gridiron, Bob Potter (Brown) is equally undeniably an arrogant pain in the posterior. So swell-headed does Potter become that he can never admit to himself that his blocking-back teammate Larry Royal (Robert Wilcox) is equally reponsible for Bob's success. To teach his pal a lesson, Larry feigns an injury and pulls out of the Big Game, forcing Bob to go it alone. Predictably, our hero will have to ingest a bit of humble pie before he can lead his team to victory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide