Jean Benedict Movies
- 1938
Choreographer Bobby Connolly and prolific screenwriter Crane Wilbur teamed up on the direction of Warner Bros.' The Patient in Room 18. Patric Knowles delivers a delightfully comic performance as Lance, an outwardly normal young man obsessed with detective stories. When his obsession threatens to lapse over into lunacy, Lance is sent to the hospital for a nice long rest. It isn't long before he gets mixed up in a genuine murder mystery, using his second-hand knowhow to solve the case. Up-and-coming Ann Sheridan is quite amusing as Lance's nurse and confidante, while the murderer is played by a fellow who is usually cast as the murder victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sheridan, Patric Knowles, (more)
- 1938
In her only Warner Bros. starring film, Carole Lombard plays a Hollywood movie actress who makes the park-bench acquaintance of an impoverished French marquis (Fernand Gravet). Hoping to coerce Carole into marriage, the nobleman poses as a butler and enters her household. His plan is to compromise Lombard and force her to make him an "honest man"--with the attendant cash settlement. Ralph Bellamy, as ever, is the poor clod who really loves Lombard but who loses her in the end to the chastened Gravet. Rodgers and Hart were commissioned to write several songs for this film, but found most of their efforts consigned to the cutting room floor. Fools for Scandal was based on Nancy Hamilton's stage play Return Engagement. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Fernand Gravey, (more)
- 1938
Mystery House is a perfunctory Warner Bros. programmer which coasts along on the appeal of its stars. When a prominent banker is murdered while on a hunting trip, the dead man's daughter, Gwen Kingery (Anne Nagel), calls in private eye Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell) to investigate. No sooner has he started gathering clues than another murder is committed?and another?and another?.The culprit wants to cover up an embezzlement scheme, and there is certainly no shortage of suspects. Without revealing the ending, it can be noted that Mystery House offers at least one surprise when Lance O'Leary ends up falling in love not with Gwen Kingery but with wisecracking nurse Sarah Keate (Anne Sheridan). Sarah, in fact, is the leading character in the Mignon C. Eberhardt novel upon which Mystery House was based-except in the original, she's a middle-aged spinster rather than a Hollywood glamorpuss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Purcell, Ann Sheridan, (more)
- 1938
Blondes at Work is number four in Warner Bros.' lively "Torchy Blane" series. Glenda Farrell returns as girl reporter Torchy Blane, she of the mile-a-minute mouth, while Barton MacLane is back as Torchy's boyfriend/sparring partner, police lieutenant Steve McBride. The story revolves around Torchy's ability to constantly out-scoop her rival newshounds, thanks to tips inadvertently dropped by the loquacious McBride and his stupid assistant Gahagan (Tom Kennedy). Things come to a head when Torchy tries to get the low-down on a sensational murder case involving suspected husband-killer Louise Revelle (Rosella Towne). If the plot twists in Blondes at Work seem familiar, it's because the film is a remake of the 1935 Bette Davis vehicle Front Page Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, (more)
Slight Case of Murder is a breakneck-paced comedy starring Edward G. Robinson as a tough but good-hearted bootlegger. When Prohibition is repealed, Robinson faces a financial crisis: His beer tastes so awful that no one wants to drink it legally. As an additional headache, Robinson is under scrutiny from the Law, which is waiting to slip the cuffs on him for the slightest infraction. He arrives at his rented Saratoga mansion with his wife (Ruth Donnelly), daughter (Jane Bryan) and adopted son (Bobby Jordan), only to discover that a killer has left four corpses in his bedroom. Robinson and his stooges are forced to hide the bodies before his future son-in-law (Willard Parker), who happens to be a cop, tumbles to the dilemma. Based on a stage play by Howard Lindsay and Damon Runyon, A Slight Case of Murder a just as entertaining in the 1990s as it was fifty years ago (please ignore a tepid 1953 musical remake titled Stop, You're Killing Me). Surprisingly, this film was not a favorite of star Edward G. Robinson, who felt that director Lloyd Bacon rushed through the material without taking full advantage of its comic potential. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Jane Bryan, (more)
- 1938
In this heartwarming tearjerker, an adorable orphan becomes determined to find her father, whom she is convinced is still alive. She then leaves the nuns who have been her guardians and sets out on her quest. She never finds her real father, but she does manage to find a soft-hearted gambler who takes her under his wing and acts as her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Litel, Ann Sheridan, (more)
