Catherine Doucet Movies

This live Goodyear TV Playhouse presentation was a 60-minute extension of The Marriage, a short-lived TV series which starred Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. It is 23 days until Christmas, and Liz and Ben Marriott (Tandy and Cronyn) are nearly broke. To help pay the bills and finance their upcoming holiday celebration, Liz accepts a temporary job at a New York City department store, much to the dismay of her breadwinner husband Ben. Meanwhile, the couple's children (one of whom is played by Natalie Trundy, later a semi-regular in the Planet of the Apes film series) show signs of rebellion against the modern-day crass commercialization of Christmas. Playwright Ernest Kinoy, the guiding creative force behind the original The Marriage, wrote the teleplay, while costar Hume Cronyn served as one of the two directors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western comedy, a milquetoast gunsmith from the East Coast goes to Arsenic City, Arizona because he has heard that everybody their carries guns. His trip West is an exercise in misfortune. Everything that could go wrong on the journey, does. At least he meets a pretty woman, also en route to Arsenic City. She goes there in search of her late father's gold mine. They fall in love and work together to find her father's killer and reclaim the mine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this family farce, an older couple falls in love and decide to marry and embark upon a peaceful honeymoon without the bride's three bratty children. Unfortunately, the way things work out, the whole family ends up tagging along. The little darlings are less than pleased that their widowed mother has remarried and behave as monstrously as possible. Eventually their frustrated step-daddy has his fill and gives each of the brats a well-deserved licking. After a major quarrel, they each return home alone. Meanwhile a sly seductress who has her eye on the husband for a while, and who just happened to be staying at the same hotel, rushes back home and plans a little party designed to further humiliate the bride. Fortunately, a change of heart scuttle's the vixen's plans and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this version of the oft-filmed stage play by James Montgomery, Nothing But the Truth stars Bob Hope as an up and coming young stockbroker working in Florida. He makes a bet with his coworkers that he can tell nothing but the absolute truth for 24 hours, and the other bettors are determined to keep tabs on him to make sure he doesn't falter. The rest of the action takes place aboard a yacht, where Hope's undiplomatic truthfulness gets him into hot water with a wealthy client, several other influential people, and his girl friend (Paulette Goddard). Hope's coworkers contrive to trick Hope into losing his wager, but African-American valet Willie Best foils their scheme. The picture ends with Hope having to explain his curious behavior for the past 24 hours without offending anyone (P.S.: he pulls it off). Nothing But the Truth was Paramount's third Bob Hope/Paulette Goddard costarring effort, all three based on past stage successes. The film lay unseen for years after its 1941 release due to legal tangles, but was finally made available again through the auspices of film historian Leonard Maltin in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this black comedy, a twitchy hypochondriac ends up conned into giving up his $500,000 inheritance in exchange for $50,000 cash. He does this because he is sure that he will die before he can get the money. The fellow's nurse loves her healthy charge and inspires him to live again. Together they conspire to regain their money by having him threaten suicide. If he does so, he would nullify their contract. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this tuneful, romantic drama, an Australian opera star (Grace Moore) wants to perform in a major U.S. festival but cannot enter the country unless she is married. To this end, she hires a handsome artist (Cary Grant) temporarily marry her. At first it is all strictly business, but in time, the artist starts falling in love. Songs include: "Our Song," "Minnie the Moocher" (this number is usually cut out in 98m televised version of the film), "Siboney," and "The Waltz Song." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Poppy is the film version of the Dorothy Donnelly musical comedy which made W.C. Fields a Broadway star back in 1923 (an earlier, less-faithful version, also starring Fields and retitled Sally of the Sawdust, was directed by D. W. Griffith in 1926). The Great Man is cast as Professor Eustace McGargle, a small-time carnival confidence trickster. Accompanied by his adopted daughter Poppy (Rochelle Hudson), McGargle joins a travelling sideshow, fleecing as many of the local yokels as time will permit. During one stopover, Poppy falls in love with Billy Farnsworth (Richard Cromwell), the son of the town's mayor (Granville Bates), while McGargle pitches woo at the faded but alluring Countess de Puizzi (Catherine Doucet). When he finds out that the "Countess" is a phony claimant to the valuable Putnam estate, McGargle conspires with local lawyer Whiffen (Lynne Overman) to pass off Poppy as the genuine, long-lost heir. As it turns out, Poppy really is the heir, a felicitous turn of events which enables McGargle to avoid being tarred and feathered by the angry townsfolk. Finishing Poppy on schedule was quite a trial for W.C. Fields, who, in addition to breaking a vertebra while filming a chase sequence, further damaged his spine in a household accident. As a result, he could barely stand up during shooting, and many of his scenes had to be completed by a stunt double. One would never know that Fields was in excruciating pain throughout the film, however: Comedy-wise, he's at the top of his form, especially when he sells a "talking dog" to a gullible rube and finagles a free lunch from an equally dense hot-dog vendor. Poppy is also the film in which Fields imparts a sage bit of advice to his screen daughter: "Never give a sucker an even break." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, an sheltered heiress bets her father that she can make it in New York city on only $150 per week. She does this to prove to her father that she will be able to live a scaled down existence with her fiancé, who is not wealthy. Her father agrees to the bet, and she goes to the Big Apple where she does very well indeed. Unfortunately, trouble ensues when she meets another impoverished fellow, another resident in the boarding house she is in, and falls in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Lillian Hellman's 1934 Broadway play The Children's Hour was such a hot potato that film producer Samuel Goldwyn was denied Production Code permission to use the play's original title. The reason was the story's lesbian theme, a factor that also blocked The Children's Hour from winning a Pulitzer Prize. In the original story, lifelong friends Martha Dobie and Karen Wright manage an exclusive girl's boarding school. Spoiled rotten student Mary Tilford, angered at being disciplined, fabricates a story that casts a questionable light on the women's friendship. In attempting to defend themselves against the accusations of the little girl's wealthy and powerful aunt, Martha and Karen lose everything in court. By the time the girl has admitted her lie and the aunt has come to apologize, it is too late. After confessing that she has harbored "unnatural" feelings towards Martha, Karen commits suicide. In adapting her play to the screen, Lillian Hellman expertly weeded out all hints of lesbianism, and also eliminated Karen's self-inflicted death ("suicide as a plot solution" was another Production Code no-no). In the revised version, Mary Tilford (played with unbridled venom by Bonita Granville) spreads a rumor that Martha (Miriam Hopkins) has been carrying on an illicit affair with doctor Joseph Cardin (Joel McCrea), the boyfriend of Karen (Merle Oberon). The end result is essentially the same -- the school is destroyed, along with Martha and Karen's reputation -- but Karen manages to survive to fade-out time. In defending the evisceration of her play, Hellman defended herself by noting that her original point was not to force a lesbian subtext down the throats of the audience, but to show how a vicious lie -- any vicious lie -- can have disastrous consequences. While it makes a good story, it is probably not true that, when informed that the leading characters in The Children's Hour were lesbians, producer Goldwyn replied, "Who cares? We'll make them Americans." These Three was refilmed in 1961 by its director William Wyler, under its original title The Children's Hour, with Hellman's original text -- lesbianism and all -- intact; ironically, the censor-ridden earlier film is the far superior version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Critics in 1935 recognized immediately that Age of Indiscretion drew its inspiration from the well-publicized Gloria Vanderbilt custody battle. Paul Lukas plays publisher Robert Lenhart, a man of conservative tastes who is unfortunately saddled with a footloose socialite wife named Eve (Helen Vinson). When Lenhart begs his wife to curb her excesses, she retaliates by entering into an illicit affair with Felix Shaw (Ralph Forbes), deserting her young son Bill (David Jack Holt). Providing moral support for Lenhart and his son during this crisis is faithful secretary Maxine Bennett (Madge Evans). Upon paying a visit to Lenhart's home, Felix Shaw's wealthy and powerful mother Emma (May Robson) finds Maxine in the living room. Assuming the worst, Emma forces Eve to sue for custody of her child, then distorts the evidence in court to paint Lenhart as a philandering monster. The outcome of the case hinges on the child's testimony, and it is this which forces Emma to realize how wrong she's been. Too bad that the litigants in the Vanderbilt case weren't as polite and reasonable as the characters in Age of Indiscretion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steamship captain Steve Andrews (Ralph Bellamy) is demoted to second officer when Marge Walker (Ann Sothern), daughter of Steve's boss, insists that her boyfriend Roy Dale (John Buckler) be put in charge of the ship. Dale's first assignment is to deliver a valuable cargo to Shanghai within a designated date. Marge stows away on board to be nearer to Dale, which earns her the unbridled scorn of the embittered Steve. During a violent storm at sea, Dale panics and leaves his post, obliging Steve to take over command of the ship. As a result, it is Steve who guides the vessel safely to Shanghai -- and instead of being brought up on charges of mutiny, he wins the love of Marge at fade-out time. Here as elsewhere, Ralph Bellamy and Ann Sothern work so well together that one might assume they were married in real life (which they weren't). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Sonya Levien and Sam (S. N.) Berhman from a play by Rachel Crothers, As Husbands Go charts the romantic misadventures of Lucille Lingard (Helen Vinson). Slightly bored by her marriage to businessman Charles Lingard (Warner Baxter), Lucille vacations in London, where she nearly has an affair with an upper-class twit named Ronald (G. P. Huntley Jr.). Returning home, Lucille assumes that she can forget all about her brief and desultory fling. That's when she discovers that Ronald and her husband Charles are now fishing companions! Mostly filmed on location in Iowa, As Husbands Go originally ran 80 minutes, but was hastily pared down to 65 minutes after a disastrous sneak preview. The biggest laughs are earned by Warner Oland, briefly shedding his "Charlie Chan" screen image to play an elderly European roue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in Germany shortly before the collapse of the Weimar Republic, this romantic drama chronicles the travails of an impoverished newlywed couple who leave their home village and move in with the groom's stepmother in bustling Berlin to find success. The husband gets a small job in a department store and things are okay until they discover that the stepmother is really a notorious madame and runs an exclusive brothel. This leads the groom to quit his job and take his pregnant bride on the road in search of opportunity. The plot is based on a novel by Hans Fallada. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide