Melvyn Douglas Movies
American actor Melvyn Douglas began his stage career shortly after being mustered out of World War I Army service. Douglas secured a position with the Owens Repertory Company, making his debut in a production of Merchant of Venice. He spent the first part of the 1920s touring with Owens Repertory and with the Jessie Bonstelle Company, reaching Broadway in the 1928 drama A Free Soul. Brought to Hollywood in the early talkie "gold rush" for stage-trained actors, Douglas made his film bow in 1931's Tonight or Never. With The Old Dark House (1932), the actor established his standard screen character: a charming, blase young socialite who could exhibit great courage and loyalty when those attributes were called upon. After a brief return to Broadway in 1933, Douglas returned to films in 1935, signing a joint contract with Columbia and MGM. Most often appearing in sophisticated comedies, Douglas was one of the busiest stars in Hollywood, playing in as many as eight films per year. One of the actor's better roles was a supporting one: as Cary Grant's beleaguered lawyer and business adviser in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1947), who spends most of the film trying to keep Grant from spending himself into bankruptcy. Douglas found movie roles scarce in the early 1950s thanks to the "Red Scare." The actor was married to Congresswoman Helen Gahagan, the woman labeled by Richard Nixon as the "pink lady" friendly to communism. The more rabid anti-communists in Washington went after Douglas himself, suggesting that because he was Jewish and had changed his name for professional reasons, he was automatically politically suspect. Douglas began recovering his career with a 1950s detective program, Hollywood Off-Beat - ironically playing a disbarred lawyer trying to regain his reputation. He headed back to Broadway, gaining high critical praise for his "emergence" as a topnotch character actor (his prior stage and film credits were virtually ignored). Some of Douglas' stage triumphs included Inherit the Wind (replacing Paul Muni in the Clarence Darrow part) and The Best Man (which had a character based on Richard Nixon) Douglas' long-overdue Academy Award was bestowed upon the actor for his role as Paul Newman's dying father in Hud (1963); other highlights of Douglas' final Hollywood days included I Never Sang for My Father (1971) and Being There (1979), the latter film winning the actor his second Oscar. Melvyn Douglas died at age 80, just before the release of his final film, Ghost Story (1981). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Though frequently credited to impresario David Belasco, the play upon which Tonight or Never is based was actually penned by Lili Havatny. Gloria Swanson stalks through the proceedings as an opera prima donna who goes through men like tissue paper. While on holiday in Venice with her elderly fiance Ferdinand Gottschalk, Swanson becomes intrigued by one of her admirers, Melvyn Douglas (in his film debut). One evening Douglas manages to corner the heroine in her lavish apartment, whereupon she becomes convinced that he's merely a gigolo interested in her money. But -- ha-ha -- the last laugh is on Swanson when Douglas reveals that he's a representative of the Metropolitan Opera, determined to sign her to a contract. Produced by Sam Goldwyn, Tonight or Never represented the end of the first phase of Gloria Swanson's talkie career; she subsequently announced her "retirement" but was back before the cameras two years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, Ferdinand Gottschalk, (more)
- 1932
The tragic death from peritonitis of leading man Robert Williams marred the production of this oppressive triangle drama set in a French penal colony in Vietnam. Arriving at torrid Lao Bao, Therese Du Flos (Ann Harding) discovers that her fiancé, André Verlaine (Melvyn Douglas, who had replaced Williams) has become an alcoholic due to the pressures of the lonely job of running the prison. Distraught and fighting to regain her inner strength, Therese becomes a target for visiting Captain Remy Baudoin (Adolphe Menjou), a bounder who persuades her to leave the outpost with him. But André's faithful servant Nham (Clarence Muse) kills Baudoin, and when an uprising seems imminent, Therese stoically stands by her man. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Harding, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
Bloodsucking winged creatures who may take human shape appear to have returned after centuries of dormancy to the middle-European municipality of Kleinschloss in this atmospheric, low-budget thriller from small-scale Majestic Pictures, and the burgomaster (Lionel Belmore) demands answers. With victims scattered everywhere, all bearing the distinctive puncture marks, police detective Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) finds himself completely stymied. Brettschneider, who refuses to accept what he considers mere superstition, is not pleased when that eminent physician Dr. Otto Von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) hints that there may indeed be such things as murderous human bats. Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye), the village idiot, meanwhile, just happens to have a fondness for the nocturnal creatures -- "They're so soft!" -- and the villagers, as they are wont to do, grab their torches and commence a manhunt. Poor Herman is destroyed, but there is another killing. And this time the victim is Georgiana (Stella Adams), Dr. Von Niemann's housekeeper, who failed to serve the physician his late-night coffee. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1932
This complex '30s film is based upon a play by Pirandello which involved a hapless amnesiac. In As You Desire Me, the legendary Greta Garbo plays a down-in-the-dumps amnesiac (she can't recall who her husband is) who ends up singing in a low-life nightclub and putting up with the advances of a cruel and crude novelist (Eric von Stroheim). She'd have remained in this miserable state were it not for the fact that she's recognized and returned to her true husband, who's a nobleman loyally in love with her. Her former suitor von Stroheim shows up trying to expose her as a fraud and regain her as his captive. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
It's a wildly varied group that takes shelter from a raging English storm in the forbidding mansion of the Femm family. Among the reluctant guests are stuffed-shirt Philip Waverton (Raymond Massey): Philip's sensitive wife Margaret (Gloria Stuart); their mutual friend, disillusioned war veteran Roger Penderell (Melvyn Douglas); vulgar self-made millionaire Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton); and Porterhouse's no-better-than-she-ought-to-be lady friend Gladys DuCane (Lillian Bond). Under the baleful eyes of ungracious, atheistic host Horace Femm (Ernst Thesiger) and Horace's religious-zealot sister Rebecca (Eva Moore), the group sits around conversing, slowly coming to the realization that first impressions are most deceiving. Normally, that would be the whole story-except that the old dark house houses a deep dark secret involving 101-year-old Sir Roderick Femm (played by "John Dudgeon", actually an actress named Elspeth Dudgeon) and pyromaniac Saul Femm (Brember Wills). Lumbering ominously throughout the proceedings is top-billed Boris Karloff, playing Morgan, the mute, alcoholic family butler (the opening credits felt obligated to tell 1932 filmgoers that yes, this was the same Karloff who'd portrayed the Monster in the previous season's Frankenstein). Directed with sinister verve by James Whale and brimming with unforgettable dialogue, The Old Dark House is one of the most enjoyable and least formularized of the Universal "scare" pictures of the early 1930s. The film was based on J. B. Priestly's Benighted, though Priestly's hero dies in the book and does not in the film (this appears to have been a last-minute decision--and a wise one). Long thought lost, The Old Dark House was rediscovered in the early 1970s; copyright problems with the lukewarm 1963 remake kept it off television until 1994, at which time a sparkling new print was struck, replacing the washed-out dupes with which film buffs were all too familiar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1932
Margaret Hughes (Claudette Colbert) returns from a trip abroad to discover that her sweetheart, crusading attorney David Rolfe (Melvyn Douglas), has been framed for murder. To save Rolfe from the chair, Margaret poses as a trollop and insinuates herself into the confidence of the criminal underworld. Her efforts to get her hands on the evidence that will free Rolfe are stymied by gang boss Harry Evans (William "Stage" Boyd), but Evans is himself destroyed by his castoff mistress Claire Foster (Lilyan Tashman). The Wiser Sex was inspired by the recent crime-busting activities of New York's Seabury committee, though one assumes that the real-life participants were not as glamorous as Colbert and Douglas. Featured in the cast is a talented young actor named Ross Alexander, who would go on to a tragically brief starring career at Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1932
In this western, a lovely Mexican woman falls in love with the gringo pilot whose plane crashed nearby. Unfortunately, her father's neighbor, a powerful rancher is in love with her. He orders the execution of the happless Yankee aviator. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Leo Carrillo, (more)
- 1933
A countess and a doctor embark on an adventure in Africa in order to find a cure for sleeping sickness, but superstitions and crocodiles get in their way. Of course, they end up together. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tala Birell, Miki Morita, (more)
Adapted from the play by Elmer Rice, Counsellor-at-Law is the story of a successful Jewish lawyer George Simon (John Barrymore) who finds it's lonely at the top. Simon's wife (Doris Kenyon) and children look down upon him because of his humble upbringings, while his mother reprimands him for turning his back on his heritage. Simon is threatened with disbarment when a rival digs up a big wormy can of legal wrongdoing in Simon's past, but this is only the beginning of the end. When the beleaguered lawyer discovers that his wife has been unfaithful, he looks out the window of his Empire State Building office and contemplates suicide. Simon is brought to his senses by his faithful secretary (Bebe Daniels), who has loved him all along. Filled with vivid character vignettes and blessed with energetic direction by William Wyler, Counsellor-at-Law is one of the best "lawyer" films of the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, (more)
- 1934
This drama was adapted from a minor story by Dashiell Hammett and chronicles the attempts of an ex-con to stay on the straight and narrow. It's difficult for he is volatile and tends to get into fistfights when riled. It is his explosive temper that got him put away for three years after he accidentally killed a man while fighting over a woman. His newest troubles also center upon a woman. She bursts into his cabin one day as she tries to run from her abusive, obsessive partner who is pursing her. When he shows up, the young man tries to defend her. He hits an accomplice of the abuser and the abuser gets a warrant for the ex-con's arrest. He and the girl become fugitives from the law. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1935
Preston S. Foster is the "hero" of The People's Enemy only in the sense that his is the largest male role. Foster plays a detestable gangster who works his way up to millionaire status. To gain a veneer of respectability, he marries lovely Lila Lee. But when the going gets rough, he deserts both his wife and his young daughter (Sybil Elaine). Upon Foster's arrest, noble and upright Melvyn Douglas is on hand to comfort Lee and her child. The People's Enemy was independently financed by Select Productions and released through RKO Radio Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Lila Lee, (more)
- 1935
An innocent but admittedly none-too-bright victim of circumstance, Mary Burns (played by perennial movie victim Sylvia Sidney) is inexorably sucked into the vortex of organized crime. She tries to escape her murderer husband Babe Wilson (Alan Baxter), but it's a losing proposition, especially since the newspapers have already branded her a gun moll. Making matters worse, she is thrown into prison for crimes committed by her husband (understandably, since her behavior at her trial was self-defeating to say the least). Though believing her guilty, detective Harper (Wallace Ford) allows Mary to escape from jail, hoping in this way to track down Wilson. Nominal hero Alec MacDonald (Melvyn Douglas) isn't much help; not introduced until the film's halfway point, he spends most of his time in a hospital bed, recuperating from an injury. In fact, the story is wrapped up only after MacDonald is rescued by the heroine! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1935
Adapted from a typically tricky J. B. Priestley stage play, Dangerous Corner is a cautionary fable about the damage caused by telling the unvarnished truth. A burned-out radio tube is the catalyst for a series of painful and potentially dangerous revelations during a weekend party. The upshot of all this is the suicide of party guest Ian Keith and the mysterious theft of a large sum of money. Through an ingenious last-act plot twist (of the kind so beloved by Priestley and his ilk), the audience is treated to both a happy and a tragic denouement. Long ignored by film historians, Dangerous Corner was rediscovered when it popped up repeatedly on the American Movie Classics cable service in the mid-1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Bruce, Conrad Nagel, (more)
This highly fictionalized biopic of legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley stars Barbara Stanwyck as "Little Sure Shot" Annie. Coming down from the hills of Ohio, Annie rises to fame with Buffalo Bill's (Moroni Olsen) Wild West Show. Her success as a performer is counterpointed by her stormy romance with fellow performer Toby Foster (Preston S. Foster), whose reputation as the World's Great Marksman is shot to holes by Annie's accomplishments. Walking out on Annie and the show, Toby loses himself in the streets of New York but is discovered and dragged back by Annie's faithful Indian friend Sitting Bull (Chief Thunderbird, whose performance is far from politically correct but undeniably amusing). Melvyn Douglas co-stars as Annie's manager and would-be boyfriend Jeff Hogarth, while an uncredited Dick Elliot delivers a hearty performance as press agent Ned Buntline; others in the cast include such 2-reel comedy favorites as Charlie Hall and Harry Bernard, who like director George Stevens were alumni of the Hal Roach fun factory. The much-later musical version of the Annie Oakley story, Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, bears traces of this 1935 film, but not so much as to constitute plagiarism (Coincidentally, Herbert Fields, one of the writers of Annie Oakley, collaborated with his sister Dorothy on the libretto of Annie Get Your Gun). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Preston S. Foster, (more)
- 1935
"She" is secretary Claudette Colbert and "Her Boss" is Melvyn Douglas. Once married, Colbert discovers that Douglas expects her to work as usual. She must also contend with his wealthy, snooty family, whose most hateful member is his spoiled brat of a daughter (Edith Fellows) by a previous marriage. Rebelling against her repressive existence, Colbert eventually puts her in-laws in their place and arouses the ardor of the "strictly business" Douglas. While consistently amusing throughout, the highlight of She Married Her Boss is a first-reel bit of pantomimic whimsy involving Claudette Colbert and a roomful of department store mannequins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1936
The Lone Wolf Returns stars Melvyn Douglas as Louis Joseph Vance's reformed criminal Michael Lanyard, a.k.a. The Lone Wolf. Lanyard lapses back into his old ways when he attempts to steal an emerald pendant belonging to Gail Patrick, but he falls in love with the girl and remains on the straight and narrow. A pair of less sentimental crooks frame Lanyard and force him to participate in a high-stakes heist. The Lone Wolf turns the tables on the crooks and wins his lady love. Previously filmed in 1926, The Lone Wolf Returns was the first of Columbia's "B" series featuring the gentleman thief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melvyn Douglas, Gail Patrick, (more)
- 1936
When widower Stephen Blake (Melvyn Douglas) and divorcee Edith Farnham (Mary Astor) are the only guests at a snowed-in mountain resort, sports director Snirley (Romaine Callender) and hostess Alma Peabody (Dorothy Stickney) try to promote a romance between Stephen and Edith. However, Stephen's son Tommy (Jackie Moran) and Edith's daughter Brenda (Edith Fellows) think this is a rotten idea and do what they can to prevent them from getting together. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melvyn Douglas, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1936
The Gorgeous Hussy purports to be based on the life of Margaret "Peggy" O'Neill, the controversial wife of early 19th-century politician John Eaton, who served as cabinet minister during the Andrew Jackson presidency. Snubbed by the Washington elite because of her questionable background as a tavernkeeper's daughter, "Pothouse Peg" is championed by her longtime friend Jackson, who chooses to ignore the gossip-mongers and the scandal-provokers of the era. He even stands by Peggy's side when one of her admirers (Melvyn Douglas) is ignominiously killed by his enemies. Some historians believe that the "gorgeous hussy" and Jackson were themselves lovers, but this is never hinted at in the film, which is described in a foreword as "fiction founded upon historical fact." Joan Crawford wears an exhausting succession of gorgeous gowns as Peggy Eaton, but she can't do much to enliven her sketchily written role; one is aware that she brings disgrace to everyone she meets, but one is hard-pressed to understand why. Much better within the framework is Lionel Barrymore as Jackson, Beulah Bondi as "Old Hickory"'s pipe-smoking wife, Rachel, and Sidney Toler (two years away from Charlie Chan) as Daniel Webster. James Stewart is also in the film as one "Rowdy" Dow, a role he later chose to forget. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1936
After six years' worth of tragic and noble roles, Irene Dunne began a new phase in her career as a top comedienne in Theodora Goes Wild. She plays a prim small-town schoolteacher, raised in an oppressive environment by two maiden aunts. Seeking surreptitious adventure, Dunne writes a steamy romance novel in her spare time--which becomes a scandalous best-seller. Heading to the big city to meet her publisher, Irene has a fling with the artist (Melvyn Douglas) who has designed the dust jacket for her book. Though on surface a Manhattan sophisticate, Douglas is just as trapped as Dunne had been in her small town; he's saddled with a nasty wife and insufferable parents. Both Douglas and Dunne free themselves of those who'd hold them down, and find happiness together. To round out the happy ending, Dunne's small town, which had ostracized her for writing her "hot" novel, welcomes her back with a brass band when the book puts the town on the map. If Theodora Goes Wild doesn't seem quite as funny now as it did in 1936, it is only because most of its satirical targets (notably the shocked spinster aunts) have ceased to exist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1937
Women of Glamour is a considerably toned-down remake of Frank Capra's pre-code drama Ladies of Leisure. Virginia Bruce steps into the old Barbara Stanwyck role as streetwise good-time girl Gloria, who falls in love with wealthy playboy Dick (Melvyn Douglas). Not only must she contend with Dick's snooty society pals, but she must also cross claws with the hero's rich-bitch lady friend Carol (Leona Maricle). The dilemma almost leads Gloria to suicide, but there's a happy ending in the offing. Counterpointing the Gloria-Dick romance is the comic courtship of Gloria's dance-hall chum Fan (Pert Kelton) and silly socialite Fritz (Reginald Denny). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Bruce, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1937
Opera diva Grace Moore plays (what a stretch!) an opera diva in I'll Take Romance. Moore reneges on an agreement to open the opera season in Buenos Aires, opting instead for a better-paying job in Paris. Melvyn Douglas, acting on behalf of the Buenos Aires company, pretends to fall in love with Moore in order to win her back--but soon discovers to his surprise that he's not pretending at all. Ms. Moore sings selections from Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly and La Traviata. and also warbles the title song, which became a hit and subsequently popped up as background music in many a future Columbia production. I'll Take Romance barely has a plot at all, though fans of Grace Moore weren't complaining. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grace Moore, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1937
Generally considered one of director Ernst Lubitsch's lesser works, Angel stars Marlene Dietrich as Maria, the neglected wife of Sir Frederick Barker (Herbert Marshall), a British diplomat who travels often and seems little concerned with his spouse. Maria has nearly reached her breaking point when she travels to Paris to visit her old friend Anna Dmitrivena (Laura Hope Crews), a Grand Duchess who also operates an exclusive bordello. While in Paris, Maria meets Anthony Halton (Melvyn Douglas), a visitor from America who seems quite taken with her. While Maria enjoys Anthony's attentions, she backs off and retreats to England. Shortly after her return, Maria and Frederick attend the races and she spots Anthony in the crowd. Maria is tempted to continue her romance with Anthony (who now realizes that she's married), while Frederick begins to wonder if his wife might be growing restless. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1937
After a year-long period of starring in such heavy fare as Maid of Salem, Claudette Colbert returned to comedy with I Met Him in Paris. Colbert plays a successful American fashion designer, squired by three suitors: playwright Melvyn Douglas, playboy Robert Young and hometown lad Lee Bowman. Bowman is fourth-billed, so that lets him out. Young is already married: Strike Two. That leaves Melvyn Douglas, who is indeed the winner of this three-way race. Most of the film takes place at a vacation resort in Switzerland (actually Sun Valley, Idaho), where several minutes of humor is extracted from the three suitors' clumsiness on skis. I Met Him in Paris charmed the critics in 1937; today it seems like just another pleasant diversion, served up by experts in the comedy field. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
A boy learns life-changing lessons about the importance of friendship and the dignity of labor in this adventure saga based on a story by Rudyard Kipling. Young Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is the working definition of a spoiled brat; the only child of a wealthy widowed businessman, Harvey has everything he needs, but never stops asking for more, convinced he can get anything if he yells, pouts, or throws the right tantrum. Even other boys his age are disgusted with his antics, and when he accompanies his father on an ocean cruise, he finds he has no friends to play with. After wolfing down six ice-cream sodas, Harvey gets sick to his stomach and while vomiting over the side of the ship, he falls into the drink. He is rescued by Manuel (Spencer Tracy), a Portuguese old salt who drags him on board a Gloucester fishing boat where he's a deck hand and doryman. Harvey shows no gratitude to Manuel for saving his life and demands to be taken home immediately; Manuel and the crew, not the least bit sympathetic, inform him that once they've filled the ship's hold with fresh catch, they'll return to shore, and not a moment sooner. Over the next few weeks, Harvey grows from a self-centered pantywaist into a young man who appreciates the value of a hard day's work, and in Manuel he finds the strength, guidance, and good sense that he never got from his father. Spencer Tracy earned an Academy Award for his performance in Captains Courageous and even sings a bit; the story was parodied years later (with a few rather drastic changes) in the Chris Elliott vehicle Cabin Boy. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, (more)
