Maxine Lewis Movies
Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit continued its unbroken string of box-office successes with Gambler's Choice. Pine-Thomas perennial Chester Morris plays turn-of-the-century gambler Ross Hadley, owner of a posh gaming establishment in the heart of New York. Hadley's chief antagonist is his boyhood chum Mike McGlennon (Russell Hayden), now a police lieutenant determined to put the gambler out of business. Adding to the rivalry is the fact that both Hadley and McGlennon are in love with cabaret singer Vi Parker (Nancy Kelly). The whole thing sounds a lot like the 1936 MGM film San Francisco, though not enough to spark a lawsuit, of course. Despite its tiny budget, Gambler's Choice is successful in recreating a bygone period and its color characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, (more)
- 1935
When he's shipped off to prison on a tax-evasion charge, millionaire Van Dyke (Walter Connolly) breathes a sigh of relief: at least he'll be free of his dizzy, spendthrift wife (Billie Burke) and spoiled-rotten daughter Carol (Joan Bennett). Once behind bars, Van Dyke strikes up a friendship with amiable reformed bootlegger Ricardi (George Raft). Since Ricardi is to be sprung first, Van Dyke suggests that the ex-crook take on the task of "taming" the incorrigible Carol. Unwilling to be stifled by a former jailbird (even a good-looking one), Carol decides to get even by persuading one of Ricardi's former cohorts, a shady character named Tex (Lloyd Nolan) to stage a fake kidnapping. Trouble is, Tex kidnaps the girl for real, obliging Ricardi to race to her rescue -- but only after deliberately breaking every traffic law known to man, so that he'll be pursued by a veritable battalion of motorcycle cops (this hilarious finale was later re-used in the 1941 Buster Keaton two-reeler So You Won't Squawk). A heady blend of screwball comedy and crime melodrama, She Couldn't Take It is one of the fastest and funniest films of 1935. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1933
In this musical, a Kansas City family despises their stepmother who selfishly moves them to New York so she can make her theatrical comeback. There she again begins singing; the a brother and sister are terribly angry until their songs are turned into hits by a band leader who has fallen in love with the stepmother. Songs include: "I Must Be in Love with Love," "Dance My Blues Away" (Elizabeth Morgan, Harry Von Tilzer). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Marsh, Frank Albertson, (more)
