Ellen Drew Movies
One of the most popular--and overworked--second-echelon leading ladies of the 1930s and 1940s, Ellen Drew was the daughter of a Kansas City barber. She came to Hollywood after winning a beauty contest, playing bits under her given name of Terry Ray until she was promoted to leads in 1938. A fixture of Paramount Pictures from 1938 through 1943, Drew appeared in as many as six films per year; among her leading men were Ronald Colman, William Holden, Basil Rathbone, Dick Powell, Robert Preston, George Raft, and even Jack Benny. She moved to Paramount's next-door neighbor RKO in 1944, then free-lanced in the 1950s. Ellen Drew retired from films in 1957, though her fervent fans continued to besiege her with letters of appreciation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1937
While not a box-office success, this drama, directed by Leo McCarey, developed a potent reputation among film critics and movie buffs for its sensitive and perceptive treatment of the problems of the elderly. When McCarey won the Oscar for Best Director the same year for The Awful Truth, he remarked that the Academy gave him the award for the wrong movie. Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) are a couple in their late 60s who have fallen on hard times and have been given the bad news that the bank is foreclosing on their house. Barkley and Lucy turn to their five children for help, but none are willing or able to do much for them; their son George (Thomas Mitchell) says that Lucy can stay with him and his wife Anita (Fay Bainter), while Nellie (Minna Gombell) and her husband Harvey (Porter Hall) can take in Barkley, but neither couple have the space or the means to house them both. Living with their children and their new families proves stressful for everyone involved, and Lucy decides to take up residence in a home for older women. She and Barkley realize that this will probably mean a permanent separation for the two of them, and they try to enjoy one last outing together before they part. Remarkably, Beulah Bondi was only 46 years old when this film was made, making her less then ten years older than several of her on-screen children; make-up wizard Wally Westmore used his bag of tricks to age her the appropriate two decades for the role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, (more)
- 1937
This Way Please marked Betty Grable's first appearance under her new Paramount contract. The fact that Grable plays the new bride of Charles "Buddy" Rogers takes on special significance when one realizes that Betty was two months away from her first marriage, to former child star Jackie Coogan. The plot is set in a first-run movie theatre that offers stage presentations along with the main feature. Brad Morgan (Rogers) is the theater's master of ceremonies, while Jane Morrow (Grable) is chief usherette. She'd rather be on stage dancing with Brad, and by film's end she gets her wish -- but not before a riotous slapstick wedding sequence. Jim and Marian Jordan, radio's Fibber McGee and Molly, make their film debut, as does Jack Benny's radio foil (and real-life wife) Mary Livingstone, here appearing on-screen without her husband for the first and last time in her career. The film is stolen by Rufe Davis, the "human sound effects machine," doing a medley of his specialty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Ned Sparks, (more)
- 1937
A sort of follow-up to the studio's earlier College Scandal, Paramount's Murder Goes to College once again combines homicide with higher learning. When the titular murder occurs, detective Hank Hyer (Lynne Overman) shows up to investigate, with vacationing reporter Sim Perkins (Roscoe Karns) tagging along. Both of our heroes run up against formidable opposition from a strangely secretive faculty, an openly hostile local constabulary, and sneering racketeer Strike Belno (Larry "Buster" Crabbe). Foremost among the suspects is Greta Barry (Astrid Allwyn), the ex-showgirl spouse of much-despised professor Tom Barry (Earl Foxe). Much of the suspense in Murder Goes to College arises from the possibility that the bibulous Sim Perkins won't remain sober long enough to solve the mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roscoe Karns, Marsha Hunt, (more)
- 1937
Pulp fiction writer Max Brand's 1936 creation Dr. Kildare made his screen debut in the amiable person of Joel McCrea in this well-received Paramount production. Aided by Janet (Barbara Stanwyck, young Dr. Kildare saves the life of gangster boss Hanlon (Lloyd Nolan), who awards the intern $1,000 for his troubles. Janet, who is being blackmailed by Innes (Stanley Ridges), one of Hanlon's rivals, attempts to steal the money but Kildare catches her and, disillusioned, returns the loot to Hanlon. But when Janet agrees to Innes' lascivious terms, Kildare thinks better of his decision and arranges for Hanlon to take care of the matter. M-G-M later starred Lew Ayres in a series of 17 "Dr. Kildare" programmers and the character resurfaced in the early 1960s in a television series featuring Richard Chamberlain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
- 1936
Actual footage of the 1936 Rose Bowl game is cleverly (if not seamlessly) integrated into the action of this sports-oriented comedy. Longtime chums Paddy O'Reilly (Tom Brown) and Dutch Schultz (Benny Baker) may be heroes of the high-school gridiron, but they're persona non grata with the girls, thanks to campus lothario Ossie Merrill (Larry "Buster" Crabbe). Managing to get on the college football team in time for the Rose Bowl competition, Paddy and Dutch finally win out over Ossie by scoring the winning touchdown. Of interest in the cast as one of the campus cuties is curvaceous Priscilla Lawson, who'd previously starred as Princess Aura opposite Buster Crabbe in the Universal serial Flash Gordon. Also on hand is William Frawley, as-what else? -- a college football coach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleanore Whitney, Tom Brown, (more)
- 1936
The quaint genetic theories of the 1930s are satirized in College Holiday. Dotty matron Mary Boland runs a ramshackle summer resort, opening her doors to college students of both sexes--but only those collegiates with extra-special physical and mental skills. She hopes to encourage these select co-eds to meet and mate, then produce a breed of "perfect" children. What Boland doesn't count on is the supremacy of the Heart over Science. Engagingly silly, College Holiday devotes generous screen space to some of the biggest comic talents of the 1930s: Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye and Ben Blue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, (more)
