Roland Drew Movies
Prince Barin in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), Roland Drew claimed to have begun his professional career as a newspaper reporter. Enrolled by 1926 in the Paramount-Astoria talent school, which also included Thelma Todd and Buddy Rogers, Drew made his screen debut in Fascinating Youth (1926), the "Junior Stars" graduation assignment, as it where, in which he was billed under his real name of Walter Goss. Tall (reportedly 6'1"), dark, and handsome, Drew could play both heroes and villains, and remained fairly busy in low-budget productions until the mid-'40s. He later became a successful dress designer. He died in 1988 at the age of 87. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1945
In this drama, an amnesiac awakens and finds himself accused of murder. Fortunately, a female cabbie helps prove his innocence. Things look bleak until a bullet wound helps him regain his memory and he can prove he didn't kill anyone. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Conway, Ann Rutherford, (more)
- 1944
In this drama, a truck driver will do almost anything to keep his son in a prestigious military academy. To pay the tuition, the trucker becomes a prizefighter. Unfortunately the pugilist is drug down by booze and a gold-digging blond. His friends assist him, he makes up with his former gal, and gets together with his son who wasn't interested at all interested in attending that expensive school. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Arline Judge, (more)
- 1944
Silent Partner stars Jon Henry as cocky crime reporter Jeffrey Swales, who comes into possession of notebook which provides clues concerning the identity of a mysterious criminal chieftan. Swales tracks down the five people listed in the notebook, with explosive results. At one point, Swales interrupts a couple of characters conversing in French to explain that he'd studied the language in high school; he then advises "Now let's finish the rest of the scene in English, so the audience will understand what's going on." Despite lines like this, Silent Partner isn't quite as funny as it thinks it is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Henry, Grant Withers, (more)
- 1944
Dismissed by critics as corny and obvious in 1944, this overlong but sincere biopic looks pretty good when seen today, cliches notwithstanding. Fredric March, 47 at the time, convincingly plays American author Sam Clemens, aka Mark Twain, from his early 20s to his death at 75. In typical movie-biography fashion, every single incident that happens in Twain's life is an INSPIRATION: he hears the depth-indication call "Mark Twain" while working on a riverboat and his face lights up; he engages in a jumping-frog contest against Bret Harte (John Carradine) and comes up with his first popular published story; and so on. Alexis Smith is better than usual in the role of Twain's wife Olivia Langdon, even keeping a straight face while Twain courts her in Fluent Quotation ("Everybody talks about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it", he says during a Hollywood-romance cloudburst). Though the script barely touches upon the dark side of Twain's nature, we are not spared his financial reverses (brought about by bad investments and his struggle to publish Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. The closing sequence, with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn beckoning the spirit of Mark Twain to heaven as Halley's Comet fills the skies, may seem laughable on paper, but works quite well on film; even director Irving Rapper expressed amazement at the effectiveness of this scene! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Alexis Smith, (more)
- 1944
This 20th Century-Fox programmer stars Preston Foster as breezy detective Steve Carromond. When a man dies of a suspicious heart attack, the victim's niece, Constance Martin (Ann Rutherford), hires Steve to investigate. The solution to the mystery lies in a tontine-like arrangement, wherein six WW1 vets have pooled their savings for a joint insurance policy, to be collected by the surviving veteran. Props essential to the action include a package of poisoned cigarettes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Ann Rutherford, (more)
- 1943
A princess finds love with a regular American Joe in this patriotic romantic comedy. A European diplomat (Charles Coburn) is named an ambassador to the U.S., and when he relocates to Washington D.C., he's accompanied by his niece, Princess Maria (Olivia de Havilland). Maria's uncle hopes that she'll meet an eligible American bachelor during her visit, since potential husbands are in short supply at home. Maria tires of her uncle's attempts at matchmaking, and when he suggests that she take a side trip to San Francisco, she leaps at the chance. However, Maria has a fear of flying, and when she's given tranquilizers to settle her nerves, she passes out in mid-flight. Maria is down for the count when bad weather forces the flight to return to Washington, and pilot Eddie O'Rourke (Robert Cummings) volunteers to put her up for the night. When Maria comes to, she's struck by Eddie's decency and charm, and it's love at first sight for them. However, Maria's uncle was hoping for someone higher up the social ladder than a pilot, and the lovebirds have an uphill battle getting him to consent to their wedding. No one seems sure if it's actually President Franklin D. Roosevelt appearing in the film's final scenes or just an impersonator, but apparently FDR's dog Fala did actually play himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings, (more)
- 1942
In this wartime drama, a doctor discovers that one of his patients isn't as crazy as he thought, with dangerous consequences for the whole world. Dr. Michael Lewis (John Garfield) is an intern at a hospital where a woman named Jane (Nancy Coleman) is admitted. Jane was injured in a car wreck, and she tells Michael a remarkable story. She claims that she is actually an espionage agent with top-secret information that could help the Allied war effort; the accident occurred while she was trying to escape from Axis spies who will do anything to get her documents. Michael, who is supposed to keep an eye on Jane, thinks she must be delusional, and when psychiatrist Dr. Ingersol (Raymond Massey) arrives with Jane's father, Mr. Goodwin (Moroni Olsen), he signs Jane out in their custody. However, Michael soon discovers that Mr. Goodwin isn't Jane's father at all; he and Ingersol are actually the Nazi spies Jane was fleeing in the accident, and someone must rescue her before it's too late, both for Jane and the Allied war effort. Dangerously They Live was scripted by Marion Parsonnet from her novel, Remember Tomorrow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Nancy Coleman, (more)
- 1942
Everybody seems to have had a good time making the overripe melodrama The Hidden Hand, especially cadaverous Milton Parsons as insane-asylum escapee John Channing. In her efforts to protect her brother from the authorities, John's sister Lorinda (Cecil Cunningham) opens the door for a series of grisly murders. Hero Peter Thorne (Craig Stevens) and heroine Mary Winfield (Elizabeth Fraser) try to stop John before he overracts-er, kills-again. Absolutely impossible to take seriously, The Hidden Hand is nonetheless worth a glance, if for no other reason than to see perennial bit player Parsons in a juicy leading role. The film was based on Invitation to a Murder, a play by Rufus King. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Stevens, Elisabeth Fraser, (more)
- 1942
Made in 1942 but released early in 1943, Secret Enemies is a Warner Bros. espionage quickie, putting the studio's second-echelon contractees to good use. Craig Stevens, Faye Emerson and John Ridgely are the leads in this hour-long meller about a Nazi spy ring operating covertly in America. The FBI sniffs out the "secret enemies," striking another blow against Uncle Adolf. Secret Enemies enabled Faye Emerson to step up into "A" pictures and secured a contract extension for reliable utility player John Ridgely. But Craig Stevens was drafted almost immediately after the film's release; unable to regain his lost footing after the war, it would take Stevens until 1958 to establish himself as a full-fledged star on the TV series Peter Gunn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Stevens, Faye Emerson, (more)
- 1942
It takes a while for the viewer to catch on, but the 1942 quickie Spy Ship is a remake of the 1934 crime melodrama Fog Over Frisco. The main difference is that the film's principal murder victim, the sister of the heroine, is transformed from a dizzy socialite to an out-and-out villainess. The story is re-set during the months before America's entry into WW2. Famed aviatrix Pamela Mitchell (Irene Manning), a devout and outspoken isolationist, is secretly in the employ of the German government. Her younger sister Sue (Maris Wrixon) worries about the company Pamela keeps, and expresses these concerns to hotshot reporter Ward Prescott (Craig Stevens). When Pamela is killed by her Nazi confreres to keep her from revealing all to the world, Sue finds herself among the suspects. It all comes to an end on the spy ship of the title, where a kidnapped Sue is rescued in the nick of time by Ward and practically every cop in New York. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Stevens, Irene Manning, (more)
- 1942
- NR
A lively espionage drama that reunited the stars and director of the previous year's The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific was originally envisioned as the story of a Japanese invasion of Hawaii. Real-life events of December of 1941, however, precluded such a scenario and the location was changed to the Panama Canal. For reasons known only to Warner Bros., the title was retained despite the fact that none of the action takes place in the Pacific. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Leland, a disgraced ex-army man, who, after being turned down by the Canadian military, jumps a Japanese steamer bound for the Panama Canal Zone. Also onboard are Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor), a small-town girl claiming to be en route to Los Angeles; Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a corpulent sociologist with a suspiciously friendly regard for all things Japanese; and Joe Totsuiko (Victor Sen Yung), a happy-go-lucky second generation Japanese-American on his way to visit the old country. But no one is exactly who he or she claims to be and the voyage from Halifax via New York City to Panama becomes a matter of life and death for the passengers in general, and for the future of the United States in particular. Director John Huston was forced to leave the film three weeks into the four-week shooting schedule when summoned to report to the Department of Special Services. According to Huston, he purposefully placed Humphrey Bogart's character in a highly precarious situation and left it up to his replacement, Vincent Sherman, to come up with the solution -- which Sherman did in an especially fiery climax. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, (more)
- 1942
I Was Framed was a heavily disguised remake of Dust Be My Destiny, filmed only three years earlier. Michael Ames stars in the old John Garfield role, originally a drifter named Joe Bell but here a crusading reporter named Ken Marshall. Framed by a corrupt politician for a crime he dind't commit, Marshall escapes from jail with the help of his pregnant wife Ruth (Julie Bishop). They migrate to a small town where Ken is given a newpaper job by Dr. Phillip Black (Aldrich Bowker), the kindly general practitioner who delivered Ruth's baby. Five years later, the Marshalls' new life is threatened when Mike's old cellmate shows up in town, threatening blackmail. The ending is considerably more upbeat and less "meaningful" than in the original Dust be My Destiny. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Ames, Julie Bishop, (more)
- 1942
This parody of gangster flicks centers on an incarcerated gangster who decides to reform after he is released from Sing Sing. He and his cell mate have earned a small fortune in investments and are planning to buy a dog track. Unfortunately, another prisoner eavesdrops and attempts to force the fellow to use his savings to buy a luggage store and then dig a tunnel to the bank next door so they can easily rob it. The reformer and his partner refuse. They sing a different tune when they learn that most of their money was lost by their third partner. In desperation, he buys the suitcase outlet. While he tries to deal with his many customers, the other two bumblers attempt to dig, but it's not easy because every time someone comes in, they must stop their noisy operation. More trouble follows when another gangster tries to get in on their operation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, (more)
The direction of Warner Bros.' Lady Gangster is credited to one "Florian Roberts," who on closer examination turns out to be veteran helmsman Robert Florey, working pseudonymously. Faye Emerson plays the title character, aspiring actress Dot Burton, whose chance association with a gang of bank robbers leads inexorably to a life of crime. She eventually ends up in prison, where she participates in a break-out. Her regeneration comes about when she rescues Kenneth Phillips (Frank Wilcox), the only man who has ever shown her any kindness, from being rubbed out by the mob. The supporting cast includes Julie Bishop (who only a year earlier had been billing herself as Jacqueline Wells), and Jackie "C." Gleason, wasted in the role of a rotund henchman. Lady Gangter bears some traces of the 1932 Warner Bros. drama The Life of Vergie Winters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Emerson, Julie Bishop, (more)
- 1942
Murder in the Big House was a remake of the 1936 Warner Bros. programmer Jailbreak. In his first starring role, Van Johnson plays reporter Bert Bell, who wonders how it came to be that death-row inmate Dapper Dan Mallory (Michael Ames) was "accidentally" killed just before his appointment with the electric chair. Digging a little deeper, Bell discovers that Dapper Dan was planning to make a big revelation just before his execution, one which would expose the corrupt political machine for which he worked. With the help of heroine Gladys Wayne (Faye Emerson) and perenially drunken columnist Scoop Connor (George Meeker), Bell contrives to have himself thrown in jail to solve the mystery. Though the film passed unnoticed when first released, Murder in the Big House raked in a pile of cash when it was reissued as Born to Trouble in 1945, by which time Van Johnson had become the hottest male star in the movies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Emerson, Van Johnson, (more)
- 1942
Just because Humphrey Bogart had been promoted to the A-list by way of The Maltese Falcon (1941), that didn't mean that he was completely free of such minor potboilers as The Big Shot. Bogart stars as mob leader Duke Berne, a three-time loser who tries in vain to reorganize his old gang upon being sprung from prison. Falling in love with Lorna Fleming (Irene Manning), the wife of crooked attorney Martin Fleming (Stanley Ridges), Berne ends up back behind bars for life, thanks to the vengeful Fleming's courtroom chicanery. Escaping during a prison variety show (dominated by Chick Chandler as an incarcerated blackface comedian), Berne makes a beeline for Lorna, who deserted the duplicitous Fleming when the latter railroaded an innocent young man into jail. Hoping to find happiness in a remote mountain hideaway, Berne ultimately realizes that he's no good for Lorna and spends the rest of the picture atoning for past sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning, (more)
- 1942
Although Warner Bros. "officially" disbanded its B-picture unit in 1941, the studio continued to grind out lower-berth features for the next three years. One of these was Bullet Scars, which had the look of a 1930s gangster meller which somehow escaped filming at the time of its inception. Decked out with a lavish toupee, Regis Toomey stars as country doctor Steven Bishop, who is strongarmed into operating on wounded bank robber Joe Madison (Michael Ames) without reporting the wound to the cops. Coerced into assisting Bishop is trained nurse Nora (Adele Longmir), who happens to be Madison's sister. Falling in love with Dr. Bishop, Nora helps him sneak a message to the cops, and the result is a noisy climactic shootout (pieced together with a handful of new shots and stock footage from earlier Warners epics). Variety was understating the case when it described Bullet Scars as "a very unpleasant film." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Regis Toomey, Adele Longmire, (more)
James Cagney made his first Technicolor appearance in the morale-boosting aviation flick Captains of the Clouds. Cagney plays Brian MacLean, a hotshot Canadian bush pilot who delights in stealing jobs-and women-away from his competitors. Brian is forced to shape up in a hurry when he's assigned to train other pilots for the Royal Canadian Air Force. At the ending of the training period, he is given his first real RCAF assignment: The seemingly unimportant task of shepherding American bomber planes across the Atlantic to England. With startling suddenness, Brian comes to realize the true importance of his job when he is forced into a deadly confrontation with a fleet of Nazi raider planes. Real-life Canadian WW1 flying ace Billy Bishop plays a small but pivotal role in Captains of the Clouds, while the leading-lady duties were handled by Warner Bros. stock actress Brenda Marshall (aka Mrs. William Holden). Cinematographer Sol Polito earned an Oscar nomination for his vivid color photography, though aerial photographers Elmer Dyer, Charles Marshall and Winston Hoch were certainly just as deserving. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, (more)
- 1941
In this sad drama, a remake of Oil for the Lamps of China, a South American rubber planter nurses a broken heart after his U.S. fiancee jilts him. In addition, he has trouble with the natives who do not respect him. His troubles ease when he meets a caring nightclub singer who he marries against the wishes of his employers. He is hoping that marriage will protect her from the U.S. detective who has been looking into her past. Unfortunately, the investigator finds her and extradites her back to the States where she must stand trial. Her husband accompanies her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Jeffrey Lynn, (more)
- 1941
Like MGM's Whistling in the Dark, Warner Bros.' The Smiling Ghost was inspired by the success of Paramount's comedy-mystery The Ghost Breakers--even unto the casting of Ghost Breakers' Willie Best in a similar role. During a gloriously oversized thunderstorm, hapless hero Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris) arrives at the mansion of his fiancee, heiress Eleanor B. Fairchild. Lucky hopes to break the jinx that seems to hang over Eleanor, whose last three boyfriends all met with mysterious deaths ("Anyone can be bitten by a snake." "On the fourteenth floor of a New York Hotel?") To do this, he tries to solve the triple mystery himself, aided and abetted by troublesome girl reporter Lil Bastow (Brenda Marshall) and timorous black manservant Clarence (Best). After a night of terror, replete with clutching hands and sliding panels, the murderer is revealed-after which Clarence participates in a closing gag which single-handedly sets race relations back 50 years. The Smiling Ghost was cowritten by Stuart Palmer, the creator of spinster sleuth Hildegarde Withers and a past master of locked-room mysteries with a comic touch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wayne Morris, Brenda Marshall, (more)
- 1941
Manpower was Warner Bros' latest reworking of 1932's Tiger Shark, with power-company linemen substituting for tuna fisherman. While repair some downed lines in a heavy thunderstorm, Hank McHenry (Edward G. Robinson) saves the life of his best pal Johnny Marshall (George Raft). While Johnny emerges from the experience unscathed, Hank is permanently crippled. He takes this misfortune in stride, but Johnny vows to look after Hank's best interests for the rest of their lives. When Hank marries blowzy nightclub hostess Fay Duval (Marlene Dietrich), Johnny is disdainful, convinced that Fay is playing Hank for a sucker. While recuperating in Hank's home after a slight injury, Johnny confesses to Fay that he's in love with her, a feeling that turns out to be mutual. Out of loyalty to Hank, Johnny refuses to have anything to do with Fay, who finally decides to leave town rather than break up the men's friendship. But Fay cannot stay away from Johnny, forcing him to confront the ever-trusting Hank with the truth, leading inexorably to the film's violent conclusion on a precariously high utility pole. A few comic interludes aside, Manpower is virile, gutsy entertainment; the fact that Edward G. Robinson and George Raft did not get along at all during shooting-resulting in a well-publicized on-set fistfight-only adds to the film's crackling tension. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
When World War I hero Alvin York agreed to sell the movie rights to his life story to Warner Bros., it was on three conditions: (1) That the film contains no phony heroics, (2) that Mrs.York not be played by a Hollywood "glamour girl" and (3) That Gary Cooper portray York on screen. All three conditions were met, and the result is one of the finest and most inspirational biographies ever committed to celluloid. When the audience first meets young farmer Alvin York (Cooper), he's the cussin'est, hell-raisin'est critter in the entire Tennessee Valley. All of this changes when York is struck by lighting during a late-night rainstorm. Chalking up the bolt from the blue as a message from God, York does a complete about-face and finds Religion, much to the delight of local preacher Rosier Pile (Walter Brennan). Despite plenty of provocation, York vows never to get angry at anyone ever again, determining to be a good husband and provider for his sweetheart Gracie Williams (Joan Leslie). When America goes to war in 1917, York elects not to answer the call when drafted, declaring himself a conscientious objector. Forced to go to boot camp, he proves himself a born leader, yet still he balks at the thought of killing anyone. York's understanding commanding officer Major Buxton (Stanley Ridges) slowly convinces the young pacifist that violence is sometimes the only way to defend Democracy. Later on, while serving with the AEF in the Argonne Forest, Sergeant York sees several of his buddies, including his Bronxite best pal Pusher Ross (George Tobias), killed in an enemy ambush. His anger aroused, York personally kills 25 German soldiers, then single-handedly captures 132 prisoners. As a result, York becomes the most decorated hero of WW1, celebrated by no less than General John J. Pershing as "the greatest civilian soldier" of the war. The film won Gary Cooper his first Academy Award, and also picked up an Oscar for Best Film Editing. Not surprisingly, it ended up as the highest-grossing film of 1941. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, (more)
Underground is an average Warner Bros. suspenser, given a boost by its unrelenting portrayal of Nazis as verminous scum--several months before America's entry into World War II. Jeffrey Lynn plays an impressionable young European who is intoxicated by the "glories" of National Socialism. Lynn's brother, Philip Dorn, is on the opposite side of the fence as an announcer for an underground Resistance radio station. At first scornful of his brother's activities, Lynn soon learns that Hitler isn't the saint he believed him to be--especially after several of his friends are liquidated by the Gestapo. Lynn belatedly joins his brother's cause and, at the cost of his own life, helps the Resistance thwart a band of fifth columnists. Underground is a solid piece of film craftsmanship, lacking only the big star names that would have made it a box-office hit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Lynn, Philip Dorn, (more)
- 1941
A good wife's innocence is shattered when she learns that her wealthy husband is actually an amoral big-shot jewel thief. She learns this when he brazenly robs some of their vacationing friends. Naturally she wants to leave him, but he won't let her and makes her return to Chicago and stay quiet. He doesn't realize that a detective is in hot pursuit. Once in Chi-town, the thief abandons the wife and she gets a divorce. Unfortunately, she ends up accused of the latest heist. After good friends help to clear her, she meets the detective. Together they plot an ingenious revenge that culminates in the capture of the crook and a new chance at happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Perry, Roger Pryor, (more)
The George S. Kaufman/Moss Hart Broadway hit The Man Who Came to Dinner was inspired by the authors' mutual friend, waspish critic/author Alexander Woollcott. Generously bearded ex-Yale professor Monty Woolley, no mean curmudgeon himself, plays the Woollcott character, here rechristened Sheridan Whiteside. While on a lecture tour in Ohio, Whiteside slips on the ice outside his hosts' home; until his broken leg heals, the hosts (Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke) are forced to put up (and put up with) the imperious Whiteside. This means enduring an unending stream of Whiteside's whims, caprices and vitriolic bon mots, as well as his long-distance phone calls, eccentric guests and a variety of critters, ranging from penguins to octopi. Like the real Woollcott, Whiteside insists upon stage-managing the lives of everyone around him. He is particularly keen on discouraging a romance between his faithful secretary Maggie Cutler (top-billed Bette Davis) and local newspaper editor Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis). Once he realizes he's gone too far in this respect, Whiteside is forced to reunite the lovers. That's only one aspect of a three-ring-circus plotline that accommodates a Lizzie Bordenish axe murderess, takeoffs of Woollcott intimates Harpo Marx, Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, and a general practitioner who's willing to let his patients suffer for a chance to pitch his interminable memoirs to Whiteside. Featured in the cast are Jimmy Durante as "Banjo" (the Harpo clone), Reginald Gardiner as the Noel Coward-like Beverly Carlton, Anne Sheridan as the predatory Gertrude Lawrence counterpart Lorraine Sheldon, and Mary Wickes as the long-suffering Nurse Preen ("You have the touch of a love-starved cobra!") The script, by the Epstein brothers, manages to retain most of the play's best lines and situations, even while expanding Bette Davis' role to justify her start status; it's a shame, though, that we are robbed of Sheridan Whiteside's imperishable opening line, "I may vomit!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, (more)
