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- 1937
Akim Tamiroff plays the Great Gambini, a famous magician mixed up in a murder case. In addition to his card tricks and onstage illusions, Gambini is something of a mystic, and has predicted the death of the murder victim. Suspects breed like rabbits, but the actual culprit turns out to be the only person Gambini truly loves (It's not hard to figure out who done it; only in the last reel do we find out why). Genevieve Tobin shows up as a scatterbrained socialite, while William Demarest is on duty once more as a flustered flatfoot. The Great Gambini was one of the last films of producer B. P. Schulberg, a former Hollywood high-roller on his way down. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Akim Tamiroff, John Trent, (more)
- 1931
As the low-budget Liberty Pictures Corporation emerged from the chrysalis of the late Tiffany Studios, the new company inherited the 1931 Tiffany production Ex-Flame. Marian Nixon plays Lady Catherine Hamilton, whose fascination with a dashing criminal results in an unpleasant divorce and a messy custody battle between herself and her titled husband (Neil Hamilton). Years later, a disguised Lady Catherine shows up as a nurse, in order to be close to her dying young son. If you recognize this plot, then you're familiar with East Lynne, the hoary old stage piece upon which Ex-Flame is based. The film's attempt to update the story only serves to emphasize its creaky plot contrivances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Marian Nixon, (more)
- 1930
"East is East, West is West, Never the Twain Shall Meet." That's the lesson to be learned in the low-budget exotic romance The Love Trader. Leatrice Joy plays the restless young wife of an elderly ship's captain (Henry B. Walthall). While her husband goes on a pearl-hunting expedition in the South Seas, the woman inaugurates an romance with a handsome native (Roland Drew). There love, however, is never consummated, since both are aware of the social ramifications of miscegenation. Even so, our heroine cannot bear the "shame" of betraying her race, leaving her no alternative but to drown herself. This one is hard to watch today with a straight face. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leatrice Joy, Chester Conklin, (more)
- 1929
In the wake of Universal's musical smash Broadway, several enterprising film companies affixed the name of the legendary Manhattan thoroughfare to the titles of their already-completed films. Case in point: Broadway Fever. Sally O'Neil stars as a trouble-prone servant girl who doesn't even get to Broadway until the final reel and then only marginally. Most of the film deals with O'Neill's bumpy romance with wealthy Roland Drew, who's almost as pretty as she. Broadway Fever was based very loosely on a short story by Viola B. Shaw. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally O'Neil, Roland Drew, (more)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem Evangeline briefly abandoned the curriculum of English Literature 101 for the purposes of this part-talkie screen adaptation. Dolores Del Rio stars as the title character, an Acadian lass whose marriage to kinsman Gabriel (Roland Drew) is forestalled by the British invasion of the Grand Pre region. Exiled from the territory along with most of the other Acadians, Gabriel is transported far, far away from Evangeline's arms. Our heroine spends the rest of the film in search of her sweetheart, but the two are reunited only after Gabriel falls mortally ill, and Evangeline has joined an order of nuns. The film was billed as a "talkie" by virtue of its two songs, both performed by Dolores Del Rio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Roland Drew, (more)
- 1929
This late-20s gangster movie features Carole Lombard as a young gal who agrees to marry a smooth-talking gangster in exchange for the mob man's pledge to arrange a big-time concert appearance for her violinist boyfriend. The only thing that can save the day for the mis-aligned lovers is a shootout between the cops and the gangland thugs. This film is notable because it is one of the early 'talkies," and uses the newly developing audio technology with abandon. In fact, most of the action takes place off screen and the characters tell the cameras just what's happened. This one's small on sets, big on dialog. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Armstrong, Carole Lombard, (more)
- 1928
The 1928 production Ramona was the third film version of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of the same name, first dramatized (in one reel!) by D. W. Griffith in 1910. Dolores Del Rio plays the title character, the ward of domineering California sheep rancher Senora Moreno (Vera Lewis). Escaping her cruel and judgmental guardian, Ramona sadly resigns herself to the probability that she will never find true happiness because she is -- gasp! -- a half-breed. Though she loves Moreno's grandson Felipe (Roland Drew), Ramona does not want him to bear the stigma of a mixed marriage, so she marries Allesandro (Warner Baxter), an Indian shepherd. Misfortune continues to befall the heroine when her husband is lynched by bigoted white ranchers; shortly thereafter, her baby dies from injuries sustained in a bandit raid because the white doctor refuses to treat an Indian infant. Suffering a total nervous breakdown, Ramona wanders into the woods, having lost all memory of her previous existence. But faithful Felipe rescues the girl, snapping her out of her amnesia by singing her favorite childhood song (courtesy of the Vitaphone soundtrack). Ramona was remade in 1936 with Loretta Young and Don Ameche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Warner Baxter, (more)
