Dorothy Appleby Movies

This Three Stooges comedy opens with the boys being tossed out of a flea bag hotel -- they were eight months behind on the dollar-a-month rent. To make money, they scheme to go to a posh hotel and have Curly slip on a bar of soap, then they can sue the establishment and really clean up. Unfortunately the owner of the place they choose is a sweet, grandmotherly type who's in dire financial straits herself. The boys watch as a creditor threatens her and they decide to help her out. They spiff up the place (but not before causing a bit of Stooge mayhem), and then help out at the nightclub by acting as waiters, and as the main act (they're billed as "Nill, Null and Void, Three Hams Who Lay Their Own Eggs"). Dinner is attended by Waldo Twitchell (a play on Walter Winchell), a columnist who can make or break the hotel's reputation. The Stooges nervously do what they can to entertain him, and disaster is only averted because Twitchell is amused by their antics. That is, until Curly, who has accidentally donned a magician's coat, pulls a skunk out of one of the inside pockets. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

In a manner of speaking, Humphrey Bogart had George Raft to thank for his ascendancy to stardom: after all, if Raft hadn't turned down both High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, Bogart might have continued playing second-billed gangsters to the end of his days. Adapted from W. R. Burnett's novel by Burnett and John Huston, High Sierra opens with gangster Roy Earle (Bogart) being paroled after a lengthy prison term. Though he enjoys the fresh air and sunshine of the outside world, Earle has no intention of giving up his criminal ways. In fact, his parole has been arranged by Big Mac (Donald MacBride), so that Earle can mastermind a big-time heist at a fancy California resort hotel. After a few unkind words with a crooked cop, Kranmer (Barton MacLane), in Big Mac's employ, Earle heads toward a fishing resort, where he is to commiserate with his inexperienced, hot-headed cohorts Babe (Alan Curtis) and Red (Arthur Kennedy). En route, he befriends a farm family, heading to LA in search of work. He falls in love with the family's club-footed daughter Velma (Joan Leslie)--though she never really gives him any encouragement--and makes a silent promise to finance an operation on her foot once he's gotten his share of the loot. At the mountain cabin rendezvous, Earle meets Marie (Ida Lupino), Babe's tough-but-vulnerable girlfriend. He angrily orders her to scram, but she stubbornly remains. Earle also finds himself the owner of a "jinxed" dog, whose previous masters have all met with early demises (a none-too-subtle foretaste of things to come). Marie is strongly attracted to Earle, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, reserving his affections for Velma. He arranges an operation for the girl with mob doctor Banton (Henry Hull), never suspecting that the self-serving Velma is planning all along to marry someone else. The robbery goes off without a hitch, save for the fact that "inside man" Mendoza (Cornel Wilde) panics and nearly gives the game away. While escaping, Babe and Red are killed in a car accident, but Earle and Marie escape. Having been disillusioned by Velma's indifference and by the fact that the untrustworthy Kranmer has taken over the late Big Mac's operation, Earle at last realizes that the only person he can truly depend upon is the faithful Marie. With the police hot on his trail, Earle tells Marie to look after herself, then heads alone into the High Sierras--where, in Greek Tragedy fashion, he "busts out" of life. As in Petrified Forest, Humphrey Bogart plays a burnt-out anachronism from an earlier era in crime in High Sierra; in the latter film, however, Bogart has an innate nobility that allows the audience to empathize with him throughout. It is nothing short of amazing that, despite his superb performance in this 1940 film, he still had to wait until The Maltese Falcon for top billing in an "A picture." High Sierra was remade in 1949 as Colorado Territory and in 1955 as I Died a Thousand Times. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

Buster Keaton is sadly miscast in this two-reel comedy about the capture of a jewel thief. Mainly nonstop slapstick, the short left no room for Keaton to even begin to develop his character. The Taming of the Snood marked the Keaton series debut of Elsie Ames, an eccentric dancer whom Columbia was grooming for comedy stardom. The attempt proved singularly unsuccessful. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The inventive magician Professor Mordini (Lynton Brent) hires Buster Keaton and his wife (Elsie Ames) as caretakers for his contraption-filled home. He warns them to make sure that his disgruntled former assistant doesn't get in and steal his ideas while he's away. After being scared silly by numerous spooky goings on (including an inebriated penguin on roller skates!), the Keatons are confronted by Mordini's ex-assistant (Bruce Bennett) as well as by a spiritualist (Dorothy Appleby) and her husband (Don Beddoe). The assistant uses the house's creepy resources to send both married couples running for the hills in terror. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Whether in the newsroom or on board a speeding train, aspiring reporter Buster Keaton creates havoc in this funny short. To get Keaton out of his hair, the city editor (Vernon Dent) assigns him to shadow a wealthy woman (Dorothy Appleby) who is taking the train to Reno to divorce her mobster husband (Richard Fiske). Keaton travels with his parrot Clarice, and because its cooing sounds like the wife, the jealous gangster attacks Keaton in his berth. A wild chase ensues which ends with Keaton trussing up the gangster in the train's emergency chord, thus winning himself a spot on the newspaper as a star reporter. Note that producer/director Jules White remade this script (written by longtime Keaton collaborator Clyde Bruckman) as the 1947 Columbia two-reeler Rolling Down to Reno starring Harry Von Zell. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Fiercely independent authoress June Cameron (Loretta Young) has no time for men in her life. Chauvinistic medical college professor Timothy Sterling (Ray Milland) has no use for women. So guess who is mistaken for June's husband, and guess who is forced by circumstances to pretend that she's married? The Doctor Takes a Wife maintains its exhausting comic pace until about five minutes before the end, when the scriptwriters are forced to take a breather to tie up all the loose plot ends. The "fantasy" closing gag went over so well that Columbia Pictures utilized variations of it in several subsequent screwball comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

It matters not at all that the famed "wrong way" flight of aviator Douglas Corrigan, who in 1938 tried to fly from New York to California by way of Ireland, was probably a carefully calculated publicity stunt. The end result was that Corrigan became a household name, and as such was an ideal candidate for film stardom. RKO Radio shelled out a considerable amount of money to purchase "Wrong Way" Corrigan's life story, enhancing the publicity value of the resultant The Flying Irishman by casting Corrigan himself in the leading role. It's too bad that the same amount of effort wasn't lavished on the film itself, which is a ponderous, perfunctory tale of a barnstorming flyer who, unable to get a legitmate pilot's job because he never went to college, resorts to a variety of colorful methods to make a living. Like many other non-showbiz celebrities, Corrigan was constitutionally unable to play himself convincingly, so it's up to such supporting actors as Eddie Quillan, Paul Kelly, Robert Armstrong, Donald MacBride and Joyce Compton to take up the slack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Most reviewers in the late 1930s considered Columbia's Jack Holt vehicles to be a waste of time, but Holt still had a fairly large and loyal fan following. Accordingly, Making the Headlines posted a profit despite its many production shortcomings. The jut-jawed Holt plays racket-busting detective Nagel, who works hand-in-glove with police reporter Withers (Craig Reynolds). Whenever Nagel collars a crook, Withers prints up the story with banner headlines, which displeases Nagel's bosses. For "the good of the department," Nagel is transferred to a quieter beat, where it is hoped he'll stay out of the limelight. Fat chance! Within what seems like three minutes, our hero gets mixed up with a double-murder case and an imperiled heiress (Beverly Roberts). Throughout the film, Jack Holt is handily out-acted by the supporting cast, especially such sly scene-stealers as Tom Kennedy and John Wray; also on hand is perennial Columbia 2-reel comedy heroine Dorothy Appleby. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paradise Express is Grand Hotel out of Twentieth Century, fresh from the Republic Studio breeding farms. The titular express is a small-time freight service, struggling for survival against a larger, more streamlined rail company. Faced with bankruptcy, the owners of the underdog railroad challenge their competitors to a race, winner take all. Handsome Larry Doyle (Grant Withers) mans the controls of the Paradise Express, bearing a collection of familiar movie stereotypes. Featured in the cast is harmonica virtuoso Bob McClung, who earlier in 1937 provided off-screen assistance to Laurel and Hardy's "harmonica challenge" scene in Hal Roach's Pick a Star. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Starving artist Robert Montgomery could care less if his paintings sell, so long as he's happy. Montgomery falls in love with Rosalind Russell, an heiress who's gone "slumming" in Greenwich Village. Russell becomes Montgomery's patroness as well as his wife, urging him to make his paintings more commercial. He becomes a success following her advice, but popularity goes to his head and soon Russell realizes she's created a monster. She walks out, he gets his act together, she comes back, and they return to their blissful hand-to-mouth existence. Live, Love and Learn scores its biggest laughs unintentionally with MGM's prettified concept of what a "run down" Greenwich village apartment looks like. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Produced independently by Edward Small, this surprisingly realistic gangster yarn stars stalwart Richard Arlen as Mal Stevens, an attorney recruited by the newly organized Federal Bureau of Investigation. After Mal and a couple of fellow recruits, Van Rensseler (Harvey Stephens) and Tex Logan (Gordon Jones), foil a plot by Joe Keefer (Bruce Cabot) to kidnap Eleanor Spencer (Virginia Bruce), the trusting debutante foolishly secures Joe's parole. From the outside, Keefer then masterminds a prison break for some of his pals and together they begin a reign of terror. Eleanor's brother Buddy (Eric Linden) goes undercover on behalf of Stevens and is killed by Keefer, but Eleanor, still denying that Keefer, her former chauffeur, is a gangster, blames Stevens. To avoid detection, Keefer kidnaps Dr. Hoffman (George Pauncefort), a noted plastic surgeon, who goes to work altering his appearance. His usefulness over, the good doctor is summarily executed but Hoffman manages to avenge himself from beyond the grave: when the bandages are removed, Keefer's features have been mutilated and his initials carved into the scarred face. Led to the hideout by Keefer's jilted moll Lola (Dorothy Appleby), Stevens confronts the disfigured gangster and there is a final struggle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi