Bobby Dunn Movies

This period adventure drama was directed by Tay Garnett and adapted from a story by William Faulkner. The skipper of a slave trading vessel operating along the West African coast in 1860, Captain Jim Lovett (Warner Baxter) is troubled by his flesh-peddling trade. He's marrying the beautiful Nancy Marlowe (Elizabeth Allan) and wants to replace his morally-indefensible business with a more respectable foray into standard goods shipping. So he orders his first mate, Jack Thompson (Wallace Beery) to fire most of the crew and replace them with new hands. However, the ship's swabbies are accustomed to their lucrative line of work and, under the sway of the greedy Lefty (George Sanders), they mutiny, resulting in high seas histrionics and swashbuckling sword fights, with comedy relief provided by Mickey Rooney as Swifty the cabin boy. Lon Chaney, Jr. appears unbilled in the film's opening, where his character is crushed during a ship's launching. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Lovable old Gus (Gus Leonard) is forced to move his tiny lemonade stand when sidewalk-diner owner William Wagner and his bratty son Leonard Kibrick complain that Gus represents "unfair competition." As Gus relocates near a barber shop at the invitation of friendly boot black Joe Mathey, the Our Gang kids decide to drum up business for their favorite merchant by staging a makeshift parade and musical show. Wagner and his son finally get their comeuppance when a scalp-massaging device becomes lodged in Wagner's trousers, forcing the villain into a brief but colorful "dancing" career. Highlights include Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer's deathless rendition of "Little Brown Jug" and a lengthy comedy set piece involving soap-spiked lemonade. Though filmed for Our Gang's 1934-1935 season, The Lucky Corner was inexplicably withheld from release until March 14, 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Working on the theory that the only thing funnier than Laurel and Hardy is two sets of Laurel and Hardys, Our Relations milks its central mistaken-identity situation for all it's worth. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are two solid citizens, happily married and highly respected in their community. One morning, Hardy receives a letter from his mother, containing an old photo of himself and Laurel with their twin brothers, Alf Laurel and Bert Hardy. Mamma also reveals that Alf and Bert turned out to be "bad lads" and ran off to sea, and that reportedly they'd been hanged for taking part in a mutiny. "Isn't that calamitous!" remarks Hardy, who conspires with Laurel to hide the facts about their no-good brothers from their wives. Meanwhile, in another part of town, the S.S. Periwinkle pulls into port. Among the crew members are the selfsame Alf and Bert, who have decided to entrust their pal Fin (James Finlayson) with their month's salary. Fin has promised to invest the dough so that the boys will become millionaires "before you can say Jack Robinson". Alf and Bert are then summoned to the cabin of their captain (Sidney Toler), who orders them to pick up a valuable package for him, then meet him later at Denker's Beer Garden. While waiting for the captain at Denker's, Alf and Bert are captivated by a pair of waterfront floozies, Alice (Iris Adrian) and Lily (Lona Andre). Talked into buying the girls a huge meal for which they haven't the necessary funds, Alf and Bert decide to go back to Fin and reclaim their money, leaving the contents of the captain's package-a valuable pearl ring-with tough waiter Joe Groagan (Alan Hale) as security. Later, Laurel and Hardy take their wives Betty (Betty Healy) and Daphne (Daphne Pollard) to lunch-and, inevitably, they end up at Denker's Beer Garden, where the equally inevitable mix-ups begin to occur. Things snowball from bad to worse before both sets of twins, an angry captain, a disgruntled Fin, the wives, the floozies, a genial drunk (Arthur Housman) and a brace of smooth gangsters (Ralf Harolde and Noel Madison) all converge at the upscale Pirate Club. Several slapstick complications later, Laurel and Hardy are captured by the gangsters, who threaten to dump the boys in the river with their feet encased in cement if they don't cough up the pearl ring. Alf and Bert come to the rescue, and all is well, at least until the film's boffo punchline. Based on W.W. Jacobs' short story The Money Box, Our Relations is perhaps the most plot-heavy of Laurel and Hardy's features for Hal Roach Studios. It is also one of their funniest, as well as their most lavishly produced. The film was officially listed as "A Stan Laurel Production"-as if Laurel hadn't been the prime creative force behind all of the team's previous films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, a miner heads back East and ends up traveling with a wagon train. He carries with him a map of his recently discovered claim. Among his comrades is a group of outlaws planning to ambush the train so they can get hold of the map. To do this, they start the local Indians on the warpath. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

It is Oliver Hardy's triumphant wedding day -- he is marrying the boss's daughter and thus becoming general manager for the International Horsecollar Corporation. The so-called best man (Stan Laurel -- who else?) arrives with the ring and tickets to Chicago for the honeymoon (Ollie actually wanted to go to Saskatchewan, but Stan tells him "the man said there was no such place as Seskatch, Suscuash..."). He has also brought a wedding present, which Ollie insists that he open right away. It's a jigsaw puzzle. Ollie is properly disgusted by such a silly gift, but when Stan starts trying to put it together, he is inadvertently drawn into working it, too. The taxi comes to take them to the wedding, but the cab driver (Eddie Dunn) winds up coming in the house and also becoming hypnotized by the puzzle. The cab is parked by a fire hydrant and the ticket-writing cop comes in the house and he now becomes engrossed in the puzzle. Ollie makes a few attempts to leave the house but never quite makes it, and finally the angry father-of-the-bride (the perpetually ire-filled James Finlayson) storms over to Ollie's home. But the policeman refuses to let anyone leave -- a puzzle piece is missing! A huge fight ensues, the house is all but destroyed and everyone is arrested -except Ollie and Stan, that is. They come out of hiding and Stan pulls out a telegram that had arrived while everyone was working on the puzzle. It's from Ollie's broker, telling him to sell all his stock at a profit. But before he can even think of reaching for a phone, a news flash comes on the radio, saying that the company has been wiped out. As Ollie sits and contemplates his ruined life, Stan finds the missing puzzle piece. Ollie resoundingly throws him out. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

W.C. Fields stars as the subject of this classic comedy short, which he also wrote the screenplay for. The dentist is a misanthropic, absent-minded sort who keeps an office in the same house that he shares with his rebellious young daughter. One morning she announces that she has fallen in love with Arthur, the iceman. Fields won't have it, and scares the poor Romeo off when he tries to make his daily "delivery." The hubbub makes him late for his golf game. When he tees off, the ball knocks an elderly man out cold but he plays through regardless, trying to cheat wherever possible. Frustrated by a particularly difficult hole, Fields loses his temper and tosses all of his clubs (and the caddy) into a water trap. Back at the office, the dentist locks his daughter in her room to prevent her from eloping with the iceman, and takes out all his frustrations on his patients (whom he refers to as "buzzards" and "palookas"). An attractive young girl naively bends over to show where a little dog bit her, a sophisticated society dame is driven into bizarre contortions while Fields sadistically drills, and a strange "little fella" ends up with a mouth full of broken teeth and birds in his beard. Through it all, the dentist treats everyone with disdain, but his well-deserved comeuppance is on the way. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi

"Klopstokia: A Far-Away Country. Chief Exports: Goats and Nuts. Chief Imports: Goats and Nuts. Chief Inhabitants: Goats and Nuts." This introductory title ushers in Million Dollar Legs, one of the zaniest comedies ever to emerge from a major studio. W.C. Fields stars as the president of Klopstokia, who will hold on to his office so long as he can best the secretary of the treasury (Hugh Herbert) in their daily arm-wrestling contests. Like most of the Depression-era world, Klopstokia is broke, forcing the government to take drastic measures to raise money. Fortunately, everyone in the country is a super-athlete, inspiring visiting Fuller Brush salesman Migg Tweeney (Jack Oakie) to come up with a brilliant idea: Klopstokia will enter the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. Alas, the subversive cabinet members, hoping to overthrow the president, plot to undermine the Klopstokian athletic team with the aid of sexy seductress Mata Machree (Lyda Roberti), "the woman no man can resist." Words can hardly describe the nonstop parade of gags and verbal insanity in Million Dollar Legs: Ben Turpin, playing a cloaked-and-caped spy, pops in and out with neither rhyme nor reason; the conspirators' outdoor hideout is incongruously equipped with hydraulic lifts and elevators; Mata Machree's butler informs the villains that "Madame can only be resisted from 2 to 4,"; and, when asked why all the Klopstokian men are named George and the women named Angela, the president's daughter (Susan Fleming, later the wife of Harpo Marx), replies "Why not?" then launches into the national anthem -- a double-talk version of "One Hour With You." Among the writers were Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Henry Myers, who were also responsible for the wacky Wheeler andWoolsey political satire Diplomaniacs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A remake of the silent When a Man Rides Alone (1919), this low-budget oater from the Big 4 Film Corp. stars Wally Wales as Wally Madison, a ranger investigating the robbery of a shipment of gold bullion. In a shootout with the gang, one of the robbers, José Valdez (Jack Phipps, is shot and killed. At the nearby Fernando ranch, Rosita Fernando (Virginia Browne Faire) is told to choose a husband from among the Valdez clan. She picks José. Upon learning of his demise, she charges the surviving brothers, Carlos (Franklyn Farnum) and Manuel (Edmund Cobb), with capturing his killer. Wally is caught and imprisoned at the ranch. Rosita falls in love with her captive, and when Don Francisco Fernando ($Lafe McKee) is murdered, Wally concocts a plan to capture the killer, one of the Valdez brothers. Forcing Manuel to pose as the murdered Don Francisco, Wally lures Carlos to the ranch. There is a fierce duel with swords, after which Carlos is arrested by the rangers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

John R. Freuler's Big 4 Film Corp. released this early sound western starring stunt-man Yakima Canutt as a cowboy who sells his land to Virginia Browne Faire and her young brother (Buzz Barton). Virginia wants to raise sheep, but a group of beef men violently disagree, and Yak must rescue her from a kidnapping. The main villain is played by Wally Wales (before he changed his name to Hal Taliaferro), a silent western hero who alternated playing good and bad guys for Big 4. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

From Big 4 Film Corp., Breed of the West stars former silent cowboy Wally Wales, in his second talkie, as Wally Weldon, a young cowboy who encounters a lost youth searching for his father. Wally takes the boy, Jim Bradley (Buzz Barton), back to the ranch where the kid obtains the job of cook's helper. While performing his duties, Jim learns that his immediate boss (George Gerwing) and Longrope Wheeler (Robert Walker), the ranch foreman, are planning to rob their employer, Colonel Sterner (Lafe McKee). When Wally finds Jim wounded by one of Longrope's henchmen, the Colonel admits to his daughter, Betty (Virginia Brown Faire), that the child is her long-lost brother. There is a second attempt to rob Sterner but Wally forces the cook to confess and the evil Longrope is arrested by the sheriff (Hank Bell). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Having recently signed with Universal, Western star Ken Maynard became his own producer with this early talkie Western directed by Harry Joe Brown. Maynard plays Bud Rand, who, with his young ward, Billy (Jackie Hanlon), in tow, accepts an offer to ride the notorious "Mankiller" with the Copeland Wild West Show. Nasty Dude (Stanley Blystone), Copeland's right-hand man, soon resents the newcomer's friendship with pretty Mary Owens (Gladys McConnell). There is a fight which Dude loses, and in revenge, the villain makes certain that Bud suffers a devastating fall with "Mankiller." Suddenly regarded as a coward, Bud is forced to stay behind as the show moves on, but when he learns that little Billy has taken ill, he returns to duke it out with the villain and regain Mary's confidence. Maynard hired the Coleman Circus to provide the backdrop for this exciting, quite elaborate Western, which equalled the star's earlier grade-A Westerns for First National in both look and budget. Stock footage of Maynard and young Hanlon reappeared in King of the Arena (1933), a low-budget oater which was also built around the Coleman Circus. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In one of his last starring roles, stunt-man turned silent cowboy star Yakima Canutt battled bad guys such as Charles "Slim" Whitaker under the static direction of J.P. McGowan. Stunt-rider Ione Reed played the ingenue, with veteran comedians Dorothy Vernon and Bobby Dunn providing the occasional levity. Canutt, whose voice did not register well in talkies, later became an award winning stunt co-ordinator and second unit director. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi