Emma Dunn Movies

Charming but ruthless fugitive gangster Dutra (Brian Donlevy) demands that a doctor (Oscar Apfel) perform plastic surgery upon him. Emerging from the bandages with a new face, Dutra murders the doctor, changes his name to Dawson, and heads to California, secure in the belief that no one who can identify him is still living. Unfortunately for him, the sole link to Dawson's past, nurse Molly Lamont, is now working in Hollywood -- where Dawson is enjoying a whole new career as a movie star! Things move along comically until Dawson tips his hand by taking his leading lady Sheila (Phyllis Brooks) hostage. Salvation comes in the unlikely form of obnoxious studio-press-agent Joe Haynes (Wallace Ford). Also released as It Happened in Hollywood, Another Face is a very uneven blend of comedy and melodrama, making up in energy what it lacks in coherence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Advertised as a sort of sequel to MGM's Babes in Arms (1939), Babes on Broadway reunites the two stars of the earlier film: Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Rooney is the guiding force of a group of young showbiz hopefuls who are trying to make it on Broadway. When things look darkest, he goes into his "Say, kids!" routine, rousing his companions to put on their own show. Highlights include a sequence in which Rooney and Garland go through a series of imitations of past theatrical greats. As cute and perky as Garland is, she has nothing on the "Carmen Miranda" takeoff performed--in full makeup and platform shoes--by the ubiquitous Rooney. Babes on Broadway ends with a typically overproduced production number stage by the film's director, the immortal Busby Berkeley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A naive, wealthy small-town girl, bored with her routine life, falls for a dashing con artist who has come looking for fresh marks to swindle. He soon charms her into faking her prominent father's name on a letter of endorsement, which he presents to the other local merchants. They willingly give him all sorts of goodies and he prepares his escape, but not before conning the girl into becoming his wife. After their wedding night in a sleazy hotel, he abandons her. Fortunately, by the story's end, she is able to reassemble her shattered life and find happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Blessed Event is one of several early-1930s films inspired by the meteoric rise to fame of gossip columnist Walter Winchell--and like most such films, its title is based on a Winchell tag line. Lee Tracy plays a glib-tongued reporter who is conducting a feud with popular singer Dick Powell (making his film debut). Along the way, Tracy offends a powerful gangster, and in so doing becomes entangled with chorus girl Mary Brian. The film is at its best when parodying commercial radio of the era (notably an inane jingle for "Shapiro Shoes" warbled by Dick Powell). The original Broadway stage version of Blessed Event was written by Manuel Seff and Forrest Wilson--and reportedly inspired by the career of Ruby Keeler, who rose to stardom thanks in part to the patronage of a New York mobster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Ernst Lubitsch gained international acclaim for his sophisticated romantic comedies, but he also had a talent for more serious themes, as evidenced by this 1932 drama. French musician Paul (Phillips Holmes) joined the Army at the height of WWI. On the field of battle, Paul shot and killed his German friend Walter Holderlin (Tom Douglas), another musician enlisted in his country's army. One year after the Armistice, Paul is still haunted by the memory of Walter's death, and he travels to Germany to locate Walter's father, Dr. Holderlin (Lionel Barrymore). Holderlin, his wife (Louise Carter), and Walter's fiancee, Elsa (Nancy Carroll are still shattered by the death of their loved one. Paul informs them of his friendship with their son, but cannot bring himself to unveil his responsibility for Walter's death. The Holderlins welcome Paul in friendship, and gradually, he settles into the household, bringing to both parents a new lease on life. Because of his lingering guilt, he feels tempted to run away, but Elsa discovers the truth about Paul and refuses to let him leave. Meanwhile, the presence of a Frenchman drums up hostilities in the Holderlins' village and the local women gossip continually about the developing relationship between Paul and Elsa. Perhaps because moviegoers completely snubbed The Man I Killed (also released as Broken Lullaby) and turned it into a financial detriment for Paramount, Lubitsch returned to lighter themes after this anti-war drama, and it was the last "serious" picture he would make before his death in 1948. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

June Travis plays a trapeze star who becomes the romantic bone of contention between Robert Livingston and Charles Jerome. Silent movie veterans Betty Compson and Charlie Murray lend their expertise to this Republic 7-reeler. The aerialist scenes are performed by the Escalante Family Troupe, who also contributed their breathtaking skills to such Hollywood films as Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932),and the Marx Bros.' At the Circus. One of the scripters of Circus Girl was Bradford Ropes, author of the quintessential backstage yarn 42nd Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Vicki Baum (of Grand Hotel) fame, Dance, Girl Dance finds innocent young Judy (Maureen O'Hara) journeying to the Big Apple in hopes of gaining fame as a classical dancer. Instead she ends up as the "stooge" for raucous strip-tease artist Bubbles (Lucille Ball), who attempts to perform ballet before leering, catcalling, unappreciative burlesque audiences. Eventually, Judy and Bubbles both fall for playboy Jimmy Harris (Louis Hayward), a rivalry that culminates in a hair-pulling, eye-scratching cat fight. Eventually, Harris's ex-wife (Virginia Field) reels him back in, and Judy is hired by ballet producer and entrepreneur Steve Adams (Ralph Bellamy). In recent years, Dance, Girl, Dance has been canonized as a feminist manifesto, due to the fact that Dorothy Arzner was the director and because of Maureen O'Hara's climactic burlesque-house speech, in which she lambastes the male spectators for their puerile chauvinism. It should be noted, however, that Arzner became director only after Roy Del Ruth pulled out of the project. Uncertain how to promote the film, RKO Radio elected to sneak it into its first-run houses without fanfare, and the result was a $400,000 loss for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of three Kay Francis films in which the star was cast as a dedicated lady physician, Doctor Monica was adapted from a Polish play by Marja Morozowicz Szezepkowska. Francis plays obstetrician Dr. Monica, whose husband John (Warren William) cheats on her with young Mary (Jean Muir). When Mary becomes pregnant, the selfless Monica befriends her, provides her with advice, and delivers the baby. The good doctor even offers to give up John so that the child will have a father. But after giving birth, Mary calmly tells John to go back to Monica -- even though there's every indication that he'll never give up his philandering ways! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dr. Kildare's Crisis is actually one suffered by his fiancee, nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day). Mary's financier brother Douglas Lamont (Robert Young) is subject to unpredictable seizures, and for a while it seems that he is suffering from hereditary epilepsy. This being 1940, Douglas' affliction carries an onus which seriously threatens the impending marriage between Mary and Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres); after all, who knows how their children will turn out? But by using an unorthodox therapeutic method, Dr. Kildare proves that Douglas' medical condition was borne of an accident rather than a genetic disorder. The final diagnosis is rendered by crusty Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who thereby manages to justify his appearance in the film in the very last reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When MGM decided to move up-and-coming star Laraine Day out of the "Dr. Kildare" series, the studio did so in a startlingly dramatic fashion. In Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day, Dr. Jim Kildare (Lew Ayres) and nurse Mary Lamont (Laraine Day) are finally able to exchange their marital vows. Alas, the honeymoon ends abruptly when poor Mary is struck down and killed by a speeding truck (hopefully, it is safe to give away this plot twist at this late date). Numbed by grief, Kildare is snapped out of his doldrums by his crusty mentor Dr. Gillespie (Lionel Barrymore), who urges the young medico to honor Mary's memory by continuing to help others. The grimmer aspects of Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day are offset by several comic subplots, one of which involves an orchestra leader (Nils Asther) who suffers buzzing in his ears due to his eating habits! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joe E. Brown plays Elmer Kane, a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite. Because he is not only vain but naive, Elmer's teammates take great delight in pulling practical jokes on him. Still, he is so valuable a player that the Cubs management hides the letters from his hometown sweetheart Nellie (Patricia Ellis), so that Elmer won't bolt the team and head for home. When Nellie comes to visit Elmer, she finds him in an innocent but compromising situation with a glamorous actress (Claire Dodd). She turns her back on him, and disconsolate Elmer tries to forget his troubles at a crooked gambling house. Elmer incurs an enormous gambling debt, which the casino's owner is willing to forget if Elmer will only throw the deciding World Series game. Elmer brawls with the gambler and lands in jail, where he learns of a particularly cruel practical joke that had previously been played on him. Out of spite, he refuses to play in the Big Game, and thanks to a jailhouse visit by the gamblers, it looks as though Elmer has taken a bribe. But when he shows up to play (after patching things up with Nellie), Elmer proves that he's been true-blue all along. Based on the Broadway play by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, Elmer the Great betrays its stage origins in its static early scenes, but builds confidently to a terrific climax during a rain-soaked ball game. This enjoyable film was the second in Joe E. Brown's "baseball trilogy" (see also Fireman Save My Child and Alibi Ike). Elmer the Great was remade in 1939 as Cowboy Quarterback, with Bert Wheeler in Joe E. Brown's part and with football substituting for baseball. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paul Lukas plays a nightclub headwaiter who rises to fame as a bridge expert. He marries hat check girl Loretta Young, likewise a card fanatic. Lukas and Young find themselves vying for the national bridge championship, which results in the expected frictions. All is forgiven in the climactic scenes, in which silver-tongued radio commentator Roscoe Karns gives a play-by-play of the "big game" while director William Dieterle uses freeze frames and slow motion to beef up the tension. Grand Slam is quite an eye-opener for fans of Loretta Young, who displays an unusually generous amount of thigh in her nightclub outfit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide