Sally Eilers Movies

Rod Cameron and Wayne Morris star as Civil War officers who become federal agents. The duo is sent west to investigate a series of stage hijackings. The criminals tend to bypass gold and valuables, and are seemingly interested only in the weapons carried on these coaches. It turns out that the hijackers are secret secessionists, hoping to achieve victory for the Southern cause. Stage to Tucson manages to pack a passel of thrills into its 82 minutes, compensating for the film's paucity of plot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Strange Illusion is really several movies in one, part dark psychological chiller, part unsettling murder mystery, and part breezy B-movie thriller, although most of its plot is derived from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Jimmy Lydon, best-known to audiences for his screen portrayal of Henry Aldrich during the early '40s, plays Paul Cartwright, the son of a respected judge who died under mysterious circumstances two years earlier. Paul is haunted by nightmares in which his father warns him of danger to his mother, and in which a mysterious stranger seems to threaten him and his family. He dismisses these dreams until his mother (Sally Eilers) introduces him to a new man in her life, Brett Curtis (Warren William), who says some of the very same things that Paul heard from the mystery man in his dream. There's a lot to dislike about Curtis despite his smooth, genial ways -- he seems too eager to please, and also offers an oily solicitousness to Paul's teenaged sister that's downright disturbing. Paul openly distrusts Curtis and opposes his mother's impending marriage to him. Most of those around him think Paul is overreacting and he is maneuvered into checking himself into a sanitarium run by a psychiatrist friend (Charles Arnt) of Curtis'. Trapped there and kept under constant surveillance, Paul is in danger, but he manages to find a clue that proves not only that his father's death was no accident, but that Curtis was involved in it. His discovery may be too late, however -- not only is his life in jeopardy, but it turns out that Curtis is really a career criminal that Paul's father had pursued from the bench for years, and that his real goal, having killed the judge, is to destroy the judge's family, including Paul's mother and sister. The plot of Strange Illusion works on many levels, as mystery and a dark psychological study, and it is told so smoothly and well by director Edgar G. Ulmer and his cast, that it may require multiple viewings to fully appreciate, though it is enjoyable on any level. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Three different Universal pictures made between 1922 and 1941 bore the catchall title Don't Get Personal. The 1941 film stars Hugh Herbert as a ditzy pickle manufacturer whose favorite radio program stars Jane Frazee and Robert Paige. The couple plays a bickering husband and wife on the air, and Herbert mistakes their scripted bouts for the real thing. He heads to the radio station to patch up their differences, but succeeds in embroiling the actors in a real battle. Don't Get Personal seems to have been made at the same time as Universal Hellzapoppin' (41), with at least four actors (Hugh Herbert, Robert Paige, Jane Frazee and Mischa Auer) appearing in both films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this thriller, a man is brutally murdered and an innocent man takes the rap. The real murderer later confesses his crime to his priest. The priest strongly urges the killer to tell the police, but he steadfastly refuses. At the end, the killer attacks and mortally wounds the priest. The murderer feels guilty for his deed and gives the priest a lifesaving blood transfusion. He then admits his crime and saves the innocent man from execution. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this comedy, designed to exploit the then current national craze for picture puzzles, an alcoholic advertising exec becomes addicted to inventing puzzles. Trouble ensues when he goes off on a major drunk and forgets to leave the answers to a national breakfast cereal contest. His colleague is assigned to find him. She succeeds and takes him to a rehab farm to sober up. He is kidnapped by gangsters who want those answers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this crime drama, a woman is told that a cop killed her brother in cold-blood during a shoot-out. The woman believes the crook, but this does not prevent her from falling in love with the injured policeman. When he finds out her relationship to the deceased he begins looking for the real killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Previously teamed in six early-1930s films, James Dunn and Sally Eilers bring the total up to seven with their last co-starring vehicle We Have Our Moments. A trio of American crooks board a ship bound for Europe, intending to get rid of $100,000 in stolen dough. With detective John Wade (James Dunn) breathing down their necks, the crooks stash the loot in the trunk belonging to vacationing schoolmarm Mary Smith (Sally Eilers). As the voyage progresses, Wade falls in love with Mary, never dreaming that she's in possession of a hundred grand; in fact, she doesn't know it yet, either. Things get hectic as the villains tip their hand to recover the loot, but heroes and heroines never get killed in a romantic comedy, so rest easy. We Have Our Moments might never have been reshown after its initial 1937 release were it not for the presence in the cast of a young David Niven, billed third despite the slimness of his role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

While drunk at a party, millionaire Stephens Cormack (Neil Hamilton) playfully marries footloose Clarice Andrews (Patricia Farr). Sobering up the next morning, Cormack hurriedly tells his lawyer to arrange for an annulment, then retreats to South America. What Cormack doesn't know is that Clarice was already married, making him a bigamist in the eyes of the law should anyone find out. Clarice's helpful sister Paula (Sally Eilers) offers to pose as her sibling for appearance's sake, moving into Cormack's mansion until the annulment is finalized. Paula's life is made a living hell by Cormack's bratty children (Marice Mae Jones and George Ernest) and snooty servants -- not to mention Clarice's disreputable hubby Michael (Joseph Schildkraut) -- until everything is straightened out in the final footage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama, a deliciously nasty villain endeavors to steal a successful shipping firm from an honest man. To get the company and gather information, the villain employs a talented mimic who begins dating the daughter of the company president. He succeeds and causes the president to take his own life to save his company. Later the villain tries to kill the mimic, but fortunately, the mimic survives, goes to the police, gets the crook arrested, and proves himself worthy of his lady's love. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this romantic comedy, two college boys get expelled because they could not pay tuition. They decide to scare up some cash by auctioning off their services in Central Park. A pretty woman makes the highest bid. She hires the boys to drive her and her car to Ohio. The adventure culminates with one of the boys stealing the woman away from her groom on her wedding day. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the wake of The Thin Man, every studio in Hollywood scrambled to churn out sophisticated mystery-comedies wherein murders are solved by a wealthy, attractive, fun-loving young couple. One of the best of these Thin Man derivations was Universal's Remember Last Night, adapted from Adam Hobhouse's novel Hangover Murders. During a wild cocktail party at the Long Island estate of Tony and Carlotta Milburn (Robert Young and Constance Cummings), one of the guests is murdered. It does not help at all that the revellers were too drunk to remember exactly what happened -- nor is it beneficial to the case that Detective Danny Harrison (Edward Arnold) is a personal friend of all the suspects. In addition, no one but Harrison seems willing to take the case seriously, though of course eventually Tony and Carlotta are obliged to do a bit of sleuthing on their own. The light-hearted aspects of the film are offset by moments of genuine terror, notably the scene in which Professor Jones (Gustav von Seyffertitz) attempts to solve the mystery by hypnotizing the suspects, only to become a victim himself when he gets too close to the truth. An unbilled E.E. Clive provides some great black-humor moments as a police photographer who prefers to "artfully" arrange the corpses. As always, director James Whale invests his material with several of his visual trademarks, including his fascination with elaborate set decorations. There are probably more off-angle close-ups of fancy wall clocks in this picture than in any other Hollywood film -- and how about that cocktail bar in the Milburn's living room, designed in the shape of a yacht? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Little Mary Dow (Baby Jane, aka Juanita Quigley) disappears from hearth and home on her 3rd birthday. Eighteen years later, Mary's fatally ill mother Evelyn (Katherine Alexander) makes a deathbed request to see her daughter one last time. Hoping to grant Evelyn's final request, wealthy Henry Dow (Henry O'Neill) prevails upon hard-boiled waitress Sally Gates (Sally Eilers) to pose as the long-lost Mary. She agrees, but only because there's money involved. Eventually, Sally mends her mercenary ways and becomes as good and loyal a daughter as ever the real Mary Dow could have been -- and who knows, she might actually be Mary after all! Ray Milland (still billed as Raymond) is the nominal leading man. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Never mind the "limited" title: There are plenty of honeymooners on the ocean liner which serves as the setting for this romantic comedy. One of the few unattached passengers is heiress Joan Foster (Sally Eilers), who is watched over like a hawk by her stepmother "Ma" Gillespie (Henrietta Crossman). Hoping to escape from stepmom's baleful glare, Joan finds herself in the arms of the ship's second officer Dick Charlton (Charles Starrett). Little does she know that Charlton has been hired by her father to keep other men away from her. After the usual misunderstandings, romance finally blossoms between hero and heroine, while a comic counterpoint to the main plot is provided by second leads Alice Mudge (ZaSu Pitts) and Ezra MacDuff (Russell Simpson). Among the honeymooning couples on this Love Boat are Irene Hervey and Johnny Mack Brown, both of whom were betwixt and between more important film assignments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi