Madge Evans Movies

Critics in 1935 recognized immediately that Age of Indiscretion drew its inspiration from the well-publicized Gloria Vanderbilt custody battle. Paul Lukas plays publisher Robert Lenhart, a man of conservative tastes who is unfortunately saddled with a footloose socialite wife named Eve (Helen Vinson). When Lenhart begs his wife to curb her excesses, she retaliates by entering into an illicit affair with Felix Shaw (Ralph Forbes), deserting her young son Bill (David Jack Holt). Providing moral support for Lenhart and his son during this crisis is faithful secretary Maxine Bennett (Madge Evans). Upon paying a visit to Lenhart's home, Felix Shaw's wealthy and powerful mother Emma (May Robson) finds Maxine in the living room. Assuming the worst, Emma forces Eve to sue for custody of her child, then distorts the evidence in court to paint Lenhart as a philandering monster. The outcome of the case hinges on the child's testimony, and it is this which forces Emma to realize how wrong she's been. Too bad that the litigants in the Vanderbilt case weren't as polite and reasonable as the characters in Age of Indiscretion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Are you listening?" was the catchphrase of early-1930s radio personality Tony Wons. Though Wons does not appear in the 1932 MGM programmer Are You Listening?, the film is concerned with the burgeoning broadcast industry. William Haines plays a wise-cracking radio writer who is tricked into confessing on the air that he murdered his wife. Whenever an actor normally associated with comedy roles plays a murderer (either actual or implied) in a film, it's usually a sign that his studio contract has come to an end. Such was the case of Are You Listening?, which proved to be William Haines' swan song at MGM, where he'd been employed since 1925. Perhaps as a going-away present, J.P. McEvoy's script contrives to give Haines three leading ladies: Madge Evans, Anita Page and Karen Morley (nobody outside the industry knew that Haines was in fact a homosexual, and MGM was determined to keep it that way). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The beauty-parlor craze of the early 1930s was given a good going-over in MGM's Beauty for Sale. Madge Evans, Florine McKinney and Una Merkel star as Letty, Jane and Carol, three employees of a swank Manhattan beauty salon. While Carol wisecracks her way through life, Letty takes things more seriously -- too seriously, in fact, when it comes to matters of the heart. She falls in love with wealthy Mr. Sherwood (Otto Kruger), who unfortunately is already married to Mrs. Sherwood (Alice Brady). Surprisingly, Letty is permitted a happy ending, which is more than can be said for the equally romantically reckless Jane. Based on a novel by Faith Baldwin, the film boasts some exceptional "glamour" photography by James Wong Howe. In a reversal of the usual chronology, Beauty for Sale hit the screens after a "B"-movie variation of the same basic material, 1932's Beauty Parlor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Captain Harry Ford (Carlyle Blackwell) is tracking down moonshiners in the South when he runs afoul of nasty political goings-on. Some Negroes have stolen a ballot box, but a white man refuses to be bribed for its return and horsewhips the group's leader. The Negro kills the man, and the crime gets pinned on Ford. Ford is sent to prison for life, but escapes when he is put on a road-working gang. His Southern sweetheart, Georgia Gwynne (Ethel Clayton) helps him so that he can prove his innocence and finally the Negro murderer confesses. The racist attitude of this film is on par with that of Birth of a Nation, and is a sad statement on the prevailing attitudes of the 1910s. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The play by William C. deMille and Margaret Turnbull was filmed once before in 1914. This version features Richard Barthelmess as the star and some scenes were actually shot at West Point. Duncan Irving Jr. (Barthelmess) is the son of the village postmaster (Claude Brooke) in a small southern town. He's in love with Sylvia Randolph (Madge Evans, finally old enough to play ingenues), who comes from a wealthy, snobbish family. Her cousin, Bert Stafford (Reginald Sheffield), dislikes the modest Duncan. Duncan goes to West Point and when he's an upper classman, Bert enrolls. Bert hates being ordered around, especially by Duncan, who he considers his social inferior. One day he angrily insults Duncan, who hits him. Bert fakes blindness, then takes off for South America on an expedition. Duncan is expelled and Sylvia refuses to hear his explanations. To save face, Duncan and some of his friends travel to South America to find Bert, who has become lost. After a lot of hardship and adventure, they find him and they return to the States. Bert finally tells the truth about what happened and Duncan is reinstated at West Point. He also reconciles with Sylvia and after he gets his commission, they are wed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

David Copperfield was MGM's major Christmas release for its 1934-1935 season and also the first of producer David O. Selznick's major "literary" films for that studio. While a great deal of editing and streamlining was necessary to distill Charles Dickens' massive novel into 133 minutes of screen time, the end result was so successful that only the nittiest of nitpickers complained about the excised characters and events. Freddie Bartholomew plays the young Copperfield, who, after the death of his mother (Elizabeth Allan), is cruelly mistreated by his stepfather, Mr. Murdstone (Basil Rathbone). David's life brightens when he meets the ever-in-debt Mr. Micawber (W.C. Fields), and he is sheltered by Micawber's large and loving family until Micawber is carted off to debtor's prison. Forced once more to seek a home, David makes his way to the Dover estate of his Aunt Betsey (Edna May Oliver), where he meets another colorful cast of characters, none more so than the childlike Mr. Dick (Lennox Pawle). When Murdstone arrives, insisting that David be returned to him, Aunt Betsey and Mr. Dick form a united front to protect the boy. Flash-forward several years: the grown David (now played by Frank Lawton) is attending school, where he meets the lovely Agnes Wickfield (Madge Evans). David discovers that Agnes' businessman father (Lewis Stone) is under the thumb of the "'umble" prevaricator Uriah Heep (Roland Young) and the equally disreputable Steerforth (Hugh Williams). With the help of Mr. Micawber-who in a weak moment has taken a job working side-by-side with Heep-David proves Heep's treachery and rescues the Wickfields. By rights, he should marry Agnes, but David impulsively weds the empty-headed Dora (Maureen O'Sullivan). Only after Dora's death does David come to his senses, realizing that Agnes is the true love of his life. Originally, Charles Laughton was slated to play Micawber, but he pulled out of the production, worried that he wouldn't be funny enough. The casting of W.C. Fields was an inspired choice: although he injects his own established screen personality at every opportunity, Fields was born to play Micawber. Likewise, second-billed Lionel Barrymore fits his portrayal of crusty old Dan Peggoty like a glove. In fact, there isn't a false bit of casting in the whole production, and this, as much as Selznick's sumptuous production values, is the key to David Copperfield's enormous success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Cortland Fitzsimmons, the storyline of this "gimmick" mystery follows the St. Louis Cardinals during a championship season. The arrival of hotshot pitcher Larry Kelly (Robert Young) coincides with an apparent plot to sabotage the Cards' chances of making it to the World Series. A failed attempt to poison all the pitcher's mitts is followed by a series of murders: catcher Dunk Spencer (Joe Sauers) is shot while sprinting to third base, pitcher Frank Higgins (Robert Livingston) is strangled in the locker room, and lovable catcher Truck Hogan (Nat Pendleton) is killed with an arsenic-laden hot dog. Finding himself one of the many suspects, Kelly nearly becomes a victim as well when he is slipped a booby-trapped baseball. With the help of sportscaster Jimmy Downey (Paul Kelly), Kelly exposes the murderer, surviving to win the pennant and the heroine, team secretary daughter Frances Clark (Madge Evans). Partly filmed on location at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs' minor-league LA farm team), Death on the Diamond offers a fresh slant to the standard whodunit format, with some particularly good work by Ted Healy as an exasperated umpire. That MGM produced the film is tipped off by two of the studio's trademarks: The killer's last-minute confession, wherein the guilty party transforms from a mild-mannered soul into a raving lunatic, and the shoddy process-screen work in the ballgame scenes. Future stars Mickey Rooney, Walter Brennan and Bruce Bennett show up in bit roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The notorious Orient Express provides the setting for this romance involving two rival reporters in pursuit of a munitions baron. The two rivals eventually fall in love, but not before they are implicated and subsequently cleared of a plot to kill the arms maker. The munitions man also falls in love and decides to use his skills for making more peaceful products. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy-adventure, an enterprising young man devises a new kind of speedboat motor. The trouble begins when he tries test out his new invention in the big race and finds he needs a sponsor. Fortunately, the beautiful but haughty daughter of a prominent shipwright is around to help and hinder him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This drama, an adaptation of a novel by A.J. Cronin, chronicles the exploits of an alcoholic doctor whose career is in shambles as he embarks upon a cruise to the Canary Islands. The deeply despondent physician spends much of the journey hiding in his stateroom staring at the walls and woefully reminiscing about his younger, more successful days. He is unaware of the young female missionary who has a crush upon him. Instead he is interested in the affections of a married woman. When the boat docks upon the island it is discovered that yellow fever is running rampant. The doctor manages to dry out long enough to save the victims and his self-respect is restored. Later the married woman gets a divorce and she and the doctor have a real relationship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Al Jolson's "comeback" picture Hallelujah, I'm a Bum is an offbeat Depression-era concoction with script by Ben Hecht and S.N. Behrmann and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Jolson plays a genial hobo who wanders happily around Central Park, neither seeking nor accepting honest employment. He is imbued with a sense of responsibility when he rescues pretty Madge Evans from committing suicide. Evans, suffering from amnesia, falls in love with Jolson, completely forgetting her "regular" beau, mayor Frank Morgan. When she regains her memory she heads back to Morgan, leaving Jolson sadder but wiser, and prompting him back to his carefree existence. Much of the dialogue is spoken in rhyme, in the manner of an operetta--though there's nothing Romberg-like about such lyrical phrases as "Hoover's Cossacks." Former silent-film comedy star Harry Langdon has some choice moments as Egghead, a communist streetcleaner, while composers Rodgers and Hartshow up in unbilled cameos. Because the word "Bum" has different connotations in different lands, this film was released in England as Hallelujah, I'm a Tramp. The reissue version, titled Heart of a Tramp, has been severely re-edited, doing considerable damage to the carefully interwoven rhyming dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hell Below transcends its hackneyed World War I plot to emerge as a drama of rare originality and gutsiness. Walter Huston stars as a submarine commander whose lieutenant (Robert Montgomery) falls in love with Huston's daughter (Madge Evans). All cliches (including the intrusive comedy relief of Jimmy Durante) are forgiven and forgotten once the sub is launched on a dangerous mission in the Adriatic. Commander Huston is forced to make several cold-blooded decisions to preserve the safety of his crew members. In one scene, seaman Sterling Holloway is trapped in a room full of poison gas. Huston orders the men not to rescue Holloway, lest they too be exposed to the deadly fumes. As the men grimly try to go about their routine tasks, the dying Holloway presses his face against the glassed-in porthole and piteously begs for help! This brief moment in Hell Below sticks in the mind far longer than Robert Montgomery's own death scene, in which he redeems his reckless behavior during a crucial battle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide