Rockliffe Fellowes Movies

William Powell is a poor East Side lawyer who works his way up the ladder to assistant prosecutor. He isn't too particular how he uses and misuses the law, much to the dismay of his faithful secretary (Joan Blondell). Powell's downfall comes when he falls for a shady lady (Claire Dodd) who blackmails him for a past misdeed. He escapes prosecution with a hung jury, but the experience rekindles his conscience. With his loving secretary at his side, Powell returns to his old neighborhood to set up an honest legal practice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This brisk Monogram melodrama includes all the requisite entertainment elements: Talented cast, solid story, a plenitude of suspense, and a few bonus song numbers. Arnold Gray plays Grant Murdock, a popular radio crooner who, truth be told, can't sing a note. For appearance's sake, the handsome Murdock is propped up before the microphone while his voice is supplied by homely hunchback Norman Wilder (Ralph Forbes). When Murdock is murdered, suspicion immediately falls upon Wilder -- who in fact had intended to bump off the phony, except that someone beat him to it. Knowing that no one will believe his story, Wilder scurries off into the night, with police hot on his heels. The actual culprit very nearly gets off scot-free but is ultimately undone by a sudden attack of conscience -- too late, alas, to save Murdock from his inexorable fate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A vengeful cowpoke rides out for revenge against the cattle rustlers who killed his pa in this western. Along the way, he finds and adopts a cuddly little baby. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an jewel thief is let out of prison and heads for a New York hotel to find the jewels he hid in the fireplace before he was caught. He must hurry as the building is about to be razed. Unfortunately, the room in which he hid them is occupied and he must stay in the adjoining suite. Every try he makes to get into the room is foiled. Eventually the police, who have been patiently awaiting his return, bust in and catch him in the act of retrieving the purloined gems. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The first Marx Brothers film to be written directly for the screen (its authors included S. J. Perelman, Arthur Sheekman and Will B. Johnstone), Monkey Business is also the merry Marxes' first Hollywood production. Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo are brilliantly cast as four stowaways on an ocean liner, bound for New York. As our heroes endeavor to elude dimwitted First Mate Gibson (Tom Kennedy), each of the brothers gets involved in an adventure of his own. Groucho finds himself in a menage a trois with gangster Alky Briggs (Harry Briggs) and Briggs' sexy wife Lucille (Thelma Todd); Harpo joins a "Punch and Judy" puppet show, driving the ship's crew into a frenzy of confusion; Chico hires himself out as bodyguard to retired bootlegger Joe Helton (Rockliffe Fellowes); and Zeppo romances Joe's pretty daughter Mary (Ruth Hall). Once they've arrived in New York, the Marx boys head to Helton's Long Island mansion, where, after the obligatory harp-and-piano musical interludes, the fearsome foursome team up to rescue Mary from her kidnappers. There are far too many wonderful moments in Monkey Business to detail here, but highlights include Groucho's initial confrontation with Alky Briggs ("With a little study, you'll go a long way, and I wish you'd start now!") and his romantic tete-a-tetes with Lucille ("Come with me, and we'll lodge with my fleas in the hills -- er, flee to my lodge in the hills"); Harpo and Chico's attempts to shave a sleeping barbershop customer ("You know what, partner? I think we give-a him one snoop too much"); and the classic setpiece, "borrowed" from the team's early Broadway hit I'll Say She Is, in which all Four Marx Brothers try to slip past the customs officials by posing as Maurice Chevalier! Though not the best of their Paramount features, Monkey Business is still among the funniest Marx Brothers comedies ever made -- and one of the funniest comedies, period. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of his few film leading roles, dependable British character actor Holmes Herbert plays Peter Dwight, whose wife Florence (Margaret Livingston), a circus aerialist, walks out on him with their baby in tow. Adopting the guise of an Eastern mystic named Count Merlin, Dwight embarks upon a 15-year search for his wife and child. When he finally catches up with Florence, he discovers that she is planning to desert her present lover. Inevitably, Florence is murdered, and Dwight is accused of the crime. Anyone with half a brain could figure out that one of her cast-off lovers had as much motive as Dwight, yet it takes forever for the truth to be revealed and the killer to be exposed. The Charlatan was based on a play by Ernest Pascal and Leonard Praskins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dorothy Reid -- who before her marriage to ill-fated screen idol Wallace Reid was better known as Dorothy Davenport -- was both producer and star of Satin Woman. After the death of her husband from drug abuse in 1923, Davenport dedicated herself to helping others avoid the pitfalls of modern life by turning out a series of cautionary film fables. In Satin Woman, she endeavored to warn society women not to neglect their families for the sake of fads, foibles, and handsome younger men. Mrs. Jean Taylor (played by Davenport) learns this lesson too late when her husband George (Rockliffe Fellows) and daughter Jean Jr. (Alice White) walk out on her. When her daughter's head is turned by oily lounge lizard Maurice (John Miljan), the sadder-but-wiser Mrs. Taylor vows to prevent Jean Jr. from making the same mistakes that "mommy" did. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joan Crawford landed one of her first starring roles in MGM's The Understanding Heart. Based on a story by Peter B. Kyne, the story is set in tall-timber country, where heroine Monica (Crawford) has trouble choosing between wealthy Bob Mason (Rockliffe Fellows) and handsome forest ranger Tony Garland (Francis X. Bushman). Things come to a head during a raging forest fire, with Monica and her two suitors trapped in the middle of the conflagration. A spectacular rescue by airplane caps this robust actioner, which relies heavily on stock footage from the recently completed The Flaming Forest. While Joan Crawford is pretty and personable, the film is stolen by the more flamboyant second female lead, Carmel Myers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After several years' experience as a screenwriter, Howard Hawks made his directorial debut with Fox Films' The Road to Glory. Though based on a story by Hawks, the film that emerged bore little resemblance to the director's original concept. Judith (May McCoy) and David (Leslie Fenton) are a pair of jazz-age libertines who care about nothing but satisfying their own desires. After suffering an injury in a car accident brought about by David's reckless driving, Judith discovers that she is slowly but surely going blind. This tragedy convinces Judith that God does not exist, while a penitent David desperately tries to convince her otherwise. In an excessively melodramatic climax, David is seriously injured by a falling tree, whereupon Judith abandons her agnosticism and prays for her sweetheart's recovery. Not only does David survive, but all the excitement has completely restored Judith's eyesight! Whether or not Road to Glory measures up to Howard Hawks' later classics is open to conjecture, since the film no longer exists. (Incidentally, Hawks' 1936 war film Road to Glory was not a remake). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Corinne Griffith is Syncopating Sue in this jazz-age romp. Hoping to become a famous musical comedy star, Sue Adams takes a job as a pianist in a Broadway music score. She soon finds a kindred spirit in the form of aspiring jazz drummer Eddie Murphy (Tom Moore). The usual misunderstandings separate the couple, but in the final reel Eddie proves his devotion to Sue by jumping off the side of a ship and swimming to shore -- and her waiting arms. Veteran Broadway actress Marjorie Rambeau makes a guest appearance as "herself." Syncopating Sue was originally filmed under the title Tin Pan Alley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The exotic Pola Negri is given the role of a half-English, half-Chinese girl in this drama based on W. Somerset Maugham's play and directed by Raoul Walsh. In spite of the illustrious names attached to this production, however, it was a weak film which did justice to none of them. When Daisy Forbes (Negri) returns to China after being educated in England, she discovers that her father has died, and she has been ostracized from white society because her mother was Chinese. Daisy had no idea of her origins because her real mother had been posing as her nurse all this time. Although George Tevis (Edmund Lowe) loves her, his uncle convinces him to avoid her. Lee Tai (Sojin Kamiyama), a Mandarin, is determined to have Daisy, and he uses all his wiles to abduct her. She is saved by Harry Anderson (Rockliffe Fellowes), and out of gratitude she marries him. But when he finds himself snubbed by society because of her, he begins treating her cruelly. Nevertheless, he refuses to let her go -- he threatens to kill Tevis if he sees him with her. But Anderson is removed from the picture when he drinks a poisoned glass of wine that Lee Tai had meant for Tevis to drink. Tevis and Daisy return to England together and Lee Tai is executed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Simple country girl Rose Kirby (Patsy Ruth Miller) is heartbroken when the wealthy parents of her sweetheart Jack Talbot (Alan Forrest) look down on her in this sentimental melodrama. Both go on to marry other people, but Jack never forgets her and even includes her in his will. Years later, Rose and Jack are reunited when their respective spouses die, giving them a second chance at happiness. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide