Bess Flowers Movies
The faces of most movie extras are unmemorable blurs in the public's memory. Not so the elegant, statuesque Bess Flowers, who was crowned by appreciative film buffs as "Queen of the Hollywood Dress Extras." After studying drama (against her father's wishes) at the Carnegie Inst of Technology, Flowers intended to head to New York, but at the last moment opted for Hollywood. She made her first film in 1922, subsequently appearing prominently in such productions as Hollywood (1922) and Chaplin's Woman of Paris (1923). Too tall for most leading men, Flowers found her true niche as a supporting actress. By the time talkies came around, Flowers was mostly playing bits in features, though her roles were more sizeable in two-reel comedies; she was a special favorite of popular short-subject star Charley Chase. Major directors like Frank Lloyd always found work for Flowers because of her elegant bearing and her luminescent gift for making the people around her look good. While generally an extra, Flowers enjoyed substantial roles in such films as Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934), Gregory La Cava's Private Worlds and Leo McCarey's The Awful Truth (1937). In 1947's Song of the Thin Man, the usually unheralded Flowers was afforded screen billing. Her fans particularly cherish Flowers' bit as a well-wisher in All About Eve (1950), in which she breaks her customary screen silence to utter "I'm so happy for you, Eve." Flowers was married twice, first to Cecil B. DeMille's legendary "right hand man" Cullen Tate, then to Columbia studio manager William S. Holman. After her retirement, Bess Flowers made one last on-camera appearance in 1974 when she was interviewed by NBC's Tom Snyder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A change of pace for both director Vincente Minnelli and star Katharine Hepburn, this taut drama features the latter as Ann Hamilton, the daughter of a scientist (Edmund Gwenn), who after a whirlwind romance marries handsome but slightly mysterious inventor turned businessman Alan Garroway (Robert Taylor). But wedded bliss proves short-lived when Garroway refuses to discuss his brother Michael, whose presence is felt constantly despite the mystery surrounding his whereabouts. The missing Michael becomes an obsession for Ann, whose curiosity is piqued even more after a chance encounter with Sylvia Burton (Jayne Meadows), a young woman who figures in the lives of both brothers and who displays a strange resemblance to Ann herself. Despite Alan's dire misgivings, Ann feels compelled to solve the mystery of Michael, until, that is, she discovers that Alan may very well have murdered his own brother. Undercurrent marked the screen debut of Jayne Meadows and a breakthrough of sorts for Robert Mitchum, whom M-G-M borrowed from David O. Selznick for a reputed $25,000. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1946
One of two con-artists ends up arrested and given five days of freedom before he must go to jail. This comedy chronicles those five days. The man loves to eat; knowing that prison food is lousy, he decides to spend his days stuffing himself with the finest foods available. He is accompanied to numerous 4-star restaurants by his partner and the arresting officer. Each of these two are interested in learning where he stashed a half-million dollars in loot. Eventually the man begins looking at his lovely partner and thinking of things other than his stomach. This leads to marriage. After serving his time, he and his bride go on to lead honest lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucille Ball, John Hodiak, (more)
After several years' service with the Marines in World War II, Tyrone Power made his much anticipated return to the screen in The Razor's Edge. Power is appropriately cast as disillusioned World War I vet Larry Darrell, who returns from hostilities questioning his old values. To find himself, Larry joins several other members of the Lost Generation in Paris. He is disillusioned once more when the society deb whom he loves, Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney), marries another for wealth and position. She returns to Larry's life to break up his romance with unstable, alcoholic Sophie MacDonald (Anne Baxter in a powerhouse Oscar-winning performance). After Sophie's death, Larry determines that the life offered him by Isabel is not to his liking, and continues seeking his true place in the scheme of things. Acting as a respite between the plot's various intrigues is Clifton Webb as a waspish social arbiter, who ends up a lonely, dying man, imperiously dictating arrangements for his own funeral. The Razor's Edge was based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, who appears onscreen in the form of Herbert Marshall. The film would be remade in 1984, with Bill Murray in the Tyrone Power role. This film re-teamed Tierney and Webb two years after their appearance together in Laura. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Demetrius Alexis, (more)
- 1946
Deception is an operatic rehash of the 1929 film Jealousy. Music teacher Bette Davis--who evidently has a large student pool, judging by the size of her penthouse apartment--is reunited with her cellist lover Paul Henreid, whom she believed to have been killed in the war. Henreid wants to marry Davis, but he is unaware that she has, for the past several years, been the "protege" of composer Claude Rains. Rains agrees to keep quiet about his affair with Davis, but takes sadistic delight in tormenting the woman and working behind the scenes to sabotage Henreid's career. When Rains tells Bette of his plans to publicly humiliate Henreid, she shoots her ex-lover dead. Henreid agrees to stand by Davis no matter what is in store for her. Director Irving Rapper had originally wanted to treat the hoary plot twists of Deception comically, with the three principals walking off together at the end with a "what the hell?" attitude. He was tersely told to stick to the script; after all, people didn't pay to see Bette Davis but to see her suffer. Like the 1929 version of Jealousy, Deception was based on a play by Louis Verneuil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, (more)
- 1945
Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays the Garbo counterpart, a successful but severely depressed movie star who wants to be alone. Walter Pigeon steps into John Barrymore's role, sort of; whereas Barrymore was a thief posing as nobility, Pigeon is a war correspondent posing as a thief. Hotel stenographer Lana Turner (originally Joan Crawford) latches onto tycoon Edward Arnold (originally Wallace Beery) in hopes of a life of luxury. And, in the film's biggest adaptation stretch, Van Johnson is cast as a war hero who, about to undergo life-threatening surgery, wants to thoroughly enjoy what may be his last days on earth. It takes a while to figure this out, but Johnson is supposed to be the character played in Grand Hotel by Lionel Barrymore: the meek clerk who, upon discovering that he's dying, blows his life savings on one last fling. On the whole, Weekend at the Waldorf is a lot more light-hearted than Grand Hotel, as indicated by the expository character played by humorist Robert Benchley, not to mention the presence of Xavier Cugat as the Waldorf's orchestra leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1945
A middle-aged Clark Gable returned from active duty in World War II to star in this MGM release that was heavily advertised as his big comeback. Gable is Harry Patterson, the bosun mate on a merchant marine vessel, a tough sailor and fighter with the proverbial girl in every port. But while in a San Francisco library, looking up a book on the human soul for his sidekick Mudgin (Thomas Mitchell), who thinks his soul has departed his body, Harry meets librarian Emily Sears (Greer Garson), whom he woos, marries, and leaves to sail off on another freighter. When he returns, Emily has retreated to an old farm to await the birth of their child. Harry continues to resent staying in one place, but he ultimately changes his tune when his baby's life hangs in the balance. Garson and Joan Blondell, playing her outspoken best friend, are both terrific, and Gable gives a less heroic performance that's a thoughtful change for him, although critics at the time were less than charitable. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Greer Garson, (more)
- 1945
This tender but fluffy romantic comedy centers on the romantic travails of a beautiful European princesss who goes to New York to find the newspaper reporter she fell for when he was visiting her mythical country. She stays at the Big Apple's finest hotel and while there finds herself mistaken for a maid by a sweet-natured bellhop. Charmed by his confusion, she insists that he become her personal escort. She does not realize that the impressionable fellow has fallen in love with her and so misconstrues her every kindness. When not with her, the bellhop is visiting a beautiful invalid, who is secretly in love with him. Meanwhile the princess eventually finds the reporter. She makes him a proposition, but he, believing them to be too different, rejects the offer. Later, she takes the bellhop and goes to the reporter's favorite bar in hopes of seeing him. Unfortunately, the joint gets raided and she ends up in jail until the reporter shows up to bail her out. Soon afterward, she learns that her father has died and that she is now queen. Things get sticky then, as both the bellboy and the new queen find themselves faced with choosing between wealth and power or true love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hedy Lamarr, Robert Walker, (more)
- 1945
The real Diamond Horseshoe was a Las Vegas nightclub created by impresario Billy Rose, which spotlighted old-time stars from the early 20th century recreating the songs and skits that had made them great. Rose allowed 20th Century-Fox to use the name "Diamond Horseshoe" for a Technicolor musical, but only on the proviso that Rose's name be included in the title. Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe does have the occasional old-timer specialty, but for the most part the plot concentrates on Betty Grable, a young entertainer who romances would-be songwriter Dick Haymes. The affair is frowned upon by Haymes' father (William Gaxton), the manager of the Diamond Horseshoe, who is determined that his son pursue a medical career. The predictability of the storyline is redeemed by Haymes' rendition of the song hit "The More I See You", and by the comedy turns of Phil Silvers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Dick Haymes, (more)
From a novel of the same name by "Elizabeth", the film begins in 1914, with Bette Davis cast as vain, flighty society woman Fanny Trellis. Informed by Jewish-American financier Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) that her brother Trippy (Richard Waring) has stolen money to pay his gambling debts, Fanny marries Job, securing his promise that he won't prosecute her thieving sibling. Angered by Fanny's agreeing to this loveless union, Trippy runs off to join the army, and is killed during World War I. Fanny holds Skeffington responsible for her brother's death, and demands a divorce with a generous cash settlement. Despite Job's oft-repeated belief that "a woman is only beautiful when she is loved," Fanny uses her coquettish beauty to flit indiscriminately from man to man. While on a sailing trip with her latest beau, Fanny comes down with diphtheria. The disease destroys her facial beauty, and before long the shallow Fanny is left completely alone. Her self-centered efforts to reunite all of her old boyfriends for a party is a failure due to her pathetic middle-aged efforts to be kittenish, and the grotesqueness of the mounds of facial makeup she apples. Meanwhile, Skeffington, who has resettled in Europe with his daughter, is captured by the Nazis and placed in a concentration camp. He manages to escape, returning to the US totally blind and utterly penniless. A chastened Fanny comes back to her husband, promising to care for him for the rest of his life. Most TV prints of Mr. Skeffington run 127 minutes; the videocassette and cable TV versions have been restored to the original length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Claude Rains, (more)
- 1944
Colonel Breckinridge Marshall (Walter Catlett) of Clearwater, GA -- who puts on a big front but is actually only a step away from the poor house -- rents a luxurious townhouse in Manhattan in anticipation of the Carnegie Hall debut of his two daughters, singer Melinda (Gloria Jean) and pianist/singer Susannah (Martha O'Driscoll). But on their first night there, they hear strange noises and other disturbances, including the sound of someone tap-dancing -- Susannah runs for help to the next building, which turns out to be a nightclub where Olsen (Ole Olsen) and Johnson (Chic Johnson) are working, and finds herself in the middle of one of their "nut humor" Hellzapoppin'-style sketches. The two comics try to make amends by helping her out and find themselves up to their neck in strange warnings ("First is worst"), noises, and bizarre, ghostly apparations seemingly from nowhere, and alleged ghostly goings on. They eventually figure out that the house once belonged to one Wilbur Duffington, a wealthy ne'er-do-well out of New York's "gilded age" whose main hobbies were tap-dancing and drinking plum brandy, before he fell from a third-story window in the year 1900 at a party he was throwing. The boys reason that Wilbur, if he is there, might want to finish the party he was having the night he died; when that doesn't work, they reason out that he had to be a real square because he died in 1900, and so they bring in a swing band and a bunch of jitterbug dancers to drive him out -- that seems to do the trick, the ghost seemingly departing. But then the noises continue and the Marshalls are at their wits' end, until Olsen and Johnson accidentally discover far more sinister goings on, involving a band of criminals who have already committed one murder, something in that house worth killing for, and a plan to eliminate the Marshall family. Before it's over, a pitched battle ensues between the heroes and a band of costumed thugs (including a pair of ill-tempered dwarves), and a race against time to get the Marshall girls to a performance on time to save their careers, plus the unmasking of the man behind all of the mayhem, all intermixed with lots of Olsen and Johnson's patented nut-humor and the presence of a pre-Sky King Kirby Grant leading a band, singing, and playing a violin. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, (more)
Directed by Billy Wilder and adapted from a James M. Cain novel by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity represents the high-water mark of 1940s film noir urban crime dramas in which a greedy, weak man is seduced and trapped by a cold, evil woman amidst the dark shadows and Expressionist lighting of modern cities. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband to collect his accident policy. The murder goes as planned, but after the couple's passion cools, each becomes suspicious of the other's motives. The plan is further complicated when Neff's boss Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a brilliant insurance investigator, takes over the investigation. Told in flashbacks from Neff's perspective, the film moves with ruthless determinism as each character meets what seems to be a preordained fate. Movie veterans Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robinson give some of their best performances, and Wilder's cynical sensibility finds a perfect match in the story's unsentimental perspective, heightened by John Seitz's hard-edged cinematography. Double Indemnity ranks with the classics of mainstream Hollywood movie-making. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
- 1944
Also known as Ladies in Washington, this 61-minute quickie utilizes the services of several 20th Century-Fox contractees. Set in the nation's capital, the film delves into the living and working conditions of the girls employed in wartime government jobs. Jerry (Sheila Ryan), a Washington secretary, is in the doldrums because of an unhappy affair with her married employer. Michael (Anthony Quinn), a secret agent for the enemy, uses Jerry to get information on her boss. All of this has an adverse effect on Jerry's roommates, especially her best friend Carol. The whole mess ends in a bloody gun battle, exacting a heavy toll on both the innocent and the guilty. Halfway down the cast list of Ladies of Washington is former Miss America Jo-Carroll Dennison, who later became the wife of comedian Phil Silvers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trudy Marshall, Ronald Graham, (more)
- 1944
The still very undead mummy experiences insane jealousy in this the third of Universal's Kharis thrillers. Although he was thought to have perished in a fire in The Mummy's Tomb (1942), Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) is once again wreaking havoc in the town of Mapleton, MA. Sent by the High Priest (George Zucco) to retrieve both Kharis and his ancient love interest, the Princess Ananka, from their resting places at New York's Scripps Museum, Yousef Bey (John Carradine) learns that the princess has turned to dust. Her soul, however, seems to have been reincarnated as Amina Mansouri (Ramsay Ames), an Egyptian exchange student studying with Mapleton Egyptologist professor Norman (Frank Reicher). The latter's experiments with brewing tanna leaves turn ugly when Kharis appears. Soon after, Amina's hair develops grey streaks and she experiences strange and unsettling trances, unsettling especially for boyfriend Tom Hervey (Robert Lowery). Investigating Professor Norman's strange death, Inspector Walgreen (Barton MacLane) sets a trap for Kharis, but the crafty mummy escapes with a prostrate Amina. Hiding in an abandoned mineshaft, Kharis, to his distress, learns that Yousef harbors more than a religious interest in the beautiful Amina and promptly kills him. With the reincarnated but rapidly decaying princess in his arms, the mummy, to the horrors of the townspeople in general and Tom in particular, blithely walks into a nearby swamp and slowly sinks into the quagmire. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, (more)
Directed by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a sadly tragic film noir, is the story of the doomed love of married psychology-professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who, with murderous results, meets and falls in love with another woman. Wanley first sees the portrait of a beautiful woman, Alice (Joan Bennett), and then meets the woman herself. After committing murder in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by Heidt (Dan Duryea). The script, written by Nunnally Johnson, is carefully structured with crisp dialogue and a convincing ending. Lang is at his best, getting excellent performances from Robinson, as the doomed, naive professor, and Bennett both. The Woman in the Window shows that good and evil are present in all, and that circumstances frequently dictate moral choices. Based on J.H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film gives viewers their money's worth with not one but two logical and satisfying surprise twists at the end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1943
In his book on "screwball" comedies, the late William K. Everson described What a Woman as "indistinguishable from a dozen other big-business comedies, but a pleasant and zany time-killer." Once again, Rosalind Russell is cast as a high-pressure female executive, in this instance liteary agent Carol Ainsley. Having landed the motion picture rights for a best-selling novel, Carol begins looking for an appropriately handsome leading man for the film version. She decides that the novelist himself-an unassuming fellow named Michael Cobb (Willard Parker in his starring film debut) would be the ideal star for the film. Unfortunately, Cobb has never performed any of the heroice deeds of his fictional protagonist, so it's up to Carol to reshape him in the image of his literary alter ego. Meanwhile, magazine writer Henry Pepper (Brian Aherne), who has fallen in love with Carol while interviewing her, looks askance at her efforts to "build up" the unprepossessing Cobb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1943
The Mad Ghoul may well be the definitive George Zucco horror melodrama. The star plays Dr. Alfred Morris, a distinguished scientist who obsession with an ancient Egyptian life-preserving process has tipped him over into madness. In love with young concert singer Isabel Lewis (Evelyn Ankers), Morris is extremely jealous of Isabel's boy friend Ted Allison (David Bruce), who happens to be the doctor's lab assistant. Killing two birds with one stone, Morris uses Ted as a guinea pig for his eternal-life experiments. Ted is transformed into a mindless zombie, though he occasionally lapses back into his normal self, with no memory of his zombified state. To stay alive, Ted must maintain a fresh supply of human hearts-and to that end, Morris programs the poor fellow to kill innocent victims and tear their hearts right out of their bodies. When Morris programs Ted to kill Isabel's new beau (Turhan Bey), he goes too far, and becomes a zombie himself. A British film critic wryly summed up The Mad Ghoul thusly: "To be a ghoul must be disconcerting enough, but to be a mad ghoul must be the height of personal embarrassment." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, (more)
- 1943
Stalwart supporting actor Allyn Joslyn is afforded a rare leading role in the Columbia mystery meller Dangerous Blondes. Joslyn and Evelyn Keyes play Harry and Jane Craig, a road-company Nick and Nora Charles. A popular mystery writer, Harry occasionally indulges in amateur detective work, with wife Jane at his side; their friendly nemesis is Inspector Clinton (Frank Craven), who'd prefer that the Craigs would stay home and mind their own business. This proves impossible when Ralph McCormick (Edmund Lowe), the owner of a swank fashion studio, is accused of murdering his wife for the love of designer Julie Taylor (Anita Louise). Snooping around on their own, the Craigs find the real killer-and nearly wind up victims themselves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1943
Jinx Falkenburg supplies the music and beauty and Bert Gordon provides the chuckles in Columbia's Laugh Your Blues Away. In his standard "Mad Russian" characterization ("How do you doooooo!"), Gordon plays an unemployed actor who poses as one Count Boris Rascalnikoff at the home of Texas cattleman Conklin (Dick Elliot). Also along for the ride is the actor's pretty sister Pam (Ms. Falkenburg), who impersonates the Countess Olga. It's all part of a scheme engineered by the social-climbing mother (Isobel Elsom) of Jimmy Westerly (Douglass Drake) to marry off her son to Conklin's daughter Priscilla (Phyllis Kennedy). But when Jimmy falls in love with Olga-er, Pam-the borscht hits the fan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jinx Falkenburg, Bert Gordon, (more)
- 1943
This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a city slicker con man -- the better to accommodate that film's stars, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The 1943 remake does without the comic relief, concentrating on Rooney, a teenaged playboy who is sent to a Western mining school by his father (Henry O'Neill), in the hopes that the Rooney will forsake his wastrel ways. Judy Garland is cast in the role originated on stage by Ginger Rogers: the feisty, lovelorn frontier postmistress Ginger Gray, who falls in love with the hero -- the difference being that Garland has been promoted from postmistress to the daughter of mining-school dean Phineas Armour (Guy Kibbee). The new plot involves a contest for rodeo queen, pitting Ginger against Marjorie Tait (Frances Rafferty), who is also her rival for Rooney's affections. The contest serves a double purpose: Rooney is hoping that the publicity engendered by the rivalry will attract students to the failing school, proof positive that for all of his bravado, he's a swell, altruistic guy underneath. These plot complications are merely prologue for a gargantuan musical finale built upon the Gershwin standard "I Got Rhythm," staged by the film's original director, Busby Berkeley. Other musical carryovers from the stage play include "Embraceable You," "Bidin' My Time," and "But Not for Me." Featured in the cast are June Allyson, Rags Ragland, and the Tommy Dorsey Band. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, (more)
- 1942
A nine-year-old Elizabeth Taylor made her film debut in this lively comedy. She plays the spoiled-brat daughter of a pudding manufacturer who has been entered into the town's mayoral race by some of the local businessmen. They have chosen him because they think he is easy to manipulate. As a sales gimmick, the pudding magnate advertises that his product contains the highly nutritious "Vitamin Z." He suddenly begins selling pudding like crazy and soon his political campaign is well-funded. Unfortunately, there is no "Vitamin Z" and when this is discovered, the town fathers try to dump him and show that he is a fake. Undaunted, the pudding maker retaliates by proving that the businessmen are the real crooks and in spite of the scandal, the man gets elected. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1942
The three stars of Universal's The Spoilers -- Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne and Randolph Scott -- were reunited for the pageantlike adventure yarn Pittsburgh. As indicated by the title, this is a saga of the steel industry, with longtime buddies Pittsburgh Markham (Wayne) and Cash Evans (Scott) rising from the ranks of miners to run their own foundry. Ruthlessly devoted to his work, Pittsburgh eventually has a falling out with Cash and also jeopardizes his romantic relationship with beautiful Josie Winters (Dietrich). Thanks to his duplicitous business practices, Pittsburgh loses both Josie and his steel mill; but when America enters WW II, he redeems himself by signing on as a common workman with Cash's still-thriving organization. Well acted and directed, Pittsburgh nonetheless lacks the extra spark which transforms a good film into a great one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
- 1942
Irene Dunne plays a flibbetygibbet socialite who inherits a farm in Arizona. She can't seem to manage either her money or her private life, thus seeks advice from outside sources. Irene falls in love with fledgling Manhattan psychiatrist Patric Knowles, and marries him in the hope that he'll solve all her problems. Lady in a Jam was advertised as one of the most expensive comedies ever made; the studio was banking on the reputations of star Irene Dunne and director Gregory LaCava to draw crowds. But when the film failed (it shifted emotional gears a bit too often for 1942 film fans), both the lady and the gentleman found their careers in "a jam"--from which Dunne recovered but LaCava didn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Patric Knowles, (more)
- 1942
This raucous series entry reunites Lupe Velez as Carmelita (aka "The Mexican Spitfire") and Leon Errol as Uncle Matt, with Walter Reed taking over from Charles "Buddy" Rogers as Carmelita's staid American husband Dennis Lindsay. The titular elephant is a tiny glass figurine, brought back from a trip abroad by Uncle Matt. On board a luxury liner heading to New York, jewel smugglers Ready (Lyle Talbot) and Diana (Marion Martin) hide a valuable gem in the miniature elephant, for the purpose of avoiding the customs inspectors. Upon arriving home, Uncle Matt misplaces the pint-sized pachyderm, causing no end of headaches for Carmelita and Dennis. The ensuing confusion requires Carmelita to march a live, regulation-sized elephant into a nightclub, and obliges Uncle Matt to once again disguise himself as his British lookalike Lord Epping. One could never confuse the "Mexican Spitfire" series with True Art, but the films were admittedly a lot of harmless fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Walter Reed, (more)
On a secluded base in Arizona, veteran World War One pilot Steve Britt (Preston Foster) trains flyers to fight in World War Two. One of his trainees, Englishman Peter Stackhouse (John Sutton), competes with Britt for the affections of Kay Saunders (Gene Tierney), the daughter of a local rancher. Despite their differences, Britt makes sure Sutton passes his training and becomes a combat pilot -- even though he loses Kay to the young man in the process. Note the photos of director (and former flying ace) Wellman, which are used as the pictures of Sutton's father displayed by Britt and Sutton's grandmother, Lady Stackhouse (Dame May Whitty). ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Tierney, Preston S. Foster, (more)
- 1942
This Time for Keeps is a followup to 1940's Keeping Company, with Ann Rutherford repeating her role from the earlier film. Rutherford is cast as newlywed Katherine White, at present undergoing a rocky "period of adjustment" with her husband Lee (Robert Sterling, replacing the original film's John Shelton). Having trouble landing a good job, Lee is persuaded to go to work for his father-in-law Harry Bryant (Frank Morgan in the first film, Guy Kibbee in the second). Unfortunately, Harry doesn't believe in allowing his employees to think for themselves, resulting in even more friction between Katherine and Lee. It's up to Harry's all-knowing wife (Irene Rich, another carryover from Keeping Company) to smooth everyone's ruffled feathers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Rutherford, Robert Sterling, (more)
