Wallace Ford Movies
Once there was a film historian who opined that Wallace Ford was in more movies than any other character actor of his prominence. This is unlikely, but Ford was certainly kept busy in roles of all shapes and sizes during his 35-year movie career. Orphaned in infancy, Ford grew up in various British orphanages and foster homes (his search in the mid-1930s for his natural parents drew worldwide headlines). He first set foot on stage at age 11, playing in vaudeville and music halls before working his way up to Broadway. His inauspicious feature-film debut was in Swellhead (1931), a baseball melodrama which lay on the shelf for nearly five years before its release. He went on to play wisecracking leading roles in such "B"s as Night of Terror (1933), The Nut Farm (1935) and The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1935); the critics paid no heed to these minor efforts, though they always showered Ford with praise for his supporting roles in films like John Ford's The Informer (1935) and Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943). He occasionally took a leave of absence from films to accept a stage role; in 1937, he created the part of George in the original Broadway production of Of Mice and Men (1937). As he grew balder and stockier, he remained in demand for middle-aged character roles, often portraying wistful drunks or philosophical ne'er-do-wells. Wallace Ford ended his film career with his powerful portrayal of Elizabeth Hartman's vacillating father in A Patch of Blue (1965). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1940
This early Judy Canova vehicle was conceived along the same lines as the 1937 20th Century-Fox musical Kentucky Moonshine. A movie studio sends its talent scouts to hillbilly country, there to find a new singing star. Actually it's all a publicity stunt; the studio has planted a Hollywoodite in the hills to await a phony discovery. But the scouts come upon genuine mountain girl Judy Canova instead, and it is she who makes the grade in Tinseltown. Canova's crowning moment in Scatterbrain is the scene in which she washes a floor gliding about on roller skates with brushes tied to them, while singing that top-40 favorite "Benny the Beaver". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Canova, Alan Mowbray, (more)
- 1940
Two Girls on Broadway is an updated reworking of MGM's Oscar-winning 1929 musical Broadway Melody. Joan Blondell and Lana Turner play a vaudeville "sister" act, slightly more talented than the similar duo in Broadway Melody. The twosome have sworn never to break up, but that was before hoofer George Murphy entered the scene. Blondell realizes that it's Turner whom Murphy loves, so she nobly steps aside to make room for her baby sister. Two Girls on Broadway was another step in the right direction for the blossoming career of Lana Turner, here permitted to show off her terpsichorean skills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Joan Blondell, (more)
- 1940
Originally slated for released through Grand National Pictures, Isle of Destiny was redirected to RKO Radio when Grand National folded in late 1939. June Lang stars as Virginia Allerton, a famous aviatrix who crashlands in a remote South Sea Island (a la Amelia Erhardt!) and is promptly kidnapped by gun-runner Barton (Gilbert Roland). Coming to Virginia's rescue are two-fisted US marines Stripes Thornton (William Gargan) and Milly Barnes (Wallace Ford). Also figuring into the storyline are Katherine DeMille as a sultry native with a predilection of disposing of her enemies with poison darts, and septugenarian Etienne Girardot (in his last film appearance) as Barton's semi-comic assistant. Too long by about two reels, Isle of Destiny has the advantage of eye-pleasing Cosmocolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Wallace Ford, (more)
William K. Howard, a once-prestigious director fallen on hard times in 1939, proved that he still had the "right stuff" with the modest tearjerker Back Door to Heaven. Wallace Ford stars as Frankie, a pugnacious drifter stigmatized by his reform-school upbringing. Frankie and his former "classmate" Jud (Stu Erwin) try to go straight, but get mixed up in a robbery, during which a man is killed. Though not responsible for the murder, it is Frankie who is railroaded to the death house. Nonetheless, he manages to bust out -- just in time for his grammar school class reunion, presided over by teacher Miss Williams (Aline MacMahon), the only person who ever tried to give Frankie a break. Despite severe storytelling shortcomings and gaping logic holes, director Howard managed to make a silk purse out of the critically acclaimed Back Door to Heaven. However, what may once have been social realism, now seems more like a sentimental, mawkish melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Aline MacMahon, (more)
- 1937
This British musical comedy boasts one of the most eclectic casts in film history. Brash Wallace Ford and smoothie Ben Lyon play Jackson and Hartley, a couple of fly-by-night producers hoping to slap together a movie project. They hire showgirl Carla (Lupe Velez) as their leading lady, enhancing her publicity value by passing her off as an Argentinian cattle heiress. When the deception is revealed and the movie's backers pull out, bumbling brewery heir Otto (Harry Langdon) comes to the rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lupe Velez, Wallace Ford, (more)
- 1937
In this drama, a black American corporal gets court-martialed for a murder and receives a death sentence. Unfortunately, he is innocent. A white captain believes him and gives him one last furlough so he can spend New Year's Eve with his friends. Naturally the corporal uses the opportunity to go AWOL. The captain is later thrown out of the military and imprisoned for letting the colonel go. The colonel had no idea that the captain suffered so much on his behalf. The former captain, feels betrayed by the colonel and vows to get his revenge. After he is finally freed from prison, the ex-captain goes on a world-wide search for the former colonel. He finds him living in the African desert, leading a large tribe, and raising a family. The captain is just about to kill the colonel, and then has a change of heart. He decides to return to the States. The ex-colonel agrees to go with him, but the captain fights him because he wants him to stay. Unfortunately, the rest of the tribe misconstrues the captain's reasons for fighting with their leader. They shoot him in cold blood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Robeson
Exiled to Shanghai uses the then-waging wars in Spain and China as backdrops for a familiar "rival reporters" yarn. Wallace Ford plays Ted Young, a brash newsreel cameraman who is fired by his dyspeptic editor Fred Sears (Dean Jagger) for photographing the wrong general during the Spanish Civil War. Down but not out, Ted embraces a new form of technology, establishing the first television newsreel service (and this was two years before commercial TV made its "official" American debut at the New York World's Fair). As a result, Ted is rehired and promoted to editor, while poor Fred ends up being transferred to China (hence the film's title). While all this is going on, Ted and Fred still find time to battle over heroine Nancy Jones (June Travis). A pretty good film on its own merits, Exiled to Shanghai has gained curiosity value by virtue of its use of TV journalism as a dramatic device. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, June Travis, (more)
- 1937
Raoul Walsh, best remembered for his rough-and-tumble action pictures, made this film on a rare loan-out to a British studio. Jim Tracey (Wallace Ford) is an American gangster who, while on the run from the law, flees to England, where he joins the British army by posing as a Canadian. Jim and his new friend Bert Dawson (John Mills) go through training together, and they both get to know Sally Briggs (Anna Lee), the daughter of their commanding officer. While Jim and Bert vie for Sally's attentions, Jim discovers that his girlfriend Jean Burdett (Grace Bradley) has followed him to England and is threatening to reveal his true identity. Jim ships out to China with his regiment before Jean's word can get too far; it turns out that Sally is also on board the ship, but that bit of good news turns sour when band of Chinese bandits attempt to seize the ship and take Sally with them. O.H.M.S. was also released under the more American-sounding title You're in the Army Now. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, John Mills, (more)
Men may come and men may go, but silly service comedies like Swing It Sailor go on forever. James Dunn and Ray Mayer star as Pete Kelly and Husky Stone a pair of over-age but under-mature gobs. Pete and Husky's main purpose in life seems to be duking it out over the affections of peroxide blonde Myrtle Montrose (Isabel Jewell) Back on duty, our heroes conspire to drive the rest of the Navy nuts with their goofy antics. Ultimately, Husky finds himself abandoned on a derelict ship slated for target practice, forcing the suddenly sobered Pete to race to his rescue. Most of the naval maneuvers seen in the final reels of Swing It Sailor were harvested from newsreel footage, some of it seemingly older than the three leading players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Ray Mayer, (more)
- 1936
This crime drama is set in the fictional San Francisco eatery, Mary Grady's Chowder House which is presided over by the crusty Mary, a tough broad with a marshmallow heart. One of her regulars is a newspaper reporter who decides to write about the widow Grady's long lost son who disappeared 15-years-ago. The trouble begins when a vagabond fugitive, who got in trouble after trying to prevent a murder, learns of the reporter's search and decides to pretend to be the prodigal son. At first the gruff Mary and her adopted daughter are skeptical. But later when the detective who pursues the killer closes in, they end up defending the young man. When the fugitive sees a picture of Mary's late husband, he realizes that the real killer is Mary's estranged son. Soon the widow and the reporter begin putting things together and find themselves closer to finding her real son. They do not know what he has done so the good-hearted fugitive tries to thwart them at every turn. This puts him in grave danger, but this doesn't sway him. Unfortunately, he fails and Mary finds her long-lost offspring, and just after he admits that he is her son, he is killed in a police shoot out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Boland, Julie Haydon, (more)
Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper have a field day playing Poverty Row versions of William Powell and Myrna Loy in this amusingly silly whodunit. Honeymooners Jimmy and Marjorie Flavin find that their Red Rock Tavern hostelry is not only home to a jewel smuggling gang but the site of a double murder. Since both the victims were seemingly bitten to death, the most obvious suspect is Silver Wolf, the part-wolf police dog owner by wheelchair-bound hotel proprietor Jamison (John Elliott) and his wife (Clara Kimball Young). But nothing is quite as it appears at first and the Flavins are quickly enmeshed in a conundrum worthy of -- well, Nick and Nora Charles. Produced by Mercury Pictures for release by Sam Katzman's Puritan Pictures Corp., Rogue's Tavern was filmed on standing sets at the former RKO Pathé studios. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Barbara Pepper, (more)
- 1936
Despite its title, things get pretty noisy in MGM's Absolute Quiet. Lionel Atwill heads the cast as reclusive financier G. A. Axton, who squirrels himself away at a remote ranch to recuperate from an illness. The only other person at the ranch is Axton's secretary Laura Tait (Irene Hervey), but there's no hanky-panky; Laura is happily (or at least contentedly) married to Barney Tait (Harvey Stephens). Axton's solitude comes to an end when a plane makes a forced landing near his property. The passengers are herded into the ranch house by Jack (Wallace Ford) and Judy (Bernardine Hayes), a pair of inept bandits who'd been holding up the plane when it developed engine trouble. Seeking an opportunity to overpower the crooks are unemployed actor Gregory Bengard (Louis Hayward), crooked governor Pruden (Raymond Walburn) and newspaper reporter Chubby Rudd (Stuart Erwin). It soon develops that the passengers -- and Laura -- have more to fear from the mysterious G. A. Axton than they do from the gun-wielding Jack and Judy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1936
Wandering around in the darkness, an amnesiac (Walter Abel) can't shake the feeling that he's murdered someone. When it develops that a prominent (if somewhat shifty) theatrical producer has been killed, our hero thinks that he's guilty. But unemployed actress Marie Smith (Margot Grahame) isn't completely convinced, so she helps him reconstruct the clues and -- hopefully -- track down the real killer. Walter Abel and Margot Grahame are more felicitously teamed here than they'd been as D'Artagnan and Milady de Winter in the previous season's Three Musketeers. Based on a novel by Gelett Burgess, Two in the Dark was remade in 1945 as Two O'Clock Courage (the book's original title). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, (more)
This amusing lampoon of low-budget filmmaking is set in motion when fly-by-night entrepreneur Bradley Page talks small-towner Mrs. Bent (Betty Alden) into financing a movie. Mrs. Bent's shiftless brother Willie Barton (Wallace Ford) is appointed director of the film, which turns out to be a big-time bomb. The day is saved when the film, a "serious" desert melodrama, is re-edited as a slapstick comedy. The winner in this instance is Mrs. Bent's long-suffering husband (Oscar Apfel), who'd wanted all along to invest his wife's money in the nut farm of the title. Based on a 1929 play by John C. Brownell, The Nut Farm is an interesting precursor to such later moviemaking satires as After the Fox and Sweet Liberty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1935
In this actioner, a race car driver is recuperating from an accident when he meets a charming waitress and decides to go into her father's trucking business with him. They soon find themselves conflicting with a competitor; it is the same company that employs the racer that tampered with the hero's car and caused his accident. Mayhem ensues as the rivalry escalates. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Marian Marsh, (more)
- 1935
Richard Cromwell stars in Columbia's Men of the Hour as dedicated newsreel cameraman Dave Durkin. When Dave and his shutterbug pal Andy Blane (Wallace Ford) have a falling out over gorgeous Ann Jordan (Billie Seward), Andy retaliates by arranging a frame that will get Dave fired. Disgraced and blacklisted, Dave gets back into the good graces of the newsreel company when he films the assassination of a foreign potentate. The story is for all intents and purposes over at this point, but Columbia decided to "hypo" the last reel by throwing a chase between Dave and the assassins. Appropriately, most of the action highlights in Men of the Hour were culled from stock newsreel footage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Cromwell, Billie Seward, (more)
- 1935
An innocent but admittedly none-too-bright victim of circumstance, Mary Burns (played by perennial movie victim Sylvia Sidney) is inexorably sucked into the vortex of organized crime. She tries to escape her murderer husband Babe Wilson (Alan Baxter), but it's a losing proposition, especially since the newspapers have already branded her a gun moll. Making matters worse, she is thrown into prison for crimes committed by her husband (understandably, since her behavior at her trial was self-defeating to say the least). Though believing her guilty, detective Harper (Wallace Ford) allows Mary to escape from jail, hoping in this way to track down Wilson. Nominal hero Alec MacDonald (Melvyn Douglas) isn't much help; not introduced until the film's halfway point, he spends most of his time in a hospital bed, recuperating from an injury. In fact, the story is wrapped up only after MacDonald is rescued by the heroine! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
Hoping to avoid the new inheritance tax, eccentric millionaire Jasper Whyte (Charles Grapewin) gathers together his greedy relatives and associates and announces that he intends to give away his fortune to his long-lost granddaughter Doris -- but if she doesn't show up for the reading of the will, the money will be divided evenly among the heirs. Among those present are two girls (Mary Carlisle and Evalyn Knapp) who both claim to be Doris. When one of the girls is poisoned, Whyte's heirs waste no time blaming each other for the murder. After an attempt on the life of the remaining girl, the suspect list narrows down to Whyte's great-nephew Tom (Regis Toomey). Combining forces with two-bit vaudeville magician Joe Luvalle (Wallace Ford), Tom manages to expose the genuine murderer. Written by Stuart Palmer of "Hildegarde Withers" fame, One Frightened Night is a class act all the way, from the inventive opening-title sequence to the exciting finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Grapewin, Mary Carlisle, (more)
- 1935
The film that revived Edward G. Robinson's career after a string of flops, along with A Slight Case of Murder (1938), it was one of the few comedies on his lengthy list of credits. The gangster-comedy was unusual in the composition of its writing staff, which included frequent Frank Capra collaborators Robert Riskin and Jo Swerling, as well as tough-guy scribe W.R. Burnett, who wrote Little Caesar (1931) and High Sierra (1941). The plot centers on the confusion surrounding the uncanny resemblance of a mild-mannered advertising clerk, Arthur Jones (Robinson), to escaped convict "Killer" Mannion. After the police mistakenly arrest the clerk, they give him a passport to avoid repeating the error. As a novelty, newspaper man Healy (Wallace Ford) hires the clerk, an aspiring writer, to do a series on his impressions of Mannion. But later, the convict appears at Jones' apartment and demands the passport for his own protection, threatening the fearful clerk if he reveals anything about his visit. The criminal also orders Jones to write the series of articles based on his reminiscences, which alerts the police that something strange is going on. Although the district attorney finally places Jones in jail under protective custody, for his safety, Mannion switches places with him in order to kill another inmate. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, (more)
To the world at large, Mr. Wong (Bela Lugosi) is a harmless shopkeeper in the Chinatown district (where no one seems unduly put off by his Hungarian accent) In truth, however, Wong is an eeeeevil Mandarin who'll stop at nothing to get his hands on the Twelve Coins of Confucious, which according to legend will allow him to rule over the Chinese province of Keelat. In his efforts to obtain these coins, Wong leaves a trail of corpses behind, eventually arousing the suspicions of wisecracking reporter Jason Barton (Wallace Ford). Narrowly escaping assassination in a Chinese restaurant, Barton and his sweetheart Peg (Arline Judge) take refuge in Wong's humble shop, where they stumble into a gathering of the villain's henchmen. Will our hero and heroine escape in time to thwart the sinister, seemingly all-powerful Mr. Wong? Boasting a full-blooded performance by Bela Lugosi and campy dialogue to spare (much of it astonishingly racist!), Mysterious Mr. Wong is a bad-movie buff's delight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, (more)
- 1935
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
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Brian Donlevy, (more)
The Informer, Liam O'Flaherty's novel of the the Irish "troubles" of the early 1920s, was first filmed in England in 1929, with Cyril McLaglen in the lead. When director John Ford remade The Informer in 1935, the role of the tragic Irish roisterer Gypo Nolan went to Cyril's brother Victor McLaglen. The scene is Dublin, during the Sinn Fein rebellion. Gypo has tried to join the IRA, but has been bounced because he lacked full commitment to the cause. Gypo's best friend is Frankie McPhillip (Wallace Ford) a fugitive from the British "Black and Tans" with a price on his head. Hoping to start a new life with his streetwalker girlfriend Katie Madden (Margot Grahame), Gypo informs on Frankie, collecting the twenty-pound reward. Frankie is cornered and killed by the British troops; Gypo briefly suffers the pangs of conscience, but is too simple-minded to grasp the full impact of his betrayal. Suspecting that Gypo has turned in Frankie, IRA commander Gallegher (Preston Foster) orders his men to keep tabs on the big lout. As Gypo stupidly squanders his money on food, drink and entertainment, Gallegher's lieutenants keep tab of every penny spent. Finally dragged before the rebel court, Gypo tries to bluff his way out of trouble, fingering another man (Donald Meek) as the informer, but this subterfuge quickly falls apart. Sobbingly, Gypo confesses his treachery. Before his execution can be carried out, he escapes, but his hiding place is given away inadvertently by Katie. Regretfully, because they realize Gypo is too childish to be fully responsible for his actions, the IRA members shoot the man down. With his last ounce of strength, Gypo drags himself into the church where Frankie's mother (Una O'Connor) prays for his son's soul. "Twas I informed on your son, Mrs. McPhillip," Gypo weeps, "Forgive me." "Ah, Gypo, I forgive you," the grieving mother replies. "You didn't know what you were doing." Exultantly, Gypo looks heavenward, and, just before succumbing to his wounds, bellows "Frankie! Frankie! Your mother forgives me!" The Informer earned Victor McLaglen an Oscar, as well as several other nominations; the film did poorly at the box office, but John Ford had anticipated this reaction, reportedly waiving his considerable salary just to make certain that picture--a labor of love for the director, who was himself a native of Ireland--would be completed. The film was remade in 1968, relocated to the black ghetto of Los Angeles and retitled Uptight!. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1935
Wallace Ford plays Terry McCall, a small-town baseball star with a monumental ego. Terry's gift for self-aggrandizement alienates him from everyone in town, including his waitress sweetheart May Malone (Barbara Kent). After suffering a concussion during a baseball game, Terry goes blind, whereupon he bitterly retreats from the world. Fortunately, May's kid brother Billy (Dickie Moore), who has always idolized Terry, helps the now-humbled ballplayer to find a reason for living. That Swell-Head was obviously filmed several years before its 1935 release is proven by the presence in the cast of former baseball pro "Turkey" Mike Donlin, who'd been dead since 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Dickie Moore, (more)
- 1935
In this thriller, a humble cab driver is mistaken for the dead heir to an enormous fortune. Once the resemblance is noticed, his life becomes interesting. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
When he's shipped off to prison on a tax-evasion charge, millionaire Van Dyke (Walter Connolly) breathes a sigh of relief: at least he'll be free of his dizzy, spendthrift wife (Billie Burke) and spoiled-rotten daughter Carol (Joan Bennett). Once behind bars, Van Dyke strikes up a friendship with amiable reformed bootlegger Ricardi (George Raft). Since Ricardi is to be sprung first, Van Dyke suggests that the ex-crook take on the task of "taming" the incorrigible Carol. Unwilling to be stifled by a former jailbird (even a good-looking one), Carol decides to get even by persuading one of Ricardi's former cohorts, a shady character named Tex (Lloyd Nolan) to stage a fake kidnapping. Trouble is, Tex kidnaps the girl for real, obliging Ricardi to race to her rescue -- but only after deliberately breaking every traffic law known to man, so that he'll be pursued by a veritable battalion of motorcycle cops (this hilarious finale was later re-used in the 1941 Buster Keaton two-reeler So You Won't Squawk). A heady blend of screwball comedy and crime melodrama, She Couldn't Take It is one of the fastest and funniest films of 1935. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Joan Bennett, (more)
