Preston S. Foster Movies

John Ford, whose fierce pride in his Irish heritage often manifested itself in his work, directed this historical drama which uses as its backdrop the 1916 Easter Rebellion of Irish patriots against British rule. Nora Clitheroe (Barbara Stanwyck) runs a rooming house in Dublin and tries to stay away from the political turmoil raging around her, so she becomes quite upset when she learns that her husband Jack (Preston S. Foster) has joined a militia of Irish rebels trying to drive out the British. Nora fears for Jack's safety and begs him to keep his distance from the revolutionary forces. Jack assures her that he'll step back from their activities, but it's not until it's too late that Nora learns that Jack has done just the opposite -- and has become a commander with the Irish Citizen Army as they plan an ill-fated raid on the Dublin Post Office. John Ford had several bitter disputes with RKO Pictures while making The Plough and the Stars, especially after the studio re-shot several scenes with another director to tone down the film's politics; while he distributed several independent productions through the studio, he never shot another picture for RKO. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

RKO Radio's spectacular production The Last Days of Pompeii utilizes the title but precious little else of the famous Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton historical novel (at least the film admits as much in the opening credits). Preston S. Foster stars as Marcus, a happy-go-lucky Ancient Roman blacksmith who is plunged into the depths of despair when his wife and child are killed by a hit-and-run chariot. Undergoing a radical personality change, Marcus becomes obsessed with money and prestige, and to achieve these he becomes a mighty gladiator. While on a visit to Judea, Marcus takes orphaned boy Flavius (David Holt) under his wing and also spends some time with governor Pontius Pilate (Basil Rathbone), who is presently preoccupied with the execution of a subversive young rabbi named Jesus Christ. Witnessing Christ's march to Calvary, Marcus is moved by His plight, but does nothing to help the man and indeed dismisses the whole notion of Christianity as superstitious nonsense. Years later, an ageing Marcus takes up residence in a lavish villa in the resort town of Pompeii, while his grown-up foster son, Flavius (now played by John Wood), gets involved in the burgeoning Christian movement. Arrested by the authorities, Flavius and his fellow Christians are sentenced to death in the arena, much to the dismay of Marcus. Still, it takes the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii for Marcus to undergo his long-overdue religious awakening, and in the moments before he himself is engulfed by lava he arranges the escape of Flavius and the young man's sweetheart, Clodia (Dorothy Wilson). The climactic volcanic holocaust is a triumph of special effects, but that was to be expected from the production team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the same folks responsible for King Kong. Though Preston S. Foster delivers one of his finest performances in The Last Days of Pompeii, the film's acting honors go to Basil Rathbone as Pilate, who transforms from a swaggering young skeptic to a conscience-stricken old man. On its original release, the film lost 237,000 dollars, but in the long run made a profit via periodic reissues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

This drama chronicles the emotionally distant relationship between a mother and her four grown children. Though they live in the same house they could not be more different. One of her sons is a conscientious provider who keeps them afloat. A different brother believes himself the greatest thespian since Barrymore. The third brother is a budding revolutionary determined to overthrow the capitalist empire. Meanwhile, the mother's daughter goes to college and returns a married woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An interesting precursor to such films as The Petrified Forest and Bus Stop, Heat Lightning takes place in a remote California-desert gas station-café. Several strange characters pass through the establishment's portals during one fateful 24-hour period, including cad-and-bounder George (Preston S. Foster). Resourceful proprietress Olga (Aline MacMahon) tries to remain detached throughout but is forced to take drastic action when George threatens to seduce and abandon her own sister Myra (Ann Dvorak). Glenda Farrell, one of Warners' most reliable players, is surprisingly wasted in a glorified bit role; even further down the cast list as "Husband and Wife" are 2-reel comedy star Edgar Kennedy and future Oscar winner Jane Darwell (talk about an odd couple!) Heat Lightning was based on a stage play co-scripted by George Abbott. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Young had to be the busiest leading man in Hollywood in 1934. He appeared in no fewer than nine pictures, four of them at his home studio of MGM. The Band Plays On features Young as one of four close pals, who have grown up together and are now college football champs known as "The Four Bombers". So inseparable are these chums that, when one is injured in a car accident, the remaining three quit the team. But everyone is back on the field for the inevitable Big Game, including Young, who of course scores the winning T.D. Robert Young plays a football star as realistically as he'd played a baseball star in the earlier Death on the Diamond (34)--meaning that the film relies a heavily on stunt doubles and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Frederick Nebel (of "Torchy Blane" fame), Sleepers East is largely set on a train bound for New York. The plot is set in motion by the murder trial of a man accused of killing a politician. The defendant intended to pull the trigger, but the murder was actually committed by someone else. The DA, however, isn't interested in facts: He's been ordered by the local political machine to railroad the defendant into the electric chair. The only person who can clear the poor fellow is witness Lena Karelson (Wynne Gibson), an ex-convict who is being transported to New York by train under an assumed name to prevent her death at the hands of hired gunmen. Unhappy at being a political pawn, Lena tries to escape from her bodyguards in the company of man-with-a-past Jason Everett (Preston S. Foster). She gets her chance during a train wreck, but ultimately realizes that unless she shows up to testify, she will never be able to live with herself. Sleepers East was remade in 1941 as the "Michael Shayne" series entry Sleepers West. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Preston Foster, Mischa Auer, and Evalyn Knapp star in this tale of political intrigue centering on the quest of a powerful mayor to clear his name. Political leaders are being assassinated - stealthily shot dead by bullets made of ice - and when the blame falls on the mayor he must race to find the real killer before it's too late. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

One of the earliest girls-in-prison yarns, Ladies They Talk About has everything but Ida Lupino as the warden--and had she been in Hollywood at the time, she would probably be here as well. Gun moll Barbara Stanwyck is thrown into San Quentin (which looks more like a summer resort than a house of detention), thanks to her involvement in a bank robbery and the machinations of D.A./preacher David Slade (Preston Foster). It isn't political ambition that motivates Slade: he's in love with Stanwyck, and hopes that her incarceration will rehabilitate her. Instead, Stanwyck becomes a hard-bitten prison-block leader, spearheading a jailbreak. When things go awry, she holds Slade responsible. Upon her release, she goes gunning for Slade, and doesn't realize that she's really in love with him until she nearly puts him six feet under. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Man Who Dared was inspired by the career of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, here called "Jan Novak" and played by Preston S. Foster. The first portion of the film dwells upon Novak's early years in Chicago's Bohemian community, then follows him on the political trail. In the face of governmental corruption, Novak is scrupulously honest; despite the pressures of big-business barons, Novak tirelessly champions the working man. Elected mayor of Chicago during the Prohibition era, Novak stands his ground against gangsterism. At the end, he is shot down by a sniper who was aiming at President-elect Roosevelt (just as Anton Cermak was shot at the Chicago Century of Progress exhibition in 1933). As Novak dies, he expresses no regrets, declaring his gratitude that Roosevelt was spared. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warner Bros.' hard-hitting chain-gang movie was a faithful adaptation of the similarly titled autobiography of Robert Elliot Burns. Paul Muni plays World War I veteran James Allen, whose plans of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Flat broke, Allen is forced to pawn his war medals, which have become a glut on the market. When Allen is innocently involved in a restaurant holdup, the police don't buy his story that the robber (Preston S. Foster) had forced him to clean out the cash register, and Allen is sentenced to ten years on a chain gang. The brutal scenes that follow make the later chain-gang movie Cool Hand Luke (1967) look like a picnic in the country. Unable to stand any more, Allen escapes and heads to Chicago. Using an alias, he builds a new life for himself and within five years is the respected president of a bridge-building firm. His landlady (Glenda Farrell), learning about his past, forces Allen to marry her. When he falls in love with another girl (Helen Vinson) and asks for a divorce, his wife turns him over to the authorities. The real-life Robert Elliot Burns was still a fugitive when he wrote his exposé of the chain-gang system; the publication of Burns' book led to the abolishment of that system and an erasure of Burns' sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A star football player in college, Garry King (Richard Arlen) finds post-college life very different; he betrays the trust of his best friend Steve (Preston S. Foster), finally losing his job. Meanwhile, his younger brother Bob (John Darrow), also a football star, is on the same track to ruin; when Garry reforms himself, events give him the opportunity to help Bob as well. Many football players and coaches of the time appear as themselves. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

The butt of many a practical joke at the office where he works as a clerk, Joe Holt (Joe E. Brown) is nonetheless determined to prove himself a brilliant inventor. His latest creation is an unsinkable swim suit, which works quite well in theory. In practice, however, it is another matter; Joe can't test out the suit because he can't swim. As the result of a series of dizzying circumstances, Joe is mistaken for a swimming champ (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) also named Joe Holt, and as such he makes the acquaintance of wealthy debutante Alice Brandon (Ginger Rogers). Through the auspices of Alice's father, "our" Joe is entered in the annual swimming marathon from Catalina Island to the California coastline. After taking a few "dry" swimming lessons from a youngster named Sam (Allan "Farina" Hoskins), the nervous Joe dives into the Catalina surf and starts the 22-mile swim. His unsinkable suit is a success, but there's many a slapstick obstacle placed in Joe's path before he can resurface at the finish line, thanks largely to the machinations of rival swimmer Edward Dover (Preston S. Foster). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide