Christian J. Frank Movies

Hot on the heels of Columbia's The Fuller Brush Man, MGM released another Red Skelton gagfest, A Southern Yankee. Set during the Civil War, the film casts Skelton as bumbling bellboy Aubrey Filmore. Yearning to help the Northern cause by becoming an undercover spy, Aubrey succeeds beyond his wildest dreams when circumstances force him to pose as notorious Southern secret agent Major Drumman (George Coulouris), aka "The Grey Spider". Infiltrating rebel territory, our hero does his best (which is none too good) to intercept the Grey Spider's messages and smuggle them to the North. Along the way, he falls in love with pert Southern belle Sallyann Weatherby (Arlene Dahl). Many of the side-splitting gag routines were devised by Buster Keaton, notably the now-famous scene in which Aubrey gingerly walks across the battlefield between Northern and Southern lines carrying a two-sided flag -- the Northern Stars and Stripes on one side, the Southern Stars and Bars on the other -- a strategy that works until the wind suddenly changes! Though Edward Sedgwick is credited with the direction, Red Skelton later revealed that A Southern Yankee was actually directed by S. Sylvan Simon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An innocent man is put on trial, but is he really as innocent as he claims? Diplomat David Talbot (William Powell) and his bride Lucienne (Hedy Lamarr) are enjoying a honeymoon in Paris when David is confronted by extortionists who demand money in exchange for not turning him in to the police. David has no idea what the men are talking about and ignores their threats, but the men prove good to their word, and David finds himself on trial for a series of thefts. At the trial, David's name is cleared when Henri Sarrow (Basil Rathbone) testifies that he knew the man who committed the crimes, a friend of his who recently died. However, after the trial, David meets Sarrow, who informs David that he lied under oath; according to Sarrow, David did indeed commit the robberies while suffering from amnesia after a severe blow to the head, and if he wants to keep the facts quiet, he'll do whatever Sarrow says. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

No, No, Nanette was the second film version of the popular Otto Harbach-Vincent Youmans Broadway musical. Though slightly updated, the basic plot remains the same, with heroine Nanette (Anna Neagle) entering into a financial arrangement whereby she must answer "No" to every question during a 24-hour period. It's all for the sake of her rogueish uncle (Roland Young), who's heavily in debt thanks to a gaggle of gold-digging chorines. Nanette's task is complicated by her romantic entanglements involving an artist (Richard Carlson) and a flashy theatrical producer (Victor Mature). The songs include "I Want to Be Happy", "Tea for Two" and the title number. Unlike the previous Neagle-RKO Radio-Herbert Wilcox collaboration Irene, No, No, Nanette fizzled at the box office. For many years, the film was withdrawn from circulation because of Warner Bros.' 1950 remake, the Doris Day vehicle Tea for Two. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1930 with Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore, the robust Sigmund Romberg operetta New Moon was given another airing in 1940 as Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald vehicle. Set in 18th century Louisiana, the story concerns the relationship between haughty plantation owner Marianne de Beaumanoir (MacDonald) and her handsome bondservant Charles (Eddy). Actually a French nobleman in disguise, Charles leads his fellow bondsman in revolt, commandeering a ship and heading out to sea. He ends up capturing a vessel carrying Marianne and a cargo of mail-order brides. Though the bondsmen and the brides get along just fine, the romance between Marianne and Charles is noticeably strained, but the French Revolution comes along to solve everyone's problems. The soaring Romberg musical score includes such favorites as "One Kiss", "Stout-Hearted Men" and "Lover Come Back to Me", all performed con brio by the stars. Comedian Buster Keaton, whose supporting role was cut from the final release print of New Moon, can still be glimpsed among the bondsmen. ~ 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

The third of MGM's profitable Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy songfests, Maytime opens in the early 20th century, with a young girl arguing with her boyfriend over her wishes to become an opera singer. The girl's neighbor, a lonely old woman whom we gradually recognize as a convincingly "aged" Jeanette MacDonald, tells the girl of her own career in opera. The old lady was once the radiant young diva Marcia Mornay. In 1868 she was the toast of Europe, thanks to the tutelage of her voice instructor Nikolai Nazarov (John Barrymore). He proposes marriage, and Marcia accepts, more out of gratitude than love. In a euphoric pre-nuptial state, Marcia finds herself on Paris' Left Bank, where she meets handsome café crooner Paul Allison (Nelson Eddy). They meet again at a lavish Maytime festival, falling in love (to the accompaniment of Sigmund Romberg's most dazzling duets) in the process. Sadly, Marcia returns to Nazarov, while Paul goes off to America to lick his wounds. Seven years later, Marcia, making her New York debut in a fictional opera based on the works of Tchaikovsky, finds that the leading baritone is none other than Paul. Unable to envision life without her new love, Marcia begs Nazarov for a divorce. He smiles slyly and promises to give her her freedom-whereupon he heads to Paul's apartment and kills the poor fellow. The flashback done, Marcia advises her pretty young neighbor that one can never have both love and a career. Out of tragedy grows the happy ending, in which the spirit of the now-deceased Marcia is reunited with Paul in a blossom-filled Hereafter. On paper, Maytime may seem to be the ultimate in Hoke, but even in recent revival showings the film never fails to cast its spell over an audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Promoted as a follow-up to Frank Capra's 1933 hit Lady for a Day, Lady by Choice resembles the earlier film only in its choice of leading lady. May Robson plays a drunken derelict who'd once been quite a heartbreaker. Her self-respect is restored when she is asked to pose as fan-dancer Carole Lombard's mother. Lombard is part of the deal only to gain publicity for herself, but Robson takes her assignment seriously, ordering Lombard to give up her tacky profession and use her talents for something more dignified. At first against her will, Lombard starts taking formal acting and singing lessons and begins gaining a reputation as a serious artist. Wealthy Roger Pryor, a family friend of Robson's, falls in love with Lombard, but she breaks off the relationship so that Pryor won't be disinherited. Robson takes a hand in things, forcing Pryor and Lombard together in a delightfully devious fashion. Lady By Choice proved that Columbia Pictures (and scriptwriter Jo Swerling) could turn out a perfectly respectable Frank Capra film without Frank Capra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a US marshal goes undercover to bust up a bunch of rustlers. The history behind the film is as interesting as the story. Paramount made this during the Depression when the studio was teetering towards bankruptcy. To save money, much of this film was comprised of footage from the earlier films of former western star Jack Holt. The long shots were old silent footage, while the close-shots were of different actors wearing exactly the same costumes. Paramount made 9 other westerns in this way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

By 1931, and after countless Universal silent Westerns, veteran cowboy star Hoot Gibson had become a little long in the tooth to play a young, innocent mama's boy. But unfortunately, that is just what he played in Hard Hombre, the third of eleven very low-budget Gibson Westerns produced by M.H. Hoffman's Allied Pictures. Sometimes coy but mostly sullen, Gibson is frequently more irritating than heroic and one can only concur with leading lady Lina Basquette's reason for sending her new ranch hand out on a potentially dangerous errand: "Ah, he annoyed me!" Hoot plays William Penn "Peaceful" Patton, a young man who once promised his mother (Jessie Arnold) never to fight. Hired by Isabel Martinez (Basquette), a pretty Mexican widow, "Peaceful" is constantly mistaken for the notorious gunman, the "Hard Hombre." Enjoying his newfound notoriety, the ersatz hombre scares a group warring ranchers into settling a dispute over water rights and is so forceful that his employer falls for him. When the real "Hard Hombre" (Frank Winkleman) slugs "Peaceful's" mother, Patton turns into a fighting machine, decking the notorious outlaw with a swift uppercut. Gibson, who always enjoyed doing comedy more than straight Western melodrama, performs well in a couple of mildly humorous episodes -- bossing Basquette around and refusing to marry Tiny Sandford's cheap-looking "sister" (played by, of all people, Florence Lawrence) -- but generally his timing is defeated by Otto Brower's ponderous direction. For the record: Lawrence, the erstwhile "Biograph Girl" and arguably the first widely publicized movie star, has two lines in the film: "That's him!" and "You big brute!" The former silent icon delivers them with conviction. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Journeyman director Richard Thorpe (who later helmed Elvis Presley features) directed this bizarre early talkie western which incorporated comedy musical numbers (vampish Nita Martan sings Crying Blues and A Man Like That) into a standard western plot dealing with rustlers and revenge. Joining up with a travelling medicine show, Westerner Clay Conning (Kenneth Harlan) tries to help his fellow troupers protect themselves against the villains. He also champions the cause of heroine Mary (Dorothy Gulliver), who is likewise being victimized by the baddies. Thrown into jail on a trumped-up charge, Conning escapes to see that justice is done. Screenwriters Bennett Cohen and James Aubrey threw in a stranded theatrical troupe to provide the vaudeville routines. Leading man Kenneth Harlan was the husband of actress Marie Prevost. Harlan's days as a star were numbered, but he continued in character roles for another decade and a half. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Richard Dix's star power goes a long way towards assuring the success of Easy Come, Easy Go. Dix plays radio announcer Robert Parker, working at a station run by his girlfriend's father. Becoming a bit overexcited on the air, our hero lets slip a few (fortuitously unheard) profanities. Fired from his job, Parker enters into an amusing series of misadventures with veteran bank robber Jim Bailey (Charles Sellon). Wide-eyed Nancy Carroll is delightful as ever as Dix's love interest. Easy Come, Easy Go was adapted from a play by the prolific Owen Davis Sr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Secret Hour was the first of three screen versions of Sidney Howard's Pulitzer Prize-winning play They Knew What They Wanted. The owner of a prosperous California orange grove, Italian-born Tony (Jean Hersholt) decides that he lacks romance in his life. Spotting waitress Amy (Pola Negri) at a roadside café, Tony falls in love with her from afar. Mailing her a proposal of marriage, the self-conscious Tony encloses a photo of his handsome foreman Joe (Kenneth Thomson). Even when Amy finds out the truth, she reconciles herself to going through with her marriage to the crude but likeable Tony. Meanwhile, Joe and Amy meet, and though Joe can't stand the girl at first, eventually they fall in love and marry in secret; before long, Amy is pregnant with Joe's child. Enraged when he finds out what's been going on behind his back, the good-hearted Tony can't bring himself to send Amy away or break up his friendship with Joe, so he agrees to bless their marriage. The Secret Hour underwent several radical changes in the transition from stage to screen (in the Sidney Howard original, Tony marries Amy and is cuckolded by Joe), but this didn't weaken the film as much as Pola Negri's miscasting. In addition to the two subsequent film versions, They Knew What They Wanted was transformed by Frank Loesser into the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide