Helen Freeman Movies

Based on John P. Marquand's Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical novel of the same title, this film stars Ronald Colman as George Apley, a Beantown blueblood passionately in love with his hometown. In his mind, Boston is the world's center of modern civilization and gentility and he has made it very clear that his son and daughter are to remain there for their entire lives and only associate with native Bostonians. Imagine poor Apley's horror, then, when his Harvard-student son falls in love with a Worcester girl and his daughter falls in love with a Yale student. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Beneath the proper, prurient exterior of a spinster college professor beats the passionate, seductive heart of a sexy romance novelist. When she finds her ribald first book approved for publication she finds herself facing a terrible dilemma. If word of her secret avocation leaks out, she could be ruined at the school and so she asks her pretty niece to masquerade as the book's author. Things work out just swell until the niece falls for the handsome publisher the professor wanted. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Monsieur Beaucaire, Booth Tarkington's novel about an 18th-century French barber who poses as a swashbuckling aristocrat, was the surprising source for this Grade-A Bob Hope comedy. While in the original novel the tonsorial hero pretended to be someone he wasn't by choice, in this 1946 film Hope is coerced into posturing as a nobleman on the threat of death. It's "out of the frying pan" time here, since Hope will be a target for execution the moment he weds a Spanish princess in place of genuine noble Patric Knowles. Bob's actions will prevent a war between Spain and France, but it's likely he won't be around to celebrate the Peace. Hiding his cowardice by cracking wise at every opportunity, Hope manages to save both the day and himself; he even rescues Joseph Schildkraut, the film's nominal villain, from the guillotine. The female contingent is represented by Joan Caulfield as Bob's covetous girl friend, Marjorie Reynolds as a princess, and Hillary Brooke as a haughty schemer (who is given her just desserts in an early slapstick set-piece). Woody Allen has long expressed his affection for Monsieur Beaucaire, an affection made doubly obvious in "homage" fashion by Allen's 1975 costume comedy Love and Death. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, a barge captain with an Electra complex marries two women. He married the first because she laughed like his late mother. He married the other because she cooks like his mom. He soon finds himself in over his head. A good friend helps extricate him by devising an ingenious plot. The captain is to be blamed for a murder. He can then escape his wives by pretending to be sent to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The usual modus operandi for Hollywood "through the years" sagas was to gradually age its young actors in the course of the film. In Mrs. Parkington, 35-year-old Greer Garson appears in old-lady makeup for virtually the entire 124-minute running time, even though this filmization of Louis Bromfield's best-selling novel covers the years 1875 through 1938. Eightyish widow Mrs. Susie Parkington (Garson) gathers together all of her grown children in an effort to bail out son-in-law Amory Stilham (Edward Arnold), who's gotten in Dutch through crooked financial deals. As the children and grandchildren bicker over the "impossibility" of giving up any part of their inheritance, Mrs. Parkington's mind wanders back to her marriage to wealthy mine owner Maj. Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and her own efforts, as an unlearned Nevada serving girl, to fit into proper Manhattan society. Augustus' ex-love Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead, in a surprisingly sexy role) is engaged to teach Susie the in and outs of which fork to use and how low to curtsy. Shut out by the "400," Susie is avenged by her husband, who wheels and deals to ruin the snobs financially. Later on, he assuages his anger by conducting several extramarital affairs, before perishing in one of those convenient movie auto accidents. Just how all these incidents strengthen Mrs. Parkington's resolve to rescue her wastrel son-in-law is a mystery that even two viewings of this overlong soap opera may not solve. Incidentally, Greer Garson isn't the only one who is prematurely aged in Mrs. Parkington; keep an eye out for 27-year-old Hans Conried, convincingly playing a doddering musician. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay was based on the lighthearted joint autobiography of actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and humorist Emily Kimbrough. Gail Russell and Diana Lynn star respectively as Cornelia and Emily, two innocent but fun-loving young girls at loose in the Roaring 20s. The story concerns the girls' first trip abroad to London and Paris, and the various misadventures encountered therein. The more amusing moments involve a pair of rabbit-skin capes that begin shedding at the most inopportune moments, and a lengthy episode in which the girls are stranded atop Notre Dame Cathedral at midnight. And of course there's romance, in the form of handsome young doctor Tom Newhall (Bill Edwards) and college "Lothario" Avery Moore (James Brown). Also appearing are Charlie Ruggles as Cornelia's actor-father Otis Skinner and Dorothy Gish (whose talkie film appearances were sadly infrequent) as Mrs. Skinner. So well-received was Our Hearts Were Young and Gay that Paramount commissioned a 1946 sequel, Our Hearts Were Growing Up . ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this entry in the Jones Family series of domestic comedies, the trouble begins when con artists attempt to convince Mayor Jones that the local swamp is chock full of valuable minerals. Mayhem ensues, and just as the crooks think they will be able to pull off their scam, some of Jones' children fall into the muck and the truth is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Playwright Eugene O'Neill's only comedy, Ah, Wilderness! was filmed by MGM in 1935. Impressionable turn-of-the-century lad Eric Linden, whose knowledge of the ways of the world has come from French novels, is anxious to taste life to the fullest. Linden's father Lionel Barrymore sternly advises the boy to be good and be careful, while Barrymore's shiftless, bibulous brother-in-law Wallace Beery (replacing MGM's first choice, W.C. Fields) encourages Linden to get out, get drunk and get...you know what. After a frightening encounter with lady of the evening Helen Flint (a surprisingly frank characterization for a Production Code film), Linden runs home, nursing a monster hangover the next day. The boy eventually accepts the sedate affections of his childhood sweetheart Jean Parker, while a chastened Beery promises to mend his ways--and Barrymore decides to be more of a father and less of an autocrat to his son. Ah, Wilderness would be musicalized (and bowdlerized) by MGM as the 1947 film Summer Holiday. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Now known simply as Fashions, the lavish Warner Bros. musical Fashions of 1934 stars the unlikely but copacetic team of William Powell and Bette Davis. It all begins when genial con artist Sherwood Nash (Powell) transfers his base of operations from New York to Paris. Sensing that the fashion "racket" is a hot commodity, Nash puts all his energies into promoting heroine Lynn (Davis) as France's foremost fashion designer. Along the way, of course, Nash and Lynn fall in love, but first the plotline must find a nice way to dispose of Nash's former partner-in-crime The Duchess (Veree Teasdale), currently posing as a White Russian Countess. Fashions is the picture in which a bevy of Busby Berkeley beauties are dressed (but just barely) as harps, prompting the apocryphal admonition from a chorus girl's mother, "Mr. Berkeley, I didn't raise my daughter to be a human harp!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this handsomely-staged adaptation of the story by Emile Zola, Anna Sten plays Nana, a woman of the streets who is spotted by noted theatrical producer Gaston Greiner (Richard Bennett). Greiner is so impressed by Nana's beauty that he gives her a part in his latest revue. Almost overnight, Nana is the toast of Paris and a star of the highest magnitude; however, fame and fortune brings her little happiness, as two brothers, Lt. George Muffat (Phillips Holmes) and Col. Andre Muffat (Lionel Atwill), both vie for her affections, leading to a bitter rivalry that ends in tragedy. Russian actress Anna Sten was brought to America as a protégé of producer Samuel Goldwyn, who sought to make Sten the "next Garbo." The resounding box office failure of Nana and Sten's next two vehicles led Goldwyn to drop her contract two years after bringing her to Hollywood, though she continued to work sporadically in films for another 25 years. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Will Rogers is Dr. Bull, a small-town physician with precious little book learning. This doesn't stop him from ministering to the citizens, often substituting advice and witticisms for pills and sutures. There are those who resist Dr. Bull's everyday doses of common sense and humanity, especially the gossip mongers who read the worst into the doctor's frequent visits to a lonely widow (Vera Lewis). Bull triumphs over his adversaries when he stems a typhoid epidemic, proving that the disease was spread by pollution from the construction camp owned by the town's resident Scrooge (Berton Churchill). Directed by John Ford with his usual compassion towards sensible small-town types, Dr. Bull was adapted from The Last Adam, a novel by James Gould Cozzens. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The scandalous doings behind the high-toned exterior of a private school for rich young women provides the framework for this interesting but turgid drama. Much of the story centers on an unhappy socialite and her smart-alecky, world-wise roomy who has no morals at all when it comes to getting what she wants. This of course, puts her at odds with the school's overly class-conscious administration, who live in mortal fear of scandal. As a result, the staff is encouraged to remain cool and aloof, something that causes the lonely socialite, who longs for her parents love, to become deeply depressed. Unfortunately, her father doesn't seem to care and her mother is too busy climbing the social ladder to notice. The socialite becomes increasingly despondent and thinks of suicide. Still she is not immune to the girlish pranks and gaiety of her peers. Her life also improves when she falls in love with the handsome med student who works at the school as a waiter. Unfortunately, things get bad again when he accidentally impregnates her. Fortunately, it all works out for her in the end. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

There's nothing wrong with Hold Your Man that a little editing wouldn't cure. Clark Gable plays a raffish young petty crook who hides out in hard-boiled Jean Harlow's apartment after he pulls off a robbery. Harlow enjoys Gable's company, and soon the two are living together. Gable puts his criminal career on hold for a while, but when Harlow, jealous of her boy friend's womanizing, fabricates a romance with "wealthy" laundry owner Paul Hurst, Gable decides to knock over Hurst's establishment. Hurst is accidentally killed, whereupon Gable runs off to parts unknown, leaving Harlow to take the rap. While in prison, Harlow discovers she's pregnant with Gable's baby. The conscience-stricken Gable tries to fix things by sneaking into prison and hastily marrying Harlow. By coming out of hiding, Gable allows himself to be arrested, but Harlow promises to wait for him. Hold Your Man starts out as an acerbic "sez you" comedy-drama, then bogs down into a big pile of sentimental goo (a common problem with MGM films of the early 1930). Still, the first few reels are infinitely entertaining, thanks to the chemistry between Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi