Minna Gombell Movies

Clark Gable is "Big John" and Spencer Tracy is "Square John"; both "Johns" seek their fortunes in the Texas oil fields. They simultaneously fall in love with Claudette Colbert, but it's "Big John" who wins out. When both Johns grow rich on oil, "Big John" lets money go to his head, and he begins neglecting wife Colbert for Hedy Lamarr, the "been around" companion of businessman Lionel Atwill. "Square John", who still carries a torch for Colbert but doesn't want to see her heart broken, tries to buy off Lamarr; when this fails, he decides to ruin "Big John" financially. But when "Big John" is charged with violating anti-trust rules by the crooked Atwill, "Square John" rushes to the side of his old pal. Both men end up where they started--broke but happy. "Big John" returns to faithful Colbert, while "Square John" stands by with an ear-to-ear grin. Boom Town was the last film to co-star Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy; though Tracy was fond of Gable, he resented playing "eunuch" in their on-screen romantic triangles. Claudette Colbert's scenes with Clark Gable are pleasant enough, but the sparks that had ignited their scenes in It Happened One Night are largely absent here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this domestic comedy, a young woman's mother keeps frightening her beaus right out the door with her incessant critical comments. Naturally this is quite frustrating to the girl. But when the maiden falls in love with one of the boy friends, she goes to her father for assistance. He obliges by making sure his wife holds her tongue. Romantic happiness for the young couple ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Louis Armstrong steals the show as the groom to Jeepers Creepers, a skittish racehorse that can only settle down and run when Armstrong croons him the horse's namesake song. The main story concerns a plucky, ingenious salesman, who needing business, poses as a steeplechase jockey and endears himself to a prominent stable owner and his lovely niece. Romantic sparks fly between the girl and the sly fellow and his ruse works well until he is assigned to ride Jeepers Creepers, in the big race. The trouble is, the salesman doesn't know how to ride. On the day of the big race, the horse is extra nervous until Armstrong and a full band ride up beside him and begin performing. The horse then runs like the champ he is, insuring that the salesman gets his girl. Sure, it's a lot of horsefeathers, but who watches these old musicals for the plot? The story was filmed twice before as Hottentot and Polo Joe. Look for Ronald Reagan in a minor role as the stable owner's playboy son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Twenty years after the Armistice, doughboy Stan Laurel continues guarding a trench in France--simply because no one told him the war was over. His rescue coincides with the first wedding anniversary of his old pal Oliver Hardy. Heading to town to pick up a gift for his wife (Minna Gombell), Ollie discovers that Stan has been located and is now residing at the Veteran's Home. The two buddies share a warm reunion, whereupon Ollie invites Stan home to enjoy a "big thick juicy steak" prepared by Mrs. Hardy. As a result of Ollie's hospitality, Stan inadvertently wrecks Ollie's brand new car; the boys spend half the afternoon trudging up and down 13 flights of stairs; Ollie gets into a fight with belligerent Jimmy Finlayson; Mrs. Hardy angrily walks out on her husband; the boys manage to blow up the kitchen while preparing their own meal; and Hardy's beautiful next-door neighbor (Patricia Ellis) ends up minus her dress in Ollie's steamer trunk, with both Mrs. Hardy and the neighbor's husband, big-game hunter Billy Gilbert, converging upon our bethumped heroes. Essentially a remake of the 1929 Laurel and Hardy two-reeler Unnaccustomed as We Are, Block-Heads is a brilliant parade of virtuoso comedy turns. The best bits of business include the mountain of bean cans representing Stan's two decades in the trenches; the "white magic" gags involving Stan's pulling down the shadow of a window shade, producing a glass of water from his pocket and smoking his thumb like a pipe; and an uproarious "black" joke involving Ollie's mistaken belief than Stan has lost a leg in the war. The film sustains its high level of humor for 56 of its 57 minutes, faltering only in its disappointing closing gag (borrowed from the 1928 short We Faw Down). Among the writers of this chucklefest was former silent comedian Harry Langdon. Erroneously announced in 1938 as Laurel and Hardy's final feature, Block-Heads was indeed the last of the team's genuine classics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Loretta Young is the wife, Warner Baxter the doctor and Virginia Bruce the nurse in this 20th Century-Fox trifle. Society gal Young marries Park Avenue medico Baxter, little guessing that humble nursie Bruce also loves the doc. Young raises vociferous objections, compelling Bruce to leave. Baxter's practice suffers due to Bruce's absence. Young realizes that the doctor needs his nurse, while Bruce comes to accept that Young needs her doctor. You may need one too after 85 minutes of this. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This period adventure drama was directed by Tay Garnett and adapted from a story by William Faulkner. The skipper of a slave trading vessel operating along the West African coast in 1860, Captain Jim Lovett (Warner Baxter) is troubled by his flesh-peddling trade. He's marrying the beautiful Nancy Marlowe (Elizabeth Allan) and wants to replace his morally-indefensible business with a more respectable foray into standard goods shipping. So he orders his first mate, Jack Thompson (Wallace Beery) to fire most of the crew and replace them with new hands. However, the ship's swabbies are accustomed to their lucrative line of work and, under the sway of the greedy Lefty (George Sanders), they mutiny, resulting in high seas histrionics and swashbuckling sword fights, with comedy relief provided by Mickey Rooney as Swifty the cabin boy. Lon Chaney, Jr. appears unbilled in the film's opening, where his character is crushed during a ship's launching. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This lively riverboat musical shows off the vocal and terpsichorean talents of former Ziegfeld Follies star Barbara Stanwyck as it tells the tale of two newlyweds who must postpone their honeymoon when the groom gets in a fight with a villain, decks him and, believing he has killed him, flees upon a riverboat, leaving his bride to take up with a womanizing photographer. She and the cameraman head for New Orleans and this is where most of the action, music and romantic mayhem takes place. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

One of the first releases of newly-formed Republic Pictures, Two Sinners was adapted from The Black Sheep, a serialized magazine story by Warwick Deeping. Otto Kruger stars as Henry Vane, who uncomplainingly serves a lengthy prison term for shooting the cad who compromised Vane's wife. Hoping to leave his past behind him, Vane falls in love with Elsie Summerstone (Martha Sleeper), the governess for bratty Sally Pym (Cora Sue Collins). Thanks to the infidelities of Sally's mother (Minna Gombell), Vane is unable to stay out of trouble for long. In true "Shirley Temple" fashion, it is up to little Sally to straighten out the storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a mystery novel by Mignon Eberhart, The White Cockatoo concerns three mysterious murders at a French chateau. The villain seems determined to bump off all the friends and relatives of Sue Talley (Jean Muir) and Jim Sundean (Ricardo Cortez), hoping thereby to get his (or her) hands on the fortune they've inherited. Clouding the issue is the curious behavior of ostensible hero Sundean, who may very well be behind the killings. Though reviewers complained that they couldn't make heads or tails of the storyline, audiences didn't seem to share this confusion. Still, it would have been nice if screenwriters Ben Markson and Lillie Hayward had been more faithful to the Eberhart original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marshall Neilan, a great silent film director on the verge of obscurity, had one last big-studio stand with The Lemon Drop Kid. Lee Tracy plays a racetrack tout who calls himself a "horse medium"--that is, he reads the horse's minds for the gullible bettors. He quits the track for the love of a good woman (Helen Mack) and settles down in a small town, determined to go straight. But when his wife falls ill, Tracy goes back to his old crooked ways to raise money for her treatment. Adapted from a Damon Runyon story, Lemon Drop Kid was refilmed in 1951 with a whole new plot to accommodate Bob Hope, the Christmas season, and the hit song "Silver Bells". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sudsy hospital melodrama, a married nurse finds herself falling in love with one of two surgeons when her husband goes mad and needs an operation. One of the surgeons regards his pursuit a lark, while the other harbors genuine affections for the nurse. At first, she is attracted to the cad, but after her husband follows the suggestion of another insane patient and dives out of a window to his death, she seeks consolation in the arms of the other surgeon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmed on what MGM considered a B-picture budget and schedule (14 days, which at Universal or Columbia would have been considered extravagant), The Thin Man proved to be "sleeper," spawning a popular film, radio, and television series. Contrary to popular belief, the title does not refer to star William Powell, but to Edward Ellis, playing the mean-spirited inventor who sets the plot in motion. The recently divorced Clyde Wynant (Ellis) discovers that his new girlfriend, Julia Wolf (Natalie Moorhead), has stolen 50,000 dollars and is carrying on with other men. Not long afterward, he disappears. Anxious to locate her father, Wynant' daughter, Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan), goes to private detective Nick Charles (William Powell) for help. Having just married the lovely and wealthy Nora (Myrna Loy), Nick has no desire to return to sleuthing, but the thrill-seeking Nora eagerly talks him into taking Dorothy's case. Shortly thereafter, Wynant's lady friend is murdered; so far as police detective John Guild (Nat Pendleton) is concerned, the still-missing Wynant is the guilty party. Nick is unsatisfied with this deduction, and with the help of his wire fox terrier, Asta, he manages to uncover several vital clues -- including a decomposed corpse. At a fancy dinner party, between cocktails and the first course, Nick solves the mystery and exposes a hidden murderer. The story itself, lifted almost verbatim by scenarists Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich from the Dashiell Hammett novel on which The Thin Man is based, hardly matters. The film's strong suit is the witty repartee between Nick and Nora Charles, who manage to behave like saucily illicit lovers throughout the film even though they're married. The chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy would be adroitly exploited by MGM in several subsequent films, including five additional Thin Man mysteries produced between 1936 and 1948. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Six writers were involved in the RKO Radio musical comedy Strictly Dynamite; ironically, the plot concerns a radio comedian who's running out of material. Jimmy Durante stars as Maxie Slaight, an airwaves mirthmaker who hires young Nick Montgomery (Norman Foster) as his new gag man. Before he knows what's happening, Maxie becomes enmeshed in a romantic triangle involving Nick, Nick's wife Sylvia (Marian Nixon), and Maxie's radio co-star Vera (Lupe Velez). The film's five songs are performed con brio by Durante, Velez, and the four Mills Brothers. Adapted from an unproduced play by the usually reliable Ralph Spence, Strictly Dynamite wasn't sufficiently successful to boost Jimmy Durante's flagging movie career, and within a year or so he'd be back on Broadway in Jumbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide