William Gould Movies

A remake of Dr. Socrates (1935), this middling melodrama features Kay Francis as Carol Nelson, a medical doctor blaming gangster Joe Gurney (Humphrey Bogart) for the death of her husband (John Eldredge) during a police raid. Determined to get even, Dr. Nelson sets up practice in a small town where a couple of Gurney's henchmen are serving time. And sure enough, Gurney is soon in dire need of Carol's help after being wounded in a jailhouse break. Convincing the gang boss and his men that they all suffer from eye infections, the good doctor proceeds to blind the mobsters with adrenaline eye drops and then calls the cops. Warner Bros. used the general idea a third time in Bullet Scars (1942), yet another B-movie. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A tough football scout thinks he has finally found a potential star quarterback when he sees a burly country-store stock boy casually unloading huge sacks of potatoes. Then and there the talent scout signs the boy to play for the Green Bay Packers. This comedy examines what happens when the naive lad's sudden stardom goes to his head and he gets involved with some potentially dangerous gamblers. The story was adapted from the 1929 baseball film Fast Company, which was later remade as Elmer the Great in 1933. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It's Swing Music vs. the Classics in the easy-to-take Warners tunefest Naughty But Nice. Dick Powell dons the obligatory spectacles as a staid music professor Hardwick, who harbors a desire to become a songwriter. With the help of aspiring lyricist Linda McKay (Gale Page), Hardwick pens a little ditty that, through a fluke, becomes a smash hit. Not entirely prepared for show-business success, Hardwick falls into the clutches of predatory vocalist Zelda Manion (Ann Sheridan), leaving poor Linda in the lurch-at least until the last reel. Ronald Reagan breezes through one of his then-typical wiseguy supporting roles, while ZaSu Pitts, Vera Lewis and Elizabeth Dunne are likewise typecast as Hardwick's maiden aunts (conversely, the Professor's other aunt, played by Helen Broderick, is a real hep-cat). Virtually all the Harry Warren/Johnny Mercer songs in Naughty but Nice have been adapted from the works of such past masters as Mozart, Bach and Wagner-and old device, but one which works beautifully here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Will Gould's popular comic strip, the 13-episode Universal serial Red Barry stars Buster Crabbe in the title role. Detective Barry is galvanized into action when $2,000,000 worth of bonds is stolen from an unnamed Asian country. Among the villains involved are prima ballerina Natacha (Edna Sedgewick) and criminal mastermind Quong Lee (Frank Lackteen). Forming an uneasy alliance with criminologist Vane (Hugh Huntley), Barry pursues the miscreants up hill and down alley. Also on Barry's side is intrepid girl reporter Mississippi (Frances Robinson), who makes Lois Lane seem shy and retiring. Seldom pausing for breath, Red Barry remains one of the most memorable of the Universal chapter plays. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Better known today as the father of actors Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks, comedian Harry Einstein achieved radio fame in the 1930s as a tongue-tied Greek named Parkyakarkus. In Night Spot, Einstein/Parkyakarkus is given top billing as a gourmet gangster named Gasshouse, but the plotline is carried by Allan Lane as rookie policeman Pete Cooper. Going undercover, Pete tries to prove that a swank nightclub is the rendezvous spot for a gang of jewel thieves. Making life easier for our hero is nitery singer Marge Dexter (Joan Woodbury), who falls in love with the incognito cop. Since Paryakarkus is too lovable to be the villain of the piece, that responsibility is handled by mustachioed Bradley Page as chief crook Marty Davis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This eighth (and final) entry in 20th Century-Fox's "Mr. Moto" series once again stars Peter Lorre as J. P. Marquand's resourceful and unfailingly polite Japanese detective. When American archeologist Howard Stevens (John King) recovers the ancient crown of the Queen of Sheba, the priceless artifact is shipped to the San Francisco Museum. Ostensibly on vacation, Mr. Moto shows up in Frisco to guard the crown from a notorious master thief, whom everyone assumes is dead. Using a variety of disguises, the very-much-alive thief succeeds in pilfering the crown-only to discover that Moto has remained three steps ahead of him throughout the film. Without revealing the villain's identity, it can be noted that the supporting cast includes such "usual suspects" as Lionel Atwill, Joseph Schildkraut, Victor Varconi, G. P. Huntley and Morgan Wallace, all of whom look incredibly guilty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this screwball comedy, Valentine Ransome (Barbara Stanwyck) is an heiress who falls for Jonathan Blair (Herbert Marshall), a carefree playboy who owns part of a large steamship line. However, Valentine doesn't especially like Jonathan's brassy fiancé, Carol Wallace (Glenda Farrell), and thinks he needs to start taking a more serious attitude about his money and his investments. To teach Jonathan a lesson (and get closer to him in the process), Valentine arranges to buy enough stock in the shipping company that she's the majority owner, and begins giving him orders about how things should be done. Jonathan isn't about to stand for that, and set off for a cruise on one of his ships, with Carol in tow and every intention of having the ship's captain marry them. But Jonathan's sidekick Butch (Eric Blore) doesn't like Carol any more than Valentine, and seizes every available opportunity to throw a spanner into the works. The same year that the versatile Barbara Stanwyck starred in this comic trifle, she received an Oscar nomination for her dramatic work in the movie Stella Dallas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An early entry in Republic Pictures' popular "Three Mesqueteers" western series, Wild Horse Rodeo features Robert Livingston who, as Stony Brooke, wants to capture Cyclone, a wild stallion made famous in the magazine illustrations of Alice Harkley (June Martel). Against the wishes of Alice, with whom he is falling in love, and partner Tucson Smith (Ray "Crash" Corrigan), Stony "breaks" the stallion and goes on to win first place at a rodeo operated by nasty Colonel Nye (Walter Miller). The latter wants Cyclone for himself but his attempts at horse rustling are deftly deflected by the third Mesqueteer, Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune), and his dummy Elmer. Cyclone escapes and Stony goes after him. The colonel, meanwhile, stoops to using an airplane to catch both the wayward stallion and Stony but is defeated in a fiery climax by the Mesqueteers, who now agree with Alice to let Cyclone roam free. Helmed by first-time director George Sherman, Wild Horse Rodeo also marked the debut under contract of Roy Rogers. Billed as Dick Weston, Rogers sings Fleming Allan's "Riding High" and "My Madonna of the Trail". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Hoosier Schoolboy was the second 1937 release of the newly reorganized Monogram Pictures. Mickey Rooney (borrowed from MGM) has the title role in this easygoing rural drama. Young Rooney idolizes his father, a shell-shocked war veteran who has lately turned to drink. The boy must protect his dad against the recriminations of the townsfolk. Rooney has ample opportunity for the emotional scenes he did so well, before he and his father are rescued from a life of poverty by an understanding schoolteacher. Hoosier Schoolboy was based on a novel by Edward Eggleston, at one time a very popular chronicler of American small-town life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ken Maynard at least tries to keep his characteristic off-the-wall ad-libs to a minimum in Fugitive Sheriff. Hoping to rid a small western community of its corrupt political machine, Maynard runs for sheriff against the bad guys' candidate and wins the election. Dissatisfied with this, the villains contrive to frame Ken on a murder charge. He breaks out of jail (hence the film's title) and tracks down the genuine culprit, pausing ever so briefly to sing a song or two for the benefit of leading lady Beth Marion. Maynard's singing is definitely an acquired taste, but there's no argument that his riding stunts are astonishing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bottom-of-the-barrel Western filmmaking on all fronts -- save perhaps hero Tom Tyler's usual competent performance and a restrained sidekick turn by Al St. John -- Pinto Rustlers was directed by Reliable producer Harry S. Webb under the pseudonym of Henri Samuels. Tyler plays Tom Evans, a young cowboy seeking to avenge the murder of his father by a notorious gang of rustlers. Badgering police inspector William Gould into deputizing him, Evans goes undercover as Tom Dawson, a wanted outlaw, and is quickly invited to join the rustlers. The gang is headed by Nick Furnicky (George Walsh), a bandit sporting an indeterminate accent, but the film's real villain is Bud Walton (Earl Dwire), the crooked head of the local cattlemen's association, who has his brother (Murdock MacQuarrie) kidnapped in an attempt to prevent the disclosure of his own dirty deeds. Badly directed, atrociously acted by a cast of veterans that should have known better, and featuring some of the weakest fight scenes in B-Western history, Pinto Rustlers only comes to life at the very end when the gang leader quite literally has the rug pulled from under him. Sadly, this meandering Western marked a rather less than glorious ending to the career of George Walsh, the brother of director Raoul Walsh and a major Fox star in the 1920s. Walsh, who had always traded on physique rather than acting capabilities, had become quite heavy by 1936 and could only find employment in Gower Gulch. Following Pinto Rustlers and Rio Grande Romance (which, despite the title, was a crook melodrama), even those offers dried up. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Universal plunged into the clutches of its creditors with its expensive fiasco Sutter's Gold. Edward Arnold plays Swiss immigrant Johann Sutter, who seeks his fortune in the California of the 1830s. Against all odds, Sutter builds up a huge land empire, only to watch its explode when gold is discovered at Sutter's mill in 1848. Prospectors, speculators and claim-jumpers strip Sutter of his hard-earned riches, and he is forced to retire on a minimal government pension. While the film ignores the dicier facts about the real Johann Sutter, who was as much confidence trickster and philanderer as he was visionary, and while history is distorted to the point that Sutter's Fort is subject to an Alamo-style Mexican raid, there is nothing really wrong with this on an entertainment level. But it went way over budget and was too downbeat a tale to score with a depression audience looking for optimistic answers to its own financial problems. The failure was softened somewhat by the success of Universal's subsequent Show Boat, but it was too late for the studio's Carl Laemmle regime, which would be ousted by the end of 1936. That same year, incidentally, a German film about Johann Sutter, The Kaiser of California, was made, with Hans Albers in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide