William Gould Movies

Stuffed dummies on horseback manage to fool a gang of munitions smugglers in this farfetched low-budget Western from the Reliable company. Tom Tyler stars as a Texas ranger going undercover to infiltrate the aforementioned gang, which is lead by nasty Travis (Al Bridge). The outlaw, however, learns of the ranger's subterfuge and orders him killed. Luckily, Tom's associate, Jimmy (Rex Lease), manages to get help from the ranger captain (William Gould) and the stuffed dummies are send in ahead of the rescue team. Using subterfuge, Travis escapes with Jimmy's blond sister, Joan (Margaret Nearing), but is eventually tracked down by Tom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Love on a Bet is a lightweight programmer from the "Get Rich Quick Wallingford" school of comedy. Gene Raymond stars as Michael, a fresh young sprout who needs $15,000 to produce a Broadway play. His rich uncle Carlton (William Collier Jr.) agrees to pony up the money, but only on the condition that Michael leave New York City in nothing but his underwear and show up in Los Angeles 10 days later in a new suit, with a hundred dollars, and a sweetheart -- which happens to be the plotline of the play that Michael wants to produce! As he embarks upon his hitchhiking "tour" of the U.S., Michael is given a lift by wisecracking Charlotte (Helen Broderick) and her pretty niece Paula (Wendy Barrie). At this point, everyone in the audience will know how Love on a Bet ends up, but getting there is all the fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by producer Bernard B. Ray under his usual nom de cinema of Franklin Shamray, this mild B-Western features Tom Tyler and sidekick Eddie Gribbon befriending a ranger (Tom London), whose murder by a mysterious villain known as "The Rattler" they then seek to avenge. As Tyler and Gribbon learn, "The Rattler" is in the employ of nasty William Gould, who tries to frame Tom in the attack of prospector Jimmy Aubrey. But Tom manages to persuade the dead ranger's sister (Marion Shilling) of his innocence and the real culprit (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) is apprehended. According to some reports, this obscure Western was released without the all-important seal of approval by the Motion Picture Association of America and only played the hinterlands. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Although some purists hold out for Duck Soup (1933), many Marx Brothers fans consider A Night at the Opera the team's best film. Immediately after the credits roll, we are introduced to Groucho Marx as penny-ante promoter Otis B. Driftwood. After a sumptuous dinner with a beautiful blonde at a fancy Milan restaurant, Driftwood tries to cadge another free meal from his wealthy patroness, Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont). The dignified dowager complains that Driftwood had promised to get her into high society, but has done nothing so far. Otis B. counters by introducing Mrs. C to pompous opera entrepreneur Gottleib (Sig Rumann); all Mrs. Claypool has to do is invest several hundred thousand dollars in Gottleib's opera company, and her entree into society is in the bag. Contingent upon this plan is Driftwood's signing of Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), a self-important tenor. Backstage at the opera, Driftwood meets Fiorello (Chico Marx), who poses as a manager and offers to sell Driftwood the "world's greatest tenor"-not Lassparri, as Driftwood assumes, but Fiorello's pal Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones). Instantly the two sharpsters try to draw up a contract ("The party of the first part shall hereafter be known as the party of the first part..."), which they proceed to tear up piece by piece whenever coming across a clause that displeases them (Driftwood: "That's a sanity clause"; Fiorello: "You no foola me. There ain't no Sanity Claus"). Having lost Lassparri to Gottleib, Driftwood sails back to America with Mrs. Claypool and the opera company. Gottleib arranges for Driftwood to get the tiniest, least accessible stateroom on the ship. Unpacking his trunk, Driftwood discovers that he's got to share his postage-stamp quarters with Ricardo Baroni, who has stowed away because he's in love with the opera troupe's leading lady Rosa (Kitty Carlisle). Also hiding out in Driftwood's trunk is Fiorello, who's come along because he's still Ricardo's manager, and the wacky Tomasso (Harpo Marx), Lassparri's former dresser, who has come along for the hell of it. Anxious to arrange a tete-a-tete with Mrs. Claypool in his stateroom, Otis finds out that his unwelcome guests won't leave until they're fed ("Do you have any stewed prunes? Well, give them some black coffee, that'll sober 'em up"). After ordering a huge dinner, Otis and his new friends are crowded even farther by a steady stream of intruders, including an engineer and his assistant, a cleaning lady, a manicurist, a girl looking for her Aunt Minnie, and a dozen waiters. The celebrated "stateroom scene" comes to a rollicking conclusion when Mrs. Claypool has the misfortune of opening the door. On the last night of the voyage, Fiorello, Tomasso and Ricardo sneak out of their stateroom to enjoy an impromptu ethnic festival in steerage. Ricardo sings, Fiorello "shoots the keys" on the piano, and Tomasso plays the film's theme song Alone on the harp. The stowaways are caught and thrown in the brig, but with Driftwood's help they escape. To avoid recapture, the stowaways don heavy beards and pose as three famed Russian aviators. After making a shambles of a public reception, the three reprobates hide out in Driftwood's New York apartment, where everyone conspires to drive an investigating detective (Robert Emmet O'Connor) crazy. Driftwood is fired from the opera company for associating with the stowaways, while Rosa is dismissed for refusing Lassparri's affections. In order to restore Rosa's job and put the deserving Ricardo in Lassparri's place during the opening performance of La Traviata, Driftwood, Fiorello and Tomasso concoct a scheme that will reduce the opera to comic chaos. The actual night at the opera in A Night at the Opera must be seen to be believed, but the spirit of the scene can be summed up by Gottleib's anguished cry "A battleship in Il Trovatore!" Opera was the Marx Brothers' first film for MGM, and they dearly coveted a hit after the disappointing box-office showing of their final Paramount films. With the blessing of MGM production chief Irving Thalberg, the Marxes went on the road with their brilliant writing staff (including George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and Al Boasberg) to test their comedy material before live audiences. As a result of this careful preplanning, Night at the Opera was a smash-hit gigglefest, grossing over $3 million and putting the Marxes back on top in the hearts and minds of filmgoers everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy with musical numbers set in the Old South, Bing Crosby plays a singer (talk about a casting stretch!) from Philadelphia named Tom Grayson, who has fallen in love with Southern heiress Elvira Rumford (Gail Patrick). Tom wants to marry Elvira, but a man called Major Patterson (John Miljan) has announced his desire to do the same, and he challenges Tom to a duel to decide who will have Elvira's hand. Tom is not at all agreeable to this idea, which leads Elvira's father (Claude Gillingwater) to proclaim Tom to be a coward and deny him permission to wed his daughter. Elvira's sister Lucy (Joan Bennett), who is infatuated with Tom, thinks that he's merely being sensible, but Tom thinks that Lucy is too young for a serious relationship. In need of work and not especially welcome in the Rumford's community, Tom takes a job performing on a riverboat piloted by the blustery Commodore Orlando Jackson (W.C. Fields). One night, Tom finds himself in a barroom brawl with a man named Captain Blackie (Fred Kohler), who dies accidentally from a shot fired by his own gun. Hoping that his infamy will draw crowds, Jackson begins billing Tom as "The Singing Killer." Tom comes to realize that Lucy may be the right woman for him after all, but Lucy is not interested in a man with blood on his hands, and now Tom must convince her that he's not a killer at all. Noted gambling aficionado Fields has a hilarious poker-playing bit, and he steals most of his scenes from the rest of the cast. Mississippi was loosely based on the play "Magnolia" by Booth Tarkington. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this western, a wagon train is destroyed and all but two children, a brother and sister, are slaughtered. The sister is abducted by the Indians while the boy is raised by an Anglo family. He grows up with no memory of his sister. Now a young cowboy, he is called upon to attack an outlaw gang. When he learns that the gang leader is his renegade sister, he is most surprised. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In his second of four low-budget Westerns for Poverty Row company Beaumont Pictures, veteran silent screen star Conway Tearle played Steve Harper, a crusading newspaperman who not only battles the rough elements of a Western town but manages to catch the villains who killed his uncle. At age 57, Tearle was an odd choice for B-Western stardom but the veteran actor nevertheless performed most of his own stunts and was only defeated by subpar production values. Favoring action over character development and plot, The Judgment Book was directed by silent era serial star Charles Hutchison. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A witty Norman Krasna script distinguishes this airy romantic comedy. Millionairess Dorothy Hunter (Miriam Hopkins) is tired of finding out that her boyfriends love her for her money, and equally weary of losing eligible beaus who don't want to be considered fortune-hunters. That's why she trades identities with her secretary Sylvia (Fay Wray) before embarking on her next romance with Tony Travers (Joel McCrea). This causes numerous complications not only for Dorothy and Tony but for Sylvia, whose own husband Philip (Reginald Denny) is not the most patient of men. The Richest Girl in the World was remade in 1944 as Bride by Mistake, and in 1955 as the Jane Russell musical The French Line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To say that Smoking Guns is one of Ken Maynard's strangest Westerns is understating the case. The film wastes no time getting started, with Ken Masters (Maynard) in mid-sentence accusing the villain (Harold Goodwin) of murdering Masters' father. Framed for murder himself, our hero is forced to escape to the swamplands of Louisiana, where he is pursued by lawman Dick (Walter Miller). Rescuing Dick from a pack of hungry alligators, Masters is forced to perform an emergency leg amputation, which, combined with a bad case of jungle fever, unfortunately results in the lawman's death. Astonished at the close resemblance between himself and Dick (the two men are actually about as similar as Abbott and Costello!), Masters decides to assume Dick's identity and return to the dead man's hometown. He manages to pull off his masquerade with everyone, even Dick's fiancee Alice (Gloria Shea), thereby giving himself free reign to finally trap the bad guys in a spooky old mansion. Decked out with a serpentine plotline that would do Erich Von Stroheim proud, Smoking Guns doesn't make much sense, but that's part of the fun -- as is the astonishing final shot, wherein the heroine's low-cut blouse threatens to slip from her shoulders as she and the hero ride off together. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A pretty Mexican dancer, Tina Menard, is actually the lead character in this low-budget Western ostensibly starring Jack Perrin. Jack Fenrod (Perrin) and his grizzled sidekick Amos (Frank Rice) are on the trail of a gang of smugglers when they save Lolita Carlos (Menard) from a runaway carriage. Lolita dances in the Casa de Oro Saloon owned by Meeker (William Gould), the leader of the smugglers. Jack is accused of horse-thievery by local rancher Don Carlos (Elias Lazaroff), Lolita's father, but that is only a ruse to lure Meeker into a false sense of security. With the help of a lovesick flower girl (Rosemary Joy) and an equally amorous cook (Fern Emmett) -- both pursuing Amos -- the Meeker gang is finally brought to justice. Amazingly, Menard, a Mexican-born actress, continued working in films until at least 1981, usually playing maids. She died in 1993 at the age of 88. Loser's End was the second of six Jack Perrin Westerns produced by small-scale Reliable Pictures from 1934-1935. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Rivalry between two towns for the honor of becoming county seat turns violent in this interesting Ken Maynard Western from low-budget Sono Art-World Wide. Although a notorious troublemaker, the Thunderbolt Kid (alias Ken Peters (Maynard)), is convinced to work on behalf of Coyote Gulch, a small community hoping to land the railroad franchise that will make it the county seat. Rival town Spotted Horse hires the notorious Matthews gang and soon it is all-out war between the communities. Ken, meanwhile, is conned by Matthews henchman One Shot Mallory (Bob Kortman) into attacking a stage supposedly carrying reinforcement. Unfortunately, the passenger, whom Ken publicly humiliates, is railroad president Charles Eaton (Wilfred Lucas). Much to the disgust of Red Matthews (William Gould) and his gang, Eaton awards the franchise to Coyote Gulch. After a climactic encounter between Red and Ken, Eaton persuades the latter to remain and witness the town prosper. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

After playing a series of flapper roles starting with Flaming Youth, Colleen Moore -- or, rather, her studio, First National -- tried something a bit different with this comedy-drama. Here she's Gilda Lamont, a young girl who has worked her way up from working in a shirt factory to starring on-stage for the very first time. Unfortunately, this success is short-lived, because Wade Cameron (Conway Tearle), a physician who heads a censorship organization called the Better Plays Committee, has the production closed down. In an attempt to get back at him, Gilda shows up on his doorstep pretending to be a dual personality who has lost her memory. Cameron, who is fascinated with such cases, immediately puts her under observation. Meanwhile, to help out the theater's manager Franklyn Stone (Alan Roscoe) -- who is suffering financially because his play was closed -- Cameron offers his own play for production. The manager agrees, and stars Gilda, but he secretly plans to take Cameron's straight story and make it into a burlesque. When the curtain goes up, however, the show doesn't continue because Gilda is immediately recognized as the actress who was a victim of Cameron's organization. Gilda has fallen in love with the doctor, so to save his reputation, she pretends she really did have amnesia and all ends well. Unfortunately, this picture wasn't very good, and between this and So Big (a quality film that didn't do much box office), Moore's studio insisted that she stick to flapper roles. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide