Roy Atwell Movies

Art Linkletter had only recently taken over the popular audience-participation radio series People are Funny from Art Baker when he appeared as "himself" in this lighthearted musical comedy. The film's plot concerns a rivalry between two radio producers, both of whom want to produce a weekly radio series in which audience members indulge in silly stunts for huge cash prizes. A romance develops between supposedly slow-on-the-uptake radio producer Pinky Wilson (Jack Haley) and writer Corey Sullivan (Helen Walker), while wealthy sponsor Ormsby Jamison (Rudy Vallee) tries to determine if People are Funny is a saleable concept. Ozzie Nelson costars as Wilson's business rival, Frances Langford shows up for a song, and future 3 Stooges member Joe DeRita has a funny bit as a contestant. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this, the third screen adaptation of the musical revue Sailor Beware, William Holden plays Casey Kirby, a shy sailor who through a series of misunderstandings develops a reputation as a world-class lady-killer. In order to save face, Casey has to persuade "The Countess of Swingland" (Dorothy Lamour), a popular Big Band vocalist, to give him a big kiss in public. But the Countess is no pushover and has little sympathy for sob stories, so Casey soon learns his work is cut out for him. The Countess' best friend, Bessie Dale (Betty Hutton), is a bit less shy around the menfolk and sets her sights on Casey's buddy Barney Waters (Eddie Bracken). Betty Hutton made her screen debut in this movie, and she sings the novelty number "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry." Hutton is backed by Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra, who also perform several other numbers, including their hit "Tangerine." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

It was called "Disney's Folly." Who on earth would want to sit still for 90 minutes to watch an animated cartoon? And why pick a well-worn Grimm's Fairy Tale that every schoolkid knows? But Walt Disney seemed to thrive on projects which a lesser man might have written off as "stupid" or "impossible". Investing three years, $1,500,000, and the combined talents of 570 artists into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney produced a film that was not only acknowledged a classic from the outset, but also earned 8,500,000 depression-era dollars in gross rentals. Bypassing early temptations to transform the heroine Snow White into a plump Betty Boop type or a woebegone ZaSu Pitts lookalike, the Disney staffers wisely made radical differentiations between the "straight" and "funny" characters in the story. Thus, Snow White and Prince Charming moved and were drawn realistically, while the Seven Dwarfs were rendered in the rounded, caricatured manner of Disney's short-subject characters. In this way, the serious elements of the story could be propelled forward in a believable enough manner to grab the adult viewers, while the dwarfs provided enough comic and musical hijinks to keep the kids happy. It is a tribute to the genius of the Disney formula that the dramatic and comic elements were strong enough to please both demographic groups. Like any showman, Disney knew the value of genuine horror in maintaining audience interest: accordingly, the Wicked Queen, whose jealousy of Snow White's beauty motivates the story, is a thoroughly fearsome creature even before she transforms herself into an ancient crone. Best of all, Snow White clicks in the three areas in which Disney had always proven superiority over his rivals: Solid story values (any sequence that threatened to slow down the plotline was ruthlessly jettisoned, no matter how much time and money had been spent), vivid etched characterizations (it would have been easier to have all the Dwarfs walk, talk and act alike: thank heaven that Disney never opted for "easy"), and instantly memorable songs (Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith and the entire studio music department was Oscar-nominated for such standards-to-be as "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

What would such second-echelon studios as Republic have done without the popular "rural" novels of Gene Stratton-Porter? This adaptation of Stratton-Porter's The Harvester stars Alice Brady in a rare dramatic role as Mrs. Biddle, the domineering matriarch of a farming family. Hoping to secure the future happiness of her daughter Thelma (Joyce Compton), Mrs. B practically ropes and hog-ties eligible bachelor David Langston (Russell Hardie). But it's a bad match, as David discovers when he falls in love with winsome Ruth Jameson (Ann Rutherford). The Harvester was treated as a prestige production by Republic, who accordingly gave the film as close to an "A" treatment as economically possible. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This comedy-melodrama, based on the novel by Rupert Hughes (who also directed), blends fiction and reality to tell the story of a young woman's rise in Hollywood; the film uses real stars and productions (even Charles Chaplin filming A Woman of Paris) as its backdrop. Eleanor Boardman plays Remember Steddon, better known as Mem. Mem is a small-town girl who marries slick bad guy Owen Scudder (Lew Cody); Owen insures his brides and then murders them for the money. After the wedding, Mem starts to have her doubts about him and runs away while their train is chugging through the desert. She happens on a film crew and gets work as an extra, later becoming a famous dramatic actress in Hollywood with the help of director Frank Claymore (Richard Dix). Scudder finally tracks her down during a shoot involving a circus tent; when a storm sets the tent on fire, Scudder loses his life saving Mem from a wind machine's propeller. Freed from her marriage, Mem is able to choose between Claymore and her leading man. Boardman, whose first starring role finds her surrounded by a long and impressive supporting cast, wound up at the Goldwyn studios through a "New Faces" contest. Her co-winner, future star William Haines, also had a bit part as the company's assistant director. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Contrary to popular belief, the career of Mary Miles Minter did not end the moment that director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered (although Minter was not a suspect, her infatuation with the much-older Taylor caused a scandal). This picture came out five months after Taylor's murder, and it's treated just like any other Paramount release. No excuses are made for Minter -- in fact, Moving Picture World notes that "the star was far finer than the picture, but his has happened to Miss Minter before." The story is very different from Minter's usual frilly, girlish vehicles -- here, she is the wife of, believe it or not, the villainous Walter Long. How pretty Phyllis (Minter) wound up married to the rough-hewn Sydney Latimer (Long) is never divulged. All we know is that when Phyllis goes to the Fiji Islands to surprise Latimer, who she married the year before, she finds him drunkenly cavorting with the native girls. After a failed attempt to reform him, Phyllis runs away and meets up with John Webster (John Bowers). Webster mistakes Phyllis for the ward whose arrival he is expecting, and she decides to go along with it. A romance begins to blossom, but Latimer tracks her down. Because Phyllis refuses to have anything to do with her degenerate husband, he turns her over to the natives to use as a sacrifice. Webster finds out about the plan and rescues her. The native police kill Latimer, leaving Phyllis free to marry Webster. Minter's career did end a few months after this film came out, but it seems to have been her own choice -- her mother had pushed her into films as a child, and she was never really enamored of the profession. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Back in 1922, grand larceny meant theft of anything more than 50 dollars. In this tale of domestic turmoil, however, it refers to the theft of a wife's affections. John Annixter (Elliott Dexter), an attorney, knows all the legal ins and outs. Because he spends so much time on his work, he allows his friends to keep his wife Kathleen (Claire Windsor) company. But Kathleen is a pretty, flirtatious Southern belle and one man, Barry Clive (Lowell Sherman), takes her behavior personally. Kathleen is quick to set him straight, however, and he comes to her home to ask for forgiveness. Annixter walks in on the scene and misunderstands. He throws them both out of the house, and as they are leaving, implies that neither of them is capable of being faithful to the other. Because she doesn't know what else to do, Kathleen marries Clive after the divorce, but Annixter's words have made them permanently suspicious of one another. When the three meet up once again, Clive begs Annixter to take Kathleen off his hands. But Kathleen won't have either of them, and insists that she will go it alone. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi