Mitzi Green Movies
In vaudeville with her parents' act from the age of 3, Mitzi Green rose to popularity in a series of Paramount films in the early talkie era. Sometimes cast in such conventional juvenile parts as Becky Thatcher in Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931), Green was given more scope in musicals and comedies in which she regaled audiences with her dead-on impressions of such celebrities as Greta Garbo and George Arliss. Maturing rather quickly, 14-year-old Green was seen in a grownup soubrette role in Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934), the film that closed out the first stage of her Hollywood career. She went on to Broadway, where she starred in the original production of Lorenz and Hart's Babes in Arms. Green made one more film in 1940, then went back to stage and nightclub work, reemerging on the big screen opposite Abbott and Costello in Lost in Alaska (1951) and Mitzi Gaynor in Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952). In 1955, Green co-starred with Virginia Gibson and Gordon Jones in the slapstick sitcom So This is Hollywood (1955), in which she played a hoydenish stuntwoman. Long retired, Mitzi Green died of cancer at the age of 48; she was survived by her husband, film director Joseph Pevney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bloodhounds of Broadway was one of many Damon Runyon adaptations filmed in the wake of the 1950 Broadway hit Guys and Dolls. Manhattan bookie Scott Brady skips town to avoid a crime investigation. He meets hillbilly Mitzi Gaynor and vows to get the talented young miss into show business. Thanks to her positive influence, the bookie agrees to face the investigating committee, but changes his mind and plans to skip the country. The broken-hearted Gaynor is gratified when Brady changes his mind again, confesses his crimes (none of them homicidal) and serves a year in jail. When he returns to civilian life, Gaynor is headlining at a posh nightclub, whose employees are all former crooks and gangsters--including Charles Bronson as a waiter! Bloodhound of Broadway was remade (sort of) under the same title in 1989, this time as a PBS American Playhouse special (subsequently given theatrical release) starring Matt Dillon and Madonna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mitzi Gaynor, Scott Brady, (more)
- 1952
One reviewer of Abbott & Costello's Lost in Alaska summed up the proceeding in three pithy words: "Lost is right." While not A&C's worst film, it's several miles removed from their best. Cast as firemen in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, Bud and Lou rescue would-be suicide Tom Ewell. It turns out that Ewell is mooning over his former girl friend, saloon chanteuse Mitzi Green. It also transpires that Ewell has just come from Alaska, where he's been searching for $2 million in gold. Abbott and Costello accompany their new friend back to Alaska, where they're forced to dodge the bullets of Ewell's old enemies; foremost among these is plug-ugly Bruce Cabot. They find the gold, only to lose it all over again. The film's best scene occurs at the beginning, when Abbott, Costello and Ewell take turns saving one another from drowning. Otherwise, Lost in Alaska looks like a 2-reel comedy, clumsily stretched into an 8-reel feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, (more)
Santa Fe Trail, Errol Flynn's third western, has precisely nothing to do with the titular trail. Instead, the film is a simplistic retelling of the John Brown legend, with Raymond Massey playing the famed abolitionist. The events leading up to the bloody confrontation between Brown and the US Army at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, are treated in a painstakingly even-handed fashion: Brown's desire to free the slaves is "right" but his methods are "wrong." Whenever the leading characters are asked about their own feelings towards slavery, the response is along the noncommittal lines of "A lot of people are asking those questions," "I don't have the answer to that," and so forth. Before we get to the meat of the story, we are treated to a great deal of byplay between West Point graduates Jeb Stuart (Flynn) and George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan), who carry on a friendly rivalry over the affections of one Kit Carson Halliday (Olivia DeHavilland). Just so we know that the picture is meant to be a follow-up to Warners' Dodge City and Virginia City, Flynn is saddled with Alan Hale and "Big Boy" Williams, his comic sidekicks from those earlier films. Despite its muddled point of view, Santa Fe Trail is often breathtaking entertainment, excitingly staged by director Michael Curtiz. The film's public domain status has made Santa Fe Trail one of the most easily accessible of Errol Flynn's Warner Bros. vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1934
While crossing the Atlantic aboard a luxury liner, a radio troupe (led by Jack Benny) becomes involved in a murder mystery among a buffet of romance, music, trickery and blackmail--ornamented with a few musical numbers. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Raymond, Jack Benny, (more)
- 1932
Based upon the phenomenally successful Harold Gray comic strip, Little Orphan Annie covers a lot of ground in its short 60 minutes. Annie (played by 12-year-old Mitzi Green) is a spunky and spirited child who runs away from the orphanage where she is mistreated and manages to come under the watchful eye of Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks (Edgar Kennedy), one of the wealthiest men in the world -- or he is until the stock market crash ruins him. Having plenty of spunk and determination himself, Warbucks leaves Annie to go out West and search for gold. Annie helps another young orphan get adopted, goes through an animated dream sequence, and is eventually reunited with Warbucks, who has succeeded in rebuilding his fortune. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mitzi Green, Buster Phelps, (more)
- 1932
The 1930 George & Ira Gershwin musical smash Girl Crazy was refashioned for the screen in 1932 as a vehicle for comedians Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. Most of the original play's romantic plotline has been jettisoned, shifting the emphasis to cabdriver Jimmy Deegan (Wheeler) and his larcenous passengers Slick and Kate Foster (Woolsey and Kitty Kelly). After a tortuous cross-country trip, Jimmy, Slick and Kate end up in Custerville, Arizona, where each of the new sheriffs is routinely bumped off by local reprobate Lank Sanders (Stanley Fields) and his gang. When the newly-opened nightclub of city slicker Danny Churchill (Eddie Quillan) proves successful thanks to the singing talents of Kate Foster, Lank Sanders, owner of a rival cabaret, plots to run for the sheriff's office so that he can close down Danny's establishment. Hoping to stave off this eventuality, Danny conspires with Slick to nominate Jimmy as sheriff (Slick figures that a dead man won't be able to collect his gargantuan cab fare!). With the help of his tagalong kid-sister Tessie (Mitzi Green), Jimmy wins the election then has to run for his life when Lank comes a-gunnin' for him. Ending up south of the border in Mexico, Jimmy and Slick manage to get the drop on Lank, and all's right with the world. Contrary to previously published reports, only three of the original Gershwin songs were retained for the film version of Girl Crazy: I Got Rhythm, performed Ethel Merman-style by Kitty Kelly; But Not for Me, rushed through by nominal romantic leads Eddie Quillan and Arline Judge, then parodied by juvenile impressionist Mitzi Green (who does quickie imitations of George Arliss, Bing Crosby and Edna May Oliver); and Bidin' My Time, used as background music for an opening scene in which the camera slowly pans across the tombstones of Custerville's former sheriffs. Bert Wheeler and his perennial screen vis-a-vis Dorothy Lee deliver the film's best number, You've Got What Gets Me, originally written by the Gershwins for their 1927 production Funny Face. Long unavailable thanks to the 1943 MGM remake, Girl Crazy was resurrected in the late 1970s; though it proved a disappointment for Gershwin purists, it won a whole new fan following for Wheeler & Woolsey, who are very funny throughout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
- 1931
In this youthful comedy, a child genius has fun getting her cousin into trouble. The bright girl's parents take her and her nephew on a sea cruise to Paris. En route, the girl treats the boy abominably. First she pushes him over the boat, then she stuffs him down an airshaft. Later she sticks his head in a fishbowl. When she is not bedeviling her cousin, she is helping her father get out of trouble with con artists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Errol, Mitzi Green, (more)
- 1931
Two of Paramount's best contract comedians made a rare joint appearance in Dude Ranch. Jack Oakie heads the cast as Jennifer (sic!), the head of a travelling troupe of repertory actors. Finding themselves on the premises of a dude ranch, Jennifer and his actors strike up a deal with ranch proprietor Chester Carr (Stuart Erwin). The thespians will stage a "Wild West" extravaganza, complete with a phony hold-up, to entertain the tourists. Naturally, a bunch of gangsters try to take advantage of the actors' presence to knock off the local bank -- and just as naturally, it is the faux Westerners who save the day. Some of the film's best moments are provided by Eugene Pallette who, as the acting troupe's resident character man, is forced to double as a mustache-twirling villain and a stoic Indian, with some bizarre costume juxtapositions along the way. Elements of Dude Ranch later worked their way into the script of Jack Benny's 1940 comedy Buck Benny Rides Again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Oakie, Stuart Erwin, (more)
- 1931
Based on the novel by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn stars Junior Durkin in the title role, Jackie Coogan as Tom Sawyer, Mitzi Green as Becky Thatcher and Clarence Muse as Jim the slave. The film hopscotches around the book, ignoring such highlights as the Grangeford-Shepherdson feud and devoting too much time to such minor incidents as Huck and Tom's "orchestrated" rescue of Jim. The basic storyline begins when Huck's no-good Pap (Warner Richmond) kidnaps the boy from his guardian, the Widow Douglas. Huck stages his own "death" and escapes down the Mississippi on a raft, in the company of Tom Sawyer and escaped slave Jim. The threesome link up with two confidence men, the King (Oscar Apfel) and the Duke (Eugene Pallette). The unscrupulous pair plan fleece the grieving family of a recently deceased man of wealth, but Huck falls in love with one of the victims of the scam (Charlotte Henry) and thwarts the villains. Huckleberry Finn was Paramount's followup to 1930's Tom Sawyer, with many of the principal actors repeating their roles. This 1931 version of Huckleberry is easy to take, but somewhat threadbare when compared to later remakes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Mitzi Green, (more)
- 1931
Percy Crosby's popular newspaper comic strip Skippy comes to life in this 1931 film. Designed as a vehicle for Our Gang's Jackie Cooper -- then all of nine years old -- Skippy jettisons most of the trenchant cynicism of Crosby's creation (the strip was something of a 1930s Calvin and Hobbes) in favor of sentiment. Skippy, the son of the local health inspector (Willard Robertson) conspires with his best friend, Sooky (Robert Coogan), a poor kid, to raise enough money for a dog license. The mutt in question is eventually shot by the mean dogcatcher, and the effect on Skippy and Sooky (not to mention the audience) is devastating. The tragedy leads Skippy's dad to soften his disciplinarian stance and to draw closer to his son. Skippy was followed by an even more lachrymose sequel, Sooky, also released in 1931. Twenty-five years later, Jackie Cooper, by that time a prominent TV producer/director, tried to revive Skippy as a weekly series, with future My Three Sons co-star Stanley Livingston in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Robert Coogan, (more)
- 1931
Forbidden Adventure is the British title of the American film comedy Newly Rich. Edna May Oliver was borrowed from RKO by Paramount to portray the "nouveau riche" mother of precocious Mitzi Green. Edna's great rival is Louise Fazenda, mother of Jackie Searl. At first the ladies compete through their children by trying to promote the kids as movie stars; they then decide to team the children as a brother/sister act. While on vacation in London, Green and Searl escape from their overbearing parents and go off on a merry adventure with a pint-sized boy king. Forbidden Adventure was very liberally based on a short story by Sinclair Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mitzi Green, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1930
The 1916 Alice Duer Miller play Come Out of the Kitchen, previously filmed in 1921 with Marguerite Clark, was expertly transformed into early musical Honey. The story takes place in a poverty-stricken Virginia household, where blue-blooded brother and sister Olivia and Charles Dangerfield (Nancy Carroll and Skeets Gallagher) are reduced to renting out their mansion. Pretentious Yankee dowager Mrs. Falkner (Jobyna Howland) moves in with her spunky daughter Cora (Lillian Roth) in tow, while Olivia and Charles remain as servants. It isn't long before Cora has fallen in love with Charles, and Olivia has done likewise with Cora's former fiancee Burton Crane (Stanley Smith). The songs range from the self-spoofing "In My Little Hope Chest" to the lively "Sing You Sinners" (later used as a jazzy leitmotif in several Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons!) The Alice Duer Miller original was filmed again in 1934 as the British comedy Come Out of the Pantry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, Stanley Smith, (more)
- 1930
Paramount star Richard Arlen heads a strong cast in this early talkie western about a sheepherder falsely accused of killing an Indian. Luckily for the hero, two little children (Mitzi Green and Junior Durkin) witnessed the murder and can point the sheriff in the direction of the true culprit. The film was unusual in that Mexican characters were allowed to speak Spanish. Reviewers at the time, however, didn't buy it and pointed out that leading lady Rosita Moreno quite obviously "had a good knowledge of English." Both Mitzi Green and Junior Durkin were admired child stars at the time; the latter, who portrayed Huck Finn in both Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931), sadly lost his life at the age of 19, the victim of a car accident near San Diego, California that also claimed the lives of producer-director Robert J. Horner and the father of child star Jackie Coogan. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Rosita Moreno, (more)
- 1930
Tom Sawyer, Paramount's 1930 Christmas release, was the first talkie version of Mark Twain's beloved novel. A rapidly maturing Jackie Coogan is well cast as Tom, while Junior Durkin is even better as Tom's freewheeling pal Huck Finn. Juvenile impressionist Mitzi Green comes on a bit too strong in the normally demure role of Becky Thatcher, but that's what her fans expected. On the other hand, Jackie Searl and Clara "Auntie Em" Blandick are perfectly typecast as, respectively, Sid Sawyer and Aunt Polly. The usual episodes are dramatized herein, including the white-washing scene, the premature funeral, the murder in the graveyard, and the chase through the caves, culminating with the death of villain Injun Joe (played by Charlie Stevens, in real life a great-grandson of Geronimo. Though the 1930 Tom Sawyer pales in comparison to the slick Selznick Technicolor remake of 1938, it proved popular enough to warrant a sequel with virtually same cast, Huckleberry Finn, released the following Christmas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Coogan, Junior Durkin, (more)
- 1930
Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, Edward Sutherland and Frank Tuttle. Introduced by masters of ceremonies Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallegher and Leon Errol, the film is a vaudeville-like maelstrom of musical duets, comedy sketches, occasional dramatic interludes, and spectacular production numbers. To mention all the highlights would take a book in itself but among them are Nancy Carroll's rendition of "Dancing to Save Your Sole" (performed inside a giant shoe!); Maurice Chevalier (and chorus) soaring heavenward in "Sweeping the Clouds Away" ; child actress Mitzi Green's dead-on impersonations of Chevalier, George Arliss, Moran & Mack and Helen "Boop-a-doop" Kane; Ernst Lubitsch's witty staging of an Apache dance in the style of a polite boudoir farce, with Chevalier (again) and Evelyn Brent; Clara Bow's saucy "I'm True to the Navy Now" ; the wish-fulfillment sketch "Impulses," in which George Bancroft and Kay Francis delightedly upset a dinner party by saying what's really on their minds; and best of all, "Murder Will Out," a murder-mystery parody wherein Fu Manchu (Warner Oland) bumps off Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook) and Philo Vance (William Powell) when they refuse to give him proper credit for his killing of Jack Oakie. Only the dramatic sketch with Frederic March and Ruth Chatterton truly creaks when seen today. Originally released at 102 minutes, Paramount on Parade is presently available only in an 80-minute version, with all its Technicolor sequences missing: casualties include the elaborate "Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" number, directed by Edmund Goulding and featuring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Fay Wray, and Harry Green's dialect song "Isadore the Toreodor". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1930
Clara Bow, the "It" girl of the silent screen, goes through the motions of the Cinderella yarn Love Among the Millionaires. A humble (but dazzlingly beautiful) waitress, Pepper Green (Bow) wins the heart of Jerry (Stanley Smith), the son of a wealthy railroad magnate Hamilton (Claude King). The father, evidently well-versed in Camille, begs Pepper to give up Jerry, suggesting that she behave in a "tartish" manner so as to disillusion the boy. Reluctantly, she does so, but be assured that True Love will out by the end. It isn't that Clara Bow was an inept talkie actress: it's simply that her flapper "type" was woefully out of date in the Depression era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clara Bow, Stanley Smith, (more)
- 1929
In this moving drama, a young woman is forced to take care of her many brothers and sisters while their wealthy parents live life in the fast-lane. She is saved by an American who has come to Italy for vacation. He becomes her friend, and the children come to adore him. They eventually fall in lover, but unfortunately, he already has a fiancee waiting in Switzerland. He must go to her. Fortunately, he soon returns after breaking off his engagement. Happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Brian, Fredric March, (more)
