Nan Grey Movies

Columbia Pictures put a goodly number of its contract starlets to work in the mild exploitationer Under Age. Fresh out of reform school, a bunch of delinquent girls fall in with a gang of crooks and are put to work as "hostesses" in a number of mob-controlled bars and cafes. The girls are expected to string along male customers so that the latter will squander their money on watered-down drinks and fixed poker games. When one gullible New Yorker is clipped to the tune of $18,000 worth of diamonds, the Law closes in. Nan Grey plays Jane Baird, who goes along with the B-girl racket until her sister (Mary Anderson) is bumped off by the minions of Big Boss Tap Manson (Alan Baxter). When first released, Under Age incurred the wrath of the Hays Office because of the film's preponderence of "sweater girls"-a 1941 euphemism for starlets with inordinately large breasts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Teenaged soprano Gloria Jean plays the Little-Miss-Fixit heroine in Universal's Little Bit of Heaven. The most precocious member of an impoverished 10th Avenue family, little Midge (Gloria Jean) makes an impulsive appearance on a "man in the street" radio interview show. Catapulted to stardom, Midge becomes the primary support for her family, all of whom begin behaving atrociously and overspended insanely. The only one who doesn't go over the top is Midge's lovable Grandpa (C. Aubrey Smith), with whom our heroine concocts a scheme (straight out of Shirley Temple!) to teach her relatives a lesson. In the previous Gloria Jean starrer If I Had My Way, Universal featured several former Broadway favorites, including Blanche Ring and Julian Eltinge, in cameo roles: the studio repeats this stunt in Little Bit of Heaven, showcasing such silent-movie greats as Maurice Costello, Noah Beery Sr., Charles Ray, Monte Blue, William Desmond and Pat O'Malley as the heroine's "adopted uncles". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This fine adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale about a cursed family opens with a title card that reveals how the Pyncheon family stole, cheated, lied, and murdered their way to wealth. But within the hearts of the family's bloodline lay fear of the curse of Matthew Maule, a man they crossed many years earlier. Jumping to the year 1828, upstart judge Jaffrey Pyncheon (George Sanders) is called to his family's beloved seven-gabled house where he is told by his father (Gilbert Emery) and brother Clifford (Vincent Price) that the home is to be sold in order to pay their debts. A bitter, loathsome man who deeply believes in Maule's curse -- and the legend that gold is hidden in the house -- Jaffrey takes the opportunity of his father's death to accuse the innocent Clifford of murdering their patriarch. Clifford is sentenced to life in prison, but in a bizarre quirk of legal fate, the house is left in the care of Clifford's lively fiancée Hepzibah (Margaret Lindsay), who immediately boots out the hateful Jaffrey. The passage of 20 years leaves the house in shambles and Hepzibah a bitter spinster. The arrival of two people -- Hepzibah's pretty young cousin Phoebe (Nan Grey) and a mysterious boarder named Matthew Holgrave (Dick Foran) -- spark Hepzibah into opening the old house as a business. Clifford is finally released from prison and returns home for a touching reunion, but after a serious a strange reports about him leak out, Jaffrey plots to have his brother committed. However, Clifford has some plans for his evil brother and a plan to end the family's curse. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

A semi-sequel to the 1933 Universal horror masterwork The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns stars Vincent Price in the title role. Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Price begs doctor John Sutton to inject him with the invisibility serum invented by Claude Rains in the first film. Sutton does so, even though he warns Price that the serum will very likely drive him insane. Sir Cedric Hardwicke co-stars as the genuine murderer, a colliery owner who framed Price. Though his behavior veers dangerously close to homicidal, Price is able to mete out retribution to Hardwicke without stooping to murder. As he gradually weakens, Price is recaptured and rushed to the hospital, where his life is saved by an emergency blood transfusion. Price's face is revealed to us for the first time as he vows his undying love to leading lady Nan Grey. Taking a less playful approach to the grim goings-on than director James Whale had in The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns is a grim little morality play, containing vestiges of The Count of Monte Cristo and distinguished by an odd preoccupation with the mechanics and minutiae of death (a characteristic trait in the screenplays of Curt Siodmak). The film helped to solidify the cinematic reputation of Vincent Price, though it would be years before he'd specialize in horror on a full-time basis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Basil Rathbone's real-life son, John Rodion, has his head chopped off early on in this historical melodrama often mistakenly referred to as a horror film. Yes, a second-billed Boris Karloff does stomp about on a club-foot as the Duke of Glouchester's chief executioner, Mord, but Karloff's presence is really more colorful than horrifying. Rathbone is the main villain here, as the Duke of Glouchester, the deformed second brother of Edward IV (Ian Hunter), whose throne he covets. But before he can place himself on that exalted chair, there are quite a few relatives and pretenders to be rid off. The exiled Prince of Wales (G.P. Huntley) is dispatched during a battle, and his father, the feeble-minded Plantagenet King Henry VI (Miles Mander), who steadfastly refuses to gracefully die of old age, is murdered by Mord. Half-brother Clarence (Vincent Price), meanwhile, is drowned very picturesquely in a vat of Malmsey wine and when Edward IV dies of natural causes, only his two young sons remain. To the horror of Queen Elizabeth (Barbara O'Neil), Glouchester is named their protector -- which of course means that Mord the executioner will be working overtime once again. But the evil duke, now Richard III, has not counted on the heroic John Wyatt (John Sutton), who, by looting the treasury, is able to bring back from exile in France yet another pretender, Henry Tudor (Ralph Forbes). The latter's invasion proves victorious at the famous battle of Bosworth Field and the brutal reign of Richard II, and his executioner, comes to an end. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this boxing drama, an ex-champ finds himself working as a doorman at a nightclub. His son aspires to a high caliber career on Wall Street; he is getting ready to marry a banker's daughter. When not working at the club, the boxer trains a welterweight with championship potential. Later the son gets caught embezzling funds. To help him pay it back the boxer asks that his trainee throw his next fight while he bets everything on the opponent. The young fighter refuses to take a dive and wins the fight. Fortunately, the ex-champ's assistant knew this and bet even more money on their protegee. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This harmless Universal musical comedy is worth having as one of the few filmed records of legendary Broadway comedian Jimmy Savo (his previous starrer, Once in a Blue Moon, is among the rarest of collector's item). The story proper is carried by Robert Wilcox and Nan Grey, cast as a pair of mismatched lovers who share a common interest in horse racing. Hero and heroine get mixed up in a shady get-rich-quick scheme, which threatens to turns disastrous but which ends up solving everyone's problems. Harry Davenport adds a touch of gentle pathos as a blind horseplayer. Jimmy Savo's pantomime turns and musical numbers were not up to his usual standard (at least that's what the critics said), but they play rather well when seen today, even though Savo's patented streak of healthy vulgarity had to be soft-pedalled for the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, wealthy girls attend boarding school to learn proper etiquette. The well-mannered character of the class is disrupted when one of the proper young women plans to elope with a handsome young simpleton. Unfortunately she is outfoxed by a young teacher who elopes with the boy before she can. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Universal ran into censorship problems with this farfetched but well-acted courtroom drama directed by silent screen veteran Edward Sloman. When corrupt tycoon Brandon Williams (Samuel S. Hinds) is found murdered, the obvious suspect is young William Sheldon (Larry Blake), who had publicly feuded with the victim. The real killer, however, is Williams' ghostwriter Walter Russell (Kent Taylor), an embittered newspaperman who finds himself on the jury hearing Sheldon's case. Confident at first that Walter will vote for an acquittal, New York reporter Linda Ware (Fay Wray) is not so sure after stumbling over the truth of the killing. Using a bit of subterfuge, the girl manages to convince Walter to confess in the proverbial nick of time, thus saving Sheldon from the gas chamber. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Raymond McCarey, the prolific if less-inspired brother of Leo McCarey, called the directorial shots for Universal's Love in a Bungalow. Nan Grey stars as young real estate agent Mary Callahan, whose job it is to guide potential house-buyers through a "model" bungalow. Enter Jeff Langan (Kent Taylor), a handsome young indigent who moves into the bungalow and steadfastly refuses to move out. Falling in love with the stubborn but charming Jeff, Mary conspires with him to enter a radio contest in hopes of winning the bungalow rent-free. But there's a catch: Jeff and Mary have to pretend to be married. Never a studio to throw anything away, Universal recycled the plot of Love in a Bungalow for one of its mini-musicals of the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Howard stars as Dr. Paul Martin, intent upon instituting sweeping medical reforms in his community. He is opposed in this by the corrupt political machine headed by Pete Lindsey (Edward Ellis). Thanks to Lindsey's chicanery, the town is a hotbed of health hazards, and no one but Martin has the power or fortitude to do something about it. A fortuitous last-minute confession signed by a dying "machine" judge enables Martin to triumph over his enemies. As a bonus, our hero is able to stem an outbreak of infantile paralysis -- and to win the hand of winsome heroine Judith Marshall (Nan Grey), the daughter of a man destroyed by Lindsey's crooked regime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Deanna Durbin, the teenaged soprano who literally saved Universal Pictures from bankruptcy, made her feature-film debut in Three Smart Girls. Durbin, Nan Grey and Barbara Read play three wealthy young sisters, living with their divorced mother (Nella Walker) in Europe. The girls learn that their father (Charles Winninger) has made plans to remarry. Correctly sensing that the bride-to-be (Binnie Barnes) is a fortune hunter, the sisters head to Manhattan to save Daddy from himself. Durbin is the primary architect in reuniting her parents, but not before satisfying her fans with several arias. Three Smart Girls not only spawned a sequel (Three Smart Girls Grow Up), but even a 2-reel Three Stooges parody titled Three Dumb Clucks! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It may be sacrilege to say so, but Dracula's Daughter is an immense improvement over the original 1931 Dracula, despite the absence of Bela Lugosi in the cast. Gloria Holden is first-rate as the title character, alias "Countess Marya Zaleska," who after stealing her father's body from the authorities with the help of her faithful hunchbacked assistant Sandor (Irving Pichel), sets fire to the corpse in hopes of obliterating the family curse of vampirism. Try as she might, though, the "Countess" is unable to resist the temptation to go for the jugular vein; in one of the kinkier plot developments, she seems to favor the blood of female victims. Lest anyone read anything into this, however, it is established that she is hopelessly in love with handsome scientist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), and by film's end she has kidnapped Garth's sweetheart Janet Blake (Marguerite Churchill), hoping to lure him to Transylvania where he will be forced to become her mate throughout Eternity. Edward Van Sloan returns in his Dracula role as tireless vampire hunter Van Helsing, who once again comes to the rescue with a generous supply of garlic necklaces, crucifixes and wooden stakes. Full of clever and often surprising little touches (few other films of the mid-1930s would kill off a comedy-relief character in the second reel!), Dracula's Daughter is among the best of the vintage Universal horror films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide