Kit Guard Movies

If Grecian storyteller Aesop really did exist, he was most likely a black slave. He wasn't an Austrian actor with an Egyptian name, but that's who played him in A Night in Paradise. Turhan Bey portrays the fable-spouting Aesop, who tries to escape his bondage by disguising himself as an old man. It is at the lavish court of King Croesus that the greyed-up Aesop first meets luscious Grecian princess Merle Oberon. The low-born talespinner is smitten, and determines to win the princess for his very own. Moral: If Universal buys a novel by George S. Hellman titled The Peacock's Feather, transforms it into a picture called A Night in Paradise, and appoints onetime Abbott and Costello cohort Arthur Lubin as director, you know what you're in for. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just after completing It Happened One Night, director Frank Capra churned out a bread-and-butter picture titled Broadway Bill. Warner Baxter plays the carefree scion of a wealthy, highly-respected family. Baxter's cold but socially correct wife Helen Vinson forces her husband into the family business, but Baxter would rather spend his time at the racetrack. He buys a nag named Broadway Bill and tries to build the horse into a winner--if he doesn't bankrupt himself first. Only Baxter's sister-in-law Myrna Loy and black stable hand Clarence Muse have faith in Broadway Bill. The horse wins a crucial race, but dies suddenly at the finish line. Baxter is comforted and given encouragement by Loy, who is now his sweetheart, Vinson having long since washed her hands of her "irresponsible" husband. Broadway Bill was remade by Capra as Riding High (1950), utilizing generous portions of stock footage and even going so far as to rehire several of the original film's cast members (Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Charles Lane, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Frankie Darro) to recreate their roles and match up their scenes from the earlier production. Long withheld from distribution due to Riding High, Broadway Bill was made available for videocassette in the mid-1980s. Keep an eye out for Lucille Ball as a blonde telephone operator and Alan Hale Sr. as a racetrack announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carrie is based on Sister Carrie, a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Dreiser's clumsy, unwieldy prose is streamlined into a neat and precise screenplay by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Jennifer Jones stars as Carrie, who leaves her go-nowhere small town for the wicked metropolis of Chicago. Here she becomes the mistress of brash traveling salesman Charles Drouet (Eddie Albert), then throws him over in favor of erudite restaurant manager George Hurstwood (Laurence Olivier). Obsessed by Carrie, George steals money from his boss to support her in the manner to which he thinks she is accustomed. Left broke and disgraced by the ensuing scandal, Carrie deserts George to become an actress. Years later, the conscience-stricken Carrie tries to regenerate George, who has fallen into bum-hood. If Laurence Olivier seems a surprising casting choice in Carrie, try to imagine what the film would have been like had Cary Grant, Paramount's first choice, accepted the role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set just after the close of the Civil War, a former Confederate officer (Ray Milland) joins a vaudeville target-shooting show to avoid detection by the Union army. Working his way West, he falls in league with a group of Southern copper-miners being harassed as they try to make a living. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Assigned by the police commissioner to catch a notorious gangster, a young police captain discovers that his adversary is a former friend in this low-budget crime drama from Syndicate Film Exchanges. The gangster, Joe Velet (Robert Gleckler), is arrested for possession of a firearm and is revealed to be Phil Terry, a former sergeant with the Riffs in North Africa and the best friend of Police Captain Bill Houston (John Holland). Velet/Terry admits to having become a hoodlum because crime, as he puts it, "pays more than cigarette money." About to be extradited back east to stand trial for several killings, Velet is rescued by a couple of his henchmen masquerading as law officers. At liberty, he challenges Bill to a final confrontation at the Silver Slipper Club, which the gangsters are about to raid. Rival hoodlum Taroni (Paul Panzer), whose girlfriend (Mae Busch) is a police informer, is killed in the melee, but Velet manages to escape once again. In order to get even with Bill, the gang boss kidnaps his adversary's girlfriend, the police commissioner's daughter, Alice (Catherine Dale Owen), and the distraught commissioner (Edmund Breese) orders Bill off the case. Happily, our hero discovers Velet's hideout and Alice is rescued during the ensuing shootout. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

B-Western perennial Bob Steele made attempts at diversifying in 1933 by playing a circus acrobat in The Gallant Fool and a would-be boxer in The Fighting Champ, although, truth be told, never veering too far from the range in either. In The Fighting Champ, Steele plays Brick Loring, an itinerant cowboy who shows some promise as a prize-fighter. Crooked fight promoter Nifty Harmon (George Chesebro) attempts to bribe both Brick and his opponent Jock Malone (Charles King) to throw the match and although Brick only pretends to be interested, his backer, rancher Fred Mullins (Frank Ball), publicly accuses him of cheating. Mullins daughter Jean (Arletta Duncan), meanwhile, believes the young cowboy to be innocent and sets a trap for both Harmon and Malone. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Fort Defiance stars Dane Clark as Civil War deserter Johnny Tallon. Despite his checkered past, Johnny is idolized by his blind brother Ned (Peter Graves). All this changes when Ben Shelby (Ben Johnson), whose brother's death was caused by Johnny, comes to town in seeking revenge. Though it hardly seems possible at this juncture, Johnny sets about to redeem himself by defending the denizens of Fort Defiance against a Navajo attack. The wholly dispensable heroine is played by Tracey Roberts. Fort Defiance was lensed in Cinecolor, which was more eye-pleasing during the exterior scenes than during the interior dialogue passages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Following up his movie portrayal of Wild Bill Hickok, Bill Elliot stars as famed trailblazer John "Frontier" Freeman in Columbia's Frontiers of '49. The film takes place in 19th century California, where a crooked real estate firm is merrily selling off Spanish land grants in exchange for exorbitant tax levies. The US government sends Freeman to investigate this activity, accompanied by grizzled frontier scout Kit Carson (Hal Taliaferro). When not tangling with chief heavy Howard Brunon (the inescapable Charles King), Freeman romances aristocratic Spanish senorita Dolores de Cervantes (Luana de Alcaniz). Rather ambitious for a B picture, Frontiers of '49 could use a little less talk and a lot more action. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prizefighter Danny Martin (Danny O'Shea) wants to marry pretty Charlotte Hamilton (Mary Brian), but her wealthy father John (John Steppling) refuses to consider such a match. Things begin to go badly for Danny in the boxing ring, forcing him to hang up his gloves and assume the management of a health farm. When the out-of-shape John Hamilton shows up at the farm for a bit of therapeutic exercise, Charlotte arranges for her father to sign an agreement to keep up his therapy for a period of 60 days. While Hamilton huffs and puffs away in the gymnasium, Charlotte and Danny run off to get married. By the time Hamilton finds out he's been hoodwinked, he's in such excellent health that he immediately gives the marriage his unqualified blessing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this entry in the long-running series of westerns, the Three Mesquiteers transform their ranch into a prison farm to provide a model for prison reform. They are opposed by a local contractor who wants to build a standard prison. He and his colleagues endeavor to destroy the ranch, but they are thwarted by the daring trio. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While in Hawaii, Velez begins the film as a risque nightclub act and due to her involvement with a group of sailors becomes a beauty queen. ~ All Movie Guide

This routine drama, produced by F.B.O., was based on a story by Laura Jean Libbey. Although they'd both been in pictures for a number of years, this was the first relatively large production for both Charlotte Stevens and Kornelius Keefe. When Ed (Grant Withers) pulls off a heist stealing from wealthy Alice Gage (Marie Walcamp), his sweetheart Polly (Stevens) is jailed for the crime. While she cools her heels behind bars, Polly swears revenge, and when she gets out, she attempts to rob Alice's home. She is found by Alice's father (Tom Ricketts), however, and he decides to adopt her. Alice's fiancé, Martin Breen (Keefe), falls in love with Polly. Alice isn't exactly willing to let Breen go and she does everything in her power to put a wedge between the two lovers. But nothing works, and in the end, Polly gets her man -- so she really does steal something from Alice, after all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Claudette Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has married fortune-hunting aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas), despite her father (Walter Connolly)'s objections. To keep Ellie from marrying this lothario, her father has been holding her prisoner aboard his yacht. But Ellie bolts from the yacht, swims ashore in her clothes, and eventually slips onto a Greyhound bus bound for New York. Aboard the bus is newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who has recently been fired for drinking on the job. Peter gets the last seat on the bus -- but when he gets up to argue with the bus driver, Ellie takes his seat. Since it is the last seat on the bus, they have to share it. When Ellie has her purse stolen and she refuses to report it, Peter begins to suspect something. The next morning, they both miss the bus after a leisurely breakfast, and Peter reveals that he knows her identity. She makes a deal with him: if he helps her get to New York, he can write a scoop about her for his paper. Peter thinks she is a spoiled brat, however, and refuses a monetary bribe: "I'm not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father -- you're all a lot of hooey to me!" But as they travel northward and engage in a series of misadventures, the gruff newspaperman and the spoiled rich girl, thrown together by circumstances, fall in love with each other. This movie set the pace for the "screwball" comedy, the witty and romantic clash of temperaments between a man and a woman mismatched in both personality and social position, a type of movie often associated with Katherine Hepburn in such classics as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), and, with Spencer Tracy, Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957), among others. The only other movies to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay) were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide