Edmund Gwenn Movies
The son of a traveling British civil servant, Edmund Gwenn was ordered to leave his home at age 17 when he announced his intention to become an actor. Working throughout the British empire in a variety of theatrical troupes, Gwenn finally settled in London in 1902 when he was personally selected by playwright George Bernard Shaw for a role in Shaw's Man and Superman. Thanks to Shaw's sponsorship, Gwenn rapidly established himself as one of London's foremost character stars, his career interrupted only by military service during World War I. Gwenn's film career, officially launched in 1916, took a back seat to his theatrical work for most of his life; still, he was a favorite of both American and British audiences for his portrayals of blustery old men, both comic and villainous. At age 71, Gwenn was cast as Kris Kringle, a lovable old eccentric who imagined that he was Santa Claus, in the comedy classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947); his brilliant portrayal was honored with an Academy Award and transformed the veteran actor into an "overnight" movie star. Edmund Gwenn died shortly after making his final film, an oddball Mexican comedy titled The Rocket From Calabuch (1958); one of his surviving family members his cousin Cecil Kellaway, was a respected character actor in his own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1938
Set in England in the early 1900s, South Riding is a political and personal drama about a nearly bankrupt estate owner who is trying to keep himself solvent by buying into a real estate plan which he doesn't realize is morally suspect. The original British cut of South Riding ran 90 minutes, but for its American release, several Depression-era scenes were cut from the print. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna Best, Ralph Richardson, (more)
- 1938
A Yank at Oxford was filmed in England at MGM's "sister studio", Elstree. Robert Taylor plays Lee Sheridan, an arrogant young American scholar/athlete who intends to show the "Brits" a thing or two while attending Oxford University. His abrasive attitude grates against the Oxonian students, who retaliate by subjecting Sheridan to a rather humiliating hazing. Romance enters the picture in the form of Molly Beaumont (Maureen O'Sullivan), the sister of Sheridan's chief academic rival Paul Beaumont (Griffith Jones). When Paul faces disgrace over a breach of student ethics, Sheridan nobly shoulders the blame, simultaneously endangering his own future at Oxford and proving that he's really a "right guy" underneath. All is forgiven during the annual rowing competition against Cambridge, with Sheridan coming through in jolly good fashion. Cast as campus vamp Elsa Craddock is the stunningly beautiful Vivien Leigh, still two years away from Gone With the Wind. A Yank at Oxford was remade in 1984 as Oxford Blues, and mercilessly lampooned by Laurel & Hardy in 1940's A Chump at Oxford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1937
The true story of one of Ireland's leading political figures of the late 19th Century inspired this biographical drama. Charles Stewart Parnell (Clark Gable) is a politician and activist whose tireless work towards the cause of Irish independence has earned him the nickname "the Uncrowned King of Ireland." After a fund-raising trip to the United States, Parnell is introduced to Katie O'Shea (Myrna Loy), whose husband Willie O'Shea (Alan Marshall) is running for Parliament. In truth, Katie and Willie's marriage is on its last leg; she despises him, but he refuses to give her a divorce, in part because Katie's wealthy Aunt Bea (Edna Mae Oliver) is willing to pay him to keep his distance. Willie hopes that a friendship between Katie and Parnell could be a stepping stone towards an endorsement from Parnell -- which, given his popularity, would make a massive difference in the polls. However, as Parnell continues to rally support for a free Ireland, he finds he's fallen in love with Katie, and she is also strongly attracted to him. When Willie learns of their romance, he makes a devious proposal to Parnell -- with an independent Irish state seemingly imminent, and with Parnell the likely leader, Willie demands a high office within his administration, or otherwise he'll tell the world about Parnell's affair with a married woman, which could end his career and set the cause of Irish freedom to a halt. Parnell was an infamous box-office disappointment in its day, and Gable's significant other Carole Lombard was said to have loved teasing him about the film; it's failure led Gable to pledge he'd never make another costume picture, though he later relented when Gone With The Wind came along. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1936
Though director Carol Reed seldom included Laburnham Grove on his resumé, he allowed that it was quite successful, and a cut above the minor programmers he was usually assigned in the mid-1930s. Based on a novel by J. B. Priestley, the film stars Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Radfern -- solid citizen by day, counterfeiter by night. Saddled with a pack of tedious in-laws, Radfern decides to dispose of them by handing them a roll of "funny money" and inviting them to shop in town to their heart's content. He then skips town, secure in the knowledge that his unwelcome guests will soon be rounded up by the authorities. Edmund Gwenn would later play a more benign (and less skilled) counterfeiter in the 1950 Hollywood production Mister 880. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1936
Bucolic Elmer Lamb (Stuart Erwin), who only wants to raise dairy cattle, is a mathematical prodigy; he's even a whiz at playing bridge. Circus pitchman Bill (Robert Armstrong) and circus owner Jeffrey Crane (Edmund Gwenn) want to make money off Elmer, but Jeff's daughter Kitty (Betty Furness) finds herself drawn to him. Eventually, Elmer is pitted against the reigning bridge champion (E.E. Clive) -- whom he's already beaten in an informal match -- which involves shady Pudgy (Edward S. Brophy) and gangster Al (Dewey Robinson). ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Erwin, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1936
When David O. Selznick produced the film version of the 1000-plus page novel Gone with the Wind, he declared he could not make a film running any less than 222 minutes. When Warner Bros. adapted the even longer Hervey Allen best-seller Anthony Adverse, the studio managed to pack everything--except the most censorable passages, which had made Allen's novel a best-seller in the first place--into 139 minutes. Surprisingly, the film version of Anthony Adverse moves rather smoothly, though it is nowhere near as involving (or as much fun) as Gone with the Wind. Fredric March stars as Anthony Adverse, the illegitimate offspring of Anita Louise, the wife of Spanish nobleman Claude Rains. When Adverse comes of age, he inherits the prosperous business run by his kindly foster father Edmund Gwenn, which he abandons for an aimless trip around the world after his heart is broken by childhood sweetheart Olivia De Havilland. Sinking deeper into the morass of alcohol and degeneracy in the West Indies, Adverse is regenerated when he is reunited with De Havilland, now the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. Suddenly enervated, Adverse battles the efforts of Claude Rains and Gwenn's duplicitous former assistant Gale Sondergaard to take over Gwenn's business. Along the way, he learns that Gwenn was actually his grandfather and that De Havilland has born him a son (Scotty Beckett). Instead of dying, as he does in the novel, Anthony Adverse takes his son to America to start life anew. Whew! Though no award winner itself, Anthony Adverse enabled Gale Sondergaard to win the first-ever "best supporting actress" Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1936
The overlong but absorbing MGM "B" melodrama Mad Holiday stars Edmund Lowe as vacationing movie idol Philip Trent. Tired of starring in murder mysteries, Trent discovers he can't escape typecasting even on an ocean voyage: one of the passengers is murdered in our hero's cabin. The killing is tied in with a stolen diamond and a seemingly unending supply of suspects. To avoid being arrested himself, Trent teams up with pretty detective novelist "Peter" Dean (Elissa Landi) to solve the mystery. As Trent's wisecracking press agent Mert Morgan, Ted Healey has a wonderful moment when he stumbles over a corpse and asks nonchalantly, "What's the matter with him, he crocked?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Elissa Landi, (more)
- 1936
In one of his most successful portrayals of a "living dead" man, Boris Karloff plays John Ellman, an ex-convict who is framed by the mob for the murder of the judge who first put him away. Evidence proving Ellman's innocence arrives seconds after he is electrocuted. Officials allow Dr. Evan Beaumont (Edmund Gwenn) to experiment with putting a mechanical heart into Ellman. The device revives the dead man, but he has become a white-haired, monster-faced zombie who hangs out in graveyards and seeks revenge on the conspirators who framed him. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
This big-budget 1936 RKO Studios picture lost money, perhaps due to a cool box-office reception to the idea of leading lady Katharine Hepburn in drag, and a rare-for-its-day screen kiss between two women. Edmund Gwenn plays the title character's father Henry, who is obsessed with gambling. His daughter Sylvia (Hepburn) has stolen some expensive lace which they hope to smuggle from France to England. To elude police, she cuts her hair short and disguises herself as a man. She and her father board a ship, and a drunken Henry confesses their scheme to Jimmy Monkley (Cary Grant), a jewel smuggler. To divert attention away from him, Jimmy snitches on Henry to the customs officials, and Henry has to pay up or be arrested. Later, Sylvia confronts Jimmy on a train and punches him. Jimmy apologizes and cuts them in on a scheme to steal jewels from a wealthy family, using his friend Maudie (Dennie Moore), a maid in the house. But Sylvia, still disguised as a man, talks Maudie out of it, and she responds with a kiss. Maudie and Sylvia's father fall in love and Maudie, an aspiring actress, invests money in a show to open in a seaside resort. There they are invited to the mansion of a wealthy artist, Michael Fane (Brian Aherne), who is unsettled by Sylvia's obvious affections before finally discovering that she's a woman. Jimmy is attracted to Michael's roommate, the Russian-born Lily (Natalie Paley) -- and from there, the romantic entaglements between the aformentioned parties proceed like a Shakespearean comedy. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, (more)
- 1935
A heavy-breathing melodrama of the White Cargo school, Java Head was adapted from the novel by Joseph Hergesheimer. Anna May Wong stars as Tapu Xuen, a Chinese girl who becomes the bride of wealthy Englishman Gerritt Ammiden (John Loder). This mixed marriage earns Ammiden the cold shoulder from his society friends, but he remains faithful to his Chinese bride. Ultimately, however, Ammiden falls in love with one of his "own kind," Nettie Vollar (Elizabeth Allan). Realizing that her husband is too honorable to divorce her in favor of Nettie, Tapu does the "right thing" by considerately committing suicide. An earlier version of Java Head was filmed in 1923 with Leatrice Joy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, Elizabeth Allan, (more)
- 1934
In this drama a rich banker loses his fortune in the stock market. His secretary's lover finds out that the banker has been using fake bonds to make a deal. The opportunistic young lout then begins threatening to blackmail the financier. In a panic, the banker tosses the extortionist overboard. When he learns that his secretary loved the creep, the boat captain launches a search party and the man is all wet, but saved. The repentant banker then kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matheson Lang, Constance Cummings, (more)
- 1934
In this crime thriller, a renowned German crime scientist becomes the victim of a con and loses his life savings. To get his revenge, he enlists the aid of a self-serving thief. Together they plot the perfect crime and plan on stealing millions. Unfortunately, before the crime is committed, the thief reveals that he is actually a Scotland Yard Detective and keeps the German criminologist from making a tragic mistake. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn, John Loder, (more)
- 1934
The father in Father and Son is played by Edmund Gwenn; the son is played by Esmond Knight. Dad is an ex-convict who, once sprung, seemingly can't shake his larcenous instincts. The son gallantly shoulders the blame for the father's latest misdeed. All is well when it turns out that Dad was innocent all along. Father and Son was based on Barber John's Boy, a novel by Ben Ames Williams (of Leave Her to Heaven fame). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1934
In this drama, a young man defends himself after he is attacked by a mugger. He shoots the thief, and believes that he has killed him. Though his parents talk him into keeping mum about it all, the man is consumed with guilt until he discovers that the crook only feigned death to escape a murder rap. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1934
This story of espionage in World War I is based on a true story. Marthe McKenna (Madeleine Carroll) is a nurse from Belgium who uses her beauty and charm to serve her native land during the war. McKenna is able to ferret out secret information from German officers and pass it along to Allied intelligence officers with the help of fellow spy Stephan (Herbert Marshall). When the evil Commandant Oberaertz (Conrad Veidt) discovers what McKenna has been doing, she's sentenced to be executed, and Stephan must step in to save her. I Was a Spy was the first American sound feature for German actor Conrad Veidt, who electrified audiences with his performance in the silent classic Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari; Veidt left his homeland when the Nazis began their rise to power, though ironically he was to play a number of Nazi villains during his stay in Hollywood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, Conrad Veidt, (more)
- 1933
In this drama, a married pair of lighthouse keepers take in a foster daughter whose father, unbeknownst to her, is serving a life-sentence in prison. One day, a fugitive convict arrives at the lonely lighthouse, claiming to be her real father. She shelters him, until she finally learns that her father died the year before. The imposter gets his when he falls from the lighthouse to his death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Definitely no relation to the horror-film series of the same name, the British Friday the 13th is a variation of the "Bridge on the San Luis Rey" theme, set in motion by a London bus accident. Two passengers are killed and two injured in the crash, but the screenplay (co-written by Hitchcock-contributor Sidney Gilliat) keeps the audience in suspense as to the identities of the victims. In a series of flashbacks, the viewer is introduced to the passengers and the various trials and tribulations they were dealing with before the accident. The characters include a chorus girl en route to a date with a man she doesn't love; a henpecked husband whose wife was cheating on him; a blackmailer who'd been bleeding an unfortunate young man dry; a wise-guy crook who was about to be caught by a nasty detective; and so on. Extraordinarily well cast for a mid-1930s British film, Friday the 13th affords excellent acting opportunities for the likes of Jessie Mathews, Ursula Jeans, Frank Lawton, Ralph Richardson, Max Miller, O.B. Clarence and Emlyn Williams, among many many others. While American critics were impressed by the film, British reviewers were less kind, commenting that the constant switch from one character to another only results in confusion (PS: It doesn't). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonnie Hale, Jessie Matthews, (more)
- 1933
Edmund Gwenn makes his American film debut in this lighthearted adaptation of Frederick Jackson's stage play The Bishop Misbehaves. The central character is a Bishop (Edmund Gwenn) who harbors a fondness for detective stories. This harmless pastime gets him mixed up in the travails of heroine Hester (Maureen O'Sullivan), who hopes to wreak vengeance against the man who stole her father's invention. The key to the plot solution is a packet of valuable patent papers, for which the Bishop, Hester, and handsome American tourist Donald (Norman Foster) put their lives on the line. Hester and Donald are briefly kidnapped by a team of holdup men, but they escape in time to beard the villain in his den -- with, of course, the considerable aid of the "misbehaving" Bishop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Sullivan, Edmund Gwenn, (more)
- 1933
Robert Donat stars as a businessman struggling to keep his company afloat in this British comedy also known as Cash. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Donat, Wendy Barrie, (more)
- 1933
This musical tells the love story of a manicurist and a night waiter who discover that they are sharing the same apartment. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1933
The "Admiral" of the title is played by Edmund Gwenn, as twinkly and lovable as he was thirteen years later in Miracle on 34th Street. The Admiral's secret is a large cache of jewels, which he has "borrowed" from a gang of thieves. Abraham Sofaer plays Don Pablo y Gonzales, who will go to any length to retrieve the gems. The reason it takes 71 minutes for this to unfold is that both hero and villains are hopeless bumblers. The Admiral's Secret was based on a play by Cyril Campion and Edward Dignon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Polish opera star Jan Kiepura makes a rare film appearance in the British Be Mine Tonight. Kiepura plays an opera star who is besieged by his eager female fans. He heads to a tiny village where no one knows who he is. The peace and quiet rapidly drives him crazy, but at least he finds romance in the form of Magda Schneider. Be Mine Tonight was filmed simultaneously in English and German versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Sonnie Hale, (more)
- 1933
Anxious to finish off his contract with British International Pictures, Alfred Hitchcock agreed to direct Waltzes from Vienna, a schmaltzy musical about "waltz king" Joseph Strauss and his son Joseph Jr. Edmund Gwenn stars as the elder Strauss, with Esmond Knight as his talented progeny. The crux of the film is the intense rivalry between the two Strausses, which is somehow resolved by the inaugural performance of Joseph Junior's "The Blue Danube." Displeased with his work in this film, Hitchcock at one point threw up his hands and confessed to his actors "I hate this sort of stuff. Melodrama is the only thing I can do." Hitch regarded Waltzes in Vienna and his silent Champagne as his worst films, and never directed anything like them again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Compton, Jessie Matthews, (more)
