Jonathan Hale Movies
Once Canadian-born actor Jonathan Hale became well known for his portrayal of well-to-do businessmen, he was fond of telling the story of how he'd almost been a man of wealth in real life--except for an improvident financial decision by his father. A minor diplomat before he turned to acting, Hale began appearing in minor film roles in 1934, showing up fleetingly in such well-remembered films as the Karloff/Lugosi film The Raven (1935), the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera (1935) and the first version of A Star is Born (1937).In 1938, Hale was cast as construction executive J. C. Dithers in Blondie, the first of 28 "B"-pictures based on Chic Young's popular comic strip. Though taller and more distinguished-looking than the gnomelike Dithers of the comics, Hale became instantly synonymous with the role, continuing to portray the character until 1946's Blondie's Lucky Day (his voice was heard in the final film of the series, Beware of Blondie, though that film's on-camera Dithers was Edward Earle). During this same period, Hale also appeared regularly as Irish-brogued Inspector Fernack in RKO's "The Saint" series. After 1946, Hale alternated between supporting roles and bits, frequently unbilled (e.g. Angel on My Shoulder, Call Northside 777 and Son of Paleface); he had a pivotal role as Robert Walker's hated father in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951), though the part was confined to a smidgen of dialogue and a single long-shot. Hale worked prolifically in television in the '50s, with substantial guest roles in such series as Disneyland and The Adventures of Superman. In 1966, after a long illness, Jonathan Hale committed suicide at the age of 75, just months before the TV release of the Blondie films that had won him prominence in the '30s and '40s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1944
The West Coast's answer to Broadway's Stage Door Canteen, the Hollywood Canteen was created as a GI morale-booster by film stars Bette Davis and John Garfield. The Canteen was established so that Our Boys on leave in Tinseltown could have a good time with good food and good dancing -- and, as a bonus, rub shoulders with their favorite movie personalities, who functioned as waiters, chefs, busboys and dancing partners. Since the 1944 all-star flick Hollywood Canteen was produced by Warner Bros., it was only to be expected that the celebrities seen herein would consist mostly of Warner Bros. contract players. The frail plot concerns a soldier on medical leave (played by Robert Hutton) who falls in love with lovely leading lady Joan Leslie (played by Joan Leslie) while visiting the Canteen. Bette Davis and John Garfield are on hand to emcee the Canteen's variety acts, and to act as cupids for the Hutton/Leslie romance. The "supporting cast" includes the likes of The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, Sidney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Roy Rogers, S.Z. Sakall, Barbara Stanwyck, and the Jimmy Dorsey and Carmen Cavallaro musical aggregations. Virtually everyone involved donated their salaries to the Canteen fund--even Jack Benny. As with most of these patriotic wartime star rallies, the results are a mixed bag: the best sequences include Benny's violin "duel" with Joseph Szigeti and Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers introducing Cole Porter's Don't Fence Me In. Hollywood Canteen won three Oscar nominations, more for its good intentions than its inherent excellence. Still, don't pass up the opportunity when this "movie star salad" shows up on cable TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Hutton, Jack Benny, (more)
- 1944
In this melodrama, a doctor returns to his home town to set out his shingle. He was born on the poor side of town and so has had a life-long anger towards the town's wealthiest family. When the daughter of this family comes in for treatment, he finds himself faced with a dilemma. A bout with meningitis has left her deaf. He has a new drug that can cure deafness. Will he use it, or will he let his anger prevent him from helping her? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Alan Ladd, (more)
- 1943
This flag-waving Columbia programmer concentrates on five young Officer's Candidate School applicants. Each of the protagonists aspires to an officer's commission in the Anti-Artillery Aircraft Command. All the clichéd characterizations are in attendance, from the brash show-off (Tom Neal) to the seen-it-all veteran (Bruce Bennett). Evelyn Keyes is the obligatory romantic lead, while future "Ward Cleaver" Hugh Beaumont shows up as a hard-nosed lieutenant. There's Something About a Soldier was largely filmed on location at the OCS training headquarters of Camp Davis, North Carolina. Excerpts from the film were later reused in Columbia's The Racket Man, which also starred Tom Neal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Neal, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
- 1943
Making her first film appearance since 1941, Deanna Durbin plays the title role in The Amazing Mrs. Holliday. Truth to tell, however, there is no Mrs. Holliday: it's the guise assumed by idealistic missionary Ruth (Durbin) to sneak a group of Chinese war orphans into the US. With the help of ship's steward Timothy (Barry Fitzgerald), Ruth poses as the wife of a wealthy shipping magnate who was lost at sea. This enables her to safely sequester the orphans in the Holliday family mansion until she can cook up her next scheme. But things begin to unravel when Ruth falls in love with her "husband"'s grandson (Edmond O'Brien)-and, of course, when Mr. Holliday (Harry Davenport) himself turns up alive and well. The Amazing Mrs. Holliday was originally intended as Durbin's dramatic debut, and originally directed by Jean Renoir, but Universal insisted upon retakes and added songs. Though virtually all of Renoir's completed footage was retained, final directorial credit was bestowed upon Bruce Manning, the film's producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1943
In this musical, the teenage daughter of a popular movie star tires of being ignored by her separated parents and decides to make it as a star on her own. She does. Songs include: "It Had to Be You," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1943
In her final film appearance, Kay Francis plays Sheila, the slinky, seductive mastermind of a marriage racket preying on ex-servicemen. Sheila's stable of "brides" marry homecoming GIs for their military allotment pay, then dump their hubbies and abscond with the dough. Trouble brews when Sheila's grown daughter Connie (Teala Loring), unaware of her mother's criminal activities, pays a visit. Justice triumphs in the end, though Sheila is afforded a terrific exit line before receiving her comeuppance. Filmed with full cooperation of the Office of Dependency Benefits, Allotment Wives Inc (retitled Allotment Wives for TV) was coproduced by Kay Francis and released by Monogram. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Paul Kelly, (more)
This ambitious filmed biography of writer-adventurer Jack London is somewhat compromised by its too-tight budget. Michael O'Shea is well cast as London, whose rugged adventures range from the high seas to the Klondike. London's insatiable wanderlust causes friction in his marriage to the lovely Charmian (Susan Hayward), but she stands nobly by his side in good times and bad (it should be noted that the script is based on Mrs. London's memoirs). In the interests of topicality, the film contrives to have London endeavor to warn America of Japanese military expansion some four decades before Pearl Harbor. It is this story element that makes Jack London a bit difficult to watch today, despite the strong performances of O'Shea, Hayward and a superb supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael O'Shea, Susan Hayward, (more)
- 1943
Footlight Glamour is one of two "Blondie" series entries in which Blondie's name isn't included in the credits. Otherwise, the film adheres strictly to formula, with Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) getting into a mess and Dagwood's wife Blondie (Penny Singleton) getting him out of it. This time around, Dagwood's boss Dithers (Jonathan Hale) is hoping that wealthy tool manufacturer Randolph Wheeler (Thurston Hall) will be a war plant on some of Dithers' real estate. Wheeler's daughter Vicki (Ann Savage) wants to be an actress, but her father strongly opposes her pursuing a theatrical career. Trouble begins to brew when Vicki is cast in a community-theatre production written by Blondie, who is unaware of Wheeler's anti-showbiz stance. Poor Dagwood is forced to prevent Wheeler from seeing the play, leading to a slapsticky denouement on opening night. Many of the amateur-theatrical gags (props that don't work, actors who can't remember their lines) are straight out of George Kelly's The Torch Bearers, but they're just as funny the second time around. Particularly amusing is "Blondie" regular Irving Bacon (Mr. Crum the Postman) ineptly portraying a British butler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1943
In this semi-remake of Love is News (37), Betty Grable stars as a Gay-Nineties Bowery saloon singer. Ever seeking an opportunity for advancement, Grable heads to London, becomes a highbrow musical comedy "artiste", and concocts a scheme to land a wealth duke (Reginald Gardiner). Her plan is foiled by a snoopy reporter (Robert Young) from the Police Gazette who has long been a thorn in Grable's side. Young's motive has nothing to do with dishing out gossip; he's in love with Betty and wants her for his own. Tuneful frolics like Sweet Rosie O'Grady seem to be the collective reason that Technicolor was invented. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Robert Young, (more)
- 1943
When the profits of their various film series began slumping in the mid-1940s, Columbia Pictures tried to broaden the appeal of these films by disguing the fact that they were indeed series entries. Thus it was that Columbia's 12th "Blondie" picture was shipped out as It's a Great Life. The comic confusion begins when Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake), intending to buy a house, buys a horse instead. Before the film's 75 minutes have run their course, Dagwood gets mixed up in a fox hunt. But Blondie (Penny Singleton) saves the day as usual, with the help of eccentric millionaire Timothy Brewster (Hugh Herbert). After It's a Great Life and Footlight Glamour, Columbia restored the name "Blondie" to the titles of all subesequent installments in this long-running comedy series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
Hangmen Also Die is set in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation. Czech loyalist Brian Donlevy assassinates the vicious Gestapo leader Heydrich, then goes into hiding. The wounded patriot is sheltered by history professor Walter Brennan, who is already under surveillance by the Nazis thanks to his veiled classroom attacks on the Third Reich. Fifth columnist Gene Lockhart arranges for the professor and 400 other Prague citizens to be rounded up as hostages, to be killed if Heydrich's assassin is not revealed. Ultimately Lockhart himself is framed by the citizenry, giving the actor full scope to cringe and cower as only he could. Persuasively directed by Fritz Lang, Hangmen Also Die was based on a story by Lang and expatriate German playwright Bertold Brecht. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, (more)
- 1942
20th Century-Fox hoped to make a film star out of Texas A&M football hero John Kimbrough, and to that end placed the gridiron hero in a brace of compact westerns. The first of these was Zane Grey's The Lone Star Ranger, previously filmed by Fox in 1931 with George O'Brien in the lead. Kimbrough plays Texas Ranger Buck Dunne, assigned to round up a gang of bank robbers. The leader of the gang turns out to be the "respectable" Judge Longstreth (Jonathan Hale), making life difficult for Dunne inasmuch as he's in love with Longstreth's niece Barbara (Sheila Ryan). Despite the herculean efforts of director John Tinling, John Kimbrough was consititutionally incapable of delivering a convincing performance in either Lone Star Ranger or its immediate followup Sundown Jim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Kimbrough, Sheila Ryan, (more)
- 1942
This upbeat war-time tale chronicles the ordeal of ardently American munitions plant worker Joe Smith (Robert Young), whose access to the U.S. military's plan for a new bomb-sight leave him victim to an abduction from Nazi agents. Knowing that Joe (Young) has vital information, the German soldiers hold nothing back in their attempts to force it out of him, including vicious, unending rounds of torture. The captured patriot, however, reveals nothing, opting instead to visualize happy times from his past as a means to escape his agonizing ordeal. Luckily, Joe manages to escape, contact the FBI, and bring his Nazi captors to justice. Directed by Richard Thorpe, Joe Smith, America also features actors arsha Hunt and arryl Hickman as Joe's beloved family.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Marsha Hunt, (more)
- 1942
There are moments in Columbia's Flight Lieutenant that approach "high camp"; indeed, one is hard pressed to remember if any cliché is left unturned. Pat O'Brien plays air pilot Sam O'Doyle, who is professionally disgraced when he survives a crash in which his co-pilot is killed. He tries to get work elsewhere, but finds that he can't shake the onus of his apparent dereliction of duty (Even the newspapers conspire against him, trumpeting his humilitation in front-page headlines!) Finally O'Doyle escapes to the tropics, leaving his young son in the care of his best friend Sanford (Jonathan Hale). As the years pass, young Danny Doyle (Glenn Ford), an aviator himself, grows to despise his father's memory-especially since he has married Susie Thompson (Evelyn Ankers), the daughter of Sam's unfortunate co-pilot. When WW2 breaks out, Danny is promoted to flight lieutenant, whereupon his father enlists as an Army Air Corps private under Danny's command. The elder Doyle finally redeems himself when he knocks Danny out and takes over a suicidal test-pilot assignment (That darn fool kid-er, darn fool grownup!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Glenn Ford, (more)
- 1942
- NR
14-year-old Shirley Temple receives her first on-screen kiss in this innocuous romantic comedy. Temple is cast as the titular Annie Rooney, the starry-eyed, idealistic daughter of erstwhile --and impoverished--inventor Tim Rooney (William Gargan). Annie is swept off her feet by intellectual high-schooler Marty White (Dickie Moore), the son of a millionaire rubber magnate (Jonathan Hale). At first cold-shouldered by Marty's snooty friends, Annie wins them over at a party with a lively jitterbug dance (future choreographer Roland DuPree, who appears in the film as Joey, doubled for Dickie Moore in the dance sequence). It is, however, a different story with Marty's socially conscious parents, who are appalled by such riff-raff as Annie's dad and grandpop (Guy Kibbee). But circumstances change when, in true "touring stock company" fashion, Tim Rooney comes up with a new form of synthetic rubber which Mr. White simply cannot do without. In later years, Shirley Temple's co-star Dickie Moore would recall that the much-publicized scene in which he kisses Temple was extremely embarrassing for him, inasmuch as it was the first time he had ever kissed any girl; conversely, in her autobiography Temple cheekily pointed out that it most certainly wasn't her first time, and that she breezed through the scene with her customary professional aplomb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, William Gargan, (more)
- 1942
When Lew Ayres' wartime conscientious-objector status caused MGM to drop the actor like a hot potato, Ayres' "Dr. Kildare" series became the sole responsibility of Lionel Barrymore as the crusty Dr. Leonard Gillespie. In the first Kildare-less entry, Calling Dr. Gillespie, the ageing medico has a new assistant, refugee Dutch surgeon Dr. John Hunter Gerniede (Philip Dorn). Both Gillespie and Gerniede tackle the case of schizophrenic homicidal maniac Roy Todwell (Phil Brown), who is quite a handful to say the least. The story comes to a more suspenseful conclusion than usual as Todwell stalks Gillespie in the dead of night. MGM star-to-be Ava Gardner has a tiny, uncredited bit role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Philip Dorn, (more)
- 1942
Anxious to do her bit for the war effort, Blondie (Penny Singleton) joins the Housewives of America, a home defense league. Husband Dagwood (Arthur Lake) soon finds that Blondie is neglecting her responsibilities at home in favor of her war work; also disgruntled are Dagwood's chauvinistic boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) and a newlywed husband (Stu Erwin) whose wife is never home thanks to the defense league. Following a slapstick denouement at a power plant, in which the husbands are shown the error of their macho attitude, Blondie promises to devote more time to Dagwood--but at the same time delivers a patriotic speech to the women in the audience, exhorting them to align with the "Home Front". Blondie for Victory was twelfth in Columbia's series of comedy films based on Chic Young's popular comic strip Blondie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1942
One of the most fondly remembered of the "Blondie" series entries, Blondie Goes to College is predicated on the notion that Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) must receive a college diploma or lose his job with the Dithers Construction Company. Not wishing to be separated from her husband, Blondie (Penny Singleton) enrolls in college as well-but the rules stipulate "no married couples", forcing our hero and heroine to pretend that they're not married. This causes quite a dilemma when coed Laura Wadsworth (Janet Blair) begins flirting with Dagwood and B.M.O.C. Rusty Bryant (Larry Parks) does same with Blondie. Making things worse-Blondie is expecting another child (who will make her first appearance in the next installment, Blondie's Blessed Event), but she daren't tell anyone lest both she and Dag be expelled. The student body at this particular seat of learning is comprised of quite a few familiar faces (most well past college age), including Lloyd Bridges, Sid Melton, and Adele Mara. The biggest laughs in Blondie Goes to College are garnered by famed double-talk expert Al Kelly, playing an uncredited cameo as a tangle-tongued professor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1942
An historical entry in Columbia's Blondie series, Blondie's Blessed Event recreates the moment in Chic Young's original comic strip wherein Blondie and Dagwood were blessed with baby daughter Cookie. The first portion of the film involves the tribulations of Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) as he tries to take his wife Blondie (Penny Singleton) and his new daughter (Norma Jean Wayne) home from the hospital. The bulk of the story concerns a get-rich-quick scheme involving Dagwood and an eccentric artist (Hans Conried). There's also a few frantic moments at a convention where Dagwood embarrasses his boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale). The eleventh of Columbia's "Blondie" B-pictures, Blondie's Blessed Event is one of the best of the batch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1941
George Sanders makes his final appearance as crook-turned-detective Simon Templar, a.k.a. "The Saint," in The Saint in Palm Springs. The gimmick in this one is a set of rare stamps, smuggled from England. Wendy Barrie is the true heir to this treasure, and the Saint is engaged to protect her and the stamps. Our hero meets Barrie in a posh Palm Springs resort, where a gang of homicidal thieves have converged to relieve the girl of her inheritance. Three murders and one kidnapping attempt later, the villains are foiled by the Saint, with the aid of his onetime partner in crime Pearly Gates (Paul Guilfoyle). The Saint in Palm Springs is the sixth in RKO's series of films based on the character created by Leslie Charteris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, (more)
- 1941
Dagwood Bumstead (Arthur Lake) is invited by his boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) to accompany Dithers on an ocean cruise to South America. Dagwood's whole family comes along, including wife Blondie (Penny Singleton), son Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) and Daisy the dog and her pups. Just before sailing, Dagwood is compelled to stay behind and watch over Dithers' business. Determined to rejoin his family, Dagwood dresses up in drag and joins the ship's all-girl orchestra. The ruse continues all the way to South America, where Dagwood must fume while Blondie is serenaded by dashing Tito Guizar. Blondie Goes Latin is the eighth in the Columbia series based on the comic strip by Chic Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1941
Broke and stranded once more, golden-hearted showgirl Maisie Revere (Ann Sothern) finds herself in upstate New York in general proximity with a prizefighting camp. She meets and ultimately falls in love with up-and-coming boxer Terry Dolan (played by Ann Sothern's future husband Robert Sterling). Upon realizing that her heart belongs to Terry's manager Skeets Maguire (George Murphy), our heroine finds herself on the horns of an emotional dilemma-especially after Dolan is blinded in a fight, possibly permanently. The film's best moments belong to "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom, typecast in his usual role of a pugilist who's suffered one too many blows to the cranium. Also worth the price of admission is Maisie's opening dance-hall scene, highlighted by the terpischorean skills of the star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, George Murphy, (more)
- 1941
By 1941, Wallace Beery was pretty much confined to playing two characters: The reprobate with the heart of gold, or the old-line martinet who resents the incursions of progress. In The Bugle Sounds, Beery opted for characterization #2, playing entrenched Cavalry sergeant Hap Doan. Accustomed to horses and horsemen, Sgt. Doan has a great deal of trouble adjusting themselves to those newfangled armored cars and tanks that the modern Army has introduced to his troops. By the time he's seen the error of his ways and entered the 20th century, old Hap has somehow gotten himself mixed up with enemy saboteurs. The secondary love interest in The Bugle Sounds is handled by William Lundigan and Donna Reed, while Wally Beery is offered a more mature amour in the form of boisterous Marjorie Main. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, (more)
- 1941
In this drama, a terminally ill college professor with only three months to live asks some younger colleagues what he should do with the rest of his life. One advises him to murder someone who deserves to die. The professor likes the idea and chooses to off a conniving seductress who really enjoys destroying the lives and loves of other people, including two of his ex-students. After he kills her, he turns himself into the cops. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell, (more)
