Evelyn Hall Movies

Released in the US as The Randolph Family, Dear Octopus was based on the internationally popular play by Dodie Smith. The story is motivated by the Golden Wedding anniversary of Charles and Dora Randolph (Frederick Leister, Helen Haye). As the relatives gather, each reveals his or her personal quirks and shortcomings. Caught in the middle is family secretary Penny Fenton (Margaret Lockwood), who has the unenviable task of sorting and smoothing out the family's many deep-set hostilities and jealousies so that a good time will be had by all. The basic premise of Dear Octopus is established early on; the rest of the film is variations on a single theme, albeit consistently amusing ones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the stage play by former newspaperman Louis Weitzenkorn, Five Star Final is an uncompromising look at the consequences of journalistic irresponsibility. Hounded by his publishers to pep up circulation with a sensational story, newspaper editor Edward G. Robinson decides to revive public interest in a long-ago murder case. He discovers that a woman (Sally Starr) who'd shot her lover nearly three decades earlier is now living under a new name and is married to a pillar of society (H.B. Warner). The woman's daughter (Marian Marsh) is just about to marry the son (Anthony Bushell) of another wealthy couple. Robinson sends one of his slimier reporters (Boris Karloff), a onetime divinical student who'd been expelled for sexual misconduct, to visit the woman and secure a photograph. The underhanded reporter disguises himself as the clergyman who will officiate at the wedding, worms his way into the family's confidence, and appropriates the photo. When the story hits the papers, the woman desperately tries to call Robinson and ask him to cease and desist, but Robinson is unmoved. The disgraced woman commits suicide, as does her husband a few moments later. The groom's parents snobbishly try to call off the wedding, but the groom stands by his fiancee's side and is disinherited. The grief-maddened daughter breaks into Robinson's office with a gun, threatening to kill him for ruining her mother. She is calmed down by her fiance, who warns Robinson that he himself will come back for revenge if the newspaper ever mentions the dead woman's name again. Five Star Final was remade in 1936 as Two Against the World, this time set in a radio station instead of a newspaper office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alexander Hamilton was not precisely the life story of America's first secretary of the treasury--in fact, it doesn't even depict the most portentous moment of Hamilton's life, his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. Instead, Alexander Hamilton concentrates on Hamilton's efforts to pass the "Assumption Bill," which required the federal government to assume the debts incurred by the 13 states during the Revolutionary War. Hamilton's enemies attempt to blackmail him into silence by calling forth a Mrs. Reynolds, with whom the married Hamilton had had a brief affair while in London. Hamilton confounds his enemies by admitting publicly to the affair and condemning his opponents for compromising the goodwill of the country with such sordid tactics. George Arliss, who'd played Alexander Hamilton on stage, here revives the role, in the company of Alan Mowbray as George Washington (delivering a memorable "farewell to the troops") scene, Montagu Love as Thomas Jefferson, Morgan Wallace as James Monroe, and June Collyer as the hapless Mrs. Reynolds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No one was surprised in 1929 that aviation mogul Howard R. Hughes would produce a paean to World War I flying aces like Hell's Angels. Given Hughes' comparative inexperience as a moviemaker, however, everyone was taken slightly aback that the finished film was as good as it was. The very American Ben Lyon and James Hall play (respectively) Monte and Roy Rutledge, a couple of British brothers who drop out of Oxford to join the British Royal Flying Corps. Several early scenes establish Lyon and Hall's romantic rivalry over two-timing socialite Helen (Jean Harlow). While flying a dangerous bombing mission over Germany, the brothers are shot down. The commandant (Lucien Prival), who'd earlier been cuckolded by one of the brothers, savors his opportunity for revenge. He offers the boys their freedom if they'll reveal the time of the next British attack; if they don't cooperate, they face unspeakable consequences. Roy, driven mad by his combat experiences, is about to tell all when he is shot and killed by Monte. The latter is himself condemned to a firing squad by the disgruntled commandant -- who, it is implied, will soon meet his own doom at the hands of the British bombers. Nobody really cares about this hoary old plot, however; Hell's Angels culls most of its strength from its crackerjack aerial sequences. The highlight is a Zeppelin raid over London, one of the most hauntingly effective sequences ever put on film. From the first ghost-like appearance of the Zeppelin breaking through the clouds, to the self-sacrificing behavior of the German crew members as they jump to their deaths rather than provide "excess weight," this is a scene that lingers in the memory far longer than all that good-of-the-service nonsense in the finale. Also worth noting is the star-making appearance of Jean Harlow. When Hell's Angels was begun as a silent film, Norwegian actress Greta Nissen played the female lead. During the switchover to sound, producer Hughes decided that her accent was at odds with her characterization, so he reshot her scenes with his latest discovery, Harlow. While she appears awkward in some of her scenes, there's no clumsiness whatsoever in her delivery of the classic line about slipping into "something more comfortable." Originally, Marshall Neilan was signed to direct the film, but became so rattled by Howard Hughes' interference that he handed the reins to Hughes himself, who was in turn given an uncredited assist by Luther Reed. Also ignored in the film's credits are the dialogue contributions by future Frankenstein director James Whale, who'd been hired as the film's English-dialect coach. Modern audiences expecting a musty museum piece are generally surprised by Hell's Angels' high entertainment content: they are also startled by the pre-code frankness of the dialogue, with phrases like "The hell with you" bandied about with reckless abandon. In recent years, archivists have restored the film's two-color Technicolor sequence, providing us with our only color glimpses of the radiant Jean Harlow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his pre-Charlie Chan days, Warner Oland returned as Dr. Fu Manchu for this sequel to The Mysterious Doctor Fu Manchu (1939). Supposedly the victim of a suicide at the end of the first film, Fu Manchu has actually injected himself with a toxin that will make him only appear dead. Escaping through a trap door in his coffin, Fu Manchu travels to England to seek revenge on the two men he holds responsible for the deaths of his wife and child: Dr. Jack Petrie (Neil Hamilton) and Inspector Nayland Smith (O.P. Heggie). A murderous game of cat and mouse ensues. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Children of the Ritz was based on a serialized magazine story by future suspense specialist Cornell Woolrich. Spoiled heiress Angela Pennington (Dorothy Mackaill) falls in love with impoverished chauffeur Dewey Haines (Jack Mulhall). Subsequently, their respective social standings are radically changed when Angela's family goes broke and Dewey wins $50,000 at the race track. After their marriage, Angela reverts to her spendthrift ways, quickly depleting her husband's bank account. Disgustedly, he walks out on her and takes a cab-driving job. After several further complications, Angela catches up with Dewey and promises to reform. A silent film, Children of the Ritz was released with synchronized sound effects (mostly honking horns) and a Vitaphone musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Lloyd both produced and directed The Divine Lady, a Hollywood slant on the 19th century romance of Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton. American film star Corinne Griffith, decked out in a blonde wig, is decorative but otherwise unconvincing as Lady Emma, while Hungarian-born Victor Varconi brings an inappropriate continental air to the veddy British Lord Nelson. Both stars found themselves playing second fiddle to Marie Dressler, mugging to her heart's content as Lady Emma's ambitious mother. The scandal surrounding the leading characters' illicit affair is secondary to the film's exciting reconstructions of Nelson's celebrated sea battles. Technically a silent, Divine Lady was released with a Vitaphone musical score and sound effects. Lost in the shuffle during the switch over to talkies in 1929, Divine Lady is forgotten today, totally eclipsed by the immensely successful 1941 film Lady Hamilton, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mary Pickford stars as the "Miss Fix-it" for her eccentric family. Pickford's job at a dime-store keeps her postman dad (Lucien Littlefield), addlepated mom (Sunshine Hart) and loose-living sister (Carmelita Geraghty) from going under. She falls in love with handsome Charles "Buddy" Rogers, never dreaming that the boy is the son of store-owner Hobart Bosworth. The "meeting cute" scene between Pickford and Rogers has been so often excerpted in silent-movie compilations that it's possible many viewers have it memorized. Based on a story by Kathleen Norris, My Best Girl served to introduce Mary Pickford to future-husband Rogers (they were wed nearly a decade later). Lucien Littlefield, the "old codger" who plays Pickford's father, was in reality three years younger than Pickford! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Elinor Glyn, author of the notorious Three Weeks, wrote this story on which this drama was based, so the film was bound to draw interest. Glyn's books may seem tame today but they were scandalous (and delightfully so) to 1920s audiences, and the producers had to tame her material down a bit. This is emphasized by the trade paper Motion Picture News, which affirms, "there is nothing suggestive in this picture. The screen version has been pasteurized as far as this goes and no one will find anything objectionable." After the death of her husband, Olive Kingston (Myrtle Stedman) wants to see her daughter Laline (Corinne Griffith) married off to the wealthy and distinguished Lord Charles Chetwyn (Claude King). Laline accepts her fate and travels to Paris where she meets Dion Leslie (Frank Mayo), a friend of her brother's. Her brother died in battle (the story taking place in post-World War I Europe), so the two visit his grave. They also go to the dugouts, but the entrance caves in, trapping them. Entombed for six days, Laline and Leslie fall in love and are married by a priest , who conveniently has been trapped with them and who then dies in another landslide. Eventually both Laline and Leslie escape. It turns out that Leslie is Chetwyn's son from a former marriage, so Chetwyn not only gives the couple his blessings, but also names the young man heir to his estate. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide