John Hamilton Movies
Born and educated in Pennsylvania, John Hamilton headed to New York in his twenties to launch a 25-year stage career. Ideally cast as businessmen and officials, the silver-haired Hamilton worked opposite such luminaries as George M. Cohan and Ann Harding. He toured in the original company of the long-running Frank Bacon vehicle Lightnin', and also figured prominently in the original New York productions of Seventh Heaven and Broadway. He made his film bow in 1930, costarring with Donald Meek in a series of 2-reel S.S.Van Dyne whodunits (The Skull Mystery, The Wall St. Mystery) filmed at Vitaphone's Brooklyn studios. Vitaphone's parent company, Warner Bros., brought Hamilton to Hollywood in 1936, where he spent the next twenty years playing bits and supporting roles as police chiefs, judges, senators, generals and other authority figures. Humphrey Bogart fans will remember Hamilton as the clipped-speech DA in The Maltese Falcon (1941), while Jimmy Cagney devotees will recall Hamilton as the recruiting officer who inspires George M. Cohan (Cagney) to compose "Over There" in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Continuing to accept small roles in films until the mid '50s (he was the justice of the peace who marries Marlon Brando to Teresa Wright in 1950's The Men), Hamilton also supplemented his income with a group of advertisements for an eyeglasses firm. John Hamilton is best known to TV-addicted baby boomers for his six-year stint as blustering editor Perry "Great Caesar's Ghost!" White on the Adventures of Superman series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1924
Alfred Hitchcock provided the screenplay for this drama about marital discord between the aristocrat Adrian St. Clair (Clive Brook) and his cold-hearted wife Drusilla (Alice Joyce). Harris returns from the war to find his wife is as unresponsive as ever. His affair with a passionate French woman (Marjorie Daw) makes Drusilla realize she must change her ways to avoid divorce and scandal. Victor McLaglen also appears in this drama that is the first to credit the legendary Hitchcock with his debut as the screenwriter. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marjorie Daw, Alice Joyce, (more)
- 1925
Released in Great Britain as The Mountain Eagle, Fear o' God was Alfred Hitchcock's second directorial effort, as well as his second collaboration with Hollywood star Nita Naldi. The story is set in Kentucky, with the Austrian Tyrol incongruously standing in for the Kentucky hills and hollows. Naldi plays a schoolteacher who is caught in the middle of a village feud. Wrongly accused of immorality, the woman is driven into the woods, where she's rescued by mysterious mountain man Fearogod (Malcolm Keen). Screenwriter Elliot Stannard obviously had no idea how Kentuckians acted or behaved, but Hitchcock, despite acute health problems, breathed life into silly goings-on. Despite its flaws, Fear o' God was a hit; more importantly, the film's success allowed Hitchcock to direct a story of his own choosing: The Lodger (1926). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Margery (Margarita Fisher) decides to form a partnership with her friend Franklyn Smith, a struggling attorney (Jack Mower). The company is called "Beauty to Let," with Margery as the sole worker: She leases herself out as a date for rich men who want a pretty girl to escort for the evening (this being the 1910s, she is accompanied by a chaperone -- the always amusing Kate Price). Business is booming, but finally two men take up most of Margery's time -- Henry Rockwell (J. Norris Foster) and "Diamond Tim" Moody (Wedgwood Nowell). Both want to marry her, yet -- predictably -- Margery has fallen in love with Franklyn. Franklyn has no clue, however, blithely giving her Rockwell's proposal while bragging to her about his own new bachelor quarters -- which of course will not do, and Margery spends the rest of the picture getting Franklyn to wake up and marry her. This mildly amusing story was originally a novel, Beauty to Let, by Fred Jackson.
~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1927
Filmed on location in rural England, The Silver Lining concentrates on the two sons of the Widow Hurst (Marie Ault). In true ant-and-grasshopper fashion, Thomas Hurst (Patrick Ahearne) is industrious, while his brother John (John Hamilton) is lazy. Upset that Thomas is about to marry the girl of his dreams, John steals the girl's valuable string of pearls and sells them to a gypsy. He then arranges for Thomas to be accused of the crime. Rather than break his mother's heart and reveal his brother as a cad and a liar, Thomas stoically marches off to jail. Upon his release, John suffers an attack of remorse and confesses all to his mother. Realizing that he can never truly atone for his misdeeds so long as he is alive, John goads his gypsy cohort into shooting him, then he tearfully writes a confession as he breathes his last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Ault, Patrick Aherne, (more)
- 1929
The newly constructed Paramount sound stages were used as a backdrop for the Pirandellian thriller The Studio Murder Mystery. Fredric March stars as Richard Hardell, a silent-screen idol whose transition to talkies is threatened by his inability to remember his lines. Driven to distraction, Hardell's director Richard Borka (Warner Oland) wonders if his star will be able to get through the all-important "murder scene" in his current picture. The thin line between fantasy and reality is blurred when several actual attempts are made on Hardell's life. The suspects include Hardell's far-from-loyal wife Blanche (played by March's real-life wife Florence Eldredge) and sour-pussed studio "gag writer" Tony White (Neil Hamilton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Chester Conklin, (more)
- 1929
In this gritty drama, an epileptic john has a seizure and kills a hooker. His mother hides her distraught son. Meanwhile, the prostitute's boyfriend is accused and convicted for the crime. Just before he is to hang, the real killer confesses his crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
A mystery develops when some jewels are stolen from a wealthy widow and she is murdered, with the blame wrongly falling on a phony psychic friend of hers. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Austin Trevor, Richard Cooper, (more)
- 1930
In this actioner, a Coast Guard ensign must investigate a yacht suspected of smuggling alcohol. While aboard, he falls for a lovely young woman. The woman disobeys her mother and begins seeing the ensign who soon discovers that the brains behind the operation is the man the woman's mother wanted her to marry. Songs include: "My Man Is On The Make," "A Ship Without A Sail," and "If I Knew You Better." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Kane, Victor Moore, (more)
- 1930
Having long enjoyed a near-legendary status because of its general unavailability, Dangerous Nan McGrew inevitably disappoints when seen today. In her only starring feature role, Helen Kane, the original "Boop-boop-a-doop" girl, stars as an entertainer in a travelling medicine show. While her boss Doc Foster (Victor Moore) peddles his snake oil and picks as many pockets as possible, Nan shows off her skills as a singer and sharpshooter. Through a series of improbable plot twists, Doc's little show becomes a rendezvous for bank robber Muldoon (Frank Morgan), RCMP officer Bob Dawes (James Hall), and all-around dufus Eustace Macy (Stu Erwin). The comedy sequences are strictly from hunger, and the songs aren't much better, but Helen Kane's sheer likability -- and the combined comic expertise of Victor Moore (in his first talkie) and Frank Morgan -- save the film from being a complete waste of time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Kane, Victor Moore, (more)
- 1934
The touching bond between a cavalry horse and the doughboy whose life he saves provides the basis for this syrupy war drama. After the horse's heroism, he and the soldier are nearly inseparable until an officer intervenes and separates them. This enrages the soldier and he deserts. He is captured and things look bleak until the US president intervenes and reunites the soldier and his beloved steed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Huston, Frances Dee, (more)
- 1936
Legion of Terror was the first in a cycle of "exposé" films inspired by the upsurge in such hate groups as the KKK, the Silver Shirts and the Black Legion. The titular vigilante organization, which cloaks its extortionist motivations in the guise of patriotism, has a habit of sending mail bombs to its enemies -- and that's how Postal Inspector Frank Marshall (Bruce Cabot) becomes involved in the story. Before Marshall is able to expose the Legion of Terror for the cowards that they are, the group has murdered Don Foster (Ward Bond), the brother of Marshall's sweetheart Nancy (Marguerite Churchill). The film closes with an admonition to the audience to avoid getting suckered in by similar phony "All American" organizations. Legion of Terror was released just before Warner Bros. similar (and superior) The Black Legion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Marguerite Churchill, (more)
- 1936
On New Year's Eve, aspiring actress Julia Wayne (Joan Bennett) and chronic gambler Larry Stevens (Joel McCrea), both flat broke, each find one-half of a $1000 banknote. They decide to invest their windfall in a race horse and jockey, in hopes of financing a theatrical career for Julia and a new start in life for Larry. Unfortunately, the thousand-dollar note turns out to be stolen, dropped in haste during a bank robbery. This gets hero, heroine and horse mixed up with the crooks, and for a while it looks as though the nag won't show up for the climactic Big Race. Even after the horse arrives at the starting gate, he refuses to gallop until he spies the cart that he used to haul around for coal peddler Jonesy (Andy Clyde). After a great opening, Two in a Crowd runs out of gas, but the two stars are always worth watching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1936
Universal contractee Henry Hunter never became a big star, but during his brief stay at the studio he appeared in a quite a few interesting films. Adapted from a novel by Rufus King, Love Letters of a Star casts Hunter as John Aldrich, the husband of the unfortunate Jenny Aldrich (Mary Alice Rice). When Jenny dies under mysterious circumstances, it is revealed that she was being blackmailed with a packet of love letters she'd written to Broadway celebrity Meredith Landers (Ralph Forbes). No sooner has Jenny's death been ruled a suicide than her blackmailer is murdered, immediately casting suspicion about the girl's grieving husband John. For a while, wealthy Artemus Todd (Samuel S. Hinds) is led to believe that he was the killer, but there's many another surprise twists before the final fadeout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Hunter, Polly Rowles, (more)
- 1936
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
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Binnie Barnes, (more)
- 1936
Crime reporter George Melville (Joel McCrea) arrogantly repeated accurate predictions about jewel robberies. He befriends Claire (Jean Arthur), who involves him in a mysterious adventure. Later, George meets producer Blackton Gregory (Reginald Owen), who reveals Claire is an actress hired by other reporters who wanted to show George up. She's starring in a play Gregory is producing, but only as a cover for a tunnel he's having henchmen dig to an art gallery. Gregory is really Belaire, a master thief who everyone but George thinks is dead, so when Claire, now falling in love with George, innocently gives Belaire key information, he uses it against George. To Claire's dismay, this leads to George being fired and, apparently, going nuts. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1937
Edmund Goulding directed this remake of his own 1929 The Trespasser, which starred Gloria Swanson. Here Bette Davis assumes the lead role of Mary Donnell, a young innocent married to a bootlegger. When her husband is killed, she decides to pursue a better life and gets a job as a secretary to attorney Lloyd Rogers (Ian Hunter). Lloyd falls in love with Mary but stoically keeps his feelings hidden from her. One of Lloyd's clients is the millionaire Merrick (Donald Crisp), whose playboy son Jack (Henry Fonda) falls in love with Mary. The two elope and take off on their honeymoon, but Merrick, who feels that Mary is not good enough for Jack, asks that the marriage be annulled. Jack reluctantly agrees and Mary goes back to her old job with Lloyd. But Mary finds that she is pregnant and has a baby boy. She swears Lloyd to secrecy concerning her child and Lloyd agrees. Meanwhile, Jack marries a woman of his own class, Flip (Anita Louise), but she is fatally injured in an automobile accident. Lloyd also falls ill and dies at Mary's feet --but not before confessing his love for Mary. When his will is read, it reveals that he has left Mary and her child a vast fortune. Lloyd's wife (Katherine Alexander) believes the baby boy is Lloyd's illegitimate child, and she tries to overturn the terms of the will. Jack hears about Mary's child, and she confesses that the child is actually his. Merrick then tries to have the baby taken away from Mary, contending that she is unfit to raise the baby. Unable to withstand Merrick's legal hammering, Mary offers the child to Jack and Flip. Mary, distraught after abandoning her baby, leaves on a European trip. While she is gone, Flip dies and Jack leaves for Europe to try to find her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1937
It was from this military musical that the US Marine Corps got it's signature anthem, "The Song of the Marines." The story chronicles the exploits of a young recruit who wins a radio contest and becomes an overnight singing sensation. Unfortunately, the sudden fame has caused a bad case of ego edema in the man and his Corps buddies begin to avoid him. Even his girl friend grows tired of his swaggering. Busby Berkeley staged the musical numbers. The songs include: "I Know Now," "'Cause My Baby Says It's So," "Night Over Shanghai," "The Lady Who Couldn't Be Kissed," "You Can't Run Away from Love Tonight." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Doris Weston, (more)
- 1937
Two Wise Maids was an attempt by Republic Pictures to recapture the magic of MGM's Marie Dressler-Polly Moran vehicles. Dressler, alas, had died, but Republic was able to secure the services of Moran, teaming the raucous comedienne with the magnificent Alison Skipworth. The two leading ladies are cast as Prudence and Agatha, a pair of old-fashioned schoolteachers in an old-fashioned small town. Disdaining the wimpy theories of "progressive" education, Prudence and Agatha stick to the reliable "Three R's," often teaching to the tune of a hickory stick. Though ridiculed for their so-called outmoded methods, the heroines manage to turn out quite a few prize students, earning the undying gratitude of the local citizenry. The obligatory romantic subplot involves school principal Bruce (Donald Cook) and substitute teacher Ellen (Hope Manning, later billed as Irene Manning). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alison Skipworth, Polly Moran, (more)
- 1937
It Could Happen to You is one of those captivating "little" pictures whose reputation is built up via word of mouth. Alan Baxter and Owen Davis Jr. star as Bob and Fred, the sons of immigrant Pa Barrett (Al Shean). Fred is a dutiful offspring, but Bob, an adoptee, is a no-good, stealing money from the old man to further his ambitions. When Pa Barrett confronts Bob with this discovery, the young man accidentally kills his stepfather. As fate would have it, Fred has become a lawyer, and it is he who takes on the job of defending Bob in court. Fred wins an acquittal, but Bob learns to his chagrin that he will never be able to escape the "judge and jury" of his own conscience. The script for It Could Happen to You was co-written by Nathaniel West, later the author of the trenchant anti-Hollywood novel Day of the Locust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Baxter, Andrea Leeds, (more)
- 1937
Based on fact, this turn-of-the-century crime drama stars Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck (husband and wife at the time). Taylor plays a seemingly disreputable young man who joins a gang of murderous bank robbers, headed by Victor McLaglen. Stanwyck is a beer-hall entertainer, who disapproves of Taylor's activities and tries to reform him. She needn't bother: Taylor is in reality an undercover detective, on a top secret mission for President William McKinley. So anxious is Taylor to bring McLaglen to justice that he allows himself to be convicted of murder. The agent is confident that the president will keep him from hanging--but McKinley is assassinated before he can intervene. Stanwyck rescues Taylor by pleading his case with McKinley's successor, Teddy Roosevelt (Sidney Blackmer). The plot of This is My Affair was impressive enough to inspire at least one imitation: Night Riders, a 1939 Republic western wherein the martyred president who shares the hero's secret is James A. Garfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
The Man Betrayed in this Republic actioner is hero Eddie Nugent, though this doesn't occur until the film is half over. Framed for a murder he didn't commit, Nugent finds support from an unlikely corner: a group of crooks, led by John Wray, set about to prove the boy's innocence. All of this meets with the benign approval of clergyman Lloyd Hughes, whose beatific good influence turns out to be contagious. Evidently intended to be longer than its present 58 minutes, Man Betrayed contains several gaping plot and continuity holes, the result of what seems to have been ruthless wholesale editing. The film makes even less sense on TV, where it was pared down to 53 minutes -- and then, to accommodate extra commercials, was whittled down further to 48 minutes (whew)! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Nugent, Kay Hughes, (more)
- 1937
Columbia's Criminals of the Air is another entry in the "alien-smuggling" movie cycle -- and as such includes the obligatory scene in which the airborne smugglers escape detection by pulling a lever and disposing of their human cargo. Hoping to collar the crooks, detective Mark Owens (Charles Quigley) poses as a down-and-out pilot looking for work. He is hired by the "Honeymoon Express," ostensibly designed to transport newlyweds across the Mexican border and back again, but actually a front for smuggling activities. Fearless girl reporter Nancy Rawlings (Rosalind Keith) covertly covers Owens' activities, ultimately landing in a heap o' trouble when the crooks catch on. In one of her last "B"-picture assignments, Rita Hayworth plays a voluptuous Latina dancer in a Mexican cabaret sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Keith, Charles Quigley, (more)
- 1937
This romantic tearjerker was the second film based on the popular 1922 stage play. James Stewart stars as Chico, a lowly Paris sewer worker who has abandoned his faith in God and any hope for a brighter future or romance when his prayers go unanswered. Chico meets Diane (Simone Simon), a prostitute who lives under the thumb of her cruel sister, Nana (Gale Sondergaard). When Nana kicks Diane out on the street, Chico rescues her from the authorities and gives his new friend shelter in his run-down, seventh floor slum apartment. Although Diane begins to develop feelings for him, the cynical Chico feels nothing in return until Father Chevillon (Jean Hersholt), a local priest, intervenes to get him a better job. Now working as a street cleaner, Chico's self-respect improves, and he considers marrying Diane. WWI intervenes, however, and Chico is sent off to fight, though he and Diane vow to think of each other every night at eleven o'clock. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simone Simon, James Stewart, (more)
