Russell Hardie Movies
Stage actor Russell Hardie came to films in the early 1930s as an all-purpose "juvenile." Hardie's larger roles included the arrogant stage-star son of veteran vaudevillians Frank Morgan and Alice Brady in Broadway to Hollywood (1933) and Gustave in Camille (1936). In 1937, he returned to the stage, appearing exclusively in theatrical productions until 1951. Russell Hardie re-emerged on screen in the 1960s as a New York-based character actor, essaying featured roles in such films as Fail Safe (1964) and The Group (1966). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1966
Based on the novel by Mary McCarthy, The Group was one of the slickest, and most highly publicized, cinematic soap operas of the 1960s. Filmed largely in New York, the story charts the exploits of eight young women, all of whom graduate from an exclusive Vassar-ish college in the middle of the Depression. Among the talented young actresses making their screen debuts herein are Candice Bergen as Lakey, the group's resident Lesbian; Joan Hackett as Dottie, a repressed socialite who takes up with bohemian artist Dick Brown (Richard Mulligan); Joanna Pettet as Kay, who marries philandering playwright Harald Peterson (Larry Hagman); and Kathleen Widdoes as Helena, the wealthiest of the girls who insists upon proving her value in the workplace. The other girls are Pokey (Marin-Robin Redd), who seems happiest when pregnant; Jessica Walter as Libby, the group's viper-tongued gossip and the darling of the Manhattan literary set (some have suggested that McCarthy based this character on herself); Elizabeth Hartman as Priss, the requisite heart-on-sleeve liberal; and Shirley Knight as Polly, whose bumpy love life culminates in a very colorful engagement party. Hal Holbrook, likewise making his first screen appearance, plays Gus LeRoy. Sumptuously produced, The Group is a bit empty dramatically, though the sheer volume of continuing characters manages to sustain audience interest. (Incidentally, here's a note for "blooper" spotters: wasn't the Pan Am building constructed in the 1950s? ) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, (more)
Based on the novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Fail-Safe is set for the most part at Strategic Air Command headquarters, where a misguided transmission sends a squadron of bombers hurtling towards Russia, fully prepared to drop their atomic weaponry on Moscow. Air Force commander Frank Overton desperately tries to establish radio contact with the bombers, but once the pilots have passed the "fail safe" point, they've been instructed to disregard any reversal of orders. Racing against time, US President Henry Fonda, through his interpreter (Larry Hagman), informs the Russian premiere of the impending nuclear disaster. Working in concert with SAC, the Russians send up interceptors to shoot down the American bombers, while some of the planes run out of fuel and crash. Unfortunately, one aircraft, piloted by Edward Binns, manages to escape destruction and continues on its fatal mission. Realizing that Moscow is doomed, the President must decide how to avert World War III. Featured in the cast of Fail Safe are Walter Matthau as a hawkish scientist, Fritz Weaver as a round-the-bend colonel, and Dom DeLuise (billed as "DeLouise") as a weeping sergeant. Fail-Safe is followed by a government-dictated disclaimer insisting that the events leading up to the nuclear disaster depicted in the film could not possibly happen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, (more)
- 1958
On a boiling hot night in the middle of a steaming New York summer, Detective Mike Reardon is on his way to work when he is shot down execution style. His fellow officers at the 87th, led by detectives Steve Carelli (Robert Loggia) and Mike Maguire (Gerald S. O'Laughlin), can't come up with a motive. The investigation has barely started when Reardon's young partner Foster is ambushed and gunned down as well. Carelli and Maguire are the lead investigators on the double police homicide, tracing potential suspects and following up clues that all lead to blind alleys. Meanwhile, Miller, a reporter, does some investigating on his own and nearly gets a young detective killed by a street gang led by smart-mouthed punk Joe Sanchez (Jerry Orbach). Amid this chaos, Carelli tries to carry on a romance with a deaf-mute author named Teddy (Ellen Parker) and Maguire attempts not to neglect his wife too badly. Maguire is gunned down by the same shooter that killed the other two detectives, only he makes sure the killer leaves behind a few clues before he dies. Carelli can't make the pieces fit together -- the only thing that the three victims had in common was that they worked in the 87th Precinct and they were all cops. He begins wondering if the fact that they were all police officers was relevant to the killings, but not the motive. Looking for a story, Miller reports Carelli's private suppositions, suddenly putting Teddy in jeopardy. Not knowing that the shooter is a step ahead of him, the detective races to her home. Carelli breaks the case and discovers that only one of the murders had an actual motive, one much closer to home than anyone on the squad would ever have guessed. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loggia, Gerald O'Loughlin, (more)
In this World War II drama, Richard Widmark plays Lt. Cmdr. John Lawrence, a strict navy commander assigned to replace the popular senior officer of a group of underwater demolition divers -- better known as frogmen. Lawrence tightens the discipline of this brave but fiercely independent group of underwater warriors, winning few friends in the process. The unpopular officer proves his worth in front of his men by neutralizing a live torpedo at the risk of his own life. The principal attraction of The Frogmen is its underwater photography, which would have been twice as effective in black-and-white. An intelligent, low-key wartime adventure, The Frogmen is weakened only by the excessive "Brooklynese" comedy of Harvey Lembeck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Dana Andrews, (more)
- 1951
Produced by "March of Time" maven Louis de Rochemont, Whistle at Eaton Falls is docudrama concerning a labor dispute in a small New Hampshire town. Union leader Lloyd Bridges is reluctantly promoted to the presidency of Eaton Falls' plastics plant. Now in a management position, Bridges must lay off several of his old friends in order to cut down costs. He tries to do this as painlessly as possible, but his union-boss successor Murray Hamilton public derides Bridges' methods. The potent problems posed by the film are solved in too-slick Hollywood fashion when the plant is saved by a huge government contract and the introduction of cost-efficient machinery. Dorothy Gish makes one of her rare talking-picture appearances as the widow of the plant's former owner in Whistle at Eaton Falls, and if you look closely you'll spot Lloyd Bridges' infant son Jeff in his movie debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Bridges, Dorothy Gish, (more)
- 1936
Rex Stout's overweight, under-exercised detective Nero Wolfe was first brought to the screen in 1936 in the portly person of Edward Arnold. As brusque and short-tempered as ever, Wolfe tackles the case of a college professor who met his doom while playing golf, a tragedy followed by the seemingly unrelated death of a young mechanic. Dispatched to do Wolfe's leg work is his acerbic aide Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander), who manages to discover that both deaths were tied in with a new weapon which silently shoots poisoned needles. Rex Stout wasn't too pleased with the expurgated screen treatment of his fictional sleuth, whose fondness for imported beers was changed by the censors to a predilection for hot chocolate! Well directed by Broadway vet Herbert Biberman, Meet Nero Wolfe was followed in 1937 by The League of Frightened Men, with Walter Connolly as Wolfe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Arnold, Lionel Stander, (more)
- 1936
A small community is terrorized by an unknown serial killer, one "Mr. Zero," who has held the populace in thrall for several weeks. The mysterious murderer takes refuge in the storage area of a department store, where Linda Allen (Mary Brian) works as a store detective. When jewelry-department manager Tommy Braddock (Russell Hardie) is suspected of being Mr. Zero, Linda endeavors to clear his name, and in so doing follows the trail of clues to the real killer. Inasmuch as Zero has already murdered a snoopy shoplifter, he has no qualms about putting his fingers 'round Linda's lovely throat..To give away the killer's identity would be unfair; suffice to say that the actor will be quite familiar to western and serial buffs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Brian, Russell Hardie, (more)
- 1936
What would such second-echelon studios as Republic have done without the popular "rural" novels of Gene Stratton-Porter? This adaptation of Stratton-Porter's The Harvester stars Alice Brady in a rare dramatic role as Mrs. Biddle, the domineering matriarch of a farming family. Hoping to secure the future happiness of her daughter Thelma (Joyce Compton), Mrs. B practically ropes and hog-ties eligible bachelor David Langston (Russell Hardie). But it's a bad match, as David discovers when he falls in love with winsome Ruth Jameson (Ann Rutherford). The Harvester was treated as a prestige production by Republic, who accordingly gave the film as close to an "A" treatment as economically possible. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Brady, Russell Hardie, (more)
Greta Garbo enjoyed one of her greatest triumphs in this glossy adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' oft-filmed romantic tragedy. Here, Garbo stars as Marguerite Gauthier, who is born into humble circumstances but in time becomes Dame aux Camille, one of the most glamorous courtesans in Paris. Camille is kept by the wealthy and powerful Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell), but after many years of earning a good living from her beauty without finding true love, Camille's heart is stolen by Armand (Robert Taylor), a handsome but slightly naive young man who doesn't know how she came by her fortune. Armand is just as attracted to Camille as she is to him, and she's prepared to give up the Baron and his stipend to be with Armand. However, Armand's father (Lionel Barrymore) begs Camille to turn away from his son, knowing her scandalous past could ruin his future. Realizing the painful wisdom of this, Camille rejects Armand, who continues to pursue her even as Camille contracts a potentially fatal case of tuberculosis. Remarkably, even though this was one of Garbo's greatest commercial and critical successes, she would make only three more films before her retirement in 1941; Camille, however, would be filmed several more times following this version (most memorably by elegant sexploitation auteur Radley Metzger in 1969's Camille 2000). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1936
In its first few years of existence, Republic Pictures evinced an eagerness to tackle any sort of offbeat subject. The studio's Down to the Sea has to be one of the only films of the 1930s to concentrate on a pair of Greek sponge fishermen. Played by Russell Hardie and Ben Lyon, the heroes battle over the affections of Ann Rutherford, whose father controls much of Florida's sponge industry. The climactic scenes benefit from the fine location and underwater photography, courtesy of cinematographer Harry Neumann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Hardie, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1935
Big Mike (Wallace Beery) is a tough Army flyer who longs to see his son Little Mike (Robert Young) take to the air like himself. Little Mike's excessive attraction to Dare (Rosalind Russell) strains his relationship with his father, but eventually he finds the right woman -- Skip (Maureen O'Sullivan), the daughter of Army commandant General Carter (Lewis Stone) -- and an airborne Little Mike does his father proud. Bit-Part Alert: Watch for the brief appearance of then up-and-coming MGM contract player Robert Taylor as Jaskerelli. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Robert Young, (more)
- 1935
Though the film is called Speed Devils, the only racetrack scenes occur at the very beginning of the picture. After cracking up during a race, the driver of the car (Paul Kelly) is advised to get into another line of work. Picking up on this, he and his buddy (Russell Hardie) open up a garage, only to be pounced upon by crooked politicians who want a chunk of the profits. The friend agrees to play ball with the crooks, but his partner balks at the idea. The villains then contrive to frame the reluctant man for a crime he didn't commit, and when this fails they lock our hero and his girlfriend (Marguerite Churchill) in a burning building. His pal comes to the rescue, and the two then team up to smash the corrupt politicos once and for all. Speed Devils was directed by former D. W. Griffith protégé Joseph Henaberry, who spent much of his talkie career on Poverty Row. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Kelly, Marguerite Churchill, (more)
- 1935
Oklahoma's own Will Rogers stars in In Old Kentucky. The storyline is in the grand tradition of most films about the Bluegrass State: There's a long-standing family feud, a pair of star-crossed lovers, and a crucial horse race. Rogers cuts through the banality with his seemingly off-the-cuff observations about Kentucky life in particular and the World in general. The best moment of In Old Kentucky has Rogers attempting to escape from jail by putting on blackface makeup and disguising himself as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson--whereupon he's forced to tap-dance to prove his identity. 1935's In Old Kentucky was the third film version of Charles T. Dazey's 1895 stage play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Dorothy Wilson, (more)
- 1934
Harry Beaumont, a director-composer most closely associated with MGM's musical product, does a nice job handling the tongue-in-cheek melodramatics of Murder in the Private Car. Charlie Ruggles goes through his standard drunken-detective act as amateur gumshoe Scott, who stumbles onto a dead body when he wanders into the wrong train car. Despite the fact that the private car can only be locked from the inside, several more murders occur within its walls. This means plenty of trouble for heroine Ruth (Mary Carlisle), who'd rented the car for a cross-country journey of vital importance. Before this particular odyssey is over and the murderer is revealed, the private car, with Ruth trapped inside, is separated from the rest of the train and sent hurtling backward down the tracks, loaded with dynamite! Perhaps Harry Beaumont missed his calling: judging by Murder in the Private Car, he should have specialized in serials. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlie Ruggles, Una Merkel, (more)
- 1934
If you can accept blonde, blue-eyed Marion Davies disguising herself in blackface, chances are you'll swallow the rest of Operator 13. Davies plays a Belle Boyd-like actress who agrees to become a Northern spy during the Civil War. She assumes the identity of an octoroon servant and heads into Southern territory. Marion meets dashing Confederate captain Gary Cooper, and instantly falls in love with him. Later, she assumes the disguise of a Southern belle to prevent Cooper from recruiting Southern sympathizers in the north. This time Cooper falls for Davies, which makes it hard for her to carry out her mission. After several more reels of espionage and romantic interludes, including a gently kinky sequence in which Cooper and Davies are handcuffed together, the lovers part company, promising to meet again when the war is over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Marion Davies, (more)
- 1934
Robert Young had to be the busiest leading man in Hollywood in 1934. He appeared in no fewer than nine pictures, four of them at his home studio of MGM. The Band Plays On features Young as one of four close pals, who have grown up together and are now college football champs known as "The Four Bombers". So inseparable are these chums that, when one is injured in a car accident, the remaining three quit the team. But everyone is back on the field for the inevitable Big Game, including Young, who of course scores the winning T.D. Robert Young plays a football star as realistically as he'd played a baseball star in the earlier Death on the Diamond (34)--meaning that the film relies a heavily on stunt doubles and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Stuart Erwin, (more)
- 1934
Based on the best-selling Gladys Hasty Carroll novel of the same name, As the Earth Turns covers four seasons in the life of a Maine farming family. Jean Muir stars as Jen Shaw, daughter of dirt-poor farmers Mark and Min Shaw (David Landau, Dorothy Appleby). Jen's parents have an abiding distrust for their new neighbors, the Jankowskis -- not only because they're first-generation Poles, but also because they used to live in faraway Boston. Despite Mark and Min's opposition, Jen falls in love with Stan Jankowski (Donald Woods), but trouble looms in the form of Jen's stepsister Doris (Dorothy Appleby), who also has designs on Stan. New Warners contractee Jean Muir acquitted herself well in her first major role, which may be why As the Earth Turns did slightly better than expected at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Muir, Donald Woods, (more)
- 1934
The Lafayette Escadrille, that elite corps of volunteer WW I flyboys, is the collective "hero" of Fox's Hell in the Heavens. American lieutenant Steve Warner (Warner Baxter) heads to France to join the Escadrille in the months just prior to his country's entry into WW I. It is Warner's mission in life to blast the much-feared (and much-admired) German "Red Baron" Kurt von Hagen (Arno Frey) from the skies, but our hero manages to take enough time to help a fellow comrade-in-arms (Russell Hardie) overcome his fear of flying. The usual romantic subplot features Conchita Montenegro in one of her few major Hollywood roles. Hell in the Heavens was based on The Ace, a play by Herman Rossman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Russell Hardie, (more)
- 1934
In this drama, a nice young woman is saving all her money so she can leave her South Seas island home, move to San Francisco and open a tea room. Meanwhile, a hardworking young man has come the island to begin running his uncle's profitable plantation, a piece of property coveted by the island bad-guy who promptly tries to kill the nephew. Fortunately, the good-hearted girl helps restore the wounded nephew's health; naturally they fall in love. No sooner is he mended when the villain makes another murder attempt, but this time he first kidnaps the girl. When the hero catches up a violent brawl erupts. Just when things look terribly bleak, the girl grabs a gun and shoots the bad-guy. A happy ending ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosemary Ames, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1934
In an early pro-ecology effort, Jean Parker stars as a girl dwelling in the High Sierras. Awkward with humans, her best friends are the surrounding animals, especially her pet deer and puma. When hunters invade the territory, she struggles to protect the local wildlife. The outdoor photography is this film's principal asset; things grind to a halt whenever anyone opens his or her mouth to speak. Sequoia was based on a novel by Anne Cunningham called Malibu, and was later reissued under that title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Parker, Samuel S. Hinds, (more)
- 1934
In an unusual move, MGM released its film version of Sidney Kingsley's Pulitzer-Prize winning play Men in White while the play was still running on Broadway. Clark Gable is cast as Dr. George Ferguson, a dynamic young intern whose brilliant future seems assured. In addition to planning to study in Vienna, then to serve as the assistant to his mentor Dr. Hochberg (Jean Hersholt), Ferguson is slated for a socially prestigious marriage to wealthy Laura Hudson (Myrna Loy). But when Laura begins expressing displeasure over Ferguson's dedication to his work, he enters into a brief affair with student nurse Barbara Dennin (Elizabeth Allan). Upon finding that she's pregnant, Barbara desperately undergoes an illegal abortion (a plot point merely alluded to in the screenplay). The botched operation results in Barbara being rushed into emergency surgery, where her life is in Ferguson's hands. In a third-act climax that would not have seemed out of place on TV's Chicago Hope, Laura finds herself a witness to the operation -- and to Barbara's deathbed "absolution" of Dr. Ferguson's sins. Critics were kind to Men in White, but some felt that the Kingsley original had been unnecessarily reshaped into a Clark Gable vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1933
Broadway to Hollywood is a through-the-years saga about a show business family. Frank Morgan and Alice Brady play vaudeville headliners of the 1880s whose fame is eclipsed by their son (played as a youth by Jackie Cooper, then as an adult by Russell Hardie). Morgan and Brady are reduced to bit roles in a musical starring their son and his wife (Madge Evans). Alas, Sonny spoils it all by drinking and philandering, while his wife dies in a freak accident. After Hardie is killed in World War One, Morgan and Brady raise Hardie's son, who grows from Mickey Rooney to Eddie Quillan and becomes a temperamental movie star. Grandpa Morgan gives Quillan a remonstrative on-set speech about professionalism, then drops dead as his chastened grandson goes back to work. Broadway to Hollywood is principally a showcase for several elaborate musical numbers originally filmed for MGM's abandoned 1930 extravaganza The March of Time. While the plotline veers towards the ridiculous, comedy buffs are advised to stick with the film for an uncredited appearance by Moe and Curly of the Three Stooges, both dressed in bizarre clown makeup and speaking in weird German accents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Brady, Frank Morgan, (more)
- 1933
After the death of her circus-aerialist husband, Kitty Lorraine (Alice Brady) dedicates herself to transforming her daughter Shirley (Maureen O'Sullivan) into a celebrity. Kitty is so determined that Shirley will hit the "big time" that she continues to issue instructions to the girl even while undergoing an emergency appendectomy. Artist Warren Foster (Franchot Tone) upsets Kitty's plans by falling in love with Shirley, so mom plans to throw Foster off the scent by marrying her daughter off to titled nobleman Lord Aylesworth (Phillips Holmes). Finally realizing that she may be loving her girl to death, Kitty reunites Shirley with ever-patient Warren. A blend of themes previously explored by such dramas as Applause and Stella Dallas, Stage Mother was the film that introduced the syrupy ballad Beautiful Girl, later showcased (and gently mocked) in Singin' in the Rain. The film's best scenes are Alice Brady's verbal duels with her brash business partner Ted Healy -- and incidentally, one of Healy's stooges, the inimitable Larry Fine, shows up in a one-line bit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Brady, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1933
Based on the play by Sidney Howard (of Gone with the Wind and Dead End fame), Christopher Bean is a showcase for the magnificent Marie Dressler. She plays Abby, the poor but proud housekeeper of a small-town doctor (Lionel Barrymore), his wife (Beulah Bondi), and their children. Years before the story proper begins, Abby had been a close friend of Christopher Bean, a local painter who was treated as a pariah by the community because of his drunken misbehavior. After his death, however, Bean was acknowledged as a genius, and his paintings became extremely valuable. One of Bean's best works is a portrait that he painted of Abby -- and she refuses to part with it at any price, despite the entreaties of her avaricious employers. Sadly, Christopher Bean was Marie Dressler's final film; she died of cancer not long after its completion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
