Arthur Ayleswofth Movies
Actor Arthur Aylesworth's first regular film employment was in a series of Paramount "newspaper" short subjects produced between 1932 and 1933. Aylesworth signed a Warner Bros. contract in 1934, appearing in nine films his first year. His roles under the Warners escutcheon included the Chief Censor in Life of Emile Zola (1937), the auto court owner in High Sierra (1941) and the sleigh driver in Christmas in Connecticut (1946). He also showed up at other studios, playing the night court judge in W.C. Fields' Man on the Flying Trapeze (Paramount 1935) and essaying minor roles in several of director John Ford's 20th Century-Fox productions. Arthur Aylesworth's last screen assignment was the part of a tenant farmer in Fox's Dragonwyck (1946). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
The title refers to those special government agents who go undercover to flush out criminal gangs. In his second starring role, Fred MacMurray plays a government man who travels incognito as he trails a team of crooks from Brooklyn to Kansas. Lynne Overman is MacMurray's easygoing partner, who (naturally) is rubbed out by the hoods. MacMurray inveigles his way into the gang and brings them to justice--the ones who survive, that is. Released at the very beginning of Hollywood's G-Man cycle, Men without Names was instrumental in securing more prestigious acting assignments for Fred MacMurray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Madge Evans, (more)
- 1935
In this action film, Wallace Storm, ace race car driver, gets into real trouble when he is accused of killing his partner over the love of a pretty girl. In court he is found guilty of tampering with his partner's car, causing it to crash during a race, and is sent to prison. While there, his good buddy Johnny works to prove him innocent. Unable to wait, Wallace escapes from jail and heads for South America, assumes an alias, and goes on to become a championship driver. He eventually returns to the States when his girl's father needs a driver for his new car. During the big race, the judge who convicted him, is so impressed by Storm's heroism, that all is forgiven and he is freed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lyle Talbot, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1935
In this high-flying mystery set aboard a cross-country flight to New York, some of the passengers are kidnappers who are trying to locate a hidden cache of loot. Unfortunately, something goes wrong during the trip and the pilots must land the plane in the Arizona desert during a terrible storm. There all of the passengers and crew find cramped accommodations in a lonely farmhouse where murder, mystery and mayhem occur. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Ralston, Onslow Stevens, (more)
- 1935
In this romantic drama, a horsewoman is forced to work in a society dame's stable. There she meets and falls in love with a destitute polo-player who has curried the favor of his lovely employer. The matron gets jealous of the budding relationship between the horsewoman and the player. A wealthy man, who wants the stable girl, also gets jealous. Fortunately, the young lovers are able to withstand the ensuing turmoil and they elope. A while later, the other man attends a lively party aboard a yacht. There a drunken chorine falls overboard and drowns. One of the ship's officers blames the wealthy man and says he saw him leaving with a mysterious "woman in red." During the ensuing trial, the horsewoman clears his name by admitting that he was with her. It is a difficult admission because she knows she is risking her marriage. Fortunately, her husband and his family support her all the way and the marriage is strengthened. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1935
Dithery ZaSu Pitts is miscast as novelist Stuart Palmer's crime-solving schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers in The Plot Thickens. As usual, Hildegarde tries to figure out the connection between two ostensibly unrelated murders. The unifying factor turns out to be a priceless museum artifact, targeted for pilfering by a gang of international art thieves. James Gleason, a holdover from RKO Radio's previous Hildegarde Withers films with Edna May Oliver and Helen Broderick, is back as Hildegarde's friendly nemesis, Inspector Oscar Piper. The Plot Thickens was released in Great Britain as The Swinging Pearl Mystery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Gleason, ZaSu Pitts, (more)
- 1935
W.C. Fields plays Ambrose Wolfinger, the henpecked husband to end all henpecked husbands. A widower, Ambrose married a second time only to provide a mother for his pretty daughter (Mary Brian). What he got was an overbearing harpy of a wife (Kathleen Howard), a fussy and imperious mother-in-law (Vera Lewis) and a shiftless brother-in-law (Grady Sutton). Ambrose plans to attend a much-awaited wrestling match, but can't get the day off of work. He lies for the first time in his life, telling his boss that his mother-in-law has died. En route to the wrestling meet, Ambrose suffers one mishap after another, from a string of traffic tickets to an encounter with a runaway tire. He gets to the match just in time to miss the whole thing, and ends up bruised and battered on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, his home is being deluged with flowers, offered in sympathy for his "dead" mother-in-law who is very much alive but not amused. When his boss discovers the deception, he fires Ambrose. The poor man returns home to face the cold stares of his wife's family. They goad and harass him until he can stand no more: when brother-in-law insults his daughter, Ambrose punches him out (a scene that always results in audience cheers) and tells everyone else where to go. Soon after, his anxious ex-boss calls up; only Ambrose can decipher the important messages left behind on his cluttered desk, and would Ambrose like to come back to work? His loyal and loving daughter negotiates a hefty salary hike for Ambrose, and the film ends with Our Hero assuming his proper role as head of the household, with his obnoxious in-laws literally left out in the rain. An uproarious "worm turns" farce, Man on the Flying Trapeze was an expanded version of 1932 Mack Sennett two-reeler, Too Many Highballs, and a partial remake of Fields' own silent feature Running Wild (27). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- W.C. Fields, Mary Brian, (more)
- 1935
After a false start in 1932, Paramount's Big Broadcast series was jump-started in late 1935 with The Big Broadcast of 1936. The wisp of a storyline involves two-bit radio station owner Spud (Jack Oakie), who doubles as the station's sole announcer while his comic partner Smiley (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house crooner. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who've just invented a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. Among the variety artists captured on cathode by George and Gracie's invention are Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Amos 'N' Andy (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in blackface), Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, the Vienna Boys Choir, bandleaders Ray Noble and Ina Ray Hutton, and a knockabout vaudeville act called Willie, West and McGinty, who spend most of the film's running time trying to simultaneously build and demolish a house. The plot evolves into a dry run for the later Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures, with Spud and Smiley ending up on the intrigue-ridden island governed by zany countess Ysobel de Nargila (Lyda Roberti). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Oakie, George Burns, (more)
- 1935
The Nitwits are Johnny (Bert Wheeler) and Newt (Robert Woolsey), cigar-counter proprietors in the building owned by music publisher Lake (Hale Hamilton). Johnny spends his spare time spooning with his sweetheart, Lake's secretary Mary (Betty Grable), while Newt tinkers with his inventions, the latest of which is an electric chair which compels the occupant to tell the truth. A none too lovable man, Lake has made enemies of several people, including his shifty assistant Lurch (Arthur Aylesworth) and disgruntled songwriter Clark (Erik Rhodes); he is also on the outs with Mrs. Lake (Evelyn Brent), who caught her husband "coming on" to the reluctant Mary. Thus it is that practically anyone could be the dreaded "Black Widow," a mysterious blackmailer-murderer who's been trying to extort money from Lake. Hired at a substantial fee to protect the publisher from the Black Widow is private detective Darrell (Fred Keating), but Lake is murdered in his office all the same. Suspicion immediately falls upon Mary, the last person to see Lake alive. Johnny gallantly takes the blame for the killing to protect Mary, while Newt, believing Johnny to be guilty, does his best to protect his pal from the cops. All of this seems rather heavy going for a Wheeler & Woolsey vehicle, but be assured that The Nitwits is definitely a comedy, with the stars at their peak under the direction of George Stevens. The beauty of the film is that it sustains its momentum even after Newt's "truth chair" reveals the identity of the killer to the audience (but not to our rather dense heroes); especially hilarious is a nocturnal chase through a costume warehouse, utilizing several gags lifted from Stevens' "Boy Friends" 2-reelers of the early 1930s. Nineteen-year-old Betty Grable doesn't have too much to do, though she proves a charming subject for the film's best song, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh's "Music in My Heart". Co-written by Stuart Palmer, of "Hildegarde Withers" fame, The Nitwits was the last of Wheeler & Woolsey's truly worthwhile films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
- 1935
Escape from Devil's Island delivers exactly was the title promises...almost. Victor Jory and Norman Foster play two desperate Devil's Island inmates, bitter enemies who pool their resources and work out an escape plan. They bribe those who can be bribed, befriend those willing to be befriended, and strong arm potential "stoolies" into silence. At last, Jory and Foster make good their breakout, but their mutual hatred bubbles to the surface and ruins their clean getaway. In typical Hollywood fashion, the essentially all-male Escape From Devil's Island manages to squeeze in a female romantic interest in the form of Florence Rice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Jory, Florence Rice, (more)
- 1935
Vaudeville humorist Walter C. Kelley, who toured for years as "The Virginia Judge," repeated the characterization in this 1935 Paramount film. When not busy dispensing pearls of bucolic wisdom in the courtroom, Judge Davis (Kelly) of Tidewater, Virginia, tries to straighten out his hotheaded stepson Jim Preston (Robert Cummings, in one of his first major roles). The story reaches a dramatic peak when Jim is arrested for shooting his best friend Bob (Johnny Downs) during a quarrel over pretty Mary Lee Calvert (Marsha Hunt). Things look bad for a while, but Judge Davis is able to solve everyone's problems in record time. The presence of Stepin Fetchit in the cast of Virginia Judge indicates that Paramount hoped to build up Walter C. Kelly as a replacement for the late, beloved Will Rogers, who'd co-starred with Fetchit in the remarkably similar Judge Priest (1934). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter "Judge" Kelly, Marsha Hunt, (more)
- 1934
British Agent starred the Hungarian/British actor Leslie Howard in the title role, was directed by full-fledged Hungarian Michael Curtiz, and costarred American leading lady Kay Francis as a Russian spy. Based on the memoirs of R. H. Bruce Lockhart, who had been the unofficial British emissary to the Russian Revolutionary government in 1917, British Agent spends more time on its romantic subplot than in recreating the birth of Bolshevism. Leslie Howard's purpose in this film is to dissuade the Bolsheviks from signing a separate treaty with the World War I German regime. It is obvious to modern-day viewers that Howard is merely looking after Britain's interests and has no concern for the Russians; this was par for the course in a 1930s film, but does not play well with less jingoistic audiences of the 1990s. The most interesting aspect of British Agent is the performance of saturnine Irving Pichel as a young Josef Stalin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, (more)
- 1934
The Man with Two Faces is based on The Dark Tower, a stage comedy-mystery by Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman. Edward G. Robinson is at his hammy best as flamboyant, temperamental, but withal endearing theatrical actor-manager Dawson Wells. Mary Astor co-stars as Damon's beloved actress sister Jessica, making a stage comeback after a disastrously unhappy marriage. Alas, Jessica's caddish husband Stanley Vance (Louis Calhern) soon returns, exerting a Svengali-like hold on the poor girl and setting her back on the road to ruin. Unable to buy off Vance, Wells plots a clever revenge, and shortly afterward, Vance is visited by one Monsieur Chautard, an effusive European producer with murder on his mind. The central "gimmick" in Man With Two Faces, which was adroitly concealed in the original Dark Tower, is a bit more obvious on screen due to the dynamic personalities involved. Also, the play's ending, in which Vance's murderer is allowed to escape scot-free by a sympathetic detective, was obviously altered at the very last minute to appease the new Production Code. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1934
Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis' satirical novel of the American "middle class" was first filmed as a silent in 1924, then as a talkie ten years later. In this second version, Guy Kibbee portrays George Babbitt, a small town businessman whose sense of self-importance has turned him into a pompous ass. Only Babbitt's loving wife (Aline MacMahon) sees the decent man behind the fatuous facade. Babbitt's ego gets the better of him when he is inveigled by a lovely but duplicitous young lady (Claire Dodd) into promoting a shady land deal. On the verge of ruin, Babbitt is rescued by his wife, though there's every indication that he hasn't completely learned his lesson. While the sting of Sinclair Lewis' original novel has been blunted, One couldn't ask for a better George Babbitt than Guy Kibbee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, (more)
- 1934
James Cagney manages to retain his pre-Code cockiness within post-Code limitations in the likeable St. Louis Kid. Cagney and Allen Jenkins, Eddie Kennedy, and Buck Willetts play long-distance truck drivers who get entangled in a battle between a crooked trucking firm and striking milk farmers (a plot thread based on actual events). When one of the dairymen is killed by a hired goon, Eddie is accused of the crime. He breaks out of jail to track down the real killer then has to rescue his girlfriend Ann (Patricia Ellis), who's been kidnapped by henchmen of the truck company. It takes a bit of clever brainwork between Eddie and Buck, but our hero manages to flummox the bad guys and rescue the girl. James Cagney's sheer star power is such that the audience is willing to forgive the fact that, in the early passages of the film, his character is nothing more or less than a "scab." St. Louis Kid is the picture in which Cagney, tired of playing characters who settle differences with their fists, hit upon the novel idea of incapacitating his screen rivals by butting his forehead against theirs, knocking them cold without laying a hand on them! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Patricia Ellis, (more)
- 1934
Warren William delivers a curiously subdued performance as dilettante sleuth Philo Vance in The Dragon Murder Case. The plot centers around a mysterious "dragon pool" on the Stamm estate, which figures prominently in the deaths of several unsympathetic society types. As usual, Inspector Markham (Robert McWade) and Sergeant Heath (Eugene Pallette) are all for snapping the cuffs on the most obvious suspect, but Philo Vance knows full well that appearances are deceiving. The all-suspect cast includes Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot, Helen Lowell, Dorothy Tree, Robert Barrat and George Meeker, many of whom thoughtfully remove themselves from suspicion by getting killed themselves. Not a particularly mysterious mystery, The Dragon Murder Case works better on a melodramatic level, with some genuinely spooky camerawork courtesy of the ever-reliable Tony Gaudio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
- 1934
A popular fad of the early 1930s provided the framework for this Joe E. Brown romp. Hoping to impress his girlfriend Phyllis (Maxine Doyle), champion bicyclist Wilfred Simpson (Brown) enters a bike-racing marathon at Madison Square Garden. Newsreel shots of genuine six-day races are incorporated into the footage, but the film loses all touch with reality at the climax, as Wilfred leapfrogs over the heads of the other riders and accidentally disposes of his rivals with chloroformed cotton wads. And, of course, he lets loose with the famous Joe E. Brown howwwwwl whenever the pace slows down. Even though the fad which inspired it has passed into history, Six-Day Bike Rider remains fresh and funny today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe E. Brown, Maxine Doyle, (more)
- 1934
In this drama, a gambler must hide-out from the mob and ends up in a spinster's apartment. The old woman, is unused to company as she has spent her life in seclusion after a failed romance in her youth. When the crime lord is killed, the gambler, his younger brother, is arrested for the murder. To protect him, the spinster perjures herself in court by telling the judge that he was with her on the night the crime was committed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Ann Dvorak, (more)
- 1934
Two wealthy neighbors, who make no secret of despising one another, both claim that they're married to Bessie Foley (Mary Astor). When one of the claimants is murdered, Bessie is the prime suspect. Brilliant defense counsel Perry Mason (Warren William), whose spacious offices look like something out of the Taj Mahal, takes Bessie's case, aided and abetted by faithful secretary Della Street (Helen Trenholme). Like his later TV counterpart, Mason isn't above suppressing evidence to benefit his client, much to the dismay of district attorney Claude Drumm (Grant Mitchell) and obnoxious but efficient Sgt. Holcomb (Allen Jenkins). The solution to the mystery manages to have its cake and eat it too, but to tell more would spoil it. This initial entry in Warner Bros.' "Perry Mason" film series is also the least fascinating of the bunch, due mainly to Warren William's surprisingly somber approach to the role (he'd lighten up considerably in his subsequent "Mason" outings). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren William, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1934
As the title song says, you go to those shows to see those beautiful dames--and there's dames aplenty in this 1934 Busby Berkeley extravaganza. The wisp of a plot is motivated by one Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), a silly millionaire who spearheads a national anti-fun movement. Ounce's distant cousin Dick Powell is a producer of musical comedies. Ounce's partner is Guy Kibbee, whose daughter is Ruby Keeler. Kibbee is also the "sugar daddy" of Joan Blondell, Powell's friend and co-worker. Fill in the rest of the blanks yourself. If the plot doesn't interest you (and there's no reason why it should), sit back and enjoy the humongous production numbers based on the Warren/Dubin songs "I Only Have Eyes for You", "The Girl on the Ironing Board", and of course the title number. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1934
This drama examines the rivalry between a mother and the daughter she is too vain to acknowledge. The mother is a famous actress who does not want her true age to be known. She, therefore, keeps her 19-year old daughter secreted away in a boarding school. The daughter is too old to be concealed. She wants her own life, and she wants her mother to acknowledge her existence. She goes to New York to see her mother. At her mother's house, the young woman encounters her mother's newest suitor. He sees the young girl and falls for her. The mother becomes terribly jealous and tries to thwart the romance. She fails, and the happy young couple get married. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Muir, George Brent, (more)
- 1934
Film historian William K. Everson once referred to Warner Bros.' Gentleman are Born as an all-male precursor to Mary McCarthy's The Group. The story focuses on a tight-knit quartet of friends, all of whom graduate from college on the same day. Determined to "change the world" while keeping their friendship intact, the foursome is forced to weather some harsh realities during the early years of the Depression. Smudge Casey (Nick -- later Dick -- Foran) whose dream was to become an athletic coach, ends up as a tank-town boxer and petty thief. Wealthy Fred Harper (Robert Light) is wiped out financially and emotionally when his embezzler father commits suicide. Tom Martin (Ross Alexander), married early on to Trudy Talbot (Jean Muir), has to take an entry-level brokerage job to make ends meet. Only wisecracking Bob Bailey (Franchot Tone) achieves happiness, not only landing a high-paid job as a journalist, but also winning the film's heroine, Harper's socialite sister Joan (Margaret Lindsay). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franchot Tone, Jean Muir, (more)
- 1934
The Key is a story of the Irish "troubles" which avoids taking sides, but spends most of its screen time with the British occupation troops. William Powell stars as a soldier for hire who works on behalf of the British in the Dublin of the early 1920s. Powell is as celebrated for his boudoir antics as his bravery, so it's no surprise that he soon takes up with the wife (Edna Best) of his best friend, British intelligence officer Colin Clive. The plot thickens when Clive is captured by the Irish freedom fighters, to be released only on condition that Irish patriot Donald Crisp is not hanged. Powell makes up for his past indiscretions by rescuing Clive from his captors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Edna Best, (more)
