Harry Harvey Movies

The third of four Fred Scott Westerns produced by C.C. Burr for Spectrum Pictures, Two Gun Troubadour was rather grim for what was ostensibly a true "horse opera," with the stress squarely on "opera. (Scott was a former light opera baritone.) Fred Dean, Sr. (Scott) is murdered and twenty years later his son (also Scott) is still searching for the killer. Returning to the old homestead from the East, Fred, Jr. assumes the identity of Fred Evans, a singing troubadour and would-be cowpuncher. When a young rancher (James "Buddy" Kelly) is found murdered, Fred is accused of being the killer, a mysterious outlaw wearing a disguise. The real culprit, as it turns out, is childhood enemy Bill Barton (John Merton), who is in league with Fred's evil uncle Kirk Dead (Carl Mathews). With the help of old friend Elmer Potts (comedian Harry Harvey) and pretty rancher Helen Bradfield (Claire Rochelle), Fred gets the goods on Barton and Kirk, proving along the way that Kirk was the man who murdered his father. In between all the murders and mayhem, Scott found time to romance Miss Rochelle and sing Cowboy and the Schoolmarm, Ride, Cowboy, Ride and the title song. Little Billy Lenhart (nicknamed "Bull Fiddle") played Scott as a boy and the son of sidekick Harry Harvey, Harry Harvey, Jr., appeared as a young Bill Barton. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Jack Holt stars as Robert Bailey, a Henry Ford-like auto industrialist who decides to give his millions away to various charitable causes. Naturally, this arouses hostility amongst Bailey's friends, relatives and associates, some of whom have murder on their minds. When he elects to give away his company stock to his faithful employees, Bailey's intimates converge upon him, making a last-ditch effort to make him change his mind. When the inevitable murder attempt finally comes to pass, Bailey is shocked to discover that the culprit is his oldest and most trusted friend. Like most Columbia "B"'s of the period, Under Suspicion boasts a top-rank cast, including three former Marx Brothers foils: Margaret Irving, Esther Muir and Purnell Pratt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Virtually all of the Chesterfield Pictures efforts of the 1930s served as starring vehicles for Hollywood's best character actors. It was Henrietta Crossman who headed the cast of the 1936 Chesterfield production Hitch Hike to Heaven, sharing star billing with former silent-movie matinee idol Herbert Rawlinson. Crossman plays Deborah Delaney, manager of a small but intrepid band of touring repertory actors, while Rawlinson is cast as Deborah's son Melville De la Ney, a famous movie actor (which puts him on the outs with his mom, who despises movies). One of the members of Delaney's company is Melville's son Daniel (Russell Gleason), who is in love with the troupe's ingenue Jerry Daley (Polly Ann Young). Through a series of misunderstandings, Jerry winds up as a correspondent in the divorce action between Melville and his wife Nadia (Lela Bliss). The ensuing scandal finishes Melville in Hollywood, but by film's end, his reputation has been restored while Jerry also becomes a prominent film star -- not to mention the bride of Daniel Delaney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ghost Town Gold was the second entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" western series. Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Robert Livingston return as Tucson Smith and Stony Brooke, while Max Terhune replaces Sid Saylor as Lullaby Joslin. Almost immediately, comic ventriloquist Terhune established a rapport with his two co-stars, though audiences could have done with a lot less of his garrulous dummy Elmer. As for the plot, our three heroes try to retrieve some stolen money before an innocent banker is blamed for the theft. Adding spice to the quest is the fact that the banker has a pretty daughter (Kay Hughes). Other highlights include a typical Republic saloon-brawl scene, in which Tucson cleans the clock of head-villain Frank S. Hagney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The zany vaudeville comedy team of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson was still one year away from their smash Broadway hit Hellzapoppin' when they starred in Republic's Country Gentlemen. The daffy duo plays a couple of gold-stock swindlers who try to fleece the citizenry of a small town. They end up purchasing a vacant lot for $4000, which they try to pass off as an oil field. A group of local WWI veterans invest heavily in Olsen and Johnson's latest venture, meaning that the boys will be in for quite a lot of lumps if the expected "gusher" doesn't come in. Thanks to good influence of heroine Lila Lee, our heroes change their crooked ways -- but not quite in the nick of time! Critics weren't keen on the notion of middle-aged Ole Olsen being cast as a romantic lead, but everyone was satisfied with the supporting performance of perennial "dumb blonde" Joyce Compton as the team's Girl Friday. Originally released at 66 minutes, Country Gentlemen is presently available in its 53-minute TV reissue form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, an amnesiac takes off with a young woman. This causes the woman's father to hire a detective to find them. Real mayhem ensues when a nightclub owner/gangster gets involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A New York novelist (Henry Fonda) meets up with an actress (Margaret Sullavan), and the two date and later marry, though neither knows of the other's fame. The real adventure begins on the honeymoon, when this screwball comedy really heats up with insults and arguments. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

One More Spring is a laundered version of Robert Nathan's whimsical Depression-era novel. Left destitute by the Wall Street crash are an odd assortment of lost souls: Former antique dealer Otkar (Warner Baxter), concert violinist Rosenberg (Walter Woolf King) and unemployed actress Elizabeth (Janet Gaynor). Kindly Central Park street cleaner Sweeney (Roger Imhof) allows the threesome -- later a foursome when they're joined by suicidal banker Sheridan (Grant Mitchell) -- to live in an abandoned tool shed. Chastely, the three men and the girl survive a tough winter, remaining hopeful that things will be better in the Spring (as indeed they are!) At one point, Elizabeth manages to raise enough money for a week's worth of food, leading the men to conclude that she's taken to streetwalking. But, no, our heroine remains chaste and pure to the very end (in the novel, Elizabeth was a streetwalker, but that's another story). The most indelible image in One More Spring is the sight of Otkar and Rosenberg blithely roasting a tiny pigeon over an open fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of people are held up in the desert, and the only survivors are Fred Fowler (Robyn Adair), his daughter Teresa (Lucy Payton) and Harry Hart (Bruce Smith). Fred carries Teresa to a cabin where he finds a pile of gold nuggets and a note which says the map to a mine can be found in a yellow bullet. He finds the bullet and buries it, but Hart desperately wants to get his hands on this information. When Fowler won't give it out, Hart handcuffs him and leaves him in the cabin to torture him into telling. But the old man manages to struggle to the place he buried the bullet, and loads it into his gun. When Hart comes back to torment him again, Fowler shoots him dead. He is saved from slow death by his daughter and her lover, a surgeon with the border guard (Neil Hardin), who had put together a rescue party. This short (four reel) feature was cheaply made, badly directed, and had little to recommend it. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Two good friends, Dr. Royal Sheldon (William Conklin) and Jason Davies (Edward J. Brady), go on vacation to Mandalay, where they just miss being buried in a landslide at the ruby mines. They find a large jewel in the hand of a dead miner, and their friendship ends over who gets it. Ultimately, Sheldon threatens to throw Davies off a cliff, so Davies gives him the jewel -- and his undying hatred. Years later, he steals Sheldon's wife away, and the wife just happens to have possession of the ruby. But this isn't revenge enough; when the doctor's daughter, Doris (Ruth Roland), reaches maturity, Davies also tempts her with jewels. But he's discovered before he can carry out his wicked scheme and is pursued to a cliff, where he jumps off. The evil ruby is thrown in after him. This is another poorly-made effort by the low budget Balboa film company ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide