Hattie McDaniel Movies
Although her movie career consisted almost entirely of playing stereotypic maids and other servants, Hattie McDaniel was in fact the first black woman to sing on the radio and the first black performer to win an Academy Award, for her portrayal of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Before coming to Hollywood, she had been a blues singer and had toured as Queenie in Show Boat, later playing the same role in the 1936 Irene Dunne version of the film. Her considerable film credits include Blonde Venus (1932) with Marlene Dietrich, I'm No Angel (1933) with Mae West, Nothing Sacred (1937) with Carole Lombard and Fredric March, The Shopworn Angel (1938) with Margaret Sullavan, They Died with Their Boots On (1941), James Thurber's story The Male Animal (1942), Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), Since You Went Away (1944), and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). She starred in the Beulah series on radio and was scheduled to take over the role from Ethel Waters for the television series, which would have reunited her with Gone with the Wind co-star Butterfly McQueen, when she became ill and was replaced by Louise Beavers. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1932
Marlene Dietrich stars as Helen Faraday, a German cabaret singer in the States whose husband, Ned, falls ill and his only hope is to receive expensive medical treatment at a clinic in Europe. Struggling to afford his care and to support their son Johnny, she works at a nightclub and succumbs to the advances of wealthy playboy Nick, whose gifts assist in her husband's recovery. Soon Ned recovers and returns, but when he discovers that Helen has been unfaithful, he divorces her, threatening to take their son. After running with little Johnny, she ends up a prostitute in New Orleans, where she is found by the detective hired by Ned. The boy is taken from her and Helen flees to Paris where she becomes a cabaret sensation. Upon witnessing a performance, Nick begins seeing her again and when the show moves to NYC, he secures a meeting between her and her ex -- who is finally made aware of the motivation behind her affair years before. This is the feature containing the well-known scenes where Dietrich performs stage numbers in an ape-suit and a white tuxedo (complete with top hat). ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1932
Perhaps most noteworthy for the first onscreen performance by future Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel, this politcal melodrama from director Charles Brabin stars Lionel Barrymore as Jefferson Keane, a widowed US Senator who suddenly finds himself sought after by Consuela, a beautiful young woman played by Karen Morley. Smitten by her, Keane marries Consuela, unaware of the fact that she is in cahoots with a powerful lobbyist and is only pretending to be in love. After Consuela persuades Keane to take a bride for his vote on a water-rights bill, he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a scandal that he cannot escape. The aforementioned McDaniel plays a maid. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Barrymore, Karen Morley, (more)
- 1932
In this western, based on a Zane Grey novel, the hero leaves town after someone is killed during a feud. As he escapes, he meets up with Indians. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
Future Academy Award-winner Hattie McDaniel briefly brightened the proceedings in this, one of her two B-Western appearances in 1932. (The other was George O'Brien's The Golden West.) The rotund African-American comedienne portrays a cook on a ranch belonging to banker Tom Kirk (Lafe McKee). Also working on the premises is Jimmy Duncan (Hoot Gibson), an unruly young man who has promised his Uncle George (George Hayes) he will behave (or else...!). Treacherous bank teller Holt Narbrough (Wheeler Oakman), who not only desires Kirk's ranch, but also his pretty daughter, Laura (Helen Foster), attempts to rid himself of an irritating rival by constantly picking fights with Jimmy. The latter, however, is steadfast in his resolve and soon becomes the laughing stock among the ranch hands. In the end, Jimmy earns both Laura's love and Uncle George's respect by foiling a bank robbery. The Boiling Point was one in a series of cheap Westerns Hoot Gibson made for low-budget company Allied Pictures from 1931 to 1933. Gibson, whose generosity was legendary, found employment for old friends such as Roy "Skeeter Bill" Robbins and Fred Gilman in all of his Allied films, including The Boiling Point. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Helen Foster, (more)
- 1933
Mae West's second starring vehicle, I'm No Angel casts the divine Miss West as the star performer in a seedy circus. Though she lives with Ralf Harolde, West allows herself plenty of time for other men. When Harolde runs afoul of the law, West secures extra money by becoming a lion tamer. While thus employed, West is "discovered" by playboy Kent Taylor; she willingly accepts his gifts and other favors, but she only has eyes for Taylor's cousin Cary Grant. Still, love takes second place to commerce in West's life, and she ends up suing Grant for breach of promise. When Grant allows her to win the case, she realizes she's truly in love with him after all. By rights, I'm No Angel should have been as big and bawdy a success as West's earlier She Done Him Wrong, but by late 1933 the censors were beginning to have their way with Hollywood. Several of the more ribald (and more hilarious) elements of the film were toned down--not least of which was the title, which was supposed to have been It Ain't No Sin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae West, Cary Grant, (more)
- 1933
Love turns into an unhealthy obsession in this offbeat drama. Millie (Zasu Pitts) and Peggy (Boots Mallory) are two friends who leave behind the small town where they were raised to try their luck in New York City. Before long, Millie and Peggy meet Jimmy (James Dunn) and Mac (Terrance Ray); Millie is immediately attracted to Jimmy, but much to her displeasure she learns he's more interested in Peggy. Determined to have Jimmy as her own, Millie attempts to sew discord between Jimmy and Peggy by telling each of them foul lies about the other; when this fails, Millie becomes desperate and attempts to kill herself as an attention-getting device. The production history of Hello, Sister! was in many ways more interesting than the film itself. Originally titled Walking Down Broadway, the film was the first sound picture from the legendary Erich von Stroheim; hoping to mend the reputation as an egocentric spendthrift he acquired while directing epic-scale silent films, von Stroheim managed to bring in Walking Down Broadway on time and on budget. However, executives at 20th Century Fox were a bit puzzled by the film, which originally had a sub-plot suggesting a lesbian relationship between Millie and Peggy and other sexual undercurrents which were quite daring for the time. Uncertain about audience reactions to the movie, Fox brought in the less-than-distinguished Alfred Werker to re-shoot and re-edit von Stroheim's urban melodrama, and the resulting picture, entitled Hello, Sister!, was released without an on-screen directorial credit, and died a quick and little noticed death at the box office. No print of von Stroheim's original cut is known to exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Boots Mallory, (more)
- 1933
William Faulkner's bestseller Sanctuary was so taboo in some circles that Hollywood couldn't even use the title when making the first film version. Thus, Paramount's adaptation of Sanctuary went out as The Story of Temple Drake, fooling no one who could read. Miriam Hopkins plays the title role, the promiscuous daughter of a Southern judge. Temple will do anything for a thrill, which plays right into the hands of a gang of kidnappers. Coerced into a pickup date at a roadhouse, Temple is held for ransom by the lascivious Trigger (Jack LaRue) and his mob. She is raped by Trigger, whereupon she kills him. One of Trigger's earlier murders is pinned on a hapless half-wit (Irving Pichel). Called to testify in the murder trial by her former boyfriend (William Gargan), the prosecuting attorney, Temple not only confesses to Trigger's killing, but proclaims to one and all that she secretly enjoyed the rape. Even though this hot material was considerably toned down from the novel (where the villain raped Temple with a corncob!), The Story of Temple Drake was one of many films responsible for incurring the wrath of the "clean up Hollywood" brigades--resulting in the restrictive Production Code of 1934. Sanctuary was remade under its original title in 1961. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Jack LaRue, (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
Evidently inspired by Paramount's screwball comedy Three Cornered Moon, Chesterfield-Invincible Studio's In the Money is actually more entertaining than its costlier predecessor. The main characters are members of a zany, perpetually improvident family, all of whom take polite little bows as they're introduced to the audience by narrator-co-star Skeets Gallagher, cast as a two-bit fight manager. Our genial host then tells the viewers exactly what each character is going to do in the course of the next 66 minutes -- and, by golly, they do just what they're supposed to. Facing financial ruin after purchasing a worthless stock, Gallagher and his confreres Lois Wilson, Sally Starr, Frank Coghlan Jr. et al. are rescued by the pugilistic skills of punchdrunk Warren Hymer. Coghlan Jr. went on to repeat his role in the 1936 remake of In the Money, Red Lights Ahead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Wilson, Warren Hymer, (more)
- 1934
Will Rogers stars as Judge William "Billy" Priest, the common-sense Kentucky jurist created by humorist Irvin S. Cobb. The Judge's easygoing manner bothers many of the self-righteous good citizens of his small 19th-century hometown, imperiling his chances for re-election. The anecdotal plot boils down to a single storyline involving orphaned Anita Louise, reclusive David Landau (secretly Louise's father), and young attorney Tom Brown.The testimony that saves Landau from a murder charge is delivered by Civil War veteran H.B. Walthall, whose stirring loyalty to the Confederacy inspires everyone in town to organize an impromptu parade! Some of the best scenes are highlighted by Will Rogers' affectionate rapport with stereotyped black-actors Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel, though these scenes are frequently removed from TV showings of Judge Priest due to their undeniably racist overtones. If you haven't guessed by the first frame of the film that John Ford was the director, you'll recognize Ford's personal stamp the moment Will Rogers kneels by his wife's grave and carries on a warm conversation with his long-departed bride. Ford would remake (and improve upon) Judge Priest in 1953 as The Sun Shines Bright, with Charles Winninger as the judge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Tom Brown, (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)
- 1935
Charming but ruthless fugitive gangster Dutra (Brian Donlevy) demands that a doctor (Oscar Apfel) perform plastic surgery upon him. Emerging from the bandages with a new face, Dutra murders the doctor, changes his name to Dawson, and heads to California, secure in the belief that no one who can identify him is still living. Unfortunately for him, the sole link to Dawson's past, nurse Molly Lamont, is now working in Hollywood -- where Dawson is enjoying a whole new career as a movie star! Things move along comically until Dawson tips his hand by taking his leading lady Sheila (Phyllis Brooks) hostage. Salvation comes in the unlikely form of obnoxious studio-press-agent Joe Haynes (Wallace Ford). Also released as It Happened in Hollywood, Another Face is a very uneven blend of comedy and melodrama, making up in energy what it lacks in coherence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Brian Donlevy, (more)
Shirley Temple's first costume picture -- and one of her best pictures of any kind -- was 1935's The Little Colonel. The story begins in 1870, when unreconstructed Southerner Colonel Lloyd (Lionel Barrymore) disowns his daughter Elizabeth (Evelyn Venable) when she stubbornly marries damn-Yankee Jack Sherman (John Lodge). Several years pass, during which time the Shermans' daughter, Lloyd (Temple), dubbed "the little colonel," is born. When Jack and Elizabeth suffer a series of financial reverses, they are compelled to move into a small cottage owned by Elizabeth, near her father's estate. As tenacious and opinionated as her grandpa, little Lloyd befriends the crusty old codger and tries to effect a reunion between the colonel and Elizabeth. Her efforts at first meet with failure, but when the ailing Jack is imperiled by all-around villain Swazey (Sidney Blackmer) does the colonel race to the rescue, with the "little colonel" leading the way. The film's brief Technicolor finale, long missing from TV prints, was restored in the mid-'80s. Why Fox felt that Technicolor was needed is a mystery; Shirley Temple's name in and of itself was the principal drawing card of The Little Colonel, while Temple's famous stair-dance duet with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was worth the admission price in itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
Katharine Hepburn stars as Booth Tarkington's would-be society belle Alice Adams. The product of a family of modest means, Alice nonetheless dreams of being accepted by the "better people." Luck of luck, she meets well-to-do young Fred MacMurray at a social gathering; he is charmed by her pathetic attempts at putting on airs and accepts her invitation to dine at the Adams home. The meal is a disaster: Alice's parents (Fred Stone and Anne Shoemaker) are obviously way out of MacMurray's league, while the servant (Hattie McDaniel) that the family hired for the occasion shows up drunk and very surly. Alice Adams was the first major directorial assignment for George Stevens, as well as one of the few Katharine Hepburn vehicles of the 1930s to score a hit with the public. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1935
Bebe Daniels, all of 34, portrays an ageing movie star who refuses to admit she's too old for the ingenue role in an upcoming musical. Alice Faye is a hopeful chorus girl, while Ray Walker is a would-be director. All the young people get their deserved breaks when Daniels gets wise to herself and settles for a character role in the film--and also admits that the young girl (Rosina Lawrence) whom she's been passing off as her sister is really her daughter. Both Alice Faye and Bebe Daniels are given plenty of opportunities to sing and dance, which is as it should be. But Music is Magic falls short of perfection thanks to the doggedly unfunny comic relief of Frank Mitchell and Jack Durant, who may well be the worst team in motion picture history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, Ray Walker, (more)
Lost in the Stratosphere is one of three Monogram vehicles for James Cagney's look-alike brother William (later a successful producer). Inspired by the U.S. Army's recent experiments with atmospheric balloons, the film stars Cagney and Edward Nugent as inveterate practical jokers Cooper and Wood. Their friendship cleft in twain by the arrival of pretty Evelyn (June Collyer). The climax occurs when one of the boys' pranks misfires, sending both of them aloft in a fragile weather balloon. By the time they've managed to land the darned thing, they've become heroes. The film's laughable special effects (one can see the process-screen clouds "bleed" through the actors) are counterbalanced by the overall energy and enthusiasm of its stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Cagney, Eddie Nugent, (more)
China Seas proved that the recently imposed Hollywood production code had little if any effect on the popularity of MGM sex symbols Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. Gable plays the captain of a tramp steamer chugging between Singapore and Hong Kong. Harlow is Gable's ex-main squeeze, a "woman of the world" who books passage on the steamer at the same time that another of Gable's former loves, aristocratic Rosalind Russell, shows up. Wallace Beery plays Gable's supposedly lovable first mate, who is actually in league with a gang of pirates who plan to steal the gold shipment being carried in the hold of the steamer. Harlow tumbles to Beery's secret, but is unable to convince Gable, who is sore at Harlow for mean-mouthing Russell. Out of pique, Harlow casts her lot with the crooked Beery, but when the pirates attack the steamer, she returns to Gable's side. A subplot involves the regeneration of ship's mate Lewis Stone, who has been cashiered out of the navy for cowardice and who redeems himself during the final battle. Based on a novel by Crosbie Garstin, China Seas is a programmer at heart, but is decked out with full A-picture trappings by MGM producer Irving Thalberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, (more)
- 1935
In this comedy, a toothpaste magnate's mischievous daughter, tired of her father's traditional ways of conducting business, joins forces with her father's rival and a crazy inventor. Together they create "Cocktail Toothpaste." The new concoction tastes like whiskey in the morning, a martini at suppertime, and champagne at night. The stuff is a big success thanks to radio advertising. This teaches her stodgy old dad a good lesson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, (more)
- 1935
Produced on a reasonably lavish scale by the usually parsimonious Mascot Pictures, Harmony Lane was the first of three filmed biographies of 19th-century songwriter Stephen Foster (the others were Fox's Swanee River [1939] and 1952's I Dream of Jeannie, produced by Mascot's successor, Republic Pictures). Douglass Montgomery stars as Foster, with Evelyn Venable and Adrienne Ames as the women in his life and William Frawley as minstrel impresario E.P. Christy (the part played by Al Jolson in Swanee River). The film follows Foster from his early attempts to study for the ministry to his first flush of success in the years just prior to the Civil War, ending with his death in drunken poverty in New York. Just what was it that so attracted Hollywood to this melancholy tale? Perhaps it was the fact that Stephen Foster's songs were in the Public Domain, thereby allowing producers to sidestep expensive copyright and licensing fees. Harmony Lane was written and directed by Joseph Santley, a prolific if uninspired helmsman of early-talkie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglass Montgomery, Evelyn Venable, (more)
One of Bela Lugosi's least remembered films, this ultra low-budget whodunit with science fiction overtones features the murder of a professor who had recently perfected the new invention of television. Suspects are plentiful and include Bela Lugosi's rivaling academician Dr. Perry. Alas, the good doctor proves yet another Red Herring and is soon enough found stabbed to death himself. Or is he? Perry suddenly appears to have risen from the grave and the real culprit quickly confesses. Produced by perhaps Hollywood's cheapest entrepreneur, William Pizor, Murder by Television was filmed at the low-rent Talisman Studios and came complete with a song, "I had the Right Idea", composed by future Academy Award winning songwriter Oliver Wallace and performed by June Collyer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1935
This follow-up to RKO Radio's near-perfect adaptation of Little Women was produced by small but enterprising Mascot Pictures (the forerunner to Republic). Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ralph Morgan star as Jo March and Professor Bhaer, the characters played by Katharine Hepburn and Paul Lukas in Little Women. Now married, Jo and the Professor decide to establish a school for wayward boys, hoping to guide the kids towards the proper paths in life. The supporting cast includes what "B"-film historian Don Miller described as "just about every child player in Hollywood" ranging from cherubic Dickie Moore as Demi to tough-guy Frankie Darro as Dan (future director Richard Quine can also be spotted amongst the boys). Louisa May Alcott devotees have always felt that Little Men is inferior to Little Women; the same, alas, can be said about the two novels' respective film versions, though Mascot's Little Men comes to life whenever satanic-visaged Gustaf Von Seyfertitz, cast as a vindictive reformatory supervisor, oils his way onto the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Morgan, Junior Durkin, (more)
- 1935
Little Spanky McFarland's appointment as treasurer of the Ancient and Honery Order of Woodchucks occurs on the same day as his parents' wedding anniversary. Absent-minded as usual, Spanky's father (Johnny Arthur) inadvertently hands over the Woodchucks' treasury as an anniversary present for his wife (Claudia Dell). Meanwhile, Spanky accidentally gets hold of the real anniversary money, and, mistaking it for the treasury, hides it in the cookie jar -- an act witnessed by his Mom, who jumps to the wrong conclusion. Inevitably, the other Woodchucks demand the return of their "dough," but Spanky can't accommodate them, leading to a wild and wooly conclusion wherein Spanky's dad is duly punished for his faulty memory. A brisk and bright comedy of errors, the "Our Gang" comedy "Anniversary Trouble" was originally released on January 19, 1935. The version included in the present "Little Rascals" TV package has been radically edited, removing the sequence in which Spanky dons blackface to disguise himself as Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, (more)
- 1936
Aspiring actress Cicely Tyler (Margaret Sullavan) puts her career on hold when she marries ambitious newsman Christopher Tyler (James Stewart). Meanwhile, Tommy Abbott (Ray Milland), who secretly loves Cicely, arranges a big Broadway break for her. This causes a rift in her marriage when Christopher is assigned to his newspaper's Rome bureau, but he soon deserts his post and promises never to leave her again when he discovers that she's pregnant. This rash act loses Christopher his job, forcing him to start right at the bottom again? And so goes the rest of the story, as Cicely and Christopher struggle to balance their romance and their careers. James Stewart's first significant leading-man role turned out to be at Universal, rather than his home studio of MGM; the loan-out was arranged by his old University Players friend and co-worker Margaret Sullavan, who was briefly married to Stewart's best pal Henry Fonda. Among the uncredited contributors to the screenplay of Next Time We Love was Preston Sturges. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, (more)
