Weldon Heyburn Movies

The Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur Broadway comedy Ladies and Gentlemen formed the basis of the Warner Bros. laughspinner Perfect Strangers. The title characters are Terry Scott and David Campbell, played by Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan. She's a divorcee, he's a husband and father. Terry and David are thrown together by fate -- or rather, the LA judicial system. While serving as jurors on a murder trial, the two fall in love. Ironically, the woman on trial allegedly killed her husband because he'd asked for a divorce. The seriocomic tension develops on two levels: will juror Isobel Bradford (Margolo Gillmore) be able to sway the others to vote for the death penalty, and will Terry and David continue to pursue their romance at the expense of the happiness of others? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This peppy wartime musical stars Bing Crosby as radio crooner Johnny Cabot, the heartthrob of millions. To escape his frenzied fans, Johnny joins the Navy, where is he ordering to aid a WAVE recruiting drive. He is helped(?) in this endeavor by Betty Hutton, amusingly cast in a dual role as twin sisters Susie and Rosemary, one a shy retiring brunette, the other a bold and brassy blonde (Vera Marshe doubles for Hutton is some scenes). Part of Johnny's recruiting strategy is to stage a musical show, as good an excuse as any for a steady stream of bouncy musical numbers. This is the film in which Bing Crosby and Sonny Tufts, both in blackface, introduce the Johnny Mercer-Harold Arlen standard "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive." Sharp-eyed viewers will spot Yvonne de Carlo, Mona Freeman, Mae Clarke, and Noel "Lois Lane" Neill in small roles. Here Come the Waves was partially remade by Martin & Lewis as Sailor Beware. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charlie Chan's second mystery for Poverty Row company Monogram, The Chinese Cat is one of the inscrutable detective's better efforts. Director Phil Rosen keeps things moving at a reasonably expedient pace -- especially for a Monogram programmer -- and although the denouement is no big surprise, armchair detectives at least have no trouble keeping up with the redoubtable sleuth (Sidney Toler). Leah Manning (Joan Woodbury), of the San Francisco Mannings, enlists Chan's help in solving the murder of her stepfather (Sam Flint), whose slain body was found in his hermetically sealed study. The police have given up and only Charlie's deducing can refute a scurrilous book that blames Mrs. Manning (Betty Blythe), Leah's mother, for the crime. There are, of course, several worthy suspects, including a gang of diamond thieves lead by Catlen (Anthony Warde), the dead man's business partner (Cy Kendall), and even a "ghost" who isn't quite what he appears (John Davidson). A poisonous gas attack and the less than helpful efforts of Number Three Son (Benson Fong) complicate matters briefly, but Chan is, as always, on top of things all of the time and can soon reveal the identity of the guilty party. Comic sidekick Mantan Moreland has fun in a fun house, Fong is a worthy addition to Charlie's less than brainy brood (Number Three Son is, as Chan points out, "weak limb to which no family tree may point with pride"), and silent screen veterans Betty Blythe and Ian Keith do well enough with their limited assignments. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Having worked as a duo in the first three entries of Monogram's low-budget "Trail Blazers" series, veteran Western stars Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson were joined by Bob Steele in the fourth, Death Valley Rangers -- reportedly much to Maynard's dismay. Although not much younger than his august partners, Steele was still nimble enough to take care of the more strenuous fisticuffs and he was even somewhat believable in romantic clinches -- as opposed to his co-stars, whose ever expanding waistlines did not allow for tender scenes. This time, "The Trail Blazers," government agents, investigate a series of gold shipment thefts in Death Valley committed by a gang headed by Jim Kirk (Weldon Heyburn, whose name was misspelled "Hayburn" in the on-screen credits!). Kirk has hired a crooked scientist, Doc Thorne (Karl Hackett), who has discovered a method to pour the stolen gold back into the rock, where it will be indistinguishable from virgin ore. Steele infiltrates the gang and with the help of his partners, Death Valley is soon safe from Kirk and his gang. Like most of the "Trail Blazers" Westerns, Death Valley Rangers was filmed at Corriganville, actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan's movie ranch in Simi Valley, California. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This 91-minute Republic "special" stars Michael O'Shea as Matt Braddock, an aggressive Henry Kaiser-like shipbuilder operating in 1880s California Though his business innovations are brilliant, Braddock's pugnacious attitude loses him the support of the locals when he plans to build a big new shipyard in a small coastal community. Eventually he perseveres, bringing the story to a rousing conclusion. Along the way, however, there's a bit too much emphasis on the hot-and-cold romance between Braddock and the lovely Diana Kennedy (Anne Shirley). Tommy Bond, the former Butch in the "Our Gang" comedies, registers well in a sympathetic supporting role (Bond later noted that this was one of his favorite films). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The fifth of Monogram's eight "Trail Blazers" Western, Westward Bound was set during the time of Montana gaining statehood. Property values are about to skyrocket and nasty banker Roger Caldwell (Harry Woods) conspire with tax collector Henry Wagner (Karl Hackett) to drive the local ranchers off their land. Enter the "Trail Blazers," Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele, called in by rancher Jasper Tuttle (Hal Price) to investigate. Maynard infiltrates the gang and is elected marshal of Big Horn. Working from the inside, so to speak, he learns that the brain behind Caldwell and Wagner's scheme is Albert Lane (Weldon Heyburn), secretary to the Territorial Commission of Montana. Although severely outnumbered, the aging "Trail Blazers" manage to defeat the conspirators with a great deal of cunning and a couple of sticks of dynamite. The increasingly cantankerous Maynard reportedly took umbrage to Steele's participation and demanded his ouster. However, it was Maynard himself who was forced to leave -- after the sixth entry, Sonora Stagecoach (1944) -- to be replaced in the final two "Trail Blazers" Westerns by Chief Thundercloud. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Overland Mail Robbery is another entry in Republic's "Wild Bill" Elliot western series. Once again, Elliot's leading lady is Anne Jeffreys, and once again his comical sidekick is Gabby Hayes. The plot finds Wild Bill coming to the aid of namby-pamby Easterner Tom Hartley (played by future "Superman" Kirk Alyn), who has inherited his family's stagecoach line. With Elliot's assistance, Tom proves he's a real he-man by standing up to the outlaw gang terrorizing the countryside. Of interest is the fact that the gang leader is a woman, played by Alice Fleming, who later portrayed "The Duchess" in Republic's "Red Ryder" series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, the courageous Range Busters, round up the rabble-rousing rustlers who've been rendering Rock River really rowdy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Originally written as a stage vehicle for corpulent character actor Macklyn Arbuckle, Ernest Day's The Roundup was first filmed in 1920 with Fatty Arbuckle (no relation) in the lead. By the time the film was remade in 1941, Arbuckle's character, a roly-poly frontier sheriff named Slim (!), was refashioned as a supporting role, with Jack Benny's radio announcer Don Wilson essaying the part. The plot, however, remained fairly intact: Upon hearing that her fiance Greg (Preston Foster) has been killed, Janet (Patricia Morison) agrees to marry rancher Steve (Richard Dix) on the rebound. On the day of the wedding, who should show up but Greg, determined to raise as much Hell as humanly possible. A rewritten finale permits the Steve-Janet-Greg triangle to resolve itself without offening the Hays Office. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Gorgeous June Lang, plays the title character in Redhead. Johnny Downs costars as a spoiled, ill-tempered rich boy. In desperation, his father pays Lang $10,000 to wrap Johnny around her little finger-and then steer him into a worthwhile life. Once this is accomplished, June, who's fallen in love with Johnny, turns down the money. Based on a novel by Vera Brown, Redhead was previously filmed in 1934, with Grace Bradley and Bruce Cabot. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the wake of Abbott & Costello's Buck Privates, every studio in Hollywood began cranking out service comedies. Warner Bros.' contribution to this trend was You're in the Army Now, featuring the unlikely but undeniably chucklesome duo of Jimmy Durante and Phil Silvers. The stars are cast as Jeeper and Breezy, erstwhile vacuum-cleaner salesman who stage a demonstration at a local army camp, only to end up in uniform themselves. Thanks to their ineptitude and chronic inability to follow orders, our heroes spend most of their training period in the guardhouse. They try to atone for past misdeeds during maneuvers, only to end up trapped in a remote cabin which teeters perilously on a mountain ledge (the whole routine was borrowed-actually, stolen-from Chaplin's The Gold Rush). Not teamed in the traditional sense, Durante and Silvers are permitted to perform their solo specialties, with both comedians coming out fairly even in terms of laugh delivery. As a bonus, this is the film in which nominal romantic leads Regis Toomey and Jane Wyman performed the longest screen kiss in movie history (Leonard Maltin clocked it at three minutes, five seconds)-a feat that reportedly led Wyman's then-husband Ronald Reagan to wonder aloud why he couldn't keep his wife's interest that long! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bob Hope plays a famous movie star who does his best to avoid the pre-war draft, but ends up in uniform all the same. Hope marries Dorothy Lamour, the daughter of Army colonel Clarence Kolb, in hopes that this union will help him sidestep military service. Stuck in boot camp, Hope is a class-A screw-up until redeeming himself during a sham battle--though his "heroic" commandeering of a tank began as yet another boo-boo. Still not entirely certain that Hope could carry a film by himself, Paramount teamed him with Eddie Bracken and Lynne Overman--a sort of Abbott and Costello plus One. Despite the efforts to make Bob Hope part of an ensemble, it is clear from the first frame to the last who is truly the star of Caught in the Draft. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi