Louis Jean Heydt Movies

Based on a 1933 play, this mediocre whodunit was independently produced in New York City with a Broadway cast. Lora Baxter plays Elsie Manning, a famous actress who suddenly finds herself stuck with the dead body of her former lover, James Nichols (Russell Hicks). Dr. Gruelle (Leo Carrillo) offers to take the dead man off her shoulders and pretend that Nichols died from natural causes while under his care. But Elsie disagrees with the arrangement that includes part of the 200,000 dollars she stands to inherit. As it turns out, the good doctor proves to be a homicide detective in disguise and the real murderer is unmasked. Before Morning marked the only feature film of stage actress/playwright Lora Baxter and the screen debut of Louis Jean Heydt, a member of the play's original Broadway cast. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Test Pilot is one of those irresistible MGM potboilers of the 1930s that coast along on sheer star power. Clark Gable plays a courageous test pilot, who compromises his achievements with his frequent bouts of drinking. Gable's mechanic, Spencer Tracy, does what he can to keep his boss out of trouble. While testing a new aircraft, Gable is forced to land on a Midwestern farm, where he meets and falls in love with Myrna Loy. Gable and Loy marry, whereupon he is fired by his boss Lionel Barrymore, who is of the opinion that flying and dames don't mix. Gable goes off on another bender, compelling Loy to leave him. Once more, Tracy comes to Gable's rescue by reuniting the couple and arranging for Barrymore to give Gable his job back. Later, Gable and Tracy are assigned to test a huge army bomber. Something goes wrong, and the plane goes into a dive. The self-sacrificing Tracy sees to it that Gable is saved from a flaming death--at the cost of his own life. Gable is so devastated by Tracy's death that it looks as though he'll never fly again. But with Loy's help, Gable regains his self-confidence. As one can see, there's little in Test Pilot that hasn't been done before. But with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy at the controls, the film proved a real audience-pleaser in 1938. In fact, it's still pretty good today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Capra's classic comedy-drama established James Stewart as a lead actor in one of his finest (and most archetypal) roles. The film opens as a succession of reporters shout into telephones announcing the death of Senator Samuel Foley. Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), the state's senior senator, puts in a call to Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Guy Kibbee) reporting the news. Hopper then calls powerful media magnate Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), who controls the state -- along with the lawmakers. Taylor orders Hopper to appoint an interim senator to fill out Foley's term; Taylor has proposed a pork barrel bill to finance an unneeded dam at Willet Creek, so he warns Hopper he wants a senator who "can't ask any questions or talk out of turn." After having a number of his appointees rejected, at the suggestion of his children Hopper nominates local hero Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), leader of the state's Boy Rangers group. Smith is an innocent, wide-eyed idealist who quotes Jefferson and Lincoln and idolizes Paine, who had known his crusading editor father. In Washington, after a humiliating introduction to the press corps, Smith threatens to resign, but Paine encourages him to stay and work on a bill for a national boy's camp. With the help of his cynical secretary Clarissa Sanders (Jean Arthur), Smith prepares to introduce his boy's camp bill to the Senate. But when he proposes to build the camp on the Willets Creek site, Taylor and Paine force him to drop the measure. Smith discovers Taylor and Paine want the Willets Creek site for graft and he attempts to expose them, but Paine deflects Smith's charges by accusing Smith of stealing money from the boy rangers. Defeated, Smith is ready to depart Washington, but Saunders, whose patriotic zeal has been renewed by Smith, exhorts him to stay and fight. Smith returns to the Senate chamber and, while Taylor musters the media forces in his state to destroy him, Smith engages in a climactic filibuster to speak his piece: "I've got a few things I want to say to this body. I tried to say them once before and I got stopped colder than a mackerel. Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir. And as a matter of fact, I'm not gonna leave this body until I do get them said." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Otis Ferguson has said of Each Dawn I Die that "the story is of the kind you would have to see to disbelieve." And to be sure, the film is nothing more than a sampler of '30s prison-film conventions. But with the brilliant acting by James Cagney and the fast-paced and hard-edged direction of William Keighley, the film clatters past like an express train. Cagney plays Frank Ross, an innocent newspaperman who is railroaded into prison by a corrupt district attorney. In prison, he meets hardened-con Stacey (George Raft). Frank, at first, doesn't want to associate with Stacey and the other prisoners, but trapped in the hellhole prison, he more and more turns into a bitter con. Finally granted a hearing from the parole board, Frank pleads his innocence, but the parole board is headed by Grayce (Victor Jury), the man responsible for his imprisonment, and his parole is denied, and Frank becomes more hardened and embittered. By this point, Stacey has befriended him and agrees to help Frank prove his innocence. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Movie buffs are nearly unanimous in agreement: Charlie Chan at Treasure Island is the best of the Sidney Toler "Charlie Chan" entries. The film wastes no time getting started, with Chan (Toler) and his son Jimmy (Sen Yung) on hand when Charlie's writer friend Paul Essex (Louis Jean Heydt) dies on the Honolulu Clipper while en route to San Francisco. The police rule Essex' death a suicide, but Chan believes differently. He follows the trail of clues to the mysterious Zodiac, a crooked spiritualist. The oriental detective is aided in his investigation by Rhadini (Cesar Romero), a charming stage magician who hopes to expose Zodiac as a phony and blackmailer. After several plot twists and a couple of additional murders, all the likely suspects are gathered together during one of Rhadini's performances at Treasure Island, the San Francisco branch of the 1939 World's Fair. In a truly eerie climax, mystic Eve (Pauline Moore) who really does have psychic powers, prepares to name the killer. The revelation of the culprit is a genuine surprise, staged with topnotch showmanship by director Norman Foster, whose wife Sally Blane (Loretta Young's sister) appears in a small role as Essex's widow. Many of the magicians' props utilized in Charlie Chan at Treasure Island would do service again in 1942 in the Laurel & Hardy vehicle A-Haunting We Will Go. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Damon Runyon yarn features William Gargan and Ann Sothern as Brooklynites Joe and Ethel Turp. The Turps are up in arms when their faithful old mailman (Walter Brennan) is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself--not Roosevelt, of course, but MGM's idea of a president, as played by Lewis "Judge Hardy" Stone. Joe Turp gilds the lily by giving the President some Brooklynese advice on how to deal with certain foreign dictators. Joe and Ethel Turp Call on The President is at its best in its flashback sequences, depicting the aged Walter Brennan as a handsome young man (with teeth!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

They Made Me a Criminal opens in New York, depicting the latest victory in the ring for Johnny Bradfield (John Garfield), a young boxer who seems headed for a championship. When a reporter finds Bradfield drunk and carousing with women, and learns that the squeaky-clean image that he has cultivated is a complete lie, he threatens to blow the lid off the boxer's real life, and is beaten to death by Bradfield's manager. Bradfield, who was in a drunken stupor during the fight, is framed for the killing by his manager, who rolls him for his wallet, watch, and anything else of value, makes a run for it, and is killed in a fiery car accident. As far as the police are concerned, the case is closed, "Bradfield" having been identified in the wreck by the watch he was wearing. But Johnny Bradfield now has to disappear from New York and anyplace else he's ever been seen, in order to stay "dead." He is sent on his way by his crooked attorney with just a few dollars in his pocket, thumbing rides and walking west. Bradfield collapses one day from exhaustion and near starvation outside of a ranch in Arizona. The ranch is run by May Robson as part of a relief effort to help a group of boys from the New York slums -- Tommy (Billy Halop), Spit (Leo Gorcey), Dippy (Huntz Hall), T.B. (Gabriel Dell), Angel (Bobby Jordan), and Milty (Bernard Punsly) -- keep out of trouble. Identifying himself as "Jack Dorney," he first tries to see what he can get in the way of a free ride from the kids and Tommy's sister, Peggy (Gloria Dickson), who doesn't trust Dorney or his influence over the kids. Meanwhile, back in New York, one police detective, Phelan (Claude Rains), is convinced that the body found in the burned wreck of Johnny Bradfield's car wasn't Bradfield. Phelan is an outcast in his department for having once presented "conclusive" evidence in court against a man who was executed for murder, only to discover later that the man was innocent. He sees this as his chance to redeem himself and his career, and he is such a pariah that his chief gives him permission to follow up leads anywhere he needs to. At the ranch, Dorney takes a genuine liking to the kids, and sees Peggy as a kind of woman he's never known, who has no "angles" in her approach to life. The ranch may have to be sold, however, as there is no more money coming from the church in New York to keep it going. In order to save the ranch and set Peggy and the kids up in a roadside business pumping gas -- an idea of Tommy's -- Dorney decides to enter a prize fight for money against a barnstorming boxer. On the eve of the fight, however, Phelan shows up, drawn by a newspaper photo of Dorney, his face obscured but using the same unusual left-handed boxing stance he used as Johnny Bradfield. Dorney goes into the ring, and finds himself up against a brute who has already flattened two opponents in less than one round each, trying to hide his identity by fighting right-handed. He gets savaged, round after round, until Phelan tells him from ringside that he knows who he is. Free to use his left, Dorney saves himself. Phelan confronts him in the dressing room, and Johnny tells him he'll give him no trouble -- they're about to head back east, with Peggy and the kids trying to thank him, and it dawns on Phelan that possibly this is one case that might better be left "solved" officially the way it is already, even though it means the detective going back to his job as a laughing stock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this remake of the 1926 silent hit (which was in turn based on a hit musical from 1919), Anna Neagle stars as Irene O'Dare, an Irish girl of humble beginnings who comes to New York in search of work. She finds a place as a shopgirl at a fashionable and expensive boutique managed by Mr. Smith (Roland Young). Irene does well at her new job and soon finds that two wealthy men are vying for her affections. Don Marshall (Ray Milland), the owner of the store, is much attracted to Irene, but so is socialite Bob Vincent (Alan Marshal), which does not come as a pleasant surprise to Eleanor Worth (Marsha Hunt), Bob's sweetheart. Irene features several (but not all) of the songs from the original stage production, including "Castle of Dreams", "Worthy of You", "You've Got Me out on a Limb", and "There's Something in the Air". The "Alice Blue Gown" number was shot in Technicolor, while the remainder of the film is in black and white. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Of the many MGM Our Gang comedies focused on whiny child actor Robert Blake, the one-reel All About Hash is often cited as the worst of the bunch. It seems that little Mickey (Blake) is upset over the fact that his parents (Louis Jean Heydt and Peggy Shannon) spend every Monday night arguing. The reason: Mickey's mom invariably serves hash from the Sunday-dinner leftovers, and Mickey's dad hates hash. To teach the two adults a lesson, the Our Gang kids stage a skit on a local radio program, ending with a heartfelt plea by Mickey to stop the quarrelling. All About Hash was originally released on March 30, 1940. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though he lacked the casual charisma of his brother Bing, bandleader Bob Crosby starred in a series of reasonably successful films of his own. In Let's Make Music, Crosby and his "Bobcats" turn a dreadful football-victory song penned by elderly schoolmistress Malvina Adams (Elisabeth Risdon) into a hit by treating it as a novelty tune. When Malvina is brought to New York to capitalize on her unexpected success, she is accompanied by her pretty niece Abby (Jean Rogers), who is determined that her aunt won't be exploited or humilated. Sure enough, Abby and Crosby fall in love during Malvina's fifteen minutes of fame. Comedy relief is supplied by Yiddish Art Theater veteran Joseph Buloff, soon to gain Broadway immortality as Ali Hakim in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma. The songs in Let's Make Music include the enduring Crosby classic "Big Noise From Winnetka". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Santa Fe Trail, Errol Flynn's third western, has precisely nothing to do with the titular trail. Instead, the film is a simplistic retelling of the John Brown legend, with Raymond Massey playing the famed abolitionist. The events leading up to the bloody confrontation between Brown and the US Army at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, are treated in a painstakingly even-handed fashion: Brown's desire to free the slaves is "right" but his methods are "wrong." Whenever the leading characters are asked about their own feelings towards slavery, the response is along the noncommittal lines of "A lot of people are asking those questions," "I don't have the answer to that," and so forth. Before we get to the meat of the story, we are treated to a great deal of byplay between West Point graduates Jeb Stuart (Flynn) and George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan), who carry on a friendly rivalry over the affections of one Kit Carson Halliday (Olivia DeHavilland). Just so we know that the picture is meant to be a follow-up to Warners' Dodge City and Virginia City, Flynn is saddled with Alan Hale and "Big Boy" Williams, his comic sidekicks from those earlier films. Despite its muddled point of view, Santa Fe Trail is often breathtaking entertainment, excitingly staged by director Michael Curtiz. The film's public domain status has made Santa Fe Trail one of the most easily accessible of Errol Flynn's Warner Bros. vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pier 13 is a remake of the delightful Spencer Tracy-Joan Bennett vehicle Me and My Gal, which itself was a reworking of a 1922 silent picture. Wisecracking cop Danny Dolan (Lloyd Nolan) takes a liking to self-reliant waterfront waitress Sally Kelly (Lynn Bari), and the feeling is definitely mutual. But when Sally begins behaving strangely, Dolan suspects that she's mixed up with notorious criminal Johnnie Hale (Douglas Fowley). In fact, Sally is merely covering up for her flighty sister Helen (oan Valerie), who has foolishly fallen for Hale and has become deeply involved in the latter's underhanded activities. Things come to a head during a nocturnal warehouse robbery, with Dolan and Hale settling their differences face to face. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Midnight Angel was the title of this Paramount actioner when it was first released in December of 1941. But by the time the film reached the hinterlands, America had entered WW2, and thus it was that Midnight Angel was rechristened Pacific Blackout, which remained its title to this very day. Falsely convicted of murder (in one of those movie trials that takes only a few minutes!), young Robert Draper (Robert Preston) escapes custody during a practice blackout drill. Under cover of darkness, Draper hopes to find the real killer, who turns out to be a member of a Nazi sabotage ring. Our hero is helped along by Mary (Martha O'Driscoll), one of the most refreshingly self-reliant heroines in B-picture history. Among the secondary players are a young Hungarian immigrant named Eva Gabor and a portly German refugee named John Banner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide