Russell Hicks Movies

Carnival barker Spencer Tracy befriends elderly concessionaire Henry B. Walthall, who owns a picturesque but stodgy display depicting Dante's Inferno. Walthall is more interested in the spiritual aspects of Man's fascination with Hell, but Tracy uses hoopla and exaggeration to get the suckers into the Inferno. His interest isn't altruistic; Tracy is enamored of Walthall's niece, Claire Trevor. Through his publicity savvy, Tracy builds the Inferno into a major attraction, complete with full orchestra and scantily clad "devil girls". He also buys up the rest of the carnival, using cold-blooded tactics that result in the suicide of a fellow concessionaire. Within five years, Tracy is a millionaire tycoon of the Entertainment industry. While loved by his wife (Trevor) and son (Scotty Beckett), Tracy conducts his business ruthlessly, bribing a city official to look the other way regarding structural defects in his Inferno display. When this duplicity results in a disastrous accident at the exhibit, the bribed official kills himself. Tracy is exonerated thanks to legal chicanery, but his wife is fed up; she walks out on him, taking their son along. Injured in the accident, Inferno creator H. B. Walthall warns Tracy of the pitfalls of success, using an illustrated edition of Dante to make his point. For nearly ten minutes, the movie audience is treated to a lavish depiction of Hell, magnificently photographed by Rudolph Mate. When the plot resumes, Tracy is on hand for his latest venture, a sumptuous gambling ship. Thanks to the drunken negligence of the crew, the ship catches fire, and it is only upon learning that his son has sneaked aboard that Tracy realizes the consequences of his greed. Tracy labors heroically to rescue the passengers--and, incidentally, to atone for his past sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After wrapping up his last case in Egypt, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Shanghai for a well-deserved rest. It isn't long, however, before Chan has been summoned by the local constabulary to help smash an international dope ring. He is aided by erudite American intelligence agent James Andrews (Russell Hicks) and to a lesser extent by his overeager Number-One-Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke). The film is structured more like a serial than a mystery, with Chan and his friends escaping death and/or abduction at every turn. Only after rounding up the smugglers does Charlie reveal the well-concealed identity of the criminal mastermind behind it all. The nominal romantic lead is played by Charles Locher, who went on to greater fame as Jon Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most of the Fox productions of the 1930s had a "continental" flavor, and Thunder in the Night was no exception. Edmund Lowe stars as amorous Budapest police captain Torok, whose best friend Count Alvinczy (Paul Cavanaugh) has just been elected president of the Hungarian cabinet. When Alvinczy's future is threatened by a blackmailer, Torok tries to get to the bottom of things. It isn't long before the blackmailer is murdered, with suspicion shifting from one character to another. The most likely suspect is Alvinczy's lovely wife Madaline (Karen Morley), but Torok wisely deduces that appearances are deceiving. Thunder in the Night was based on A Woman Lies, a play by Ladislas Fodor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

The late "B"-picture historian Don Miller once referred to the "teenage sex" exploitationers of the 1930s as the "Enlighten Thy Daughter-type film." A remake of the 1917 picture of the same name, the 1934 version of Enlighten thy Daughter stars Herbert Rawlinson as Dr. Richard Stevenson, who for the edification of the audience relates the tale of two daughters. Ruth (Beth Barton), the offspring of Stevens' hypocritical brother (Russ Hicks), is neglected by her parents in matters of sex education; as consequence, she trods the primrose path, ending up pregnant, then dead. But Dr. Stevens' own daughter Alice (Claire Whitney), is told the facts of life early on, and as a result makes responsible romantic decisions in her later life. Enlighten thy Daughter was distributed on a States' Rights basis by -- who else? -- Exploitation Pictures Inc. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

Josephine Hutchinson is a beautiful heiress bored by her stifling lifestyle. She bolts her family mansion on New Years' Eve and heads for a boisterous nightclub, where she meets blue-collar worker Dick Powell. Hutchinson pretends to be poor, and soon she and Powell are pitching woo. Powell has ambitions to go into business for himself, so Josephine secretly pulls strings to help him get ahead. But when Powell finds out, he renounces the girl and breaks up the relationship. Hutchinson returns to a loveless engagement with a society type, but her father has grown fond of Powell and arranges a reconciliation. Happiness Ahead isn't exactly a musical, though Dick Powell does sing the title song during the opening credits and later introduces the Warner Bros. cartoon perennial "Pop Goes Your Heart." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide