Doris Hill Movies
A vaudeville dancer prior to her screen debut in 1926, Doris Hill made quite an impression opposite Sidney Chaplin in the comedy The Better 'Ole, the second feature film released with a Vitaphone score and sound effects. But Hill was saddled by a contract with FBO, a minor company best known for low-budget Westerns and melodramas, and despite being voted a 1929 WAMPAS Baby Star, she remained in the minor leagues throughout her career. That Hill's first talkie was the disastrous His Glorious Night (1929) in which John Gilbert's declarations of love provoked mirth instead of palpitations, did nothing to change things for the better and she spent the remainder of her career in B-Westerns. Hill's second husband was writer/director Monte Brice who had helmed Casey at the Bat (1927), in which she was one of the Floradora Girls. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1934
Written and directed by the prolific Oliver Drake, this low-budget Western starred Lane Chandler as a Texas Ranger battling a gang of cattle rustlers. The rustlers have hired Wolf Cassidy (Mike Brand), a notorious city mobster who is captured by the rangers before he reaches his location. Tex Robbins (Chandler) manages to infiltrate the gang by impersonating the imprisoned gangster but his identity is revealed when he falls in love with rancher daughter Ruth O'Bryne (Doris Hill). Texas Tornado was one in a series of eight Chandler oaters produced on the cheap by Willis Kent, a typical low-budget operator perhaps best remembered for such exploitation melodramas as The Road to Ruin (1928 and 1934) and The Wages of Sin (1938). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lane Chandler, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1933
Diminutive cowboy star Bob Steele, who that same year also played a circus acrobat, a would-be boxer, and a barn-storming pilot, takes on the wintry Northwest in this low-budget action melodrama from Monogram. Attacked by persons unknown, a dying Jim Powers (Fred Burns) warns his young friend Lee Evans (Steele) that in order to locate the killer, Lee must first search for a woman named Mitzi. The youngster trails the redhead (Doris Hill) to the Canadian Northwest where she performs in a small-town dive. Impersonating an outlaw known as "Curly the Kid," the hero is readily accepted by a couple of local crooks, Lucky (Arthur Rankin) and "Flash" Ryan (George Hayes), one of whom may indeed be the mystery killer. But which one? Trailing North was penned by genre veteran Harry L. Fraser under the nom de plume of Harry O. Jones. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1933
The Galloping Romeo is Bob Steele, a wandering cowboy who's had incredibly bad luck with women. After several romantic setbacks, Steele finally falls for a girl who he thinks is as pure as the driven snow. In actuality, the "heroine" and her father are in charge of a lucrative stage-holdup racket. As Steele rounds up the miscreants, the girl promises to go straight, but he's heard that song before. While it's fun to see Bob Steele offer what amounts to a Hoot Gibson imitation in Galloping Romeo, one can be grateful that he didn't attempt comedy too often. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1933
Cowboy star Rex Bell revives a favorite plot device of silent westerner William S. Hart in Crashin' Broadway. Bell temporarily leaves the Wide Open Spaces to conduct business in New York City. He runs afoul of gangsters, who prove no match forBell. Doris Hill is the leading lady whom Bell charms during his visit to the Big Apple. Crashin' Broadway was one of Rex Bell's last starring vehicles; soon afterward, he entered politics, eventually becoming lieutenant governor of Nevada. And as a bonus, he married Hollywood's "It" girl Clara Bow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Former silent screen cowboy star Jack Hoxie played a Pony Express rider in this, the fourth of six low-budget oaters produced by Majestic. Delivering a valuable deed to El Rio Rancho, Buck Carson (Hoxie) is ambushed by Clem Porter (Matthew Betz) and his gang, who steal the deed. Meanwhile, at El Rio Rancho, Betty Castlear (Marceline Day) releases her horse, Dynamite, into the desert. The animal has been conscripted to the cavalry by Lt. Bob Gray (Lane Chandler), Betty's fiancée. Bringing the wayward horse back to the ranch, Carson stumbles over Porter, who forces him to go to the gang's hangout at the Bar X Ranch. With the aid of sidekick Pancho Gonzales (Julian Rivero), Carson manages to recover the deed, after which he sets the ranch on fire. In retribution, Porter holds Betty and her friend June (Doris Hill) hostage at El Rio Rancho, but they are eventually saved by Carson, Lt. Gray, and the cavalry. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lane Chandler, Marceline Day, (more)
- 1933
Bob Steele has trouble sticking to The Ranger's Code in this western. As the sheriff, Steele must bring in a young man who's been consorting with crooks. Trouble is, the suspect is the brother of Steele's sweetheart. Fortunately, our hero is able to prove the boy's innocence by film's end, thereby saving his job and his love life. Ernie Adams, usually cast as a snivelling stool pigeon, delivers the best performance in Ranger's Code -- which, like most Bob Steele vehicles of this period, was directed by Bob's father, Robert N. Bradbury. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1932
In his third Allied Pictures release of 1932, veteran screen cowboy Hoot Gibson played his favorite role, that of a happy-go-lucky rodeo rider. This time, Gibson plays Johnny Ringo, a former lawman turned rodeo champ who returns to the old homestead to find his brother Bud (longtime Gibson protegee Fred Gilman) in trouble with a couple of crooked livestock-brokers cum cattle rustlers (Hooper Atchley and Al Bridge). Pretending to be a bumbling fool -- a favorite Gibson ploy -- "The Hooter" gains access to the villains' lair and is able to rescue a pretty kidnap victim (Doris Hill). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1932
A highly unusual Buck Jones Western, South of the Rio Grande featured the spectacle of Jones playing a Mexican Rurales officer named Carlos. Returning to the family hacienda, Carlos discovers that his weak-willed brother, Juan (Paul Fix), has lost everything to a scheming vixen, Consuella (Mona Maris). Deeply ashamed, Juan kills Consuella's partner, Andres (Charles Requa), before taking his own life. When one of his fellow officers, Ramon (George J. Lewis), becomes involved in a similar situation, Carlos remembers his own tragedy and decides to help the youngster. Ramon, it turns out, is also under the spell of Consuella, who now works for the evil Stark (Philo McCullough). Disguised as a peon, Carlos infiltrates Stark's lair, learning that the villain has found oil deposits on Ramon's family land. Unmasked by Consuella, Carlos is rescued in the nick of time by his fellow Rurales. Paul Fix, a busy supporting player in Westerns for six decades, had played a similar role in Jones' earlier The Avenger (1931) and a party scene was lifted from another prior Jones Western, Men Without Law (1930). Both Jones and fellow Columbia cowboy Tim McCoy enjoyed playing Mexican characters -- or gringos masquerading as such -- but as opposed to McCoy, Jones' phony accent left a lot to be desired. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mona Maris, Philo McCullough, (more)
- 1932
Produced at the little Tec Art studio by sound engineer Ralph M. Like, this film is one of those modest whodunits where the lights go out and someone inevitably gets hit over the head with a blunt instrument. This time, the crew and passengers from a Los Angeles-bound plane seek shelter from the fog in a deserted yet fully furnished farm house. As it turns out, one of the passengers (William P. Burt) is carrying diamonds worth $500,000 and is killed during one of the blackouts. Insurance investigator Sidney Bracey attempts to catch the killer before he strikes again, and with the assistance of the plane's captain, Gene Morgan, and elderly passenger Ethel Wales, he manages to unmask the surprising culprit. Aside from being practically devoid of the obnoxious "humor" that often makes this kind of hoary melodrama tough viewing for a modern audience, Tangled Destinies offers generally fine performances from an ensemble cast of B-movie veterans and better than average production values. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Whitlock, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1932
The third of Poverty Row producer Willis Kent's eight Lane Chandler Westerns, Battling Buckaroo was filmed on-location at the Hearst ranch in Lone Pine, CA. Chandler played Blackjack, a notorious outlaw who nevertheless helps Tonya Mendoza (Doris Hill) and her prospector father (Lafe McKee) escape a gang of outlaws lead by nasty Duke Lawson (Ted Adams). Arrested by Sheriff Jones (Yakima Canutt), Blackjack makes his escape with the assistance of Tonya, who has fallen in love with the bandit. Blackjack, however, is quickly caught by Duke's men but is once again rescued, this time by his faithful steed Raven. After a furious chase, Blackjack and Raven lose their pursuers and manage to arrive at the Mendoza gold mine in time to save Tonya and her father from Duke. About to be arrested once again by Sheriff Jones, Blackjack reveals himself to be an undercover United States marshal. Director Armand Schaefer later formed a close association with singing cowboy star Gene Autry and would head Autry's television company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1931
In his first Western for Columbia, Tim McCoy played one of his favorite characters, the reformed professional gambler. Returning home to visit with brother Terry (Carroll Nye), Tim Allen (McCoy) finds Terry mortally wounded by a man he identifies as the supposedly honest gambler George Beck (Charles "Slim" Whitaker). At the Lone Star Saloon, owner Coldeye Carnell (Al Ferguson) offers him a dealer position, which he declines. He does, however, accept a job from George Beck, his brother's presumed killer, whose daughter, Helen (Doris Hill), he earlier rescued from a gang of potential muggers. As it turns out, Terry's killer is not Beck, but Coldeye who had assumed his rival's identity in order to ruin him. Beck forgives Tim for his suspicions and the reformed gambler in turn asks for Helen's hand in marriage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1931
White-Stetsoned Bill Cody stars in the rugged "B"-western The Montana Kid. While waiting for the arrival of his son Andy Shuford on the afternoon stage, Cody's friend John Elliot gets drunk at the local saloon, where he is easily swindled out of his ranch. When Elliot sobers up, he tries to set things right, only to be murdered for his trouble. It's up to Cody to protect Shuford's interests and track down the killers. While cheaply produced, The Montana Kid is persuasively acted and tightly directed, with a particularly exciting chase finish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Cody, Andy Shuford, (more)
- 1930
The dashing Ken Maynard, who always warned that he sang loudly rather than well, finished his 1929-1930 stay at Universal with this average early sound western. Maynard sang several heart-felt prairie ballads in the film and even cut a record for Columbia. One of his songs, Down the Home Trail with You, became a minor hit, but the film itself, about a ranch foreman battling an outlaw gang was nothing to write home about despite a good performance by old-timer Francis Ford as the villain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Hill, Francis Ford, (more)
- 1930
Poverty row company Syndicate released this early sound western starring silent-screen refugee Mahlon Hamilton as a reformed gambler who saves Doris Hill's ranch from a gang of crooks by using a few of his otherwise retired tricks. The principal actors in this film, Hamilton, Hill and Robert Graves (as the leader of the gang) had all seen better days in the silent era but still enjoyed recognition in small towns, the intended market for Syndicate releases. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mahlon Hamilton, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1930
This early sound western was cowboy-star Ken Maynard's second to last under his 1929-1930 contract with Universal. The studio's emphasis on bringing music to the western genre despite Maynard's rather limited vocal capabilities was not paying off at the box-office. Sound in general was increasing expenditures, and the studio was about to scrap their entire series western units altogether. Besides Ken's vigorous warbling, Son of the Caballero was an average western at best, a rather flamboyant scene where Ken defeats ten sword-wielding bad guys notwithstanding. Maynard plays a drifter returning to the homestead to seek vengeance for past misdeeds done against his beloved mother (Evelyn Sherman). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1930
Previously filmed in 1926, the George Kelly stage comedy The Show-Off was remade in 1930 as Men Are Like That. Broadway star Hal Skelly steps into the role of chronic braggart Aubrey Piper, incapable of either telling the truth or shutting up. Insinuating himself into the home of his wife Amy's (Doris Hill) family, Aubrey does his best to impress his in-laws with tall tales about his business acumen and his grandiose financial transactions. Even after he's been exposed as a fraud and saved from ruin and disgrace by Amy, Aubrey continues to run off at the mouth -- and even throws in a few songs and dances for good measure. Despite a witty script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Men Are Like That is sabotaged by the calculatedly obnoxious Hal Skelly, who never did develop into a satisfying screen personality. The property was refilmed under its original title The Show Off by Spencer Tracy in 1934, and by Red Skelton in 1948. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Skelly, Charles Sellon, (more)
- 1929
Phony spiritualists were given a good going-over in the early talkie melodrama Darkened Rooms. Evelyn Brent stars as Ellen, a fraudulent medium working in cahoots with genuine clairvoyant Emory Jago (Neil Hamilton). The plotline is secondary; the film's main purpose was to emulate the methods of such professional "de-bunkers" as Mrs. Harry Houdini by exposing the various tricks of the spiritualist's trade. These scenes also permitted the Paramount audio technicians to try out a variety of unusual sound effects. Sometimes erroneously listed as Evelyn Brent's first talking picture, Darkened Rooms was merely her first starring talkie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Brent, Neil Hamilton, (more)
- 1929
The newly constructed Paramount sound stages were used as a backdrop for the Pirandellian thriller The Studio Murder Mystery. Fredric March stars as Richard Hardell, a silent-screen idol whose transition to talkies is threatened by his inability to remember his lines. Driven to distraction, Hardell's director Richard Borka (Warner Oland) wonders if his star will be able to get through the all-important "murder scene" in his current picture. The thin line between fantasy and reality is blurred when several actual attempts are made on Hardell's life. The suspects include Hardell's far-from-loyal wife Blanche (played by March's real-life wife Florence Eldredge) and sour-pussed studio "gag writer" Tony White (Neil Hamilton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Chester Conklin, (more)
- 1929
Based on Olympia, a 1928 Ferenc Molnar stage soufflé, His Glorious Night has gone down in history as having more or less single-handedly caused the downfall of silent-screen matinee idol John Gilbert, whose ardent declarations of "I love you, I love you" to an overly inert Catherine Dale Owen were parodied twenty-odd years later in MGM's otherwise highly apocryphal Singing in the Rain (1952). Owen, from the Broadway stage, plays Princess Orsolini, who refuses an arranged marriage in favor of dallying with Kovacs (Gilbert), a dashing cavalry officer. But on the advice of her mother (stage luminary Nance O'Neil), the princess reluctantly informs Kovacs that she cannot love the offspring of a peasant. In revenge, the latter indulges in a bit of blackmail, but true love wins out in the end -- to the energetic strains of Franz Von Suppé's "Light Cavalry Overture". Rumors to the contrary, the problem was not with Gilbert's voice but with screenwriter Willard Mack's overly florid dialogue, which might have been fine as subtitles but sounded downright embarrassing to audiences when spoken by a cast suffering from the stilted direction of a microphone-conscious Lionel Barrymore. His Glorious Night was rather more successful in three foreign-language versions: Olimpia featuring Maria Alba and José Crespo, Olympia with Nora Gregor and Theo Schall, and Si L'empereur Savait Ça featuring Françoise Rosay and André Luguet. The story was remade by director Michael Curtiz in 1960 as A Breath of Scandal starring Sophia Loren and John Gavin. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, Catherine Dale Owen, (more)
- 1928
The protagonists of Thief in the Dark are the members of a travelling spiritualist troupe, criminals all. When one of their seances goes awry at the home of a wealthy gentleman, the head crook bumps off the host and escapes with the loot. This leaves the boss' young assistant George Meeker holding the bag when the cops arrive. With the help of the murdered man's daughter, Meeker clears himself and tracks down the real killer. Billed as "supervisor" of Thief in the Dark was Kenneth Hawks, the brother of legendary director Howard Hawks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Meeker, Marjorie Beebe, (more)
- 1928
Based on a story by Elmer Harris, the above-average Columbia production Court Martial was set during the Civil War. Carrying secret orders from President Abraham Lincoln, Northern secret agent Jack Holt heads below the Mason-Dixon line in hopes of capturing gorgeous Confederate spy Betty Compson. Disguised as a "rebel," Holt is able to join Compson's band of guerilla raiders. He falls in love with the girl and saves her from death at every turn. She in turn saves him from her vengeful comrades when his true identity is revealed. For failing to turn Compson over to the Northern authorities as originally planned, Holt is court-martialed and sentenced to be shot, but Compson, in the tradition of Cigarette in Under Two Flags, sacrifices her own life to save the hero from execution. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Compson, Doris Hill, (more)
- 1928
Broadway chorus girl Peggy Lane (Bebe Daniels) is in love with stage-door-johnnie David North (Neil Hamilton). Vampish Derelys Devore (Lilyan Tashman), the obnoxious star of the show in which Peggy is appearing, tries to come between the adoring couple. When all else fails, Peggy is forced to put an end to Derelys' machinations with her fists. Sporting a spectacular black eye, Derelys refuses to go on stage, whereupon Peggy subs for the "incapacitated" star and scores a bit hit. Director Marshall Neilan, a marked man in Hollywood thanks to such wisecracks as "An empty car pulled up and Louise B. Mayer got out," helmed Take Me Home just before his professional decline began. The film's titles were written by Herman Mankiewicz. Comedian Joe E. Brown, never too lucky in his silent-film appearances, was again wasted in a minor role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bebe Daniels, Neil Hamilton, (more)
- 1928
An otherwise honest gambler, played by Jack Holt, begins to cheat at cards in order to put his son John Darrow through mining school in this lavish Zane Grey adaptation produced by Paramount. The callow foster-son pays back the noble gesture by running off with Holt's mistress, Olga Baclanova. They are stopped by the avalanche of the title and the forgiving Holt manages to rescue both their lives. While acknowledging that Olga Baclanova of the Moscow Art Theater was slightly out of place in this rough and tumble Western melodrama, the trade-paper Variety praised her performance as one of the main reasons for the film's success. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt
- 1927
"Rough House Rosie" Reilly (Clara Bow) just can't seem to stay out of trouble. Hoping to become a Broadway actress, Rosie gets mixed up with rowdies and ends up in jail. Much the same thing happens when she tries to crash High Society. Eventually, Rosie finds her true niche in life when she falls in love with handsome prizefighter Joe Hennessey (Reed Howes) and helps him to win the championship bout by using her goo-goo eyes to distract his opponent. Arthur Houseman, later one of screendom's favorite "comic drunks," plays a comparatively straight role as gambler Kid Farrell, while Joseph W. Girard, perennial police chief in many a talkie serial, goes through his usual paces here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clara Bow, Reed Howes, (more)
