Verna Hillie Movies

Very cheaply produced, Rebellious Daughters was released on a theater-by-theater basis as an "exploitationer." Such familiar faces as Marjorie Reynolds, Verna Hillie, Sheila Bromley and Lita Chevret play the daughters of the title, who rebel against their mommies and daddies by heading to the sinful Big City and indulging in all sorts of forbidden pleasures. Many of the wayward lasses come to grief, with the exception of the heroine, who is rescued in the nick of time by her roving-reporter boyfriend. Veteran supporting players Monte Blue, Dell Henderson and Vivien Oakland do their best to bring a bit of professionalism to the shoddy proceedings. Even in 1938, Rebellious Daughters was regarded as "camp." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Mr. Dynamite was based on the Dashiel Hammett novel On the Make. Edmund Lowe plays jaunty private eye T. N. Thompson, or T.N.T. ("Mistery Dynamite", get it?) Nothing pleases Thompson more than running rings around the San Francisco police force, headed by the dyspeptic detective King (Robert Gleckler). On this occasion, Mr. Dynamite stumbles upon several corpses, taking it all in stride as he follows the trail of clues to the guilty party. Alas, he's broken several laws along the way, thus our hero is forced to hop the first train out of town, accompanied as always by faithful secretary Lynn (Jean Dixon). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Former silent-screen leading man Ralph Forbes makes the best of his B-picture surroundings in Empire Productions' Rescue Squad. Forbes plays a fearless fireman, assigned to solve a series of arsons. It's rough work, and it takes its toll on Forbes' private life. Slow going for its first 5 reels, Rescue Squad peps up during its fiery finale. Incidentally, the cast member known as Leon Waycoff later changed his professional cognomen to Leon Ames. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Back in the 1930s, the "Search for Beauty" contests were designed to scout the hinterlands of America and England for beautiful girls and handsome men who might qualify as movie contractees -- though most the winners were drawn from the ranks of Hollywood residents. These contests, coupled with a play by Schuyler E. Gray and Paul R. Milton, formed the basis for this 1934 comedy. Real-life "Search for Beauty" winners Larry "Buster" Crabbe and Ida Lupino (both of whom had already appeared in a few films) head the cast in this story of a contest staged by a two-bit "physical culture" magazine. When the winners, Don Jackson (Crabbe) and Barbara Hilton (Lupino), realize that they've been hired exclusively to pose in bathing suits for the pin-up trade, they leave for the greener pastures of a legitimate health farm. The magazine's crooked publishers try to extort money from Don and Barbara, but they're foiled by a local justice of the peace (Frank McGlynn Sr.) who turns out to be an agent of the U.S. Department of Justice! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first of two proposed serials for Mascot Pictures, Western hero Ken Maynard goes up against a murderous fiend known as "the Rattler." Wearing a strange disguise consisting of eye glasses, a fake nose, and crepe-hair mustache, the Rattler, aka "the Menace of the Mountain," attempts to control the mountain -- and its hidden gold -- from a secret cave filled with strange electronic gadgets. Maynard is Ken Williams, a young cowboy coming to the aid of Jane Corwin (Verna Hillie), whose railroad worker father (Lafe McKee) was the Rattler's first victim. Just as in a previous Mascot serial, The Hurricane Express (1932), the masked villain of Mystery Mountain uses a seemingly endless supply of rubber masks that enables him to perform his skullduggery disguised as almost every member of the cast. He is finally brought to ground in chapter 12, "The Judgment of Tarzan" ("Tarzan" being Maynard's faithful steed), and is revealed to be supposedly solid citizen Edward Earle. The denouement, of course, was a typical Mascot "cheat," the masked villain having up to that point been played by Edmund Cobb. Maynard, whom Mascot producer Nat Levine had gotten on the cheap at 10,000 dollars a week, proved almost not worth the trouble he created. The difficult star demanded that the serial be filmed at his old stomping grounds, Universal City, and kept changing the script and direction to suit himself. Although Mystery Mountain proved the most successful Mascot serial up to that time, Levine had had enough of the obstinate Maynard and replaced him with newcomer Gene Autry in The Phantom Empire (1935). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Loosely based on a story by pulp writer James Oliver Curwood, this Lone Star Western released by Monogram starred a young John Wayne helping an old family friend (James Marcus) find his long-lost brother and niece. Traveling by train to the Canadian Northwest, Rod Drew (Wayne) is reacquainted with old school chum Wabi (Noah Beery Jr.), a "half-breed" falsely accused of shooting a card shark. Escaping the law, the two friends find their way to Wabinosh General Store, whose gregarious owner, Newsome (Noah Beery), is in possession of a map leading to the whereabouts of the missing Ball family and a fortune in gold. A nefarious French trapper, LaRocque (Robert Frazer), is also interested in the map but Drew and Wabi beat him to the location of John Ball's abandoned cabin. Ball himself is long dead but a portrait proves that his daughter is none other than Felice (Verna Hillie), the adopted daughter of the general store owner. Felice and Rod have fallen in love, however, and after delivering the villains to the mounted police, they leave the Northwest together. A remake of the silent The Wolf Hunters (1926), The Trail Beyond was filmed at majestic Kings Canyon National Park in central California and includes several impressive stunts performed by Yakima Canutt and Eddie Parker. (One stunt that failed -- a transfer from horse to wagon -- was left in the film, adding a rare touch of realism to the proceedings.) The beautifully restored version of the film comes complete with a new background score, a nuisance to purists, perhaps, but a welcome addition for the more casual viewer. A colorized version is also available. Monogram filmed the story a third time, as The Wolf Hunters (1949) and starring Kirby Grant. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The world of horse racing provides the backdrop for this episodic drama. Much of the story is set at the Luray Springs Hotel where the characters wait for the running of the Capitol Handicap. The main story focuses upon Colly Tannyer, a pretty young handicapper who must wrangle up $10,000 so she can bet on a special horse. He former lover, Cuff Billings, helps her out under the condition that if the horse loses, she must make love to him. She agrees, and unfortunately, her steed places third. Fortunately, Cuff is more honorable than she though and he ends up romancing her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this 1933 Marx Brothers film, the mythical country of Freedonia is broke and on the verge of revolution. Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), Freedonia's principal benefactress, will lend the country 20 million dollars if the president withdraws and places the government in the hands of the "fearless, progressive" Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx). At his inauguration, Firefly shows up late, insults everyone in sight, and sings a song about how he intends to abuse his power. Naturally, the crowd cheers wildly. Meanwhile, Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) of neighboring Sylvania schemes to oust Firefly and take over Freedonia himself. To gather enough evidence to discredit Firefly, he sends his most trusted spies, Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx). Five minutes after they show up in Freedonia, both spies become important members of Firefly's cabinet, though Chicolini keeps his day job as a peanut vendor. Firefly eventually declares war on Sylvania, an absurd farrago with Firefly changing uniforms from scene to scene, Chicolini going to the other side because the food is better, and Pinky parading around the battlefield with a sandwich board reading "Join the army and see the navy." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi