Max Hoffman, Jr. Movies

King of Hockey was one of three low-budget hockey films released during the 1936-37 season, each one produced by a different studio. Dick Purcell stars as swell-headed hockey champ Gabby Dugan, whose career is abruptly terminated when he's accused of shaving points during a crucial game. Even worse, a blow on the skull induces temporary blindness, causing Gabby to wonder if he'll ever get to play again. Not only does he stage a spectacular comeback, but he also wins back the love of his estranged sweetheart Kathleen O'Rourke (Anne Nagel). A goodly portion of the film is given over to juvenile performer Ann Gillis, whom Warner Bros. evidently hoped would develop into the "new Shirley Temple" (even though there was still plenty of mileage left in the "old" Shirley Temple). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Supporting actor Scott Kolk was elevated to playing the title role in this Graustarkian spy thriller, serialized in 12 chapters by Universal. Reportedly based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett, the serial featured an American secret agent assigned to recover the crown jewels of Belgravia. Agent X-9 is assisted in his quest by Shara Graustark (Jean Rogers) and opposed by a master criminal known as Blackstone (Henry Brandon). A Universal contract player, Scott Kolk had played Leer, one of the young German soldiers-turned-cannon fodder in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), but stardom had eluded him. A name change to Scott Colton didn't do the trick either, and he left films in 1938. Leading lady Jean Rogers, on the other hand, had played Dale Arden in Flash Gordon (1936) and has become a serial icon. Universal used the title Secret Agent X-9 again in 1945, but with a different setting and plot. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The Game That Kills is professional hockey, at least according to this Columbia "B"-picture. Charles Quigley stars as Ferguson, a rough-and-tumble hockey player who discovers that his chosen profession is nothing more than a racket, a plaything for game-fixing racketeers. When his brother is killed in a highly suspicious accident, Ferguson and team trainer Holland (J. Farrell McDonald) join forces to bring the killers to justice. Second-billed Rita Hayworth is decorative as Holland's daughter (and Ferguson's sweetheart, natch). The Game That Kills was the second of three hockey-themed films released in 1937, the others being Warner Bros.' King of Hockey and Universal's Idol of the Crowd. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Joan Perry plays the title role in Columbia's Counterfeit Lady. She is cast as Phyllis, a country lass with a rare talent for larceny. Managing to steal a $37,000 diamond from a swank New York jewelry shop, Phyllis is pursued by private detective Johnny (Ralph Bellamy), and by a gang of professional thieves who play for keeps. Johnny rescues the heroine from the villains, whereupon she instantly reforms in order to permit a climactic romantic clinch. So well does Joan Perry pull off the leading role in Counterfeit Lady that it seems a shame she retired from acting after becoming the wife of Columbia prexy Harry Cohn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Returning to his home spread in the Red River border area between Texas and Oklahoma, Tal Holladay (Dick Foran) is falsely accused of murdering a young family friend (Carlyle Moore, Jr.) in this frequently entertaining Western directed, incongruously, by dance director Bobby Connolly. Imprisoned, Holladay later makes his escape while breaking Karen Ordley's (Anne Nagel) wild stallion. Forming a vigilante of fellow (innocent) prisoners, Holladay quickly learns that his own father was murdered in an attempt to prevent the building of a dam and that Karen's foster-brother Hub Ordley (Willard Parker) is the brain behind the scheme. In an attempt to plead his case to the visiting Secretary of the Interior (Walter Young), Tal is once again arrested by Sheriff Gorman (Raphael Bennett) and is nearly lynched. He is saved in the nick of time by the vigilantes, and with the help of newly elected U.S. Marshal Chris Madden (Granville Owens), he manages to disarm the evil Hub Ordley and save his ancestral ranch. Rather violent for a B-Western, The Devil's Saddle Legion incorporated three songs -- "When Moonlight Is Riding the Range," "My Texas Home," and "God's Country" -- all performed by leading man Foran, a pleasant baritone. Warner Bros.' answer to Gene Autry, Foran looked good on a horse but was rather obviously doubled in several fight sequences. Although surrounded by the studio's sumptuous production values (sumptuous for a B-Western), the former Academy Award nominee (The Petrified Forest, 1936) was perhaps a bit too "operatic" for B-Western stardom, and his 1936-1937 Warner Bros. series was never a threat to the supremacy of Autry, Rogers, et al. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Who better to direct Warner Bros.' Daredevil Drivers than B. Reeves "Breezy" Eason, the fast-action specialist who staged the chariot race sequence in 1925's Ben-Hur? Dick Purcell stars as suspended racecar driver Bill Foster who lands a job with a disreputable bus company. This puts him on the outs with his girlfriend Jerry Neeley (Beverly Roberts), the owner of a rival (and honest) bus firm. Bill gets back into Jerry's good graces when he exposes the criminal element running the company for which he works. As proof that everything's "relative" in Hollywood, Daredevil Drivers features Gloria Blondell, the sister of Warners contractee Joan Blondell, in a supporting role, while Charley Foy, the brother of the studio's B-movie unit supervisor Bryan Foy, provides comic relief. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Twenty years after the Armistice, doughboy Stan Laurel continues guarding a trench in France--simply because no one told him the war was over. His rescue coincides with the first wedding anniversary of his old pal Oliver Hardy. Heading to town to pick up a gift for his wife (Minna Gombell), Ollie discovers that Stan has been located and is now residing at the Veteran's Home. The two buddies share a warm reunion, whereupon Ollie invites Stan home to enjoy a "big thick juicy steak" prepared by Mrs. Hardy. As a result of Ollie's hospitality, Stan inadvertently wrecks Ollie's brand new car; the boys spend half the afternoon trudging up and down 13 flights of stairs; Ollie gets into a fight with belligerent Jimmy Finlayson; Mrs. Hardy angrily walks out on her husband; the boys manage to blow up the kitchen while preparing their own meal; and Hardy's beautiful next-door neighbor (Patricia Ellis) ends up minus her dress in Ollie's steamer trunk, with both Mrs. Hardy and the neighbor's husband, big-game hunter Billy Gilbert, converging upon our bethumped heroes. Essentially a remake of the 1929 Laurel and Hardy two-reeler Unnaccustomed as We Are, Block-Heads is a brilliant parade of virtuoso comedy turns. The best bits of business include the mountain of bean cans representing Stan's two decades in the trenches; the "white magic" gags involving Stan's pulling down the shadow of a window shade, producing a glass of water from his pocket and smoking his thumb like a pipe; and an uproarious "black" joke involving Ollie's mistaken belief than Stan has lost a leg in the war. The film sustains its high level of humor for 56 of its 57 minutes, faltering only in its disappointing closing gag (borrowed from the 1928 short We Faw Down). Among the writers of this chucklefest was former silent comedian Harry Langdon. Erroneously announced in 1938 as Laurel and Hardy's final feature, Block-Heads was indeed the last of the team's genuine classics. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Ronald Reagan is his usual sprightly self as ambitious insurance claims adjuster Eric Gregg. While diligently investigating a phony insurance racket, Gregg remains blissfully unaware that his own wife Nona (Sheila Bromley) has become deeply indebted to the crooks. Once this fact surfaces, Gregg loses both Nona and his job. Picking up the pieces is friendly cigar-stand clerk Patricia Carmody (Gloria Blondell), who ends up helping Gregg round up the villains. At the time Accidents Will Happen was released in 1938, the newspapers were jam-packed with stories about big-money insurance frauds; though the film lacks this timeliness when seen today, it remains an enjoyable trifle thanks to the always-dependable Reagan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A singing waiter with a wonderful operatic voice finds himself in the squared circle facing heavyweight boxers after he gets involved with crooked fight promoters who want him to both win the world heavyweight championship and attract more female fans with his post bout crooning. The promoters gull the waiter into his bizarre gig with the bogus promise that boxing will improve his singing. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A tough football scout thinks he has finally found a potential star quarterback when he sees a burly country-store stock boy casually unloading huge sacks of potatoes. Then and there the talent scout signs the boy to play for the Green Bay Packers. This comedy examines what happens when the naive lad's sudden stardom goes to his head and he gets involved with some potentially dangerous gamblers. The story was adapted from the 1929 baseball film Fast Company, which was later remade as Elmer the Great in 1933. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Though not a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces, this Warner Bros. programmer does star the Dead End Kids-or, more specifically, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, and Bernard Punsley. Fresh out of reform school, Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) promises his sister Joy (Ann Sheridan) that he'll go straight, and promptly joins the Beale Street Termites (the Dead Enders), a tough but basically good-hearted street gang. Local mobster William Kroner (Bernard Nedell), seeking out a fall guy for a series of arsons, frames Gabe for a fire in which helpless invalid Sleepy (Punsly) dies. With the help of the other Termites, crusading DA Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) tries to prove Gabe's innocence, using surprisingly high-handed tactics to get results: arresting Kroner on a misdemeanor, he turns the crook over to the kids, who force a confession out of the terrified crook. In this and several other instances in the film, the gang's rowdy behavior is "purified" because the end justifies the means. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though he doesn't speak his first line of dialogue until the film's final ten minutes, Peter Lorre spiritually dominates the fascinating RKO melodrama Stranger on the Third Floor. The plotline is carried by John McGuire, playing Ward, a newspaper reporter whose courtroom testimony sends the hapless Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr). to the death house. Ward is certain that he saw Briggs leaving the scene of a murder, but as the days pass, he is tortured by guilt and doubt -- especially during the film's surrealistic knockout of a nightmare sequence. When another murder is committed, Ward finds himself as much a victim of circumstantial evidence as the unfortunate Briggs. The reporter's girlfriend (Margaret Tallichet) tries to clear Ward....and that's when she first makes the acquaintance of Lorre, who is heard ordering a pound of raw meat! Stranger on the Third Floor was a "film noir" long prior to the genesis of that cinematic movement. Long ignored or trivialized by film historians, this 7-reel quickie has in recent years graduated to classic status. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi