David Holt Movies

A partial remake of the 1924 Our Gang: Cradle Robbers, "Forgotten Babies" finds the Gang members trying to escape their babysitting chores. They manage to coerce little Spanky McFarland to mind their baby brothers and sisters while the rest of the Gang goes swimming. Unfortunately, the infants would prefer to run (or crawl) amok, forcing Spanky to take desperate measures. Best bits: Spanky's impromptu bedtime story about Tarzan and Jane, and the little brat who keeps on saying "Remark-a-ble". "Forgotten Babies" was originally released on March 11, 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this WW I melodrama, a British officer is forced to return to the front soon after he is married. On the battle lines, he volunteers for a dangerous mission and ends up shell-shocked with no memory of his wife. Time passes and he finally recovers. He returns to his home and learns that he has an adult son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Critics in 1935 recognized immediately that Age of Indiscretion drew its inspiration from the well-publicized Gloria Vanderbilt custody battle. Paul Lukas plays publisher Robert Lenhart, a man of conservative tastes who is unfortunately saddled with a footloose socialite wife named Eve (Helen Vinson). When Lenhart begs his wife to curb her excesses, she retaliates by entering into an illicit affair with Felix Shaw (Ralph Forbes), deserting her young son Bill (David Jack Holt). Providing moral support for Lenhart and his son during this crisis is faithful secretary Maxine Bennett (Madge Evans). Upon paying a visit to Lenhart's home, Felix Shaw's wealthy and powerful mother Emma (May Robson) finds Maxine in the living room. Assuming the worst, Emma forces Eve to sue for custody of her child, then distorts the evidence in court to paint Lenhart as a philandering monster. The outcome of the case hinges on the child's testimony, and it is this which forces Emma to realize how wrong she's been. Too bad that the litigants in the Vanderbilt case weren't as polite and reasonable as the characters in Age of Indiscretion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title refers to those special government agents who go undercover to flush out criminal gangs. In his second starring role, Fred MacMurray plays a government man who travels incognito as he trails a team of crooks from Brooklyn to Kansas. Lynne Overman is MacMurray's easygoing partner, who (naturally) is rubbed out by the hoods. MacMurray inveigles his way into the gang and brings them to justice--the ones who survive, that is. Released at the very beginning of Hollywood's G-Man cycle, Men without Names was instrumental in securing more prestigious acting assignments for Fred MacMurray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though its title and cast suggests a lighthearted romantic comedy, Trouble for Two is actually a fairly faithful adaptation of three of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Suicide Club" stories. Robert Montgomery stars as incognito Prince Florizel, who is lured to a gathering of strange characters devoted to suicide and murder. One of the conclave members is the enigmatic Miss Vandelur (Rosalind Russell) -- who, unbeknownst to Florizel, is actually the princess he is slated to marry. It soon develops that the Suicide Club is being used as a blind by a gang of international terrorists, bent on toppling Florizel from his throne. Louis Hayward has a fascinating bit as "The Man with the Cream Tarts," whose burning desire to end his own life leads Florizel into the clutches of the villains. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Curt Hayden (Ralph Bellamy), a witness from the mob, is hidden away in a remote mountain cabin for his own safety. Accompanying Hayden is his young son Johnny (David Holt), who resents his father for planning to remarry. But Johnny loyally rushes to his dad's defense when a pair of gunmen invade the cabin during Hayden's absence. As the assassins await Hayden's return, Johnny concocts a deucedly clever scheme to disarm them. This tension-laden climax is the best part of the picture, which otherwise is a traditional crime melodrama with romantic undertones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second of three movie versions of P.C. Wren's adventure novel Beau Geste is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1927 silent version. We open on the now-famous scenes of a remote, burning desert fort, manned by the dead Foreign Legionnaires, then flash back to the early lives of the Geste brothers. As children, the Gestes swear eternal loyalty to one another and to their family. One of the boys, young Beau (played as a youth by Donald O'Connor), witnesses his beloved aunt (Heather Thatcher) apparently stealing a valuable family jewel in order to finance the Geste home; Beau chooses to remain silent rather than disgrace his aunt. Years later, the grown Beau (Gary Cooper) again protects his aunt by confessing to the theft and running off to join the Foreign Legion. He is joined in uniform by faithful brothers John (Ray Milland) and Digby (Robert Preston), who in turn are pursued by a slimy thief (J. Carroll Naish). The crook is in cahoots with sadistic Legion Sgt. Markov (Brian Donlevy, in one of the most hateful portrayals ever captured on celluloid), who is later put in charge of Fort Zinderneuf, where Beau and John are stationed. When the Arabs attack, Markov proves himself a valiant soldier; it is he who hits upon the idea of convincing the Arabs that the fort is still fully manned by propping up the corpses of the casualties at the guard posts. Beau is seriously wounded, and while the greedy Markov searches for the jewel supposedly hidden on Beau's person, he is held at bay by loyal John. The suddenly enervated Beau kills Markov, then dies himself--but not before entrusting two notes to John, one of which requests that John give Beau the "Viking funeral" he'd always wanted (this is why the fort is in flames at the beginning of the film). After the battle, Digby Geste, a bugler with the relief troops, comes upon Beau's dead body, and appropriates the notes. As it turns out, John Geste is the only one who survives to return to England. He gives his aunt Beau's letter, which explains why Beau had confessed and run off--"a 'beau geste', indeed" comments his tearful aunt. No one missed nominal leading lady Susan Hayward in this essentially all-male entertainment. For years available only in muddily processed or truncated versions, Beau Geste was restored to its pristine glory by the American Film Institute in the late 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Military Academy would seem to have been an attempt by Columbia Pictures to match the success of the "Dead End Kids" pictures; indeed, one of the stars is former Dead Ender (and future East Side Kid) Bobby Jordan. The story zeroes in on Tommy Lewis (Tommy Kelly, previously the star of Selznick's Adventures of Tom Sawyer), a gangster's son who bids fair to follow in his father's soiled footsteps. Tommy is saved from this fate when he is bundled off to a military school, where after undergoing the traditional hazing process distinguishes himself as an athlete and scholar. Exposed as the offspring of a notorious criminal, Tommy faces ostracization, but he not only redeems himself but also rehabilitates classmate Dick Hill (Jordan), the insufferably arrogant son of the school's commanding officer. Much of Military Academy was filmed at California's Black Fox Academy, with headmaster Earl Foxe, himself a veteran screen actor, playing an important supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"It's box office poison," producer Samuel Goldwyn is said to have exclaimed when he heard the idea of filming the life story of fabled first baseman Lou Gehrig. "If people want baseball, they go to the ballpark!" The story begins before World War I, when young Lou Gehrig (played as a boy by Douglas Croft) begins dreaming of becoming a professional ballplayer. Lou's immigrant parents (Elsa Jansen and Ludwig Stossel) insist that the boy attend Columbia University to become an engineer. While in college, Lou (played as a man by Gary Cooper) becomes a star athlete, and, with the help of sports journalist Sam Blake (Walter Brennan), he is signed by the New York Yankees and joins their big-league lineup in 1925; real-life Yanks Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig play themselves. He also meets and falls in love with Eleanor Twitchell (Teresa Wright) (an event that actually happened in 1933) and earns the nickname "The Iron Man of Baseball" because he never misses a game. In 1939, Lou discovers that he has a fatal neurological disease called amytrophic lateral sclerosis (now known, of course, as "Lou Gehrig's Disease"). On July 4, 1939, an emotional Lou Gehrig, a scant two years away from death, bids farewell to 62,000 of his fans and friends at Yankee Stadium. Allowing that he might have been given a bad break, he concludes his speech with "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Deftly weaving basic facts with yards and yards of fancy, screenwriters Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz serve up one of the most entertaining and inspiring baseball biopics. A more accurate but less dramatic adaptation of the same story, A Love Affair: The Eleanor & Lou Gehrig Story, was produced for television in 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this WW II musical, a young man suddenly finds himself in charge of his family when his father is called to war. To help the flagging spirits of local factory workers, the plucky lad, his siblings and his schoolmates put on a lively little show. With a little work, he even convinces Count Basie to come with his band. Songs include: "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" (Ted Koehler, Harry Barris, Billy Moll), "Basie Boogie" (Count Basie), "Dream Lover" (Clifford Grey, Victor Schertzinger), "Dark Eyes," "Jurame," "The Road Song," and "Romany Life" (adapted by Inez James, Buddy Pepper). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Reckless Age is a by-the-numbers Universal musical, elevated by the presence of perky songstress Gloria Jean. The star plays Linda Wadsworth, the granddaughter of fabulously wealthy department-store magnate J. H. Wadsworth (Henry Stephenson). Rebelling against Wadsworth's close-minded tyranny, Linda assumes an alias and takes a job at one of his stores. She also moves into a boarding house for Wadsworth employees, overseen by stern-but-kindly Mrs. Connors (Jane Darwell). Oddly, there is no romantic subplot to speak of; like Deanna Durbin before her, Gloria Jean plays a sexless "Little Miss Fixit" who saves the day when all looks bleak. The film is noteworthy only as the screen debut of that matchless comic actor Jack Gilford, then starring in the Broadway revue Meet the People, whose budding film and TV career was egregiously cut short by the Hollywood Blacklist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Brothers Henry and Wayne Cooper (Grant Withers and William Haade) have a mission to help their younger, shyer sister, Geraldine Jane Withers, who has just received a large inheritance from their mother. It was their dying mother's request that the brother's find a suitable suitor for their younger sister. Geraldine, however, rejects all the men they bring courting, including her current beau Willy Briggs Jimmy Lydon. They must chase her as she flies to London, trying to keep her out of harm's way as she lives up her new-found freedom to the hilt. ~ All Movie Guide

This musical is a remake of a 1933 film. Like the first, it is set on campus and chronicles the romantic travails of the school rowing champion who has recently come back from a military stint abroad. A young coed is mighty pleased to see him, but he keeps avoiding her. A subplot concerns a group of crooks who are trying to fix a boat race. Songs include: "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" (F. Dudleigh Vernon, Byron D. Stokes), "Penthouse Serenade" (Will Jason, Val Burton, sung by Phil Regan), "It's Not I'm Such a Wolf, It's Just You're Such a Lamb" (Merle Maddern, Lanier Darwin, sung by Phil Brito), "And Then It's Heaven" (Edward Seiler, Sol Marcus, Al Kaufman, sung by Brito), "Cement Mixer" (Slim Gaillard, Lee Ricks, sung by Gaillard), "Yeproc-Heresi" (Gaillard, sung by Gaillard), "Bach Meets Carle" (a Bach pastiche by Frankie Carle), and "Five Minutes More" (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, sung by Brito). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide