William Norton Bailey Movies

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are policemen on night duty. As they sit in their car having a snack, they get a call from headquarters to inform them that their spare tire is being stolen. But that's only a taste of their sheer incompetence -- when they are told to investigate a burglary, they get distracted and forget the address. While trying to call headquarters to get the address again, the duo encounter a crook in a jewelry store (Frank Terry) and send him on his way after fitting a court appearance into his busy schedule. When they find the crook trying to steal their police car, Ollie scolds him for his misbehavior, and says he now must be in court tomorrow. With that they head over to the house in question and sure enough, a man (Frank Brownlee) is wandering around, trying to get in. He goes into the basement and they follow, but are faced with a locked door. Ollie decides the best bet is to go in the front door, using a marble bench as a battering ram. After several attempts, which land Ollie in the fish pond, they crash in -and crash through the staircase into the basement. The man who broke in -- and who, it turns out, is the owner -- goes to investigate and also falls through the hole to the basement. Stan and Ollie knock the man unconscious and drag him triumphantly into the station. The other policemen recognize him as the Chief of Police. The boys make a dash for the exit, and the Chief, now conscious, goes after them, brandishing his gun. Two gunshots later, he returns with a grim order: "Send for the coroner!" The other officers remove their caps. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Spencer Tracy plays a hard-driving newsman with a special instinct for solving sensational murders before the police can. This earns him the grudging respect of his peers, but his editor always puts him in his place. Tracy spends most of his time solving cases and almost never sleeps at home. This worries his lovely colleague Virginia Bruce who secretly loves him and wants him to settle down. Trouble comes after Tracy's estranged wife commits suicide and con-artists destroy the life of Tracy's dad. Vengefully, Tracy begins plotting the perfect murder of these larcenous crooks. This was Tracy's first film for MGM. He would remain with the studio for the next twenty years. Murder Man also marks the debut of Jimmy Stewart who appears as a cub reporter jokingly named "Shorty." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Fans of silent screen star King Baggott were not in the least bothered by the fact that his was a shade too old to play the callow leading character in The Suburban. Upon marrying against his father's wishes, wealthy young Don Gordon (Baggott) is immediately disinherited. Intending to prove that he can stand on his own two feet, Gordon heads to the South Seas in hopes of finding his fortune. Instead, he is shanghaied by a stern sea captain, then later shipwrecked on a desert island. Returning home after two years, Gordon almost immediately gets back into his father's good graces by proving that the Gordon Sr.'s most trusted business associate is really a two-timing scoundrel. With King Baggott in the lead, who needed a coherent storyline? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Elizabeth Winthrop (Constance Binney) refuses to listen to her conservative parents (Edmund Breese and Mary Carr) and parties all night and day, even throwing a bash on a Sunday while mom and pop are at church! Because of her refusal to be disciplined, Elizabeth leaves home and goes to New York where she becomes a dancer at the Cafe Grotesque with the help of the wealthy Hugh Von Strohm (William Bailey). Elizabeth's former fiancé Clayton Webster (Richard Thorpe), has become a successful engineer, and he comes to New York to make up with her. When he takes her for a drive in his car, she steps on the gas and runs over a child. The child recovers, but Webster takes the blame and goes to prison. This near-tragedy still doesn't shake Elizabeth and she continues her revelry until the fateful day that Von Strohm tries to compromise her. Realizing that her lifestyle will bring her only degradation and misery, she reunites with Webster. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Wiped out in the 1929 Wall Street crash, Fred Warner (Conrad Nagel) is no longer able to support his spendthrift wife Eve (Catherine Dale Owen) in the manner to which she is accustomed. At first resistant to readjusting her lifestyle, Eve finally relents, selling her jewels to help Fred get back on his feet. His return to wealth is slow and laborious, and along the way Eve tires of her husband and begins keeping company with other men. When Fred finds out, he confronts Eve in their boudoir, pulls out a gun and shoots her. But -- is this the end of the story? Its ridiculous denouement aside, Tiffany Pictures' Today does a reasonably good imitation of a deluxe MGM "special." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Johnny Mack Brown's Trails End was barely distinguishable from his other Monogram releases of 1949. In fact, more than one reviewer noted that even the background music was the same as in previous Brown vehicles. Once again, Johnny and his saddle pal Alibi (Max Terhune) ride into a frontier town where lawlessness reigns unchecked. Once again, Johnny rescues the leading lady (Kay Morley) from greedy villains. And once again, the aging, increasingly portly Brown relinquishes the romantic responsibilities to a younger, leaner man, in this instance Douglas Evans. Max Terhune's routines with his dummy Elmer and the spirited villainy of Myron Healey briefly lift Trails End from the norm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Waterfront was the latest entry in First National's popular Jack Mulhall-Dorothy Mackaill series, and the first to qualify as a "sound" picture, even though its audibility was confined to a musical score and sound effects. Mulhall plays Breezy O'Connor, a womanizing sailor with a sentimental streak. Mackaill is Sadie Seastrom, a tomboyish waterfront lassie with a yen to sail the Seven Seas (she even wears a navy uniform in hopes that someone will get the hint). Sadie's ex-sea captain father (Knute Erickson) despises sailors, but takes a liking to Breezy when our hero expresses the wish to settle down on a farm. Captain Seastrom and Breezy conspire to discourage Sadie from her maritime yearnings by framing a fake kidnapping and a phony mutiny, but the plan misfires, and Breezy is obliged to rescue the heroine from a few genuine perils. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Faith Domergue, the latest of Howard Hughes' protegees, made her film debut in 1950's Where Danger Lives. Domergue plays Margo Lannington the wife of Frederick Lannington (Claude Rains), an elderly millionaire possessed of a sadistic streak. Robert Mitchum co-stars as Jeff Cameron, a poor soul who falls in love with Margo without knowing that she's married. During a violent confrontation with the jealous Frederick, Cameron knocks the older man out and stumbles out of the room. Upon his return, he discovers that Frederick is dead. Margo had smothered her husband during Cameron's absence, but she insists that Cameron is the killer. The desperate lovers flee to Mexico, where Cameron at long last discovers that his travelling companion is more than a little unhinged. Masterfully directed by John Farrow, Where Danger Lives might have been one of the classic "film noirs," were it not for the acting deficiencies of Faith Domergue, who flounders in a role that Jane Greer could have played blindfolded. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although cowboy star Buck Jones plays a prizefighter in this drama, he's only getting in the ring to pay for a ranch -- which gives it just enough Western atmosphere to satisfy Jones' regular fans. Perry Blair (Jones) starts off as a sparring partner for a fighter, but when he knocks the guy down, manager Charles Dunham (Ben Deeley) immediately sees his potential. He takes Blair to New York, where he meets pretty Cecil Manners (Peggy Shaw). Blair finds out that his next fight is fixed and he pulls out. When Dunham spreads a rumor that he is yellow, Blair decides to return west. Because of a misunderstanding, Cecil refuses to accompany him. Dunham finds a new fighter, and Blair's friend Jack Hamilton (Edward Hearn) arranges a winner-take-all fight. Things look bleak for Blair in the ring until he lands a haymaker on his opponent. He then saves Cecil from Dunham's advances and collects his prize -- and the girl. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi