Rochelle Hudson Movies
An ingenue of the 1930s, Rochelle Hudson insisted to interviewers that her career was due to a "friend of a friend of a friend" of her mother's, who happened to have connections with Fox film studios. Signed to a Fox contract in 1930, Hudson studied with the studio's voice coach, who farmed the girl out for singing work on radio and in cartoons; Hudson was briefly the voice of Honey in Warner Bros.' "Bosko" cartoons. Her first on-camera appearance, on loanout to RKO, was in Fanny Foley Herself. Though often stuck in girl-next-door parts, Hudson was also effectively cast as tomboys and slatterns. She appeared in several Will Rogers pictures, mainly because Rogers liked sharing the spotlight with actors from his home state of Oklahoma. Her career dwindling into "B"-picture leads at Columbia and PRC, Hudson left Hollywood in 1942, spending the war years working in Naval Intelligence with her first husband, reserve officer (and former Disney story editor) Hal Thompson. She returned to films in 1955 to play the mother of Natalie Wood in Rebel Without A Cause. Though her subsequent movie appearances were infrequent, she kept busy on television, co-starring on the 1954 sitcom That's My Boy and showing up on many an anthology series. Retiring from show business for good in 1967, Rochelle Hudson spent her last years as a successful real estate agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1938
Perhaps the best of Jane Withers' 20th Century-Fox vehicles, Rascals is also the one that pops up most frequently on televisoin. Withers plays Gypsy, the youthful queen of a band of wandering vagabonds. Joining Gypsy and her fellow gypsies is amnesia victim Margaret Adams (Rochelle Hudson), who soon becomes the tribe's top fortune-teller. The gypsies finance an operation that will restore Margaret's memory, only to discover that she has been slated for a loveless marriage with a buffoonish baron (Jose Crespo). She is rescued from this fate by the resourceful Gypsy, who orchestrates a romance between Margaret and the misogynistic Tony (Robert Wilcox). Musical highlights are provided by the always-delightful Withers and by harmonica virtuosos Borrah Minevitch and His Gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Withers, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1938
This being a Republic picture, it should come as no surprise that Storm Over Bengal was filmed in its entirety in the San Fernando Valley. Within its concise 65 minutes, the film manages to accommodate a Bengal Lancers main plot, a romantic subplot, the obligatory coward who makes good, intrigue aplenty from a villainous Indian potentate, and an outsized climactic battle between the rebels and the British forces. Patric Knowles, previously one of the leads in the British-India epic Charge of the Light Brigade, heads the cast. Worth noting is the presence in the cast of Richard Cromwell as secondary romantic lead Neil Allison and Douglass Dumbrille as the despicable Khan. Three years earlier, Cromwell had been tortured by Dumbrille's minions in Lives of a Bengal Lancer, and he undergoes much the same treatment here-"just to make him feel at home" observed film historian Roger Dooley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patric Knowles, Richard Cromwell, (more)
- 1938
In this fourth of 20th Century-Fox's "Mr. Moto" series, a beautiful young aviatrix (Rochelle Hudson) on a secret diplomatic mission crash-lands in a remote Indochinese jungle province ruled by a despotic potentate (J. Edward Bromberg). Japanese adventurer Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is in the vicinity on an archeological expedition, while two hotshot American newsreel cameramen (Robert Kent, Chick Chandler) also stumble upon the scene. The aviatrix tries to get the potentate to help quell an insurrection led by a maniacal high priest (George Regas), but it turns out that the duplicitous ruler is in on the rebellion as a means of increasing his own wealth and power. Moto takes charge by posing as the high priest; he rescues the aviatrix and the newsreel men, vanquishes the villains and destroys a munitions site. And all this in 63 minutes! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Lorre, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1937
An earnest, honest newspaper sports editor single-handedly launches a campaign to clean up the shadowy, crooked world of professional prizefighting in this drama. He focuses most of his energy on one shady promoter and proves his point by easily punching out the lights of the promoter's "champ." The fallen fighter's daughter is terribly upset with the ethical editor until she finds herself falling in love with earnest fellow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Michael Whalen, (more)
- 1937
In this adventure, a young man allows criminals to talk him into cracking a safe. He is caught and sent to prison. After three years, he is released. The criminals again force him to do more crimes. He does, but as soon as the crooks no longer need him, they kill a policeman and frame the lad for the crime. This time, the boy and a waitress hit the road. A gentle peddler assists them until the young man can clear his name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Robert Kent, (more)
- 1937
A naive gas station attendant's life takes a turn for the better when he is adopted by an eccentric, boozy travelling millionaire who crosses the country in his own train. Accompanied by his beloved pet bunny, the former gas station jockey boards the train. Soon afterward, he is kidnapped by greedy gangsters and that is when the fun begins. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Haley, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1937
In this actioner, an auto racer becomes a cab driver for a company that is being strong-armed by avaricious gangsters trying to gain control of all of the city's taxi companies. Anyone opposing them is framed, but the brave racer isn't so easily intimidated and he decides to take on the crooks himself. He is assisted by the head gangster's moll. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Brian Donlevy, (more)
- 1936
Poppy is the film version of the Dorothy Donnelly musical comedy which made W.C. Fields a Broadway star back in 1923 (an earlier, less-faithful version, also starring Fields and retitled Sally of the Sawdust, was directed by D. W. Griffith in 1926). The Great Man is cast as Professor Eustace McGargle, a small-time carnival confidence trickster. Accompanied by his adopted daughter Poppy (Rochelle Hudson), McGargle joins a travelling sideshow, fleecing as many of the local yokels as time will permit. During one stopover, Poppy falls in love with Billy Farnsworth (Richard Cromwell), the son of the town's mayor (Granville Bates), while McGargle pitches woo at the faded but alluring Countess de Puizzi (Catherine Doucet). When he finds out that the "Countess" is a phony claimant to the valuable Putnam estate, McGargle conspires with local lawyer Whiffen (Lynne Overman) to pass off Poppy as the genuine, long-lost heir. As it turns out, Poppy really is the heir, a felicitous turn of events which enables McGargle to avoid being tarred and feathered by the angry townsfolk. Finishing Poppy on schedule was quite a trial for W.C. Fields, who, in addition to breaking a vertebra while filming a chase sequence, further damaged his spine in a household accident. As a result, he could barely stand up during shooting, and many of his scenes had to be completed by a stunt double. One would never know that Fields was in excruciating pain throughout the film, however: Comedy-wise, he's at the top of his form, especially when he sells a "talking dog" to a gullible rube and finagles a free lunch from an equally dense hot-dog vendor. Poppy is also the film in which Fields imparts a sage bit of advice to his screen daughter: "Never give a sucker an even break." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- W.C. Fields, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1936
Harry Richman was a major stage and radio star of the 1930s, but his overbearing personality never clicked in films. After bombing out in 1930's Puttin' on the Ritz, he tried again six years later in The Music Goes 'Round, with marginally better results. Richman plays Harry Wallace, headliner of a Broadway revue which is just about to open. Tired of the rehearsal grind, he runs off to the South, where he happens upon a third-rate showboat troupe. Susanna Courtney (Rochelle Hudson), daughter of showboat manager Hector Courtney (Walter Connolly), mistakes Harry for an unemployed actor and hires him as a dollar-a-day bit player. Amused by the troupe's ineptitude in presenting a "serious" Civil War drama, Harry arranges for Susanna and her fellow thespians to appear in his Broadway revue as a comedy act. But when Susanna finds out she and her father are being made to look like fools in front of the sophisticated New York audience, she upbraids the roaring crowd, punches Harry in the mouth, and storms offstage. All works out okay in the end when Harry contritely begs Susanna's forgiveness. A remake of the 1928 Frank Capra film The Matinee Idol, The Music Goes 'Round is memorable today only for its catchy title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Richman, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1936
Everybody's Old Man looks like a stray Will Rogers project, temporarily shelved when Rogers was killed in a 1935 plane crash. Rogers' old pal Irvin S. Cobb assumes the title role; he plays a business executive who takes a year off to reflect on things when a close friend dies suddenly. Insinuating himself into his late friend's household, Cobb manages to straighten out the dead man's irresponsible offspring. He does the job so well that he's invited to stay on indefinitely. Everybody's Old Man bears a marked resemblance to the 1933 George Arliss vehicle The Working Man -- as well it should, since the 1936 film is a remake of the earlier picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irvin S. Cobb, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1936
This second of 20th Century-Fox's Dionne Quintuplets vehicles brings back Jean Hersholt as kindly Canadian obstetrician Dr. Dafoe. The good doctor faces none of the professional crises that plagued him in the first Dionne picture The Country Doctor. Instead, a testimonial dinner is arranged for him, where some of the thousands of people Dafoe helped bring into the world have been invited to honor the humble physician. But Dafoe gives as well as takes; sensing that some of those assembled to honor him have acute personal problems, the doctor sets about to solve them. Reunion would be rendered obsolete when the media did a turnaround in the late 1930s and began vilifying the real Dr. Dafoe for his alleged exploitation of the Dionne quints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Hersholt, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1936
The Country Beyond is based on one of the scores of Canadian-Northwest yarns written by James Oliver Curwood. Robert Kent plays Corporal Robert King, a Mountie who has sworn to "get his man" -- the man in question being suspected fur thief Jim Alison (Alan Hale). Kings's resolve is weakened when he falls in love with Alison's pretty daughter Jean (Rochelle Hudson). For her sake, he vows to prove that Alison is innocent of the charges levelled against him. Sure enough, the real culprit is Ray Jennings (Alan Dinehart), who spends the last ten minutes or so of the film trying to bump off everyone in general and Kent in particular. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Paul Kelly, (more)
- 1935
I've Been Around hinges on an unlikely case of mistaken identity. Society girl Drue Waring (Rochelle Hudson) mistakes roughneck engineer Eric Foster (Chester Morris) for the foppish Franklin DeHaven (G. P. Huntley Jr.) The two get married, but Eric walks out on Drue when he finds out that she's carrying a torch for DeHaven. Going on a two-year drunk, Foster is unexpectedly reunited with Drue at a society party. She wants to get back together, but he refuses, whereupon she dashes to the bathroom and tries to kill herself. This somehow brings about a happy ending, though by this time the audience has probably given up on both of these self-centered clods! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1935
Richard Boleslawski directed this lavish adaptation of Victor Hugo's oft-filmed epic novel. Fredric March stars as Jean Valjean, who is hauled into prison for stealing a loaf of bread. After ten years at hard labor, he escapes from the merciless prison but the years have taken their toll and Valjean is now a hard and embittered man. Valjean regains his compassion after the kindly Bishop Bienveenu (Cedric Harwicke) refuses to prosecute him for the theft of his candlesticks. Under an assumed name, Valjean becomes a widely liked and respected mayor. He devotes his life to helping others and adopts a young girl as his own. But the town's chief of police, Javert (Charles Laughton) is suspicious about the mayor and one day, after Valjean lifts a wagon off of a man, Javert remembers Valjean from his days on the prison galley. Javert sets out to uncover the mayor's true identity, but Valjean beats him to it -- when a man who claims to be Valjean is put on trial, Valjean appears at the court and reveals his secret. But before he is arrested, he escapes with his adopted daughter Eponine (Frances Drake) to Paris. In Paris, he assumes yet another identity. Eponine falls in love with student radical Marius (John Beal) and Javert, assigned to Paris to keep an eye on the revolutionaries, latches onto Valjean's trail once again. As Paris simmers in revolution, Valjean and Javert reveal themselves to each other for a final confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Charles Laughton, (more)
- 1935
Taking refuge from a rainstorm in a deserted farmhouse, young married couple Joe and Loretta Martin (Edward Norris and Rochelle Hudson) soon discover to their horror that the house is being used as a hideout for a gang of kidnappers. Gang leader Tobey (Cesar Romero), a comparatively reasonable sort, elects not to kill the couple because they have an ailing baby with them. But Tobey's psychotic henchman Pitch (Bruce Cabot) is not quite so sentimental, and awaits the opportunity to knock off all three "intruders." When the G-Men, tipped off by the serial numbers on some ransom money, manage to track down the crooks, Tobey is killed, leaving Loretta and her baby at the mercy of Pitch -- at least until she picks up a machine gun and mows him down! As brutal as it was possible to get under the newly strengthened Production Code, Show Them No Mercy (inspired by the real-life Weyerhauser kidnapping case) is an excellent entry in the "FBI cycle" of the mid-1930s. The film was remade in a western setting as Rawhide (1951). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Cesar Romero, (more)
This adaptation of the oft-filmed Jean Webster novel Daddy Long Legs has been tailored to the talents of Shirley Temple. The orphaned daughter of vaudeville entertainers, Elizabeth Blair (Temple) is the most precocious charge at super-strict Lakeside Orphanage, regularly disrupting protocol with her extemporaneous performance of such songs as "Animal Crackers in My Soup" at the dinner table. While paying a visit to the orphanage, wealthy trustee Edward Morgan (John Boles) is enchanted by cute little Elizabeth -- and even more so by the girls more mature sister Mary (Rochelle Hudson). He secretly arranges for the sisters' release from the institution, sets them up in a lavish mansion, and finances their education. When Mary almost falls in love with another man, it is miss-fixit Elizabeth who brings Mary and Edward together, capping this bit of cupidity with her trademarked exclamation "Oh, my goo'ness!" The first Shirley Temple vehicle specifically aimed at children, Curly Top contains some wonderful character bits from its adult cast, notably Etienne Girardot, Rafaela Ottiano and Jane Darwell as the orphanage officials and by Arthur Treacher and Billy Gilbert as the hero's household servants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, John Boles, (more)
- 1935
This tragic melodrama is a remake of Griffith's 1920 film, Way Down East. The story centers upon a starving, impoverished gamin who lost everything after a wicked millionaire tricked her into a marriage and impregnated her. The baby doesn't survive the ordeal and the poor girl ends up sheltered by a puritanical farm family. While there, she falls in love with the son. Unfortunately, as soon as they learn of her checkered past, the woman is tossed out. The distraught young woman is trying to cross a frozen river when a sudden thaw strikes, stranding her upon the treacherous floes. As they drift inexorably towards a deadly waterfall, her lover tries to save her. Unfortunately he cannot, and as the film ends, she is seen tumbling over the falls to certain doom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rochelle Hudson, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1935
A best-selling nonfictional book of the 1920s provided the title for this Will Rogers vehicle. Rogers plays a small town newspaper editor who prints all the news that fits his own homespun view of the world. Against the wishes of the town higher-ups, Rogers tries to clear the name of Richard Cromwell, a young man accused of a long-ago bank robbery. Along the way, the genial editor smooths the path of romance between Cromwell and sweet Rochelle Hudson. Life Begins at 40 contains some great bits of dialogue, notably Rogers' comment after unloading a box of canned goods that the American emblem should be changed from an eagle to a can opener. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1934
After several years' faithful service in RKO Radio's short-subject department, director George Stevens was rewarded with his first feature-length assignment, the innocuous comedy Bachelor Bait. Stu Erwin plays Wilbur Fess, the busy owner of a matrimonial agency called Romance, Inc. So dedicated is Fess to his job that he fails to notice how much his girlfriend Linda (Rochelle Hudson) loves him. As consequence, he very nearly marries Linda off to someone else, but at the last moment he is saved from this boo-boo by good-time girl Alice (Pert Kelton). The title Bachelor Bait was later used by RKO for the British release of the 1949 Shirley Temple vehicle Adventure in Baltimore. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Erwin, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1934
The first of two film version of Fannie Hurst's novel, 1934's Imitation of Life chronicles the friendship between two women--one white (Claudette Colbert), one black (Louise Beavers). Colbert is a widow with a baby daughter who hires Beavers, who also has a daughter, as a housekeeper. Colbert is a working girl who yearns to operate her own business, which she does thanks to Beavers' special pancake recipe. A family friend (Ned Sparks) suggests that the ladies form a corporation to merchandise the "Aunt Delilah" pancake mix, and within ten years both women are quite wealthy. Colbert's relationship with her teenaged daughter (Rochelle Hudson) is strained when both ladies vie for the attentions of the same man, but these problems are minor compared to the travails of Beavers, who not only must deal with the De Facto segregation of the 1930s but must also contend with her restless daughter (Fredi Washington), who resents being an African-American and attempts to pass for white. The heartbroken Beavers dies, and at her funeral her now-chastened daughter weeps out her apologies for turning her back on her mother. Imitation of Life was remade in 1959, its story glamorized and updated to accommodate star Lana Turner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Warren William, (more)
- 1934
Wallace Beery plays P.T. Barnum in this comic biography of the renowned showman. As the story opens, Phineas Taylor Barnum is operating a dry goods store in New York City with his friend Bailey Walsh (Adolphe Menjou), and he is looking for a way to boost business. He strikes upon the idea of adding a sideshow of human oddities and curious individuals, much to the annoyance of his wife Nancy (Janet Beecher). But the sideshow brings in a large audience, and soon it begins to overtake the retail store; however, Barnum's venture comes to a halt when it is revealed that Zorro The Bearded Lady (May Boley) has fake facial hair,and that Joyce Heth (Lucille LaVerne) wasn't really George Washington's nursemaid, as she claims. Despite this setback, Barnum has developed a taste for show business, and he brings noted English singer Jenny Lind (Virginia Bruce) to the U.S. for a concert tour, where she becomes the toast of New York. Barnum soon becomes infatuated with Lind, and while his attempts to woo her are often fumblingly inept, they're effective enough to alienate Nancy, who leaves him and New York City for good. Between his attempts to romance Lind and his shameless ballyhoo for performing midget General Tom Thumb (George Brasno), Barnum finds himself on Walsh's bad side, who has taken to drinking to ease his anger. After his budding romance with Lind fails, Barnum suffers an even greater indignity when his museum, featuring his sideshow freaks and other wonders and oddities, is burned to the ground by angry rivals. However, Barnum's performers show their loyalty by offering their savings to Barnum to help him rebuild, and Nancy returns to Barnum's side in his moment of need. Walsh also appears, ready to bury the hatchet and show off his latest acquisition -- an elephant named Jumbo who could be used in a traveling act, or perhaps even a circus.... The Mighty Barnum was based on the play by Gene Fowler and Bess Meredyth, who also wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
- 1934
Will Rogers stars as Judge William "Billy" Priest, the common-sense Kentucky jurist created by humorist Irvin S. Cobb. The Judge's easygoing manner bothers many of the self-righteous good citizens of his small 19th-century hometown, imperiling his chances for re-election. The anecdotal plot boils down to a single storyline involving orphaned Anita Louise, reclusive David Landau (secretly Louise's father), and young attorney Tom Brown.The testimony that saves Landau from a murder charge is delivered by Civil War veteran H.B. Walthall, whose stirring loyalty to the Confederacy inspires everyone in town to organize an impromptu parade! Some of the best scenes are highlighted by Will Rogers' affectionate rapport with stereotyped black-actors Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel, though these scenes are frequently removed from TV showings of Judge Priest due to their undeniably racist overtones. If you haven't guessed by the first frame of the film that John Ford was the director, you'll recognize Ford's personal stamp the moment Will Rogers kneels by his wife's grave and carries on a warm conversation with his long-departed bride. Ford would remake (and improve upon) Judge Priest in 1953 as The Sun Shines Bright, with Charles Winninger as the judge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Tom Brown, (more)
- 1934
A lover selflessly dumps her boy friend so that he will obey the wishes of his wealthy benefactor and marry someone more suitable. If he fails to marry an approved woman, his wealthy guardian will no longer pair for his support. Meanwhile, the heartbroken lover ends up marrying a creepy gambler. One day the gambler is shot and killed leaving the girl accused of the crime. Will her true love be able to save her from the death penalty? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marian Marsh, Betty Compson, (more)
- 1934
First adapted for the screen in 1928, Carl Ed's popular comic strip Harold Teen was cinematized a second time in 1934. This time it's musical-comedy star Hal LeRoy as the titular high-schooler, with Rochelle Hudson as his sweetheart Lillums Lovell and Hobart Cavanaugh as sweet-shop owner Pop Jenks. Recently graduated from school, Harold lands a newspaper job as a cub reporter, and in this capacity befriends town banker Rathburn (Hugh Herbert). This bodes ill for Harold's relationship with Lillums, who may be forced to marry Rathburn to save her home from foreclosure. But Rathburn is no villain, and it is he who paves the way for a happy ending. Since Hal LeRoy's strong suit was eccentric dancing, it goes without saying that Harold Teen includes a few arbitrarily inserted musical numbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Le Roy, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1934
Playboy novelist Michael Shawn's (Warren William) chickens come home to roost in Such Women are Dangerous. Accused of murder, Shawn desperately searches for character witnesses to help him out in court. Alas, all of his former lovers are in a vindictive mood, and all hope to see Shawn fry for what he's done to them. By the time he's been raked over the coals by ambitious DA Stanley (Irving Pichel), Shawn himself believes that he's guilty! The film is ostensibly an object lesson in how a guiltless man can be condemned by a combination of circumstantial evidence and lack of character, but it's doubtful that this theory would hold water in the light of some of the more spectacular real-life murder cases of the 1990s. Such Women are Dangerous is adapted from Odd Thursday, a novel by Vera Caspary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Rosemary Ames, (more)
