George Irving Movies

Italian immigrant George Raft uses his wits and his fists to rise to prominence in a local political machine. He falls in love with Rosalind Russell, the wife of a prominent banker, but discreetly hides his feelings even as he and Russell are thrust together by social circumstances. The banker turns out to be an embezzler, but Raft comes to the rescue by replacing the stolen funds. Accused of conspiring with the banker because he'd failed to make the original embezzlement public, Raft is grilled by a grand jury. Once cleared, Raft is finally able to wed the divorced banker's wife, who it turns out had always had a crush on him. It Had to Happen is most entertaining in its early scenes wherein we see George Raft strongarming his way to success. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First-time director Lew Ayres performs miracles on a tiny budget in the Civil War drama Hearts in Bondage. The story offers a romanticized version of the events leading up to the battle between the "ironclads" Monitor and Merrimac. Northern naval officer Kenneth (James Dunn), the nephew of Monitor designer John Ericsson (Fritz Leiber) is dishonorably discharged when he sinks the Merrimac instead of burning it, as ordered. He is restored to duty as a crew member on the Monitor, and in the ensuing sea battle with the recommissioned Merrimac he kills Confederate officer Raymond (David Manners), the brother of Kenneth's fiancee Constance (Mae Clarke). The estranged sweethearts are ultimately reunited with the help of Abe Lincoln himself! Both James Dunn and Mae Clarke are miscast in their roles, but they do their best under the circumstances to make their material "work" -- and often succeed. The real stars of Hearts in Bondage are Republic's special-effects mavens Howard and Theodore Lydecker, whose splendid utilization of scale models in the climactic Monitor-Merrimac confrontation is both exciting and convincing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Wayne steered clear of westerns for the most part during his year-long contract with Universal Pictures. In The Sea Spoilers, Wayne is cast as Bob Randall, temporary skipper of a Coast Guard cutter. Randall knows that a gang of seal poachers are operating within his jurisdiction but can do little about it, since head crook Morgan (Russell Hicks) has kidnapped Bob's sweetheart Connie Dawson (Nan Grey). Relying more on brains than brawn in dealing with Morgan's minions, Bob is finally able to secretly summon reinforcements via two-way radio. He also finds time to straighten out Lt. Mays (William Bakewell), the outwardly cowardly son of a Coast Guard commander. Sea Spoilers set up its basic premise in the first reel, devoting the remainder of the running time to a tense game of seaborne cat-and-mouse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Kathleen Norris novel was the source for this romantic drama, which begins when widowed navy doctor Quentin Harden (Ralph Bellamy) falls in love with nurse Vicki Blake (Claire Trevor). Despite her awareness that most naval marriages end in divorce, Vicki says "yes" when Harden proposes. Soon she begins to suspect that he still carries a torch for his late wife, but she remains with Harden for the sake of his crippled daughter (Anne Howard). Vicki's loyalty is rewarded when Harden proves once and for all that he is in love with her, and only her. Warren Hymer provides comic relief as a goofy gob who deliberately gets injured so he can enjoy the attentions of a bevy of beautiful nurses. Navy Wife was largely filmed on location at the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although some purists hold out for Duck Soup (1933), many Marx Brothers fans consider A Night at the Opera the team's best film. Immediately after the credits roll, we are introduced to Groucho Marx as penny-ante promoter Otis B. Driftwood. After a sumptuous dinner with a beautiful blonde at a fancy Milan restaurant, Driftwood tries to cadge another free meal from his wealthy patroness, Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont). The dignified dowager complains that Driftwood had promised to get her into high society, but has done nothing so far. Otis B. counters by introducing Mrs. C to pompous opera entrepreneur Gottleib (Sig Rumann); all Mrs. Claypool has to do is invest several hundred thousand dollars in Gottleib's opera company, and her entree into society is in the bag. Contingent upon this plan is Driftwood's signing of Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), a self-important tenor. Backstage at the opera, Driftwood meets Fiorello (Chico Marx), who poses as a manager and offers to sell Driftwood the "world's greatest tenor"-not Lassparri, as Driftwood assumes, but Fiorello's pal Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones). Instantly the two sharpsters try to draw up a contract ("The party of the first part shall hereafter be known as the party of the first part..."), which they proceed to tear up piece by piece whenever coming across a clause that displeases them (Driftwood: "That's a sanity clause"; Fiorello: "You no foola me. There ain't no Sanity Claus"). Having lost Lassparri to Gottleib, Driftwood sails back to America with Mrs. Claypool and the opera company. Gottleib arranges for Driftwood to get the tiniest, least accessible stateroom on the ship. Unpacking his trunk, Driftwood discovers that he's got to share his postage-stamp quarters with Ricardo Baroni, who has stowed away because he's in love with the opera troupe's leading lady Rosa (Kitty Carlisle). Also hiding out in Driftwood's trunk is Fiorello, who's come along because he's still Ricardo's manager, and the wacky Tomasso (Harpo Marx), Lassparri's former dresser, who has come along for the hell of it. Anxious to arrange a tete-a-tete with Mrs. Claypool in his stateroom, Otis finds out that his unwelcome guests won't leave until they're fed ("Do you have any stewed prunes? Well, give them some black coffee, that'll sober 'em up"). After ordering a huge dinner, Otis and his new friends are crowded even farther by a steady stream of intruders, including an engineer and his assistant, a cleaning lady, a manicurist, a girl looking for her Aunt Minnie, and a dozen waiters. The celebrated "stateroom scene" comes to a rollicking conclusion when Mrs. Claypool has the misfortune of opening the door. On the last night of the voyage, Fiorello, Tomasso and Ricardo sneak out of their stateroom to enjoy an impromptu ethnic festival in steerage. Ricardo sings, Fiorello "shoots the keys" on the piano, and Tomasso plays the film's theme song Alone on the harp. The stowaways are caught and thrown in the brig, but with Driftwood's help they escape. To avoid recapture, the stowaways don heavy beards and pose as three famed Russian aviators. After making a shambles of a public reception, the three reprobates hide out in Driftwood's New York apartment, where everyone conspires to drive an investigating detective (Robert Emmet O'Connor) crazy. Driftwood is fired from the opera company for associating with the stowaways, while Rosa is dismissed for refusing Lassparri's affections. In order to restore Rosa's job and put the deserving Ricardo in Lassparri's place during the opening performance of La Traviata, Driftwood, Fiorello and Tomasso concoct a scheme that will reduce the opera to comic chaos. The actual night at the opera in A Night at the Opera must be seen to be believed, but the spirit of the scene can be summed up by Gottleib's anguished cry "A battleship in Il Trovatore!" Opera was the Marx Brothers' first film for MGM, and they dearly coveted a hit after the disappointing box-office showing of their final Paramount films. With the blessing of MGM production chief Irving Thalberg, the Marxes went on the road with their brilliant writing staff (including George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and Al Boasberg) to test their comedy material before live audiences. As a result of this careful preplanning, Night at the Opera was a smash-hit gigglefest, grossing over $3 million and putting the Marxes back on top in the hearts and minds of filmgoers everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two of Hollywood's duller actors, Conrad Nagel and Florence Rice, star in this overly complicated melodrama from Columbia Pictures. The latter plays Evelyn Vail, a nurse convicted of poisoning a patient. Out on parole, Evelyn decides to fly to Sing-Sing and confront death row inmate Carl Peters, the man who accused her of the deed in the first place. On board the airliner, Evelyn makes the acquaintance of John Robinson Gordon (Nagel), who is transporting a revolutionary munitions formula to Washington, D.C. Another passenger, Baker (Robert Allen), complains of having been poisoned and leaves the plane during a stopover in Dallas. Back in the air, Gordon's bodyguard, Lieutenant O'Brien (Fred Kelsey), suffers the same fate, but this time the poison proves fatal. The plane returns to Dallas, where Police Captain Barrie (William B. Davidson) accused poor Evelyn of the crime. Happily, Gordon can prove otherwise and the real culprit is unmasked. Back in Sing-Sing, Peters has made a last-minute confession and Evelyn is cleared of all charges. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Carnival barker Spencer Tracy befriends elderly concessionaire Henry B. Walthall, who owns a picturesque but stodgy display depicting Dante's Inferno. Walthall is more interested in the spiritual aspects of Man's fascination with Hell, but Tracy uses hoopla and exaggeration to get the suckers into the Inferno. His interest isn't altruistic; Tracy is enamored of Walthall's niece, Claire Trevor. Through his publicity savvy, Tracy builds the Inferno into a major attraction, complete with full orchestra and scantily clad "devil girls". He also buys up the rest of the carnival, using cold-blooded tactics that result in the suicide of a fellow concessionaire. Within five years, Tracy is a millionaire tycoon of the Entertainment industry. While loved by his wife (Trevor) and son (Scotty Beckett), Tracy conducts his business ruthlessly, bribing a city official to look the other way regarding structural defects in his Inferno display. When this duplicity results in a disastrous accident at the exhibit, the bribed official kills himself. Tracy is exonerated thanks to legal chicanery, but his wife is fed up; she walks out on him, taking their son along. Injured in the accident, Inferno creator H. B. Walthall warns Tracy of the pitfalls of success, using an illustrated edition of Dante to make his point. For nearly ten minutes, the movie audience is treated to a lavish depiction of Hell, magnificently photographed by Rudolph Mate. When the plot resumes, Tracy is on hand for his latest venture, a sumptuous gambling ship. Thanks to the drunken negligence of the crew, the ship catches fire, and it is only upon learning that his son has sneaked aboard that Tracy realizes the consequences of his greed. Tracy labors heroically to rescue the passengers--and, incidentally, to atone for his past sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As much a horror film as a murder mystery, Charlie Chan in Egypt is one of the best entries in the "Chan" series. The story is motivated by a King Tut-like curse, which has apparently befallen the members of an archeological expedition. Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is brought into the case when a French museum wants to find out how several valuable Egyptian artifacts, originally slated for museum exhibition, have ended up for sale to the highest bidder. Arriving in Egypt, Chan must first figure out the modus operandi for two murders in which neither a weapon nor a wound was found. The solution to the killings involves a certain musical pitch played on a violin (a familiar mystery-movie device of the period). Though the screenwriters do a good job concealing the identity of the villain, Fox Studio's typecasting policy tends to give away that identity somewhat ahead of schedule. Prominent among the supporting players is black comedian Stepin Fetchit, whose stereotyped routines may offend the sensibilities of modern viewers. Originally released at 72 minutes, Charlie Chan in Egypt is currently available only in its choppy, shortened reissue version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Despite stiff competition like Poor Little Rich Girl and Heidi, Bright Eyes is arguably the best of Shirley Temple's 1930s vehicles. The little curly-top is cast as Shirley Blake, daughter of Mary Blake (Lois Wilson), the widowed housemaid of snooty J. Wellington and Anita Smythe (Theodore Von Eltz and Dorothy Christy). Though continually terrorized by the Smythe's obnoxious, doll-destroying daughter Joy (Jane Withers), Shirley finds comfort in the fact that she is the darling of the airplane-pilot buddies of her late father. Especially fond of our heroine is flyboy Loop Merritt, who arranges a birthday party for the girl. Alas, even as Shirley sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop" to a gathering of beaming airmen, her mother Mary is run over by a car while shopping for her daughter's birthday cake. It thus becomes Loop's painful duty to tell Shirley that her mother "cracked up," just like her father did (if this scene doesn't move the viewer to tears, the viewer is made of granite). Fortunately, the Smythe's irascible Uncle Ned takes a liking to Shirley, securing her financial future at the expense of his repulsive relatives. But before this happy ending can come about, Shirley must be rescued from an imperiled passenger plane by the resourceful Loop. Though Shirley Temple is inarguably the main drawing card in Bright Eyes, 9-year-old Jane Withers is equally terrific as the pint-sized "villainess"; indeed, some critics felt that Withers stole the show, and it was this as much as anything else that earned Withers her own starring series at 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Legendary Broadway impresario George White made his Hollywood debut with this musical, which he wrote, co-directed, and starred in as himself. Reporter Miss Lee (Gertrude Michael) is looking for a story and approaches White as he's assembling the latest edition of his famous revue. As it turns out, she has lots of backstage gossip to choose from; Mona Vale (Alice Faye), White's latest discovery, is making her Broadway debut in the show, and she's fallen in love with the star, Jimmy Martin (Rudy Vallee). Jimmy, however, only has eyes for Barbara Lorainne (Adrienne Ames), a snooty high society type also in the cast. A quarrel between Mona and Barbara leads to a fight, with Jimmy coming to Barbara's rescue; a despondent Mona decides to leave the show if she can't have the man she loves. Meanwhile, comedian Happy Donnelly (Jimmy Durante) finds himself torn between his feelings for Mona and another young dancer in the show, Patsy Day (Dixie Dunbar), who is also thinking about quitting in disappointment. Amidst the romantic turmoil, a wacky salesman (Gregory Ratoff) keeps trying to make a sale with White, and the cast periodically breaks into song, belting out ten numbers, including "Oh You Nasty Man," "My Dog Loves Your Dog," "Every Day Is Father's Day with Baby," "Sweet and Simple," and "The Man on the Flying Trapeze." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of Fox Studios' Oscar-winning Cavalcade, The World Moves On covers over one hundred years in the lives of two Louisiana families: The Girards, of French extraction, and the Warburtons, formerly of Manchester. Forming an alliance by marriage in 1825, the families rapidly corner the cotton business in the South. Years later, three of Girard/Warburton sons split up to head business operations in England, France and Germany: as a result, descendants of the original families find themselves fighting on opposite sides during WW I (this episode is similar to a memorable sequence in the 1928 silent Four Sons, which like World Moves On was directed by John Ford). Surviving the war, Richard (Franchot Tone), the last of the descendants becomes a sharkish Wall Street speculator in the 1920s, ultimately losing his fortune in the Wall Street Crash. Bloody but unbowed, Richard and his wife Mary (Madeleine Carroll) cut their losses and return to their ancestral home, to start all over again. Both The World Moves On and the subsequent Fox production Road to Glory rely to a considerable extent upon stock footage from the grim 1931 French antiwar drama Wooden Crosses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From low-budget Mayfair Pictures Corp., this robust action-melodrama starred Larry "Buster" Crabbe as an oil prospector whose financial backer turns crooked when he suddenly finds himself faced with bankruptcy. Learning that Dave Warren (Crabbe) has been forced to fire a troublesome worker, Simmons (Max Wagner), the backer, J.T. Varley (George Irving), convinces the man to sabotage Dave's truck. Happily, Dave survives, but his girlfriend, Alice (Gloria Shea), Varley's niece, refuses to believe that her uncle is behind the scheme. Cornered by Dave, Varley confesses that he attempted to rob him and that he hired Simmons. The latter is apprehended just as Dave hits the mother lode. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Loretta Young, who became known almost exclusively for playing sweet, wholesome roles, is kind of a shocker in this romantic drama as Letty Strong, an unwed mother who survives by living life as a grifter and the next thing to a prostitute -- all for the good of her son Mickey (Jackie Kelk), who, not yet 10 years old, is turning into a street hustler every bit as devious and untrustworthy as she is. Then, one day, he's skating on the street and gets hit by a milk truck, which happens to be driven by Malcolm Trevor (Cary Grant), the owner of the dairy, who was spot-checking his operation. Letty and Mickey try to take Malcolm for a hefty sum in court until their case is blown out of the water, but Malcolm also finds himself appalled by the kind of life that Letty is setting up for the boy. He gets her to agree to let Mickey move in with him and his wife Alice ($Marion Burns), at their estate outside the city. And after some extremely rough patches, Mickey begins to see that there's more to being a boy -- or becoming a man -- than what you can steal or cheat off the next guy. But Letty isn't about to let her son get away that easily, or let Malcolm get away with taking him from her, even if he is right. She tries to wreck Malcolm's home and marriage, all to get her son back and take revenge on him in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide