Selmar Jackson Movies

A murder trial provides the setting of this drama that presents, via flashback, three very different versions and motives of the killing. According to the prosecution, the deceased's sexy (and very much married) mistress is behind the murder. The defense asserts that the woman's lover killed himself because she would not give into his demands. Unfortunately, neither side is correct. Fortunately, the real culprit confesses in court at the very last minute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Leftover Ladies are Patricia (Claudia Dell) and Amy (Dorothy Revier), recently divorced from their husbands Ronny (Walter Byron) and Jerry (Alan Mowbray). Seeking to find more exciting mates, the ladies end up with one another's ex-husbands. Things end happily for Patricia and Ronny thanks to the intervention of their child, but the relationship between Amy and Jerry sours further thanks to the twin bugaboos of alcohol and depression. Marjorie Rambeau dominates the proceedings as a once-great theatrical diva who has drowned her career in booze. Leftover Ladies was based on a novel by Ursula Parrott, a specialist in divorce dramas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, an assistant DA must scramble to save the life of an innocent man he mistakenly sent to the chair. Unfortunately, he is too late and turns to alcoholism to soothe his throbbing conscience. It is only down from there and soon the attorney begins working for the mob until he falls in love. Some of the story was based on the life of William J. Fallon, a New York City attorney. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on the play New York Town by Ward Morehouse, Mervyn LeRoy directs the black-and-white 1932 comedy drama Big City Blues. A small-town innocent from Indiana, Bud Reeves (Eric Linden) inherits money and goes to New York to get in all sorts of trouble. He meets up with his cousin Gibby (Walter Catlett), who introduces him to chorus girl Vida Fleet (Joan Blondell). Bud and Gibby then throw a drunken hotel party with bootleg liquor that gets out of hand and a young woman (Josephine Dunn) is hit on the head and accidentally killed. Bud and Vida go gambling and drinking to escape the cops, but they are caught and arrested with everyone else from the party. Eventually, the police find the real killer and release everyone. Bud leaves for Indiana, but plans to go back, get his dog, and marry Vida. Humphrey Bogart appears in a brief uncredited role as Shep Adkins, a guy who gets into a fight with Lyle Talbot during the party. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The butt of many a practical joke at the office where he works as a clerk, Joe Holt (Joe E. Brown) is nonetheless determined to prove himself a brilliant inventor. His latest creation is an unsinkable swim suit, which works quite well in theory. In practice, however, it is another matter; Joe can't test out the suit because he can't swim. As the result of a series of dizzying circumstances, Joe is mistaken for a swimming champ (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) also named Joe Holt, and as such he makes the acquaintance of wealthy debutante Alice Brandon (Ginger Rogers). Through the auspices of Alice's father, "our" Joe is entered in the annual swimming marathon from Catalina Island to the California coastline. After taking a few "dry" swimming lessons from a youngster named Sam (Allan "Farina" Hoskins), the nervous Joe dives into the Catalina surf and starts the 22-mile swim. His unsinkable suit is a success, but there's many a slapstick obstacle placed in Joe's path before he can resurface at the finish line, thanks largely to the machinations of rival swimmer Edward Dover (Preston S. Foster). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, a wealthy shoe magnate is bored with his life. The trouble really begins when his chief rival dies. His company was on the brink of financial ruin and now the bored shoemaker finds himself without even the joy of competition to motivate him. The fellow decides to take a vacation. He leaves his eager-beaver nephew to run the company. During the holiday, he meets a free-spirited and rambunctious brother and sister. As they are the heirs to his rival company, he decides to masquerade as an impoverished hobo. They hire him to work in the factory. Soon he takes the place and turns it into a financial success and a genuine competitor to his smarty-pants nephew. He also teaches the carefree brother and sister a few lessons about real life when he forces them to begin working in their own factory. Eventually he becomes their legal guardian. At the story's end, he reveals his true identity and allows his new step-daughter to marry his chastened nephew. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The end of prohibition spells the end of business as usual for Chicago gangster Bugs Ahearn (Edward G. Robinson in this delightful spoof of mob melodramas from Warner Bros. Paying off their latest moll, Edith (Shirley Grey, Bugs and chief lieutenant Al Daniels (Russell Hopton) grab their ill-gotten gains and go west, hoping to crash polo playing Santa Barbara society. Bugs acquires a rental mansion and a high class girlfriend, Polly Cass (Helen Vinson), but the estate actually belongs to kind but down-on-her-luck socialite Ruth Wayburn (Mary Astor) -- whom the former mobster retains as his social secretary -- while Polly and her relatives prove to be bigger crooks than he ever was. The Little Giant was reportedly filmed in 18 days on a budget of $197,000. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Released in Great Britain as Sealed Lips, this WWI melodrama stars Constance Bennett as Carla, aka Russian spy "K-14." Though there's no room for romance in her line of work, Carla falls in love all the same with Austrian captain Rudi (Gilbert Roland). When he discovers that she's working for the enemy, Rudi is forced to arrest Carla, a turn of events which she takes in stride as the fortunes of war. Though slated for a firing squad, Carla manages to escape and after the war is reunited with Rudi at the train station where they first met. One of the screenwriters was Worthington Miner, later a leading light of the TV anthology series Studio One. Coming at the tail end of the early-1930s "spy cycle," After Tonight lost $100,000 at the box office, forcing RKO Radio to rethink the studio's contract with Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on an idea by Will Rogers, the story concerns the efforts by the President of the United States to get the public's mind off the Depression. To this end, he appoints Broadway impresario Lawrence Cromwell (Warner Baxter) to the new cabinet position of "Secretary of Amusement." Wasting no time, Cromwell sets about to nationalize the entertainment industry, organizing singers, dancers, actors and other variety artists into batallion-like touring units. Cromwell is fought at every turn by a cartel of wealthy industrialists, who've been profiting from the Depression and have no desire to see America pull itself upward. Happily, every effort to bribe or cajole Cromwell into giving up his mission is thwarted and the Department of Amusement goes on to help the the country at a time when its citizens most needed it. Among the highlights are an energetic "revival-meeting" musical number by Aunt Jemima (Theresa Gardella), and 6-year-old Shirley Temple's rendition of "Baby Take a Bow." Originally released at 80 minutes, Stand Up and Cheer was edited to 69 minutes for reissue, then to 65 minutes (removing most of Stepin Fetchit's scenes) for television: it was this last version which was computer-colorized in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Completed just before the Production Code went into effect, I've Got Your Number is delightfully racy, risque entertainment. Pat O'Brien is all wisecracks and left hooks as Terry, a troubleshooter for the New York telephone company. Terry puts his talents -- and his eavesdropping skill -- to good use when he decides to rescue his switchboard-operator girlfriend Marie (Joan Blondell) from taking the fall in a stolen-bond scheme. Not to be taken seriously for a moment, I've Got Your Number concludes with a belly-laugh as Terry's old telephone-linemen pals "bug" his honeymoon suite. The only false note struck by the film is the notion that know-it-all Joan Blondell could be slickered twice by the same gang of con artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though the names have been changed to protect the guilty, this romantic crime drama offers a relatively factual account of the life of Arnold Rothstein, an infamous bookie and is based upon a story by his widow. The story tells how he gambled his way to the top of his profession. Though he originally promised his wife that he would stop gambling once he made $200,000, he became addicted and decided he had to make $300,000 more before he could be happy. Soon his greed leads him to crooked gambling. Things get worse when he openly carries on an affair with a singer. The bookies dirty dealings get him into trouble and his wife is kidnapped while he is out of town. While rushing back to save her, he has a car accident and his lover is killed. By the time she is rescued, the wife has decided enough is enough and takes off to get a European divorce. The greedy gambler finds himself utterly lost without his two lovers and so after selling his wife's jewels takes out a large insurance policy upon himself. On an interesting footnote: Inez Norton, Rothstein's real-life widow, has a bit part in the film, as does then-ingenue Susan Fleming, AKA Mrs. Harpo Marx. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide