William Janney Movies

Previously filmed in 1915 and 1920, Sir Gilbert Parker's novel The Right of Way was exhumed once more in 1931. Conrad Nagel stars as Conrad Steele, a Canadian lawyer saddled with a nagging wife (Olive Tell) and a lazy brother-in-law (William Janney). When the latter steals some of Conrad's money, the lawyer searches for the boy, ending up in a tough waterfront saloon. Rendered unconscious in a barroom brawl, Conrad loses his memory and wanders into the Canadian Northwoods where he falls in love with pretty postmistress Rosalie (Loretta Young). Perfectly content in his "new" life, Conrad is understandably aghast when his memory returns. He dutifully returns to his former wife -- and that's all that can be said here without revealing the climactic plot twist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively drama, a gambler believes he has killed a man and so boards the first train out of town. Unfortunately, a crash ensues and the wounded fugitive ends up recuperating at the home of a minister who has mistaken the card sharp for a traveling evangelist. The opportunistic gambler begins playing along. Time passes and he finds himself falling in love with the preacher's lovely daughter. The gambler is doing well in his new role, but just as he settles down into his happy new life, his past exploits return to haunt him. Luckily he is exonerated and his love finds forgiveness in her heart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Set during World War I, The Dawn Patrol is a study of the pressures and pitfalls of authority. A British Royal Flying Corp squadron commander (Neil Hamilton) is compelled by the higher-ups to send his boys out in dangerous, rickety aircraft. He is tormented by the responsibility, but does his duty as prescribed, and is branded a "butcher" by his top pilot (Richard Barthelmess). Hamilton is transferred, and with grim glee hands his command over to Barthelmess. Suddenly Barthelmess finds himself as much an unwilling "butcher" as a predecessor, and in exercising his authority he is alienated from his pilot buddies. Things come to a head when Barthelmess sends the brother of his best friend (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) on a suicide mission. The lad is killed, and the friendship is shattered. To make amends, Barthelmess gets Fairbanks drunk and flies the next mission himself--and is shot down while in battle with the fearsome German ace Von Richter. Now more understanding of his fallen companion, Fairbanks takes over command of the squadron. Because of the 1938 remake of the same title, the 1930 Dawn Patrol has been retitled Flight Commander for television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Screenland magazine summed up the William Haines vehicle The Girl Said No thusly: "The star plays another of his cut-up roles that make the critics gnash their teeth and the audience chortle." Had this review been printed in the 1990s, the character played by Haines might have been labelled a demented stalker; in 1930, however, he was merely whimsically over-enthusiastic. The star plays go-getting bond salesman Tom Ward, who can't take no for an answer when his sweetie Mary Howe (Leila Hyams) throws him over in favor of a collar-ad wimp named McAndrews (Francis X. Bushman Jr.) Tom continues to hound Mary at home and at her job, and when all other tactics fail, he kidnaps her from her own wedding, merrily driving off with the outraged heroine bound and gagged in the back seat! Almost as "funny" as this denouement is the scene in which Tom poses as a doctor and gets his "patient" roaring drunk. Only the antics of Marie Dressler (as a reclusive Hetty Green-style financier) and Polly Moran save this so-called comedy from being an utter disaster. The dialogue in The Girl Said No was written by Charles MacArthur, who hopefully didn't use Bill Haines's caveman tactics while courting his own bride, actress Helen Hayes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the few pre-1930 John Ford films currently available, the part-talkie Salute was co-directed by Ford and David Butler. George O'Brien is cast as cadet John Randall, star player for the Army college football team. His principal gridiron opponent is Navy player Paul Randall (William Janney), his own kid brother. In the days before the big Army-Navy game, John and Paul's sibling rivalry intensifies as both pay court to pretty Nancy Wayne (Helen Chandler). The film concludes with the inevitable Big Game, an expert blend of newly shot scenes and Fox Movietone newsreel footage. Stepin Fetchit, a Ford favorite, goes through his usual bizarrely racist routines as the hero's valet. The entire University of Southern California football team appears in Salute, including two strapping young players named John Wayne and Ward Bond. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide