Lois January Movies

Looking for all the world like a 2-reel comedy bloated to 6-reel proportions, Embarrassing Moments was directed by Edward Laemmle, one of the many salaried relatives of avuncular Universal chieftain Carl Laemmle. Chester Morris plays Jerry Randolph, an inveterate and obnoxious practical joker. Things take a serious turn when it looks as though Jerry's latest prank has resulted in the death of his best friend. But the audience is way ahead of Jerry: the whole "tragedy" has been staged to teach the jolly jokester a lesson. Billed third in Embarrassing Moments is Broadway singing star Walter Woolf, who as Walter Woolf King enjoyed a lengthy career as a supporting actor in such films as The Marx Bros.' Night at the Opera and Laurel & Hardy's Swiss Miss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After directing three of Universal's finest horror films, James Whale shifted gears with the elegant romantic comedy By Candlelight. Though quite miscast, Paul Lukas successfully conveys the role of Josef, ultra-dutiful valet to the libidinous Count Von Bommer (Nils Asther). Falling in love with Marie (Elissa Landi), whom he assumes to be a countess, Josef poses -- quite convincingly -- as his rakish master. The catch: Marie is herself a poseur, a mere maidservant to Count and Countess Von Rischenheim (Lawrence Grant, Dorothy Revier). Based on a play by Siegfried Geyer, By Candlelight is chock full of delightfully double-entendre pre-Code dialogue and dextrous directorial touches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a woman lives with her recently impoverished family who would do anything to regain their former wealth and status. They use the young woman, and every time any likely person comes to call, they try to foist her upon them. One of these visitors is the son of a conniving lawyer who wants the rest of their fortune for himself. The attorney's other son is a bug collector. The family is so busy with their farfetched money grubbing schemes that they pay no attention to the level-headed young woman's attempts to get by. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After two well-mounted entries produced by Nat Ross, the Tim McCoy Westerns from Puritan Pictures were taken over by the penny-pinching Sigmund Neufeld and the drop in quality was immediately detectable. McCoy played a dual role, as father and son. The elder McCoy, Slim Braddock, turns to robbing stagecoaches after a crooked banker, Williams (Karl Hackett), tricked him out of his gold mine. Mortally wounded during one of the robberies, Braddock drags himself to the shack where he lives with his young son, Tim (Eddie Buzzard), who promises to avenge him. Tim grows up to look exactly like his late father and defends miner Pete Brennan (John W. Cowell) against the still scheming Williams. Pete's daughter, Helen (Joan Woodbury), is in favor of selling out to the Jepson Mining Company but Jepson (Edmund Cobb) is in league with Williams. When his offer to buy is turned down, Jepson blows up the mine. While Tim manages to escape before the explosion, Williams is not so lucky and is killed. Jepson, meanwhile, is captured and sent off to face justice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Proof positive that Reliable Pictures' Skull and Crown was filmed several years before its 1938 New York premiere is the presence in the cast of former silent-screen leading man James Murray, who died in 1936. The star of the show is Rin-Tin-Tin Jr., who among other things helps to break up a gang of smugglers. Another silent veteran, Jack Mower, plays the chief crook, but despite his bulk and muscle he's no match for our "Rinty". Nominal human hero Regis Toomey benefits greatly from the dog's deductive skills, winning the hand of heroine Molly Day as a result. Allegedly based on a story by James Oliver Curwood, Skull and Crown is cheap and tacky even by Reliable's unexacting standards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A remake of the French comedy Monsieur Sans-Gene, One Rainy Afternoon gets under way when film-actor Phillippe Martin (Francis Lederer) heads to a darkened Parisian movie theater for a romantic rendezvous with his married sweetheart Yvonne (Countess Live de Margaret). But our hero sits in the wrong seat and kisses the wrong young lady: Monique Pelerin (Ida Lupino), the daughter of a powerful publisher Joseph Cawthorn. This innocent mistake snowballs into a national scandal, fomented by the hatchet-faced president (Eily Malyon) of the Purity League, with Phillippe earning the onus of "The Kissing Monster." It all culminates in one of those zany courtroom trails which proliferated in screwball comedies of the 1930s, wherein Phillippe defends himself by insisting that it is in a Frenchman's nature to be romantic, even with perfect strangers -- and as a result he becomes an international hero! One Rainy Afternoon was the first of a handful of United Artists talkies personally produced by studio vice-president Mary Pickford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Often compared to Reefer Madness, this low-budget exploitation melodrama features Lois January as Jane Bradford, a small-town coffee-shop waitress falling in love with smooth-talking city hoodlum Nick Brogan (Noel Madison), who gets her hooked on cocaine. While Jane goes from pretty ingénue to a hardened nightclub habitue known as Lil, her brother Eddie (Dean Benton), a waiter in a drive-in restaurant, is persuaded by co-worker Fanny (Sheila Manners) to enjoy a night on the town. They both become addicts and Fanny is reduced to walking the streets for money. Pregnant and rejected by the hopped-up Eddie, she finally kills herself. Nick, meanwhile, attempts to seduce Dorothy Farley (Lois Lindsay), a bleach-blonde debutante, but the girl is saved in the nick of time by Jane/Lil, who shoots and kills their tormentor. The police arrive to arrest not only Jane but also the mysterious Mr. Big, who turns out to be Dorothy's father (Frank Shannon). Cocaine Fiends also features well-known character actress Fay Holden ("Hasn't he told you yet? Those headache powders are dope!"), who hides behind her original stage moniker of Gaby Fay, and a full-length floor show that includes gawky singer Nona Lee performing "All I Want Is You." The film was a remake of Willis Kent's silent The Pace That Kills (1928), footage from which is used throughout. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Produced by low-budget company Supreme Pictures (which weren't), this middling B-western was saved somewhat by its personable star, the strapping former footballer Johnny Mack Brown. Mack plays Dan Doran, the rogue of the title, who rescues a pretty missionary, Tess (Phyllis Hume), from the ubiquitous runaway team. In town, Doran not only leaves the welfare of the girl to Stella, the saloon hostess (Lois January), but admits to having earlier robbed the stage. Sent up the river for 20 years, Dan makes the acquaintance of Jim Mitchell (George Ball), a fellow inmate, and the two make their escape together. Returning to the scene of the crime, Dan joins Jim's gang of stage robbers. The town's natty-looking banker, Lige Branscomb (Alden Chase aka Stephen Chase) is observed courting Tess, who now owns the Golden Nugget coffee shop. Dan, who is in reality an undercover G-man, has Stella rescue Tess from marrying the villainous Branscomb who, of course, is the secret leader of the gang of stage robbers. Leaving Tess to her coffee shop, Dan proposes to Stella, who accepts. Although already beginning to exhibit the middle-age spread that would mar his later appearances, Johnny Mack Brown once again proves that he was a better actor than most of his B- western rivals. The same cannot be said for Phyllis Hume, who plays the missionary girl with only one expression, bewilderment, and whose only film this seems to have been. Max Davidson, an old-fashioned "Dutch-style" comic who had been in films before Charles Chaplin and almost everyone else, appears briefly and for no apparent reason in order to perform a bit of timeworn shtick as a Jewish salesman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Bar Z Bad Men is a slick 1930s oater showcasing Johnny Mack Brown. Per the title, Brown signs on as ranchhand at the Bar Z. The spread is plagued by rustlers, and this plot peg builds to a well-staged cattle- stampede climax. Leading lady Lois January, whose acting ability was several steps above most western ingenues, provides spirited support for Brown. Bar Z Bad Men was produced independently by A. W. Hackel's Spectrum Productions, then released by Republic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, brand new rancher Bob Steele, a former gunslinger in search of a more peaceful life, finds his quiet shattered when he finds himself caught between two feuding neighbors. Matters become more complex when he falls in love with one of their daughters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Fred Scott musical westerns were high in audience appeal, but invariably handicapped with syrupy titles like Moonlight on the Range. On this occasion, our hero is suspected of being an outlaw, but the real culprit is his look-alike half-brother (Scott plays both roles). At first hoping to wreak vengeance on his crooked sibling. Scott relents at the end, bringing brother dear in unharmed in hopes of reforming the boy. The film's highlight is a fierce gun battle between hero and villain, with director Sam Newfield doing an excellent job differentiating the two brothers. In the course of events, Fred Scott sings four songs, several of them for the benefit of leading lady Lois January. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nothing of cult director Joseph H. Lewis' much-vaunted flair is on display in this average musical Western, the screen debut of Bob Baker, Universal's dark-haired answer to Gene Autry. Baker -- who had beaten a young Roy Rogers for the berth at Universal -- had sung on the National Barn Dance radio program but his vocal prowess quickly proved as untrained as his thespian abilities. Set during the Civil War, Courage of the West opens with President Lincoln (Albert Russell) establishing the Free Ranger corps in order to prevent the constant attacks on gold shipments from the West. After this potentially interesting opening, the Western settles down to tell the rather ordinary story of a ranger (J. Farrell McDonald) adopting the young son (Buddy Cox) of a convicted outlaw (Harry Woods). Years later, the boy has become the head of the rangers and is soon chasing down a gang of gold thieves headed -- unbeknownst to him -- by his own father. In between battling his natural father, Baker sang "Resting Beside the Campfire," "Ride Along Free Rangers," "Song of the Trail," and "I'll Build a Ranch House on the Range," all by Fleming Allen. Although competent enough astride his handsome paint horse, Apache, Baker's vocalizing never gave Gene Autry or Roy Rogers much to worry about and his starring career proved brief. By 1939, he was playing second leads to Johnny Mack Brown and by 1940 bit parts. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide