Si Jenks Movies

Beverly Ross (nn Miller) is a would-be radio personality, but the closest she gets to being on the air is running the switchboard at a local station. Worse yet, the blustery station owner Mr. Kennedy (Tim Ryan) wants no part of programming "jive" (i.e., swing music) that she loves, preferring the classics. But she manages to con Vernon Lewis (Franlin Pangborn), the host of the station's early morning classical show, into believing that he needs a vacation and slips into his time-slot at 5 am, where she starts running records by Bob Crosby's band, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Frank Sinatra in place of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. The soldiers at the local army base pick up on the new show, and two of them, wealthy candy company magnate Barry Lang (William Wright) and his former chauffeur Andy Adams (Dick Purcell, decide they want to meet this new disc jockey, and as luck would have it her brother (Larry Parks) is in their platoon and invites them to his home. But the two men decide to switch identities, Barry denying his wealth and pretending to be Andy, and Andy presenting himself as the candy heir Barry -- and as if matters aren't complicated enough for Beverly, coping with their antics, she has to fight to keep her radio show. But when the soldiers listening to her start writing in by the thousands, and Barry suggests she call her 5am show "Reveille," she takes it one step further and "Reveille With Beverly," and becomes a smash. But can she sort out the intertwining romantic overtures of the two men in her life? ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Just before entering the armed services, Gene Autry delivered one of his best Republic westerns, Cowboy Serenade. Many of Autry's previous vehicles had suffered from too much music and not enough action. Happily, Cowboy Serenade struck the happy medium common to Autry's vintage 1930s efforts. There's even time for a mystery angle as Autry tries to ascertain the identity of the head of a crooked gambling ring. Autry's leading lady this time out is Fay McKenzie, in real life the sister-in-law of comedian Billy Gilbert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The leader of the gang begins to have a change of heart after he begins falling for a local girl. He decides to use the "protection money" his gang has been pocketing to benefit the townsfolk. This feels good to the tough and thug-like gangsters who begin embracing the ideals of good citizenship in favor of a life of crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

When World War I hero Alvin York agreed to sell the movie rights to his life story to Warner Bros., it was on three conditions: (1) That the film contains no phony heroics, (2) that Mrs.York not be played by a Hollywood "glamour girl" and (3) That Gary Cooper portray York on screen. All three conditions were met, and the result is one of the finest and most inspirational biographies ever committed to celluloid. When the audience first meets young farmer Alvin York (Cooper), he's the cussin'est, hell-raisin'est critter in the entire Tennessee Valley. All of this changes when York is struck by lighting during a late-night rainstorm. Chalking up the bolt from the blue as a message from God, York does a complete about-face and finds Religion, much to the delight of local preacher Rosier Pile (Walter Brennan). Despite plenty of provocation, York vows never to get angry at anyone ever again, determining to be a good husband and provider for his sweetheart Gracie Williams (Joan Leslie). When America goes to war in 1917, York elects not to answer the call when drafted, declaring himself a conscientious objector. Forced to go to boot camp, he proves himself a born leader, yet still he balks at the thought of killing anyone. York's understanding commanding officer Major Buxton (Stanley Ridges) slowly convinces the young pacifist that violence is sometimes the only way to defend Democracy. Later on, while serving with the AEF in the Argonne Forest, Sergeant York sees several of his buddies, including his Bronxite best pal Pusher Ross (George Tobias), killed in an enemy ambush. His anger aroused, York personally kills 25 German soldiers, then single-handedly captures 132 prisoners. As a result, York becomes the most decorated hero of WW1, celebrated by no less than General John J. Pershing as "the greatest civilian soldier" of the war. The film won Gary Cooper his first Academy Award, and also picked up an Oscar for Best Film Editing. Not surprisingly, it ended up as the highest-grossing film of 1941. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unique among the Gene Autry starrers of 1940, Ride Tenderfoot Ride actually contains more action than music. In this one, Autry falls heir to a meat-packing firm which has been targetted for a hostile takeover by the villains. June Storey plays Ann Randolph, owner of a rival meat concern, who is unaware until the last reel that her subordinates have been plotting to ruin or murder our hero. By the time Gene and Ann decide to merge-both professionally and romantically---the bad guys have been soundly trounced by Autry and his saddle pal Frog (Smiley Burnette). Legendary Broadway entertainer Joe Frisco is somewhat wasted in a minor role as a stuttering haberdasher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The once-in-a-lifetime teaming of Mae West and W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee had the potential for comic greatness: what emerged, though generally entertaining, was, in the words of critic Andrew Sarris, "more funny strange than funny ha-ha." Mae West dominates the film's first reel as Flowerbelle Lee, a self-reliant woman who is abducted by a mysterious masked bandit during a stagecoach holdup. Because she refuses to tell anyone what happened during her nocturnal rendezvous with the bandit, Flowerbelle is invited to leave her prudish hometown and move to Greasewood City. En route by train, Flowerbelle makes the acquaintance of con-artist Cuthbert J. Twillie (W.C. Fields), who carries a suitcase full of what seems to be large-denomination monetary notes. After a lively clash with marauding Indians, Flowerbelle tricks Twillie into a phony marriage; she does this so that she can arrive in Greasewood City with a modicum of respectability, and incidentally to get her hands on Twillie's bankroll. Once she discovers that Twillie's "fortune" consists of nothing but phony oil-well coupons, Flowerbelle refuses to allow Twillie into the bridal chamber (he unwittingly crawls into the marriage bed with a goat, muttering "Darling, have you changed your perfume?") Through a fluke, the cowardly Twillie is appointed sheriff of Greasewood City by town boss Joseph Calleila. The plot is put on hold for two reels while La West does a "schoolroom" routine with a class full of markedly overage students, and while Fields performs a bartender bit wherein he explains how he once knocked down the notorious Chicago Mollie. Jealous over the attentions paid to his "wife" by Calleila and honest newspaper-editor Dick Foran, Twillie decides to gain entry into his wife's boudoir by posing as the still-at-large masked bandit. His ruse is soon discovered by Flowerbelle, but the townsfolk capture Twillie as he makes his escape. They are about to lynch the hapless Twillie when Flowerbelle discovers that Calleia is the genuine masked bandit. She urges Calleia to save Twillie's life by making a surprise appearance at the lynching and by returning the money he's stolen. When all plot lines are ironed out, Flowerbelle and Twillie bid goodbye to one another. Borrowing a device utilized by ZaSu Pitts and Hugh Herbert in 1939's The Lady's From Kentucky, W.C. Fields invites Mae West to "come up and see me sometime," whereupon West appropriates Fields' tagline and calls him "My Little Chickadee." The script for this uneven comedy western was credited to Mae West and W.C. Fields, though in fact West was responsible for most of it. Fields willingly conceded this, noting that West had captured his character better than any other writer he'd ever met. Despite this seeming gallantry, it was no secret that West and Fields disliked each other intensely, a fact that had an injurious effect on their scenes together. My Little Chickadee has assumed legendary status thanks to its stars, and it certainly does deliver the laughs when necessary: still, it is hardly the best-ever vehicle for either Fields or West, two uniquely individual performers who should never have been required to duke it out for the same spotlight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a devoted, caring physician leaves his home and moves to Alaska to escape arrest after he performs euthanasia upon his terminally ill father. In the ever-snowy reaches of northernmost Alaska, the doctor begins administering to the poverty-stricken Inuit. While he has willingly exiled himself there and cares about the people, his new nurse is another story. She hates the outpost and holds the people there in contempt. She does not try to understand their lifestyle and therefore, considers them disgusting. Unbeknownst to the good doctor, he is being hunted by a detective determined to return him to the lower 48 to stand trial for the mercy killing of his father. Unfortunately, the gumshoe is caught in a blizzard and is blinded by the snow. The doctor saves his life. The grateful detective, seeing the doctor's good work, decides that he never saw him and returns home empty handed. Meanwhile, the nurse gets a grip on her ethnocentrism and decides to stay to be with the doctor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An above-average entry in Republic Pictures' long-running "Three Mesqueteers" series, The Trail Blazers is something as unusual as a Christmas western that includes comic sidekick Rufe Davis' rendition of "Jingle Bells". The Mesqueteers -- who in addition to Davis' Lullaby Joslin also numbered Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke and Bob Steele as "Tucson" Smith -- come to the aid of Jim Chapman (Carroll Nye), an engineer assigned to build a telegraph for the army. But a group of powerful local businessmen, headed by crooked newspaper publisher Jeff Bradley (Weldon Heyburn), do their utmost to sabotage the project. Yet despite the inevitable setbacks, the Mesqueteers, aided by Army Major Kelton (Tom Chatterton) and his daughter Marcia (Pauline Moore), make sure that the life-saving telegraph is erected on time. In an effort to duplicate the success of the "Three Mesqueteers" films, small-scale Monogram begun their own trio series in 1943, confusingly entitled "The Trail Blazers," a moniker the studio most likely "stole" from this western. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

John Ford directed this outdoor adventure set in the American Colonial period. Gilbert and Lana Martin (Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert) are a young couple trying to make a home in New York State's Mohawk Valley, but repeated attacks by Indians drive them, along with other settlers in the valley, into a nearby fort, where they watch helplessly as the natives lay waste to their farms and cabins. A spinster with a large farm, Sarah McKlennar (Edna May Oliver), comes to their rescue when she hires Gilbert to work as a field hand and gives the Martins a place to stay. The rugged life of the farm and frontier doesn't always sit well with Lana, who was raised in wealthy and comfortable circumstances; in time she develops a thicker skin and learns to love their new life in the Mohawk Valley, especially after giving birth to their first son. Gilbert joins the militia, who must do battle both with the local Indian tribes and the British soldiers who are provoking them to battle. Gilbert returns wounded, and as he recuperates, a healthy crop rises in the fields, but their satisfaction is short lived when the Indians once again hit the warpath. 1939 was a stellar year for John Ford; along with this highly successful adventure tale, which was nominated for three Academy Awards, Ford also released the ground-breaking western Stagecoach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The zippy world of auto-racing provided the basis of this off-beat actioner that centers on an auto magnate who is relentlessly driven to break every speed record with his cars. Unfortunately, his drivers keep dying on the track. This doesn't stop the obsessed manufacturer from continuing his quest. One day the tycoon and his daughter are at the race track scouting new drivers when he spots a talented young hayseed who wins the race. Impressed, he signs the naive lad on. The magnate's daughter meets the driver and soon falls in love with him. Even though the rube is well aware that his predecessors have died, he vows that he will succeed. He does, but not before learning the real reason behind the mysterious string of deaths. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick managed to expand this concept, and Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel, into nearly four hours' worth of screen time, on a then-astronomical 3.7-million-dollar budget, creating what would become one of the most beloved movies of all time. Gone With the Wind opens in April of 1861, at the palatial Southern estate of Tara, where Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) hears that her casual beau Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) plans to marry "mealy mouthed" Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). Despite warnings from her father (Thomas Mitchell) and her faithful servant Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), Scarlett intends to throw herself at Ashley at an upcoming barbecue at Twelve Oaks. Alone with Ashley, she goes into a fit of histrionics, all of which is witnessed by roguish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), the black sheep of a wealthy Charleston family, who is instantly fascinated by the feisty, thoroughly self-centered Scarlett: "We're bad lots, both of us." The movie's famous action continues from the burning of Atlanta (actually the destruction of a huge wall left over from King Kong) through the now-classic closing line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Holding its own against stiff competition (many consider 1939 to be the greatest year of the classical Hollywood studios), Gone With the Wind won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar). The film grossed nearly 192 million dollars, assuring that, just as he predicted, Selznick's epitaph would be "The Man Who Made Gone With the Wind." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Even geniuses have to eat, and when Mark Twain was offered a substantial sum of money to slap together a quickie sequel to his classic novel Tom Sawyer, he responded with the pulpish but entertaining Tom Sawyer, Detective. Billy Cook is sublimely cast as Tom, while Donald O'Connor steals the film in the more colorful role of Huckleberry Finn. When local deacon Uncle Silas (Porter Hall) is accused of murder, Tom and Huck endeavor to prove his innocence by solving the mystery themselves. Complicating matters is the fact that the "dead man" (William Haade) is seen roaming around very much alive. The film's highlight is a spooky episode in a mausoleum, with our intrepid heroes working overtime to convince each other that they ain't really scared. Janet Waldo, later one of the most versatile voiceover actresses in the business, plays Tom's puppy-love interest Ruth Phelps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide