George Bancroft Movies

A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse in this uproarious farce from Paramount. Naming the establishment after their estate in the old country, Twicket-on-Topping, Lady Beulah (Alison Skipworth) and her brother Sir Reginald (Roland Young) run afoul of American gangsters and when an attempt to sell the place to unsuspecting capitalist Mr. Stephens (DeWitt Jennings) comes to naught, Lady Beulah turns the roadhouse into an upscale café, the Boots and Saddles. The stout Englishwoman, however, staunchly refuses to provide liquor from bootlegger Nutty Bolton (Warren Hymer) and the latter attempts to ruin the establishment's recent goodwill by spiking the drinks. In the end, Lady Beulah is rescued by her niece Cecily (Sari Maritza), whose American boyfriend finally cons Stephens into buying the place right before it is raided by the police. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Roland Brown's Blood Money (1933) has lost none of its ability to entertain and startle over the seven decades since its release. The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grifter) Bill Bailey (George Bancroft), who, in the course of his work, crosses paths with every kind of offender there is, from first-time defendants to career criminals. Among the latter is Drury Darling (Chick Chandler), the brother of Bailey's paramour, nightclub owner Ruby Darling (Judith Anderson). Bailey is popular enough in the criminal world, over his providing the means for gang members to stay in circulation while awaiting trial, and he knows how to spread the money around to make the wheels of government run more smoothly (and not run over any of the speakeasies, casinos, clip-joints, and other enterprises of the gangs to which he is closest). Then, one day, he meets Elaine Talbert (Frances Dee), a thrill-seeking socialite whose penchant for excitement has ratcheted up from shoplifting in the better stores to fast cars and fast men. Bailey doesn't quite know what to make of her -- she's attractive enough, and drawn to him, but her lust for illicit and dangerous diversions runs counter to the common sense that he applies to his life, every place but where women are concerned. His quasi-legal and extra-legal maneuvering is fun for a while, but what she really wants, as she tells Bailey, is a man who will "take charge" and dominate her, physically and in every other way. Eventually, she tires of the middle-aged Bailey and gravitates toward Drury Darling, whose exploits as a bank robber, willing to fight the law head on, are more in line with some of the excitement that she craves. When Darling is arrested, he depends upon her to pass along the money that Bailey needs to bail him out, and that's when the smoothly operating life that Bailey has arranged for himself grinds to a halt. A cache of worthless bonds, a war within the underworld itself, and an assassination attempt on Bailey are just part of the double-dealing and blood-letting that ensues, climaxing with game of pool involving a booby-trapped eight ball (a variation of a famous sequence from Keaton's Sherlock Jr., later re-used by the Three Stooges in I'll Never Heil Again). And the finale for Elaine Talbert is a sequence that might not even have gotten past the politically-correct censors of the 1980's. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Paramount Pictures' annual college musical of 1934 is a pip, as they used to say. Jack Oakie plays Finnegan, a conceited gridiron hero whose prowess on the football field is exceeded only by his appreciation of the ladies. But his strutting manner and accompanying overbearing ego have alienated his one-time best friend Larry Stacey (Lanny Ross), a serious, more scholarly type who deeply resents the adulation heaped on Finnegan. Things go wrong for Finnegan after he graduates, as he pins his hopes on a job offer from a business firm that folds soon after. He finally shows up at Stacey's department store, where Larry -- the owner's son -- has taken over as general manager; and Larry, finally having the advantage over Finnegan, seeks to humiliate him in the course of helping him out with a menial job. But as it turns out, Larry is no sterling success either -- he's turned his father's once-thriving department store into a haven catering only to the very rich, of whom there were precious few in the midst of the Great Depression; Larry is also such a self-involved prig in his own way, wallowing in self-pity where Finnegan wallows in self-adulation, that he scarcely notices that his own secretary (Helen Mack) is almost dying in her unrequited love for him. In order to save his business, Larry's father, J. P. Stacey (eorge Barbier), turns to Finnegan, the football hero who used to sell 60,000 tickets a week on the playing field -- Finnegan understands ballyhoo, and what the public wants, and is put in charge of the store, and also becomes captain of a football team fielded by the store. Soon the place is jumping, especially when Finnegan brings back his old college team waterboy Joe (Joe Penner) and his duck mascot Goo-Goo, and fetching blonde cheerleader/singer Mimi (Lyda Roberti). Larry is reduced to running a department in the store and finally decides its time to step up and take on Finnegan head-to-head, joining the store's football team. But there's treachery and dirty tricks afoot -- in between a bright score by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel -- when Stacey's takes on a team fielded by their arch-rival store, Whimple's, in a bitter grudge-match fueled by the two owners' mutual dislike for each other. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Otis Ferguson has said of Each Dawn I Die that "the story is of the kind you would have to see to disbelieve." And to be sure, the film is nothing more than a sampler of '30s prison-film conventions. But with the brilliant acting by James Cagney and the fast-paced and hard-edged direction of William Keighley, the film clatters past like an express train. Cagney plays Frank Ross, an innocent newspaperman who is railroaded into prison by a corrupt district attorney. In prison, he meets hardened-con Stacey (George Raft). Frank, at first, doesn't want to associate with Stacey and the other prisoners, but trapped in the hellhole prison, he more and more turns into a bitter con. Finally granted a hearing from the parole board, Frank pleads his innocence, but the parole board is headed by Grayce (Victor Jury), the man responsible for his imprisonment, and his parole is denied, and Frank becomes more hardened and embittered. By this point, Stacey has befriended him and agrees to help Frank prove his innocence. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Unlike many another pre-WW II spy melodramas, Espionage Agent clearly identifies the villains as Germans. Joel McCrea plays Barry Corvall, the son of a recently deceased US diplomat. Boarding a Berlin-bound train, Corvall attempts to swipe a briefcase stuffed with documents which will prove that the Nazis have been infiltrating vital industrial centers in the United States. He is helped along by Brenda Ballard (Brenda Marshall), whose behavior suggests at times that she might not be all that trustworthy. According to the Warner Bros. publicity machine, Warren Duff's screenplay was based on actual events. Coming on the heels of the studio's Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Espionage Agent was indication enough that Warners had declared war on Germany long before President Roosevelt made it official. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hell-Ship Morgan (George Bancroft) is the brawny skipper of a small fishing schooner. Supplying fish for a San Francisco cannery, Morgan works hard and relaxes even harder, boasting not one but several girls in every port. Our hero's roving days come to an end when he marries Mary (Ann Sothern), who agrees to a honeymoon on Morgan's schooner. Once on the high seas, Mary can't help but fall in love with Morgan's first mate Jim (Victor Jory), but before Morgan can take retaliatory action, the tiny vessel is hit by a hurricane. In trying to save his crew from drowning, Morgan is crippled for life. Realizing now that he will never be a "complete" husband to Mary, he obligingly removes himself from the scene in a startlingly abrupt and permanent manner. A mainstay of early television, Hell-Ship Morgan is one of a handful of Columbia programmers currently available on the public-domain videocassette market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edward Arnold once again plays a self-made businessman who inadvertently engineers his own downfall in John Meade's Woman. Starting with a second-rate tree-cutting business, Meade rapidly becomes a powerful lumber tycoon, using underhanded methods to rise to the top and crushing anyone who gets in his way. He falls in love with Chicago socialite Caroline Haig (Gail Patrick), but she doesn't feel the same way; nevertheless, for business reasons she agrees to marry him. Feeling slighted, Meade jilts Caroline in favor of down-to-earth Teddy Connor (Francine Larrimore), whom he's picked up off the streets. Pretending to be in love with Teddy but secretly laughing at her behind her back, Meade gets his comeuppance when she leads a populist revolt against his attempts to corner the wheat market. Based on the exploits of several real-life "robber barons," John Meade's Women contains several scenes which eerily anticipate Orson Welles' Citizen Kane by nearly four years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of four films directed by Stephen Roberts in 1932, just four years before the filmmaker passed away prematurely, Lady and Gent stars George Bancroft as aging prizefighter Stag Bailey. After Stag loses his last match to hotshot up-and-comer Buzz Kinney (a 25-year-old John Wayne in an early role), his manager Pin Streaver (James Gleason) is killed during a hold-up. Whether they like it or not, Stag and his speakeasy-owning lady friend Puff (Wynne Gibson) find themselves responsible for Pin's parentless son Ted. As Ted grows up and the three of them form a strong familiar bond, Stag and Puff attempt to disuade Ted from following in the boxing footsteps of his adopted father. Also known as The Challenger, Lady and Gent was nominated for the 1932 Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Little Men, Louisa May Alcott's followup to her successful novel Little Women, has never truly adapted well to the screen, though this 1940 version is better than most. Kay Francis stars as the all-grown-up Jo March, now in charge of a private school for young boys. Her most contentious charge is rebellious Dan (Jimmy Conlin), who finally learns the rudiments of gentlemanly behavior from the firm-but-gentle Jo. Despite its huge and talented cast, the film is handily (and appropriately) stolen by Jack Oakie as an affable con artist named Willie the Thief. Also on hand is the original Elsie the Cow (but where's Elmer and his glue?) A loser at the box office, Little Men is currently in wider circulation than ever before thanks to its Public Domain status (also available in the P.D. market is the 1933 version of Little Men, produced by Monogram). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The felicitous screen team of Mary Boland and Charles Ruggles once more collaborated with director Norman Z. McLeod for the delightful Mama Loves Papa. Middle-class Wilbur Todd (Ruggles) is content with his lot in life, but his wife Jessie (Boland) is an inveterate social climber. Convinced that clothes make the man, Jessie dresses up her spouse in garish new suits, which elicit shouts of derision rather than murmurs of admiration. Frustrated by his wife's nagging, Wilbur goes off on a toot and becomes innocently involved with village vamp Mrs. McIntosh (Lilyan Tashman). It's all very basic material, but in the hands of its stars, its director, and ace screenwriter Nunnally Johnson, Mama Loves Papa emerges as something truly special. The National Board of Review selected the film as one of the best of its year, quite an honor for what was officially a "B" picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a car crash ends the life of a fabulously wealthy patron of the arts, the decedent's $20,000,000 fortune is inherited by one Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) of Mandrake Falls, Vermont. Already a reasonably successful local businessman, Deeds doesn't really feel the need for anything extra in his life: he just wants enough time to practice his tuba and compose greeting-card doggerel. When Deeds is convinced to move to New York, hard-boiled newspaper reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) is dispatched to get the inside scoop on "The Cinderella Man." Babe's stories of Deeds' eccentricities and no-nonsense dealings with phonies and poseurs provide excellent headline fodder; but she begins to regret her actions, having fallen in love with the big lug. Deeds ultimately sets up a foundation to dispense his fortune to the country's neediest souls, on the proviso that the recipients do their best to get back on their feet, a turn of events that leads his lawyer John Cedar (Douglas Dumbrille) to try to have him declared insane. By the end of the sanity hearing, the judge (H. B. Walker) declares: "Not only are you sane, but you're the sanest man who ever walked in this courtroom!" A joyously unadulterated hunk of Frank Capra-corn, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was adapted by Robert Riskin from Clarence Buddington Kelland's short story "Opera Hat." In addition to the pleasure of watching the country bumpkin outwit city slickers, the movie is a film buff's dream, boasting one of the best character-actor casts ever assembled for a single film. Nominated for four Academy Awards, the film won Frank Capra his second Oscar (out of three) as Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide