Edward Keane Movies
American actor Edward Keane was eminently suitable for roles requiring tuxedos and military uniforms. From his first screen appearance in 1921 to his last in 1952, Keane exuded the dignity and assurance of a self-made man of wealth or a briskly authoritative Armed Services officer. Fortunately his acting fee was modest, enabling Keane to add class to even the cheapest of poverty-row "B"s. Generations of Marx Bros. fans will remember Edward Keane as the ship's captain (he's the one who heaps praise upon the three bearded Russian aviators) in A Night at the Opera (1935). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1933
In this melodrama a superb female lawyer finds that her success has emasculated her husband, a rather average architect, who runs away from home and career to become a nightclub singer and save some shred of manly dignity. While working at the club, he falls in love with an alcoholic, self-destructive patron. When she dies during a binge, he ends up accused of killing her. Fortunately, the court-appointed defense is a superb female lawyer, and in a corny, histrionic speech she manages to convince the jury that he is really innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Wray, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1933
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
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, (more)
- 1933
Although claiming to be based on actual cases, this mild crime drama appears to have been derived more from a screenwriter's manual than a police blotter. Newly transferred from robbery to missing persons, glib Butch Saunders (Pat O'Brien) is like the proverbial bull in a china shop at first, but quickly gets the hang of things. In walks pretty Norma Roberts (Bette Davis), claiming to be missing her new husband, whom she accuses of shipping out. Despite being married to nagging Belle (Glenda Farrell), Butch falls in love with the dame, until, that is, he learns the truth. Norma's last name isn't Roberts at all, but Williams, and she is wanted in Chicago for the murder of her boss, Therme Roberts. Begging Butch to cover for her -- "just for a little while. I'll explain everything later" -- Norma does a disappearing act herself and makes it look like suicide. But Butch refuses to buy the act and with the help of his boss, Captain Webb (Lewis Stone), the fast-talking cop arranges for a corpse to be lying in state at a local funeral parlor under the name of Norma Williams, hoping to flush out the real Norma. Norma walks right into the trap with another cockamamie story at the ready. But this time, it may just be the truth and Butch becomes determined to clear the lady of murder. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Lewis Stone, (more)
In this drama, a recently convicted criminal boards a train bound for the prison where he will be hanged. His wife rides with him and en route tells a reporter how her husband had accidentally killed a man while protecting her. The reporter, who is dying of tuberculosis, is touched by the story and decides to help them by knocking out a guard, helping the man to escape and jumping off the train to his death. When authorities find the corpse, the assume it belongs to the young convict, and the real killer and his wife are free to start a new life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Brian, Russell Hopton, (more)
- 1931
Nancy Carroll's popularity enabled her to survive the melodramatic excesses of Stolen Heaven with little if any damage to her career. Carroll plays Mary, the streetwalker sweetheart of born-loser Joe (Phillips Holmes). Engineering a $20,000 robbery, Mary and Joe draw up a pact to spend all the money foolishly and then commit suicide. But as time passes, they decide that they might as well live. Joe confesses to the robbery and willingly marches off to jail, secure in the understanding that Mary will await his return. Louis Calhern makes an excellent first impression as the film's nominal villain, only to completely disappear from view in the final scenes. The 1938 musical drama Stolen Heaven is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, (more)
- 1931
In this drawing room drama, an impetuous heiress goes on a cruise and ends up marrying a Latin gigolo on a whim. Her father then dies, and as soon as her devoted husband discovers that the old man died destitute, he takes off. Now the girl must work; she gets a job as her father's best friend's wife's social secretary. The former socialite finds herself tormented by her boss's rotten daughter. Even so, when the mean young woman finds herself involved in a murder, it is the ex-socialite who tries to help her cover up the crime. Later the heroine's conniving ex-husband tries to blackmail her boss with the information. Trouble ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1931
In this drama, a remake of Sal of Singapore(1929), the captain of a freighter becomes an instant father when his crew rescues a drifting Navy boat that contains a baby. The captain decides that he will keep the baby and take it back to the U.S. instead of turning it in to the authorities. He begins advertising for a "mother" for the baby to help him while he runs the ship. His call is answered by a woman with a dubious, secret past. During the interview she lies about her character and qualifications and gets the job and a free cruise to the States. It is smooth sailing until one of the sailors recognizes her and attempts to blackmail her into sleeping with him. Fortunately, the captain rescues her and tosses the loutish seaman into the sea. The woman immediately falls for the good captain who has also fallen for her. They encounter more rough seas when, upon docking in New York, the captain is arrested for attempted murder. The woman becomes his witness, but when he learns the truth about her, he loses his respect and they go their separate ways. She again becomes a loose woman, and he begins to drink heavily. When the baby gets deathly ill, the two are reunited--this time it is for good, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, (more)
