Dorothea Kent Movies

It Happened On Fifth Avenue was easily the most ambitious movie made by the then-newly-organized Allied Artists for at least a decade after its release -- actually, as a "Roy Del Ruth Production," it was made through rather than by Allied Artists, which may explain why it stands so far apart from the Bowery Boys movies and other productions normally associated with Allied during this period. And amazingly, it works, mostly thanks to a genial cast and a reasonably light touch by director/producer Roy Del Ruth, and in spite of a script that needed at least one more editorial pass. Victor Moore is the star and dominant personality -- if there is one in what is, basically, an ensemble cast -- as Aloyisius T. McKeever, a genial hobo whose annual routine for finding winter quarters is to wait for multi-millionaire Michael O'Connor (Charlie Ruggles) to lock up his Fifth Avenue mansion and head to Virginia, and move in during the man's absence. He chances to meet Jim Bullock, a homeless WWII veteran (displaced, ironically, by one of O'Connor's development projects), and gives him shelter in the mansion. They become a trio when O'Connor's free-spirited daughter Trudy (Gale Storm) shows up, fleeing her finishing school, and the two men -- thinking she's an impoverished runaway from an abusive father -- take her in. She goes along with the masquerade and gradually falls in love with Jim, who also chances to meet two former army buddies (Alan Hale, Jr., Edward Ryan) who -- you guessed it -- are also desperately trying to find homes, in their cases for their wives and growing families. Now there are nine people living in the shelter of O'Connor's Fifth Avenue mansion, and in between setting up housekeeping, Jim and his two buddies manage to come up with an idea about how to build homes for veterans and their families. Trudy, her identity still a secret to the other, gets her father to meet the "squatters" incognito, in hope that he'll take to Jim, but a series of misunderstandings and his own impatience and lack-of-faith leads him to reject everything decent he sees about Trudy's friends. In desperation, to keep them from being evicted and arrested, she calls in reinforcements in the person of her mother (Ann Harding), long estranged from her father. O'Connor is still not convinced of Jim's worth, and definitely doesn't see him as a potential husband for Trudy -- and, in a comic mix-up, he ends up going head-to-head with Jim for the property where he plans to build those houses for veterans, causing them to lock horns once more. Matters do eventually fall into place, as they usually do in Christmas movies of this sort, which more closely resembles The Bells of St. Mary's or One More Spring -- to name another movie about displaced New Yorkers -- than It's A Wonderful Life (with which it is usually compared). It Happened On Fifth Avenue is usually defined as a Christmas movie, in part because of its plot time-line, but more than that, it's a movie that, like George Seaton's Miracle On 34th Street -- made the same year -- sings of the generosity of the human spirit, and the feeling of renewal that was in the air in the immediate post-World War II era, a funny, gentle, warm look at people making their way in a time when, for the first time since the Great Depression and the outbreak of the Second World War, cautious optimism seemed an appropriate approach to life. And not for nothing was this reportedly lead actor Don Defore's personal favorite of all of his movies. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The Shadow (Richmond) investigates the murder of an art dealer with his only clue being a stolen jade statuette. ~ All Movie Guide

In this high-spirited musical comedy, J. Newport Bates (Eddie Bracken) is a millionaire who finds women are only interested in him for his money. When he becomes infatuated with Teddy Collins (Veronica Lake), a cigarette girl, he tries to hide his true identity from her, hoping she'll be interested in him for himself rather than his bank account. However, once Teddy figures out who he is, Bates drops her, and he is about to give up on women entirely when he meets Sue Thomas (Marjorie Reynolds), a nice girl who isn't interested in his money (or at least not yet). Musical satirists Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appear, though most prints are missing a bit from one of their musical numbers: a verse from a song that made fun of Eleanor Roosevelt was clipped after the film's initial engagements. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In his final starring film, bandleader Kay Kyser is cast as bandleader Kay Kyser. Picking up where Kyser's previous RKO Radio film Around the World left off, Columbia's Carolina Blues finds Kay and his band returning to America after a worldwide USO tour. Phineas J. Carver (Victor Moore), the woebegone "black sheep"scion of a powerful family of industrialists, poses as one of his wealthier relatives to persuade Kyser to perform at a defense plant. When Kyser's regular vocalist Georgia Carroll quits the band to get married, Carver's talented daughter Julie (Ann Miller) steps in as replacement. Naturally, Julie is a hit, and equally naturally, she lands Kyser as a husband. Outside of the expected musical numbers (which, in addtion to Kyser's aggregation, feature such artists as The Step Brothers and the Nicholas Brothers) Carolina Blues is highlighted by the bravura performance of Victor Moore, who essays five roles in all. Ironically, singer Georgia Carroll did retire from show business in real life to get married-to Kay Kyser! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The budget for this fine Roy Rogers Western was doubled and the title changed from Starlight on the Trail to the more descriptive King of the Cowboys, mainly due to Rogers' great reception on a personal appearance tour in the fall of 1942. Republic had lost Gene Autry to the war effort and this film, more than any other, brought the heretofore also-ran singing cowboy to the forefront, where he remained through the early '50s. Following the example of Autry, Roy played himself, a rodeo star assigned by the governor, Russell Hicks, to investigate a series of warehouse bombings. With sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) in tow, Roy infiltrates the Merry Makers, a touring tent show whose phony mind reader, Maurice (Gerald Mohr), is the chief operative for a sabotage ring run by the governor's secretary, Kraly (Lloyd Corrigan). But Maurice catches Roy stealing his book of codes and is about to shoot him in cold blood when tent show owner Dave Mason (James Bush) interferes. Maurice then eliminates Mason and frames Roy for the killing but despite this setback, Roy manages to stop the saboteurs before they can blow up a supply train needed in the war effort. An "everything but the kitchen sink" action-thriller, King of the Cowboys came complete with seven songs performed by Rogers, Burnette, and the Sons of the Pioneers, including "Ride, Ranger, Ride," "Roll Along Prairie Moon," and Johnny Mercer's "I'm an Old Cowhand." The film was restored to its full theatrical length by the Roan Group in the late '90s and re-released on a DVD that also features the original theatrical trailer and alternate scenes from a separate version released only to the War Department. In these scenes, Lloyd Corrigan's character is a businessman rather than the governor's secretary, and his Nazi affiliation is more clearly established. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cattleman Gene Autry is put out-to say the least-when he finds out that he's been slickered by crooked purchasing agent Thomas McCoy (Edmund MacDonald). It turns out that McCoy is in debt to bookies, and has been skimming his customers to pay off his gambling losses. Autry hopes to put a stop to all this by going directly to McCoy's boss, Grantley B. Johnson (Thurston Hall), but the Big Guy's office is crammed full of radio agents who hope to persuade Johnson to sponsor their programs. One of these agents is a young lady named Kit Carson (Ruth Terry), whose sample record disc is accidentally broken in the crush. Thus is the main plot briefly put on the back burner as Kit persuades Gene and his ranch-hand pals (the Sons of the Pioneers) to pose as radio crooners to impress Mr. Johnson. Eventually, Call of the Canyon gets back on track with an exciting runaway-buggy climax, but for the most part the film is more musical than western. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No, No, Nanette was the second film version of the popular Otto Harbach-Vincent Youmans Broadway musical. Though slightly updated, the basic plot remains the same, with heroine Nanette (Anna Neagle) entering into a financial arrangement whereby she must answer "No" to every question during a 24-hour period. It's all for the sake of her rogueish uncle (Roland Young), who's heavily in debt thanks to a gaggle of gold-digging chorines. Nanette's task is complicated by her romantic entanglements involving an artist (Richard Carlson) and a flashy theatrical producer (Victor Mature). The songs include "I Want to Be Happy", "Tea for Two" and the title number. Unlike the previous Neagle-RKO Radio-Herbert Wilcox collaboration Irene, No, No, Nanette fizzled at the box office. For many years, the film was withdrawn from circulation because of Warner Bros.' 1950 remake, the Doris Day vehicle Tea for Two. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Renfrew of the Royal Mounted rides again in the Criterion/Monogram "northern" Danger Ahead. There's not a whole lot of plot to speak of, as Renfrew (James Newill) gets involved with a crooked banker (John Dilson) and his raffish henchman (Dick Rich). One of the film's plusses is the presence of comedienne Dorothea Kent as the heroine. Refusing to take herself or the plotline seriously, Kent is a breath of fresh air in the otherwise formula-bound proceedings. Also good for laughs is Al Shaw, formerly of the Shaw & Lee vaudeville team, as a wisecracking janitor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This remake of 1932's Okay America is in many ways superior to the original. George Murphy scores in a rare unsympathetic role as Winchellesque radio columnist Dan Clifford, who doesn't care how many lives he has to destroy in pursuit of a good story. When a young debutante is kidnapped by gangsters, Clifford decides to act as the go-between between the criminals and the victim's parents himself. At first he cares only about outscooping the competition, but the deeper he becomes involved in the case, the more his essential decency seeps through. Still, he must pay for all his past sins, and pay he does in a spectacularly tragic but quite dramatically logical denoument. The stellar supporting cast includes Eduardo Cianelli as a snarling gangster, Dorothea Kent as Clifford's dumb-like-a-fox assistant, and El Brendel as a comedy-relief janitor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Policeman's Ball. For a long time, they have been looking for a voice for their new cartoon feature, "Paddy the Pig," and the cop is just perfect. The policeman is tickled pink at the prospect of being a star and begins telling all his friends about his good fortune (he has no idea what they plan to do with his voice). Eventually he ends up marrying one of the producers, who still hasn't told him the truth. Suddenly the night of the big premiere finally arrives and all of the policeman's old friends and colleagues are there. As it begins, the policeman is appalled and humiliated to see that he has been mocked and has become a laughing stock. He immediately spurns his new wife and goes back to the police force. Time passes, and fortunately, the two reunite and settle their differences. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Goddbye Broadway is wrapped up by two stage & screen veterans, Alice Brady and Charles Winninger. The stars play vaudevillians Molly and Pat Malloy, who are suckered into investing $4000 in a ramschackle New England hotel. After a variety of predictable but amusing complications, the Malloys turn the tables on the sharpsters (Jed Prouty and Frank Jenks) who unloaded the property on them. Radio fans will enjoy seeing comedian Tommy Riggs, whose squeaky-voiced "Betty Lou" alter ego was a major airwaves attraction throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Directed by Leo McCarey's brother Raymond, Goodbye Broadway is based on James Gleason's 1927 stage comedy The Shannons of Broadway, previously filmed in 1929. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Every so often, the delightful Dorothea Kent would break away from dumb-blonde roles to play a "straight" romantic lead. One such instance was Universal's The Last Express, wherein Kent, as Amy Arden, finds herself unwillingly mixed up in a series of murders. At the behest of the district attorney, private detective Duncan MacLain (Kent Taylor) investigates the probability of corruption in high government circles. With his partner Spud (Don Brodie) and subway ticket-taker Amy, MacLain searches for a batch of incriminating documents, stolen right from under the noses of the authorities. Someone is willing to kill to keep these documents from resurfacing, and for a while it looks as though MacLain and his entourage are next on the "hit list". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide