Lynn Bari Movies

Virtually everybody except President Roosevelt was in the lavish MGM backstage musical Dancing Lady. Joan Crawford stars as Janie Barlow, an impoverished dancer reduced to working in a seedy Manhattan burlesque house. While on a slumming party with his society friend, wealthy young Tod Newton (Franchot Tone) spots Janie in the burleycue chorus line and immediately falls in love with her. When the joint is raided, Tod pays Janie's bail, but she resists his entreaties to become his mistress, promising instead to pay back every cent she owes him "honestly." With Tod's help, Janie is able to secure work in a big-time Broadway musical being staged by Patch Gallegher (Clark Gable), who is certain that the girl is an untalented opportunist and does everything he can to sabotage her audition. When he realizes that the girl "has something," he refuses to admit it but does, grudgingly, hire her for the show. Through a combination of skill and damned hard work, Janie ends up as the star of the show, whereupon Tod, worried that he'll lose the girl to the Great White Way, buys the show and promptly closes it. But Janie, who's fallen in love with Patch, teams with her new sweetheart to restage the show with their own meager savings -- and surprise of surprises, it's a smash hit. Truly an embarrassment of riches, Dancing Lady introduced Fred Astaire to the movie-going public, solidified the popularity of MGM's new tenor Nelson Eddy, and offered a wide berth for the comedy antics of Ted Healy and his Three Stooges -- Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine (Larry, performing his role in a Jewish dialect, has a wonderful double-take bit with a jigsaw puzzle which turns out to be a portrait of Adolf Hitler). As a bonus, the film offers spectacular musical production numbers, not to mention the enduring song hit "Everything I Have is Yours." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on an idea by Will Rogers, the story concerns the efforts by the President of the United States to get the public's mind off the Depression. To this end, he appoints Broadway impresario Lawrence Cromwell (Warner Baxter) to the new cabinet position of "Secretary of Amusement." Wasting no time, Cromwell sets about to nationalize the entertainment industry, organizing singers, dancers, actors and other variety artists into batallion-like touring units. Cromwell is fought at every turn by a cartel of wealthy industrialists, who've been profiting from the Depression and have no desire to see America pull itself upward. Happily, every effort to bribe or cajole Cromwell into giving up his mission is thwarted and the Department of Amusement goes on to help the the country at a time when its citizens most needed it. Among the highlights are an energetic "revival-meeting" musical number by Aunt Jemima (Theresa Gardella), and 6-year-old Shirley Temple's rendition of "Baby Take a Bow." Originally released at 80 minutes, Stand Up and Cheer was edited to 69 minutes for reissue, then to 65 minutes (removing most of Stepin Fetchit's scenes) for television: it was this last version which was computer-colorized in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The old British musical-hall ditty "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" provides the title for this lightweight Ronald Colman vehicle. Colman, playing a refugee Russian prince, is the "man" in question, and the owners of the "broken bank"--that is, the proprietors of the Monte Carlo casino where Colman scored the big win--are anxious to get their money back. They dispatch the beautiful Joan Bennett to lure Colman back into the casino. He falls for her and loses his winnings in the process, but she has pangs of remorse when she learns that Colman had been gambling on behalf of his impoverished countrymen. Bennett joins Colman as he merrily heads off to chase another rainbow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Doubting Thomas is the 1935 film version of George Kelly's satirical comedy The Torch Bearers, tailored for the talents of Will Rogers. Billie Burke, Will's wife, becomes so involved in a local amateur theatre group that she has no time for her husband. In retaliation, Will pretends to "go Hollywood," proving that he is stage-struck by doing an extended imitation of Bing Crosby. The film's highlight is the "opening night" scene, a cornucopia of missed cues, inappropriate costumes and collapsing scenery. An earlier, silent version of The Torch Bearers has unfortunately been lost to the ages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Broadway producer George White, who was the title character of 1934's George White's Scandals, heads for Florida following his latest hit. He makes it to Georgia where he sees an advertisement for a show called White's Scandals. Suspicious, he attends and learns that it is a hodge-podge variety show put on by another fellow named White. The show isn't very good but for the talent of its star, a beautiful singer. He is deeply impressed and hires her to headline his next show in New York. Well, just having only one of the entertainers come just won't do and George ends up taking an entire entourage including the Georgia White and the singer's love-interest. Still it's for the best and the New York production is a tremendous success. Things go well until a seductress shows up and steals the singer's beau. This creates personal friction that reflects in their performances. Things get sticky for awhile and it looks as if the show is going to fall apart until the singer's peach of an aunt shows up and puts it all back together. Eleanor Powell makes her screen debut as the troublesome vamp. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ladies in Love transplants 20th Century-Fox's favorite film plot--three girls on the prowl for rich husbands--into the Budapest of the mid-1930s. Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young and Constance Bennett combine their earnings to rent a luxurious apartment, in hopes of attracting wealthy potential husbands. Young falls for a nobleman (Tyrone Power), who is engaged to another woman. She contemplates taking poison, but the lethal dose is accidentally ingested by Gaynor, whose plight results in a house call from Dr. Don Ameche, whom Gaynor has worshipped from afar. It is Bennett who snags the wealthy husband, middle-aged businessman Wilfred Lawson. Though Tyrone Power's part was small, he clicked immediately with the audiences, prompting the studio to give Power the big buildup. Ladies in Love would be reworked several times in the future, most obviously as How to Marry a Millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first of 20th Century-Fox's college musicals, Pigskin Parade is also close to the best of them in musical terms -- though they were all at least pretty good on that level -- principally thanks to the presence of 13-year-old Judy Garland, playing an Arkansas farm girl with surprising sincerity and success (in addition to belting out a couple of numbers with the depth and sincerity of a performer at least twice that age). The plot starts rolling when the Yale University football team, looking for a credible but not too tough opponent for a charity game, accidentally invites the team from tiny Tesax State University (enrollment 700) instead of the University of Texas (enrollment 7500). Texas State has also just gotten a new football coach, Slug Winters (Jack Haley), who's had a lot of success coaching high school back in Flushing, New York but still has to prove himself with college players -- he arrives with his brassy, outspoken wife (Patsy Kelly) just ahead of the invitation from Yale, which nearly sends them running back to New York. Through sheer luck and Mrs. Winters' brainstorm, however, they figure out a way they can meet the Yale team on the field and not get steamrollered -- they come up with a fast, highly mobile brand of football that makes them contenders, but then they lose their star-player. Mrs. Winters manages to stumble onto Amos Dodd (Stuart Erwin), an Arkansas farm boy who developed his arm by tossing watermelons around, and brings him and his sister (Judy Garland) to the college. But now they have to make Amos -- who never finished high school -- eligible, and keep him interested enough in the team and the college to get him to the game. It's all a lot of fun, with lots of comic antics and a song spicing up the pace every few minutes, and Haley and Kelly are a delight to watch together. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a girl whose father was murdered by gangsters wants to marry into a rich family. Her fiance's mother hates the idea, but consents to the marriage so that she can break it up later. However, she changes her mind about the whole thing when it is revealed that her other son was involved with the murder. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Based on fact, this turn-of-the-century crime drama stars Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck (husband and wife at the time). Taylor plays a seemingly disreputable young man who joins a gang of murderous bank robbers, headed by Victor McLaglen. Stanwyck is a beer-hall entertainer, who disapproves of Taylor's activities and tries to reform him. She needn't bother: Taylor is in reality an undercover detective, on a top secret mission for President William McKinley. So anxious is Taylor to bring McLaglen to justice that he allows himself to be convicted of murder. The agent is confident that the president will keep him from hanging--but McKinley is assassinated before he can intervene. Stanwyck rescues Taylor by pleading his case with McKinley's successor, Teddy Roosevelt (Sidney Blackmer). The plot of This is My Affair was impressive enough to inspire at least one imitation: Night Riders, a 1939 Republic western wherein the martyred president who shares the hero's secret is James A. Garfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A strong-willed young man creates a rift with his father when turns down a safe position in the family business and becomes a traveling musician. Eventually he returns to his father's ad agency to settle down, but he proves to be a trouble maker. When he falls in love with the daughter of his father's biggest professional rival and both companies start fighting over a lucrative pickle account, things really turn topsy-turvy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Slightly reminiscent of Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde (31), this screwball comedy features those two stalwarts of 1930s comedies: The brash reporter and the giddy heiress. Tyrone Power is the reporter, who makes his living writing about the foibles of the idle rich. His special target is heiress Loretta Young, the daughter of an influential financier (Dudley Digges). Young gets even by announcing her engagement to Power; now it's his turn to have his every movement scrutinized by the Public. Both reporter and heiress connive to embarrass one another, but (as expected) they're headed for the altar at fadeout time. Love is News was remade in 1949 as That Wonderful Urge, with Tyrone Power reprising his role and Gene Tierney in the Loretta Young part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Baroness, daughter of the Hungarian prime minister, is played by Annabella. The Butler, last of a long line of family retainers, is played by William Powell. The butler works for the baroness' father, and the relationship between baroness and butler is outwardly chilly but subliminally affectionate. The butler, something of a political activist, becomes leader of the party opposing the prime minister. The baroness despises her "hired man" for defying her father, but gradually realizes that she is in love with the butler. Steadfastly avoiding any hint of the German expansionism that would ultimately engulf the real-life Hungary, The Baroness and the Butler is fast if forgettable entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Horse racing provides the framework of this crime drama that centers on an orphan who has been raising a promising horse. The trouble begins when the trainer who employs him sells the beast to the police department and ends its racing career forever. The angry boy begins investigating and with the help of an amiable officer discovers that gamblers were behind the sale. Now the boy and the cop begin plotting to bring the horse back to the track. In the end, the whole police department wagers on the horse. Unfortunately, the gamblers attempt to sabotage the race. Fortunately they fail and justice ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide