Jack LaRue Movies
American actor Jack LaRue is frequently mistaken for Humphrey Bogart by casual fans. In both his facial features and his choice of roles, LaRue did indeed resemble Bogart, in every respect but one; Bogart became a star, while LaRue remained in the supporting ranks. After stage work in his native New York, LaRue came to Hollywood for his first film, The Mouthpiece, in 1932. For the next few years he played secondary hoodlums (for example, the hot-head hit man in the closing sequences of Night World [1932]) and unsavory lead villains -- never more unsavory than as the sex-obsessed kidnapper in The Story of Temple Drake (1933). LaRue decided to shift gears and try romantic leading roles, but this "new" LaRue disappeared after the Mayfair Studios cheapie, The Fighting Rookie (1934). He was at his most benign as "himself", trading gentle quips with Alice Faye at an outdoor carnival in the MGM all-star short Cinema Circus (1935). Otherwise, it was back to gangsters and thugs, with a few exceptions like his sympathetic role in A Gentleman from Dixie (1941). By the 1940s, LaRue had spent most of his movie savings and was compelled to seek out any work available. Awaiting his cue to appear in a small role on one movie set, LaRue was pointed out to up-and-coming Anne Shirley on a movie set as an example of what happens when a Hollywood luminary doesn't provide for possible future career reverses. Things improved a bit when LaRue moved to England in the late 1940s to play American villains in British pictures. His most memorable appearance during this period was as Slim Grissom in the notorious No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1948) -- a virtual reprisal of his part in The Story of Temple Drake. LaRue worked often in television during the last two decades of his career; in the early 1950s, he was the eerily-lit host of the spooky TV anthology Lights Out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The title may be Bridge of Sighs, but don't expect any location shots of Venice in this Invincible Studios cheapie. Heroine Dorothy Tree tries to protect her brother by confessing to a murder that her sibling might have committed. DA Onslow Stevens is prepared to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, until he senses that Tree is hiding something. Stevens turns amateur sleuth to ferret out the truth. Jack LaRue is around and about to provide his usual sneering menace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Onslow Stevens, Dorothy Tree, (more)
- 1936
Playwright Greg Stone (Reginald Denny) spends most of his spare time at the theater where his latest effort is in rehearsals. Stone's new play is a murder mystery, but the various backstage habitues are every bit as suspicious and sinister as the characters onstage. Sure enough, life imitates art when both of the producers are murdered in a manner strikingly similar to a pair of killings in Stone's play. Naturally, this places our hero under suspicion, forcing him to turn amateur sleuth to track down the real culprit. Evelyn Brent, who like Reginald Denny was a major star in silent pictures, is featured as the victims' feisty secretary, in love with Greg Stone but averse to admitting it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reginald Denny, Evelyn Brent, (more)
- 1936
Musical comedy star Eddie Cantor stars in this story, well suited to his talents, as Eddie Pink, a meek gentleman who works as a tailor and has a terrible crush on Joyce (Ethel Merman), a nightclub singer. Eddie buys a book (through the mail, of course) called Man or Mouse: What Are You?. Taking its advice, he tries to become more confident and assertive, and his new, outgoing personality helps him get a job running an amusement park called Dreamland. But when racketeers move in for a piece of the action on the park's slot machines, he wonders if he's gotten himself in deeper waters than he can safely navigate. Cantor sings four songs in Strike Me Pink, three of them with co-star Merman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, (more)
- 1936
Dancing Pirate was the second feature-length production by Pioneer Pictures, whose earlier effort Becky Sharp was the first three-strip Technicolor feature. Pirate was likewise filmed in the three-strip process, but the film is currently available only in its black-and-white reissue version. London and Broadway musical comedy favorite Charles Collins stars as Jonathan Pride, a mild-mannered dance instructor in 1820 Boston. En route to visit relatives, Jonathan is shanghaied by a band of zany pirates and forced to work as a galley boy. When the pirate vessel arrives at the port of Las Palomas, Jonathan, clad in buccaneer's garb, makes his escape. Everyone in Las Palomas, including Governor Alcalde (Frank Morgan) and fetching senorita Serafina (Steffi Duna), assumes that Jonathan is the pirate chieftain, leading to a series of typical comic-opera complications. Featured in the cast are the Dancing Cansinos, whose daughter Rita Hayworth was just beginning her own screen career. The Rodgers & Hart score, like the film itself, is pretty lackluster, but Charles Collins is a pleasing screen personality who should have gone much farther in movies than he did. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Collins, Frank Morgan, (more)
- 1935
In the wake of Shirley Temple, every Hollywood studio scrambled to find a child star who might possibility match Temple's selling power. Warner Bros.' candidate was South Africa-born Sybil Jason, who starred in several of the studio's short subjects and was headlined in a handful of features like Little Big Shot. Here she is cast as Gloria Gibbs, whose daddy is knocked off by gangsters early in the picture. Left in the care of confidence tricksters Steve Craig (Robert Armstrong) and Mortimer Thompson (Edward Everett Horton), it doesn't take long for Gloria to twist her surrogate "parents" around her little finger. With the help of Steve, Mortimer and lunch-counter waitress Jean (Glenda Farrell), our heroine not only puts the finger on the gang responsible for her father's demise, but collects a huge reward as a result. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sybil Jason, Glenda Farrell, (more)
- 1935
In this drama, a prominent Broadway producer's daughter inherits a fortune when her father dies. Included in the estate is a nightclub managed by an unscrupulous louse who teams up with the sneaky executor to steal her inheritance. Fortunately, after meeting his pretty young victim, the manager changes his tune and decides to help her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Virginia Bruce, (more)
- 1935
In this family comedy, the wealthy executive of a steel company must endure life with a strict, teetotaling wife, a wild daughter, and a deadbeat son. To gain some much needed attention, the lonesome fellow hires a hitman to kill him. Instead, the gunman kidnaps him to frighten the family into appreciating their devoted father. Along the way, the kidnapper begins falling in love with his employer's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leila Hyams, Phillips Holmes, (more)
- 1935
Richard Cromwell stars in Columbia's Men of the Hour as dedicated newsreel cameraman Dave Durkin. When Dave and his shutterbug pal Andy Blane (Wallace Ford) have a falling out over gorgeous Ann Jordan (Billie Seward), Andy retaliates by arranging a frame that will get Dave fired. Disgraced and blacklisted, Dave gets back into the good graces of the newsreel company when he films the assassination of a foreign potentate. The story is for all intents and purposes over at this point, but Columbia decided to "hypo" the last reel by throwing a chase between Dave and the assassins. Appropriately, most of the action highlights in Men of the Hour were culled from stock newsreel footage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Cromwell, Billie Seward, (more)
- 1935
The second of eight low-budget versions of Peter B. Kyne short stories, Hot Off the Press starred Jack LaRue as Bill Jeffry, a reporter who leaves The Evening Call in favor of rival Star Bulletin. When one of the Star's intrepid newsboys, Mickey Karnes (Mickey Rentschler), is attacked, Bill, who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, finds himself falsely accused of the cowardly deed. Investigating the situation with the help of a friendly district attorney (Edward Hearn) and fellow reporter Jimmy (Fuzzy Knight), Bill manages to unmask the real criminal -- Evening Call publisher J.C. (Monte Blue). In return, he wins the love of stenographer Brenda Johnson (Virginia Pine). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1935
The agent of the title is George Brent, a journalist sent by the Government to get the goods on a crime syndicate. Brent befriends Bette Davis, bookkeeper for suspected crime boss Ricardo Cortez. Bette's cooperation nearly costs her life, but both she and Brent manage a tricky escape during a final shoot-out. The IRS busts Cortez' gang on income tax evasion: Can you say "Al Capone"? Special Agent was remade in 1940 as Gambling on the High Seas, with Wayne Morris and Jane Wyman in the leading roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, George Brent, (more)
- 1935
In her first starring role, 18-year-old Ann Rutherford plays Joan, a singer in a cheap waterfront café. Gambling-ship proprietor Ronny (Frank Albertson), on the lam from the police after accidentally shooting a treacherous underling (Grant Withers), falls in love with Joan, and he with her. Under her good influence, he decides to turn himself over to the cops and face the consequences, only to discover that he's been exonerated by his partner McFee (Charles C. Wilson). Ladling on the sentiment with a steam shovel, Waterfront Lady is a lot less hard-boiled than its title suggests. It was also the final feature-film release from Mascot Pictures before that studio merged into Republic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Rutherford, Frank Albertson, (more)
This typically lightning-paced Mascot Studios production stars Heather Angel as the title character, a thrill-seeking socialite named Myrna Van Buren. During a raid on a gambling joint, Myrna witnesses the murder of gambler Johnny Corinti (Theodore Von Eltz). Hoping to get an exclusive story, hotshot reporter Bob Grayson (Roger Pryor) kidnaps Myrna, only to recall a bit too late that she's the daughter of his boss! Bob then dedicates himself to keeping the girl out of the headlines, which proves almost as difficult as protecting her from the murderer. Curiously, though Robert Gleckler is prominently cast as Grayson's city editor, Gleckler's name does not appear in the cast list; however, former Keystone Kop Ford Sterling does receive billing in his last important screen assignment before a leg amputation forced him to retire from films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heather Angel, Roger Pryor, (more)
- 1935
The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system. This last assignment provides the films biggest laughs, as well-connected prison inmates live the Life of Riley while waited upon hand-and-foot by supplicative guards. The Daring Young Man was co-written by real-life newspaper columnist Sidney Skolsky, later one of the most vocal of the "Red-baiters" of the 1940s and 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Mae Clarke, (more)
- 1935
Ellery Queen, the scholarly amateur detective created in 1928 by cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee (who also used "Ellery Queen" as a joint pseudonym), was introduced to the screen in the low-budget mystery The Spanish Cape Mystery. Donald Cook plays Ellery Queen in a low-key, poker-faced fashion, which may not be terribly exciting but is actually closer to the original concept than most of the movie Queens. It all begins when Ellery and his friend Judge Macklin (Berton Churchill), vacationing at a California seaside resort, enter a lavish beach house and find pretty Stella Godfrey (Helen Twelvetrees) tied to a chair. More infuriated than frightened, Stella tells Ellery what the audience has already seen: while spending time with one of her relatives the previous evening, Stella was waylaid by a mysterious gunman (Rychard Cramer), who then knocked out her relative and carried him off into the night. Apparently Stella's relative has been murdered, one of several killings which occur during the film's brief running time. The mystery and motive are solved when Stella permits herself to act as bait for the killer, but the generous Ellery allows local sheriff Moley (Harry Stubbs) to take the credit. Originally released at 65 minutes, The Spanish Cape Mystery was edited to 54 minutes for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Cook, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1935
Venerable character actor Ferdinand Gottschalk dominates the proceedings in the Universal crime meller Secret of the Chateau. The plot is set in motion by a rare Gutenberg bible, much coveted by a variety of thieves and mountebanks. Chief Inspector Marotte (Gottschalk) is anxious to capture an elusive book bandit named Prahec, whom he's never seen but who could be any one of a number of suspects. Practically everyone in the cast converges on the titular chateau, where two murders occur. Methodically, Marotte sifts through the suspects and fingers the killer, who of course is revealed to be mysterious Prahec. Former silent-screen leading lady Alice White provides several amusing moments as an overly flirtatious suspect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Dodd, Clark Williams, (more)
- 1935
Calling All Cars was the title of a popular radio anthology of the mid-1930s, broadcast exclusively on the West Coast. The 1935 film version of Calling All Cars, unlike the series, was not (so far as we can determine) based on an actual case history. The sliver of a plot involves mobile thieves, who spend half the picture hiding out from the highway patrol. Heading the cast is veteran movie-heavy Jack LaRue and singer Lillian Miles. Calling All Cars sputters to a halt whenever anyone stops to deliver a line, but director Spencer Gordon Bennett keeps the wheels spinning during the hectic chase scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1935
In this western-style musical, a rakish gaucho rides off across the Argentine pampas to Buenos Aires in search of his stolen horse. Once there, he soon engages in hot pursuit of a lovely singing señorita. Soon he discovers that her manager just may be the thief he has been looking for. Keep a sharp eye out for a young Rita Cansino (later known as Rita Hayworth) in an early performance as a dance hall girl. Songs include: "Zamba" (Arthur Wynter-Smith), The Gaucho" (Buddy De Sylva, Walter Samuels), "Querida Mia" (Paul Francis Webster, Lew Pollack), "Love Song of the Pampas," "Veredita," and "Je t'Adore" (Miguel de Zarraga, Cyril J. Mockridge). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Ketti Gallian, (more)
- 1935
In this tuneful crime drama, a falsely convicted man escapes from prison and hides out with a comely chorine. She discovers that he has talent and the two become a popular dancing team. Their fast ascent to stardom is stopped in its tracks when the dancer's jealous ex-partner turns the fugitive in. The cops don't seem to care that the fellow is innocent and insist that he complete his sentence. If he serves his sentence quietly, they promise to release him in two years. The dancer vows to wait for him and remains true to her word. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, George Murphy, (more)
- 1935
In this rather black comedy, a nervous office worker goes to a local quack for a check up and learns that he has only three months left to live. The mild-mannered man decides that if he is going to go, he is going to go with gusto. When he finds someone has robbed his boss's safe, he decides to take off after the thieves. His new boldness attracts the attention of another office introvert. Her attentions inspire him to perform even more dangerous feats of daring do. His courage pays off and the badguys are caught. He then wins the girl, and learns that he is in perfect health. The happy couple enjoy a long life together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1935
In the wake of The Thin Man, every studio in Hollywood scrambled to churn out sophisticated mystery-comedies wherein murders are solved by a wealthy, attractive, fun-loving young couple. One of the best of these Thin Man derivations was Universal's Remember Last Night, adapted from Adam Hobhouse's novel Hangover Murders. During a wild cocktail party at the Long Island estate of Tony and Carlotta Milburn (Robert Young and Constance Cummings), one of the guests is murdered. It does not help at all that the revellers were too drunk to remember exactly what happened -- nor is it beneficial to the case that Detective Danny Harrison (Edward Arnold) is a personal friend of all the suspects. In addition, no one but Harrison seems willing to take the case seriously, though of course eventually Tony and Carlotta are obliged to do a bit of sleuthing on their own. The light-hearted aspects of the film are offset by moments of genuine terror, notably the scene in which Professor Jones (Gustav von Seyffertitz) attempts to solve the mystery by hypnotizing the suspects, only to become a victim himself when he gets too close to the truth. An unbilled E.E. Clive provides some great black-humor moments as a police photographer who prefers to "artfully" arrange the corpses. As always, director James Whale invests his material with several of his visual trademarks, including his fascination with elaborate set decorations. There are probably more off-angle close-ups of fancy wall clocks in this picture than in any other Hollywood film -- and how about that cocktail bar in the Milburn's living room, designed in the shape of a yacht? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Arnold, Constance Cummings, (more)
- 1934
Based on John Golden's stage play Four Walls, MGM's Straight is the Way offers the monumentally miscast Franchot Tone as tough ex-convict Benny Horowitz, who announces his plans to go straight. This warms the heart of Benny's Jewish mama (May Robson), but his ex-moll Shirley (Gladys George) is unable to join in the happiness, since she is now the mistress of Italian gang boss Monk (Jack LaRue). Despite his efforts to stay out of trouble, Benny is required to bump off Monk before he can lead a clean life. Meanwhile, nominal heroine Bertha (Karen Morley), Benny's stepsister, pines away of unrequited love. The original Four Walls had starred Paul Muni, who was certainly better suited to the ethnicity of the piece than the markedly WASPish Franchot Tone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franchot Tone, May Robson, (more)
- 1934
A story by Earl Derr Biggers, of Charlie Chan fame, was the springboard for the Monogram melodrama Take the Stand. An abrasive Winchell-type columnist (Jack LaRue) manages to accumulate dozens of enemies, at least one of whom has murder on the mind. While many of the victims of the journalist's vitriol are gathered in his outer office, he is heard delivering his nightly radio broadcast, when suddenly he cries "Don't shoot" -- and a shot is fired. The detective (Russell Hopton) can't figure out "who done it" since all the suspects have air-tight alibis: nor can he run a ballistics test, since there isn't any bullet. The solution to the mystery is one which would be recycled numerous times in the future, most memorably by the Dick Tracy comic strip. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thelma Todd, Gail Patrick, (more)
- 1934
In this drama, two carneys, a card-sharp, and a peep-show performer, find themselves booted out of the show and decide to team up--platonically. They immediately get adjoining rooms in a hotel. Though the huckster constantly tries to romance the girl, she demurely rejects him. He comes to respect that; and she eventually comes to respect him, despite his tough-guy posturing. Together they try to eke out a living, but eventually, both are arrested: he for purse-snatching, and she for a past offense. In court the card-player staunchly defends the girl. The judge is so moved, that he drops all charges and marries the two. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Fredric March, (more)
- 1934
German actress Dorothea Wieck, who achieved international fame in Maedchen in Uniform, was given a brief shot at Hollywood stardom in 1933 and 1934. Miss Fane's Baby is Stolen stars Ms. Wieck as an actress whose child (Baby LeRoy) is kidnapped. As Wieck takes to the radio to beg for her boy's safe return, the abductors cover their trail by disguising the kid with black hair dye. Farm wife Alice Brady, who gives the impression of being a little light in the belfry, saves the day when she tumbles to the kidnappers' deception. Based on the recent Lindbergh kidnapping, Miss Fane's Baby is Stolen did absolutely nothing to advance the reputation of Dorothea Wieck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothea Wieck, Alice Brady, (more)
- 1934
After being framed in a warehouse robbery, a police officer goes undercover as a drunk in order to get the goods on the real culprit in this low-budget affair from Mayfair Pictures Corp. starring Jack La Rue. Arriving at the resort owned and operated by the suspect in the warehouse case, Louis Cantor (Matthew Betz), Officer Jim Trent (La Rue) pretends to be drunk and disorderly and is arrested during a police raid on the premises. Jim's fiancée, Molly (Ada Ince), and best friend, Turner Bates (Arthur Belasco), do their best to rescue the rowdy former policeman, not realizing that he is working undercover and is in constant communication with the police commissioner (DeWitt Jennings). Believing in Jim's subterfuge, Cantor hires him to get rid of the pesky Turner, but with the help of Molly, who has discovered his real purpose, Jim is able to arrest the gang leader and is reinstated in the police force. Most of the talent involved with this potboiler -- from producer Lester F. Scott Jr. to director Spencer Gordon Bennet to leading lady Ada Ince -- were better known for their contribution to Grade-Z Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
