Vince Barnett Movies
Vince Barnett was the son of Luke Barnett, a well-known comedian who specialized in insulting and pulling practical jokes on his audiences (Luke's professional nickname was "Old Man Ribber"). Vince remained in the family business by hiring himself out to Hollywood parties, where he would insult the guests in a thick German accent, spill the soup and drop the trays--all to the great delight of hosts who enjoyed watching their friends squirm and mutter "Who hired that jerk?" The diminutive, chrome-domed Barnett also appeared in the 1926 edition of Earl Carroll's Vanities. He began appearing in films in 1930, playing hundreds of comedy bits and supporting parts until retiring in 1975. Among Vince Barnett's more sizeable screen roles was the moronic, illiterate gangster "secretary" in Scarface (1931). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
PRC Pictures' final 1941 release was the auto-racing melodrama Blonde Comet. Virginia Vale stars as female race-car champion Betty Blake, the toast of the European racing circuit. Upon arriving in America, Betty finds she has a staunch rival in the form of devilishly handsome Jim Flynn (Robert Kent). The plot hinges on Jim's attempts to design a powerful new carburator, the efforts of the villain to scuttle this invention, and Jim and Betty's inevitable romance. Veteran racer Barney Oldfield appears as himself, delivering a appealingly amateurish performance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Vale, Robert Kent, (more)
Buster Crabbe is a doctor, accompanying a shipment of fever serum to a remote jungle village. The ship is torpedoed by a U-Boat. Crabbe and his girlfriend Sheila D'Arcy are marooned on a small island. When D'Arcy falls ill to jungle fever, Crabbe heroically dives into the ocean to retrieve the serum. Its adventure quotient aside, Jungle Man has all the production expertise of an 8-millimeter home movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1941
The girl is stenographer Dot Duncan (Lucille Ball); the guy is her boss, stuffy young shipping magnate Stephen Herrick (Edmond O'Brien); and the gob is a brash sailor known as Coffee Cup (George Murphy). Not surprisingly, the plot involves the efforts by the self-effacing Stephen and the self-confident Coffee Cup to woo and win the lovely Dot. And that's about all the "story" there is; the rest of the picture is jam-packed with round-robin comic misunderstandings and wild slapstick setpieces. A Girl, a Guy and a Gob was one of two RKO Radio films produced by silent-screen great Harold Lloyd, who reportedly dropped in on the set from time to time to offer a bit of sage comedy advice (note the "handkerchief" bit utlized by Edmond O'Brien; it had previously done service in Lloyd's own Welcome Danger). Not as big a moneymaker as Harold's starring features of the 1920s, the RKO film nonetheless turned a tidy profit for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1941
Dangerous Game was a 61-minute entry in the off-and-on Universal "B" adventure series starring Richard Arlen and Andy Devine. The emphasis is on laughs as the pair infiltrate a suspicious lunatic asylum. Amidst the genuine assorted nuts (all of whom behave "cuckoo" in 2-reel comedy fashion) are several perfectly sane criminals, using the asylum as headquarters. Arlen and Devine rout out the crooks, winning a huge cache of money in so doing. Jeanne Kelly, who later enjoyed a brief leading-lady career as Jean Brooks, provides the heart interest in A Dangerous Game. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, (more)
- 1940
A fast-paced, enjoyable entry in the long-running Three Mesqueteers Western series, Heroes of the Saddle featured the three cowboy pals promising to look after Peggy Bell (Patsy Lee Parsons), the little daughter of mortally wounded rodeo champ Montana (Kermit Maynard). Legal technicalities, however, halt the adoption proceeding and Stony (Robert Livingston), Rusty (Raymond Hatton), and Rico (Duncan Renaldo) can only watch as the little girl is placed in the county orphanage. On a visit, the Mesqueteers discover that Peggy has been injured and Melloney the superintendent (sour-faced Byron Foulger) claims that the institution cannot pay for the necessary treatment. Stony wins the amount in a boxing match against "Killer" McCulley (Jack Roper), only to learn that Melloney is threatening the child to keep quiet about something. The "something" is the fact that Melloney and county supervisor Crone (William Royle) are not only mistreating the children in their care but cooking the books as well. Aided by a pretty nurse, Ruth Miller (Loretta Weaver of the Weaver hillbilly act), the Mesqueeters "kidnap" Peggy and the other kids and bring them to their spacious ranch. There is a final shootout before the three heroes can round up the gang and celebrate the election of a new county supervisor, nurse Ruth. A comic highlight of this Western has Duncan Renaldo pretending to be a department store dummy in order to fool drunken watchman Al Taylor. Heroes of the Saddle was one of the final films of ace villain William Royle, who later that year would appear in perhaps his best-remembered role as Sir Neyland Smith in the serial Drums of Fu Manchu (1940). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Set in the South Seas, Seven Sinners stars Marlene Dietrich as a cabaret singer whose reputation as a troublemaker has gotten her kicked out of one port of call after another. Once more causing a riot, Dietrich takes refuge on the first ship out, together with her underhanded cohorts Broderick Crawford and Mischa Auer. During her next stopover at the Seven Sinners Cafe, Dietrich meets handsome Naval officer John Wayne. He falls in love with her, much to the consternation of island governor Samuel S. Hinds, who knows that any romantic entanglement with Dietrich invariably results in dissension, disarray and brawls. He tells her to lay off Wayne or she'll be deported. But Dietrich insists upon performing one last song for the Duke...and sure as shootin', a battle royal ensues. This time, however, Wayne works tirelessly behind the scenes to solve everyone's problems. Maintaining the fascination level of Seven Sinners is a limitless array of top character actors, including Oscar Homolka, Billy Gilbert, Albert Dekker and Reginald Denny. The film was remade in 1950 as South Sea Sinner, starring Shelley Winters and--are you holding on to something?--Liberace. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, (more)
Police detective Pat O'Day (Leon Ames) involves himself with a gang of slum kids led by Dutch Kuhn (Hally Chester) and Danny Dolan (Harris Berger). He tries to keep them from getting into trouble and to help out Danny, whose brother, Knuckles Dolan (Dave "Tex" O'Brien), is about to be executed for a murder allegedly committed as part of his involvement in a counterfeiting ring. O'Day knows Knuckles, having tried to keep him on the right side of the law, and knows that he couldn't have done the shooting, regardless of the circumstantial evidence, because Knuckles resolutely refused to carry a gun -- the real killer is the gang leader, Mileaway (Dennis Moore), a smooth-talker who earned his nickname through his knack for always being "a mile away" whenever a crime is committed by his gang. O'Day not only wants to catch Mileaway, but tries to keep the teenagers from falling in with the hood. When the detective starts to get too close, Mileaway sets him up for a brutality charge using crooked shop owner Schmidt, and gets O'Day busted back to uniformed patrolman. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Ames, Dennis Moore, (more)
In their second Monogram caper, Knuckles (Dave O'Brien) and the East Side Kids (Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Sunshine Sammy Morrison, et al.) are on their way to camp in the Adirondacks when they offer a lift to Judge Parker (Forrest Taylor) and his ward Louise (Inna Gest), who are having car trouble. Much to the boys' derision, the judge is the very same who wrongly convicted Knuckles in the previous film. And if that isn't enough, the learned jurist's secluded mansion proves to be in the haunted house category complete with sliding panels, hidden passageways, and a deranged housekeeper (Minerva Urecal). When the judge is found murdered and his ward missing, henchmen Giles (Denny Moore) and Simp (Vince Barnett) naturally accuse Knuckles, who has a motive but no alibi. In their bumbling search for the judge's missing ward, the boys stumble across a prowling detective (Alden Chase), however, and the real culprit is soon unmasked to be none other than -- well, suffice it to say, the killer is the least likely candidate, the East Side Kids, Louise, and Knuckles not included. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, (more)
- 1939
In her final of three "singing cowgirl" Westerns for low-budget Grand National, Dorothy Page learns that her neighbors, the Harkinses, have been murdered. Only young Billy Harkins (Dix Davis) was spared in the massacre and soon a bandit also takes a shot at poor Billy. Hooking up with handsome drifter Dick Williams Dave O'Brien and Billy's uncle Rex (Paul Barrett), Dorothy discovers that the killings were ordered by crooked attorney Joe Tolen (Stanley Price), who is after his neighbors' gold-rich land. Held hostage by a desperate Gunhand Garrick (Warner P. Richmond) -- Tolen's chief lieutenant -- Billy, Rex, and Tolen's innocent niece Nora (Dorothy Short) are saved in the nick of time by Dorothy and Dick, who have discovered that they are in love. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Page, Dave "Tex" O'Brien, (more)
- 1939
In what must have seemed like a good idea at the time, Grand National pictures attempted to build a series of westerns around a singing cowgirl, played by Dorothy Page. In Ride 'Em Cowgirl, Page acquits herself nicely as Helen Rickson, who tries to combat the villains all by her lonesome. Though she is helped along by muscular barbed-wire lineman Oliver Shea (played by character actor Milton Frome in a rare romantic lead), it is clear that Helen is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The studio's advertising copy claimed that Dorothy Page did all her own stunts, from roping to riding to shooting, and from the looks of things this was a true assertion. That Ride 'Em Cowgirl was not a particularly good western didn't seem to concern anybody at the studio, which quickly churned out two additional Dorothy Page vehicles, Water Rustlers and (what else?) The Singing Cowgirl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Page, Milton Frome, (more)
Exile Express was the last film produced by Grand National Pictures, and a worthy farewell it was. Anna Sten, former Sam Goldwyn protegee and the wife of Exile Express producer Eugene Frenke, stars as Nadine Nikolas, a young European girl whose chances of becoming an American citizen are scotched when she is implicated in a murder. About to be deported, Nadine is rescued by reporter Steve Reynolds (Alan Marshall), who suspects that the killing was engineered by a gang of international spies. One delightful scene permits the haughty Ms. Sten to "let herself go" by dancing an energetic jitterbug. Directed by Universal contractee Otis Garrett, Exile Express is a satisfying blend of comedy, romance, and edge-of-the-seat suspense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Sten, Alan Marshal, (more)
- 1939
The first of Coronado Pictures' three "Singing Cowgirl" Westerns, Water Rustlers stars Dorothy Page as rancher Shirley Martin who goes on the offence when her suit against Robert Weylan (Stanley Price) is dismissed for a lack of witnesses. Weylan, who has dammed up the local Silver Creak for his own selfish purposes, is oblivious to the hardships suffered by the local ranchers and has been using threats of bodily harm to silence the opposition. With the law failing to protect them, Shirley and new foreman Bob Lawson (Dave O'Brien) have only one option left: to take matters into their own hands. In a rare quiet moment, Dorothy Page sings "I Feel at Home in the Saddle," "When a Cowboy Sings a Dogie Lullaby," and "Let's Go on Like This Forever," all with words and music by Al Sherman, Walter Kent, and Milton Drake. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Page, Dave "Tex" O'Brien, (more)
- 1939
Robert Emmett Tansey, production supervisor and head writer on Monogram's Jack Randall Westerns, had the gall this time around to outright plagiarize John Ford's newly released Stagecoach (1939). Like John Wayne in Ford's masterpiece, Jack Randall found himself boarding a stagecoach after having his horse shot out from under him. The coach is already occupied by Mary, a saloon belle (Jean Joyce, aka Claire Rochelle), a whiskey salesman (George Cleveland), and Duke (Dennis Moore), an outlaw. By the time Jack and the passengers arrive in town, Tansey mercifully stops imitating Ford long enough to craft a none too spectacular story of Randall attempting to persuade Miss Joyce from working for Polini (Tristram Coffin, sporting the worst "foreign" accent this side of Buck Jones), whom he suspects of heading a counterfeiting ring. As it turns out, both Mary and the whiskey salesman are undercover agents and the greedy Polini is turned over to a gang of Indians, one of whom he once murdered. No one apparently complained about Tansey plagiarizing John Ford (not to mention screenwriter Dudley Nichols) and Overland Mail was dismissed as just another low-budget Western released on the lower half of double bills. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vince Barnett, Jean Joyce, (more)
- 1939
In this domestic comedy, a social climbing wife inadvertently creates trouble when she insists that her husband invite a renowned financier, who is new in town, to their house for dinner. Her husband doesn't know the man, and is too intimidated to ask him; instead, he hires an actor to play him. At dinner, the husband soon discovers that the "actor" is in reality the man who robbed the bank that very day. The cops are called and the crook is hauled away. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Venable, Grant Mitchell, (more)
- 1938
A woman is brutally strangled and her body stuffed into a suitcase in this otherwise rather frivolous low-budget thriller. The unfortunate woman is one Myra Duryea (Polly Ann Young), who has discovered that her husband Clark (Theodore von Eltz) and his equally unsavory brother Victor (Edward Emerson) are not the law-abiding jewelry salesmen they present themselves to be, but a couple of crooks. Arriving in San Francisco on the very day of the murder, Myra's sister, Gloria Watkins (Elaine Shepard), is told by Clark that his wife simply upped and left. Gloria's new friend, police officer turned cab driver Eddie Barton (Norman Foster), smells a rat, however, and begins an investigation. In desperation, Clark and Victor frame the nosy cabby in their next heist but Eddie manages to elude the law long enough to rescue an imperiled Gloria and bring the thieves to justice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Foster, Elaine Shepard, (more)
- 1937
We're in the Legion Now stars two veterans of the silent screen, Reginald Denny and Esther Ralston, both of whom were old enough to know better. Denny and comedian Vince Barnett play Dan and Spike, a couple of American gangsters who use the Foreign Legion as a hideout. Amazingly, the two crooks end up as heroes by blowing up an enemy garrison -- or perhaps it's not so amazing, since they utilize mob tactics to pull off this act of bravado. Though billed second, Esther Ralston has relatively little to do in comparison to the film's other leading ladies Eleanor Hunt and Claudia Dell (both graduates of the "B"-western mills). The film's only distinction is that it was shot in Hirlacolor, an inexpensive but eye-pleasing color process named in honor of producer George A. Hirliman (most existing prints are in black and white). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reginald Denny, Esther Ralston, (more)
- 1937
The first entry in a proposed series of six Westerns starring Ken Maynard and produced for Grand National by M.H. Hoffman, Boots of Destiny featured a script written for Hoffman's previous star, Hoot Gibson. Maynard, whose personality was far removed from the lackadaisical Gibson, played Ken Crawford, a cowboy getting himself involved in a range feud between the Mexican Vascos and the Yankee Wilsons. Hired by Alice Wilson (Claudia Dell), Ken and sidekick Acey Ducey (Vince Barnett) discover that the Wilson foreman, Harmon (Edward Cassidy), is the brains behind a series of cattle rustlings. Harmon attempts to get rid of Ken by framing him in a killing, but the cowboy escapes and saves Alice from both the raiding Vascos and Harmon. A rather downbeat Western featuring a tired-looking Claudia Dell, Boots of Destiny came to life only when Maynard and his horse, Tarzan, performed part of their circus act. Maynard broke his foot prior to filming and was forced to wear a special boot enlarged to accommodate his plaster cast. This less than pleasant situation made the often difficult star even more so and after Trailin' Trouble (1937), Hoffman gave up and sold Maynard's contract to the Alexander brothers, Max and Arthur. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Claudia Dell, (more)
Bank Alarm was one of four low-budget but high-entertainment crime melodramas starring Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt as Federal agents Alan O'Connor and Bobbie Reynolds. On this occasion, the two G-people are on the trail of a gang of desperate bank robbers. Making their job slightly easier is the fact that the crooks are leaving behind a trail of counterfeit money. Unfortunately, they're also leaving a trail of corpses, meaning that Alan and Bobbie had better get a move on before someone else gets bumped off. Bank Alarm was the last of the Nagel-Hunt crime series, all of which were produced by the financially canny George A. Hirliman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Nagel, Eleanor Hunt, (more)
- 1937
Director Anatole Litvak's first Hollywood film was a remake of his French success L'Equipage, itself based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. Paul Muni stars as Maury, an unorthodox, abrasive WWI fighter-pilot whose skill in the air is compromised by his inability to get along with his colleagues and subordinates. His wife Denise (Miriam Hopkins) loves Maury in her fashion but cheats on him in favor of younger, handsomer flyboy Jean (Louis Hayward). This romantic triangle is settled not in the boudoir but in the air, during a particularly tense "dogfight." Though The Woman I Love often copies L'Equipage scene for scene (even retaining the original musical score by Arthur Honegger and Maurice Thiriet), the ending of the remake is markedly different from that of the original, obviously to appease the more stringent Hollywood censors. The film's title was obviously chosen to cash in on a similar sentiment expressed by Britain's King Edward VII when he abdicated from his throne for the sake of his American wife; perhaps this was why The Woman I Love was retitled The Woman Between in Great Britain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Muni, Miriam Hopkins, (more)
A Star is Born came into being when producer David O. Selznick decided to tell a "true behind-the-scenes" story of Hollywood. The truth, of course, was filtered a bit for box-office purposes, although Selznick and an army of screenwriters based much of their script on actual people and events. Janet Gaynor stars as Esther Blodgett, the small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood stardom, a role later played by both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 remakes. Jeered at by most of her family, Esther finds an ally in her crusty old grandma (May Robson), who admires the girl's "pioneer spirit" and bankrolls Esther's trip to Tinseltown. On arrival, Esther heads straight to Central Casting, where a world-weary receptionist (Peggy Wood), trying to let the girl down gently, tells her that her chances for stardom are about one in a thousand. "Maybe I'll be that one!" replies Esther defiantly. Months pass: through the intervention of her best friend, assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), Esther gets a waitressing job at an upscale Hollywood party. Her efforts to "audition" for the guests are met with quizzical stares, but she manages to impress Norman Maine (Fredric March), the alcoholic matinee idol later played by James Mason and Kris Kristofferson. Esther gets her first big break in Norman's next picture and a marriage proposal from the smitten Mr. Maine. It's a hit, but as Esther (now named Vicki)'s star ascends, Norman's popularity plummets due to a string of lousy pictures and an ongoing alcohol problem. The film won Academy Awards for director William Wellman and Robert Carson in the "original story" category and for W. Howard Greene's glistening Technicolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, (more)
- 1936
Dancing Feet stars Joan Marsh as Judy, a society deb who lands a job as a dime-a-dance girl to spite her wealthy grandfather (Purnell Pratt). While her fiancé Peyton (Ben Lyon) stews, Judy strikes up a friendship with Jimmy (Eddie Nugent), a bellhop who aspires to become a vaudeville dancer. Judy and Jimmy enjoy success as a dance team, falling in love as an afterthought. As for Peyton, he finds consolation with Judy's brassy friend Mabel (Isabel Jewell). The musical highlights in Dancing Feet include a specialty number by Nick Condos of the Condos Brothers (and future husband of comedienne Martha Raye). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Lyon, Joan Marsh, (more)
- 1936
Having peaked as a big-studio leading man, Conrad Nagel accepted a brief contract at cost-conscious Pacific Pictures in 1936. Yellow Cargo is the first of the quartet, with Nagel costarring with Eleanor Hunt as a dog-and-cat team of government agents. Their job is to halt the activities of a gang of smugglers specializing in Chinese aliens (catch that bad-taste title!), which operates under the cover of a movie studio. The film provides intriguing backstage glimpses at Grand National Studios (formerly Educational Pictures), with a few picturesque side trips to Catalina Island. The remaining pictures in the Conrad Nagel/Eleanor Hunt "G Man" series were Navy Spy, The Gold Racket and Bank Alarm (all 1937). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Nagel, Eleanor Hunt, (more)
- 1936
Set in the scenic South Seas, this high-seas adventure centers on a sailor who creates all kinds of trouble when he tells a whopper about having found a great Spanish treasure. Soon he finds himself and his girlfriend pursued by a colorful assortment of treasure-seeking pirates. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Houston, Marian Nixon, (more)
- 1936
In its first few years of existence, Republic Pictures evinced an eagerness to tackle any sort of offbeat subject. The studio's Down to the Sea has to be one of the only films of the 1930s to concentrate on a pair of Greek sponge fishermen. Played by Russell Hardie and Ben Lyon, the heroes battle over the affections of Ann Rutherford, whose father controls much of Florida's sponge industry. The climactic scenes benefit from the fine location and underwater photography, courtesy of cinematographer Harry Neumann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russell Hardie, Ben Lyon, (more)
The MGM historical "spectacular" San Francisco was allegedly based on a three-sentence synopsis, submitted verbally to producer B.F. Zeidman by studio troubleshooter Bob Hopkins. The story begins on the Barbary Coast on New Year's Eve, 1906, as rakish but likeable political boss Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) hires demure young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) to perform at his rowdy Paradise gambling house. Local priest Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy), Blackie's best friend, disapproves of the exploitation of the lovely Mary, feeling that she's suited for classier surroundings. Jack Hurley (Jack Holt), Nob Hill socialite and Blackie's political rival, agrees with Father Mullin and offers the girl the opportunity to sing with the San Francisco Opera. Blackie, who's fallen in love with Mary but won't admit it to himself, jealously holds on to her contract, forcing Mary to walk out on him. For the rest of the film, Mary is torn between the "respectable" lifestyle offered her by Hurley and the baser creature comforts provided by Blackie. It looks for a while that Hurley has won out, but fate takes a hand in the form of the devastating San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906 (a special effects tour de force for art directors Arnold Gillespie and his uncredited associate James Basevi). Hurley is killed in the holocaust, while Blackie, desperately searching for Mary in the rubble, at long last finds religion and prays to God for his sweetheart's salvation. At the end, an unidentified bit player shouts defiantly "We'll build a new San Francisco!" -- and by golly, they do! The Hollywood censors were not so much bothered by the sexual subtext of San Francisco or its harrowing earthquake finale as they were by a scene in which Father Mullin is knocked down by an unrepentant Blackie. To "purify" this potentially blasphemous sequence, screenwriter Anita Loos quickly added an earlier scene in which Mullin and Blackie, both dressed in turtleneck sweaters, genially duke it out at an exercise gym, whereupon the priest cold-cocks Blackie with the greatest of ease. By establishing that Mullin could have punched out Blackie, but chooses not to in the controversial later scene, not only allows that scene to pass, but also strengthened the priest's character. San Francisco proved to be one of MGM's biggest hits, remaining in almost constant reissue for the next three decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, (more)
