Edward J. Le Saint Movies

A Day at the Races was the Marx Brothers' follow-up to their incomparable A Night at the Opera. Groucho Marx is cast as Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who passes himself off as a human doctor when summoned by wealthy hypochondriac Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont) to take over the financially strapped Standish Sanitarium. Chico Marx plays the sanitarium's general factotum, who works without pay because he has a soft spot for its owner, lovely Judy Standish (Maureen O'Sullivan). Harpo Marx portrays a jockey at the local racetrack, constantly bullied by the evil Morgan (Douglass Dumbrille), who will take over the sanitarium if Judy can't pay its debts. After several side-splitting routines--Chico selling Groucho tips on the races, Chico and Harpo rescuing Groucho from the clutches of femme fatale Esther Muir, all three Marxes conducting a lunatic "examination" of Margaret Dumont--the fate of the sanitarium rests on a Big Race involving Hi-Hat, a horse belonging to the film's nominal hero, Allan Jones. Virtually everything that worked in "Opera" is trotted out again for "Races", including a hectic slapstick finale wherein the Marxes lay waste to a public event. What is missing here is inspiration; perhaps this is due to the fact that MGM producer Irving Thalberg, whose input was so essential to the success of "Opera", died during the filming of "Races". Even so, Day at the Races made more money than any other previous Marx Brothers film--the result being that MGM, in the spirit of "they loved it once", would continue recycling Races' best bits for the studio's next three Marx vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This formula western stars George O'Brien as a member of the Arizona Rangers, a quasi-vigilante society aimed at ridding the west of lawlessness. O'Brien is assigned to infiltrate a criminal gang in Arizona. For duty's sake, O'Brien must alienate himself with his sweetheart (Laraine Johnson, later known as Laraine Day) and pose as a ruthless bandit. The hero comes awfully close to meeting his doom before the crooks are roped and hog-tied. Arizona Legion represented the 60th screen appearance of veteran action star George O'Brien. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After squandering his money and his ethics on Adele Durant (Gladys Brockwell), the morally bankrupt Dick Brown (L.C. Shumway) shoots himself in her presence. Brown's friend, Robert Bradley (Herbert Heyes) tells Adele that he will denounce her as a murderess unless she does his bidding. Adele has no choice but to agree, and Bradley takes her to Mexico and puts her to work in a dance hall. She winds up flourishing there and not only joins up with a band of smugglers -- she becomes their leader. She finds out that one of her men, Pedro (Willard Louis) is planning to murder a man who's coming to town. Adele goes to warn this stranger, only to discover it's Bradley, whom she hates. Nevertheless, he convinces her to join him in running from the Mexicans. They are captured and held with a group of other Americans who the bandits have hostage. Bradley manages to escape, and once he is gone, Pedro tells Adele he will let the captives starve unless she gives herself to him. She agrees, but halts his advances by stabbing him to death. Just then Bradley arrives with a group of cowboys to save the day. Adele realizes she has come to love Bradley and they wind up together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Lionel Barrymore was at a low career ebb when he agreed to appear in the independently produced Brooding Eyes. Barrymore emulates his brother John in the role of Slim Jim Carey, the "black sheep" of an aristocratic British family. A professional blackmailer, Carey suddenly and mysteriously disappears from sight, prompting his partner in crime Pat Calaghan (Montagu Love) to take over Carey's operation. Part of Calaghan's game plan is to claim an earldom which was to have been inherited by his "late" partner. But Carey, who is still alive, squashes Calaghan's scheme by showing up in his ancestral home as the family butler. In this guise, he prevents Calaghan from getting his slimy hands on the mistress of the manor, Maria De Costa (Alma Bennett) -- who is actually Carey's long-estranged daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The major difference between Bullets for Rustlers and the previous entries in Charles Starrett's western series is that Lorna Gray, rather than Iris Meredith, plays the heroine. Otherwise, it's the mixture as before, with hero Starrett working side by side with the Cattlemen's Protective Association to flush out a gang of rustlers. The story moves along in utterly predictable fashion to the anticipated climactic mano y mano fight between Starrett and perennial bad guy Dick Curtis. The film's highlight is a well-mounted stagecoach chase, which would pop up with regularity via stock footage in future Starrett vehicles. And as always, the musical interludes are served up by Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The locale is slightly different in the Charles Starrett western Call of the Rockies, but the familiar Starrett formula remains the same. Starrett plays Clint Buckley, who defends female rancher Ann Bradford (Iris Meredith) against mortgage-holding villain Matt Stark (Dick Curtis). The bad guy retaliates by framing Clint for murder, but our hero sets things right in a bone-shattering fistic battle royal. Donald "Slim" Grayson and the Sons of the Pioneers wander in and out of the action to render a trio of pleasant sagebrush ballads. In addition to Iris Meredith and Dick Curtis, Call of the Rockies features such Starrett-series perennials as Edward LeSaint, Edmund Cobb, and George Cheseboro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the wake of such cinematic Calamity Janes as Jean Arthur and Doris Day, it comes as a shock to find a film in which the famed frontierswoman is played by someone who actually looks the part. Matronly, granite-visaged Louise Dresser stars as Calamity in Caught, an early-talkie psychological western. According to this film, Calamity is a cattle rustler, wanted by the US cavalry. Halfway through this movie the plotline turns into a sagebrush Madame X The young trooper (Richard Arlen) sent to track down Calamity is the woman's long-lost son! It took four writers to cook up this heady brew of motherly love and blazing six-shooters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joan Crawford is at her most glamorous (a different outfit and hairdo in each scene!) in the romantic melodrama Chained. Crawford plays Diane Lovering, the mistress of prominent Manhattan businessman Richard Field (Otto Kruger). Though she really isn't in love with him, she feels obligated to marry him when he divorces his wife (Margaret Gateson) for Diane's sake. By the time the divorce is final, Diane has fallen for wealthy South American rancher Mike Bradley (Clark Gable), but, out of loyalty to Field, she abruptly cuts off her relationship with Mike, who does his best to hide his pain. It looks as though both Diane and Mike will continue to suffer stoically until the plot is resolved by the understanding and remarkably generous Field. Clarence Brown's glossy direction helps to make this star vehicle seem more important than it really is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Never one to hide his talent under a bushel basket, director Rouben Mamoulien proudly proclaimed that, while there were ten killings in his 1931 gangster drama City Streets, the audience never sees any of them. This was not the only innovation in this fascinating early talkie, in which straight-arrow movie hero Gary Cooper is cast as a racketeer known only as The Kid. He has chosen a life of crime out of love for Nan (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of mob henchman Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee). Eventually railroaded into prison by her crooked cohorts, Nan implores The Kid to give up the rackets, but he refuses. Things go downhill very rapidly after that, culminating with The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. Cast in a role originally intended for Clara Bow, Sylvia Sidney does a magnificent job and was soon typecast as a downtrodden Depression victim, born with two strikes against her. Conversely, Gary Cooper never again played anything quite like "The Kid." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's hard to go wrong with such stars as Bob Hope, Burns & Allen, Martha Raye and Edward Everett Horton, and College Swing doesn't-go wrong, that is. The film begins in 1738, when a pact is drawn up between the Alden family and a highly respected Colonial college: If any female member of the family can pass her college exams within a 200-year period, ownership of the institution will be turned over to her. Comes 1938, and the last of the Alden girls, giddy Gracie Alden (Gracie Allen, of course) hires glib-tongued tutor Bud Brady (Bob Hope) to help her pass her exams. She also tries to win over no-nonsense professor Hubert Dash (Edward Everett Horton), who has no intention of handing his college over to a blithering idiot like Gracie. Once she has inherited the place, however, Gracie turns it into a jumpin'-jivin' joint, complete with jitterbugging students, swing bands and remote radio broadcasts. Though George Burns' role is nearly nonexistent, he does get to indulge in his patented cross-talk with Allen. Others contributing to the fun are Ben Blue, Jerry Colonna, Betty Grable, and Grable's then-husband Jackie Coogan. Highlights include Allen's spirited Irish jig and her endearing song duet with Edward Everett Horton. College Swing is the sort of high-powered, all-star entertainment that is virtually impossible to reproduce today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Joan Perry plays the title role in Columbia's Counterfeit Lady. She is cast as Phyllis, a country lass with a rare talent for larceny. Managing to steal a $37,000 diamond from a swank New York jewelry shop, Phyllis is pursued by private detective Johnny (Ralph Bellamy), and by a gang of professional thieves who play for keeps. Johnny rescues the heroine from the villains, whereupon she instantly reforms in order to permit a climactic romantic clinch. So well does Joan Perry pull off the leading role in Counterfeit Lady that it seems a shame she retired from acting after becoming the wife of Columbia prexy Harry Cohn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Timothy Atkinson arrives in a rough Western town to become the telegraph operator, the locals peg him as a tenderfoot. But the audience knows better, because Atkinson is played by cowboy star extraordinaire Tom Mix. Naturally there are bandits afoot, and Ralph Spencer (Charles K. French) hasn't had much luck dealing with them. He's in danger of being fired, so his pretty daughter Alice (Eva Novak) begs Atkinson to try his hand at capturing the varmints. In the midst of bringing them to justice, Atkinson/Mix does a lot of shootin', rides his trusty steed through waterfalls, and rescues the girl from a moving freight train. At the time of this release, Mix had put out a few clinkers; with this picture he hit his stride once again. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The 1932 Tom Mix version of Destry Rides Again bears no more relation to the original Max Brand novel than does the 1939 James Stewart remake. Thanks to his crooked partner (Earle Foxe), Jim Destry (Mix) is thrown into jail. Finally released, he "rides again" to prove his innocence and bring the guilty parties to justice. The action highlights include the hero's leap from a train to his horse and back again (it doesn't look as if doubles were used). Claudia Dell, best known to present-day audiences as Spanky's mother in the "Our Gang" films, is the heroine, while ZaSu Pitts, of all people, supplies the comedy relief. Though Tom Mix expressed displeasure with the film, Destry Rides Again remains one of his best talkies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide