Lila Lee

Hayseeds abound in this musical comedy, two star-struck hoboes hop what they think is a west-bound train that will land them in Hollywood. Well, it's going to Hollywood all right, but unfortunately its destination is Hollywood, Florida. The two become so hungry along the way that they are forced to ditch the train. They end up somewhere in the deep South and eventually try to swipe a hen. Unfortunately, they get caught by the Zickafoose family who chase them all about. Soon white lightning runners are also after them and all sorts of chaos ensues. Songs: "Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers," "This Must Be the Bottom," "Comin' On Strong," "Dirty Ole Egg Suckin' Dog," "Not Me," and ""Messed Up."" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Produced by the Halperin Brothers, the folks responsible for the early-talkie horror classic White Zombie, Nation Aflame is one of several 1930s exposés of such hate groups as the KKK, the Silver Shirts and the Black Legion. The bigoted aggregation depicted in this film, a fictional group called the Avenging Angels, is shown to be just another racket, controlled by big-city mobsters for their own financial gain. The principal villain is gangster Sandino (Noel Madison), who has the state's governor (Harry Holman) in his pocket, along with several other political leaders. When the governor rebels against his corrupt colleagues, Sandino orders his assassination, prompting the governor's daughter Wynne (Norma Trelvar) to team with her former fiance, crusading DA Burtis (Roger Williams) to arrange a frame to discredit Sandino and his ilk. She lures the crooks into a drunken orgy, whereupon Burtis' lieutenants break down the doors and arrest everyone in the joint. The DA destroys the Avenging Angels and their hooligans once and for all, which proves immensely beneficial to his career. Alas, poor Wynne cannot share the fruits of his victory -- she is, after all, a "fallen woman" (remember that this was 1937, not 1997!) Incredibly, Nation Aflame was ostensibly based on a story by Thomas Dixon, the virulently racist author of such pro-KKK, anti-black literature as The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots; if the film was indeed a faithful adaptation of a Dixon original, it would have represented a complete 180-degree shift in his own political beliefs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The zany vaudeville comedy team of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson was still one year away from their smash Broadway hit Hellzapoppin' when they starred in Republic's Country Gentlemen. The daffy duo plays a couple of gold-stock swindlers who try to fleece the citizenry of a small town. They end up purchasing a vacant lot for $4000, which they try to pass off as an oil field. A group of local WWI veterans invest heavily in Olsen and Johnson's latest venture, meaning that the boys will be in for quite a lot of lumps if the expected "gusher" doesn't come in. Thanks to good influence of heroine Lila Lee, our heroes change their crooked ways -- but not quite in the nick of time! Critics weren't keen on the notion of middle-aged Ole Olsen being cast as a romantic lead, but everyone was satisfied with the supporting performance of perennial "dumb blonde" Joyce Compton as the team's Girl Friday. Originally released at 66 minutes, Country Gentlemen is presently available in its 53-minute TV reissue form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Preston S. Foster is the "hero" of The People's Enemy only in the sense that his is the largest male role. Foster plays a detestable gangster who works his way up to millionaire status. To gain a veneer of respectability, he marries lovely Lila Lee. But when the going gets rough, he deserts both his wife and his young daughter (Sybil Elaine). Upon Foster's arrest, noble and upright Melvyn Douglas is on hand to comfort Lee and her child. The People's Enemy was independently financed by Select Productions and released through RKO Radio Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

For something that was supposed to be a "feel good" movie, Fox Studios' Stand Up and Cheer seems curiously grim when seen today. Based on an idea by Will Rogers, the story concerns the efforts by the (never-seen) 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. But after several months of lukewarm results, the great producer is on the verge of throwing in the towel, only to be talked out of this rash act by his secretary-sweetheart Mary Adams. Right on cue, Cromwell's assistant Jimmy Dugan (James Dunn) bursts into the producer's office, exultantly declaring that the Department of Amusement is an unqualified success -- the Depression is over!!!! As mentioned, this "happy-go-lucky" musical seems at times to be as carefree as a funeral dirge: The two musical production numbers performed by Nick (later Dick) Foran, "I'm Laughin'" and "We're Out of the Red," are as grotesquely photographed and staged as a Frankenstein picture, while the climactic parade of America's uniformed "working class" -- policemen, milkmen, maids, garbagemen, domestics, all marching in lock-step -- looks like something out of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will. The racist routines of black comedian Stepin Fetchit go far beyond tasteless, reaching a nadir when Fetchit chases after a bigoted talking penguin (whose "Jimmy Durante" voice was supplied by Lew Brown, one of the film's musical composers). Equally hard to take are the knockabout antics of Frank Mitchell and Jack Durant and the monumentally unfunny hillbilly routine by John "Skins" Miller (though all three of these comedians received excellent reviews when the picture was first released!) Among the few-and-far-between highlights are an energetic "revival-meeting" musical number by Aunt Jemima (Theresa Gardella), and 6-year-old Shirley Temple's delightful rendition of "Baby Take a Bow." In fact, it was Stand Up and Cheer which catapulted Temple to stardom, which in the long run took much of the sting out of the film's dismal box-office returns. 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

Ex-convict Steve Nichols (Onslow Stevens) may be a free man, but it looks like he'll never be able to escape the onus of his past life. Unable to get a legitimate job, Steve decides to become as crooked as everyone imagines him to be. Before he makes this terrible mistake, however, the truth about the shady stock transaction for which he was originally jailed finally comes to light. Typical of the low-budget fare prevalent in the 1930s, I Can't Escape is bogged down with banal dialogue and substandard production values. Onslow Stevens is good, though, as is his "B"-picture supporting cast, including Lila Lee and silent-movie vets Otis Harlan and Clara Kimball Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance, two travelling sign painters find themselves inspired by a young woman's lovely smile. Soon her face is found painted on signs and barns throughout New England. Eventually one of the painters and the girl get married. Soon after the wedding, the painters are offered job in New York. There they are challenged to paint an enormous sign. Again, it is the bride's lovely face that inspires them. Meanwhile, the lonely bride decides she cannot bear to be away from her love. By herself, she travels to the Big Apple and finds him on her very first day there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Police officer Tom Malone is the only honest man left who can salvage his crooked city after his partner is killed on his motorcycle by a wealthy playboy on a careless joyride. With criminals and crooked city officials at every turn, it will take courage, duty, and decency for Tom to make right what has for so long been terribly wrong. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

This thriller involves a shipboard murder, castaways on a desert island, another murder, a wild man, and the hapless hero who must deal with it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a sleazy plastic surgeon from Chicago bungles an operation and causes the amputation of his patient's legs. Naturally, she takes the quack to court. Unfortunately she loses the case. The enraged patient then fatally shoots the doctor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This second of four film versions of Ralph Spence's stage comedy-melodrama The Gorilla stars legendary Broadway comedian Joe Frisco, he of the eternal cigar and funny stammer. Frisco and former Keystone Kop Harry Gribbon play Garrity and Mulligan, a pair of dumb detectives who are summoned to an old dark house to protect heiress Alice Denby (Lila Lee) and zoologist Cyrus Stevens (Edwin Maxwell) from harm. Several killings have taken place in the vicinity, and the most likely suspect is a huge gorilla, recently escaped from its trainer. But in their own inimitable, bumbling fashion, Frisco and Gribbon prove that the murderer is actually a human being in gorilla guise -- but not before dressing up in monkey suits themselves. Fourth-billed Walter Pidgeon plays his role as if longing for his agent to tell him that his Warner Bros. contract has expired. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide