John Litel Movies

In this drama, a rich man's wife finds herself victimized by her cruel mother-in-law who doesn't think the girl is good enough for her son. Not only does she try to destroy their marriage, the meddlesome mom also tries to steal their baby. The wife takes the baby and flees. In the end, the couple overcomes their difficulties and happily reunite. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Making his debut with Warner Brothers, Henry Fonda plays an apprentice high-voltage lineman working with the no-nonsense, but very experienced Pat O'Brien. Stringing up the high-tension electrical wires on tall metal towers is dangerous work, but from the moment he sees the linemen at work, farm boy Slim (Fonda) knows that this is the job for him. He convinces crew-boss Red Blayd (O'Brien) of this and after heavy-duty training, and the overcoming of a few fears, he starts to work. Tensions arise when Fonda falls in love with Blayd's gal Cally (Margaret Lindsey). Much of the plot was drawn from Tiger Shark (1932). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The second of Paul Muni's biographical films for Warner Bros., the Oscar-winning The Life of Emile Zola is by far the best, even allowing for the dramatic license taken with the material. When first we meet French novelist and essayist Zola, he is starving in a Parisian garret with his painter friend, Paul Cezanne. Each time Zola attempts to write "the truth," he is stymied by governmental censors. Still, he is able to achieve both fame and fortune with the publication of "Nana," an unardorned and best-selling tale of a prostitute (whom we can safely assume was not quite as likeable or attractive as Erin O'Brien-Moore, who plays the novel's "role model"). The lion's share of the film is devoted to Zola's attempts to clear the reputation of Army captain Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut), who has been framed on a charge of treason by his superiors and condemned to Devil's Island. Publishing his famous manifesto "J'accuse," Zola leaves himself wide open for public condemnation and criminal prosecution. Though he delivers a brilliant self-defense in court, Zola is found guilty. Forced to flee to England, he continues railing against the unjust, corrupt military establishment, eventually forcing a retrial and exoneration of Dreyfus. Alas, Zola is killed in a freak accident at home before he can meet the liberated Dreyfus. At his funeral, Emile Zola is eulogized by Anatole France (Morris Carnovsky), who refers to the fallen crusader as "a moment of the conscience of man." For various reasons -- some dramatic, some legal -- the actual facts of "L'affaire Dreyfus" are altered by the Norman Reilly Raine/Heinz Herald/Geza Herczeg screenplay.

The fact that Dreyfus was railroaded because he was Jewish is obscured; in fact, except for a very brief visual reference, the word "Jew" is never mentioned. Only those villains whose names were a matter of public record (Major Dort, Major Esterhazy) are specifically identified. Others are referred to as the Chief of Staff, the Minister of War, etc. to avoid lawsuits from their descendants (remember that the events depicted in the film, most of which take place between 1894 and 1902, were still within living memory in 1937). As for Dreyfus himself, he was not freed and restored to rank in 1902, the year of Zola's death, but in 1906-after being found guilty again in an 1899 retrial (Dreyfus died in 1935, outliving everyone else involved in the case). These historical gaffes can be forgiven in the light of the film's overall message: that a single small, clear voice can fight City Hall. If for nothing else, The Life of Emile Zola deserves classic status due to Paul Muni's towering performance, most notably in the unforgettable summation scene: "By all that I have done for France, by my works -- by all that I have written, I swear to you that Dreyfus is innocent. May all that melt away -- may my name be forgotten, if Dreyfus is not innocent. He is innocent." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

District attorney Victor Shanley (John Litel) is forced out of his job through the machinations of gang boss Al Kruger (William B. Davidson). Thirsting for revenge against the legal system that apparently failed to back him up, Shanley goes to the "other side," becoming a defense lawyer on Kruger's payroll. This distresses his ex-wife Carol (Ann Dvorak), but Shanley cares only for the money he's raking in. At long last, however, Shanley's conscience is reawakened by Bob Terrell (Carlyle Moore Jr.), a mob functionary who elects to "go straight" and suffers mightily as a consequence. Midnight Court was co-scripted by Don Ryan, a Los Angeles reporter specializing in the night-court beat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This hard-hitting, socially conscious drama, the sort of story that Warner Bros. made their hallmark in the 1930s, concerns a factory worker named Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart), who is convinced that a big promotion is right around the corner for him. However, the promotion goes to a harder-working Polish immigrant named Joe Dombrowski (Henry Brandon). Angry and upset, Frank is approached by members of a secret organization called the Black Legion, who believe in "America for Americans" and want to drive away immigrants and racial minorities through violent means. Wearing black robes, Frank and the other members of the Legion go on a torchlight raid, driving Dombrowski and his family from their home. With Dombrowski gone from the plant, Frank gets the job, which means more money and a higher standard of living for him and his family. But his outlaw activities with the Legion begin taking up more of his time (and his money, as they make a healthy profit selling robes, weapons, and racist geegaws to their membership), which drives a wedge between Frank and his wife Ruth (Erin O'Brien-Moore). Frank begins drinking and starts slapping Ruth around; she leaves him, and Frank takes up with a floozie named Pearl (Helen Flint). Ed (Dick Foran), a good friend of Frank's, sees that his buddy is drinking too much and ruining his life, so he tries to step in and express his concern. His tongue loosened by alcohol, Frank tells Ed about his secret life with the violent Legion; the next morning, Frank is afraid that Ed might inform on him to the police, so he tells the Legion leadership what has happened. They subsequently order Ed to be captured and executed. While Warner Bros. attempted to avoid the wrath of Black Legion and Ku Klux Klan members by stating that all characters and institutions were entirely fictional, Black Legion was still a brave attack on hate groups, given that lynchings were not uncommon in parts of the United States in the mid-1930s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Michael Curtiz directs this Technicolor Western based on the familiar story by Clements Ripley about the rivalry between farmers and miners in the Sacramento valley during the years following the California Gold Rush. Handsome engineer Jared Whitney (George Brent) from the Golden Moon mining company arrives in a small town to supervise their operations. He oversees boorish mining foreman Slag Minton (Burton MacLane), then goes to bar where he befriends Lance (Tim Holt), the son of prominent wheat farmer Colonel Chris Ferris (Claude Rains). He ends up falling in love with Lance's sister, Serena (Olivia deHavilland), despite their alliances with opposing forces. They are forbidden to see each other when her father finds out, so Jared goes back to San Francisco to work with his boss, Harrison McCooey (Sidney Toler), on a dam construction project. Meanwhile, Lance chooses the side of the miners over the farmers when he leaves the town to stay with his Uncle Ralph (John Litel). When local farmer John McKenzie (Russell Simpson) loses his family and his farm due to the destruction caused by the miners, Chris supports him in a law suit against the mining company. This all escalates into a violent armed confrontation between the farmers and the miners, leading up to an explosive conclusion and a romantic reunion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Despite the presence of Busby Berkeley in the director's chair, Comet Over Broadway contains nary a single musical number. Instead, the film concentrates on the lachrymose private life of stage star Eve Appleton (Kay Francis). While appearing in amateur theatricals, Eve indirectly causes the death of a fellow actor at the hands of her husband Bill (John Litel). When Bill is thrown into jail, Eve goes on the road, appearing in one cheap stock company after another to earn enough money for her husband's parole. Seven years pass, during which time Eve becomes the toast of Broadway. Falling in love with playwright Bert Ballin (Ian Hunter), Eve almost forgets the reason that she climbed to stardom in the first place, but by the final reel she elects to give up personal happiness to remain loyal to her incarcerated husband. Way, way down the cast list of Comet Over Broadway is Linda Winters, who as Dorothy Comingore achieved stardom in Orson Welles'Citizen Kane (1941). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Broadway Musketeers is a remake of the 1932 Warner Bros. drama Three on a Match, with numerous concessions made to the now more stringent Hollywood censors. Brought up together in an orphanage, three young ladies-Isabel (Margaret Lindsay), Fay (Ann Sheridan) and Connie (Marie Wilson)-vow to remain friends through thick and thin. Fate, however, has other things in store for the three heroines, obliging them to trod widely divergent paths in life. One of the three girls deserts her husband in favor of a group of crooked gamblers, culminating in the kidnapping of her beloved child (Janet Chapman). Horace McMahon essays the tough-guy role originally played in Three on a Match by Humphrey Bogart. Producer Bryan Foy is careful to add several new plot twists and characters to prevent Broadway Musketeers from being a carbon copy of its predecessor, not least of which is transforming the character originally enacted by Joan Blondell into a dizzy-blonde type played by Marie Wilson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nancy Drew -- Detective was the first in a series of breezy B-pictures based on the teenaged sleuth created by Carolyn Keene. Bonita Granville is perfectly cast as Nancy, while John Litel and Frankie Thomas are equally effective as Nancy's attorney father, Carson Drew, and erstwhile boyfriend, Ted Nickerson, respectively. Things get under way immediately when Mary Eldridge (Helena Phillips Evans), the wealthy benefactress of Nancy's high school, disappears under mysterious circumstances. In direct defiance of her father's orders, Nancy and Ted set off on their own investigation, which leads inexorably (and dangerously) to a highly suspicious rest home. The "ever popular" Mae Busch is her usual nasty self as a phony nurse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this heartwarming tearjerker, an adorable orphan becomes determined to find her father, whom she is convinced is still alive. She then leaves the nuns who have been her guardians and sets out on her quest. She never finds her real father, but she does manage to find a soft-hearted gambler who takes her under his wing and acts as her father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This third film version of Peter B. Kyne's Valley of the Giants benefits from the breahtaking Technicolor location photography of Sol Polito. Hero Bill Cardigan (Wayne Morris) is a lifetime resident of California's Tall Timber country. When evil land-despoiler Howard Fallon (Charles Bickford) arrives with a team of lumberjacks to strip the territory of its trees, Cardigan tries to stop them, only to discover that Fallon has the law on his side. Eventually, Cardigan finds an unexpected ally in the form of golden-hearted saloon girl Lee Roberts (Claire Trevor), who enables the forces of Good to triumph in the final reel. Stock footage from Valley of the Giants would be seen for years afterward in Warner Bros.' lesser outdoor dramas and two-reelers. The film was remade in 1952 as The Big Trees, with the emphasis shifted so that the Charles Bickford character, now played by Kirk Douglas, ultimately emerges as the hero! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This final entry in Warner Bros.' Nancy Drew series is the only one actually based on a novel by Nancy Drew creator Carolyn Keene. Bonita Granville returns as the ebullient titular teenaged sleuth, while Frankie Thomas portrays Nancy's best friend and fellow "gumshoe" Ted Nickerson. The plot concerns a bizarre codicil in a will, requiring two elderly sisters to spend every night in their family mansion over a period of 20 years in order to lay claim to the crumbling old house. The ladies plan to contribute their legacy to a local children's hospital, but certain sinister forces in town hope to erect a racetrack where the mansion presently stands. When the sisters' chauffeur is murdered, Nancy and Ted investigate, even though Nancy's attorney father, Carson Drew (John Litel), has expressly forbidden them to do so. Their tremulous journey through the cellar of the mansion leads to a surprising revelation -- and, very nearly, to a watery grave. Arguably the best of the series, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase moves along at so fast a clip that the audience is left nearly as breathless as the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide