Lucien Littlefield Movies

Mark Flint (George Bancroft) is the editor of the titular scandal sheet, possessing all of the gall and none of the ethics of your average big-city journalist. Knowing full well that his wife (Kay Francis) plans to leave him in favor of handsome but unscrupulous banker Noel Adams (Clive Brook), Flint digs up as much dirt as possible on his rival. When this proves to have no effect on Mrs. Flint, the editor shows up at Adams's art-deco apartment and shoots the man dead. Ever the dedicated newsman, Flint returns to his city desk and dictates his confession in the form of a lead story, banner headlines and all. Scandal Sheet is supposed to have been inspired by the story of real-life tabloid editor Charles Chapin, who died in prison (Flint's fate is not so grim; when last we see him, he's energetically putting together the bulldog edition of the Sing Sing newspaper!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This comedy centers around an inept reporter who wouldn't recognize a hot story if it burned him on the hand. The trouble begins when he is assigned to do a story on a local wine festival. Meanwhile an escaped convict holds the heated interest of the rest of the newspaper employees. The bungler gets involved when he goes to the wrong location and ends up on a bus where someone is killed. He becomes a suspect, and later when he must stop at an inn, he finds his girl friend and a detective there too. At the inn, the proprietor has two priceless jeweled chess pieces that have been attracting a lot of attention from the public, and from the fugitive convict. Mayhem ensues when the crook shows up to claim the chessmen. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this comedy, a waitress at a local lunch counter inadvertently foils a bank robbery and finds herself turned into a national heroine by an eager-beaver reporter. Unfortunately, her sudden notoriety causes gangsters to abduct her. The plucky waitress not only manages to talk them into returning her, she also convinces them to go straight. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Barbara Stanwyck overcomes a veritable ocean of clichés and manages to make her "shopworn" heroine come to life in this old-fashioned but rather poignant melodrama. A waitress in her aunt and uncle's café, orphaned Kitty Lane falls in love with society scion Dave Livingston (Regis Toomey). Much to Mrs. Livingston's regret, Dave is equally smitten and the society matron (Clara Blandick) has Kitty convicted on a trumped up charge of prostitution. While Dave accompanies his mother on a long trip to Europe, Kitty serves her time in reform school and later becomes a successful showgirl. Reunited after several years, Dave and Kitty resume their romance and Mrs. Livingston once again attempts to talk Kitty out of marrying her son, this time by brandishing a firearm. Like Marguerite Gautier had before her, Kitty is about to sacrifice her love when Dave's mother suddenly has a change of heart. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Monogram's Skyway stars Ray Walker in his usual role as a brash troublemaker who can't hold down a job. This time he's a hot-shot aviator who loses a bank-clerk job, much to the chagrin of his sweetheart Kathryn Crawford, the bank-president's daughter. Making matters worse, Walker is being held responsible for thousands of dollars in missing funds. Climbing into his trusty plane, our hero chases down the actual miscreant, an embezzling vice president, simultaneously saving his reputation and his romance in the process. The film moves quickly enough for audiences to happily ignore the many plot holes. Elements of both Skyway and the like-vintage Ray Walker vehicle He Couldn't Take It were later reworked into the inaugural Bowery Boys entry Live Wires (1946). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lodge members Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled: "Every man must be king in his own castle." But when Ollie meekly brings up the subject of the convention with his wife Lollie (Mae Busch), she soon dethrones the "king." Lollie wants to take a vacation in the mountains, and is dead-set against her husband going around "with a pack of hooligans." But Ollie is determined to attend the convention, and to that end cooks up a scheme with Stanley. Ollie will pretend to be deathly ill; Stan will fix it so the doctor will prescribe a trip to Honolulu. Knowing that his wife can't stand going on sea voyages, Ollie will request that Stan accompany him to Hawaii--then, both men will sneak off to Chicago. A few hitches notwithstanding (Stan hires a veterinarian instead of a doctor, explaining that he didn't think the man's religion would make any difference), the boys go to the convention, where they cut up royally with practical joker Charley Chase. Alas, the Honolulu-bound boat on which Stan and Ollie are supposed to be travelling is sunk in a typhoon. While the grief-stricken wives are at the steamship company attempting to find out if their husbands survived the sea disaster, Stan and Ollie arrive home, wearing leis and carrying pineapples as "evidence" of their Honolulu vacation. When the boys find out about the shipwreck, they desperately try to escape to a hotel, but the wives arrive home prematurely, forcing Stan and Ollie to camp out in the attic. It looks as though the boys might just get away with their new plan of coming home at the same time that the rescue boats arrive....until Lollie Hardy and Betty Laurel (Dorothy Christie), attending a picture show, are treated to the spectacle of their husbands cavorting merrily before the newsreel cameras covering the Sons of the Desert conclave in Chicago. The film's final ten minutes are priceless--especially that bit about "ship-hiking." Considered the best of Laurel and Hardy's feature films, One of the top ten moneymaking pictures of 1934, it was released in Europe as Fraternally Yours and Sons of the Legion, and is also available in a crudely edited 20-minute TV version, Fun on the Run. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paramount's answer to Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) also involved mutiny and romance on the high seas. Gary Cooper stars as Nuggin Taylor, first mate on a slave ship in 1842. Ironically, Nuggin is an abolitionist. When a mutiny overthrows the ship's skipper and leaves him in charge, he frees his cargo. Back in England, charges against Nuggin and his fellow shipmate Powdah (George Raft) are dropped. Nuggin is approached by British intelligence agents and asked to embark on a secret information-gathering mission that could end the slave trade. Nuggin agrees and Powdah accompanies him on a ship bound for America, where both men fall in love, Nuggin with Margaret (Frances Dee) and Powdah with Babsie (Olympa Bradna). However, their adventures are far from over. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

This Jessie L. Lasky production was a sequel to the pioneering feature film The Squaw Man; both properties, in fact, were based on novels written by Edwin Milton Royle. Wallace Reid stars as Lord "Hal" Effington, the grown son of the character played by Dustin Farnum in the original Squaw Man. Abandoning his ancestral British mansion, Hal returns to the dusty Western town of his birth, where he falls in love with college-educated Native American maiden Wah-na-gi (Anita King). Unfortunately, Hal neglects to inform his new sweetheart that he is already married (his wife is played by Reid's real-life missus Dorothy Davenport). Fortunately, Lady Effington is willing to give Hal a divorce, but when he finds out that his wife is hopelessly addicted to prescription drugs, he loyally returns to her side. Feeling abandoned, Wah-na-gi wanders off to commit suicide, only to be prevented from doing so at that last moment by her beloved Hal, whose wife has conveniently kicked the bucket. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Disparate twin brothers, a phony will, and a beautiful woman provide the main ingredients for this romantic comedy. The trouble begins when the evil twin cheats the good one out of his rightful inheritance by faking their father's will. Not realizing that he has been duped, the impoverished brother goes to his twin for help. A bitter argument ensues and the evil twin suffers a fatal heart attack. The good brother then assumes his dead twin's identity and finds himself facing comic mayhem that results in romance. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Having forsaken westerns for detective melodramas in Dial Red O, William "Wild Bill" Ellliot continues in this vein in Sudden Danger. Elliot is cast as detective lieutenant Doyle, who at present is investigating the alleged suicide of a clothing manufacturer. Doyle suspects that the victim was murdered, and that the perpetrator was the dead man's blind son, Curtis (Tom Drake). Hoping to clear himself, Curtis begins searching for clues on his own, and by fadeout time he and Doyle have cornered the actual killer. Though obviously made in a hurry, Sudden Danger is elevated by better-than-usual scripting and a well-chosen supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Lionel Barrymore plays a Marshall Field-like Chicago businessman who emerges from the wreckage of the 1871 fire to build a department-store empire. Barrymore is aided by his Jewish manager Gregory Ratoff, who despite his business acumen is never made a full partner. The store magnate's four children grow up to be disappointments, preferring to squander dad's money and refusing to enter his business. Manager Ratoff realizes that Barrymore's offspring are worthless, and quietly buys up their shares of the store in order to save the business from ruin, emerging with full charge of Barrymore's empire. Only when Barrymore is on the verge of death do his children rally around him and promise to make something of themselves. A well-made 20th century equivalent to King Lear, Sweepings was remade less effectively as Three Sons in 1939. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Caught in a heavy rainstorm without a car, Edward Everett Horton purchases a dilapidated taxicab so that he can get his girlfriend Marion Nixon home safely. The couple arrives at a rustic church, where Nixon impishly talks Horton into getting married. But before the ceremony concludes, the police arrive; it turns out that Horton had bought the taxi from a gang of crooks who'd stolen the vehicle. Making matters worse, Nixon's guardian shows up, angrily demanding Horton's hide. The couple dashes out of the church, with the cops and the guardian in hot pursuit -- though they manage to circle the building often enough for the preacher to pronounce them husband and wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi