Robert Livingston Movies
Livingston was born Robert Randall. Raised in California, he began his professionl life as a reporter. In the late '20s he began performing onstage and in film shorts. By 1934 he had become an actor in feature films, and in 1936 he began a long stretch as a cowboy star: alongside costars Crash Corrigan and Max Terhune, he appeared as Stony Brooke in the Three Mesquiteers series of Westerns, going on to play the character 29 times; the Mesquiteers were among the Top Ten Western Box-Office attractions in every year from 1937-43. In 1939 he portrayed the Lone Ranger in a serial, then in the early '40s he remained popular as the costar of the Lone Rider series with sidekick Fuzzy St. John; meanwhile, he also played romantic leads in a number of B-movies. Later he appeared in occasional character roles. He was briefly married to starlet Margaret Roach, daughter of film pioneer Hal Roach. His brother was minor actor and singing cowboy Jack Randall. ~ All Movie Guide- 1931
Joan Crawford and William Bakewell play the spoiled-rotten grown children of stockbroker William Holden. When Wall Street lays its famous egg in 1929, Crawford and Bakewell find that they can no longer pursue their flamboyant lifestyle (for example, they'll have to put a moratorium on the sort of "lingerie parties" with which this film opens). Crawford gets a newspaper job, while Bakewell ties up with vicious bootlegger Clark Gable. When Gable is implicated in the murder of seven gangsters (a transparent reenactment of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre), Crawford's fellow reporter Cliff Edwards gets proof of Gable's complicity. Bakewell is ordered to kill Edwards; Crawford, not knowing of her brother's actions, takes Edwards' place, wooing Gable in hopes of getting a scoop. When Gable finds out that Crawford's working undercover (so to speak), he prepares to rub her out, but her life is saved by Bakewell at the cost of his own. Compared to the rest of the stick-figure leading men in Dance Fools Dance, Clark Gable stood out like a testosterone-soaked thumb, and it wouldn't be long before he'd be promoted from villains to heroes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Cliff Edwards, (more)
- 1934
Based on a novel by Cortland Fitzsimmons, the storyline of this "gimmick" mystery follows the St. Louis Cardinals during a championship season. The arrival of hotshot pitcher Larry Kelly (Robert Young) coincides with an apparent plot to sabotage the Cards' chances of making it to the World Series. A failed attempt to poison all the pitcher's mitts is followed by a series of murders: catcher Dunk Spencer (Joe Sauers) is shot while sprinting to third base, pitcher Frank Higgins (Robert Livingston) is strangled in the locker room, and lovable catcher Truck Hogan (Nat Pendleton) is killed with an arsenic-laden hot dog. Finding himself one of the many suspects, Kelly nearly becomes a victim as well when he is slipped a booby-trapped baseball. With the help of sportscaster Jimmy Downey (Paul Kelly), Kelly exposes the murderer, surviving to win the pennant and the heroine, team secretary daughter Frances Clark (Madge Evans). Partly filmed on location at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs' minor-league LA farm team), Death on the Diamond offers a fresh slant to the standard whodunit format, with some particularly good work by Ted Healy as an exasperated umpire. That MGM produced the film is tipped off by two of the studio's trademarks: The killer's last-minute confession, wherein the guilty party transforms from a mild-mannered soul into a raving lunatic, and the shoddy process-screen work in the ballgame scenes. Future stars Mickey Rooney, Walter Brennan and Bruce Bennett show up in bit roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Madge Evans, (more)
- 1934
Robert Young had to be the busiest leading man in Hollywood in 1934. He appeared in no fewer than nine pictures, four of them at his home studio of MGM. The Band Plays On features Young as one of four close pals, who have grown up together and are now college football champs known as "The Four Bombers". So inseparable are these chums that, when one is injured in a car accident, the remaining three quit the team. But everyone is back on the field for the inevitable Big Game, including Young, who of course scores the winning T.D. Robert Young plays a football star as realistically as he'd played a baseball star in the earlier Death on the Diamond (34)--meaning that the film relies a heavily on stunt doubles and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Stuart Erwin, (more)
The 1932 publication of Charles Nordhoff and James Norton Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty sparked a revival of interest in the titular 1789 ship mutiny, and this 1935 MGM movie version won the Oscar for Best Picture. Clark Gable stars as Fletcher Christian, first mate of the infamous HMS Bounty, skippered by Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton), the cruelest taskmaster on the Seven Seas. Bligh's villainy knows no bounds: he is even willing to flog a dead man if it will strengthen his hold over the crew. Christian despises Bligh and is sailing on the Bounty under protest. During the journey back to England, Bligh's cruelties become more than Christian can bear; and after the captain indirectly causes the death of the ship's doctor, the crew stages a mutiny, with Christian in charge. Bligh and a handful of officers loyal to him are set adrift in an open boat. Through sheer force of will, he guides the tiny vessel on a 49-day, 4000-mile journey to the Dutch East Indies without losing a man. Historians differ on whether Captain Bligh was truly such a monster or Christian such a paragon of virtue (some believe that the mutiny was largely inspired by Christian's lust for the Tahitian girls). The movie struck gold at the box office, and, in addition to the Best Picture Oscar, Gable, Laughton, and Franchot Tone as one of the Bounty's crew were all nominated for Best Actor (they all lost to Victor McLaglan in The Informer). The film was remade in 1962 and adapted into the "revisionist" 1984 feature The Bounty with Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, (more)
- 1935
Big Mike (Wallace Beery) is a tough Army flyer who longs to see his son Little Mike (Robert Young) take to the air like himself. Little Mike's excessive attraction to Dare (Rosalind Russell) strains his relationship with his father, but eventually he finds the right woman -- Skip (Maureen O'Sullivan), the daughter of Army commandant General Carter (Lewis Stone) -- and an airborne Little Mike does his father proud. Bit-Part Alert: Watch for the brief appearance of then up-and-coming MGM contract player Robert Taylor as Jaskerelli. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Robert Young, (more)
- 1936
In this western, three desperadoes rob the New Jerusalem Bank and flee across the desert where they find a seemingly abandoned covered wagon. They look inside and discover a dying woman and her newborn. The outlaws end up risking everything, including their loot, to get the woman and child to safety. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Walter Brennan, (more)
- 1936
One Horse Town is the TV title for MGM's 1936 version Small Town Girl (the new title was bestowed to avoid confusion with the 1953 remake). Robert Taylor plays an irresponsible playboy who is arrested in a backwater town for drunken driving. While intoxicated, Taylor proposes to local girl Janet Gaynor. She accepts, knowing full well that he wouldn't have popped the question had he been sober. Gaynor spends the rest of the film trying to reform Taylor and to get him to fall in love with her while he's got all his faculties--no small trick, in that her competition is sophisticated Binnie Barnes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1936
The fast-paced world of Indy car racing provides the backdrop for this drama. The story centers on a test driver who works at a major auto plant. He and his cohorts have invented a new kind of carburetor and are feverishly working to perfect and use it in the upcoming Indianapolis 500. As the race date draws near, the crew keeps having problems with their new invention. The owner's daughter suggests that her father let her friend, an engineer, examine the device. He proves to be a big help, but then tension begins developing on the team as both he and the inventor have developed romantic feelings for the daughter. On the day the carburetor is finally tested, something goes terribly wrong and the test driver and the inventor nearly die. Fortunately, the engineer saves them and they continue working on the troublesome invention. They perfect it on time, and by the end of the race they are all showered with praise. The inventor also gets his girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Wendy Barrie, (more)
- 1936
Suzy is the film in which Cary Grant, overcome by the beauty and vivacity of Jean Harlow, sings her a love ballad! This lighthearted moment aside, Suzy, adapted from a novel by Herbert Gorman is a standard-issue love triangle, set against the tapestry of World War I. Harlow plays a London showgirl, married to Irish engineer Franchot Tone. When foreign spy Benita Hume shoots Tone, mistaking him as a threat against her mission, the terrified Harlow flees into the night, certain that she will be accused of her husband's murder. After the war breaks out, Harlow, believing herself a widow, falls in love with handsome aviator Cary Grant. She marries the well-bred but irresponsible young ace, only to discover that Tone has not been killed after all! This being an idealized World War I film, somebody is going to end up sacrificing his/her life on behalf of somebody else, but we're not about to reveal any more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, (more)
Ghost Town Gold was the second entry in Republic's long-running "Three Mesquiteers" western series. Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Robert Livingston return as Tucson Smith and Stony Brooke, while Max Terhune replaces Sid Saylor as Lullaby Joslin. Almost immediately, comic ventriloquist Terhune established a rapport with his two co-stars, though audiences could have done with a lot less of his garrulous dummy Elmer. As for the plot, our three heroes try to retrieve some stolen money before an innocent banker is blamed for the theft. Adding spice to the quest is the fact that the banker has a pretty daughter (Kay Hughes). Other highlights include a typical Republic saloon-brawl scene, in which Tucson cleans the clock of head-villain Frank S. Hagney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1936
Yet another Zorro imitation, this adventure serial starred Robert Livingston as Don Loring, whose father and brother are killed by the evil General Burr (Fred Kohler). Seeking revenge, Loring dons a black cape and mask, calls himself "The Eagle," and goes about bringing Burr and his men to justice. As a daytime cover, the hero assumes the role of a kind, simple-minded church organist, a disguise that manages to fool Burr and his collaborator, the nasty Russian Count Raspinoff (Robert Warwick), for the serial's 12 installments. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams co-starred as Salvation, the leader of a motley gang of outlaws who assist Loring in his quest, while brunette Kay Hughes added much needed feminine touch to the proceedings. Produced for Republic Pictures by genre specialist Nat Levine, the serial was co-directed by former actor Mack V. Wright and Ray Taylor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
After a couple of false starts, William Colt MacDonald's "Three Mesquiteers" stories were converted into a western film series by Republic Studios. The Mesquiteers, a trio of wandering do-gooders, are muscular Tucson Smith, played by Ray "Crash" Corrigan; hotheaded Stony Brooke, played by Robert Livingston; and comic sidekick Lullaby Joslin, portrayed in this first series entry by Syd Saylor. The three heroes waste no time getting down to business once they're discharged from WWI military service: Tucson and Stony take on a gang of greedy cattlemen, Stony romances homesteader's daughter Marian (Kay Hughes), and Lullaby rounds up stray cattle while astride a motorcycle. J. P. Gowan plays the villain, as he would in several subsequent Mesquiteers entries. Among the film's many assets is the excellent location photography by William Nobles. The Three Mesquiteers proved to be a moneyspinner, encouraging Republic to stay with the series through six years and 51 entries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Sid Saylor, (more)
- 1936
The Bold Caballero, Republic Pictures' first color film, was also the first talkie version of the "Zorro" legend (as originally set down by Johnston McCulley in The Curse of Capistrano). Robert Livingston essays the dual role of foppish Spanish-Californian aristocrat Don Diego, who when the necessity arises dons the mask and black cape of righter-of-wrongs Zorro. As usual, the Z-man spends his time defending the California peasantry from the wicked machinations of the corrupt, quasi-fascistic commandante (Sig Rumann), who has murdered the provincial governor and shifted the blame to Zorro. The film contains such marvelous set-pieces as Diego's advice to the leering commandante as to how to romance the fair Isabella (Heather Angel), and a bizarre "drag" scene in which the hero disguises himself as the heroine's duenna. Alas, current prints of The Bold Caballero are available only in black and white. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1936
Despite its title, things get pretty noisy in MGM's Absolute Quiet. Lionel Atwill heads the cast as reclusive financier G. A. Axton, who squirrels himself away at a remote ranch to recuperate from an illness. The only other person at the ranch is Axton's secretary Laura Tait (Irene Hervey), but there's no hanky-panky; Laura is happily (or at least contentedly) married to Barney Tait (Harvey Stephens). Axton's solitude comes to an end when a plane makes a forced landing near his property. The passengers are herded into the ranch house by Jack (Wallace Ford) and Judy (Bernardine Hayes), a pair of inept bandits who'd been holding up the plane when it developed engine trouble. Seeking an opportunity to overpower the crooks are unemployed actor Gregory Bengard (Louis Hayward), crooked governor Pruden (Raymond Walburn) and newspaper reporter Chubby Rudd (Stuart Erwin). It soon develops that the passengers -- and Laura -- have more to fear from the mysterious G. A. Axton than they do from the gun-wielding Jack and Judy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1937
One of the timelier Three Mesquiteers westerns, Gunsmoke Ranch was inspired by the Ohio and Mississippi river floodings of 1937. As usual, the Mesquiteers are Stony Brooke (Robert Livingston), Tucson Smith (Ray "Crash" Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune). After rescuing young Marion (Julia Thayer) from the rising flood waters, our three heroes take on a no-good varmint (Kenneth Harlan) who is capitalizing on the disaster by buying up land dirt cheap. Comedy relief is provided by cornpone vaudevillians Oscar and Elmer, who are about as funny as an eviction notice. Actual newsreel footage of the previous years' floods adds a veneer of credibility to Gunsmoke Ranch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
In perhaps their most unusual Western adventure, the Three Mesqueteers -- Stony (Bob Livingston), Tucson (Ray Corrigan), and Lullaby (Max Terhune) -- go in search of Professor Marsh (John Van Pelt), an archeologist who vanished while searching for the lost city of Lukachukai. Along for the ride are Marsh's daughter, Betty (Mary Russell); Rutledge (Roger Williams); and an Indian guide, Otah (Yakima Canutt). The expedition heads straight for the Whistling Skull, a huge rock formation in the "nostril" of which the Mesqueteers discover the missing scientist, gaunt but alive among several mummies. Both Rutledge and Otah prove to be less than helpful, however, and at one point Betty and Stony go missing and are feared lost. As Tucson learns, the natives are under the influence of a fanatical white man, but who is he? Oliver Drake and John Rathmell's screenplay was later reworked into a latter-day Charlie Chan thriller The Feathered Serpent (1949), which featured Bob Livingston as the villain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max "Alibi" Terhune
- 1937
Heart of the Rockies launched Republic's second season of popular "Three Mesquiteers" westerns. Returning to the fold are Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke, Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Tucson Smith and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin. This time our heroes play modern-day cattle ranchers who are falsely accused of killing bears on the grounds of a national park. The boys seem to have plenty of motive, inasmuch as the bears are suspected of depleting their livestock. When it turns out that the real villains are a gang of smugglers, the Mesquiteers team with the park rangers to get their man (or men). Robert Livingston was injured during production of Heart of the Rockies, forcing Republic to replace him with Ralph Byrd in the next Three Mesquiteers opus, Trigger Trio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1937
An early entry in Republic Pictures' popular "Three Mesqueteers" western series, Wild Horse Rodeo features Robert Livingston who, as Stony Brooke, wants to capture Cyclone, a wild stallion made famous in the magazine illustrations of Alice Harkley (June Martel). Against the wishes of Alice, with whom he is falling in love, and partner Tucson Smith (Ray "Crash" Corrigan), Stony "breaks" the stallion and goes on to win first place at a rodeo operated by nasty Colonel Nye (Walter Miller). The latter wants Cyclone for himself but his attempts at horse rustling are deftly deflected by the third Mesqueteer, Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune), and his dummy Elmer. Cyclone escapes and Stony goes after him. The colonel, meanwhile, stoops to using an airplane to catch both the wayward stallion and Stony but is defeated in a fiery climax by the Mesqueteers, who now agree with Alice to let Cyclone roam free. Helmed by first-time director George Sherman, Wild Horse Rodeo also marked the debut under contract of Roy Rogers. Billed as Dick Weston, Rogers sings Fleming Allan's "Riding High" and "My Madonna of the Trail". ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max "Alibi" Terhune
- 1937
June Travis plays a trapeze star who becomes the romantic bone of contention between Robert Livingston and Charles Jerome. Silent movie veterans Betty Compson and Charlie Murray lend their expertise to this Republic 7-reeler. The aerialist scenes are performed by the Escalante Family Troupe, who also contributed their breathtaking skills to such Hollywood films as Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932),and the Marx Bros.' At the Circus. One of the scripters of Circus Girl was Bradford Ropes, author of the quintessential backstage yarn 42nd Street. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Travis, Donald Cook, (more)
- 1937
A travelling circus provides the background for this "Three Mesquiteers" western. One of the circus owners is a counterfeiter, who when he's caught with the goods shifts the blame to his partner. Our three heroes Stoney (Robert Livingston), Tucson (Ray "Crash" Corrigan) and Lullaby (Max Terhune), an old friend of the falsely accused partner, combine their skills to spring their pal out of the calaboose. Meanwhile, Stoney pitches woo at heroine Mary (Maxine Doyle) -- who almost manages to march the hapless fellow down the aisle. An average "Mesquiteers" entry, Come On, Cowboy is still superior to practically any other "B" western of the period. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1937
The Three Mesquiteers are back for more action in this well-photographed Republic western. This time, heroes Stoney Brooke (Bob Livingston), Tucson Smith (Ray "Crash" Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune) find themselves in a middle of a range war between cattlemen and sheepmen. The villains have the local constabulary in their pocket, and they intend to get what they want with a passel of forged land deeds and phony mortgages. The two chief heavies are played by Harry Woods and John Merton, and two meaner cusses never existed. An outsized gun battle brings this Mesquiteers entry to a rousing conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max "Alibi" Terhune
- 1937
Larceny on the Air is a Republic B-plus picture "drawn from today's headlines." In this instance, the news event pounced upon was the mid-1930s Federal crackdown on patent-medicine quacks. Robert Livingston stars as a doctor who takes to the radio airwaves to campaign against cure-all charlatans. Livingston's mission is compromised when he falls in love with Grace Bradley, daughter of the medicine-racket ringleader. Somehow Larceny on the Air found the time to accommodate a musical number, "Sittin' on the Moon" (from the 1936 Republic picture of the same name). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Grace Bradley, (more)
- 1937
The Three Mesquiteers take on a group of frontier fascists in the zippy series entry Roarin' Lead. This being Season One of the "Mesquiteers" series, the heroic threesome is played by Ray "Crash" Corrigan (as Tucson Smith), Robert Livingston (Stony Brooke), and Max Terhune (Lullaby Joslin). Appointed trustees of an estate, the Mesquiteers are assigned to turn over part of the legacy to a trustee of an orphanage. Said trustee is a member of a cattlemen's protective association, run along the lines of a brown-shirted private army by corrupt politico Hackett (Hooper Atchley). To save the orphanage from being closed down by Hackett and his minions, the Mesquiteers ride hard, fight harder, and shoot hardest. Best moment: Upon being confronted by Hackett henchman Canary (Yakima Canutt) and a group of cowboy storm troopers, our three heroes burst out laughing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
