Babe London Movies

In this melodrama, Johnnie (Jayne Mansfield) struggles through a series of relationships and pregnancies only to be repeatedly deserted by her no-good lovers. As she moves from relationship to relationship, Johnnie continues to change her name, each time hoping for a new and better life. This was Jayne Mansfield's last film. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In the fourth Three Stooges comedy of 1951, Moe and Larry attempt to cure Shemp of the hallucinations that caused him to marry a homely nurse. The latter was played by Babe London, a hefty comedienne making her return to Stooges comedy after an absence of 15 years. Written by the veteran Felix Adler, Scrambled Brains proved one of the team's better "non-Curly" vehicles. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This musical comedy stars William Powell as Emery Slade, who was once a major film star but lately isn't getting much work. Arrogantly determined to climb back to the top, Slade convinces studio chief Melville Crossman (Adolphe Menjou) to give him the male lead in the film version of a Broadway musical. However, Crossman's offer comes with a catch: Emery has to persuade the show's female lead to appear in the movie. Slade heads to New York to seal the deal, but instead he discovers a gifted young unknown named Julie Clark (Betsy Drake) and decides she's perfect for the role. Crossman is not too enthusiastic about this news, and neither is publicist Bill Davis (Mark Stevens), who is given his pink slip along with Slade. However, Slade is determined to make a career for Julie in Hollywood, though it's not until later that he realizes why he feels so strongly about her. Movie buffs will get a kick out of Menjou's performance, closely modeled on 20th Century Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

John Muller (Paul Henreid), an intelligent, arrogant criminal who has been a medical student and a phony psychoanalyst, believes that people are only interested in themselves and do not notice what is happening around them. Paroled from prison to a boring job, Muller is more interested in a big score, and along with his old cronies robs a crooked gambling joint owned by Rocky Stansyck (Thomas Brown Henry). Although he gets away with the money, some of his men are caught by Stansyck and identify John as the ringleader. On the run from Stansyck's gang, he is mistaken for Dr. Bartok, a psychiatrist also played by Henreid. Curious, Muller goes to the doctor's office, and meets Bartok's secretary and lover, Evelyn Nash (Joan Bennett). Needing to avoid capture, he assumes Bartok's identity, but first must scar his face like the doctor's. Working from a photograph printed from a reversed negative, he applies the scar to the wrong side. Though fooled at first, when Evelyn discovers the truth, she decides to leave, although she is in love with Muller/Bartok. Steve Sekely's Hollow Triumph (aka The Scar) is a film that requires an exceptionally hefty suspension of disbelief in its reliance on coincidence and the literal acceptance of Muller's cynical view of human blindness. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

Road to Rio was the first of three "Road" pictures jointly produced by stars Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. On the run from the law again, musicians Bob and Bing stow away on an ocean liner. They try to come to the rescue of heiress Dorothy Lamour, who is doomed to an arranged marriage to caddish George Meeker. All gratitude and effusions for their assistance, Dorothy surprises Bob and Bing on their next meeting by slapping them in their faces and declaring "I hate you! I loathe you! I despise you!" The explanation? Dorothy is being hypnotized by her scheming aunt Gale Sondergaard, who has set up the marriage for mysterious mercenary reasons of her own. When Dorothy is "herself" again, Bob and Bing smuggle her off the ship and into their Rio de Janeiro hotel room. The boys plan to save Dorothy from her unwanted marriage by passing her off as a nightclub singer, and themselves as band leaders. Trouble is, they have no band. Enter the Wiere Brothers, three Rio street entertainers. Bob and Bing hire the threesome on the spot, unmindful that they have booked themselves into Nestor Paiva's nightclub on the promise that they're delivering an American band. Since the Wieres speak only Portuguese, Bing teaches each brother an American phrase by rote: "You're in the groove, Jackson", "You're Telling Me," and "This is Murder." Naturally, it isn't long before the boys' ruse is discovered, and this coupled with the newly hypnotized Lamour's threats to have Bob and Bing arrested, leaves our heroes broke and stranded once more. Still, they pose a menace to Sondergaard, thus she contrives a method of disposing of them. Hypnotizing them both, Sondergaard orders Bob and Bing to kill each other. They snap out of the spell just in time, but still there's the problem of rescuing Dorothy. And now there's a new angle: mysterious stranger Frank Puglia informs the boys that the only way to stop the wedding is to retrieve (pause; a furtive glance left; a furtive glance right) "The Papers." Said papers are in the possession of Sondergaard, obliging Bob and Bing to show up at the pre-nuptial festival in disguise (with Bob in drag). Managing to hypnotize Sondergaard's henchmen Frank Faylen and Joseph Vitale, Bob and Bing uncover the precious Papers, and Dorothy is saved. But how can those papers stop a wedding? We won't give away the surprise, nor will we tell you whether Dorothy ends up with Bob or Bing, nor even what the heck Jerry Colonna is doing in the picture leading a cavalry charge. Not the best of the "Road" pictures, Road to Rio is nonetheless one of the most memorable--and quotable (how many of your high school pals used to confound the teacher by declaring "You're in the groove, Jackson"?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Overloaded with unreleased films in 1942 and 1943, Paramount Pictures cleaned house by diverting several pictures to United Artists. One such effort was The Crystal Ball, wherein beauty contest loser Toni Gerard (Paulette Goddard) takes a job as a sideshow fortune teller. Subbing for the ailing head (Gladys George) of a fake medium racket, Toni whimsically advises attorney Brad Cavanaugh (Ray Milland) to purchase some property that is coveted by the government. Cavanaugh follows her advice, nearly ruining himself in the process. All turns out okay in the end, but there's a last-minute entanglement when several of Toni's disgruntled clients converge upon her all at once. Strictly second-rate, The Crystal Ball is salvaged by the work of such surehanded supporting players as William Bendix, Cecil Kellaway, Mary Field, Ernest Truex, Iris Adrian, Nestor Paiva and Mabel Paige (in her film debut). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Time for Keeps is a followup to 1940's Keeping Company, with Ann Rutherford repeating her role from the earlier film. Rutherford is cast as newlywed Katherine White, at present undergoing a rocky "period of adjustment" with her husband Lee (Robert Sterling, replacing the original film's John Shelton). Having trouble landing a good job, Lee is persuaded to go to work for his father-in-law Harry Bryant (Frank Morgan in the first film, Guy Kibbee in the second). Unfortunately, Harry doesn't believe in allowing his employees to think for themselves, resulting in even more friction between Katherine and Lee. It's up to Harry's all-knowing wife (Irene Rich, another carryover from Keeping Company) to smooth everyone's ruffled feathers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as The Princess From Hoboken, this is an amusing "B" picture with "A" aspirations. Hoping to improve his business, O'Brien (Will R. Walling), the owner of an Irish beanery in Hoboken, changes the name of the joint to the "Russian Inn." This he does to capitalize on the arrival in New York of a bejeweled White Russian princess. For the sake of publicity, O'Brien's daughter Sheila (Blanche Mehaffey) dresses up as the visiting princess, and it is in this guise that she meets phony prince Anton Balakrieff (Lou Tellegren). Sheila is rescued from the bogus prince's clutches by lovestruck Terrence O'Brien (Edmund Burns), but there's still trouble ahead for our heroine when the genuine princess (played by rotund Babe London) finally shows up. Boris Karloff has a very, very small role as an anarchist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Charlie Chaplin's talented brother Sydney enjoyed moderate box-office success as star of a series of Warner Bros. features in the late 1920s. Sydney's Fortune Hunter was based on a play by Winchell Smith, which had starred John Barrymore on Broadway and which had previously been filmed in 1914 with William Elliot in the lead. Chaplin plays Nat Duncan, an impoverished socialite who hopes to land a rich spouse. His partner in "crime" is his pal Handsome Harry West (Duke Martin), who intends to share the monetary rewards of Nat's marriage. The plan is scotched when Nat falls for just-getting-by soda shop owner Josie Lockwood (Helene Costello). The film's best bit finds the lovestruck Nat subbing for Josie at the soda fountain; when a customer asks for a cigar, the absent-minded hero begins peeling the stogie like a banana. The Fortune Hunter was directed by Charles Reisner, who cut his cinematic teeth as an actor/assistant with Charlie Chaplin's First National unit in the late teens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This early William Wellman directorial effort stars George K. Arthur as the title character, an incredibly naïve farmhand named Peter Good. Spurned by Amy (Gertrude Olmstead), the girl he loves, Peter sets out to prove that he isn't a boob. He joins a posse hunting for a gang of bootleggers, and sure as shootin' he rounds up the bad guys single-handedly. The film's highlight is an elaborate production number set at a burlesque theater, where scores of contract starlets have their clothes removed with the help of wires and pulleys. Billed third in the cast is Joan Crawford, whom MGM was obviously preparing for bigger and better things. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Zane Grey's novel, Wildfire, was filmed here, it somehow turned into a hoary Drury Lane-style melodrama, set in the West instead of England. While chasing an unruly colt through the hills, Lin Slone (Carl Gantvoort) is knocked unconscious. Lucy Bostil (Claire Adams]) finds him -- a stroke of luck, since her father (Charles Arling), who owns a stable, has a formidable rival in the villainous Bill Cordts (Harry L. Van Meter). Cordts will do anything to make sure his horse beats out Bostil's in the next race, including drugging the steed. Slone has trained his colt, named Wildfire, to carry a rider, and he gives him to Lucy, providing she ride it in the race. She does, and Wildfire wins. But the story's not over yet -- in one last bit of villainy, Cordts and his half-wit accomplice, Joel Creech (a not-very half-witted Jean Hersholt), kidnap Lucy. Sloan, of course, heads into the mountains and rescues her for the requisite ending clinch. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide