John Farrell MacDonald Movies
J. Farrell MacDonald was one of the most beloved and prolific character actors in Hollywood history. A former minstrel singer, MacDonald toured the U.S. in stage productions for nearly two decades before he ever set foot in Tinseltown. He made his earliest film appearances in 1911 with Carl Laemmle's IMP company (the forerunner of Universal); within two years he was a firmly established lead actor and director. While functioning in the latter capacity with L. Frank Baum's Oz Film Company, MacDonald gave much-needed work to up-and-coming extras Hal Roach and Harold Lloyd. When Roach set up his own production company in 1915 with Lloyd as his star, he signed MacDonald as director (both Roach and Lloyd would hire their one-time employer as character actor well into the sound era). In the 1920's, MacDonald had returned to acting full time, appearing extensively in westerns and Irish-flavored comedies. A particular favorite of director John Ford, he was prominently featured in such Ford silents as The Iron Horse (1924), The Bad Man (1926) and Riley the Cop (1927, as Riley). He also showed up as Kelly in some of Universal's culture-clash "Cohens and Kellys" comedies. With a voice that matched his personality perfectly, MacDonald was busier than ever in the early-talkie era, usually playing such workaday roles as cops and railroad engineers; in 1932 alone, he showed up in 18 films! Even when his footage was limited, he was always given a moment or two to shine, as witness his emotional curtain speech in Shirley Temple's Our Little Girl. He kept up his workload into the 1940s, often popping up in the films of John Ford and Preston Sturges. His later roles often went unbilled, but he gave his all no matter how fleeting the assignment. One of his choicest roles of the 1940s was as the Dodge City barkeep in Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946). J. Farrell MacDonald continued working right up to his death in 1952; one of his last assignments was a continuing character on the Gene Autry-produced TV series Range Rider. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
Riff-Raff begins riff-raffing when boastful fisherman Dutch (Spencer Tracy) marries down-to-earth cannery worker Hattie (Jean Harlow). Their happiness is marred by Dutch's egomania, which results in the loss of his job and the alienation of his friends. Eventually he deserts Hattie, but she remains in love with him, even going to jail on a theft charge after trying to supply him with money. Reels and reels later, Dutch makes up for his past misdeeds by foiling a plot to sabotage a huge fishing vessel. Unfortunately, his reunion with Hattie is delayed when she tries to break out of prison, earning her an extended sentence, but he magnanimously promises to wait for her. Hard to believe that so sensible a heroine would put up with so much from a guy who's frankly not worth the trouble, but the chemistry between Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow compensates for the film's Grand Canyon-sized logic holes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, (more)
- 1935
In this his penultimate Western for Columbia Pictures, Tim McCoy played Tim Baxter, a cowboy returning to the old homestead to prove he did not kill his uncle. Ranch foreman Jed Miller (Charles Middleton) has inherited the ranch but Tim knows the will was forged. He gathers a group of vigilantes who all have grievances against Miller. There is a romantic triangle between Tim and youngsters Johnny (John Darrow) and Sally (Jacqueline Wells) and the former at one point betrays Tim to Miller. But everything is cleared up after a climactic gun battle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1935
The second of Kermit Maynard's "Mountie" actioners for Ambassador Pictures, Northern Frontier was a major improvement on the first (The Fighting Trooper), which in itself wasn't such a bad picture either. On behalf of the Feds, Royal Mountie McKenzie (Maynard) joins a gang of counterfeiters. The story becomes a bit hard to believe at this point, since McKenzie is so clean-cut and heroic that it's a wonder the villains aren't tipped off to his true identity from the get-go. Magnificently photographed in Northern California, Northern Frontier was ostensibly based on a story by James Oliver Curwood (whose name was automatically attached to practically every Mountie movie ever made!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Eleanor Hunt, (more)
- 1935
In this drama, a young boy earns the trust of an especially skittish colt and they form a special bond. Trouble ensues when the lad finds himself between two arguing brothers. One wants to save the little horse and the herd he runs with, while the other brother wants to exploit the mustangs. The boy uses his charm to convince them to do it his way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rogers, John Farrell MacDonald, (more)
- 1935
The Arizonian came at a time when Richard Dix's popularity was slipping, providing a welcome shot in the arm for the star and plenty of coin at the box office. Dix plays Clay Tallant, a territorial marshal assigned to Silver City, Arizona. Tallant's chief antagonist is crooked town boss Jake Mannen (Louis Calhern), who doubles as an outlaw chieftain. In his ongoing battle against Mannen, our hero finds an unlikely ally in the form of ex-outlaw Tex Randolph (Preston S. Foster). Scripted by frequent John Ford collaborator Dudley Nichols, The Arizonian was remade in 1939 as the George O'Brien western Marshal of Mesa City. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Margot Grahame, (more)
- 1935
- NR
With Shirley Temple heading the cast of Our Little Girl, it's a moot point as to who plays the title role. Temple is cast as Molly Middleton, daughter of Dr. Donald Middleton (Joel McCrea) and his wife Elsa (Rosemary Ames). Long unhappy in their marriage, Donald and Elsa have stayed together this long only for the sake of cute little Molly. The "big break" finally comes when Elsa falls in love (or thinks she does) with handsome neighbor Rolfe Brent (Lyle Talbot) and Donald has a brief fling with his office assistant Sarah Boyton (Erin O'Brien-Moore). Distressed at the thought of her parent's separation, Molly runs away from home, whereupon her mother and father heap recriminations upon one another, blaming everyone but themselves for the girl's unhappiness. John Farrell MacDonald almost steals the film in the closing scenes as a philosophical hobo who convinces Donald and Elsa to stop thinking about themselves and devote their attention -- and affection -- to Molly. Our Little Girl is based on the Florence Leighton Ptazgraf story Heaven's Gate (the significance of this title is explained at several important plot junctures). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, Rosemary Ames, (more)
- 1935
Stardom comes to an older entertainer in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1935
Front Page Woman was one of those bread-and-butter vehicles that forced Bette Davis to go on strike against Warner Bros., demanding more worthwhile scripts. On its own terms, the film is a briskly entertaining newspaper yarn about two warring reporters (Davis and George Brent). In their efforts to out-scoop each other, Bette and George frequently land in hot water, especially after phoning in contradictory information concerning a murder trial. In the climax, Davis and Brent are both sent to cover a spectacular fire. While competing over interviews and evidence, the two newshounds discover that they're in love with each other. Front Page Woman was remade nearly scene-for-scene as the "Torchy Blaine" B picture Blondes at Work (37). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, George Brent, (more)
- 1935
The film that revived Edward G. Robinson's career after a string of flops, along with A Slight Case of Murder (1938), it was one of the few comedies on his lengthy list of credits. The gangster-comedy was unusual in the composition of its writing staff, which included frequent Frank Capra collaborators Robert Riskin and Jo Swerling, as well as tough-guy scribe W.R. Burnett, who wrote Little Caesar (1931) and High Sierra (1941). The plot centers on the confusion surrounding the uncanny resemblance of a mild-mannered advertising clerk, Arthur Jones (Robinson), to escaped convict "Killer" Mannion. After the police mistakenly arrest the clerk, they give him a passport to avoid repeating the error. As a novelty, newspaper man Healy (Wallace Ford) hires the clerk, an aspiring writer, to do a series on his impressions of Mannion. But later, the convict appears at Jones' apartment and demands the passport for his own protection, threatening the fearful clerk if he reveals anything about his visit. The criminal also orders Jones to write the series of articles based on his reminiscences, which alerts the police that something strange is going on. Although the district attorney finally places Jones in jail under protective custody, for his safety, Mannion switches places with him in order to kill another inmate. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, (more)
- 1935
In this now-campy drama, a patriotic state college football team takes on a subversive radical group determined to undermine American Values with Communist Propaganda. The prime target of the radicals is Larry Davis, the conservative star quarterback. To get him, they utilize a sly and sensual co-ed who seduces Larry from his true-blue gal and leads him into the fast lane. Soon, his playing ability is diminished. Fortunately, he recognizes the error of his ways and abandons his perverted, hedonistic lifestyle just in time to make it back to the playing field where during the final three minutes of the very last game, he carries the ball to victory. As he wins the game, an undercover Government agent drops his disguise as a college student and captures the radicals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Farrell, June Martel, (more)
- 1935
Wallace Ford plays Terry McCall, a small-town baseball star with a monumental ego. Terry's gift for self-aggrandizement alienates him from everyone in town, including his waitress sweetheart May Malone (Barbara Kent). After suffering a concussion during a baseball game, Terry goes blind, whereupon he bitterly retreats from the world. Fortunately, May's kid brother Billy (Dickie Moore), who has always idolized Terry, helps the now-humbled ballplayer to find a reason for living. That Swell-Head was obviously filmed several years before its 1935 release is proven by the presence in the cast of former baseball pro "Turkey" Mike Donlin, who'd been dead since 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Dickie Moore, (more)
- 1935
Henry Fonda made his screen debut in this filmization of his Broadway success The Farmer Takes a Wife. The story is set along the Erie Canal in the 1850s. Fonda plays a farmer who takes a river job to make ends meet. He falls in love with Janet Gaynor, daughter of a canal-boat cook, who thinks very little of farmers. Nonetheless, Fonda and Gaynor marry, much to the displeasure of canal skipper Charles Bickford, who'd assumed that Janet was his girl. When Fonda avoids a fight with Bickford, Janet believes that he's yellow, but he eventually proves otherwise. It is said that during his first day on the set, movie novice Henry Fonda, noting the camera direction "dolly with Dan and Molly" in the script, asked director Victor Fleming who Dolly was. Adapted from the play by Frank B. Elser and Marc Connelly, The Farmer Takes a Wife was remade with Betty Grable and Dale Robertson in 1955. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Henry Fonda, (more)
Produced independently by Edward Small, this surprisingly realistic gangster yarn stars stalwart Richard Arlen as Mal Stevens, an attorney recruited by the newly organized Federal Bureau of Investigation. After Mal and a couple of fellow recruits, Van Rensseler (Harvey Stephens) and Tex Logan (Gordon Jones), foil a plot by Joe Keefer (Bruce Cabot) to kidnap Eleanor Spencer (Virginia Bruce), the trusting debutante foolishly secures Joe's parole. From the outside, Keefer then masterminds a prison break for some of his pals and together they begin a reign of terror. Eleanor's brother Buddy (Eric Linden) goes undercover on behalf of Stevens and is killed by Keefer, but Eleanor, still denying that Keefer, her former chauffeur, is a gangster, blames Stevens. To avoid detection, Keefer kidnaps Dr. Hoffman (George Pauncefort), a noted plastic surgeon, who goes to work altering his appearance. His usefulness over, the good doctor is summarily executed but Hoffman manages to avenge himself from beyond the grave: when the bandages are removed, Keefer's features have been mutilated and his initials carved into the scarred face. Led to the hideout by Keefer's jilted moll Lola (Dorothy Appleby), Stevens confronts the disfigured gangster and there is a final struggle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Virginia Bruce, (more)
- 1935
This barely-disguised but effective riff on The Thin Man (1934) stars that film's lead, William Powell, opposite Ginger Rogers instead of Myrna Loy. Clay Dalzell (Powell) is a suave attorney fonder of solving crimes than trying cases. His elegant girlfriend, Donna (Rogers) hopes that Clay will settle down and marry her. A friend, Tim Winthrop (Leslie Fenton), approaches Clay with a mystery that the amateur sleuth can't resist. Tim's girlfriend Alice disappeared a year ago. During the performance of a Broadway play, Tim spots Alice onstage, but she disappears again. Clay takes the case and sets up a meeting with a gossip columnist who seems to have the answers, but the reporter is murdered and Clay is suspected of the crime. As Clay puts together the pieces, he comes up with several suspects, including the play's producer, a couple seeking to prove a friend's innocence in a capital crime, and the gangster Jim Kinland (Paul Kelly). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1935
Silent screen leading man Lawrence Gray stars in this low-budget thriller produced by legendary penny-pincher Sam Katzman. After selling his cargo of silk to merchant Nick Conrad (Bryant Washburn), Captain Matthews (John Elliott) is brutally robbed by a gang of thieves under Conrad's control. Fortunately, intrepid newspaper reporter Jerry Mason (Gray) manages to get hold of the money, which he hides in a sausage at the deli belonging to his friend Freddy (Fuzzy Knight). Just as the thieves descend on the deli, the sausage is purchased by police officer O'Brien (Fred Kelsey), and is thus out of their reach. Having decided to set sail on the Lottie Carson as soon as possible, Matthews and his daughter Lorraine (Sheila Mannors aka Sheila Bromley) are persuaded by Jerry to stash the money in Freddy's safe. But Conrad and his gang, who quickly descend on the defenseless couple, intercept a letter to Jerry from Matthews. Happily, Jerry and Freddy manage to arrive just in time at the Lottie Carson to save father and daughter from Conrad, who is summarily thrown overboard to his death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1934
Beggar's Holiday was, appropriately enough, filmed on Hollywood's "Poverty Row"--that ramshackle collection of tiny studios on Gower Street rented out by independent producers in the early 1930s. This typical bit of Depression-era whimsy is apparently all about a callow rich man who taps his essential decency by pretending to be poor (we say "apparently" because the film has evidently vanished from sight, and information is sketchy). Hardie Albright and Sally O'Neil are the requisite young lovers, while J. Farrell McDonald does his reliable philosophical tramp routine. Beggar's Holiday was directed by Sam Newfield, perhaps the most prolific megaphone-wielder in all of "Gower Gulch". It was a painless way for moviegoers to spend 59 minutes back in 1934. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1934
Columbia's Once to Every Woman was the first of A. J. Cronin's medical novels to be adapted for the screen. The drama of the piece hinges on the conflict between brilliant young surgeon Barclay (Ralph Bellamy) and crusty hospital head Dr. Selby (Walter Connolly). On another, less-crucial front, Barclay and playboy physician Preston (Walter Byron) vie for the attentions of pretty nurse Miss Farnshawe (Fay Wray). The story comes to a tension-laden climax as Barclay prepares for a delicate brain operation -- a revolutionary procedure which has been opposed by Dr. Selby throughout the picture. Once to Every Woman was scripted by frequent Frank Capra collaborator Jo Swerling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1934
Although it is included in TV's "Shock Theater" passage, there's nothing overtly frightening about the heavily plotted Universal melodrama The Crosby Case. Even while the opening credits are rolling, the audience is introduced to the five main suspects in the murder of a certain Mr. Crosby. Police inspector Thomas (Alan Dinehart) believes that Lynn Ashton (Wynne Gibson), an ex-lover of the victim, is the most likely suspect, though the audience is encouraged not to discount the elderly, seemingly frail Lubeck (Edward Van Sloan), oafish thief Collins (Warren Hymer), heavily-in-debt gambler Willie (John Wray), or even avuncular nightclub doorman Costello (J. Farrell McDonald). The story is a mosaic of flashbacks and flat cuts, the sort that would be hailed as "new" and "innovational" when Citizen Kane was released seven years later. Like RKO Radio's unrelated Ann Vickers, The Crosby Case has gained latter-day fame (or notoriety) with its subtle allusions to an illegal abortion. And yes, that is Walter Brennan in the ship's-stateroom scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wynne Gibson, Onslow Stevens, (more)
- 1934
Harold Lloyd plays Ezekial Cobb, a missionary's son who has spent his entire life in China. Cobb is sent to his father's home church in California, where it is hoped he will find a wife. A true babe in the woods, Cobb is befriended by politician Jake Mayo (George Barbier). Mayo is a cog in a crooked political machine whose bosses plan to set up a "reform" candidate for mayor, so that they can continue their underhanded activities unmolested. The candidate drops dead, so Mayo sets up the innocent Cobb as the mayor-to-be--a "cat's paw" to deflect attention from the system's corruption. But once elected, Cobb takes his duties quite seriously and begins to clean up the town. The machine frames Cobb with planted evidence of wrongdoing, destroying the lad's political career. Undaunted, Cobb remembers the story of an ancient Chinese leader, who, similarly disgraced, took the law in his own hands and executed all known criminals in his last days of power. Cobb orders that every crook in town be rounded up and brought to a dark cellar. He insists that they confess their crimes or face instant death--and backs up his words by "beheading" two of the crooks on the spot! Actually, these executions are cleverly designed magical illusions, and no one is really killed; but the terrified criminals are so hoodwinked by Cobb's apparent cold-bloodedness that they literally climb over one another to confess. Cobb is exonerated, and honesty is restored to his administration. While not Harold Lloyd's best feature film, The Cat's Paw is definitely his most unorthodox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harold Lloyd, Una Merkel, (more)
- 1934
This thriller centers around a super detective's attempt to mastermind the perfect crime after he suspects his wife of infidelity. A woman has been blackmailing the man he suspects of messing with his wife. The detective kills this woman and blames the lover. The hapless man is convicted of the crime. Unfortunately, his wife continues to reject him. The despondent detective kills himself, but not before he sends a letter to his peers explaining his evil deed. To appease the censors, the film has an odd ending tacked on: the whole story was really part of a criminologist's novel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Kruger, Karen Morley, (more)
Two popular film genres were combined by low-budget Chestefield Films in 1934, and the result was Murder on the Campus. Hotshot reporter Bill Bartlett (Charles Starrett) wants to get to the bottom of things when three murders are committed at a co-educational college. In the nastiest of the killings, a female victim is hung from the clapper of the campus' tower bell. Since Bartett's own sweetheart (Shirley Grey) is implicated, he works twice as hard as usual to solve the mystery. It wouldn't be fair to reveal the ending, though it's worth noting that such highly suspicious characters as Edward Van Sloan (as the college president) and Dewey Robinson are lurking about during most of the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Grey, Charles Starrett, (more)
- 1934
Ginger Rogers and Francis Lederer share equal billing -- and near-equal screen time -- in this amiable RKO programmer. Lederer plays Karel Novak, an incredibly naïve Czech immigrant who is taken under the wing of streetwise New York chorus girl Sylvia Dennis (Rogers). With the help of lovable cop-on-the-beat Murphy (J. Farrel McDonald), Sylvia hides Karel from the immigration authorities and ultimately falls in love with him. In addition to Karel's illegal-alien status, the plot is complicated by a crooked lawyer (Arthur Hohl) and a group of well-meaning welfare workers who endeavor to place Sylvia's kid brother Frank (Jimmy Butler) in a foster home. Usually cast in insincere roles, Francis Lederer is at his most sympathetic and likable in Romance in Manhattan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Lederer, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1934
Czech leading man Francis Lederer made his Hollywood film debut in the appropriately titled Man of Two Worlds. Based on the novel by Ainsworth Morgan, the film casts Lederar as Algo, a naïve Eskimo hunter introduced to civilization by avuncular English sportsman Sir Basil (Henry Stephenson). Unschooled in the ways of British society, Algo falls in love with Joan (Elissa Landi), unaware that her friendliness is merely a courtesy and nothing more. Ultimately disillusioned, the sadder-but-wiser Algo returns to the snowy wastes whence he came. Apparently audiences weren't as captivated by Francis Lederer as RKO Radio had hoped they would be: Man of Two Worlds ended up posting a $220,000 loss at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Lederer, Elissa Landi, (more)
- 1934
Were it not for the diligence of old-time radio buffs and Three Stooges fans, the 1933 Universal epic Myrt and Marge might have remained in (deserved) obscurity. The film was inspired by The Story of Myrt and Marge, a popular radio serial which ran from 1931 to 1946. Repeating their radio roles, Myrtle Vail and her real-life daughter Donna Damarel star as sisters Myrt Minter and Marge Spear (Spear-Minter, get it?), chorus girls in the long-running Broadway show Hayfield's Pleasures. For plot purposes, Myrt and Marge spend most of the film mired in a third-rate theatrical troupe which only makes it to Broadway in the final reel. The story is maudlin and predictable in the extreme, relieved only by the antics of the Three Stooges -- Moe, Larry and Curly -- and their vaudeville mentor Eddie Foy Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Myrtle Vail, Trixie Friganza, (more)
