Mary MacLaren Movies
The sister of silent screen star Katherine MacDonald and a former photographer's model, blonde Mary MacLaren had danced in the Broadway revue {+The Passing Show of 1914) before making her screen debut in 1916. A favorite of pioneering woman director Lois Weber, MacLaren starred as the poor working girl in Shoes (1916) and was Marie Walcamp's maid in the anti-abortion drama Where Are My Children (1916). For another early woman director, Ida May Park, MacLaren played an actress betrayed by a Broadway wolf and reduced to living in squalor in the evocative Bread (1918) and she was a regal Anne of Austria in Fairbanks' The Three Musketeers (1921). Like most of her contemporaries, MacLaren's career waned in the 1920s and she was reduced to minor roles after the changeover to sound. After playing scores of maids, nurses and dowagers, MacLaren left films around 1948 to travel with her husband, a British military officer. Sadly, when she resurfaced in the 1970s, a newspaper reporter discovered her living in abject poverty in her once palatial Hollywood home. MacLaren's tragic story was widely reported and in her final years she became a popular guest at various silent screen revivals. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1948
Elmer Rice's clever stage comedy Dream Girl is Hollywoodized and "dumbed down" almost beyond recognition in this 1948 film version. In place of the original play's Betty Field, Betty Hutton stars Georgina Allerton, who periodically escapes her humdrum existence by retreating into elaborate daydreams. Georgina's fantasy excursions disturb her parents (Walter Abel and Peggy Wood) and her married sister (Virginia Field), who wish that she'd grow up already and stop all this nonsense. Only when she falls truly in love with Clark Redfield (Macdonald Carey) does Georgina abandon her dream world. Like the previous year's Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the film version of Dream Girl substitutes the quiet whimsy of its source with slapstick and overstatement; additionally, Elmer Rice's three-dimensional supporting characters are transformed into cardboard stereotypes. And just so the audience doesn't miss anything, the producers have added a voiceover narration to explain what has just been seen. With all this going against Dream Girl, Betty Hutton emerges unscathed, delivering a lot better performance than her material warrants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Hutton, MacDonald Carey, (more)
- 1948
"Some were good, some were bad, and all looked pretty much alike." This was "B"-western historian Don Miller's assessment of Johnny Mack Brown's Monogram westerns of the 1940s. One of the better look-alikes was Crossed Trails, in which Brown champions the cause of pretty ranch owner Maggie (Lynne Carver). The villains (Douglas Evans and Steve Clark) hope to control the local water rights by laying claim to Maggie's property. They further this cause by framing Maggie's guardian Bodie (Raymond Hatton) for murder. But our hero manages to rescue the damsel, clear the falsely accused Bodie, and round up the crooks seemingly in one fell swoop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Hatton, Johnny Mack Brown, (more)
- 1948
After supervising several of the best "psychological" horror films ever made, producer Val Lewton shifted his base of operations from RKO to Paramount. Lewton's first project at his new studio -- and the last -- was My Own True Love, an uncharacteristically sentimental offering. Based on the novel by Yolanda Foldes, the story focuses on the romantic dilemma facing ex-POW Joan Clews (Phyllis Calvert). On the verge of marrying middle-aged Clive Heath (Melvyn Douglas), Joan is introduced to Heath's war-veteran son Michael (Philip Friend). Sympathizing with Michael's wartime loss of his Malayan wife and child, Joan falls in love with him. Unwilling to betray his own father, Michael elects to commit suicide, but that's not quite how things turn out. My Own True Love is proof positive that romantic melodrama was not Val Lewton's forte. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1945
A bit paunchier but no less energetic, Johnny Mack Brown is back as Nevada Jack McKenzie in Frontier Feud. Once again, Nevada and his grizzled sidekick Sandy (Raymond Hatton) are US marshals posing as drifters. Rancher Joe (Dennis Moore) is accused of a series of murders, but Nevada and Sandy manage to prove that another man is the guilty party. Christine McIntyre, leading lady of many of 3 Stooges comedy, is cast as the heroine in Frontier Feud, a departure from the brassy villainesses she usually played in the Johnny Mack Brown westerns. Director Lambert Hillyer wraps it all up in a breathless 54 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, (more)
- 1945
Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton once again play undercover U.S. marshals Nevada McKenzie and Sandy Hopkins. This time, Sandy's sergeant, Trevor (Jasper L. Palmer), is shot in the back by Slim Ramsey (Raphael Bennett), an outlaw he had been tracking. Masquerading as a desperado himself, Nevada manages to infiltrate Ramsey's gang and learn the identity of its leader, a villain named Farr (Edmund Cobb). Sandy, meanwhile, pretends to be an Indian trader and the undercover agents are helped in their investigation by Tober (Tom Quinn), a defecting gang member. The latter is being questioned by Paul (Riley Hill) and the murdered sergeant's pretty daughter, Mary (Jennifer Holt), when their cabin comes under attack from Farr and his henchmen. Happily, Nevada and Sandy arrive just in time to prevent a massacre. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Freely adapted from a successful Broadway musical by Moss Hart, this story stars Ginger Rogers as Liza Elliott, the editor of a popular fashion magazine. Despite her beauty, wealth, and success in business, Liza is unhappy and out of sorts. And while three men are vying for her affections -- advertising director Charley Johnson (Ray Milland), newly single Kendall Nesbitt (Warner Baxter), and youthful and handsome Randy Curtis (Jon Hall) -- Liza has been unlucky in love, and she feels that she's come to the end of her emotional rope. She begins seeing Dr. Brooks (Barry Sullivan) in hopes of resolving her emotional crises and finding happiness, and her self-searching explorations of her past take the form of a handful of musical numbers. While the stage version of Lady in the Dark featured songs written by the estimable team of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, several of them were replaced for this screen adaptation; "The Saga of Jenny", "One Life to Love", and "Girl of the Moment" were the most notable among the Weill/Gershwin tunes that survived the editing process. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1943
Adapted from the Cornell Woolrich novel Black Alibi, The Leopard Man is a lesser but still fascinating psychological-horror effort from producer Val Lewton. Someone has been killing off the citizens of a small New Mexico town, and the most likely suspect is a huge leopard, purchased for a local nightclub act by press agent Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe), which has escaped from its cage. Neither Manning nor his star Clo-Clo (Margo) are totally convinced that the big cat is responsible.The haunting finale takes place during the annual "Day of the Dead" festivities. The opening sequence of Leopard Man, atmospherically detailing the last few moments of murder victim Teresa Delgado (Margaret Landry), is so powerful that the rest of the film seems anticlimactic. Long available only in its 59-minute reissue form, the film was restored to its original 65-minute running time in the mid-1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, (more)
- 1943
U.S. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown once again goes undercover in this Nevada Mckenzie series entry from Great Westerns Prod./Monogram. Masquerading as a parson and a drifter, Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) and Nevada Jack McKenzie (Mack Brown) come to the aid of the beleaguered residents of Goldville, a small ranching community being terrorized by greedy saloon keeper Ace Benton (Kenneth MacDonald) and his gang of cutthroats. Unbeknownst to the citizenry, the railroad is planning to build tracks through town and Benton is attempting to secure the land by scaring off the settlers. Caught by the gang, Nevada manages to talk his way out by pretending to be an outlaw himself. Benton quickly becomes suspicious, but is eventually felled by his own greed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, (more)
- 1943
The Fighting Valley is another of PRC's "Texas Rangers" westerns, with Dave O'Brien, Jim Newell and Guy Wilkerson as the aforementioned Rangers. This time, our heroes try to find out who's been stealing ore from a valuable smelting mine. One of the independent mine-owners victimized by the crooks is pretty Joan Manning (Patti McCarthy), making the Rangers' mission a bit more pleasant. The revelation of the villain is a surprise to poor Joan, though not necessarily to the audience. Pretty good of its kind, Fighting Valley is marred only by the questionable comedy relief of cadaverous Guy Wilkerson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1941
Tim Holt is mistaken for a notorious gunslinger in this average Western, which RKO filmed at Kanab, UT, in tandem with the star's previous effort, the much better Wagon Train. Believed by everyone to be Deuce Mallory, a gunman hired to kill local prospector Caleb Winters (Paul Scardon), The Fargo Kid (Holt) decides to play out the charade in order to trap Nick Kane (Cy Kendall), the corrupt businessman who had ordered the hit in the first place. Things get a bit dicey when the real Deuce Mallory (Paul Fix) rides into town but aided by sidekicks Johnny (Ray Whitley) and Whopper (Emmett Lynn), The Kid manages to prevent the murder, and, in return, earns the love and respect from everyone, including the prospector's pretty daughter, Jennie (Jane Drummond). Ray Whitley performs his own and Fred Rose's "Crazy Ole Trails Ahead" and "Twilight on the Prairie" in this remake of the 1932 Tom Keene oater The Cheyenne Kid, which itself was a talkie version of a 1928 Bob Steele silent, Man in the Rough. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, (more)
Misbehaving Husbands was intended as a comeback vehicle for silent-film comedy great Harry Langdon, who after his fall from grace in the 1920s had to content himself with cheap 2-reelers, featured roles and screenwriting assignments. Langdon plays henpecked store-owner Henry Butler, who decides to save money by designing his window displays himself. When Henry's wife (Betty Blythe) spots him in an innocent but compromising situation with one of his underdressed models, she walks out on him and files for divorce. Making matters worse, poor Henry is accused of murder when he's seen carrying a store dummy into his house. It's all strictly short-subject material, but Langdon carries off his assignment with finesse, proving that he was still capable of carrying a feature film if given half a chance. Others contributing to the general merriment are statuesque Esther Muir, Langdon's longtime screen partner (and close friend) Vernon Dent, Ralph "Dick Tracy" Byrd and veteran western heavy Richard Cramer (who'd previously appeared in the Langdon-scripted Laurel&Hardy vehicle Saps at Sea). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Byrd, Harry Langdon, (more)
- 1941
George Sanders makes his final appearance as crook-turned-detective Simon Templar, a.k.a. "The Saint," in The Saint in Palm Springs. The gimmick in this one is a set of rare stamps, smuggled from England. Wendy Barrie is the true heir to this treasure, and the Saint is engaged to protect her and the stamps. Our hero meets Barrie in a posh Palm Springs resort, where a gang of homicidal thieves have converged to relieve the girl of her inheritance. Three murders and one kidnapping attempt later, the villains are foiled by the Saint, with the aid of his onetime partner in crime Pearly Gates (Paul Guilfoyle). The Saint in Palm Springs is the sixth in RKO's series of films based on the character created by Leslie Charteris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, (more)
Prairie Pioneers was one of a trio of "Three Mesquiteers" westerns directed by the forgotten Les Orleback. On this occasion, the Mesquiteers are enacted by Robert Livingston (as Stony Brooke), Bob Steele (Tucson Smith) and Rufe Davis (Lullaby Joslin). Their mission this time is to save young Roberto Ortega (Robert Kellard) from hanging for a crime he didn't commit. This requires our heroes to take on a gang of land-usurpers, headed by Carlos Montoya (Davison Clark). Along the way, Stony Brooke dallies romantically with Roberto's lovely sister Dolores (Esther Estrella). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Bob Steele, (more)
- 1940
'Til We Meet Again is an inflated remake of 1932's One Way Passage. As in the original, the hero is a convicted murderer en route to the death house by way of a merchant ship; the heroine is suffering from a terminal illness. Once more, hero and heroine fall in love, each keeping the facts of his or her imminent doom from the other. The principal difference this time is that instead of William Powell and Kay Francis, the stars are George Brent and Merle Oberon. This cast change does no damage to the basic storyline, but the decision in 'Til We Meet Again to expand upon the secondary romance between the arresting detective (Pat O'Brien) and an accomplice of the condemned man (Geraldine Fitzgerald) throws the focus of the film completely out of kilter. One decided benefit to both One Way Passage and 'Til We Meet Again is the comic presence of Frank McHugh, who plays the same role--a tipsy pickpocket--in both pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, George Brent, (more)
- 1939
In this crime drama, a grizzled cabbie is scammed out of his life savings by a fake finance company. He tries to no avail to get police assistance. Finally he becomes a wanted criminal and escapes to California where he meets the girl who will become his wife. She helps him go straight by helping him set up a garage. When she gets pregnant, she talks him into to confessing his crimes to the police. He agrees, but before he goes, he decides to commit one last crime to ensure that his wife and child will not starve while he serves his prison sentence. He then steals a million dollars only to learn that the money is worthless. He is subsequently killed in a police shoot-out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Claire Trevor, (more)
- 1939
- NR
Based on Memory of Love, a novel by Bessie Breuer, In Name Only is soap opera par excellence, blessed with a peerless cast. Carole Lombard plays widow Julie Eden, who meets and falls in love with unhappily married Alec Walker (Cary Grant). Having married Alec solely for his wealth and family prestige, his manipulative wife, Maida (Kay Francis), has managed to convince everyone -- even Alec's parents -- that she is the victimized one and that Alec is an irresponsible philanderer. Making matters worse, Maida refuses to give Alec a divorce so that he can find happiness in the arms of the sweet, unassuming Julie. Almost miraculously, Maida agrees to let Alec go, only to capriciously renege at the last minute and sue Julie for alienation of affections. Disconsolately, Alec goes on a bender, falling asleep in front of an open window and contracting pneumonia. As Alec lays seriously ill in a hospital bed, Julie tearfully agrees to give him up if only Maida will try to make him happy. But Maida isn't about to give up this moment of triumph, cheerfully bragging about her underhanded methods and her intention to take Alec for every penny that he has. Without giving away the outcome, it can be noted that, figuratively speaking, loose lips sink ships. Though In Name Only could have been a wallow in bathos, the performances by the stars -- and the knowing direction of John Cromwell -- elevate the production to the level of "romance classic." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, (more)
- 1938
Filmed on MGM's standing Dr. Kildare sets, the one-reel Our Gang comedy Men in Fright gets under way as Gang members Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Spanky McFarland, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, and Leonard Landy pay a visit to their hospitalized friend Darla Hood. Thanks to a convenient plot device, Alfalfa is mistaken for a tonsillectomy patient and subjected to laughing gas. Once this complication has been straightened out, the kids burrow through a picnic basket full of such delicacies as pickles, ice cream, and hot dogs, with the expected results (conveyed via a clever bit of animation). Men in Fright was originally released on October 15, 1938. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, (more)
- 1938
Louis Hayward plays an arrogant Cambridge student who emigrates to America and enrolls at the West Point. Hayward's superior attitude earns him the enmity of his fellow students and the derisive nickname "the Duke". Those viewers familiar with college pictures will know as early as the opening titles that Hayward is down deep a swell guy. He proves this by helping impoverished plebe Richard Carlson pay his college costs and winning a crucial hockey game against a Canadian team. While Hayward and his student companions all look a bit long in tooth to be West Pointers, 20-year-old leading lady Joan Fontaine fits right in to the predictable proceedings. Like most of producer Edward Small's films, Duke of West Point was a perennial attraction on TV's "Late Late Shows" in the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Hayward, Joan Fontaine, (more)
A Day at the Races was the Marx Brothers' follow-up to their incomparable A Night at the Opera. Groucho Marx is cast as Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who passes himself off as a human doctor when summoned by wealthy hypochondriac Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont) to take over the financially strapped Standish Sanitarium. Chico Marx plays the sanitarium's general factotum, who works without pay because he has a soft spot for its owner, lovely Judy Standish (Maureen O'Sullivan). Harpo Marx portrays a jockey at the local racetrack, constantly bullied by the evil Morgan (Douglass Dumbrille), who will take over the sanitarium if Judy can't pay its debts. After several side-splitting routines--Chico selling Groucho tips on the races, Chico and Harpo rescuing Groucho from the clutches of femme fatale Esther Muir, all three Marxes conducting a lunatic "examination" of Margaret Dumont--the fate of the sanitarium rests on a Big Race involving Hi-Hat, a horse belonging to the film's nominal hero, Allan Jones. Virtually everything that worked in "Opera" is trotted out again for "Races", including a hectic slapstick finale wherein the Marxes lay waste to a public event. What is missing here is inspiration; perhaps this is due to the fact that MGM producer Irving Thalberg, whose input was so essential to the success of "Opera", died during the filming of "Races". Even so, Day at the Races made more money than any other previous Marx Brothers film--the result being that MGM, in the spirit of "they loved it once", would continue recycling Races' best bits for the studio's next three Marx vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marx Brothers, Groucho Marx, (more)
- 1937
Paramount's final "Big Broadcast" musical had perhaps the least exciting musical lineup of the series (Tito Guizar, The Shep Fields Orchestra, and opera singer Kirsten Flagstad are hardly household names today), but a slightly stronger storyline than the others, as well as a top-notch comic cast. This time out, most of the action takes place as sea, as S.B. Bellows (W.C. Fields) shows off his new invention: an ocean liner that can turn radio signals into electricity and part the waves at 100 miles per hour. He challenges another ship to a race while a number of music and comedy acts appear in the ship's showroom. Along with Fields, who performs several classic pool and golf routines, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, and Ben Blue add to the laughs; Bob Hope made his feature debut here, and he even sings his future theme song, "Thanks for the Memories". ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- W.C. Fields, Martha Raye, (more)
- 1937
Robert Allen isn't particularly "reckless" in this rather pedestrian Western, which had the gall to cast the non-actor in dual roles. When Jim Allen (Allen number one) is lynched, his identical twin brother Bob (Allen number two), a Texas Ranger, takes his place in an attempt to flush out the man responsible. He proves to be one Barlowe (Harry Woods), a cattle baron who has hired a gang of ruffians to intimidate the local sheepherders. But when one of the gang members, Mort (Jack Rockwell), escapes from the law, the game is up and Bob's real identity is revealed. Attempting to warn her beau, pretty Mildred Newton (Louise Small) is abducted along with the late Jim Allen's young son, Jimmy (Buddy Cox). The latter, however, manages to free himself and while Bob hunts down the evil Barlowe. The sheep men, lead by Mildred's brother, Chet (Jack Perrin), bring the rest of the gang to justice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles "Slim" Whitaker, Bob Allen, (more)
- 1937
No, we don't get to see Johnny Mack Brown's mother in labor in A Lawman is Born. Brown is "born" as a star packer when he's fully grown. He is moved to slap on his guns by a gang of usurping cattle rustlers. Iris Meredith is the leading lady and Warner Richmond the principal baddie in this reasonably realistic oater. A Lawman is Born was produced independently by A.W. Hackel, and released by Republic Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Iris Meredith, (more)
John Wayne stars in this Western as a law student seeking revenge on the ruthless land baron who killed his parents; after he is thwarted in the courts, he chooses to explore frontier justice instead. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1936
After six years' worth of tragic and noble roles, Irene Dunne began a new phase in her career as a top comedienne in Theodora Goes Wild. She plays a prim small-town schoolteacher, raised in an oppressive environment by two maiden aunts. Seeking surreptitious adventure, Dunne writes a steamy romance novel in her spare time--which becomes a scandalous best-seller. Heading to the big city to meet her publisher, Irene has a fling with the artist (Melvyn Douglas) who has designed the dust jacket for her book. Though on surface a Manhattan sophisticate, Douglas is just as trapped as Dunne had been in her small town; he's saddled with a nasty wife and insufferable parents. Both Douglas and Dunne free themselves of those who'd hold them down, and find happiness together. To round out the happy ending, Dunne's small town, which had ostracized her for writing her "hot" novel, welcomes her back with a brass band when the book puts the town on the map. If Theodora Goes Wild doesn't seem quite as funny now as it did in 1936, it is only because most of its satirical targets (notably the shocked spinster aunts) have ceased to exist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1935
Perhaps the best of Mascot Pictures' feature-film releases, Ladies Crave Excitement is also one of the fastest 69 minutes ever put on film. Norman Foster and Eddie Nugent play Don and Bob, a pair of ace newsreel cameraman for The March of Events, forever keeping one step ahead of their competition. Swept up in the boys' adventures is thrill-seeking heiress Wilma Howell (Evalyn Knapp), who eventually proves to be a valuable member of the team. After a dizzying series of hairbreadth escapes, Don once again scoops his rivals by rounding up a gang of crooks, with the not inconsiderable help of the resourceful Wilma. One interesting aspect of Ladies Crave Excitement is the suggestion that newsreel photographers regularly "stage" events to make things more exciting; in one amusing scene, a storm at sea is re-created on a studio soundstage, as "captain" Christian Rub is doused with bucket after bucket of cold water. Future TV favorites Milburn Stone and Marie Wilson pop up unbilled as a sailor and his date, while perennial Superman villain Herb Vigran appears as a wisecracking photographer. Serving as film editor on Ladies Crave Excitement was director-in-training Joseph H. Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Foster, Evelyn Knapp, (more)
