Joe Mack Movies
According to his official studio bio, Italian-born stage actor Joseph Mack (born Magnatti) appeared in Edwin S. Porter's groundbreaking Western The Great Train Robbery (1903), a claim all but impossible to verify. The heavyset character actor, however, can be found near the bottom of hundreds of cast lists in a screen career that lasted until the year of his death. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1936
Having turned down the opportunity to produce Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934), MGM's Louis B. Mayer had second thoughts when the Capra film swept the 1935 Oscars ceremony. Mayer hastily commissioned an It Happened One Night wannabe titled Love on the Run, tailored for the talents of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable (who, of course, had starred in the Capra picture, and had copped one of those Oscars). Gable and Franchot Tone play rival journalists Michael Anthony and Barnabas Pells, who travel the length and breadth of Europe to outscoop one another. Crawford portrays madcap heiress Sally Parker, who is engaged to marry fortune-hunting Prince Igor (Ivan Lebedeff). Whereas in It Happened One Night the heroine (Claudette Colbert) linked up with Gable in order to expedite her elopement with the wrong man, in Love on the Run Crawford seeks out Gable's help to escape her impending marriage with Prince Igor. The two stars combine their flight across Europe with business, dogging the trail of international aviator Baron Spandermann (Reginald Owen), whom Anthony suspects of being a spy. Pells goes along with Anthony and Parker, and soon all three of them are tied up (literally, in Pells' case) with an espionage ring. While it is Clark Gable who ends up with Joan Crawford at fadeout time, it was Franchot Tone who claimed her as his bride in real life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, (more)
- 1936
Based on a novel by Netta Syrett, A Woman Rebels is the story of Pamela Thistlewaite (Katharine Hepburn), whose mission in life is to defy the restrictive and often hypocritical conventions of Victorian England. Refusing to conform to the status quo, Pamela lives alone, reads, and says whatever she wishes, and even -- horrors! -- takes a job. Her romantic dalliance with young Gerald (Van Heflin, in his film debut) results in an illegitimate daughter (Doris Dudley), whom Pamela raises as her niece until she decides it's high time to tell the truth in all matters. Faithful suitor Thomas Lane (Herbert Marshall) offers to make an "honest woman" of her, but Pamela refuses until she can stand on her own two feet financially. Fiercely independent to the last, she becomes the crusading editor of a pioneering pro-feminist magazine and an early champion of Women's Suffrage. It was hoped by RKO Radio that The Woman Rebels would restore the popularity of Katharine Hepburn, which thanks to a series of expensive failures had been flagging for the past two years. Though the film turned out to be a box-office loser (it posted a $220,000 deficit), in retrospect it can be regarded as an artistic triumph -- and a remarkably timely one at that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1931
The star of the 12-episode Mascot serial The Galloping Ghost can be only one man: legendary college football star (Red Grange). Cast as the star gridiron attraction at mythical Clay College, Red is thrown off the team in disgrace when he attempts to cover for his pal Buddy (Francis X. Bushman Jr.), who has accepted a bribe to throw the Big Game. Thus, Grange is obliged to spend the serial's remaining 11 episodes to clear himself and to find out who is the "brains" of the gambling ring. Can there be any doubt as to the outcome? Evidently, there was some doubt in 1931, since Galloping Ghost proved to be one of Mascot's most profitable chapter plays. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1928
Finders Keepers is based on a lighthearted story by mystery specialist Mary Roberts Rinehardt. Laura LaPlante stars as Barbara, the flighty daughter of army colonel Archibald (Edmund Breese). Upon falling in love with Carter (John Harron), one of the men under her father's command, Barbara decides to "crash" the army camp and marry the boy, with the chaplain (Joe Mack) presiding. Accordingly, our heroine disguises herself as a boy and sneaks into Carter's barracks. She is forced to keep up the masquerade when a reviewing officer suddenly shows up for a surprise inspection, leading to all sorts of risque complications. Not exactly the subtlest comedy film of 1928, Finders Keepers proved to be a real crowd pleaser, reducing even sophisticated New York audiences to peals of helpless laughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura La Plante, John Harron, (more)
