Granville Bates Movies

A hapless young socialite attempts to overcome an embarrassing romantic problem in this silly crime comedy. It seems every time the handsome youth kisses a gal, he gets a horrible case of hiccups. Anxious to cure him, his father spends a small fortune to take his son to a special headshrinker who in turn sends the lad to a beautiful spa filled with gorgeous young women. The crime part comes in when the son learns that his father has been using shady means to procure the resort so he can build a dam there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Edward G. Robinson plays orchid-loving gangster Little John Sarto, who aspires to "real class." During a power struggle with usurping mobster Jack Buck (Humphrey Bogart), Sarto is taken for a one-way ride, but he escapes his would-be assassins and hides out in a monastery overseen by Brother Superior (Donald Crisp). Sarto insists that he'd like to become a monk himself, but in fact he's using the monastery as a hideout, the better to mount his counterattack against Buck. Eventually Sarto's resolve is weakened by the kindness of the monks, and he decides to turn over a new leaf. He sees to it that Buck is brought to justice, and also fixes up his true-blue "moll," Flo Addams (Ann Sothern), with good-hearted Texas rancher Clarence Fletcher (Ralph Bellamy). (News flash! Bellamy gets the girl for once!) Sarto, now known as "Brother Orchid," returns to the monastery for good, declaring that he's finally found the real class. Though Edward G. Robinson didn't want to play another gangster, he agreed to star in Brother Orchid in exchange for being allowed to essay the lead in Warner Bros.' historical drama A Dispatch From Reuter's (1940). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though one would never know it, the bucolic comedy-mystery Granny Get Your Gun was based on one of Erle Stanley Gardner's "Perry Mason" novels! In place of lawyer-sleuth Mason, the audience is offered one Minerva "Granny" Hatton (May Robson), sharp-shootin' matriarch of Gold City, Nevada. When her granddaugther Julie (Margot Stevenson) is sued for divorce on the grounds of a trumped-up "chronic gambling" charge, Granny decides to investigate. Before the film's 55 minutes have expended themselves, Granny finds herself confessing to a murder apparently committed by Julie-and then piecing together the clues to ascertain the real killer's identity. Earl Stanley Gardner claimed to have wept openly when he saw what Granny Get Your Gun had done to his original Perry Mason yarn; some viewers may be inclined to do the same. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leo McCarey was supposed to both produce and direct My Favorite Wife, but an illness forced him to relinquish the director's chair to Garson Kanin, who did a splendid job. This hilarious retread of the old "Enoch Arden" legend stars Irene Dunne as Ellen, who returns home to her husband Nick (Cary Grant) and children Tim (Ann Shoemaker) and Chinch (Mary Lou Harrington) after being marooned on a desert island for seven years. Thing of it is, Ellen has been declared legally dead, and Nick has taken unto himself a second wife, the bitchy Bianca (Gail Patrick). Upon discovering that Ellen is still alive, Nick is on the verge of a tender reunion-until it discovers that she spent those seven lost years in the company of handsome Mr. Barkett (Randolph Scott). The superb supporting cast includes Granville Bates as a flummoxed judge, Chester Clute as a meek shoe salesman whom Ellen tries to pass off as Barkett, and Donald MacBride as a beetle-browed honeymoon-hotel clerk. My Favorite Wife was remade in 1963 as Move Over Darling, in which Irene Dunne and Cary Grant were replaced by Doris Day and James Garner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This comedy is the sequel of Brother Rat. The film begins with the three original protagonists after their graduation from the Virginia Military Institute. One of them has just applied for a job as the academy's baseball coach and the others come to assist him. Mayhem ensues; especially after the two well-meaning friends steal the would-be coach's baby and put it aboard a plane headed for Peru. The babe finally comes back and the ensuing publicity gets the coach his dream job. Meanwhile, the other two finally get the girls of their dreams. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Otis Ferguson has said of Each Dawn I Die that "the story is of the kind you would have to see to disbelieve." And to be sure, the film is nothing more than a sampler of '30s prison-film conventions. But with the brilliant acting by James Cagney and the fast-paced and hard-edged direction of William Keighley, the film clatters past like an express train. Cagney plays Frank Ross, an innocent newspaperman who is railroaded into prison by a corrupt district attorney. In prison, he meets hardened-con Stacey (George Raft). Frank, at first, doesn't want to associate with Stacey and the other prisoners, but trapped in the hellhole prison, he more and more turns into a bitter con. Finally granted a hearing from the parole board, Frank pleads his innocence, but the parole board is headed by Grayce (Victor Jury), the man responsible for his imprisonment, and his parole is denied, and Frank becomes more hardened and embittered. By this point, Stacey has befriended him and agrees to help Frank prove his innocence. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a remake of The Crowd Roars, two auto racing brothers become rivals on the racetrack when the older brother tries to keep his younger one from dropping out of school and becoming a driver too. The stubborn younger brother just gets behind the wheel of someone else's car and the race is on. During the reckless running of the race, the older brother's best friend is killed precipitating the beginning of the end for the older driver. The brother pulls himself out of his personal nose dive when he must take over for his younger brother during the Indy 500. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This 1939 film version of John Steinbeck's classic novel was a surprising choice for comedy producer Hal Roach; in fact, Roach had no intention of filming the property until forced to do so as a result of a lawsuit brought by director Lewis Milestone. Burgess Meredith stars as itinerant farm worker George, who travels in with his cousin and best friend Lennie (Lon Chaney, Jr.). George dreams of saving enough money for a farm of his own, a dream shared by the retarded giant Lennie, who merely wants to "tend the rabbits." Unfortunately, George has never been able to stay at a job very long, thanks to the trouble often caused by Lennie's feeble-mindedness. Still, George is fiercely loyal to Lennie and would never think of deserting him. Hired by rancher Oscar O'Shea, George and Lennie run afoul of the boss' belligerent son Curley (Bob Steele); his bored wife Mae (Betty Field) starts flirting with poor Lennie, who, not knowing his own strength, accidentally strangles the girl, leading to even more tragic consequences. Despite being endlessly parodied in Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons ("Which way did he, go George? Which way did he go?") Of Mice and Men retains its raw dramatic power. On its initial release, however, it proved a bit too powerful for many filmgoers, and it lost money. The highly acclaimed American composer Aaron Copland wrote the musical score. The 1981 TV remake of Of Mice and Men starring Robert Blake and Randy Quaid, was a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1939 version. The 1993 theatrical remake, starring Gary Sinise (who also directed) and John Malkovich, is perhaps closer to the source than its predecessors, but only time will tell if it attains the classic status of the Lewis Milestone version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Carter Family finds itself in serious financial difficulty when its patriarch, druggist Doc Carter (Frank Craven), is all but forced out of business by a neighboring chain store. Doc isn't worried so much for himself and his wife Emma (Fay Bainter) as he is for his five children, played by Scotty Beckett, Bennie Bartlett, Donald Brenon, Mary Thomas and Gloria Carter (who real name is the same as her "reel" name). But there may be a way out: wealthy Bill and Gloria Hastings (Edmund Lowe, Genevieve Tobin), longtime friends of the Carters, have offered to adopt the couple's polio-stricken son Dickie (Beckett) for a substantial fee. Doc and Emma refuse this offer, but their somewhat more practical children offer themselves up for adoption rather than separate little Dickie from his parents. The ultimately happy denoument suggests that Paramount Pictures hoped to develop a "Carter Family" series, though no such project developed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having proven their box-office value in such films as A Letter of Introduction, Goldwyn Follies and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wise-lipped dummy Charlie McCarthy were awarded with a starring vehicle of their own. While entertaining at the home of magazine publisher Court Aldrich (Samuel S. Hinds), Bergen and his "friends" Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd get mixed up in their host's murder. It seems that Aldrich was working hand in glove with gangster Tony Garcia (Harold Huber), who has kept himself busy knocking off the publisher's enemies. Could Garcia be the murderer this time as well, or was it someone else at the party? Inspector Dailey (Edgar Kennedy) wants to find out-but he doesn't want the unsolicited assistance of Charlie McCarthy, who insists upon playing Sherlock Holmes, replete with deerstalker and magnifying glass. Though essentially a "stunt" film, Charlie McCarthy, Detective pleases the crowd with an abundance of hilarious dialogue and a reasonably good mystery subplot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unlike many another pre-WW II spy melodramas, Espionage Agent clearly identifies the villains as Germans. Joel McCrea plays Barry Corvall, the son of a recently deceased US diplomat. Boarding a Berlin-bound train, Corvall attempts to swipe a briefcase stuffed with documents which will prove that the Nazis have been infiltrating vital industrial centers in the United States. He is helped along by Brenda Ballard (Brenda Marshall), whose behavior suggests at times that she might not be all that trustworthy. According to the Warner Bros. publicity machine, Warren Duff's screenplay was based on actual events. Coming on the heels of the studio's Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Espionage Agent was indication enough that Warners had declared war on Germany long before President Roosevelt made it official. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harry Kurnitz' fictional book-dealer/detectives Joel and Garda Sloane appeared in three MGM "B"s of the late 1930s, each with different stars in the leads. Fast and Furious, the last of the mini-series, featured Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern as the Sloanes. The couple attends a seaside beauty contest, where a murder occurs. As Joel Sloane tries to solve the mystery, he is hindered by Garda, who isn't too keen on the many bathing belles present. Unlike the previous Sloane mysteries, no rare books are involved in the crime, and the film more closely resembles a pocket-edition Thin Man. Fast and Furious was directed by none other than Busby Berkeley, proving he was just as adept with corpses as with chorus girls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide