Jeanne Martel Movies

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this inspired comedy about a madcap heiress with a pet leopard who meets an absent-minded paleontologist and unwittingly makes a fiasco of both their lives. David Huxley (Grant) is the stuffy paleontologist who needs to finish an exhibit on dinosaurs and thus land a $1 million grant for his museum. At a golf outing with his potential benefactors, Huxley is spotted by Susan Vance (Hepburn) who decides that she must have the reserved scientist at all costs. She uses her pet leopard, Baby, to trick him into driving to her Connecticut home, where a dog wanders into Huxley's room and steals the vital last bone that he needs to complete his project. The real trouble begins when another leopard escapes from the local zoo and Baby is mistaken for it, leading Huxley and Susan into a series of harebrained and increasingly more insane schemes to save the cat from the authorities. Inevitably, the two end up in the local jail, where things get even more out of hand: Susan pretends to be the gun moll to David's diabolical, supposedly wanted criminal. Naturally, the mismatched pair falls in love through all the lunacy. Director Howard Hawks delivers a funny, fast-paced, and offbeat story, enlivened by animated performances from the two leads, in what has become a definitive screwball comedy. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Cheapie king Sam Katzman was both producer and director of the Tom Tyler western The Lost Ranch. "Our Tom" essays his customary role of Tom Wade, troubleshooter for the Cattlemen's Protective Association. When cattle rancher Carroll (Lafe McKee) is captured by outlaws, Carroll's daugther Rita (Jeanne Martel) inaugurates a search. At first convinced that Wade himself is one of the villains, Rita finally wises up and allows him to join the search-and, of course, to rout the villains in the final footage. Billed third in Lost Ranch is former Mack Sennett leading lady Marjorie Beebe, essaying yet another wisecracking comedy role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Tyler ground out 19 starring westerns for Reliable Pictures in the mid-1930s, of which Santa Fe Bound is neither the best nor worst. "Our Tom" (as he was known in the trade papers) comes to the aid of heroine Molly Bates (Jeanne Martel), who is in danger of losing her ranch to the villains. Since the chief heavy is played by Richard Cramer, possessor of one of the meanest faces in the movies, it's obvious that Tyler really has his work cut out for him this time. In addition, our hero has been entrusted with a great deal of money by Bate's banker father, a fact that leads the girl to assume that Tyler has stolen the cash. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise when Tyler, posing as an outlaw, infiltrates Cramer's criminal gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide