Warren McCollum Movies
Although he appeared in films for more than a decade, handsome Warren McCollum will forever be identified with the cult film Reefer Madness (1936), in which he played heroine Dorothy Short's wayward brother. It is McCollum's Jimmy Lane who almost kills an elderly gent in a drug-induced hit-and-run accident. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi- 1947
Bearing little resemblance to reality, this musical biography of 19th century Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov takes liberal poetic license with the truth. Jeanne-Pierre Aumont stars as Nicky, a Naval Academy cadet assigned to a vessel undergoing a world cruise. On shore leave in Morocco, Nicky goes in search of a piano intending to pursue his true passion, music. Accompanied by the ship's singing doctor, Klin (Charles Kullmann), Nicky makes the acquaintance of a cabaret dancer named Cara de Talavera (Yvonne De Carlo). The daughter of a Spanish colonial family that was once prominent but has fallen upon difficult times, Cara now dances in secret as Scheherazade in a revue at the nightclub. Inspired by her, Nicky sets about composing his most famous song for inclusion in a ballet. Although fate conspires to keep Cara and Nicky apart for a time, his piece is a success and is scheduled for a performance at the St. Petersburg Opera House, where none other than Cara turns up as the lead dancer. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Patricia Alphin, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
Filmed independently in 1939, The Great Commandment finally attained released in 1942 via 20th Century-Fox. Set in 30 AD, the story concerns the burgeoning Christian movement, and its effects on young Judean scholar named Joel (John Beal). A hotheaded reactionary, Joel spearheads an uprising against the Romans, but his warlike impulses melt away under the influence of Jesus of Nazareth. Joel even "turns the other cheek" when dealing with the warrior who murdered his brother. Director Irving Pichel later helmed such inspirational church-basement fare as 1952's Martin Luther and 1954's Day of Triumph. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Beal, Maurice Moscovich, (more)
- 1940
The last of MGM's "Nick Carter" trilogy, Sky Murder is a tad too cute and clever for its own good, but its mystery angle holds up pretty well. Returning from a weekend party, amateur sleuth Nick Carter (Walter Pidgeon) boards a private plane, where urbane Fifth Columnist Andrew Hendon (Tom Conway) is murdered in a locked compartment. Suspicion immediately falls upon refugee Pat Evans (Kaaren Verne), who was being blackmailed into helping Hendon smuggle secrets to the Nazis. Dividing his time between the land and the air, Carter is eventually able to expose the real murderer, and to smash the Nazi spy ring for good and all (or at least until the next spy movie). The film is hampered by the excessive comedy relief of Carter's self-appointed assistant Bartholomew the Bee Man (Donald Meek), who once upon a time was an amusing character. Far better attuned to the film's framework is perennial dumb blonde Joyce Compton, here cast as deceptively scatterbrained female detective Chris Cross. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, (more)
- 1939
Boys' Reformatory was the third of Frankie Darro's tough-guy vehicles for Monogram Pictures. Darro is cast as orphaned teenager Tommy, who to avoid breaking his foster-mother's heart takes the rap for a crime committed by his foster-brother Eddie (Frank Coghlan Jr.). Sent to a dismal reform school, Tommy finds a friend in the form of school doctor Owens (Grant Withers), a tireless crusader for improved reformatory conditions. With Owens' help, Tommy is able to take a "vacation" from the institution and round up the crooks responsible for leading Eddie astray. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frankie Darro, Grant Withers, (more)
Monogram's low-budget Jack Randall Western series went through a change of supervisor/writer with this entry -- Lindsley Parsons replacing Robert Emmett Tansey -- but the improvements, if any, were hardly noticeable. Randall (the brother of better-known B-Western star Robert Livingston) played a Civil War veteran returning to find his father murdered and the family stage line in the hands of Cartwright (Davidson Clark). The quick-tempered Slade (Don Rowan) is convicted of the crime but the real culprit is, of course, the aforementioned Mr. Cartwright, a supposedly solid citizen. Producer/writer Parsons delivered no surprises and Spencer Gordon Bennet's direction was perfunctory at best. The comedy relief, such as it was, was provided by Al St. John, who brought his popular (and endurable) Fuzzy Q. Jones characterization with him from Gower Gulch company Spectrum's Fred Scott musical Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Virginia Carroll
- 1938
Viennese-born Luise Rainer plays a young Parisian girl who attends an exclusive drama school, working nights at a factory to pay the tuition. Despite the jealousies of her fellow students, Luise allows nothing to discourage her from her goal to become as great an actress as her idol (Gale Sondergaard). The girl wins the coveted role of Joan of Arc in an upcoming play, but the victory has a bitter taste when she realizes she's beaten out her idol for the part. At the end, Luise manages to have both a happy career and a successful marriage, even though her friends (and enemies) insist that such a combination is impossible. Dramatic School is a film buff's banquet; virtually every bit player in the cast (Ann Rutherford, Lana Turner, Dick Haymes, Hans Conried, etc.) later graduated to show-biz prominence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Luise Rainer, Paulette Goddard, (more)
This unabashed propaganda film (also known by the title Tell Your Children, a dead giveaway) has become a cult classic of comically bad cinema due to its dated, alarmist views on the dangers of "marijuana addiction" and the exaggerated symptoms thereof. After the onscreen prologue that declares "Something must be done to wipe out this ghastly menace," Reefer Madness launches into a case study of clean-cut WASP couple Bill (Kenneth Craig) and Mary (Dorothy Short), high schoolers who play tennis and drink tea on the back porch. Their friend Jimmy (Warren McCollum) introduces them to a pot dealer named Jack (Carleton Young), who invites Bill up to his den of inequity, where stoned ne'er-do-wells laugh fiendishly, dance, and play the piano. After one joint, Bill is hooked, and his life begins to plummet down the tubes -- he starts flunking school and becomes a promiscuous regular in Jack's apartment. When a worried Mary tracks Bill down, she too is given a joint and begins giggling uncontrollably while being aggressively fondled by the bizarre addict Ralph (Dave "Tex" O'Brien). When Bill bursts out of the bedroom to tangle with Ralph, hallucinating and blacking out, Mary is accidentally shot. This prompts a string of guilt and calamitous occurrences, including several more deaths and courtroom sentences to mental institutions, all because of the devil weed. The film ends with the ominous warning, "The dread marijuana may be reaching forth next for your son or daughter...or yours...or YOURS!" ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi
