Warner Baxter Movies

The quintessential "backstage" musical, 42nd Street traces the history of a Broadway musical comedy, from casting call to opening night. Warner Baxter plays famed director Julian Marsh, who despite failing health is determined to stage one last great production, "Pretty Lady." Others involved include "Pretty Lady" star Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels); Dorothy's "sugar daddy" (Guy Kibbee), who finances the show; her true love Pat (George Brent); leading man Billy Lawlor (Dick Powell); and starry-eyed chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler). It practically goes without saying that Dorothy twists her ankle the night before the premiere, forcing Julian Marsh is to put chorine Peggy into the lead: "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" Delightfully corny, with hilarious wisecracking support from the likes of Ginger Rogers, Una Merkel, and George E. Stone, 42nd Street is perhaps the most famous of Warners' early-1930s Busby Berkeley musicals. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes (which was a lot steamier than the movie censors would allow), 42nd Street is highlighted by such grandiose musical setpieces as "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "Young and Healthy," and of course the title song. Nearly fifty years after its premiere, it was successfully revived as a Broadway musical with Tammy Grimes and Jerry Orbach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warner Baxter lifts himself up from poverty to unlimited riches. The audience knows that Baxter couldn't have done it without the help and support of his wife Grace Darmond. When Baxter starts cheating on her, she divorces him, receiving an enornous settlement. Reduced to penury by various spendthrift mistresses, Baxter is rescued once more by Darmond, who once more guides him to success-and remarries him, this time on her terms. Alimony was directed by James W. Horne, who seemed a lot more comfortable with his subsequent Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gilda Gray, best-known for inventing the shimmy, shows off her talents as a Hawaiian dancer in this South Seas drama, based on the play by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clemens. Percy Marmont plays his usual role -- a man, who, after having his heart broken, degenerates into a drunken mess. Bob Holden (Marmont) travels to a South Sea island, where he saves Aloma (Gray) from the unwanted attentions of another white man. Aloma is more than grateful -- she falls in love with Holden and spends the better part of the film trying to seduce him. This does not please her native lover Nuitane (Warner Baxter). Just when Holden has succumbed to Aloma's charms and is about to marry her, Sylvia, his old sweetheart (Julanne Johnson), comes to the island with her nasty new husband, Van Templeton (William Powell). Aloma comes to realize that Holden is still deeply in love with Sylvia. Meanwhile, Nuitane drowns Templeton during a storm. Aloma returns to Nuitane, and Holden is reunited with Sylvia. This picture made a fortune for Paramount. A version of the story was filmed again in 1941, with Dorothy Lamour in the role of Aloma. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Sonya Levien and Sam (S. N.) Berhman from a play by Rachel Crothers, As Husbands Go charts the romantic misadventures of Lucille Lingard (Helen Vinson). Slightly bored by her marriage to businessman Charles Lingard (Warner Baxter), Lucille vacations in London, where she nearly has an affair with an upper-class twit named Ronald (G. P. Huntley Jr.). Returning home, Lucille assumes that she can forget all about her brief and desultory fling. That's when she discovers that Ronald and her husband Charles are now fishing companions! Mostly filmed on location in Iowa, As Husbands Go originally ran 80 minutes, but was hastily pared down to 65 minutes after a disastrous sneak preview. The biggest laughs are earned by Warner Oland, briefly shedding his "Charlie Chan" screen image to play an elderly European roue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Irving Cummings was a good choice to direct this third Charlie Chan feature, the first to use sound, as he had previously made the first all-talking picture of any kind, In Old Arizona (also 1929). Chan fans may be disappointed in this globe-trotting mystery, however, as the detective (played by Korean actor E.L. Park) only appears in a few scenes. The story begins with a murder in London and the prime suspect is Colonel John Beetham (Warner Baxter), who is hiding pretty heiress Eve Mannering (Lois Moran) from her evil, philandering husband Eric Durand (Philip Strange). The action goes from England to Persia to India and finally ends up in San Francisco, where Chan prevents the golddigging Durand -- whom Eve has left for good -- from killing Beetham. Gilbert Emery, who plays a dedicated Scotland Yard detective, was originally envisioned as a big matinee idol, but was eventually relegated to thankless roles such as the one he plays here. The film is more noteworthy for its introduction of Boris Karloff to sound features, in a small role as a servant from Sudan who mutters inscrutable nonsense about the whims of the desert. The 20th Century Fox series began with 1928's The Chinese Parrot, starring another Asian performer (Sojin) as Chan, before Swedish actor Warner Oland took over the role in Charlie Chan Carries On and The Black Camel (both 1931), playing the unflappable detective until his death in 1938. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Just after completing It Happened One Night, director Frank Capra churned out a bread-and-butter picture titled Broadway Bill. Warner Baxter plays the carefree scion of a wealthy, highly-respected family. Baxter's cold but socially correct wife Helen Vinson forces her husband into the family business, but Baxter would rather spend his time at the racetrack. He buys a nag named Broadway Bill and tries to build the horse into a winner--if he doesn't bankrupt himself first. Only Baxter's sister-in-law Myrna Loy and black stable hand Clarence Muse have faith in Broadway Bill. The horse wins a crucial race, but dies suddenly at the finish line. Baxter is comforted and given encouragement by Loy, who is now his sweetheart, Vinson having long since washed her hands of her "irresponsible" husband. Broadway Bill was remade by Capra as Riding High (1950), utilizing generous portions of stock footage and even going so far as to rehire several of the original film's cast members (Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Charles Lane, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Frankie Darro) to recreate their roles and match up their scenes from the earlier production. Long withheld from distribution due to Riding High, Broadway Bill was made available for videocassette in the mid-1980s. Keep an eye out for Lucille Ball as a blonde telephone operator and Alan Hale Sr. as a racetrack announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of Kathleen Norris' best-selling novel came out just weeks before its producer, Thomas Ince, mysteriously died while on a cruise on William Randolph Hearst's yacht, the Oneida. The drama was a tour de force for Florence Vidor, who played the title character, Christine Madison. Christine weds Stuart Knight (Warner Baxter) only to discover he prefers the high life to married life. When Dr. Alan Monteagle (Clive Brook) comes along, Christine is drawn to him. But, still determined to stick to her wedding vows, she runs from him, only to get in a car accident with her husband, who happened to be riding by with one of his floozies. Nursed back to health by Dr. Monteagle, she marries him, but soon discovers that his devotion to his work is as all-consuming as Knight's devotion to alcohol and women. As a result, she runs off with Ivan Vianney (Ian Keith), only to discover that he, too, cares more about his work than he cares about her. Meanwhile, Dr. Monteagle takes custody of Christine's child (Dorothy Brock). Christine leaves Vianney and nurses Knight through a terminal illness. Dr. Monteagle realizes that his wayward wife has reformed, and offers to reconcile. Comic actor Walter Hiers has a small role that has little to do with the plot, but the Moving Picture World critic remarked that he "floats through the story like an amiable Zeppelin hovering over a friendly city." ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

George Kelly's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Craig's Wife was given three screen treatments by Hollywood. The first of these was filmed in 1928, with Cecil B. DeMille's talented brother William in the director's chair. Irene Rich stars as Harriet Craig, whose obsession with material possessions and immaculate neatness results in misery for all concerned. Harriet's husband (Warner Baxter) remains blind to his wife's selfishness-until his eyes are opened when he is implicated in a double murder. Discovering that Harriet cares more about her home than her husband, Mr. Craig declares his independence by walking out and leaving her utterly alone -- but not before flicking plenty of cigar ashes on her hitherto spotless living-room rug. Craig's Wife was remade under its original title in 1936, with Rosalind Russell in the lead; it was filmed for a third time in 1950, as the Joan Crawford vehicle Harriet Craig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this episode of the "Crime Doctor" series, Dr. Orday, the sleuthing shrink, cares for a patient who suffers from blackouts. The patient, an artist from New York's Latin Quarter, cannot remember a thing from these episodes. What is most disturbing is that several models have been recently murdered as has the artist's girlfriend. Dr. Orday solves the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The trials of being a doctor's wife are presented in this drama. The story centers upon the problematic marriage of one couple. Their troubles begin when the doctor makes a housecall to a seductive woman with designs upon him. His suspicious wife follows him and spies on him. She thinks they are getting romantic when he is actually trying to extricate himself from his predatory patient. She decides to get revenge with his best friend, but nothing happens. The doctor later finds out that she saw him. He then becomes suspicious because it is she who is now seldom home. He confronts his friend about the alleged adultery. The friend becomes distraught and tries to kill himself. The doctor operates to save his friend's life. He then discovers that his wife has been taking nursing classes so she could work beside her husband and see him more often. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Future blacklistee John Howard Lawson co-wrote this remake of Samuel Goldwyn's 1920 drama Earthbound, presented here as a rather more straightforward morality tale/fantasy. Warner Baxter and Andrea Leeds star as Nick and Ellen Desbrough, a seemingly happily-married couple celebrating their fifth anniversary at the outset of the movie. But Nick hasn't been nearly as faithful as Ellen believes, and his one-time romance with Linda Reynolds (Lynn Bari) has come back to haunt him. He believed the relationship was safely ended long ago, and Linda to be in love with his longtime friend Jeffrey Reynolds (Henry Wilcoxon) -- but she still wants Nick, and when he rejects her, she shoots him in a fit of jealous rage. Jeff takes the blame for the murder and is put on trial, while Nick -- now a wraith-like figure caught between heaven and earth -- tries desperately to communicate with Ellen or anyone else, to no avail, to tell them of Jeff's innocence. The only person with whom he can communicate is a mysterious man (Charles Grapewin) who seems to know a great deal about where Nick has been and also where he might -- or might not -- end up. Confronted in death by all of the unhappiness that his faithless life has caused, Nick vows to try and repair some of the damage, but it may take a miracle for that to happen. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The situations in this simple comedy-drama still ring true today. The O'Donnells are a typical, everyday family -- Tad (George Hernandez) is a sensible working man, his wife (Fannie Midgely) is a good mother and their daughter Kathleen (Constance Binney) is pretty and innocent to the point of naiveté. Kathleen works in a factory and its owner, Donald Holiday (Warner Baxter), has taken a shine to her. But instead she falls for slick cab driver Harry Stanton (George Webb), who insists, "Honest, kid, you're the only girl I ever loved." Kathleen falls for this, and when her perceptive father makes clear he doesn't approve of Stanton, she moves out on her own. She gives Stanton all her extra money so he can buy books -- in reality he's using the money to romance other girls. She's totally oblivious to this, however, and when Holiday tries to warn her, she quits her factory job and goes to work as a waitress. There, Stanton's true nature is finally revealed when Kathleen catches him buying another girl dinner. She blows up at the restaurant and walks out. But Holliday is still around to give her comfort, and true love. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide