Claire McDowell Movies

At age 26, Janet Gaynor was still playing "gamin" roles in such musical trifles as Paddy, the Next Best Thing. Gaynor stars as a spirited Irish lass whose older sister (Margaret Lindsay) is about to marry a wealthy gent (Warner Baxter). Fully aware that Sis doesn't love the man, Gaynor sacrifices herself by marrying him instead--hence the "next best thing" part of the title. It takes about seven reels for Gaynor and Baxter to succumb to the inevitable and declare their true love for each other. Paddy, the Next Best Thing was a little bit of Heaven to Janet Gaynor's fans, but mere Irish stew to everyone else. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Undoubtedly inspired by Charles Lindbergh's unprecedented sudden fame (but not the ensuing tragedy), Mary McCall's 1932 novel The Goldfish Bowl was turned into a satirical comedy-drama featuring an engaging Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as a navy captain thrust into the limelight after saving his crew during a submarine disaster. With an unsolicited "personal manager" (played to the hilt by Walter Catlett) and a greedy corporation taking care of both ticker tape parades and all kinds of silly public relations stunts, Fairbanks discovers that he no longer has control of his life. He is constantly embarrassed by a novelty song, "Scotty Boy" (vigorously performed by Broadway crooner Clarence Nordstrom), and even wedded bliss to the understanding Mary Brian is turned into a public spectacle. Fortunately, a Danish sailor (Ivan Linow) saves a dog from drowning and instantly takes Fairbanks' place in the public awareness. Afraid of becoming celebrities once again after saving a car from being wrecked by an express train, the reluctant hero and his bride drive away as fast as they can, happy to begin a new, anonymous life in teeming New York City. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Originally filmed with Mary Pickford in 1917, the Kate Douglas Wiggin children's classic Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was remade as a talkie in 1932. Though a bit long in tooth to play the leading character, Marian Nixon (replacing a recalcitrant Janet Gaynor) makes a charming Rebecca. Placed in the custody of her wealthy, spiteful old Aunts Miranda (Louise Closser Hale) and Jane (Mae Marsh), the heroine eventually wins the two biddies over with her relentless good nature, charm and optimism. She also reforms avowed atheist Zion Simpson (Alan Hale), convincing the old reprobate to marry his common-law wife (Eula Guy). As a reward for all her good works, Rebecca wins the love of local doctor Ladd (Ralph Bellamy). An in-name-only adaptation of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was filmed six years later, with Shirley Temple in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though his parents are street evangelists, Clyde Griffiths (Phillips Holmes) grows up in squalor, but not without ambitions. He first works as a bellhop in Kansas City, but when he's the passenger in a car that kills a little girl, Clyde fears he'll be arrested and flees town. His wealthy uncle Samuel Griffiths (Frederick Burton) gets Clyde a job at a shirt factory in upstate New York where the young man soon becomes foreman of a department that employs only young women. He is attracted to Roberta Alden (Sylvia Sidney), known as "Bert," and though company policy forbids them to fraternize, they begin secretly dating on weekends. Eventually, Clyde seduces the smitten Bert, even though he has already become attracted to Sondra Finchley (Frances Dee), the daughter of a wealthy family. Clyde and Sondra fall in love, and she promises to marry him when she's of age, but by now, Bert has informed Clyde that she is pregnant. With vague thoughts of drowning her in mind, Clyde takes Bert on a vacation in the Adirondacks. While canoeing, he decides not to kill her, but to honorably marry her instead. He reveals to Bert what he'd planned, and in shock, she accidentally falls overboard. However, instead of rescuing her, Clyde swims to shore, and Bert drowns. Eventually, the police track him down and he is arrested, resulting in a trial that gains national attention. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Not the first of the prison pictures, but the one that truly put the genre on the map. Playboy Kent (Robert Montgomery), driving drunk, kills a couple of pedestrians and is sentenced to a 10-year manslaughter term. His cellmate is forger Morgan (Chester Morris), a tough but essentially decent con; the cell-block leader is Butch (Wallace Beery), whose outer oafishness hides a cruel, calculating mind. Butch lives for the day that he can bust out and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. Panicking, Kent "rats" on Butch and is murdered during the climactic breakout as a consequence. Morgan behaves courageously, saving the warden (Lewis Stone) and the guards from Butch's wrath; as a reward, Morgan earns a reduced sentence and the love of Kent's sister Anne (Leila Hyams). Remarkably brutal for an MGM film, The Big House (a double Oscar winner, for best screenplay and sound recording) established not only the grimy mise-en-scene of prison life, but also a whole new glossary of slang terms and a veritable menagerie of movie "types," from the firm but kindly prison chaplain to the embittered lifer. The film was gloriously lampooned by Laurel & Hardy's Pardon Us, in which Walter Long played the Beery counterpart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this mystery, a man and woman have been corresponding through a "personal" column under the names Lord Strawberries and Lady Grapefruit. When the man's neighbor is found dead upstairs, he and the lady are the prime suspects of a police inspector, who has his own very good reason for blaming them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The pain of raising children alone is presented in this tragedy that centers on the failure of a widowed mother of four bratty children to raise her children correctly. Each of them grows up to a sad adult life. One daughter endures a grim May-December marriage. One son, a talented architect, must leave town or be ruined by a scandal. His brother become a petty hood who winds up murdering his own sister when she attempts to protect her lover from him. In the end, the bad brother gets the chair. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An early talkie from then-poverty row company Columbia Pictures, Brothers features popular silent screen actor Bert Lytell in a dual-role. Separated at birth, orphaned twins Bob and Eddie grow up on either side of the tracks, one adopted by a washerwoman (Jessie Arnold), the other by a wealthy attorney Naughton (Howard Hickman). Years later, Bob, now a successful but alcoholic attorney in his own right, kills the husband (Francis McDonald) of his mistress (Rita Carlyle) after an altercation in Oily Joe's Saloon. Unbeknownst to Bob, his long-lost twin Eddie works in the saloon and because of their resemblance, Eddie is accused of the crime. When Bob realizes the truth, he clears his brother's name and is institutionalized in a sanitarium. To shield his wife from this sad turn of events, Mr. Naughton persuades Eddie to take Bob's place in the household. He accepts and promptly falls in love with Norma (Dorothy Sebastian), Bob's fiancée. Deciding to leave for his brother's sake, Eddie learns of Bob's death in the sanitarium and declares his love for Norma. A stage matinee-idol who had made a striking screen debut as The Lone Wolf in 1917, Bert Lytell was really a bit too long in the tooth to play leading men at this stage of his career and left films in 1931 in favor of returning to the stage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Although a humble stable boy, Ben Lyon is a whiz when it comes to medical know-how. This endears Lyon to his boss, Fred Kohler Sr., who taps the hero's services as a horse doctor. Lyon also has a talent for music, and this wins him the affections of Kohler's girlfriend Dorothy Revier. A flashback reveals that our hero was once a brilliant surgeon who gave it all up when he failed to save his mother's life after an accident (this doesn't explain where his musical prowess came from, but what the heck). Back in the present, the enraged Kohler accuses Lyon of stealing Revier, whereupon a fight breaks out. Hoping to save the hero, Revier shoots Kohler -- at which point Lyon summons up all his latent medical skills to save Kohler's life. A "quitter" no more, Lyon resumes his career as a doctor, with the blessings of his "friendly enemy" Kohler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A typical silent outdoors melodrama from poverty row producer Trem Carr and action director Duke Worne, this film starred Helene Costello, the sister of Dolores Costello. She played Caroline Swayne, a girl from the horsey set whose wealthy father (George Periolat) prohibits her from dating Ben (Rex Lease), the son of the local blacksmith. When Caroline refuses to comply, Old Man Swayne instead questions the boy's true parentage, and they come to blows. When Swayne is found murdered, Ben is charged and jailed. He escapes, however, and instead learns that the real killer is Swayne's crooked business partner (Ernest Hilliard). Despite starring in the first 100% dialogue film, Lights of Old New York, Helene Costello found fame fleeting and spent the remainder of her career on poverty row. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Marriage by Contract was produced and directed by John M. Stahl for his own Tiffany-Stahl Studio. Although only a part-talkie, the film represented the sound debut of Patsy Ruth Miller, here cast as Margaret, one of the longest-suffering heroines in screen history. Having entered into a contract to marry a young man named Don (Lawrence Grey), Margaret storms out of the honeymoon suite when Don shows up drunk and disheveled, bragging about his various sexual conquests. Despite this appalling experience, Margaret goes through three more contracted marriages, each union leaving her a bit worse off than the previous one. On the verge of committing suicide, an aged and infirm Margaret suddenly wakes up to find herself young and beautiful again. Realizing that she's been just been having a horrible dream, our heroine hastily dons her wedding gown and rushes off to find faithful Don still waiting at the chapel. Marriage by Contract represents an acting tour de force for Patsy Ruth Miller, who in 1928 was better known for her light comedy roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marion Davies has the lead role of Tillie in this adaptation of Russ Westover's popular 1920s comic strip. Tillie is bored by both her job as a stenographer and her office romance with Mr. Whipple (George K. Arthur). She's far more interested in another man in the office, Mac (Matt Moore). Mac, however, does not seem a likely candidate for advancement, and Tillie is an ambitious girl. She thinks she has found her ticket when she meets the wealthy Pennington Fish (Harry Crocker). After one date, Tillie gets engaged to Fish. But Tillie and Mac really belong together, and after she goes back to him, he gets a promotion. Harry Crocker, who played Pennington Fish, was an especially good friend of Marion's, and he frequently worked as a personal aide to her companion, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In the book, The Times We Had, Marion claims that she made this film and The Red Mill at the same time by doing day and nighttime shifts. Tillie the Toiler was reported as being one of the twenty-five top-grossing films of 1927, disproving the myth that Marion's films were inevitably financial flops. Her next film, The Fair Co-Ed, did even better. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Jewish comedian George Sidney stars as the title character in The Auctioneer. Sidney also doubles as a pawnbroker, which allows for a steady stream of colorful supporting characters. Our hero's lifestyle undergoes a radical shake-up when he takes over the mansion of a millionaire. He manages to solve everyone's problems before the house's real owner can reclaim the place. The Auctioneer was based on a stage play by Charles Klein and Lee Arthur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide