Malcolm McGregor

The poverty-row origins of Special Agent K-7 are made doubly obvious by its all-bit-player cast. Walter McGrail essays perhaps the largest role in his talkie career as police detective Lanny, who resents the ongoing interference of the local FBI branch. Hoping to show up the feds, Lanny tackles a baffling espionage case all by his lonesome. Things heat up when his gal-reporter sweetheart Ollie (Queenie Smith) is framed for murder by the villains. The actual killer is so obvious to the audience that one contemporary suggested that he shone like a beacon on the screen. Leading lady Queenie Smith, best known for her performance of the soubrette Elly in Show Boat (1936), went on to a long career in character roles, and for a while played the landlady in the "Bowery Boys" series of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Happiness C.O.D was one of the last productions from flagging Chesterfield. Perennial supporting player Maude Eburne assumes the leading role as Aunt Addie, philosophical matriarch of a large, rambunctious brood. Dipping deep into her own pockets, Addie must constantly bail out her less-practical brother Thomas Sheridan (Donald Cook), whose construction business is constantly overextended at the bank because of his selfish, spendthrift children. Eventually deserted by his ungrateful offspring, Sheridan faces eviction and bankruptcy. But Aunt Addie, fed up with seeing her brother stepped upon, rallies the whole family together in the nick of time. Cast as Sheridan's youngest son Larry was Frank Coghlan Jr., a prominent juvenile actor since the silent era. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With customary lack of restraint, Bela Lugosi tore into his role of Professor Strang, a foreign agent masquerading as a wax museum proprietor, in this the first of Mascot Pictures' five serials of 1933. Bela is smuggling jewels into the country as security for a loan. The "jools," however, are stolen by an escaped convict and sought by the omnipresent Whispering Shadow, a mysterious megalomaniac out to gain control of the entire world. A science wizard, the Shadow uses radio waves to kill his enemies, but no one knows who he is. In typical Mascot fashion, suspicion falls at various times on most of the cast members -- Lugosi, needless to say, most of all. As it turns out, despite a plethora of menacing close-ups, Bela is indeed only a red herring, the real culprit, in typical Mascot style, revealed instead to be a heretofore minor comic relief. Considering the fate of the actor in question, we shall break with tradition and name him. A major comic star of the late '20s, Karl Dane could only watch as his career collapsed at the changeover to sound due to an impenetrable Danish accent. All but unemployable, Dane was given this last chance to shine by producer Nat Levine, but audiences felt cheated by the serial's somewhat unfair denouement and The Whispering Shadow proved less a comeback than a debacle. Reduced to selling hot dogs from a stand outside his former studio, MGM, Dane ended his own life on April 14, 1934, one of the best remembered victims of the sound revolution. The Whispering Shadow marked the directorial debut of Colbert Clark, formerly of the script department, who was helped along the way by the veteran Albert Herman. The serial was also released in a truncated feature version. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Approximately 40 minutes of the 59-minute Whispering Winds were filmed with sound; the rest, to quote Shakespeare, is silence. Malcolm McGregor plays a handsome Maine fisherman who falls in love with local songstress Eve Southern. McGregor in turn is loved by the girl next door, Patsy Ruth Miller. Unable to compete with the saucy Southern, Miller can only sit at home and pine away for McGregor. But this dilemma is solved by Southern, who dumps the boy in favor of a stage career. Whispering Winds exists today only because film-buff John Cocchi found a copy of the film in the attic of his sister-in-law's grandmother; unfortunately, only four of the film's six reels could be preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Far in the mysterious East there lies an island that exists under the radar of any law or authority. This haven for thieves and crooks is also the perfect home for women who make themselves widows. When showgirl Della Mason is framed for murder, the makes the island her destination, but even after arriving, she finds herself the target of one sinister plot after another. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

A groom's heart breaks when he discovers that his new wife loves another. To ease his pain, the husband joins the Army and ships out to fight WW I in France. There he meets a charming young woman and falls in love. She too loves him and selflessly cares for him after he becomes mute and deaf after a serious injury. Later she returns to the states to continue caring for him until he recovers. As soon as he does, he gives his cheating wife the boot and settles down with his new, true love for a lifetime of happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Some first-rate underwater photography distinguishes this otherwise flat film version of Jack London's A Raid on the Oyster Pirates. Patsy Ruth Miller stars as the romantic bone of contention between pearl divers Malcolm McGregor and Wallace MacDonald. When McGregor's brother is murdered, Miller is arrested for the crime. The actual killer, however, is MacDonald, who does an expert job covering his tracks. The truth comes out, however, when McGregor is obliged to rescue MacDonald from the tentacles of a giant squid (the film's best sequence). A handful of medium shots of underdressed hula-hula girls undoubtedly helped to keep the audience awake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Wreck begins, appropriately enough, with a cataclysmic train crash. One of the survivors is heroine Ann (Shirley Mason), who in the confusion is misidentified as the wife of Robert Brooks (Malcolm McGregor). Upon recovering from her injuries, Ann conspires with Brooks to continue pretending to be his wife so as not to disillusion Brooks' mother, who was unaware that the real wife (now deceased) was a no-good golddigger. Things move along smoothly until Ann's own husband, long-thought dead, shows up to extract blackmail money from Brooks. The caddish hubby is conveniently wiped out in a car crash, allowing Ann and Brooks to live happily ever after. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although the plot to this comedy seems forced and unnatural (even for a farce), it does have a stellar cast. Even the smaller roles feature excellent performers -- the cabaret owners, for example, are played by Margaret Livingston and Walter Hiers. Mary Davis (Barbara Bedford) is just one of a million girls who are hungry and out of work in New York City. But she gets a break when cabaret singer Fanchon (Betty Blythe) -- known as the most wild and wicked woman in France -- refuses to get up and perform. Mary is enlisted to take her place. Man-about-town Robert Ryan (Lowell Sherman) knows that Mary isn't the real Fanchon, and tries to use this knowledge to force himself on her. Mary, in a desperate attempt to save herself, stabs him. She is accused of his murder, and her sweetheart, Kenneth Ward (Malcolm MacGregor) tries to help her straighten things out. Finally, the real Fanchon turns up and it is revealed that Ryan isn't dead after all. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

E.H. Griffith, a veteran of the old Edison Studios, handled the directorial chores for Columbia's Price of Honor. The story, which is a bit too thin to be stretched over five reels, concerns the reputation of leading lady Dorothy Revier. A murder is committed and a man is sentenced to death -- and it all seems to be the fault of the hapless heroine. Ultimately, the film emerges as an argument against circumstantial evidence, but by this time many of the viewers had nodded off to slumberland. Still, the enterprising Columbia promotional staff was able to secure choice bookings for this very minor effort. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

May McAvoy stars as Sallie Smith, a nightclub cigarette girl who falls in love with Bob Ward (Malcolm McGregor), who's working his way through college as a paid escort. Alas, Sally's head is turned by wealthy cad Tom Mannion (Richard Tucker), who lures the girl to a wild weekend party at his Long Island estate. Once he gets her alone on his yacht, Mannion does his best (or worst) to seduce Sally. A convenient storm capsizes the yacht, whereupon Sally is rescued by her ever-loving Bob. Matinee Ladies was among the first directorial efforts of cinematographer Byron Haskin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Famed concert pianist Johann Aradi (Lewis Stone) has earned a "Don Juan" reputation because of his love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude with the ladies. While performing in Rome, he meets a likely conquest in the form of the beautiful Nanette (Shirley Mason), who idolizes the pianist. But when he discovers that the girl is only 16, he sets about to disillusion her by throwing a drunken party and inviting all of his former lovers. He then arranges for Nanette's sweetheart Roberto (Malcolm McGregor) to "rescue" the girl from this den of iniquity. His good deed done, Johann goes back to his old lothario ways -- until, at long last, he falls in love for real. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced independently by the enterprising Nat Levine, this ten-chapter action serial featured Danish-born character actor Anders Randolph as the inventor of a completely silent airplane motor. Various villains are out to steal the potentially valuable contraption but are foiled at every turn by the serial's star trio: handsome young secret serviceman Lloyd Darrel (Malcolm MacGregor), pretty Helen Corliss (Louise Lorraine), and most importantly, Silver Streak, a clever German shepherd. The latter, of course, was Levine's low-budget answer to Warner Bros.' lucrative Rin Tin Tin. Hughie Mack, an obese comic in the style of "Fatty" Arbuckle was added to provide comedy relief. Levine produced the entire serial on location and on rented stages, managing to bring all ten chapters in on a budget of 70,000 dollars. Instead of releasing this his first serial on the usual states rights basis, Levine sold it outright to Universal for 75,000 dollars, the profits going toward establishing Mascot Pictures, a Poverty Row company that would proudly carry the serial tradition into the talkie era. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide