Robert McWade Movies

Michael Curtiz directs this Technicolor Western based on the familiar story by Clements Ripley about the rivalry between farmers and miners in the Sacramento valley during the years following the California Gold Rush. Handsome engineer Jared Whitney (George Brent) from the Golden Moon mining company arrives in a small town to supervise their operations. He oversees boorish mining foreman Slag Minton (Burton MacLane), then goes to bar where he befriends Lance (Tim Holt), the son of prominent wheat farmer Colonel Chris Ferris (Claude Rains). He ends up falling in love with Lance's sister, Serena (Olivia deHavilland), despite their alliances with opposing forces. They are forbidden to see each other when her father finds out, so Jared goes back to San Francisco to work with his boss, Harrison McCooey (Sidney Toler), on a dam construction project. Meanwhile, Lance chooses the side of the miners over the farmers when he leaves the town to stay with his Uncle Ralph (John Litel). When local farmer John McKenzie (Russell Simpson) loses his family and his farm due to the destruction caused by the miners, Chris supports him in a law suit against the mining company. This all escalates into a violent armed confrontation between the farmers and the miners, leading up to an explosive conclusion and a romantic reunion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

I Am the Law is arguably the best of the late-1930s films inspired by the racket-busting career of New York district attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Edward G. Robinson switches to the right side of the law as the Dewey counterpart, here named John Lindsay (!) A feisty, no-nonsense law professor, Lindsay is approached by a group of concerned citizens to act as special prosecutor to rid up their (unnamed) state of big-time lawbreakers. He wastes no time taking charge, storming into the prosecutor's office and firing anyone whom he suspects of being "on the take." With the help of his dedicated law students, who work alongside him for free, Lindsay purges the local government of such corrupt influences as Eugene Ferguson (Otto Kruger), the outwardly respectable "brains" behind the rackets. Among the minor pleasures in I Am the Law is watching Robinson dancing the Big Apple with gun moll Wendy Barrie in an early scene, and his firing of suspicious-looking Charles Halton with a brusque "Don't like your face! Never have! You've got shifty eyes and a weak chin!" (which, indeed, were Halton's screen trademarks). Barbara O'Neil, who the following year played Scarlet O'Hara's mother in Gone with the Wind, is quietly effective as Robinson's supportive wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Good Old Soak was based on a story by Don Marquis, creator of the immortal "Archy and Mehitabel." Wallace Beery is well-cast as town drunk Clem Hawley, a blot on the escutcheon of a small Prohibition-era Midwestern town. When a large sum of bank money is stolen, Clem immediately falls under suspicion. His previously spineless son Clemmie (Eric Linden) rushes to his dad's defense, insisting that he, and not Clem, is the thief. But the "good old soak" manages to recover the money and expose the thief, a respectable "social" drinker and stock-market swindler whose hypocrisy is in stark contrast to Clem's bibulous honesty. In one of his last film roles, Ted Healy manages to steal quite a few scenes from Beery (no small feat) as a cheerful bootlegger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama (a remake of 1932's Ladies of the Jury), an apparently bubble-headed but mule-stubborn jurist is convinced of the defendant's innocence and refuses to change her verdict. Unlike the others, she listens to her own common sense and looks carefully at the facts and decides that there is no way the accused could have committed the murder. She then sets off with a fellow jurist and long-time pal to prove it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A Mississippi flood saves the life of a petty crook who is about to be lynched for a murder he did not commit. After he escapes, he flees to a nearby plantation where he and a woman (claiming to be his wife) are taken in and treated with great kindness. They are happy until the killer that framed the crook shows up. Things look bleak until once again, the Mighty Mississippi roars in to save the day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Moonlight Murder takes place virtually in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl. Despite dire warnings by a sinister mystic (Pedro de Cordoba), opera-star Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo) insists that he will sing in the Bowl's current production of Il Trovatore. He gets no farther than the "Anvil Chorus" before he drops dead in full view of the audience. It turns out that D'Acosta was murdered, placing everyone in the cast under suspicion. As night segues into morning, detective Steve Farrell (Chester Morris) -- whose past mistakes have put him in hot water with his boss -- teams up with lady-scientist Toni Adams (Madge Evans) to piece the clues together. The hot-potato issue of euthanasia is raised during the course of Moonlight Murder, and as a result the film turns out to have one of the most sympathetic and reasonable culprits in "B"-picture history. Trivia alert: One of the suspects is played by Duncan Renaldo, who later co-starred with "victim" Leo Carrillo on TV's The Cisco Kid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to prove to her insurance-investigator uncle that she's a good detective in her own right, Jane Martin (Claire Trevor) pretends to be a jewel thief so that she can infiltrate a criminal gang. She quickly ingratiates herself with suave but deadly crook Frank Peyton (Cesar Romero), and before long Jane herself is in charge of the gang! Once Peyton begins to suspect that Jane has ulterior motives, he does his best to trip her up, even committing a murder in her presence, but she manages to keep up her facade long enough to enable detective Walsh (Lloyd Nolan) to round up the criminals. Despite the cold-blooded nature of his character, Frank Peyton emerges as the most appealing character in the picture; also, while Peyton enjoys a brief onscreen romance with the heroine, nothing of a similar nature develops between Jane and nominal hero Walsh. In short, 15 Maiden Lane is not your average "B"-grade crime meller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this remake of the 1920 Will Rogers comedy Honest Hutch, Wallace Beery stars as the eponymous Hutch, the ne'er-do-well patriarch of a large and needy family, who unexpectedly becomes rich when he stumbles upon $100,000 worth of hidden swag. Ironically, because Hutch has become so notorious as the town layabout, he must now reform into a responsible, hard-working member of the community, in order to provide an excuse for the excessive funds suddenly available to him. The money just as abruptly becomes unavailable again when it's stolen by bank robbers, but the yarns Hutch spins to explain away the missing cash wind up leading to the arrest of the thieves. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide

Hotel barber Joe Jenkins (Jack Haley), who's obsessed with newspaper stories about high-society celebrities, is dragooned into posing as eccentric millionaire Aloysius Merriweather (Monroe Owsley) at a fancy weekend party. At first thrilled at the prospect of hobnobbing with the 400, Joe is less than thrilled when he's forced to continue the charade after Merriweather is rendered unconscious in a traffic accident. Getting off to a bad start with heiress Patricia Randolph (Betty Furness) -- who loses her speedboat, beach house and clothes thanks to his bumbling -- Joe redeems himself by saving her father's (Raymond Walburn) automobile business. Whether or not he can save himself from Spike Nolan (Tom Dugan), the gun-wielding brother of Owsley's neurotic bride Mazie (Rosina Lawrence), is another matter! Mister Cinderella is a typically frantic farce from the Hal Roach comedy mills, with a marvelous scene-stealing performance by Arthur Treacher and a brisk musical score (culled mostly from Roach's Laurel & Hardy and "Our Gang" comedies) by Marvin Hatley and LeRoy Shield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Owen Davis Jr. plays Bunker Bean, a meek and mild office worker who loves the boss' daughter (Louise Latimer) from afar. Bunker impulsively visits a mystic, who gazes into a crystal ball and determines that Mr. Bean is the reincarnation of such past leaders of men as Napoleon and an Egyptian Pharaoh. Armed with new confidence, Bunker charges back into his office, gives his boss (Robert McWade) a piece of his mind, and becomes a hotshot businessman. Several reverses later, Bunker Bean realizes that he doesn't need to rely on his imaginary "past lives" to make good and to win the girl. Based on the novel by Harry Leon Wilson (and its stage adaptation by Lee Wilson Dodd), Bunker Bean was the third film version of this enjoyable "worm turns" fable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this family comedy, the wealthy executive of a steel company must endure life with a strict, teetotaling wife, a wild daughter, and a deadbeat son. To gain some much needed attention, the lonesome fellow hires a hitman to kill him. Instead, the gunman kidnaps him to frighten the family into appreciating their devoted father. Along the way, the kidnapper begins falling in love with his employer's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Clearly inspired by the success of Goldwyn's Barbary Coast, Warner Bros.' The Frisco Kid stars James Cagney as turn-of-the-century opportunist Bat Morgan. Heading to the gold fields of California, Bat is almost shanghaied in San Francisco but manages not only to escape his would-be captors but also to kill the infamous crime lord Shanghai Duck (Fred Kohler Sr.). The grateful citizens enable Bat to rise to wealth and power on the Barbary Coast. But he's less lucky in love, and it is his seemingly hopeless fascination with Nob Hill debutante Jean Barrat (Margaret Lindsay) that may well bring about Bat's downfall. The film is a festival of cliches, occasionally enlivened by barroom brawls and rowdy musical numbers. Featured as extras in Frisco Kid were several stars and directors of the silent era, a "generous" gesture made by Warner Bros. partly to stave off the inevitability of unionized actors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Heroic and crusty old Cappy Ricks takes on lobbyists who are trying to pass a law banning shingles on roofs to force consumers to purchase their new roofing materials. Cappy, who runs a lumber company knows that this could be devastating and hires a gutsy young fellow to fight the law. Later the young fellow meets the beautiful daughter of Cappy's rival and they fall in love. Unfortunately a storm brews after Cappy and the fellow realize that a spy has tipped off the rival. The girl is the prime suspect, but her beau just can't believe it is so. Sure enough, further investigation proves her innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide