Frank Melton Movies

Daredevils in the Clouds was one of Republic's several attempts to transform former cowboy star Robert Livingston into a non-cowboy leading man. With customers and creditors breathing down his neck, Terry O'Rourke (Livingston), the head of Polar Airways, does his best to bring his planes in on time. Johnny Martin (James Cardwell), top man at Trans-Global Airlines, covets O'Rourke's business, and will do anything-even commit murder-to gobble up Polar's clientele. Mae Clarke, who hadn't had a leading role in years, is quietly effective as Kay Cameron, a grounded aviatrix who carries a torch for her boss O'Rourke. The film is distinguished by the excellent miniature and special-effects work of the Lydecker Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Danny Kaye plays the first of his cinematic dual roles in Goldwyn's Wonder Man. Kaye appears as timid librarian Edwin Dingle and Edwin's extroverted twin brother, nightclub entertainer Buzzy Bellew. When Buzzy witnesses a gangland shooting, he himself is rubbed out by mob boss Ten-Grand Jackson (Steve Cochran, in his movie debut). Before long, Edwin is visited by Buzzy's ghost, who persuades his bookish brother to help bring Jackson to justice. For the rest of the film, poor Edwin is possessed by his brother's sportive spirit, causing no end of confusion for Edwin's demure lady friend Ellen Shanley (Virginia Mayo) and Buzzy's more outgoing girlfriend, dancer Midge Mallon (Vera-Ellen, also making her first film appearance). Done up in splashy Technicolor, Wonder Man is perhaps Kaye's best Goldwyn-produced vehicle, permitting him to play a character (or characters) rather than a caricature. Highlights include an opera spoof (a variation of which showed up in Kaye's 1954 feature Knock on Wood), Danny's allergic rendition of "Otchi Chornya," and a wonderful vignette wherein Kaye imitates all the "inhabitants" of a pet shop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

No relation to the much-later "Matt Helm" spy comedy of the same name, Pine-Thomas Productions' The Wrecking Crew serves as a virile vehicle for Richard Arlen and Chester Morris. The stars appear respectively as a demolition-crew boss and his top worker. Morris has earned a reputation as a "jinx", an onus he may have trouble overcoming on his latest peril-fraught assignment. Jean Parker costars as the romantic bone of contention between Arlen and Morris, while character actress Esther Dale scores as the no-nonsense owner of the wrecking firm. Dozens of stock shots from previous Paramount efforts are utilized to excellent effect in this two-fisted actioner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After an opening scene at a Washington DC cocktail party where it is demonstrated that "loose lips sink ships", the plot proper gets under way, wherein a group of six men conspire to undermine America's war effort. What is the connection between these six men, all of them outwardly respectable members of Washingtonian society? Hero Don (Clayton Moore) and heroine Alice (Joan Barclay) suspect that the answer lies with the mysterious, wryly philosophical Dr. Melcher (Bela Lugosi), a world-famous plastic surgeon. It turns out that Melcher is part of an elaborate espionage scheme hatched by the dreaded Black Dragon Society of Japan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1941, producer Hal Roach abandoned production of full-length features in favor of a new concept: The "Streamliner", a four-reel film-halfway between a short subject and a feature-designed for the double-bill market. The first Roach streamliner was the timely service comedy Tanks a Million, previewed in August of 1941 and released by United Artists the following month. Chubby William Tracy starred as Dodo Doubleday, a feckless Army draftee blessed (or cursed) with a photographic memory. Inexplicably promoted to sergeant, Doubleday becomes the bane of topkick Sgt. Ames' (Joe Sawyer) existence. On the verge of being booted out of service because of his constant bumbling, Doubleday redeems himself by curing his commanding officer of a bad case of "mike fright" just before a network radio broadcast. At 50 minutes, Tanks a Million was one of the longer streamliners, and one of the best: it would spawn several William Tracy-Joe Sawyer sequels, including Hay Foot, About Face, Fall In and Yanks Ahoy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Stewart once classified Pot O' Gold as his worst film, though this may have stemmed from his reported inability to get along with his costar Paulette Goddard (who is supposed to have dismissed Stewart's acting technique with a flippant "Anyone can swallow.") Inspired by the popular radio giveaway series of the same name, the film represented an ill-fated production venture for James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stewart plays Jimmy Haskell, nephew of breakfast-food mogul C. J. Haskell (Charles Winninger). Befriending bandleader Horace Heidt (playing himself) and his orchestra members, Jimmy and his sweetheart Molly McCorkle (Paulette Goddard) tries to persuade C. J. to sponsor Heidt's radio program. The elder Haskell refuses until Jimmy and Molly's landlady mother (Mary Gordon) come up with a sure-fire "gimmick" for the program: they'll pick names from the phone book at random, call up those numbers, and give away huge prizes to whomever answers-provided that the call-ees are tuned into Heidt's show. This format worked beautifully for the real Pot O' Gold radio program, but tends to fall flat on screen, despite the energetic musical contributions of Horace Heidt and his entourage (including a very young and astonishingly articulate Art Carney, in his film debut). In England, Pot O' Gold was retitled The Golden Hour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Technicolor sequel to 1939's Jesse James does without the services of the earlier film's star Tyrone Power, who after all was shot dead by that "dirty little coward" Bob Ford (John Carradine). Repeating his portrayal of western outlaw Frank James, Henry Fonda is promoted to top billing here. As depicted by scenarist Sam Hellman, Frank has retired from his life of crime to become a peaceful farmer, though he has never given up his search for the treacherous Ford. The killer and his cohorts are eventually rounded up, but are pardoned due to political intervention. That's when Frank slaps on six-guns once more to seek his own form of justice. Featured in the cast is Henry Hull as a top-of-his-lungs crusading newspaperman and Jackie Cooper as a headstrong young sprout who pays the ultimate price for his bullheadedness. Making her screen debut is Gene Tierney, in the role of an Eastern reporter who wants to tell Frank's true story to the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though not the best of the Fred Astaire musicals, Second Chorus is the most easily accessible thanks to its current public-domain status. Astaire and Burgess Meredith play Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor, friendly-enemy musicians who after spending seven years in a college band aspire to join the Artie Shaw Orchestra. Danny and Hank also spend a lot of time vying over the attentions of their pretty manager Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard). While Paulette Goddard later became Mrs. Burgess Meredith in real life, guess who wins her hand in this picture? Charles Butterworth steals the show as Mr. Chisholm, a music-loving eccentric who finances Shaw's "swing concerto" concert at Carnegie Hall. Oh, and Fred Astaire dances, too. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his starring film for Universal Pictures, W.C. Fields plays circus manager and all-around flim flam man Larson E. Whipsnade. When he's not trying to fleece the customers or elude the sheriff, Whipsnade busys himself trying to break up the romance between his daughter Vicky (Constance Moore) and carnival ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (playing himself). He also carries on a running feud with Bergen's nattily attired dummy Charlie McCarthy ("I'll slash you into venetian blinds!"). Bergen's other dummy is Mortimer Snerd, who occasionally comments upon the action in his own thickheaded fashion. Anxious to arrange a marriage between Vicki and the wealthy Roger Bel-Goodie III (James Bush), Whipsnade disposes of Bergen and his dummies by sending them aloft in a hot-air baloon. Attending a party at the Bel-Goodie mansion, Whipsnade makes a pest of himself by constantly referring to snakes, a subject that invariably causes Mrs. Bel-Goodie (Mary Forbes) to swoon. He also engages in a zany ping-pong tournament with socialite Ronnie (Ivan Lebedeff). But it is Vicki, and not Whipsnade, who breaks up the engagement by telling off her pompous fiance. At that very instant, Bergen, having escaped from the balloon, arrives to claim Vicki and to help Whipsnade escape the sheriff once more. A partial remake of the W.C. Fields silent Two Flaming Youths, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man was scripted by Fields under the pseudonym "Charles Bogle." As published in the 1973 compendium W.C. Fields by Himself, the original screenplay was to have had dramatic overtones, including the death of Fields' trapeze-artist wife and a climactic soul-baring scene wherein Fields expresses his genuine love for his daughter. All this was jettisoned when it was decided to capitalize on the Fields-Charlie McCarthy "feud" then blazing on radio's Chase and Sanborn Show. While nowhere near as funny as Fields' subsequent Universal feature The Bank Dick, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man still contains a generous supply of laughs. Our favorite line: "Somebody's taken the cork out of my lunch." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively campus-set musical comedy, a budding entrepreneur nearly loses everything after his get-rich quick scheme to earn money selling "flunk" insurance his fellow students goes terribly awry. The plan was to sell the insurance for fifty cents a shot. In exchange, any policy-holder who flunks a test will get a ten dollar settlement. At first the young fresh fellow makes a mint, but then a particularly strict professor sees fit to flunk an entire class, all of whom are insured. Keep a sharp eye peeled for a young Alan Ladd in a bit part. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Perennial chorus girl Toby Wing earns a rare chance to play a leading role in this horseracing melodrama which cast her as a debutante, of all things. When Less Winters (James Melton) fails to persuade Jimmy Shay (Herman Brix) to sell his prize-winning racehorse Lightning Lad, wealthy stable owner Marion Braddock does her level best to sabotage Jimmy in the 100,000-dollar San Lucas Race. But when she learns that Less is in cahoots with a gang of crooked gamblers, and that Jimmy is the boy who once saved her life, Marion decides to switch sides. By masquerading as a vagabond, the plucky girl not only helps Jimmy win the Big Race but also earns his love. Filmed on-location at the Lazy A Ranch near Los Angeles and at the Pomona Race Track, Silks and Saddles was a remake of a 1929 potboiler of the same title. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Riders of Black Hills is the second of 13 consecutive "Three Mesquiteers" westerns directed by George Sherman. The Mesquiteers this time out are Stony Brooke (Bob Livingston), Tucson Smith (Ray Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune). All three come to the rescue when a racehorse is kidnapped by the mustache-twirling villains. One of the Mesquiteers is accused of being in on the snatch, but his two friends manage to clear his name by fadeout time. The unusally strong supporting cast includes Maude Eburne as the feisty owner of the horse, Roscoe Ates as a stuttering sheriff, and Ben Hall as a lamebrained reporter. Less violent than most Republic westerns of the era, Riders of the Black Hills finds our heroes using fancy rope tricks and horsemanship rather than bullets to rout the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Returning from a trip, wealthy seaman Cappy Ricks (Walter Brennan) is annoyed to find his home automated, his daughters' romances awry and his business in disarray, so he schemes with Bill (Lyle Talbot) to trap everyone aboard Cappy's yacht. Later, they fake a fire to maroon everyone on an island -- but then they end up really marooned. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide