Adolphe Menjou Movies

A tuneful taxi driver secretly works to achieve his dream of becoming a radio singer in this musical comedy. One day he gives a radio station secretary a lift. She prattles on about a sponsor's new contest. The sponsor, a prominent cheese company, is looking for a singing gondolier to participate in their newest campaign. Later the secretary and the head cheese go to Venice to look for the real McCoy, unaware that the determined cabbie is already there waiting for them. Sure enough, they are fooled and he is hired. Things go really well until he feels compelled to tell the truth during a major broadcast. Songs include: "Lulu's Back in Town", "The Rose in Her Hair", "Lonely Gondolier", and ""You Can Be Kissed"". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Perhaps the most memorable of all of the movies based on Damon Runyon's story because of the winning presence of Shirley Temple (although it was remade three times), this is the story of a little girl who is left as a marker for a $20.00 bet. Temple's father kills himself and the bookie doesn't know what to do with the young girl. Needless to say, she wins over the hearts of all and sundry and the bookie turns over a new leaf to make this little girl happy. Through all the complications the bookie runs in to, including eventually marrying his long-time girlfriend to provide a home for the child, there is a tenor of love and joy that was not matched in any of the remakes. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Wallace Beery plays P.T. Barnum in this comic biography of the renowned showman. As the story opens, Phineas Taylor Barnum is operating a dry goods store in New York City with his friend Bailey Walsh (Adolphe Menjou), and he is looking for a way to boost business. He strikes upon the idea of adding a sideshow of human oddities and curious individuals, much to the annoyance of his wife Nancy (Janet Beecher). But the sideshow brings in a large audience, and soon it begins to overtake the retail store; however, Barnum's venture comes to a halt when it is revealed that Zorro The Bearded Lady (May Boley) has fake facial hair,and that Joyce Heth (Lucille LaVerne) wasn't really George Washington's nursemaid, as she claims. Despite this setback, Barnum has developed a taste for show business, and he brings noted English singer Jenny Lind (Virginia Bruce) to the U.S. for a concert tour, where she becomes the toast of New York. Barnum soon becomes infatuated with Lind, and while his attempts to woo her are often fumblingly inept, they're effective enough to alienate Nancy, who leaves him and New York City for good. Between his attempts to romance Lind and his shameless ballyhoo for performing midget General Tom Thumb (George Brasno), Barnum finds himself on Walsh's bad side, who has taken to drinking to ease his anger. After his budding romance with Lind fails, Barnum suffers an even greater indignity when his museum, featuring his sideshow freaks and other wonders and oddities, is burned to the ground by angry rivals. However, Barnum's performers show their loyalty by offering their savings to Barnum to help him rebuild, and Nancy returns to Barnum's side in his moment of need. Walsh also appears, ready to bury the hatchet and show off his latest acquisition -- an elephant named Jumbo who could be used in a traveling act, or perhaps even a circus.... The Mighty Barnum was based on the play by Gene Fowler and Bess Meredyth, who also wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Human Side was adapted by Frank Craven and Ernest Pascal from a play by Christine Ames. Long married and the parents of four children, Gregory and Vera Sheldon break up when Gregory begins keeping time with seductive Alma Hastings (played by Betty Lawford, Peter's mom). Despite the subsequent divorce, Gregory can't resist visiting his ex-wife from time to time, which arouses Alma's jealous nature. The story isn't straightened out, however, until the four Sheldon kids -- Lucille (Charlotte Henry), Phil (Dick Winslow), Tom (George Ernest) and Bobbie (Dickie Moore) -- take a hand in the matter. Befitting the title, The Human Side is realistically written and acted, enhancing the audience's empathy with the characters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, an American art student goes abroad to study and gets a reputation when she marries a wealthy shipping magnate. She eventually returns to her hometown. While en route, a train wreck occurs and she proves herself a heroine by helping out. She then finds herself falling in love with a Kansas school teacher. Romantic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A vicious spiral of revenge in a traveling circus is the basis for this fast-paced thriller. The circus has stopped to perform in a small town when the trouble begins. During the course of the film, much of the cast is killed, planning to kill, or killing each other. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A night club owner under heavy police protection is murdered anyway, and a clever police commissioner figures out that it was her mother, who used a scorpion as the murder weapon. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

This first film version of Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms stars Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Cooper plays Lt. Frederick Henry, a World War I officer who falls in love with English Red Cross nurse Catherine Barkley (Hayes)-after first mistaking her for a woman of ill repute. Henry's friend, Major Rinaldi, is envious of the romance, and pulls strings to have Catherine transferred to Milan. When Henry is wounded in battle, he ends up in the very hospital where Catherine works. They resume the affair, which reaches an ecstatic peak just before Henry is returned to the front. The now-pregnant Catherine remains in Switzerland, sending letters by the bushelfull to Henry. But the jealous Rinaldi sees to it that Henry never receives those letters, leading Catherine to conclude sorrowfully that Henry has forgotten her. As the Armistice approaches, Henry makes his way to Switzerland, hoping to find Catherine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance a school marm takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to a crippled woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

No relation to the 1949 Bob Hope comedy of the same name, The Great Lover stars that master of sartorial splendor, Adolphe Menjou. Menjou plays a famed opera singer, better known for his sexual proclivities than his theatrical performances. He sets his sights on the opera company's ingenue, novice singer Irene Dunne. Menjou's love for Dunne is genuine--the first time he's ever permitted himself such an emotion--but his past misdeeds catch up with him. Dunne ultimately finds happiness in the arms of arrow-collar leading man Neil Hamilton. The Great Lover was directed by Harry Beaumont, the man responsible for so many of MGM's early talkie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Parisian is the English-language version of the 1930 Adolphe Menjou vehicle Mon Pere de Gosse. Menjou stars as Gerome, a rakish boulevardier who refuses to settle down and take any responsibilities. As such, he is an embarrassment to his hard-working, business-executive son Gerard (Roger Treville). The tables are turned when Gerard finds himself in a compromising situation with Gerome's "trophy wife" Yvonne (Elissa Landi). By film's end, Gerard decides to follow his father's carefree example. While the bilingual Adolphe Menjou had no trouble adjusting his performance for the English version, the other actors apparently had a difficult time with their new dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The old bromide about joining the Foreign Legion to "forget," so often parodied by such comedians as Laurel and Hardy, was played straight in 1931's Friends and Lovers. A very young Laurence Olivier plays Lt. Nichols, who has retreated to the desert to get over his affair with Alva Sangrito (Lily Damita). Nichols is befriended by another of Alva's victims, Captain Roberts (Adolphe Menjou). Once back in England, however, the two castaway lovers find themselves rivals once more, leading to a potentially deadly payoff. Erich von Stroheim is delightful in a depraved sort of way as Lily Damita's cynical husband. Based on the novel The Sphinx Has Spoken by Maurice de Kobra, Friends and Lovers represented one of Laurence Olivier's last early-talkie Hollywood films before he returned to England to hone his acting skills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide