Lucy Beaumont Movies

Falsely convicted Lionel Barrymore escapes from Devil's Island with fellow prisoner H.B. Walthall. A brilliant scientist, Walthall reveals to Barrymore that he has developed a process to shrink human beings. Upon Walthall's death, Barrymore makes his way back to the old scientist's lab, intending to use Walthall's formula to exact vengeance on those who have wronged him. He does so, clearing his name and securing the future happiness of his daughter Maureen O'Sullivan (who believes that Barrymore is dead) in the process. But Barrymore's crazed assistant Rafaela Ottiano isn't satisfied. "We'll make the whole world small!" she hisses, forcing Barrymore to kill her and destroy the formula. To save his daughter from scandal, Barrymore disappears into the night, the implication being that he plans to commit suicide at the first opportunity. The excellent miniature work in The Devil Doll (much of it accomplished with outsized sets, a la the Laurel and Hardy comedy Brats) successfully takes the viewers' minds off the rather silly plot. Director Tod Browning was always stronger with atmosphere than with plot and dialogue, and this film is no exception. Far less logical than the miniaturization process is Barrymore's decision to disguise himself as an old woman, since this transparent guise wouldn't convince a 2-year-old in real life. Based on the novel Burn, Witch, Burn by Abraham Merritt, The Devil Doll was scripted by several hands, including Erich Von Stroheim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy set in Budapest, a couple's fifth wedding anniversary falls apart when the wife tells her man that she is thinking about returning to the theater. Her husband gets so mad that he leaves. Later he sees her with her niece's boy friend and assumes the worst. Mayhem ensues until the young marrieds reconcile and resume their happy lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Eva Moore, famous for her portrayal of Ernst Thesiger's religious-zealot sister in The Old Dark House, is awarded top billing in the British Blind Justice. Moore provides comic relief to the deadly serious goings-on in the rest of the film. Geraldine Fitzgerald plays the sister of a man who was accused of cowardice and shot during wartime. She attempts to keep her shame a secret, until a slimy blackmailer enters her life. Said blackmailer is murdered, and guess who is suspected of the crime? Blind Justice was adapted by Vera Allinson from Arnold Ridley's play Recipe for Murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Midnight Lady is a low-budget variation of the evergreen stage and screen meller Madame X. In one of her rare starring roles, Sarah Padden is cast as Nita St. George, the hard-boiled owner of a big-city speakeasy. Unexpectedly, Nita is reunited with her daughter Jean (Claudia Dell), who has been raised to believe that her mother is dead. When Jean is accused of murdering her no-good boyfriend, Nita selflessly takes the blame, never letting the girl know that she is really her mother. Just when it looks as though Nita will be convicted of murder, Jean is tricked into a confession -- but as it turns out, she didn't do it either! Unfortunately, this not uninteresting poverty-row drama is laid low by bad camera work and uneven acting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Virtually none of the male characters in The Thrill of Youth could pass muster as a role model. As an old man preaches against the sexual promiscuity of the early 1930s, the man's middle-aged son galavants around with a married woman -- while his sons regularly entertain good-time girls in their own bedrooms. In no position to pass judgement, dad not only condones his sons' behavior, but also slips them a few slugs of bootleg booze. Things come to a head when the libertine father, his paramour, his sons and their tootsies all converge at a mountain cabin. Naturally, everyone is duly punished for their sins, but they all seem to be having a high old time before the final reckoning. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Glamorous Jean Harlow had her first big starring role in this standard story of an innocent small town young woman corrupted by big city life. Harlow plays Cassie Barnes, who is bored with her life and jumps at the chance to move to New York City to join her old friend Gladys Kane (Mae Clarke). She gets an apartment with Gladys' friend Dot (Marie Prevost), whose life is not so glamorous -- she addresses envelopes to make money. Cassie quits her first job after her boss hits on her then becomes a model in the department store where Gladys works. There she falls for a philandering tycoon named Jerry Dexter (Walter Byron). Cassie eventually discovers that he is married. Jerry tries to claim that he's going to divorce his wife, but Cassie doubts it and dumps him. Gladys is the mistress of another married man, Arthur Phelps (Jameson Thomas), who keeps her happy with a well-furnished Park Avenue apartment. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

After briefly splitting for a brace of unsuccessful solo ventures, the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were reunited in one of their best vehicles, Caught Plastered. Bert and Bob are cast as itinerant vaudevillians Tommy and Egbert, who find themselves stranded in a small Midwestern town. Here they befriend Mrs. Talley (Lucy Beaumont), the sweet old proprietor of a near-bankrupt drugstore. To prevent slimy medicinal wholesaler Harry Waters (Jason Robards Sr.) from buying the store at a ridiculously low sum, the boys decide to help Mrs. Talley drum up business. They set up a soda fountain, novelties counter, book shop and even a radio station ("Y.M.I Broadcasting") in the store, and soon business is booming. But Waters, who secretly moonlights as a bootlegger, sabotages the enterprise by spiking the store's lemon syrup with booze. Things look bad when Tommy's sweetheart Peggy (Dorothy Lee) -- who happens to be the daughter of the police chief -- gets roaring drunk on the "syrup," but our heroes manage to save Mrs. Talley's store and expose Waters as a crook in one fell swoop. Though Caught Plastered has the usual quota of corny Wheeler-and-Woolsey repartee, it also has more "heart" than usual, especially the wonderful scene wherein the boys cheer up Mrs. Talley by performing their gloriously awful vaudeville act. The film re-established the team's box-office popularity, ending up as RKO Radio's biggest moneymaker of 1931. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Officially released as The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, this William Haines vehicle was snappily adapted by Charles MacArthur from the "Wallingford" short stories by George Randolph Chester. Haines of course plays the title character, a breezy con artist in league with personable pickpocket Schnozzle (who else but Jimmy Durante?) After fleecing a tourist for $25,000, Wallingford realizes that he's been swindled when the tourist's check turns out to be of rubber consistency. Just one step ahead of the law, Wallingford and Schnozzle settle in a small town, where they rescue the family of heroine Dorothy (Leila Hyams) from bankruptcy and foreclosure. Even William Haines must have been aware that the picture was effortlessly stolen by Jimmy Durante, whose second film this was. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a traveling troupe of actors find themselves in danger of becoming unemployed when their manager up and leaves. Two of the actors decide to marry and settle down. The lead actor helps set up the rest of the troupe with some performances. He then destroys the new marriage. Later the woman and the head actor fall in love. He then gives her the lead role in his newest show. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While on a "slumming" excursion, debutante Bobbie Walsh (Viola Dana) falls in love with tenement-district doctor Thornton (Allan Simpson). Not wishing to scare the doctor off, Bobbie doesn't tell him that she's the wealthy daughter of a prominent senator. But when Dr. Thornton ends up in night court after punching out a pair of would-be mashers, Bobbie is forced to reveal her true identity. The expected resentments arise, leading to the inevitable reconciliation. One Splendid Hour was one of the few films released by Excellent Pictures that truly lived up to the studio's name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Orville Caldwell, who registered well as Marion Davies' leading man in MGM's The Patsy, was afforded star billing in FBO's The Little Yellow House. A backwoods drama, the story details the tribulations of the Milburns, a farming family headed by an irresponsible alcoholic (William Orlamond). A wealthy relative offers to help out the Milburns, but the proud patriarch refuses to take charity. Fed up with her shabby existence, young Emily Milburn (Martha Sleeper) walks out on her family and heads to the Big City, where she is nearly violated by all-around cad Wells Harbison (Freeman Wood). Emily is rescued just in time by her hometown sweetheart Rob Hollis (Orville Caldwell). She returns home, vowing to make the best of things despite her dad's shiftless ways. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comrades gets under way at a military academy, where cadets Gareth Hughes and Donald Keith greet the news of WWI in radically different ways. A craven coward, Hughes tries to duck military service on the battlefields of France, whereupon Keith selflessly offers to serve in Hughes' place. When Hughes' fiancee Helene Costello hears about this, she angrily breaks off their engagement. Throughout the entire war, the courageous deeds performed by Keith are incorrectly attributed to Hughes. Unable to go on living a lie, Hughes embarks on a suicide mission in No Man's Land, during which he is felled by an enemy bullet. A deathbed confession sets the record straight, Keith is finally recognized as a hero, and Costello shows up in the final reel to marry the surviving "comrade." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide