Robert Middlemass Movies

If Republic's skating star Vera Hruba Ralston could go "dramatic", so too could Monogram's skating star Belita. Produced by the enterprising King Brothers, Suspense takes place in an ice-skating emporium owned by Frank Leonard (Albert Dekker). No-good heel Joe Morgan (Barry Sullivan) not only strongarms Leonard into sharing the establishment's profits, but also tries to move in on Leonard's wife Roberta (Belita). The plot thickens when Leonard is apparently killed by Morgan, only to return from the dead! But what really does Morgan in is his own checkered past, as personified by his vengeful ex-sweetheart Ronnie (Bonita Granville, in a truly offbeat characterization). Belita's ice-skating solos (staged by Nick Castle) and Philip Yordan's overly complicated script tend to weigh down the proceedings; still, Suspense deserves to be seen, if for no other reason than its dazzling opening sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jane Randolph, the star of several Val Lewton projects at RKO, goes the "spoiled heiress" route in Republic's Sporting Chance. Before she can inherit the family millions, Jane must go out and find a job without using her connections. Not surprisingly, she is brought down to earth by the experience, finding true love in the form of poor-but-honest John O'Malley. Director George Blair managed to helm four pictures the same year that Sporting Chance came out. While the strain doesn't show, there is a paucity of inspiration and nuance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A priest relates the tale of his friend, a WWI veteran, to the Post-War Planning Committee. Unable to get a job upon his return from the war, he puts off his marriage and works for a bootlegger. He is forced to take a rap for his boss, goes to prison, and forms a gang. After his release, a gang war breaks out, resulting in his death. He leaves a note to his friend the priest asking that his story be told as a warning. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck had high hopes that Wilson would immortalize him in the manner that Gone With the Wind did for David O. Selznick. The notion of bringing the life story of Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, to the big screen was a labor of love for Zanuck, and accordingly the producer lavished all the technical expertise and production values he had at his disposal. Though Alexander Knox seems a bit too robust and overnourished for Wilson, his is a superb performance, evenly matched by those of Ruth Nelson as Wilson's first wife Ellen, Geraldine Fitzgerald as second wife Edith, Thomas Mitchell as Joseph Tumulty, Sir Cedric Hardwycke as Henry Cabot Lodge, Vincent Price as William Gibbs McAdoo, Sidney Blackmer as Josephus Daniels, and the rest of the film's enormous cast. The story begins in 1912, a time when Wilson is best known as the head of Princeton University and the author of several books on the democratic process. Urged into running for Governor of New Jersey by the local political machine, Wilson soon proves that he is his own man, beholden to no one-and that he is dedicated to the truth at any cost. From the governor's office, Wilson is nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, an office he wins hands-down over the factionalized Republicans. The sweetness of his victory is soured by the death of his wife Ellen, but Wilson ultimately finds lasting happiness with Edith Galt. When World War I breaks out in Europe, Wilson vows to keep America out of the conflict, despite pressure from such political foes as Henry Cabot Lodge (who is depicted as a thoroughly unsympathetic power broker). After being elected for a second term, however, Wilson finds it impossible to remain neutral, especially in the wake of the Lusitania sinking. Reluctantly, he enters the war in April of 1917. Deeply disturbed by the mounting casualties, Wilson decides that, after the Armistice, he will press for a lasting peace by helping to organize a League of Nations. Unfortunately, the isolationist congress, urged on by Lodge and his ilk, refuses to permit America's entry into the League. His health failing, Wilson nonetheless embarks on a whistle-stop tour, imploring the public to support the League of Nations and Wilson's 12-point peace program. During this campaign, he is felled by a stroke, whereupon Mrs. Wilson begins acting as liason between the president and the rest of the country (the commonly held belief that Edith Galt Wilson virtually ran the nation during this crisis is soft-pedalled by Lamar Trotti's script). All hopes for America's joining the League of Nations are dashed when, in the 1920 election, the Republicans gain control of the White House. The film ends as the ailing but courageous Woodrow Wilson bids farewell to his staff and walks through the White House doors for the final time. Idealistically ignoring the negative elements of the Wilson regime (notably his attitudes toward racial relationships), Wilson is not so much a biography as a paean to the late president. Though too long and overproduced, the film survives as one of Hollywood's sturdiest historical films of the 1940s. However, audiences did not respond to Wilson as Zanuck had hoped; the film was a terrific flop at the box office, so much so that it was for many years forbidden to speak of the project in Zanuck's presence. Still, Wilson garnered several Academy Awards: best original screenplay, best color art direction (Wiard Ihnen), best color cinematography (Leon Shamroy), best sound recording (E. H. Hansen), best film editing (Barbara McLean) and best color set decoration (Thomas Little). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Black Raven is one of a trio of PRC horror-melodramas starring George Zucco. The title refers to a remote country inn, presided over by the sinister Mr. Bradford (Zucco). During a dark and stormy night, the Black Raven becomes the gathering place for an escaped convict (I. Standford Jolley) with a personal vendetta against Bradford, a bank clerk (Byron Foulger) who has embezzled $50,000, and a couple of young elopers (Wanda McKay, Bob Randall). Before the night is over, greed and murder rear their ugly heads. Comedy relief is provided by Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton as a county sheriff and Glenn "Frankenstein" Strange as a lumbering lummox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Torpedo Boat is a typical action-filled effort from Paramount's busy Pine-Thomas unit. Richard Arlen and Phil Terry star as Skimmer and Tommy, two lifelong buddies who've invented a lightweight, high-speed torpedo boat (hence the title). Their copacetic business relationship is strained when nightclub singer Grace Holman (Jean Parker), having been jilted by Skimmer, marries Tommy on the rebound. All the various plots and subplots are resolved when one of the two pals gives his life to prove the practicality of their new invention. Pine-Thomas "regular" Ralph Sandford plays the principal comedy relief part in his usual oafish manner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this war comedy, an army reject becomes a war hero by rounding up a ring of Nazi spies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Detective Chester Morris and his nosy wife Jean Parker set up housekeeping in a small Reno hotel room, whence Morris conducts his investigation of a kidnap case. It appears that the abduction has some tenuous connection with a recent bank robbery. As Morris digs deeper, he finds that virtually all of his neighbors either have something to do with cases at hand, or else they have something to hide. Its screenplay sticking fairly closely to the source novel by Daniel Mainwaring (writing under the pseudonym of Geoffrey Holmes), No Hands on the Clock is a rare foray into mystery for Paramount's action-picture production team of Pine and Thomas. The title refers to a handless clock hanging inside a Reno mortuary--which of course turns out to be a vital clue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road" picture casts Crosby as a penny-ante sideshow promoter and Hope as Crosby's only client, "Fearless Frazier." Under Crosby's tutelage, Hope has been shot from a cannon, zapped in an electric chair and nearly strangled by an octopus. Now they're practically broke and stranded on the African coast. Crosby spends the last of their money to spring helpless Dorothy Lamour from a native slave market. Actually, Lamour and her pal Una Merkel are scamming Crosby and Hope to finance a safari across Africa, so that Lamour can link up with her wealthy fiance in Zanzibar. En route through the deepest, darkest jungle, both Hope and Crosby fall in love with Lamour. But when they find out they're being taken for chumps, the boys leave the safari and strike out on their own. Captured by cannibals, the boys try and fail to win their freedom by having Hope wrestle a particularly grumpy gorilla. Making their escape after teaching the natives their time-honored "Patty Cake" routine, they head for Zanzibar. Once again, Crosby spends his ready money to spring Lamour from her captured-by-slavers con game, obliging Hope, Crosby, Lamour and Merkel to try to earn passage money home by staging a "sawing the lady in half" routine for the locals. Crosby: "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Hope: "If I don't, one of us is going back half fare." Like the earlier Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar sticks too closely to the script and plot to allow those inveterate adlibbers Hope and Crosby free reign. Still, there are some choice moments: our favorite bit occurs when Crosby comments to Lamour on the artificiality of movie musicals--whereupon the sound of an orchestra pops up out of nowhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The successful producer-director combination of Walter Wanger and Tay Garnett served up another winner with Slightly Honorable. Adapted from F. G. Presnell's novel Send Another Coffin, the story concerns the efforts made by corrupt politician Cushing (Edward Arnold) to frame honest attorney John Webb (Pat O'Brien) for the murder of Alma Brehmer (Claire Dodd). In concert with his diligent and apparently slow-witted assistant Rus Sampson (Broderick Crawford), Webb hopes to squelch Cushing's plan by locating the real murderer-who turns out to be a lot closer to Webb than he'd ever imagined. Ruth Terry has one of her best screen roles as a birdbrained nightclub hoofer who helps Webb clear himself. Like many Walter Wanger productions of the period, Slightly Honorable is currently available on the public-domain video market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In addition to his yearly manifest of six 2-reel comedies, Leon Errol always managed to squeeze a few feature-film appearances into his RKO Radio contractual duties. In Pop Always Pays, Henry Brewster (Errol) disapproves of the romance between his daughter Edna (Adele Pearce, aka Pamela Blake) and local spendthrift Jeff Thompson (Dennis O'Keefe). He finally agrees to give his blessing to the union if Jeff is able to save $1000, whereupon Brewster will match Jeff's thousand with the same amount as a wedding present. Confident that Jeff will never be able to raise that kind of cash, Brewster is decidedly nonplussed when the boy does come up with the necessary funds-especially since Brewster doesn't have his thousand, and isn't likely to ever have it. The film really comes to life wheneve Leon Errol shares the screen with his old Ziegfeld Follies cohort Walter Catlett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Valiant, a stage play by Holworthy Hall and Robert M. Middlemass, starred Paul Muni in the 1929 film version. The play was filmed a second time in 1940 as The Man Who Wouldn't Talk, this time with Lloyd Nolan in the lead. Nolan is peripherally involved in a crime; he accidentally kills the main witness and surrenders to the police. Changing his name to avoid disgracing his family, Nolan is sentenced to death. The police aren't happy with the cut-and-dried solution to the homicide and investigate the details of the murder. The results allow Nolan to escape execution--an arbitrary happy ending not in the original play. Despite its shortcomings, Man Who Wouldn't Talk was Lloyd Nolan's favorite starring film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia's new "Blondie" series continued its winning streak with its fourth entry, Blondie Brings Up Baby. So much happens within the film's 67 minutes that it's best to boil things down to the central storyline. Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms), the six-year-old son of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead (Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake) disappears from sight during his first day at school. While Dagwood frantically combs the city in search of the boy, Baby Dumpling spents a nice, safe afternoon with poor little rich girl Melinda Mason (Peggy Ann Garner), who with her new playmate's help arises from her sickbed to walk across the room for the first time in months. Other plot threads include Dagwood's disastrous confrontation with an important business client (Robert Middlemass), and Daisy the Dog's ongoing battle of wits with the local dog-catcher. Like many of the "Blondie" films, Blondie Brings Up Baby serves as a showcase for young talent on the way up: Robert Sterling is seen as one of Dagwood's office buddies, while Bruce Bennett plays a uniformed chauffeur. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide