Howard Mitchell Movies

Once again, Madlaine Traverse plays a long-suffering woman in this drama. Lady Marion Chatham (Traverse) and her husband, Sir Charles (Charles Clary), are happily married except for one thing -- they are childless. This is good news, however, for the dowager Lady St. Aubrey (Elinor Hancock), because if the couple doesn't produce an heir, their estate will go to her son, George Granville (George Hackathorn). Sir Charles' sister, Gertrude (Jeanne Calhoun), is engaged to an American, Stephen Hartley (Wheeler Oakman), and one stormy night they are forced to seek shelter in a deserted tower. Shortly afterwards, Hartley is called away to Russia on a diplomatic mission, and he is not given enough time to marry Gertrude, who discovers she is pregnant. Sir Charles goes on an expedition not long after Hartley leaves, and when Lady Marion discovers Gertrude's condition, she takes her away to have the child. Gertrude dies before Hartley is able to return, so Lady Marion claims the child as her own to save Gertrude's name. Sir Charles is overjoyed to return and discover he is a father, but Lady St. Aubrey starts spreading the word around that the child does not belong to him. Eventually the whole truth comes out and Sir Charles adopts the infant, who becomes heir to the Chatham estate. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Marguerite Coullard (Madlaine Traverse) is happily married to Emile (Charles Arling), a prominent French diplomat. Late one night, Marguerite is called away to the bedside of De Brionne (Joseph Swickward), an old friend. He bears a deep, dark secret of Marguerite's -- years ago, because of a youthful indiscretion, she bore a son out of wedlock, and ever since De Brionne has been taking care of the boy. Now the old man is dying, and Marguerite must take charge of her son, Fernand (Jack Rollens)...who happens to be in the Apache cafe around the corner. She goes to him, convinces him to stop drinking absinthe and to straighten himself out and gets him a job as secretary to her husband. Emile, meanwhile, has troubles of his own -- Belloc (Frank Leigh), a crooked stockbroker, is trying to get his hands on a manuscript that the diplomat has in his possession. Marguerite recognizes him as her betrayer, and Belloc tries to get Fernand drunk so he can steal the papers. The two men end up in a fight, and Belloc falls out a window to his death. Marguerite is comforting Fernand when her husband walks in on the two of them. She fesses up to the boy's true relationship with her, and Emile -- the true diplomat that he is -- forgives her and accepts her son. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

There have been several films with the title Ever Since Eve -- this one and two in the 1930s -- and none of them are related. This one is a flimsy comedy-drama starring Shirley Mason as a war orphan. Carteret (Herbert Heyes), an artist, decides to adopt a French war orphan and winds up with the very pretty and nearly grown-up Celestine Le Farge (Mason). Naturally he falls in love with her almost immediately, but he isn't the only one. One of his friends also falls for her, and she seems to have a strange suitor who is mysteriously hanging around outside. For the better part of the film, the identity of the person who is contacting Celestine is kept a secret. Only at the end is it revealed that it isn't just a man, it's a couple. One is Lieutenant Gerald O'Connor (Louis King), and the other is a young woman -- the real Celestine. The girl who Carteret thought was Celestine was actually her sister, Marie, who went in her place after she got married. Once everything is cleared up, Carteret doesn't hesitate to take Marie to the altar. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Shirley Mason was the star of this feature, she's upstaged by character actor Wilson Hummell, who has a dual role. Queenie (Mason) works as a slavey in a girls' school and wishes for the day when her wealthy aunt, Pansy Pooley (Aggie Herring), will call for her. The day comes, but when Queenie arrives at the mansion she discovers that Pansy is not the owner, but the housekeeper. The real owner, Simon Pepper (Hummell), is a miserly curmudgeon who has been a recluse since the death of his young wife 30 years before. Queenie manages to warm Pepper's heart, along with finding romance with Vivian Van Winkle (George O'Hara), the poetic son of a wealthy manufacturer. One day Pepper mysteriously vanishes and his valet, Abner Quigley, who's a dead ringer for the old man (also Hummell), decides to take his place. He marries Pansy and they enter society. Quigley is about to force Queenie to marry Count Michael (Adolphe Menjou) when the real Pepper, who has been on a voyage, returns. Vivian rounds up both Queenie and the minister and the young couple wed. Quigley and Pansy are once again reduced to servant status. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Shirley Mason generally starred in trite little romances, and this one is basically no different than any dozen other Fox programmers featuring her. Marie Gautier (Mason) is a French peasant who lives with her parents on land belonging to the Marchioness de Sivry (Mathilde Brundage). One day, the Marioness' son, Arthur (Raymond McKee), is painting a landscape when he spies Marie. He is immediately taken with her, and claims to be a struggling artist named Andre Broque, so as not to intimidate her with his title. Arthur's uncle, Count de Beaudine (Wilson Hummell), lusts after Marie and won't leave her alone. Finally, the village priest, Father Lesurges (Charles A. Smiley), suggests that she go to Paris. Marie, who is a talented singer and dancer, joins a troupe of entertainers and Arthur gives her the key to his apartment in Paris so she has a place to stay. The count finds out where she is living and believes she is having an affair with his nephew. When her parents find out about her living arrangements, they believe the same thing. Marie faces disgrace, but Arthur proves he really loves her by making her his wife. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Great Night hasn't an original moment in its entire 5 reels, but audiences went home satisfied anyway. William Russell plays Larry Gilmore, a carefree young man who must find a wife or lose an inheritance. To expedite matters, Gilmore's pals place an item in the newspapers about his upcoming legacy. Before long, Our Hero is besieged by hundreds of eligible females of all shapes, sizes and ages. Gilmore escapes the onslaught by disguising himself as a cop, a ruse which leads to even more misadventures. The plot of The Great Night has been utilized dozens of times, never more memorably than in Buster Keaton's Seven Chances and the Three Stooges' Brideless Groom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Veteran action hero William Russell starred opposite his offscreen wife Helen Ferguson in this typical Fox oater about a miner who finds himself up against a master swindler (George Webb). Onscreen from 1912, Russell had played Robin Hood (1912) and starred in the serial The Diamond in the Sky (1915) before signing with William Fox. A runner-up to Tom Mix at the studio in the early 1920s, Russell died of pneumonia at the age of 42. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This very average silent western starred John Gilbert right before MGM made him an international superstar as the doughboy in King Vidor's The Big Parade (1925). Gilbert had already come a long way, from travelling stock companies to playing western villains and starring opposite Mary Pickford in Heart o' the Hills (1919). Along the way, he changed the informal "Jack" to "John" and starred in programmers like Romance Ranch. Gilbert plays Carlos Brent, a young Easterner who inherits a ranch when a long-lost will resurfaces. An evil uncle does everything he can to stop Gilbert from claiming what is rightfully his, but, as always, justice triumphs in the end. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Louisville gal Mary Santley (Edith Roberts) defies her father's wishes and heads to New York, seeking fame and fortune as a Broadway actress. Mary gets nowhere until she agrees to participate in a publicity stunt whereby she pretends to have amnesia. A canny press agent passes Mary off as a long-long French heiress, leading to the usual nonsensical complications. The film comes to a lively conclusion when Mary's hometown sweetheart comes to New York, challenging the girl's French suitor to a duel. Their fight-to-the-finish is broken up by the cops, whereupon Mary finds herself front-page news on every newspaper in the country. In a cute climactic twist, it turns out that the "boy back home," the "French lover," and the "cops" were all actors, hired by Mary's ever-resourceful press agent! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking time off from his busy directorial career, venerable action star Charles Hutchinson topped the cast of the comedy-melodrama Hidden Aces. When a Russian princess pays a visit to New York, her every move is monitored by a handsome crook (Hutchinson), who covets the lady's jewels. To realize his goal, the crook strikes a deal with the princess' far-from-honest major domo. The rest of the picture finds the two thieves double-crossing each other, with the "hero" eventually reforming for the sake of his sweetheart, lady-thief Alice Calhoun -- who happens to be the princess' lady-in-waiting! Didn't Robert Wagner and Susan St. James used to do this sort of stuff on It Takes a Thief? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The 1929 Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Broadway musical Sweet Adeline has generally been credited as the vanguard for the "Gay 90s" nostalgia fad of the early 1930s. By the time the film was adapted to the screen in 1935, that fad had pretty much played itself out, making the property seem more old-fashioned than ever. Irene Dunne takes over from Broadway's Helen Morgan as beer-hall entertainer Adeline Schmidt, whose romance with songwriter Sid Barnett (Donald Woods) undergoes an inordinate number of setbacks in the course of the film's 85 minutes. Much of the play's libretto has been scrapped in favor of an espionage angle, as Adeline tries to avoid assassination at the hands of a Spanish spy named Elysia (Wini Shaw). Contemporary critics carped that Irene Dunne was unable to match Helen Morgan's delivery of such torch songs as "Why Was I Born"; this is true enough, but Warner Bros. deserves credit for endeavoring to cast Dunne against type. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The inimitable Preston Sturges originally scripted Hotel Haywire with George Burns and Gracie Allen in mind, but by the time the film went before the cameras, the Burns and Allen roles had been recast with Benny Baker and Colette Lyons -- and significantly abbreviated in the process. A dentist named Parkhouse (Lynne Overman) plays a practical joke on a poker-playing buddy by sending him home with a lady's chemise stuffed in his coat pocket. The gag backfires, whereupon Parkhouse finds himself in hot water with his own wife (Spring Byington). Threatened with divorce, Parkhouse is advised by a zany astrologer to frame Mrs. P. in a compromising situation at the Hotel Haywire, enlisting amateur detectives Bert and Genevieve Sterns (Baker and Lyons) in his scheme. Things get really hectic when Parkhouse's daughter Phyllis (Mary Carlisle) and her sweetheart Frank (John Patterson) show up at the same hotel. The film is dominated by the antics of larcenous astrologer Zodiac Z. Zippe, played with comic ferocity by Leo Carrillo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide