Howard Mitchell Movies
Howard M. Mitchell's screen acting career got off to a good start with a pair of silent serials, Beloved Adventurer (1914) and The Road of Strife (1915). Mitchell kept busy as a director in the 1920s, returning to acting in 1935. His roles were confined to bits and walk-ons as guards, storekeepers, judges, and especially police chiefs. Howard M. Mitchell closed out his career playing a train conductor in the classic "B" melodrama The Narrow Margin (1952). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1941
- NR
The marvelous rapport between stars Clark Gable and Lana Turner makes MGM's Honky Tonk seem far more substatianal than it really is. About to be tarred and featherd by an angry mob, frontier con artists Candy Johnson (Gable) and his pal Sniper (Chill Wills) manage to make a quick getaway via train. While on board, Candy strikes up a friendship with Boston-bred Lucy Cotton (Turner), whose "respectable" daddy Judge Cotton (Frank Morgan) turns out to be as big of a sharpster as Candy. For Lucy's sake, Candy decides to use his huckstering skill to good use by helping to build a small-town church, but soon he's up to his old tricks, managing a dance hall and gambling emporium. Growing more ambitious by the minute, Candy intends to take over the whole town with the covert assistance of Judge Cotton. But when Candy marries Lucy (who still doesn't know that he's really a crook at heart!), the enraged Judge exposes Candy's takeover scheme, only to be shot down by the gambling hall's straw boss Hearn (Albert Dekker). In his efforts to set things right and atone for past misdeeds, Candy is separated from Lucy time and time again, but there's never any doubt that a happy ending awaits them both. A TV remake of Honky Tonk surfaced in 1974, with Richard Crenna in the Gable role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1940
In addition to being a fine Western in its own right, this film served to introduce perhaps Hollywood's oddest romantic couple: the gruff but lovable Wallace Beery and the tart but lovable Marjorie Main. Beery plays "Reb" Harkness who, with his Mexican pal Pete (Leo Carrillo), is almost caught red-handed attempting to rob a train carrying General Custer (Paul Kelly) and the cavalry. Double-crossed by his partner and with the cavalry in hot pursuit, Reb escapes to Wyoming where he finds shelter on a ranch belonging to orphaned Lucy Kinkaid (Anne Rutherford) and her kid brother Jimmy (Bobs Watson). The local ranchers are battling an unscrupulous empire builder, Buckley (Joseph Calleia), and Reb is involuntarily dragged into the feud. When plain-speaking blacksmith Mehitabel (Marjorie Main) loses her brother to Buckley's bullets, Reb takes matters into his own hands, and with the help of Custer's men, he manages to end Buckley's reign of terror. Casting plain-looking, twangy Marjorie Main as Beery's leading lady was a stroke of genius. The two actors complimented each other to the nth degree, and Main was seen as a worthy replacement of the late Marie Dressler. As a result, the former stage actress (Dead End) was put under a seven-year contract by MGM, who co-starred her with Beery in Barnacle Bill (1941), The Bugle Sounds (1941), Jackass Mail (1942), Rationing (1944), and Bad Bascomb (1946). Wyoming, which also benefitted from fine performances by Henry Travers as a sly sheriff and Stanley Fields as Buckley's chief henchman, was filmed on location at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the Grand Tetons National Park by a director, Richard Thorpe, who had worked in the Western field since the silent days. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, (more)
- 1940
Those popular MGM co-stars William Powell and Myrna Loy take a break from their usual Thin Man duties to star in the zany comedy I Love You Again. The film opens with Loy prepared to divorce her dull businessman husband Powell. A blow on the head causes Powell to remember his former life as a notorious con man. No one in town has any knowledge of Powell's criminal past, a fact he hopes to use to his advantage. Loy, astounded at Powell's sudden surge of amorous ardor, reconsiders her divorce. When she learns of his true identity, she is even more fascinated. Another blow on the head restores the non-criminal Powell--at least, that's what he and Loy would like you to believe. The film's highlight is a screamingly funny sequence in which Powell plays scoutmaster to a group of surly youngsters (including Our Gang veterans Carl Switzer and Mickey Gubitosi, aka Robert Blake). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1940
Though the title character is loosely based on that of the notorious killer/robber Ma Barker, she has been sanitized and prettified to meet the perceived conservative values of Hollywood movie audiences. Unlike Barker, who was bad to the bone, Ma Webster is simply a matriarch who would do anything for her three crazy sons, even assisting them with thieving and kidnapping. Their exploits land the nefarious family on the FBI's "most wanted" list and cause the agency to send out their very best man to find them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Blanche Yurka, (more)
- 1939
An heiress gets a crash course in the simple life when she marries a penniless man in this comedy. Calvin Jordan (Henry O'Neill) is the prosperous owner of a successful steel mill, and the apple of his eye is his daughter Cora (Myrna Loy). Cora stands to inherit Calvin's firm, and he's taken it upon himself to find a good husband for her. However, free-spirited Cora doesn't think much of her father's skills as a matchmaker, and makes it clear she's going to marry whomever she pleases. One day, Cora meets Bill Overton (Robert Taylor), a jobless and homeless man camping out on a park bench. After bumming fifty cents from a cop, Bill offers to take Cora out to dinner; instead, they end up gambling, and turn the four bits into a bankroll. After a few too many celebratory drinks, Bill and Cora decide true love and good fortune are shining upon them, and they get married the same evening. However, the next day the newlyweds realize they are indeed husband and wife, and after defying her father Cora can't count on her dad's help in paying the bills anymore. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, (more)
- 1939
Even geniuses have to eat, and when Mark Twain was offered a substantial sum of money to slap together a quickie sequel to his classic novel Tom Sawyer, he responded with the pulpish but entertaining Tom Sawyer, Detective. Billy Cook is sublimely cast as Tom, while Donald O'Connor steals the film in the more colorful role of Huckleberry Finn. When local deacon Uncle Silas (Porter Hall) is accused of murder, Tom and Huck endeavor to prove his innocence by solving the mystery themselves. Complicating matters is the fact that the "dead man" (William Haade) is seen roaming around very much alive. The film's highlight is a spooky episode in a mausoleum, with our intrepid heroes working overtime to convince each other that they ain't really scared. Janet Waldo, later one of the most versatile voiceover actresses in the business, plays Tom's puppy-love interest Ruth Phelps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Cook, Donald O'Connor, (more)
This 1939 film version of John Steinbeck's classic novel was a surprising choice for comedy producer Hal Roach; in fact, Roach had no intention of filming the property until forced to do so as a result of a lawsuit brought by director Lewis Milestone. Burgess Meredith stars as itinerant farm worker George, who travels in with his cousin and best friend Lennie (Lon Chaney, Jr.). George dreams of saving enough money for a farm of his own, a dream shared by the retarded giant Lennie, who merely wants to "tend the rabbits." Unfortunately, George has never been able to stay at a job very long, thanks to the trouble often caused by Lennie's feeble-mindedness. Still, George is fiercely loyal to Lennie and would never think of deserting him. Hired by rancher Oscar O'Shea, George and Lennie run afoul of the boss' belligerent son Curley (Bob Steele); his bored wife Mae (Betty Field) starts flirting with poor Lennie, who, not knowing his own strength, accidentally strangles the girl, leading to even more tragic consequences. Despite being endlessly parodied in Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons ("Which way did he, go George? Which way did he go?") Of Mice and Men retains its raw dramatic power. On its initial release, however, it proved a bit too powerful for many filmgoers, and it lost money. The highly acclaimed American composer Aaron Copland wrote the musical score. The 1981 TV remake of Of Mice and Men starring Robert Blake and Randy Quaid, was a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1939 version. The 1993 theatrical remake, starring Gary Sinise (who also directed) and John Malkovich, is perhaps closer to the source than its predecessors, but only time will tell if it attains the classic status of the Lewis Milestone version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., (more)
- 1939
This remake of Penthouse (33) stars Walter Pidgeon as a smooth attorney with a few embarrassing friends. One of these is a gangster (Leo Carrillo) whom Pidgeon has successfully defended. When Pidgeon must go after his "pal" for murder, he is forced to go into hiding. He is also compelled to set up house with a sexy nightclub entertainer (Virginia Bruce), whose encyclopedic knowledge of the gangster's illicit activities will come in handy in court. It doesn't have quite the same bite as Penthouse, thanks mainly to tighter censorial restrictions; the nightclub singer, for example, was a hooker in the original. Both films were based on the same story by Arthur Somers Roche. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Virginia Bruce, (more)
Irish Luck was one of a handful of Monogram actioners starring Frankie Darro as a crimesolving bellboy. The son of plainclothes detective, Buzzy O'Brien (Darro) is naturally suspicious of some sinister activities transpiring at the hotel where he works. When a murder occurs, Buzzy offers his assistance to flustered flatfoot Lanahan (Dick Purcell)-and, surprise of surprises, he solves the case. Mantan Moreland is a riot as a timorous bellhop who keeps stumbling upon dead bodies. Irish Luck was reworked in 1944 as The Adventures of Kitty O'Day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Darro, Dick Purcell, (more)
- 1938
Despite the presence of Busby Berkeley in the director's chair, Comet Over Broadway contains nary a single musical number. Instead, the film concentrates on the lachrymose private life of stage star Eve Appleton (Kay Francis). While appearing in amateur theatricals, Eve indirectly causes the death of a fellow actor at the hands of her husband Bill (John Litel). When Bill is thrown into jail, Eve goes on the road, appearing in one cheap stock company after another to earn enough money for her husband's parole. Seven years pass, during which time Eve becomes the toast of Broadway. Falling in love with playwright Bert Ballin (Ian Hunter), Eve almost forgets the reason that she climbed to stardom in the first place, but by the final reel she elects to give up personal happiness to remain loyal to her incarcerated husband. Way, way down the cast list of Comet Over Broadway is Linda Winters, who as Dorothy Comingore achieved stardom in Orson Welles'Citizen Kane (1941). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, (more)
- 1938
Shirley Ross plays an innocent young girl convicted for complicity in a crime committed by her boy friend (Lloyd Nolan). The male crook is sentence to six months on a prison farm populated by both men and women (segregated, of course). Ross is also incarcerated, suffering the cruelties of the sadistic male and female guards (including J. Carroll Naish and future "Ma Kettle" Marjorie Main!) Since this film leaves no cliche unturned, an escape attempt is inevitable, but Ross is ultimately rescued from her plight for the obligatory happy ending. Nowhere near as exploitive as the later Linda Blair films of the same ilk, Prison Farm was considered reasonably realistic in 1938, earning back its modest cost and then some. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Ross, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1938
Hunted Men is part of Paramount's unofficial B-picture series based on the J. Edgar Hoover book Persons in Hiding. Lynne Overman stars as a middle-class family man whose even-keel lifestyle is shattered when he brings home an affable stranger (Lloyd Nolan) to dinner. The stranger turns out to be an escaped killer, who repays Overman's hospitality by holding his family prisoner. Both criminal and hostages tensely count the hours as the rest of Nolan's gang (including J. Carroll Naish and Patricia Morrison) formulates an escape plan. Hunted Men has earned a latter-day reputation for its accurate portrayal of a suburban household of the 1930s, and for its surprisingly sympathetic portrayal (without overtly pleading for sympathy) of head crook Lloyd Nolan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Carlisle, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1937
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
- Starring:
- Leo Carrillo, Mary Carlisle, (more)
- 1937
In this crime drama, a tightwad accountant for a newspaper becomes friends with a reporter. The bookkeeper goes on vacation, and while there he learns of a kidnapping conspiracy. He quickly phones the paper and they order him to follow up on the story and stay off the phone so the reporter (whom he secretly has a crush on) can use it. The paper also gives him a $25,000 expense account. He uses this money to make sure no other reporters can reach them. This insures that he will always get the scoop. His ploy increases sales of the paper and brings the crooks to justice. He also wins the heart of the reporter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Campbell, Lynne Overman, (more)
- 1937
While not a box-office success, this drama, directed by Leo McCarey, developed a potent reputation among film critics and movie buffs for its sensitive and perceptive treatment of the problems of the elderly. When McCarey won the Oscar for Best Director the same year for The Awful Truth, he remarked that the Academy gave him the award for the wrong movie. Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) are a couple in their late 60s who have fallen on hard times and have been given the bad news that the bank is foreclosing on their house. Barkley and Lucy turn to their five children for help, but none are willing or able to do much for them; their son George (Thomas Mitchell) says that Lucy can stay with him and his wife Anita (Fay Bainter), while Nellie (Minna Gombell) and her husband Harvey (Porter Hall) can take in Barkley, but neither couple have the space or the means to house them both. Living with their children and their new families proves stressful for everyone involved, and Lucy decides to take up residence in a home for older women. She and Barkley realize that this will probably mean a permanent separation for the two of them, and they try to enjoy one last outing together before they part. Remarkably, Beulah Bondi was only 46 years old when this film was made, making her less then ten years older than several of her on-screen children; make-up wizard Wally Westmore used his bag of tricks to age her the appropriate two decades for the role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, (more)
- 1937
"Camp Romance," a place for the romantically challenged, provides the setting of this musical. The story centers on a frumpy secretary's crush on her handsome boss, the camp manager. The manager has been working on a musical. Just as he is about to finish it, the secretary gives herself a makeover, turns into a drop- dead knockout, and romantic bliss ensues. Songs include: "Keeno, Screeno and You," "I'll Follow My Baby," "Thrill of a Lifetime," "Paris in Swing," "Sweetheart Time," "It's Been a Whole Year," "If We Could Run the Country for a Day." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yacht Club Boys, Judy Canova, (more)
- 1936
The quaint genetic theories of the 1930s are satirized in College Holiday. Dotty matron Mary Boland runs a ramshackle summer resort, opening her doors to college students of both sexes--but only those collegiates with extra-special physical and mental skills. She hopes to encourage these select co-eds to meet and mate, then produce a breed of "perfect" children. What Boland doesn't count on is the supremacy of the Heart over Science. Engagingly silly, College Holiday devotes generous screen space to some of the biggest comic talents of the 1930s: Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye and Ben Blue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, (more)
- 1935
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
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Donald Woods, (more)
- 1927
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
- Starring:
- Charles Hutchinson, Alice Calhoun, (more)
- 1927
Breed of Courage is a vehicle for Ranger, one of a myriad of dog-star rivals to the mighty Rin Tin Tin. The story concerns an age-old mountain feud, with the schoolmarm heroine (Jeanne Morgan) on one side, and the lawyer hero (Sam Nelson) on the other. The hero manages to resolve the conflict, but not before the villain of the piece bundles together a few sticks of dynamite and tries to blow the whole kit and kaboodle to hamburger. It hardly needs saying that Ranger grabs the TNT in the nick o' time, without ever getting his fur mussed. Critics in 1927 were unanimous: There was only one Rin Tin Tin, and Ranger wasn't him! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ranger, Jeanne Morgan, (more)
- 1926
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
- Starring:
- Edith Roberts, Gaston Glass, (more)
- 1926
There's very little jazz in Jazz Girl, and not a whole lot of logic, either. Edith Roberts stars as lady detective Janet March, who dedicates herself to breaking up a rum-running gang. Along the way, she enlists the aid of her boyfriend, reporter Rodney Blake (Gaston Glass). Inevitably, Janet gets in way over her head, obliging Rodney to come to the rescue. Several crime-film "regulars" are in attendance in the supporting cast, ranging from apelike Dick Sutherland as a speakeasy chef to wizened Ernie Adams (usually cast as a ferret-faced stoolie) as a detective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gaston Glass, Edith Roberts, (more)
- 1924
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
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, Bernard Siegel, (more)
- 1924
This tense but implausible melodrama was John Gilbert's last film for Fox before moving over to the greener pastures of MGM. Jack Saunders (Gilbert) falls in love with a mysterious girl tourist and leaves his home in search of her. In the big city, his money quickly runs out and he is offered a lucrative deal by Burke (Harry Todd), a politician. The daughter of the governor (Edward Tilton) has murdered a lecherous old roué, and they need someone to take the fall. For a large sum of money, and the promise that he will be pardoned after a year, Saunders volunteers to plead guilty. When the time comes for the pardon and the governor unexpectedly denies it, Saunders makes a prison break. At the governor's mansion, Saunders finds that Burke is about to be married to the girl, Margaret West (Evelyn Brent), who also happens to be the tourist he has been trying to find. After everything is set right, Saunders weds Margaret. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1923
William Russell's career was on a downslide when he appeared in this unoriginal program picture (he would make a short-lived comeback a year later when he appeared opposite Blanche Sweet in Anna Christie). Carl Morse (James Gordon) sends his son, Tom (Russell), to the Canadian Northwoods to investigate the goings-on at one of his trading posts. At the post, he finds Jessie McRae (Alma Bennett), who seems to be out to get all the bootleggers in the country. Jessie confesses that she was deserted by her drunken parents as an infant. However, this isn't true -- the man who claims to be her guardian (Charles K. French) is actually her father, Angus McRae. Tom discovers that Bully West (Stanton Heck) is the one responsible for the wrongdoings at the post and fires him. West then convinces McRae to force Jessie to marry him. Tom saves her and marries her himself, while her father atones for his behavior. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Russell, Alma Bennett, (more)
