Yolande Mollot Movies
- 1941
Number ten in MGM's heart-warming (and immensely profitable) "Andy Hardy" series was the 1941 entry Life Begins for Andy Hardy. Upon his graduation from high school, Andy (Mickey Rooney) decides to seek his fortune in New York City without benefit of a college education, much to the consternation of his father Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone). Moving to the Big Apple, Andy lands a job in a stockbroker's office, where he falls in love (at least he thinks it's love) with fickle telephone operator Jennitt Hicks (Patricia Dane). Alas, Andy is unable to cope with life in the fast lane, but it takes the combined efforts of his father and his hometown sweetie Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) to convince him of this fact. For reasons that defy logic, each of Judy Garland's four songs in Life Begins for Andy Hardy were cut from the final release print. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, (more)
- 1941
Columbia Pictures put a goodly number of its contract starlets to work in the mild exploitationer Under Age. Fresh out of reform school, a bunch of delinquent girls fall in with a gang of crooks and are put to work as "hostesses" in a number of mob-controlled bars and cafes. The girls are expected to string along male customers so that the latter will squander their money on watered-down drinks and fixed poker games. When one gullible New Yorker is clipped to the tune of $18,000 worth of diamonds, the Law closes in. Nan Grey plays Jane Baird, who goes along with the B-girl racket until her sister (Mary Anderson) is bumped off by the minions of Big Boss Tap Manson (Alan Baxter). When first released, Under Age incurred the wrath of the Hays Office because of the film's preponderence of "sweater girls"-a 1941 euphemism for starlets with inordinately large breasts. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1940
Those wily Egyptians are once again selfishly attempting to keep the treasures of the Pharaohs to themselves in this rough-and-tumble melodrama from Universal. The wiliest of them all is one Abbadi (George Zucco), who leaves no stone unturned in his quest for possession of the fabulous "seven jewels of the seventh pharaoh," which American archeologist Professor Wyndham (Wright Kramer) obligingly has excavated. The elderly professor is easily gotten rid of, but Abbadi also faces Police Inspector Joachim (Rod LaRocque), a rather more formidable foe. Soon, knives are whizzing through the air, swarthy natives abduct pretty maidens, and a couple of All-American archeologists crack wise and perform daring stunts. Sigrid Gurie, Samuel Goldwyn's version of the "Edsel," is star-billed and The Dark Streets of Cairo also employs Ralph Byrd, Eddie Quillan, and, seething in the background, Katherine DeMille. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sigrid Gurie, Ralph Byrd, (more)
- 1940
One of several "naughty" screwball comedies based on the works of Thorne Smith (of Topper fame), Hal Roach's Turnabout stars Carole Landis and John Hubbard as unhappily married couple Sally and Tim Willows. Bored with her humdrum existence, Sally spends most of her time figuring out ways of spending her husband's money, while hard-working Tim plots and plans to "step out" on the Missus in the company of his business associates Manning (Adolphe Menjou) and Clare (William Gargan). All of this changes when an effigy representing an Oriental deity comes to life and exchanges Sally and Tim's personalities. As a result, Sally awakens with a deep voice and dons Tim's business suit, while Tim speaks in a falsetto and favors Sally's frilly frocks. The complications ensuing from this role-reversal are much better seen than described, while the film's hilarious denouement was tipped by United Artists' ad campaign, which heralded that "The man's had a baby instead of the lady." Though not nearly as risque as it seemed to be back in 1940, Turnabout is full of wonderful vignettes, including a priceless bit involving veteran screen "pansy" Franklin Pangborn. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, (more)
