Jackie Moran Movies

The 1938 version of Adventures of Tom Sawyer appears to be producer David O. Selznick's dry run for Gone with the Wind, what with its similarities in period, costumes, color scheme and production design (both films shared the services of the great Hollywood art director William Cameron Menzies). Selected from hundreds of applicants (a precursor to Selznick's upcoming search for Wind's Scarlet O'Hara), Tommy Kelly is visually perfect as Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer though his acting varies from scene to scene. Better cast is Jackie Moran as the laconic, pipe-smoking Huck Finn (Moran would show up in Wind as Dr. Meade's son). Never forcing its pace, the film manages to include most of Twain's classic sequences, including the fence-whitewashing episode, Tom's rescue of Becky Thatcher (Anne Gillis) from the wrath of their schoolmaster (Olin Howlin), Tom and Huck's "death and resurrection" after the boys briefly skipped town for an idyll on a remote island, the murder trial of town drunk Muff Potter (Walter Brennan) and ultimately unmasking of the vicious Injun Joe (Victor Jory) as the real killer, and of course the chilling climax in the cave, wherein Tom protects Becky from the fugitive Injun Joe. Originally released at 93 minutes, Adventures of Tom Sawyer was trimmed to 77 minutes for a 1959 reissue; it has since been restored to its full length on videotape. In 1960, Tom Sawyer was syndicated to television by Selznick, with accompanying commentary by the film's now-grown-up "Becky Thatcher", Anne Gillis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a girl with a lively imagination gets in hot water when she tries to make her tall tales real. Gloria Harkinson (Deanna Durbin) is the teenage daughter of Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick), a well-known Hollywood actress who has shipped Gloria off to a boarding school in Switzerland to keep the girl out of the public eye, partly for her well being, and party because Gwen would prefer people not to know that she's old enough to have a teenage daughter. Gloria amuses herself and earns the awestruck admiration of her schoolmates when she begins spinning increasingly remarkable tales about the globe-trotting adventures of her millionaire father. However, in reality Gloria has no father, and after some time, her friends become skeptical and demand some sort of physical evidence that he exists. Gloria makes the acquaintance of Richard Todd (Herbert Marshall), a British composer, and she asks him if he wouldn't mind posing as her dad so that her friends could meet the man they've heard so much about. Richard agrees, but the scheme doesn't go quite as Gloria had hoped. Mad About Music was later remade as The Toy Tiger (1956), with "Gloria" turned into a young boy named Timmie, and the songs removed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Barefoot Boy is a throwback to the sort of bucolic family fare in which Monogram Pictures specialized in the early 1930s. Loosely inspired by the John Greenleaf Whittier poem of the same name, the film stars Jackie Moran as Billy Whittaker, a country lad whose idyllic lifestyle is thrown into confusion upon the arrival of arrogant reform-school graduate Kenneth Hale (Bradley Metcalf). Not only does Kenneth tear down everything that Billy holds dear, but he also has the audacity to make a play for Billy's sweetheart Pige Blaine (Marcia Mae Jones). Eventually Kenneth reforms his ways and becomes a "regular guy", but not without a bit of bare-knuckle persuasion from Billy and a brief escapade involving a gang of out-of-town bond swindlers. The film was directed by Karl Brown, a former cinematographer with an unerring eye for gorgeous exterior shots. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Warren William stars as Dr. Phillip Wendel Jones, a doctor whose patient dies under questionable circumstances. He is acquitted of murder, but is discredited in the eyes of his community. Dr. Jones settles in another town under an assumed name, where he sets up practice and falls in love with Margaret Stevens (Karen Morley). When his past is revealed, Dr. Jones is rescued from a angry mob by cantankerous old lawyer Anthony Abbott (Lewis Stone). The Outcast is a minor entry given major treatment through the ever-fascinating direction of Robert Florey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gladys George, a superlative actress often wasted in secondary roles, carries her starring assignment in Valiant is the Word for Carrie with singular brilliance. George plays the town trollop, who for the love of two orphaned children sets up a successful dry-cleaning business. Her past comes back to haunt her, but she perseveres, giving up all thoughts of personal happiness to provide a decent upbringing for her adopted family. A real four-hanky film, Valiant is the Word for Carrie might never have been made if it hadn't been for Mae West. Paramount had signed Gladys George to star in a filmization of her stage hit Personal Appearance, but this property was deflected to Ms. West and retitled Go West, Young Man. As compensation, Gladys George was offered Carrie--and she certainly made the most of this rebound opportunity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide