Lois Moran Movies

Alice in the Cities (Alice in den Städten) was the first of German director Wim Wenders' films to be lensed in part in the United States. Phillip (Rüdiger Vogler) is a roving German reporter who, after a chance encounter with an elusive American woman, reluctantly accepts temporary custody of little Alice (Yella Rottländer). Phillip takes Alice in hand on a trek across Germany to locate the girl's grandmother. The plot takes second place to Wenders' fascination with the contrast between the neon-and-billboard ambience of the U.S. and the rolling hills and industrial pockets of Deutschland. Alice in the Cities was the first of Wenders' "road trilogy"; the follow-ups were Wrong Move (1975) and Kings of the Road (1976), both also starring Rüdiger Vogler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An illusionist is performing his astounding tricks when an audience member is killed by another. This mystery chronicles the attempts of the magician to find out whodunit and why. He gives his theories to a police detective who thinks the illusionist is plumb nuts. Still the investigator goes along with the magician's plot and allows him to stage a seance. During the spooky doings, the killer is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a woman with dubious past finds herself blackmailed when she makes plans to marry a senator's son. She finds salvation with a bootlegger who offers to take care of the excursionist. Unfortunately, he chooses to kill the fellow, gets caught, and is put on trial. Now the woman must choose to risk reputation, and good marriage or tell the truth and save him from the electric chair. Eventually, she chooses the honorable path and happiness ensues all around. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mammy features Al Jolson as the star of a travelling minstrel show, appearing in a small Southern town. Jolson falls in love with an actress in the troupe (Lois Moran), but she loves another. One of Jolson's fellow minstrels (Lowell Sherman) is shot backstage, and it is assumed thanks to several plot convolutions that Jolson is guilty of the deed. He heads for the hills, but returns to the show, his reputation restored but his love for the actress unrequited. Maudlin in the extreme, Mammy is salvaged by several enjoyable songs by Irving Berlin and by its Technicolor photography (though most TV prints are black and white). The film's fascination with modern viewers rests with the presence of Al Jolson--and with the casual use of profanity during his confrontation scene with Lowell Sherman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set in Canada, Under Suspicion finds heroine Alice Freil (Lois Moran) heading above the border to escape a trumped-up criminal charge. After a suspenseful train trip to Jasper National Park, Alice links up with RCMP officer John Smith (J. Harold Murray). Lost in the wilderness, hero and heroine surviving a raging forest fire and manage to corral the genuine villain. Every so often, Mountie Smith lifts his voice in song, proving no competition for Nelson Eddy (or even Dudley Do-Right). For its first showing in Brooklyn, Under Suspicion was pepped up by having the projectionist hold a red gel over the projection lens during the fire scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an early talky, a horse race determines a woman's romantic fate. The trouble begins when she finds herself falling deeply in love with a handsome songwriter. Unfortunately, she is already betrothed to a real cad. When her fiance finds out that she loves another, he decides to frame the conductor for a crime. When she finds about the crime, the girl believes him and her heart breaks. In hopes of being able to gracefully break off the engagement she makes a deal with her fiance: if her horse (whom she thinks is a sure thing) loses the Kentucky Derby, she will become his unwilling bride. Unfortunately, the horse does indeed lose and the woman must honor her bet. Fortunately, just before her wedding day she attends a concert and who should be conducting but her true love. Realizing that the conductor is innocent and romantic bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this college campus musical comedy from director James Tinling, the first film in which John Wayne received billing (though it's as Duke Morrison), Lois Moran stars as Mary, a pretty young singer who is sought after by two competing composers. Wayne plays Phil, one of the two rival songwriters who are vying not only for the girl, but for a 1,500-dollar prize for writing the best show tune. Mary agrees to sing each of their entries in the contest, but in the end she can only choose one of the young men. Songs include "Too Wonderful for Words," by William Kernell, Dave Stamper, Paul Gerard Smith, and Edmund Joseph; "Stepping Along," also by Kernell; and "Shadows," by Con Conrad, Sidney Mitchell, and Archie Gottler. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Irving Cummings was a good choice to direct this third Charlie Chan feature, the first to use sound, as he had previously made the first all-talking picture of any kind, In Old Arizona (also 1929). Chan fans may be disappointed in this globe-trotting mystery, however, as the detective (played by Korean actor E.L. Park) only appears in a few scenes. The story begins with a murder in London and the prime suspect is Colonel John Beetham (Warner Baxter), who is hiding pretty heiress Eve Mannering (Lois Moran) from her evil, philandering husband Eric Durand (Philip Strange). The action goes from England to Persia to India and finally ends up in San Francisco, where Chan prevents the golddigging Durand -- whom Eve has left for good -- from killing Beetham. Gilbert Emery, who plays a dedicated Scotland Yard detective, was originally envisioned as a big matinee idol, but was eventually relegated to thankless roles such as the one he plays here. The film is more noteworthy for its introduction of Boris Karloff to sound features, in a small role as a servant from Sudan who mutters inscrutable nonsense about the whims of the desert. The 20th Century Fox series began with 1928's The Chinese Parrot, starring another Asian performer (Sojin) as Chan, before Swedish actor Warner Oland took over the role in Charlie Chan Carries On and The Black Camel (both 1931), playing the unflappable detective until his death in 1938. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Lois Moran stars as Joan Robinson, the chorus-girl daughter of blue-collar workers Ma and Pa Robinson (Edythe Chapman and James Neill). Hoping to supplement the family income, Ma Robinson takes in a boarder, a struggling young writer named Tom Harvey (Lawrence Gray). When Joan returns from a grueling road tour in the company of her brassy chorine pal Mamie (Marjorie Beebe), Tom instantly falls in love with the girl -- so much so that he's even willing to put up with the abrasive Mamie. But Joan has dedicated herself to finding a rich sugar-daddy husband, and wants nothing to do with Tom. Perhaps in retaliation, Tom pens a story which suggests that one can be happy and contented on a salary of forty dollars a week. This rouses the ire of the mercenary Joan and Mamie, but Tom suspects that Joan is merely trying to convince herself of something she doesn't believe. To prove this, Tom arranges for Joan to meet his millionaire friend Lonnie Van Hook (John Patrick). Sure enough, Joan decides at long last that there are some things more important than money, at which point she also realizes that she's in love with Tom. As for Mamie -- well, old habits die hard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blindfold is a crime drama that gets off to a lively (if unbelievable) start when a dedicated cop deliberately gets himself knocked off by the villains so that the hero, ex-cop George O'Brien, will seek vengeance. Things get even more incredible when heroine Lois Moran develops amnesia and joins a criminal gang. O'Brien rescues Moran and avenges his pal's death in what seems to be a matter of three minutes. This last-reel development enables O'Brien, previously bumped from the force because of a series of frivolous arrests, to get back in the good graces of the Chief. Incidentally, leading man George O'Brien was in real life the son of a San Francisco police chief, a fact not ignored in the publicity packet for Blindfold. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Music Master was based on the barnstorming David Belasco-David Warfield play of the same name. Alec B. Francis assumes the old Warfield role as Anton Von Barwig, an elderly musician eking out a meager existence in a Bohemian artists' colony. Years earlier, a cad had run off with Von Barwig's wife and destroyed his happy home. Before the inevitable "reunion" with the man who ruined his life, the old man contents himself by living vicariously through the successes of his prize pupils. Critics in 1927 complained that many of the dramatic highlights of the original play were treated in an offhand fashion, but director Allan Dwan was merely trying to make the property more cinematic by removing its marathon dialogue passages (which wouldn't have worked as well in a silent picture, anyway). Featured in the cast in a peripheral role was Helen Chandler, later the enigmatic leading lady of such talkies as Dracula and The Last Flight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title character is world-famous lothario Norman Kerry, who has given up keeping track of all his female conquests. While strolling to yet another dalliance, Kerry is struck down by a car. He is nursed back to health by winsome Lois Moran. Genuinely falling in love for the first time in his life, Kerry must scurry about settling his other affairs before he can happily-ever-after with Lois. Way down on the cast list of Irresistible Lover is future "Dagwood Bumstead" Arthur Lake, here cast as one "Jack Kennedy"! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The scene is New Orleans, during Mardi Gras week. The story concerns the misadventures of sailor Steve Doren (Jack Mulhall), who tries his best to support his wife Mary (Lois Moran) on his piddling income. But like seafaring men everywhere, Steve is constitutionally unreliable, especially when hip-swinging temptress Cassie Lang (Lya De Putti) sashays into view. For a while, it looks as though long-suffering Mary has been betrayed by her husband, but appearances turn out to be deceiving. Though she wasn't mentioned in the published cast list of God Gave Me 20 Cents, Paramount Pictures newcomer Thelma Todd had an important role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide