Chester Morris Movies

Based on a novel by Frank L. Packard, The Beloved Traitor stars Mae Marsh as Mary Garland, a resident of a Maine fishing village. In love with Judd Minot (E.K. Lincoln), a handsome fisherman with a gift for sculpting, Mary is forced to tearfully remain on the sidelines when Judd is discovered by wealthy New York art patron Henry Bliss (George Fawcett) and whisked off to the Big City. It doesn't take long for success to go to Judd's head, and soon he is galavanting around with Bliss' somewhat loose-moralled daughter Myrna (played by future gossip queen Hedda Hopper). Apprised of the situation, Mary rushes to New York, determined to "rescue" her former sweetie. A deft blend of comedy and drama, Beloved Traitor was Mae Marsh's fifth vehicle for producer Samuel Goldwyn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cecil B. DeMille's century-hopping extravaganza The Road to Yesterday begins in the present (1925, that is). Wealthy Joseph Schildkraut can't understand why his wife Jetta Goudal is so cold to him. Goudal senses that Schildkraut had once done her dirt....in a previous life. Likewise unhappily married are William Boyd and Vera Reynolds. All four principals are on an express train which crashes. While unconscious, the foursome flash back to their previous existences in Elizabethan England. Schildkraut was then a knight, Goudal a gypsy, and Boyd and Reynolds were royal hangers-on. Just as Schildkraut is about to burn Goudal at the stake, the four protagonists return to the present. Armed with the knowledge of their past misdeeds, the lovers all vow to set things right in their current lives. Nobody believed The Road to Yesterday back in 1925 (any more than anyone believes it today), but everybody enjoyed it for what it was: a slam-bang piece of pure entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Basically a filmed vaudeville presentation, The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' entry in the "all star, all talking, all singing and all dancing" sweepstakes of 1929. Though slightly better than MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, the Warners entry pales in comparison to Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 and Paramount on Parade, due mainly to the film's master of ceremonies, the insufferable Frank Fay. Some of the individual acts seen in Show of Shows were pretty good, notably Winnie Lightner's delightful Singing in the Bathtub (a spoof of Hollywood Revue of 1929's Singin' in the Rain) and John Barrymore's brilliant rendition of Richard III's soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry VI. Also easy to take was "Floradora Sextette," featuring such luminaries as Myrna Loy, Patsy Ruth Miller and cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin, and "Eight Sister Acts," including such Hollywood siblings as Dolores and Helene Costello, Sally Blane and Loretta Young and Shirley Mason and Viola Dana (also teamed in this number are Ann Sothern and Marion Byron, who were not sisters). But for the most part, the acts are on a par with "Skull and Crossbones," a boring production number showcasing entertainer Ted Lewis, and "Recitations," a one-joke affair in which three different anecdotes (related by Frank Fay, Louis Fazenda, Lloyd Hamilton and Bea Lillie) are melded into one. Show of Shows was originally released in two-color Technicolor but now exists only in black in white, save for the "Chinese Fantasy" number featuring crooner Nick Lucas and Warner Bros. contractee Myrna Loy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although Broadway star Hal Skelly never quite made it in films, it wasn't for lack of trying. In Woman Trap, Skelly is cast against type as hard-bitten police sergeant Dan Malone, whose mission in life is to rid his community of gangsters. The revelation that Dan's own brother Ray (Chester Morris) is the secret head of all local criminal activities does not weaken Dan's resolve in the least. The barely relevant title is a reference to "heroine" Kitty Evans (Evelyn Brent), the wife of a minor gang functionary. Screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, presumably on a dare, makes a brief appearance as a crime reporter. Woman Trap was an expansion of a one-act vaudeville sketch by Edwin Burke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Magnificently restored by UCLA to its original "Grandeur" wide-screen format The Bat Whispers may not be a cinematic masterpiece but is certainly worth a second look. Opening with a series of flamboyant tracking shots, director Roland West soon enough settles down to the usual "Old House" shenanigans of sliding panels, mysterious bumps in the night, crawling hands, thunder and lightning (sounding more like an earthquake, incidentally, than a storm), etc. An official remake of the 1926 The Bat (which was itself based on an Avery Hopwood play), The Bat Whispers owed just as much to The Cat and the Canary (1927), the true grand-daddy of all haunted house mysteries. After taunting the New York City police a final time, the notorious criminal "The Bat" announces his retirement to the country. Meanwhile, in said country wealthy spinster Cornelia Van Gorder (Grayce Hampton is leasing the Courtleigh Fleming estate. The news of "The Bat" and the simultaneous disappearance of cashier Brooks Bailey (William Bakewell) shortly after a robbery at the Fleming bank set in motion a series of troubling events -- troubling especially for Miss Van Gorder's eternally frightened maid Lizzie (Maude Eburne). The missing Brooks Bailey shows up soon enough courtesy of Van Gorder's pretty niece Dale (Una Merkel), who persuades the young man to impersonate a gardener -- a disguise that fools no one. There is a mysterious doctor who speaks with an accent (Gustav von Seyffertitz); an equally alarming caretaker (Spencer Charters),; a piece of missing blueprint that leads to a secret room; and, of course, "The Bat," who appears to be prowling the estate as well. Enter into all this Detective Anderson (Chester Morris), who in his unique gritty way gets to the bottom of things. The "Grandeur" wide-screen format was lost on most movie-goers when the film premiered in late November of 1930. Exhibitors who had just spent fortunes rigging their theaters for sound were of course loath to spend even more on yet another "newfangled" invention. Of course, some of cinematographer Robert H. Planck's more breathtaking shots of "The Bat" climbing towering skyscrapers were lost in the standard 35mm prints. But cartoonist Bob Kane reportedly had this film in mind when he nine years later created his eternally popular comic-strip hero Batman. A sadly neglected craftsman, Roland West directed only 11 films before he retired at the age of 44. West (who also directed the 1926 The Bat co-starring his then-wife Jewel Carmen as the imperiled niece) left films to run a Santa Monica café with girlfriend Thelma Todd. He was questioned by the authorities but was apparently never a suspect in Todd's mysterious death in December of 1935. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Its breezy, upbeat title notwithstanding, She Couldn't Say No leans heavily toward the melodramatic. Winnie Lightner plays Winnie Harper, a brassy cabaret singer who falls in love with gentleman gangster Jerry Casey (Chester Morris). So smitten is Jerry that he sets up Winnie in her own nightclub, for which she is eternally grateful. But Jerry can't keep his eyes -- or his hands -- away from society gal Iris (Sally Eilers), sending Winnie into a professional and personal funk. Our hero wises up long enough to help restore Winnie to stardom, but a happy reunion is prevented by the bullets of a rival gangster. Students of 1930s movie stereotypes are advised to scrutinize the "pansy" portrayal offered by Johnny Arther and the traditional malaprop-spouting black maidservant impersonated by Louise Beavers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This war drama, set in WW I Germany, is based on a novel by Arnold Zwieg. The story follows the harrowing trials of an escaped Russian POW trying to return to his home country. Along the way the Germans recapture him. Because he wears the dog tag of a late Russian spy, the innocent protagonist is immediately executed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Vallery Grove (Dolores Costello) may be high up the social ladder, but she hasn't a penny to her name thanks to her family's improvidence. Vallery is in love with Don Warren (Chester Morris), but he rejects her because of her present financial woes. Though she still loves Don, she marries Owen Mallory (Jack Mulhall) on the rebound, making her Mrs. Vallery Mallory (sounds like a joke on Laugh-In). Eventually Vallery realizes that Owen's the only man for her -- whereupon the fickle Don, now married himself, returns to the scene, demanding at gunpoint that Vallery dump her husband and return to him. The silliness of the plotline was forgotten by film fans in the light of the film's central gimmick: A revolving nightclub, which makes a complete 360-degree turn without mussing the hair of a single drunken patron. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount Pictures seldom fully utilized the talents of contract player Carole Lombard, as witness such tedious programmers as Sinners in the Sun. Lombard plays Doris Blake, an elegant fashion model who spurns her auto-mechanic suitor Jimmy Martin (Chester Morris) in favor of married millionaire Eric Nelson (Walter Byron). Securing a job as a chauffeur, Jimmy marries his employer, wealthy heiress Claire (Adrienne Ames), on the rebound. Ultimately, both hero and heroine realize that (here comes the message) MONEY ISN'T EVERYTHING, whereupon both turn their backs on money and creature comforts to find happiness with each other. Somewhere near the bottom of the cast list is Cary Grant, who would later co-star with Carole Lombard in the infinitely better romantic drama In Name Only. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A San Francisco gangster hot foots it out of town to cool down after his crime boss is suddenly killed. He ends up in a little coastal town where he begins devising one of the nastiest little con games around. It seems there is a faith healer in town with the ability to help the crippled walk again. The crook's plan is to use a contortionist pretending to be a cripple to convince people that the healer is for real. He will then further exploit the healer by having him broadcast live over the radio. Unfortunately, the gangster and his men didn't count on the fact that the healer is the real deal. As they all get to know him, real miracles occur, and the gangsters suddenly find themselves using their loot to build the town a brand new chapel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy a demanding French actress is upset because she has not recently received the proper adulation from WW I Allies. To calm her down, a meeting is arranged between the actress and a charming Army official in Italy. Initially both of them resist the artificially designed encounter, but soon the inevitable occurs and they fall in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The infernal machine in question is a bomb controlled by a wireless operator and set aboard a New York bound ocean liner. No one knows it is there. Meanwhile the passengers go about their business. One of them, a stowaway pretends to be a classy fellow so he can pitch woo to a sophisticated lady. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide