Edna May Oliver Movies
"Horse faced" was the usual capsule assessment given American actress Edna May Oliver - a gross disservice to her talent and accomplishments. A descendant of President John Quincy Adams, she aspired to a career in opera, and at 16 her uncle secured her a job with a light opera company. Her voice was damaged from overuse and exposure to bad weather, so Oliver turned her energies to acting. Stock company work began in 1911, and even as a teenager she lanternlike facial features assured her older character roles. Her 1916 Broadway debut led to a string of small and unsatisfying roles, until fortune smiled upon her with a supporting part as a servant in Owen Davis' Icebound. Davis' play won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize, thrusting everyone involved into the spotlight. Oliver was hired to repeat her Icebound duties for the film cameras in 1924, and though not technically her film debut, she would always list Icebound as her starting point in cinema. Solid roles in the Broadway productions The Cradle Snatchers, Strike Up the Band and the immortal Show Boat kept Oliver busy during the '20s, culminating in a contract with RKO Radio Studios. RKO thrust her into anything and everything, from Wheeler and Woolsey comedies to the Oscar-winning Cimarron (1931). The best testament to her popularity in films were the Edna May Oliver caricatures (complete with "Oh, reaaallly" voice imitation) that popped up with regularity in animated cartoons of the '30s. Oliver worked for virtually all the big studios in the '30s, at one point starring briefly in the Hildegarde Withers mystery series, a role she seemed born to play. Evidently, producers loved to put her angular frame in period costumes, as witness her marvelous roles in David Copperfield (1934), Tale of Two Cities (1935), Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). By 1940, Edna May Oliver was a law unto herself (even dictating what hours she would and wouldn't work) and filmakers wisely allowed her to use all the acting tricks at her disposal, from her famous loud sniff of distaste to her low, claxonish voice. After a long intestinal illness, Edna May Oliver died in 1942 on her 59th birthday; ironically, her last screen role had been as an infuriatingly healthy hypochondriac in Lydia (1941). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1941
Adapted from a French movie entitled Un Carnet de Bal, this is a story of love unrequited. In one of her best performances, Merle Oberon portrays an elderly woman who has spent her life waiting for a man whom she had a brief liaison with but who never returned for her as he had promised. Casting aside three suitors over a forty year period, she has spent her life in solitude. When a party is arranged and all three of her spurned suitors show up, a surprise fourth is also present--her original true love. Denouement is somewhat of a surprise in this romantic love story. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1939
Many of the "preparedness" films of the years just prior to World War II sidestepped censorship by depicting past outrages of the Germans. Such a film was British producer Herbert Wilcox's Hollywood production Nurse Edith Cavell, in which Wilcox's future wife Anna Neagle portrayed the titular martyred Englishwoman. Ms. Neagle plays the legendary Ms. Cavell as a candidate for Canonization. Her selfless efforts to rescue refugee soldiers from World War I Belgium results in her being arrested on charges of espionage. Despite international pleas for clemency, the dastardly Deutschlanders sentence Edith to death. She faces the firing squad with a courageous serenity that makes Joan of Arc look like a hysterical schoolgirl. An earlier, silent version of Nurse Edith Cavell had caused turmoil in England due to its unadorned depiction of war's horrors. In 1939, however, audiences inundated by reports of Hitler's latest outrages were more receptive. Ironically, the film opened in the US a scant few days before war broke out in Europe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Edna May Oliver, (more)
John Ford directed this outdoor adventure set in the American Colonial period. Gilbert and Lana Martin (Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert) are a young couple trying to make a home in New York State's Mohawk Valley, but repeated attacks by Indians drive them, along with other settlers in the valley, into a nearby fort, where they watch helplessly as the natives lay waste to their farms and cabins. A spinster with a large farm, Sarah McKlennar (Edna May Oliver), comes to their rescue when she hires Gilbert to work as a field hand and gives the Martins a place to stay. The rugged life of the farm and frontier doesn't always sit well with Lana, who was raised in wealthy and comfortable circumstances; in time she develops a thicker skin and learns to love their new life in the Mohawk Valley, especially after giving birth to their first son. Gilbert joins the militia, who must do battle both with the local Indian tribes and the British soldiers who are provoking them to battle. Gilbert returns wounded, and as he recuperates, a healthy crop rises in the fields, but their satisfaction is short lived when the Indians once again hit the warpath. 1939 was a stellar year for John Ford; along with this highly successful adventure tale, which was nominated for three Academy Awards, Ford also released the ground-breaking western Stagecoach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1939
Sonja Henie, the Norwegian skating star, reportedly played second fiddle to no one at Fox in the late '30s, and this backstage musical extravaganza is all Henie. Taking a leaf from producer David O. Selznick, Consolidated Pictures send public relation expert Tyrone Power in search of an unknown to star in the studio's upcoming production of Girl of the North. Power returns to Hollywood with Minnesota schoolmarm (and figure skating expert) Trudy Hovland in tow, and then manufactures a romance between the girl and stolid leading man Roger Maxwell (Rudy Vallee). The ensuing complications are quickly solved and the new star is able to perform a flashy finale to Irving Berlin's "The Song of the Metronome." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Rudy Vallee, (more)
- 1939
- Add The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle to QueueAdd The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle to top of Queue
The last of RKO's Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers vehicles, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is also the least typical. At their best playing carefree characters in gossamer-thin musical comedy plotlines, Fred and Ginger seem slightly ill at ease cast as the real-life dancing team of Vernon and Irene Castle. The stripped-to-essentials storyline boils down to novice dancer Irene (Rogers) convincing vaudeville comic Vernon (Astaire) to give up slapstick in favor of "classy" ballroom dancing. With the help of agent Edna May Oliver, the Castles hit their peak of fame and fortune in the immediate pre-World War I years. When Vernon is called to arms, Irene stays behind in the US, making patriotic movie serials to aid the war effort. Vernon is killed in a training accident, leaving a tearful Irene to carry on alone. To soften the shock of Astaire's on-screen death (it still packs a jolt when seen today), RKO inserted a closing "dream" dancing sequence, with a spectral Vernon and Irene waltzing off into the heavens. The film's production was hampered by the on-set presence of the real Irene Castle, whose insistence upon accuracy at all costs drove everyone to distraction--especially Ginger Rogers, who felt as though she was being treated like a marionette rather than an actress. In one respect, Mrs. Castle had good reason to be so autocratic. Walter, the "severest critic servant" character played by Walter Brennan, was in reality a black man. RKO was nervous about depicting a strong, equal-footing friendship between the white Castles and their black retainer, so a Caucasian actor was hired for the role. Mrs. Castle was understandably incensed by this alteration, and for the rest of her days chastised RKO for its cowardice. As it turned out, it probably wouldn't have mattered if Walter had been black, white, Chicano or Siamese; The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle was a financial bust, losing $50,000 at the box office. Perhaps as a result, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers would not team up again for another ten years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, (more)
- 1938
More burdened with leaden production numbers than plot, Rosalie took Sigmund Romberg and George Gershwin's 1928 Broadway hit, threw out most of the songs, including "How Long Has This Been Going On?," but retained the spindly story of the incognito Princess Rosalie of Romanza (Eleanor Powell), who falls head-over-heels in love with All-American Dick Thorpe (Nelson Eddy), although she finds him conceited at first. But Dick gallantly flies to Romanza where the crooning Charles Lindbergh lands in the middle of yet another comic opera revolution. Rosalie, of course, is engaged to someone else, but after a series of misadventures and a colossal closing number, the star-crossed lovers decide to settle down together in democratic America. Cole Porter was hired to write a new score and Eleanor Powell, Nelson Eddy, and newcomer Ilona Massey perform "I've Got a Strange New Rhythm in My Heart," "Why Should I Care?," "Spring Love is in the Air," "It's all Over but the Shouting," "Who Knows?," "To Love and Not to Love," and, most memorably, "In the Still of the Night." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nelson Eddy, Eleanor Powell, (more)
- 1938
MGM's Paradise for Three is based on Erich Kaestner's novel Three Men in the Snow. Frank Morgan stars as American businessman Rudolph Tobler, who wants to get closer to his German roots. Travelling incognito, Tobler shows up at a German alpine village, hoping to find out what the local population is really like. Before long, the old duffer is smack-dab in the middle of a breach of promise suit with predatory Mrs. Mallebre Mary Astor. Coming to the rescue is young go-getter Fritz Hagedorn Robert Young, who also finds time for romance with Tobler's daughter Hilde Florence Rice. Though it presumably takes place in Germany in 1938, there are no swastikas or storm troopers to be found anywhere in Paradise for Three; perhaps MGM, like the rest of the world, felt that if you ignored the Nazis, they'd go away. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Morgan, Robert Young, (more)
- 1937
When Walter Pidgeon wasn't playing Greer Garson's perfect husband at MGM, he could usually be found portraying a newspaper editor. This is how we find him in My Dear Miss Aldrich, the first MGM flick in which Pidgeon was awarded top billing. Maureen O'Sullivan plays the title character, a glamorous schoolteacher who receives an inheritance from a wealthy relative. That legacy turns out to be the very newspaper managed by Mr. Pidgeon--and the usual fireworks result. My Dear Miss Aldrich was written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, a former newspaperman who would cap his cinematic reminiscences with his 1940 screenplay for Citizen Kane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna May Oliver, Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1937
The true story of one of Ireland's leading political figures of the late 19th Century inspired this biographical drama. Charles Stewart Parnell (Clark Gable) is a politician and activist whose tireless work towards the cause of Irish independence has earned him the nickname "the Uncrowned King of Ireland." After a fund-raising trip to the United States, Parnell is introduced to Katie O'Shea (Myrna Loy), whose husband Willie O'Shea (Alan Marshall) is running for Parliament. In truth, Katie and Willie's marriage is on its last leg; she despises him, but he refuses to give her a divorce, in part because Katie's wealthy Aunt Bea (Edna Mae Oliver) is willing to pay him to keep his distance. Willie hopes that a friendship between Katie and Parnell could be a stepping stone towards an endorsement from Parnell -- which, given his popularity, would make a massive difference in the polls. However, as Parnell continues to rally support for a free Ireland, he finds he's fallen in love with Katie, and she is also strongly attracted to him. When Willie learns of their romance, he makes a devious proposal to Parnell -- with an independent Irish state seemingly imminent, and with Parnell the likely leader, Willie demands a high office within his administration, or otherwise he'll tell the world about Parnell's affair with a married woman, which could end his career and set the cause of Irish freedom to a halt. Parnell was an infamous box-office disappointment in its day, and Gable's significant other Carole Lombard was said to have loved teasing him about the film; it's failure led Gable to pledge he'd never make another costume picture, though he later relented when Gone With The Wind came along. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, (more)
Director George Cukor and producer Irving G. Thalberg's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, a lavish production of Shakespeare's tale about two star-crossed lovers, is extremely well-produced and acted. In fact, it is so well-done, that it is easy to forget that Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer are too old to be playing the title characters. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, (more)
- 1935
MGM regularly churned out films in the 1930s that were all "star power" and very little plot. No More Ladies is a good example of this. Joan Crawford marries bon vivant Robert Montgomery, hoping to mend his wastrel ways. Montgomery refuses to assumes the proper responsibilities of a husband, so Crawford tries to make him jealous by taking up with Franchot Tone. Everyone involved has limitless money, beautiful clothes and all the time in the world to spend on the trivialities of the plotline. Depression era audiences loved to see good-looking people in sumptuous sets, so No More Ladies was a success. The fact that, when asked, these audiences couldn't remember a single thing about the story was beside the point. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, (more)
- 1935
Though it wasn't RKO Radio's final "Hildegarde Withers" mystery, Murder on a Honeymoon represented the final appearance of Edna May Oliver as Stuart Palmer's spinsterish schoolmarm sleuth. This entry was wittily adapted by Seton I. Miller and Robert Benchley from Palmer's Puzzle of the Pepper Tree. Vacationing in Catalina (where much of the film was shot), Hildegarde Withers gets mixed up in three murders. Her old friend, New York detective Oscar Piper (James Gleason), flies out to help, but of course it's Hildegarde who cracks the case. The top-heavy list of suspects includes one disreputable character who overpowers the formidable Hildegarde and locks her in a closet -- proving beyond all doubt that he's not the guilty party. After Murder on a Honeymoon, Oliver relinquished the role of Hildegarde to Helen Broderick and (of all people) ZaSu Pitts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, (more)
- 1934
In this comedy, two impoverished cousins inherit a British mansion and decide that one of them should marry a wealthy socialite. To prepare him for her, the female cousin makes it seem as if they are wealthy, but unfortunately, it doesn't work. With the small amount of left over cash, plus the little they made from hocking the furniture, the two open a restaurant in the mansion. In the end, the male cousin and socialite get married anyway. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1934
Dying New England millionaire Cabot Barr (George Arliss) doesn't trust any of his relatives as they flock to his bedside, and not without justification. Barr realizes that there's a few roses among the thorns, notably his good-hearted granddaughter (Charlotte Henry) and his likeable adopted nephew (Frank Albertson), but the rest of the batch are whining, greedy and manipulative. With the covert aid of his secretary (Ralph Morgan) and his Runyonesque valet (Edward Ellis), Barr decides to teach his family a few lessons by manipulating them to do the opposite of what he pretends he wants them to do. As a result, the granddaughter and the nephew fall in love, while the less-appealing relatives are enmeshed in their own webs of deceit. The best, however, is saved for last. After Barr's death, the family discovers that he's left behind a "living will:" a reel of film in which the old gent jovially announces his bequests -- and with equal joviality settles a few old scores. This climactic "gimmick," later repeated in such films as 1979's Cat and the Canary and 1985's Brewster's Millions, is the highlight of this consistently charming and delightful George Arliss vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Arliss, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1934
Trying a bit too hard to qualify as a "screwball" comedy, RKO Radio's We're Rich Again is based on Alden Nash's stage play And Let Who Will be Clever. Carolyn Page's (Joan Marsh) once-rich family has gone broke thanks to their profligate spending habits. Parents Mr and Mrs. Page (Billie Burke and Grant Mitchell) try to marry Carolyn off to a wealthy banker (Reginald Denny), but he begins having second thoughts as he wades through an assortment of madcaps and loonies. The plot is unexpectedly resolved by the daffiest member of the family, country cousin Arabella (Marian Nixon, the wife of director William A. Seiter), allowing Marsh to marry her true love (Buster Crabbe). Edna May Oliver is hilarious as the family's salty, polo-playing grandmother, while Edgar Kennedy is almost as funny as a flustered bill collector. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna May Oliver, Billie Burke, (more)
- 1934
Edna May Oliver makes the second of her three appearances as Stuart Palmer's crime-solving schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers in RKO Radio's Murder on the Blackboard. The plot begins to percolate when a young female music teacher is murdered in her classroom late at night. Also on the campus is Hildegarde Withers, staying after hours to punish an unruly student. Upon discovering the dead woman's body, Hildegarde tries to solve the mystery herself, much to the dismay of the eternally exasperated Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason). Clues essential to the action are a dead ant at the bottom of a liquor glass, a half-empty bottle of scotch, a blood-stained woman's slipper, and (per the title) a musical notation chalked on a blackboard, which when deciphered reveals the killer's identity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, (more)
- 1933
In this romantic drama, set at the turn of the century, a womanizing Irish motorman ignores his marital vows, but only to a point. Though he has many affairs, he will not leave his wife. As the years pass, he holds many jobs, and many different women before he retires in Atlantic City where he becomes a moralistic fortune teller for women. He actually helps some of his clients and dies knowing he was not a total lout. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1933
In this comedy, a man masquerading as the notorious Baron Munchausen and his partner arrive from the African jungles and create quite a stir in New York. Eventually he ends up a women's college involved in a number of interesting musical production numbers. Look for an early appearance by the "The Three Stooges." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Pearl, Jimmy Durante, (more)
- 1933
This star-laden version of Lewis Carroll's novel combines elements of both the title novel and Carroll's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. In England of the 19th century, young Alice finds that the mirror over the library fireplace opens into a strange world. She has odd adventures and changes size several times both before and after she follows a time-obsessed White Rabbit (Skeets Gallagher). Soaked after nearly drowning in a pool of tears, Alice is helped to dry off by a Dodo (Polly Moran), and encounters a caterpillar (Ned Sparks), whose mushroom also changes Alice's size. In a noisy home where the Cook (Lillian Harmer) and the Duchess (Alison Skipworth) are always fighting, Alice takes care of the Duchess' baby, but it turns into a pig and runs away. Asking directions of the Cheshire Cat (Richard Arlen) is no help, and a tea party with the Mad Hatter (Edward Everett Horton), the March Hare (Charlie Ruggles) and the Dormouse (Jackie Searl) is confusing and annoying.
Alice meets the Queen of Hearts (May Robson), and encounters the Duchess again; while strolling with her, Alice meets the Gryphon (William Austin) and the Mock Turtle (Cary Grant). The twins Tweedledum (Jack Oakie) and Tweedledee (Roscoe Karns) recite a poem about a Walrus and a Carpenter (seen as an animated cartoon), but when they decide to go to battle, they're chased off by a crow. Humpty Dumpty (W.C. Fields) relates the poem "Jabberwocky" to Alice, then falls off a wall and breaks. The mournful White Knight (Gary Cooper), unable to put Humpty Dumpty together again, escorts Alice for a while, but she tumbles down a hill and finds she's become a queen. At a party in Alice's honor, the Red Queen (Edna Mae Oliver) becomes furious at Alice, who then wakes up to find herself in the library, with her kitten Dinah in her lap. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
Alice meets the Queen of Hearts (May Robson), and encounters the Duchess again; while strolling with her, Alice meets the Gryphon (William Austin) and the Mock Turtle (Cary Grant). The twins Tweedledum (Jack Oakie) and Tweedledee (Roscoe Karns) recite a poem about a Walrus and a Carpenter (seen as an animated cartoon), but when they decide to go to battle, they're chased off by a crow. Humpty Dumpty (W.C. Fields) relates the poem "Jabberwocky" to Alice, then falls off a wall and breaks. The mournful White Knight (Gary Cooper), unable to put Humpty Dumpty together again, escorts Alice for a while, but she tumbles down a hill and finds she's become a queen. At a party in Alice's honor, the Red Queen (Edna Mae Oliver) becomes furious at Alice, who then wakes up to find herself in the library, with her kitten Dinah in her lap. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Henry, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1933
In this musical science fiction adventure a handsome Brazilian playboy finds himself in the enviable position of being the last man on Earth after a pandemic disease destroys the rest of his gender. The playboy is spared because he was marooned upon a lonely island when the rest of the world's men came down with the dreaded "masculitis." After living alone for five years, female sailors find him and bring him back to civilization where a gangster secretly conspires to auction him off. Fortunately, the police arrive before any damage is done and the playboy is taken before the leader of the international congress. She decides that he should be required to service every remaining woman in the world. Unfortunately, the playboy is still in love with his fiancee, the woman he had fought with and was in the process of leaving when his plane suddenly crashed upon the lonely isle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raul Roulien, Gloria Stuart, (more)
- 1933
Curley Fletcher's famous lament "The Strawberry Roan became Ken Maynard's favorite Western and went a long way to popularize the Singing Cowboy trend. Ranch owner Big Jim Edwards (James Marcus) promises a job to anyone who can round up the Strawberry Roan, a wild stallion that has been rustling his mares. A neighbor, Colonel Brownlee (William Desmond), sweetens the pot by actually promising his cattle ranch to whomever can ride the dangerous animal. Ken Masters (Maynard) takes up both challenges but is defeated every step of the way by nasty foreman Bart Hawkins (Harold Goodwin), who is jealous of the newcomer's rapport with Big Jim's pretty daughter, Alice (Ruth Hall). The rustlings continue and Alice almost perishes in a stampede but Ken ultimately proves that Bart has been forcing the roan into committing the crimes. Filmed at scenic Lone Pine, CA, The Strawberry Roan was renamed Flying Fury in the UK. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Yaconelli, James Marcus, (more)
- 1933
This 1933 movie version of Sinclair Lewis's novel Ann Vickers stars Irene Dunne in the title role. Left alone and pregnant by her soldier sweetheart (Bruce Cabot), Ann turns her life around by devoting herself to social work. A frustrating tenure as psychologist in a poorly maintained woman's prison only strengthens Ann's resolve to improve the world around her. She falls in love with the politically progressive judge (Walter Huston) who helps finance her career, standing by him when he is unjustly accused of graft. Ann Vickers contains one startling sequence in which Ann, following the premature end of her pregnancy, walks with great discomfort around her garden while she speaks wistfully about,"the daughter I'll never have." Otherwise, the film suffers from its adaptors' soap-opera mindset, as well as the decision to cram Lewis's complex novel into a brief 75 minutes' screen time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, (more)
- 1933
Distantly related to Frederick Lewis Allen's non-fiction book of the same name, Only Yesterday uses fictional characters to trace the years between 1917 and 1929. Wealthy New Yorker John Boles recalls a long-ago affair with southern belle Margaret Sullavan. She gave birth to his child without ever naming the father, then moved to New York herself and set up a dress shop. As the stock-market crash of 1929 wipes out his life savings, Boles becomes remorseful over how he's forgotten Sullavan, who is now dying. He acknowledges that he is the father of her child, and promises to make a good life for the boy despite his dire financial situation. Only Yesterday opens with a remarkable montage sequence showing the devastating effects of the Depression; after that, it never quite gains momentum despite the superb performance of Margaret Sullavan (in her film debut). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Sullavan, John Boles, (more)
- 1932
Edna May Oliver makes the first of three appearances as Hildegarde Withers, the schoolteacher/sleuth created by mystery writer Stuart Palmer. While conducting her students on a tour of the Battery Park Aquarium, Hildegarde spots a dead body in the penguin pool. Police inspector Piper (James Gleason) believes it's an open-and-shut case when he collars the faithless wife (Mae Clarke) of the victim, but Hildegarde suspects there's more to the case than meets the eye. Detective and teacher mellow from antagonists to friends in the course of the investigation, the denouement of which isn't revealed until the suspect is put on trial, where she is defended by her attorney-lover (Robert Armstrong). The murderer's identity isn't too surprising, but Penguin Pool Murder takes several unexpected twists all the same, including a neat reversal on the old "reunited lovers" finale. At the end, Hildegarde and Piper are contemplating marriage, but in the subsequent Edna May Oliver/James Gleason "Hildegarde Withers" films (Murder on the Blackboard, Murder on a Honeymoon) they retain their single status. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, (more)
- 1932
The most intriguing aspect of the 1932 Bert Wheeler-Robert Woolsey romp Hold 'Em Jail was that it was co-scripted by legendary humorist and frequent Marx Bros. contributor S. J. Perelman. The film bears a slight resemblance to the like-vintage Marx/Perelman collaboration Horse Feathers, in that both pictures are climaxed by a zany football game sequence. But while Horse Feathers is set at a college, Hold 'Em Jail takes place behind the cold gray walls of Bidemore Prison. Edgar Kennedy, Bidemore's warden, is all geared up for an impending all-prisoner football game; alas, his team is woefully short of talent. Kennedy puts out a call to Bidemore's "alumni," one of whom is nightclub-owner John Sheehan. When novelty salesmen Wheeler and Woolsey show up at Sheehan's club, the owner frames the two goofs on a robbery charge so that they'll be carted off to Bidemore and recruited for the football team. W&W make themselves at home in jail, securing jobs as trustees so that Wheeler can romance Kennedy's pretty daughter Betty Grable (who was 16 at the time, and looks it), while Woolsey pitches woo at Kennedy's homely sister Edna May Oliver (explaining that she's spent four years studying music in Paris, Edna confesses "I'm not a virtuoso." "Not after four years in Paris" is Woolsey's response). During the climactic gridiron activity, Wheeler and Woolsey spot the duplicitous John Sheehan on the other team, and struggle manfully to get him to sign a confession that will exonerate them. When originally previewed, Hold 'Em Jail was a musical comedy running 74 minutes; audiences laughed at the comedy scenes but groaned at the songs, whereupon the film was pared down to a 66-minute non-musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
