Joan Bennett Movies
The title of actress Joan Bennett's 1970 autobiography is The Bennett Playbill, in reference to the fact that she came from an old and well-established theatrical family: her father was stage star Richard Bennett and her sisters were screen actresses Constance and Barbara Bennett. Though she made an appearance as a child in one of her father's films, Joan Bennett did not originally intend to pursue acting as a profession. Honoring her wishes, her father bundled her off to finishing school in Versailles. Alas, her impulsive first marriage at 16 ended in divorce, leaving her a single mother in dire need of an immediate source of income. Thus it was that she became a professional actress, making her first Broadway appearance in her father's vehicle, Jarnegan (1928). In 1929, she began her film career in the low-budget effort Power, then co-starred with Ronald Colman in Bulldog Drummond. She was inexperienced and awkward and she knew it, but Bennett applied herself to her craft and improved rapidly; by the early '30s she was a busy and popular ingénue, appearing in such enjoyable programmers as Me and My Gal (1932) and important A-pictures like Little Women (1933) (as Amy). During this period she briefly married again to writer/producer Gene Markey. It was her third husband, producer Walter Wanger, who made the decision that changed the direction of her career: in Wanger's Trade Winds (1938), Bennett was obliged to dye her blonde hair black for plot purposes. Audiences approved of this change, and Bennett thrived throughout the next decade in a wide variety of "dark" roles befitting her brunette status. She was especially effective in a series of melodramas directed by Fritz Lang: Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), and The Secret Beyond the Door (1948). In 1950, she switched professional gears again, abandoning femme-fatale roles for the part of Spencer Tracy's ever-patient spouse in Father of the Bride (1950). Though her personal life was turbulent in the early '50s -- her husband Walter Wanger allegedly shot and wounded agent Jennings Lang, claiming that Lang was trying to steal his wife -- Bennett's professional life continued unabated on both stage and screen. Her television work included the 1959 sitcom Too Young to Go Steady and the "gothic" soap opera Dark Shadows (1965-1971). In failing health, Joan Bennett spent her last years in retirement with her fourth husband, media critic David Wilde. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1923
Bruno, a tramp (Richard Bennett), takes in a waif, David, who is later adopted by a man whose daughter, Roma, wants a playmate. The children grow up (to be played by Bert Lytell and Barbara LaMarr), and when World War I breaks out, David and Bruno enlist. David is reported dead and Roma, who is a talented sculptor, goes to Rome with the aid of Baron Bonelli (Lionel Barrymore). David is not actually dead, however, and he returns home. He joins the Fascist movement and becomes Mussolini's right hand man in fighting the Reds. David finds Roma and, believing she is the mistress of Bonelli, denounces her. She swears it's not true, however, and they make up. What neither of them have realized is that Bonelli is the power behind the Reds and they are plotting to kidnap David. David kills Bonelli and leads his Fascisti fellowmen to vanquish the Reds. Roma tries to take the blame for Bonelli's death, but David refuses to let her. He is pardoned for the good he has done Italy, and the childhood sweethearts are now joined together as adults. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara La Marr, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1928
Power is a rubber-stamp adventure flick from the very prolific Paramount Pictures. William Boyd and Alan Hale star as a pair of dam workers who, despite their strong friendship, duke it out on a regular basis. But when the dam threatens to burst, the battling buddies work side by side to rescue the deluge-threatened townsfolk. The principle source of friction between Boyd and Hale are a pair of "dames," played by Carole Lombard and Joan Bennett. Both ladies are ill-served by their tiny roles at this early stage of their respective careers, though Lombard exhibits more camera know-how than Bennett. Power was scripted by future director Tay Garnett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, Jacqueline Logan, (more)
- 1929
Adopting a surprisingly effective Southern accent, Vienna-born Joseph Schildkraut plays the title role in Mississippi Gambler. Schildkraut is cast as ruthless but basically decent cardsharp Jack, whose latest sucker is old man Blackburne. To save the honor of Blackburne's lovely daughter Lucy (Joan Bennett), Jack purposely loses the climactic poker game. Many of the sets and background extras in the film had previously been seen in Universal's Show Boat, which also featured Schildkraut. Mississippi Gambler was refashioned as a Tyrone Power vehicle in 1953. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Schildkraut, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1929
Frank Lloyd both produced and directed The Divine Lady, a Hollywood slant on the 19th century romance of Lord Horatio Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton. American film star Corinne Griffith, decked out in a blonde wig, is decorative but otherwise unconvincing as Lady Emma, while Hungarian-born Victor Varconi brings an inappropriate continental air to the veddy British Lord Nelson. Both stars found themselves playing second fiddle to Marie Dressler, mugging to her heart's content as Lady Emma's ambitious mother. The scandal surrounding the leading characters' illicit affair is secondary to the film's exciting reconstructions of Nelson's celebrated sea battles. Technically a silent, Divine Lady was released with a Vitaphone musical score and sound effects. Lost in the shuffle during the switch over to talkies in 1929, Divine Lady is forgotten today, totally eclipsed by the immensely successful 1941 film Lady Hamilton, starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi, (more)
- 1929
In the early days of sound film, one of Warner Bros.' big box-office draws was the aging stage actor George Arliss and, in Disraeli, Arliss scored his biggest box-office hit. He is at his best as the foxy British prime minister (in a role he created on-stage and re-created earlier in a 1921 silent film version of the same play). The film concerns the machinations of Disraeli in his efforts to secure the Suez Canal for England. After his liberal opponent Gladstone defeats Disraeli's attempt to raise a line of credit to buy the Suez Canal, Disraeli retires to his country estate to plot a new strategy. When he intercepts a coded telegram from an Egyptian potentate indicating Egyptian financial problems and a willingness to make a deal on the canal, Disraeli jumps on the chance to secure funding from the Bank of England but is denied the credit. Searching for another funding source, he obtains the services of international banker Hugh Meyers (Ivan Simpson). However, when Disraeli's emissary arrives in Cairo with a check to purchase Suez, it is discovered that Meyer has gone bankrupt. Now Disraeli must enlist all his charm and wiles to persuade the Bank of England to honor the bad check. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Arliss, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1929
In this comedy, three GIs return home and discover that they have been officially listed among the dead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Montgomery, Claud Allister, (more)
- 1929
Tired of his sedentary postwar existence, Col. Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Ronald Colman) offers his services as adventurer for hire. This gets him mixed up with lovely Joan Bennett, whose wealthy father is being held against his will in a gloomy sanitarium. Armed with little more than bravado, Drummond, his pal Algy (Claud Allister) and faithful butler Danny (Wilson Benge) walk right into the villain's lair--said villain being the evil Dr. Lakington. Drummond is overpowered by Lakington's henchpersons, played by Lilyan Tashman and Montague Love. Our Hero is willing to accept the inevitability of his own death, but when the unspeakable Lakington fondles the unconscious Ms. Bennett, that's too much! Drummond escapes, and in a jaw-dropping sequence kills Lakington in cold blood. He then becomes his old charming self and allows secondary villains Love and Tashman to escape, since he's not really mad at them. Drummond saves the millionaire and wins the girl, though later "Bulldog Drummond" films bear out the fact that he doesn't marry her immediately as he should (virtually every subsequent "Drummond" flick would open with an interrupted wedding). Filmed in the earliest days of the talkie era, Bulldog Drummond is a remarkably sophisticated film for its time, directed with assurance by former Mack Sennett associate F. Richard Jones (who unfortunately died shortly after the film's release). Its only concessions to the "all talking/all singing" mania of 1929 are the unnecessary Irish songs performed by tenor Donald Novis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Claud Allister, (more)
- 1930
Herman Melville's classic novel gets a major revision in this screen adaptation of his seafaring novel - Hollywood's first talkie adaptation of the work. (A silent version, The Sea Beast, had been produced four years earlier). Captain Ahab Ceely (John Barrymore), a crusty and hard-drinking sailor, falls in love with Faith Mapple (Joan Bennett), the daughter of a man of the cloth. Ahab has a rival for Faith's affections in Derek (Lloyd Hughes), his wicked brother, but as Ahab sets sail, Faith pledges to him that she'll remain loyal to him while he's out to sea. While hunting for whales, Ahab is thrown overboard, and he loses his leg to a mammoth creature known to seamen as Moby Dick. When Ahab returns, he tells Faith that he won't hold her to her pledge to marry him before showing her the wooden peg that has replaced his limb. Faith shrieks in horror, and Ahab is crestfallen to realize that his romance is over. Returning to the sea, Ahab spends the next seven years searching for the great white whale Moby Dick, obsessed with getting revenge on the creature that took his leg and ruined his life. In addition to rewriting the famous first lines of the novel, in this version of Moby Dick, Ishmael doesn't even appear. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1930
Dakin Barrolles (played by Edmund Lowe is a criminal who, while escaping from a bank robbery that went wrong, stumbles across a famous banker, Sir John Lasher, and his wife, Xandra. Lasher is deep in his cups, and neither he nor Xandra notice when Barrolles absconds with one of their possessions -- a locket with a picture of the married couple. For once, Barrolles has more in mind than thievery. He has become instantly smitten with banker's wife; planning to escape the police by enlisting in the army, he wants the picture to serve as a reminder of her beauty. During heavy fighting, Barrolles is injured in a mine explosion, and the surgeon who operates on him gives him the face of the man in the locket. By coincidence, Lasher has also joined the war effort and is missing. Xandra arrives to reluctantly take home her husband and is surprised at the change in her husband, who now is clearly in love with her and concerned about her feelings. Now in a position to commit a spectacular bank robbery, Barrolles must decide whether to give in to this temptation or stay with the woman he loves -- and must also worry about what he will do if Scotland Yard finds him or the real Lasher returns. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1930
The rise and fall of a popular entertainer provides the basis of this musical drama. Harry Raymond (played by nightclub superstar Harry Richman) begins his career with nothing but his ambition, his talent and the support of friends and loved ones. Eventually he hits the big time and becomes a star. Unfortunately with stardom comes arrogance and selfishness and he disdains his lowly but loyal lover and pals to hang out with the upper crust. His downfall comes from a bottle of tainted homemade gin. Harry nearly dies and ends up permanently blind. Fortunately, at least one of his old crowd is around to help him rebuild his life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Richman, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1930
This comedy follows the attempts of a young woman to have her cake and eat it too. She is dating two nice young men, but she cannot decide which one she really wants. The men do not help as neither is willing to bow out. A dashing young engineer solves her problem after he bowls her over with his charm. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Sr., Regis Toomey, (more)
- 1930
Maybe It's Love is one of the many college football musicals which bred like minks in the early talkie era. A very young Joan Bennett tops the cast as Nan Sheffield, the daughter of a college president (George Irving). The nominal leading man is Tommy Nelson (James Hall), the black-sheep son of a wealthy alumnus (Anders Randolph). Though Nelson is an ace football player, President Sheffield refuses to enroll the boy because of his bad reputation, whereupon Tommy's father withdraws his financial backing and bars his son from ever setting foot on Sheffield's campus. Falling in love with Nan, Tommy signs up with the college under an assumed name, giving up his wastrel ways to lead the football team to victory. Joe E. Brown steals the show as Speed Hanson, a goofy gridiron star who emits a loud and long yell whenever scoring a touchdown (this was, in fact, the first film in which Brown's famous "Yeeeeowww" was heard -- but certainly not the last). The remaining footballers are played by the members of the real-life 1929 All-American team. Incidentally, screenwriter "Mark Canfield" was actually a pseudonymous Darryl F. Zanuck. To avoid confusion with a later, unrelated film of the same title, Maybe It's Love was rechristened Eleven Men and a Girl for television showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Joe E. Brown, (more)
- 1931
William A. Wellman's triangle melodrama "The Steel Highway" -- a title referring to the film's railroad setting -- was changed to the more suggestive Other Men's Women shortly before it's April 19, 1931 New York premiere. Grant Withers and Regis Toomey played lifelong friends and co-workers in love with the same woman, Mary Astor). She, unfortunately, is also Toomey's wife and the two friends have a blow-out on the job. The train derails and Toomey is blinded for life. When the river floods, the repentant Withers concocts a scheme to save an important railroad bridge by driving his engine across, thus stabilizing the construction. Believing his blindness makes him a burden to Astor, Toomey sacrifices himself instead. The ploy fails and Toomey is killed. Toomey and Astor, who had replaced James Hall and Marian Nixon, and Grant Withers were all fine under Wellman's crisp direction but the film was stolen outright by supporting players James Cagney and Joan Blondell, the latter as Wither's former girlfriend. With typical pre-production code frankness, Blondell's tough-talking waitress advises a fresh customer that she is "A.P.O." What does this "A.P.O. means?" the customer asks. Blondell: "Ain't puttin' out!" Blondell and Cagney, who had appeared together in the Broadway play Penny Arcade and its subsequent film version, Sinner's Holiday (1930), would reach stardom in their third film together, the gangster classic The Public Enemy (1931). Overly static at times, Other Men's Women was livened considerably by the climactic bridge collapse, a successful use of miniatures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grant Withers, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1931
Young Joan Bennett and Lew Ayres make an attractive couple in the Universal programmer Many a Slip. Because of her imperious attitude, beautiful young debutante Pat Coster (Bennett) can't find a boy friend until Jerry Brooks (Ayres) comes along. Anxious not to lose Jerry, Pat leads him to believe that she's pregnant. Only after they've exchanged wedding vows does Pat reveal that no baby is forthcoming, whereupon the angry Jerry walks out on her. Trouble is, Pat is now pregnant for real! This is one film in which stars definitely outshine the story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Lew Ayres, (more)
- 1931
The trials of being a doctor's wife are presented in this drama. The story centers upon the problematic marriage of one couple. Their troubles begin when the doctor makes a housecall to a seductive woman with designs upon him. His suspicious wife follows him and spies on him. She thinks they are getting romantic when he is actually trying to extricate himself from his predatory patient. She decides to get revenge with his best friend, but nothing happens. The doctor later finds out that she saw him. He then becomes suspicious because it is she who is now seldom home. He confronts his friend about the alleged adultery. The friend becomes distraught and tries to kill himself. The doctor operates to save his friend's life. He then discovers that his wife has been taking nursing classes so she could work beside her husband and see him more often. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1931
A woman trying to live down her past finds it coming back to haunt her in this drama. Steve Pelton (Owen Moore) is the leader of a gang of confidence men and petty criminals who have set up a base of operations in a large house they all share. One of Pelton's roommates is his girlfriend, Janet Gordon (Joan Bennett), who is convinced Pelton will propose to her someday. However, when Pelton and his mob are raided by the police, Gordon ends up in jail with the rest of them. With the help of kindly cop Dan Emmett (Douglas Cosgrove), Gordon gets an early release, and she meets Stuart Elliot (Hardie Albright), a wealthy and sophisticated man about town. Elliot falls for Gordon and they soon marry, but her happiness is shattered when Pelton is released and decides to blackmail Gordon, threatening to tell Elliot about her scandalous past unless she does his bidding. Hush Money also features George Raft and Myrna Loy in supporting roles as members of Pelton's gang. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Hardie Albright, (more)
- 1932
Running a swift 55 minutes, Trial of Vivienne Ware packs in more sheer entertainment value than its longer, more prestigious "role model," The Trial of Mary Dugan. Joan Bennett plays the title character, a beleaguered young woman accused of murdering her nasty fiancee (Jameson Thomas). She is defended in court by hotshot lawyer John Sutherland (Donald Cook), who happens to be in love with her. Subtlety is checked at the door in the ensuing trial, which comes to a climax when the actual murderer tosses a knife at a female witness, just as she is about to make a startling revelation. ZaSu Pitts is hilarious as Miss Fairweather, a lachrymose radio personality who during her daily courtroom broadcasts seems less concerned with the progress of the trial than with Vivienne's wardrobe. Trial of Vivienne Ware was based on a novel by Kenneth M. Ellis, which had been previously adapted as a popular radio serial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Donald Cook, (more)
- 1932
In this wisecracking comedy, Dan Dolan (Spencer Tracy) is a cop whose beat is the New York waterfront. Dan has a soft spot for Helen Riley (Joan Bennett), a sharp-tongued waitress at a cheap diner, while her scatter-brained sister Kate (Marion Burns) is in love with Duke Castage (George Walsh), a sleazy low-level mobster. While Duke makes a play for Kate, both Helen and Dan know that he's bad news, and Dan wants to put Duke behind bars before he can break Kate's heart. Me and My Gal was directed by Raoul Walsh, one of the great craftsmen of the studio system -- and also the brother of George Walsh, who plays the villain. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1932
In this romance, a homely country girl makes herself over into a gorgeous New York Fashion model. Suddenly men flock to her and one night she is in a speakeasy when she meets a suave, handsome and rich fellow. The cops raid the place and after she gets out of the hoosegow, the woman goes to Paris, and for some strange reason takes on the name of the man she met in the nightclub. The man has followed her to Europe and is so persistent that her friends begin to think they are married. Word spreads back to the States, and the poor girl tries to rectify the misunderstanding by claiming that the marriage disintegrated. Things only get worse when the truth finally comes out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, John Boles, (more)
- 1932
Bret Harte's story Salomy Jane's Kiss provided the basis for a play (by Paul Armstrong and a number of films, including 1932's Wild Girl. Set in the High Sierras at the end of the Civil War, the "wild girl" of the title is Salome Jane Clay (Joan Bennett). Rather tomboyish and determined, she isn't the vixen that the title suggests; as a matter of fact, she is upset and angry over a man who has tried to take liberties with her. A stranger Charles Farrell shows up, looking for the same man who has incurred Jane's enmity. Farrell has a score to settle, for this man ruined the life and reputation of Farrell's sister. He shoots him, then flees the town with Jane's help. They are pursued by numerous individuals; as they overcome various obstacles, they find themselves falling in love. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1932
The "Enoch Arden" theme is trotted out and slicked up for The Man From Yesterday. Nurse Claudette Colbert marries army doctor Charles Boyer, believing that her first husband, Clive Brook, has been killed in World War One. Not quite; Brook has survived (though not by much), ending up in the same hospital with Dr. Boyer and nurse Colbert. She is willing to honor her first marriage, but Brook, aware that he is dying from the aftereffects of poison gas, nobly sends her away. The Man from Yesterday is ideal fare for stiff-upper-lipped Clive Brook, but not all that suitable to the ebullient Claudette Colbert; still, she is excellent, as is the rest of the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Clive Brook, (more)
- 1932
The moral of this drama could very well be for people to exercise caution with what they wish for as they just might get it. So it is with the lovely young woman who wins a beauty contest and the love of a millionaire, two things she had aspired to for ages. Unfortunately, her wealthy hubby is terribly possessive and occasionally, completely insane. One night, the husband really goes nuts and tries to feed his bride to the dogs. Fortunately, he slips and ends up dead himself. Later the sadder but wiser girl goes back to the man who has really loved her all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Spencer Tracy, (more)
- 1932
In this romance, a recently impoverished but formerly wealthy young woman ends up working as a nightclub hostess. There she meets a handsome, sophisticated and wealthy fellow who hires her to help him spice up his weekend parties. She begins helping him and regains her lost wealth and posh lifestyle. Unfortunately, her starving-artist boyfriend knows nothing of her secret life. Trouble ensues when he learns the truth, but by the end the two reconcile and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1933
While travelling through Arizona, carnival huckster Smiley Wells (James Dunn) makes the acquaintance of sweet small-town girl Lynn Martin (Joan Bennett). Upon learning that a gang of slick operators has swindled a huge sum of money from Lynn's mother, Smiley decides that money lost through larceny can be won back the same way. With the help of his fellow conmen Kingfish Miller (Herbert Mundin) and Morris Blitz (Sammy Cohen), our hero devises an elaborate "sting" to out-maneuver the crooks and recover Lynn's mom's dough. But it's essential to their scheme that Lynn can successfully pass herself off as a hard-boiled "street dame." Arizona to Broadway was remade in 1943 as Jitterbugs, with Laurel and Hardy and Vivian Blaine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Joan Bennett, (more)
