Helen Parrish Movies
The daughter of a stage actress, Helen Parrish began appearing in silent films as a child. In the early '30s, she was briefly a member of Hal Roach's Our Gang. Parrish went on to inspire hisses as Deanna Durbin's spiteful nemesis in such films as Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) and First Love (1939). She began playing adult roles at Universal and RKO in 1940 before her career went into a slow decline at Monogram. For many years the wife of People Are Funny and You Bet Your Life producer John Guedel, Helen Parrish died of cancer at the age of 34. Her older brother was juvenile star-turned-editor-turned-director Robert Parrish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1929
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
- Starring:
- Lois Moran, Tom Patricola, (more)
- 1929
The unique directorial touches of Gregory LaCava lift this standard military comedy well above the norm. William Boyd plays Terry Culver, a wise-guy officer who receives his first commission. Amazingly, Culver's commanding officer Colonel Gaylord (Alphonse Ethier) takes a liking to the brash, obnoxious young officer -- as does Gaylord's pretty daughter Judy (Dorothy Sebastian, at the time the wife of co-star Boyd). Despite his blundering and bluster, Culver proves his worth by rescuing a small child from jeopardy, and as a reward wins Judy's hand in marriage. A brief Technicolor sequence and an exciting steeplechase finale add to the film's overall conviviality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, Dorothy Sebastian, (more)
Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, (more)
The first "epic" western of the talkie era, The Big Trail is motivated by a hero's search for the murderer of his father. Twenty-three-year-old John Wayne, hitherto limited to bit parts, was thrust into the difficult leading role, a young mountaineer put in charge of a huge California-bound wagon train. Over the next several months, Wayne and his fellow pioneers face every imaginable hazard and disaster, from blistering desert heat to blinding snowstorms, negotiating steep cliffs, treacherous rivers, uncharted forests and other such natural obstacles. Meanwhile, Wayne's tentative romance with heroine Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill) is continually thwarted by a charming but duplicitous gambler (Ian Keith), and all-around villain Red Flack (Tyrone Power Sr.) and his henchman Lopez (Charlie Stevens) ceaselessly plot to double-cross the other wagon-trainers for their own financial gain. The Big Trail was a box-office disappointment, a fact which some have attributed its expensive production methods. Each scene was lensed twice, once in 35-millimeter and then in the 65-mm "Fox Grandeur" wide-screen process. And then, each dialogue scene was filmed in French and German, with totally different casts. Even if Big Trail has been a big hit, it would have lost money thanks to the time-consuming shooting and reshooting of virtually every scene. Whatever the case, it was John Wayne who suffered most from the film's failure; instantly demoted to "B"-westerns, it took him nearly a decade to rebuild his stardom. Long believed lost, The Big Trail was made available for exhibition again in the early 1970s -- and in the 1990s the original widescreen version was at last restored for public view. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, (more)
- 1931
In this crime drama, the writer of a Broadway newspaper column finds himself accused of murder after a showgirl, who had been suing his paper for libel is found murdered. Just before she died, the columnist had been seen leaving her apartment. He launches his own investigation and discovers that he has met the real killer. The whole matter comes to a head during the ensuing trial and in the end, the writer and the killer end up locked in a room and are forced into a shoot out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Cody, Sally Blane, (more)
- 1931
In this three-hanky melodrama, an aspiring writer abandons his wife and five children to work more closely with a beautiful woman who works for a prominent publishing company. Ten years pass and the writer has become extremely popular despite the fact that his work is consistently trashed by literary critics. The critics have good reason; to support his new wife's exorbitantly high standard of living, he must churn out pulp mysteries. His ex-wife, who still loves him, decides to help him and invites him to visit the family. He does and suddenly finds himself pining for them. He begs his ex-wife to let his adolescent offspring come to live with him. She does and moves them to New York. His second wife, feeling insecure by her husband's newfound love for his children feels ignored. Bette Davis plays the author's adult daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Boles, Genevieve Tobin, (more)
William Wellman's landmark gangster movie traces the rise and fall of prohibition-era mobster Tom Powers. We are first shown various episodes of Tom's childhood with the corrupting influences of the beer hall, pool parlor, and false friends like minor-league fence Putty Nose. As young adults, Tom (James Cagney) and his pal, Matt Doyle (Edward Woods), are hired by ruthless but innately decent bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor). The boys quickly rise to the top of the heap, with all the accoutrements of success: custom-tailored tuxedoes, fancy cars, and gorgeous girls. All the while, Tom's loving (and somewhat addlepated) mother (Beryl Mercer) is kept in the dark, believing Tommy to be a good boy, a façade easily seen through by his older brother Mike (Donald Cook). Tommy's degeneration from brash kid to vicious lowlife is brought home in a famous scene in which he smashes a grapefruit in the face of his latest mistress (Mae Clarke). Some dated elements aside, The Public Enemy is as powerful as when it was first released, and it is far superior to the like-vintage Little Caesar. James Cagney is so dynamic in his first starring role that he practically bursts off the screen; he makes the audience pull for a character with no redeeming qualities. The film is blessed with a superior supporting cast: Joan Blondell is somewhat wasted as Matt's girl, Mamie; Jean Harlow is better served as Tom's main squeeze, Gwen (though some of her line readings are a bit awkward); and Murray Kinnell is slime personified as the deceitful Putty Nose, who "gets his" in unforgettable fashion. Despite a tacked-on opening disclaimer, most of the characters in The Public Enemy are based on actual people, a fact not lost on audiences of the period. Current prints are struck from the 1949 reissue, which was shortened from 92 to 83 minutes (among the deletions was the character of real-life hoodlum Bugs Moran). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Edward Woods, (more)
- 1932
In this romance a school marm takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to a crippled woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
- 1932
Produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan productions for MGM release, Feller Needs a Friend teams child-star Jackie Cooper with rustic comedian Chic Sale. Cooper plays Eddie Randall, a physically challenged boy who is overprotected by his parents. He finds a kindred spirit in his aged uncle Jonas (Sale), who tries to treat Eddie like a regular kid. The boy is forced to suffer the taunts of his snotty cousin Froggie (Andy Shufford) before a happy ending can be considered. Based on the William Johnson novel Limpy, Feller Needs a Friend was co-scripted by Sylvia Thalberg, the sister of MGM-head Irving Thalberg. Watch for silent-film comedian Max Davidson in an amusing bit. The film is also known as When a Feller Needs a Friend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Chic Sale, (more)
- 1932
In this two-hanky drama, a physically challenged boy wants his overprotective parents to relinquish their tight control so he can be like all the other neighborhood kids. Fortunately, his lively uncle is on his side and helps the boy get up the guts to confront his mom and dad. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1934
In this melodrama, a devoted father begins feeling unappreciated at home and so embarks upon a clandestine friendship with a former employee. The children see them together and assume it's an affair. They beg him to end the relationship. Later the woman herself talks to the kids, assuring them that the friendship is platonic and chiding them gently on their thoughtless behavior towards their dad. In the end, the family reconciles and the woman goes on with her life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Morgan, Binnie Barnes, (more)
- 1935
Dog of Flanders, the durable novel written in 1872 by the author who signed herself Ouida, was filmed three times, first in 1924 with Jackie Coogan. The second filmization, produced in 1935, stars child actors Frankie Thomas, Helen Parrish and Richard Quine as three poor Flemish youths whose lives are interconnected by a handsome German shepherd (played by "Lightning"). The threesome nurse the abandoned dog back to health; soon afterward, the dog rekindles the creative spark of a reclusive artist, whose painting of the noble hound wins a hefty cash prize. Richard Quine, the third juvenile lead of Dog of Flanders, grew up to become an important Hollywood writer/director of the 1950s. Quine did not, however, work on the 1959 remake of Dog of Flanders--which starred another future filmmaker, David Ladd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Thomas, Helen Parrish, (more)
This greatest of all Frankenstein movies begins during a raging thunderstorm. Warm and cozy inside their palatial villa, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley's wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester) engage in morbidly sparkling conversation. The wicked Byron mockingly chastises Mary for frightening the literary world with her recent novel Frankenstein, but Mary insists that her horror tale preached a valuable moral, that man was not meant to dabble in the works of God. Moreover, Mary adds that her story did not end with the death of Frankenstein's monster, whereupon she tells the enthralled Byron and Shelley what happened next. Surviving the windmill fire that brought the original 1931 Frankenstein to a close, the Monster (Boris Karloff) quickly revives and goes on another rampage of death and destruction. Meanwhile, his ailing creator Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) discovers that his former mentor, the demented Doctor Praetorius (Ernst Thesiger), plans to create another life-sized monster -- this time a woman! After a wild and wooly "creation" sequence, the bandages are unwrapped, and the Bride of the Monster (Elsa Lanchester again) emerges. Alas, the Monster's tender efforts to connect with his new Mate are rewarded only by her revulsion and hoarse screams. "She hate me," he growls, "Just like others!" Wonderfully acted and directed, The Bride of Frankenstein is further enhanced by the vivid Franz Waxman musical score; even the film's occasional lapses in logic and continuity (it was trimmed from 90 to 75 minutes after the first preview) are oddly endearing. Director James Whale was memorably embodied by Ian McKellen in the Oscar-winning 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, (more)
- 1935
In this romance, a slightly crooked and highly ambitious mayoral candidate convinces a woman to help him blackmail the incumbent by using a little baby as evidence in a paternity suit. The girl goes along with it until she learns that the mayor is innocent. Suddenly she begins working for him. In the end, the crooked candidate changes his ways and romantic bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Astor, Roger Pryor, (more)
- 1936
Anne Shirley is the teenaged "lady" in this filmization of Elizabeth Jordan's novel My Daddy and I. Shirley plays the daughter of widowed Herbert Marshall, who suffers in silence as his daughter tries to "match" him with every eligible woman in sight. Misinterpreting a delicate situation, Shirley attempts to link up Marshall with a woman (Margot Grahame) he actively dislikes. The highlight of the film is a ramshackle staging of "Romeo and Juliet" at Anne's high school, with the unflappable young girl contending with an adenoidal Romeo (Frank Coghlan Jr.) whose tights keep slipping as he struggles through his Shakespearian dialogue. The protagonist of Make Way for Lady was one of several teen ingenues played by former child actress Dawn O'Day under her new screen name of Anne Shirley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herbert Marshall, Anne Shirley, (more)
- 1937
The third of MGM's profitable Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy songfests, Maytime opens in the early 20th century, with a young girl arguing with her boyfriend over her wishes to become an opera singer. The girl's neighbor, a lonely old woman whom we gradually recognize as a convincingly "aged" Jeanette MacDonald, tells the girl of her own career in opera. The old lady was once the radiant young diva Marcia Mornay. In 1868 she was the toast of Europe, thanks to the tutelage of her voice instructor Nikolai Nazarov (John Barrymore). He proposes marriage, and Marcia accepts, more out of gratitude than love. In a euphoric pre-nuptial state, Marcia finds herself on Paris' Left Bank, where she meets handsome café crooner Paul Allison (Nelson Eddy). They meet again at a lavish Maytime festival, falling in love (to the accompaniment of Sigmund Romberg's most dazzling duets) in the process. Sadly, Marcia returns to Nazarov, while Paul goes off to America to lick his wounds. Seven years later, Marcia, making her New York debut in a fictional opera based on the works of Tchaikovsky, finds that the leading baritone is none other than Paul. Unable to envision life without her new love, Marcia begs Nazarov for a divorce. He smiles slyly and promises to give her her freedom-whereupon he heads to Paul's apartment and kills the poor fellow. The flashback done, Marcia advises her pretty young neighbor that one can never have both love and a career. Out of tragedy grows the happy ending, in which the spirit of the now-deceased Marcia is reunited with Paul in a blossom-filled Hereafter. On paper, Maytime may seem to be the ultimate in Hoke, but even in recent revival showings the film never fails to cast its spell over an audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, (more)
- 1938
In this socially conscious drama a sextet of juvenile delinquents flee a crime screen in their seedy ghetto and wind up getting invited to a posh mansion by a wealthy criminal. Their attempts to accustom themselves to the opulent surroundings nearly results in the destruction of the manse. Eventually they boys decide that they must return to the city and pay for their crime. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mischa Auer, Mary Boland, (more)
- 1938
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
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall, (more)
The first of the "splinter" groups to emerge from the Dead End Kids was the Little Tough Guys, consisting of veteran Dead-Enders Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly and David Gorcey (Hally Chester and Billy Benedict would also appear in this new grouping from time to time). Though most of the "Little Tough Guy" vehicles were played for laugh, the initial entry was not. When labor activist Jim Boylan (Edward Pawley) is executed for a murder he didn't commit, his son Johnny (Billy Halop) decides to become a crook. He and his pals Pig (Huntz Hall), String (Gabe Dell), Sniper (David Gorcey) and Dopey (Hally Chester), embark upon a crime spree, aided and abetted by thrill-seeking rich kid Cyril (Jackie Searl), who happens to be the son of the district attorney. While committing a robbery orchestrated by Cyril, Johnny and Pig are trapped by the police. Pig makes a break for it, only to be killed in a hail of bullets. This startling turn of events convinces Johnny to mend his ways, but not before an obligatory stretch in reform school with his fellow Little Tough Guys-including Cyril! Beyond the spectacle of Huntz Hall dying in agony, Little Tough Guy offers very little that is new and innovational: still, the film made money, prompting a whole series of "Little Tough Guy" quickies from the Universal assembly line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Helen Parrish, (more)
- 1939
This romance is set during the Dartmouth College Winter Carnival and follows the exploits of a woman recently divorced from a count who has returned to her alma mater for the annual carnival. A former carnival queen, she watches as her lovely little sister vies for the title. She also flirts with her stodgy old boy friend, a professor. Romance blooms amid the din and colorful activities. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sheridan, Richard Carlson, (more)
- 1939
In this sequel to 1936's Three Smart Girls, Deanna Durbin is back as the most precocious of a sister trio: the other girls are Nan Grey and Helen Parrish (replacing the first film's Barbara Read. Three Smart Girls dealt with the girls' efforts to reunite their parents. In the sequel, Durbin pokes her turned-up nose into the affairs of her older sisters, hoping to find suitable husbands for them. The musical highlight is Durbin's rendition of the old wedding-day standard "Because," which resulted in a bestselling record. In 1939, Deanna Durbin could have appeared in a film version of a seed catalogue and still make scads of money for Universal Studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Charles Winninger, (more)
- 1939
Best remembered as the film in which 17-year-old Deanna Durbin receives her first screen kiss, First Love is a modernized variation of the Cinderella legend (there's even "six white mice" in the form of a sextet of motorcycle policemen!). The film casts Durbin as Constance Harding, the poor relation of wealthy tycoon James Clinton (Eugene Pallette). When she comes to live with the Clinton family, she runs headfirst into her eccentric, social-climbing aunt Grace (Leatrice Joy) and her nasty, nightclub-hopping cousin Barbara (Helen Parrish); James himself rather likes the girl, but most his attention is directed towards dealing with his monumentally lazy son Walter (Lewis Howard in a comic turn). Left behind on the night of a fancy society ball, Constance is championed by the household servants, who provide her with a gorgeous gown and transportation to the event. She meets her Prince Charming in the form of likeable socialite Ted Drake (Robert Stack in his film debut)- but, just after the stroke of midnight, leaves her slipper behind. Later that night, the hateful Barbara convinces Constance that Ted was only toying with her emotions. Sorrowfully, Constance decides to return to school and bury herself in her studies, only to be dissuaded by her head teacher (Kathleen Howard), who made the same mistake herself many years before. Naturally there's a happy ending, with time to spare for Durbin to sing five numbers, including the Puccini-inspired aria "One Fine Day". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Deanna Durbin, Robert Stack, (more)
- 1940
This film contains the one and only cinematic group appearance by Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Bela Lugosi. Essentially a vehicle for bandleader Kay Kyser and his orchestra, the film finds Kyser hired to perform at the 21st birthday party of heiress Janis Bellacrest (Helen Parrish), the sweetheart of Kay's business manager Chuck Deems (Dennis O'Keefe). The party is held at Janis' family mansion, a spooky old joint dominated by astrology-happy Aunt Margo (Alma Kruger). Among the guests stranded in the mansion by inclement weather are mysterious mystic Prince Sallano (Bela Lugosi), family attorney Judge Mainwaring (Boris Karloff) and Professor Fenninger (Peter Lorre). Though advertised as a "mystery", the film throws the whodunit angle out the window at midway point by revealing that Saliano, Mainwaring and Fenninger are in cahoots, planning to kill Janis to get their hands on her inheritance. These sinister goings-on do not impede Kyser's ability to stage several musical numbers, including "The Bad Humor Man", which, according to studio publicity, was supposed to have been performed by Karloff, Lorre and Lugosi. Once the plot is resolved, Kyser utilizes several of Saliano's props-including the then-new "Sonovox" machine and an electronic zapping device-on his radio program, that leads to a closing gag. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, (more)
- 1940
In this low-budget musical, two sets of politically ambitious parents attempt to pair up their youngsters who unfortunately despise each other and only pretend to like each other to please their parents. On the nights they are to go out, they sneak out with their respective true loves. It all works well until the unwilling couple find themselves falling in love for real. songs include: "I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now", and "Got Romance". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis O'Keefe, Constance Moore, (more)
- 1941
One wonders if the title Too Many Blondes was inspired by the well-publicized romantic peccadilloes of the film's star, Rudy Vallee. The plot centers on a husband-wife radio team, Dick (Vallee) and Virginia (Helen Parrish). When Dick is caught in an innocent but compromising situation with brassy blonde showgirl Hortense (Iris Adrian), Virginia is encouraged to inaugurate divorce proceedings by her oily ex-beau Ted (Jerome Cowan). It all winds up in Mexico, with Dick ardently chasing Virginia until she catches him. This being a Universal B-picture, it goes without saying that Shemp Howard shows up as comedy relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rudy Vallee, Helen Parrish, (more)
