Daphne Pollard Movies

Amateur fighter and all-around bully Muggs McGinniss (Leo Gorcey) tries to cheat in a pool game with hustler Harry Wycoff (Gabriel Dell). He is thwarted by his own friend Danny Lyons (Bobby Jordan), who has some strong ideas about right and wrong and wants to keep his friend honest. Muggs has to knock Wycoff down with his fists to avoid paying off, and promises to get even with Danny and criticizing him as a coward, without the "killer instinct" it takes to win, in boxing or anything else, as far as Muggs is concerned. In revenge for his pummeling, Wycoff, who works for a local bookmaker, arranges to have Muggs kidnapped ahead of the amateur boxing match in which he's supposed to fight. Danny goes into the ring in his place and wins, but Muggs is convinced that Danny arranged the kidnapping. They clash over and over throughout the movie, in an amateur dance contest and as rivals for a job at a local garage, and over Danny's wish to marry Muggs' sister, and then Muggs finds out that he was all wrong -- that Danny had nothing to do with thekidnapping. But by then he's jealous of Danny, and continues riding him mercilessly, and Danny can't fight back because he's promised his mother never to fight in the street like a common hooligan. Muggs gets even more fierce in his resentment when Danny joins the army showing himself to be more of a man than Muggs and becoming a hero to the neighborhood in the bargain. Finally, Danny realizes that if Muggs is ever to grow up, someone is going to have to stand up to him. The two agree to settle their differences with their fists. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Working on the theory that the only thing funnier than Laurel and Hardy is two sets of Laurel and Hardys, Our Relations milks its central mistaken-identity situation for all it's worth. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are two solid citizens, happily married and highly respected in their community. One morning, Hardy receives a letter from his mother, containing an old photo of himself and Laurel with their twin brothers, Alf Laurel and Bert Hardy. Mamma also reveals that Alf and Bert turned out to be "bad lads" and ran off to sea, and that reportedly they'd been hanged for taking part in a mutiny. "Isn't that calamitous!" remarks Hardy, who conspires with Laurel to hide the facts about their no-good brothers from their wives. Meanwhile, in another part of town, the S.S. Periwinkle pulls into port. Among the crew members are the selfsame Alf and Bert, who have decided to entrust their pal Fin (James Finlayson) with their month's salary. Fin has promised to invest the dough so that the boys will become millionaires "before you can say Jack Robinson". Alf and Bert are then summoned to the cabin of their captain (Sidney Toler), who orders them to pick up a valuable package for him, then meet him later at Denker's Beer Garden. While waiting for the captain at Denker's, Alf and Bert are captivated by a pair of waterfront floozies, Alice (Iris Adrian) and Lily (Lona Andre). Talked into buying the girls a huge meal for which they haven't the necessary funds, Alf and Bert decide to go back to Fin and reclaim their money, leaving the contents of the captain's package-a valuable pearl ring-with tough waiter Joe Groagan (Alan Hale) as security. Later, Laurel and Hardy take their wives Betty (Betty Healy) and Daphne (Daphne Pollard) to lunch-and, inevitably, they end up at Denker's Beer Garden, where the equally inevitable mix-ups begin to occur. Things snowball from bad to worse before both sets of twins, an angry captain, a disgruntled Fin, the wives, the floozies, a genial drunk (Arthur Housman) and a brace of smooth gangsters (Ralf Harolde and Noel Madison) all converge at the upscale Pirate Club. Several slapstick complications later, Laurel and Hardy are captured by the gangsters, who threaten to dump the boys in the river with their feet encased in cement if they don't cough up the pearl ring. Alf and Bert come to the rescue, and all is well, at least until the film's boffo punchline. Based on W.W. Jacobs' short story The Money Box, Our Relations is perhaps the most plot-heavy of Laurel and Hardy's features for Hal Roach Studios. It is also one of their funniest, as well as their most lavishly produced. The film was officially listed as "A Stan Laurel Production"-as if Laurel hadn't been the prime creative force behind all of the team's previous films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stanley MacLaurel (Stan Laurel), the American "black sheep" of the MacLaurel clan, stows away on a cattle boat to Scotland in the company of his pal Ollie (Oliver Hardy) so that he can claim his share of his late uncle Angus Ian MacLaurel's fortune. Alas, Stan's inheritance consists of a snuffbox and a pair of bagpipes, while the bulk of the estate goes to Angus' granddaughter Lorna MacLaurel (June Lang) -- provided she move from Scotland to India, where she and her aunt Lady Vi Ormsby (Anne Grey) will reside with Vi's handsome brother, Colonel Gregor MacGregor (Vernon Steele) of His Majesty's Service. After nearly setting fire to their lodgings while trying to cook a fish, the penniless Stan and Ollie are booted out into the street, with Ollie rendered pants-less by a previous misadventure. Heading to a tailor shop to get a new suit of clothes on approval, the boys inadvertently join the British Army, and soon they're shipped off to Colonel MacGregor's regiment in India. Accompanying our heroes is Lorna's sweetheart, law clerk Alan Douglas (William Janney), who has joined the army to be reunited with his lady love. This could prove disadvantageous to Lady Vi, who has been scheming to separate Alan from Lorna and marry off the girl to Col. MacGregor, thereby gaining control of Lorna's fortune.

Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie get off on the wrong foot with their grouchy Sergeant (James Finalyson), redeeming themselves only when they help put down a native uprising (with the assistance of several fully-occupied beehives!) Though it proved to be their biggest moneymaker to date, Bonnie Scotland was one of the weaker Laurel & Hardy features, with far too much time devoted to the supporting characters. Too, the picture was rather raggedly re-edited after several unsatisfactory previews: as it now stands, the film stops cold after 80 minutes, without even bothering to wrap up the plotline. Still, it contains two of the team's funniest sequences: the boys' impromptu dance to the tune of "A Hundred Pipers", and the classic marching scene, wherein an out-of-step Stan manages to convince everyone in the regiment that they're out of step! Bonnie Scotland was later reissued theatrically as Heroes of the Regiment, and was distributed to TV in four abridged versions, each running approximately 20 minutes: All Wet, In a Mess, The Rookies and Bang! Bang! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a British aristocrat befriends a woman and hires her to begin distracting his son away from a conniving golddigger. She does, but finds herself falling in love with her titled boss instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Advertised as an "all star" film, Swing High is hardly that: The biggest name in the picture, both in terms of popularity and sheer marquee space, was Helen Twelvetrees. A variation of the 1926 German classic Variety, the film casts Twelvetrees and Dorothy Burgess as sisters Maryan and Trixie, a team of circus aerialists. When the two girls have a falling out over the affections of handsome Gerry (Fred Scott), it looks as though one of them will be taking a fall for real. This does eventually happen, but it ends up an act of fate rather than malice. It's amazing that the dramatic portion of the film is given any space at all, what with five musical numbers and the interminable comic antics of diminutive Daphne Pollard and phlegmatic Stepin Fetchit. Mack Sennett-graduates Chester Conklin and Ben Turpin make fleeting appearances, as do several genuine circus performers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Big Time was helmed by Howard Hawks' brother Kenneth. This well-paced early talkie stars Lee Tracy as a Broadway hoofer and Mae Clarke as his actress girlfriend. Teaming up, Tracy and Clarke become stars of the Manhattan nightclub circuit. Unfortunately, Tracy can't keep his hands off scheming chorine Josephine Dunn. As a result, the act breaks up: Clarke goes to bigger and better things, while Tracy is reduced to working as a Hollywood extra. Comedy relief is supplied by Stepin Fetchit and diminuitive Laurel and Hardy "regular" Daphne Pollard. As a bonus, director John Ford shows up in a cameo as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, a very early talkie, set in the splendiferous South Seas, a French lassie charms a sea captain who takes her for his wife and sets sail for his conservative New England home. There the staid locals are shocked by the captain's free-spirited bride. More trouble ensues when the bride becomes disenchanted with her new husband because she believes that he loves his ship more than he does her. In the end the sea captain sails to France. There he discovers that his bride has inherited a fortune. Songs include: "Raymond," "Bric-a-Brac," "Sidewalks of New York," "An Idyll of the South Seas," "If You Believed in Me," and the title song. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Virtuous Ann Hardy (Olive Borden) manages to land a job running the roulette wheel in a busy gambling emporium. Soon, however, Ann quits when she finds out the house -- and the wheel -- are crooked. Gambling boss Ted Wells (Huntley Gordon), impressed by Ann's integrity, falls in love with her, much to chagrin of Wells' ex-mistress Yvonne (Seena Owen). Seeking revenge, Yvonne arranges for Ann to pay a visit to the apartment of rapacious lothario Silk Oliver (Ernest Hilliard). When Silk attempts to rape the girl, she shoots him in self-defense, winning a courtroom acquittal by the skin of her teeth. Somewhat shaken up by all this, Ted promises to forsake gambling permanently if Ann will agree to marry him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although it ran a very scant four reels (it was actually 3,303 feet in length), comedy producer Mack Sennett marketed this film as a feature. In spite of its short length, it did have quite a bit going for it, not the least being the scenes of the Sennett bathing beauties, which were shot in Technicolor, and the presence of a very young Carole Lombard (with her first name spelled "Carolle") in a small role. On the negative side was the plot (typical for a Sennett film). Apparently, the original concept was to show where the bathing beauties came from, but after a reel, this idea was tossed out the window and the usual Sennett mayhem ensued (including a climax featuring a bunch of lions on the loose). Wilfred Ashcraft is a director of bathing beauty films (Mack Swain, creating a complete comic portrayal of Cecil B. DeMille, down to the puttees). As Minnie Stitch, tiny Daphne Pollard plays a wardrobe mistress. Ashcraft decides they need a big star and import the exotic Madam Zwibach from somewhere or another (Dot Farley). That's pretty much all there is to the story -- the rest is left up to witty title cards and, of course, the Technicolor bathing beauties. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide