Guy Bates Post Movies

This Technicolor musical remake of the 1936 comedy classic Libeled Lady isn't quite up to the standards of the original, but on its own terms is quite entertaining. Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn expertly assume the roles originally played by William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. Faced with a libel suit from socialite Connie Allenbury (Williams), newspaper editor Warren Haggerty (Wynn) cooks up a plan to beat Connie at her own game. To do this, he must rely upon the romantic chicanery of ex-employee Bill Stevens Chandler (Johnson), with Haggerty's fiancee Gladys Benton (Ball) caught in the middle. The comedy high point of the original Libeled Lady, in which William Powell is forced to demonstrate his (non-existent) prowess as a fisherman, is ably repeated in Easy to Wed when Van Johnson must prove his skills at duck-hunting. The songs aren't anything special, but Lucille Ball's superb comic performance is worth the admission price in itself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An innocent man is put on trial, but is he really as innocent as he claims? Diplomat David Talbot (William Powell) and his bride Lucienne (Hedy Lamarr) are enjoying a honeymoon in Paris when David is confronted by extortionists who demand money in exchange for not turning him in to the police. David has no idea what the men are talking about and ignores their threats, but the men prove good to their word, and David finds himself on trial for a series of thefts. At the trial, David's name is cleared when Henri Sarrow (Basil Rathbone) testifies that he knew the man who committed the crimes, a friend of his who recently died. However, after the trial, David meets Sarrow, who informs David that he lied under oath; according to Sarrow, David did indeed commit the robberies while suffering from amnesia after a severe blow to the head, and if he wants to keep the facts quiet, he'll do whatever Sarrow says. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

M.G.M.'s opulent costume drama Marie Antoinette marked a return to the screen after a two-year absence for reigning Queen of M.G.M. Norma Shearer. Shearer plays the title role of an Austrian princess who is married off to Louis Auguste (Robert Morley), the Dauphin of France. Marie, by becoming the Dauphine, finds herself plopped smack in the middle of French palace intrigue between Louis's father King Louis XV (John Barrymore) and his scheming cousin, the Duke of Orleans (Joseph Schildkraut). With Louis unable to consummate his marriage to Marie, she takes to holding elaborate parties and gambling her fortune away. In a casino, she meets the handsome Count Axel de Fersen (Tyrone Power) and they have an affair. But when Louis XV dies and Louis becomes King Louis XVI, Fersen takes his leave, telling her that he could carry on an affair with a dauphine but not the Queen of France. Marie vows to be a great queen and remain loyal to her king. But the Duke of Orleans is plotting against Louis XVI, financing the revolutionary radicals. When the monarchy is overthrown, Louis and Marie are thrown into prison, awaiting execution. But when word gets back to Fersen, he travels back to France in an attempt to rescue Marie. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Anna May Wong, who cornered the 1930s market in Eurasian heroines, stars in Daughter of Shanghai. Wong is on the trail of the criminals who murdered her father. The villains are running an illegal-alien operation, smuggling cheap Chinese and Mexican labor into San Francisco and killing those unlucky souls who prove "inconvenient". Wong takes a job as an exotic dancer in a Central American nitery, hoping to trap the murderers in the act. Though J. Carroll Naish and Buster Crabbe are top-billed, the actual hero of Daughter of Shanghai is Chinese actor Philip Ahn, playing an FBI agent protecting Wong from the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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, Rovi

This upbeat, socially-conscious drama offered viewers a look into the benefits of the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program begun by Roosevelt during the Depression. It tells the tale of two potential juvenile delinquents from the city who end up in a CCC camp. There they are forced to live in rugged, primitive conditions and work hard while maintaining high moral standards. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Mary Ellis, Paramount's answer to Columbia's Grace Moore, stars in the title role in this musical melodrama/whodunit. When her fiancé dies under mysterious circumstances, neophyte opera diva Mary Stuart (Ellis) flees to South America, assumes a new identity, and obtains a position with a local opera company. Although promising her new boss, Glinka (Guy Bates Post), to concentrate wholly on her art, Mary, now Maria, spends most of her energy rebuffing several lovesick gentlemen, including Philip Roberts (Norman Foster), whose uptight brother, David (Walter Pidgeon), at first dismisses her as a sordid femme fatale. Another marriage proposal leads to another murder and David finally begins to see a connection. While not fending off would-be suitors, Mary Ellis performs selections from the operas Isabelle and Bad Masque. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Ostensibly based on the life of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose smiling visage opened each of the 13 chapters, this fanciful serial depicted the travails of a globe trotting airline company. It seems that a villain known only as The Dragon (Arthur Loft) is determined to sabotage the company, who in desperation hires daredevil pilot Ace Drummond (John King) to investigate. By the time of the serial's 13th and final chapter -- "The World Akin" -- Drummond has not only managed to destroy The Dragon but also reunited lovely Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) with her long lost father (Montagu Shaw) and discovered a hidden mountain containing a fortune in jade. A former band singer with Ben Bernie, the rather bland John King later became "Dusty" King and enjoyed a minor career in B-Westerns. A legendary serial queen, blonde Jean Rogers gained her lasting reputation that same year when Universal cast her as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon. An edited feature version of Ace Drummond was released later in 1936 as Squadron of Doom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The tragic death from peritonitis of leading man Robert Williams marred the production of this oppressive triangle drama set in a French penal colony in Vietnam. Arriving at torrid Lao Bao, Therese Du Flos (Ann Harding) discovers that her fiancé, André Verlaine (Melvyn Douglas, who had replaced Williams) has become an alcoholic due to the pressures of the lonely job of running the prison. Distraught and fighting to regain her inner strength, Therese becomes a target for visiting Captain Remy Baudoin (Adolphe Menjou), a bounder who persuades her to leave the outpost with him. But André's faithful servant Nham (Clarence Muse) kills Baudoin, and when an uprising seems imminent, Therese stoically stands by her man. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This drama was based on the play by John Hunter Booth, which was adapted from the popular novel by Anna Katherine Green. In his cinematic debut, Guy Bates Post reprises the dual role he played on-stage. John Loder (Post) looks exactly like his cousin, John Chilcote (also Post), who is a member of Parliament. Because of his dissolute ways, Chilcote collapses, and Loder is called in to take his place so that the family honor can remain unsullied. Loder's masquerade is so successful that no one suspects him of being an impostor, not even Chilcote's estranged wife, Eve (Ruth Sinclair). Loder distinguishes himself with his actions, both in public and private, while the real Chilcote sinks further into the gutter until he finally dies. Loder decides to remain as John Chilcote, and marries Eve, who, up until Loder reveals his true identity, has believed she was falling in love with her husband all over again. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

A beautiful woman is imprisoned when she refuses to join a Shah's harem because she loves another. Shireen (Virginia Brown Faire) is thrown into solitary confinement and has a child in captivity fathered by Omar the tentmaker (Guy Bates Post). The Shah (Noah Beery) orders the Persian henchmen to throw both mother and child off a high cliff. The scheming Persians allow the child to be returned to Omar and throw a dummy off instead, and Shireen's life is spared but she is sold into slavery. Maurice B. Flynn play a Christian crusader, with perennial screen-villain Walter Long as the executioner. Watch for Boris Karloff as the holy man Imam Mowaffak. Patsy Ruth Miller plays Shireen as a young girl in this drama produced by Richard Walton Tully. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi