Marie Prevost

In this melodrama a chorine endeavors to become a star, but it isn't easy. Her wealthy boyfriend wants to marry her until his snooty family rejects her. At her job, her boss is cruel to her. Still the woman persists and even gets jobs waiting tables and modeling. Luckily for her, a good friend stands behind her regardless of her luck and by the story's end, she comes to appreciate this and romance ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After nearly a decade of nominal "leading lady" roles, Carole Lombard landed her first genuine starring vehicle with Hands Across the Table. Reasoning that the way to a man's heart is through his cuticles, Regi Allen (Carole Lombard) takes a job as a manicurist at a fancy barbershop, unabashedly admitting that she hopes to use this position to snag a rich husband. Sure enough, Regi's charms prove irresistable to Allen Macklyn (Ralph Bellamy) a wealthy and charming invalid, who knows that the girl is a golddigger but doesn't care. The other man in Regi's life is Theodore "Ted" Drew III (Fred MacMurray), who though born into a wealthy family is stone broke, and on the verge of marrying a rich debutante (Astrid Allwyn) to replenish his lost fortune. Hoping to briefly escape this fate and his other financial problems, Theodore hides out in Regi's apartment. It is, of course, a platonic relationship: Having been burned in the past, Regi doesn't want to get romantically entangled with a pauper, while Ted is already promised to someone else. But, as is often the case in 1930s comedies, things don't quite turn out the way that either Regi or Ted expect. Full of delightful, unexpected touches, Hands Across the Table proved to be a major boost for Carole Lombard's career, and didn't exactly do any harm to up-and-coming Fred MacMurray either. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

To look at his later dramatic work, one would never guess that award-winning director George Stevens got his start working on two-reel comedies. But that's exactly where he cut his teeth, first as cinematographer, then director for Hal Roach and then as director of two-reelers for Universal and RKO. For this Universal short, Stevens teams up with Roach alumni James W. Horne and Len Powers. James Gleason stars as a cowboy who, along with his two pals Vince Barnett and Raymond Hatton, winds up with an orphaned baby. Being typical bachelor cowpokes, none of them know what to do with the infant. After their unsuccessful attempts at caring for it, they decide that one of them will just have to go and get married, and Gleason draws the unlucky card. The trio head for town, and Gleason quits his griping when he meets the plump, but still pretty Marie Prevost. It's Prevost who discovers that the baby is not actually a fledgling cowboy, but a girl, and Gleason's pals find mates of their own, eventually creating a baby boom back at the ranch. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Glamorous Jean Harlow had her first big starring role in this standard story of an innocent small town young woman corrupted by big city life. Harlow plays Cassie Barnes, who is bored with her life and jumps at the chance to move to New York City to join her old friend Gladys Kane (Mae Clarke). She gets an apartment with Gladys' friend Dot (Marie Prevost), whose life is not so glamorous -- she addresses envelopes to make money. Cassie quits her first job after her boss hits on her then becomes a model in the department store where Gladys works. There she falls for a philandering tycoon named Jerry Dexter (Walter Byron). Cassie eventually discovers that he is married. Jerry tries to claim that he's going to divorce his wife, but Cassie doubts it and dumps him. Gladys is the mistress of another married man, Arthur Phelps (Jameson Thomas), who keeps her happy with a well-furnished Park Avenue apartment. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Clark Gable was officially elevated to stardom with this airborne MGM action-adventure, but good old Wallace Beery (whom Gable disliked in real life) ended up with more screen time. They played Naval officers training in the newfangled art of dive bombing while spending a great deal of time squabbling over who is more macho. The two rivals, of course, end up crashing on a deserted atoll only to discover that behind the tough veneer they share a common goal. In the end, the gruff but lovable Beery sacrifices himself so that Gable and the stolid Conrad Nagel may live. As usual in this kind of testosterone-driven action fare, the girls are given short shrift and have to literally shout to be heard above the din. Dorothy Jordan is forgettable as Gable's love interest, but both Marjorie Rambeau and Marie Prevost, as a couple of goodhearted floozies, make the most of their all too brief moments. Hell Divers is the kind of film where action in the skies makes up for the lack of any real drama and where characters are constantly uttering such lines as "Gee honey, I'm just goofy about you!" The film was produced with full co-operation from the U.S. Navy on-location at San Pedro and in Panama. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Clark Gable went from supporting actor to star in the space of one year with Sporting Blood, adapted from a novel by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan. Gable is top-billed as a gambling house proprietor named Rid Riddell. When the owner of a prize thoroughbred loses heavily in Riddell's establishment, he is forced to give up the horse to the gambler as security. Rid enters the horse in several honest races, then pulls the animal during a crucial race in order to collect big money on the losses; then he plans to dope up the horse to assure future wins. But when the horse loses, the gambler, deeply in debt to mobsters, transfers ownership to one of his female dealers (Madge Evans), and then drops out of the plotline. Clark Gable isn't really the lead in Sporting Blood--actually he's something of a rat--but he's the one whom everybody in the audience remembers long after the final fadeout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the space of 74 minutes, Helen Hayes goes from naïve French country lass to elderly harridan in Sin of Madelon Claudet. Is it any wonder that she won an Academy Award? (She truly deserved this Oscar; the jury is still out concerning her cutesy supporting turn in 1969's Airport, which also copped her the gold statuette). Betrayed by artist Neil Hamilton, Hayes moves on to jewel thief Lewis Stone, who commits suicide to avoid arrest, leaving Hayes to her fate. After ten years in jail for her complicity in Stone's crimes, Hayes turns to the only profession open to her. She walks the streets to raise enough money to support her illegitimate son, who grows up to be Robert Young and who has no idea that Hayes is his mother. Thanks to his mother's anonymous financial support, Young is able to attend medical school, eventually becoming a wealthy doctor. Even allowing for the illogical nature of the plotline and the lachrymose dialogue, the heartrending final scenes of Sin of Madelon Claudet can still raise a lump in the throat after 65 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Silent screen star John Gilbert had a tough time adapting to the talkies--not due to his voice, as is commonly believed, but because his type of florid romantic fare was no longer popular. Gentleman's Fate attempted to alter Gilbert's image by casting him as a bootlegger...albeit a reluctant one. A wealthy socialite, Gilbert learns to his chagrin that he has been financed by his supposedly dead father (Ernest Torrence), a notorious rum runner. Ruined socially, Gilbert joins the rackets himself, vying with his brother (Louis Wolheim) for control of the bootlegging territory. The love of a good woman (Leila Hyams) leads Gilbert to attempt to break up the racket, but he loses his life in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a conservative family becomes alarmed when they begin believing their daughter is pregnant. They frantically begin searching for the father. The search is narrowed down to three possibilities: her ex-fiancee, her current one, or her legal guardian. Meanwhile, a drunken son marries the family maid, who is also pregnant. The daughter then admits her pregnancy is false--she only did it to cover for the maid. The son, now sober annuls the marriage and the maid marries the ice man, her real love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Reformed gold-digger Barbara Stanwyck falls in love with a womanizing and wealthy aspiring artist and tries to convince him that she has really changed in this romantic Frank Capra drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical, a Marine gets a furlough in New York City and falls in love. He later returns and finds that a lazy socialite has proposed to her. The lass is practical and decides to accept. Then she discovers that he is a bigamist. Fortunately, the sailor and his pals make sure that the creepy husband comes to justice. Songs include: "Sweethearts on Parade" (Carmen Lombardo, Charles Newman), "Dream of Me" (Irving Bibo, Henry Cohen), "Yearning Just for You" (Joe Burke, Benny Davis), and "Misstep" (Bibo). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide