Esther Ralston
- 1946
A remake of 1934's Wednesday's Child (itself based on a play by Leopold L. Atlas) RKO's Child of Divorce stars 11-year-old Sharyn Moffett in the title role. When her parents (Regis Toomey and Madge Meredith) break up, Sharyn finds herself in the middle of a bitter custody battle. It soom becomes obvious that her mother and father really aren't all that interested in her welfare, but are merely using her as a pawn for their own selfishness. Unlike most other Hollywood divorce dramas, this one ends on a downbeat note, which undoubtedly adversely affected its box-office appeal. Made on a shoestring, Child of Divorce was probably not intended to be a hit, but instead a "prestige" picture for the studio. The production represented the feature-film directorial debut of Richard O. Fleischer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharyn Moffett, Regis Toomey, (more)
- 1941
In this crime drama set on the seedy waterfront of San Francisco, a longshoreman studies in his spare time to become an aircraft mechanic. He is also in love with a barmaid who works at her father's saloon. One day at the bar, the longshoreman gets into a fight with a man who is later found dead. Naturally, the longshoreman becomes the prime suspect and is arrested. There are two men who can prove him innocent, but they are in league with the real killer, a fugitive from Alcatraz. Meanwhile, a priest, a drunk, and the girl's father try to prove that the longshoreman is innocent by finding the fugitive's wife. The barmaid and the trampy wife then get in a big fight. In the end, the priest and the fugitive wrestle it out and the thief gets his just desserts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burgess Meredith, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1940
To quell the rumors that musical stars Alice Faye and Betty Grable detested each other (actually they were fast friends, if not close buddies), 20th Century-Fox cast both ladies in their 1940 "inventory" musical Tin Pan Alley. Set in the years just prior to and during WW1, the film casts Faye and Grable as Katie and Lily Blaine, a singing-sister act playing the vaudeville circuits of the land. Ambitious songwriter Skeets Harrigan (John Payne) senses star potential in Katie Blaine, and his efforts to promote her-and his tunes-at all costs result in a great deal of ill-will before the inevitable happy ending. Counterpointing the likeably ruthless Skeets is his ebullient partner Harry Calhoun (Jack Oakie), who spends most of the picture trying to find suitable lyrics for a novelty ditty he's written, a quest that proves unsuccessful until a stuttering soldier inspires him to write "K-K-Katie". With the exception of the Mack Gordon-Harry Warren song "You Say the Sweetest Things Baby", all the tunes heard in Tin Pan Alley were popular during the period depicted in the film, including "Moonlight Bay", "Honeysuckle Rose", and "Goodbye Broadway, Hello France". The film's best ensemble piece is "The Shiek of Araby", with corpulent "potentate" Billy Gilbert matching the lissome Alice Faye and Betty Grable step for step. Incidentally, this number was one of several to be severely trimmed before final release: removed entirely was a delightful sequence involving the Tin Lizzie-inspired song "Get Out and Get Under", though this scene later appeared on a cable-TV compendium of excised 20th Century-Fox musical highlights. The winner of a 1940 Oscar for Alfred Newman's score, Tin Pan Alley was remade in 1950 as I'll Get By. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, Betty Grable, (more)
- 1938
Spy Ring (aka International Spy) was designed as a trial balloon for new Universal contractee William Hall. He is cast as Captain Todd Hayden, star player of an army-camp polo team. What Hayden doesn't know is that some of his polo cronies are enemy spies, anxious to steal the plans for a revolutionary new anti-aircraft gun. After miles and miles of polo footage, the Captain reveals that the head of the spy ring is blonde femme fatale Jean Bruce (Esther Ralston). This extremely minor film is of marginal interest today because of the onscreen presence of leading lady Jane Wyman and the offscreen omnipresence of cult director Joseph H. Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hall, Jane Wyman, (more)
- 1938
An excellent cast elevates the quality of this ultra-cheap independent effort. Adrienne Ames stars as Helene, the owner of a posh beauty salon and reducing parlor. Most of Helene's clients are from the society's upper crust, but that doesn't prevent them from dishing out vitriolic gossip with reckless abandon. Columnist Terry Kent (William Newell) has a field day printing up the "hot" tidbits bandied about in the salon, causing no end of trouble for Helene and her boyfriend Pat Fenton (Craig Reynolds). The supporting cast is a film buff's dream, consisting of such veterans as Esther Ralston, George Meeker, Pert Kelton and Vivien Oakland. Slander House was based on a novel by Madeline Woods. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrienne Ames, Craig Reynolds, (more)
A master blend of high comedy and tense emotional drama, A Letter of Introduction reteams Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, and Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, who'd previously costarred in the negligible Goldwyn Follies. Menjou plays John Mannering, a Barrymoresque actor who years earlier had divorced his wife and severed his relationship with his daughter Kay (Andrea Leeds). Now a grown woman, Kay aspires to an acting career, fully determined to make it on her own without her father's help. She goes so far as to change her last name to Martin, and to keep her actual relationship to Mannering a secret from the public. This set-up leads to a dizzying series of complications, including the breakup of Mannering's romance with a tootsie named Lydia Hoyt (Anne Sheridan), who falsely assumes that Kay is Mannering's mistress, and Kay's own romantic travails with vaudeville hoofer Barry Paige (George Murphy). Meanwhile, Kay's ventriloquist friend Bergen and his dummy McCarthy rise to superstardom on radio. It is, in fact, Bergen and Charlie who are instrumental in reuniting the estranged Mannering and Kay, paving the way for the film's tear-stained conclusion. Unavailable for many years, A Letter of Introduction re-emerged on the Public Domain circuit in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, (more)
- 1937
Carefully measuring the success of Republic's Clyde Beatty serial Darkest Africa, Columbia top-billed wild animal hunter Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck in the 15-chapter Jungle Menace. The story takes place in the mythical Asian province of Seemang, where rubber planter Edward Elliot (John St. Polis) owns a huge and profitable plantation. When one of Elliot's shipments is hijacked by river pirates, his daughter Dorothy (Charlotte Henry) and her planter friend Tom Banning (William Bakewell) narrowly escape with their lives. Things get worse when Elliot himself is shot by an unknown assailant, at which point soldier-of-fortune Frank Hardy (Buck) takes a hand in matters. For the rest of the serial, Hardy tries to ascertain the identity of the mysterious villain who wishes to drive Elliot off his property, while poor Dorothy is subjected to one jungle peril after another. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Buck, Reginald Denny, (more)
- 1937
Former musical comedy star Edward N. Buzzell called the shots on the Universal programmer As Good as Married. John Boles plays a wealthy businessman whose inability to keep his love life in order threatens both his financial and emotional well-being. Faithful secretary Doris Nolan is determined to save Boles from himself. She marries him "in name only" to keep him away from his arduous lady friends, and to provide him with an income tax deduction. Love, of course, isn't supposed to enter into the picture, but you know how these things turn out. As Boles' architect friend, Walter Pidgeon plays the "Ralph Bellamy" part of the guy who loses the girl. For an essentially minor comedy, As Good as Married boasts an impressive behind-the-camera talent lineup: F. Hugh Herbert co-adapted the screenplay from "an idea" by Norman Krasna. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Boles, Doris Nolan, (more)
- 1937
We're in the Legion Now stars two veterans of the silent screen, Reginald Denny and Esther Ralston, both of whom were old enough to know better. Denny and comedian Vince Barnett play Dan and Spike, a couple of American gangsters who use the Foreign Legion as a hideout. Amazingly, the two crooks end up as heroes by blowing up an enemy garrison -- or perhaps it's not so amazing, since they utilize mob tactics to pull off this act of bravado. Though billed second, Esther Ralston has relatively little to do in comparison to the film's other leading ladies Eleanor Hunt and Claudia Dell (both graduates of the "B"-western mills). The film's only distinction is that it was shot in Hirlacolor, an inexpensive but eye-pleasing color process named in honor of producer George A. Hirliman (most existing prints are in black and white). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reginald Denny, Esther Ralston, (more)
- 1937
Real-life flying ace Frank Hawks stars in the 15-chapter Columbia serial The Mysterious Pilot. Running the gamut of emotions from A to B, Hawks is cast as Jim Dorn, mapmaker for the Royal Canadian Air Force. With his sidekicks, a mountie named Kansas (Rex Lease) and an Indian named Luke (Yakima Canuttt), Jim shields Jean McNain (Dorothy Sebastian) from the villainous machinations of her former fiance Carter Snowden (Kenneth Harlan). It is difficult to determine Snowden's motives, though it can't be denied that he's one of the most resourceful villains in serial history. Mysterious Pilot is capped by an offbeat climax wherein the hero is rescued by the heroine! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Hawks, Dorothy Sebastian, (more)
Released by Monogram in 1937, Shadows of the Orient was actually produced independently several years earlier by Larry Darmour. Arrested in a raid on a Chinese gambling joint, judge's daughter Viola Avery (Esther Ralston) is rescued from disgrace by King Moss (Sidney Blackmer), owner of the establishment. In return, Moss expects Viola to string along with him romantically, and to help him with his busy alien-smuggling racket. But stalwart immigration inspector Baxter (Regis Toomey), himself in love with Viola, puts an end to Moss' activities for good. The fact that Shadows of the Orient was three to four years old when it came off the shelf was obvious in its tatty production values and antiquated costumes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Ralston, Regis Toomey, (more)
- 1936
Hollywood Boulevard is a trenchant look at the underside of Tinseltown. Though the nominal hero is a disillusioned screenwriter played by Robert Cummings (whose dialogue anticipates the lines spoken by William Holden in 1950's Sunset Boulevard), the focus of the story is John Halliday as a washed-up film star. Desperately, Halliday accepts the offer from a sleazy "tell all" magazine to write his memoirs. The actor's estranged family is devastated by the resultant scandal, and out love for his daughter (Marsha Hunt), Halliday tries to break his contract. But the publisher (C. Henry Gordon) threatens to ruin Halliday's comeback attempt if he refuses to write the rest of his memoirs. In a scuffle, the publisher kills Halliday, and the blame falls on the actor's daughter. But wise guy screenwriter Cummings gets to the truth of the mystery. A slick B-plus crime melodrama, Hollywood Boulevard has the added bonus of several well-known silent film personalities (Charles Ray, Francis X. Bushman, Maurice Costello, Mae Marsh etc.) in cameo roles, as well as a guest appearance by Gary Cooper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Halliday, Marsha Hunt, (more)
- 1936
The ambitious Republic melodrama The Girl From Mandalay was based on Tiger Valley, a novel by Reginald Campbell. The title character is Mandalay resort entertainer Jeanie, played by Kay Linaker. When his aristocratic sweetheart gives him the air, Britisher John Foster (Conrad Nagel) marries Jeanie on the rebound. This sparks a minor scandal when Foster's best friend Kenneth Grainger (Donald Cook) assumes that Jeanie is Foster's mistress instead of his wife and treats her accordingly. It takes the invention of a fever epidemic and a marauding tiger to wash away all misunderstandings and hurt feelings, though the audience is left with the feeling that Jeanie would be better off if both Foster and Grainger got out of her life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Conrad Nagel, Kay Linaker, (more)
- 1936
This second of 20th Century-Fox's Dionne Quintuplets vehicles brings back Jean Hersholt as kindly Canadian obstetrician Dr. Dafoe. The good doctor faces none of the professional crises that plagued him in the first Dionne picture The Country Doctor. Instead, a testimonial dinner is arranged for him, where some of the thousands of people Dafoe helped bring into the world have been invited to honor the humble physician. But Dafoe gives as well as takes; sensing that some of those assembled to honor him have acute personal problems, the doctor sets about to solve them. Reunion would be rendered obsolete when the media did a turnaround in the late 1930s and began vilifying the real Dr. Dafoe for his alleged exploitation of the Dionne quints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Hersholt, Rochelle Hudson, (more)
- 1935
Perhaps the best of Mascot Pictures' feature-film releases, Ladies Crave Excitement is also one of the fastest 69 minutes ever put on film. Norman Foster and Eddie Nugent play Don and Bob, a pair of ace newsreel cameraman for The March of Events, forever keeping one step ahead of their competition. Swept up in the boys' adventures is thrill-seeking heiress Wilma Howell (Evalyn Knapp), who eventually proves to be a valuable member of the team. After a dizzying series of hairbreadth escapes, Don once again scoops his rivals by rounding up a gang of crooks, with the not inconsiderable help of the resourceful Wilma. One interesting aspect of Ladies Crave Excitement is the suggestion that newsreel photographers regularly "stage" events to make things more exciting; in one amusing scene, a storm at sea is re-created on a studio soundstage, as "captain" Christian Rub is doused with bucket after bucket of cold water. Future TV favorites Milburn Stone and Marie Wilson pop up unbilled as a sailor and his date, while perennial Superman villain Herb Vigran appears as a wisecracking photographer. Serving as film editor on Ladies Crave Excitement was director-in-training Joseph H. Lewis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Foster, Evelyn Knapp, (more)
- 1935
In this romantic comedy, a man marries his Russian lover and discovers that she has a large extended family. He is utterly overwhelmed and decides that the only way he will be able to free himself of their burden will be to make them famous. Along the way, he keeps running into the bold lover of his new bride. Mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Pryor, June Clayworth, (more)
- 1935
In this high-flying mystery set aboard a cross-country flight to New York, some of the passengers are kidnappers who are trying to locate a hidden cache of loot. Unfortunately, something goes wrong during the trip and the pilots must land the plane in the Arizona desert during a terrible storm. There all of the passengers and crew find cramped accommodations in a lonely farmhouse where murder, mystery and mayhem occur. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Ralston, Onslow Stevens, (more)
- 1935
Perhaps Mascot Pictures' The Marines are Coming would have been more credible had it been made 10 years earlier. Stars William Haines, Esther Ralston and Conrad Nagel are game, but all three are a bit long in tooth for their characters. In a throwback to his silent films, Haines plays a wise-guy marine, while Nagel is his more-serious best friend. Both men vie for the attentions of cute blonde Ralston, but South-of-the-Border tootsie Armida complicates matters. Everything is resolved after an exciting battle between the U.S. Marines and a gang of Mexican bandits. William Haines retired from films after The Marines are Coming, going on to a highly successful career as a Hollywood interior decorator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Haines, Esther Ralston, (more)
- 1935
Grand Hotel meets Twentieth Century in this Mascot feature. Evelyn Venable stars as Patricia Wells, a tempestuous stage actress who impulsively elopes on opening night of her newest play. Wells and her new fiancée Fred Arnold (Ralph Forbes) book adjoining compartments on the Streamline Express, while her conniving producer Jimmy Hart (Victor Jory) tags along, disguised as a waiter. This is but one of several interconnecting subplots (including a menage a trois and the impending birth of twins), but it's the most entertaining of the batch. Also on board are Sidney Blackmer, Esther Ralston, and a host of other familiar faces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Venable, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1935
Writer-director-star Willard Mack had been dead and gone for several years by the time Together We Live managed to attain a theatrical release. A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who are appalled by the burgeoning radical movement in America. One of these vets is Hank (Willard Mack), who must suffer dissension in his own home when his two sons begin attending communist meetings. When the subversives take to the streets to spread their doctrine in a loudmouth fashion, Hank rallies his fellow senior citizens to form a united front against the enemies of democracy. Unfortunately, the "good guys" come off as lawless vigilantes, which may or may not have been Mr. Mack's intention. Surprisingly, Together We Live was not revived during the postwar Red Scare, even though it isn't much worse than such "commies under the bed" epics as The Red Menace and Big Jim McLain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willard Mack, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1935
Mr. Dynamite was based on the Dashiel Hammett novel On the Make. Edmund Lowe plays jaunty private eye T. N. Thompson, or T.N.T. ("Mistery Dynamite", get it?) Nothing pleases Thompson more than running rings around the San Francisco police force, headed by the dyspeptic detective King (Robert Gleckler). On this occasion, Mr. Dynamite stumbles upon several corpses, taking it all in stride as he follows the trail of clues to the guilty party. Alas, he's broken several laws along the way, thus our hero is forced to hop the first train out of town, accompanied as always by faithful secretary Lynn (Jean Dixon). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Jean Dixon, (more)
- 1934
After directing three of Universal's finest horror films, James Whale shifted gears with the elegant romantic comedy By Candlelight. Though quite miscast, Paul Lukas successfully conveys the role of Josef, ultra-dutiful valet to the libidinous Count Von Bommer (Nils Asther). Falling in love with Marie (Elissa Landi), whom he assumes to be a countess, Josef poses -- quite convincingly -- as his rakish master. The catch: Marie is herself a poseur, a mere maidservant to Count and Countess Von Rischenheim (Lawrence Grant, Dorothy Revier). Based on a play by Siegfried Geyer, By Candlelight is chock full of delightfully double-entendre pre-Code dialogue and dextrous directorial touches. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elissa Landi, Paul Lukas, (more)
MGM's Sadie McKee is a superb example of how the "committee" system of moviemaking in the 1930s could sometimes yield unexpected delights. It all begins when Sadie McKee (Joan Crawford) is brought to big bad old New York by glib vaudevillian Tommy (Gene Raymond), only to be unceremoniously dumped in favor of actress Dolly (Esther Ralston). Cast adrift, our Sadie lands a nightclub job, where she meets genially intoxicated millionaire Brennan (Edward Arnold). Accepting his drunken marriage proposal, Sadie must endure the slings and arrows of Brennan's friends and family, who consider her a gold-digger. Meanwhile, Sadie's former boss Michael (Franchot Tone), the one true love of her life, waits and waits and waits to see what's really on the girl's mind! And as a bonus, this is the film that introduced the peppy ditty "All I Do Is Dream of You". The labyrinth plotline of Sadie McKee is proof enough that more than one screenwriter had a hand in its creation: but instead of chaos, the film is irresistibly watchable, full of unexpected plot twists and marvelous little surprises. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1934
Universal's Romance in the Rain is a satire of network radio, a popular target of early-'30s movies. On behalf of dithery magazine publisher J. Franklyn Blank (Victor Moore), press agent Charlie (Roger Pryor) stages a "Cinderella contest" in search of new female talent for the airwaves. The winner turns out to be Cynthia (Heather Angel), a slum girl whom Charlie had previously befriended during a heavy rainstorm. Cynthia is madly in love with Charlie, but he doesn't realize it until his "Cinderella" has nearly been wed to someone else. Meanwhile, Blank has a few romantic travails of his own with his aggressive self-appointed fiancee Gwen (Esther Ralston), who literally drags him to the Justice of the Peace at film's end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roger Pryor, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1933
Before it became one of Hollywood's busiest B-picture mills, Monogram Pictures had a fondness for literary adaptations (The Moonstone, Jane Eyre etc.) Monogram's 1933 Black Beauty was, of course, based on the classic novel by Anna Sewell. Only a few of the many anecdotal adventures of the titular black horse are dramatized herein. Black Beauty is raised by a loving family, is abused by unloving owners, then returns to the loving family again. Silent movie star Esther Ralston is top-billed, but the true acting honors go to Black Beauty herself. The story would be remade by 20th Century-Fox in 1946, and for television several times over. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Ralston, Alexander Kirkland, (more)
