Marjorie Rambeau Movies

One screen legend tips his hat to another as James Cagney portrays horror film icon Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces. Joseph Pevney's bio-pic takes a somewhat whitewashed view of Chaney's career, but Cagney is nothing short of riveting in the lead. The film begins as Chaney, the son of two deaf parents, is tasting success in vaudeville as a knockabout juggler, mime, and quick-change artist. Chaney meets Cleva Creighton (Dorothy Malone) and hires her as his assistant. They fall in love and marry, but when Chaney reveals his parents are deaf mutes, she recoils in revulsion. When she gives birth to a son, she refuses to look at him, thinking their child will also be deaf. Chaney proves her wrong, but Cleva reveals an underlying psychological affliction that grows in intensity as Chaney's vaudeville success increases. When Chaney becomes a vaudeville star, Cleva walks out on both Chaney and her son. Chaney's son is sent to a home, since after Cleva's departure, he hasn't the money to support him. To get his son back, he travels to Hollywood and takes every bit role available, using his gift for creative disguises to land several roles in one film. Chaney becomes well respected for his talents and his popularity becomes greater, and he eventually becomes a superstar. Along the way, he meets Hazel Bennett (Jane Greer) and they fall in love and marry. But his happiness is shattered when Cleva comes back into his life and demands the return of her son. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Miscegenation, that old reliable bugaboo of many a Southern-based novel, is at the center of Hamilton Basso's The View from Pompey's Head. The film version stars Richard Egan as a New York lawyer who returns to his Southern home town to investigate an embezzlement charge. The victim is an ageing novelist (Sidney Blackmer), whose royalties are mysteriously disappearing; the novelist's wife (Marjorie Rambeau) suspects that her husband is being cheated. But it is the novelist himself who is siphoning off his earnings, in order to provide for his African-American mother, and to buy her silence regarding his mixed parentage. The wife is apprised of the situation, and agrees to keep mum. With all this going on, it's understandable that few viewers remember the love triangle between Richard Egan, Dana Wynter and Cameron Mitchell which motivates the rest of The View from Pompey's Head. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The film Bad For Each Other, together with stars Charlton Heston and Lizabeth Scott and director Irving Rapper, were originally assembled into a package by producer Hal Wallis for Paramount. Shortly thereafter, however, Wallis found it expedient to sell the whole package to Columbia, though the film still has the "look" of a Paramount "A"-picture. Heston plays poor-but-proud Army doctor Tom Owen, who through the influence of Pittsburgh socialite Helen Curtis (Lizabeth Scott) builds up a posh society practice. Though he's happy with the money and prestige, Dr. Owen is at heart a man of the people, and he'd much prefer tending to the families of the local steel miners. During a moment of extreme crisis, Owen is forced to choose immediately between the life offered him by Helen and the course he knows he should be following. Dianne Foster plays Joan Lasher, the girl Owen left behind when he began pursuing the ice-princess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Joan Crawford's first Technicolor feature has come to be known as a textbook example of "high camp." Crawford stars as musical comedy luminary Jenny Stewart, who has been hardened by the worst life has to offer. Romance enters her life in the form of her new piano accompanist, blinded war-veteran Tye Graham (Michael Wilding). The fact that Graham refuses to kowtow to the temperamental Jenny's demands, coupled with the adversarial behavior of Graham's seeing-eye dog, makes the pianist all the more attractive to the lonely songstress. Torch Song is a favorite of bad-movie buffs and female impersonators the world over: Highlights include Crawford's blackface musical number, and the now-classic scene in which she simulates blindness to better understand the taciturn Graham. Director Charles Walters, a former choreographer, appears as Crawford's two-left-feet dancing partner in the opening scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

At the last possible moment, convicted murderess Anne Marie St. Claire (Dorothy Lamour) is saved from execution. However, the newspapers have reported that Anne Marie is dead. She decides to use her status as a "corpse" to her advantage, leading to several amusing and melodramatic complications involving a gang of extortionists. Lucky Stiff is based on one of Craig Rice's "John J. Malone" stories, with Brian Donlevy as crafty, racket-busting attorney Malone. The film was produced by Jack Benny, a fact incessantly (and hilariously) plugged on Benny's radio program. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this light drama, Clark Gable once again played his stock-in-trade role of a rogue with a heart of gold. Charlie King (Gable) runs a casino, but, in a business that thrives among the unscrupulous, Charlie takes pride in running an honest game and treating his customers with fairness and respect. However, Charlie's wife Lon (Alexis Smith) doesn't care if he runs a fair game -- she regards gambling as a dirty and corrupt business, and no matter how honest Charlie may be, he's still involved in a wicked activity. Charlie's son Paul (Darryl Hickman) is also against him; when Paul gets in trouble and Charlie bails him out of jail, he refuses to leave with him, instead going home with mother. Charlie invites Paul to see what his casino is like, and Lon agrees that Paul should know just what his father does. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This campy little drama launched the career of B-girl Yvonne De Carlo. It is set during the Franco-Prussian war and chronicles the exploits of Salome, a beautiful Viennese dancer who falls for an American reporter and for him gets involved in cloak-and-dagger activities involving the Bismarck, before returning to Arizona with him. There, she uses her talent and abundant charms to inspire the lawless residents of his hometown to reform. They in turn, name the town after her. She then goes to San Francisco where she seduces and marries a wealthy Russian who builds her an opera house and gives her the happy life she had always craved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Edmund Lowe was old enough to know better when he starred in the anachronistic Monogram crime comedy Oh, What a Night! Lowe plays Rand, a suave gentleman jewel thief who plans to divest clueless dowager Lil Vanderhoven (Marjorie Rambeau) of her diamonds. Complicating matters is the appearance of Rand's young niece Valerie (Jean Parker), who has no idea what her uncle is up to. Rand's efforts to hide his profession from Valerie, and to successfully pull off the heist, makes for a hectic seven reels. Oh, What a Night! tries hard, but, after all, Monogram wasn't MGM, and Edmund Lowe wasn't William Powell. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this musical, which manages to look back with nostalgia upon prohibition and the depression (no small accomplishment), George Raft plays George, a hoofer looking back on his glory days. His memories are triggered when The Paradise Club, a nightspot where he used to work, is about to be turned into a bowling alley. In the Roaring '20s, George and his partner Billie (Janet Blair) were a star attraction at The Paradise, run by Nick (S.Z. Sakall). George wants his relationship with Billie to be as graceful off-stage as on, but he has several rivals vying for her affections, including gangster Steve (Broderick Crawford) and policeman Dan (Pat O'Brien). Marjorie Rambeau plays Lil, modeled after brassy nightclub owner Texas Guinan. Raft actually worked for Guinan in his early days as a dancer, and he gets a chance to show off his fancy footwork accompanied by a number of classic tunes, including "Alabamy Bound", "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", "Sweet Georgia Brown", and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Broadway was a loose remake of the 1929 Merna Kennedy vehicle of the same name. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Erskine Caldwell's once-scandalous novel Tobacco Road resulted in an equally steamy stage play by Jack Kirkland, which became one of the longest-running productions in Broadway history. This story of indigence and amorality amongst inbred "poor whites" (based on people Caldwell had known while growing up in Georgia) had to be heavily expurgated for movie consumption, put there was plenty of comedy and colorful characterizations to suit the purposes of director John Ford. Charley Grapewin stars as Jeeter Lester, shiftless patriarch of a large backwoods clan. The Lesters are about to be thrown off their land for nonpayment of rent, but anyone who tries to help them--or to alter their lifestyle--is chased away by the poverty-stricken but intensely proud Jeeter. Tobacco Road succeeded on the basis of its title alone, even though no one expected the film to be anywhere near as earthy as the stage version (it would have been impossible under prevailing censorship to include the play's famous opening scene, in which the family watches intently while a teenage girl masturbates!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In her third film for innovative director Gregory LaCava, Ginger Rogers briefly turns her back on her established screen image by playing the daughter and granddaughter of prostitutes. Determined not to pursue the "family business", Ellie May Adams (Rogers) opts for respectability, as personified by clean-limbed Ed Wallace (Joel McCrea, teamed with Rogers for the first time since 1933's Chance at Heaven). Alas, all of Ellie May's dreams of connubial bliss fly out the window when Ed is introduced to her alcoholic father Homer (Miles Mander), her round-heeled mother Mamie (Marjorie Rambeau) and her equally randy grandmother (Queenie Vassar). Briefly losing Ed's affections, Ellie May tearfully resigns herself to taking care of her family-but will she resort to the World's Oldest Profession to keep food on the table? Adapted from Victoria Lincoln's novel February Hill (Lincoln's name didn't appear on the credits due to legal entanglements), Primrose Path managed to retain a goodly portion of the novel's bite without unduly straining RKO Radio's relationship with Joe Breen's censorship office. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Eschewing action in favor of humor, this Hopalong Cassidy series entry has the usually black-clad hero (William Boyd) changing into dude apparel in order to investigate what ails the town of Del Oro, NM. Aligning himself with the ramshackle medicine show of Doc Rufus Bates (Earl Hodgins), proprietor, Hoppy quickly learns that everyone's favorite old lady, Ma Burton (Marjorie Rambeau), is in reality the ruthless leader of a gang of mine robbers. Convincing Ma that he is a former convict, Hoppy enlists the gang in a scheme to rob the Gardner silver mine but the plan goes awry when Ma overhears Hoppy's rookie sidekick, Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden), spill the beans to Paula (Bernadene Hayes), Doc's daughter. After escaping a fire at the mine, Hoppy and Lucky manage to bring both Ma and her henchmen to justice. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In his feature film debut, Glenn Ford plays a department-store clerk who saves up enough money to buy a small patch of land in Arizona. Unable to afford a car, Ford hitchhikes to his new home, and along the way teams up with a transient (Richard Conte) and an illegal alien (Jean Rogers). The girl is torn between both men, but ultimately opts for the clerk. To save the girl from deportation, the clerk marries her, and together they make a new life for themselves in his tiny Arizona homestead. Adapted from a story by Dalton Trumbo, Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence was directed by former silent film star Ricardo Cortez. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi