Terrance Ray Movies
- 1942
Lucky Jordan (Alan Ladd) is a tough but good-natured New York racketeer who tries to finagle his way out of Army service. Despite his efforts, Jordan is drafted, but soon goes AWOL, with a lovely USO worker (Helen Walker) dogging his heels. She tries to arouse Jordan's patriotism, but he is unmoved until a gang of enemy spies beat up an old lady con artist (Mabel Paige) whom Lucky regards as a surrogate mother. Using his underhanded "street smarts," Jordan rounds up the spies and agrees to complete his military servitude. Lucky Jordan was one of several wartime films in which otherwise larcenous individuals are redeemed by channelling their talents for the good of Uncle Sam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Helen Walker, (more)
- 1942
Long underappreciated by film buffs, The Lady Has Plans is a screwball comedy disguised as an espionage melodrama. The title character is not star Paulette Goddard, as one might assume, but Nazi agent Rita Lenox (Margaret Hayes), who sneaks into Lisbon with a secret message written on her bare back in invisible ink. Through a case of mistaken identity, perky Sidney Royce (Paulette Goddard), the assistant to globetrotting radio correspondent Kenneth Harper (Ray Milland) is presumed to be Rita Lenox. At the behest of British Intelligence chieftan Ronald Dean (Roland Young), who hopes to extract the vital information supposedly scribbled on Sidney's back, our nonplussed heroine is treated like royalty in a posh Lisbon hotel. Meanwhile, Rita, having summed up the situation, simultaneously poses as Sidney. Once he's figured out what's what, Harper manages to waylay Rita and intercept the message, but neither he nor Sidney are out of the woods yet-not if German spy chief Baron Von Kemp (Albert Dekker) has anything to say about it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1942
Joan Crawford is the kissable bride of the title--but when the film opens, matrimony is the farthest thing from her mind. Crawford becomes a big-time executive upon inheriting her father's trucking business, which leaves her no time for such trivialities as romance. To enhance her business, Crawford arranges a marriage of convenience for her younger sister (Helen Parrish). At the wedding, Crawford meets reporter Melvyn Douglas, who is out to discredit Crawford....and you know what's coming next. They All Kissed the Bride was one of several 1942 productions originally slated for Carole Lombard, whose sudden death in a plane crash required all the major studios to reshuffle their production schedules to come up with last-minute Lombard replacements. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, (more)
- 1933
Love turns into an unhealthy obsession in this offbeat drama. Millie (Zasu Pitts) and Peggy (Boots Mallory) are two friends who leave behind the small town where they were raised to try their luck in New York City. Before long, Millie and Peggy meet Jimmy (James Dunn) and Mac (Terrance Ray); Millie is immediately attracted to Jimmy, but much to her displeasure she learns he's more interested in Peggy. Determined to have Jimmy as her own, Millie attempts to sew discord between Jimmy and Peggy by telling each of them foul lies about the other; when this fails, Millie becomes desperate and attempts to kill herself as an attention-getting device. The production history of Hello, Sister! was in many ways more interesting than the film itself. Originally titled Walking Down Broadway, the film was the first sound picture from the legendary Erich von Stroheim; hoping to mend the reputation as an egocentric spendthrift he acquired while directing epic-scale silent films, von Stroheim managed to bring in Walking Down Broadway on time and on budget. However, executives at 20th Century Fox were a bit puzzled by the film, which originally had a sub-plot suggesting a lesbian relationship between Millie and Peggy and other sexual undercurrents which were quite daring for the time. Uncertain about audience reactions to the movie, Fox brought in the less-than-distinguished Alfred Werker to re-shoot and re-edit von Stroheim's urban melodrama, and the resulting picture, entitled Hello, Sister!, was released without an on-screen directorial credit, and died a quick and little noticed death at the box office. No print of von Stroheim's original cut is known to exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Dunn, Boots Mallory, (more)
- 1932
James Cagney was originally pegged to play brash Broadway columnist Jimmy Russell in this pleasant if somewhat lightweight newspaper yarn, but when director William Wellman called "action," Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had replaced him. In love with pretty actress Mary Wodehouse (Frances Dee), Jimmy can only watch as gangster Eddie Shaw (Lyle Talbot) takes on the girl's mounting debt. Sending Jimmy on a wild goose chase to Atlantic City, Shaw then attempts to lure Mary to his penthouse but is instead confronted with the girl's gun-toting Aunt Hattie (Cecil Cunningham). Jimmy manages to escape Shaw's goons and arrives at Shaw's apartment just in time to watch Aunt Hattie hide the murder weapon. There is an attempt at a coverup, and the eventual ruling of the court reads suicide. The ambitious Mary, meanwhile, marries theatrical entrepreneur Max Boncour (André Luguet) and Jimmy vows to stay away from the "love racket" for good. Or at least until gal-pal Sally (Ann Dvorak) can convince him otherwise. Although George Raft is listed in most credits for Love is a Racket, he is not in the surviving print. The drama was retitled Such Things Happen for release in Great Britain, where the word "racket" meant something entirely different. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Ann Dvorak, (more)
- 1932
Undoubtedly inspired by Charles Lindbergh's unprecedented sudden fame (but not the ensuing tragedy), Mary McCall's 1932 novel The Goldfish Bowl was turned into a satirical comedy-drama featuring an engaging Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as a navy captain thrust into the limelight after saving his crew during a submarine disaster. With an unsolicited "personal manager" (played to the hilt by Walter Catlett) and a greedy corporation taking care of both ticker tape parades and all kinds of silly public relations stunts, Fairbanks discovers that he no longer has control of his life. He is constantly embarrassed by a novelty song, "Scotty Boy" (vigorously performed by Broadway crooner Clarence Nordstrom), and even wedded bliss to the understanding Mary Brian is turned into a public spectacle. Fortunately, a Danish sailor (Ivan Linow) saves a dog from drowning and instantly takes Fairbanks' place in the public awareness. Afraid of becoming celebrities once again after saving a car from being wrecked by an express train, the reluctant hero and his bride drive away as fast as they can, happy to begin a new, anonymous life in teeming New York City. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Mary Brian, (more)
- 1932
Robert E. Sherwood's play This Is New York was the source for Two Kinds of Women, appropriately filmed at Paramount's Long Island studios. Miriam Hopkins stars as Emma Krull, the free-spirited daughter of a South Dakota senator (Irving Pichel). Warned by her father that New York City is a den of sin and vice, Emma decides to disprove this by heading to the Big Apple herself. Here she meets randy playboy Joseph Greshman (Phillips Holmes), and manages to wangle a proposal out of him almost immediately upon their meeting! Unfortunately, Greshman is presently married to gold-digging chorus girl Phyllis Adrian (Wynne Gibson), who doesn't intend to let him -- or his millions -- off the hook. One thing leads to another, and before long Phyllis has taken a fatal header off of a skyscraper. The ensuing scandal obliges Senator Krull to travel to New York to see what's going on. Rather than say "I told you so," the Senator embraces his daughter and secures a promise that the now-contrite Greshman will give up the Big City and settle down in South Dakota. Director William C. DeMille does a masterful job keeping the audience's mind off the fact that "daughter" Miriam Hopkins is exactly eleven years younger than her screen "daddy" Irving Pichel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Phillips Holmes, (more)
- 1932
Life Begins is an episodic Warner Bros. programmer about one unusually busy night in a maternity ward. Loretta Young is the central character, a convicted murderess who has been impregnated by her gangster boyfriend. She is moved to the hospital to give birth, sharing ward space with hard-boiled Glenda Farrell, who's willing to sell her unborn child, and several other mothers-to-be from various walks of life. Under the benign supervision of head nurse Aline MacMahon, most of the babies are born safely, though the repentant Young dies in the process. Based on a play by Mary McDougal Axelson, Life Begins was remade as A Child Is Born (1940), which was not nearly as effective (or as frank) as the original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Eric Linden, (more)
- 1931
In this comedy, a successful owner of a meat-packing plant tries to pass on his obsession for punctuality and rules to his two sons. But both of them are spoiled playboys who care little for time. One loves cafe society and the many girls he meets there; the other has bohemian affectations and hangs out with the artists in Greenwich Village. One day, their rigid stodgy father meets a lively Irish lass who inspires him to break free from his voluntary enslavement. He begins dressing stylishly and hanging out at the race track. The sons see him squiring the girl about town and they are appalled. When the father learns that the girl is being blackmailed, he rushes to her aid. The sons are so upset that they become responsible and more like he once was. Fortunately, it all turns out for the best when they discover that their father and the married girl only had a platonic relationship. She ends up reconciling with her husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Lucien Littlefield, (more)
- 1931
No relation to the 1935 Mascot programmer of the same name, Girls Demand Excitement offers an early starring appearance by John Wayne. The Duke is cast as college basketball player Peter Brooks, who's in love with sports-happy Joan Madison (Virginia Cherrill). Their hot-and-cold relationship culminates in a boys-against-the-girls basketball match, a scene only slightly less ridiculous than an early sequence in which a bunch of sexually integrated psychology students are assigned to test the "emotional reaction" to a group necking session! Evidently designed as a musical, Girls Demand Excitement contains no songs whatsoever, robbing future generations of the spectacle of John Wayne serenading his lady love. With films like these, it's no wonder that Wayne had to start his career all over again in cheap westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Cherrill, John Wayne, (more)
- 1931
The first of director John Ford's three films for 1931 was the now-forgotten The Seas Beneath. Essentially a reworking of Ford's 1930 effort Men Without Women, the story concentrates on the WWI submarine crew captained by rough-and-tumble Bob Kingsley (George O'Brien). While trying to coerce a German sub into a winner-take-all battle, Kingsley learns that his sweetheart Anna-Maria Von Stuben (Marion Lessing) is an enemy spy, and that her brother and fiancee are officers on the German vessel. Adding to the intrigue is Mona Maris, a sexy Cabaret singer who likewise moonlights as a spy. The Seas Beneath was largely filmed on location in and around Catalina Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Marion Lessing, (more)
