Frances Raymond Movies

In this lighthearted musical comedy, Marjory Stuart (Mary Martin) is a girl who works in the hatcheck room at a Manhattan nightclub and dreams of being a rich socialite herself. Toward that end, Marjory wants to land a rich husband, so she saves up her money and takes a cruise to the Caribbean, where she poses as wealthy debutante. Marjory quickly makes friends with Bubbles Hennessy (Betty Hutton), a brassy but good-natured singer who's on board to rendezvous with her boyfriend Wally Case (Eddie Bracken). Tagging along with Wally is his pal Pete Hamilton (Dick Powell), a beach bum with charm and personality but no bankroll. Bubbles, Wally, and Pete soon realize that Marjory is hardly a member of the upper crust, but they like her enough to help her snag the man she has her eye on, stiff-as-a-board millionaire Alfred Monroe (Rudy Vallee). However, just as Marjory begins making progress with Alfred, she and Pete begin to realize that they've fallen in love. Both Betty Hutton and Mary Martin sing several songs along the way (Hutton's standout number, "Murder, He Says," later found it's way into Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors), and legendary calypso performer Sir Lancelot performs "Ugly Woman" (later a hit for Jimmy Soul under the title "If You Want To Be Happy"). Hutton and Bracken were reunited a year later in the Preston Sturges classic The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

(Preston Sturges) wrote and directed this classic romantic comedy starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, who are involved in a scintillating battle of the sexes, as Sturges points up the terrors of sexual passion and the unattainability of the romantic ideal. Henry Fonda plays Charles Pike, the heir to the Pike Ale fortune ("The Ale That Won for Yale"). An ophiologist (a snake expert), he just spent a year "up the Amazon" looking for rare snakes with his cynical and protective guardian/valet Muggsy (William Demarest). He arrives to board the S.S. Southern Queen bound for New York, and immediately becomes the main order of business for a collection of single women looking to nab the eligible bachelor. Amongst those watching Charles board are a trio of con men and cardsharps -- Colonel Handsome Harry Harrington (Charles Coburn), his partner Gerald (Melville Cooper), and the Colonel's daughter Jean (Barbara Stanwyck). All three see Charles as a pushover and at dinner, while all the women are ogling Charles, Jean wins the day by sticking out her foot and tripping him. Complaining to Charles that he should watch where he is going, she gets him to escort her to her cabin so that she can replace her broken heel. Charles is sexually attracted to Jean, but when Charles is about to make a pass at her, she pulls back, telling him, "You ought to be put in a cage." Back in the dining room, Charles is introduced to the Colonel and the three play cards, Charles winning $500 from the Colonel and $100 from Jean. But Charles is merely being set-up for the next game when the Colonel will come in for the kill. Back at Jean's cabin, Charles and Jean sit close and something happens she hadn't planned -- she becomes attracted to Charles too. The next morning, Muggsy warns Charles that the Colonel and Jean are cardsharks, but Charles won't hear of it. Meanwhile, the Colonel is looking forward to fleecing Charles, but Jean doesn't want any part of it. Jean participates in the card game between Charles and the Colonel, making sure than the Colonel doesn't cheat. But while Jean waits on deck for Charles after the game, the Colonel plays Charles a game of double-or-nothing, with Charles losing $32,000. Jean, angry with her father, makes the Colonel tears up Charles' check. The next morning, Muggsy proves to Charles the three are con artists. Devastated, Charles shows Jean the photograph, claiming he knew she was a criminal the morning after he met her. Jean is determined to get even with Charles ("I hate that mug!"). Docking in New York, the Colonel reveals he merely palmed the $32,000 check. But that's not enough revenge for Jean. Impersonating an aristocratic English woman, Lady Eve Sidwich, Jean has herself introduced to Charles. Planning to make Charles to fall in love with her again, she intends to break his heart like he broke her own. As she explains, "I've got some unfinished business with him -- I need him like the axe needs the turkey." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Paramount's Café Society applies a glossy new coat of paint to a wheezy old plotline. Madeleine Carroll plays a debutante named Christopher, who after a whirlwind courtship marries newspaper photographer Crick O'Banion (Fred MacMurray). But when Crick finds out that he's been rushed to the altar so that Christoper can win a bet with society columnist Sonny DeWitt (Allyn Joslyn) he vows to teach her a good lesson. With the sub rosa help of Christopher's wealthy uncle (Claude Gillingwater Sr.), Crick contrives a latter-day "Taming of the Shrew" scenario. It's all been done before and would all be done again, but the stars are attractive and the production values top-rank. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Legendary Broadway impresario George White made his Hollywood debut with this musical, which he wrote, co-directed, and starred in as himself. Reporter Miss Lee (Gertrude Michael) is looking for a story and approaches White as he's assembling the latest edition of his famous revue. As it turns out, she has lots of backstage gossip to choose from; Mona Vale (Alice Faye), White's latest discovery, is making her Broadway debut in the show, and she's fallen in love with the star, Jimmy Martin (Rudy Vallee). Jimmy, however, only has eyes for Barbara Lorainne (Adrienne Ames), a snooty high society type also in the cast. A quarrel between Mona and Barbara leads to a fight, with Jimmy coming to Barbara's rescue; a despondent Mona decides to leave the show if she can't have the man she loves. Meanwhile, comedian Happy Donnelly (Jimmy Durante) finds himself torn between his feelings for Mona and another young dancer in the show, Patsy Day (Dixie Dunbar), who is also thinking about quitting in disappointment. Amidst the romantic turmoil, a wacky salesman (Gregory Ratoff) keeps trying to make a sale with White, and the cast periodically breaks into song, belting out ten numbers, including "Oh You Nasty Man," "My Dog Loves Your Dog," "Every Day Is Father's Day with Baby," "Sweet and Simple," and "The Man on the Flying Trapeze." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Carlee Thorpe (Buddy Rogers) and Claire Jernigan (Nancy Carol) enjoy considerable success with their vaudeville magic act. Offstage, Carlee thrives as a solo, performing various bits of sleight-of-hand at fancy society parties. At one such function, he falls in love with Hilt (June Collyer), the daughter of wealthy social-climber Jake Schmidlap (Knute Erickson). Heartbroken, Claire breaks up her act with Carlee and signs on as a "human target" for stage sharpshooter Magus (Rychard Cramer). Her depression deepening over Carlee's affair with Hilda, Claire suicidally replaces Magus' blank pistol cartridges with real bullets, hoping to be killed in the course of their act. Sure enough, Claire ends up being wounded on stage, but when she awakens in the hospital, the repentant Carlee is at her bedside. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Footloose flapper Peggy Marston (Dorothy Revier) runs away from her oppressive household and right into the arms of Big Trouble. Looking for thrills, Peggy gets mixed up with Maurice and Maxine (Armand Kaliz, Mildred Harris), who use their ballroom-dancing act as a cover for their burglary activities. Accused of theft herself, Peggy is bailed out by her society boyfriend Jerry (Robert Agnew), but is saved from a long prison term only by the deathbed confession of Maxine. Wandering Girls represented one of the last major film roles for Mildred Harris, the ex-wife of Charlie Chaplin. It was scripted by another film comedian of note, Dorothy Howell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Gay Old Bird in this silent Warner Bros. programmer is Louise Fazenda, cast as ugly-duckling maidservant Sisseretta Simpkins. Our heroine is in the employ of the unhappily married Cluneys (John T. Murray, Jane Winton). Mr. Cluney's wealthy uncle (John Stepping) has promised to bequeath a fortune to the family, provided Cluney remains married. When Mrs. Cluney walks out on her husband, he desperately cajoles Sisseretta into posing as his wife. No surprises here, just a tip-top comic performance by Louise Fazenda, a proven film favorite since 1913. John T. Murray, who plays Cluney, would later become a member in good standing of the Columbia Pictures short subject "stock company." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After achieving success in the mid-'20s, Harry Langdon decided to emulate the silent era's premier comedian -- Charles Chaplin -- and turn auteur. He fired Frank Capra from his staff and directed this feature on his own. Although both writer (and future director) Arthur Ripley and director Harry Edwards stayed on with Langdon, the story line and directoral approach clearly indicate that Langdon was doing his darndest to encroach on Chaplin's pathos-laden terrain. It's a simple story, stretched quite a bit to fill out six reels -- Harry is a timid dreamer who longs for a wife and family. He believes he's achieved his heart's desire when he finds a pregnant girl (Gladys McConnell) in a snowstorm. Harry happily takes care of his new family -- until the girl's husband (Cornelius Keefe) finds her and takes her and the baby back home. Unfortunately, when Langdon directed this picture, he laid on the sentiment but forgot about the comedy, so there are few laughs to be had. Three's a Crowd was a commercial flop, as were the next two films that Langdon directed. After that, he was fired by his studio, First National, and he lost Ripley, who returned to Mack Sennett's studio. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

What Happened to Jones takes approximately 70 minutes' screen time to tell in this frothy comedy. On the night before his wedding, Tom Jones (Reginald Denny) attends a poker game with his corpulent pal Ebeneezer Goodly (Otis Harlan). When the cops raid the game, Tom and Eb sneak into a ladies' Turkish bath, making their escape in female drag. Upon arriving in Eb's home, Tom is forced by circumstance to pose as Eb's brother, a bishop. It turns out that the bishop is slated to officiate over the wedding of Tom and his sweetheart Lucille (Marian Nixon), putting our hero in the pickle of having to be in two places at once when he's not anywhere at all! With films like What Happened to Jones to his credit, it's no wonder that Reginald Denny was Universal's number one comedy star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nila Lyons (Laura La Plante) is a suburban housewife who craves excitement in her life. She gets it -- and how! -- when she's kidnapped by an Egyptian potentate. Crammed into a mummy case, Nila is rescued at the last possible moment by her "dull" husband Hiram (William Welsh). He then reveals that her abduction was a hoax, staged to cure her of her desire for thrills. Nila then responds by ramming Hiram's head upside his body, but this was a 1920s comedy, so all is forgiven. The plot of Excitement wasn't new in 1924 -- it had previously been employed, with variations, by Doug Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd -- and it certainly wouldn't be the last such "teach 'em a lesson" escapade, as witness such talkie two-reelers as Our Gang's Shiver My Timbers (1931) and Harry Von Zell's Meet Mr. Mischief (1947). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This epic covers all of Lincoln's life. His birth in a blizzard; his boyhood (depicted by Danny Hey as young Lincoln); his romance with the ill-fated Anne Rutledge (Ruth Clifford) and courtship of Mary Todd (Nell Craig), who he married; his debates with Stephen Douglas (William Humphreys); and his rise to the presidency. The Civil War is covered, including the surrender of Lee (James Welch), then Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth (William Moran). Playing Lincoln as an adult is George A. Billings, an uncanny lookalike. Because of its scope, the film seems a bit sketchy at times, but its sincerity is always obvious. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this taut silent mystery, a young woman mends her recently broken heart by reluctantly accepting a young lawyer's proposal. To save her tarnished reputation (for her ex-lover turned out to be married) she asks her old beau to give back her potentially incriminating love letters. Unfortunately, he plays the cad and refuses. Deeply disturbed, she sleepwalks one night and enters his home to get the letters. She awakens the next day with no memory of her nocturnal excursion and so is mortified to find herself accused of his murder. Much evidence supports the accusation and her new love must use all his wits to save her. Believing her story, he has her hypnotized. He then learns that she witnessed the crime and can finger the real culprit, a South American who killed the philanderer because he had an affair with his wife. In the end, the grateful girl finally realizes that she truly loves the lawyer and marital bliss ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide