Donald Reed Movies

The poverty-row origins of Special Agent K-7 are made doubly obvious by its all-bit-player cast. Walter McGrail essays perhaps the largest role in his talkie career as police detective Lanny, who resents the ongoing interference of the local FBI branch. Hoping to show up the feds, Lanny tackles a baffling espionage case all by his lonesome. Things heat up when his gal-reporter sweetheart Ollie (Queenie Smith) is framed for murder by the villains. The actual killer is so obvious to the audience that one contemporary suggested that he shone like a beacon on the screen. Leading lady Queenie Smith, best known for her performance of the soubrette Elly in Show Boat (1936), went on to a long career in character roles, and for a while played the landlady in the "Bowery Boys" series of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rex Bell was always an agreeable cowboy hero, even when stuck in such bottom-barrel oaters as Law and Lead. On this occasion, hero Jimmy Sawyer (Bell) tries to find out who's been impersonating a famous retired bandit. Since the ex-outlaw is a friend of his, Jimmy is anxious to clear his buddy's name by exposing the phony. Along the way, he falls in love with heroine Hope Hawley (Harley Wood). Because singing cowboys were popular, Rex Bell was required to sing, which he does adequately; he was far more effective when he quit films to become lieutenant governor of Nevada. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

What would an "exploitation" film of the 1930s be without Wheeler Oakman in the cast and Sam Newfield in the director's chair? In Crusade Against Rackets, Oakman is his usual slimy self as Jim Murray, the head of a big-city vice ring. His "cover" is an outwardly respectable beauty parlor, where the girls perform services far above and beyond the call of duty. Innocent manicurist Dona (Lona Andre) is targeted as the ring's latest victim, and boy, does she suffer at the hands of Murray and his confederates. Much of the action takes place in a nightclub, featuring several genuine (and hilariously superfluous) cabaret acts. Among the more grotesque supporting villains is "Good Looking Freddie" (Matty Roubert), who is anything but. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A police raid on a roadhouse leads to a war on vice that results in the downfall of a vicious gangster and the sadistic madam who runs his prostitution ring in this sordid crime drama from director Elmer Clifton. While she may be beautiful on the outside, on the inside Belle Harris (Florence Dudley) is a hateful monster who relishes the opportunity to turn innocent young girls into money-grubbing prostitutes as she oversees the day-to-day duties at the Berrywood Roadhouse. Though Belle may be a cold corrupter, her physically abusive boss, Jim Murray (Wheeler Oakman), is even worse. As the police close in on Murray's lawless syndicate and his empire comes crumbling down, the truth comes out for all to see when the city reporters descend upon the hapless women he has so callously enslaved. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In their first serial effort, newcomers Republic Pictures went with the tried and true: beloved animal trainer Clyde Beatty, who had earlier headlined the Mascot serial The Lost Jungle (1934). It is really Beatty, playing himself, who meets and saves Baru (Manuel King), "The Son of the Jungle," and his sister, Valerie, Goddess of Joba (Elaine Shepard). The latter is held captive by an evil High Priest (Lucien Prival), who has aligned himself with a couple of nasty white traders and a force of winged bat-men. In the 15th and final chapter, "The Prophecy of Gorn," the jungle city of Joba -- High Priest, evil traders, ferocious bat-men and all -- is swallowed up by a gigantic stock footage earthquake. Nat Levine, who had merged his serial empire, Mascot Pictures, into the new Republic, produced with his usual keen sense of economy, and the serial was co-directed by the veteran B. Reeves Eason and former film editor Joseph Kane. Darkest Africa was also released in an edited feature version, Batmen of Africa, and re-issued in 1949 under the new rather cumbersome title King of the Jungleland. The proud owner of a gorilla suit that would see jungle-film duty well into the television era, Ray "Crash" Corrigan appeared both in and out of his suit in this serial, billed, rather modestly, as "Ray Benard." Corrigan was to star in Republic's second serial, Undersea Kingdom (1936). Manuel King, Beatty's young and rather pudgy sidekick, was actually somewhat of a rival who billed himself, probably with some accuracy, as "The World's Youngest Wild Animal Trainer." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Director Josef Von Sternberg and his greatest discovery, Marlene Dietrich, worked together for the last time on this historical melodrama, which was a notorious and controversial box-office flop in its day. Antonio Galvan (Cesar Romero), a young military officer, meets a mysterious and alluring woman named Concha Perez (Dietrich) and soon falls under her seductive spell. Antonio excitedly confesses his love for Concha to his friend Don Pasqual (Lionel Atwill), an older and higher-ranking officer. Pasqual is horrified when he learns of Antonio's infatuation; years ago, he met Concha, and it was the start of a long and disastrous relationship in which the cold-hearted woman would repeatedly lure him into her romantic web, drain him of his wealth, and then leave him for wealthier prospects elsewhere. While he has learned the hard way, Pasqual has never been able to cure himself of his addiction to Concha's charms, and when he encounters Concha with Antonio at a boisterous street festival, Pasqual is overcome with jealousy and challenges Antonio to a duel for Concha's affections. Shortly after The Devil Is a Woman's unsuccessful initial release, the United States State Department and the Spanish government both tendered objections to Paramount Pictures about what they felt were insulting depictions of the Spanish people and their leadership. Paramount pulled the film from circulation, and it was thought to be lost for some time until Dietrich provided a print from her personal collection for a Sternberg retrospective in 1959; the movie has since been released on home video. John Dos Passos co-authored the screenplay, based on a novel by Pierre Louys which Luis Bunuel later adapted as That Obscure Object of Desire. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Unrelated to the same-named 1939 Sonja Henie vehicle, the 1934 Monogram release Happy Landing is an airborne cops-and-robbers affair. Ray Walker stars as brash U.S. border patrolman Nick Terris, on the trail of a gang of international crooks. Anticipating such later films as Assault on a Queen, the villains intend to rob an ocean liner. To keep the authorities at bay, the thieves threaten to drop a bomb on the ship from a stolen seaplane. Hero Terris is thus required to take to the air himself to foil the bad guys. Some nice aerial photography (credited to Archie J. Stout) is the principal redeeming factor of this standard effort. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Man From Monterey was the last of John Wayne's "B"-westerns for Warner Bros. The Duke plays U.S. army captain John Holmes, dispatched to Monterey to convince the ranchers to register their long-standing Spanish land grants, lest their property fall into the hands of undeserving strangers. This makes Holmes the enemy of local land swindler Don Luis Gonzales (Donald Reed), who has been plotting to grab up all the acreage for himself. Holmes must race against time to prevent Gonzales from achieving his goal by marrying Dolores (Ruth Hall), the daughter of the richest landowner (Lafe McKee) in the territory. John Wayne looks most uncomfortable in his ill-fitting army uniform and fancy-dancy Mexican duds -- but no more uncomfortable than Ken Maynard, who appears in the silent stock footage which is spread throughout The Man From Monterey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of those sleazy little exploitation melodramas so inept that they have become pure camp, this film told the sordid story of three sisters (Phyllis Barrington, Rita La Roy, and Sheila Manners) seeking fame and fortune in decadent Hollywood. One sister is accused of murdering her lecherous boss, an oil magnate (Jack Richardson), while the other two vainly seek their luck in "the picture business." They all come together at the murder trial, which ends in an aquittal. Of the three stars, Sheila Manners enjoyed the longest career, changing her name first to Manors, then Sheila Bromley. None of the three, however, escaped from the constraints of B-films. Playthings of Hollywood was released by low-budget Willis Kent Productions. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

George M. Cohan's 1904 musical came to the screen a second time in 1930 courtesy of Warner Bros., who cast light leading man Edward Buzzell as the small-town jockey whose impromptu renditions of "Yankee Doodle Boy" lead to all kinds of theatrical offers. Johnny, however, is in New York to race Yankee to victory and has no time for such foolishness. Especially because he is also busy dallying with actress Vivian Dale (Edna Murphy). Arriving to watch her horse compete, Mary Dale (Alice Day) takes umbrage at Vivian's presence, particularly because the Broadway vamp is trying to convince Johnny to throw the race. The jockey refuses but loses anyway and an incriminating letter from Vivian causes him to be unjustly accused. Fleeing to England, Johnny slaves away in a Limehouse dive until given a chance to ride Yankee at Epsom Downs. This time, our hero wins both the race and Mary's love. Featuring Cohan numbers like "Yankee Doodle Boy", "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine" (the latter written by Al Dubin and Joe Burke), Little Johnny Jonson's flag-waving sentiments proved an anachronism in the last days of the Roaring Twenties and the film was a major box-office disaster. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi