George Regas Movies
Though born in Greece, actor George Regas (aka George Rigas and Jorge Rigas) was generally cast in non-Greek ethnic roles. From his 1921 film debut onward, Regas could be found playing Latinos, Italians, Native Americans, and East Indians. His roles ranged from such unbilled bits as the thug leader in Gunga Din (1939) to the bollo-wielding Mateo in Sherlock Holmes (1939). His last film assignment was Sergeant Garcia in 1940's The Mark of Zorro. George Regas was the brother of actor Pedro Regas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1940
'Til We Meet Again is an inflated remake of 1932's One Way Passage. As in the original, the hero is a convicted murderer en route to the death house by way of a merchant ship; the heroine is suffering from a terminal illness. Once more, hero and heroine fall in love, each keeping the facts of his or her imminent doom from the other. The principal difference this time is that instead of William Powell and Kay Francis, the stars are George Brent and Merle Oberon. This cast change does no damage to the basic storyline, but the decision in 'Til We Meet Again to expand upon the secondary romance between the arresting detective (Pat O'Brien) and an accomplice of the condemned man (Geraldine Fitzgerald) throws the focus of the film completely out of kilter. One decided benefit to both One Way Passage and 'Til We Meet Again is the comic presence of Frank McHugh, who plays the same role--a tipsy pickpocket--in both pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, George Brent, (more)
- 1929
Gangster boss Egan (Sam Hardy) manages to beat a murder rap by framing his mistress Marion (Margaret Livingston) for the crime. After eight years in stir, Marian is released on good behavior. She seeks out Egan and tries to persuade him to confess his crime, but he is unmoved. But when his life is saved by Marian's sweetheart Dr. Bradford (Lloyd Hughes), Egan magnanimously turns himself in. In the course of the film, ratchet-voiced Sam Hardy sings the Irving Berlin standard What'll I Do, which was at least good for laughs (whenever he hears or sings the song, the sentimental gangster decides not to kill his latest victim!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Hughes, Margaret Livingston, (more)
Arrest Bulldog Drummond was the last of Paramount's "B" film series based on Sapper's two-fisted soldier of fortune, and also the final appearance by John Howard as Drummond. In this one, Drummond's honeymoon with his beloved Phyllis (Heather Angel) is postponed for the umpteenth time when Drummond is framed for the theft of a new ray-gun device (which looks like a reconditioned movie projector). Though designed for "the good of mankind", the gun will be a deadly force if it falls into "the wrong hands"--which in this case belong to goggle-eyed reprobate George Zucco and his gang. Still a fugitive, Drummond gives chase to the real crooks, with the help of several friends and associates, as well as the unofficial approval of Scotland Yard inspector Nielsen (H.B. Warner). Drummond narrowly escapes being dunked into a slime pit before he brings the crooks to justice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Howard, Heather Angel, (more)
"Suggested" by the book The West That Was by legendary showman William F. Cody, this 12 chapter Universal serial was merely another slam-bang affair in which Cody (Tom Tyler) and his younger sidekick, Dave Archer (Rex Bell), battle a nasty claim jumper, Jim Rodney (Francis Ford), and his gang. Resenting the interference in his plans, Rodney not only incites the local Indian tribe to attack the town but also blackmails the local community to elect him sheriff. Not one of the era's better serials, Battling with Buffalo Bill still manages to engage no less than 10 former silent cowboy stars in the cast, somewhat of a record. Of course, most of the gentlemen in question were finding the new audible Hollywood an inhospitable place and were just happy to be working, even for the lousy wages offered by Universal producer Henry MacRae. Leading man Tom Tyler, who had replaced Tim McCoy, would become a regular serial hero in the sound era, bringing such comic book heroes as "Captain Marvel" (1940) and The Phantom (1943) to life. A former Fox star, second-billed Rex Bell was the husband of Clara Bow and a future lieutenant governor of Nevada. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
This second of three movie versions of P.C. Wren's adventure novel Beau Geste is a virtual scene-for-scene remake of the 1927 silent version. We open on the now-famous scenes of a remote, burning desert fort, manned by the dead Foreign Legionnaires, then flash back to the early lives of the Geste brothers. As children, the Gestes swear eternal loyalty to one another and to their family. One of the boys, young Beau (played as a youth by Donald O'Connor), witnesses his beloved aunt (Heather Thatcher) apparently stealing a valuable family jewel in order to finance the Geste home; Beau chooses to remain silent rather than disgrace his aunt. Years later, the grown Beau (Gary Cooper) again protects his aunt by confessing to the theft and running off to join the Foreign Legion. He is joined in uniform by faithful brothers John (Ray Milland) and Digby (Robert Preston), who in turn are pursued by a slimy thief (J. Carroll Naish). The crook is in cahoots with sadistic Legion Sgt. Markov (Brian Donlevy, in one of the most hateful portrayals ever captured on celluloid), who is later put in charge of Fort Zinderneuf, where Beau and John are stationed. When the Arabs attack, Markov proves himself a valiant soldier; it is he who hits upon the idea of convincing the Arabs that the fort is still fully manned by propping up the corpses of the casualties at the guard posts. Beau is seriously wounded, and while the greedy Markov searches for the jewel supposedly hidden on Beau's person, he is held at bay by loyal John. The suddenly enervated Beau kills Markov, then dies himself--but not before entrusting two notes to John, one of which requests that John give Beau the "Viking funeral" he'd always wanted (this is why the fort is in flames at the beginning of the film). After the battle, Digby Geste, a bugler with the relief troops, comes upon Beau's dead body, and appropriates the notes. As it turns out, John Geste is the only one who survives to return to England. He gives his aunt Beau's letter, which explains why Beau had confessed and run off--"a 'beau geste', indeed" comments his tearful aunt. No one missed nominal leading lady Susan Hayward in this essentially all-male entertainment. For years available only in muddily processed or truncated versions, Beau Geste was restored to its pristine glory by the American Film Institute in the late 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1926
Ronald Colman plays the title role in the first of several screen adaptations of Christopher Wren's tale of adventure in the foreign legion. Beau is the youngest of three brothers who fall into an ethical dilemma when their aunt resorts to stealing valuable jewelry from the family's collection to pay off her home. Beau takes the blame for the crime and, before he can be put in jail, flees the country, with his brothers John (Ralph Forbes) and Digby (Neil Hamilton) in tow. The Geste Brothers eventually join the French Foreign Legion, where they suffer under the tyrannical leadership of the cruel Sgt. Lejaune (Noah Beery Sr.). Unknown to Beau, Lejaune is in cahoots with men who want to capture the Geste Brothers and bring them to justice, but when Arab forces attack the Legion compound, the valiant Gestes fight with such bravery that even Lejaune is impressed with their selfless courage. It's said that Ronald Colman considered his performance in Beau Geste the finest work of his career; lip readers might get a chuckle out of some of Noah Beery Sr.'s non-subtitled dialogue, which today would have pushed the film into an R rating if it were audible. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, (more)
Hoping to benefit from the popularity of the 1927 silent version of P.C. Wren's Beau Geste, RKO Radio reunited the earlier film's star Ralph Forbes and director Herbert Brenon for 1931's Beau Ideal, again adapted from a Wren novel. Something of a sequel to Beau Geste, the story concerns the efforts by Foreign Legionnaire Otis Madison (Lester Vail) to locate his childhood chum John Geste (Forbes). The two men are reunited in the Arabian desert, where Geste is doing penance in a stockade reserved for discredited Legionnaires. With Otis's help, Geste redeems himself by squashing a native uprising fomented by a duplicitous Emir (George Regas). Ultimately, our hero returns to England and the arms of heroine Loretta Young -- but not before a close call with a slinky seductress (Leni Stengel), appropriately nicknamed "The Angel of Death." Beau Ideal was a flop to the tune of $330,000, and as a result the exploits of the Geste family would not again be dramatized for the screen until the 1939 remake of Beau Geste. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank McCormack, Ralph Forbes, (more)
- 1933
Roland Brown's Blood Money (1933) has lost none of its ability to entertain and startle over the seven decades since its release. The title refers to the business of affable, ambitious bail bondsman (and politically-connected grifter) Bill Bailey (George Bancroft), who, in the course of his work, crosses paths with every kind of offender there is, from first-time defendants to career criminals. Among the latter is Drury Darling (Chick Chandler), the brother of Bailey's paramour, nightclub owner Ruby Darling (Judith Anderson). Bailey is popular enough in the criminal world, over his providing the means for gang members to stay in circulation while awaiting trial, and he knows how to spread the money around to make the wheels of government run more smoothly (and not run over any of the speakeasies, casinos, clip-joints, and other enterprises of the gangs to which he is closest). Then, one day, he meets Elaine Talbert (Frances Dee), a thrill-seeking socialite whose penchant for excitement has ratcheted up from shoplifting in the better stores to fast cars and fast men. Bailey doesn't quite know what to make of her -- she's attractive enough, and drawn to him, but her lust for illicit and dangerous diversions runs counter to the common sense that he applies to his life, every place but where women are concerned. His quasi-legal and extra-legal maneuvering is fun for a while, but what she really wants, as she tells Bailey, is a man who will "take charge" and dominate her, physically and in every other way. Eventually, she tires of the middle-aged Bailey and gravitates toward Drury Darling, whose exploits as a bank robber, willing to fight the law head on, are more in line with some of the excitement that she craves. When Darling is arrested, he depends upon her to pass along the money that Bailey needs to bail him out, and that's when the smoothly operating life that Bailey has arranged for himself grinds to a halt. A cache of worthless bonds, a war within the underworld itself, and an assassination attempt on Bailey are just part of the double-dealing and blood-letting that ensues, climaxing with game of pool involving a booby-trapped eight ball (a variation of a famous sequence from Keaton's Sherlock Jr., later re-used by the Three Stooges in I'll Never Heil Again). And the finale for Elaine Talbert is a sequence that might not even have gotten past the politically-correct censors of the 1980's. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Bancroft, Frances Dee, (more)
- 1934
This second and final "Bulldog Drummond" film to star Ronald Colman, finds the famed sleuth in the midst of a sinister plan orchestrated by Warner Oland. Damsel in distress Loretta Young reports that her wealthy and influential uncle is missing, but all those concerned insist that the uncle never existed, and that Young is out of her mind. Drummond suspects that she's telling the truth, and that the uncle's disappearance is tied into political intrigue of some sort or other. Before the rousing climax, Drummond, the heroine, and Drummond's pal Algy (Charles Butterworth) are repeatedly kidnapped, imprisoned, and threatened with certain death. Counterpointing the film's plot twists (a bit too convoluted to relate in full here) is a comic subplot involving the continually interrupted honeymoon of Algy and his frustrated bride (Una Merkel). Unfortunately, Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back is currently unavailable on television or on videocassette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, (more)
- 1931
Charlie Murray and George Sidney, the Irish-Jewish duo who'd starred in so many The Cohens and the Kellys comedies of the silent era, team up again for Tiffany Studios' Caught Cheating. The burden of the plot falls on the shoulders of the portly Sidney, who is mistakenly put "on the spot" by a criminal gang. A rival gang comes to Sidney's rescue just in the nick of time. Top-billed Charlie Murray hasn't got much to do outside of reacting in mock dismay to Sidney's fractured English. Caught Cheating was written by W. Scott Darling, whose later scripts for Laurel & Hardy were likewise festooned with gangsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Sidney, Nita Martan, (more)
- 1931
Never one to hide his talent under a bushel basket, director Rouben Mamoulien proudly proclaimed that, while there were ten killings in his 1931 gangster drama City Streets, the audience never sees any of them. This was not the only innovation in this fascinating early talkie, in which straight-arrow movie hero Gary Cooper is cast as a racketeer known only as The Kid. He has chosen a life of crime out of love for Nan (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of mob henchman Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee). Eventually railroaded into prison by her crooked cohorts, Nan implores The Kid to give up the rackets, but he refuses. Things go downhill very rapidly after that, culminating with The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. Cast in a role originally intended for Clara Bow, Sylvia Sidney does a magnificent job and was soon typecast as a downtrodden Depression victim, born with two strikes against her. Conversely, Gary Cooper never again played anything quite like "The Kid." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, (more)
- 1939
Code of the Secret Service was the second of Warner Bros. "Brass Bancroft" series, starring Ronald Reagan as troubleshooting federal operative Bancroft. This time, Brass and his wisecracking partner Gabby (Eddie Foy Jr., brother of producer Bryan Foy) take on a particularly vicious gang of counterfeiters. Our heroes end up in Mexico, where they undergo a series of wild and wooly adventures the like of which were seldom seen outside of the Republic serials. According to Reagan, he was obliged to do his own stunts in the film because the budget couldn't afford a double; it certainly looks that way. Entertaining in its own dizzy fashion. Code of the Secret Service is proof positive that Reagan could carry a film with the right material. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Reagan, Rosella Towne, (more)
- 1935
The great wilderness explorer Daniel Boone has many exciting adventures in this family-oriented outdoor actioner that primarily centers on the big man's attempts to quell an Indian uprising and capture the ornery villain who has been stirring up all the trouble. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Heather Angel, (more)
- 1933
This film offers melodrama on the high-seas as it follows the miraculous salvation of a becalmed ship filled with bootleg liquor. To make matters worse, they are out of fresh water, the captain and mate drowned during a storm, and the boat is sinking. The bo'sun has taken charge, and the crew is growing mutinous. Things couldn't get any worse when a mysterious stowaway suddenly crawls out from the hold. He tells the crew that the casks really contain fresh water, not liquor. He then uses a strange power to save the ship. He next uses the power to straighten out the crew. He then disappears. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Ralph Bellamy, (more)
- 1938
This saga spans the globe as the three young heroes search for the man who killed their much-admired, beloved father, a cashiered officer who was wrongly dishonorably discharged before he was murdered. Their quest takes them from India to South America, London, Egypt, and the U.S. As the progress, they begin to discover the disturbing truth about the murder of the father they idolized. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Richard Greene, (more)
Though Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din makes a swell recital piece, it cannot be said to have much of a plot. It's simply a crude cockney soldier's tribute to a native Indian water boy who remains at his job even after being mortally wounded. Hardly the sort of material upon which to build 118 minutes' worth of screen time-at least, it wasn't until RKO producer Pandro S. Berman decided to convert Gunga Din into an A-budgeted feature film. Now it became the tale of three eternally brawling British sergeants stationed in colonial India: Cutter (Cary Grant), McChesney (Victor McLaglen) and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Ballantine intends to break up the threesome by marrying lovely Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine), while Cutter and McChesney begin hatching diabolical schemes to keep Ballantine in the army (if this plot element sounds a lot like something from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, bear in mind that Hecht and McArthur shared writing credit on Gunga Din with Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol; also contributing to the screenplay, uncredited, was William Faulkner). All three sergeants are kept occupied with a native revolt fomented by the Thuggees, a fanatical religious cult headed by a Napoleonic Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli). Unexpectedly coming to the rescue of our three heroes-not to mention every white man, woman and child in the region-is humble water carrier Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who aspires to become the regimental trumpeter. Originally slated to be directed by Howard Hawks, Gunga Din was taken out of Hawks' hands when the director proved to be too slow during the filming of Bringing Up Baby. His replacement was George Stevens, who proved to be slower and more exacting than Hawks had ever been! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- 1938
Filmed on location, Hawaiian Buckaroo is certainly the most novel of the Smith Ballew westerns. Pineapple plantation worker Jeff Howard (Ballew) and his pal Mike (Benny Burt) go to work on a cattle ranch run by haughty Paula Harrington (Evelyn Knapp). It doesn't take long for our heroes to figure out that Paula's foreman Riga (Georges Regas) is a crook. Acting quickly, Jeff and Mike prevent Riga and his confederates (Harry Woods and Pat O'Brien -- no, not that Pat O'Brien) from depleting Paula's stock for their own purposes. Ethnic humor is provided by black actor Fred "Snowflake" Toones, while Honolulu cabaret entertainer Princess Luana shows up unbilled. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Evelyn Knapp, (more)
- 1936
Hell-Ship Morgan (George Bancroft) is the brawny skipper of a small fishing schooner. Supplying fish for a San Francisco cannery, Morgan works hard and relaxes even harder, boasting not one but several girls in every port. Our hero's roving days come to an end when he marries Mary (Ann Sothern), who agrees to a honeymoon on Morgan's schooner. Once on the high seas, Mary can't help but fall in love with Morgan's first mate Jim (Victor Jory), but before Morgan can take retaliatory action, the tiny vessel is hit by a hurricane. In trying to save his crew from drowning, Morgan is crippled for life. Realizing now that he will never be a "complete" husband to Mary, he obligingly removes himself from the scene in a startlingly abrupt and permanent manner. A mainstay of early television, Hell-Ship Morgan is one of a handful of Columbia programmers currently available on the public-domain videocassette market. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Bancroft, Ann Sothern, (more)
- 1936
Based on the W. Somerset Maugham novel The Narrow Corner, the melodramatic adventure Isle of Fury is one of Humphrey Bogart's early starring roles. Valentine "Val" Stevens (Bogart), a reformed criminal who makes a living by diving for pearls in the south seas, gets married to Lucille Gordon (Margaret Lindsay). Meanwhile, Detective Eric Blake (Donald Woods) is sent to bust Val, but he gets shipwrecked in a terrible storm at sea. Val saves his life and rescues the ship's captain Paul Graetz. Eric falls in love with Lucille and makes friends with Val through the course of several sea tragedies before he realizes that he is supposed to arrest him. He then has to make a painful decision regarding his assignment and his sweetheart. E.E. Clive stars as Dr. Hardy, a doctor who offers frequent bible quotes and literary parables. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
Brooklyn tugboat worker Eddie (Eddie Cantor), bullied and cowed by his tough-guy stepfather and stepbrothers (a la Harold Lloyd's The Kid Brother), inherits $77 million from his uncle, an Egyptologist. Con artist Dot (Ethel Merman) wants to get her lunchhooks on the money, and to this end offers herself as Eddie's adopted mother (never mind that she's nearly 20 years younger), intending to have her thuggish brother Louie (Warren Hymer) bump off our hero at the first opportunity. The nonsensical plotline ends up with Eddie, Dot, Louie, pompous Southern colonel Larrabee (Berton Churchill), and nominal romantic leads Jerry (George Murphy in his film debut) and Jane (Ann Sothern) trapped in the palace of Arab potentate Mulhulla (Paul Harvey). The better-than-average comic banter includes some funny bits between Cantor and Eve Sully, of the comedy team of "Block and Sully" (her husband-partner Jesse Block is also in the picture, but just barely). Spotted among the featured players in Kid Millions are such "Our Gang" members as Stymie Beard, Scotty Beckett and Tommy Bond, and there's a specialty by the Nicholas Brothers during Cantor's obligatory "blackface" number; and yes, that's Lucille Ball as a blonde Goldwyn Girl in the harem sequence. PS: According to Ethel Merman, the film's elaborate Technicolor ice-cream factory finale, in which Eddie allows dozens of tenement kids to gorge themselves on his tasty confections, posed censorship problems: while producer Sam Goldwyn was allowed to show the little boys with comically extended stomachs, he was not permitted to do so with the little girls, for fear that the audience might think the female moppets were pregnant! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Fields, Eddie Cantor, (more)
- 1937
Left-Handed Law is an average western lifted well above the norm by star Buck Jones and director Lesley Selander. Jones is cast as Alamo Bowie, who tries to help rancher Sam Logan (George Regas) rid his land of outlaws. He does this partly because he's fond of Logan's daughter Betty (Noel Francis), but mostly because he feels like a-doin' it. The film's "money" scene finds Alamo agreeing to accommodate fatally wounded outlaw One-Shot Brady (Matty Fain), whose last wish is to die with his boots off. Our hero removes one boot, pauses, looks down, and says softly "Got one of 'em off, old timer." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Noel Francis, (more)
Legion of Missing Men was one of three Monogram "specials" produced in 1937 by I. E. Chadwick. Foreign legion officer Bob Carter (Ralph Forbes) and his younger brother Don (Ben Alexander) vie for the attentions of sexy cabaret singer Nina (Halla Linda). This rivalry is forgotten when they're both captured and tortured by the Arabs. The one new element of this film is the identity of the brother who gives up the girl and gets killed (it won't be revealed here, but it is quite a switch from the usual cliché). By the way, Ralph Forbes was one of the stars of the 1927 version of Beau Geste, from which Legion of Missing Men steals shamelessly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Forbes, Ben Alexander, (more)
- 1937
In this detective adventure, a young woman is accused of stealing a valuable necklace from her boss and takes off for Spain just before the Civil War. She is trailed by a detective form Scotland Yard. He finds her and soon falls in love and the two try to flee on a British ship. The story does not reveal whether the girl was innocent or not. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Don Ameche, (more)
- 1931
Alcoholic John Bowers heads to the Great Northwest, hoping that the fresh air and exercise will help him swear off booze. Joining Bowers in his northward journey is his beleaguered wife, played by Blanche Mehaffy. Unfortunately, our "hero" is unable to take the pledge, and soon he's drinking harder than ever and cheating on Mehaffy with French-Canadian charmer Lina Basquette to boot. Bowers gets his comeuppance when he's killed by Basquette's lover George Rigas, who in turn is knocked off by Basquette, leaving Mehaffey to marry her former husband's best friend. Star John Bowers was in real life the inspiration for the tragic Norman Maine in both versions of A Star is Born. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bowers, Blanche Mehaffey, (more)
