Frank Reicher Movies
Launching his theatrical career in his native Germany, actor/director Frank Reicher worked in London before coming to the US in 1899. His entree into the movies was as co-director of the 1915 production The Clue; he continued to direct in Hollywood before returning to the stage in 1921. At the dawn of the talkie era, Reicher was brought back to California to direct German-language versions of American films. For his acting bow before the microphones, Reicher was cast in the title role of Napoleon's Barber (1928) a Fox Movietone two-reeler which represented the first talkie for director John Ford. Reicher specialized at this time in humorless, wizened authority figures: college professors, doctors, scientists, cabinet ministers. In 1933 he was cast as Captain Engelhorn in the classic adventure fantasy King Kong; director Ernest Schoedsack later characterized Reicher as "the best actor we had" in a cast which included Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot and Fay Wray. He repeated the Engelhorn role, with a modicum of uncharacteristic humor added, in Son of Kong (1933). The remainder of Reicher's film career was devoted to brief character roles, often as murder victims. He was killed off at least twice by Boris Karloff (Invisible Ray [1936] and House of Frankenstein [1944]), and was strangled by Lon Chaney Jr. at the very beginning of The Mummy's Ghost (1944) (When Chaney inadvertently cut off his air during the feigned strangulation, Reicher subjected the star to a scorching reprimand, reducing Chaney to a quivering mass of meek apologies). During the war, Reicher's Teutonic name and bearing came in handy for the many anti-Nazi films of the era, notably To Be or Not to Be (1942) and Mission to Moscow (1944). In 1946, Reicher had one of his largest parts in years as the general factotum to hypnotist Edmund Lowe in The Strange Mr. Gregory (1946); that the part may have been written for the venerable actor is evidenced by the fact that his character name was Reicher. Frank Reicher retired in 1951; he died fourteen years later, at age 90. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1935
Dog of Flanders, the durable novel written in 1872 by the author who signed herself Ouida, was filmed three times, first in 1924 with Jackie Coogan. The second filmization, produced in 1935, stars child actors Frankie Thomas, Helen Parrish and Richard Quine as three poor Flemish youths whose lives are interconnected by a handsome German shepherd (played by "Lightning"). The threesome nurse the abandoned dog back to health; soon afterward, the dog rekindles the creative spark of a reclusive artist, whose painting of the noble hound wins a hefty cash prize. Richard Quine, the third juvenile lead of Dog of Flanders, grew up to become an important Hollywood writer/director of the 1950s. Quine did not, however, work on the 1959 remake of Dog of Flanders--which starred another future filmmaker, David Ladd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Thomas, Helen Parrish, (more)
A master blend of high comedy and tense emotional drama, A Letter of Introduction reteams Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, and Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, who'd previously costarred in the negligible Goldwyn Follies. Menjou plays John Mannering, a Barrymoresque actor who years earlier had divorced his wife and severed his relationship with his daughter Kay (Andrea Leeds). Now a grown woman, Kay aspires to an acting career, fully determined to make it on her own without her father's help. She goes so far as to change her last name to Martin, and to keep her actual relationship to Mannering a secret from the public. This set-up leads to a dizzying series of complications, including the breakup of Mannering's romance with a tootsie named Lydia Hoyt (Anne Sheridan), who falsely assumes that Kay is Mannering's mistress, and Kay's own romantic travails with vaudeville hoofer Barry Paige (George Murphy). Meanwhile, Kay's ventriloquist friend Bergen and his dummy McCarthy rise to superstardom on radio. It is, in fact, Bergen and Charlie who are instrumental in reuniting the estranged Mannering and Kay, paving the way for the film's tear-stained conclusion. Unavailable for many years, A Letter of Introduction re-emerged on the Public Domain circuit in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, (more)
- 1945
John Steinbeck cowrote this sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching study of small-town hypocrisy. Shiftless Benny (who is never seen) has been tossed out of his Southern California town by the "proper" citizens. Drafted into the army, Benny is killed in action--and now that he's a hero, his old home town gears up for a Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony. Suddenly the same upright townsfolk who'd previously scorned Benny and his impoverished father (J. Carroll Naish) bend over backward to prove how much they "loved" the boy. Only Dorothy Lamour, playing Benny's former sweetheart, sees through the sham, though she's honor bound to celebrate Benny's heroism. A Medal for Benny bestows top billing upon Lamour, but the film's true star is J. Carroll Naish as Benny's volatile Italian papa--a performance which won Naish an Academy Award nomination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Arturo de Cordova, (more)
- 1932
A Woman Commands is often cited as silent screen star Pola Negri's first talking picture. Actually, it was her first American talkie and almost her last, posting a $265,000 loss for RKO Radio. Ordered to marry Serbian king Alexander (Roland Young), noblewoman Maria Draga (Negri) does what she's told, though her heart belongs to dashing army captain Pasitch (Basil Rathbone). Ultimately, the heroine nearly brings about Pasitch's total downfall, but she redeems herself by sacrificing her life to save his. Negri's thick Teutonic accent is not as much of a detriment as some historians have claimed: the problem lies in the terrible dialogue she is called upon to speak. Such was the failure of A Woman Commands that Pola Negri immediately returned to her adopted homeland of Germany, where she remained until WWII necessitated her second Hollywood comeback in 1943's Hi Diddle Diddle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pola Negri, Roland Young, (more)
- 1943
If you believe all-American Fred MacMurray as an Oxford don, you'll probably swallow the rest of Above Suspicion. Newly married to Joan Crawford, MacMurray goes on a honeymoon in prewar Germany. Actually it's more business than pleasure: they are secret agents for the British, attempting to smuggle back information about a new superweapon being developed by the Nazis. Evil, mean, cruel and also wicked German officer Basil Rathbone imprisons and tortures Crawford (though she still looks like a million bucks), but McMurray comes to the rescue, paving the way for a suspenseful race-to-the-border climax. The tenor of Above Suspicion can be summed up in a scene in which, after being confronted by a monolingual stormtrooper, Fred MacMurray says in English "Nuts to you, dope!," whereupon the Nazi scratches his head and wonders aloud, "Vass iss das 'dope'?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, (more)
- 1944
A plot revealed through the correspondence between German-American businessman and his Jewish partner, Lukas, the German-American, returns to Germany during the early Nazi years and gets caught up in the racist philosophies. He goes to the point of denying even his partner's daughter, who is engaged to Lukas's son. Disastrous results follow this man's newly acquired bigoted decisions. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Lukas, Carl Esmond, (more)
- 1933
Released in Great Britain as Sealed Lips, this WWI melodrama stars Constance Bennett as Carla, aka Russian spy "K-14." Though there's no room for romance in her line of work, Carla falls in love all the same with Austrian captain Rudi (Gilbert Roland). When he discovers that she's working for the enemy, Rudi is forced to arrest Carla, a turn of events which she takes in stride as the fortunes of war. Though slated for a firing squad, Carla manages to escape and after the war is reunited with Rudi at the train station where they first met. One of the screenwriters was Worthington Miner, later a leading light of the TV anthology series Studio One. Coming at the tail end of the early-1930s "spy cycle," After Tonight lost $100,000 at the box office, forcing RKO Radio to rethink the studio's contract with Constance Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, (more)
- 1916
Despite an industrywide reluctance to cast non-Caucasians in leading roles in the mid-teens, Japanese stage star Sessue Hayakawa was one of the most popular film personalities of the era. In Alien Souls, Hayakawa plays a wealthy importer, who assumes the responsibility of raising his late friend's daughter (played by Tsuri Aoki, Hayakawa's wife). Led to believe that she's a rich heiress, the girl is seduced by fortune-hunting Earl Foxe (who later retired from acting to manage a highly regarded Hollywood military academy). When Hayakawa reveals that the girl hasn't a penny, Foxe deserts her. She is saved from committing suicide when Hayakawa himself proposes marriage. The director of Alien Souls was Frank Reicher, who became a prolific character actor in the talkie era (he plays Captain Engelhorn in King Kong). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1940
An incredibly long but never dull adaptation of the Rachel Field best-seller, All This and Heaven Too was based on a once-notorious European scandal. Star Bette Davis, playing Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, is first seen as a French schoolteacher in a 19th century American seminary. When her supervisor, Reverend Henry Mortyn Field (Jeffrey Lynn), has questions to ask about her tainted past, Henriette relates her story in flashback. She had been hired by French duke De Praslin (Charles Boyer) to be the governess for his children. De Praslin's wife (Barbara O'Neil) was insanely jealous, so much so she inadvertently threw De Praslin and Henriette together. Henriette was willing to leave rather than cause more discord, but the influential wife vengefully refused to write a letter of recommendation (a bravura scene). Later, the impoverished Henriette was arrested as an accomplice in the murder of De Praslin's wife. The latter's position in French society stirred up volatile political ramifications, with Henriette innocently in the center of the storm. De Praslin committed suicide, exonerating Henriette on his deathbed, but she had already been condemned in the court of public opinion. Disgraced, she left for America to start life anew, which brings the story back to the present. Unable to continue running away from herself, Henriette confesses her past indiscretions to her students -- who promptly forgive her. Casey Robinson had a hell of a job adapting Rachel Field's cumbersome novel, but, by golly, he pulled it off. The performances in All This and Heaven Too are enhanced immeasurably by the lush Max Steiner musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, (more)
- 1937
Veteran movie leading man Bert Lytell warmed the director's chair for Along Came Love. Irene Hervey plays a shopgirl, while western star Charles Starrett dons civvies in the role of a pediatrician. Through a series of bizarre but credible complications, Hervey's mother (Irene Franklin) is arrested during a raid at a burlesque house, which plot device serves to bring hero and heroine together. All misunderstandings are ironed out within the film's 65-minute time frame, as we all knew they would be. Along Came Love was cowritten by Arthur Caesar, miles away from his Oscar-nominated original story for 1934's Manhattan Melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Hervey, Charles Starrett, (more)
- 1917
Actor/director Frank Reicher, most familiar to modern movie fans as "Captain Englehorn" in King Kong (1933), wielded the megaphone for the 1917 silent American Widow. In one of her very rare silent-film appearances, Ethel Barrymore plays a young widow who marries a man she doesn't love in order to earn an inheritance. She plans to quietly annul the marriage, then wed the man of her dreams, a European aristocrat. Soon, however, she learns that her new husband was the right man for her all along. This yarn was old in 1917, but Ethel Barrymore brings a welcome-if a bit overplayed-touch of artistry and class to the proceedings. Always a Widow was adapted from a play by Kellett Chambers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
When David O. Selznick produced the film version of the 1000-plus page novel Gone with the Wind, he declared he could not make a film running any less than 222 minutes. When Warner Bros. adapted the even longer Hervey Allen best-seller Anthony Adverse, the studio managed to pack everything--except the most censorable passages, which had made Allen's novel a best-seller in the first place--into 139 minutes. Surprisingly, the film version of Anthony Adverse moves rather smoothly, though it is nowhere near as involving (or as much fun) as Gone with the Wind. Fredric March stars as Anthony Adverse, the illegitimate offspring of Anita Louise, the wife of Spanish nobleman Claude Rains. When Adverse comes of age, he inherits the prosperous business run by his kindly foster father Edmund Gwenn, which he abandons for an aimless trip around the world after his heart is broken by childhood sweetheart Olivia De Havilland. Sinking deeper into the morass of alcohol and degeneracy in the West Indies, Adverse is regenerated when he is reunited with De Havilland, now the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. Suddenly enervated, Adverse battles the efforts of Claude Rains and Gwenn's duplicitous former assistant Gale Sondergaard to take over Gwenn's business. Along the way, he learns that Gwenn was actually his grandfather and that De Havilland has born him a son (Scotty Beckett). Instead of dying, as he does in the novel, Anthony Adverse takes his son to America to start life anew. Whew! Though no award winner itself, Anthony Adverse enabled Gale Sondergaard to win the first-ever "best supporting actress" Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1943
Eric Ambler's intriguing novel Uncommon Danger is brought down to a Republic serial level in Warner Bros.' Background to Danger. George Raft, who always seems miscast, plays an American undercover intelligence agent operating in Turkey. Sultry Osa Massen passes on some valuable secret papers to Raft just before she is killed. Our Hero then finds himself at the mercy of enemy agent Sidney Greenstreet, who knows that the papers contain Nazi plans to invade Turkey. Despite several brutal beatings, Raft and his cohorts Peter Lorre (a good guy for a change) and Brenda Marshall turn the tables on Greenstreet. Background to Danger was the first of many Warner Bros. follow-ups to the studio's megahit Casablanca; it's also the film wherein the prankish Peter Lorre stole George Raft's hat between takes--an affront that rankled the touchy Raft to his dying day. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Brenda Marshall, (more)
- 1949
Quickie king Sam Katzman was responsible for the 64-minute swashbuckler Barbary Pirate. Set mostly in the bay of Tripoli in the early 19th century, the film stars Donald Woods as American army officer Tom Blake. Hoping to trap the titular pirates, Blake gains the confidence of Yussef, the ruler of Tripoli (Stefan Schnabel). After much swordplay and miles of stock footage, the good guys emerge triumphant. One of actor Donald Woods' fringe benefits in agreeing to star in Barbary Pirate was the presence of two lovely leading ladies. Trudy Marshall (the mother of actress Deborah Raffin) is the traditional damsel in distress, while Lenore Aubert is the dusky native girl who doesn't survive to the last reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Woods, Trudy Marshall, (more)
- 1919
Handsome 1910s star Earl Metcalfe has a dual role in this World melodrama. Although he works in a tough business, fighter Jim Fortune (Metcalfe) has managed to stay honest. One night he helps Angelica Hart (Virginia Hammond), the wife of abusive society fighter Duncan Hart (Harry C. Brown), when her ring is stolen. On the evening that Fortune and Hart are pitted against each other, Hart brutally beats his wife. Angelica begs Fortune to give her husband a good beating, and he does. This is particularly humiliating to Hart, since he has brought the notorious Hortense Dale (Florence Malone) to watch the fight. Hart is shot and killed, and both Fortune and Angelica are suspected of the crime. Hortense and Hart's former trainer, a drug fiend named Toad Jennings (Irving Brooks), both testify against them. Hart's father, Hagan (also played by Metcalfe) is determined to discover the truth about the murder. During his investigation, he discovers that Fortune is his son from a previous marriage. Hortense and Jennings finally confess that they were behind Hart's killing, and Fortune and Angelica are set free. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1928
This silent romantic adventure is set in the Sahara desert, and purports to be a sequel to the successful Beau Geste. Like the first, it is based on a story by Christopher Wren and features members from the original cast. The story begins as three Legionnaires do not return promptly from furlough and end up in the poky. There, the hero duels with a traitor and wins, causing him to gain the designation "Beau Sabreur." Later he is sent into the desert to learn the ways of the Arabs and to help forge a peace treaty. There he encounters a lovely American journalist. Meanwhile the defeated traitor tries to stop the treaty from going through. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Evelyn Brent, (more)
- 1933
This suspenseful, exciting mystery is based upon an Edgar Wallace story and centers upon the search for $1 million in buried loot. Only the original thief, Joe Valerie knows its location. He tells the crazed Austrian Dr. Cornelius about it. The good doc secretly schemes to get it for himself, but first he must evade a determined detective and the bogus psychic he has hired to help him out. The search leads the gumshoe to a spooky, seemingly haunted mansion. Three people die during the hunt and as they go, the mystic and the detective find themselves falling in love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, (more)
- 1937
In this entertaining comedy, an American expatriate lives in Paris and fancies himself a clever con artist. Getting cocky, he invites his wife and daughter to join him. The daughter is about to marry and he promises her an exquisite French chalet. Now he must quickly find one before she arrives lest he end up with egg upon his face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Morgan, Florence Rice, (more)
- 1931
A troubled production that suffered from both severe cuts and retakes under a different director (Edward H. Griffith), this World War I melodrama fell far short of becoming another All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) as had obviously been the original intention. Told in flashbacks, the antiwar drama stars William Boyd as Sergeant Bill Thatcher, the head of an American battalion fighting for control of a French village. As Thatcher listens, three wounded soldiers under his command recall how they came to the battlefields of World War I: A farm boy, Bud (Russell Gleason), defied his mother (Mary Carr) and enlisted despite being the family's sole breadwinner; a New York playboy, trapped between two women, Ina (Marion Shilling), his newest conquest, and a former mistress, Lew (Lew Cody), sought the easy way out by enlisting; finally, Private Jim Mobley (James Gleason) tells the heartfelt story of how his wife, "Mademoiselle" Fritzi (ZaSu Pitts), a carnival knife thrower, got very upset when he decided to escape housekeeping duties by joining the army. Back on the battlefield, Jim finds Bill at the machine gun, where the latter finally tells his own story of how he came to hate his German-born fiancée, Katherine (Lissi Arna), when she warned him of the futility of war. Before blowing up a railroad bridge, Bill admits to Jim that he now fully understands Katherine's sentiments. Wounded in the battle, both soldiers end up in a German Red Cross hospital where Bill is reunited with Katherine. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Lew Cody, (more)
- 1942
It's Dorothy Lamour again, sarong and all, in the South Seas wish-dream Beyond the Blue Horizon. Lamour plays Tama, a daughter of the jungle who heads to the US to claim an inheritance. For publicity purposes, press agent Squidge (Jack Haley) tries to team Tama with his client, circus lion tamer Jakra (Richard Denning). As it turns out, Jakra is compelled to return to the South Seas with Tama to obtain positive proof that she is indeed sole heir to her family's fortune. The climax finds Jakra putting his animal-taming skills to practical use when a rogue elephant goes on a rampage. One suspects that audiences in 1942 didn't believe this one either. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Lamour, Richard Denning, (more)
- 1929
A primitive early talkie from Pathé, this crime drama starred relative newcomers Robert Armstrong and Carole Lombard, the latter still spelling her first name Carol. They play husband and wife, she threatening divorce unless he devotes more of his time to their marriage. In reality, Armstrong is an undercover detective busy investigating a dope ring lead by Reno (Sam Hardy), a crook with friends in high places. When Armstrong gets too close to the truth, Reno has him framed in the murder of corrupt newspaper publisher Addison (Charles Sellon). A Dictaphone recording Addison was making when he was murdered ultimately exonerates Banks, who can now return to his forgiving wife. Both Robert Armstrong and Carole Lombard would see their careers soar in the 1930s, he as the nominal star of King Kong (1933), she as one of Hollywood's best light comediennes. In fact, director Gregory La Cava and Lombard would collaborate again on My Man Godfrey (1936), one of the era's best screwball comedies and a far cry from the pedestrian Big News. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Armstrong, Carole Lombard, (more)
- 1919
Andrew Ferguson (Creighton Hale) and Lucy Baird (Virginia Valli) are cub reporters on a big-city newspaper. They decide to swap assignments, and Lucy is fired for the story that Andrew wrote. When the bosses find out that Andrew was the author, he is fired too and they both go back to Lucy's hometown to run her father's newspaper; Dan Baird (Jack Drumier) is running for sheriff and he needs the help. Andrew runs into trouble because there is a big conflict between the clean-living people of the town and a group of whiskey runners who are trying to throw their weight around. In spite of the troubles the runners cause, Baird is elected sheriff and he rounds them up, and the town prosecutor is exposed as one of the crooks. After the gang is squelched and things calm down, Andrew and Lucy head for the altar. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1929
Produced in Hollywood by Herbert Wilcox, who had been unable to obtain sound equipment in London, this "haunted house" (actually "haunted houseboat") mystery-thriller was nevertheless Great Britain's first "all-talkie." John Loder, the only Englishman involved besides Wilcox, and Mary Brian find themselves invited on board a mysterious, fog-bound houseboat. Soon, several of their fellow passengers fall victim to a disguised madman, who proves to be none other than their host, the Reverend Eph Kelly (veteran matinee idol James Kirkwood). Written by John Willard, the author of the classic The Cat and the Canary, and featuring innovative dialogue scenes, Black Waters ultimately suffered in comparison with Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1930), the first "all-talkie" filmed entirely in England. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Kirkwood, Mary Brian, (more)
- 1945
Blonde Ransom revives a plot that dates back at least to Broadway's David Belasco era. Virginia Grey plays Vicki, the niece of irascible old scoundrel Uncle William (George Barbier). When Vicki's boyfriend Duke (Donald Cook), owner of a Broadway nightclub, needs $63000 in a hurry, Vicki fakes her own kidnapping to raise the ransom money from her uncle. Things get sticky when the phony abduction turns real, but nothing really bad ever happens in a Universal musical comedy. TV buffs might get a kick out of comedy relief Pinky Lee, performing several of his tried-and-true burlesque routines. As proof that everything old is new again, the storyline of Blonde Ransom was reworked as late as 1997 for the Alicia Silverstone vehicle Excess Baggage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Cook, Virginia Grey, (more)
- 1928
Cecil B. DeMille functioned as executive producer for the derivative romantic melodrama The Blue Danube. Leatrice Joy stars as Marguerite, a Budapest tavern girl, who falls in love with young baron Erich (Nils Asther). When WWI breaks out, Erich is called back to his regiment on the eve of his wedding to Marguerite. This provides a golden opportunity for Ludwig (Joseph Schildkraut), a deformed, embittered violinist who is secretly in love with the heroine. Intercepting her mail, Ludwig convinces Marguerite that Erich has been unfaithful, whereupon the girl agrees to marry the violinist on the rebound. Only the unexpected return of Erich prevents villainy from triumphing over virtue. The Blue Danube was written by future director John Farrow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leatrice Joy, Joseph Schildkraut, (more)
