Tom Ricketts Movies

Athletic star William Fairbanks stars in this cheaply made Columbia drama. Jim Davis (Fairbanks) likes having a good time, and his extravagance is a strain on his father (Tom Ricketts). To discourage him, the elder Davis claims to be bankrupt, which means that Jim has to fend for himself. When Jim sees a man on the street insulting pretty Mary Corbett (Phyllis Haver), he angrily pummels him. It turns out the man was Battling Wilson (Leon Beauman), who is the state boxing champ. With Mary's encouragement, Jim decides to challenge Wilson in the ring. Before the fight, however, Jim is doped, and as a result, Wilson easily knocks him out. Jim still gets his revenge when he trails the boxer to his dressing room and beats him to a pulp. Jim's heroics win Mary's love, and he and his father are eventually reconciled. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

It is a tale known well, filmed many times over the years, but never better than this early black and white version from the MGM Studios, David O. Selznick producing. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"-- Charles Dickens juxtaposes England and France, George and Louis, tradition and revolution. One of the most beloved of Dickens' stories, finding not only countries and conditions compared, but also two individuals thrown up in stark contrast to one another: -- the dissolute barrister Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman) and the young, somewhat callow aristocrat Charles Darnay (Donald Woods), both in love with Lucie (Elizabeth Allan), daughter of a victim of the French Regime. Their lives intertwine until the violent revolution that overtook an entire nation engulfs them all as well.

Dickens' story has stood the test of time; remade frequently since the release of this1935 version. It is this version by director Jack Conway's that is best remembered and to which all others are compared. The settings, cinematography, and direction are all right on the mark, recreating the streets of London and of Paris with great skill and realism. The supporting cast, filled with faces we have grown to cherish-- Reginald Owen, Edna May Oliver, Claude Gillingwater, Walter Catlett, H. B. Warner, Basil Rathbone, and E. E. Clive-comes through with crystalline performances which add substance to the inexorable stream of events. Blanche Yurka's bravura turn as Therese de Farge delights us even as we shudder at her intensity. Second unit directors Jacques Tourneur and Val Lewton, who would both go on to memorable careers as leading directors in their own right, staged the storming of the Bastille and other "revolutionary" scenes brilliantly, managing to combine fervor with panache. It is, however, Colman's portrayal of the lonely man redeemed by love and sacrifice which stands at the center of the story.

Sydney Carton first saves Charles Darnay from a charge of treason, thereby meeting those who care for him: the beautiful Lucie Manette, her father, Doctor Manette (Henry B. Walthall), released from the Bastille after many years of unjust incarceration; Lucie's servant Miss Pross, (Oliver) and Mister Lorry (Claude Gillingwater), an functionary of Tellson's Bank. His relationship with this circle of kind friends grows rocky when Darnay marries Lucie, whom Carton has loved from afar, but even this turn of events cannot change his feelings for them all and he grows to love them even more when daughter Lucie comes along. He reforms, leaving old ways behind and enjoying a familial warmth he has never known. This happy life is shattered when Darnay returns to France during the first revolutionary struggles, intent on saving his old tutor from the guillotine. He soon finds himself behind bars and facing the blade instead. The Revolution does not forget an aristocrat, even one who has recanted and lived life abroad as a commoner. The whole family makes the channel crossing to come to the young man's aid and Carton seeks a way to save him, discovering only one path to free Darnay and return everyone to safety. It is a sacrifice easily promised and quickly made.

Ronald Colman had long wanted to make a film of this story and, when he finally got his chance, he happily shaved off his signature mustache in an appropriate gesture to historical realism. Reviews of his work indicate his portrayal of Sydney Carton surpassed all his previous endeavors; he had been accused of walking through light parts, once he started making "talkies," and not putting his many talents to good use. "A Tale of Two Cities" put rest to those complaints. He dominates completely the scenes he which he does appear, and his skill gives substance to a literary achievement, a melancholy man of intelligence and wit, given to drink and despair, whose life seems to attain meaning only when it is given up for someone else. It is one of the portrayals for which Ronald Colman has come to be remembered.

There are various remake versions of A Tale of Two Cities. Dirk Bogarde played Carton in 1958 and Chris Sarandon starred in a television remake in 1980. While these and other versions have all been good films, none has achieved the stature of the 1935 version and its excellent combination of star power, technical brilliance and great storytelling. ~ All Movie Guide

Bill Harper (Will Rogers), a cattle baron turned diplomat, is assigned to the middle European country of Sylvania, which is in a nearly constant state of uproar ever since King Lothar (Ray Milland), who is convinced Queen Vania (Marguerite Churchill) was having an affair, left the country. Their young son Paul (Tad Alexander) is supposedly the leader, but it's really ruled by scheming Prince de Polikoff (Gustav Von Seyffertitz), who instantly dislikes the easygoing Bill, who makes friends with Paul and Vania. Lothar, who sneaked back into the country disguised as Bill's pilot, tries to reconcile with Vania, but to no avail. Thanks to de Polikoff's plans, Bill is arrested -- just as Lothar starts a revolution. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

When Madame Zatianny appears, seemingly from nowhere on the social scene, everyone is taken by her beauty. The older ones say she is the mirror image of Mary Ogden, who they had known 30 years before. Lee Clavering, a budding playwright (Conway Tearle), manages to meet Madame Zatianny and they fall very much in love. He proposes, and she confesses to be the same Mary Ogden of 30 years prior, her youth restored through a gland operation. But Prince Hohenhauer, an old admirer (Alan Hale), convinces her to leave Clavering by pointing out that she prefers power over love. So she returns to Europe to continue her relief work, while Clavering consoles himself with Janet Oglethorpe, a pretty young flapper (Clara Bow). Future superstar Bow really stood out in this supporting role -- she received great notices all around -- and not long after the film's release she would become a WAMPAS Baby Star, which helped promote her fledgling career. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This mystery was based on a novel written by 20 popular authors, each of whom contributed a chapter. The point of each chapter was to put the characters in such a tight predicament that the next writer would have to be exceptionally clever to get them out of it. As can be imagined, the film that resulted from the book was fast-paced and had almost constant action. Connemara Moore (Marie Prevost) has two suitors, one who likes bobbed hair and the other who doesn't. Both have proposed and she promises to reveal which one she has accepted by either bobbing her hair or not bobbing. In reality, she can't decide between them, so she accepts a ride with a stranger, David Lacy (Kenneth Harlan, at the time Prevost's real-life husband). The ride leads her to all sorts of adventures involving bootleggers, a fight on a private yacht, an attack by hijackers, and other tense situations. Connemara is rescued by Lacy, who turns out to be a government agent, and when she shows up with only half her hair bobbed, it's an indication that she has chosen him as her husband-to-be. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Just after completing It Happened One Night, director Frank Capra churned out a bread-and-butter picture titled Broadway Bill. Warner Baxter plays the carefree scion of a wealthy, highly-respected family. Baxter's cold but socially correct wife Helen Vinson forces her husband into the family business, but Baxter would rather spend his time at the racetrack. He buys a nag named Broadway Bill and tries to build the horse into a winner--if he doesn't bankrupt himself first. Only Baxter's sister-in-law Myrna Loy and black stable hand Clarence Muse have faith in Broadway Bill. The horse wins a crucial race, but dies suddenly at the finish line. Baxter is comforted and given encouragement by Loy, who is now his sweetheart, Vinson having long since washed her hands of her "irresponsible" husband. Broadway Bill was remade by Capra as Riding High (1950), utilizing generous portions of stock footage and even going so far as to rehire several of the original film's cast members (Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Charles Lane, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Frankie Darro) to recreate their roles and match up their scenes from the earlier production. Long withheld from distribution due to Riding High, Broadway Bill was made available for videocassette in the mid-1980s. Keep an eye out for Lucille Ball as a blonde telephone operator and Alan Hale Sr. as a racetrack announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tired of his sedentary postwar existence, Col. Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Ronald Colman) offers his services as adventurer for hire. This gets him mixed up with lovely Joan Bennett, whose wealthy father is being held against his will in a gloomy sanitarium. Armed with little more than bravado, Drummond, his pal Algy (Claud Allister) and faithful butler Danny (Wilson Benge) walk right into the villain's lair--said villain being the evil Dr. Lakington. Drummond is overpowered by Lakington's henchpersons, played by Lilyan Tashman and Montague Love. Our Hero is willing to accept the inevitability of his own death, but when the unspeakable Lakington fondles the unconscious Ms. Bennett, that's too much! Drummond escapes, and in a jaw-dropping sequence kills Lakington in cold blood. He then becomes his old charming self and allows secondary villains Love and Tashman to escape, since he's not really mad at them. Drummond saves the millionaire and wins the girl, though later "Bulldog Drummond" films bear out the fact that he doesn't marry her immediately as he should (virtually every subsequent "Drummond" flick would open with an interrupted wedding). Filmed in the earliest days of the talkie era, Bulldog Drummond is a remarkably sophisticated film for its time, directed with assurance by former Mack Sennett associate F. Richard Jones (who unfortunately died shortly after the film's release). Its only concessions to the "all talking/all singing" mania of 1929 are the unnecessary Irish songs performed by tenor Donald Novis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kitty Flanders (Yvonne Pelletier), Jean Waddington and Ted Larrabee (Don Marion) are all "children of divorce" -- the two girls are left in a convent school by their mothers and Ted's upbringing is sketchy at best. When the three of them grow up, Ted (now played by Gary Cooper) falls deeply in love with Jean (the beautiful Esther Ralston). Kitty (Clara Bow) loves Vico, an impoverished prince (Einar Hansen), but she refuses to marry him because her mother, Katherine (Hedda Hopper), has drilled into her the necessity of marrying for money. So Kitty sets her sights on the wealthy Ted, even though Jean is her friend. After a night of drunken revelry, Ted wakes up to find he and Kitty are married. Even though he is desperately unhappy, Jean doesn't want their parents' mistake repeated and refuses to allow him to seek a divorce so that he can marry her. A few years later, things have gotten much worse for Kitty and Ted. Although they have a baby, it does nothing for the marriage and Ted does everything he can to avoid his unwanted wife. Then Kitty finds out that, for religious reasons, Vico can never marry a divorced woman. Since she can see no other way out, she poisons herself so that Ted and Jean can be together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

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

Dry Martini was wittily adapted from the droll novel by John Thomas. Wealthy American Willoughby Quimby (Albert Gran) divorces his wife, then spends the next decade in Paris. His girth notwithstanding, Quimby keeps himself amply supplied with wine and women, and sometimes women and wine. Upon discovering that his grown daughter Elizabeth (Mary Astor) is coming to Paris to pay him a visit, Quimby decides to put up a respectable veneer, giving up both liquor and ladies for the duration. Unfortunately, Elizabeth finds her father to be dull as a dishrag, and begins spending her time with rakish artist Paul de Launay (Albert Conti). Just as she's about to lose the traditional struggle for her virtue, Elizabeth is rescued from De Launay by Quimby's young pal Freddie Fletcher (Matt Moore). Once his daughter is safely married to the basically decent Freddie, Quimby breathes a sigh of relief and happily returns to his old hedonistic habits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Legend has it that Dorothy Revier rose to stardom in the Columbia Pictures product of the 1920s because she was the "good friend" of Columbia head man Harry Cohn; some sources suggest that Revier was also the model for the studio's famous torch-lady trademark. In Fate of the Flirt, the actress is cast as Mary Burgess, who declares in front of a sophisticated British society crowd that she'd sooner marry a poor bricklayer than a wealthy nobleman. Smitten by the unpretentious Mary, the aristocratic Sir Gilbert (Forrest Stanley) decides to win her heart by posing as his family's chauffeur. It's all part of a wager between Sir Gilbert and his Uncle John (Thomas Ricketts), who is convinced that Mary is merely a title-chasing golddigger. Most of the laughs in Fate of a Flirt are predicated on the amorous activities of Uncle John, living proof that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance a school marm takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to a crippled woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide