Willard Robertson Movies
A New Year's baby, actor Willard Robertson grew up in Texas, where he became a successful lawyer. Reportedly he was offered an opportunity to become a federal judge, but he turned it down because of a sudden interest in acting. Since he looked the part of a prosperous attorney, however, Robertson frequently found himself playing a member of the very profession he'd left behind. The actor also showed up as sheriffs, mayors, city councilmen and stern father figures during his quarter-centry film career. While Preston Sturges buffs pinpoint Robertson's flamboyant defense attorney in Remember the Night? (1940) as his best performance, the actor is equally fondly recalled for his portrayal of Jackie Cooper's outwardly stern, inwardly loving father in Skippy (1931) and Sooky (1931). By the mid '40s, Willard Robertson's roles were usually of one scene's duration or less, but he still carried plenty of authority, notably as the sheriff in the grim The Ox-Bow Incident (1943); Robertson's icy remonstration to a lynch mob, "The Lord better have mercy on you...you won't get it from me," still chills the blood after fifty years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1932
The title Virtue should be a good tip-off that the central character is a step below virtuous. Carole Lombard, still not established as a comedienne in 1932, plays a streetwalker seeking an escape from her sordid existence. She meets Pat O'Brien, one of the few men who doesn't expect a quick fix of satisfaction. Redeemed by his love, Lombard marries O'Brien and tries her best to bury her past. Fortunately Virtue was made before the 1934 production code, thus Carole Lombard is not subject to the censor-approved Torments of the Damned which were visited upon post-1934 movie prostitutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carole Lombard, Pat O'Brien, (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)
- 1931
Murder, blackmail and honor are the principal plot motivations of Silence. Clive Brook stars as Jim Warren, a gentleman thief who is sent to prison on a murder charge. Only after scores of plot twists and setbacks is the truth revealed: Warren is taking the rap for his old friend Phil Powers (Willard Robertson), who'd apparently killed blackmailing Harry Silvers (John Wray) rather than reveal the fact that Powers' foster daughter Norma (Peggy Shannon) is really Warren's illegitimate offspring. In a final surprise, it turns out that Powers was innocent as well! To reveal the true identity of the murderer would be to spoil the ending so cleverly set up by co-director Max Mercin, who penned the play upon which Silence was based. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Marjorie Rambeau, (more)
- 1931
An eerie early-talkie mystery, Murder by the Clock spends most of its time in a cemetery. The matriarch (Blanche Frederici) of a wealthy family is haunted by the notion that she'll be buried alive. To avoid this contingency, she has a horn installed in the family mausoleum, to be activated in case she arises from her casket. The lady is murdered, and shortly after her internment the horn blows at regular intervals. Each time the horn is heard, the dead woman is seen wandering the cemetery, and each time one of her relatives winds up dead. These "supernatural" events are actually being orchestrated by a covetous family member (there's a large legacy involved of course), who uses the services of several homicidal confederates. Murder by the Clock was perhaps more frightening in 1931 than it is today, but a TV revival is long overdue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Stage" Boyd, Lilyan Tashman, (more)
- 1931
In this actioner, a sleazy sea captain not only treats his crew terribly, he also steals a sailor's wife and child. He is so abusive to the woman that she dies. He then takes the child to raise as his own. In the end, the sailor from whom he stole secretly signs on board and exacts his revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willard Robertson, Sidney Bracey, (more)
- 1931
In this drama, an eager-beaver cub reporter looking for the big scoop that will give him his big break is sent to interview a building contractor. While awaiting his interview, he eavesdrops upon as heated argument between the contractor and his ex-mistress who is about to tell the D.A. about his shady deals. This will destroy his budding political career. The dishonest contractor retaliates by killing the district attorney and having the girl kidnapped. More trouble ensues when the reporter implicates the wrong person in the shenanigans. His mistake is discovered, and he is fired. He then investigates the case on his own to find the real guilty party and free the kidnapped girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Revier, Regis Toomey, (more)
- 1931
Percy Crosby's popular newspaper comic strip Skippy comes to life in this 1931 film. Designed as a vehicle for Our Gang's Jackie Cooper -- then all of nine years old -- Skippy jettisons most of the trenchant cynicism of Crosby's creation (the strip was something of a 1930s Calvin and Hobbes) in favor of sentiment. Skippy, the son of the local health inspector (Willard Robertson) conspires with his best friend, Sooky (Robert Coogan), a poor kid, to raise enough money for a dog license. The mutt in question is eventually shot by the mean dogcatcher, and the effect on Skippy and Sooky (not to mention the audience) is devastating. The tragedy leads Skippy's dad to soften his disciplinarian stance and to draw closer to his son. Skippy was followed by an even more lachrymose sequel, Sooky, also released in 1931. Twenty-five years later, Jackie Cooper, by that time a prominent TV producer/director, tried to revive Skippy as a weekly series, with future My Three Sons co-star Stanley Livingston in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Robert Coogan, (more)
- 1931
This George O'Brien western is based on a novel by Max Brand, previously filmed as the 1920 Tom Mix vehicle The Untamed. Cast as devil-may-car Whistlin' Dan Barry, our hero rides into a passel of trouble in a wide-open town. Warned to leave the premises or else, Whistlin' Dan refuses to do so, sticking around long enough to whomp villain Jim Silent (Mitchell Lewis) and romance heroine Kate Cumberland (Louise Huntington). Fourth-billed George Brent would soon leave westerns in favor for the rarefied world of Warner Bros. soap operas. The 1937 20th Century-Fox programmer Fair Warning is not a remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Huntington, Mitchell Harris, (more)
- 1931
Originally titled Upper Underworld, The Ruling Voice stars Walter Huston as a powerful underworld chieftain who covers his crooked activities in a cloak of respectability. Cold-blooded in all business matters, Huston cares only for the welfare of his beloved daughter Loretta Young, whom he has been careful to shield from his criminal cohorts. When she learns the truth, Young angrily walks out of her father's life, a blow compounded when his "trusted" henchman Dudley Digges betrays him. In a last-ditch effort at redemption, Huston puts his own life on the line to rescue his daughter from her rival-gangster kidnappers. The final shot in The Ruling Voice is a gem, with the newspaper bearing the headline of Huston's downfall being used to wrap a dead fish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Huston, Loretta Young, (more)
- 1931
Sooky was the sequel to Paramount's smash-hit sentimental comedy Skippy; both films were based on characters created by comic strip artist Percy Crosby. Jackie Cooper is back as Skippy, with Robert Coogan (younger brother of Jackie Coogan) in the title role. Once again, Skippy is the mischievous kid from a comfortable family environment, while Sooky is the soot-faced urchin from the wrong side of the tracks. Sooky deftly blends comedy and tragedy, ranging from the comic complications ensuing when Skippy tries to help his city-employee father win an election (Willard Robertson), to the heartrending scenes involving the death of Sooky's mother (Helen Jerome Eddy). There is a reasonably happy ending, wherein Sooky is adopted by Skippy's dad. After Sooky, Jackie Cooper moved from Paramount to MGM, where he remained until he grew too old to be cute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Searl, Willard Robertson, (more)
- 1930
In this western based on a novel by Zane Grey, Buck Duane (George O'Brien) is a cowboy who is forced to kill a man in an act of self-defense; the same man also took the life of Buck's father. However, the law isn't so sure Buck's motivations were pure, and Buck is forced to leave town one step ahead of the peace officers. Buck gets a chance to prove his good intentions when he helps protect a rancher who is being harassed by a gang of thugs, and also rescues his lady love, Ruth (Lucille Brown), from the same outlaws. However, Buck's brave actions do not come without retaliation -- and they also attract the attention of Lola (Myrna Loy), one of the hombre's molls. The Last Of The Duanes was filmed before in 1924 (with Tom Mix in the lead), and the story would hit the screen again in 1941, starring George Montgomery. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Myrna Loy, (more)
- 1925
Although Blanche Sweet was often busy making films with her then-husband Marshall Neilan, during 1925 and 1926, she also made several films for First National. This one is a melodrama of the sea in which she plays Molla Hansen, the daughter of the captain of an oil schooner (Bert Sprotte). Molla has made plans to marry Captain Rodney O'Malley (Robert Frazer) when she returns from a voyage with her father, but the ship burns at sea. She is saved by a lighthouse keeper who dies from his wounds, and in gratitude, she cares for the man's daughter, Pearl (Dorothy Sebastian). O'Malley, believing Molla to be dead, goes on a two-year voyage. Charley Watts (Alan Roscoe), a rum-runner, seduces Pearl, who tries to blame her pregnancy on an innocent man. Then she learns that Watts is married, and she turns on the gas in the lighthouse, hoping that the explosion will kill them both. It also nearly kills Molla, but O'Malley, returned from his trip, rescues her. This picture was adapted from the play by Willard Robertson. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Sweet, Edward Earle, (more)
