Dewey Robinson Movies

The unlikely combination of John Wayne and Joan Blondell adds a bit of vinegar and spice to the so-so costume drama Lady for a Night. Blondell is cast as Jenny Blake, owner of the Memphis Belle-not a WW2 bomber, but a gambling ship moored just outside New Orleans. Jenny's partner and erstwhile suitor is local political boss Jack Morgan (Wayne). She loves Morgan, but decides to marry for money and prestige, and to that end weds "black sheep" socialite Alan Alderson (Ray Middleton). Her new in-laws are infuriated by this marriage of convenience, and do everything they can to ruin Jenny in the eyes of society. When Alderson dies suddenly, his vengeful mother Julia (Blanche Yurka) accuses Jenny of poisoning her husband. Throughout the subsequent trial and scandal, Morgan stands loyally by Jenny's side, convincing her at long last that he's been the "right man" for her all along. Hattie Noel, who two years earlier lost the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind to Hattie McDaniel, essays a neat Mammy-like characterization as Jenny's all-knowing maidservant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Next to Ann Miller, few Columbia contractees made more B musicals than Jinx Falkenberg. In Sing for Your Supper, Falkenberg is cast as Evelyn Palmer, the gorgeous proprietor of a dime-a-dance emporium. Bandleader Larry Hays (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) is the official owner of the joint, but when he finds himself in financial hot water, Evelyn, a wealthy socialite, secretly buys up the lease and takes a job as one of the dancers to keep tabs on her money-and the handsome Mr. Hays. Much of the film's running time is given over to comedian Bert Gordon, better known as radio's "Mad Russian" ("How do you doooooo?") Eve Arden is rather wasted as a wisecracking taxi dancer, but better things were to come her way within a few short years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal Studios had their "B" musicals down to a science in the 1940s. All that was needed was a cast of talented contractees, four or five modest production numbers, and a title based on a popular song hit. In I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby, Broderick Crawford plays a sentimental gangster who abducts songwriter Johnny Downs and forces him to write a love ballad. It is Crawford's hope that the song will reach out and touch his long-lost childhood sweetheart. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby was based on James Edward Grant's short story Trouble in B Flat; echoes of the basic premise later resurfaced in the 1957 "A" picture The Girl Can't Help It. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This modest Preston Sturges comedy stars Dick Powell as an office clerk dreaming of better things and Ellen Drew as his more pragmatic girlfriend. Powell convinces himself that his fortune will be made if he can win a slogan contest sponsored by a coffee company. Powell's contribution: "If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee, it's the bunk!" Three of Powell's fellow workers decide to have some fun with him; they fake a telegram which announces that he's won the contest. The deception snowballs to the point that even the head of the coffee firm (Raymond Walburn) labors under the misapprehension that Powell has won. When the painful truth is revealed, Powell finds himself broke (because of all the creature comforts he's bought) and jobless, but at least he's retained the love of his wife. A cute deus ex machina to the story appears in the person of William Demarest, the foreman of the "jury" that is judging the slogan contest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred MacMurray stars as a US Army misfit who, with pals Albert Dekker and Gilbert Roland, roam the west in search of adventure. Arriving in a small town, they befriend the elderly newspaper editor (Arthur Allen) and his young granddaughter (Betty Brewer). The trio learns that the community is under the thumb of a covetous land baron (Joseph Schildkraut), who is endeavoring to push out the ranch owners and take over the territory. Advertised by Paramount Pictures as a standard western, Rangers of Fortune is full of startling surprises, not the least of which is the fact that Fred MacMurray doesn't get the girl (Patricia Morison). In one scene, villain Joseph Schildkraut explains his motivations so persuasively that he seems to be more in the right than the heroes. And despite Paramount's promotional buildup of their new child star Betty Brewer, the studio had no qualms about killing off her character some ten minutes before the end! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Characterized by some critics as a "South African western", Diamond Frontier stars Victor McLaglen as ruthless diamond hunter Regan. The villain's reign of terror as he searches for the precious gems is checked by Charles Clayton (John Loder), freshly escaped from a brutal penal colony. A wild escape through the jungle enables Universal Pictures to exercise its usual prerogative of lifting great chunks of celluloid from its stock-footage library. Anne Nagel is the faithful heroine who anxious awaits the falsely-convicted Clayton's return, while Cecil Kellaway plays the standard comedy-relief mercenary. The primary source for Diamond Frontier is indicated by the title of the story upon which the screenplay was based: A Modern Monte Cristo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The moral of Preston Sturges' first directorial effort The Great McGinty seems to be: If you're a crook, stay a crook, because honesty will get ya every time. Brian Donlevy plays Dan McGinty, a Chicago hobo who is hired by local political bosses as a "professional voter", casting ballots under a variety of assumed names in various districts. McGinty chalks up $74 worth of votes, and when local ward heeler William Demarest can't pony up, McGinty takes direct action by trying to beat up The Boss (Akim Tamiroff). Though the two men can't get through an entire day without trying to kill each other, McGinty and the Boss are impressed by each other's raw abilities and become political partners. Through the Boss' patronage, McGinty works his way up to the mayor's office, with his politically expedient bride (Muriel Angelus) at his side. Though he never goes so far as to fall in love with his "arranged" wife, Donlevy is fond of both her and her children by a previous marriage, and for their sake he begins to reform--much to the dismay of the Boss. With the Governor's mansion within his grasp, McGinty makes the fatal error of fessing up to a graft-ridden bridge contract. It is this impulsive moment of honesty, rather than any of his past crimes, that gets McGinty thrown in the slammer, sharing a cell with the blood-in-his-eye Boss. Demarest separates the two combative men long enough to arrange an escape to South America, but not before McGinty has assured the financial security of his wife and family. The story is told in flashback form in a seedy South American dive, where McGinty works as a bartender and the Boss is the manager. The film ends with the two friendly enemies duking it out over a minor infraction, while bouncer Demarest looks on in disgust. Sick to death of watching other directors mangle his screenplays, Preston Sturges sold this rollicking political satire to Paramount only on the condition that he be allowed to direct (for the princely sum of $10). Paramount hedged its bets by giving Sturges a slim budget and inexpensive stars; as a result, the film made back its cost several times over, and Preston Sturges' directorial career was off and running. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, a U.S. border patrol agent stationed in Tijuana loses his job and gets into deep trouble after a friend is shot while the agent was doing an investigation. When the agent discovers that it was he, not his friend, who was targeted for the hit, he decides to get revenge upon the gang that did it. As he investigates, he is nearly blown up in a booby-trapped truck. He eventually succeeds and the gang gets its just desserts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A federal agent and a petty Naval officer are both investigating the theft of top-secret defense plans. Since neither one is aware that the other is working on the case, each considers the other to be the prime suspect. They end up getting romantic and catching the real spies. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

A macho Cossack immigrant to the U.S. goes West and joins a ring of rustlers. Later his son follows him to states and he too begins stealing cows. Not knowing his father very well, the youth is anxious to prove himself a manly man and a friendly rivalry develops until the father is captured and imprisoned. Meanwhile, his son joins the cavalry and secretly engineers a break out. He succeeds and then feels terrible guilt, for it is his unit that has been assigned to bring his father to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Veteran character actors Mary Boland and Ernest Truex are aces as the stars of Republic's Mama Runs Wild. "Mama" is social-climbing Alice Summers (Boland), the wife of milquetoast Calvin Summers (Truex). When Alice accidentally causes the arrest of a bank robber, she becomes a local heroine and mayoral candidate. But when she begins to lobby for the closing of a local tavern, the opposition party picks its own candidate -- Calvin. The ending is at once satisfying in the true "worm turns" tradition, and heartwarming in that it demonstrates the deep abiding love the Summerses have for one another. Though clearly inspired by Paramount's popular Mary Boland-Charlie Ruggles vehicles, Mama Runs Wild delivers enough chuckles to stand on its own merits. The film was directed by Ralph Staub, the guiding force behind Columbia's "Screen Snapshots" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Super Sleuth stars Jack Oakie as an egotistical movie actor who specializes in detective roles. Despite the gentle remonstrations of his girl friend (Ann Sothern), Oakie fancies himself a genuine master sleuth, and in this capacity offers his services to the law in helping to solve a recent series of "poison pen" murders. In truth, Oakie is so dense that he can't figure out that the seemingly benign criminologist (Eduardo Cianelli), who supplies him technical information on his film roles, is the actual murderer. Edgar Kennedy, the real detective on the case, solves the mystery himself, but not before Oakie is nearly bumped off in the criminologist's "chamber of horrors." Super Sleuth was ineptly remade in 1946 as Genius at Work, a vehicle for RKO's prefabricated comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

New Faces of 1937 was supposed to be the vanguard of a series of annual musical comedies -- RKO Radio's latest attempt to revive its long-dormant "Radio City Revels" concept. The plot is based on an old show-business legend, later immortalized in Mel Brooks' The Producers: Crooked Broadway producer Robert Hunt (Jerome Cowan) deliberately produces flops so that he can pocket the backers' money himself. His next sure-fire disaster is a show built around talented unknowns (there actually was such a "New Faces" series on Broadway, yielding such stars-to-be as Imogene Coca and Henry Fonda, but it was produced on the up-and-up). When the show threatens to become a hit, the producer desperately seeks a method to sabotage the production. The various subplots involve such vaudeville and radio comedians as Milton Berle (who performs a side-splitting "stockbroker" sketch with Richard Lane), Joe Penner, Bert "Mad Russian" Gordon and Parkyakarkus (aka Harry Einstein, the father of present-day comedians Bob Einstein and Albert Brooks). Among the New Faces displayed herein are 14-year-old dancer Ann Miller, The Brian Sisters, The Three Choclateers and the Four Playboys. Perhaps the fictional Robert Hunt would have been pleased to find out that New Faces of 1937 was a box-office bomb, precluding any follow-ups. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide