Jean Rogers Movies

In this domestic comedy, a young woman's mother keeps frightening her beaus right out the door with her incessant critical comments. Naturally this is quite frustrating to the girl. But when the maiden falls in love with one of the boy friends, she goes to her father for assistance. He obliges by making sure his wife holds her tongue. Romantic happiness for the young couple ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this heartwarming drama, a good-hearted reporter attempts to find the loneliest woman in New York so he can give her an old-fashioned Christmas on a farm. He meets a woman whom he thinks is a stenographer. In reality she is a hard-bitten nightclub owner with no Christmas spirit at all. By surrounding her with the warmth of a big family Yule, the reporter begins to wear down her crusty walls and get her into the spirit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

While New York Sleeps is when fast-talking reporter Barney Callahan (Michael Whalen) prowls the night beat for a great metropolitan newspaper. At present, Callahan is trying to find out who's responsible for a series of baffling murders. The victims were all bond carriers, and the cops have already targeted the most likely suspects. With the help of photographer Snapper Doolan (Chick Chandler), Callahan bypasses the Obvious and goes after the least likely suspect-who, of course, is the guilty party. When not on the job, Callahan relaxes by romancing long-legged showgirl Judy King (Jean Rogers), as good an excuse as any for an extended nightclub musical number. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal Pictures' second Flash Gordon serial was even more opulent than its first, offering better special effects, more impressive sets, a bigger cast, and a more complicated story. When a mysterious beam of light starts disrupting and destroying the Earth's atmosphere, Flash Gordon (Larry "Buster" Crabbe), Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon), and Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) -- accidentally accompanied by wisecracking reporter Happy Hapgood (Donald Kerr) -- swing into action in Zarkov's rocketship, believing that it could be coming from the planet Mongo. Once in space, however, they discover that the ray is originating from Mars. Journeying to the fourth planet, they discover that their old enemy from Mongo, Ming the Merciless (Charles B. Middleton), whom they had believed dead, is still alive, and has formed an alliance with Azura (Beatrice Roberts), the Witch Queen of Mars. From Azura's planet, and under her protection, he is operating a gigantic Nitron ray that is destroying Earth's atmosphere. Azura's powers include the ability to transmute people into figures of living clay, condemned to live in darkened caves, and she is hated and feared by most of the population. Conversely, the Clay People, led by their King (C. Montague Shaw), know the secret of how to eliminate Azura's power, but lack the means of escaping the caves to which their ruined bodies restrict them, in order to battle her. Flash Gordon and his party would seem to hold the answer to their problem, except that the Clay People don't trust him at first, and end up holding Dale Arden hostage. Ultimately the Earth visitors and the Clay People become allies in the tandem quest to defeat Azura and stop Ming from destroying the Earth. Flash, Dale, Zarkov, and Hapgood do battle against Azura's magic and her Martian space-force, Ming's super-scientific weaponry, the treacherous Forest People, and other dangers on the Red Planet. Finally, they win by the classic strategy of divide-and-conquer, showing Azura that Ming has been plotting behind her back to take power from her. Azura's alliance with Ming is broken, at the cost of the Queen's own life, but the Clay People are freed from their curse. And the evil emperor of Mongo, his Nitron ray destroyed and his escape cut off on all sides by the now hostile Martian forces, is finally destroyed by the accidental result of his own machinations and treachery. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

You wouldn't know it from the title, but Deadly Ray From Mars is a feature-length abridgement of the 15-episode serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. Space traveller Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), his lady love Dale Arden (Jean Rogers), and scientific genius Dr. Zarkov (Frank Shannon), blast off for Mars, where a mysterious force is sucking the nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere. The three adventurers hope to pinpoint the source of this power and destroy it. The villain behind the Earth-threatening scheme is the never-popular Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), who also foments a deadly feud between Prince Barin of the planet Mongo (Richard Alexander) and the Clay People of Mars. Ming hopes that this battle will allow him to conquer the universe in the confusion. But the Clay People ultimately align with Barin and Flash Gordon's party, and Ming is defeated. Deadly Ray From Mars, also known as Flash Gordon: Mars Attacks the World, has been rendered a confusing hodgepodge by its insensitive editors; viewers are advised to check out the original, full-length serial instead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Another entry from John Wayne's non-western series at Universal, Conflict casts Wayne as Pat, a bare-knuckle boxer in turn-of-the-century New York. Not the most honest of pugilists, Pat reforms for the sake of an orphaned kid named Tommy (Tommy Bupp), whom he has saved from drowning. He sets out to redeem himself by finding legitimate work in a lumber camp, but his past catches up with him. Jean Rogers, Buster Crabbe's vis-a-vis in Flash Gordon, is the heroine, while the nominal villain is Ward Bond, making the first of several co-starring appearances with John Wayne. Conflict is based on Jack London's The Abysmal Brute, previously filmed under that title with Reginald Denny in 1923. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a girl from a small town in Pennsylvania dreams of being a star while she goes to school. The trouble is, no one notices her. Later a mentor turns her into a successful Broadway entertainer. She returns to her former college to get sweet revenge. Songs include: "When Love Is Young," "Did Anyone Ever Tell You" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Scott Colton, a good-looking young fellow whom Universal was grooming for stardom (unsuccessfully as it turned out) heads the cast of Wildcatter. Colton plays "Lucky" Conlon, who makes his living as a wildcat oil rigger, taking his young wife Helen (Jean Rogers) to wherever he can find work. Lucky falls under the spell of temptress Julia Frayne (Suzanne Kaaren), who arranges a job for our hero with her oil-magnate dad (Russell Hicks). The rest of the wildcatters resent this sort of favoritism and gang up on Lucky, who realizes at long last that he'll soon be "Unlucky" Conlon if he remains with Julia. Billed third as a corpulent oil worker named Smiley is Jack Smart, who as J. Scott Smart later starred on the radio series The Fat Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ostensibly based on the life of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose smiling visage opened each of the 13 chapters, this fanciful serial depicted the travails of a globe trotting airline company. It seems that a villain known only as The Dragon (Arthur Loft) is determined to sabotage the company, who in desperation hires daredevil pilot Ace Drummond (John King) to investigate. By the time of the serial's 13th and final chapter -- "The World Akin" -- Drummond has not only managed to destroy The Dragon but also reunited lovely Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) with her long lost father (Montagu Shaw) and discovered a hidden mountain containing a fortune in jade. A former band singer with Ben Bernie, the rather bland John King later became "Dusty" King and enjoyed a minor career in B-Westerns. A legendary serial queen, blonde Jean Rogers gained her lasting reputation that same year when Universal cast her as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon. An edited feature version of Ace Drummond was released later in 1936 as Squadron of Doom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi film, Flash Gordon and friends take on Mongo's sea monster, deadly ray guns, and robots to keep the evil Emperor Ming from destroying Earth. The film is also titled Flash Gordon. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide