Jean Rogers Movies
Blonde, wide-eyed film ingénue Jean Rogers came to Hollywood on the strength of a beauty contest. She rose to stardom as the fetchingly underdressed, ever-imperiled Dale Arden in the popular Universal serial Flash Gordon (1936). She also co-starred in the second Gordon serial, as well as such chapter plays as Ace Drummond (1935) and The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936). From Universal, Rogers moved on to 20th Century Fox, where she starred in a series of enjoyable B-pictures, the best of which (though not her personal favorite) was Heaven With a Barbed Wire Fence (1939). She appeared in supporting parts in several MGM films of the 1940s, then freelanced in independent productions. Jean Rogers retired from show business in 1951 upon her marriage to a successful actors' agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1936
In this romantic comedy, two college boys get expelled because they could not pay tuition. They decide to scare up some cash by auctioning off their services in Central Park. A pretty woman makes the highest bid. She hires the boys to drive her and her car to Ohio. The adventure culminates with one of the boys stealing the woman away from her groom on her wedding day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, James Dunn, (more)
One of the landmark "screwball" comedies of the 1930s, My Man Godfrey offers the radiant Carole Lombard in her definitive performance as flighty young heiress Irene Bullock, who on a society scavenger hunt stumbles on Godfrey (William Powell), an erudite hobo residing in the city dump. Godfrey becomes the family's butler, much to the dismay of Irene's father Alexander (Eugene Pallette), who thinks his household is crazy enough without another apparent lunatic under his roof. Halfway through the film, we discover that Godfrey isn't a penniless bum at all, but the scion of a wealthy Boston family. Having been burned by an unhappy romance, Godfrey dropped out of life, taking up residence in the dump. Here his faith in humanity was restored by his fellow indigents, who managed to survive and remain optimistic despite the worst deprivations. Meanwhile, however, he wants to straighten out the Bullock family, who he feels are a basically decent bunch beneath all their pretensions and eccentricities -- and along the way, of course, Irene determines that Godfrey will be her husband. While Godfrey's ultimate "solution" to the exigencies of the Depression seems more of a placebo, My Man Godfrey is all in all a totally satisfying jolt of 1930s-style wish fulfillment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Carole Lombard, (more)
- 1936
Based on the turn-of-the-century dimestore novels of Bert L. Standish (real name: William Patton Gilbert), this slow-moving serial featured husky Donald Briggs in the title role, a Fardale College star athlete who inherits a valuable ring from his father (William P. Carleton). By deciphering an inscription on the ring, Merriwell and his Hollywood friends (played by second generation actors such as House Peters, Jr., Wallace Reid, Jr., Allan Hersholt, and Carlyle Blackwell, Jr.) discover a hidden treasure of gold nuggets worth $30,000. There is opposition from a gang of cutthroats, of course, but Merriwell (who is both "merry" and "well") still manages to win the Big Game for his college. Lending much needed feminine appeal to the proceedings is Jean Rogers, who that same year would skyrocket to fame as Dale Arden in the Flash Gordon serial. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
On New Year's Eve, aspiring actress Julia Wayne (Joan Bennett) and chronic gambler Larry Stevens (Joel McCrea), both flat broke, each find one-half of a $1000 banknote. They decide to invest their windfall in a race horse and jockey, in hopes of financing a theatrical career for Julia and a new start in life for Larry. Unfortunately, the thousand-dollar note turns out to be stolen, dropped in haste during a bank robbery. This gets hero, heroine and horse mixed up with the crooks, and for a while it looks as though the nag won't show up for the climactic Big Race. Even after the horse arrives at the starting gate, he refuses to gallop until he spies the cart that he used to haul around for coal peddler Jonesy (Andy Clyde). After a great opening, Two in a Crowd runs out of gas, but the two stars are always worth watching. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea, (more)
In 1936, Flash Gordon was among the most popular comic strip characters in America when Universal Pictures first brought his planet-hopping exploits to the big screen in the 13-episode serial Flash Gordon, one of the most lavishly produced and wildly popular "chapter-plays" of its day. Flash Gordon's Space Soldiers, the title of the original serial's home video release (the title was changed in the early 1950s to avoid confusion with a short-lived Flash Gordon TV series), features all 13 installments in their entirety. The world is in a state of panic when it is discovered that a planet has fallen out of its normal orbit and is destined to collide with Earth in a matter of days. Brawny adventurer Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), his girlfriend Dale Arden (Jean Rogers), and renowned scientist Dr. Zarkoff (Frank Shannon) blast off into space in hopes of setting the runaway planet back on course. However, they discover that it was all a ruse cooked up by the wicked Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), despot of the Planet Mongo, as part of his latest plot for galactic domination. Flash soon finds himself battling Ming both for the fate of the Earth and the hand of the lovely Miss Arden, though Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (Priscilla Lawson) appears to have amorous ideas of her own for Flash. The producers of the serial stretched its budget by utilizing sets, costumes, and music from several of Universal's better-known horror films of the period, including The Bride of Frankenstein; the serial was also later edited into a feature film, entitled Flash Gordon: Rocketship. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe
- 1935
In this drama, a young boy earns the trust of an especially skittish colt and they form a special bond. Trouble ensues when the lad finds himself between two arguing brothers. One wants to save the little horse and the herd he runs with, while the other brother wants to exploit the mustangs. The boy uses his charm to convince them to do it his way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rogers, John Farrell MacDonald, (more)
- 1935
Manhattan Moon is predicated on the notion that French songstress Yvonne (Dorothy Page) is so busy with her career that she has to hire a look-alike, Toots Malloy (also Dorothy Page) to take her place at social functions. While posing as Yvonne, Toots makes the acquaintance of the singer's boss, raffish but likeable self-made nightclub proprietor Dan Moore (Ricardo Cortez). As expected, Dan can't understand why the real Yvonne is so cool to his advances after the phony Yvonne was so receptive. By the time Dan has figured out who's who, he's fallen in love with Toots for herself rather than who she represents. The Universal Pictures typecasting system all but demanded that Henry Armetta and Luis Alberni appear in all of the studio's nightclub pictures; they do so here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Cortez, Dorothy Page, (more)
- 1935
In this adventure serial, Tailspin Tommy discovers that a gang of profiteers are out to steal an island's oil reserves. The gang, learning of Tommy's efforts to stop them, attack him with everything they have -- including anti-aircraft guns, bombs, and even a volcano! ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- 1934
Paramount's Eight Girls in a Boat was a remake of the 1932 German film of the same name. Impregnated by medical student David Perrin (Douglass Montgomery), European schoolgirl Christa Storm (Dorothy Wilson) contemplates killing herself. Wisely, she chooses instead to explain her plight to her sympathetic teacher Hanna (Kay Johnson), who arranges a marriage for the girl despite the protests of her wealthy father (Walter Connolly). Before this happens, however, Christa's seven best friends agree to mutually adopt the girl's baby, and are sorely put out when she opts for matrimony. Many cynical reviewers presumed that Eight Girls in a Boat was merely an excuse to show off an octet of well-developed ingenues in shorts, tight blouses and bathing suits. Perhaps it was, but few filmgoers complained back in 1934. The film was one of the few made by starlet Barbara Barondess before she forsook acting for a lucrative career as a Hollywood interior decorator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Wilson, Douglass Montgomery, (more)
