Lina Romay Movies

See "soundies" from the 1940s. ~ All Movie Guide

Monogram's low-budget, high-grossing "Joe Palooka" series carries on in this 66-minute entry. Joe Kirkwood plays Joe Palooka, the soft-hearted pugilist created for the funny papers by Ham Fisher. This time, Joe is framed on a bum rap by a group of gamblers who hope to fix the outcome of an upcoming bout. When Joe manages to clear himself, the gamblers go a step farther by having the scrupulously honest boxer accused of murder. On the lam from the law, Joe is forced to solve the murder himself--and he'd better hurry if he's going to get to the Big Fight on time. Virginia Welles is cast as Joe's love interest Ann Howe, while comedian Leon Errol is afforded top billing as Joe's manager Knobby Walsh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In The Big Wheel, Mickey Rooney plays Billy Coy, a garage mechanic who matriculates into a champion race-car driver. On the way to the top, he steps on friends and foes alike. He even manages to briefly alienate his saintly mother (Spring Byington). The cocky Coy eventually kills another racer when he forgets that gas and alcohol don't mix. It takes some doing, but Billy finally redeems himself. The climax blends stock footage of the Indianapolis 500 with newly-lensed racing sequences. The Big Wheel lapsed into public domain in 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Honeymoon stars an attractively grown-up Shirley Temple as Barbara, the sweetheart of a GI corporal named Phil (Guy Madison). Eloping to Mexico City, Barbara discovers that her boy friend, stationed in the Panama Canal zone, is tied up in bureaucratic red tape and may not make it to his own wedding. The headstrong bride-to-be enlists the reluctant aid of American consul Flanner (Franchot Tone), leading to any number of compromising situations involving Barbara, Flanner, and Flanner's own girl friend Raquel (Lina Romay). The film extracts most of its laughs from the legal and language barriers facing Barbara and her beau while south of the Border. Posting a $675,000 loss, Honeymoon unfortunately proved that Shirley Temple's drawing power had slipped considerably since her 1930s heyday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Weekend at the Waldorf is an unabashed remake of MGM's 1932 Oscar-winner Grand Hotel: in fact, at several points in the story, the cast makes pointed references to the earlier film. The posh Waldorf Hotel in the heart of New York is the setting for several plots and subplots. Ginger Rogers plays the Garbo counterpart, a successful but severely depressed movie star who wants to be alone. Walter Pigeon steps into John Barrymore's role, sort of; whereas Barrymore was a thief posing as nobility, Pigeon is a war correspondent posing as a thief. Hotel stenographer Lana Turner (originally Joan Crawford) latches onto tycoon Edward Arnold (originally Wallace Beery) in hopes of a life of luxury. And, in the film's biggest adaptation stretch, Van Johnson is cast as a war hero who, about to undergo life-threatening surgery, wants to thoroughly enjoy what may be his last days on earth. It takes a while to figure this out, but Johnson is supposed to be the character played in Grand Hotel by Lionel Barrymore: the meek clerk who, upon discovering that he's dying, blows his life savings on one last fling. On the whole, Weekend at the Waldorf is a lot more light-hearted than Grand Hotel, as indicated by the expository character played by humorist Robert Benchley, not to mention the presence of Xavier Cugat as the Waldorf's orchestra leader. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

If you've never seen a '40s singing, swimming musical this may be the one to catch. Featuring a mammoth cast, including such notables as Xavier Cugat, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams, this is a swimming spectacular. The plot's quite thin: Skelton plays a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a girls' school to stay near his new wife who ditched him shortly after the wedding bells rang and was hired on as the college's swim teacher. Of course Esther Williams is the beautiful swimming instructor who spends most of her time in the pool performing in a score of choreographed pieces. ~ All Movie Guide

After an absence of three years, Mae West returned to the screen in the musical comedy The Heat's On. La West is cast as Fay Lawrence, a famous Broadway actress who is loved intensely by her producer Tony Ferris (William Gaxton). Rival producer Forrest Stanton (Alan Dinehart) steals Fay away from Ferris by convincing her that she's been blacklisted from Broadway by blue-nosed moralist Hannah Bainbridge (Almira Sessions). Meanwhile, Hannah's puckish brother Hubert (Victor Moore) syphons money from his sister's "clean up show business" committee to produce a musical show for his actress niece Janey (Mary Roche). Somehow, all these characters converge for a spectacular closing production number spotlighting the formidable Fay. Part of the reason for the failure of The Heat's On is the fact that Mae West didn't write her own dialogue, as was usually her custom. The film performed so poorly that it would be 27 years before West would again appear on the Big Screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide