Christian Rub Movies

In this upbeat drama, a disillusioned millionaire, sick to death of the attempts of greedy friends and relatives to sponge off of him, becomes a bum to search for a decent human being. The tale begins as the wealthy man is about to commit suicide by leaping off of his yacht into the sea. He is just about to go when he spies a bum attempting suicide himself. The rich man saves the bum. He takes the bedraggled hobo and tells him his frustration. He then claims that he will give a million francs to the first person to treat him kindly without thinking about his wealth. The next day, the tramp awakens to find his raggedy old clothes have been replaced by the finest togs. Beside them is a large role of francs. The bum then begins circulating the millionaire's words around the town. As a result, people all over the country begin treating the homeless with kindness and respect. Eventually the disguised millionaire marries a circus performer and donates his million francs to the whole community. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's whimsical Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play You Can't Take It With You was transformed into a paean to populism by director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin. This is the story of the zany Sycamore household, presided over by Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore), a former businessman who has turned his back on commerce to enjoy life. At the Sycamores', everyone does just what he or she pleases. Penny Sycamore (Spring Byington), Grandpa's daughter, has become a novelist because someone delivered a typewriter to her home by mistake. Penny's husband makes firecrackers in his basement with the help of Mr. DePinna (Halliwell Hobbes), an iceman who showed up at the Sycamore doorstep one day and never left. Their daughter, Essie (Ann Miller), imagines that she's a prima ballerina, even though her dour teacher, Boris (Mischa Auer), assesses her work with, "Confidentially, it steenks!" Essie's husband, Ed (Dub Taylor), who'd rather play a xylophone than work, spends his free time selling Essie's candy, wrapping each package in paper from a used printing press that dispenses anarchistic slogans. The one normal member of the household is Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur), in love with wealthy Tony Kirby (James Stewart).

Naturally, when the stuffy, aristocratic Kirbys come to the Sycamores' for dinner, the event is a disaster, capped with the arrest of everyone in the household. Hart and Kaufman's third act found the previously judgmental Kirby softening his attitude toward the freewheeling Sycamore clan, admitting that he's never had so much fun in his life. Screenwriter Riskin altered the focus of the play by throwing out the third act and concentrating upon Tony Kirby's father, Kirby Sr., who as played by Edward Arnold is transformed from a stock stuffed shirt into a ruthless, grasping tycoon, eager to buy up every house on the Sycamores' block to make room for a munitions plant. The film thus became the story of Kirby's regeneration at the hands of the carefree Sycamores. Enough of the play's screwball elements are retained to compensate for Riskin's speechifying and plot distortions (though the softening of one of the play's vital ingredients, Grandpa's refusal to pay his income tax, borders on the sacrilegious). You Can't Take It With You earned several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Capra's third Oscar). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romance, a detective teams up with a count and travels to Budapest in search of an embezzler. While there, the two get involved with a female physician in whose house the criminal is concealed (the doctor doesn't know this). Soon the detective and the doctor are involved. Fortunately, by the story's end, he proves that she is innocent of harboring an international criminal. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It Could Happen to You is one of those captivating "little" pictures whose reputation is built up via word of mouth. Alan Baxter and Owen Davis Jr. star as Bob and Fred, the sons of immigrant Pa Barrett (Al Shean). Fred is a dutiful offspring, but Bob, an adoptee, is a no-good, stealing money from the old man to further his ambitions. When Pa Barrett confronts Bob with this discovery, the young man accidentally kills his stepfather. As fate would have it, Fred has become a lawyer, and it is he who takes on the job of defending Bob in court. Fred wins an acquittal, but Bob learns to his chagrin that he will never be able to escape the "judge and jury" of his own conscience. The script for It Could Happen to You was co-written by Nathaniel West, later the author of the trenchant anti-Hollywood novel Day of the Locust. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Norwegian skating star Sonja Henie reached an early pinnacle with this romantic comedy co-starring Tyrone Power as a Ruritanian prince impersonating an American reporter. They fall in love, of course, and the whirlwind romance threatens to interrupt an important treaty between three rival principalities. In between Henie's skating extravaganzas -- which reportedly involved more that 100 skaters and a rink 100 by 145 feet in length -- vocalist Leah Ray and the company perform "My Secret Love Affair," "Over Night," and "My Swiss Hilly Billy," all by Lew Pollack and Sidney D. Mitchell, while comedienne Joan Davis takes care of "I'm Olga From the Volga" by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. Both Thin Ice and Paramount's simultaneous (and better) Easy Living were partially based on a 1922 Hungarian play, Der Komet, leading Fox to briefly entertain the idea of suing the rival company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cafe Metropole stars Tyrone Power as an international playboy with a habit of writing rubber checks. Heavily in debt to cafe owner Adolphe Menjou, Power agrees to pose as a Russian nobleman and woo heiress Loretta Young, so that Menjou can get his mitts on the girl's money. Avarice gives way to love, but not before Young walks out on Power when she catches on to his original selfish intentions. The script for Cafe Metropole was written by actor/director Gregory Ratoff, who also plays a supporting role. The film's first biggest laughs are reserved for the first scene, in which mild-mannered Christian Rub attempts to collect on one of Power's debts by clumsily wielding a loaded revolver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The third of MGM's profitable Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy songfests, Maytime opens in the early 20th century, with a young girl arguing with her boyfriend over her wishes to become an opera singer. The girl's neighbor, a lonely old woman whom we gradually recognize as a convincingly "aged" Jeanette MacDonald, tells the girl of her own career in opera. The old lady was once the radiant young diva Marcia Mornay. In 1868 she was the toast of Europe, thanks to the tutelage of her voice instructor Nikolai Nazarov (John Barrymore). He proposes marriage, and Marcia accepts, more out of gratitude than love. In a euphoric pre-nuptial state, Marcia finds herself on Paris' Left Bank, where she meets handsome café crooner Paul Allison (Nelson Eddy). They meet again at a lavish Maytime festival, falling in love (to the accompaniment of Sigmund Romberg's most dazzling duets) in the process. Sadly, Marcia returns to Nazarov, while Paul goes off to America to lick his wounds. Seven years later, Marcia, making her New York debut in a fictional opera based on the works of Tchaikovsky, finds that the leading baritone is none other than Paul. Unable to envision life without her new love, Marcia begs Nazarov for a divorce. He smiles slyly and promises to give her her freedom-whereupon he heads to Paul's apartment and kills the poor fellow. The flashback done, Marcia advises her pretty young neighbor that one can never have both love and a career. Out of tragedy grows the happy ending, in which the spirit of the now-deceased Marcia is reunited with Paul in a blossom-filled Hereafter. On paper, Maytime may seem to be the ultimate in Hoke, but even in recent revival showings the film never fails to cast its spell over an audience. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Johanna Spyri's perennial children's favorite Heidi was retailored to the talents of Shirley Temple, resulting in one of her best vehicles. Orphaned early in the proceeding, Heidi is left in the care of her bitter, misanthropic grandfather Adolph Kramer (Jean Hersholt). It doesn't take long before the sweet little child has melted grandpa's hardened heart, and the two "outcasts" become inseparable. But things take a sinister turn when Heidi's cruel and avaricious aunt (Mady Christians) kidnaps the girl and sells her into servitude in the home of wealthy Segemann (Sidney Blackmer). Making the best of the situation, Heidi befriends Segemann's invalid daughter Klara (Marcia Mae Jones), encouraging the girl to walk unassisted for the first time in years. The grateful Segeman promises to reunite Heidi with her grandfather, but Jones's wicked governess Fraulein Rottenmeier (Mary Nash) contrives to keep the girl and her grandpa separated once more -- until the very, very last moment! Perhaps feeling that the Alpine setting of Heidi did not allow Shirley Temple full scope for her musical talents, the screenwriters contrived to include a dream sequence, wherein Heidi imagines herself to be in Holland and clogs to the tune of "In My Little Wooden Shoes." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A bell ringer's wife dies while giving birth to his second son who turns out to be deaf. His oldest son moves to America where he becomes a successful engineer. Meanwhile, back at home in Austria, the bell ringer gives his remaining son to a monastery and then wanders off to become a bum. Years pass and eventually the hearing-impaired boy grows up. During WW I, an explosion miraculously restores his hearing. He then becomes a musician and moves to America where he not only finds fame and fortune, but also renewed family ties. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this action film, a rebellious cop doesn't hesitate to bend the rules when it comes to roughing up prisoners and bringing in deadly gangsters. His insistence on working alone and on using excessive violence causes conflict with his superiors. They change their minds when he engages in a great shoot-out with a notorious gun-toting gang leader and brings him to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A lesser but still effective entry in the mid-1930s "prison" cycle, Parole catalogues the many problems facing prisoners who've served their debt to society. The story concentrates on Russ Whalen (Henry Hunter), one of several parolees trying to find work on the outside. The "ex-con" onus forces some of these men to return to crime, but Russ keeps his nose clean and finally finds success. Also given attention are the many abuses in the parole system, which in 1936 frequently favored those with the right connections. Of historical significance, Parole represents the film debut of Anthony Quinn, in a 45-second bit as a prisoner named Zingo Browning. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

French actress Simone Simon made her American film debut in Girls' Dormitory. Simon portrays a twentyish student in a Swiss private school, harboring a secret passion for headmaster Herbert Marshall. For her own amusement, Simon writes an intense love letter to an imaginary beau; the letter falls in the hands of two snoopy teachers, who suspect the worst. Running away from her accusers, Simone has a chance meeting with Marshall, who reveals that he is in love with her. The official studio synopsis for Girl's Dormitory states that Simone nobly steps aside to allow a middle-aged teacher (Ruth Chatterton) to marry Marshall, but in the film itself Simon ends up with Marshall after all. The synopsis barely mentions Tyrone Power, appearing in his first film for 20th Century-Fox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide