Rolfe Sedan Movies

Based on a story by Robert Andrews, If I Had a Million is a multipart comedy-drama employing Paramount's top directorial and acting talents. Refusing to leave his fortune to his grasping relatives, dying millionaire Richard Bennett selects several people at random from the phone book and bestows upon each of them a check for one million dollars. The first recipient is henpecked husband Charlie Ruggles, who cheerily enters his former place of employment, a china shop, and smashes every bit of crockery in the place. Prostitute Wynne Gibson uses her money to escape from her sordid lifestyle and finally sleep in a bed all by herself. Forger George Raft finds that he can't convince anyone that his check is genuine, and ends up handing the check to a flophouse manager--who promptly burns it. Husband and wife W.C. Fields and Alison Skipworth, dismayed that their new car has been destroyed by a "road hog," utilize part of their million dollars to purchase a fleet of cars and then smash up every road hog in sight! Convicted murderer Gene Raymond hopes that his million will help finance a new trial, but the execution is carried out on schedule. Newly rich clerk Charles Laughton calmly makes his way through a series of offices, reaches his boss' desk, and delivers a loud Bronx cheer. Gary Cooper, Roscoe Karns and Jack Oakie play three brawling marines who think the check's a joke and sign it over to an illiterate lunch-counter owner. The last million-dollar recipient is May Robson, an elderly woman confined to a dismal nursing home. She spends her money to turn the home into a joyful resort for old people, forcing the formerly repressive nursing-home staffers to earn their paychecks by sitting all day in rocking chairs. The millionaire who started the plot rolling is given a new lease on life by May Robson's example, and he recovers from his "fatal" illness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most technically accomplished and sophisticated movie musicals of the 1930's, Rouben Mamoulian's Love Me Tonight (1932) had a profound effect on the shape of the musical genre (especially the films of Vincente Minnelli), and remains a candidate for best movie musical ever made, some seven decades after its release. And that distinction is based entirely on its style and structure -- it doesn't even take into account a hit-laden score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, or a raft of delightful performances, several of them totally unexpected in their range and wit. The movie opens with an amazing double audio/visual montage sequence, in which the sleeping city of Paris awakens to a slowly rising chorus of sounds, street by street, house by house -- forming what the script describes as a "symphony" of sound -- which coalesces into a song. It is through the latter that we meet Maurice Courtelin (Maurice Chevalier), a young Parisian tailor who has just completed his first big job, an order of 15 suits for the Viscount de Varese (Charlie Ruggles), who has promised to pay him on delivery. He then discovers that the Viscount is little more than an upper-class ne'er-do-well who, among his other faults, has no money of his own -- being completely dependent on his crusty old uncle the Duke (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) -- and never pays his bills. In one of a half-dozen remarkable musical scenes, as Maurice's friend Emile (Bert Roach) ponders the matter of love in the new suit he has made for him, Maurice begins singing "Isn't It Romantic?", causing Emile to hum the tune as he strolls onto the street; the song is picked up by a taxi driver (Rolfe Sedan), and passed to his passenger (Tyler Brooke), a composer, who carries it aboard a train, humming it, where a group of soldiers hear it and end up singing it as they march across a field, where a young gypsy hears it and carries it to his camp on his violin, where the whole clan is soon singing. And the song is finally wafted across the surrounding fields to the estate of the Duke and the Viscount de Varese, where it is heard and sung by the Duke' niece, Princess Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald). The two characters, Maurice and Jeanette, are linked for us in this way even before they meet, and the stage is set for the rest of the plot. For the Princess, living under her family's tradition-bound hand, romance is a source of unhappiness; there's no one at the chateau to interest her, and even if there were, she couldn't dare to be interested; already a widow from an arranged marriage at age 22 (her first husband was 75), she must marry someone of equal royal rank, and the only two known candidates in all of Europe are ages 85 and 12, respectively. Maurice journeys to the chateau with the clothes the Viscount ordered, hoping to confront him for payment, and is mistaken for one of the guests -- and he crosses paths with the Princess, and falls in love with her. Identified as the Count de Courtelin, he delights the rest of the guests with his joie de vivre and his way with a song, especially "Mimi" (which somehow managed to make it past the censors, despite some amazingly risque lyrics), getting the entire coterie of nobles singing it in his wake. But the Princess is resistant to his free and easy charm and flirtations, her staid upbringing and sense of station fighting her natural inclinations, while her other would-be suitor, the Count de Savignac (Charles Butterworth), is suspicious of this new-found rival. Also present at the estate is the Duke's other niece, Countess Valentine (Myrna Loy), who has a nymphomaniac interest in men under the age of 40, of whom Maurice is the only one at the chateau not related to her -- thus, he must fend off her advances while trying to woo a woman who wants nothing to do with him. Rumor soon spreads that Maurice is, in fact, a full-blooded royal prince traveling in disguise. And if he is a prince of the rank they think he is, then suddenly the Princess's marital and romantic prospects seem a lot more encouraging, especially as she begins to melt to his charm. Maurice wants to tell her the truth, but will she feel the same way about him, knowing that he is a commoner, a tradesman ... a tailor? Director Rouben Mamoulian had already jump-started the musical genre with the backstage drama Applause (1929), to great critical and financial success. In contrast to that movie's deceptively naturalistic approach to its subject, Love Me Tonight was highly stylized -- Applause had no actual musical numbers in complete form, while Love Me Tonight was filled with incredibly elaborate and subtle musical set-pieces that grow naturally out of the plot (adapted from a play by Paul Armont and Leopold Marchand) and advanced the narrative. Some of the scenes here helped set the stage for works such as An American In Paris and Gigi (one scene near the end, when Maurice's identity is revealed, seems to have been the model for "The Gossips At Maxim's" from the latter film) and Funny Face. Such is Love Me Tonight's reputation, that in the summer of 2007, 75 years after its release and more than five years after it showed up on DVD, the movie chalked up sell-out audiences when it opened the Mamoulian retrospective at New York's Film Forum. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, Edward Sutherland and Frank Tuttle. Introduced by masters of ceremonies Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallegher and Leon Errol, the film is a vaudeville-like maelstrom of musical duets, comedy sketches, occasional dramatic interludes, and spectacular production numbers. To mention all the highlights would take a book in itself but among them are Nancy Carroll's rendition of "Dancing to Save Your Sole" (performed inside a giant shoe!); Maurice Chevalier (and chorus) soaring heavenward in "Sweeping the Clouds Away" ; child actress Mitzi Green's dead-on impersonations of Chevalier, George Arliss, Moran & Mack and Helen "Boop-a-doop" Kane; Ernst Lubitsch's witty staging of an Apache dance in the style of a polite boudoir farce, with Chevalier (again) and Evelyn Brent; Clara Bow's saucy "I'm True to the Navy Now" ; the wish-fulfillment sketch "Impulses," in which George Bancroft and Kay Francis delightedly upset a dinner party by saying what's really on their minds; and best of all, "Murder Will Out," a murder-mystery parody wherein Fu Manchu (Warner Oland) bumps off Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook) and Philo Vance (William Powell) when they refuse to give him proper credit for his killing of Jack Oakie. Only the dramatic sketch with Frederic March and Ruth Chatterton truly creaks when seen today. Originally released at 102 minutes, Paramount on Parade is presently available only in an 80-minute version, with all its Technicolor sequences missing: casualties include the elaborate "Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" number, directed by Edmund Goulding and featuring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Fay Wray, and Harry Green's dialect song "Isadore the Toreodor". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After the master of sophisticated romantic comedy, Ernst Lubitsch, directed Jeanette MacDonald in the smash hit The Love Parade, they were reunited a year later for this similarly frothy romp. Countess Vera Von Conti (MacDonald) is engaged to marry the dull Prince Otto Von Seibenheim (Claud Allister), whom she doesn't love. At the 11th hour, Vera decides to skip the wedding and instead heads to Monte Carlo, where she visits the casinos and begins losing in a heroic fashion. A handsome stranger spies the beautiful Vera and asks to touch her hair for luck, but instead it's Vera's luck that dramatically improves as she wins back her fortune. Vera immediately offers the man a job as her combination valet and good luck charm, not knowing that he's actually the wealthy and powerful Count Rudolph Falliere (Jack Buchanan). The Count plays along, pretending to be a commoner as he uses his new position with Vera to learn how he can win her heart. As one might expect, MacDonald sings several songs (including "Beyond the Blue Horizon"), and also duets with British music star Jack Buchanan on "Whatever It Is, It's Grand" and "Always in All Ways." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A hotel is gearing up to welcome its prestigious new guest, a European Prince (Captain John Peters). But before he appears, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy walk in. After much confusion, it is discovered that the two are not the Prince and his Prime Minister, but are the hotel's new doorman and footman. The real Prince grows ever more furious as he falls into the elevator shaft numerous times, always because of either Stan or Ollie. Finally the boys take their positions outside the hotel, where they irritate a taxi driver (Charlie Hall) and a policeman (Tiny Sanford). Stan, Ollie, and the cabbie proceed to destroy each other's uniforms, until the cabbie accidentally grabs the policeman's jacket. The cabbie takes off, and another taxi appears. A sexy blonde (Jean Harlow) emerges and is personally escorted by Ollie. What he doesn't know is that Stan shut the cab's door on her dress and it has ripped right off. Finally, he sees what has happened, and, horrified, he removes Stan's coat to cover up the young lady. The boys start bickering, and soon the whole lobby is in an uproar. The Prince comes in and gets in the way of a flying cake. Nearly rabid with anger, he swears to report this indignity to the King and Queen -- then falls into the elevator shaft once again.
This two-reel silent is best remembered for the scene in which Jean Harlow's dress is caught in the taxi cab door. Harlow doesn't appear in a later Laurel and Hardy film, Beau Hunks, but a still photo of her from Double Whoopie does, and she's identified there as "Jeannie-Weenie," Ollie's faithless girlfriend. And if the Prince in Double Whoopie looks quite a bit like Erich von Stroheim, he should -- the actor who played the part was von Stroheim's stand-in. Double Whoopee was re-released in 1969 in a "talkie" version dubbed by new actors. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Iron Mask was Douglas Fairbanks' sequel to his popular 1921 vehicle The Three Musketeers. Fairbanks returns to his original role of D'Artagnan, while Marguerite de La Motte and Nigel De Brulier briefly reprise their Musketeers roles as, respectively, Constance and Cardinal Richelieu. After tying up loose plot ends from the first film, the middle-aged D'Artagnan and his equally venerable fellow musketeers Athos (Leon Bary, also returning from the 1921 film), Porthos (Stanley J. "Tiny" Sandford) and Aramis (Gino Corrado) set about to rescue Louis XIV (William Bakewell), the rightful King of France. Louis XIV has been entombed in a dungeon by his twin brother (also Bakewell) and his head has been locked in an impenetrable iron mask. All of this is at the behest of the scheming De Rochefort (Ulrich Haupt), the real power behind the throne. The Iron Mask was Fairbanks' last silent film; perhaps in acknowledgment of the passing of a Golden era, Fairbanks "died" on screen for the first and only time in his career. Most currently available prints of Iron Mask are taken from the 1940 reissue, narrated by Douglas Fairbanks Jr; in 1974 the younger Fairbanks prepared a restored version of the original, including two brief dialogue passages filmed by Fairbanks back in 1929. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama, a wealthy girl decides to disguise herself and work as a laborer in her father's factory so she can be near her dad and prove to him that she is capable of helping out in the family business. While there, she falls in love with a shipping clerk, and after revealing her true identity, invites him to a party in her father's mansion. During the party, the girl's weaselly brother robs the house safe to get the money he needs to cover his gambling debts, leaving her boy friend to take the rap. Fortunately, by the story's end, he clears his name, marries his true love and inherits her father's business. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mr. and Mrs. Weedle (William Gillespie and Charlotte Mineau) are in a jam: For years, they've been receiving substantial amounts of money from their rich uncle (William A. Orlamond), who has been led to believe that the Weedles have two children to support. Now Uncle is coming to town, and the duplicitous couple must come up with a pair of babies in a hurry. Naturally, the Our Gang kids hope to get the job, but they're given a run for their money by a mischievous 27-year-old midget (Harry Earles). Meanwhile, Gang member Joe Cobb tries to curb his fighting blood, with less than successful results. Making good use of Hal Roach Studios' standing hotel sets, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Baby Clothes was originally released on April 25, 1926 (an abbreviated TV version, retitled The Rich Uncle, is best avoided; without the original subtitles, the story makes virtually no sense). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Smouldering Fires is a first-rate silent "soap opera," immaculately performed by its superb cast and brilliantly directed by Clarence Brown. Pauline Frederick plays a highly efficient middle-aged business executive, whose motto is "Let No Man Be Necessary to You." She discards this edict when she falls in love with her much-younger employee Malcolm McGregor. Though McGregor sincerely loves Frederick, her younger sister Laura LaPlante assumes that the man is a fortune hunter. After Frederick and McGregor are wed, LaPlante comes to realize that her new brother-in-law is sincere. She also realizes uncomfortably that she has fallen in love with McGregor, and he with her. Out of consideration for Frederick, the younger couple keeps their mutual attraction secret, and promise each other not to act upon their feelings. But Frederick eventually figures out the situation. Magnanimously, she declares that the marriage was a mistake, and that she'll seek a divorce before anyone is hurt. The aftermath of this triangular situation is subtly hinted at by a carefully arranged medium shot of the three principals. Never stooping to cliché or wallowing in phony sentimentality, Smouldering Fires is an honest tale about realistic people with genuine emotions. Most available prints are from the American release version; the slightly longer European version is even better, with some remarkably mature (albeit non-lurid) setpieces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Universal star Laura LaPlante stars in this lighthearted comedy based on Sophie Kerr's magazine story, Relative Values. Octavia Lowden (LaPlante) has virtually become a drudge in order to support her sponging relatives -- flapper sister Eloise (Lucille Ricksen), hypochondriac Aunt Minnie (Lydia Yeamans Titus), and storytelling Uncle Eph (James O. Barrows). Only Octavia's frail grandmother (Jennie Lee) really needs help. When Octavia's sweetheart, photographer Pritchett Spence (T. Roy Barnes), discovers the toll these bloodsuckers are exacting, he plots with the family doctor to rescue her. To do this, the pair snatch her away and have her quarantined. A skunk chases the freeloaders out of the house, and eventually they all go to work. Octavia, meanwhile, is able to concentrate on her romance with Spence, who admits his deceit and asks forgiveness. Octavia forgives him, and returns home to a self-sufficient group of relatives. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The Our Gang kids are sorely confused by the new kid in town, who transforms from a sissy to a tough guy and back again without warning. Little do the kids realize that this supposedly schizophrenic newcomer -- whom Mickey Daniels characterizes as "Mr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde" -- is not one youngster, but a set of identical twins. This plot device aside, the silent Our Gang two-reeler Every Man for Himself scores its biggest laughs in the opening reel, in which the gang operates its own athletic club and shoe-shine emporium. The closing gag, one of the most painful in the Our Gang canon, has often been removed from TV showings. Every Man for Himself was originally released on October 19, 1924. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide