Oscar Smith Movies

Directed by Billy Wilder and adapted from a James M. Cain novel by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity represents the high-water mark of 1940s film noir urban crime dramas in which a greedy, weak man is seduced and trapped by a cold, evil woman amidst the dark shadows and Expressionist lighting of modern cities. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband to collect his accident policy. The murder goes as planned, but after the couple's passion cools, each becomes suspicious of the other's motives. The plan is further complicated when Neff's boss Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a brilliant insurance investigator, takes over the investigation. Told in flashbacks from Neff's perspective, the film moves with ruthless determinism as each character meets what seems to be a preordained fate. Movie veterans Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robinson give some of their best performances, and Wilder's cynical sensibility finds a perfect match in the story's unsentimental perspective, heightened by John Seitz's hard-edged cinematography. Double Indemnity ranks with the classics of mainstream Hollywood movie-making. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

In this, the third screen adaptation of the musical revue Sailor Beware, William Holden plays Casey Kirby, a shy sailor who through a series of misunderstandings develops a reputation as a world-class lady-killer. In order to save face, Casey has to persuade "The Countess of Swingland" (Dorothy Lamour), a popular Big Band vocalist, to give him a big kiss in public. But the Countess is no pushover and has little sympathy for sob stories, so Casey soon learns his work is cut out for him. The Countess' best friend, Bessie Dale (Betty Hutton), is a bit less shy around the menfolk and sets her sights on Casey's buddy Barney Waters (Eddie Bracken). Betty Hutton made her screen debut in this movie, and she sings the novelty number "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry." Hutton is backed by Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra, who also perform several other numbers, including their hit "Tangerine." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

One of the most schizophrenic films ever to come out of the Paramount "B" mill, The Monster and the Girl starts out as a white-slavery melodrama and ends up as a horror picture! Emerging from the fog, heroine Susan Webster (Ellen Drew) tells her woeful tale to the audience. A young innocent from The Sticks, Susan arrives in New York to seek work as an actress, but instead is tricked into a sham marriage with Larry Reed (Robert Paige). Awakening "the morning after", Susan is informed that her missing husband is not her husband, and that, as a fallen woman, there is only one avenue of livelihood open to her-as one of the "paid hostesses" in the stable of gangster Bruhl (Joseph Calleia). Learning of his sister's plight, church organist Scot Webster (Philip Reed) shows up in town to set things right, only to be framed for murder by Bruhl and his mob. After his execution, Scot's body is appropriated by mad scientist Dr. Parry (George Zucco), who hopes to transplant the dead man's brain into the body of a gorilla. Driven by impulses it can't resist, the big ape escapes from his cage to kill off all those responsible for Susan's ruin and Scot's death. Undeniably fascinating, The Monster and the Girl is also undeniably silly at times, especially in the opening scenes, in which the censor-plagued screenwriters work overtime not to overtly state that Susan Daniels has been forced into prostitution. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Even geniuses have to eat, and when Mark Twain was offered a substantial sum of money to slap together a quickie sequel to his classic novel Tom Sawyer, he responded with the pulpish but entertaining Tom Sawyer, Detective. Billy Cook is sublimely cast as Tom, while Donald O'Connor steals the film in the more colorful role of Huckleberry Finn. When local deacon Uncle Silas (Porter Hall) is accused of murder, Tom and Huck endeavor to prove his innocence by solving the mystery themselves. Complicating matters is the fact that the "dead man" (William Haade) is seen roaming around very much alive. The film's highlight is a spooky episode in a mausoleum, with our intrepid heroes working overtime to convince each other that they ain't really scared. Janet Waldo, later one of the most versatile voiceover actresses in the business, plays Tom's puppy-love interest Ruth Phelps. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the funniest, most sharply paced comedies of the 1930s, and perhaps the best of all of Harold Lloyd's talkies, The Milky Way was based on the Broadway play by Lynn Root and Harry Clork. Lloyd plays Burleigh Sullivan, a mild-mannered milkman who intercedes one night when his sister Mae (Helen Mack) is being accosted on the street by two obnoxious drunks -- they turn their wrath on him, his sister runs for help, and when she returns less than a minute later, both men are out cold on the pavement, with Burleigh standing over them. As one of them, Speed MacFarland (William Gargan), is the world's middleweight boxing champion, and the other, Spider Schultz (Lionel Stander), is his sparring partner, Burleigh makes the front page of every newspaper in New York. McFarland's manager, Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou), has to figure out how to salvage the champ's career, but first he has to figure out exactly what happened, since both fighters were too drunk to remember anything about it. It turns out that Sullivan couldn't beat an egg, but he is good at one thing -- ducking. He can dodge any punch, and the two fighters knocked each other out in the process of trying to pummel him. What's more, on hearing this, they're so angry that Schultz accidentally knocks MacFarland out again, just ahead of the press' arrival, and the little milkman is given credit once more by the reporters for decking the champ. Burleigh loves the attention, even though he never claims to have hit anyone. Meanwhile, Sloan comes up with a way of salvaging his fighter's career, and convinces Burleigh to go along with it for a promised cash sum -- all Burleigh has to do is get in the ring in six fights, to build up his standing and reputation, and finish his "career" in a fight with MacFarland, who will win. In the meantime, complications arise when MacFarland falls in love with Burleigh's sister, while Burleigh himself meets and falls in love with Polly Pringle (Dorothy Wilson), a helpful neighbor. Gabby, Spider, and Speed also discover that turning tiny, wiry Burleigh Sullivan into something that even looks like a fighter is easier said than done -- all of his fights have to be fixed (and then some) behind his back to make his victories look remotely genuine. Finally, after starting to believe his own publicity, and then discovering that the fights were fixed, Burleigh goes through with the final match-up against MacFarland, the culmination of a comedy of errors involving horses, foals, and a wild chase to the arena. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this bouncy musical, a sax-playing ex-convict joins a swing band and embarks upon a cross-country tour. He does really well until an old friend tries to tempt him into becoming a criminal again. The convict refuses the offer so the "friend" retaliates by doing the job anyway and leaving the con to take the rap. Then the band is kidnapped by a powerful person desiring a private concert. The ex-con saves the band by informing on the crook. He is then allowed to play with them again and musical happiness ensues. Songs include: "Would There Be Love," "Let's Spill the Beans," "I Never Had a Man to Cry Over," and "Fagin Youse is a Viper" (Mack Gordon, Harry Revel). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a story by Damon Runyon, Hold 'Em Yale is also more than a little beholden to O. Henry's Ransom of Red Chief. Spoiled-rotten heiress Clarice Van Cleve (Patricia Ellis) is enticed to New York by fortune-hunter Gigolo Georgie (Cesar Romero), who dumps her in the apartment owned by Runyonesque hoodlums Sunshine Joe (William Frawley), Liverlips (Andy Devine), Sam the Goniff (Warren Hymer) and Benny Southstreet (George E. Stone). Plotting to hold Clarice for ransom, the four hooligans figure that this "dame" will be easy to handle. Boy, are they wrong! Like the proverbial babysitter from hell, the temperamental Clarice is soon ruling the roost in the foursome's hideout. The beleaguered crooks offer to ship the girl back to her father, Mr. Van Cleve (George Barbier), only to find out that he won't take her back -- not even for free! In desperation, the four hoods try to marry Clarice off to college football-hero Hector Wilmot (Buster Crabbe), and to that end they try their best (?) to "fix" the annual Yale-Harvard game so that Hector will prove worthy of the hoydenish heroine -- which, as it turns out, was Mr. Van Cleve's plan all along. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this fluffy romance, a young woman fights against the narrow-minded residents of her small town. The trouble begins when a young woman flees her boarding school to stay with her retired aunt, a former actress, who try as she might, has never been welcomed into the snobbish community in which she resides. The young woman too, is shunned and ends up being victimized in witchcraft trial and ducked into a pool of water. A handsome newspaper editor arrives to check out the story, and he and the girl fall in love. In the end, she moves to New York; when he gets a good job at a New York paper, he moves there too, and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe carry their pugnacious Quirt-and-Flagg relationship into the murder mystery genre in Paramount's Guilty as Hell. Actually, there's very little mystery involved, since the audience is informed at the outset that dignified Dr. Tindall (Henry Stephenson) is responsible for the death of his faithless wife (Claire Dodd). Carefully arranging the evidence, Tindall manages to convince the authorities that Mrs. Tindall's lover Frank Marsh (Richard Arlen) is the criminal. Detective McKinley (McLaglen) is ready to declare the case closed, but reporter Russell Kirk (Lowe), who's sweet on Marsh's sister Vera (Adrienne Ames), suspects there's more to the story than meets the eye. Likewise falling for Vera, McKinley grudgingly joins his friendly enemy Kirk in proving Frank's innocence and Tindall's guilt. Released in England as Guilty as Charged, this lightweight thriller was remade, with its delightful surprise ending intact, as Night Club Scandal (1937), with John Barrymore hamming his way through the Henry Stephenson part. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

No Man of Her Own represented the only time that Clark Gable and Carole Lombard co-starred in the same picture (at the time the film was made, both were married to other people; their romance and subsequent marriage was several years in the offing). Gable plays a crooked cardsharp who takes it on the lam from the New York constabulary. He hides out in a small town, where he falls in love with librarian Lombard. Endearing himself to Lombard's family, Gable pretends to be an out-of-town broker. He takes his new bride Lombard back to New York, where he resumes his dishonest activities, all the while keeping his one-and-only in the dark. The fly in the ointment is Gable's ex-lover and former partner in crime Dorothy Mackaill, who threatens to expose Gable to the law. Rather than appear to be a cad in his wife's eyes, Gable turns himself in, telling Lombard that he's about to embark on a long business trip. The truth is revealed sometime before the final reel, but Lombard is willing to forgive and forget so long as Gable promises to go straight. Given the usual wiseacre urbanity of Gable's and Lombard's separate starring vehicles, No Man of Her Own seems unusually banal and sentimental. Still, the film is an opportunity not to be missed by latter-day "Golden Age of Hollywood" aficionados. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Few films outside of Let's Go Native could boast a cast as diverse as Jack Oakie, Jeanette MacDonald and Kay Francis -- all under the direction of Leo McCarey. A variation of the "Admirable Crichton" theme, the story concerns a group of highly incompatible people, all stranded on a tropical island. Among the castaways are Brooklyn cabbie Voltaire McGinniss (Oakie), socialite Joan Wood (MacDonald), Joan's reluctant fiance Wally Wendell (James Hall), and good-time girl Constance Cooke (Kay Francis). The local natives prove to be surprisingly sophisticated, thanks to the influence of a song-and-dance man (Skeets Gallegher) who'd been shipwrecked sometime earlier. Using costumes that she's bought for a show she hopes to produce, the enterprising Joan buys the oil-rich island from the natives, only to have it sink into the sea after an earthquake. By this time, however, everyone has fallen in love with everyone else, so there's smiles all around when the rescue party arrives. Nothing makes much sense in Let's Go Native, but the film scores points on sheer energy and good spirits. As a bonus, director Leo McCarey harks back to his Laurel & Hardy days by incorporating a tit-for-tat "reciprocal destruction" routine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This early talkie is the film that destroyed the career of popular silent leading lady Louise Brooks. A detective story, it centers upon a conniving "canary" (a nightclub singer) who takes on wealthy lovers and then blackmails them into giving her money. If they don't cooperate, she will tell their wives and ruin their lives. It all unravels when she falls in love with a handsome young man and accepts his marriage proposal. She goes to each of her lovers and demands they each make one final large payment. She is found dead the next day and her fiancé is blamed until ultra-suave gumshoe Philo Vance shows up and proves his innocence. Originally, the film was made without sound. Later when Paramount decided to dub in voices, it recalled all of the actors, including Brooks, who was in Europe working with filmmaker Pabst. Brooks disdained talkies and refused to participate. This was a serious breach of contract, and she was released. Margaret Livingston ended up dubbing her voice for Brooks' role. Though later Brooks returned to Hollywood, she was relegated to appearing in low-budget Westerns. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi