Joan Standing Movies

David O. Selznick's first independent production upheld the producer's tradition, established at Paramount, RKO and MGM, of bringing the "classics" to the screen. Adapted by Hugh Walpole from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy is set in the late 19th century. After establishing Freddie Bartholomew as a likeable Brooklyn boy who can handle himself in a scrap--with the assistance of his roughneck pal Mickey Rooney, of course--the film introduces us to Bartholomew's mother, played by Dolores Costello-Barrymore (though divorced from John Barrymore, Mrs. Costello-Barrymore was still billng herself by her married name). Costello-Barrymore is the widow of a titled Englishman, whose father, the aristocratic Sir C. Aubrey Smith, detests all Americans with equal fervor. Upon discovering that Bartholomew is the rightful heir to his fortune, Smith demands that Costello-Barrymore deliver the boy to his sprawling English country estate. Now addressed by one and all as Lord Fauntleroy, Bartholomew chafes at the restrictions imposed upon him by his station in life. The boy's good nature and forthrightedness wins his grandfather's respect-and, eventually, the old man's love. When pasty-faced Jackie Searl, a false claimant to Bartholomew's title, shows up, Bartholomew's American pals, led by Rooney, set things right. His hard heart softened at last, Smith stage-manages a happy reunion between Bartholomew and Costello-Barrymore. Expertly sidestepping the "sissy" onus that has been unfairly placed upon the original Burnett novel, Little Lord Fauntleroy scored well at the box office. Other versions of this venerable tale have starred Mary Pickford (as both Fauntleroy and his mother) and Ricky Schroder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Just after completing It Happened One Night, director Frank Capra churned out a bread-and-butter picture titled Broadway Bill. Warner Baxter plays the carefree scion of a wealthy, highly-respected family. Baxter's cold but socially correct wife Helen Vinson forces her husband into the family business, but Baxter would rather spend his time at the racetrack. He buys a nag named Broadway Bill and tries to build the horse into a winner--if he doesn't bankrupt himself first. Only Baxter's sister-in-law Myrna Loy and black stable hand Clarence Muse have faith in Broadway Bill. The horse wins a crucial race, but dies suddenly at the finish line. Baxter is comforted and given encouragement by Loy, who is now his sweetheart, Vinson having long since washed her hands of her "irresponsible" husband. Broadway Bill was remade by Capra as Riding High (1950), utilizing generous portions of stock footage and even going so far as to rehire several of the original film's cast members (Douglass Dumbrille, Clarence Muse, Charles Lane, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Frankie Darro) to recreate their roles and match up their scenes from the earlier production. Long withheld from distribution due to Riding High, Broadway Bill was made available for videocassette in the mid-1980s. Keep an eye out for Lucille Ball as a blonde telephone operator and Alan Hale Sr. as a racetrack announcer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Barbara Stanwyck overcomes a veritable ocean of clichés and manages to make her "shopworn" heroine come to life in this old-fashioned but rather poignant melodrama. A waitress in her aunt and uncle's café, orphaned Kitty Lane falls in love with society scion Dave Livingston (Regis Toomey). Much to Mrs. Livingston's regret, Dave is equally smitten and the society matron (Clara Blandick) has Kitty convicted on a trumped up charge of prostitution. While Dave accompanies his mother on a long trip to Europe, Kitty serves her time in reform school and later becomes a successful showgirl. Reunited after several years, Dave and Kitty resume their romance and Mrs. Livingston once again attempts to talk Kitty out of marrying her son, this time by brandishing a firearm. Like Marguerite Gautier had before her, Kitty is about to sacrifice her love when Dave's mother suddenly has a change of heart. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

"I am....Drac-u-la. I bid you velcome." Thus does Bela Lugosi declare his presence in the 1931 screen version of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Director Tod Browning invests most of his mood and atmosphere in the first two reels, which were based on the original Stoker novel; the rest of the film is a more stagebound translation of the popular stage play by John Balderston and Hamilton Deane. Even so, the electric tension between the elegant Dracula and the vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) works as well on the screen as it did on the stage. And it's hard to forget such moments as the lustful gleam in the eyes of Mina Harker (Helen Chandler) as she succumbs to the will of Dracula, or the omnipresent insane giggle of the fly-eating Renfield (Dwight Frye). Despite the static nature of the final scenes, Dracula is a classic among horror films, with Bela Lugosi giving the performance of a lifetime as the erudite Count (both Lugosi and co-star Frye would forever after be typecast as a result of this film, which had unfortunate consequences for both men's careers). Compare this Dracula to the simultaneously filmed Spanish-language version, which makes up for the absence of Lugosi with a stronger sense of visual dynamics in the lengthy dialogue sequences. In 1999, a special rerelease of Dracula was prepared featuring a new musical score written by Philip Glass and performed by The Kronos Quartet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the low-budget Liberty Pictures Corporation emerged from the chrysalis of the late Tiffany Studios, the new company inherited the 1931 Tiffany production Ex-Flame. Marian Nixon plays Lady Catherine Hamilton, whose fascination with a dashing criminal results in an unpleasant divorce and a messy custody battle between herself and her titled husband (Neil Hamilton). Years later, a disguised Lady Catherine shows up as a nurse, in order to be close to her dying young son. If you recognize this plot, then you're familiar with East Lynne, the hoary old stage piece upon which Ex-Flame is based. The film's attempt to update the story only serves to emphasize its creaky plot contrivances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lawyer Wyn Huntley (Jack Mulhall) is a lion in the courtroom, but a lamb when it comes to women. In love with the beautiful but financially irresponsible Lil (Sally Starr), Wyn is advised that the way to Lil's heart is to indulge her every extravagance. Unfortunately, the man offering this advice is one of Lil's disgruntled ex-boyfriends. Eventually, Lil comes to her senses and begins behaving more responsibly, proving her new level-headedness by rescuing Wyn from a compromising situation with predatory blonde Eleanor Cartwright (Margaret Livingston). Not much of a film to begin with, For the Love O' Lil was laid low by careless post-production sound editing, often cutting off the actors in mid-sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Metropolitan Opera diva Grace Moore made her film debut in MGM's A Lady's Morals. The film purports to be the biography of "Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind, who was ballyhooed to stardom by 19th-century showman P.T. Barnum (Wallace Beery, who'd re-create the role in 1934's The Mighty Barnum). Most of the story, however, is given over to the fabricated romance between Lind (Moore) and young composer Paul Brandt (Reginald Denny), who gives her up when stricken with blindness. As if this wasn't trouble enough, Lind loses her voice at the height of her career; she regains her golden throat, but Paul is lost to her forever. Grace Moore sings seven songs during the film's amazingly brief (75-minute) running time, two of them operatic classics. The anemic box-office showing of A Lady's Morals and her follow-up vehicles briefly squelched Grace Moore's hopes for film stardom, but a few years later she enjoyed enormous success in a series of Columbia musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not a remake of the pre-1920 film of the same name, The Kid's Clever was Glenn Tryon's last silent vehicle; he would pursue a brief talkie acting career before going behind the cameras as a producer. On this occasion, Tryon plays Bugs Raymond, a would-be inventor who has developed a car that runs without gasoline or any other kind of fuel. Through the auspices of Ruth Decker (Kathryn Crawford), daughter of automobile magnate John Decker (Russell Simpson), Bugs is able to stage a demonstration of his invention. The test run goes disastrously wrong, but it turns out that this is the handiwork of Bug's crooked rival Ashton Steele (Lloyd Whitlock). Things are set aright when Bugs and Ruth virtually kidnap Decker and force him to take another test ride -- this one a smashing success. Black comedian Stepin Fetchit is seen in a tiny role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This romantic drama marks the first talking movie done by popular silent film star Adolph Menjou who plays a philandering concert pianist. After one concert, he meets a pretty lady and begins planning a weekend rendezvous in a mountain cottage. When his wife learns about it, she too, along with the other woman's husband, heads for the mountains. Romantic chaos ensues until everyone decides to stay with their allotted partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This silent romantic adventure is set in the Sahara desert, and purports to be a sequel to the successful Beau Geste. Like the first, it is based on a story by Christopher Wren and features members from the original cast. The story begins as three Legionnaires do not return promptly from furlough and end up in the poky. There, the hero duels with a traitor and wins, causing him to gain the designation "Beau Sabreur." Later he is sent into the desert to learn the ways of the Arabs and to help forge a peace treaty. There he encounters a lovely American journalist. Meanwhile the defeated traitor tries to stop the treaty from going through. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hoping to change the winsome "Cinderella" image of actress Betty Bronson, Ritzy. Despite her name, Ritzy Brown (Bronson) is merely a small-town gal, though she harbors Big-City aspirations. When British nobleman Harrington Smith (James Hall) pays a visit to the Brown household, Ritzy is immediately smitten, making no secret of her hope that Harrington will take her away from her provincial surroundings. Deciding that Ritzy is too sweet and innocent to be "exposed" to the evils of cosmopolitan life, Harrington plots to disillusion her by pitching woo at another woman. When this fails to dissuade the girl, Harrington arranges for a phony marriage between Ritzy and foppish aristocrat Algy (William Austin). Outraged when she discovers the truth, Ritzy sets about to be "ruined" by visiting the supposed den of iniquity of a Chinese merchant. But the Far East "villain" turns out to be a nice guy, and it is he who arranges a reconciliation between Ritzy and Harrington -- who by now has realized that he's truly in love with the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Louis J. Gasnier, whose directorial technique suffered a case of arrested development sometime in 1912, wielded the megaphone for the old-fashioned mellerdrammer Lost at Sea. It is established from the outset that Norman Travers (Lowell Sherman) is a domineering husband and a failure as a father, and that his wife Natalie (Jane Novak) and son Bobby (Billy Kent Schaeffer) suffer in silent desperation. When Travers is lost at sea and presumed drowned, Natalie, somewhat relieved, accepts the marriage proposal of kindly Richard Lane (Huntley Gordon). But on the night of their wedding, Natalie receives word that her first husband is still alive. Returning home to demand his matrimonial rights, Travers is promptly murdered -- whereupon Lane, believing that Natalie committed the deed, gallantly takes the blame. The solution to the mystery comes so far out of left field that it seems to have been written for another movie! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Skyrocket was a vehicle for non-actress Peggy Hopkins Joyce, a former Ziegfeld dancer who managed to get herself into the headlines by romancing and marrying a series of millionaires. Here Ms. Joyce plays Sharon Kimm, a girl of tenements who through a combination of luck and determination becomes a movie star. Unfortunately, once she's made it to the top, Sharon sabotages her career with her prima donna behavior. Plummeting to obscurity, Sharon realizes that there are more important things in the world than fame or fortune, so she settles for middle-class security as the wife of her childhood sweetheart Mickey Reid (Owen Moore) -- who happens to be the screenwriter of the film which made Sharon a star in the first place! Contemporary reviews indicate that Peggy Hopkins Joyce was as endearingly awful in Skyrocket as she was opposite W.C. Fields in 1933's International House. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide