Carl Stockdale Movies

In Condemned to Live, Ralph Morgan stars as Professor Paul Kriston, the kindly and generous doctor of a tiny European village. So well-liked is Kriston that the beautiful Marguerite Mane (Maxine Doyle) is willing to marry him, even though she loves another man, young David (Russell Gleason). Things take a sinister turn when a series of murders occur in the village, apparently committed by a vampiric beast. David makes himself quite unpopular when he suggests that the killer may be a human being. Meanwhile, Professor Kriston turns to an old family friend, Dr. Anders Bizet (Pedro de Cordoba), for a possible solution to the murder spree, but Bizet is strangely secretive. Condemned to Live was filmed on standing sets at Universal City and on location at Bronson Canyon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This truly offbeat filmization of Jean Bart's stage drama The Man Who Reclaimed His Head has been misleadingly released to TV as part of the "Shock Theater" package, even though the film is more melancholy than horrific. At the height of WW I, the trembling, near-lunatic Paul Verin (Claude Rains) arrives at police headquarters, carrying an ominously heavy handbag. Before revealing the bag's gruesome contents, he relates his tragic story in flashback. At one time a promising writer, Verin was married to the beautiful and ambitious Adele (Joan Bennett), who pushed and prodded him to advance himself. Accordingly, he sold his "head" -- that is, his integrity -- to powerful publisher Henri Dumont (Lionel Atwill), ghostwriting Dumont's anti-war editorials. By the time he realized that the hypocritical Dumont had himself sold out to the pro-war business interests, Verin had lost his wife and child to the scheming publisher. Driven mad on the battlefield, he made his way back to Dumont's mansion, exacting a horrible but appropriate revenge (hence the film's title). The Man Who Reclaimed His Head was remade in 1945 as Strange Confession -- with the pacifist angle completely removed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Student Tour looks like an MGM musical two-reeler that was expanded to feature length as it went along. Charles Butterworth and Jimmy Durante are teamed respectively as fey philosophy professor Lippincott and brash athletic coach Hank. The two comics shepherd a co-ed college rowing team on a world tour, with orders to keep the team's rowdy captain Bobby (Phil Regan) out of trouble. Lackluster leading lady Maxine Doyle co-stars as Ann, a plain-jane who takes off her glasses at a Monte Carlo masquerade ball and wins BMOC Bobby for her very own. Ann also brings the story to a rousing conclusion by substituting for the cockswain in the climatic rowing race, urging the team to victory with a peppy song-and-dance. Nelson Eddy also shows up to sing "The Carlo," a pulsating number obviously inspired by "Bolero." The film's giddy highlight is "Taj Mahal," in which a group of pretty students (including a young Betty Grable) go swimming in the pool of the famous Indian shrine! According to studio publicity, a crop of genuine college coeds were hired to play the students in Student Tour, but to the trained eye they sure look like standard Hollywood extras and bit players. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rocky Rhodes was Buck Jones' first western vehicle for Universal Pictures. Evidently inheriting a leftover script from previous Universal cowboy star Ken Maynard, Jones plays the title character, who as the film opens is heading back to his home in Arizona with his raffish saddle-pal Harp (Stanley Fields). Upon his arrival, Rocky Rhodes champions the cause of heroine Nan (Sheila Terry), whose ranch is in danger of falling into the grimy hands of the villainous Murich (Walter Miller). The whole affair ends in a tense shoot-out between the good and bad buys, with guess who coming out on top. Rocky Rhodes is beautifully photographed by the ever-reliable Ted McCord, who'd previous labored on the Ken Maynard series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stuntman extraordinaire Richard Talmadge is the only reason for sitting through the dreary poverty-row quickie Get That Girl. Hero Talmadge comes to the rescue of heiress Shirley Grey, whose life is put in peril by the villains. When Gray is spirited away to a private sanitarium, Talmadge literally swings into action, jumping over fences and off buildings to rescue the girl. He also beats up a virtual battalion of henchman, never raising so much as a sweat. It's all nonsense, but Richard Talmadge is a truly remarkable athlete, and as such is eminently worth watching no matter what his surroundings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bloodsucking winged creatures who may take human shape appear to have returned after centuries of dormancy to the middle-European municipality of Kleinschloss in this atmospheric, low-budget thriller from small-scale Majestic Pictures, and the burgomaster (Lionel Belmore) demands answers. With victims scattered everywhere, all bearing the distinctive puncture marks, police detective Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) finds himself completely stymied. Brettschneider, who refuses to accept what he considers mere superstition, is not pleased when that eminent physician Dr. Otto Von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) hints that there may indeed be such things as murderous human bats. Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye), the village idiot, meanwhile, just happens to have a fondness for the nocturnal creatures -- "They're so soft!" -- and the villagers, as they are wont to do, grab their torches and commence a manhunt. Poor Herman is destroyed, but there is another killing. And this time the victim is Georgiana (Stella Adams), Dr. Von Niemann's housekeeper, who failed to serve the physician his late-night coffee. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The plays of Zoe Akins were so stilted and mannered that one critic referred to watching them as "the curse of an Akins heart." The film versions of Akins's efforts were slightly better, as proven by The Furies. Lois Wilson stars as attractive Mrs. Sands, who despite her married status is ardently pursued by several libidinous bachelors. When Mr. Sands (Montague Love) is poisoned to death, each of Mrs. Sand's two most fervent suitors suspects the other of committing the crime. Complicating matters is the fact that Mrs. Sands' defense attorney (H.B. Warner) is also crazy about her. The identity of the actual killer is never in doubt, inasmuch as the actor playing the role had "done it" in several previous films and would continue "doing it" in subsequent murder mysteries. The best scenes occur towards the end, when Mrs. Sands's loyal servants are coached in their testimony by their attorney -- and have trouble remembering their "lines." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a convict breaks out of jail and winds up going to college. There he joins the rowing team and helps them to win. Unfortunately, just as he is preparing to row the big race, a pursuing detective appears to arrest him. The detective makes him an interesting deal: if he deliberately loses the race, he will be freed; if he wins, he must return to prison. The convict cannot bear to deliberately lose the race and so wins it anyway. The detective then tells him that he only did that to see if the young man had really gone straight. He passed the test in flying colors and is freed. Songs include: "Just You and I" (Sam Perry,Clarence J. Marks), and "Wandering Onward." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

To date, this D.W. Griffith epic is the only talking-picture effort to encapsulate the entire life of Abraham Lincoln, from cradle to grave. The script, credited to Stephen Vincent Benet, manages to include all the familiar high points, including Lincoln's tragic romance with Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel, allegedly cast because of her resemblance to Griffith favorite Lillian Gish), his lawyer days in Illinois, his contentious marriage to Mary Todd (Kay Hammond), his heartbreaking decision to declare war upon the South, his pardoning of a condemned sentry during the Civil War, and his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth (expansively portrayed by Ian Keith). This was D.W. Griffith's first talkie, and the master does his best with the somewhat pedantic dialogue sequences; but as always, Griffith's forte was spectacle and montage, as witness the cross-cut scenes of Yankees and Rebels marching off to war and the pulse-pounding ride of General Sheridan (Frank Campeau) through the Shenandoah Valley. Thanks to the wizardry of production designer William Cameron Menzies, many of the scenes appear far more elaborate than they really were; Menzies can also be credited with the unforgettable finale, as Honest Abe's Kentucky log cabin dissolves to the Lincoln Memorial. As Abraham Lincoln, Walter Huston is a tower of strength, making even the most florid of speeches sound human and credible; only during the protracted death scene of Ann Rutledge does Huston falter, and then the fault is as much Griffith's as his. Road-shown at nearly two hours (including a prologue showing slaves being brought to America), Abraham Lincoln was pared down to 97 minutes by United Artists, and in that length it proved a box-office success, boding well for D.W. Griffith's future in talkies (alas, it proved to be his next-to-last film; Griffith's final effort, The Struggle was a financial disaster). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Ernst Lubitsch's first talking picture, The Love Parade was a witty souffle about a royal "marriage of state." Jeanette MacDonald, the queen of Sylvania, is required to take a husband. Maurice Chevalier is a highborn Sylvanian diplomat called back to his country due to his amorous escapades. It is arranged for Chevalier to marry MacDonald, but though he is ostensibly the "king" of the boudoir, he is not allowed to participate in any affairs of state. Gradually the royal protocol erodes the marriage, as the formerly footloose Chevalier bristles at being a mere consort. After numerous complications and misunderstandings, Chevalier asserts his authority over the secretly willing MacDonald. Counterpointing the main plot is the backstairs romance of servants Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth, who, like the stars, get to cut loose in the occasional musical number. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Small-towner David Warren (Gaston Glass) is forced to leave his community after accidentally causing the death of a local cop. He makes a beeline to the big city, where he gets mixed up with criminal gang. David falls in love with female crook Mae Andrews (Gladys Brockwell), who feels the same way towards him. To prevent Warren from pursuing an unlawful career, Mae pretends to throw him over in favor of the gang leader. After returning, disillusioned, to his home town, David finds out through the grapevine that Mae still loves him, and a happy ending -- one which must have sorely taxed the ingenuity of the film's screenwriter Arthur Hoerl -- finally transpires. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Silent stars Bryant Washburn and Vera Reynolds had both seen better days by the time they made the inexpensive programmer Jazzland. The story is set in motion by newspaper reporter Carroll Nye, (remember him as Frank Kennedy in Gone With the Wind?) who opposes the construction of a nightclub in his respectable small town. Trouble is, the brains behind the club is a mysterious Mister Big who keeps himself hidden from view. While trying to uncover the owner's identity, Nye's brother Forrest Stanley is killed. Good-natured "jazz baby" Vera Reynolds puts her own life in jeopardy to avenge Stanley's murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cowboy Bob Bishop (Ken Maynard) searches for rancher Leadley's (Carl Stockdale) son Bart (Joe Bennett), who has joined a gang of outlaws lead by the vicious Ramon Bistula (Richard Neill). Along the way he befriends lovely Mary Burton (Kathleen Collins) and her father Mexicali Burton (Charles Hill Mailes). With a straightforward script by genre specialist Marion Jackson, capable direction from Al Rogell and a cast of old faithfuls, Somewhere in Sonora was almost the perfect silent and a credit to rising star Ken Maynard. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide