Betty Stockfeld Movies

Based on the play by Walter Hackett, this film has Neilson-Terry taking Stockfeld out to his house - but the place has been turned into an impromptu casino in his absence. Blackmail against Stockfeld's brother keeps Stockfeld from reporting this indignity. ~ All Movie Guide

Filmed in Great Britain, Brides to Be was distributed worldwide by Paramount. Leading lady Betty Stockfield is a humble shop girl, in love with a rich millionaire who has lots of money. Betty is framed for a robbery by a gang of crooks. This proves awkward not only for Betty but for the crooks, who may have to eliminate the girl before her wealthy beau finances her defense. Basil Mason scripted Brides to Be from his own (presumably less confusing) story Sign Please. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Several European countries collaborated to create this drama. The story begins as a young British woman meets and falls in love with her tour guide during a vacation to Naples. Along the way, she hears him singing. Recognizing a good tenor voice when she hears one, she takes him back to England for special vocal training. The tour guide is one handsome heartbreaker and one of his lovers is angered by his desertion. In England he sings at a fancy party. They are so impressed, that he is immediately booked into an opera house the following night. During the party, he finds himself becoming increasingly jealous of his newest girlfriend's flirtatious ways. When he discovers that his operatic debut is being financed by other party goers, the tenor flies into a rage and begins attacking the backers. Naturally they cancel his performance. The tour guide returns to Naples and to his other lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dishonor Bright draws upon the talents of two master farceurs from Britain's Aldwych Theatre, Tom Walls (star-director) and Ben Travers (screenwriter). A correspondent in a bitter divorce case, Stephen Champion (Walls), ends up marrying the defendant, Ivy Lamb (Dinah Churchill), though he still carries a torch for Stella (Betty Stockfield), the wife of the plaintiff's attorney (Cecil Parker). While on an Alpine honeymoon with Ivy, Stephen tries to rescue Stella from the libidinous machinations of rakish Lisle (George Sanders, in one of his earliest major roles). In so doing, Stephen not only nearly messes up Stella's marriage but his own as well. Hollywood's Eugene Pallette offers a well-rounded characterization (in every sense of the word) as a duplicitous American tourist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The English-language title of this stagebound French drama is They Were Twelve Women. The eponymous leading ladies run the full gamut age-wise, from twentysomething Micheline Presle to fiftyish Francoise Rosay. The story concerns the efforts of a dozen females from various walks of life to contribute to the war effort, renting a communal home for this purpose. The expected cultural clashes break out, most notably a war of words and wills between aristocratic Rosay and "loose woman" Gaby Morlay, but in the end all 12 women are solidly united in a common cause. Though it can't be proven, it is quite possible that Elles Etaient Douze Femmes was one of the principal inspirations for the American novel (and subsequent film) Tender Comrade. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by Britain's Teddington Studios on behalf of Warner Bros., The Flying Fortress stars Richard Greene, who had to be furloughed from the Army to participate in this wartime morale-booster. Greene plays millionaire playboy Jim Spence, a carefree aviation enthusiast whose avocation becomes his vocation when the war breaks out. Giving up wine, women and song for the duration (well, at least wine and song), Spence mans the controls of a British "flying fortress" for periodic bombing forays over Berlin. The film's "money scene" finds Spence clambering out of his plane to repair a hole in its side in mid-air-a bit of bravado which, amazingly, is based on a true incident. For unknown reasons, Flying Fortress was heavily edited for its American release, rendering its storyline a tad hard to follow at times. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an amiable steel worker suddenly changes when he becomes a foreman. Suddenly Mr. Nice Guy becomes Mr. Hard Nose and he mercilessly pushes his men to work harder and faster. His callous attitude comes home with him and his wife, too suffers. Trouble ensues when the foreman pushes the men so hard that a man dies. The other workers revolt, and at home, his wife leaves. The foreman turns to his friend, a preacher, for guidance and begins to see where he went wrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a popular head porter at the Paris Ritz finds trouble when he falls in love with a wealthy widow who stays there. After saving her family jewels, the porter is given the title of Duke. He also receives an ancestral home in which to live. He and the widow begin planning their future. This does not set well with the little hotel maid who secretly loves the porter. He eventually returns to her when he discovers that the "mansion" is a ramshackle, worthless wreck. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Le President Haudecoeur stars Harry Baur as a stern and merciless district attorney who undergoes a "humanizing" process in the course of the film's 107 minutes. Making the acquaintance of attractive young Canadian widow Betty Stockfield, Baur lets himself go and falls in love for the first time in his life. Alas, it turns out that Stockfield already has a fiancé, but Baur emerges from the experience with a warmer and more liberal outlook on life all the same. Featured in the cast as the DA's son is Baur's real-life offspring, Cecil Grance. Le President Haudecoeur was produced by Marcel Pagnol, though surprisingly the film does not show up on his "official" resume. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Les Amants du Tage (The Lovers of Tage) was based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. Daniel Gelin plays a soldier who is acquitted after committing a crime of passion. Relocating to Lisbon, and still feeling remorse over his impulsive killing of his faithless wife, Gelin manages to find love in the form of gorgeous widow Francoise Arnoul. Alas, it turns out that Arnoul has a sordid past of her own, leaving our hero sadder but wiser. Trevor Howard, whose presence in this essentially Gallic entertainment comes as a surprise, plays the relentless police inspector who exposes the seemingly virtuous Arnoul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide