Eric Blore Movies
Most often cast as a snide gentleman's gentleman or dissipated nobleman, British actor Eric Blore abandoned the business world for the theatre when he was in his mid-twenties. Established in both London and New York, Blore began adding movies to his acting achievements with 1920's A Night Out and a Day In(1920); he also appeared in the 1926 silent version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. A scene-stealing role in RKO's Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical Flying Down to Rio (1933) led to Blore's becoming a fixture in such subsequent Astaire-Rogers projects as Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935) and Shall We Dance? (1937). The actor also became a "regular" in the unorthodox film comedies of Preston Sturges, notably The Lady Eve (1941) and Sullivan's Travels(1942). In addition, Blore found himself in support of several "star" comedians, from Laurel and Hardy to Bob Hope to The Marx Brothers. When pickings became lean for "veddy" British character actors in the mid 1950s, Blore was reduced to co-starring with the bargain-counter Bowery Boys in Bowery to Baghdad (1955); he played an inebriated genie in this, his last film. On a more artistically rewarding note, cartoon fans will recall the pixilated voice of Blore as the automobile-happy Mr. Toad in the 1949 Disney animated feature Ichabod and Mr. Toad. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1939
This film should have been a press agent's dream: Hollywood's two greatest "big mouths," Joe E. Brown and Martha Raye, together in the same picture. Brown and Raye play a show business couple who inherit a near-bankrupt college. They decide to build up the school's scraggly football team in hopes of improving alumni funding; somewhere along the line it is agreed to grant one thousand dollars for every touchdown scored, hence the title. Slapstick opportunities abound, and with the two stars at the helm, the film should have been far funnier than it is. But thanks to uninspired direction and a threadbare budget, $1000 a Touchdown was a disappointment for fans of both Martha Raye and Joe E. Brown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye, (more)
- 1940
'Til We Meet Again is an inflated remake of 1932's One Way Passage. As in the original, the hero is a convicted murderer en route to the death house by way of a merchant ship; the heroine is suffering from a terminal illness. Once more, hero and heroine fall in love, each keeping the facts of his or her imminent doom from the other. The principal difference this time is that instead of William Powell and Kay Francis, the stars are George Brent and Merle Oberon. This cast change does no damage to the basic storyline, but the decision in 'Til We Meet Again to expand upon the secondary romance between the arresting detective (Pat O'Brien) and an accomplice of the condemned man (Geraldine Fitzgerald) throws the focus of the film completely out of kilter. One decided benefit to both One Way Passage and 'Til We Meet Again is the comic presence of Frank McHugh, who plays the same role--a tipsy pickpocket--in both pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, George Brent, (more)
- 1938
In this romantic comedy, a passionate French painter nearly goes berserk when he learns that his well-meaning friends have stolen one of his paintings so it can be exhibited. Their ploy works beautifully, and he becomes famous. Unfortunately, it is an embarrassing picture of his dream girl and he finds it utterly humiliating. Fortunately, he meets the real-life doppleganger of this gal and a romance eventually blooms. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramon Novarro, Marian Marsh, (more)
- 1939
A wealthy man's valet, Blore, concocts a blackmail scheme about an attempted poisoning when his employer passes out at a party in this farcical comedy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1946
Abie's Irish Rose, the surprise hit of the 1922-23 Broadway season, was old-fashioned when it was first filmed in 1928, and this 1946 remake, though updated by playwright Anne Nichols, was even more anachronistic. It's the story of what happens when Jewish-American Abie Levy (Richard Norris) marries Irish-Catholic Rosemary Murphy (Joanne Dru, in her film debut). At first, Abie and Rosemary try to hide their ethnic differences from their feuding fathers Solomon Levy (Michael Chekhov) and Patrick Murphy (J. M. Kerrigan). When the truth comes out, the couple attempts to molify their families by going through three wedding ceremonies: Jewish, Catholic and Protestant. But the Cohens and the Murphys are reconciled only when Rosemary has a baby. Produced by Bing Crosby, Abie's Irish Rose was a terrific flop when first released, which may be one of the reasons why director Eddie Sutherland never again worked in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanne Dru, Richard Norris, (more)
- 1935
A wealthy young heir rebels when his snooty parents refuse to allow him to marry a lovely young secretary. Deciding to teach them a lesson, he goes West where he falls in love and marries the daughter of a Native American chief. He brings her home to meet his parents, who are naturally appalled, and vengeance is his. Unfortunately their marital bliss is disturbed when a woman shoots her married lover and the Indian girl is blamed for the crime. The husband then goes to the police and confesses the crime to protect her. Fortunately, the astute police put the couple together in a room bugged with a concealed microphone. They then learn that both are innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1955
It's the Bowery Boys again, in their 35th feature film. Sach (Huntz Hall) buys a battered oil lamp, which turns out to have belonged to Aladdin some 2000 years earlier. Out pops a genial genie (Eric Blore), who grants every wish of Sach and his pal Slip (Leo Gorcey). Gangsters steal the lamp, but discover that the genie won't grant any wishes unless Slip and Sach tell him to, so the baddies snatch Our Heroes as well. The boys escape by insisting that the genie take them home. He does--to his home, ancient Baghdad. Slip and Sach barely escape the scimitar of the angry Caliph; they return to the Bowery minus the genie but with their heads intact. In typical Bowery Boys fare, this entry is pepped up by the appearance of veteran comic actor Eric Blore in his final screen appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this screwball comedy, Valentine Ransome (Barbara Stanwyck) is an heiress who falls for Jonathan Blair (Herbert Marshall), a carefree playboy who owns part of a large steamship line. However, Valentine doesn't especially like Jonathan's brassy fiancé, Carol Wallace (Glenda Farrell), and thinks he needs to start taking a more serious attitude about his money and his investments. To teach Jonathan a lesson (and get closer to him in the process), Valentine arranges to buy enough stock in the shipping company that she's the majority owner, and begins giving him orders about how things should be done. Jonathan isn't about to stand for that, and set off for a cruise on one of his ships, with Carol in tow and every intention of having the ship's captain marry them. But Jonathan's sidekick Butch (Eric Blore) doesn't like Carol any more than Valentine, and seizes every available opportunity to throw a spanner into the works. The same year that the versatile Barbara Stanwyck starred in this comic trifle, she received an Oscar nomination for her dramatic work in the movie Stella Dallas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, (more)
- 1941
Don Ameche, an American news bureau chief stationed in London, is frustrated by the British government's censorship of his wildly speculative dispatches to the United States. Joan Bennett is the government Teletype operator assigned to make sure that Ameche doesn't send out any story that hasn't been cleared. At first adversarial towards each other, Ameche and Bennet fall in love while huddled in various bomb shelters during the 1940 London blitz. Clearly inspired by Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (40), Confirm or Deny was one of many "preparedness" films turned out by Hollywood in the months just prior to Pearl Harbor. Any political proselytizing, however, takes second place to the Don Ameche/Joan Bennett love story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1942
Counter-Espionage was the ninth film in Columbia's "Lone Wolf" series, based on characters created by Louis Joseph Vance. Warren William stars as Michael Lanyard, the suave ex-criminal known as The Lone Wolf. This time around, Lanyard is in London during the Blitz, where he finds himself up to his neck in Nazi spies. Counter-Espionage was one of several mid-1940s Columbia "series" films which dropped the name of the series from the title in hopes of attracting new audiences. Other examples of this trend include the "Blondie" episode It's a Great Life (43) and the "Boston Blackie" opus The Chance of a Lifetime (43). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren William, Eric Blore, (more)
- 1935
Screenwriter Preston Sturges never lets the facts get in the way of a good story in this colorful filmed biography of turn-of-the-century millionaire Diamond Jim Brady. The hearty Edward Arnold stars as Brady, who parlays a small-time railroad supply firm into a thriving financial empire. Once he's in the chips, Diamond Jim indulges in his every whim, lavishing his money on wine, women, song and food -- lots and lots of food. Alas, for all his business acumen, he is never able to find true romance, striking out twice with coquettish Emma (Jean Arthur) and her more sedate look-alike Jane (also Jean Arthur). Along, the way, Diamond Jim also has a casual fling with the fabulous Lillian Russell (Binnie Barnes), but theirs is more a friendship than an affair. Having paid no attention to the truth throughout the film, writer Sturges felt no need to accurately portray Brady's ultimate demise, so he borrows a page from the old George Arliss vehicle Old English by having Diamond Jim deliberately eat himself to death. Edward Arnold would repeat his Diamond Jim Brady characterization opposite Alice Faye in 1940's Lillian Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, (more)
- 1940
Earl of Puddlestone was released minus a director credit out of respect for megger Gus Meins, who committed suicide shortly after its completion. This latest entry in Republic's "Higgins Family" series once more stars James Gleason, his wife Lucille and his son Russell as Joe, Lil and Sidney Higgins. Thanks to a joke perpetrated by Grandpa Higgins (Harry Davenport), poor Joe finds himself posing as one Henry Potter-Potter, aka the Earl of Puddlestone. He manages to successfully pull off the ruse until the real Potter-Potter (William Halligan) arrives on the scene, leading to a hectic finale. The role of Higgins daughter Betty, played by a variety of actresses in the past (including Russell Gleason's wife Shirley Deane), is herein portrayed by Lois Ranson, a singer-dancer whom Republic was hoping to groom for stardom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Gleason, Lucille Gleason, (more)
- 1945
In this musical, a talented aspiring costume designer leaves her small town to seek her fortune in the Big Apple. The girl, who is also a singer, soon begins establishing herself in the fashion industry, but when a rival accuses her of stealing a pattern, her career is nearly destroyed. Fortunately, a handsome, romantic hero is around to help her clear her name. Songs include: "Come Along My Heart", "That does It", "Swing Low Sweet Lariat" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Jean, Kirby Grant, (more)
Fancy Pants is a musicalized remake of the oft-filmed Harry Leon Wilson story Ruggles of Red Gap, tailored to the talents of "Mr. Robert Hope (formerly Bob)". The basic plotline of the original, that of an English butler entering the service of a rowdy nouveau-riche family from the American West, is retained. The major difference is that main character (Bob Hope) plays a third-rate American actor who only pretends to be a British gentleman's gentleman. Social-climbing American heiress Lucille Ball hires Hope to impress her high-society English acquaintances, then takes him back to her ranch in New Mexico. Though there are many close shaves, Hope manages to convince the wild and woolly westerners that he's a genuine British Lord--even pulling the wool over the eyes of visiting celebrity Teddy Roosevelt (John Alexander). Never as droll as the 1935 Leo McCarey-directed Ruggles of Red Gap, Fancy Pants nonetheless works quite well on its own broad, slapsticky level. If the ending seems abrupt, it may be because the original finale, in which a fleeing Bob Hope and Lucille Ball were to be rescued by surprise guest star Roy Rogers, was abandoned just before the scene was shot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, (more)
The top-billed stars in the extravagant RKO musical Flying Down to Rio are Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond. Forget all that: this is the movie that first teamed Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We're supposed to care about the romantic triangle between aviator/bandleader Raymond, Brazilian heiress Del Rio and her wealthy fiance Raul Roulien, but the moment Fred and Ginger dance to a minute's worth of "The Carioca", the film is theirs forever. Other musical highlights include Rogers' opening piece "Music Makes Me" and tenor Roulien's lush rendition of "Orchids in the Moonlight". Then there's the title number. The plot has it that Del Rio' uncle has been prohibited from having a floor show at his lavish hotel because of a Rio city ordinance. Astaire and Raymond save the day by staging the climactic "Flying Down to Rio" number thousands of feet in the air, with hundreds of chorus girls shimmying and swaying while strapped to the wings of a fleet of airplanes. It is one of the most outrageously brilliant numbers in movie musical history, and one that never fails to incite a big round of applause from the audience--even audiences of the 1990s. Together with King Kong, Flying Down to Rio saved the fledgling RKO Radio studios from bankruptcy in 1933. The film was a smash everywhere it played, encouraging the studio to concoct future teamings of those two stalwart supporting players Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, (more)
- 1935
This French-language version of the 1935 Hollywood musical Folies Bergere retains the original star (Maurice Chevalier) and director (Roy Del Ruth) and Busby Berkeley's big-scale production numbers. It also follows substantially the same plot: A nightclub entertainer (Chevalier), is hired to pose as his look-alike (also Chevalier), a prominent aviation tycoon. The masquerade causes consternation for the entertainer's girlfriend, who of course has no idea what's going on, and for the tycoon's wife, who can't understand why her cold-fish husband has suddenly become so warm and demonstrative. Beyond the obvious language change, the major differences between the two Folies Bergeres are found in their supporting casts: for example, Natalie Paley plays the tycoon's spouse role originally essayed by Merle Oberon, while Sim Viva, as the girlfriend, fills the dancing shoes of the English-language version's Ann Sothern. Folies Bergere served as the basis for two future 20th Century-Fox musicals, That Night in Rio and On the Riviera, neither of which were released in French versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Ann Sothern, (more)
- 1943
The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old manor house in London, built in 1804 by a British admiral (C. Aubrey Smith) and blitzed in 1940 by one Adolf Hitler. Through the portals of this house pass a vast array of Britons, from high-born to low. The earliest scenes involve gay blade Lt. William Trimble (Ray Milland), wronged country-girl Susan (Anna Neagle), and wicked landowner Ambrose Pomfret (Claude Rains). We move on to a comic interlude involving dotty Mr. Simpson (Reginald Owen), eternally drunken butler Bellamy (Charles Laughton), and cockney plumbers Mr. Dabb (Cedric Hardwicke) and Wilkins (Buster Keaton). Maidservant Jenny (Ida Lupino) takes over the plot during the Boer War era, while the World War I sequence finds the house converted into a way-station for soldiers (including Robert Cummings) and anxious families (including Roland Young and Gladys Cooper). Finally we arrive in 1940, with American Gates Pomfret (Kent Smith) and lady-of-the-house Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick) surveying the bombed-out manor, and exulting over the fact that the portrait of the home's founder, Adm. Eustace Trimble (Smith), has remained intact -- symbolic proof of England's durability in its darkest hours. The huge cast includes Dame May Whitty, Edward Everett Horton, Wendy Barrie, Merle Oberon, Nigel Bruce, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp, and a host of others -- some appearing in sizeable roles, others (like Arthur Treacher and Patric Knowles) willingly accepting one-scene bits, simply to participate in the undertaking. Seven directors and 21 writers were also swept up in the project. Forever and a Day was supposed to have been withdrawn from circulation after the war and its prints destroyed so that no one could profit from what was supposed to have been an act of industry charity. Happily for future generations, prints have survived and are now safely preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1942
In this lighthearted musical comedy, Marjory Stuart (Mary Martin) is a girl who works in the hatcheck room at a Manhattan nightclub and dreams of being a rich socialite herself. Toward that end, Marjory wants to land a rich husband, so she saves up her money and takes a cruise to the Caribbean, where she poses as wealthy debutante. Marjory quickly makes friends with Bubbles Hennessy (Betty Hutton), a brassy but good-natured singer who's on board to rendezvous with her boyfriend Wally Case (Eddie Bracken). Tagging along with Wally is his pal Pete Hamilton (Dick Powell), a beach bum with charm and personality but no bankroll. Bubbles, Wally, and Pete soon realize that Marjory is hardly a member of the upper crust, but they like her enough to help her snag the man she has her eye on, stiff-as-a-board millionaire Alfred Monroe (Rudy Vallee). However, just as Marjory begins making progress with Alfred, she and Pete begin to realize that they've fallen in love. Both Betty Hutton and Mary Martin sing several songs along the way (Hutton's standout number, "Murder, He Says," later found it's way into Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors), and legendary calypso performer Sir Lancelot performs "Ugly Woman" (later a hit for Jimmy Soul under the title "If You Want To Be Happy"). Hutton and Bracken were reunited a year later in the Preston Sturges classic The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Martin, Dick Powell, (more)
- 1937
In this musical, a nightclub singer (Lily Pons) secretly aspires to sing at the Met. To help her, her agent (Jack Oakie) decides to dress her up as "Ooga-Hunga, the Bird Girl" and send her off on a merry chase of an influential opera lover (Eric Blore) who has gone on an African safari. When he sees her, he is truly agog and at last she fulfills her lifelong goal. Songs include: "You're Like a Song," "I Hit a New High," "Let's Give Love Another Chance," and "This Never Happened Before." Excerpts from operas include: "Lucia Di Lammermoor," "Mignon," "Je Suis Titania," and "Le Rossignol Et La Rose." ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lily Pons, Jack Oakie, (more)
- 1943
A man trying to leave his fame behind discovers the perils of choosing to be the wrong unknown person in this farcical British comedy. Priam Farli (Monty Woolley) is an eccentric but famous and well-respected artist who prefers to work in total seclusion -- so much so that he's spent the last 20 years creating his paintings while living on an isolated island in the Pacific, with only his valet, Henry Leek (Eric Blore), for company. When word reaches Farli that he is to be knighted by King Edward VII (Edwin Maxwell), the artist reluctantly sails back to Great Britain with Leek, but en route, his devoted servant dies. Seeing a perfect opportunity to once again escape the public eye, Farli poses as Leek and claims that the great painter was the one who passed away. Farli is not allowed to attend his own funeral, but things get more complicated when Alice Challice (Gracie Fields) appears with a letter in which Leek proposes marriage to her. Wanting to maintain his cover, Farli goes through with the wedding, only to find that Leek was already married, and his first wife (Una O'Connor) would like some explanations as to why her Henry has taken another wife, not to mention wondering where he's been for the past two decades. Laird Cregar, Alan Mowbray, and Fritz Feld highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Woolley, Gracie Fields, (more)
- 1935
If Columbia could make an acceptable movie star out of opera-diva Grace Moore, then RKO Radio could do the same with Lily Pons. At least that was producer Pandro S. Berman's reasoning when he cast Pons in the 1935 musical romance I Dream too Much. The actress plays Annette, a rural French musical student who marries struggling American composer Jonathan (Henry Fonda). Possessed of a splendid singing voice, our heroine rises to fame on the opera stage, while poor Jonathan continues struggling, supporting himself as a tour guide. Annette eventually saves her marriage by transforming her husband's "masterpiece," a rather turgid modernistic opera, into a light-hearted musical comedy. Lucille Ball, who'd later co-star with Henry Fonda in The Big Street and Yours, Mine and Ours, has a funny minor role as a gum-snapping tourist. Though Lily Pons was at least 10 years older than Fonda, they make an attractive and believable screen couple, adding credibility to this somewhat contrived yarn. And of course, Lily Pons is seen and heard to excellent advantage in a variety of solos, both brand-new (courtesy of Jerome Kern) and classical: In the closing production number, the svelte Ms. Pons is alluringly garbed in a revealing oriental costume, proving once and for all that women did have belly-buttons back in 1935! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lily Pons, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1935
Feeling stifled by her wealthy existence, flighty heiress Kay (Joan Crawford) falls in love with poor archaeologist Terry (Brian Aherne). The couple seems happiest when they're yelling at one another, indicating perhaps that screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz was none too fond of either character. Anyway, Terry decides that a marriage to Kay would be a big mistake, so he talks her into jilting him at the altar, thereby making a public declaration that their romance is through. But Kay "double-crosses" Terry by showing up at the wedding anyway, allowing the couple to live scrappily ever after. It's hard to tell if this is supposed to be a rip-off of It Happened One Night, but it sure plays that way in the first few reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Brian Aherne, (more)
- 1939
Anna May Wong and J. Carroll Naish, so memorably teamed in Paramount's Dangerous to Know, are costarred once more in Island of Lost Men. Naish plays ruthless jungle plantation owner Gregory Prin, who runs his domain like a dictatorship and treats his workers little better than slaves. Into Prin's world comes Kim Ling (Wong), daughter of a disgraced Chinese general. Kim Ling hopes to clear her father's name by bringing his primary accuser, Prin, to justice. The native-uprising finale is rendered in gloriously gruesome detail. A remake of the 1931 Charles Laughton-Carole Lombard starrer White Woman, Island of Lost Men also offers early but well-rounded performances by Anthony Quinn (as a Chinese patriot!) and Broderick Crawford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna May Wong, J. Carrol Naish, (more)
- 1937
Bette Davis and Leslie Howard play an egotistical Broadway acting team famous for their romantic scenes. In truth, Davis and Howard are crazy about each other, but they spend so much time bickering that they never get around to marriage. The relationship is complicated by young heiress Olivia De Havilland, a fan who worships the ground Howard walks on. Howard tries to scare off the star-struck young lady by threatening her with seduction, but it turns out she enjoys the prospect of being seduced. Everything is straightened out by the climax, though Davis and Howard never quite get to the altar. It's Love I'm After is all the more enjoyable when one recalls the "serious" movie romances carried on by Leslie Howard with both Bette Davis (in The Petrified Forest) and Olivia De Havilland (in Gone with the Wind). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, (more)
- 1938
- NR
Given the talent involved, The Joy of Living should have been far better than it is. Irene Dunne plays Maggie, a popular musical-comedy star saddled with a possessive, spendthrift family. Maggie would like to leave the house once in a while and experience "real life," but her parents (Alice Brady, Guy Kibbee), worried that they'll lose their meal ticket, refuse to allow her to do so. The Prince Charming who rescues Maggie from her folks is ship-owner Dan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) As a bonus, the footloose and fancy-free Dan teaches the repressed Maggie that "it's fun to be foolish." Apparently director Tay Garnett couldn't keep the production under control, and the cost ballooned to a then-staggering $1.1 million, resulting in a huge loss for RKO Radio. Some of the film's brighter moments are provided by Lucille Ball, Billy Gilbert, Jean Dixon and Franklin Pangborn, who like Dunne and Fairbanks all deserved funnier material than this. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
