Jerry Tucker Movies

This prison film features an inventive escape from Alcatraz. They do it by planning a phony wedding in a prison chapel. The fugitives are soon captured by a brave hero who stops them by crashing his car into their getaway plane. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This harmless Universal musical comedy is worth having as one of the few filmed records of legendary Broadway comedian Jimmy Savo (his previous starrer, Once in a Blue Moon, is among the rarest of collector's item). The story proper is carried by Robert Wilcox and Nan Grey, cast as a pair of mismatched lovers who share a common interest in horse racing. Hero and heroine get mixed up in a shady get-rich-quick scheme, which threatens to turns disastrous but which ends up solving everyone's problems. Harry Davenport adds a touch of gentle pathos as a blind horseplayer. Jimmy Savo's pantomime turns and musical numbers were not up to his usual standard (at least that's what the critics said), but they play rather well when seen today, even though Savo's patented streak of healthy vulgarity had to be soft-pedalled for the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once they had twin child actors Billy and Bobby Mauch on their payroll after The Prince and the Pauper, Warner Bros. had to work overtime to come up with suitable vehicles. One of the Mauch twins' best efforts was Penrod and His Twin Brother, based loosely on the "Penrod" stories by Booth Tarkington. Actually, 14-year-old "All American boy" Penrod (Billy Mauch) isn't really the brother of tough kid Danny (Bobby Mauch), but they do look exactly alike, leading to trouble for Penrod when he gets blamed for Danny's misdeeds. Eventually, Pen and Danny team up to vanquish a common enemy: a gang of mobsters who've squirreled themselves away in a desolate hideout. Among the supporting players are two recent "Our Gang" graduates, Jerry Tucker and Philip Hurlic. Penrod and His Twin Brother did well enough to warrant a follow-up, Penrod's Double Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After appearing as a peripheral player in several earlier "Our Gang" shorts, Tommy Bond made a spectacular return to the series in Glove Taps. Here and in all future appearances, Bond is cast as neighborhood bully Butch, the bane of the existence of Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and the rest of the Gang. Normally, Butch explains, he beats up every kid in school to prove that he's Big Man on Campus; but to save time, he'll lick the toughest kid in school. By a fluke, weak-kneed Alfalfa is chosen to face Butch in the barnyard boxing ring --- and he has only one day to train for the big bout! If the background music in this one-reel comedy sounds familiar, it should; much of it was lifted from Marvin Hatley's Oscar-nominated score for the Laurel and Hardy feature Way Out West (1937). A fast and funny exercise in adolescent wish-fulfillment, "Glove Taps" was originally released on February 20, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Penrod and Sam was the third (and least faithful) screen version of the same-named Booth Tarkington novel. Billy Mauch, the more talented of the Mauch twins, stars as troublesome pre-teen Penrod, up to his usual mischief with his usual gang (including former "Our Gang" members George Billings and Jerry Tucker). Most of the original story is thrown out the window in favor of an up-to-date "gangster" angle, with Penrod vowing to round up a gang of bank robbers after his young pal Verman (Phillip Hurlic) is orphaned during a shoot-out. Having gleaned their expertise from "G-Man" movies and detective novels, Penrod's gang manages to capture the crooks, who have conveniently taken refuge in the kids' clubhouse. Penrod and Sam did well enough to engender two sequels, Penrod and His Twin Brother and Penrod's Double Trouble, both of which teamed Billy Mauch with his look-alike sibling Bobby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In his final Western for low-budget Diversion Pictures, veteran cowboy ace Hoot Gibson plays a pony express rider who discovers that his worst enemy is his own long-lost brother. As a child, Clint Knox (Jerry Tucker), and his mother Martha (Nina Guilbert), escaped a gang of bandits who killed Mr. Knox Steve Clark and abducted Clint's brother Ace (Barry Downing). Eleven years later, the adult Clint (Hoot Gibson), now a pony express rider, is ambushed by Ace (Rex Lease), a road agent who also robs a stage carrying Martha and pretty Mary Chrisman (Marion Shilling). In the ensuing gunfight, Clint's life is saved when his pocket bible stops one of Ace's bullet. But when Ace, now Clint's prisoner, recites an illegible inscription in the book, Clint realizes that he is his brother. At the trial, Clint successfully convinces the jury to acquit Ace because of the young man's harsh upbringing in the hands of his kidnappers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed as a vehicle for Baby Peggy Montgomery in 1922, Laura E. Richard's Captain January was warmed up as a Shirley Temple picture 14 years later. Temple plays Star, a child of divorce who is looked after by crusty-but-lovable lighthouse keeper Captain January (Guy Kibbee). Truant officer Agatha Morgan (Sara Haden) determines that the Captain is not providing Star with suitable surroundings or a proper education, and before long our sobbing heroine is whisked away to a boarding school. She is rescued by kindly Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (George Irving and Nella Walker), distant relatives who try to provide the girl with a decent home, but the poor child still yearns for the company of Captain January and his friends Paul (Buddy Ebsen) and Nazro (Slim Summerville). All ends happily when January and his two chums are hired as crew members on the Morgans' yacht. One of Shirley Temple's best films, Captain January would be memorable if only for her singing-dancing duet with Buddy Ebsen, "At the Codfish Ball." Thanks to a legal loophole, the film has lapsed into public domain, joining A Little Princess as the most accessible of Temple's vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anything Goes is a fun-filled but hardly faithful adaptation of the same-named Cole Porter Broadway musical, with additional songs by Hoagy Carmichael, among many many others. Set on a luxury liner, the story gets under way when Moonface Mullins (Charlie Ruggles), Public Enemy No. 13, slips on board disguised as a bishop. As he weaves in and out of the story, Billy Crocker (Bing Crosby) romances Hope Harcourt (Ida Lupino), titled Englishman Evelyn Oakleigh (Arthur Treacher) also pursues Hope, and brassy entertainer Reno Sweeney (Ethel Merman) chases after Sir Evelyn. Critics in 1934 complained that the original Broadway production's Victor Moore was replaced by Charlie Ruggles, but none could fault Ethel Merman's rendition of "I Get a Kick Out of You", nor her duet with Bing Crosby, "You're the Top" (the only two songs retained from the Porter score!) Anything Goes was remade in 1956, again with Bing Crosby, and again with little fidelity to the original (this remake required MCA Television to retitle the 1936 version as Tops is the Limit). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Much against his will, Spanky McFarland had been entered in a kiddie talent contest by his ambitious mother (Kitty Kelly). Hoping to dissuade his Mom from forcing him into a theatrical career, Spanky arranges for the other Our Gang kids to "razz" him during the performance, thereby making certain that he'll lose. While backstage, however, Spanky befriends little Marianne Edwards, who desperately needs the prize money to buy a new dress. Stricken by stage fright, Marianne rushes offstage in tears before she can go into her act. Touched by the girl's plight, Spanky is now determined to win the contest and turn the prize money over to the girl--but the other Gang members don't know that, and they're primed to greet Spanky's recitation with a barrage of boos, catcalls, noisemakers and peashooters. As in the previous comedy Our Gang: Mike Fright, this two-reeler scores its biggest laughs by contrasting the pretensions of "professional kids" with the down-to-earthness of the Gang. As an added bonus, this film marks the debut of future series stalwart Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. "Beginner's Luck" was originally released on February 23, 1935. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anxious to go fishing, Spanky McFarland skips out of Sunday school, despite the admonitions of his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer that "Something's going to happen to you." Actually, everything happens to Spanky and his kid brother (Eugene "Porky" Lee) in the course of the morning. Chased out of a private estate by cantankerous Clarence Wilson, the two boys wander into a dark, mysterious woods --- just as a group of black worshippers are holding a mass baptism ceremony. Inevitably, the kids scare the worshippers, and vice versa, culminating in a hectic chase (accompanied by the strains of LeRoy Shield's "Fastie", a nervous agitato orginally written for the 1935 Laurel and Hardy feature Bonnie Scotland. Originally released on October 26, 1935, "Little Sinner" has been withdrawn from most "Little Rascals" TV packages due to its racial content; those few stations that have run the film in recent years have been forced to rely upon prints so severely edited that they're hardly worth the bother. Fortunately for film historians and purists, the film is available in its entirety on home video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hoping to get on the good side of the new truant officer (Dick Elliot), the Our Gang kids go out of their way to impress the man's cute little daughter Marianne (Marianne Edwards), even unto making such sacrifices as taking baths, combing hair, shining shoes, and washing behind the ears. Both George "Spanky" McFarland and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer pay a social call on Marianne, and before long, the two lifelong pals have become romantic rivals. Ultimately, Spanky and Alfalfa stage an athletic competition to determine who is the better man, an undertaking with (literally) prickly results. Originally previewed under the title Good Night Ladies, Sprucin' Up was officially released on June 1, 1935. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like the previous "Mama's Little Pirate," "Shrimps for a Day" was a rare "Our Gang" foray into pure fantasy. In this one, the Our Gang kids are cast as the inmates of the Happy Home Orphanage, a inaptly-named organization run by the nasty and dishonest Mr. and Mrs. Crutch (Clarence Wilson and Rosa Gore). Invited to a garden party at the home of wealthy Mr. Wade, the children enjoy a good time and are showered with gifts, though they know full well that their new clothes and toys will be appropriated and sold by the Crutches once they return to the orphanage. Meanwhile, Mr. Wade's daughter Mary (Doris McMahan) and her boyfriend Dick (Joe Young) stumble upon a magic lamp, which grants them their wish --- to be children again. Now played by midget actors George and Olive Brasno, Dick and Mary are summarily rounded up by the Crutches and bundled off to the orphanage, where they manage to get the goods on the underhanded operation. The closing gag is a gem, with little Spanky McFarland getting sweet revenge against a decidedly "reduced" Mr. Crutch. "Shrimps for a Day" was originally released on December 8, 1934. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the day that he is scheduled to perform a violin solo at a swank bridge luncheon held by his social-climbing mother, rich kid Wally Albright opts instead to play football with the Our Gang kids. With Wally's help, the kids win the game, but his expensive clothes are covered with mud. Unofficial "Gang" leader Spanky McFarland declares that he and his pals are perfectly capable of washing Wally's duds on their own --- and the result is a slapstick smorgasbord, culminating in a typically outsized Hal Roach traffic jam. Originally released on September 29, 1934, "Washee Ironee" was the only "Our Gang" comedy helmed by perennial Laurel and Hardy director James Parrott --- which may explain the presence of stalwart L & H supporting players Ellinor Van der Veer and Tiny Sandford in the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide