Maidel Turner Movies
- 1934
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1934, A Modern Hero was the only American talkie directed by the great German filmmaker G. W. Pabst. Richard Barthelmess plays Pierre, the bastard son of blowzy, besotted circus performer Mme. Azais (Marjorie Rambeau). Fiercely ambitious, Pierre enters the world of automobile manufacturing, rising to the heights of success by callously using wealthy women to get ahead. After breaking one heart after another, Pierre is finally beaten at his own game by a disgruntled young lady who walks out on him, forcing him to admit that he's an utter flop as a human being. Jean Muir co-stars as Joanna, seduced and abandoned early in the proceedings, while other women crucial to Pierre's ascension are played by Veree Teasdale and Florence Eldredge. Based on a novel by Louis Bromfield, A Modern Hero has been correctly assessed by one of the director's devotees as having "little of Pabst in it." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Jean Muir, (more)
- 1936
And Sudden Death was inspired by a Reader's Digest article by Theodore Reeves, which later became one of the magazine's most oft-reprinted essays. The original was a Grand Guignol affair, cataloguing in grisly detail the consequences of reckless driving. The film version avoids this approach, opting instead for a plotline closely resembling Cecil B. DeMille's Manslaughter. Randolph Scott heads the cast as dedicated motor policeman James Knox, who sees to it that Betty Winslow (Frances Drake) is sent to jail for vehicular homicide. But there's something about the case that's not quite right, so Knox conducts an investigation of his own. Sure enough, he finally discovers that Betty was actually taking the rap for her alcoholic younger brother Jackie (Tom Brown). Only by making the supreme sacrifice is Jackie able to absolve himself of his sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Frances Drake, (more)
- 1933
Given the usual pedestal upon which mothers were placed by MGM head Louis Mayer, it's all the more amazing that Mayer gave the go-ahead for Another Language. Louise Closser Hale plays a domineering matriarch who controls the lives of her grown, married sons, using a fabricated heart condition to keep them in line. Helen Hayes marries youngest son Robert Montgomery, only to sit by in mute horror as Mother exerts her authority over her timorous offspring at a weekly family get-together. At the end, only Hayes and Montgomery's nephew John Beal have the courage to break the apron strings, but not without the formidable opposition of Monster Mom. Based on the Broadway play by Rose Franken, Another Language represented the screen debut of Margaret Hamilton, recreating the supporting role she'd played on stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Hayes, Robert Montgomery, (more)
- 1935
Carnival barker Spencer Tracy befriends elderly concessionaire Henry B. Walthall, who owns a picturesque but stodgy display depicting Dante's Inferno. Walthall is more interested in the spiritual aspects of Man's fascination with Hell, but Tracy uses hoopla and exaggeration to get the suckers into the Inferno. His interest isn't altruistic; Tracy is enamored of Walthall's niece, Claire Trevor. Through his publicity savvy, Tracy builds the Inferno into a major attraction, complete with full orchestra and scantily clad "devil girls". He also buys up the rest of the carnival, using cold-blooded tactics that result in the suicide of a fellow concessionaire. Within five years, Tracy is a millionaire tycoon of the Entertainment industry. While loved by his wife (Trevor) and son (Scotty Beckett), Tracy conducts his business ruthlessly, bribing a city official to look the other way regarding structural defects in his Inferno display. When this duplicity results in a disastrous accident at the exhibit, the bribed official kills himself. Tracy is exonerated thanks to legal chicanery, but his wife is fed up; she walks out on him, taking their son along. Injured in the accident, Inferno creator H. B. Walthall warns Tracy of the pitfalls of success, using an illustrated edition of Dante to make his point. For nearly ten minutes, the movie audience is treated to a lavish depiction of Hell, magnificently photographed by Rudolph Mate. When the plot resumes, Tracy is on hand for his latest venture, a sumptuous gambling ship. Thanks to the drunken negligence of the crew, the ship catches fire, and it is only upon learning that his son has sneaked aboard that Tracy realizes the consequences of his greed. Tracy labors heroically to rescue the passengers--and, incidentally, to atone for his past sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor, (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)
- 1935
Paul Muni is a prominent physician who is kidnapped by gangsters and forced to tend the needs of head crook Barton MacLaine. MacLaine takes a liking to the intellectual doctor and allows him to go home after his job is done. Muni finds himself the reluctant "staff physician" for the gangster, thus is periodically spirited away from his practice to look after the criminal. He has given his word not to "rat" on the crooks, but he can't sit idly by while the gangsters loot the city. Muni foils the crooks by injecting them with a drug which induces temporary blindness. Dr. Socrates was remade in 1939 as King of the Underworld, with Humphrey Bogart as the gangster boss and actress Kay Francis in Paul Muni's role (with surprisingly few dialogue alterations to accommodate the gender switch!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, (more)
- 1934
In this thriller, a young woman marries a dashing young man who, unbeknownst to her, is a jewel thief. After his latest job, he takes off and leaves her to take the rap. In court she is found guilty. She is riding a train en route to prison when the train crashes. Her identity is confused with that of a wealthy young man's fiancee. The two soon fall in love. They are later confronted by the real fiancee, her thieving husband, the fiancee's brother and the police. Somehow the girl is extricated from the mess with her name and reputation intact. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Florence Rice, (more)
- 1951
Here Comes the Groom was the second collaboration between director Frank Capra and star Bing Crosby. Though not as "socially relevant" as previous Capra productions, the film is a thoroughly likeable yarn about a happy-go-lucky newspaperman named Pete (Bing Crosby). In order to legally adopt a brace of war orphans, Pete must marry within a week. His plans to wed his longtime sweetheart Emmadel (Jane Wyman) come acropper when she, tired of waiting for him to pop the question, becomes engaged to wealthy Wilbur Stanley (Franchot Tone). Conspiring with Wilbur's cousin Winifred (Alexis Smith), Pete spends the balance of the film trying to win Emmadel back. From all accounts, the set of Here Comes the Groom was a happy one, the conviviality extending to Alexis Smith's willingness to be on the receiving end of several jokes concerning her height (she seems nearly a head taller than Crosby!). The film's best scene is the Bing Crosby-Jane Wyman duet "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," reportedly filmed in one take without post-dubbing. As a bonus, Here Comes the Groom introduces a bright new singing talent, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and is festooned with uncredited guest stars, ranging from Dorothy Lamour to Louis Armstrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Jane Wyman, (more)
Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Claudette Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress who has married fortune-hunting aviator King Westley (Jameson Thomas), despite her father (Walter Connolly)'s objections. To keep Ellie from marrying this lothario, her father has been holding her prisoner aboard his yacht. But Ellie bolts from the yacht, swims ashore in her clothes, and eventually slips onto a Greyhound bus bound for New York. Aboard the bus is newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who has recently been fired for drinking on the job. Peter gets the last seat on the bus -- but when he gets up to argue with the bus driver, Ellie takes his seat. Since it is the last seat on the bus, they have to share it. When Ellie has her purse stolen and she refuses to report it, Peter begins to suspect something. The next morning, they both miss the bus after a leisurely breakfast, and Peter reveals that he knows her identity. She makes a deal with him: if he helps her get to New York, he can write a scoop about her for his paper. Peter thinks she is a spoiled brat, however, and refuses a monetary bribe: "I'm not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father -- you're all a lot of hooey to me!" But as they travel northward and engage in a series of misadventures, the gruff newspaperman and the spoiled rich girl, thrown together by circumstances, fall in love with each other. This movie set the pace for the "screwball" comedy, the witty and romantic clash of temperaments between a man and a woman mismatched in both personality and social position, a type of movie often associated with Katherine Hepburn in such classics as Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), and, with Spencer Tracy, Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), and Desk Set (1957), among others. The only other movies to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay) were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, (more)
- 1936
Mae West butts heads with Victor McLaglen in Raoul Walsh's Klondike Annie, but the real victor was the Legion of Decency, whose censorship strictures transformed a saucy and spicy gumbo into something closer to chicken noodle soup. West plays Rose Carlton, the kept woman of Chan Lo (Harold Huber), who takes her from walking the streets to pacing the floors of her high rent apartment. Rose ends up killing Chan and beats it from San Francisco to the frozen north. She boards a ship where burly sea captain Bull Brackett (McLaglen) takes a shine to her; when he finds out she killed Chan, he blackmails her into coming up and seeing him sometime. Boarding the ship in Seattle is missionary Annie Alden (Helen Jerome Eddy), who dies on the way to Alaska. Rose assumes Annie's identity and, upon arrival in Alaska proceeds to preach the Good Book, saving sinners by unorthodox methods. Mountie Jack Forrest (Philip Reed) arrives in town searching for Chan's murderer and he falls in love with Rose, unaware that the woman he loves is the killer he seeks. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae West, Victor McLaglen, (more)
- 1939
A genuine oddity, Life Returns was originally filmed by Universal Pictures in 1935. The story, concerning the efforts by researchers Onslow Stevens and Lois Wilson to find a means to briefly bring dead animals back to life for research purposes, was built around the actual accomplishments of Dr. Robert E. Cornish of the University of California-Berkeley. On May 22, 1934, Cornish was successful in reviving a dog that had been pronounced dead: the actual footage of this experiment was incorporated into Life Returns. Presumably because of its controversial subject matter, the film was shelved by Universal and never released by that studio. It finally received distribution in January 1939 via a small-time firm called Scienart Pictures, which also took credit for producing the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Onslow Stevens, Lois Wilson, (more)
- 1937
Slightly reminiscent of Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde (31), this screwball comedy features those two stalwarts of 1930s comedies: The brash reporter and the giddy heiress. Tyrone Power is the reporter, who makes his living writing about the foibles of the idle rich. His special target is heiress Loretta Young, the daughter of an influential financier (Dudley Digges). Young gets even by announcing her engagement to Power; now it's his turn to have his every movement scrutinized by the Public. Both reporter and heiress connive to embarrass one another, but (as expected) they're headed for the altar at fadeout time. Love is News was remade in 1949 as That Wonderful Urge, with Tyrone Power reprising his role and Gene Tierney in the Loretta Young part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, (more)
- 1936
Anne Shirley is the teenaged "lady" in this filmization of Elizabeth Jordan's novel My Daddy and I. Shirley plays the daughter of widowed Herbert Marshall, who suffers in silence as his daughter tries to "match" him with every eligible woman in sight. Misinterpreting a delicate situation, Shirley attempts to link up Marshall with a woman (Margot Grahame) he actively dislikes. The highlight of the film is a ramshackle staging of "Romeo and Juliet" at Anne's high school, with the unflappable young girl contending with an adenoidal Romeo (Frank Coghlan Jr.) whose tights keep slipping as he struggles through his Shakespearian dialogue. The protagonist of Make Way for Lady was one of several teen ingenues played by former child actress Dawn O'Day under her new screen name of Anne Shirley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herbert Marshall, Anne Shirley, (more)
- 1934
Columbia Pictures workhorse Lambert Hillyer was both writer and director of Men of the Night. Bruce Cabot plays Kelly, a Hollywood detective, assigned to capture a holdup gang. While dallying with carhop Mary (Judith Allen), Kelly jumps to the hasty conclusion that the girl is somehow tied in with the crooks. Acting on this misapprehension, he nearly gets both Mary and himself killed by the villains (headed by Charles Sabin, a stage actor who never quite clicked in films). Ward Bond, a mere supporting player in 1934, goes into his comedy-relief mode as Cabot's dimwitted partner. Men of the Night ran 58 minutes, just long enough to fit comfortably on the bottom half of a Columbia double bill. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Judith Allen, (more)
Money Means Nothing to tire salesman Kenneth (Wallace Ford), mainly because he doesn't have any. But when Kenneth falls in love with wealthy Julie (Gloria Shea), he feels obliged to support her in the manner to which she is accustomed. Thus, when a shipment of tires is hijacked, Kenneth is immediately fingered as the thief. He isn't, of course, and sets about to prove it -- and to be at last accepted by Julie's snobbish mother (Betty Blythe). A Jewish-comedy sequence with dialectian Tenen Holtz may be considered offensive by modern viewers (it was certainly regarded that way back in 1934). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Ford, Gloria Shea, (more)
- 1937
In this satire, an electrician from a tiny town impresses a New York radio sponsor with his booming baritone singing voice. He immediately contracts the worker to come to the Big Apple. Unfortunately, he suffers from bronchitis that changes him into a tenor. He still goes on the air, but everyone calls him a fake. Fortunately, the audience loved him. His manager then forbids him to appear publicly so he spends his spare time inventing a gadget that restores old radio sets. When it looks as though his clever invention will be stolen a beautiful woman gets it patented and then marries him. Songs include: The Oscar nominated "Remember Me," "Am I in Love?" "If I Were a Little Pond Lilly," "The Girl You Used to Be," and "Here Comes the Sandman." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenny Baker, Alice Brady, (more)
- 1935
When a playboy becomes entangled in the affairs of gamblers he eventually locates an underwater treasure. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
Olsen's Night Out is the alternate title for Olsen's Big Moment. Swedish-dialect comedian El Brendel stars as Olsen, a bumbling janitor determined to enjoy his first night out in months. In short order, Olsen becomes involved with a gangster who doesn't want his sister to enter society. He also meets a tipsy millionaire (Walter Catlett) who is being pursued by a blonde gold-digger. Olsen solves everyone's problems, then retreats to the safety of his basement. While El Brendel is very much an acquired taste, Olsen's Night Out shows him to excellent advantage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- El Brendel, Walter Catlett, (more)
- 1936
Just before his brief turn as a "singing cowboy," radio crooner Smith Ballew starred in Paramount's Palm Springs. Filmed on location at the famed California resort community, the story concerns the efforts by near-bankrupt gambler Capt Smyth (Sir Guy Standing) to marry off his daughter Joan (Frances Langford) to wealthy Englishman George Brittel (David Niven). Unfortunately for Smyth, Joan falls in love with Slim (Ballew), who hails from Wyoming and apparently hasn't got a dime. The film can't seem to make up its mind to be a straight comedy or a musical, nor does it seem that anyone concerned cared all that much about the plot. The songs are by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, who evidently saved their best stuff for Bing Crosby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frances Langford, Smith Ballew, (more)
- 1934
Sally Bates (|$Isabel Jewell) is a young Texas woman trying to make it to Hollywood on too little money and driving a car that's too old. She gets stranded one night, nearly out of money and gas, in a college town where she meets Bill Cutler (Larry "Buster" Crabbe), a poor-but-honest and hard-working campus hunk -- he's a football hero and also runs the local drive-in restaurant for his mother (Maidel Turner). They take a light-hearted liking to each other and are thrust together even more forcefully when she helps break up a robbery. Sally ends up being taken into Bill's mother's home and working at the drive-in; but Bill is always spending time with his longtime steady Clara Berry (Sally Blane), who's got a lot of money and a lot of interest in Bill -- she and her family have big plans for him, when they marry, and Sally doesn't want to get in the way. She ends up going out with Clara's brother Jack (Regis Toomey), whose fun-loving nature masks a drinking problem and a mean and reckless streak. A series of misunderstandings ensues, culminating in Bill beating Jack to death -- despite the evidence that it was, at worst, manslaughter, the district attorney (Wallis Clark) does his best to prove murder. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Isabel Jewell, (more)
- 1937
Tala Birell, one of the more talented of the Garbo wannabes of the 1930s, stars in the Universal quickie She's Dangerous. The star is cast as Stephanie, a glamorous private detective who's been hired to track down a gang of bond thieves. She charms her way into the confidence of gang leader Nick Shelton (Cesar Romero), knowing full well that the outwardly gracious Shelton won't hesitate to kill her if she's found out. Eventually, Stephanie proves too smart for her own good, and it's up to sidelines hero Dr. Logan (Walter Pidgeon) to bail her out. She's Dangerous bears a marked resemblance to 20th Century-Fox's 15 Maiden Lane, which also featured Cesar Romero as a charming-but-deadly crook. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tala Birell, Cesar Romero, (more)
- 1937
Making his debut with Warner Brothers, Henry Fonda plays an apprentice high-voltage lineman working with the no-nonsense, but very experienced Pat O'Brien. Stringing up the high-tension electrical wires on tall metal towers is dangerous work, but from the moment he sees the linemen at work, farm boy Slim (Fonda) knows that this is the job for him. He convinces crew-boss Red Blayd (O'Brien) of this and after heavy-duty training, and the overcoming of a few fears, he starts to work. Tensions arise when Fonda falls in love with Blayd's gal Cally (Margaret Lindsey). Much of the plot was drawn from Tiger Shark (1932). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1935
In this comedy, a woman lives with her recently impoverished family who would do anything to regain their former wealth and status. They use the young woman, and every time any likely person comes to call, they try to foist her upon them. One of these visitors is the son of a conniving lawyer who wants the rest of their fortune for himself. The attorney's other son is a bug collector. The family is so busy with their farfetched money grubbing schemes that they pay no attention to the level-headed young woman's attempts to get by. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Wilson, Lloyd Hughes, (more)
- 1935
This romantic comedy-drama is set -- typical for producer Samuel Goldwyn at the time -- among the upper class. Joel McCrea plays Brighton Lorrimore, son of a well-to-do American family who returns from a trip abroad with a new wife, Phyllis Manning (Miriam Hopkins). Brighton's parents are dismayed because they had hoped that their son would restore the faltering Lorrimore fortunes with a marriage to society girl Edith Gilbert (Ruth Weston). Although Phyllis urges Brighton to pursue his dream career as a writer, Brighton's mother pushes him unhappily into a finance job, at which he does not excel. Mrs. Lorrimore also schemes to create romantic sparks between her new daughter-in-law and her son's superior, Martin Deering (Paul Cavanaugh), hoping that an affair will improve her son's fortunes and refill the family's coffers. Written by Rachel Crothers from her unproduced play, Spendor (1935) featured the first significant role on screen for actor David Niven. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, (more)
Frank Capra's only MGM film, State of the Union was adapted by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Spencer Tracy plays an aircraft tycoon who is coerced into seeking the Republican Presidential nomination by predatory newspaper mogul Angela Lansbury. Campaign manager Van Johnson suggests that, for appearance's sake, Tracy be reunited with his estranged wife Katharine Hepburn (replacing Claudette Colbert, who'd ankled the project after a pre-production donnybrook with director Capra). Realizing that Tracy and Lansbury are having an affair, Hepburn nonetheless agrees to grow through the devoted-wife charade because she believes that Tracy just might make a good President. Her faith is shattered when Tracy, corrupted by the Washington power brokers, publicly compromises his values in order to get votes. Only in the film's last moments does Tracy prove himself worthy of Hepburn's love and his own self-respect by admitting his dishonesty during a nationwide radio-TV broadcast. Much of the biting wit in the original Broadway production of State of the Union is sacrificed in favor of the director's patented "Capracorn," but the film is no less entertaining because of this. As usual, the supporting cast is impeccable, from featured players Adolphe Menjou (whose off-camera political arguments with Hepburn threatened to shut down production at times) and Margaret Hamilton, to bit actors like Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tor (Plan 9 From Outer Space) Johnson. Because the television rights to State of the Union belonged to Capra's Liberty Films, the picture was released to TV by MCA rather than MGM's syndication division. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florence Auer, Spencer Tracy, (more)
