Helen Twelvetrees Movies
Accusations of overacting bedeviled blond Helen Twelvetrees even when she was Pathé's top female star in the early days of sound, as did the inevitable joke that she was "Rin Tin Tin's favorite actress." Few of her films are viewed today and she is perhaps best remembered for playing the tough woman torn between William Boyd and a very young (and villainous) Clark Gable in The Painted Desert (1931), a Western that is hardly typical of her work. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Art (where she met her first husband, alcoholic actor Clark Twelvetrees), Helen Twelvetrees did a stint with the Stuart Walker Stock Company and played in the Chicago company of An American Tragedy before signing with Hollywood studio Fox. But a slight lisp was exaggerated in the gossip magazines and the studio dumped her after only three films. Luckily, a group of motion picture advertisers had voted her a 1929 WAMPAS Baby Star and she quickly signed a contract with Pathé/RKO.Twelvetrees made an early impact in Her Man (1930), a laundered screen version of the "naughty" stage play Frankie and Johnny, and although there were some whispers of exaggeration, a few critics compared her favorably to Lillian Gish. But Her Man set the course of Twelvetrees' screen career and she would forever be asked to play doleful women fighting for the wrong men. The titles varied -- Bad Company (1931), Panama Flo (1932), My Woman (1933) -- but her teary expression and mournful dialogue remained the same. She earned a well-deserved break from the monotony on loan to MGM for Unashamed (1932), a domestic drama that at least allowed her to be a bit more sophisticated. "I enjoyed the picture hugely because it was a far different type of role from any in my experience," she confessed at the time.
Twelvetrees left RKO when producer David O. Selznick brought onboard the more versatile Katharine Hepburn and spent the remainder of her screen career as a freelance artist. Her reputation for portraying suffering women followed her, however, and when one of her films proved a success -- Now I'll Tell (1934), from the book by Mrs. Arnold Rothstein, the Ellery Queen mystery The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935) -- it was for reasons other than her participation. By 1936 to 1937, she was publicly feuding with husband-number-two, ex-stunt man Frank Woody, and appearing in B-Westerns and crime thrillers. She left films in favor of summer stock in 1939 and made her Broadway debut in Jacques Deval's Boudoir (1941). Unfortunately, the play folded after only 11 performances and she retired to Harrisburg, PA, with her third husband, a military officer. Her sudden death in 1958 was pronounced a suicide. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1939
In this crime drama, a young hood and a seductress team up and rob a gas station. As she requires an opulent, exciting existence, more robberies ensue until they get really greedy and attempt a kidnapping. Unfortunately, they chose an unusually perceptive victim who is able to recall the flight paths of the airplanes that flew over the hideout and the crooks are soon captured. The story is based on a nonfiction book from FBI leader J. Edgar Hoover and does not glorify the criminal's actions. The film also includes interesting glimpses into FBI procedures for solving such cases. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynne Overman, Patricia Morison, (more)
- 1939
In this sentimental drama, a washed-up boxer falls for a nightclub owner whose business has nearly been ruined by Prohibition. Both of them are fairly depressed by their lives and end up living together in the home of the fighter's recently murdered manager. The deceased's young son comes home from school and the couple offers to care for him. They put him through high school and then college, all the while preparing him to become a prizefighter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Buck Jones, (more)
- 1938
This drama offers a fascinating backstage look at the making of westerns. The story centers around a stunt double working for an egotistical, emotionally fragile cowboy star. When the stunt man sets his romantic sights on the leading lady, the leading man gets huffy and unsuccessfully attempts to frame him. Real trouble ensues when the fall guy finds himself in the midst of a real bank robbery and finds himself accused of being the thief. He is arrested and put in jail. Fortunately, another movie cowpoke helps him escape. The stunt man then goes out and catches the real villains. Included in this video are demonstrations of how the dangerous stunts of the film were performed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1936
The reliable Ken G. Hall, who for all intents and purposes was the entire Australian film industry in the 1930s, served as director for the Down-Under actioner Thoroughbred. Hollywood's Helen Twelvetrees heads the cast of this yarn concerning the efforts by gangsters to knock off a valuable thoroughbred horse. Fortunately, the villains are thwarted, and the equestrian hero goes on to win the Melbourne Cup. The finale, in which the gangster boss tries to shoot the winner at the finish line, may or may not have inspired a similar sequence in 20th Century-Fox's Charlie Chan at the Race Track. The exciting climax of Thoroughbred includes several well-integrated newsreel clips from the real-life Melbourne championship race. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Frank Leighton, (more)
- 1935
In this drama, a prominent Broadway producer's daughter inherits a fortune when her father dies. Included in the estate is a nightclub managed by an unscrupulous louse who teams up with the sneaky executor to steal her inheritance. Fortunately, after meeting his pretty young victim, the manager changes his tune and decides to help her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Virginia Bruce, (more)
- 1935
Frisco Waterfront stars Ben Lyon as California gubernatorial candidate Glenn Burton. A freak election-day accident at the voting booth injures both Burton and his hated opponent Dan Elliot (Rod La Roque). While hovering between life and death on the operating table, Burton flashes back to his rise to prominence, and his ongoing romantic rivalry with Elliot over the affections of heroine Alice (Helen Twelvetrees). Landing a dockworker job in San Francisco, Burton gains power and prestige through the "good" graces of his unsavory cronies. Disgusted by this, Alice divorces Burton -- but she still loves him, and secretly maneuvers behind the scenes so that her ex-husband will emerge triumphant through his own abilities rather than his criminal connections. The nagging question posed at the finale: Were all of Alice's sacrifices really worth it? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Lyon, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1935
In this comedy, a waitress at a local lunch counter inadvertently foils a bank robbery and finds herself turned into a national heroine by an eager-beaver reporter. Unfortunately, her sudden notoriety causes gangsters to abduct her. The plucky waitress not only manages to talk them into returning her, she also convinces them to go straight. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, Hugh O'Connell, (more)
- 1935
Ellery Queen, the scholarly amateur detective created in 1928 by cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee (who also used "Ellery Queen" as a joint pseudonym), was introduced to the screen in the low-budget mystery The Spanish Cape Mystery. Donald Cook plays Ellery Queen in a low-key, poker-faced fashion, which may not be terribly exciting but is actually closer to the original concept than most of the movie Queens. It all begins when Ellery and his friend Judge Macklin (Berton Churchill), vacationing at a California seaside resort, enter a lavish beach house and find pretty Stella Godfrey (Helen Twelvetrees) tied to a chair. More infuriated than frightened, Stella tells Ellery what the audience has already seen: while spending time with one of her relatives the previous evening, Stella was waylaid by a mysterious gunman (Rychard Cramer), who then knocked out her relative and carried him off into the night. Apparently Stella's relative has been murdered, one of several killings which occur during the film's brief running time. The mystery and motive are solved when Stella permits herself to act as bait for the killer, but the generous Ellery allows local sheriff Moley (Harry Stubbs) to take the credit. Originally released at 65 minutes, The Spanish Cape Mystery was edited to 54 minutes for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Cook, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1935
Radio baritone Joe Morrison was being groomed for stardom by Paramount when he was top-billed in One Hour Late. Morrison is cast as shipping clerk Eddie Blake, whose girlfriend Betty Dunn (Helen Twelvetrees) is secretary to big boss Stephen Barclay (Conrad Nagel). A trusting soul, Betty sees nothing wrong in accepting Barclay's invitation to visit his home for the weekend. But Eddie suspects the worst and tags along to make sure that Betty's virtue remains intact. As it happens, Eddie's fears are groundless -- as are those of Barclay's wife Ellen (Gail Patrick), who was poised to walk out on her husband at the first sign of extramarital hanky-panky. The script contrives to have a radio station located in the building where Eddie works, permitting Joe Morrison to croon a medley of his hit "The Last Roundup." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Morrison, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1934
Though the names have been changed to protect the guilty, this romantic crime drama offers a relatively factual account of the life of Arnold Rothstein, an infamous bookie and is based upon a story by his widow. The story tells how he gambled his way to the top of his profession. Though he originally promised his wife that he would stop gambling once he made $200,000, he became addicted and decided he had to make $300,000 more before he could be happy. Soon his greed leads him to crooked gambling. Things get worse when he openly carries on an affair with a singer. The bookies dirty dealings get him into trouble and his wife is kidnapped while he is out of town. While rushing back to save her, he has a car accident and his lover is killed. By the time she is rescued, the wife has decided enough is enough and takes off to get a European divorce. The greedy gambler finds himself utterly lost without his two lovers and so after selling his wife's jewels takes out a large insurance policy upon himself. On an interesting footnote: Inez Norton, Rothstein's real-life widow, has a bit part in the film, as does then-ingenue Susan Fleming, AKA Mrs. Harpo Marx. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1934
The relative importance of social class differences is examined in this drama that centers on the daughter of a disinherited British nobleman who has moved his family to the United States. Before his daughter can formally claim her rightful title, her father dies. Now her blue-blooded American suitor finds that his father refuses to allow the two to marry as she is not a high-born lady. Only after the woman and her love are able to prove her royal lineage does the father acquiesce and allow them to marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Donald Woods, (more)
- 1934
Before World War I, free-spirited Englishman Tony Clarendon (Hugh Williams) meets Austrian Katha (Helen Twelvetrees) on the island of Capri, and they fall deeply in love. When war breaks out, however, Tony has to return to England, where old friend Margaret Scrope (Mona Barrie) reveals she wants to marry him; Tony has to leave for the war before he can explain to Margaret about Katha. Meanwhile, Katha's letters to Tony result in her father being jailed as a traitor. After the war, Katha heads for England to find Tony, while he arrives in Vienna in search of Katha. Failing to do so, he resignedly marries Margaret, and sinks into the boring, everyday life he'd hoped to avoid. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Williams, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1933
In this boxing drama/murder mystery, an aspiring small-town prizefighter ignores the objections of his pacifistic father, a paraplegic minister, and decides to go for the championship middleweight title in New York city. There the young lad begins experimenting with a variety of vices as he rises to the top of the ranks. The cocky fellow has no idea that he has become so successful because his sister Lillian has been allowing prominent promoter Walter Douglas to share her bed. When the truth is revealed, the angry lad decides to kill Douglas; unfortunately, his sister does it first. The boxer then decides to sacrifice his life to save hers: he takes the rap for the murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Alice White, (more)
- 1933
This musical comedy stars Maurice Chevalier as (what else?) a Parisian playboy with a song and a kiss for every beautiful woman in sight. His libertine ways are stemmed when Chevalier finds himself saddled with an abandoned baby. Because he is perceived to be the father of the infant, Chevalier finds his lovemaking activities severely diminished. At fadeout time, Chevalier finds lasting romance with Helen Twelvetrees, the baby's governess. Though he was probably uncomfortable sharing scenes with a scene-stealing toddler, Chevalier manages to deliver his usual sly, winking performance. A Bedtime Story was the screen debut for Baby LeRoy (later W.C. Field's perennial nemesis), playing (again, what else?) the troublesome baby. The film is based on Roy Horniman's story Bellamy the Magnificent, which had previously been filmed as A Gentleman of Paris (27). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1933
Long-suffering screen favorite Helen Twelvetrees is Disgraced again in this Paramount soap opera. Twelvetrees is cast as Gay Holliday, whose romance with Kirk Underwood Jr. (Bruce Cabot) turns sour when Kirk turns out to be a jerk. A murder inevitably follows, whereupon Gay gallantly takes the blame. The only person who knows the whole story is the heroine's father Captain Holloway (William Harrigan), who has been moved to dishonorable behavior by the most honorable of intentions. Comedian-impresario Ken Murray steals the show as a comedy-relief character who's smart enough to turn serious at the right time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Bruce Cabot, (more)
- 1933
After suffering magnificently in picture after picture at RKO and Paramount, Helen Twelvetrees was subjected to even more agony in Columbia's My Woman. Twelvetrees is cast as Connie, the ever-lovin' wife of vaudeville hoofer Chick (Wallace Ford). After years of tanktowns and two-a-days, Chick finally hits it big as a radio star (adding what was then a "modern" twist to an old story). Success goes to his head almost immediately, whereupon he forgets all about Connie. Inevitably, Chick sabotages his own career, hits the skids, and begs forgiveness from his spouse. Present-day viewers might find it surprising that Connie would prefer the chronically unreliable Chick over her most ardent suitor, the cultured, soft-spoken radio executive Mr. Bradley (Victor Jory in a rare sympathetic role). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Victor Jory, (more)
- 1932
Eternal movie trollop Helen Twelvetrees is more sinned against than necessary in Panama Flo. Stranded in Panama, honky-tonk entertainer Flo (Twelvetrees) picks up some quick change by divesting roughneck mining engineer Charles Bickford of his pocketbook. Rather than turn her over to the cops, Bickford demands that Flo accompany him to his jungle mining camp. The girl naturally assumes he's got a few carnal pleasures in mind, but this is not the case: Bickford merely wants Flo to work off her debt as his housekeeper. By the time the two have fallen in love, their lives are complicated by snake-in-the-grass Robert Armstrong, whose abrupt transformation from hero to heel is one of the most abrupt -- and unbelievable -- in movie history. Suitably cleaned up to conform to the tighter Production Code, Panama Flo was remade in 1939 as the Lucille Ball vehicle Panama Lady. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1932
Ricardo Cortez plays a newspaper gossip columnist based on real-life journalist Walter Winchell (the film's title was in fact a Winchell catchphrase). Merrily dishing up innuendoes and destroying reputations, Cortez enjoys hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, including several disreputable citizens who back up their authority with bullets. He makes the error of announcing a gangland murder before the police have found the body, and in so doing is nearly rubbed out by the killers. An unregenerate louse for most of the film, Cortez finally mends his ways out of love for beautiful Helen Twelvetrees. Is My Face Red? is based on a play by Ben Markson and Allen Rivkin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
- 1932
Based on Veneer, a 1929 Broadway flop by Hugh Stange, this sentimental domestic drama came to the screens in early 1932, first as Love Starved, then under the less inflammatory title of Young Bride. The love-starved young bride is Allie Smith (Helen Twelvetrees), who, after a whirlwind romance, marries handsome but weak-willed Charlie Riggs (Eric Linden). Presenting himself as a wheeler-dealer, Charlie is in reality a mere runner in a Wall Street brokerage firm and, if that isn't bad enough, is cheating on his new wife with Maizie (Arline Judge), a brassy taxi dancer. When a pregnant Allie threatens to leave him, Charlie attempts to win her back with money earned in a dance contest with Maizie, but the taxi dancer absconds with the winnings and a distraught Allie contemplates suicide. After a final confrontation with Maizie, a chagrined Charlie returns to home and hearth begging forgiveness. Convinced of her husband's reformation, Allie accepts the apology and the couple embrace. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Eric Linden, (more)
- 1932
Directed by Harry Beaumont, the courtroom drama Unashamed stars Robert Young as Dick Ogden, who will do anything to protect his sister Jean (Helen Twelvetrees). Unfortunately, Jean is in love with the sleazy Harry Swift (Monroe Owsley), who is only interested in her fortune. After Harry (Owsley) manipulated Jen (Twelvetrees) into spending the night alone with him, Mr. Odgen (Robert Warwick) refused to give them permission to marry. A furious Harry threatens to ruin Jean's reputation, but is shot by Dick (Young) before he can say anything. Heartbroken, Jean does not forgive her father or brother and plans to testify against Dick even if it means the death penalty. It looks as if Dick will be sent to the gas chamber until the very end, when his sister suddenly has a change of heart. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Young, (more)
Yet another variation on the already then-ancient Madame X theme, this early talkie stars Helen Twelvetrees in the title role, a small-town girl marrying a New York City businessman (James Hall). The union produces a daughter, but ends when Millie catches her husband with a mistress (Marie Astaire). Attempting to make a life for herself without turning to gold-digging, like her friends, Angie (Joan Blondell) and Helen (Lilyan Tashman), Millie is once again disappointed by a man when reporter boyfriend Tommy (Robert Ames) is found in another girl's apartment. Years later, a nearly destitute and much hardened Millie discovers that an old admirer, Jimmy Damier (John Halliday), is about to seduce her now 17-year-old daughter, Connie (Anita Louise). Catching the couple almost in the act, Millie shoots and kills Jimmy, but is acquitted when the jury learns the identity of the molested girl. Millie was an independent Charles R. Rogers production sold to RKO when producer Rogers joined that company. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Lilyan Tashman, (more)
- 1931
John Barrymore is the "State's Attorney" in the RKO picture of the same name. A brilliant criminal lawyer, Barrymore counts on his underworld connections to climb the ladder of success to the Governor's chair. "Humanized" by his girlfriend Helen Twelvetrees, a former streetwalker, Barrymore decides at long last to go straight, making mincemeat of his one-time mob patron William "Stage" Boyd in a thrilling courtroom finale. Barrymore's longtime drinking crony Gene Fowler collaborated on the script of State's Attorney with gangster-saga scrivener Rowland Brown. The film was remade (and extensively sanitized) as Criminal Lawyer in 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, Helen Twelvetrees, (more)
- 1931
Writer/director Tay Garnett reunited the stars of his fabulously successful Her Man (1930) for the 1931 RKO crime drama Bad Company. Ricardo Cortez plays a ruthless, near-psychotic gangster who withal follows his own code of honor. Helen Twelvetrees co-stars as a trusting young woman who marries mob lawyer John Garrick, never dreaming that both her husband and her brother Frank Conroy are involved in the rackets. When she does learn the horrible truth, it is she who determines to "cleanse" her family of the tinge of crime by dealing directly with Cortez-and we mean directly. Drawing most of its incidents from actual events, the screenplay even serves up a fascinating variation on the St. Valentine's Day massacre (it's staged in a hotel room rather than a garage, and it's the best scene in the film). Bad Company was adapted by Garnett and Thomas Buckingham from Put on the Spot, a novel by New York "expose" journalist Jack Lait. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
In this western, an orphan who is discovered alone in the desert is raised by a kindly family. The only dark spot in their lives comes from a long-standing feud with another family, something that eventually comes to an end when the orphan grows up and falls in love with the enemy family's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, Clark Gable, (more)
