Helen Valkis Movies

In this wartime drama, cavalry private Dennis Murphy purchases a nervous horse, Sergeant, after it is deemed unfit for military service. With patience and love, Murphy trains his horse into a champion and later proves his worth by sneaking the steed into England where he enters him in the Grand National. He wins. The plucky private also wins the affection of the colonel's daughter. This film is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The most enjoyable of the Warner Bros.-Dick Foran singing Westerns, this film pitches lawyer Foran against unscrupulous land swindler Edmund Cobb. A "sooner" who cheated the starting gun in the Oklahoma Land Rush (shown via stock footage from William S. Hart's Tumbleweeds), Cobb becomes the de facto owner of the town of Big Rock while doing a bit of cattle rustlings on the side. The town's acting mayor (Tom Brower) soon has had enough of Cobb's schemes and finds an ally in Foran. With the assistance of Brower's pretty daughter, Jane Bryan, and young son, Tommy Bupp, Foran succeeds in bringing the villain and his gang to their knees, not by using his fists or gun but by his superior courtroom dexterity. Foran's introduction in the film is only one of many highlights: Warbling "Along the Old Frontier," he is shot at, not by a music critic, but by a target practicing Tommy Bupp. One of the more palatable of screen kids, the then 12-year old Bupp later performs an engaging duet with Foran and is given some of the film's better lines, basically functioning as the comic relief. One of the studio's best young actresses, Jane Bryan never lives up to her potential here, but she is certainly an improvement over such former Foran heroines as Anne Nagel and Alma Lloyd. A veteran silent Western star, the tight-lipped Edmund Cobb makes a formidable villain this time around, but future leading man Robert Paige (billed as David Carlyle) is wasted as a friend of Foran's. All in all, The Cherokee Strip remains one of the more entertaining horse operas of the era. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In 1882, Mark Twain published a delightful fairy tale "for young people of all ages"; 45 years later, Warner Bros., inspired by the real-life coronation of Edward VII, created a lavish screen version starring radio favorites Billy and Bobby Mauch in the title roles and Errol Flynn as their dashing savior. As Jane Seymour (Helen Valkis), consort of King Henry VIII (Montagu Love), gives birth to the heir to the throne, the later Edward VI (Bobby Mauch), Tom Canty (Billy Mauch) is born in the nearby slums. Years later, as King Henry is near death, providence brings the two together and they discover that they share a striking resemblance. Having changed clothes with Tom during play, Edward Tudor is mistaken for a pauper by the Captain of the Guard (Alan Hale) and evicted from the palace. In contrast, Tom is believed to be the Prince of Wales by all of sundry and, when protesting, is treated as mentally unsound. Only the Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains), the king's scheming advisor, realizes the truth but keeps quiet to further his own career. With a price on his head, the real Edward lives the life of a pauper among the thieves and beggars of London, befriended only by Miles Hendon (Flynn), whom he, to Miles' great amusement, creates an earl. But despite his skepticism, Miles is right there to rescue Edward from the murderous Captain of the Guard and return him to the palace just as Tom is about to be crowned king. Proving his true identity by locating the missing Seal of England, Edward is restored to the throne and Hertford is banished from the realm. Miles is recognized for his bravery and Tom is made a ward of the king for life. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

German director Joe May brought a decidedly Teutonic ambience to his American film Confession--no surprise, since the film was based on the 1935 German production Mazurka. Kay Francis plays a onetime singer who confesses to the murder of her pianist, Basil Rathbone. In flashback, we learn that Rathbone had been responsible for the breakup of Francis's marriage. Years later, Rathbone came back into her life, this time with the intention of seducing Ms. Francis' grown daughter (Jane Bryan). In a variation of Madame X, Francis was stuck with the dilemma of deflecting Rathbone from his "mission"--and of keeping her true identity secret from her daughter. Prior to Mazurka, the Hans Rameau story upon which Confession was based had been filmed as a silent picture starring Gloria Swanson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi