Ward Bond Movies
American actor Ward Bond was a football player at the University of Southern California when, together with teammate and lifelong chum John Wayne, he was hired for extra work in the silent film Salute (1928), directed by John Ford. Both Bond and Wayne continued in films, but it was Wayne who ascended to stardom, while Bond would have to be content with bit roles and character parts throughout the 1930s. Mostly playing traffic cops, bus drivers and western heavies, Bond began getting better breaks after a showy role as the murderous Cass in John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). Ford cast Bond in important roles all through the 1940s, usually contriving to include at least one scene per picture in which the camera would favor Bond's rather sizable posterior; it was an "inside" joke which delighted everyone on the set but Bond. A starring role in Ford's Wagonmaster (1950) led, somewhat indirectly, to Bond's most lasting professional achievement: His continuing part as trailmaster Seth Adams on the extremely popular NBC TV western, Wagon Train. No longer supporting anyone, Bond exerted considerable creative control over the series from its 1957 debut onward, even seeing to it that his old mentor John Ford would direct one episode in which John Wayne had a bit role, billed under his real name, Marion Michael Morrison. Finally achieving the wide popularity that had eluded him during his screen career, Bond stayed with Wagon Train for three years, during which time he became as famous for his offscreen clashes with his supporting cast and his ultra-conservative politics as he was for his acting. Wagon Train was still NBC's Number One series when, in November of 1960, Bond unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and died while taking a shower. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideThe "suspense" in the RKO Radio musical comedy Music for Madame lies in whether or not golden-voiced Operatic tenor Nino Martini will be permitted to sing. En route to Hollywood, Tonio (Martini) is hoodwinked into serenading a wedding party while a gang of jewel thieves clean out the place. The crooks head for the hills, but not before threatening to murder Tonio if he ever sings again (his voice, you see, is the only clue the police have to go by). While pondering the future of his career, our hero falls in love with beautiful Jean (Joan Fontaine) and is sorely tempted to express his ardor in song. Music for Madame was Jesse L. Lasky's first RKO production -- and very nearly his last when the picture lost $375,000 for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nino Martini, Joan Fontaine, (more)
Another entry from John Wayne's non-western series at Universal, Conflict casts Wayne as Pat, a bare-knuckle boxer in turn-of-the-century New York. Not the most honest of pugilists, Pat reforms for the sake of an orphaned kid named Tommy (Tommy Bupp), whom he has saved from drowning. He sets out to redeem himself by finding legitimate work in a lumber camp, but his past catches up with him. Jean Rogers, Buster Crabbe's vis-a-vis in Flash Gordon, is the heroine, while the nominal villain is Ward Bond, making the first of several co-starring appearances with John Wayne. Conflict is based on Jack London's The Abysmal Brute, previously filmed under that title with Reginald Denny in 1923. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Jean Rogers, (more)
Archetypal depression-era stars Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney are felicitously teamed in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once. Fonda plays an ex-convict who can't get a break on the "outside". He marries Sidney, who like her husband is one of life's losers. Framed on a murder rap, Fonda is forced to take it on the lam, with his wife and baby in tow. In trying to avoid capture, Fonda becomes a murderer for real, condemning himself and Sidney to an early demise. Partly based on the legend of Bonnie and Clyde, the Gene Towne-Graham Baker screenplay stacks the deck against its protagonists to such an extent that the audience is virtually forced to hate their various antagonists. As superb as Henry Fonda is in portraying the foredoomed hero, Sylvia Sidney is even better as his wife; her reading of such lines as "We just call him...baby" are enough to shrivel the heart even after six decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, (more)
By 1937, producer Hal Roach was hoping to wean himself away from the Laurel & Hardy-Our Gang slapstick on which he had built his studio's reputation by delving into the "screwball comedy" genre. Roach selected the racy Thorne Smith fantasy novel Topper for adaptation, and the result was one of the most endearingly funny films of the decade. Constance Bennett and Cary Grant play Marion and George Kerby, a wealthy, freewheeling young married couple whose uninhibited lifestyle is the talk of the town. After a particularly bibulous evening on the town, the Kerbys race homeward in their gleaming new roadster. George fails to negotiate a curve, and the car plows into a tree, killing both its occupants. Seconds later, the ghosts of George and Marion emerge from the wreckage, behaving as frivolously as if nothing had happened. Upon realizing that they're dead, the Kerbys also realize that they haven't been immediately snatched up into Heaven. Determining that they're required to perform one good deed before being allowed past the Pearly Gates, George and Marion set about to "liberate" stuffy, sedate, henpecked banker Cosmo Topper (Roland Young). At first resistant to the charms of his invisible benefactors, Topper begins to loosen up and truly enjoy life for the first time. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Topper's supercilious wife (Billie Burke) nor his long-suffering butler (Alan Mobray), especially during a climactic free-for-all at a vacation resort. Though special effects abound in Topper, most of the humor derives from the embarrassed reactions of Roland Young as he tries to fend off the flirtatious advances of the ghostly Marion and the benignly strongman tactics of the spectral George. Adding to the fun are Eugene Pallette as a flustered house detective and Arthur Lake as a pratfalling bellboy. The musical score by longtime Hal Roach composer Marvin Hatley is perfectly attuned to the zany goings-on (including snatches of background music from Roach's earlier Laurel and Hardy comedies), while Hoagy Carmichael appears briefly on screen to introduce the film's signature tune, "Old Man Moon." Topper proved successful enough to warrant two sequels, as well as a popular TV series of the early 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, (more)
The opening sequence of this Ken Maynard Western is spectacular: Attempting to save heroine Beth Marion from the ubiquitous runaway horse, the hero makes a death-defying, head-first plunge on horseback into the Kern River far below. The stunt was performed by Maynard's unfairly neglected double, Cliff Lyons, who would marry Marion two years later. As for Maynard himself, the veteran cowboy star didn't do much action-wise in Avenging Waters, spending instead an inordinate amount of time playing his mouth organ and making romantic chit-chat with Marion. The story is the old one about the fencing off of the once free range. Ken and his top hand, Slivers (Wally Wales, aka Hal Taliaferro), are delivering a herd of cattle to rancher Charles Mortimer (John Elliott) when they have a run-in with Marve Slater (Ward Bond). The latter is demanding that Mortimer remove his new fences or else. The "or else" proves to be damming up the river and leaving Mortimer without water for his cattle. Ken takes umbrage to this kind of vigilantism but is overpowered by Slater's henchmen, Hoppy (Tom London) and Jake (Glenn Strange). A rain storm causes the dam to burst and the waters rush toward the shack where Ken is held prisoner. He is saved in the nick of time by his clever palomino, Tarzan, while Slater is left to drown in his own flood. Maynard's legendary ornery temper caused all kinds of delays on this inexpensive Western and the veteran star was getting a bit paunchy to boot. Director Spencer Gordon Bennet was forced to use rear-projection in a scene where Maynard desperately attempts to grab hold of Tarzan, one of the very few instances that this technique was used in a B-Western. The grand finale, the flooding of the valley, was done using a model built to scale and is not bad for this kind of low-budget fare. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
In this action film, a rebellious cop doesn't hesitate to bend the rules when it comes to roughing up prisoners and bringing in deadly gangsters. His insistence on working alone and on using excessive violence causes conflict with his superiors. They change their minds when he engages in a great shoot-out with a notorious gun-toting gang leader and brings him to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Jane Wyatt, (more)
Fulton Oursler, the prolific Reader's Digest editor whose range extended from detective stories to religious books, tried his hand at domestic drama with Second Wife. The title character is Gertrude Michael, recently married to Walter Abel--though not that recently, since she's about to have a baby. Abel discovers that his son by his first wife is ill in a remote Swiss village, and is forced to leave Wife Number Two alone during childbirth. She resents Abel's absence and prepares to walk out in the company of another man, but her erstwhile lover wants nothing to do with children. The plot is worked out to everyone's satisfaction but the audience, which recognized Second Wife as an antiquated remake of a 1930 weeper of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gertrude Michael, Walter Abel, (more)
In this comedy, a model finds herself inadvertently embroiled in the theft of a society woman's valuable pearl necklace after modeling a wedding dress in the aristocrat's home. The pearls are hooked onto the hem of her voluminous dress. Afterward the model quickly flees the crime scene by diving into a taxi. The driver takes a shine to the girl and helps her hide. He and his friends then begin investigating the theft. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Fay Wray, (more)
Fritz Lang's first American film is a vigorous and perceptive indictment of mob law, starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney. Katherine (Sidney) leaves her boyfriend, Joe Wilson (Tracy), behind in their Midwestern hometown when she takes a job in another city. Joe is a decent, hard-working soul, who wants to save up to buy a gas station and looks forward to the future when he and Katherine can get married. A year later, Joe is traveling to meet Katherine so that they can be married. Driving through a small town, Joe is stopped by a deputy sheriff waving a shotgun. Apparently there has been a kidnapping, and the fact that Joe has peanuts in his pocket circumstantially incriminates him in the crime. Joe is arrested and jailed. As Joe sits in his jail cell, the local townspeople begin to talk and whisper and spread rumors. Finally, a lynch mob forms and heads toward the jail. The mob tries to storm the jail and frustrated over their inability to penetrate the prison walls, they set the jail on fire. Joe barely manages to escape ("I could smell myself burning"), but the mob thinks that Joe has been burned to death. Behind the scenes, and with the help of his brothers, Joe tries to rig the verdict in the impending trial of the 22 vigilantes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Sylvia Sidney, (more)
When wealthy Mr. Ames is murdered, his beautiful wife Hope (Madeleine Carroll) is the principal suspect. She is acquitted through lack of evidence, but it's hardly a happy ending: her son Bobbie (Scotty Beckett) is taken away from her by spiteful relatives, who poison the boy's mind against her. Making matters worse, assistant DA Matt Logan (George Brent) is still convinced that Hope is guilty. Upon seeing Hope's devotion to her child, Logan softens a bit and alters his strategy. He offers a huge reward for additional information pertaining to the case, ostensibly to prove Mrs. Ames' guilt, but actually to clear her name so that she and her son can be reunited. If the outcome of The Case Against Mrs. Ames seems predictable, it is only because the actor who plays the real murderer was nearly always revealed as the "surprise" culprit in the final reel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, George Brent, (more)
Mary Ellis, Paramount's answer to Columbia's Grace Moore, stars in the title role in this musical melodrama/whodunit. When her fiancé dies under mysterious circumstances, neophyte opera diva Mary Stuart (Ellis) flees to South America, assumes a new identity, and obtains a position with a local opera company. Although promising her new boss, Glinka (Guy Bates Post), to concentrate wholly on her art, Mary, now Maria, spends most of her energy rebuffing several lovesick gentlemen, including Philip Roberts (Norman Foster), whose uptight brother, David (Walter Pidgeon), at first dismisses her as a sordid femme fatale. Another marriage proposal leads to another murder and David finally begins to see a connection. While not fending off would-be suitors, Mary Ellis performs selections from the operas Isabelle and Bad Masque. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Ellis, Walter Pidgeon, (more)
Legion of Terror was the first in a cycle of "exposé" films inspired by the upsurge in such hate groups as the KKK, the Silver Shirts and the Black Legion. The titular vigilante organization, which cloaks its extortionist motivations in the guise of patriotism, has a habit of sending mail bombs to its enemies -- and that's how Postal Inspector Frank Marshall (Bruce Cabot) becomes involved in the story. Before Marshall is able to expose the Legion of Terror for the cowards that they are, the group has murdered Don Foster (Ward Bond), the brother of Marshall's sweetheart Nancy (Marguerite Churchill). The film closes with an admonition to the audience to avoid getting suckered in by similar phony "All American" organizations. Legion of Terror was released just before Warner Bros. similar (and superior) The Black Legion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Cabot, Marguerite Churchill, (more)
The Gorgeous Hussy purports to be based on the life of Margaret "Peggy" O'Neill, the controversial wife of early 19th-century politician John Eaton, who served as cabinet minister during the Andrew Jackson presidency. Snubbed by the Washington elite because of her questionable background as a tavernkeeper's daughter, "Pothouse Peg" is championed by her longtime friend Jackson, who chooses to ignore the gossip-mongers and the scandal-provokers of the era. He even stands by Peggy's side when one of her admirers (Melvyn Douglas) is ignominiously killed by his enemies. Some historians believe that the "gorgeous hussy" and Jackson were themselves lovers, but this is never hinted at in the film, which is described in a foreword as "fiction founded upon historical fact." Joan Crawford wears an exhausting succession of gorgeous gowns as Peggy Eaton, but she can't do much to enliven her sketchily written role; one is aware that she brings disgrace to everyone she meets, but one is hard-pressed to understand why. Much better within the framework is Lionel Barrymore as Jackson, Beulah Bondi as "Old Hickory"'s pipe-smoking wife, Rachel, and Sidney Toler (two years away from Charlie Chan) as Daniel Webster. James Stewart is also in the film as one "Rowdy" Dow, a role he later chose to forget. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, (more)
The Leathernecks Have Landed is an adventure yarn revolving around three boisterous marines. Lew Ayres is the headstrong one, James Ellison the sincere one, and Maynard Holmes the roly-poly comic relief. Holmes is killed in a nightclub brawl for which Ayres gets the blame. The real murderers are smugglers; the disgraced Ayres joins the gang to bring them to justice. Republic Pictures must have been entranced by this plotline, since it popped up virtually scene for scene in four subsequent films over the next six years: Forged Passport (39), Rough Rider's Roundup (39 again!), Girl From Havana (40) and Remember Pearl Harbor (42). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Isabel Jewell, (more)
In this drama, a flamboyant womanizing airline pilot competes with another, rather dull, pilot for the love of a fetching flight attendant. At first she ignores her sister's advice and has a fling with the charming cad, who gets back at the meddlesome sister by hitting her on the head. The two lovers return to their jobs. During a flight, a terrible storm erupts and the cowardly pilot bails out, leaving the flight attendant to fly the passenger- filled plane by herself. Fortunately, the good pilot is in the tower and calmly guides her safely to the ground. Meanwhile the other pilot gets his just desserts when his parachute fails to open. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Eilers, Robert Armstrong, (more)
When New York police commissioner Lewis J. Valentine instructed his men that the best way to handle criminals was to "muss 'em up," he probably had no idea that he was supplying the title for this RKO Radio crime drama. It all begins when millionaire Paul Harding's (Alan Mowbray) dog is murdered. This might have merely been a case for the ASPCA, but it soon leads to a kidnapping, an exorbitant ransom demand, and a murder. Turns out that the whole plot was concocted by Nancy Harding (Molly Lamont), who's been posing as the millionaire's long-lost daughter, and by a mysterious mastermind whose identity won't be revealed here. Preston S. Foster, as New York detective Tip O'Neil, solves the case. Based on the novel The Green Shadow, Muss 'Em Up was released in Britain as The House of Fate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Margaret Callahan, (more)
Future best-selling novelist Irwin Shaw made his screenwriting bow with the modest RKO Radio sports drama The Big Game. The story revolves around the efforts by a group of crooked gamblers to fix the outcomes of college football games. When star quarterback Clark (Philip Huston) refuses to be bribed, the villains kidnap him on the eve of the titular Big Game. Clark is rescued by his burly teammates just in the nick of time, but the film's not over yet: there's a riot on the football field during the final scenes, reportedly inspired by a real-life incident during a 1935 NYU-Fordham game. Adding to the enjoyment of The Big Game is the presence of several genuine members of the 1936 All-American football squad: The University of Chicago's Jay Berwanger, Notre Dame's William Shakespeare, Southern Methodist's Bobby Wilson, NYU's Irwin "King Kong" Klein, Ohio State's Gomer Jones, and Stanford's Robert "Bones" Hamilton, Monk Moscrip and Frank Alustiza. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Huston, James Gleason, (more)
Ken Maynard goes the Zorro route in this lethargic Western produced by Larry Darmour for Columbia. Ailing rancher Cal Pierson (Sheldon Lewis) is being double-crossed by his own foreman, the greedy Ranse (Ward Bond), who has hired a quack doctor (Edward Cecil) to make certain he won't recover. Forcing the local cattle ranchers to pay a heavy toll for the use of the pass on Pierson's land, Ranse is interrupted by a masked avenger who destroys the fence. The intruder having apparently vanished into thin air, Ranse instead comes across Jim (Maynard), a traveling peddler who may know the whereabouts of the masked stranger. In reality, Jim is Ken Martin, an agent for the Cattlemen's Association. With the assistance of Pierson's pretty nurse, Alice (Geneva Mitchell), Ken sets a trap for Ranse and his henchmen, who are caught in a landslide. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Maynard, Geneva Mitchell, (more)
Newlywed Carolyn Martin (Barbara Stanwyck) has been raised to expect the finer things in life, but these are things that can't be provided by her working-stiff husband Michael (Gene Raymond). Hoping to supplement the family coffers, Carolyn offers to take a job, but the chauvinistic Michael won't hear of it, insisting that the couple live on his measly 35 dollars per week, causing no end of trouble when wifey overextends her bank account. When millionaire Hugh McKenzie (Robert Young) enters her life, Carolyn is sorely tempted to walk out on her husband -- and, as indicated by the film's title, she does. Ultimately, however, money flies out the door when love flies back in the window. Counterpointing the marital travails of our hero and heroine is the contentious union between Mattie and Paul Dodson (Helen Broderick and Ned Sparks), who've learned to be happy while miserable. Black comic actor Willie Best is prominently billed in The Bride Walks Out, but his role was cut down to a mere walk-on. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, (more)
The titular colleen is Ruby Keeler, hired to manage a dress shop by wealthy Dick Powell. Keeler is the replacement for slatternly Joan Blondell, who'd been assigned the job by Powell's philandering father (Hugh Herbert). With Powell and Keeler at the helm, it's no time at all before the musical numbers proliferate, though none of the songs have the staying power of those in such earlier Warners musicals as 42nd Street and Golddiggers of 1933. The best number, "Boulevardier from the Bronx", is familiar to modern viewers thanks to its constant use in Warner Bros. cartoons. A lesser Powell/Keeler outing, Colleen contains what many film buffs regard as the definitive performance of character comedian Hugh "Woo Woo" Herbert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, (more)
This action movie provides interesting information about the special training and experiences of motorcycle cops. The story centers around a California highway patrolman who was formerly a carnival stunt rider. Throughout the tale, the CHPs officer has a series of encounters with bad drivers, a roadhouse cabaret gang, and a ring of smugglers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt
The Pride of the Marines is tough leatherneck Steve (Charles Bickford), who appoints himself guardian of orphan boy Ulysses (Bill Burrud). He billets the boy at his marine base, where the kid soon becomes the unofficial mascot. Ulysses returns the favor by trying to expedite the romance between Steve and Molly (Florence Rice). But when Molly elects to marry Larry (Robert Allen), who in turn expresses a wish to adopt Ulysses, it looks like poor Steve will be left out in the cold. There are more stiff upper lips at the film's finale than at a dentist's convention. Pride of the Marines should not be confused with the 1945 John Garfield vehicle of the same name (a mistake often made by the editors of newspaper TV listings). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Bickford, Florence Rice, (more)
In this interesting drama, a disfigured fugitive killer gets a second chance at life when he hides out in a hospital and overhears a doctor discussing his innovative scientific theories. The murderer accosts the doctor and forces him to perform a radical surgery that will change the criminal's face and brain and make him into a better person. Using a new name, the crook becomes a top doctor. Unfortunately, he could change his face, but he could not flee his past and he finds himself standing trial and getting convicted. He is later pardoned by the governor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Marian Marsh, (more)
In G Men, Warner Bros. "bad boy" James Cagney plays James "Brick" Davis, a young lawyer whose education has been financed by soft-hearted racketeer McKay (William Harrigan). When Cagney's best pal, detective Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey), is killed in a gangland shooting, James decides to become a G-Man. Though scrupulously honest, Davis is looked upon with suspicion by his fellow agents because of his association with the crooked McKay. He proves he's a "good guy" when his former girlfriend, Jean Ann Dvorak, now the wife of mobster Brad Collins (Barton MacLane), tips him off to a "Little Bohemia"-style gangster hideaway. Jean later sacrifices her own life to help James rescue his new girl, nurse Kay McCord (Margaret Lindsay), from the vengeful Collins. Based on Gregory Miller's book Public Enemy No. 1, G-Men was reissued in 1949, with an added prologue featuring David Brian as an FBI trainer who advises his students not to laugh at the old-fashioned costumes and slang in the 1935 film; seen today, it is Brian's superfluous opening comments that seem hopelessly dated, while the film itself is as exciting and entertaining as ever. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
RKO Radio's spectacular production The Last Days of Pompeii utilizes the title but precious little else of the famous Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton historical novel (at least the film admits as much in the opening credits). Preston S. Foster stars as Marcus, a happy-go-lucky Ancient Roman blacksmith who is plunged into the depths of despair when his wife and child are killed by a hit-and-run chariot. Undergoing a radical personality change, Marcus becomes obsessed with money and prestige, and to achieve these he becomes a mighty gladiator. While on a visit to Judea, Marcus takes orphaned boy Flavius (David Holt) under his wing and also spends some time with governor Pontius Pilate (Basil Rathbone), who is presently preoccupied with the execution of a subversive young rabbi named Jesus Christ. Witnessing Christ's march to Calvary, Marcus is moved by His plight, but does nothing to help the man and indeed dismisses the whole notion of Christianity as superstitious nonsense. Years later, an ageing Marcus takes up residence in a lavish villa in the resort town of Pompeii, while his grown-up foster son, Flavius (now played by John Wood), gets involved in the burgeoning Christian movement. Arrested by the authorities, Flavius and his fellow Christians are sentenced to death in the arena, much to the dismay of Marcus. Still, it takes the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii for Marcus to undergo his long-overdue religious awakening, and in the moments before he himself is engulfed by lava he arranges the escape of Flavius and the young man's sweetheart, Clodia (Dorothy Wilson). The climactic volcanic holocaust is a triumph of special effects, but that was to be expected from the production team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the same folks responsible for King Kong. Though Preston S. Foster delivers one of his finest performances in The Last Days of Pompeii, the film's acting honors go to Basil Rathbone as Pilate, who transforms from a swaggering young skeptic to a conscience-stricken old man. On its original release, the film lost 237,000 dollars, but in the long run made a profit via periodic reissues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Preston S. Foster, Basil Rathbone, (more)
















