Irene Ware Movies

In this complicated comedy chronicles a caper involving jewel thieves and an unlucky parking lot jockey whom they mistake for the American gunman they have been awaiting. Naturally they don't discover the truth until the day of the heist when the real mobster appears. Mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this British comedy, a Yankee con artist hides out in England. Trouble ensues when he follows a pretty girl into a office building and encounters the company president just before he commits suicide. He then learns that the distraught executive has been involved in embezzling scheme. The con man then talks the frazzled fellow into taking a six-month leave and allowing him to run the company. He then begins fixing the books to the company is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Although Monogram Pictures hadn't yet reorganized as a separate entity in 1936, a few of its releases still managed to make their way to the public through the auspices of Republic. One of these was The Cheers of the Crowd, in which character actor Russell Hopton heads the cast as public-relations expert Lee Adams. Our hero gets in on the ground floor of the chain-letter craze, all the while battling over ethics with pretty female reporter Mary (Irene Ware). Things take a sinister turn when the recipient of a chain letter is murdered, a crime tied in with the long-lost wife of the film's villain. Corpulent Harry Holman, best known to modern viewers as the high-school principal in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, steals the film as the misleadingly named "Honest John." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On the threshold of international fame as mature cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd made three low-budget action-melodramas for independent company Winchester Pictures, the last of which, Federal Agent, featured the prematurely graying star as Bob Woods, a G-Man looking into the death of a colleague. As Bob learns, Recard Kantos (Don Alvarado), a vicious foreign spy, and his wife, Vilma (Lenita Lane), intend to buy a newly invented explosive capable of destroying the entire world. Turning to one of Kantos' disgruntled associates, Helen Gray (Irene Ware), Bob gets the inside scoop on the spy ring but ends up its prisoner. Helen, who proves to be the daughter of the murdered agent, manages to pass a knife to Bob and there is a final confrontation between the G-Man and his dangerous prey. Federal Agent, which was filmed in 1935 and released the following year by Republic Pictures, proved William Boyd's final non-Hopalong Cassidy starring vehicle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Another of Thorne Smith's slyly naughty fantasy novels, Night Life of the Gods was transferred to the screen with reasonable fidelity to the original in 1934. Alan Mowbray plays the eccentric Hunter Hawk, inventor of a ray gun that can turn human beings into statues. Much to his surprise, Hawk is also able to turn statues into humans; consequently, he brings to life eight marble effigies of such Greco-Roman mythological gods as Apollo, Bacchus, Diana, Mercury, Venus and Perseus. All flimsily clad within an inch of the Production Code, the now-lively gods have a high old time adapting to Manhattan night life: in one of the funniest scenes, Neptune (Robert Warwick) playfully spears a bevy of bathing beauties with his trusty trident. Along the way, Hawk falls in love with 900-year-old "baby goddess" Megaere (Florine McKinney). The wry original ending of Smith's novel was watered somewhat by having the whole thing turn out to be a dream, but it's fun while it lasts. Night Life of the Gods was the final directorial effort of Lowell Sherman, who died shortly before the film went into release. Unfortunately, copies of this delightful bit of risque whimsy are few and far between; indeed, Night Life of the Gods may well become a "lost" film if the preservationists don't get on the stick as soon as possible. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff team up in this excellent 1935 chiller. Lugosi is crazed brain-surgeon Dr. Richard Vollin who is infatuated with the characters and devices found in the Edgar Allan Poe stories. When a local judge brings his beautiful daughter for brain surgery, the doctor falls in love with her and is spurned by the judge when he asks for her hand in marriage. To extract revenge, Vollin invites the judge, his daughter, and her new fiance over for dinner. He intends to try out some of his gruesome Poe gadgets on them. Before he can, enter Boris Karloff, a prison escapee who wants Vollin to do some much-needed plastic surgery on his face. Vollin obliges, but instead of making him handsome, he deforms Karloff and subjects him to his will. Now the evil Vollin can get down to business... ~ Rovi

Happiness C.O.D was one of the last productions from flagging Chesterfield. Perennial supporting player Maude Eburne assumes the leading role as Aunt Addie, philosophical matriarch of a large, rambunctious brood. Dipping deep into her own pockets, Addie must constantly bail out her less-practical brother Thomas Sheridan (Donald Cook), whose construction business is constantly overextended at the bank because of his selfish, spendthrift children. Eventually deserted by his ungrateful offspring, Sheridan faces eviction and bankruptcy. But Aunt Addie, fed up with seeing her brother stepped upon, rallies the whole family together in the nick of time. Cast as Sheridan's youngest son Larry was Frank Coghlan Jr., a prominent juvenile actor since the silent era. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 1934 Fox melodrama Orient Express was based on a Graham Greene novel. In true "Grand Hotel" fashion, an awful lot happens during the Constantinople-to-Ostend run of the titular express. The dramatis personae includes covetous dancer Coral Musker (Heather Angel), naïve date merchant Carlton Myatt (Norman Foster), erudite anarchist Dr. Czinner (Ralph Morgan), a homicidal sneak thief (Roy D'Arcy), and an abrasive blue-collar couple (Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor, who previously co-starred in Cavalcade and were later reteamed in The Adventures of Robin Hood). When the intrigues become too thick for comprehension, the solution is provided by girl reporter Mabel Warren (Dorothy Burgess), justifying her heretofore unexplained presence in the picture. The plot goes off on too many directions at once, suggesting a plethora of rewrites. Despite its confusing storyline, critics admired the "continental" look of Orient Express, remarking that one would never imagine that it was a mere Hollywood programmer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Poverty Row studio Monogram took a stab at musical production with King Kelly of the U.S.A., a cinematic blunder starring opera baritone Guy Robertson, who plays James "King" Kelly, a theatrical entrepreneur sailing to Europe with his latest show, "Kelly's Affairs of 1934." En route, he falls in love with Catherine (Irene Ware), who, unbeknownst to Kelly, is really Princess Tania of Belgardia. Posing as an efficiency expert, Kelly takes the Belgardian government by storm by saving the local mop industry from being ruined by the new invention of vacuum cleaners. The princess, meanwhile, is forced into an engagement to the elderly Prince Alexis, to whose country Belgardia is indebted. Does Kelly find a way out of this unfortunate predicament? Of course he does. Robertson and company perform "Right Next Door to Love," "There's a Love Song in the Air," and "Believe Me," all by Joe Sanders and Bernard Grossman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The charming and effervescent continental film star Lillian Harvey made her Hollywood debut in My Weakness. Borrowing a page or two from Pygmalion, the plot is hinged on a wager made between playboy Ronnie Gregory (Lew Ayres) and his crusty uncle Ellery (Henry Travers). Ronny bets that he can transform kitchen slavey Looloo Blake (our girl Harvey) into a fashionable society belle, which he does -- but he hadn't counted upon falling in love with the girl along the way. Supervising the proceedings is baby-faced comedian Harry Langdon in one of his best talkie roles as a whimsical Cupid. Clearly inspired by the Lubitsch and Clair musical semi-fantasies then in vogue, My Weakness is replete with rhyming dialogue, talking animals, and even a singing statue of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. The Buddy G. DeSylva-Leo Robin-Richard Whiting score is largely unmemorable save for Gather Lip Rouge While You May, which deserves a gold star for the title alone. My Weakness was the first of three Lillian Harvey vehicles for Fox Studios, filmed back-to-back to accommodate her busy European movie schedule. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this melodrama a Lower East Side doctor struggles to earn enough money to pay for his son's tuition in a prestigious European medical school. The doctor, who raised the boy alone following his wife's death, dreams that the boy will join his humble practice and help the poor receive proper treatment. Unfortunately, his son has other plan and as soon as he returns with his new degree tells his father that he plans to work on Park Avenue where the real money is so he can impress his high-bred girl friend. Later, the boy gets caught aiding a wounded gangster. To protect his son, the father takes the blame and ends up losing his practice. After the disgraced doc dies of shame, his son feels intense guilt and remorse. This spurs him to leave his girl friend and the high life to resume his father's practice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi