Pat West Movies
Pat West spent many years in American vaudeville in a song-and-snappy-patter act with his wife, Lucille. In films from 1929, West could be seen in innumerable bit parts (usually bartenders) in both features and short subjects. He was something of a regular in the films of Howard Hawks, attaining billing as Warden Cooley in Hawks' His Girl Friday (1940), and he also showed up in several Preston Sturges films. Pat West can be seen in the opening reels of The Bank Dick as the assistant movie director who hires Egbert Souse (W.C. Fields) to replace inebriated director A. Pismo Clam (Jack Norton). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1936
All but forgotten today, the George Abbott-John Cecil Holm stage comedy Three Men on a Horse was once a staple of the community theatre and summer-stock circuit (a 1958 TV production starred no less than Johnny Carson). Though a faithful adaptation of the Broadway original, this 1936 film version avoids staginess thanks to the sprightly direction of Mervin LeRoy. Frank McHugh plays a meek, henpecked greeting-card writer who has an uncanny knack for picking winning race horses. Wandering into a bar after a spat with his wife (Carol Hughes), the prognosticative McHugh is "adopted" by Runyonesque horseplayers Sam Levene, Allen Jenkins and Teddy Hart. Held a virtual prisoner by the three gamblers, McHugh is unable to return to his job at the greeting card company, forcing his boss Guy Kibbee to realize for the first time the indispensability of his missing employee. A very slight piece, Three Men on a Horse is buoyed by the talents of the above-mentioned actors, as well as such reliables as Joan Blondell, Edgar Kennedy and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank McHugh, Joan Blondell, (more)
- 1936
Gail Patrick plays a young woman framed for murder. Luckily the newsman on the courtroom beat is ace photographer Lew Ayres. He senses Patrick is innocent (the fact that she's a knockout has something to do with this) and vows to track down the guilty party. The Least Likely Suspect spills the beans just as Ayres clicks his shutter. Paramount Pictures used to dash off two or three B mysteries like Murder with Pictures before breakfast, but they were never less than supremely entertaining. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lew Ayres, Gail Patrick, (more)
- 1936
The second of singing cowboy Dick Foran's Warner Bros. westerns, Song of the Saddle was a decided improvement on the first (Moonlight on the Prairie). Foran is cast as Frank Wilson Jr., who heads Westward to avenge the long-ago murder of his father (Addison Richards). Frank had witnessed the killing, but only has a few fragmentary clues to go by. Ultimately he learns what the audience has known all along, that the killer was ruthless land baron Phineas P. Hook (Charles Middleton); heck, that name alone should have given him away! Among the minor players in Song of the Saddle are former western hero William Desmond, up-and-coming child star (and future Lone Ranger producer) Bonita Granville, and, fleetingly, the Sons of the Pioneers (with Roy Rogers). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Foran, Alma Lloyd, (more)
- 1936
Based on a Damon Runyon story, Three Wise Guys stars Betty Furness as a Broadway golddigger hired by gangster Bruce Cabot to romance playboy Robert Young, then take the sap for every penny he's got. But when Young marries Furness, he is disinherited. Furness decides she's truly in love with Young and leaves town with him. Pursued by Cabot and his henchmen, the couple takes refuge in a deserted farm. Cabot is about to exact vengeance on Furness when he discovers that she's pregnant, and due at any minute. Thus the chastened Cabot and his "wise guy" companions aid Furness in bringing her baby into the world. That's right, it's Christmas...and it's also in a little town called Bethlehem. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Young, Betty Furness, (more)
Those beautiful Busby Berkeley babes are back at work, seeking financial backing for a Broadway show. Salvation comes from a meek hypochondriac (Victor Moore) who'd rather the girls get his insurance money than his murderous business partners. Dick Powell isn't the male star of the show, but does show up as a glib insurance agent. A lesser but still enjoyable entry in Warners' Gold Diggers musical series, Gold Diggers of 1937 is very much a mixed bag. For every topnotch number like "With Plenty of Money and You," there's an excruciating experience like the "military" finale "All's Fair in Love and War." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, (more)
- 1935
This musical chronicles the rise to stardom of a humble bellhop after he is discovered by a talent agent. Though he becomes a very popular singer of contemporary songs, the young man really aspires to a career in opera. At first his manager is appalled and refuses to let him, but when his disconsolate star begins hitting the sauce, he relents and success ensues. Songs and production numbers include "Broadway Cinderella," "Where Am I?," "At Your Service Madam," "You Let Me Down," "Over Yonder Moon," "September in the Rain" (Al Dubin, Harry Warren), "Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie" (Carson J. Robison), and selections from "Aida" (Giuseppe Verdi), and "Martha" (Friedrich von Flotow). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, James Melton, (more)
- 1935
William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions moved from MGM to Warners with Page Miss Glory--along with Cosmopolitan's biggest commodity, actress Marion Davies. The plotline has something to do with a composite photo prepared for a magazine contest: The combined facial attributes of Garbo, Dietrich, Harlow and Kay Francis make up this picture, which wins an award for photographer Pat O'Brien. When pressed to produce his fictional "Miss Glory," O'Brien scours the country in search of the girl whose face matches the composite. And that's where lowly chambermaid Marion Davies comes in. After a dizzying taste of fame and fortune, Davies renounces her new celebrity for the love of Dick Powell. The title song of Page Miss Glory was given a more entertaining showcase in the "art deco" Warner Bros. cartoon Miss Glory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1935
Ceiling Zero is an adaptation of the Broadway play by Frank "Spig" Wead. James Cagney and Pat O'Brien are supremely typecast as, respectively, Dizzy Davis, a cocky civil aviator and Jake Lee, a sober-sided ground commander. Dizzy ducks out of a dangerous mission in order to dally with pretty Tommy Thomas (June Travis). Texas Clark (Stuart Erwin) takes Dizzy's place, and the unpolished young pilot dies in a fiery wreck. Disgraced in the eyes of his co-workers after Clark's death, Dizzy redeems himself by taking a crucial test flight in fog-laden "ceiling zero." Dizzy dies a hero, leaving behind his pal Jake to deliver the eulogy. Isabel Jewell co-stars as Clark's wife, given yet another opportunity to shake the rafters with her emotionally supercharged acting. Ceiling Zero was remade in a wartime setting as International Squadron (1940). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, (more)
