Hobart Bosworth Movies
A major influence on the establishment of Southern California as the film capital of the world, veteran stage actor Hobart Bosworth was often called the "Dean of Hollywood." A star on Broadway in the late 19th century (Hedda Gabler, opposite Mrs. Fiske, Martha of the Lowlands, with Emily Wakeman), Bosworth entered the silent drama with the Selig Polyscope Company after losing his voice in 1908. He led the Selig company to Los Angeles the following years and was credited with starring in the first film to be shot on the West Coast, the 1,000-feet-long In the Sultan's Power (1909). With the goal of filming a series of Jack London melodramas, Hobart Bosworth founded his own company, Bosworth, Inc., in 1913. He both directed and starred in the company's initial production, a seven-reel version of The Sea Wolf (1913) filmed at Truckee, CA, and went on to produce and star in John Barleycorn (1913), The Valley of the Moon (1914), and Martin Eden (1914). By then actress/screenwriter/director Lois Weber and her husband Phillips Smalley had joined the company roster, which also included leading ladies Myrtle Stedman, Fritzi Scheff, and Elsie Janis. Distributing through newcomer Paramount, Bosworth became associated with the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company, whose facility on 201 North Occidental Boulevard near downtown Los Angeles became his headquarters. Morosco and Bosworth both became part of Paramount in 1916 and Hobart Bosworth drifted into supporting roles.Making his sound film debut in the Vitaphone short subject A Man of Peace in 1928, Hobart Bosworth went on to enjoy a long career as a character actor in B-Westerns and serials, usually playing the kind, fatherly type but once in a while cast against type as a dyed-in-the-wool Boss Villain. He could still demand prominent billing but the films themselves were usually Poverty Row quickies and few moviegoers were aware of his erstwhile fame. Almost indefatigable, the veteran actor remained in films until shortly before his death from pneumonia in December of 1943. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1942
Although Warner Bros. "officially" disbanded its B-picture unit in 1941, the studio continued to grind out lower-berth features for the next three years. One of these was Bullet Scars, which had the look of a 1930s gangster meller which somehow escaped filming at the time of its inception. Decked out with a lavish toupee, Regis Toomey stars as country doctor Steven Bishop, who is strongarmed into operating on wounded bank robber Joe Madison (Michael Ames) without reporting the wound to the cops. Coerced into assisting Bishop is trained nurse Nora (Adele Longmir), who happens to be Madison's sister. Falling in love with Dr. Bishop, Nora helps him sneak a message to the cops, and the result is a noisy climactic shootout (pieced together with a handful of new shots and stock footage from earlier Warners epics). Variety was understating the case when it described Bullet Scars as "a very unpleasant film." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Regis Toomey, Adele Longmire, (more)
- 1942
In this grim melodrama, Barbara Stanwyck plays the eldest of three wealthy sisters who become orphans when their father dies in France. Threatened with the danger of losing the opulent family home, Big Sister makes a grand sacrifice and secretly marries a real estate developer so she can inherit her aunt's fortune. A few years later, she learns that he is after the family estate and wants to tear it down so she leaves him and tries to stop him. More time passes and the husband ends up taking her to court when he learns that she has borne him a son without telling him. The part of "Gig Young" was played by actor Byron Barr who later assumed the name before he became famous. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, (more)
- 1942
I Was Framed was a heavily disguised remake of Dust Be My Destiny, filmed only three years earlier. Michael Ames stars in the old John Garfield role, originally a drifter named Joe Bell but here a crusading reporter named Ken Marshall. Framed by a corrupt politician for a crime he dind't commit, Marshall escapes from jail with the help of his pregnant wife Ruth (Julie Bishop). They migrate to a small town where Ken is given a newpaper job by Dr. Phillip Black (Aldrich Bowker), the kindly general practitioner who delivered Ruth's baby. Five years later, the Marshalls' new life is threatened when Mike's old cellmate shows up in town, threatening blackmail. The ending is considerably more upbeat and less "meaningful" than in the original Dust be My Destiny. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Ames, Julie Bishop, (more)
- 1942
Marlene Dietrich was supposed to have starred in Universal's Sin Town, but the script was not to her liking. Dietrich was replaced by Constance Bennett in the role of a glamorous suspect in a small-town murder. Broderick Crawford and Leo Carrillo costar as a couple of con men who must solve the killing of a newspaper publisher lest they be convicted of the crime. At 75 minutes, the film moves too quickly to pause for such niceties as motivation and logic, but few in the audiences of 1942 complained. Sin Town's three-person writing staff included Richard Brooks, later the director of such "A" pictures as Elmer Gantry and In Cold Blood (though he never did write for Marlene Dietrich). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Broderick Crawford, (more)
- 1941
Possibly inspired by Universal's The Invisible Woman, Warner Bros.' The Body Disappears is an agreeably daffy comedy with science-fiction undertones. Passing out from overindulgence during his engagement party, young millionaire Peter De Haven is placed on a slab in a college dissecting room by his prankish friends. Before Peter can awaken, he is inadvertently kidnapped by eccentric Professor Shotsbury (Edward Everett Horton), who needs a "dead body" upon which to test his new life-restoring serum. Shotsbury's miracle drug succeeds only in making Peter invisible, leading to all manner of looney complications. Before the film's 72 minutes are over, Peter has discovered that his "loving" fiancee Christine Lunceford (Margerite Chapman) is merely a gold-digger, Prof. Shotsbury has been locked up in the nuthouse, and Shotsbury's perky daughter Joan (Jane Wyman) has become invisible himself, implictly cavorting about naked with no one any the wiser. Still fresh and funny after nearly six decades, The Body Disappears is sometimes shown on TV minus the "scared-rabbit" comedy routines of black actor Willie Best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Lynn, Jane Wyman, (more)
- 1941
Author Hartzell Spence's popular biography of his preacher father was the source for One Foot in Heaven. Fredric March stars as Methodist cleric William Spence, whose calling requires him to move his family from parish to parish on a near-monthly basis. The children resent the fact that they're never able to sustain friendships, while Reverend Spence is equally upset by what he perceives to be encroaching immorality in the early 20th century. Spence's stubbornness loses him as many parishioners as he gains, but he is gradually humanized by a series of random events. In the best of these, the Reverend, who has railed against movies from the pulpit, attends a "scandalous" picture show--and as the picture reaches its climax, he finds himself cheering on the good guys as loudly as everyone else! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Martha Scott, (more)
- 1941
A good wife's innocence is shattered when she learns that her wealthy husband is actually an amoral big-shot jewel thief. She learns this when he brazenly robs some of their vacationing friends. Naturally she wants to leave him, but he won't let her and makes her return to Chicago and stay quiet. He doesn't realize that a detective is in hot pursuit. Once in Chi-town, the thief abandons the wife and she gets a divorce. Unfortunately, she ends up accused of the latest heist. After good friends help to clear her, she meets the detective. Together they plot an ingenious revenge that culminates in the capture of the crook and a new chance at happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Perry, Roger Pryor, (more)
- 1941
In this sad drama, a remake of Oil for the Lamps of China, a South American rubber planter nurses a broken heart after his U.S. fiancee jilts him. In addition, he has trouble with the natives who do not respect him. His troubles ease when he meets a caring nightclub singer who he marries against the wishes of his employers. He is hoping that marriage will protect her from the U.S. detective who has been looking into her past. Unfortunately, the investigator finds her and extradites her back to the States where she must stand trial. Her husband accompanies her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Constance Bennett, Jeffrey Lynn, (more)
Though history is distorted almost beyond recognition in Warner Bros.' They Died With Their Boots On, audiences in 1941 ate it up like cotton candy. In the gospel according to Warners, General George Armstrong Custer (Errol Flynn) is neither an arrogant fool nor a rabid Indian hater. Instead, he is a flamboyant but brilliant cavalry officer, who during the Civil War defies his superiors' orders and becomes a hero as a result. After a period of forced retirement in the postwar years, Custer is put in charge of the 7th Cavalry in the Dakota Territory. Here he whips this ragtag group into spit-and-polish shape, and also does his best to extend a neighborly hand to the local Indian tribes. Custer even goes so far as to promise Chief Crazy Horse (Anthony Quinn) that the white man will never set foot in the sacred Black Hills. Alas, Custer is betrayed by greedy gold prospectors, whipped into a frenzy by scheming (and fictional) land speculator Ned Sharp (Arthur Kennedy). Forced by circumstances to do battle against Crazy Horse to prevent tribal retaliation, Custer and his command ride towards a rendezvous with destiny at the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876. Though some of the historical inaccuracies in the film are real howlers, blame cannot be laid solely at the feet of Warner Bros.; the Custer legend had previously been perpetrated by the general's loyal widow Elizabeth Bacon (played herein by Olivia de Havilland), then eagerly elaborated upon by Eastern news journalists and dime novels. This film represented the final screen pairing of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, a fact that lends poignancy to their classic parting scene. Though an extremely long film, They Died With Their Boots On is never dull, especially during the spectacular Custer's Last Stand finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1938
Old-timer Hobart Bosworth heads the cast of the independently produced Wolves of the Sea. Bosworth is cast as Captain Wolf Hansen, the leader of an expedition to recover a fortune in jewels which was lost in a recent shipwreck. Mutinous seaman Snoden (Warner Richmond) intends to claim the gems for himself and kill everyone who stands in his way. But Hansen's first mate William Rand (Dirk Thane) prevents this, winning the hand of heroine Nadine Miller (Jean Carmen) in the process. A crazy quilt of stock footage, flimsy sets and fluffed dialogue, Wolves of the Sea is directed by Elmer Clifton, of Reefer Madness fame, who does as well as possible under the circumstances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hobart Bosworth, Jean Carmen, (more)
- 1938
Producer George A. Hirliman attempted to revive the popular "Rex, King of Wild Horses" films of the 1920s with his 1938 release King of the Sierras. The magnificent black stallion Rex (or his descendant) carries the film's "romantic" plotline, as he regularly purloins the mares and fillies under the protection of his equestrian rival, the white stallion Sheik. Framing the story is old-timer Hobart Bosworth, who recalls the adventures of Rex and Sheik to his wide-eyed grandson Harry Harvey Jr. The film is beautifully photographed (by Jack Greenhaigh Jr.), a fact that glosses over the multitudinous faults in W. Scott Darling's screenplay. Though it pleased the crowd in 1938, King of the Sierras did not inspire a series of "Rex" vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hobart Bosworth, Harry Harvey, Jr., (more)
- 1938
This 15-chapter Columbia serial is largely set on a remote Carribean island (which looks suspiciously like Catalina). Reporter Larry Kent (Don Terry) arrives on the island to investigate the disappearance of another newshound. It turns out that somewhere in the area is buried a valuable treasure, for which there exists half of a map. Toni Morrell (Gwen Gaze), the daughter of an old salt whose murdered partner knew the location of the treasure, joins forces with Larry to solve his friend's disappearance-and, hopefully, dig up the buried loot. They are opposed at every turn by the evil Collins (Walter Miller), who has a seemingly endless supply of weapons, land mines and henchmen at his disposal. Adding to Larry and Toni's burden is the presence of the mysterious Dr. X (Hobart Bosworth), who is hard at work developing a new and powerful explosive. And as if that weren't enough, Larry is obliged at several junctures to battle an unknown assailant disguised as a 17th century pirate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmed after the star and his producer already had signed a new deal with rival company Monogram, this Grand National Tex Ritter Western slashed the usual parsimonious budget even further by recycling the entire final reel of Ritter's previous Sing, Cowboy, Sing. Filmed back-to-back with Utah Trail, Ritter's final Grand National Western, Rollin' Plains once again burdened the star with perhaps the worst comic sidekicks available at the time, Horace Murphy and Snub Pollard, the latter still sporting the paint-on mustache he had used since the silent days at Keystone. The three played rangers coming to the assistance of Gospel Moody (silent screen star Hobart Bosworth), a cattle rancher in trouble with an ornery sheepman, Trigger Gargan (Charles King). Soon, Gospel is accused of killing old Hank Tomlin (Horace B. Carpenter), an act actually committed by his half-brother Cain (Ernie S. Adams). With Tex's help, Moody stages his own "death," only to come back as a "ghost." Accompanied by a group calling themselves The Beverly Hill Billies, Ritter performed Rollin' Plains by Whitcup, Samuels and Powell, Me, My Pal and My Pony by Frank Harford, and Rock of Ages by Augustus Montague Toplady and Thomas Hastings. Hank Worden, a friend of Ritter's from his days on Broadway, appeared in a bit part, still billed under his real name, Heber Snow. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tex Ritter, Horace Murphy, (more)
- 1937
Lady lawyer Portia Merryman (Frieda Inescourt) defends woebegone Elizabeth Manners (Heather Angel), who is on trial for shooting her lover Earle Condon (Neil Hamilton). Ironically, Portia herself had once had an affair with Earle's father, powerful publisher John Condon (Clarence Kolb). She has a pretty good idea of what is going on in Elizabeth's head, since she herself was on the verge of killing Condon when he ruthlessly took custody of her illegitimate son (not Earle, though that certainly would have brought things full circle). As Portia toils and strains to free her client, she carries on a romance with Dan Foster (Walter Abel) -- the attorney for the prosecution. LA Law and The Practice have nothing on this one! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Abel, Frieda Inescort, (more)
- 1936
Having successful moved his top comedians Laurel & Hardy from short subjects to features, producer Hal Roach endeavored to do the same with the Our Gang Kids in 1936's General Spanky. Set in the South during the Civil War, the story focuses on Spanky (George "Spanky" McFarland), an orphaned shoeshine boy who works his way down the Mississippi by riverboat. After messing up the activities of crooked gambler Simmons (Irving Pichel), Spanky is forced to jump ship, along with his newfound buddy, fugitive slave child Buckwheat (Billy Thomas). The kids find shelter in the home of handsome Marshall Valiant (Phillips Holmes), who just before marching off to war instructs Spanky and Buckwheat to protect Marshall's sweetheart Louella Blanchard (Rosina Lawrence) in his absence. Taking his responsibilities seriously, Spanky forms a "home guard" consisting of Alfalfa (Carl Switzer), Porky (Eugene Lee) and several other local kids. In this capacity, they manage to fend off a clumsy Northern regiment commandeered by Spanky's old nemesis Simmons, thereby earning the lasting friendship of a kindly Yankee general (Ralph Morgan). The Civil War setting is not entirely appropriate to the antics of Our Gang, and as a result General Spanky is more peculiar than funny. The film's lukewarm box-office performance might have spelled the end of "Our Gang" had not Hal Roach's distributor, MGM, demanded that the series continue in short-subject form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George "Spanky" McFarland, Phillips Holmes, (more)
The Dark Hour was based on The Last Trap, a mystery novel by Sinclair Gluck. The setting is one of those Old Dark Houses which proliferated in 1930s "B"-pictures. Elsa Carson (Irene Ware), mistress of the house, fears that her weird uncles intend to do her harm and calls in detectives Landis (Ray Walker) and Bernard (Berton Churchill) for protection. It isn't long before the two gumshoes come upon the body of Elsa's Uncle Henry (William V. Vong), who appears to have been starved to death (in less than 24 hours!) The gathered suspects are unable to account for their movements at the time of the murder, making our heroes' job doubly difficult. For a while, it looks as though the butler did it (honest!), but Landis believes that the killer is someone less suspicious. He's right -- but to reveal more would be to reveal all. The scenes in which the murderer stalks about the mansion in female drag are unforgettably bizarre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Walker, Irene Ware, (more)
- 1936
Kermit Maynard, Ken's less famous brother, plays a Mountie impersonating a killer impersonating a Mountie in this low-budget "Northwestern" produced by independent entrepreneur Maurice Conn from a screenplay "suggested" by the story The Midnight Call by James Oliver Curwood. After apprehending the notorious killer "The Raven" (Yakima Canutt), Royal Canadian Mountie Gale Farrell assumes his identity in order to investigate a feud between fur trapping families. As it turns out, the feud is kept alive by nasty casino owner Henry McClain (John Merton), who answers to supposedly kindly Dr. Martin (Hobart Bosworth). They plan to monopolize the fur trade but Gale sets a trap for the good doctor and the feud comes to an end. Maurice Conn reportedly attempted to cash in on a current vogue by releasing the film as "G-Men of the North" only to learn that Warner Bros. owned the appellation of "G-Man." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kermit Maynard, Hobart Bosworth, (more)
- 1935
The Holy Wars are given the usual overblown Cecil B. DeMille treatment in The Crusades. It all begins in the 12th-century AD, when Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Saracens, and the Christians are slaughtered or sold into slavery. A holy man known as The Hermit (C. Aubrey Smith) rallies the rulers of England and Europe to launch a Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem in the name of Christianity. Among those embarking upon this massive undertaking is England's King Richard the Lion-Hearted (played as a swaggering roughneck by Henry Wilcoxon), who finances his knights by marrying wealthy French princess Berengaria (Loretta Young) sight unseen. Saladin (Ian Keith), the elegant and well-spoken ruler of the Saracens, attempts to stave off the crusaders by kidnapping Berengaria and holding her hostage. Sensing that he can never win against so formidable a collection of foes, Saladin eventually opens the gates of Jerusalem to all but Richard the Lion-Hearted, with whom he has a personal score to settle. In the film's most memorable scene, the fundamental difference between the boorish Richard and the cultured Saladin is demonstrated when the Saracen ruler delicately cleaves Berengaria's silk scarf in twain with his gleaming sword. It took a great deal of nerve to depict the film's hero as a thuggish brute and the nominal villain as the most sympathetic character in the story, but DeMille gets away with it in The Crusades, and still has time left over to deliver his usual quota of thrills, pageantry, convoluted history and campy dialogue. And yes, that is Ann Sheridan as a Christian captive in the opening scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, Henry Wilcoxon, (more)
- 1935
In early 1930s, Monogram pictures held a virtual monopoly on the bucolic novels of Gene Stratton Porter. When Monogram absorbed by the new Republic Pictures in 1935, several Porter properties were included in the merger, among them the 1875 best-seller Keeper of the Bees. In one of her largest screen roles, Emma Dunn plays backwoods faith-healer Aunt Margot. In addition to her duties as county bookkeeper, the old woman is in charge of her daughter Molly (Betty Furness) and niece Scout (Edith Fellows), who loyally protect one another when trouble arises. The story proper gets under way when disillusioned artist Jamie (Neil Hamilton) has his will to live restored by the lovely Molly and her colorful family. Keeper of the Bees was remade virtually intact in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neil Hamilton, Betty Furness, (more)
- 1935
Two of America's most distinguished humorists, Oklahoma's Will Rogers and Kentucky's Irvin S. Cobb, costar in Steamboat Round the Bend. Cobb isn't much of an actor, so it is Rogers who carries the comic weight of this fast-paced slice of Americana. Will uncharacteristically sticks to the script for most of the proceedings as the proprietor of a combination travelling waxworks and medicine show. The plot resolution hinges on a climactic steamboat race, in which Rogers' paddlewheeler is fed bit by bit into its own furnace when the fuel supply runs out. Steamboat Round the Bend was released posthumously after Rogers' sudden death, at which point Fox Studios tried unsuccessfully to create a "new" Will Rogers--in the form of his old friend and costar Irvin S. Cobb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Anne Shirley, (more)
- 1935
Writer-director-star Willard Mack had been dead and gone for several years by the time Together We Live managed to attain a theatrical release. A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who are appalled by the burgeoning radical movement in America. One of these vets is Hank (Willard Mack), who must suffer dissension in his own home when his two sons begin attending communist meetings. When the subversives take to the streets to spread their doctrine in a loudmouth fashion, Hank rallies his fellow senior citizens to form a united front against the enemies of democracy. Unfortunately, the "good guys" come off as lawless vigilantes, which may or may not have been Mr. Mack's intention. Surprisingly, Together We Live was not revived during the postwar Red Scare, even though it isn't much worse than such "commies under the bed" epics as The Red Menace and Big Jim McLain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willard Mack, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1934
The 1932 Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein Broadway hit Music in the Air was brought to the screen two years later by Fox Studios. Temperamental Bavarian prima donna Frieda (Gloria Swanson) and equally volatile lyricist Bruno (John Boles) spend half their time quarrelling and the other half making love. To arouse each other's jealousy, Frieda and Bruno pair off respectively with music teacher Lessing's (Al Shean) virginal daughter Sieglinde (June Lang) and her schoolmaster fiancee Karl (Douglass Montgomery). The impressionable young couple respond to the attentions heaped upon them until they realize they're being used, whereupon the tables are turned upon the main characters. Though boasting such lilting tunes as "The Song is You" and "I've Told Every Evening Star" and the stylish direction of Joe May (perhaps his best American film), audiences didn't respond to Music in the Air; as a result, star Gloria Swanson vowed for the millionth time to "permanently" retire from pictures, a promise she kept to herself for a whole seven years. Incidentally, one of the screenwriters of Music in the Air was Billy Wilder, who later co-wrote and directed Swanson's 1949 "comeback" feature Sunset Boulevard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Swanson, John Boles, (more)
- 1934
Inspired by the Titanic tragedy, Whom the Gods Destroy is a tour de force for character actor Walter Connolly. The star is cast as theatrical entrepreneur John Forrester, who finds himself on board an ocean liner crippled in a shipwreck. At first he behaves courageously, but as the ship goes down Forrester panics and dons women's clothes to ensure himself a seat on the lifeboat. Rescued at sea, he hides out in a tiny fishing village for several years, then returns to New York under an assumed name. Upon discovering that he is celebrated as a "dead" hero, Forrester realizes that he can never reveal his true identity lest he be exposed as a craven coward. Standing on the sidelines, he watches as his son Jack (Robert Young) rises to success on the Broadway stage, all the while secretly helping the boy get ahead in his career. Forrester's wife Margaret (Doris Kenyon) finally recognizes her husband, forgives him, and offers to take him back, but by now Forrester himself feels it is too late and retreats into the shadows, never to be seen again. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Connolly, Robert Young, (more)
May Robson plays Apple Annie, a slatternly Broadway apple peddler. Annie has a curious setup whereby she is able to finagle other street merchants and beggars to pony up part of their weekly earnings to her--yet she never seems to spend any of the money on herself. This is because Annie has a daughter named Louise (Jean Parker), who has been supported in luxury all her life by her mother. Louise has no idea who Annie really is; so far as she knows, her mother is Mrs. E. Worthington Manville, a Manhattan society matron. When Louise sends Annie a letter telling her that she's become engaged to a young Spanish nobleman named Carlos (Barry Norton), Annie is aghast: once Louise brings her fiance to New York, the jig will be up. Coming to the rescue is high-rolling gambler Dave the Dude (Warren William), who considers Annie his good-luck charm. With the help of his nightclub-thrush girlfriend Missouri Martin (Glenda Farrell), Dave arranges a huge society reception for Louise -- and a complete fashion makeover for Annie. To do this, a few strong-arm methods are required, notably the kidnaping of several society reporters; also, it's necessary to pass off down-and-out Judge Blake (Guy Kibbee) as Annie's well-connected husband. Lady for a Day is the film with which Frank Capra hoped to enter the Big Leagues by taking home a shelf-full of Academy Awards. His subsequent embarrassment at the 1934 Oscar ceremonies has now passed into Hollywood legend, but he made up for this debacle with his Oscars sweep for It Happened One Night. Lady for a Day was remade by Capra as 1961's Pocketful of Miracles, with Bette Davis as Apple Annie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warren William, May Robson, (more)
- 1932
Alexander Carr, a Jewish-dialect comedian usually confined to small roles, is practically the whole show in the sentimental drama No Greater Love. Carr is cast as delicatessen owner Sidney Cohen, who unofficially adopts Irish-Catholic orphan girl Mildred (Betty Jane Graham). Hoping to finance an operation that will enable the crippled Mildred to walk, Cohen hocks all his possessions and sells his store. The insensitive adoption authorities intervene, snatching Mildred from Cohen's arms, but the girl eventually walks all the same, inspired by the love of her foster father. No Greater Love was partially remade in 1938 as City Streets, with the protagonist changed to an Italian (played by Leo Carrillo). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dickie Moore, Alexander Carr, (more)
