Cora Witherspoon Movies

One of the best of the pre-Production Code Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey vehicles, Peach O' Reno remains as hilariously ribald today as it was nearly 70 years ago. Wheeler and Woolsey play Wattles and Swift, a pair of Reno divorce attorneys whose practice is so successful that their clients have to take numbers to be served. When the working day is over, Wattles & Swift convert their law offices into a nightclub, with the secretaries shedding their street clothes to don skimpy dancing outfits and the junior lawyers transforming into waiters. The story is set in motion when Joe and Aggie Bruno (Joseph Cawthorn and Cora Witherspoon) decide to get a divorce after 20 years of marriage. Wattles agrees to represent Joe in court, while Swift agrees to handle Aggie's case -- a cute conflict of interest that will mean money in the bank for the partners no matter what the outcome. The Brunos' pretty daughters Prudence (Dorothy Lee) and Pansy (Zelma O'Neill) show up in Reno to prevent their parents' breakup, whereupon Wattles falls in love with Prudence and Swift is overcome (quite literally) by Pansy. As part of his legal strategy, Swift arranges for Joe to be seen in public with another woman, who turns out to be Wattles in drag. After several minutes of double- and single-entendre comedy patter, disgruntled ex-husband Ace Crosby (Mitchell Harris), angry over the outcome of his divorce case, comes gunning for Wattles. The latter, still in female disguise, manages to keep Crosby at bay, but soon the ruse is revealed and the shootin' starts. The whole affair ends in up court, where the Brunos' divorce develops into a huge media event, with radio announcer Eddie Kane providing play-by-play and concessionaire Monte Collins hawking peanuts to the spectators. With the help of a melancholy violin rendition of "Hearts and Flowers" Wattles and Swift manage to reunite the warring couple. At this point, the Judge (Sam Hardy) instruct the jurors -- armed with musical instruments -- to "get hot," as he performs a double wedding ceremony, marrying Wattles to Prudence and Swift to Pansy. The musical highlights include a priceless Wheeler-Woolsey terpsichorean number which starts as a sultry tango and ends as an wild Apache dance, and Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee's delightful Niagara Falls to Reno, showing off the tapping skills of both performers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The old "If it were your own daughter" plot device forms the basis of the independently-produced crime melodrama Midnight. O.P. Heggie plays jury foreman Edward Weldon, who has no qualms about sentencing a woman to death for a crime of passion. His unpopular decision makes Weldon persona non grata even in his own home, but he sticks to his firm belief that all murderers must pay the supreme penalty, no matter what the provocation. He soon has cause to regret his intractability when his own daughter Stella (Sidney Fox) kills a former lover who betrayed her. In addition to Humphrey Bogart, who plays the small but memorable role of one of the murder victims, this New York-filmed oddity also features such Broadway-bred talent as Margaret Wycherly, Henry Hull, Granville Bates, Helen Flint, and, in their film debuts, Lynne Overman and Richard Whorf. Midnight was later reissued by Astor Films as Call it Murder to cash in on Bogart's latter-day popularity (Bogie was also "promoted" to top billing in the refilmed opening credits). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, and William Powell star in this crackling screwball comedy about a cut-throat newspaper editor's scheme to prevent a libel suit that ends up exploding in everybody's face. Tracy plays Warren Haggerty, the managing editor of a newspaper that mistakenly prints a story declaring the rich Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) has stolen away another woman's husband. Connie retaliates by suing the paper for $5 million. This happens right before Warren is about to marry his fiancee Gladys (Jean Harlow). As he has done several times in the past, Warren delays the wedding in order to stop the libel suit. Warren hires Bill Chandler (William Powell), a former employer who is desperate for a job, to marry Gladys in name only and then court Connie. That way, Gladys can sue Connie for alienation of affections and get Connie to agree to drop her lawsuit if Gladys will drop hers. Bill hops an ocean liner to accompany Connie and her father (Walter Connolly) back to the United States, but along the way Bill and Connie fall in love and Bill tries to convince Gladys to drop her suit so it won't hinder his relationship with Connie. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This low-budget musical drama is based on the famous song and tells the story of Frankie, a cat-house singer (famed singer Helen Morgan), and the naive country boy Johnny who comes to St. Louis to seek his fortune. They fall in love and marry. Unfortunately, the country boy learns fast and soon begins fooling around with the sexy Nellie Bly. It is a tragic mistake, for when Frankie tires of his philandering she opts to stop Johnny with a bullet. Before she can do the deed though, another beats her to it. The fact that this picture was shelved for two years explains the presence of Lilyan Tashman, who died in the interim. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sam Wood directed this fourth version of the Alexandre Bisson weeper, buffed to a high gloss by shimmering M.G.M. production values. Gladys George plays Jacqueline Fleuriot this time around, the wife of a diplomat who has an affair and is compelled to leave her husband and son. After abandoning her family, she sinks into a sea of debauchery, becoming involved in prostitution, blackmail, and eventually murder. After the murder, her son Raymond (John Beal), now a grown man and a famous lawyer, is called upon to defend her. Unaware that the woman he is defending is his long lost mother, Jacqueline tries to hide her past from her successful son. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this entertaining comedy, an American expatriate lives in Paris and fancies himself a clever con artist. Getting cocky, he invites his wife and daughter to join him. The daughter is about to marry and he promises her an exquisite French chalet. Now he must quickly find one before she arrives lest he end up with egg upon his face. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Dangerous Number of the title is madcap showgirl Elinor (Ann Sothern). Notorious throughout Manhattan for her zany antics, Elinor is also quite a handful for her conservative husband Hank (Robert Young). In addition, Hank must contend with the heroine's flamboyant ex-burlesque queen mother Gypsey (Cora Witherspoon). Not that Hank's family is anything to write home about; the most eccentric member of his clan is cousin William (Reginald Owen), who has lost one girlfriend after another because he refuses to shave off his beard. Trying very, very hard to qualify as a "screwball" comedy, Dangerous Number succeeds about three-fourths of the time. PS: This was Ann Sothern's first starring assignment at MGM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A golddigger finds that romance doesn't always equal finance in this comedy. Crystal Wetherby (Jean Harlow) is an American widow left stranded in London with a stack of debts incurred by her late husband and barely a shilling to her name. Raymond Dabney (Robert Taylor) is the black sheep of a formerly wealthy family who has just been released from prison for fraud and is looking for work. Crystal hires Raymond to watch over her home so that her creditors won't repossess her belongings; Raymond soon learns that Crystal is being courted by his brother Claude (Reginald Owen), much to Raymond's amusement, since both Crystal and Claude are motivated less by love than the mistaken belief that the other has money. However, Crystal and Raymond become increasingly fond of each other, even though they know they're both flat broke. The supporting cast features two of Old Hollywood's favorite U.K. expatriates, E.E. Clive and Una O'Connor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Just Around the Corner is the film in which little Shirley Temple ends the Depression all by herself! The story starts realistically enough, with 10-year-old Penny Hale (Temple) sharing a basement apartment with her widowed father Jeff (Charles Farrell, in his final Fox film). Once a prosperous architect, Jeff has been working as a hotel janitor-engineer ever since the Wall Street Crash. Ordered by pompous hotel concierge Waters (Franklin Pangborn) to keep her place, Penny nonetheless has fun wandering the lobbies of the posh establishment under the watchful and protective eyes of her friends, Kitty the maid (Joan Davis), Gus the chauffeur (Bert Lahr) and Corporal Jones the doorman (Bill Robinson). Having been told by her dad that the only person who can pull the country out of the Depression is Uncle Sam, Penny becomes convinced that goateed billionaire tycoon S. G. Henshaw (Claude Gillingwater Sr.) is Uncle Sam come to life. Charming her way into the heart of the irascible Henshaw, Penny convinces him to help the economy get started again. Not only does Uncle Sam accomplish this by creating thousands of new jobs, but he also manages to give Penny's father Jeff a new start in life, much to the delight of Jeff's sweetheart Lola (Amanda Duff). The film's highlights are Shirley Temple's always-delightul dance duets with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; less easy to take when seen today is the closing "Buttons and Epaulets" production number, performed by a chorus of servile blacks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a milquetoast office clerk is forcibly betrothed to a woman by her overbearing mother. The trouble begins when the man buys a rather erotic statue of a woman. The mother and her daughter are so appalled that they leave. The man loves his statue and soon learns that the model is the daughter of a prominent senator. More trouble ensues when the sculpture becomes the object of a blackmailing scheme. The crooks keep trying to get hold of it, but the clever clerk consistently outwits them. In the end, his gallant efforts win the respect and love of the pretty model. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Harold Lloyd plays a professor of Egyptology, frightened by the notion that he has fallen under an ancient Egyptian curse. Lloyd has the opportunity to join an archeological expedition to search for a missing tablet that will determine his fate, but he has to travel from Los Angeles to New York before the party sails to Egypt. Alas, Lloyd is also required to appear in court to answer charges of "indecent exposure" (it's a long story). The rest of the film is a frantic chase with the authorities pursuing the fugitive professor across the country, highlighted by a daredevil sequence atop a moving train. Most of the individual gags are funny, but Professor Beware is several notches below the standard set by Harold Lloyd's silent films. The lukewarm boxoffice response to this film would convince Lloyd that he should retire from performing--which he did, returning to the screen only for 1947's Sins of Harold Diddlebock. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To dim-bulb accountants find themselves working for a bookie in this comedy. Their jobs and their lives are placed in jeopardy when they accidently fumble $50,000 worth of the bookie's cash over to the secretary who wastes no time in spending $44,000 of it in less than 8 hours. The bookkeepers are given 36 hours to get all of the money back by their infuriated boss. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide