Edward Woods Movies

The Iron Major is the saga of WW1 hero-cum-football coach Frank Cavanaugh, played with his usual no-nonsense professionalism by Pat O'Brien. Leaving home and hearth behind to serve his country in the Great War, Cavanaugh goes on to lead the Dartmouth, Boston College and Fordham football teams to victory. His credo throughout is "Love of God?Love of Country?Love of Family"-inspiriational words indeed in war-torn 1943. Based on the memoirs of Cavanaugh's wife Florence (played in the film by Ruth Warrick), The Iron Major suffers from repetition and overkill. But, as Humphrey Bogart once said in an unrelated interview, "Pat O'Brien was good? Pat was always good." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A tough sailor bets his pals that he can win the love of a prissy librarian and so masquerades as a candidate for the Naval Academy to catch her eye. Unfortunately for him, she is not so easily fooled. He immediately changes his story and "admits" that he is actually a Navy spy. Enemy spies, who have come to assassinate a visiting ambassador, over hear this and kidnap both the sailor and the librarian. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The title tells all in the independently produced romantic drama Marriage on Approval. Set just before the repeal of Prohibition, the story concerns a young man (Donald Dillaway) who, while stewed to the gills, marries the equally besotted heroine (Barbara Kent). Upon sobering up, the hasty bridegroom realizes that, not only has his marriage been consummated, but the girl isn't even aware that she is married. He decides to court her anew to see if she is a worthy missus, but in the end it is she who decides to give the union a chance. This forgotten little item is based on an equally obscure novel by Priscilla Wayne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this drama a store clerk gets involved with a radio singer and ends up in a home for unwed mothers. The home is run by a cruel tyrant. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This comedy/drama (which is really more drama) tells the tale of Ruth Brock (Nancy Carroll), a young woman who is at odds with the pace and texture of life in her small town. On the one hand, she is a dutiful daughter and the sole supporter of her aging father (William Collier, Sr.), home-maker mother (Jane Darwell), and younger sister (Rose Coghlin); she works at the local bank in her small upstate town and, from the looks of the film's opening sequence at the bank, may be the most serious and diligent employee under the age of 50 that the bank has. But she's also got a fun-loving, flirtatious side, which comes out when she's in the company of young men, especially her boyfriend and co-worker Conny Billup (Edward Woods). Invited to a party at the local getaway at a nearby lake, she is sidetracked briefly by the attentions of Romer Sheffield (Cary Grant), the town's resident ne'er-do-well -- a playboy of independent means who takes pleasure in the gossip that he knows is stirred by his every move, Sheffield does as he likes, without a care about what anyone thinks. That's fine for him, but his flirtation with Ruth causes her all kinds of problems -- in a fit of jealousy, Conny abandons her at the lake in the middle of the night, and in the ensuing confusion the whole town soon thinks that Ruth was alone with Sheffield at his mansion for hours, till two in the morning, and immediately believes the worst of her. She is fired from her job and can't even speak any longer to anyone in town. Her own mother, who is mostly concerned with the loss of her salary, attacks her. And then a ray of hope arrives in the person of Bill Fadden (Randolph Scott), a one-time neighbor boy who left to become a geologist, and is passing through on his way to do a survey nearby. He's loved Ruth since he was a teenager, and hasn't seen her in years, and their chance meeting in her parents' house leads the to two to decide to marry. But Conny, still jealous and now angry, successfully poisons Bill's image of her. He rejects her, and Ruth's world seems to be collapsing around her once again, until she realizes that her one real chance for redemption lies with the man who started it all, Romer Sheffield. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Local Boy Makes Good was based on the J.C. and Elliot Nugent stage farce The Poor Nut, which had starred Elliot Nugent on Broadway and Jack Mulhall in the 1928 film version. This time Joe E. Brown stars as John Miller, a meek-and-mild college botany student who worships beauty-contest winner Julia Winters (Dorothy Lee) from afar. He writes her love letter after love letter, bragging about his imaginary athletic accomplishments, but never has the nerve to mail any of the them. As a prank, John's college pals actually mail one of his billet-douxs, whereupon Julia shows up on campus, fully expecting our hero to compete in an upcoming track meet. Having never been on a sports field in his life, poor John sneaks into a track-team practice, hoping to pick up a few pointers. But it's star runner Wally Pierce (Eddie Nugent) who gets the point when John inadvertently spears him with a javelin. Fleeing for his life from the enraged Wally, John reveals that he's a natural-born sprinter, whereupon the coach (John Harrington) immediately signs him up for the team. Eventually, John realizes that his longtime sweetheart Marjorie Blake (Ruth Hall) is the girl for him, but there's still a race to be won -- and it is, when John accidentally downs a jolt of rubbing alcohol and ends up running around the track backwards! Local Boy Makes Good was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who never ceased to be amazed by Joe E. Brown's real-life athletic prowess and the actor's willingness to risk serious personal injury for the sake of a good laugh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having labored to raise her children properly, a grief-stricken mother watches helplessly as their lives take diverse paths to ruin involving bad marriages, scandal, crime and the murder of one daughter by her own brother. ~ Rovi