Fay Wray Movies
The daughter of a Canadian rancher, Fay Wray was raised in California. While attending Hollywood High School, Wray appeared in the annual Pilgrimage Play. Exhilarated by this brush with show business, she decided to try her luck as a film actress, and spent the next few months leaving her pictures and resumé with various studio casting agencies. She managed to land a few western ingenue roles and a handful of bit parts in Hal Roach's 2-reel comedies, but full stardom didn't come her way until 1928, when she was selected by Erich Von Stroheim to play the main female lead in The Wedding March. This led to a contract with Paramount Pictures, where she was briefly groomed as one-half of a romantic screen team with Gary Cooper. Surviving the talkie explosion, she continued working steadily into the early 1930s, appealingly conveying what one biographer would describe as "the contradictory qualities of virtue and sex appeal."Beginning in 1932, Wray developed into the talkie era's first "scream queen," playing the imperiled heroine in five back-to-back horror/fantasy classics. In Doctor X (1932), Vampire Bat (1933) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), she was cast opposite the satanic-featured Lionel Atwill, playing his daughter in the first-named film and his intended victim in the remaining two. In The Most Dangerous Game, Wray and Joel McCrea were hunted down like animals by demented sportsman Leslie Banks. And then came Fay's opportunity to play opposite "the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood"--King Kong (1933). It was in this film that the auburn-haired Wray donned a blonde wig to portray Ann Darrow, the wide-eyed, writhing, screaming object of the Mighty Kong's affections. While King Kong is the film for which Wray will always be remembered (as late as 1996, she was still making annual pilgrimages to the Empire State Building to commemorate the anniversary of the film's premiere), it must be noted that she was certainly capable of playing roles with more depth and dimension than Ann Darrow. She was excellent as Gary Cooper's bitchy ex-flame in One Sunday Afternoon (1933) and as a dim-witted, voracious artist's model in The Affairs of Cellini (1934). Still, she felt typecast after King Kong, and in 1935 headed for England, hoping to find better film opportunities; instead, it was back to damsels in distress, most notably in the 1935 seriocomic thriller Bulldog Jack.
During her Hollywood heyday, Wray was married to screenwriter John Monk Saunders, but their marriage ended in 1937. After a lengthy romance with playwright Clifford Odets, Wray married again, this time to another screenwriter, Robert Riskin. When Riskin became seriously ill in the late 1940s, Wray retired from acting to care for her invalid husband. She returned before the cameras in 1953, co-starring with Paul Hartman and Natalie Wood in the TV sitcom Pride of the Family. After Riskin's death in 1955, she made a film comeback in character roles, most memorably as philandering psychiatrist Charles Boyer's long-suffering wife in The Cobweb (1955). Throughout her acting career, she also kept busy as a writer and musician, and at one point co-wrote a play with no less than Sinclair Lewis. Curtailing her professional activities after her third marriage to a Los Angeles physician, Wray retired after portraying Henry Fonda's sister in the 1980 TV movie Gideon's Trumpet. In 1989, Fay Wray published her long-awaited autobiography, an endearingly overwritten tome titled On the Other Hand. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Perennial sidekick George E. Stone is given the leading role in The Big Brain. Stone plays a small-town barber, short of stature but a giant in the world of stock promotion. As his bank account grows, Stone's ethics diminish, and soon he's playing fast and loose with other people's money. Disgruntled investor Fay Wray is the one who finally blows the whistle on the prevaracating hair-snipper. Reportedly based on the career of real-life swindler Charles Ponzi, The Big Brain also owes a great deal to the 1931 Edward G. Robinson vehicle Smart Money. This RKO programmer was released in Great Britain as Enemies of Society. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George E. Stone, Phillips Holmes, (more)
- 1933
Ralph Bellamy is incongruously cast as a he-man deep sea diver in the Columbia meller Below the Sea. The plot is set in motion by former U boat commander Frederick Vogeding, who seeks out a fortune in gold and jewels which sank to the bottom of the sea during World War I. There's plenty of wet and wild action towards the end, with Bellamy battling the villains, the elements and a fake octopus to retrieve the loot and rescue the leading lady. At the time he filmed Below the Sea, Bellamy was being rushed from one picture to another at Columbia. When he took a gander at the script and discovered that it was wall-to-wall fistfighters and heavy lifting, the exhausted Bellamy insisted that he be doubled in the more strenuous scenes. Columbia president Harry Cohn agreed, on one condition: that Bellamy not tell the studio's reigning action star Jack Holt, lest Holt demand his own stunt man. From this point onward, all of Bellamy's contractual negotiations at Columbia would invariably end with Cohn screaming "And remember: DON'T TELL JACK HOLT!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1933
The Mystery of the Wax Museum begins in London in the 1920s. Lionel Atwill plays Ivan Igor, a brilliant sculptor who manages a wax museum. Regarding his historical creations as his friends, Igor refuses the entreaties of his business partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell), to turn his labor-of-love museum into a more profitable "house of horror." Worth responds by setting fire to the museum, hoping to collect the insurance; as Igor looks on in horror, his effigies of Marie Antoinette, Queen Victoria, et al. grotesquely melt to the floor. Flash-forward to 1933: New York City is plagued by several disappearances -- not only of live people, but of recently deceased corpses from the morgue. Hard-boiled girl reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) browbeats her long-suffering editor Jim(Frank McHugh) into investigating these disappearances. Florence rooms with Charlotte Duncan (Fay Wray), the girlfriend of Ralph Burton (Allen Vincent), who works as a technician at a new midtown wax museum. This about-to-open attraction is run by Igor, who had survived the London fire but is now confined to a wheelchair. Igor's old enemy Worth is also in New York, his fingers in several crooked pies. It appears to Florence (and the audience) that somehow Worth is involved in the recent rash of disappearances; the guilty party could also be playboy George Winton (Gavin Gordon), Florence's boyfriend, who is deeply in debt to Worth. But once Igor decides that Charlotte is the living image of Marie Antoinette, the audience becomes uncomfortably suspicious that all those incredibly life-like statues in his museum are actually the paraffin-coated bodies of the missing people. Igor tips his hand when a terrified Charlotte, promised "eternal life" by being "transformed" into an Antoinette effigy, begins punching and clawing at his face -- revealing his countenance to be a mask, covering his hideously burned and gnarled features. Thus, the stage is set for the climactic race to prevent the strapped-down Charlotte from being permanently encased in wax. Long thought lost, The Mystery of the Wax Museum was rediscovered in Jack Warner's personal film collection in 1970. Its two-color Technicolor had faded to the point of monochrome, but fortunately its original hues were preserved by dedicated AFI technicians. The film was remade (and considerably simplified) as the 1953 3-D extravaganza House of Wax, with Vincent Price in the Atwill role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, (more)
"How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong -- and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading man" was a 50-foot ape. The film introduces us to flamboyant, foolhardy documentary filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who sails off to parts unknown to film his latest epic with leading lady Darrow in tow. Disembarking at Skull Island, they stumble on a ceremony in which the native dancers circle around a terrified-looking young girl, chanting, "Kong! Kong!" The chief (Noble Johnson) and witch doctor (Steve Clemente) spot Denham and company and order them to leave. But upon seeing Ann, the chief offers to buy the "golden woman" to serve as the "bride of Kong." Denham refuses, and he and the others beat a hasty retreat to their ship. Late that night, a party of native warriors sneak on board the ship and kidnap Ann. They strap her to a huge sacrificial altar just outside the gate, then summon Kong, who winds up saving Ann instead of devouring her. Kong is eventually taken back to New York, where he breaks loose on the night of his Broadway premiere, thinking that his beloved Ann is being hurt by the reporters' flash bulbs. Now at large in New York, Kong searches high and low for Ann (in another long-censored scene, he plucks a woman from her high-rise apartment, then drops her to her death when he realizes she isn't the girl he's looking for). After proving his devotion by wrecking an elevated train, Kong winds up at the top of the Empire State Building, facing off against a fleet of World War I fighter planes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1933
One of ten films that Fay Wray made in 1993 (including King Kong), Master of Men casts her as Kay Walling, a woman who is being ignored by her husband, Buck (played by Jack Holt). Buck owns a prosperous steel mill and they make a very good living, but he is ambitious and wants more. To this end, he is devoting considerable amounts of time to expanding his finances -- and doing quite well. Not satisfied with his success, he journeys to New York, where his wrangling further increases his bank account. Unfortunately, his stock with his wife is dropping steadily. Jealous and unhappy, she fights back by giving one of Buck's business rivals details about what he is up to. This proves disastrous for Buck -- although, as the stock market crashes the day after his bankruptcy, he would have been ruined anyway. Now that the distraction of wealth is out of the way, Buck and Kay are able to settle down and make a real life for themselves. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1933
In this adventure, a brave hero races across Middle-Eastern desert dunes to win the love his best friend's wife, the manager of an oil company. This naturally enrages the manager and he begins thinking his pal is out to destroy his business. Eventually the wronged manager learns that his seemingly conniving pal is actually an undercover agent and has been working to keep desert raiders from taking over the company. After succeeding, the agent dumps the philandering wife and goes on his merry way. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Bloodsucking winged creatures who may take human shape appear to have returned after centuries of dormancy to the middle-European municipality of Kleinschloss in this atmospheric, low-budget thriller from small-scale Majestic Pictures, and the burgomaster (Lionel Belmore) demands answers. With victims scattered everywhere, all bearing the distinctive puncture marks, police detective Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) finds himself completely stymied. Brettschneider, who refuses to accept what he considers mere superstition, is not pleased when that eminent physician Dr. Otto Von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) hints that there may indeed be such things as murderous human bats. Herman Gleib (Dwight Frye), the village idiot, meanwhile, just happens to have a fondness for the nocturnal creatures -- "They're so soft!" -- and the villagers, as they are wont to do, grab their torches and commence a manhunt. Poor Herman is destroyed, but there is another killing. And this time the victim is Georgiana (Stella Adams), Dr. Von Niemann's housekeeper, who failed to serve the physician his late-night coffee. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, (more)
The first of many official and unofficial screen versions of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game was put together by producer Willis O'Brien and directors Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel in 1932. Leslie Banks stars as loony Russian count Zaroff, a renowned big-game hunter who tires of stalking animals and begins hunting down the "most dangerous game"-human beings. Luring unwary victims to his remote island, Zaroff wines and dines them, gives them a few hours' head start to run into the jungle, then hunts them down with rifle and bow and arrow. As his grisly trophy room demonstrates, Zaroff hasn't missed yet. Shipwreck survivors Joel McCrea and Fay Wray are Zaroff's latest quarry. "First the hunt, then the revels!" declares Zaroff, casting a lecherous eye towards the wide-eyed Ms. Wray. The original Connell story had no heroine, but who wants to watch Joel McCrea lose most of his clothing while scurrying through the jungle? The Most Dangerous Game was filmed on RKO's standing King Kong sets during a lull in the production of that classic film, utilizing most of the Kong personnel (actors Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Noble Johnson, Steve Clemente and Dutch Hendrian; producer O'Brien; director Schoedsack; composer Max Steiner). While the plot has been reshaped and recycled many times since 1932, RKO's only official remake of Most Dangerous Game was 1945's A Game of Death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1932
A depressed dance hall girl causes all kinds of problems when she stows away on a freighter and is discovered by the second mate in this drama. He agrees to keep her hidden, but unfortunately the first mate finds out about her and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1932
Fay Wray screams when she first lays eyes on Lionel Atwill in Doctor X, but don't let that fool you. Atwill plays Fay's father this time around, and he may very well not be the diabolical "Moon Murderer" whom the police are seeking. Dr. Xavier (Atwill) maintains a research lab in a remote Long Island estate. The police suspect that one of Xavier's assistants--all "second-chancers" whose previous misdemeanors range from botched experiments to cannibalism!--is the mysterious murderer who strikes only when the moon is full. Newspaper reporter Lee Tracy sneaks into the estate to get a swell scoop, whereupon he falls in love with Fay. In trying to help the authorities, Xavier stages an elaborate trap for the Moon Murderer, with his daughter as the willing bait. The killer (we won't tell you who it is, but you'll figure it out anyway) reveals himself by coating his body with "synthetic flesh", which gives him supernatural powers. Based on a play by Howard C. Comstock and Allen C. Miner, Doctor X was originally filmed in two-color Technicolor; available for years only in black and white, the film was restored to its full tinted state in the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lionel Atwill, Lee Tracy, (more)
- 1931
A clever, slyly self-satirical screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur helps to make The Unholy Garden seem better than it is. The title refers to a Saharan oasis where a group of international crooks have converged, free from prosecution. Ronald Colman stars as gentleman thief Barrington Hunt, who rallies his fellow crooks together in a plan to divest a wealthy baron (Dudley Digges) of his fortune. Part of the scheme requires Hunt to make love to Fay Wray, the baron's lovely daughter, a task that proves pleasurable indeed. But Hunt hadn't counted on falling in love with Wray -- and when he does, it's "reformation and redemption" time, with our hero turning on and turning in his former pals. Among the reprobates within Hunt's orbit are such veteran screen heavies as Warren Hymer, Lucille LaVerne and Lawrence Grant, the latter chewing the scenery as a discredited doctor who keeps the skull of his murdered wife in a jar! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1931
In this western, three disreputable cowboys begin pursuing a beautiful lady because she possesses a map to a valuable gold mine. All three compete to win her hand because by law a wife must share all her belongings with her spouse. Despite their efforts, the woman falls in love with a decent fellow who takes her far from the three bad men. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1931
Warner Bros.' Captain Thunder contains some of the darndest Mexican accents you've ever heard in your life. The star is Hungarian-born Victor Varconi, portraying a legendary south of the border outlaw who tries to force Canadian senorita Fay Wray to marry a rival rustler whom she despises. She pleads with the bandito so pathetically that he is moved to grant her a single wish. Without hesitation she chooses her poor but true love. The bandit king, being a somewhat honorable fellow grants the wish and without a twitch, guns down the wicked cattle thief. Fortunately the film was played for comedy, a wise decision since it probably would have garnered laughs as a straight drama anyway. No fewer than four writers worked on Captain Thunder, and that folks is never a good sign. The true "bandit" in this film was Jack Warner, who picked the pockets of those filmgoers who thought they were going to see a thrilling melodrama (or at least a film with a semblance of coherent plot). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Varconi, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1931
Columbia spent the 1920s and 1930s dusting off its reliable "two guys/one girl" military plotline and dressing it up in a variety of uniforms. Dirigible was the 1931 edition of this old chestnut, with navy pilots Jack Holt and Ralph Graves battling over the affections of Fay Wray. The film picks up tremendously during an experimental dirigible flight over the Antarctic, which crashes upon a remote iceberg. The in-flight footage during this scene and the subsequent rescue is remarkable, making up for the banality of the romantic subplot. Much of Dirigible was filmed at Lakehurst, New Jersey, where the era of passenger airships would come to a fiery end six years later with the Hindenberg. Reportedly, Boris Karloff shows up unbilled as one of the Navy crewmen in the crash scene; try to find him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Ralph Graves, (more)
- 1931
In this courtroom drama, a lawyer defends his sister's fiance after he is accused of murder. The lawyer knows his client is guilty, and that another man, a sailor, also accused of the crime because he gambled away his gun, which became the murder weapon, but he must honor the confidentiality between he and his client. The sailor is given the death sentence. Just before he is to die, the lawyer's client comes forward and tells the truth. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1931
The Conquering Horde is a remake of the 1924 western epic North of 36, using generous amounts of stock footage from the original. The story takes place in post-Civil War Texas, where the local cattlemen are suffering from their inability to get their livestock to market. Dan McMasters (Richard Arlen), a Yankee war hero, is sent from Washington to help set up a safe and efficient passageway for the cattle drovers -- thereby earning himself the enmity of the local land barons who've been charging the cattlemen exorbitant fees to trek across their land. A romantic subplot involves McMasters and Yank-hating rancher Taizie Lockhart (Fay Wray). The Conquering Horde was remade in 1938 as The Texans, which like its predecessor was heavily reliant upon action highlights from North of 36 (including the spectacular panoramas of the last major cattle drive in the United States). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1931
The names have all been changed, but this hard-hitting gangster tale is based on an actual newspaper headline story involving the brutal slaying of corrupt crime reporter Alfred "Jake" Lingle, who had been suspected of betraying his boss Al Capone. Naive Southern boy Breckinridge Lee comes to the big city for fame and fortune. He starts out honest, but is unable to the resist hefty payoffs offered by crime lord Louis Blanco to suppress certain stories. Time passes and Lee does a great job for Blanco. Lee's girl friend tries to get him to go straight, but he has become too accustomed to the money and besides is too deeply mired in corruption to ever escape. In the end, he loses his life when a story about Blanco's latest shenanigans escapes his watchful eye and gets printed. Believing Lee was behind the double-cross, Blanco orders him executed and tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1930
In this convoluted drama, the jolly painted face of a circus clown is but a mask for an avaricious, ruthlessly ambitious, and deceitful man. Hap is performing in small New Orleans clubs when he saves the life of the starving Gardino, a member of a distinguished family of European clowns. Though impoverished and unemployed, Gardino is determined to avoid the family slapstick and become a "serious" performer of high-class clowning. Hap suggests they team up, but thanks to Gardino's refusal to do slapstick, their act is a dud. Gardino leaves in a huff. Later Hap finds his former partner performing Hap's proposed act with a new partner. He is doing quite well, and when he sees Hap, Gardino apologizes and they again team up. This time Gardino insists on star billing. To make matters worse, he steals Hap's girl and they marry. The honeymoon is barely over before Gardino is playing around with other women and gambling away all of their money. After his latest affair goes bust, Gardino grows despondent and so walks into the sea, never looking back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Skelly, William Powell, (more)
- 1930
The search for sunken treasure provides the basis for this adventure that begins when a treasure hunter's dive is sabotaged. He is diving off the shore of a remote tropical island that is the scene of an inter island war between rival native bands. While he is underwater, enemy natives cut his air hose. He manages to survive and make it to the beach still wearing his cumbersome diving suit. The stunned local cannibals immediately hail him as a sea god. This ruse comes in handy when he finds that evil rival treasure hunters also inhabit the lush isle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1930
William Powell was still in his tux-and-top-hat period when he starred in Pointed Heels. The scene is Broadway, where millionaire Robert Courtland (Powell) promises to back a new musical production on the proviso that bit player Lora Nixon (Fay Wray) be given a major role. Lora is appreciative but drops out of the show upon falling in love with younger millionaire Donald Ogden (Phillips Holmes). When Donald's mother cuts him off without a cent, Lora shows that she's true-blue after all by returning to the stage to support him. Still quite fond of Lora, Courtland arranges for her latest show, which threatens to be a flop, to become a hit by getting the show's pretentious stars drunk so that their attempts at high drama will be misinterpreted as comedy. Ungrateful Donald mistakenly believes that Lora is having an affair with her benefactor and walks out on his "unfaithful" wife, but with Courtland's help the two sweethearts are reunited at film's end. Pointed Heels was supposed to have been a vehicle for "boop-boop-a-doop" girl Helen Kane, but by the time the film was released, Kane's role was reduced to a supporting part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1930
The Border Legion (1930) is one of several cinemadaptations of the Zane Grey story of the same name. Jack Holt plays Jack Kells, a ruthless but essentially decent outlaw. Kells befriends straight-arrow border patrolman Jim Cleve (Richard Arlen), who is in love with heroine Joan Randall (Fay Wray). When Jim and Joan are threatened with imminent extermination, Kells nobly lays down his own life to save theirs. The production values of Border Legion were enhanced with yards and yards of stock footage from the 1924 silent version of the Zane Grey story (itself a remake of a 1919 film!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Arlen, Jack Holt, (more)
- 1930
With a title like The Texan and a star like Gary Cooper, one might assume that this 1930 actioner is a western -- and one would be wrong! Set in 1885, the film stars Gary Cooper as Enrique, alias Quico, alias the Llano Kid. Whatever the name, he's a bold and daring bandit, and after shooting a young gambler in self-defense he's got a price on his head. Looking for a safe hideout, the Llano Kid agrees to a scheme hatched by a crooked lawyer named Thacker (Oscar Apfel). Our hero agrees to pose as the long-lost son of Mexican aristocrat Senora Ibarra (Emma Dunn), a role for which he is extensively coached by Thacker, who stands to collect a huge reward when he delivers the "son" to the old woman. Upon learning that the real son was the gambler he killed, the Llano Kid calls off the scheme, whereupon Thacker hires a band of thugs to steal Senora Ibarra's fortune. With the help of his long-time adversary, Bible-quoting sheriff John Brown (James Marcus), the Llano Kid foils Thacker's plan and in the bargain wins the hand of Senora Ibarra's lovely niece Consuelo (Fay Wray). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1929
Thunderbolt was Josef von Sternberg's first American talking picture. George Bancroft, a von Sternberg regular (despite frequents clashes between the two men), plays a death row inmate who may be on the eve of eternity, but who has still one more murder on his mind. He plans to kill the young lover (Richard Arlen) of his former girl friend (Fay Wray); fortuitously the lover is incarcerated in the same prison where Bancroft awaits the chair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Bancroft, Fay Wray, (more)
