Otto Yamaoka Movies

In this western, a real estate agent takes everything from a bank and then frames the banker for the crime. The evil agent then becomes the receiver for the institution and begins trying to foreclose on numerous ranchers. His nefarious plans are thwarted by a cowboy hero who brings justice to the crook, reinstates the real banker, and falls in love with his daughter as well. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bing Crosby's only western (outside of the 1966 version of Stagecoach), Rhythm on the Range stars Crosby as a casual cowpoke on his way back to the Wide Open Spaces after an eastern visit. He meets a young train stowaway (Frances Farmer), whom he regards as a hoydenish vagabond until learning that she's the owner of the ranch where he works. Farmer resists Crosby's charms until he rescues her from a gang of rustlers. Among the supporting cast is Mischa Auer, Bob "Bazooka" Burns, and, in her film debut, 19-year-old Martha Raye. The film also introduces the song hit "I'm an Old Cowhand", which is sung at one point or another by everyone in the cast, including Russian-born Mischa Auer. Rhythm on the Range was remade in 1956 as Pardners, with a few minor alterations--notably the casting of Jerry Lewis in the Frances Farmer role! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman framed for a bond theft gets out of prison and takes a job at a waterfront cafe, where she witnesses a murder. She is in love with the man the victim was going to meet and is reluctant to talk. He tells her that he was going to haul a load of gold bullion for the victim, and soon they are caught between cops and crooks after the gold. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide

In the first of Columbia Pictures' "Inspector Trent" whodunits, the inspector (Ralph Bellamy) is called in to investigate the death of Edward Arnold (William Jeffrey). Although the young doctor in charge, David Marsh (Arthur Pierson), maintains that Arnold died of natural causes, a family curse causes Trent to become suspicious. The good inspector becomes even more alarmed when the victim, who has indeed been poisoned, proves to be one John Fry, the real Arnold (Claude Gillingwater) having changed places with an old friend in order to defeat the curse. But who killed Fry? Was it the Japanese houseboy, Kono (Otto Yamaoka)? Or the family attorney (Bradley Page)? Suspicion also centers on Arnold's beautiful ward, Janet (June Collyer); Fry's widow, Mavis (Betty Blythe); and sundry other more or less sinister characters lurking about the family's cavernous Forest Lake estate. Before Midnight was followed by three additional "Inspector Trent" mysteries: One Is Guilty, The Crime of Helen Stanley, and Girl in Danger, all released in 1934 and starring the affable Ralph Bellamy. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

It's "Never the twain shall meet" time again, this time in London's Limehouse district. George Raft stars as Harry Young, a half-caste saloonkeeper who shelters beleaguered white girl Toni (Jean Parker) from her tormentors (shades of Broken Blossoms). Harry falls in love with the girl, but mixing of the races was still a Hollywood no-no in 1934, so tragedy results -- except for Toni, who finds happiness in the arms of Eric Benton (Kent Taylor), a man of "her own kind." The highly eclectic cast includes Anna May Wong as Raft's obligatory cast-off sweetheart Tu Tuan, former 2-reel comic Billy Bevan, and in a tiny uncredited role, Ann Sheridan. To avoid confusion with another Limehouse Blues, this one was retitled East End Chant for television. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actress Shelah Fane (Dorothy Revier) is in Honolulu to shoot a movie, but her chaotic personal life is keeping her from concentrating on work. She's supposed to marry millionaire playboy Alan Jaynes (William Post Jr.), but she's also got an ex lurking around and a possible skeleton in her closet in the form of her one-time lover, actor Danny Mayo, who was murdered in Hollywood three years earlier in a case that's still officially unsolved. Fane seems to have resolved some of her problems and is prepared to move forward with her life -- with help from phony mystic Tarnevarro (Bela Lugosi) -- when she turns up murdered. Inspector Chan (Warner Oland) is up to his neck in possible suspects, including Tarnevarro, who was getting inside information on Fane and working some kind of scam; Fane's assistant, Julie O'Neil (Sally Eilers), who felt compelled to tamper with evidence; her would-be fiance, Jimmy Bradshaw (Robert Young), who tried to keep Julie from finding the body; Fane's oily ex (Victor Varconi); Smith (Murray Kinnell), a painter and beachcomber who was lurking around the murder scene; and two servants, Jessup (Dwight Frye) and Anna (Violet Dunn), one of whom seems very nervous. Several of these people had motive and opportunity, and the plot thickens considerably when some seemingly innocuous witnesses admit to hiding evidence, others start turning up dead, and yet others seem to be destroying evidence. Chan, juggling this list of suspects (and the thinly veiled racism of some of them) and the presence of his well-meaning but inept assistant Kashimo (Otto Yamaoka), as well as his family life, maintains his cool, cerebral demeanor throughout, despite attempts on his own life and the slang-laden yammering of his children, which the detective scarcely understands. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide