John Beal Movies

A doctor (John Beal) who loses faith in his skills renounces his profession and hides himself in a variety of jobs. He takes a minor job at an airfield, where he meets nurse Joan Fontaine, who works on a "flying hospital". On board the aircraft, Beal finds he is the only person who can perform a delicate operation; worse luck, the plane is about to crash! Beal finds himself, per the title, but nearly loses his life in the process. Watch for Dwight Frye, the immortal "Renfield" in Bela Lugosi's Dracula, as an hysterical patient--and seven-year-old Dwight Frye Jr. as a child rescued from a train wreck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Loosely based on a story by frontier writer Bret Harte, this romantic western drama tells the story of an innocent, carefree mountain-raised girl who causes quite a stir every time she comes to town to bring her boozy father home from the bar. One day, the flirtatious gal is kissed by the town schoolmaster. Utterly confused as to the gesture's significance, she goes to the town brothel for professional advice. The film was made twice before in 1918 and 1922. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Richard Boleslawski directed this lavish adaptation of Victor Hugo's oft-filmed epic novel. Fredric March stars as Jean Valjean, who is hauled into prison for stealing a loaf of bread. After ten years at hard labor, he escapes from the merciless prison but the years have taken their toll and Valjean is now a hard and embittered man. Valjean regains his compassion after the kindly Bishop Bienveenu (Cedric Harwicke) refuses to prosecute him for the theft of his candlesticks. Under an assumed name, Valjean becomes a widely liked and respected mayor. He devotes his life to helping others and adopts a young girl as his own. But the town's chief of police, Javert (Charles Laughton) is suspicious about the mayor and one day, after Valjean lifts a wagon off of a man, Javert remembers Valjean from his days on the prison galley. Javert sets out to uncover the mayor's true identity, but Valjean beats him to it -- when a man who claims to be Valjean is put on trial, Valjean appears at the court and reveals his secret. But before he is arrested, he escapes with his adopted daughter Eponine (Frances Drake) to Paris. In Paris, he assumes yet another identity. Eponine falls in love with student radical Marius (John Beal) and Javert, assigned to Paris to keep an eye on the revolutionaries, latches onto Valjean's trail once again. As Paris simmers in revolution, Valjean and Javert reveal themselves to each other for a final confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

John Barrymore wisely turned down this contrived courtroom melodrama that instead trapped poor Ricardo Cortez. He plays Robert Mitchell, an attorney who runs into his estranged wife Dorothea (Barbara Robbins) and her lover, artist Jerry Hutchins (John Beal), in a department store, the three of them purchasing, respectively, a hat, a coat, and a pair of gloves. All these accoutrements later turn up at Jerry's murder trial, the struggling artist having been accused of killing a former girlfriend (Dorothy Burgess). Dorothea persuades Robert to represent her former lover and the ace attorney not only wins an acquittal but also the love of his no longer estranged wife. Hat, Coat and Glove marked the screen debut of Broadway ingénue Barbara Robbins, whose only feature film it would prove to be. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Given the usual pedestal upon which mothers were placed by MGM head Louis Mayer, it's all the more amazing that Mayer gave the go-ahead for Another Language. Louise Closser Hale plays a domineering matriarch who controls the lives of her grown, married sons, using a fabricated heart condition to keep them in line. Helen Hayes marries youngest son Robert Montgomery, only to sit by in mute horror as Mother exerts her authority over her timorous offspring at a weekly family get-together. At the end, only Hayes and Montgomery's nephew John Beal have the courage to break the apron strings, but not without the formidable opposition of Monster Mom. Based on the Broadway play by Rose Franken, Another Language represented the screen debut of Margaret Hamilton, recreating the supporting role she'd played on stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide