John Bright Movies

Mel Ferrer and Anthony Quinn are perfectly cast in The Brave Bulls. Ferrer plays a star matador who is the idol of the crowds, an image carefully cultivated by Quinn, his manager. The matador is unbeatable until the woman he loves (Miroslava) perishes in an auto accident. Wracked by guilt and self-doubt, Ferrer is gored in his next battle. The rest of the film traces Ferrer's slow and torturous regaining of his courage. Based on the novel by Tom Lea, The Brave Bulls manages to convey the euphoria and blood-lust of the aficionados without offending the sensibilities of the Hollywood censors. The film's greatest asset is the gut-wrenching camera work by James Wong Howe and Floyd Crosby. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On the run from the cops, bootleggers Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) and Noll Turner (Kirk Douglas), find themselves racing up to an enormous roadblock. The two split up, agreeing that if one was caught, the other would operate their nightclub and save half the profits for his partner. The unlucky Madison is caught and when released from prison 14 years later, he returns to claim his money. Turner, never intending to split the money, tries to distract Madison by offering him the affections of his girlfriend Kay (Lizabeth Scott). Madison's brother Dave (Wendell Corey), Turner's accountant, help's Turner by doctoring the books to hide the lucrative profits of the club. Madison is enraged that he has been swindled by his friend and his brother, and Dave finally helps Madison get his revenge and Kay's love. Byron Haskin, in his directorial debut, brings a post-war idealism into the ordinarily cynical noir sensibility. Wendell Corey is particularly fine as Madison's cowardly brother, who manages to redeem himself, and Lizabeth Scott is touching as the vulnerable, romantic Kay. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Filmed entirely on location in New York, Close-Up affords a rare starring role for character actor Alan Baxter. While on assignment, newsreel photographer Phil Sparr (Baxter) happens to film a passerby named Beaumont (Richard Kollmar). Suddenly, everyone is interested in what Sparr has captured on film, none more so than girl reporter Peggy (Virginia Gilmore). It turns out that both Beaumont and Peggy are members of a secret neo-Nazi organization, headed by the very mean-spirited Mr. Gibbons (Philip Huston). Taking advantage of his newfound "hero" status (he was usually the bad guy), Alan Baxter shows off his athletic prowess in a pulse-pounding climactic chase involving two speeding ferryboats. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

We Accuse was the first American feature-length documentary on Nazi wartime atrocities: in fact, the film's title was originally Atrocities, presumably changed because the word was still unknown to many filmgoers. Using the trial of three German officers as its framework, the film is largely comprised of Soviet newsreel footage. Thus, the Nazi outrages included herein are those perpetratedly against Russian women and children; so gruesome were some of the images that the Hays Office, Hollywood's censorship bureau, demanded extensive cuts (the censors were unaware of the horrors awaiting them in the soon-to-be released Signal Corps footage from the recently liberated European death camps). Everett Sloane narrates the film, which was written by Warner Bros. scenarist John Bright. Much of the trial footage in We Accuse was taken from a previously released British documentary. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

From the first frame of its opening credits, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror promises (and subsequently delivers) mystery and thrills several layers deep -- following a short prologue intended to introduce Holmes to contemporary England (circa 1942), there is a series of terror broadcasts from Germany, announcing destruction throughout the British isles, and a montage of explosions and other disasters causing havoc. Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) are called in by Sir Evan Barham (Reginald Denny) of British intelligence's Inner Council to investigate the Voice of Terror and the accompanying sabotage. The other members of the council are disdainful of Holmes' presence, and express heightening doubts as his investigation seems to take him up several blind alleys. The case starts to break when a dying informant gives Holmes a tip that takes him and Watson to London's seedy Limehouse district, where they get a hostile reception until Kitty (Evelyn Ankers), the widow of the murdered informant, makes a patriotic speech reminding her friends that regardless of their class or their feelings about British society, this is a war for the survival of England. With Kitty leading them, the men and women of Limehouse form an invisible army and go out in search of the saboteurs. Holmes determines that the Voice of Terror is recorded on phonograph records in England and flown to Germany for broadcast; with Kitty's help, he traces the saboteurs to a deserted dockside location where he and Watson, along with intelligence chief Mr. Lloyd (Henry Daniell), are nearly killed by Meade (Thomas Gomez), the leader of the saboteurs. Holmes and company are rescued at the last moment by Kitty's army, but Meade escapes. He crosses paths with Kitty, who pretends to be a thief on the run and joins him. Working her way into his trust, she finds evidence that Meade plans to kill Sir Evan Barham; Holmes arrives just minutes behind Meade and heads off an attempt by a German plane to land on Barham's remote estate. All of these incidents of sabotage and attempted assassination are serious enough, but Holmes suspects they're part of a larger, more sinister plot that could lead to the destruction of England. The film ends with a chase to the South Coast and a bombed-out church, where Meade and his men are preparing to take over the country. Holmes captures Meade and unmasks the man behind him, and reveals just how far ahead of the Germans he has been, turning their certain victory into defeat, but he loses a good friend and ally in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

William K. Howard, a once-prestigious director fallen on hard times in 1939, proved that he still had the "right stuff" with the modest tearjerker Back Door to Heaven. Wallace Ford stars as Frankie, a pugnacious drifter stigmatized by his reform-school upbringing. Frankie and his former "classmate" Jud (Stu Erwin) try to go straight, but get mixed up in a robbery, during which a man is killed. Though not responsible for the murder, it is Frankie who is railroaded to the death house. Nonetheless, he manages to bust out -- just in time for his grammar school class reunion, presided over by teacher Miss Williams (Aline MacMahon), the only person who ever tried to give Frankie a break. Despite severe storytelling shortcomings and gaping logic holes, director Howard managed to make a silk purse out of the critically acclaimed Back Door to Heaven. However, what may once have been social realism, now seems more like a sentimental, mawkish melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of a slew of prison reform picture that flourished during the Great Depression, this melodrama was banned in Finland. Pat O'Brien stars as Steve Jameson, a former Army officer who is hired at the infamous California prison of the title and quickly brings military order to the facility, separating the general population from the most violent offenders. In the meantime, Steve is falling for a singer, May (Ann Sheridan), but he keeps his profession a secret when she reveals that her brother Joe (Humphrey Bogart) is serving time in San Quentin. May eventually learns of Steve's deception and their romance hits the skids. When a jealous rival guard, Lt. Druggin (Barton MacLane), arranges for Joe to discover the romance between Steve and his sister, Joe begins plotting escape and revenge. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Dynamic district attorney Douglas Goodwin (Paul Kelly) has no patience with murderers: his philosophy is "burn them all," and never mind the mitigating circumstances. But Goodwin finds himself on the other end of the spectrum when he is framed on a murder charge and sent to Death Row. During his long and agonizing incarceration, in which he comes face to face with several of the men he'd sentenced to the chair, Goodwin comes to realize that sometimes legalities must be tempered with compassion -- but he may never get a chance to exercise his newfound understanding on "the outside." The film's best scene finds Goodwin trying to persuade a terror-stricken condemned prisoner (Robert Cummings) not to attempt a last-minute escape. Ironically, leading man Paul Kelly actually served a prison sentence for manslaughter back in the 1920s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"I'm the finest woman who walked the streets," declares bejeweled, hip-swishing Lady Lou (Mae West) at the beginning of She Done Him Wrong. Lou works as a singer at the Gay Nineties saloon of Gus Jordan (Noah Beery Sr.), who plies her with diamonds to keep her by his side. She runs afoul of stalwart mission captain Cummings (Cary Grant), who warns her that she's on the road to perdition. Mae West's first starring film, She Done Him Wrong literally saved Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy. It would remain the best of her feature films, most of which were severely watered down by the Production Code (whose renewed stringency of 1933 was brought about in great part by West herself). She Done Him Wrong was based on West's own stage play, Diamond Lil, which ran on Broadway for 97 weeks. West sings "Frankie and Johnny," "I Like a Man Who Takes His Time," and ""I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone."" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a story by Robert Andrews, If I Had a Million is a multipart comedy-drama employing Paramount's top directorial and acting talents. Refusing to leave his fortune to his grasping relatives, dying millionaire Richard Bennett selects several people at random from the phone book and bestows upon each of them a check for one million dollars. The first recipient is henpecked husband Charlie Ruggles, who cheerily enters his former place of employment, a china shop, and smashes every bit of crockery in the place. Prostitute Wynne Gibson uses her money to escape from her sordid lifestyle and finally sleep in a bed all by herself. Forger George Raft finds that he can't convince anyone that his check is genuine, and ends up handing the check to a flophouse manager--who promptly burns it. Husband and wife W.C. Fields and Alison Skipworth, dismayed that their new car has been destroyed by a "road hog," utilize part of their million dollars to purchase a fleet of cars and then smash up every road hog in sight! Convicted murderer Gene Raymond hopes that his million will help finance a new trial, but the execution is carried out on schedule. Newly rich clerk Charles Laughton calmly makes his way through a series of offices, reaches his boss' desk, and delivers a loud Bronx cheer. Gary Cooper, Roscoe Karns and Jack Oakie play three brawling marines who think the check's a joke and sign it over to an illiterate lunch-counter owner. The last million-dollar recipient is May Robson, an elderly woman confined to a dismal nursing home. She spends her money to turn the home into a joyful resort for old people, forcing the formerly repressive nursing-home staffers to earn their paychecks by sitting all day in rocking chairs. The millionaire who started the plot rolling is given a new lease on life by May Robson's example, and he recovers from his "fatal" illness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Three on a Match covers approximately 13 years in the lives of girlhood chums Mary Keaton (Joan Blondell), Ruth Wescott (Bette Davis) and Vivian Deverse (Ann Dvorak). Having graduated from grammar school together in 1919, the girls stage a reunion ten years later. Hard-boiled Mary is now a chorus girl, level-headed Ruth has a steady job as a secretary, and vixenish Vivian is on the verge of capriciously deserting her wealthy husband Robert Kirkwood (Warren William) and their baby in favor of sexy mob-boss Mike (Lyle Talbot). Several more years pass, during which Mary marries Henry, Ruth is hired as governess for Henry, and Vivian's son and a drug-addicted Vivian become fatally enmeshed in a kidnapping plot involving her own child. In his second Warner Bros. film, tenth-billed Humphrey Bogart essays his first sneering-gangster role. Three on a Match was remade (and considerably laundered) in 1938 as Broadway Musketeers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Blonde Crazy is the kind of amoral fun that disappeared from Hollywood after 1933, once the Production Code forced morality down the throats of the studios (and screenwriters) and audiences. James Cagney plays a bellhop -- with a machine-gun mouth and a randy-streak a mile wide -- who turns full-time con man once he meets Joan Blondell, a basically "nice" girl (but not too dedicated to it) who quickly falls into his scheming and scamming ways. Blondell plays the bait in a string of badger game come-ons with a string of "sugar daddies," all of whom deliver their spare cash to duck out of trouble. The two live well on the proceeds of their con game until they come to New York City, where sharpster Louis Calhern tricks Cagney out of their money with a phony counterfeit scam. The pair get even with a suspenseful and elaborate con aimed at him, but Blondell also reveals she's tired of running and scamming people, and the life she's leading. She goes off to marry upper-class stock-broker Ray Milland, who is stuck on her and knows nothing of her past or her work. It's then that Cagney discovers he really loves her, and he ends up giving up his con man life, wandering aimlessly as the world seemingly passes him by. But Blondell comes back after a year of marriage, desperate for help -- it seems her straight-arrow husband has gotten himself into a jam involving embezzlement. It takes Cagney's response, coupled with a double-cross and a police chase, to show her how much he loves her. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were teamed for the only time in their careers in Smart Money. Robinson has the larger part as a small-town barber who fancies himself a big-time gambler. He travels to the Big City in the company of his younger brother Cagney, who wants to make sure that Robinson isn't fleeced by the high-rollers. Unfortunately Robinson has a weakness for beautiful blondes, most of whom take him for all his money or betray him in some other manner. The cops aren't keen on Robinson's gambling activities, but they can pin nothing on him until he accidentally kills Cagney in a fight. The incident results in a jail term for manslaughter, and a more sober-sided outlook on life for the formerly flamboyant Robinson. Watch closely in the first reel of Smart Money for an unbilled appearance by Boris Karloff as a dope pusher. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi