El Brendel Movies
American comedian El Brendel spent several years in vaudeville honing his comic characterization as a Swedish simpleton, given to such expletives as "Yumpin' Yiminy!" In real life, Brendel was of German heritage, and spoke with no accent whatsoever, but his Swede character earned him so many laughs that he decided to stick with it. He entered movies during the silent era, making his bow in The Campus Flirt (1926), but it was in the early talkie musicals produced at Fox Studios that he truly made his mark. From 1929 through 1931, Brendel was in virtually every major Fox production, usually as comic relief; once in a while, as in the famous "futuristic" musical Just Imagine (1930), he was the star, and a very popular one. The movies used up Brendel's material very rapidly, however, and before long audiences wearied of his tiny bag of tricks. By the end of the 1930s, he was reduced to minor roles supporting such newer luminaries as Shirley Temple and Bing Crosby. Brendel's most prolific work in this later stage of his career was at Columbia Pictures, where he starred in nineteen two-reel comedies produced between 1936 and 1945; Some of these, like the Oscar-nominated Blitzkiss (1941), were pretty good, but most of El Brendel's short subjects were weak, and many were hampered by unsuccessfully forcing Brendel into a team with fellow Columbia contractee Harry Langdon. After 1945, Brendel's movie career really went downhill, occasionally brightened by amusing character parts in such films as The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949), but usually mired in the mediocrity characterized by El's final film, She-Creature (1956). Shortly before his death, El Brendel made a comeback of sorts as a character actor on TV, notably as a crotchety delicatessen owner on an early 1960s episode of The Danny Thomas Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1962
Perry (Raymond Burr) and Della (Barbara Hale) return to their office to find that someone has left a four-month-old baby on Perry's desk. Soon thereafter, Ginny Talbot (Kaye Elhardt), claiming to be the child's mother, shows up--and not long after that, Perry receives evidence that the infant may be heir to the celebrated Kerrick fortune. The key to the child's true identity is the St. Christopher medal around its neck, but before this matter can be cleared up, Perry must defend Ginny on a charge of murdering one Lester Menke (Corey Allen). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The lovely assistant of an evil hypnotist has no idea that she is the descendant of a horrifying prehistoric sea monster she is mesmerized by her boss. When the monster comes forth, she goes on a killing spree. A promoter learns about the hypnotist's shenanigans and figures a way to cash in on the death and destruction. Meanwhile, each time the assistant is hypnotized and the monster emerges, she is able to better control it. The monster costume was created by master make-up artist Paul Blaisdell and is considered one of his best. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Marla English, (more)
- 1953
Paris Model is quickie producer Albert Zugsmith's answer to such multistoried films as Tales of Manhattan. Linking the four stories presented herein is a Paris-original gown, "Nude at Midnight." The gown is first purchased by "good bad girl" Gogo Montaine (Eva Gabor), who hopes to impress her date for the evening, the Maharajah of Kim-Kepore (Tom Conway, who happened to be Gabor's brother-in-law at the time, a fact that wasn't ignored in the film's publicity). Next, the gown is illegally copied in the U.S., leading to a major social gaffe involving secretary Betty Barnes (Paulette Goddard), her boss Edgar Blevins (Leif Erickson) and Blevins' wife Cora (Gloria Christian). Next, Marion Parmelee (Marilyn Maxwell) wears the gown to coerce her husband's boss (Cecil Kellaway) into giving hubby a promotion. And finally, Marta Jensen (Barbara Lawrence) dons the gown in hopes that her erstwhile beau Charlie Johnson (Robert Hutton) will pop the question. Tom Conway makes a return appearance in this final sequence, as does 1930s comedy favorite El Brendel and Hollywood restaurateur Prince Michael Romanoff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eva Gabor, Tom Conway, (more)
- 1949
Preston Sturges' final American film was generally conceded to be a disaster in 1949; even star Betty Grable publicly bad-mouthed the finished product. When seen today, Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, while no classic, seems a lot better than it did five decades ago. Grable plays a western dancehall girl named Freddie, who is forced to take it on the lam after accidentally shooting a judge (she'd been aiming at her faithless boyfriend Blackie Jobero, played by Cesar Romero). Arriving in the tiny burg of Bashful Bend, Freddie is mistaken for the schoolmarm whom the town elders have recently hired. Taking advantage of this mistaken-identity situation, Freddie puts the make on wealthy banker Charles Hingelman (Rudy Vallee, a Sturges "regular"), who owns a valuable gold mine. Before the film's 77 minutes are over, Freddie finds herself smack dab in the middle of a shootout between the Good Guys and a family of dimwitted outlaws. As was always the case in a Preston Sturges production, Beautiful Blonde of Bashful Bend is chock full of colorful supporting players, including Hugh Herbert (hilarious as a myopic dentist), El Brendel, Sterling Holloway, and Margaret Hamilton. Also on hand are stalwart Sturges stock company players Porter Hall, Alan Bridge, J. Farrell McDonald, Georgia Caine, Esther Howard, Torben Meyer, Dewey Robinson, and Harry Hayden--many of whom, in keeping with 20th Century-Fox's curious billing policy, are denied on-screen credit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, (more)
PRC's Machine Gun Mama is the sort of comedy that tries to get laughs by invoking the name of Brooklyn. Wallace Ford and El Brendel play a couple of American dimwits who find themselves travelling through Latin America with an elephant. Why an elephant? So Wally and El can sell the pachyderm to a broken-down carnival, thereby making the acquaintance of Armida, who is the prettier half of a trick-shooting act. What we have here is essentially a two-reel comedy, inflated to 61 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armida, El Brendel, (more)
- 1944
A sleepy hay-seed filled Arkansas town gets spotlight fever when a local sow bears an unprecedented 10 piglets. Suddenly poor Pitchfork is inundated with greedy interlopers anxiously rooting around trying to make silk purses out of the unusual situation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Set during the war of 1812, Hal Roach's Captain Caution is an unusual swashbuckler in that the "hero" is actually the heroine. Louise Platt plays Corunna, the daughter of Captain Dorman (Robert Barrat), skipper of the American vessel The Olive Branch. When Dorman is killed in battle, Corunna courageously assumes command of the ship, with the help of muscular first mate Dan Marvin (Victor Mature). While trying to bring a valuable cargo to America, the Olive Branch is captured a number of times by the British, but on each occasion Corunna and Marvin manage to wriggle free and carry on their mission. Making life tougher for Corunna is the presence of the lacivious Slade (Bruce Cabot), who'd like to claim both the girl and the ship as his own personal property. Based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts (Northwest Passage), Captain Caution is currently available on video in a computer-colorized version; the reader is advised to hold out for the black-and-white original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Louise Platt, (more)
- 1940
Though its title suggests a war picture of some sort, MGM's Gallant Sons actually concerns the efforts of a group of kids to solve a murder. Young Johnny Davis (Gene Reynolds) is beside himself when his gambler father (Ian Hunter) is arrested for murder. In truth, Davis' pop is shielding several other people, whose reputations might have been ruined during his trial. Sensing that something is amiss, Johnny's pal Byron Newbold (Jackie Cooper) and his ragtag collection of tenement cronies play detective themselves to clear the elder Davis' name and trap the actual killer. Bonita Granville, at the time Jackie Cooper's girl friend, plays the only female member of the crime-solving gang. Coincidentally, Cooper, Granville and costar Gene Reynolds would later go into the production end of the business; in fact, in the early 1970s Reynolds would hire Cooper to direct an Emmy-winning episode of MASH. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Leo Gorcey, (more)
- 1940
In this musical drama, a construction worker becomes the guardian of a 12-year old girl after one of his buddies is killed. She and he head to New York to look for her uncle, a vaudevillian. With the help of a good pal, they soon find the uncle. The three searchers encounter trouble when the pal uses all their money to buy a ramshackle restaurant. Fortunately, the construction worker saves them by turning the dump into a red hot night spot. Songs include: "I Haven't The Time To Be A Millionaire", "Meet The Sun Halfway", "April Played The Fiddle", "The Pessimistic Character (With The Crab Apple Face)", "If I Had My Way", "Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider", and "Rings On My Fingers". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Gloria Jean, (more)
- 1939
In this campus drama, an orphan wins a cadet scholarship to the Culver military academy. He is a cocky fellow, and is very proud that his late father was a decorated war hero who died in battle. His arrogance and unwillingness to comply with the academy's strict rules soon gets him into hot water. Fortunately, the lad's level-headed roommate helps him settle down and toe the line. Later the young man learns that his dad is still alive and is recovering from the trauma of battle in a local VA hospital. Time passes and the young man grows up to be a fine cadet. Meanwhile, his father heals and becomes the courageous hero he once was. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Freddie Bartholomew, (more)
- 1939
A remake of Paul Leni's The Last Warning (1929), this "Crime Club" series entry once again presents the spectacle of an actor murdered in mid-performance and in front of a sellout crowd. This time the unfortunate thespian is John Wofford (Don Douglas), whose body subsequently disappears. To solve the mystery, police detective Arthur McHugh (William Gargan) goes undercover as a producer wishing to reassemble the original cast for a staging of the seemingly hexed play "Dangerous Currents." During rehearsal, the actor playing Wofford's old role, Carleton (Walter Woolf King), is found murdered and a series of threatening notes purportedly written by the dead actor continue to frighten the surviving cast and crew. Wofford's voice, heard over a disconnected telephone, adds to the terror, as does the actor's very dead body, which reappears behind a crumbling wall. But is the theater really haunted? And, if not, who is behind the strange goings-on and why? To learn the answers to these troubling questions, McHugh and his equally undercover wife, Gloria De Vere (Dorothy Arnold), must discover exactly how the original murder was committed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Gargan, Irene Hervey, (more)
- 1939
Universal's Code of the Streets stars the Little Tough Guys, an offshoot of Warner Bros.' Dead End Kids. This time Frankie Thomas plays Bob Lewis, leader of a gang consisting of Sailor (Harris Berger), Murph (Hally Chester), Monk (Charles Duncan), Trouble (Billy Benedict) and Yap (David Gorcey). The son of disgraced police officer Lt. Lewis (Harry Carey), Bob vows to clear his dad's name, and also to prove that accused murderer Tommy Shay (Paul Fix) is innocent. With the help of Tommy's brother Danny (James McCallion), the kids track down and trap the real culprits, who in addition to their other crimes had been responsible for Lt. Lewis' demotion. The nominal leading lady in Code of the Streets is Juanita Quigley, who during her child star days was billed as Baby Jane. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, Frankie Thomas, (more)
- 1939
Call a Messenger is the second entry in Universal's "Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys" series. In this one, the Little Tough Guys (Hally Chester, Harris Berger, David Gorcey) cede most of the screen time to Dead Enders Billy Halop (as Jimmy Hogan) and Huntz Hall (as Pig). When he and his pals are caught robbing their local branch of the Postal Union, Jimmy valiantly takes the blame for his friends' action. Given a choice between going to reform school and taking an honest job as a messenger boy, Jimmy opts for the latter-and before long, all of his buddies are wearing messenger uniforms. With the help of his Postal Union confreres, Jimmy manages to thwart the criminal activities of his ex-con brother Ed (Victor Jory) and Ed's gangster partner Chuck Walsh (Larry "Buster" Crabbe). Billy Benedict makes his first appearance as a Dead End Kid/East Side Kid/Bowery Boy in Call a Messenger, while comedy relief is provided by veteran funster El Brendel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, (more)
- 1939
This remake of 1932's Okay America is in many ways superior to the original. George Murphy scores in a rare unsympathetic role as Winchellesque radio columnist Dan Clifford, who doesn't care how many lives he has to destroy in pursuit of a good story. When a young debutante is kidnapped by gangsters, Clifford decides to act as the go-between between the criminals and the victim's parents himself. At first he cares only about outscooping the competition, but the deeper he becomes involved in the case, the more his essential decency seeps through. Still, he must pay for all his past sins, and pay he does in a spectacularly tragic but quite dramatically logical denoument. The stellar supporting cast includes Eduardo Cianelli as a snarling gangster, Dorothea Kent as Clifford's dumb-like-a-fox assistant, and El Brendel as a comedy-relief janitor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Dorothea Kent, (more)
- 1938
Happy Landing was another Sonja Henie moneyspinner from the 20th Century-Fox film factory. The story gets under way when skirt-chasing bandleader Duke Sargent (Cesar Romero) pitches woo to Trudy Ericksen (Sonja Henie) while on a tour of Norway. To Duke, it's just another harmless flirtation, but Trudy takes him seriously and trails him back to the USA, where she finds enormous success as an ice-skating star. When Duke's manager Jimmy Hall (Don Ameche) falls in love with Trudy himself, he cooks up a scheme to marry off Duke to vocalist Flo Kelly (Ethel Merman). As always, the plot takes a back seat to the skating, with Sonja Henie at her professional peak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Henie, Don Ameche, (more)
Child star Shirley Temple was getting a bit long in the tooth (at age 10!) by the time she made Little Miss Broadway. Facing the possibility that Temple's appeal was beginning to slip, the producers overstocked the film with top musical-comedy performers and character actors. The curly-topped actress is cast as orphan girl Betsy Brown, discharged in the care of her uncle Pop Shea (Edward Ellis), the manager of a theatrical boarding house. Before long, Betsy is the darling of the clientele, including bandleader Jimmy Clayton (Jimmy Durante), animal trainer Ole (El Brendel), and a pair of wisecracking midget entertainers (George and Olive Brasno). Snooty Sarah Wendling (Edna Mae Oliver), owner of the hotel building, is fed up with "show people" and demands that they pay their back rent or move out post-haste. But Sarah's nephew Roger (George Murphy), in love with Pop Shea's daughter Barbara (Phyllis Brooks), comes to the aid of the hotel's occupants. With the help of Betsy and her friends, Roger pleads his case in the courtroom of judge Claude Gillingwater by staging a lavish musical revue. The specacle of George Murphy dancing with Shirley Temple will prove particularly amusing to those aware of both stars' future political careers. Songs include "Be Optimistic", "If All the World Were Paper", "Hop Skip and Jump" and the title tune. Incidentally, outtakes of Little Miss Broadway exist showing Shirley Temple doing a frighteningly accurate impersonation of her costar Jimmy Durante (ha-cha-cha-cha-cha!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, George Murphy, (more)
- 1938
This third film version of Peter B. Kyne's Valley of the Giants benefits from the breahtaking Technicolor location photography of Sol Polito. Hero Bill Cardigan (Wayne Morris) is a lifetime resident of California's Tall Timber country. When evil land-despoiler Howard Fallon (Charles Bickford) arrives with a team of lumberjacks to strip the territory of its trees, Cardigan tries to stop them, only to discover that Fallon has the law on his side. Eventually, Cardigan finds an unexpected ally in the form of golden-hearted saloon girl Lee Roberts (Claire Trevor), who enables the forces of Good to triumph in the final reel. Stock footage from Valley of the Giants would be seen for years afterward in Warner Bros.' lesser outdoor dramas and two-reelers. The film was remade in 1952 as The Big Trees, with the emphasis shifted so that the Charles Bickford character, now played by Kirk Douglas, ultimately emerges as the hero! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, (more)
- 1937
Johnny Downs takes a break from his usual campus musicals to play a small-town songsmith in Blonde Trouble. Attempting to make it big in New York, Downs falls victim to con artists, back-stabbing agents and vainglorious "artistes." But with the help of down-to-earth Eleanor Whitney, Downs pens a hit song that plants him firmly on Easy Street. The best lines go to seasoned comedy pros Lynne Overman and William Demarest. The music in Blonde Trouble was co-written by Burton Lane, several years removed from his Broadway hit Finian's Rainbow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eleanore Whitney, Johnny Downs, (more)
- 1937
Rivalry, romance, and brotherly love in logging camps are chronicled in this drama. The trouble begins when the brother of a lumber company owner arrives from Paris to work for him. Upon seeing the beautiful owner of the rival logging camp, the newly arrived brother immediately defects to begin working for her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Brent, Beverly Roberts, (more)
- 1937
Is it any surprise that hoydenish child star Jane Withers plays the title role in The Holy Terror? This time she plays Corky Wallace the irrepressible daughter of Naval Air Service Lt. Commander Wallace (John Eldredge), spending her spare time staging all-aviator musical shows. One of these entertainments takes place in a café which, unbeknownst to our heroine, serves as a rendezvous for a gang of foreign spies. The villains provoke a brawl with the servicemen, in hopes of getting the café closed down so that they can conduct their sinister activities in secret. But Withers gets wise to their scheme, and with the help of her aviator pals she literally smashes the spy ring once and for all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Withers, Tony Martin, (more)
- 1936
Admidst a sea of melodramatic and unbelievable courtroom dramas, Career Woman is distinguished by its comparative realism. Law school graduate Carroll Aiken (Claire Trevor) is idealistic; her colleague Barry Conant (Michael Whalen) is cynical and mercenary. Despite their ethical differences, they team up to defend downtrodden Gracie Clay (Isabel Jewell) on a charge of murdering her sadistic father. The grandstanding Conant reprimands the jury for their prejudices against the poor, but this strategy fails miserably. Carroll is forced to apologize to the court, then goes on to win the case through the simple expedient of sticking to the facts. Career Woman well be the best "lady lawyer" film of the 1930s, with characters acting like human beings instead of Hollywood stereotypes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claire Trevor, Michael Whalen, (more)
- 1934
Dry-goods store owner Tillie Prescott (ZaSu Pitts) has promised to marry meek barber Chris Peterson (El Brendel), but he won't marry her until his business has grown successful enough to allow him to get a second chair in his barber shop -- and it's been 10 years, and he's not any closer to getting that second chair. Then, one day, an acting troupe gets stranded in town, and out-of-work showgirl Lulu White (Pert Kelton) sets herself up in Chris's barber shop doing manicures. Lulu knows a lot of the angles, including how to get men to do what she wants most of the time, and suddenly every male in town is eager to get his nails manicured (and hang around for a shave and haircut) just to get near Lulu. Chris's second chair seems like a real possibility, but Tillie gets jealous of Lulu, and is tricked by a smooth-talking salesman (Skeets Gallagher) into signing with a big retail chain that forces her out of the store she founded. Meanwhile, local wise-guy Duke Slater (James Gleason) gets led on by Lulu and decides he's going to set right what's happened to Tillie, and teach Lulu a lesson in the bargain. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- ZaSu Pitts, James Gleason, (more)
- 1934
Olsen's Night Out is the alternate title for Olsen's Big Moment. Swedish-dialect comedian El Brendel stars as Olsen, a bumbling janitor determined to enjoy his first night out in months. In short order, Olsen becomes involved with a gangster who doesn't want his sister to enter society. He also meets a tipsy millionaire (Walter Catlett) who is being pursued by a blonde gold-digger. Olsen solves everyone's problems, then retreats to the safety of his basement. While El Brendel is very much an acquired taste, Olsen's Night Out shows him to excellent advantage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- El Brendel, Walter Catlett, (more)
- 1934
Based on a Zane Grey story, The Last Trail stars virile cowboy hero George O'Brien in a largely anti-heroic role. Escaping from a posse, the "good bad man" (O'Brien) boards an Eastbound train, where he strikes up a friendship with a genial gangster (J. Carroll Naish). Later on, the cowboy returns to the West as a member of the gangster's gang. He poses as the heir to a vast cattle ranch, never dreaming that he really is the heir. When the truth is revealed, the wayward cowboy switches to the side of the Law, while another of the gangster's flunkeys (Claire Trevor) reveals herself to be an honest newspaperwoman -- and thus a suitable candidate for romance. Like all of Fox's Zane Grey programmers, The Last Trail boasts excellent production values and crystal-clear photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George O'Brien, Claire Trevor, (more)
- 1933
In this comedy, a pair of ex-Marines team up and get involved in a nightclub.Trouble ensues when they both fall in love with a feisty woman and begin fighting over her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen, (more)
