Mary Brian

With a title like I Escaped from the Gestapo, it's a wonder that there's any suspense at all in this Monogram programmer. Dean Jagger stars as Lane, an imprisoned counterfeiter who is sprung from jail by a group of sinister-looking gentlemen. It soon develops that Lane is expected to apply his counterfeiting skills on behalf of the Nazis, who hope to destroy America's economy by flooding the market with phony money. But Lane's patriotism outweighs his mercenary instincts, and he turns the tables on the villains. Particularly well cast, I Escaped from the Gestapo features such reliables as John Carradine, Sidney Blackmer and Ian Keith, as well as Mary Brian in one of her handful of "comeback" films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A young woman and her two buddies team up to run her newly inherited trucking company. In this comedy, the trouble begins when they agree to haul some gambling equipment to Vegas, get caught and tossed into the hoosegow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Returning from a trip, wealthy seaman Cappy Ricks (Walter Brennan) is annoyed to find his home automated, his daughters' romances awry and his business in disarray, so he schemes with Bill (Lyle Talbot) to trap everyone aboard Cappy's yacht. Later, they fake a fire to maroon everyone on an island -- but then they end up really marooned. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

In this Paris-set comedy, a clerk gets a chance of a lifetime when he is unable to deposit his firm's receipts before the bank closes and has to keep the money over the weekend. He decides to have a little fun and uses the money to fool a fake countess into believing that he too is wealthy. Though he feels bad about it on Monday, he is very surprised to learn that his firm considers him a hero because the bank was robbed over the weekend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Mary Brian, who'd previously co-starred in several Hollywood silent pictures, were reteamed in the British comedy Once in a Million. The all-American Rogers is somewhat unconvincingly cast as Pierre, a Parisian clerk who is reluctantly entrusted with five million francs. To avoid attracting attention with so large a sum, he checks into a fancy hotel and places the money in the hotel safe. Dressmaker's assistant Suzanne (Brian) notices Pierre -- and his money -- in the lobby and assumes that he's a millionaire. Hoping to strike up an acquaintance, she pretends to be wealthy herself, whereupon the misunderstandings begin piling up like cord-wood. The cliched aspects of One in a Million can be forgiven in the light of its truly surprising finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A small community is terrorized by an unknown serial killer, one "Mr. Zero," who has held the populace in thrall for several weeks. The mysterious murderer takes refuge in the storage area of a department store, where Linda Allen (Mary Brian) works as a store detective. When jewelry-department manager Tommy Braddock (Russell Hardie) is suspected of being Mr. Zero, Linda endeavors to clear his name, and in so doing follows the trail of clues to the real killer. Inasmuch as Zero has already murdered a snoopy shoplifter, he has no qualms about putting his fingers 'round Linda's lovely throat..To give away the killer's identity would be unfair; suffice to say that the actor will be quite familiar to western and serial buffs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Amazing Quest was the original British release title of the 1937 comedy Romance and Riches (aka Riches and Romance). Making a rare return trip to England, Cary Grant plays the heir to a huge fortune. Alas, Grant is miserable, because he's never worked for his money. Determined to prove his worth, Grant makes a wager than he can earn his keep for a full year without ever touching the family millions. He loses his bet when he must draw upon his money to wed poverty-stricken Mary Brian, the better to save her from an unhappy marriage of convenience. Still, his experiences among the working classes have left an indelible impression; turning his back on his "equals," Grant invites all of his newly acquired lowborn friends to his wedding reception. Like His Girl Friday, Penny Serenade, and Charade, Amazing Quest is one on the ever-growing list of Cary Grant films that have lapsed into public domain, and thus are more readily available than when first released. Amazing Quest was based on a novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The otherwise standard series entry Charlie Chan in Paris is distinguished by the presence of actor Keye Luke, making his first appearance as Charlie Chan's (Warner Oland) "Number One Son" Lee. Summoned to Paris by undercover agent Nardi (Dorothy Appleby), Honolulu detective Chan hopes to get the goods on an international counterfeiting ring. Alas, Nardi is promptly murdered, but not before leaving behind a cryptic clue. With the none-too-expert assistance of son Lee, Charlie puts the pieces together and exposes the identity of the head counterfeiter (which, once again, is no surprise to veteran movie-mystery buffs). More action-oriented than most films in the series, Charlie Chan in Paris makes excellent use of the Fox Studios backlot, which doubled over the years for Paris, London, Prague and any number of European capitals. Long believed lost, Charlie Chan in Paris was restored and released to television in the early 1980s, providing a ray of hope that such earlier "Chan" installments as Charlie Chan Carries On and Charlie Chan's Courage will one day resurface as well. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George O'Brien trades his cowboy garb for a dinner jacket in Fox's Ever Since Eve. Raised by a couple of misogynistic old fogies, young heir Neil Rogers (O'Brien) reaches adulthood totally unschooled in the ways of women. He heads to New York, where he instantly falls in love with gorgeous gold-digger Elizabeth Vandergrift (Mary Brian). When he learns that Elizabeth is primarily interested in his money, Neil walks out on their marriage. Only later does his discover that she's borne his child, and that she's sincerely in love with him after all. Despite a few risque lines and situations, Ever Since Eve was designated "clean" entertainment by the trade paper Variety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Usually consigned to the supporting cast, eccentric comic actress ZaSu Pitts was occasionally rewarded with a leading role. In Paramount's Private Scandal, Pitts is top-billed as Miss Coates, the fey secretary of hotshot young executive Cliff Barry (Philips Holmes). Accused of murdering his boss B. J. Somers (Lew Cody), Barry suspects that Somers' death was a suicide -- but he dare not voice this opinion without ruining the lives of several others. With the help of obnoxious detective Riordan (Ned Sparks), faithful Miss Coates helps to clear Barry, much to the delight of his long-suffering girlfriend Fran (Mary Brian), the dead man's daughter. Private Scandal was co-written by Vera Caspary, of Laura fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount Pictures' annual college musical of 1934 is a pip, as they used to say. Jack Oakie plays Finnegan, a conceited gridiron hero whose prowess on the football field is exceeded only by his appreciation of the ladies. But his strutting manner and accompanying overbearing ego have alienated his one-time best friend Larry Stacey (Lanny Ross), a serious, more scholarly type who deeply resents the adulation heaped on Finnegan. Things go wrong for Finnegan after he graduates, as he pins his hopes on a job offer from a business firm that folds soon after. He finally shows up at Stacey's department store, where Larry -- the owner's son -- has taken over as general manager; and Larry, finally having the advantage over Finnegan, seeks to humiliate him in the course of helping him out with a menial job. But as it turns out, Larry is no sterling success either -- he's turned his father's once-thriving department store into a haven catering only to the very rich, of whom there were precious few in the midst of the Great Depression; Larry is also such a self-involved prig in his own way, wallowing in self-pity where Finnegan wallows in self-adulation, that he scarcely notices that his own secretary (Helen Mack) is almost dying in her unrequited love for him. In order to save his business, Larry's father, J. P. Stacey (eorge Barbier), turns to Finnegan, the football hero who used to sell 60,000 tickets a week on the playing field -- Finnegan understands ballyhoo, and what the public wants, and is put in charge of the store, and also becomes captain of a football team fielded by the store. Soon the place is jumping, especially when Finnegan brings back his old college team waterboy Joe (Joe Penner) and his duck mascot Goo-Goo, and fetching blonde cheerleader/singer Mimi (Lyda Roberti). Larry is reduced to running a department in the store and finally decides its time to step up and take on Finnegan head-to-head, joining the store's football team. But there's treachery and dirty tricks afoot -- in between a bright score by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel -- when Stacey's takes on a team fielded by their arch-rival store, Whimple's, in a bitter grudge-match fueled by the two owners' mutual dislike for each other. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

The missing girl in this weak whodunit from Warner Bros. is redheaded Peggy Shannon, once seen as the successor of "It Girl" Clara Bow. Shannon plays Daisy Bradford, a chorine who mysteriously disappears after dallying with millionaire Henry Gibson (Ben Lyon). Not only has Daisy gone missing, the body of gangster Jim Hendricks (Harold Huber) is found in the garden just below the room where she was last seen. Did Daisy kill Hendricks or was she merely an innocent witness? Fellow chorus girls Kay Curtis (Glenda Farrell) and June Dale (Mary Brian) decide to play amateur sleuths and their investigation leads to sundry other suspects, including Henry who has become smitten with June. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide