Al Bridge Movies

Future film producer Ross Hunter heads the cast of Columbia's A Guy, a Gal and a Pal. Hunter is the "guy", serviceman Jimmy Jones; the "gal" is Jimmy's sweetheart Helen Carter (Lynn Merrick), while the "pal" is the couple's self-appointed chaperone, 10-year-old Butch (Ted Donaldson). Helen's dilemma: should she marry Jimmy, or settle for financial security in the form of civilian Granville Breckinridge (George Meeker)? A clue to her decision: this is a Hollywood movie, and guys with names like Granville Breckinridge never get the girl in Hollywood movies. A Guy, a Gal and a Pal was directed by Oscar Boetticher Jr., who like Ross Hunter went on to bigger and better things-but only after changing his billing to Budd Boetticher. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although some purists hold out for Duck Soup (1933), many Marx Brothers fans consider A Night at the Opera the team's best film. Immediately after the credits roll, we are introduced to Groucho Marx as penny-ante promoter Otis B. Driftwood. After a sumptuous dinner with a beautiful blonde at a fancy Milan restaurant, Driftwood tries to cadge another free meal from his wealthy patroness, Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont). The dignified dowager complains that Driftwood had promised to get her into high society, but has done nothing so far. Otis B. counters by introducing Mrs. C to pompous opera entrepreneur Gottleib (Sig Rumann); all Mrs. Claypool has to do is invest several hundred thousand dollars in Gottleib's opera company, and her entree into society is in the bag. Contingent upon this plan is Driftwood's signing of Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), a self-important tenor. Backstage at the opera, Driftwood meets Fiorello (Chico Marx), who poses as a manager and offers to sell Driftwood the "world's greatest tenor"-not Lassparri, as Driftwood assumes, but Fiorello's pal Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones). Instantly the two sharpsters try to draw up a contract ("The party of the first part shall hereafter be known as the party of the first part..."), which they proceed to tear up piece by piece whenever coming across a clause that displeases them (Driftwood: "That's a sanity clause"; Fiorello: "You no foola me. There ain't no Sanity Claus"). Having lost Lassparri to Gottleib, Driftwood sails back to America with Mrs. Claypool and the opera company. Gottleib arranges for Driftwood to get the tiniest, least accessible stateroom on the ship. Unpacking his trunk, Driftwood discovers that he's got to share his postage-stamp quarters with Ricardo Baroni, who has stowed away because he's in love with the opera troupe's leading lady Rosa (Kitty Carlisle). Also hiding out in Driftwood's trunk is Fiorello, who's come along because he's still Ricardo's manager, and the wacky Tomasso (Harpo Marx), Lassparri's former dresser, who has come along for the hell of it. Anxious to arrange a tete-a-tete with Mrs. Claypool in his stateroom, Otis finds out that his unwelcome guests won't leave until they're fed ("Do you have any stewed prunes? Well, give them some black coffee, that'll sober 'em up"). After ordering a huge dinner, Otis and his new friends are crowded even farther by a steady stream of intruders, including an engineer and his assistant, a cleaning lady, a manicurist, a girl looking for her Aunt Minnie, and a dozen waiters. The celebrated "stateroom scene" comes to a rollicking conclusion when Mrs. Claypool has the misfortune of opening the door. On the last night of the voyage, Fiorello, Tomasso and Ricardo sneak out of their stateroom to enjoy an impromptu ethnic festival in steerage. Ricardo sings, Fiorello "shoots the keys" on the piano, and Tomasso plays the film's theme song Alone on the harp. The stowaways are caught and thrown in the brig, but with Driftwood's help they escape. To avoid recapture, the stowaways don heavy beards and pose as three famed Russian aviators. After making a shambles of a public reception, the three reprobates hide out in Driftwood's New York apartment, where everyone conspires to drive an investigating detective (Robert Emmet O'Connor) crazy. Driftwood is fired from the opera company for associating with the stowaways, while Rosa is dismissed for refusing Lassparri's affections. In order to restore Rosa's job and put the deserving Ricardo in Lassparri's place during the opening performance of La Traviata, Driftwood, Fiorello and Tomasso concoct a scheme that will reduce the opera to comic chaos. The actual night at the opera in A Night at the Opera must be seen to be believed, but the spirit of the scene can be summed up by Gottleib's anguished cry "A battleship in Il Trovatore!" Opera was the Marx Brothers' first film for MGM, and they dearly coveted a hit after the disappointing box-office showing of their final Paramount films. With the blessing of MGM production chief Irving Thalberg, the Marxes went on the road with their brilliant writing staff (including George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and Al Boasberg) to test their comedy material before live audiences. As a result of this careful preplanning, Night at the Opera was a smash-hit gigglefest, grossing over $3 million and putting the Marxes back on top in the hearts and minds of filmgoers everywhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ostensibly based on the life of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose smiling visage opened each of the 13 chapters, this fanciful serial depicted the travails of a globe trotting airline company. It seems that a villain known only as The Dragon (Arthur Loft) is determined to sabotage the company, who in desperation hires daredevil pilot Ace Drummond (John King) to investigate. By the time of the serial's 13th and final chapter -- "The World Akin" -- Drummond has not only managed to destroy The Dragon but also reunited lovely Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) with her long lost father (Montagu Shaw) and discovered a hidden mountain containing a fortune in jade. A former band singer with Ben Bernie, the rather bland John King later became "Dusty" King and enjoyed a minor career in B-Westerns. A legendary serial queen, blonde Jean Rogers gained her lasting reputation that same year when Universal cast her as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon. An edited feature version of Ace Drummond was released later in 1936 as Squadron of Doom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A granddaughter's world begins to crumble when allegations of her grandfather say that he is a criminal. ~ All Movie Guide

In his final film before entering war service, Gene Autry joins the World Wide Wild West Show, a faltering enterprise about to be taken over by the more powerful Johnson Bros. Rodeo, and his success as the Singing Bronco Buster allows the show to open at San Capistrano instead of the rival outfit. Stag Johnson (Morgan Conway), who is sweet on World Wide's owner Jennifer Benton (Virginia Grey), is inclined to leave things as they are but brother Jed (Tristram Coffin) and jealous show girl Jackie Laval (Marla Shelton) do what they can to sabotage the competition, including forcing Mom (Claire DuBrey) and Pop McCracken (Lucien Littlefield), Jennifer's foster-parents, off the road. Gene at first blames himself for all the troubles but then joins sidekicks Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) and Tadpole (Joe Stracuh, Jr.) in battling the increasingly desperate Johnson brothers. When not rescuing the heroine from runaway buckboards and other such Wild West shenanigans, Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, Joe Strauch, Jr. and company perform "In Old Capistrano", "At Sundown", "Forgive Me", "Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You", and "Fort Worth Jail". According to some reports, Bells of Capistrano), which was produced on an impressive budget of $500,000, employed two camera crews in order to finish principal photography prior to Autry's induction into the Army Air Force. Gene Autry Entertainment restored the film to its original length in 2001. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

A kind-hearted Native American adopts a homeless, orphaned Chinese boy who has only a horse to his name. This touching melodrama chronicles the years they spend together. The boy's new parents mate his horse with their mare and the resulting filly proves to be fast. They nearly lose the filly, but manage to get her out of the clutches of a dishonest horse manager. They then breed her. On the day she foals, they find oil upon the land and they name the colt "Black Gold." Together father and adopted son raise the horse with the hope of entering it in the Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, by this time, the father is an old man and just before he dies, he makes the boy promise to run the horse in the Big Race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures once again trotted out the old tale of rival stage lines competing for the valuable government mail contract in this routine entry in the long-running Durango Kid series. This time, the Halliday stage line of Quanto Basin is all but forced out of business when old man Halliday (Nolan Leary) finds himself falsely accused of killing Dan Waring (Steve Clark), the manager of the competing Brent line. In reality, Brent (Alan Bridge) has been sabotaging Halliday's efforts to win the contract by having Jim McMasters (Mauritz Hugo) and his hired gunmen perform one hold-up after another. Vociferously disagreeing with these methods, Waring was shot by McMasters, who then framed Halliday. Enter Waring's nephew Jeff (Charles Starrett) and his young friend Tex Harding, who quickly side with Halliday's daughter Mary (Carole Mathews) and the only driver left in the company, Cannonball (Dub Taylor). Donning the disguise of noted avenger The Durango Kid, Jeff gets the goods on Brent, who subsequently loses the deciding stagecoach race for the contract. McMasters is revealed as the killer, and Jeff leaves Quanto Basin in the capable hands of Mary Halliday and young Tex. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Too many of Gene Autry's Republic western sacrificed action in favor of music. A notable exception to this syndrome is Blue Montana Skies, directed by a fast-action maestro B. Reeves "Breezy" Eason. The up-to-date plotline finds Autry battling a gang of fur smugglers operating on the Montana-Canada border. When his business partner Steve (Tully Marshall) is murdered by the crooks, cattleman Autry follows the clues to a ranch owned by Dorothy (June Storey). Unbeknownst to the heroine, the murderers, led by Hendricks (Harry Woods), are working as her ranchhands. By the time she finds this out, it looks like she's next in line for extinction-but not if our hero has anything to say about it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures "borrowed" a few pages from Damon Runyon when crafting this entry in the Durango Kid B-Western series. When an elderly desert rat realizes that the granddaughter he has never seen is due to arrive in Long Bend, the downtrodden old sod is too ashamed to admit that the money spent sending her through college came not from a rich gold mine but from panhandling at the saloon owned by Lucky Thorpe (Alan Bridge). The latter sees a welcome chance to whitewash stolen gold and arranges for Grubstake -- now known under his real name of Horace Higginbottom -- to suddenly strike it rich. Enter Texas Ranger Kim Allen (Charles Starrett), who dons the disguise of the Durango Kid to get the goods on Lucky and his corpulent chief henchman Nevada (Charles King). After clearing up a minor misunderstanding with good friend Tex Harding, the Kid is to hunt down the nasty saloon owner and his hired hands. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Zane Grey's Thundering Herd was first filmed by Paramount in 1925, with Jack Holt in the lead. This 1933 remake utilizes a great deal of stock footage from the original, going so far as to rehire several of the supporting players from the earlier film to match the old scenes with the new; in addition, leading-man Randolph Scott sports a pencil-thin mustache, as Jack Holt did in the 1925 version. Motivated by a lengthy buffalo hunt, the story concerns the efforts by Tom Doane (Scott) to stem the activities of buffalo-hide thief Noah Beery and his minions. Beery has many of the film's best lines, especially when delivering unwarranted insults in the direction of his long-suffering wife (Blanche Frederici). Reviewers in 1933 enjoyed Thundering Herd, but took heroine Judith Allen to task for her anachronistic wardrobe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hopalong Cassidy's young sidekick, Johnny Nelson, is falsely accused of robbing the Bar 20 in this the fourth installment of the long-running Western series. Nelson (James Ellison) had left the ranch in high dudgeon over a perceived slight and fallen in with a gang headed by Shanghai (George Hayes) and Sam Porter (Al Bridge). Since the gang's aim is to rob the Bar 20, Johnny's sudden appearance is seen as a golden opportunity. The youngster is drugged and his easily identifiable neckerchief prominently displayed as the gang unsuccessfully attempts to rob the ranch safe, wounding owner Buck Peters (Howard H.Lang) in the process. When Hoppy (William Boyd) learns of Johnny's assumed culpability, he vows to bring the youngster to justice. Johnny, meanwhile, has managed to escape the gang and is holed up on a spread belonging to innocent Linda McHenry (Muriel Evans), who, unbeknownst to him, is Shanghai's daughter. He is found there by Porter who concocts a devilish plan to kill the boy and establish an alibi for himself at the same time. Luckily, Cassidy arrives to save his young friend in the nick of time and the gang is finally hunted down. Shanghai, who has decided to go straight, is shot in a struggle with Porter, but survives to clear Johnny of any wrongdoing in the attempted robbery. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western a traveling gun ends up in a small town and rescues an important rancher. Out of gratitude the rancher hires him to protect his land and cattle from his violent rival. It is revealed that the gunman is the son of the ruthless rival; he therefore, loses his job and finds himself entangled in the midst of a range war. He must eventually face his father when the bad guy takes over the only trail to the market. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide