Al Bridge Movies
In films from 1931, Alan Bridge was always immediately recognizable thanks to his gravel voice, unkempt moustache and sour-persimmon disposition. Bridge spent a lot of time in westerns, playing crooked sheriffs and two-bit political hacks; he showed up in so many Hopalong Cassidy westerns that he was practically a series regular. From 1940's Christmas in July onward, the actor was one of the most ubiquitous members of writer/director Preston Sturges' "stock company." He was at his very best as "The Mister," a vicious chain-gang overseer, in Sturges' Sullivan's Travels, and as the political-machine boss in the director's Hail the Conquering Hero, shining brightly in an extremely lengthy single-take scene with blustery Raymond Walburn. Alan Bridge also essayed amusing characterizations in Sturges' Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1946), Unfaithfully Yours (1948, as the house detective) and the director's final American film, The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend (1949). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1937
With the increasing popularity of Republic's sagebrush crooner Gene Autry), rival company Columbia found it necessary to add a musical element to this Charles Starrett Western released in early 1937. As Starrett himself was no singer, the studio hired Donald Grayson to warble Lonesome River, Out in the Cow Country and Pancho's Widow, all by Ned Washington and Sam H. Stept. Grayson played Slim, a tenderfoot learning the ropes on a cattle run from Texas to Dodge City. The teacher is foreman Steve Braddock (Starrett), but training is interrupted by the news that the stagecoach has been held up by the Dawson gang and that Marian Phillips (Marion Weldon) is missing. Saving the girl from her kidnappers, Steve discovers that her father, Kenyon (Russell Hicks) is in cahoots with the gang, Suspecting that the man may be blackmailed by Dawson (Al Bridge), Steve infiltrates the gang by impersonating an outlaw. But Dawson sees right through the masquerade and demands to have him killed. Fortunately, the sheriff's posse arrive at that very moment and Steve can soon resume his courtship of Marian. Dodge City Trail was the first of many Starrett Westerns in which the hero's name is "Steve." The moniker was considered a lucky omen and Starrett retained it when playing his most enduring character, that of "The Durango Kid." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Donald Grayson, (more)
- 1937
This early feminist tale was a box-office flop that was released after years of script doctoring. Producer Samuel Goldwyn insisted that the story be made into film, because he wanted to pair his romantic stars Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins for a fifth time. Hopkins plays Virginia Travis, an architect who is chafing at the gender bias keeping her career in check. She approaches an aging, inept real estate developer, B.J. Nolan (Charles Winninger), promising to turn his latest suburban housing project into a winner. But Nolan is in debt, and his millionaire son Kenneth (McCrea) won't loan him any money. Virginia recruits two movie theater ushers to pose as the elder Nolan's servants in order to convince Kenneth that his dad is on the road to success. Virginia must also defeat Nina Tennyson (Leona Maricle), an attractive woman who is after Kenneth's money. Virginia gets Kenneth drunk and then has him sign a contract that will rescue the housing development. As they transact business, they fall in love. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, (more)
Former nightclub crooner Smith Ballew made his singing-cowboy debut in Western Gold. Set during the Civil War, the story finds Union soldier Bill Gibson (Ballew) heading West to prevent valuable Northern gold shipment from being systematically stolen by Confederate spies. Making our hero's job difficult is the fact that his old friend Fred Foster (LeRoy Mason) is in charge of the Rebel raiders. Anguishing over the notion of having to arrest his lifelong chum, Bill is "saved" when Foster is dispatched by a bullet conveniently fired from a stranger's gun. The leading lady in Western Gold is British-born Heather Angel, who looks mighty confused by her unfamiliar frontier surroundings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Smith Ballew, Heather Angel, (more)
Adapted by Lillian Hellman from Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play, Dead End concerns itself with several denizens of New York's East River district. Here the elite and the slum-dwellers rub shoulders due to the close proximity of the riverfront tenements with the East Side luxury hotels. Slum girl Drina Gordon (Sylvia Sidney) tries to prevent her younger brother Tommy (Billy Halop) from wasting his life as a member of the local street gang. Tommy and the other kids idolize Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart), a onetime East- sider who has hit the "big time" as a notorious gangster. Dodging the cops, Martin makes a sentimental journey to the neighborhood to visit his mother (Marjorie Main) and his old girlfriend Francie (Clare Trevor). But Martin's mother coldly tells him to get lost, while Francie reveals herself to be a consumptive prostitute. Despite his depressed state, Martin is still admired by the local kids; this displeases sign painter Dave Connell (Joel McCrea), who hopes to escape the slums via his romance with wealthy Kay Burton (Wendy Barrie). Attempting to kidnap a rich boy who'd earlier been beaten up by the street kids, Martin is prevented from making the snatch by Dave, who shoots Martin down. Receiving a large reward, Dave decides to give the money to Drina so that she can afford a lawyer to defend her brother Tommy, who has wrongfully been accused of masterminding the beating of the rich kid. His outlook on life altered by this unselfish act, Dave gives up his mercenary romance with Kay Burton, choosing instead the poverty-stricken Drina. The film introduces the Dead End Kids--Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Gabe Dell, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsley and Bobby Jordan--all of whom were veterans of the Broadway version of Dead End and would be metamorphosed into the East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1937
Johnny Mack Brown makes his third movie-serial starring appearance in the 13-chapter Wild West Days. Brown is cast as Kentucky Wade, who with the help of pals Trigger (Bob Kortman) and Mike (Frank Yaconelli) tries to protect Larry and Lucy Monroe (Frank McGlynn Jr., Lynn Gilbert) from harm. Larry owns a hidden gold mine, which villainous newspaper editor Matt Keeler (Russell Simpson) dearly covets. Framed for murder, Larry is thrown in jail, but Kentucky and company help him escape. Keeler dispatches his Indian cohort Red Hatchet (Chief Thunderbird) to knock off all the good guys (including good girl Lucy), and the plot takes off from there. Generous stock footage from the Universal vaults helps to make Wild West Days seem a lot more expensive than it really is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, George Shelley, (more)
- 1937
An above-average "Hopalong Cassidy" series entry, Borderland has Hoppy (William Boyd) going undercover as a bandit in a tough Mexican border town in order to trap a notorious bandit known only as The Fox. Not even sidekicks Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) and Windy (George "Gabby" Hayes) are in on the scheme, concocted jointly by Mexican Army Colonel Gonzales (Trevor Bardette) and Texas Ranger Major Stafford (Earle Hodgins). Lodging with widowed Grace Rand (Nora Lane) and her small daughter, Molly (Charlene Wyatt), both of whom he abuses in order to protect his cover, Hoppy learns that The Fox (Stephen Morris aka Morris Ankrum) is himself performing a bit of masquerade, in this case as a halfwit known as Loco. Windy, however, innocently spills the beans and is promptly kidnapped along with Molly. Chased by Hoppy, who is himself tailed by the villain's henchmen, Gonzales' troops, and a wounded Johnny Nelson, The Fox (alias Loco) escapes to his secret hideaway, a cabin stocked with dynamite. There, Hoppy catches up with him and in an exciting finale keeps the master villain at bay until help arrives. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, James Ellison, (more)
- 1937
In this western, a cowboy rides into Mesa and finds that he bears remarkable resemblance to a dead man. Actually he is the dead man, but instead of suffering a death, he suffered a blow to the head that caused amnesia five years before. After staying in the town a while, his memories begin to return. He then enlists the aide of some Texas friends to help him bring law to the wild western town. By the story's end, he has fully regained his memory and is able to reclaim his wife and ranch. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Barbara Weeks, (more)
- 1937
This hard-hitting Warner Bros. courtroom drama begins with the usual "Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental" disclaimer. Filmgoers with long memories, however, recognized Robert Rossen and Aben Kandel's screenplay as a blow-by-blow recreation of the Leo Frank-Mary Phagan case of 1915. Phagan, a 14-year-old employee in a Marietta, GA pencil factory, was found murdered. The bulk of the evidence pointed to a black janitor (who actually confessed to the crime years after the fact), but race-baiting Atlanta newspaper publisher Tom Watson decided to go after Leo Frank, the Northern Jew who owned the factory where Mary worked. "We can lynch a nigger any time," the politically ambitious Watson is alleged to have said, "but when do we get a chance to hang a Yankee Jew?" Thanks largely to Watson's "guilt by headline" campaign, and to Fulton County's cooperative solicitor general, Frank was found guilty and sentenced to death. Georgia Governor John M. Slaton, who all along smelled something fishy in the case, commuted Frank's case to life imprisonment (and was ruined politically as a result). En route to prison, Frank was abducted by a mob and lynched, an incident that boosted the prestige of the Georgia Ku Klux Klan. Aben Kandel dramatized this appalling miscarriage of justice in his novel Death in the Deep South, which served as the basis for They Won't Forget. In Mervyn LeRoy's film version, Lana Turner (in a star-making turn) plays Mary Clay, a teen-aged typing school student who dresses garishly and flirts with every man she meets. Mary is later found murdered; the last person to see her alive was her teacher, recently arrived Northerner Robert Hale (Edward Norris). Once more, a black janitor (played as a superstitious moron by Clinton Rosemond) is the most likely suspect, but the ambitious district attorney (Claude Rains) seems sincere in his belief that Hale is guilty. Once Hale is sentenced to death, the governor, played by Paul Everton, commutes his sentence, serene in the belief that, once his career is finished, he'll be able to retire peacefully (real-life governor Slaton did not go down so benignly). Except for the removal of the original case's anti-Semitic elements, They Won't Forget is stark, powerhouse filmmaking, one of the best of Warners' "social protest" films of the 1930s. It was remade as the 1987 TV movie The Murder of Mary Phagan starring Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Peter Gallagher, and Charles S. Dutton (as well as as the unsuccessful 1998 Broadway musical Parade). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Rains, Edward Norris, (more)
- 1937
In this exciting western, a lawman and a postmistress work together to bring the outlaws to justice. The outlaws have been bothering her because they want her land which sits next to the villain's mined out gold mine. The woman refuses to sell because she promised her father she wouldn't. Rootin' tootin' mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Rosalind Keith, (more)
- 1937
An intrepid amputee must pass a test to prove his devotion to his sweetie in this romantic drama. The hero lost his leg during the crash of a navy dirigible. Later he gets a job with a lumber company. He soon falls for the boss's daughter. Unfortunately, the general manager is also interested in her and so requires that the young man pass the notorious "blue vase test" in hopes of stumping the lovesick lad. The test involves retrieving a sketchily described vase and bringing it to headquarters on the railway. The plucky lad succeeds, marries his gal, and becomes the new general manager to boot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Brent, Charles Winninger, (more)
- 1937
Two Gun Law perpetuated the cinematic winning streak established early in 1937 by western star Charles Starrett and director Leon Barsha. The action never lets up as hero Bob Larson (Charles Starrett) takes on an impressive triumvirate of villains (Charles Middleton, Alan Bridge and Dick Curtis). To do this, Larson must give up his own outlaw tendencies and trod the straight-and-narrow, which he does, all for the sake of heroine Mary Hammond (Peggy Stratford). The film is highlighted by a climactic fistfight between Charles Starrett and Dick Curtis, the first of dozens of such on-screen bouts between these two western stalwarts. Incidentally, at the time Two Gun Law was filmed, Starrett's co-star Peggy Stratford was performing double duty as leading lady in Charley Chase's comedy two-reelers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Starrett, Peggy Stratford, (more)
- 1937
Gene Autry and veteran Western director Jospeh Kane team up for this lightweight effort. Gene (Gene Autry) is the foreman of a ranch which has just been put under new ownership, though he soon has his doubts about his new boss -- Sandra Knight (Polly Rowles), a pretty young woman with a college degree in animal husbandry but little practical experience of life on the range. When Sandra decides to raise sheep instead of cattle, it doesn't settle with the neighboring ranchers, and Gene is forced to make peace with both factions. As usual, Springtime In The Rockies features a handful of songs from Autry, with Jimmy LeFuer and his Saddle Pals providing accompaniment. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
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
- 1936
Based on the turn-of-the-century dimestore novels of Bert L. Standish (real name: William Patton Gilbert), this slow-moving serial featured husky Donald Briggs in the title role, a Fardale College star athlete who inherits a valuable ring from his father (William P. Carleton). By deciphering an inscription on the ring, Merriwell and his Hollywood friends (played by second generation actors such as House Peters, Jr., Wallace Reid, Jr., Allan Hersholt, and Carlyle Blackwell, Jr.) discover a hidden treasure of gold nuggets worth $30,000. There is opposition from a gang of cutthroats, of course, but Merriwell (who is both "merry" and "well") still manages to win the Big Game for his college. Lending much needed feminine appeal to the proceedings is Jean Rogers, who that same year would skyrocket to fame as Dale Arden in the Flash Gordon serial. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Margaret Lindsay stars in the title role, playing a young woman imprisoned for a crime which she didn't commit. The real culprit is her jailbird husband (Cesar Romero), a smooth jewel thief with a jealous streak. Margaret hopes to put her past behind her by taking up with a society man (Dick Foran), keeping the affair secret lest her fugitive husband kill her lover. Released in England as G-Man's Wife (Lindsay ends up with government agent Pat O'Brien), Public Enemy's Wife was based on a story co-written by none other than David O. Selznick. The film was remade as a 50-minute "B," Bullets for O'Hara (41), with a young Anthony Quinn as the criminal and Joan Perry (later the wife of Columbia chieftain Harry Cohn) as his wife. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, (more)
- 1936
Stuffed dummies on horseback manage to fool a gang of munitions smugglers in this farfetched low-budget Western from the Reliable company. Tom Tyler stars as a Texas ranger going undercover to infiltrate the aforementioned gang, which is lead by nasty Travis (Al Bridge). The outlaw, however, learns of the ranger's subterfuge and orders him killed. Luckily, Tom's associate, Jimmy (Rex Lease), manages to get help from the ranger captain (William Gould) and the stuffed dummies are send in ahead of the rescue team. Using subterfuge, Travis escapes with Jimmy's blond sister, Joan (Margaret Nearing), but is eventually tracked down by Tom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
A very low-budget Western, Outlaw Rule stars former fullback Reb Russell as a lawman in disguise coming to the aid of a young rancher, Danny Taylor (John McGuire), who has been falsely accused of killing the local sheriff. After performing a bit of sleuthing, Reb discovers that the real killer is the sheriff's deputy, Lindstrom (Al Bridge), who readily confesses after being confronted with a box of rattlesnakes. In town, meanwhile, the bank is robbed by Blaze Tremaine (Yakima Canutt), one of Lindstrom's accomplices, and a citizens' committee decides to hire The Whistler (Jack Rockwell), a noted gunman and agent for the cattlemen's association. The latter, however, uses the confusion to perform a bit of skullduggery of his own, but is eventually hunted down by Reb, who reveals himself to be the real Whistler. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1936
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
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, James Ellison, (more)
- 1936
Trail Dust was the eighth entry in the 66-film "Hopalong Cassidy" series. William Boyd, of course, is Hoppy, while his sidekicks Johnny and Windy are portrayed respectively by James Ellison and Gabby Hayes. This time the story is motivated by a huge cattle drive, some of which is lifted from such silent epics as North of 36, but much of which was specially staged for this film. The villains are members of a cattlemen's cartel who conspire to kill off the herds of their less-prosperous competitors. But Hoppy and his chums deliver the cows and bulls on time, and even round up the baddies for the benefit of The Law. At 77 minutes, Trail Dust was the longest "Hopalong Cassidy" to date -- but it would soon be eclipsed by the 82-minute Borderland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Hopalong" Boyd, James Ellison, (more)
- 1936
After a couple of false starts, William Colt MacDonald's "Three Mesquiteers" stories were converted into a western film series by Republic Studios. The Mesquiteers, a trio of wandering do-gooders, are muscular Tucson Smith, played by Ray "Crash" Corrigan; hotheaded Stony Brooke, played by Robert Livingston; and comic sidekick Lullaby Joslin, portrayed in this first series entry by Syd Saylor. The three heroes waste no time getting down to business once they're discharged from WWI military service: Tucson and Stony take on a gang of greedy cattlemen, Stony romances homesteader's daughter Marian (Kay Hughes), and Lullaby rounds up stray cattle while astride a motorcycle. J. P. Gowan plays the villain, as he would in several subsequent Mesquiteers entries. Among the film's many assets is the excellent location photography by William Nobles. The Three Mesquiteers proved to be a moneyspinner, encouraging Republic to stay with the series through six years and 51 entries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Livingston, Sid Saylor, (more)
- 1936
The 12-episode Universal serial Jungle Jim was based on the Alex Raymond comic strip of the same name. Grant Withers stars as Jungle Jim, who on this occasion is leading an expedition into darkest Africa. His employers hope to ascertain the whereabouts of Joan (Betty Jane Rhodes), a young heiress who disappeared in the jungle several years earlier. It turns out that Joan has become the ruler of a small native tribe -- and that she has fallen under the influence of The Cobra (Henry Brandon), a mysterious figure who exercises an evil influence upon her. With Jungle Jim's help, Joan breaks free of The Cobra's spell; now, however, both hero and heroine must make their way back to civilization without being devoured by marauding wildlife. Though Jungle Jim was well received, it would be another 12 years before Columbia's Jungle Jim "B"-movie series began production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grant Withers, Betty Jane Rhodes, (more)
- 1936
Republic's The Lawless Nineties reteams the studio's up-and-coming cowboy star John Wayne with 19-year-old ingenue Ann Rutherford. Wayne plays John Tipton, who is determined to break up the corrupt Wyoming-territory political machine run by Charles K. Plummer (Harry Woods). What Tipton doesn't know is that Plummer is also the head of a night-riding vigilante army, bent on killing anyone who opposes his reign. Among Plummer's victims is newspaper editor Major Carter (George "Gabby" Hayes), but Carter's pretty daughter Janet (Rutherford) vows to carry on her dad's work. Amazingly, hero Tipton doesn't have to rely on his fists or fancy gunplay to rout the villains: this time around, Democracy itself saves the day. And in only 58 minutes! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Ann Rutherford, (more)
- 1936
When widower Stephen Blake (Melvyn Douglas) and divorcee Edith Farnham (Mary Astor) are the only guests at a snowed-in mountain resort, sports director Snirley (Romaine Callender) and hostess Alma Peabody (Dorothy Stickney) try to promote a romance between Stephen and Edith. However, Stephen's son Tommy (Jackie Moran) and Edith's daughter Brenda (Edith Fellows) think this is a rotten idea and do what they can to prevent them from getting together. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melvyn Douglas, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1935
John Wayne goes up against a nasty vice lord in this, his second Western under the new Republic Pictures banner. Hired against his father's wishes to lead a wagon train, John Dawson (Wayne) at first battles then befriends the outlaw Kit (Al Bridge) and his gang, whom he supplies with food. The friendship comes in handy back in Frontier, OK, where Ace Holmes (Warner P. Richmond) has been terrorizing the citizenry in general and John's father, Milt (Sam Flint), in particular. When the latter is killed, John takes on the responsibility of sheriff, deputizes Kit and his men, and together they clean up the town. Filmed at Lone Pine, CA, and using plenty of stock footage from Ken Maynard's silent era The Red Raiders (1927), The New Frontier was directed by editor Carl Pierson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Muriel Evans, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, (more)
