Harry Cohn Movies
Harry Cohn held down various odd jobs in his youth, including pool hustler and streetcar conductor. Always fond of popular music, Cohn teamed with composer Harry Ruby for a vaudeville act. While working as a song promoter, he made "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" a hit. In 1918, when his older brother Jack, was an employee of the Universal Pictures Corporation, Harry wrangled a job as secretary to Universal president Carl Laemmle. In 1920, Harry, his brother Jack and their mutual friend Joe Brandt; left Universal to create their own firm, C.B.C. Productions. Subsisting on a threadbare manifest of one-reel comedies and documentaries, C.B.C. became something of an industry joke, derided as "Corned Beef and Cabbage." But by using the promotional and business acumen he'd picked up at Universal, Cohn was able to successfully promote the C.B.C. product into first-run movie houses. In 1924, the Cohn brothers and Brandt bought a tiny studio on Gower Street in Los Angeles, and an adjoining apartment building; thus was born Columbia Pictures. Harry handled the Hollywood end of the business, while Jack Cohn and Brandt maintained the New York office (Harry and Jack; had grown to despise each other, and throughout the early '30s Harry successfully fought off Jack's attempts to take over the studio). The Columbia films utilized inexpensive new talent and faded former-greats, but Harry was able to secure good bookings. When Harry signed director Frank Capra in 1928, it proved a boon for both men; given a free creative hand, the formerly unsuccessful Capra turned out masterpieces, enabling Cohn to gain prestige in the industry. When Capra's It Happened One Night (1934) earned a rack of Oscars, Columbia Pictures lost its "poverty row" onus for good.As his stature grew, Harry Cohn achieved a negative fame as the most vituperative mogul in Hollywood. "I don't get ulcers, I give 'em!" he boasted; his enemies concurred, bestowing upon Cohn such soubriquets as "His Crudeness" and "White Fang." Much of Cohn's gruffness was calculated to see if his coworkers had the stamina to survive in a tough business; his theory was that if someone truly believed in a project, that person would fight tooth and nail to bring that project to fruition. Certain sensitive souls couldn't withstand Cohn's tactics; among the most notable casualties of his treatment was animator Walt Disney. On the other hand, many of those who stood up to Cohn and were willing to trade blow for blow were steadfastly loyal to Harry, and he to them; Cohn retained the services of short-subject producer Jules White long after all the other major studios had eliminated their shorts department. "I kiss the feet of talent!" cried Harry, and he meant it. In order to secure the services of top director George Stevens, Cohn agreed never to have any contact of any kind with Stevens on-set or off. And, at a time when most women in Hollywood were consigned to secretarial or starlet positions, Cohn recognized the abilities of screenwriter Virginia Van Upp to such an extent that he appointed her an executive producer at Columbia. Cohn's studio was the only major to reap profits during the Depression, and by the '50s Columbia was the most profitable operation in Hollywood. Among the studio's hits during the Cohn years were The Awful Truth (1937), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), The Jolson Story (1946), The Caine Mutiny (1954), and the Oscar-winners You Can't Take it with You (1938), All the King's Men (1949), From Here to Eternity (1953) and On the Waterfront (1954). Cohn made major stars out of such personalities as Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon and Kim Novak. After an early bout of indecision, he entered wholeheartedly into TV production, setting up the lucrative Screen Gems division. Though his enemies were legion, Harry Cohn, with his rare ability and understanding of Hollywood and the hit-making process, was truly one of the industry's greats and for that he was greatly respected. When he died, his was one of the best-attended funerals in Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Reformed gold-digger Barbara Stanwyck falls in love with a womanizing and wealthy aspiring artist and tries to convince him that she has really changed in this romantic Frank Capra drama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Marie Prevost, (more)
- 1930
Legendary Broadway comedian Joe Cook, who was capable of reducing audiences to paroxysms of helpless laughter by telling them what he wasn't going to do that evening, was invariably better than the shows in which he appeared. Fully aware of this, director Frank Capra brought Cook's 1928 stage musical Rain or Shine to the screen, cutting all of its songs and concentrating almost exclusively on the star. The mere wisp of a plot focuses on the tinker-toy travelling circus owned by heroine Joan Peers. Advance-man Cook does his best to stir up business and to avoid the sheriffs and process-servers, but it's an uphill battle. The climactic tent-fire scene is a cinematic tour de force for Capra, who'd improve upon it one year later in The Miracle Woman (1931). While Joe Cook's non-sequitur patter seems more bizarre than funny at times, he is always worth watching, as are his perennial stooges Tom Howard (who looks astonishingly like Robert Woolsey of Wheeler & Woolsey fame) and Dave Chasen (yes, the same Dave Chasen who later became a celebrated Hollywood restaurateur). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Cook, Louise Fazenda, (more)
- 1930
An early talkie from then-poverty row company Columbia Pictures, Brothers features popular silent screen actor Bert Lytell in a dual-role. Separated at birth, orphaned twins Bob and Eddie grow up on either side of the tracks, one adopted by a washerwoman (Jessie Arnold), the other by a wealthy attorney Naughton (Howard Hickman). Years later, Bob, now a successful but alcoholic attorney in his own right, kills the husband (Francis McDonald) of his mistress (Rita Carlyle) after an altercation in Oily Joe's Saloon. Unbeknownst to Bob, his long-lost twin Eddie works in the saloon and because of their resemblance, Eddie is accused of the crime. When Bob realizes the truth, he clears his brother's name and is institutionalized in a sanitarium. To shield his wife from this sad turn of events, Mr. Naughton persuades Eddie to take Bob's place in the household. He accepts and promptly falls in love with Norma (Dorothy Sebastian), Bob's fiancée. Deciding to leave for his brother's sake, Eddie learns of Bob's death in the sanitarium and declares his love for Norma. A stage matinee-idol who had made a striking screen debut as The Lone Wolf in 1917, Bert Lytell was really a bit too long in the tooth to play leading men at this stage of his career and left films in 1931 in favor of returning to the stage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Lytell, Dorothy Sebastian, (more)
- 1930
In this crime melodrama, a bootlegger orders the death of his rival. Meanwhile the bootlegger's wife dallies with his best friend. Following the hit, the gangster is arrested. Believing that his best pal ratted on him, he busts out of jail and goes looking for revenge. It is then he discovers that the real stoolie is his own wife who was trying to keep him from being rubbed out by a rival gang. Upon learning the truth, the repentant bootlegger decides to sacrifice himself to the coppers so his son can be raised by his upright best friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Revier, Jack Holt, (more)
- 1930
Actor Ralph Graves was responsible for the original story upon which Vengeance was based -- although, perhaps wisely, he elected not to appear in the film. Dorothy Revier stars as Margaret, the sexy wife of Charles Summers (Philip Strange), the tyrannical owner of an African rubber plantation. Suffering from what one observer has described as "Somerset Maugham disease," Margaret is bored out of her gourd by her isolated existence. Thus, when handsome overseer John Meadham (Jack Holt) arrives on the scene, she throws herself at him. It's virtually impossible for John to resist Margaret's charms, prompting the despicable Charles to plot a horrible revenge. Somewhat surprisingly, action star Jack Holt never puts up his dukes, preferring to do his fighting with a glib tongue and quick wit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Dorothy Revier, (more)
- 1929
Gangster boss Egan (Sam Hardy) manages to beat a murder rap by framing his mistress Marion (Margaret Livingston) for the crime. After eight years in stir, Marian is released on good behavior. She seeks out Egan and tries to persuade him to confess his crime, but he is unmoved. But when his life is saved by Marian's sweetheart Dr. Bradford (Lloyd Hughes), Egan magnanimously turns himself in. In the course of the film, ratchet-voiced Sam Hardy sings the Irving Berlin standard What'll I Do, which was at least good for laughs (whenever he hears or sings the song, the sentimental gangster decides not to kill his latest victim!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Hughes, Margaret Livingston, (more)
- 1929
Blonde Broadway dancer Marie Saxon came to the screen in 1929 courtesy of Columbia Pictures, who starred her opposite popular stage emcee Jack Egan in Broadway Hoofer, a rather leaden musical concoction that played mostly in the hinterlands. Saxon appeared as Broadway dancing star Adele Dorey who, overworked and exhausted, suddenly ups and leaves New York in favor of a country village. But when promoter Bobby Lewis (Egan) of the barnstorming Gay Girlies Burlesque Company arrives in town, he picks an incognito Adele among all the pretty village girls to star in his new show. On a lark, Adele introduces her maid Jane (Louise Fazenda) as her mother and accepts a contract. When Adele's identity is finally revealed, the slumming star apologizes for her deception by offering Bobby a Broadway job. Denouncing Irene for her duplicity at first , Bobby, who has fallen in love, finally agrees to the gig and they are reunited. Filmed back-to-back with the equally pedestrian Broadway Scandals, which also starred Egan, Broadway Hoofer completely wasted the redoubtable Miss Saxon in clumsily staged numbers such as Hawaiian Love Song, a would-be show-stopper featuring rather zoftig-looking chorus girls in grass skirts. Marie took the consequences of this minor disaster and quickly returned to the Great White Way. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Egan, Louise Fazenda, (more)
- 1929
Most of the films of silent screen starlet Olive Borden have apparently been lost to the ages, and Columbia's The Eternal Woman is no exception. The story begins with a shipwreck, as Argentine stowaway Anita (Borden) rescues handsome American passenger Hartley Forbes (Ralph Graves). She comes to regret this action when evidence suggests that Forbes is the man who killed her father. Preparing to murder Forbes, Anita relents at the last minute -- and a good thing, too, because Forbes is innocent, and the real killer is still lurking about in the vicinity. Manning the camera for Eternal Woman was Joseph Walker, longtime Frank Capra collaborator. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olive Borden, Ralph Graves, (more)
- 1929
This early Frank Capra talkie stars popular screen action team Jack Holt and Ralph Graves as US marines stationed in Nicaragua. The "two guys fighting over one gal" throughline is there because the audience expected it -- and besides, leading lady Lila Lee is awfully cute. But the meat of the story lies in the fact that Holt and Graves are pilots, required to fly their Curtis fighter-bomber on dangerous missions. The flight scenes, shot without the benefit of special effects or back projection, are truly awe-inspiring, and served as stock footage for countless Columbia films in future years. Released in both silent and sound versions, Flight was a major success for the tiny Columbia studios. Its effectiveness is all the more remarkable when one realizes that star Jack Holt had a lifelong fear of flying! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1929
Filmed back-to-back with the similar The Broadway Hoofer, Broadway Scandals marked the first musical production from then-Poverty Row company Columbia Pictures and the feature film debut of popular Broadway emcee Jack Egan. Egan plays Ted Howard, a vaudevillian left stranded in a tank town. A local girl, Mary (Sally O'Neil), proposes to finance a new act with her savings and the team succeeds in a minor way until Ted is discovered by Broadway femme fatale Valeska (Carmel Myers). Not wishing to stand in her partner's way, Mary nobly resigns from the act and instead accepts a minor role in the show. She proves a sensation on opening night, however, and a jealous Valeska demands her ousted. But Ted, who is in love with Mary, reorganizes their old act and they begin a new life together as man and wife. Despite such songs as "Can You Read in My Eyes", by Sam Coslow, "Kickin' the Blues Away", by David Franklin, and the inimitable "Does Elephants Love Peanuts?", Broadway Scandals failed to make much of an impact and played mainly in the hinterlands. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally O'Neil, Jack Egan, (more)
- 1929
In this drama, set in a bordertown gambling saloon, the owner falls in love with a promiscuous young girl. When she has an affair with another, he tosses her out of town. She gets revenge by marrying his younger brother. To make it worse, she and her new hubby honeymoon in the jilted brother's saloon. The saloon owner simply pretends he doesn't know her. Meanwhile, sure that revenge is her, the woman begins playing around with other men. Unfortunately, she chooses to mess with the town lunatic. He kills her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Sam Hardy, (more)
- 1929
Capricious Constance Bannister (Sally Eilers) has had 12 fiances, but has yet to take her marital vows. Fiance number 13, Oliver Mowbray (Norman Kerry), suffers the same fate as his predecessors when Constance impulsively weds doctor Thorvald Ware (Jason Robards Sr.) Grace (Thelma Todd), Ware's jilted sweetheart, cooks up a scheme to win back her man. Constance and Ware divorced, whereupon she marries Mowbray, and he links up with Grace. Years pass: the four protagonists are brought together by chance, whereupon they decide they've all made a mistake and begin playing "musical mates" all over again! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norman Kerry, Sally Eilers, (more)
- 1929
This comedy-mystery is famed director Frank Capra's first all-talking film. It tells the story of a bungling police inspector who tries to re-enact a murder scene with disastrous results. The first killing occurred within a darkened dining room. Unfortunately, when the inspector resets the scene, someone else is murdered. The poor inspector is terribly embarrassed, but this does not stop him from trying one more time. The original guests assist him and the murderer is finally captured. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Dorothy Revier, (more)
- 1929
Although forgotten today, Broadway chanteuse Belle Baker was important enough for Columbia Pictures to herald her much anticipated screen debut as "An event as important as the coming of sound," The frumpish Miss Baker slimmed down a bit for the occasion and was filmed as glamorously as possible by the little studio's ace cameraman Joseph Walker. A typical backstage melodrama, The Song of Love presented Baker and Ralph Graves as a married vaudeville act. She, however, retires to raise their son (David Durand and Graves falls prey to a predatory vamp (Eunice Quedens). Baker, meanwhile, scores with a hit song and little David works overtime to reunite his parents. Although the plot was as creaky as they came, The Song of Love was saved by Baker's contralto voice in such numbers as Bernie Grossman's torchy I'll Still Go On Wanting You and the bouncy I'm Walking With the Moonbeams (Talking to the Stars) by Mack Gordon, Max Rich and Maurice Abrahams. Aside from its leading lady, The Song of Love also proved the screen debut of Miss Quedens, who is better remembered today as the quick-witted Eve Arden, and marked the Columbia debut of sound-technician and future Three Stooges director Edward Bernds. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Belle Baker, Ralph Graves, (more)
- 1928
The Columbia programmer Sinner's Parade stars studio utility player Victor Varconi as shady dance-hall proprietor Al Morton. Schoolteacher Mary Tracy (Dorothy Revier) goes to work for Al to support her family. When Bill Adams (John Patrick), the son of anti-vice campaigner Mrs. Adams (Clara Selwynne), falls for Mary, she tries to quit her job, but Al won't let her. The girl's resentment for Al intensifies when the joint is raided and she loses her teaching job as a result. Amazingly, however, Al turns out to be the hero of the piece when the "respectable" Bill Adams reveals himself to be a gangster boss, whereupon Mary saves Al from being taken for a ride by Adams' hired goons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Revier, Victor Varconi, (more)
Director Frank Capra's first feature for Columbia Pictures, the silent That Certain Thing stars Viola Dana and Ralph Graves. Dana plays a poor girl who falls in love with wealthy Graves, the son of a millionaire restaurateur. When Graves declares that he has no intention of going into the family business, his father cuts him off without a dime. With nary a dime between them, Graves and Dana hit upon a moneymaking plan: they'll manufacture box lunches in Dana's kitchen, then sell them to construction workers from the back of her Model T. The box-lunch enterprise blossoms into a big business, driving dad's chain of restaurants into bankruptcy. All is forgiven when Father becomes Graves' junior partner. Lensed for less than $20,000 (the "prop" box lunches saved catering costs!), That Certain Thing was a hit, launching a long and rewarding association between Capra and Columbia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aggie Herring, Viola Dana, (more)
- 1928
For many years considered a "lost" Frank Capra silent, The Matinee Idol was restored in the mid-1990s to very nearly its entire 60-minute length. Johnnie Walker is cast as brash Broadway star Don Wilson, who out of boredom takes a leave of absence from his latest show and heads to the boonies. Here he stumbles across a threadbare theatrical stock company run by Ginger Bolivar (Bessie Love) and her father, Col. Jaspar Bolivar (Lionel Belmore). Smitten by Ginger, Don assumes a phony name and takes a job as a bit player in the Bolivar Stock Company's latest production, a dreadful Civil War drama. Amused by the sincerity of the provincial actors, Don secretly arranges for the troupe to be hired to perform in his own Broadway revue. On the night of their New York debut, the troupe's "high drama" is greeted with hoots of derisive laughter and celebrated as the comedy hit of the year. But Ginger, understandably humiliated, walks off the stage -- and upon finding out Don's true identity and his complicity in the proceedings, she walks out on him as well. Realizing that he's carried the joke too far, the now-contrite Don breaks his Broadway contract and seeks out Ginger's forgiveness, which of course she provides in abundance during the climactic clinch. Frank Capra later claimed that Matinee Idol represented the first time he was able to successfully combine broad comedy with a tender romance, though the film works far better on a comic level than it does as a love story (especially amusing are the close-ups of the Bolivar Stock Company's hayseed audience). Matinee Idol was remade in 1936 as The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bessie Love, Johnnie Walker, (more)
- 1928
Runaway Girls was the first directorial credit for Mark Sandrich, who would still have to serve a long apprenticeship in short subjects before regaining his stride at RKO in the mid-1930s. An unabashed exploitationer, this 1928 release was redeemed somewhat by virtue of its professional Columbia Pictures trappings. Shirley Mason stars as Sue Hartley, the mixed-up product of a broken home. Sue heads to the Big City in hopes of finding success as a model; instead, she falls into the clutches of white slavers. Clean-limned Jim Grey (Arthur Rankin) rescues the girl from evil vice lord Varden (Edward Earle), only to be accused of Varden's murder. But the actual killer is a grief-stricken father whose own wayward daughter wasn't quite as lucky as Sue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hedda Hopper, Alice Lake, (more)
- 1928
Banker John Caswell (Francis X. Bushman), a wealthy widower, decides to leave his scheming mistress Irene (Margaret Livingston) and marry the upper-class Helen (Helene Chadwick) instead. Seeking revenge, Irene starts an affair with Caswell's son Doug (Arthur Rankin). Caswell learns of their relationship and tells Doug the truth. The two men go to confront Irene only to discover that she has been shot to death in her apartment. Caswell puts the abandoned revolver in Irene's hand to make the shooting look like suicide. Police Detective Mitchell (Alphonz Ethier) pressures a confession from Doug, but he knows that the young man is innocent and instead accepts the notion that Irene killed herself, even though he has found one of Helen's earrings at the crime scene and knows that she is the murderer. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- 1928
No relation to the 1953 Grace Moore biopic of the same name, So This is Love was another early Frank Capra production for fledgling Columbia Pictures. The hero, dress designer Jerry McGuire (William Collier Jr.), is tired of being considered a wimp. After business hours, Jerry secretly takes boxing lessons, enabling him to knock the stuffings out of his burly rival Spike Mullins (Johnnie Walker). Jerry's newfound pugilistic skills wins him the affections of store clerk Hilda Jensen (Shirley Mason), who's just car-razy about "cave men." Filmed in a fast three weeks, So This is Love? was completed before Frank Capra's Matinee Idol but released afterward. Leading lady Shirley Mason was the sister of Viola Dana, who starred in Capra's initial Columbia effort, That Certain Thing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Mason, William Collier, Jr., (more)
- 1928
This high-seas melodrama tells the tale of a self-righteous sea captain who steals his son and leaves his wife because he believes that she is having an affair. Two decades later, a woman is discovered aboard the ship. It is the captain's ex-wife who simply wants to be near her boy who shares his father's contempt of her. Also aboard the ship is a young woman, the daughter of another woman who cheated on the captain. Things are tumultuous for a while, but eventually the emotionally stormy seas calm and the captain forgives his ex-wife and allows the son and his new lady love to wed. During a real storm, the captain sacrifices his life to save the endangered couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hobart Bosworth, Charles Delaney, (more)
- 1928
Recorded sound effects punctuate this silent drama, the first big-budget release from the then-Poverty Row studio Columbia. Navy man Jack Reagon (Jack Holt) falls for dance-hall girl Bessie (Dorothy Revier) and they marry, but she can't adjust to the bonds of matrimony. A love affair starts between Bessie and Reagon's longtime Navy pal Bob Mason (Ralph Graves), who later becomes trapped underwater in a sunken submarine. Bessie admits her unfaithfulness to Reagon but reassures him of Mason's honorableness, and Reagon succeeds in rescuing his best friend. So successful was Submarine that director Frank Capra would reteam with (Jack Holt) and (Ralph Graves) for two more romantic-triangle rescue dramas: his early talkies Flight (1929) and Dirigible (1931), in which the men fought over Lila Lee and Fay Wray, respectively. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Holt, Ralph Graves, (more)
- 1928
This silent gangster tale centers on a scarred racketeer, ironically called Handsome Williams (Mitchell Lewis), who has been robbing the liquor shipments of bootlegger Tiger Louie (William Norton Bailey). Handsome also runs a café where Dan (Theodor Von Eltz) works as a pianist. Outside his café, Handsome dodges the bullets of his enemies but the sudden violence so startles the blind street violinist Nora (Alice Day) that she faints. Handsome brings her inside, but when the grateful girl asks to feel his features, he instead lets her touch Dan's genuinely handsome face. Tiger Louie kidnaps Nora to try to stop Handsome's raids, but the gangster descends on his hideout with all his men. Dan rescues both Nora and Handsome from the shootout, and as they drive away Nora feels Handsome's face and recoils in shock. Giving up his deceit, Handsome stops the car and lets Dan and Nora escape as the police close in on him. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
