Irving Cummings Movies

This drama, an adaptation of a novel by A.J. Cronin, chronicles the exploits of an alcoholic doctor whose career is in shambles as he embarks upon a cruise to the Canary Islands. The deeply despondent physician spends much of the journey hiding in his stateroom staring at the walls and woefully reminiscing about his younger, more successful days. He is unaware of the young female missionary who has a crush upon him. Instead he is interested in the affections of a married woman. When the boat docks upon the island it is discovered that yellow fever is running rampant. The doctor manages to dry out long enough to save the victims and his self-respect is restored. Later the married woman gets a divorce and she and the doctor have a real relationship. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Junior Durkin who burst upon the movie scene as Huck Finn in 1930's Tom Sawyer, is the teenage star of Man Hunt. Durkin plays an aspiring detective (courtesy of a correspondence school) who decides to take on the case of a robbery/murder. He uncovers a cache of stolen diamonds, and is nearly rubbed out by a mysterious baldheaded assailant. Junior's leading lady is Charlotte Henry, who'd previously costarred with the boy in Huckleberry Finn (31) and would have her bid for stardom later in 1933 with Alice in Wonderland. Man Hunt was an independent production (obviously so, given the tattiness of the sets and camerawork), distributed to the Saturday-matinee market by RKO. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A man on the wrong side of the law has a chance to turn over a new leaf in this crime drama. Edward Carson (Spencer Tracy) is a gangster who made a fortune in bootlegging; however, his lawyer turned on him and set him up on a tax evasion charge that earned him a long stay in prison. While Carson is in stir, prohibition is repealed, and with illegal booze no longer a money-maker, Carson's underlings take up kidnapping as a way to earn a living. When the gang abducts Thomas and Lila Penfield (Howard Lally and Mary Mason) -- the son and daughter of Judge Penfield (Ralph Morgan), who presided at the trial that put Carson behind bars -- Carson is given a chance to redeem himself. He's released on the condition that he help the police track down his former partners in crime before the Judge's children can be harmed. Jane Lee (Claire Trevor), a crusading journalist covering the kidnapping, gets to know Carson, and before long, they develop a close bond both professionally and personally. Keep an eye peeled for Kathleen Burke, who won a substantial cult following for her performance the same year as Lota the Panther Woman in the horror classic The Island of Lost Souls. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A night club owner under heavy police protection is murdered anyway, and a clever police commissioner figures out that it was her mother, who used a scorpion as the murder weapon. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi

In this western, a wealthy eastern returns from a polo match to find that his father has been murdered. Later, he is riffling through his father's papers when he discovers that his family may have had a different name. He then finds evidence that causes him to suspect that a certain western rancher may be implicated in the killing. He hops in a plane and heads West, but he doesn't make it as he plane ends up crashing into the bathroom of a pretty woman. She falls in love with him, but this causes great friction with her lover, a ranch foreman. Meanwhile the bad rancher orders the foreman to bring the son to him--unarmed. Fortunately, the young man escapes and goes to meet the rancher for a final showdown. He then learns that he is his real father. The rancher then tells him that the other man's death was accidental, that he had only gone back East to confront him as he had stolen his wife and son. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this drama, a macho ironworker and his equally tough friend decide to leave New Orleans to work as beam-walkers on a New York City skyscraper. This arouses the ire of his Cajun girlfriend who promptly shoots at him as he walks away and then follows him to the Big Apple where she becomes a nightclub performer. Time passes and her ex-lover becomes the head of the ironworker's union. He then finds himself dishonest crooks who are trying to manipulate him into embezzling treasury funds for them by having their most luscious moll seduce him. Fortunately, the ever-jealous Cajun girl and her pistol intervene, and the treasury money is saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This early talkie is the third version of the popular Booth Tarkington play. It is set in the mid 19th-century and centers upon a good-hearted riverboat gambler who takes on a group of criminals in New Orleans during Mardis Gras when he rushes in to save a young woman from ruination. But she is a tough cookie and doesn't even thank him. Instead, she runs away. Later he meets her again after he wins her daddy's cotton plantation in a card game. None of the locals are pleased by the gambler's presence and he is nearly lynched. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Irving Cummings was a good choice to direct this third Charlie Chan feature, the first to use sound, as he had previously made the first all-talking picture of any kind, In Old Arizona (also 1929). Chan fans may be disappointed in this globe-trotting mystery, however, as the detective (played by Korean actor E.L. Park) only appears in a few scenes. The story begins with a murder in London and the prime suspect is Colonel John Beetham (Warner Baxter), who is hiding pretty heiress Eve Mannering (Lois Moran) from her evil, philandering husband Eric Durand (Philip Strange). The action goes from England to Persia to India and finally ends up in San Francisco, where Chan prevents the golddigging Durand -- whom Eve has left for good -- from killing Beetham. Gilbert Emery, who plays a dedicated Scotland Yard detective, was originally envisioned as a big matinee idol, but was eventually relegated to thankless roles such as the one he plays here. The film is more noteworthy for its introduction of Boris Karloff to sound features, in a small role as a servant from Sudan who mutters inscrutable nonsense about the whims of the desert. The 20th Century Fox series began with 1928's The Chinese Parrot, starring another Asian performer (Sojin) as Chan, before Swedish actor Warner Oland took over the role in Charlie Chan Carries On and The Black Camel (both 1931), playing the unflappable detective until his death in 1938. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Romance of the Underworld was adapted from a barnstorming stage piece by Paul Armstrong. Forced by circumstance into a life of sin and deprivation, Judith Andrews (Mary Astor) ends up as a "hostess" in a seedy dance hall. She is rescued by her kind-hearted employer Stephen Ransome (John Boles), and together the newlyweds carve out a new and decent life for themselves. Their happiness is threatened when a figure from their past, slimy racketeer Derby Dan Manning (Ben Bard), tries to blackmail the unfortunate couple. In a climax that would not have been possible in the Production Code-dominated 1930s, Derby Dan is foiled by sympathetic detective Burke (Robert Elliot), who slyly arranges for the villain to be bumped off by one of his own underworld buddies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Far in the mysterious East there lies an island that exists under the radar of any law or authority. This haven for thieves and crooks is also the perfect home for women who make themselves widows. When showgirl Della Mason is framed for murder, the makes the island her destination, but even after arriving, she finds herself the target of one sinister plot after another. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

One of Hollywood's true professionals, Irving Cummings showed little of his later directorial sophistication in this terrible silent comedy-Western about a con man (Monte Blue) trying to fleece a group of wealthy but gullible Indians out of a fortune in oil. Along the way, Blue and his Runyonesque pals (Clyde Cook, Carroll Nye and Paul Nicholson) rescue a pretty lass (Leila Hyams) from a brutal saloon owner. Part Cherokee-Indian himself and a fine comic actor, Blue should have known better than to star in this racist drivel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Based on a magazine serial by the prolific Peter B. Kyne, this silent Western featured rising star George O'Brien as Bradley Blatchford, a college graduate who returns to the old homestead only to find that his father (Russell Simpson) is engaging in a bit of cattle rustling. This unpleasant discovery threatens to put a halt to Bradley's engagement to schoolmarm Sybil Hamilton (Anita Stewart), but then Sybil is also accused of rustling. Sybil, however, was framed by a real cattle rustler and the lovers are reunited. Veteran Vitagraph ingénue Anita Stewart played one of her very last romantic leads in this Western whereas young George O'Brien went on to immortality opposite Janet Gaynor in the beautiful Sunrise (1927), and, later still, B-Western stardom at RKO. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi