Jack Curtis Movies

A stranger steps into the midst of a tumultuous French family when he visits a tiny fishing village. The familial dysfunction began shortly after the patriarch, once an upstanding, respected fisherman, became addicted to alcohol. His sexually frustrated wife retaliated by becoming promiscuous. Their poor daughter and mentally retarded son both pay terrible prices for the behavior of their self-destructive parents. Tragedy follows when the son catches the stranger making love to his mother on the beach. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this crime melodrama, the son of a police commissioner falls in love with a girl who entices men to join rigged card games. She falls for the young man too, and tells him the truth about her employer. As a result, she is killed. Unfortunately, the young fellow is blamed for the crime until an investigation is launched. He eventually clears his name and the crooks are brought to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the title character, a young king exiled by evil conspirators. Forced to live far from his homeland, Fairbanks is harassed by the wicked Henry Daniell, who has been appointed to keep the young monarch from reclaiming his throne. After falling in love with commoner Paula Croset (later billed as Mara Corday), Fairbanks decides to take on the corrupt elements that have ousted him, and he dispatches Daniell in an exciting sword duel stage in an old windmill. Many of Fairbanks' more dangerous stunts were handled by David Sharpe, who received credit as second-unit director. Filmed in black and white, The Exile was originally released to theatres in "Sepiatone", a process which enhanced the film stock with a light brown tint. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Frank Borzage and star Ginger Rogers both came acropper in the lavish but dull historical biopic Magnificent Doll. The usually ebullient Rogers seems encased in wax as Dolly Madison, first lady of the United States in the early 19th century. The story begins as young Washington socialite Dolly Payne, previously and unhappily wed to one John Todd (Horace McNally), can't make up her mind romantically between idealistic politician James Madison (Burgess Meredith) and firebrand Aaron Burr (David Niven). Burr solves that problem when he flees the country after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, leaving the field clear for Madison. What should have been the film's highlight, Dolly's rescue of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution during the 1812 burning of Washington, is treated as a throwaway. Told in flashback, the film ends just before Madison's ascendancy to the White House, with Dolly chastely charming the current chief executive Thomas Jefferson (Grandon Rhodes). Magnificent Doll is anything but . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Paramount's first outdoor Technicolor feature, Trail of the Lonesome Pine was the third film version of John Fox Jr.'s novel. Inspired by the Hatfield-McCoy feud, the story is set in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Outsider Fred MacMurray arrives to clear the path for a new railroad. Mountain girl Sylvia Sidney falls in love with MacMurray, which incurs the enmity of Sidney's boyfriend Henry Fonda. It also plunks MacMurray in the middle of a long-standing feud between Sidney's family and another mountain clan. Hostilities alternately erupt and simmer until Sidney's youngest brother (Spanky McFarland) is killed by a feud-inspired dynamite blast. This tragic incident brings virtually everyone to their senses, and the feud is finally buried. Better in its individual setpieces than as a unified whole, Trail of the Lonesome Pine is still a worthwhile experience, especially when a pristine three-strip Technicolor print is available. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this, his fourth Western for Republic Pictures, John Wayne plays John Middleton, a would-be rodeo rider forsaking his chance of winning the championship in favor of searching for an old family friend who is missing under mysterious circumstances. After carrying out a bit of undercover work with the help of the missing man's pretty niece, Ann Mason (Sheila Mannors), John is ready to join the local ranchers in their fight against unscrupulous banker Frank Carter, aka Butch Martin (Frank McGlynn, Jr.), who is trying to steal their gold rich land. As he had in his earlier Riders of Destiny (1933), John Wayne "sings" a couple of ditties, including "On the Banks of the Sunny San Juan", his unlikely baritone this time supplied by bit player Jack Kirk. Adding to the unusually high musical quotient is the harmony group The Wranglers performing "The Old Dusty Road", none of which makes anyone forget Gene Autry! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This western features a case of mistaken identity after a friendly cowboy is thought to be the dreaded outlaw "Denver Ed." Now the cowpoke must prove his innocence before he and his gal can find peace and happiness. Mayhem ensues, but justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A fine early sound Western, this Buck Jones series entry from his Columbia period told the well-known story of a feud between cattle barons and sheep men. When Mart Denton (Charles Morton), son of a wealthy cattle man, kills a homesteader during a quarrel, Sheriff Larry Williams (Jones) faces a difficult dilemma. The sheriff is not only Mart's best friend but also engaged to the young man's sister, June (Miriam Seegar). But the law is the law and Mart is arrested. The angry cattlemen help the youngster escape and Larry is wounded. The escaped prisoner, however, is later killed by his own father (Erville Alderson) who mistakes him for one of the sheepherders. This final tragedy helps bring the old feud to a peaceful conclusion. Although the story was hardly new, The Dawn Trail was told forthrightly by veteran director W. Christy Cabanne who stretched realism over romance. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Mammy features Al Jolson as the star of a travelling minstrel show, appearing in a small Southern town. Jolson falls in love with an actress in the troupe (Lois Moran), but she loves another. One of Jolson's fellow minstrels (Lowell Sherman) is shot backstage, and it is assumed thanks to several plot convolutions that Jolson is guilty of the deed. He heads for the hills, but returns to the show, his reputation restored but his love for the actress unrequited. Maudlin in the extreme, Mammy is salvaged by several enjoyable songs by Irving Berlin and by its Technicolor photography (though most TV prints are black and white). The film's fascination with modern viewers rests with the presence of Al Jolson--and with the casual use of profanity during his confrontation scene with Lowell Sherman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The opening attraction at New York's Hollywood Theatre, Hold Everything was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr. For the film, both Lahr and most of the score were jettisoned, replaced by Joe E. Brown and songs by Al Dubin and Joe Burke. Brown plays Gink Schiner, a third-rate fighter who is at the same training camp as Georges LaVerne (played by Georges Carpentier), a contender for the heavyweight championship. Although he needs to be concentrating all of his energies on the upcoming bout, Georges keeps getting distracted: Norine Lloyd, a society dame, has a distinct interest in him, but the interest is strictly one-sided. Georges prefers Sue, an old buddy and confidante. Gink has woman trouble of his own, as his flirtations do not sit at all well with Toots, his erstwhile girl friend. More trouble arrives when Larkin, manager of current heavyweight champ Bob Morgan, appears at the camp with the goal of fixing the fight. He is sent packing, after which he attempts to slip a Mickey Finn to the challenger -- a plan which goes awry when Gink switches the drinks. Meanwhile, Gink, who is fighting in a preliminary in advance of the big fight, actually wins. Things don't look so bright for Georges, who initially gets the worst of it in his encounter with Morgan, but who eventually comes out on top. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a woman finds herself abandoned when the man she assumed was her husband suddenly marches in, announces that they were never legally married, and leaves. Many years pass and the woman is on a jury for a murder case involving a woman in similar straits as she once was. It is then revealed that the man she killed was the same one who left the woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, a sea captain saves a Shanghai whore who is being tossed out of town. He puts her on board and heads out to sea; unfortunately, the ship sinks and the two are trapped on a lifeboat until they are found by a ship filled with tough mutineers whom the hero quickly fights, thereby saving the other ship's captain and daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

New York subway guard Barry Baline (Monte Blue) is struck down by a speeding car on New Years' Eve. The driver, a mentally unhinged millionaire named Johnson Craigle (John Miljan), exchanges clothing with the unconscious Barry. When he awakens, Barry is assumed to be Craigle, leading to a series of amazing adventures, culminating in an episode with a gang of blackmailer-kidnappers. Deciding to assume Craigle's identity for expedience's sake, Barry pretends to play along with the blackmailers' schemes so that he can rescue abducted housemaid Minnie Humphrey (Patsy Ruth Miller). The subway-chase finale reportedly rivalled the similar climax in 1977's The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three. Wolf's Clothing was one of seven 1927 films starring Monte Blue, moneymakers all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide