Lucille Browne Movies

Rudolph Mate directs this sentimental melodrama about a ridiculously self-sacrificing wife based on the book by Ruth Southard and starring a 12-year-old Natalie Wood. Mary Scott (Margaret Sullavan) is pregnant when she finds out that she has terminal cancer with only a few months left to live. She keeps this information a secret from her husband, Brad Scott (Wendell Corey), who is carrying on an affair with his assistant, Chris Radna (Viveca Lindfors). Mary encourages her husband to pursue Chris as a replacement wife and mother after she dies. While on a final vacation with Brad, Mary dies and leaves Chris at home babysitting their daughter, Polly (Natalie Wood). No Sad Songs for Me features an Oscar-nominated score by George Duning. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Former silent screen cowboy Tom Tyler and newcomer Lon Chaney, Jr. (still billed, modestly, as Creighton Chaney) square off in this inexpensive oater produced by infamous poverty row regular Sam Katzman. Believed by the sheriff (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) to be the notorious bandit Cheyenne Tommy, Tom Wade (Tyler) is in reality an investigator for the Cattlemen's Protective Association looking into a series of cattle rustlings. Along with his dopey sidekick, Dopey (Jimmy Fox), Wade robs the rustlers of their ill-gotten gains until he is recognized by one of the gang, Girard (Chaney). After a great deal of ridin' and shootin', Tom is assisted in bringing down the gang by lovely Sally Lane (Lucile Browne), another operative working undercover as secretary to the leader of the rustlers (Theodore Lorch). The Katzman stamp of poverty is all over this Victory Pictures production, but it is fun to watch Tyler and Chaney, both of whom would later star as the mummy, Kharis, for Universal in the '40s. Director Robert F. Hill makes his usual Hitchcock-like appearance, this time as a townsman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The Fighting Playboy is a "Northern": a western plotline set in the Canadian woods. Nick Stuart plays the ne'er-do-well son of a wealthy man, who cuts Stuart off without a dime because the boy refuses to make something of himself. Thus, Stuart heads northward to prove his mettle. In short order (very short, inasmuch as the film is only 50 minutes long) Stuart makes a fortune and wins the girl (Lucille Browne). Filmed entirely on location, The Fighting Playboy was based on a short story by Alex Phillip. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western, a wagon train is destroyed and all but two children, a brother and sister, are slaughtered. The sister is abducted by the Indians while the boy is raised by an Anglo family. He grows up with no memory of his sister. Now a young cowboy, he is called upon to attack an outlaw gang. When he learns that the gang leader is his renegade sister, he is most surprised. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gene Autry's first starring Western, Tumbling Tumbleweeds sets the pace for the 98 or so Autry oaters to come. As he would for the remainder of his screen career with only one exception, Gene plays Gene Autry, cowboy troubadour, who, upon his return west with musical friends Smiley (Smiley Burnette) and Eightball (Eugene Jackson), not only learns that his father has been murdered but that his childhood friend, Harry Brooks (Cornelius Keefe), is the most likely suspect. Naturally, Harry proves innocent while the real culprit is once again to be found among the town's more notable citizens. Gene, Burnette, and the Sons of the Pioneers (one of whom is the screen debuting Leonard Slye, soon to become Roy Rogers) perform Bob Nolan's title tune, along with "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine," by Gene Autry and Jimmy Long; "Ridin' Down the Canyon," by Autry and Smiley Burnette; and "Corn Fed and Rusty," by Burnette. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Devil worshipping and Chinese tongs were the selling points of this ultra low-budget thriller produced at Willow Park, B.C., Canada. Assigned to quell a Chinatown crime wave, private detective Donegal Dawn (Raymond Lawrence) discovers that his best friend, Robert Rand (Nick Stuart), has become infatuated with Zenobia, a beautiful but strange white girl clerking in Chan Tow Ling's curiosity shop. The girl, however, is frightened of something and warns Robert that they can never be together. That night, the lovesick youngster steals into the basement of the shop where he observes Zenobia officiating a weird ceremony. When the worshippers, known as the Order of the Black Robe, discover Robert's snooping, Zenobia either cannot or will not help him and he is led away. Dawn, meanwhile, tracks the cult to a hideout in the mountain. After a furious donnybrook at the top of a cliff, the detective is able to save both Robert and the entranced Zenobia. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Joan Colby (Ann Harding) is the unmarried older daughter in a once-wealthy family. She's always been the mature, level-headed one among the two sisters, but she is feeling the pressure to find a husband especially strongly these days, as her much more flighty and impetuous younger sister Valerie (Lucille Brown) is about to marry. Joan has been lately seen in the company of John Fletcher (William Powell), the wastral heir to a once-great shipping company -- he doesn't care a bit about the family business, but still has enough money to live an upper-class lifestyle without worry, and is a well-known playboy, and enjoys Joan's company. With her sister's help and the unwitting participation of her well-meaning father (Henry Stephenson), Joan manages to set up a situation in which John is forced to do what they used to call "the decent thing" and marry her. Joan is secretly torn by guilt about how she got his name, however, and tries to be a truly good wife for John over the months that follow -- she gets him to clean up his life a bit, and to take himself more seriously and look past the next game of polo, and even starts to convince him to take more of a role in his family's moribund shipping line, which is about to pass into outside control as a result of his neglect. But when Valerie, in a fit of anger, blurts out the truth about how their marriage came about, John loses all interest in Joan, returning to the company of his ex-girlfriend (Lillian Bond) and turning the matter over to his lawyers. Now Joan has to fight on two fronts, to help save her husband's business, and also to save their marriage before it's too late. Given this plot, it may seem odd that Double Harness was presented as a comedy, but it is, and a good one, too. The humor lies in the way the upper-class are shown "coping" with the Great Depression, and the witty presentation of the romantic flirtations in the lives of Joan, Valerie, and John (and their friends), as well as the tone of John and Joan's marriage -- Joan, in particular, has a wryly detached side that comes out even at her most unhappy moments. It's all very sophisticated, a comedy by adults, about adults, for adults, and it holds up amazingly well as a piece of entertainment across 75 years. In some ways, Double Harness is also a bit reminiscent of the 1930 version of Holiday, which is perhaps not entirely accidental or surprising, as the latter also starred Ann Harding, although Cromwell's 1933 film is a far more skillful and accomplished cinematic work by modern standards. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Heroes and villains alike use airplanes instead of horses in this generally well-made Mascot serial featuring diminutive cowboy star Bob Steele. Steele and sidekick Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (whose supposedly comical craving for jellybeans quickly becomes tiring) are hired by an aviator friend (Jack Mulhall) to aid Lafe McKee and his daughter Lucille Browne in safeguarding the building of a dam. A mystery villain known only as "The Black Ace" is using a gang of air pirates in a (largely unexplained) war against the construction firm. The mystery villain proves, of course, to be the one character seemingly above suspicion. In fairness to the serial, we shall refrain from divulging his identity, however. Mystery Squadron contains many well-made aerial fights and stunts but is also filled with all kinds of silly and seemingly unnecessary gaffes. When a dart carrying a warning note is thrown through a window, for example, that same window is shown in the following shot as not only securely closed but covered by an undamaged lace curtain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this western, the locals are being plagued by "Black Death" an evil outlaw who shoots victims with chemical bullets that turn them black. He is pursued by a brave Texas Ranger. When the ranger learns that the killer is following a wild West show --the one the ranger used to work in--the hero rejoins. He soon catches up to the crook and ends up following him to Mexico. A deadly gunfight ensues and the Black Death finally dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this comedy, a successful owner of a meat-packing plant tries to pass on his obsession for punctuality and rules to his two sons. But both of them are spoiled playboys who care little for time. One loves cafe society and the many girls he meets there; the other has bohemian affectations and hangs out with the artists in Greenwich Village. One day, their rigid stodgy father meets a lively Irish lass who inspires him to break free from his voluntary enslavement. He begins dressing stylishly and hanging out at the race track. The sons see him squiring the girl about town and they are appalled. When the father learns that the girl is being blackmailed, he rushes to her aid. The sons are so upset that they become responsible and more like he once was. Fortunately, it all turns out for the best when they discover that their father and the married girl only had a platonic relationship. She ends up reconciling with her husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Kay Francis and Lilyan Tashman portray what used to be euphemistically labelled "good time girls". They work the convention circuit, providing companionship and other favors for tired business men--who of course lavish the girls with expensive gifts. Francis spoils this little set-up by falling for poor but virtuous Joel McCrea. Meanwhile, Tashman continues plying her trade with wealthy Eugene Pallette, whose wife responds not with jealousy but by trying to imitate Tashman's style! Girls About Town is the sort of ribald film fare that would be chased off the screen a few years later by the more stringent Production Code. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this western based on a novel by Zane Grey, Buck Duane (George O'Brien) is a cowboy who is forced to kill a man in an act of self-defense; the same man also took the life of Buck's father. However, the law isn't so sure Buck's motivations were pure, and Buck is forced to leave town one step ahead of the peace officers. Buck gets a chance to prove his good intentions when he helps protect a rancher who is being harassed by a gang of thugs, and also rescues his lady love, Ruth (Lucille Brown), from the same outlaws. However, Buck's brave actions do not come without retaliation -- and they also attract the attention of Lola (Myrna Loy), one of the hombre's molls. The Last Of The Duanes was filmed before in 1924 (with Tom Mix in the lead), and the story would hit the screen again in 1941, starring George Montgomery. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi