Nigel Bruce Movies
Though a British subject through and through, actor Nigel Bruce was born in Mexico while his parents were on vacation there. His education was interrupted by service in World War I, during which he suffered a leg injury and was confined to a wheelchair for the duration. At the end of the war, Bruce pursued an acting career, making his stage debut in The Creaking Door (1920). A stint in British silent pictures began in 1928, after which Bruce divided his time between stage and screen, finally settling in Hollywood in 1934 (though he continued to make sporadic appearances in such British films as The Scarlet Pimpernel). Nigel's first Hollywood picture was Springtime for Henry (1934), and soon he'd carved a niche for himself in roles as bumbling, befuddled middle-aged English gentlemen. It was this quality which led Bruce to being cast as Sherlock Holmes' companion Dr. Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), a pleasurable assignment in that the film's Holmes, Basil Rathbone, was one of Bruce's oldest and closest friends. While Bruce's interpretation of Watson is out of favor with some Holmes purists (who prefer the more intelligent Watson of the original Conan Doyle stories), the actor played the role in 14 feature films, successfully cementing the cinema image of Sherlock's somewhat slower, older compatriot - even though he was in fact three years younger than Rathbone. Bruce continued to play Dr. Watson on a popular Sherlock Holmes radio series, even after Rathbone had deserted the role of Holmes in 1946. Bruce's last film role was in the pioneering 3-D feature, Bwana Devil (1952). He fell ill and died in 1953, missing the opportunity to be reunited with Basil Rathbone in a Sherlock Holmes theatrical production. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1930
A.A. Milne's The Fourth Wall was the source for this early British talkie. During a weekend party at the country estate of Arthur Hilton (C. Aubrey Smith), the host is impolitely murdered by his guest Carter (Robert Lorraine) and Carter's henchman Laverick (Warwick Ward). The killing is carried out with such cunning that the other guests can provide both Carter and Laverick with air-tight alibis. Just at the point when the police are about to write off Hilton's death as a suicide, romantic leads Jimmy (Frank Lawton) and Mollie (Dorothy Boyd) stumble upon the "one fatal slip" made by the two clever murderers. Originally released at 98 minutes, Birds of Prey was distributed in the U.S. by RKO in a 78-minute version, retitled The Perfect Alibi. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loraine, Warwick Ward, (more)
- 1930
This suspenseful crime drama is the first talkie to be based on a novel by Edgar Wallace (he also directed the film). It tells the story of a Scotland Yard detective who goes undercover as an ex-con so he can capture the "Squeaker" a powerful fence who is pretending to be the upright chairman of a charitable organization. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
In this early talkie, Capt. Matt Denant (Gerald du Maurier) is a former war hero who intervenes when he sees a crooked detective threatening a woman on the street. Denant and the detective soon fall into a brawl, and the detective is accidentally killed. Sentenced to five years in prison at hard labor, Denant finds that he cannot stand the indignities of life behind bars and escapes. A number of friends and compassionate strangers help him hide from the law, but when Denant goes into hiding in a church, he puts the pastor in the difficult position of having to lie about him in order to protect his safety. Escape was the first production for RKO Radio Pictures' British branch; leading man Gerald du Maurier is the father of famed novelist Daphne du Maurier. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerald du Maurier, Edna Best, (more)
- 1931
In this British murder mystery, a host is murdered just before a gala dinner party at his country estate. The killers are revealed immediately though it seems they have committed the perfect crime by making it appears as if the host killed himself. This is discovered by a suspicious young couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Loraine, Dorothy Boyd, (more)
- 1931
Based on a stage play by Edgar Wallace, The Calendar is set amongst Britain's horsey set. Herbert Marshall and his then-wife Edna Best star as a wealthy racehorse owner and his pretty trainer. After divesting Marshall of his millions, his mistress Anne Grey leaves him in favor of a younger, handsomer man. The hapless hero is then betrayed by his butler, who gets his master drunk and convinces him to throw the next race. Banned from the track by a jury of jockey's (the film's highlight), Marshall is afforded the opportunity to redeem himself and to settle old scores with those who've wronged him, thereby paving the way for a climactic clinch with his true love, Best. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herbert Marshall, Edna Best, (more)
- 1932
In this drama the owner of a flower shop falls in love with one of her patrons. Unfortunately, he is married to a shrewish actress and cannot get out of the marriage. The distraught woman then leaves her shop to become a nurse. Trouble ensues when the actress suddenly appears, accuses the nurse of fooling around with her husband and dies leaving the nurse and the husband to be charged with murder. Fortunately, they are found innocent and they are free to fall in love at last. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerald du Maurier, Gertrude Lawrence, (more)
- 1932
When economy expert Kerr works to cut the costs of the fleet in Malta, his lovely daughter, Matthews, is courted by the crew members on board. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessie Matthews, Frederick Kerr, (more)
- 1934
In this drama a rich banker loses his fortune in the stock market. His secretary's lover finds out that the banker has been using fake bonds to make a deal. The opportunistic young lout then begins threatening to blackmail the financier. In a panic, the banker tosses the extortionist overboard. When he learns that his secretary loved the creep, the boat captain launches a search party and the man is all wet, but saved. The repentant banker then kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matheson Lang, Constance Cummings, (more)
- 1934
In this comedy-mystery, a private detective helps three businessmen get even with the man who misused their investments. The detective plans to kidnap the man's wife so he can get her signature and reclaim the money. The detective didn't plan on falling in love with the wife, but he does, and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1934
In this romantic comedy, a rakish fellow involves himself with a married woman. Later his secretary endeavors to win him away with the promise of a more stable relationship. The rake is tempted, but then decides he prefers the married woman, which is fine with her husband who has an eye for the secretary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Otto Kruger, Nancy Carroll, (more)
- 1934
What a shame that the 1934 Fox crime meller Murder in Trinidad is currently unavailable for viewing. In one of his best performances, Nigel Bruce is cast as Bertram Lynch, a slovenly, sweat-stained detective with a mind like a steel trap. Lumbering his way through a tropical outpost, Lynch searches for a clever gang of diamond smugglers, who rely upon the local crocodiles and quicksand to keep the authorities at bay. Along the way, he is helped by socialite Gregory Bronson (Douglas Walton), who is compelled to spend most of his time rescuing heroine Joan Cassell (Heather Angel) from one peril or another. Complicating matters are three murders, each apparently committed by the same knife-wielding assailant. Murder in Trinidad was remade as Mr. Moto in Danger Island in 1938, and as The Caribbean Mystery in 1945. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Bruce, Heather Angel, (more)
Based on an idea by Will Rogers, the story concerns the efforts by the President of the United States to get the public's mind off the Depression. To this end, he appoints Broadway impresario Lawrence Cromwell (Warner Baxter) to the new cabinet position of "Secretary of Amusement." Wasting no time, Cromwell sets about to nationalize the entertainment industry, organizing singers, dancers, actors and other variety artists into batallion-like touring units. Cromwell is fought at every turn by a cartel of wealthy industrialists, who've been profiting from the Depression and have no desire to see America pull itself upward. Happily, every effort to bribe or cajole Cromwell into giving up his mission is thwarted and the Department of Amusement goes on to help the the country at a time when its citizens most needed it. Among the highlights are an energetic "revival-meeting" musical number by Aunt Jemima (Theresa Gardella), and 6-year-old Shirley Temple's rendition of "Baby Take a Bow." Originally released at 80 minutes, Stand Up and Cheer was edited to 69 minutes for reissue, then to 65 minutes (removing most of Stepin Fetchit's scenes) for television: it was this last version which was computer-colorized in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, (more)
- 1934
This story of espionage in World War I is based on a true story. Marthe McKenna (Madeleine Carroll) is a nurse from Belgium who uses her beauty and charm to serve her native land during the war. McKenna is able to ferret out secret information from German officers and pass it along to Allied intelligence officers with the help of fellow spy Stephan (Herbert Marshall). When the evil Commandant Oberaertz (Conrad Veidt) discovers what McKenna has been doing, she's sentenced to be executed, and Stephan must step in to save her. I Was a Spy was the first American sound feature for German actor Conrad Veidt, who electrified audiences with his performance in the silent classic Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari; Veidt left his homeland when the Nazis began their rise to power, though ironically he was to play a number of Nazi villains during his stay in Hollywood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, Conrad Veidt, (more)
This film from director Harold Young is the second big-screen adaptation of Baroness Emmuska Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Leslie Howard stars as Sir Percy Blakeney, a British aristocrat who rescues innocent victims of the French Revolution under the guise of The Scarlet Pimpernel while maintaining the identity of a foppish dandy by day. Even his wife, Lady Marguerite Blakeney (Merle Oberon), is unaware of Percy's heroic alter-ego as he and his band of likeminded masked men save countless people from the guillotine. Perhaps the most famous adaptation of the classic book, The Scarlet Pimpernel would later be lampooned in 1966's Don't Lose Your Head. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, (more)
- 1934
In this romance, a lovely young debutante falls in love with a jazz violinist. Her mother wants her to marry a wealthy young man, but the strong-willed girl initially demurs until the night of her debut. Her well-meaning social adviser fills the debutante's dance card with partners and this inflames the jealous violinist causing a heated argument between himself and the deb. Out of spite, she marries a wealthy fellow, who unfortunately turns out to be a drunk. Later everything turns out all right after he grants her an annulment, and she and the violinist finally come together. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frances Dee, Gene Raymond, (more)
This fifth film version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island boasts an all-star MGM cast, headed by Wallace Beery as Long John Silver and Jackie Cooper as Jim Hawkins. The screenplay, by John Lee Mahin, John Howard Lawson and Leonard Praskins, remains faithful to the Stevenson original...up to a point. The story begins when drunken old sea dog Billy Bones (Lionel Barrymore) drags himself into the seaside pub managed by Jim and his mother (Dorothy Peterson). After Billy is killed by the scurrilous Blind Pew (William V. Mong) and his henchmen, Jim discovers that the deceased ex-pirate carries a treasure map on his person. Together with Dr. Livesey (Otto Kruger) and Squire Trelawny (Nigel Bruce), Jim books passage on a ship captained by Alexander Smollett (Lewis Stone); their destination is the "treasure island" depicted on the map. Smollett doesn't like the voyage nor the crew, and not without reason: ship's cook Long John Silver has rounded up the crew from the dregs of the earth, fully intending to mutiny and claim the treasure for himself. A further plot complications awaits both treasure-seekers and pirates in the person of half-mad island hermit Ben Gunn (Chic Sale) who's already found the treasure and has stashed it away for himself. Towards the end, the plot strays from the Stevenson version in detailing the ultimate fate of ruthless-but-lovable Long John Silver. While consummately produced, Treasure Island suffers from overlength and a mannered performance by Jackie Cooper. Disney's 1950 remake with Robert Newton and Bobby Driscoll is far more satisfying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, (more)
- 1935
In this adaptation of author de la Roche's chronicle of the passionate lives of the strange Whiteoaks of Jalna, their beautiful family estate located in souther Ontario. The story begins as a young Whiteoak, a novelist travels to New York where he encounters a charming woman, marries her, and takes her back to Jalna. There she encounters many difficulties as she attempts to adjust to life with his odd family. It does not help that several soap-operatic events transpired while he was gone when his brother married the illegitimate daughter of a despised neighbor. One day a "sexy dame" suddenly shows up on the family porch. Soon she and the novelist are trysting away, but before he can consummate their affair he is killed during a terrible fall. The new widow then realizes that it is a different brother that she loves. They soon marry. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Johnson, Ian Hunter, (more)
- 1935
The old British musical-hall ditty "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" provides the title for this lightweight Ronald Colman vehicle. Colman, playing a refugee Russian prince, is the "man" in question, and the owners of the "broken bank"--that is, the proprietors of the Monte Carlo casino where Colman scored the big win--are anxious to get their money back. They dispatch the beautiful Joan Bennett to lure Colman back into the casino. He falls for her and loses his winnings in the process, but she has pangs of remorse when she learns that Colman had been gambling on behalf of his impoverished countrymen. Bennett joins Colman as he merrily heads off to chase another rainbow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Joan Bennett, (more)
Randolph Scott, whom Cooper borrowed from Paramount, plays Leo Vincey, an explorer searching for the "flame of life," a radioactive element hidden in the Arctic parts of Manchuria which, according to Vincey family lore, can bestow eternal life. Setting out on the fearful journey along with British scientist Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce), Vincey is soon joined by Dugmore (Lumsden Hare), a brutish trader, and his daughter Tanya (Helen Mack). In the mountains north of the legendary civilization of Kor, where the "flame of life" is said to be located, Dugmore stumbles over a frozen corpse laden with gold. Greedily hacking away at the corpse, the trader causes an avalanche that kills him and seals off Vincey, Holly, and Tanya from the expedition. The avalanche, however, also exposes a volcanic cave where the trio is taken into custody by Billali (Gustav Von Seyffertitz), Prime Minister of Kor, who brings them before the almighty ruler She, Hash-A-Mo-Tep (She, Who Must be Obeyed). The mysterious female potentate mistakes Vincey for his ancestor John Vincey, for whose return she has been waiting for 500 years. Completely under the spell of this beautiful but ancient monarch, Vincey demands that Holly and Tanya leave without him. But when She discovers Tanya's true feelings for Vincey, the merciless ruler orders the girl to be used as human sacrifice. Tanya is about to be dropped into the Holy Well when Vincey finally comes to his senses. With Holly and a rescued Tanya in tow, he escapes across a dangerous precipice -- right into She's sacred temple -- where a final, climactic confrontation between explorer and ruler takes place. Created by the makers of King Kong (1933) -- producer Merian C. Cooper and screenwriter Ruth Rose -- She, from H. Rider Haggard's 1886 novel, proved a disaster at the box office, losing a total of $180,000 according to some reports. Much of the blame was placed, unfairly perhaps, at the feet of Broadway actress Helen Gahagan, who made her screen debut in the film's all-important title role. Filmed at least four times in the silent era (including a 1925 British production starring American femme fatale Betty Blythe), She was remade twice by low-budget Hammer Films, in 1965 starring Ursula Andress and as The Vengeance of She in 1967. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott, (more)
Now famous as the first feature film produced in the three-strip Technicolor process, Becky Sharp is also an enjoyable effort in its own right. Adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair, the film stars Miriam Hopkins as Becky Sharp, a resourceful, totally self-involved young lady who manages to survive any number of setbacks and deprivations in the years following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. In her efforts to advance herself, she manages to link up with a number of not altogether attractive gentlemen, including the Marquis of Steyne (Cedric Hardwicke), Joseph Sedley (Nigel Bruce), Rawdon Crawley (Alan Mowbray), and George Osborne (G. P. Huntley Jr.) She rises to the pinnacle of British society, only to tumble and fall into the humiliation of singing for her supper in a cheap back-alley beer hall, but, like her spiritual sister Scarlet O'Hara, Becky never stays down for long. The film ends on an ambiguous note, never hinting that Becky will eventually drop her current beau and settle down to a life of smug piety, as she does in the novel. Begun in 1934 with Lowell Sherman in the director's chair, Becky Sharp was forced to shut down production when Sherman died; he was replaced by Rouben Mamoulien, whose unerring eye for cinematic splendor exploited the new color process to the utmost, especially during the opening Brussels Ball sequence. Until its recent archival restoration, Becky Sharp was available only in a shortened, two-color version, which had the negative effect of diminishing the film's strong points and overemphasizing its weaknesses (This version is still available on the public-domain market). Becky Sharp is an enormous improvement over the low-budget 1932 version of Vanity Fair, which updated the story to the 20th century and cast dumb-blonde specialist Joyce Compton in the role of Becky. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Miriam Hopkins, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1936
Social butterfly Rena Allen (Doris Nolan) is bored unto tears by her stuffy fiance Throckton Van Cortland (Gerald Oliver Smith). She runs off to the country, where she falls in love with struggling playwright Ken Durkin (Michael Whalen). He is astonished by her uncanny ability to critique his work and offer advice, but the audience knows that Rena is the niece of prominent Broadway producer Robert Hartley (Nigel Bruce). The audience also knows -- but Rena doesn't -- that Durkin is himself a runaway socialite. Elated when his play is purchased by Hartley, Ken is offended when he discovers that Rena was responsible for this stroke of fortune and storms out of her life (the fact that he'd also been deceiving her doesn't seem to bother him too much). It takes a night together in the small-town jail of rustic sheriff Chic Sale for Rena and Robert to kiss and make up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Nolan, Michael Whalen, (more)
- 1936
Casting an envious eye towards the huge box-office take of Columbia's Grace Moore vehicles, Republic hoped to strike gold in a similar fashion by fashioning a screen property for Kansas-born Metropolitan Opera diva Marion Talley. As it turned out, Follow Your Heart was Talley's first and last film, but Republic at least deserved a gold star for effort. The star is cast as Marian Forrester, the daughter of onetime opera star Madame Bovard (Henrietta Crossman). Recalling the many heartbreaks and disappointments attending her own stardom, Mme. Bovard refuses to allow Marian to pursue a singing career. But with the surreptitious help of handsome Michael Williams (Michael Bartlett, another real-life singer) and bumbling but lovable voice teacher Henri Forrester (Nigel Bruce), Marian makes her Met debut, and her mother gracefully bows to the inevitable. Though there's plenty of "straight" singing throughout Follow Your Heart, the film's highlight is a burlesque of the "Sextet" from Lucia di Lammermoor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Talley, Michael Bartlett, (more)
- 1936
Anne Shirley is the teenaged "lady" in this filmization of Elizabeth Jordan's novel My Daddy and I. Shirley plays the daughter of widowed Herbert Marshall, who suffers in silence as his daughter tries to "match" him with every eligible woman in sight. Misinterpreting a delicate situation, Shirley attempts to link up Marshall with a woman (Margot Grahame) he actively dislikes. The highlight of the film is a ramshackle staging of "Romeo and Juliet" at Anne's high school, with the unflappable young girl contending with an adenoidal Romeo (Frank Coghlan Jr.) whose tights keep slipping as he struggles through his Shakespearian dialogue. The protagonist of Make Way for Lady was one of several teen ingenues played by former child actress Dawn O'Day under her new screen name of Anne Shirley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herbert Marshall, Anne Shirley, (more)
- 1936
Two silent film versions preceded this 1936 Hollywood adaptation of the 19th century novel by the writer Ouida Bergere. It is set in Saharan Africa but was filmed in the Arizona desert. Ronald Colman is Corporal Victor, a man who has taken the rap for a crime committed by his younger brother. Victor has joined the French Foreign Legion to escape his past, taking with him his valet Rake (Herbert Mundin). His commander is the ruthless Major Doyle (Victor McLaglen), who becomes jealous when Cigarette (Claudette Colbert), a nightclub singer with a yen for men in uniforms, sets her sights on Victor. Victor, however, lusts after a more refined Englishwoman named Lady Venetia (Rosalind Russell), and he eventually dumps Cigarette for Venetia. McLaglen sends Victor off on a difficult mission from which he hopes that he won't return. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, (more)
