Virginia Bruce Movies

Exiled from his own country during WW2, French filmmaker Leonide Moguy worked briefly in Hollywood, where he directed the patriotic thriller Action in Arabia. George Sanders stars as Gordon, an American newspaperman at large in Damascus. When a colleague is murdered, Sanders wants to find out why. He is helped along by glamourous secret agent Yvonne (Virginia Bruce), who is on the trail of a group of Nazi saboteurs. It turns out that the murder is tied in with a plan to destroy the Suez Canal in the name of Der Fuehrer. Though economically produced, Action in Arabia benefits from several rather spectacular-looking scenes of desert combat-most of these lifted from a never-finished 1933 filmed biography of Lawrence of Arabia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Are you listening?" was the catchphrase of early-1930s radio personality Tony Wons. Though Wons does not appear in the 1932 MGM programmer Are You Listening?, the film is concerned with the burgeoning broadcast industry. William Haines plays a wise-cracking radio writer who is tricked into confessing on the air that he murdered his wife. Whenever an actor normally associated with comedy roles plays a murderer (either actual or implied) in a film, it's usually a sign that his studio contract has come to an end. Such was the case of Are You Listening?, which proved to be William Haines' swan song at MGM, where he'd been employed since 1925. Perhaps as a going-away present, J.P. McEvoy's script contrives to give Haines three leading ladies: Madge Evans, Anita Page and Karen Morley (nobody outside the industry knew that Haines was in fact a homosexual, and MGM was determined to keep it that way). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The tempestuous love affair between a young surgeon and a pretty but married nurse provides the basis for this melodrama. The nurse would much rather be with the good doctor as she is married to a wretched alcoholic but she cannot bear to leave her husband in his hour of need. Later the surgeon falls in love with a wealthy young woman. Shortly after removing her appendix in emergency surgery, they get married. Unfortunately, the new wife hates her husband's devotion to his career and begins nagging him. He finally gives in and takes her out on the town. Meanwhile the nurse's drunken husband has a medical emergency. Unfortunately, the surgeon is not there to save him. Fortunately, the husband's death frees the would-be lovers to follow their hearts, but not before the surgeon divorces his wife first. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A never-completed stage musical was the source for the MGM superproduction Born to Dance. The plot is another three-sailors-on-leave affair, with Ted (James Stewart), Mush (Buddy Ebsen) and Gunny (Sid Silvers, who also co-wrote the script) romancing the eminently romanceable Nora (Eleanor Powell), Peppy (Frances Langford) and Jenny (Una Merkel). Nora aspires to become a dancing star, but her career nearly ends before it begins when she inadvertently comes between Broadway luminary Lucy James (Virginia Bruce) and her producer-lover McKay (Alan Dinehart). If anyone watching back in 1936 really cared about the plot, they probably weren't music lovers. The lovely Cole Porter score (his first written directly for the screen) includes "I've Got You Under My Skin", sung by Virginia Bruce to James Stewart, and "Easy to Love", warbled by Stewart to Eleanor Powell. Highlights include Reginald Gardiner's impersonation of a symphony-conducting traffic cop (a routine he'd previously performed on stage) and Eleanor Powell's climactic tap routine on board an art-deco battleship (a sequence later re-deployed for the climax of 1944's I Dood It). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this espionage movie, set in Washington during WW II, the daughter of an ex-senator has become a dress model. She is approached by an American counter-espionage agent who offers her a chance to serve her country. The carefree son of a naval official receives a similar offer. He is asked to secure secret Naval plans. Unbeknownst to them, the man they work for is actually a Nazi spy. The two dupes finally figure it out, and the spy kidnaps them. Somehow they escape and break up the spy ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Anyone who believes that the career of silent screen idol John Gilbert ended because his voice has too high for the talkies hasn't seen this marvelously black comedy. In perhaps his best performance of the sound era (with his supporting role in 1934's The Captain Hates the Sea running a close second), Gilbert plays a rogue who can get away with just about anything because of his charisma and charm -- and his voice suits his character perfectly. Karl (Gilbert) is a chauffeur who goes to work for a Viennese Baron and Baroness (Reginald Owen) and Olga Baclanova) on the day that two of their servants -- head butler Albert (Paul Lukas) and maid Anna (an astonishingly lovely Virginia Bruce) -- are being wed. Almost immediately Karl creates havoc in the household -- he flirts with the innocent, susceptible Anna, blackmails the Baroness, who is having an affair, and seduces the middle-aged head cook, Sophie (Bodil Rosing), only so he can get his hands on her life savings. In spite of his wickedness, there is something magnetic about Karl, and Anna -- who is vaguely dissatisfied with her loving but dogmatic husband -- finally succumbs. But all of his schemes inevitably backfire on him and after Albert gets Sophie's money back, he gladly tosses Karl out of the Baron's mansion. The next we see of him, he is c harming his way into yet another chauffeur position (hinting at a potential sequel that, unfortunately, never came). Gilbert, who wrote the story four years earlier, originally had an appropriately macabre ending -- after a brutal fight, Albert drowns Karl in a vat of wine. When he first came up with the idea, Gilbert had wanted Erich Von Stroheim to direct. By 1932, this was out of the question (MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer had little use for Stroheim). Instead, the highly capable Monta Bell was given the job -sadly, it was one his last directing assignments. During the shoot, Gilbert and Virginia Bruce fell in love and they were married in August, 1932, the month that the film was released. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

A barely disguised rip-off of 20th Century-Fox's all-female Tail Spin (39), Warner Bros.' Flight Angels is an inexpensive "tribute" to airline stewardesses. Among the angels of the title are haughty Virginia Bruce and hoydenish Jane Wyman, who in one scene actually come to blows over their long-simmering rivalry. Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris and Ralph Bellamy are among the men who do the "real" work above the clouds. The climax involves a pilot who loses his sight, compelling the stewardess on board to perform "above and beyond " etc. Keep an eye out for Flight Angels bit players Jan Clayton, later Tommy Rettig's mother on the TV series Lassie; and DeWolfe Hopper Jr., who changed his name to William Hopper and played Paul Drake on Perry Mason. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Accused of murdering her employer, nightclub vocalist Alice Carroll (Madge Bellamy) is vigorously prosecuted in court by ambitious young DA Dick Starr (Don Terry). After Alice is sent to prison, however, Starr begins having second thoughts. He ends up helping her escape from jail so that she can help him prove her innocence. Alice returns the favor by rescuing Starr from the genuine murderers. Based on a story by journalist Richard Harding Davis (who seldom allowed himself to be confused by the facts), Fugitives was one of the last Fox silent films before the studio switched over exclusively to the Movietone sound process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical, a songwriter goes to court to claim the rights to his song that was stolen by an unscrupulous music publisher. He brings his girlfriend with him. Also going to court are the Jubilee singers, hillbillies, and some cowboys and Indians who demonstrate that the composer wrote his song by rearranging four folk tunes. He wins his song back and $50,000 in damages. Songs include: "Heading Home," "Roll Along Prairie Moon," "Tender Is the Night," "You're My Thrill," "I'm Bound for Heaven," and "The Army Band." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Carlee Thorpe (Buddy Rogers) and Claire Jernigan (Nancy Carol) enjoy considerable success with their vaudeville magic act. Offstage, Carlee thrives as a solo, performing various bits of sleight-of-hand at fancy society parties. At one such function, he falls in love with Hilt (June Collyer), the daughter of wealthy social-climber Jake Schmidlap (Knute Erickson). Heartbroken, Claire breaks up her act with Carlee and signs on as a "human target" for stage sharpshooter Magus (Rychard Cramer). Her depression deepening over Carlee's affair with Hilda, Claire suicidally replaces Magus' blank pistol cartridges with real bullets, hoping to be killed in the course of their act. Sure enough, Claire ends up being wounded on stage, but when she awakens in the hospital, the repentant Carlee is at her bedside. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A remake of West of Zanibar, this strange, gut-wrenching melodrama set in the African jungles, offers a disturbing portrait of a bitter, crippled and insane megalomaniac who vents his rage via mental torture against all those who get too near. Walter Huston plays the madman who lost the use of his legs during a battle with his nemesis Gordon. The accident happened many years ago and since then Huston has dragged himself about in his jungle home making the lives of those around him waking nightmares. He has terrified the local tribesmen into total submission with his knowledge deadly voodoo (he tells them guns are magical instruments). He is even crueler to his fellow Anglos. A young white woman comes to visit one day. Believing her to be the daughter of his arch rival Gordon, he gleefully embarks upon a heavy reign of psychological abuse until the poor girl is nearly destroyed. For more fun, he gets a new doctor addicted to drugs and of course he can also torment the woman who loves him, Velez. The horror continues until Gordon suddenly shows up. Vengeful Huston quickly picks a fight and during the ensuing struggle Gordon tells Huston a bitter truth, one that leads Huston to a horrible realization. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Produced independently by Edward Small, this surprisingly realistic gangster yarn stars stalwart Richard Arlen as Mal Stevens, an attorney recruited by the newly organized Federal Bureau of Investigation. After Mal and a couple of fellow recruits, Van Rensseler (Harvey Stephens) and Tex Logan (Gordon Jones), foil a plot by Joe Keefer (Bruce Cabot) to kidnap Eleanor Spencer (Virginia Bruce), the trusting debutante foolishly secures Joe's parole. From the outside, Keefer then masterminds a prison break for some of his pals and together they begin a reign of terror. Eleanor's brother Buddy (Eric Linden) goes undercover on behalf of Stevens and is killed by Keefer, but Eleanor, still denying that Keefer, her former chauffeur, is a gangster, blames Stevens. To avoid detection, Keefer kidnaps Dr. Hoffman (George Pauncefort), a noted plastic surgeon, who goes to work altering his appearance. His usefulness over, the good doctor is summarily executed but Hoffman manages to avenge himself from beyond the grave: when the bandages are removed, Keefer's features have been mutilated and his initials carved into the scarred face. Led to the hideout by Keefer's jilted moll Lola (Dorothy Appleby), Stevens confronts the disfigured gangster and there is a final struggle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide