Julius Hagen Movies
- 1940
An innocent country maiden living in the early 19th century is forcibly betrothed to a gambling louse after her father gets indebted to him. She endures her lot, but then an officer from the British army, who had secretly loved her for years, discovers that the cad cheated and also has a wife in Brussels. This melodrama chronicles what happens next. The story is also called Ken John Peel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garrick, Winifred Shotter, (more)
As with any film featuring the outrageously operatic antics of early horror star Tod Slaughter, this slow, stagebound murder-mystery would be completely unwatchable without the producer-star's presence. A third adaptation of the stage play by F. Brooke Warren, this film stars Slaughter as Chevalier Lucio del Gardo, a respected Parisian aristocrat responsible for the ghastly crimes previously attributed to a notorious killer known only as "The Wolf." Del Gardo has concocted a devious plan with his deranged, brutish brother to pull off a rash of bank robberies, using The Wolf's murderous ways to throw police off their trail. Their plans are foiled in the end, though del Gardo apparently escapes the clutches of the law. One of Slaughter's better efforts, made bearable by a brief running time. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to the home of their old friend Baskerville who wants Holmes to figure out who stole his prized race horse Silver Blaze and murdered the groom. The primary suspect is the young rider who loves the daughter of Baskerville, but he is innocent. Holmes finds the horse on a neighboring farm and deduces that his old enemy Moriarity is behind the mayhem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Wontner, Ian Fleming, (more)
- 1937
In this musical drama set during the reign of Charles I, an Irish priest is assigned to educate the prince. The prince becomes a king and one day the priest approaches and asks the king to release a political prisoner who belongs to the vicar's parish. The king, who promised to grant his former teacher one special request, complies and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Holloway, Hugh Miller, (more)
- 1937
In this romance a run away schoolgirl impersonates a socialite to hook a handsome RAF pilot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
The murder of a songstress promotes the investigation by reporter Jim Martin (Hugh Wakefield) to clear the name of Lady Constance Gaye's (Antoinette Cellier) missing brother. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this drama, an officer is perjured by another and is sentenced to Devil's island. Meanwhile, the perjurer is flirting with a beautiful woman who turns out to be a spy. She gets enough evidence to prove that he lied and he is convicted. The officer is then free to rescue the spy from a dubious future. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this crime drama, an actress must give up her lover, the son of a prominent banker, because she has a scandalous past. She gets a part in a small show and finds herself pursued by the manager. After he is found dead, the woman is blamed for the crime. Fortunately, the woman's aunt, a nun, goes on leave from her convent to prove that the actress is innocent. The nun's investigations soon expose the killer. Not only does justice ensue, the actress gets her old lover back. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
This drama chronicles the love affair between a composer and the concert singer who jilts him for the love of a count. In anger, the composer kills the count in a duel, but loses the use of his right arm. Later the singer dies, and the composer stops writing music. Twenty years pass and he ends up falling in love with the singer's daughter who inspires him to write an operetta. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Allan, John Stuart, (more)
- 1937
Mannequin stars Joan Crawford as Jessie Cassidy, a girl of the tenements (though this being an MGM film, her slum dwellings are cleaner and more lavish than most middle-class bungalows!) Hoping to escape her grimy surroundings, Jessie marries Eddie Miller (Alan Curtis), a childhood acquaintance who has made good with a variety of dishonest business ventures. Another refugee from Jessie's neighborhood is John Hennessy (Spencer Tracy), who has likewise worked his way up to fame and fortune, albeit more honestly than Eddie. Faced with mounting debts, Eddie callously orders Jessie to divorce him and marry John for his money -- then divorce John and return to Eddie with the cash. Jessie reluctantly goes along with the scheme, but she double-crosses Eddie upon falling in love with John. Things look bad for our heroine when Eddie, with blackmail on his mind, threatens to spill the beans to John about their little "arrangement" -- whereupon John solves the dilemma (and saves his marriage) by losing his own fortune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, (more)
- 1937
In this comedy, two hapless fellows accidentally stow away on a boat bound for South America. Once there they get there, the two end up entangled with a group of revolutionaries trying to steal a "peace" gas. Mayhem ensues, but eventually, the two manage to stop the renegades. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
British author W.W. Jacobs, whose love of the sea and seafarers permeated everything he wrote, was responsible for the story upon which Beauty and the Barge was based. Judy Gunn plays the headstrong daughter of an Army officer who runs away from home. She is later adopted by bargeman Gordon Harker. A very young Jack Hawkins portrays a handsome lieutenant (or "leff-tenant", if you prefer) who signs on as a common seaman on Harker's barge in hopes of winning Hawkins' love. Beauty and the Barge also features the unforgettable Margaret Rutherford, doing pretty much what she'd been still doing in movies nearly thirty years later-shamelessly stealing every scene she's in. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
The old H. V. Esmond stage play Eliza Comes to Stay proved a perfect vehicle for British screen sweetheart Betty Balfour. Wearing huge, owlish glasses, Balfour plays orphaned Eliza Vandan, who finds herself the ward of wealthy Sandy Verrall (Seymour Hicks). This comes as quite a jolt to old man Verrall, who'd been led to believe that Eliza was a little baby. Once the two protagonists have adjusted to one another, Eliza and Verrall find that they can't live without each other. Originally set during WWI, Eliza Comes to Stay has been updated to the 1930s, allowing for a brief nightclub number featuring popular entertainers Diana Ward and Nelson Keys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Balfour, Seymour Hicks, (more)
- 1936
The Man in the Mirror is Edward Everett Horton, making one of his periodic professional visits to England. Horton plays Jeremy Dilke, a meek, mild-mannered businessman who allows everyone to use him for a doormat. While looking into his mirror, Dilke is confronted by his brusque, assertive alter ego, who declares "I am the man you have always longed to be." Armed with his newfound confidence, Dilke becomes a go-getting dynamo -- much to the delight of heroine Helen (Genevieve Tobin), who knew he had it in him all along. Moon-faced Alastair Sim plays a wonderful cameo as a foreign interpreter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Everett Horton, Genevieve Tobin, (more)
- 1936
This tragedy is a remake of D.W. Griffith's classic silent film. The story is based on "The Chink and the Child," a story by Thomas Burke that tells of the mystical romance between a Chinese fellow and a cockney lass who meet in London's slums. The young woman is seeking to escape her boozy and abusive daddy when she encounters the young Chinese man. He takes her in and they become friends. He is kind and likes to array her in Chinese costumes. Tragically, her father learns of her hiding place and comes to kill her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dolly Haas, Arthur Margetson, (more)
- 1936
A Scotland Yard Inpsector sets off to prove that prominent director is really an American gangster in disguise. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This British programmer tells the dark, thrilling tale of a research scientist who resorts to murder to ensure continued funding for his experiments. The killing begins after the slightly insane Dr. Sartorius (Boris Karloff) runs out of money for his experiments with curing paralysis. He is so close to a breakthrough and so desperate for cash that he agrees to kill the wealthy husband of Lady Yvonne Clifford, in exchange for half of her husband's cotton fortune. To do this, he gets hired as Sir Charles Clifford's personal physician and so begins to slowly poison him with injections. Things go awry when the ailing Sir Charles figures out the scam and changes his will to benefit his son from his first marriage. Unfortunately, word gets out and Lady Yvonne changes her deal with Sartorius, claiming that now he must kill the father and the son. But neither the doctor nor the conniving wife count on interference from nurse Eve, who has fallen in love with the son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Joan Wyndham, (more)
- 1936
Hollywood star Richard Barthelmess, who's about as French as a hot dog with mustard, plays the title character in the British costume melodrama Spy of Napoleon. Based on a novel by Baroness Orczy (The Scarlet Pimpernel), the plot focuses on the animosity between Napoleon III (Frank Vosper) and Prussian chancellor Bismarck (Lyn Harding). Certain that he is surrounded by traitors (which indeed he is), Napoleon dispatches his illegitimate daughter Eloise (Dolly Haas) to flush out the turncoats. It happens that the girl is married to exiled French patriot Gerald de Lanoy (Barthelmess), who though he despises Napoleon loves his country and agrees to help her in her mission. Francis L. Sullivan wins the acting honors as the Emperor's sinister chief of police Toulon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Dolly Haas, (more)
- 1936
Although Neil Grant's stage play Dusty Ermine enjoyed a 250-performance run in London, screenwriters Du Garde Peach and Michael Hankinson could not resist the temptation to "improve" the play for its 1936 film version. Surprisingly, the film actually did turn out to be better than the play, no small thanks to its star, the ever-delightful Roland Young. The story concerns a master forger named Jim Kent (Young) and his equally larcenous nephew Gilbert (Arthur Macrae). Upon discovering that Gilbert has followed in his crooked footsteps, Jim determines that the boy shall turn honest, and to that end he takes the blame when Gilbert is arrested in the company of an international counterfeiting gang. But Gilbert has no intention of going straight and continues manufacturing "funny money." Realizing at long last that Jim is not the culprit -- after all, he's safely behind bars -- the police track down Gilbert, rescuing him from an Alpine avalanche and finally convincing him to pursue a less-risky occupation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Squire, Jane Baxter, (more)
- 1936
British orchestra leader Jack Hylton, whose popularity in his own country eclipsed that of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller in America, stars in She Shall Have Music. The unusually serious plotline finds Hylton mixed up in corporate intrigue on board a luxury liner. A millionaire hires the bandleader for a nightly broadcast emanating from the ship, but this project is sabotaged by the millionaire's rival. All eventually turns out for the best, while Jack Hylton appears to be having fun sharing the screen with an endless parade of guest performers. The leading lady in She Shall Have Music is June Clyde, an American musical-comedy favorite who spent most of her film career in England. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Clyde, Marjorie Brooks, (more)
- 1936
In this British comedy, a barrister badly botches his first case and begins to think he has chosen the wrong career. To assist with their bills, he and his wife sublet their apartment to several people at the same time. To fool them all, the couple pretends to be household servants and throws a dinner party for their guests. The wife then sprinkles sleeping powder into their soup. When the renters awaken, they find themselves in assorted compromising positions. The "servants" then blackmail them for their money. They wind up with a tidy sum of money. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
An uncharacteristically light-hearted Edgar Wallace yarn was the basis of this mild British comedy-drama. Gordon Harker stars as The Lad, a cheeky ex-convict who is mistaken for a private detective. Paid a huge sum of money not to dig up dirt on the Fandon family, our hero is all for taking the money and running. But upon being reunited with old flame Pauline (Jane Carr), now the Fandon's maid, he decides to leave the money behind and turn over a new leaf. A cute surprise ending allows The Lad to come out on top without resorting to dishonesty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Harker, Betty Stockfeld, (more)
- 1935
The Ace of Spades is a lively little British crime meller. Detective Nick Trent (Michael Hogan) sets out to investigate the death of a politician. The accused is a young bucko named Tony (Richard Cooper)-but where's the motive? Digging deeper, Trent discovers that the manipulative sister (Jane Carr) of Tony's fiancee (Dorothy Boyd) was the real brains behind the murder--even though she never sullied her hands with the victim's blood. The Ace of Spades was based on a novel by John Crawford Fraser. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Starring Seymour Hicks as the title character, Scrooge is a faithful adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol about a heartless miser who discovers the true meaning of Christmas when three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve. Hicks co-wrote the screenplay to this film, which is a thoroughly entertaining and effective retelling of a familiar story ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, (more)
