Lillie Hayward Movies

Not long after their honeymoon, Mr. Randolph and Mrs. Randolph (Herbert Rawlinson and Elaine Hammerstein) begin having a series of arguments. The latest is over a cat: She loves the creatures, he doesn't. One day Randolph is chasing a cat away from his yard and his neighbor, Mrs. Bradin (Dorothy Phillips), informs him that it is hers. The two start talking, bringing on the jealous wrath of Mrs. Randolph. More trouble ensues when Randolph's car breaks down and Mrs. Bradin offers to give him a ride. They are arrested for speeding and Mrs. Randolph is so furious that her husband has to go live at his club. Back home, Mrs. Randolph begins an affair with Mr. Bradin (Robert Cain) to get even, and invites Mrs. Bradin over to catch them. Mrs. Bradin, however, informs her that Bradin is always having affairs. Eventually Mrs. Randolph realizes she's being foolish and she and her husband are reconciled. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Although this isn't a top-notch Marion Davies film, she's still very charming in it. Mamie Smith (Davies in pigtails and behaving in a near-parody of Mary Pickford) is a lively orphan whose antics are not appreciated by the orphanage's cruel matron (Emily Fitzroy). Mr. Pepper, a kindly trustee (Richard Carle), places her with Mrs. Caldwell (Hedda Hopper), who needs someone to help her care for her little boy, Alexander (John Huff). Mamie immediately calls him Zander. Mrs. Caldwell has been deserted by her husband and when she dies, Mamie sets out with Zander in a dilapidated old car to find him. Their trek takes them to Arizona where she winds up naively living with a group of bootleggers headed by Dan Murchison (Harrison Ford), who claims to be Zander's father. When she finally discovers the trade of her new friends she threatens to tell the sheriff (Hobart Bosworth), so Murchison locks her up and sends Zander to his friend, Juan Fernandez (Holbrook Blinn). Mamie escapes and is kidnapped by Black Bart (George Siegmann) and his gang of outlaws. She escapes from them, too, and heads for Fernandez's place, followed by the outlaws. Murchison teams up with the sheriff to capture the desperadoes and discover that Fernandez has killed Black Bart. Murchison admits he is not Zander's father, but that he knows the man has died. Because he has fallen in love with Mamie, Murchison vows to go straight and make a home for her and the little boy. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

The 1926 Amateur Gentleman was the second film version of Jeffrey Farnol's novel of the same name. Richard Barthelmess stars as Barnabas Barty, the rough-hewn son of a prizefighter (Edwards Davis). Barty's dad is accused of a crime he didn't commit; almost simultaneously, Barnabas inherits a fortune. With the help of a sympathetic butler, Barty poses as a fey nobleman, the better to weed out the persons who framed his father. The ruse is inevitably discovered, but fair Lady Cleone Meredith (Dorothy Dunbar) loves Barty all the same. Improving upon the original, The Amateur Gentleman closes with a thrilling steeplechase sequence. The Farnol novel would be filmed again in 1936, with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Barnabas Barty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Having already made a successful transition to talkies, canine star Rin-Tin-Tin remained on the Warner Bros. payroll throughout 1930. In On the Border, Rinty plays a police dog living at a lavish California hacienda near the Mexican border. The villainous Farrell (Philo McCullough) decides to use the house as a rendezvous point for his thriving alien-smuggling operation. But Farrell is foiled by Dave (Dave B. Litel), a border cop posing as a bum, and (of course) by Rin-Tin-Tin. The femme lead is played by Mexican song-and-dancer Armida, some ten years before she was "officially" discovered by Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the play New York Town by Ward Morehouse, Mervyn LeRoy directs the black-and-white 1932 comedy drama Big City Blues. A small-town innocent from Indiana, Bud Reeves (Eric Linden) inherits money and goes to New York to get in all sorts of trouble. He meets up with his cousin Gibby (Walter Catlett), who introduces him to chorus girl Vida Fleet (Joan Blondell). Bud and Gibby then throw a drunken hotel party with bootleg liquor that gets out of hand and a young woman (Josephine Dunn) is hit on the head and accidentally killed. Bud and Vida go gambling and drinking to escape the cops, but they are caught and arrested with everyone else from the party. Eventually, the police find the real killer and release everyone. Bud leaves for Indiana, but plans to go back, get his dog, and marry Vida. Humphrey Bogart appears in a brief uncredited role as Shep Adkins, a guy who gets into a fight with Lyle Talbot during the party. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

We first lay eyes on Jimmy Cagney in Lady Killer while he's working as a movie theater usher. This job lasts just long enough for Jimmy to be swindled in a "badger game" orchestrated by hard-boiled Mae Clarke and a gang of crooks headed by Douglass Dumbrille. Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Cagney joins the mob, and soon is calling the shots. But though he's got larceny in his soul, Cagney draws the line at murder, and when gang member Raymond Hatton is bumped off, Cagney and Clarke board the Super Chief and head to California. With the cops laying for Cagney in LA, he's suspicious of everyone. A shifty-looking mug (William B. Davidson) takes after Cagney on the street; catching up to the winded Cagney, the mug explains that he's a movie director, and that Cagney is a perfect "type" for an upcoming prison picture. After several months as a bit player, Cagney befriends good-natured movie-star Margaret Lindsay, who encourages Cagney to seek out bigger parts. The enterprising Cagney engineers a phony fan-mail campaign encouraging the studio to give him starring roles. Though now a slick, pomaded romantic lead in pictures, Cagney is still Cagney; when a snooty critic pans Lindsay's most recent performance, Cagney forces the reviewer to literally eat his words! It must needs be that Cagney's old gang shows up in Hollywood, planning to use Cagney's influence to gain entree into movie stars' mansions, then steal their valuables. Cagney says ixnay to this, so the mob schemes to take him for a ride. Tipped off by Clarke, Cagney is able to rout the crooks, save the day, and claim Lindsay for his bride. Lady Killer is vintage Cagney, throwing virtually every one of his star-making attributes (including one cute reference to his legendary "grapefruit scene" in 1931's Public Enemy) into one entertaining 76-minute stew. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Guy Kibbee trots out his small-town blowhard routine in the title role of Big Hearted Herbert. He plays a former plumber who strikes it rich in the bathroom-fixture manufacturing business (guess which fixture we don't see in this Post-Code film). A stingy soul, Kibbee prefers the company of pinchpennies like himself. Though it's fun to see him tweak the noses of the local big spenders, Kibbee learns the error of his strict parsimony when his wife requires an emergency operation. Based on a play by Sophie Kerr and Anna Steese Richardson, Big Hearted Herbert was remade in 1940 as Father is a Prince. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A pre-stardom Bette Davis struggles mightily as the "other woman" in this rather obvious divorce court drama from Warner Bros. George Brent stars as William Reynolds, a hardworking but markedly unmotivated office manager whose wife, Nan (Ann Dvorak), manages to make ends meet with the little she's got. Enter Patricia Berkeley (Davis), a high-powered advertising exec, with whom William falls madly in love. Does he leave the little wife for the glamorous co-worker? Well almost, but all bets are off when young Buddy Reynolds (Ronnie Cosbey) is hit by a car and nearly killed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This cozy little Warner Bros. drama was based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Lillian Day. Ruth Donnelly stars as Lizzie, a personal maid who after serving several of New York's "best" families, elects to work in the middle-class home of insurance salesman Tom Smith (Warren Hull) and his wife (Margaret Lindsay). Using the business acumen she's gleaned from her previous employers, Lizzie subliminally guides Tom to financial success and a higher social status. Virtue turns out to be its own reward when the Smith's good fortune extends to Lizzie's own daughter (Anita Louise). Personal Maid's Secret is an offbeat "straight" assignment for droll comedienne Ruth Donnelly, who handles the assignment with calm assurance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a mystery novel by Mignon Eberhart, The White Cockatoo concerns three mysterious murders at a French chateau. The villain seems determined to bump off all the friends and relatives of Sue Talley (Jean Muir) and Jim Sundean (Ricardo Cortez), hoping thereby to get his (or her) hands on the fortune they've inherited. Clouding the issue is the curious behavior of ostensible hero Sundean, who may very well be behind the killings. Though reviewers complained that they couldn't make heads or tails of the storyline, audiences didn't seem to share this confusion. Still, it would have been nice if screenwriters Ben Markson and Lillie Hayward had been more faithful to the Eberhart original. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A lovely stenographer, tired of men falling all over her, tries to make herself homely in this comedy. With her horn rim specs and tweed suits, she finds that she is actually able to get some work done. She begins working as a writer's secretary to help him make his deadline. When the writer catches her without her suit and glasses, he instantly falls in love. Songs include: "Wreaths of Flowers", "Ever Since Eve", and "Shine on Harvest Moon". ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Penrod and Sam was the third (and least faithful) screen version of the same-named Booth Tarkington novel. Billy Mauch, the more talented of the Mauch twins, stars as troublesome pre-teen Penrod, up to his usual mischief with his usual gang (including former "Our Gang" members George Billings and Jerry Tucker). Most of the original story is thrown out the window in favor of an up-to-date "gangster" angle, with Penrod vowing to round up a gang of bank robbers after his young pal Verman (Phillip Hurlic) is orphaned during a shoot-out. Having gleaned their expertise from "G-Man" movies and detective novels, Penrod's gang manages to capture the crooks, who have conveniently taken refuge in the kids' clubhouse. Penrod and Sam did well enough to engender two sequels, Penrod and His Twin Brother and Penrod's Double Trouble, both of which teamed Billy Mauch with his look-alike sibling Bobby. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi