Robert Hopkins Movies

The MGM historical "spectacular" San Francisco was allegedly based on a three-sentence synopsis, submitted verbally to producer B.F. Zeidman by studio troubleshooter Bob Hopkins. The story begins on the Barbary Coast on New Year's Eve, 1906, as rakish but likeable political boss Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) hires demure young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) to perform at his rowdy Paradise gambling house. Local priest Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy), Blackie's best friend, disapproves of the exploitation of the lovely Mary, feeling that she's suited for classier surroundings. Jack Hurley (Jack Holt), Nob Hill socialite and Blackie's political rival, agrees with Father Mullin and offers the girl the opportunity to sing with the San Francisco Opera. Blackie, who's fallen in love with Mary but won't admit it to himself, jealously holds on to her contract, forcing Mary to walk out on him. For the rest of the film, Mary is torn between the "respectable" lifestyle offered her by Hurley and the baser creature comforts provided by Blackie. It looks for a while that Hurley has won out, but fate takes a hand in the form of the devastating San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906 (a special effects tour de force for art directors Arnold Gillespie and his uncredited associate James Basevi). Hurley is killed in the holocaust, while Blackie, desperately searching for Mary in the rubble, at long last finds religion and prays to God for his sweetheart's salvation. At the end, an unidentified bit player shouts defiantly "We'll build a new San Francisco!" -- and by golly, they do! The Hollywood censors were not so much bothered by the sexual subtext of San Francisco or its harrowing earthquake finale as they were by a scene in which Father Mullin is knocked down by an unrepentant Blackie. To "purify" this potentially blasphemous sequence, screenwriter Anita Loos quickly added an earlier scene in which Mullin and Blackie, both dressed in turtleneck sweaters, genially duke it out at an exercise gym, whereupon the priest cold-cocks Blackie with the greatest of ease. By establishing that Mullin could have punched out Blackie, but chooses not to in the controversial later scene, not only allows that scene to pass, but also strengthened the priest's character. San Francisco proved to be one of MGM's biggest hits, remaining in almost constant reissue for the next three decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, Jimmy Potts (Jimmy Durante) and Elmer J. Butts (Buster Keaton, Jr.) come up with a scheme to start up a beer brewery with the hope that Prohibition will soon be over. However, things don't work out exactly as they planned, and they end up in a mess of trouble. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Buster Keaton once described his 1931 vehicle Sidewalks of New York as "God-awful"; it's hardly that bad, though admittedly it pales in comparison with his silent classics. Keaton plays Harmon, a wealthy young Park Avenue socialite who falls in love with Lower East Side denizen Margie (Anita Page). For her sake, he tries to reform a tough gang of kids (including Margie's brother) by building a gym to keep them off the streets. A bunch of gangsters, mistakenly believing that Harmon intends to turn them over to the authorities, try to bump him off, but he's oblivious to their homicidal overtures, believing them to be his best pals. Ultimately, Margie's brother and his gang are obliged to come to Harmon's rescue. The film's highlight is a boxing match, pitting puny Harmon against the toughest lug in all New York. Though Buster Keaton was unable to get along with his director Jules White, it was ironically White who helped Keaton stage a comeback in the late 1930s by casting the comedian in a series of mediocre but profitable Columbia two-reelers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a female mayoral candidate promises to rid the town of gangsters. She joined the race in the first place when her daughter got involved with a young mobster who has been framed for a murder. With her manager's assistance, the candidate rallies all the women in town and gets them to stop taking care of their husbands unless the men vote for her. It works like a charm and the woman is elected. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this slapstick comedy set in a posh beauty salon, the owner asks her matronly sister, a postman's wife, to come and visit. She does, and brings her lovely daughter along with her. This creates problems when the fiancé of the owner's daughter falls in love with the daughter of her sister. Fortunately, it is revealed that the man is a grade-A cad and both of the girls are saved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a radio announcer works at the same station as a bogus psychic who while ostensibly answering fan letters on the air, is actually sending encoded messages to his gang concerning upcoming bank robberies. The clairvoyant is a real slick fellow and wins the love of the girl, the announcer has secretly loved for a long time. To prevent the announcer from winning her after all, the crook orders him abducted. Fortunately, the clever announcer escapes and reveals the psychic's trued identity. Happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A remake of the 1927 William Haines comedy Spring Fever, Love in the Rough was designed as a musical, though virtually all the songs were cut from the final release print (we see a chorus of secretaries typing rhythmically in the opening scene, yet this obvious song cue is cut short with nary a note). Robert Montgomery steps into the Haines role as Kelly, a shipping clerk who poses as an executive to gain access to a ritzy country club. Here he boasts of his prowess as a golfer, hoping to win the heart of heiress Marilyn (Dorothy Jordan). Amazingly, our hero bluffs his way into a golf tournament -- and wins, with the help of Jewish caddie Benny (Benny Rubin). If second lead Dorothy McNulty looks familiar, she should: eight years later, under her new nom de film of Penny Singleton, she starred in Columbia's Blondie series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a jilted lover gets even by giving his ex-girlfriend and her new groom a police dog for a wedding present. The K-9 has been specially trained to attack anyone who touches his mistress, the bride. The fur really flies when the newlyweds attempt to go on their honeymoon. Things get better when the protective dog falls madly in love with a pretty white kitty. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The ancient tale of brothers, separated at birth, who grow up on opposite sides of the law, is given yet another working-over in this lavish MGM western starring Tim McCoy. A former Indian language translator, McCoy was the studio's first and only attempt at creating a series western star. Sound interrupted what seemed to have been a lucrative series, but Metro nevertheless stayed away from series westerns for good, the only major Hollywood studio to do so. Rex Lease, a personable actor being groomed for a stardom that never really materialized, played McCoy's bad-seed younger brother, and the two meet without knowing each others identity. Having learned the truth (they possess identical tattoos!), Lease redeems himself by sacrificing his own life for the sake of brother McCoy's. If not exactly The Law of the Range, the noble gesture was certainly the law of Hollywood, where crime must always be punished. A young Joan Crawford, who was being punished herself by the studio for being too opportunistic both on and off the screen, earned a few moments in the film as McCoy's love interest. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Having played an egotistical baseball player in Slide, Kelly, Slide, an egotistical golfer in Spring Fever, and an egotistical football star in West Point, can it be any surprise that William Haines was cast as a you-know-what polo player in The Smart Set? While touring Europe, Tommy van Buren (Haines) is expelled from the U.S. polo team because of his obnoxiousness and lack of team spirit. Since even his sweetheart Polly (Alice Day) has turned her back on him, the headstrong Tommy decides to just sit back and sulk during the championship match. But when Polly is injured in a riding accident, our hero returns to the team just in time to trounce the British polo squad -- and, lest we forget, he also wins the heroine. As usual, critics gnashed their teeth over the sameness of the Bill Haines vehicles, but the public turned out in droves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Broadway entertainer Georgie Jessel beat his "friendly rival" Al Jolson to the screen by one year in the wartime comedy drama Private Izzy Murphy. Of Jewish-Irish heritage, merchant Izzy (Jessel) falls in love with 100-percent Irish colleen Ellen Connaghan (Patsy Ruth Miller). To make her proud of him, he joins the Fighting 69th, the famed WWI Irish-American regiment. Performing valiantly on the battlefield, Murphy returns home a hero (and, amusingly, wearing fewer medals than the real-life Jessel would display in his talk-show appearances of the 1960s). Even so, Ellen's staunchly Catholic father (played by German actor Gustav von Seyfertitz) refuses to allow his daughter to marry a Jew. Izzy's buddies convince the old man that he could never find a better son-in-law than our hero, leading to an elaborate wedding finale. Private Izzy Murphy did well enough for Warner Bros. to offer George Jessel the lead in their pioneering talkie The Jazz Singer; but Jessel (who'd appeared in the last-named production on Broadway) turned down the offer, to his everlasting regret. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Rag Man proved to be a popular release, so Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer quickly put together this sequel. The studio's brand new starlet Joan Crawford stars alongside young Jackie Coogan and old Max Davidson. When we last saw Tim Kelly (Coogan) and Max Ginsberg (Davidson), the ex-rag pickers had struck it rich. But the copper stock in which they have invested takes a dive and they are compelled to go back into the junk business. They take in the penniless Mary Riley (Crawford) as a roomer and she hits it off so well with them that she winds up becoming a partner in their little company. Mary falls in love with Nathan Burke (Alan Forrest), a young broker, but his mother (Lillian Elliott) opposes the match. Eventually it is revealed that Mrs. Burke came from a poor background herself, and her long-ago sweetheart was Ginsberg. After this discovery, she gives the couple her blessings. The copper stock soars in value once again, so Kelly and Ginsberg are back in the money. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide