Lucien Hubbard Movies

The Story of G.I. Joe was based on the columns of Scripps-Howard war correspondent Ernie Pyle (Burgess Meredith). Though already past 40, Pyle insists upon marching along with an Army infantry unit during the Italian campaign. He befriends several of the soldiers, including commanding officer Lt. Walker (Robert Mitchum in his breakthrough role), family man Sgt. Warnicki (Freddie Steele) and would-be romeo Private Dondaro (Wally Cassell). The "plot" of the film is moved forward by the progression of the war itself; basically, however, G.I. Joe is an anecdotal collection of comic, dramatic and tragic vignettes. Some of the more memorable moments include: Sgt. Warnicki's ongoing efforts to listen to a recording of his infant son's voice; Walker's casual reactions to his many field promotions; and a wedding ceremony which is "punctuated" by an air raid. Many infantry veterans consider The Story of GI Joe to be the single most realistic Hollywood war film of the 1940s, eschewing big stars, phony heroics and overblown battle sequences in favor of the everyday trials and tribulations of the humble foot soldier. Ironically, Pyle, who acted as technical adviser when he wasn't busy on the front, was killed by an enemy sniper shortly before the release of this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Clarence Buddington Kelland story was the source for the mildly farcical For Beauty's Sake. If he wants to inherit a fortune, bookish astronomy professor B. E. Dillsome (Ted North) must operate his aunt's beauty parlor for a two-year period. Business is very, very slow, prompting Dillsome's girlfriend Dime Pringle (Marjorie Weaver) to bring in a hot-shot press agent Jonathan B. Sweet (Ned Sparks) to publicize the establishment. Before long, our benighted hero finds himself mixed up in a murder plot and a blackmail scheme. The raucous comedy relief of Joan Davis and the patented deadpan asides of Ned Sparks more than make up for the film's plot deficiencies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, a young woman is sent to a National Youth Administration camp after her father is arrested for making moonshine. While there, a local developer endeavors to buy up the camp. To save it, the young woman stages an elaborate camp show. The developer is enchanted and changes his mind. More trouble ensues when the developer's payroll is purloined. Fortunately, the girl's father escapes from prison and brings the crooks to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Pulp-novel detective Nick Carter was created in the 1880s, but most film versions of the character have been updated to modern times. Such was the case with MGM's three-episode "Nick Carter" series, which got off to a good start with Nick Carter, Master Detective. Walter Pidgeon plays the title character, who in this episode gets mixed up with industrial espionage. Posing as one "Robert Chalmers", Nick gets the goods on a gang of foreign spies (no country names, please!), bringing them to heel during a serial-like waterfront chase. Rita Johnson essays a rare sympathetic role as stewardess Lou Farnsby, while Donald Meek steals the show as Bartholomew the beekeeper (a character who would grow increasingly annoying as the series went on). Nick Carter, Master Detective was coscripted by Bertram Millhauser, who also penned several of the Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an unlucky family find themselves plagued by murderous mobsters after they inadvertently witness a crime that could send a gang leader to the chair. The police protection provided proves woefully inadequate when the crooks manage to kidnap a son. It is the brave grandfather who succeeds in saving his grandson from death. The film is a remake of Starwitness1931. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the rough-and-tumble world of post-Civil War Texas, ex-Confederate soldier Kirk Jordan (Randolph Scott) crosses paths with ranch owner Ivy Preston (Joan Bennett). Although a loyal Southerner, Jordan can't get past the waste and tragedy of the four years that have just ended, but Ivy is eager to help keep the war for the Confederacy alive, running guns to her would-be lover, unrepentant ex-Confederate captain Alan Sanford (Robert Cummings), who is prepared to ally himself with the Mexican emperor Maximilian as a means of starting a new war against the "Yankee" government. Ivy is attracted to Jordan after he boldly helps her evade an army checkpoint, until she finds out how relatively peaceable he is. Jordan and his sidekick, Cal Tuttle (Raymond Hatton), are prepared to make a cattle drive to the new railhead at Abilene and sell at a handsome profit, but Ivy wants nothing to do with the United States or Yankee money, even as her more practically minded grandmother (May Robson) and her foreman, Chuckawalla (Walter Brennan), try to convince her otherwise. Only when Isaiah Middlebrack (Robert H. Barrat), the corrupt local administrator for the occupying Northern government, arrives announcing a head-tax on cattle does she change her mind and begin to see some worth in Jordan's ambition and boldness. Two deaths, of Middlebrack and a much-loved ranch hand, allow the ranchers and the occupying soldiers to reconcile and make the drive together to the border. Jordan and his outfit find a stricken, desperate Abilene, bereft of anything to be shipped on the new rail line. Jordan's arrival accomplishes everything he hopes for and more, and in the end Ivy sees and also glories in his vision, of a United States reunited and restored, growing and thriving as never before. But Jordan can't abide her continued affection for Alan, whose continued obsession with restoring the Confederacy is wearing on him and almost everyone else by now, and he plans on leaving. Ivy doesn't want to see that happen, but is torn over her lingering affection for Alan. But then she learns that he is planning to join a new organization, the Ku Klux Klan, intended to drive the Yankees out of the South, and she suddenly has to choose with which of these men her future lies. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Based on Aurania Rouveyrol's Broadway play Skidding, A Family Affair is a gentle comedy/drama centering around the Hardy family of Carvel (a small, idealized American town). Judge Hardy (Lionel Barrymore) hopes to be re-elected, but his campaign is put in jeopardy by his opposition of a wasteful public works program. The Judge's position is also threatened by his daughter's (Julie Haydon) unexplained separation from her husband. In the supporting cast, incidental to the plotline, was Mickey Rooney as Judge Hardy's teenage son Andy, Spring Byington as the Judge's wife, and Cecilia Parker as his younger daughter Marian. MGM head Louis B. Mayer sensed series potential in A Family Affair, and the result was the long-running and profitable "Hardy Family" series. Julie Haydon's character was written out of all subsequent "Hardy" films, Lewis Stone and Fay Holden replaced Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington as Judge and Mrs. Hardy, and Mickey Rooney was elevated from the supporting cast to full leading man status as the effervescent Andy Hardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a milque-toast socialite is drowning in San Francisco Bay. Fortunately, he is saved by a kindly Italian fisherman who takes him in and teaches him how to be manly. During his slow recovery, the wimpy fellow is cared for by the fisherman's lovely daughter who is studying to become an opera singer. Trouble ensues when they all find themselves entangled with mobsters. Suddenly the boy becomes a real man and saves them. While San Francisco burns to the ground, he and the daughter finally acknowledge their love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Sinner Takes All shines with the production gloss only MGM could create; the prettiness of the images helps to hide the plot holes in this modest murder mystery. The members of an aristocratic family are murdered one by one, in retribution for the misdeeds of the family's black sheep. Margaret Lindsay is the heroine, Bruce Cabot the hero, and Joseph Calleia a man who is hiding something. As a publicity ploy, the film also featured journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, fresh from a headline-grabbing "round the world" tour. Capped by an ironic ending in which the killer surprisingly refuses to boast about his modus operandi, Sinner Takes All was one of three MGM "B" thrillers filmed virtually back-to-back in 1936 by prolific studio contractee Errol Taggart. The film was based on the novel Murder for a Wanton by Whitman Chambers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bucolic Elmer Lamb (Stuart Erwin), who only wants to raise dairy cattle, is a mathematical prodigy; he's even a whiz at playing bridge. Circus pitchman Bill (Robert Armstrong) and circus owner Jeffrey Crane (Edmund Gwenn) want to make money off Elmer, but Jeff's daughter Kitty (Betty Furness) finds herself drawn to him. Eventually, Elmer is pitted against the reigning bridge champion (E.E. Clive) -- whom he's already beaten in an informal match -- which involves shady Pudgy (Edward S. Brophy) and gangster Al (Dewey Robinson). ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide

Edmund Lowe made his only screen appearance as S. S. Van Dine's dilettante sleuth Philo Vance in The Garden Murder Case. The story wastes no time getting started, with Floyd Garden (Douglas Walton) being killed in the first reel from a fall in a steeplechase. It looks like an accident -- but then, so do the subsequent deaths of Lowe Hammle (Gene Lockhart) and Mrs. Fenwick-Ralston (Frieda Inescourt). The police are baffled, but Philo Vance (Lowe) deduces that the victims were done in by a very clever -- and very deadly -- hypnotist. The revelation of the killer's identity won't be surprising to longtime mystery buffs, but it proved quite a shock to audiences in 1936. The tense final scene, in which the murder attempts to mesmerize Vance into committing suicide, was effective enough to be "borrowed" for the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film The Woman in Green. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Longest Night is a curious title choice for this fast-paced mystery; at 50 minutes, it was the shortest feature film ever produced by MGM. Robert Young plays the manager of a department store targeted by gangsters. Young's romance with store clerk Florence Rice is threatened when the bad guys start muscling in. Accused of stealing merchandise, Young has to cogitate--and utilize his fists--to clear himself. Screenwriter Robert Andrews adapted The Longest Night from a short story (evidently a very short story) by Cortland Fitzsimmons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Directed by Edwin L. Marin, Sworn Enemy stars Robert Young as "Hank" Sherman, a law student who earns extra cash by working as a chauffeur. His job becomes significantly harder, however, when he finds himself entangled in the effort to catch the mobster who murdered his boss and harmed his brother. In order to get closer to the killer, Sherman Young masquerates as a fight promoter, and in the process falls in love with his beautiful assistant Maragaret (Florence Rice). Eventually, the young man gains the trust of the mobsters, and is allowed to join in their gang. Once inside, Sherman rushes to avenge the deaths of those near and dear to him. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide