William Hurlbut Movies

Canary-voiced boy wonder Bobby Breen once more croons his way into our hearts in Make a Wish. While vacationing at a boys' camp, the rambunctious Breen befriends famed composer Basil Rathbone. Stuck for an inspiration for his latest operetta, Rathbone at last finds it when he meets Breen's gorgeous mother Marion Claire, a popular singer. Alas, her stiff-necked fiance Ralph Forbes refuses to allow her to return to the stage, whereupon Rathbone spirals into a depression -- and even worse, a profound case of writers' block. But Little-Mister-Fixit Breen manages to patch up everything just in time for Claire to debut in Rathbone's latest masterpiece. Offering much-needed comedy relief are Henry Armetta, Leon Errol and Donald Meek as a trio of parasitic would-be songwriters. Make a Wish was based on a story by Gertrude Berg, of "Molly Goldberg" fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This tragic melodrama is a remake of Griffith's 1920 film, Way Down East. The story centers upon a starving, impoverished gamin who lost everything after a wicked millionaire tricked her into a marriage and impregnated her. The baby doesn't survive the ordeal and the poor girl ends up sheltered by a puritanical farm family. While there, she falls in love with the son. Unfortunately, as soon as they learn of her checkered past, the woman is tossed out. The distraught young woman is trying to cross a frozen river when a sudden thaw strikes, stranding her upon the treacherous floes. As they drift inexorably towards a deadly waterfall, her lover tries to save her. Unfortunately he cannot, and as the film ends, she is seen tumbling over the falls to certain doom. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This greatest of all Frankenstein movies begins during a raging thunderstorm. Warm and cozy inside their palatial villa, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley's wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester) engage in morbidly sparkling conversation. The wicked Byron mockingly chastises Mary for frightening the literary world with her recent novel Frankenstein, but Mary insists that her horror tale preached a valuable moral, that man was not meant to dabble in the works of God. Moreover, Mary adds that her story did not end with the death of Frankenstein's monster, whereupon she tells the enthralled Byron and Shelley what happened next. Surviving the windmill fire that brought the original 1931 Frankenstein to a close, the Monster (Boris Karloff) quickly revives and goes on another rampage of death and destruction. Meanwhile, his ailing creator Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) discovers that his former mentor, the demented Doctor Praetorius (Ernst Thesiger), plans to create another life-sized monster -- this time a woman! After a wild and wooly "creation" sequence, the bandages are unwrapped, and the Bride of the Monster (Elsa Lanchester again) emerges. Alas, the Monster's tender efforts to connect with his new Mate are rewarded only by her revulsion and hoarse screams. "She hate me," he growls, "Just like others!" Wonderfully acted and directed, The Bride of Frankenstein is further enhanced by the vivid Franz Waxman musical score; even the film's occasional lapses in logic and continuity (it was trimmed from 90 to 75 minutes after the first preview) are oddly endearing. Director James Whale was memorably embodied by Ian McKellen in the Oscar-winning 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first of two film version of Fannie Hurst's novel, 1934's Imitation of Life chronicles the friendship between two women--one white (Claudette Colbert), one black (Louise Beavers). Colbert is a widow with a baby daughter who hires Beavers, who also has a daughter, as a housekeeper. Colbert is a working girl who yearns to operate her own business, which she does thanks to Beavers' special pancake recipe. A family friend (Ned Sparks) suggests that the ladies form a corporation to merchandise the "Aunt Delilah" pancake mix, and within ten years both women are quite wealthy. Colbert's relationship with her teenaged daughter (Rochelle Hudson) is strained when both ladies vie for the attentions of the same man, but these problems are minor compared to the travails of Beavers, who not only must deal with the De Facto segregation of the 1930s but must also contend with her restless daughter (Fredi Washington), who resents being an African-American and attempts to pass for white. The heartbroken Beavers dies, and at her funeral her now-chastened daughter weeps out her apologies for turning her back on her mother. Imitation of Life was remade in 1959, its story glamorized and updated to accommodate star Lana Turner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frequently misidentified as Ladies Must Love, this Universal musical represents one of the few screen appearances of Broadway luminary June Knight. The plot is the old one about three gold-digging girls who team up to fleece a millionaire of his millions. The girls are Jeannie (Knight), Dot (Sally O'Neil) and Peggy (Dorothy Burgess): their victim is a wealthy young blade named Bill (Neil Hamilton). Not surprisingly, Jeannie scotches the plan by falling in love with Bill for real. Based on a play by William Hurlbut, Ladies Must Love was the first American film for legendary German director Ewald Andre DuPont. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This tight little melodrama opens with a group of wealthy people staying at a luxurious European mansion. According to legend, the mansion's "blue room" is cursed--everyone who has ever spent the night in that room has met with an untimely end. The three suitors of the heroine (Gloria Stuart) wager that each can survive a night in the forbidding blue room. The first to brave the room is a callow young man (William Janney) in whom the heroine has no real interest. A scream is heard in the middle of the night; when the other guests investigate, the young man has vanished, and the available clues suggest that he has met with foul play. Within the next several months, more murders occur in the blue room, prompting the lord of the manor (Lionel Atwill) to belatedly summon the authorities. A police inspector (Edward Arnold) solves both the mystery of the missing guest and the series of murders. Veteran moviegoers will be able to guess the outcome without even trying, but somehow Mystery in the Blue Room was deemed worthy of two remakes: The Missing Guest (38) and Murder in the Blue Room (44) (a musical!) Though not publicized at the time, Murder in the Blue Room was Universal's least expensive non-western feature film of 1933. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Cat Creeps is the first of three talkie versions of John Willard's durable stage melodrama The Cat and the Canary (filmed under its original title in 1927). Twenty years after the death of misanthropic millionaire Cyrus West, the old man's heirs are summoned to the spooky ancestral mansion for the reading of two recently discovered sealed envelopes. The first contains West's will; the second envelope is to be opened only if the terms of that will are carried out. Summoned to the West estate for the "grand opening" are West's grandniece Annabelle (Helen Twelvetrees) and several predatory would-be heirs. On the verge of opening the second envelope, the sinister Lawyer Crosby (Lawrence Grant) disappears behind a secret panel -- only to turn up murdered a few moments later. Is Annabelle --the last person to see Crosby alive -- the guilty party? And what's all this about an escaped lunatic wandering through the ghostly mansion? Alas, The Cat Creeps is evidently a lost film; not even the simultaneously-filmed Spanish version is still extant. Fortunately, the original sound discs have been recovered, allowing future generations to at least hear this landmark "old dark house" chiller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Silent screen sweetheart Corinne Griffith, who originally wanted to retire when talkies came in, proved the wisdom of her earlier decision when she starred in the clunky musical drama Lilies of the Field. Griffith is cast as Mildred Harker, who loses custody of her child in a messy divorce settlement. Leaving her hometown in disgrace, Mildred heads to New York, where after a crash course in the school of hard knocks she joins the chorus of a Ziegfeld-like musical revue. Now a full-fledged gold-digger, she enjoys the favors of backstage johnnies and elderly sugar daddies, but finally finds true love in the form of Park Avenue socialite Ted Willing (Ralph Forbes). Alas, Mildred is damaged goods, and soon she's back in the gutter whence she came. A remake of a 1924 silent film which also starred Corinne Griffith, Lilies of the Field is distinguished by a bizarre musical number in which the star is dressed (just barely) as an art-deco automobile hood ornament! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Corinne Griffith stars in this emotional drama based on the stage play by William Hurlburt. Although Walter Harker (Crauford Kent claims to be working overtime he is actually seeing Doris, a young flapper (Alma Bennett). Harker's neglected wife, Mildred (Griffith), attends a ball with Ted Conroy (Charles Gerrard), a friend of her husband's. He has too much to drink, and begins pawing at her when they return to her home. Harker catches them together, and uses the scene to get a divorce and retain custody of their baby. Mildred goes to work as a model and finds an admirer in Louis Willing (Conway Tearle), who she met at the ball. A cynical friend insists that all women are alike, so Willing tests Mildred by offering her an apartment if she will become his mistress. She turns him down flat, but when she hears (falsely) that the baby has died, she decides to accept his offer. Willing, who realizes that Mildred is not really the kind of girl she is trying to become, forces Harker to give up custody of the baby. He then convinces Mildred to marry him. Griffith also starred in the talkie version of this picture in 1930. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This implausible melodrama is based on the play by William Hurlburt. Although Cordelia Ebbing (Kathlyn Williams) leaves her husband (Phillips Smalley) because he has been unfaithful, she's the one who is said to be "trimmed in scarlet." Her daughter Faith (Lucille Rickson, who has grown up without knowing her mother, defends her anyway, and disliking her father's wife, leaves his home and works to support herself. Meanwhile, Cordelia has a violent argument with a suitor and thinks she has killed him -- information one of her servants then uses to blackmail her. When Faith finds out, she steals five thousand dollars to pay him off, prompting Cordelia, who has finally found happiness with Revere Wayne (Roy Stewart), to put herself in a compromising position in order to pay back the money. Everything gets straightened out, however, in time for a happy ending. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide