Ralph Ince Movies
The youngest of the three filmmaking Ince brothers, he was a child actor in theater and became a cartoonist at Vitagraph in 1906. He soon began acting in films and became a director in 1912. Continuing as an actor, Ince had a penchant for impersonating Abraham Lincoln, for other directors as well as in his own mid-teens films Lincoln the Lover and The Highest Law. He helmed numerous films in the '20s, several of which he also acted in, including Bigger Than Barnum's, The Sea Wolf (appearing as Jack London's Wolf Larsen) and Chicago After Midnight. Ince found few directing opportunities in Hollywood after the advent of sound, although he continued to act in others' films, including Little Caesar and Law and Order. He relocated to England in 1934 and helmed numerous features there until his untimely death in an auto accident in 1937. ~ All Movie Guide- 1938
American leading lady Marian Marsh plays the title character in the British Girl Thief. Actually, the biggest thing young Juliet (Marsh) steals is the heart of Bill (Anthony Bushell), the best friend of her fiance Allan (Claude Hulbert). It is subsequently a considerable source of discomfort when Bill is asked to serve as best man for Allan and Juliet's wedding. Everything turns out OK when it's revealed that Allan is himself still carrying a torch for an ex-sweetheart. This charming but utterly forgettable frivolity was originally released in England as Love at Second Sight. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marian Marsh, Anthony Bushell, (more)
- 1938
A couple are shipwrecked and saved by a sea captain. The ruthless man blinds the husband in a fight and his sexual advances drive the wife to suicide. Twenty years later, the husband recognizes the captain's laugh and seeks to avenge their treatment. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this comedy, a private detective earns his license via a correspondence course and then sets off to pursue a ring of jewel thieves lead by the villainous "Vulture." He ends up following them to Chinatown, where the gumshoe masquerades as a Chinese and ends up bringing the crooks to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this comedy, a wealthy heir is shamed by his fiancee at a fancy party and ends up taking off to the bad side of town. There he encounters an ex-con who mistakes the distraught fellow for a high-class thief. The ex-con takes the millionaire into a house for reformed criminals. It is managed by a pretty woman and immediately the rich boy and she are attracted to each other. Unfortunately, the not-so-reformed ex-con takes him away from the girl and forces him to pull off a heist for the crook and his gang. Fortunately, the lovely landlady intervenes and saves him before it is too late. In gratitude, the rich man buys the house for the woman so she can run it as she sees fit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this British thriller, a mild-mannered bank clerk has a sort of breakdown, gets tired of seeing other people always get the money, and robs the bank. He then sets up an elaborate scheme whereby it looks as if he felt so much remorse at his actions that he has ended his life by jumping overboard on an ocean liner. Unfortunately, while on board, a ship's steward finds his pre-written note, gets rid of it and steals the money. Later the steward is killed. Now the clerk is in real trouble until he meets a beautiful woman and tells her the whole sordid story. She, and a detective help him prove that he did not kill the steward. The real murderer is found, and both he and the clerk are imprisoned. While doing his time, the clerk is sustained by the knowledge that the beauty waits for him outside. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
In this British comedy, a cricket widow decides to get even on her sports mad husband by taking his milquetoast best friend, running off to Paris, and pretending to be passionately in love. The ploy works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
When assistant Noel Madison kills professor J. Fisher White for his diamond formula, White's daughter Brook examines the case and gets into danger when she is saved by detective George Galleon. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1936
The port of Southampton provides the locale for a series of escapades of British sailors on a 6 hour leave. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1936
Adapted from a stage play by Maurice Braddell, It's You I Want is a vehicle for veteran scene-stealer Sir Seymour Hicks. The star is cast as Victor Delaney, a middle-aged roue who decides to take a break from girl-chasing. This proves impossible when Delaney's bachelor flat becomes a veritable pit-stop for cheating husbands, vengeful wives and dizzy mistresses. Time after time, Delaney is caught in innocent but compromising situations, paying off in loud and long laughter from the audience. Director Ralph Ince does little to "cinematize" his material; it's essentially the original stage play on the original set with most of the original cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seymour Hicks, Marie Lohr, (more)
- 1936
A convicted killer escapes and seeks revenge on the jurors who put him in prison. He kills two of them and the rest end up hiding in the large home of another juror, an actor. It is the actor who saves them from the murderous fugitive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
One man's attempts to convince his fellow jurors of the defendant's innocence provides the basis of this drama. The others point out that all the evidence presented proves his guilt, but the man is not swayed. Finally he asks them to reconstruct the crime. They do and find out that the holdout is indeed correct. They also find the real killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hartley Power, Margaret Lockwood, (more)
- 1936
In this actioner, a prisoner must break out in time to keep his wife, who has involved herself with a creepy gang, from selling their son to a rich family who has just lost their own child. He succeeds, but then must find his son and the new family. He locates them aboard their yacht. There he begins to realize that the boy is far better off with them and he returns to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
A criminologist, who wishes to discourage his son from a career as detective, organizes a picture theft which the son manages to solve, proving that there truly was a burglary. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1935
In this comedy, a pickle magnate becomes an amnesiac following a train crash. He subsequently opens a beauty salon and ends up marrying a beautician. The pickle king's wife has also remarried as she believes her first husband dead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Dapper, diminutive Monty Banks was a major comedy star in silent pictures, but his pronounced Italian accent proved a drawback in talkies. Accordingly, Banks' most successful sound vehicle was So You Won't Talk?, during which he utters only a handful of words. His silence is motivated by the terms of a will, wherein Tony (Banks) will inherit a huge fortune if he keeps his mouth shut for 30 days. Nor is he even permitted to write down his thoughts during this period: in other words, he's strictly incommunicado. Naturally, events conspire against our hero, placing him in several uncomfortable situations brought about by his self-enforced muteness. Very funny in spots, So You Won't Talk? may be a bit too thin to stretch across nine reels. Helping things considerably is the snappy direction of William Beaudine, who before his descent into "B" pictures was regarded as one of the best all-around craftsmen in the business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Banks, Vera Pearce, (more)
- 1935
The Black Mask is a gentleman crook who robs from the rich to give to the deserving. A crusading newspaperman is sympathetic to the Black Mask's motives; nonetheless, he begins a print campaign to bring the criminal to justice. When the journalist is murdered, the Black Mask tops the suspect list. Naturally, he's innocent, and just as naturally he seeks out the real killer. We can't tell you here who plays the Black Mask; guessing is part of the film's enjoyment. The Black Mask is based on a novel by Bruce Graeme. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Burly American character actor Ralph Ince both directs and stars in the British Blue Smoke. Ince plays a prizefighter whose greatest rival is gypsy Bruce Seton. Most of Ince and Seton's non-ring battles concern the affections of gypsy lass Tamara Desni. Seton wins that emotional round, and as a result Ince messes himself up professionally. Scripters Fenn Sherie and Ingram d'Abbes adapted their Blue Smoke screenplay from a story by perennial Hitchcock collaborator Charles Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1934
Ex-con Carney manages to keep blackmailer's away from his daughter who never realizes who her hero is because Carney had been in prison since she was an infant. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
In this thriller, the co-owner of a rubber plantation finds himself in trouble after he rejects the advances of his partner's wife and she tries to poison him. Unfortunately, she poisons her husband instead, leaving the partner to take the rap. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1934
With William Boyd in the cast, one would think that Flaming Gold was a "Hopalong Cassidy" western -- and one would be wrong. Boyd and Pat O'Brien play Dan Manton and Ben Lear, wildcat oil men at large in Mexico. Dan and Ben continually run afoul of a powerful oil cartel, determined to put our heroes out of business. Meanwhile, the two buddies fall out over the affections of good-time Claire Arnold (Mae Clarke) who marries Dan. A "big gusher" climax caps Flaming Gold, which had it been made 10 years later would probably have been produced by Pine-Thomas Productions with Richard Arlen, Chester Morris and Jean Parker in the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William "Stage" Boyd, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1933
Mascot Films, the feisty precursor to Republic Pictures, was responsible for 1933's The Big Payoff. In a rare top-billed role, chameleon-like character-actor Lucien Littlefield plays an innocent man who has been railroaded to the electric chair. Coming to the rescue is Victor Jory, a disgraced police officer who redeems himself by locating the guilty party. More than one reviewer caught on that The Big Payoff resembled a western in modern garb. And small wonder, since the film was based on a short story by Peter B. Kyne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucien Littlefield, Ralph Ince, (more)
