William Jacobs Movies

Top-billed Bela Lugosi has only a minor role in this routine variant on the Old Dark House scenario, playing a mysterious Indian mystic who is but one of numerous eccentric characters lingering about in an eerie mansion, stalked by an unseen murderer. Other potential victims/suspects include a reporter, a pair of exotic house servants, a fetching heroine, even an extra psychopath thrown in as a red herring. The real killer is eventually discovered and destroyed but, in an inventive and chilling twist, comes back to life to speak directly to the audience in the film's surprise coda -- the only real moment of interest in this otherwise humdrum who-done-it. Also known as He Lived to Kill. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A popular title, a mystery death and college hi-jinks are the ingredients in this pleasant little whodunit from lower-rung company Chesterfield. Charles Starrett stars as Ken Harris, a college football hero whose roommate, Byron Coates (James Bush), is found dead outside their dormitory, a murder camouflaged as a suicide. Suspicion briefly centers on Byron's look-alike half-brother (also Bush) but he, too, is found slain by the mystery killer. Assisted by Byron's sister Jean (Marian Shilling), an at times confounded Ken manages to get to the bottom of the alarming goings-on and unmask the murderer, whose identity will come as little surprise to fans of low-budget 1930s crime thrillers. A Shot in the Dark was filmed on rental stages at the former Pathé studios. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This racetrack drama centers upon a horse breeder with a strong aversion to orphans. Howard Chamberlain, himself an orphan, firmly believes that foundlings are bad luck and he allows none, neither man nor beast, upon his spread. One day, adorable Little Gimpy begs Howard to let him learn the ropes of racing. The gruff breeder finds the boy endearing and lets him stay. Soon he has come to care deeply for Gimpy. By the time he learns that the lad is an orphan, Howard is too devoted to the boy to toss him out. Eventually the boy becomes a crackerjack jockey and wins the Big Race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Big Noise is retired textile manufacturer Julius Trent (Guy Kibbee). Seeking a new outlet for his entrepreneurial energies, Trent buys a half interest in a thriving dry-cleaning establishment. This gets him mixed up with a gang of protection racketeers, who promise dire consequences if Trent doesn't dance to their tune. But our hero is not so easily frightened, and with the help of his fellow merchants Trent forms a strong united front against the crooks, utilizing a clever strategy of "divide and conquer." This Warner Bros. programmer bears no relation to the later Laurel and Hardy vehicle The Big Noise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a teen is adopted from a reform school by a wealthy couple. They own horses and the boy becomes a jockey. His father was also a rider, but he got involved with crime. The young rider soon finds himself being framed by gamblers who are using his father's reputation against him. Finally the young man clears his name and wins the English Derby. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This western tells the story of a brave Army captain assigned to escort an important official's daughter through Indian country. Unfortunately, a pair of wicked buffalo hunters have been trying to upset the Cheyenne by breaking the treaty the woman's father created; they are hunting the massive beasts. The woman gets entangled with the crooks after her guide is tossed in the poky and the fed-up Cheyenne begin waging war. Fortunately, the hero manages to escape and mount his trick horse to stop the villains and restore peace. Look for super-athlete Jim Thorpe as the Cheyenne leader. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Working on the theory that the only thing funnier than Laurel and Hardy is two sets of Laurel and Hardys, Our Relations milks its central mistaken-identity situation for all it's worth. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are two solid citizens, happily married and highly respected in their community. One morning, Hardy receives a letter from his mother, containing an old photo of himself and Laurel with their twin brothers, Alf Laurel and Bert Hardy. Mamma also reveals that Alf and Bert turned out to be "bad lads" and ran off to sea, and that reportedly they'd been hanged for taking part in a mutiny. "Isn't that calamitous!" remarks Hardy, who conspires with Laurel to hide the facts about their no-good brothers from their wives. Meanwhile, in another part of town, the S.S. Periwinkle pulls into port. Among the crew members are the selfsame Alf and Bert, who have decided to entrust their pal Fin (James Finlayson) with their month's salary. Fin has promised to invest the dough so that the boys will become millionaires "before you can say Jack Robinson". Alf and Bert are then summoned to the cabin of their captain (Sidney Toler), who orders them to pick up a valuable package for him, then meet him later at Denker's Beer Garden. While waiting for the captain at Denker's, Alf and Bert are captivated by a pair of waterfront floozies, Alice (Iris Adrian) and Lily (Lona Andre). Talked into buying the girls a huge meal for which they haven't the necessary funds, Alf and Bert decide to go back to Fin and reclaim their money, leaving the contents of the captain's package-a valuable pearl ring-with tough waiter Joe Groagan (Alan Hale) as security. Later, Laurel and Hardy take their wives Betty (Betty Healy) and Daphne (Daphne Pollard) to lunch-and, inevitably, they end up at Denker's Beer Garden, where the equally inevitable mix-ups begin to occur. Things snowball from bad to worse before both sets of twins, an angry captain, a disgruntled Fin, the wives, the floozies, a genial drunk (Arthur Housman) and a brace of smooth gangsters (Ralf Harolde and Noel Madison) all converge at the upscale Pirate Club. Several slapstick complications later, Laurel and Hardy are captured by the gangsters, who threaten to dump the boys in the river with their feet encased in cement if they don't cough up the pearl ring. Alf and Bert come to the rescue, and all is well, at least until the film's boffo punchline. Based on W.W. Jacobs' short story The Money Box, Our Relations is perhaps the most plot-heavy of Laurel and Hardy's features for Hal Roach Studios. It is also one of their funniest, as well as their most lavishly produced. The film was officially listed as "A Stan Laurel Production"-as if Laurel hadn't been the prime creative force behind all of the team's previous films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This drama is based upon a play by George S. Kaufman, The Butter and Egg Man. It tells the tale of Erwin, a naive yokel who dreams of making it in show biz. He comes to the big city with $20,000. In the city he gets involved with some crooked promoters who manage to con him into backing a dreadful play. Later, Erwin gets even by fixing up the show's accounts. He then turns the production into a New York hit. He takes the play back to the promoters and sells it to them. They buy it and immediately find themselves slapped with a plagiarism suit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

British author W.W. Jacobs, whose love of the sea and seafarers permeated everything he wrote, was responsible for the story upon which Beauty and the Barge was based. Judy Gunn plays the headstrong daughter of an Army officer who runs away from home. She is later adopted by bargeman Gordon Harker. A very young Jack Hawkins portrays a handsome lieutenant (or "leff-tenant", if you prefer) who signs on as a common seaman on Harker's barge in hopes of winning Hawkins' love. Beauty and the Barge also features the unforgettable Margaret Rutherford, doing pretty much what she'd been still doing in movies nearly thirty years later-shamelessly stealing every scene she's in. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this wartime drama, cavalry private Dennis Murphy purchases a nervous horse, Sergeant, after it is deemed unfit for military service. With patience and love, Murphy trains his horse into a champion and later proves his worth by sneaking the steed into England where he enters him in the Grand National. He wins. The plucky private also wins the affection of the colonel's daughter. This film is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

South of Suez is where diamond-mine foreman John Gamble (George Brent) plies his trade. When his boss is murdered, Gamble is held for murder, forcing him to take it on the lam. With the reluctant aid of heroine Katherine Sheffield (Brenda Marshall), Gamble endeavors to prove his innocence. He is finally cleared not because of any exceptional detective work, but through the bungling of the actual killer (no, his name will not be revealed here). Strictly B-grade material, South of Suez is a virtual compendium of stock shots from earlier Warner Bros. films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1920 and 1931, James Oliver Curwood's River's End was given a third go-round by Warner Bros. in 1940. Dennis Morgan plays a dual role as falsely accused murderer John Keith and stalwart Canadian mountie Sgt. Conniston. When Conniston is accidently killed, Keith takes his place, and while in Redcoat guise manages to solve the murder for which he was accused. George Tobias dominates the proceedings as French-Canadian Andy Dijon, who spends most of his time trying to get into trouble to get out of an unwanted marriage. The heroine is Elizabeth Earl, of whom little was heard after River's End ran its course; the same could not be said of supporting player James Stephenson, who would skyrocket to stardom in 1940 by virtue of his performance in William Wyler's The Letter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide