Larry Kent Movies

This lavishly produced, big-budget comedy (it cost $20 million in 1964 dollars) stars Shirley MacLaine as Louisa, a widow who is worth $200 million dollars. However, she's convinced that her fortune is cursed, and she wants to give all her money to the IRS. As she explains her sad tale to her psychiatrist, Dr. Stephanson (Robert Cummings), it seems that when Louisa was young she had the choice of marrying rich playboy Leonard Crawley (Dean Martin) or poor but decent Edgar Hopper (Dick Van Dyke). She chose Edgar, but soon he became obsessed with providing a fine home and fortune for her; he got rich but worked himself to death in the process. Despondent, Louisa flies to Paris, where she strikes up a romance with expatriate artist Larry Flint (Paul Newman). When Larry invents a machine that creates paintings based on sounds, he becomes wealthy and famous -- and dies. Louisa returns to America, where she figures to break her streak by marrying Rod (Robert Mitchum), a business tycoon who already has lots of money. He resolves to take life easier and becomes a farmer, only to die in a strange accident with a bull. Louisa is drowning her sorrows one night at a sleazy night spot when she falls for second rate entertainer Jerry (Gene Kelly). They marry, and a now-wealthy Jerry develops a relaxed, carefree quality to his act that makes him a huge star, which leads to his being crushed by a mob of his biggest fans. What a Way to Go! boasted a screenplay by Betty Comdon and Adolph Green that featured many amusing film parodies and a score by Nelson Riddle; it also marked the final screen appearance of comic actress Margaret Dumont, best remembered as Groucho Marx's straight woman in several films. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A Man Called Peter is the story of Scottish-born Presbyterian minister and world-renowned author Peter Marshall, here played by Richard Todd. In his youth, Marshall moves to Washington DC, where he becomes pastor of the Church of the Presidents. His wisdom and conviction enables Marshall to communicate with men of all faiths. In private life, the pastor is given moral support by his loyal wife Catherine Marshall (Jean Peters). At the time of his comparatively early death, Marshall has become chaplain of the US Senate. Interestingly enough, while Marshall and his family are identified by name, the peripheral political characters are given fictional monickers--and sometimes, as in the case of the President played by William Forrest, no names at all. Director Henry Koster expertly avoids filming Marshall's sermons in a static, declamatory fashion. As Catherine Marshall, Jean Peters does wonders with a comparatively limited role; her best scene is her last, when she overcomes her lifelong fear of the ocean for the sake of her son (Billy Chapin). A Man Called Peter was certainly not conceived out of any box-office considerations, but it still paid its way. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The all-purpose title Man Hunt was trotted out for this 1936 Warner Bros. "B". Aging country newspaper editor Chic Sale is laughed off by the rest of his community for his tall tales. When an escaped Public Enemy (Ricardo Cortez) shows up in the vicinity, Sale decides to prove his worth by tracking down the criminal himself. The G-Men on the case tell Sale to mind his own business, but it is the old codger who collars Cortez and drags him in. No one made gangster pictures as well as Warner Bros., so even a low-priority item like Man Hunt has its moments. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Spirit of Youth begins as sailor Larry Kent discards his uniform to enter the boxing ring. Inspiring him to victory in his early bouts is Kent's hometown sweetheart, poor-but-pretty Dorothy Sebastian. Upon attaining fame and fortune, our hero's head is turned by wealthy Betty Francisco, but she dumps him when he's knocked out by his own training-camp sparring partner. Fortunately, faithful Sebastian is still around to pick up the pieces. Despite its cliched trappings, Spirit of Youth manages to pull a few surprises on its audience. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Veteran comedian Charlie Murray plays a serious role in 1928's Head Man. Murray is cast as a senator named Watts, whose political career is ruined when he refuses to suck up to a "machine" boss. After several weeks of self-pity, Watts decides to beat the Machine at its own game. With the support of friends and family, he runs for mayor and soon the bad guys are running from him! Cast as Watts' daughter Carol is 15-year-old Loretta Young, just beginning her long association with First National/Warner Brothers. Also on hand are such surefire supporting players as Lucien Littlefield, Irving Bacon, Harvey Clark, and Dot Farley (who, like Charlie Murray, was an alumnus of the Mack Sennett comedy factory). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This nonsensical comedy-melodrama was a vehicle for two relics from the dawn of cinema history, walrus-mustached Chester Conklin and scrawny Flora Finch. A parody of the "old dark house" melodramas then in vogue, the film is chock full of hidden rooms, sliding panels and clutching hands. Convinced that they've gone to work for a houseful of ghoulies and ghosties, Mr. and Mrs. Rackham (Conklin and Finch) soon discover that their "haunted house" is but a front for the criminal activities of crackpot scientist Montague Love. Thelma Todd plays a sexy nurse, while Eva Southern, as a Caligari-like sleepwalker, sings a couple of Vitaphone-recorded songs. Based on a play by Owen Davis, The Haunted House was one of a handful of American films directed by the great Danish moviemaker Benjamin Christensen, of Witchcraft Through the Ages fame. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The confident direction of Allan Dwan transformed The Mad Hour into something more than a mere "soap opera." Based on a novel by Elinor Glyn (the Barbara Cartland of her time), the story concerns a hasty marriage and a long, long repentance. While drunk on bootleg hootch, good-time girl Cuddles (Sally O'Neil) and college-boy Jack (Donald Reed) get married. Jack's wealthy father instantly disowns the boy, while Cuddles finds herself falsely accused of a jewel theft. While serving her prison term, Cuddles gives birth to Jack's baby, only to discover upon her release that her marriage has been annulled and her kid is illegitimate in the eyes of the law. Throwing caution to the winds, the grief-crazed Cuddles hops into a roadster and speeds off a cliff to her death -- while Jack quietly marries his former sweetheart Aimee (Alice White), the expression on his face indicating that he will be tortured with guilt for the rest of his life. The moral: Alcohol and Wedding Bells Don't Mix. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Milton Sills once again thrilled his legions of female fans in The Sea Tiger. This time, Sills is cast as Julian Ramos, a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the guardian of his hotheaded younger brother Charles (Larry Kent), Julian regards it as his duty to protect the boy from women -- and vice versa. When Charles begins pitching woo at aristocratic Amy (Mary Astor), Julian runs interference by pretending to be in love with the girl himself. As time passes, of course, he stops pretending. When Charles proves to be a cad, Amy realizes that Julian is truly the man for her. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the once-popular "musical extravaganza" of the same name, McFadden's Flats is a serviceable vehicle for Keystone Studio veterans Charlie Murray and Chester Conklin. The stars are respectively cast as boisterous Irishman Dan McFadden and stingy Scotchman Jock MacTavish, eternally bickering neighbors in a small rural town. It must needs be that Dan's daughter Mary Ellen (Edna Murphy) falls in love with Jock's son Sandy (Larry Kent). Several slapsticky confrontations later, the warring dads become resigned to the marriage of their offspring, and Jock even saves Dan from financial ruin. McFadden's Flats was remade in 1935, with Walter C. Kelly and Andy Clyde in the leads. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on the magazine story "Still Face" by pulp writer Clarence Buddington Kelland, The Masked Menace, released by the Pathé organization in ten chapters in October of 1927, proved a flop at the box office despite an unusual plot that had Keats Dodd (Larry Kent) coming to the aid of an elderly woman (Laura Alberta) and her pretty ward, Faith (Jean Arthur), whose mill is terrorized by a masked villain known only as "Still Face." The criminal's identity is finally revealed in the tenth chapter, entitled, not too surprisingly, "The Menace Unmasked." A very young and still brunette Jean Arthur had just been signed by Paramount when she appeared in this serial, which also featured Tom Holding, John F. Hamilton, William Norton Bailey, and Edward Roseman. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi