Paul E. Burns Movies

Even allowing for the comparative freedom of the pre-Production Code years, 1930's Hell Harbor was pretty strong meat for its time. The story is set on a remote Caribbean island, entirely populated by descendants of Sir Henry Morgan's pirate crew. Morgan's brutish great-great-grandson Henry Morgan (Gibson Gowland) intends to shower himself with gold and to that end forces his daughter Anita (Lupe Velez) into a marriage with despicable moneylender Joseph Horngold (Jean Hersholt). Coming to Anita's rescue is shipwrecked American sailor Bob Wade (John Holland), whose presence sparks an unchecked riot on the island. The film's most chilling scene finds Morgan. Director Henry King also produced the film through his own Inspiration Pictures Corporation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a shyster lawyer makes his living earning acquittals for his guilty clients. Most recently he freed a powerful crime lord. He comes to regret this when his daughter falls in love with the gangster. Despite his efforts to dissuade the criminal from pursuing the relationship, the gangster does. The desperate lawyer then kills the gangster and soon finds himself on trial for murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The real Frank and Jesse James were murderous thugs, light years away from the Robin Hood image imposed on them by revisionist dime novelists. But in 1939, 20th Century-Fox wasn't about to build an expensive Technicolor feature around the exploits of a couple of low-lives, thus Jesse James upholds the mythos, offering us the standard whitewashed version of the James boys. According to Nunally Johnson's irresistibly entertaining screenplay, Jesse (Tyrone Power) and Frank (Henry Fonda) become train and bank robbers to avenge the death of their mother (Jane Darwell), killed at the behest of greedy railroad interests. Once he feels his work is done, Jesse settles down to a life of marital domesticity--only to be shot in the back by cowardly Bob Ford (John Carradine). Frank James is left alive at film's end, paving the way for the 1941 sequel The Return of Frank James. Director Henry King stages the action sequences in glorious outsized fashion, notably the famous bank-robbery scene in which Jesse rides his horse through a plate glass window. The scenes involving both James brothers are stolen hands-down by Henry Fonda, not so much because he was a better actor than Tyrone Power but because his character had all the best lines. Jesse James was filmed largely on location in Missouri, resulting in crowd-control nightmares for the picture's beleaguered assistant directors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Mexican version of the popular southwestern series, Cisco barely escapes the deadly bullets of a firing squad. He later meets a lovely señorita and falls in love, but before he can dally romantically, he must first help her and her papa get back the money they were bilked out of. More trouble ensues when the woman's old lover reappears and she would rather be with him. to take care of that, Cisco sends the man on a suicidal assignment. Fortunately, he changes his mind, captures the crooks himself, saves the man, and rides away. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

John Ford's fine direction distinguishes this highly fictionalized account of the early life of Abraham Lincoln. The film shows Lincoln (Henry Fonda) as he rises from a country boy born in a log cabin to a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois defending two young men unjustly accused of murder. The film, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, received an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Screenplay" for its screenwriter Lamar Trotti. Henry Fonda perhaps the most American of actors, is at his best playing Lincoln as the quintessential, compassionate American hero. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Lillian Russell is the sanitized musical biopic of the legendary (and much-married) 19th century musical comedy star. Discovered in 1880 by bandleader Tony Pastor (Leo Carrillo), Lillian Russell (Alice Faye) wastes no time rising to fame and fortune on the Broadway stage. Along the way, she curries the favor of such eligible bachelors as newspaperman Alexander Moore (Henry Fonda), composer Edward Solomon (Don Ameche), and railroad tycoon Diamond Jim Brady (Edward Arnold). She marries the first two, and has a high old time (albeit chastely) with the third. The story ends with Russell's retirement in 1912, and her reunion with the one true love of her life. The film's hands-down highlight is a timeworn but classic routine involving those two Broadway comedy giants Joe Weber and Lew Fields, both of whom had appeared on-stage with the real Lillian Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1930 with Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore, the robust Sigmund Romberg operetta New Moon was given another airing in 1940 as Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald vehicle. Set in 18th century Louisiana, the story concerns the relationship between haughty plantation owner Marianne de Beaumanoir (MacDonald) and her handsome bondservant Charles (Eddy). Actually a French nobleman in disguise, Charles leads his fellow bondsman in revolt, commandeering a ship and heading out to sea. He ends up capturing a vessel carrying Marianne and a cargo of mail-order brides. Though the bondsmen and the brides get along just fine, the romance between Marianne and Charles is noticeably strained, but the French Revolution comes along to solve everyone's problems. The soaring Romberg musical score includes such favorites as "One Kiss", "Stout-Hearted Men" and "Lover Come Back to Me", all performed con brio by the stars. Comedian Buster Keaton, whose supporting role was cut from the final release print of New Moon, can still be glimpsed among the bondsmen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a story by Vicki Baum (of Grand Hotel) fame, Dance, Girl Dance finds innocent young Judy (Maureen O'Hara) journeying to the Big Apple in hopes of gaining fame as a classical dancer. Instead she ends up as the "stooge" for raucous strip-tease artist Bubbles (Lucille Ball), who attempts to perform ballet before leering, catcalling, unappreciative burlesque audiences. Eventually, Judy and Bubbles both fall for playboy Jimmy Harris (Louis Hayward), a rivalry that culminates in a hair-pulling, eye-scratching cat fight. Eventually, Harris's ex-wife (Virginia Field) reels him back in, and Judy is hired by ballet producer and entrepreneur Steve Adams (Ralph Bellamy). In recent years, Dance, Girl, Dance has been canonized as a feminist manifesto, due to the fact that Dorothy Arzner was the director and because of Maureen O'Hara's climactic burlesque-house speech, in which she lambastes the male spectators for their puerile chauvinism. It should be noted, however, that Arzner became director only after Roy Del Ruth pulled out of the project. Uncertain how to promote the film, RKO Radio elected to sneak it into its first-run houses without fanfare, and the result was a $400,000 loss for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a young heiress finds trouble when she naively assumes control over some valuable timberlands. The trouble begins when a ornery lumberman endeavors to take advantage of her innocence by stealing all her trees. Fortunately, his plans are foiled by two of her workers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Noted French director Jean Renoir made his American debut with this 1941 film. Walter Brennan plays Tom Keefer, a man who is falsely convicted of a murder and sentenced to death by hanging. He has escaped from prison and is hiding out in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp. Keefer is dedicated to finding the real killer and clearing his name. A trapper, Ben Ragan (Dana Andrews), is out searching for his dog when he finds Keefer hiding in the swamp. Ben believes the man's tale of being falsely railroaded. The two men trap animals, and Ben sells the furs, while his father (Walter Huston) eats the meat. Keefer tells Ben to give his share of the money from their pelt sales to his daughter, Julie (Anne Baxter). Ben eventually falls in love with Julie, arousing the wrath of Ben's girlfriend Mabel (Virginia McKenzie), who tells authorities about Keefer's secret. Ben, however, refuses to cooperate with officials' efforts to locate the escaped convict. Swamp Water was released in Great Britain under the title The Man Who Came Back. It was remade in 1952 as Lure of the Wilderness, with Brennan playing the same role. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

It's hard to believe that Wild Bill Hickok Rides is a Warner Bros. picture-and harder still to believe that Constance Bennett deigned to star in the film. Wavering uncomfortably between comedy and drama, this patchwork western features Bruce Cabot as Wild Bill Hickok, who on this occasion goes on the warpath against despotic land baron Harry Farrel (Warren William). When Hickok's rancher friend is lynched by Farrel's flunkeys, the fur-and bullets-really start to fly. Constance Bennett does her best to convincingly portray gambling-hall proprietress Belle Andrews, but it's an impossibly written role. Critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times summed the whole thing up in a terse single sentence: "Will be remembered as the one in which a Bennett sister slummed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Aircraft plant worker Robert Cummings is accused of sabotaging his factory and causing the death of a co-worker. Actually, Cummings is the fall guy for a clever ring of Nazi spies, headed by above-suspicion American philanthropist Otto Kruger. Our hero goes on a cross-country chase after genuine saboteur Norman Lloyd, all the while pursued himself by the police. Along the way, he acquires a reluctant "travelling companion" in the form of Priscilla Lane, who at first despises Cummings and intends to turn him over to the authorities at the first opportunity, but who gradually comes to realize that the boy is innocent. Alfred Hitchcock intended Saboteur to be the American equivalent to his British The 39 Steps, employing such details as the solid-citizen villain, the handcuffed hero, the unwilling blonde heroine, and any number of stopovers with a variety of offbeat characters (a travelling "freak" show, a compassionate blind man, a grizzled old prospector who turns out to be one of the spies, etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide