William Le Baron Movies
American producer William LeBaron left New York University with dreams of becoming a playright. This dream came to fruition, after which LeBaron signed on as managing editor of Collier's magazine. His instinctive sense of what constituted a good story enabled LeBaron to take charge of the East Coast branch of Famous Players/Lasky Studios in 1924. LeBaron had an overriding fascination with low comedians, especially W.C. Fields, whom LeBaron insisted upon starring in silent films even though Fields was hardly big box office at the time. In 1928, LeBaron moved to FBO Studios, which later evolved into RKO Radio, the company where LeBaron served as vice president in charge of production from 1929 to 1932. Again, his fondness for comedians surfaced, this time resulting in the signing of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, who for a while were RKO's biggest moneymakers. A disagreement with the RKO brass led LeBaron back to Famous Players, which was now formally known as Paramount Pictures. Once more, LeBaron foisted W.C. Fields upon the public, this time with more success; he also nurtured the screen career of Mae West, whose first starring film She Done Him Wrong literally saved Paramount from bankruptcy. With the departure of Ernst Lubitsch, LeBaron became Paramount's chief of production in 1936. Five years later, he set up an independent unit at 20th Century-Fox; one of his first efforts was to engage the services of (you guessed it) W.C. Fields for an all-star picture called Tales of Manhattan (1942). But the Fields footage was cut from the final release print, so LeBaron turned his attentions to brassy musicals starring such favorites as Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda. William LeBaron's final production, released through United Artists, was Carnegie Hall (1947). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1931
Having built up the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey into a surefire box-office draw, RKO Radio was possessed with the notion to briefly split up the team, showcasing each actor in his own separate vehicle in hopes of doubling their profitability. Woolsey's first (and last) solo effort was Everything's Rosie, which though ostensibly a screen original by Al Boasberg was actually a rip-off of the 1923 W. C. Fields stage vehicle Poppy (in which Woolsey had played a featured role). The bespectacled, cigar-chomping comedian is cast as Dr. J. Dockweiler Droop, a crooked-yet-lovable sideshow medicine man. Rescuing a two-year old urchin named Rosie from her harridan of a mother, Doc Droop raises the girl as his own. By the time she reaches maturity, the lovely Rosie (played as an adult by Anita Louise) is every bit the sharpster that her "father" is. When Rosie falls in love with wealthy Billy Lowe (John Darrow), Doc tries his best to make a good impression at a party given by Billy's mother, only to end up in the calaboose when he's accused of theft. Realizing that he's a millstone around Rosie's neck, Doc quietly shuffles out of her life, but not before smoothing the romantic path for the hero and heroine. Funny though he was in the Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, Bob Woolsey simply wasn't a strong enough performer to carry a picture by himself -- though in all fairness, it should be noted that Bert Wheeler fared almost as badly in his solo RKO effort, Too Many Cooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Woolsey, Anita Louise, (more)
- 1931
One of the best of the pre-Production Code Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey vehicles, Peach O' Reno remains as hilariously ribald today as it was nearly 70 years ago. Wheeler and Woolsey play Wattles and Swift, a pair of Reno divorce attorneys whose practice is so successful that their clients have to take numbers to be served. When the working day is over, Wattles & Swift convert their law offices into a nightclub, with the secretaries shedding their street clothes to don skimpy dancing outfits and the junior lawyers transforming into waiters. The story is set in motion when Joe and Aggie Bruno (Joseph Cawthorn and Cora Witherspoon) decide to get a divorce after 20 years of marriage. Wattles agrees to represent Joe in court, while Swift agrees to handle Aggie's case -- a cute conflict of interest that will mean money in the bank for the partners no matter what the outcome. The Brunos' pretty daughters Prudence (Dorothy Lee) and Pansy (Zelma O'Neill) show up in Reno to prevent their parents' breakup, whereupon Wattles falls in love with Prudence and Swift is overcome (quite literally) by Pansy. As part of his legal strategy, Swift arranges for Joe to be seen in public with another woman, who turns out to be Wattles in drag. After several minutes of double- and single-entendre comedy patter, disgruntled ex-husband Ace Crosby (Mitchell Harris), angry over the outcome of his divorce case, comes gunning for Wattles. The latter, still in female disguise, manages to keep Crosby at bay, but soon the ruse is revealed and the shootin' starts. The whole affair ends in up court, where the Brunos' divorce develops into a huge media event, with radio announcer Eddie Kane providing play-by-play and concessionaire Monte Collins hawking peanuts to the spectators. With the help of a melancholy violin rendition of "Hearts and Flowers" Wattles and Swift manage to reunite the warring couple. At this point, the Judge (Sam Hardy) instruct the jurors -- armed with musical instruments -- to "get hot," as he performs a double wedding ceremony, marrying Wattles to Prudence and Swift to Pansy. The musical highlights include a priceless Wheeler-Woolsey terpsichorean number which starts as a sultry tango and ends as an wild Apache dance, and Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee's delightful Niagara Falls to Reno, showing off the tapping skills of both performers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
- 1931
A typical pre-code era comedy, Bachelor Apartment was the creation of its leading man, silent screen matinee-idol Lowell Sherman. He plays Wayne Carter, a Park Avenue roué, whose dalliances with a series of women are beginning to catch up with him. Enter a brunette and rather drab Irene Dunne searching for her wayward sister (Claudia Dell). Sherman falls like a ton of bricks for the no-nonsense and seemingly unresponsive Dunne, whom he hires as his executive secretary. For unexplained reasons, Dunne falls in love with her whimsical boss as well and after Sherman shows signs of shaping up, they embrace for a happy ending. Daring in its day, Bachelor Apartment is not really worth a second look except for a next-to-final glimpse of silent screen femme fatale Mae Murray. Playing Sherman's most ardent conquest -- who, as the suave playboy explains, "might commit a sin but never a faux pas" -- Murray has to be seen to be believed. Valiantly attempting to display her trademark bee-stung countenance while at the same time deliver a series of hoary lines, the still svelte Murray -- who is introduced to the strains of an ersatz Merry Widow Waltz lest we forgot -- offers an overripe performance that all but ended her screen career. Sherman used her once more -- in High Stakes, another frothy comedy -- but the aging Murray was obviously not talkie material. Bachelor Apartment offers a glimpse of yet another faded silent screen star, the mustachioed Norman Kerry of Phantom of the Opera fame, here playing the minor role of a theatrical wolf. Like Murray (and Lowell Sherman himself), Kerry's looks and mannerisms belonged to a bygone era. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lowell Sherman, Irene Dunne, (more)
- 1931
Made to exploit the panic caused by Black Tuesday, this thriller centers on the attempts of a broker to prove that a prominent banker is not responsible for the sudden closure of his financial institution. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Shirley Grey, (more)
- 1931
The Gay Diplomat was an attempt by RKO Radio to make a movie star out of Ivan Lebedeff, a Russian actor better suited to supporting roles as gigolos and stuffed shirts. Lebedeff plays a Russian military officer sent to Rumania to dispose of a beautiful female spy. Genevieve Tobin plays the suspected espionage agent; not surprisingly, Lebedeff falls in love with her and finds himself unable to carry out his mission. Just as well, since the real spy is another woman, played by Betty Compson. Henry Hobart, the original production supervisor of Gay Diplomat, was so upset by the film's inadequacies and by Lebedeff's lack of star quality that he walked off the project. His replacement was Pandro S. Berman, later the principal producer of RKO's wonderful Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivan Lebedeff, Genevieve Tobin, (more)
- 1931
The peripatetic spouses referred to in the title are all travelling salesmen, scooting to and from their wives via train. In Detroit on business, young unmarried salesman Barry (Frank Albertson) finds himself at a wild party where his fellow drummers, husbands all, are being entertained by a bevy of call-girls. One of these cuties is Ruby (Evelyn Brent), who ends up shooting libidinous salesman Ben (Carl Miller). For a while, it looks as though the cops are going to pin the shooting on Barry, but Ruby confesses at the last moment; meanwhile, Ben recovers from his wound, but may not be able to patch up his marriage when his wife shows up unexpectedly at the scene of the crime. Some much-needed laughs are provided by Hugh Herbert, dropping his usual "woo woo" gestures in favor of a philosophical Jewish characterization. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Brent, Frank Albertson, (more)
In this drama, a blue collar steelworker marries a wealthy socialite. It all begins after he saves two workers during a factory accident. To thank him, the boss invites him to dinner where he meets the boss's lovely daughter. She is so impressed by him that she vows that he will be hers in one month. She is correct and they marry. Unfortunately, he finds that her appetite for extravagances is insatiable. This begins to wear him down, financially and emotionally until he becomes a 'kept husband.' Eventually he convinces her to settle down, respect him, and live on his humble salary with no help from her wealthy papa. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorothy Mackaill, Joel McCrea, (more)
- 1931
In this drama, a bored wife amuses herself with a lover from Spain. Later she writes a letter to her spouse explaining her actions. As she posts the letter, she learn that her lover is also involved with a peasant girl. Later the girl's irate father shoots the Spaniard and the wife decides to mend her ways. First she needs to stop that letter, unfortunately she finds herself being blackmailed. Mayhem ensues until at last she confesses all to her husband. Fortunately he forgives her and all is well. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
- 1931
Consolation Marriage (British title: Marriage in Haste) stars Irene Dunne and Pat O'Brien. When hero and heroine are jilted by their respective sweethearts Lester Vail and Myrna Loy, they marry each other on the rebound. Having already been burned around the heart, Dunne and O'Brien agree that theirs will be a marriage in name only, with no romance in the equation. Only when they're disastrously reunited with their former lovers do Dunne and O'Brien realize how deeply in love they truly are, and always have been. Surprisingly, though Pat O'Brien and Myrna Loy would enjoy long Hollywood careers, they would not work together on-screen again until they were cast as Burt Reynolds's parents in the 1979 comedy The End. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1931
This Depression-era comedy takes place in the boarding house run by the indomitable Sarah Austin (Edna May Oliver). Sarah's indigent husband Joe (Hugh Herbert), spends most of his time cooking up pie-in-the-sky get-rich-quick schemes, few of which come to fruition. In time-honored "domestic comedy" tradition, one of Joe's wacky inventions is purchased by a major manufacturer, saving the household from bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Sarah and Joe's daughter Alice (Dorothy Lee) experiences an endless series of romantic travails. Director Gregory LaCava reportedly allowed the actors to improvise much of their dialogue during rehearsals; even so, the fine comedic hand of veteran scenarist Ralph Spence is evident throughout the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Herbert, Edna May Oliver, (more)
A wimpy king is forced to take responsibility for his little North Sea island kingdom after his iron-fisted wife goes on a vacation to the US in this comedy. Soon after she leaves, his subjects launch a revolt and the flighty fellow must quickly figure out what to do. Things get worse when his daughter tells him that she plans to marry a commoner. Fortunately, once the king makes his decisions, things settle down and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lowell Sherman, Nance O'Neil, (more)
Exercising his usual creative prerogative, Lowell Sherman was both star and director of RKO's The Pay Off. Sherman plays Gene Fenmore, a jaded gangster boss who falls in love with innocent young Nancy Porter (Marian Nixon). When Nancy's sweetheart Tommy Brown (William Janney) faces execution for a crime he didn't commit, Gene's first impulse is to let the boy fry so that he can have a clear field with the heroine. Ultimately, however, Gene proves he's a decent sort by clearing Tommy and philosophically keeping that date with the electric chair himself.
Released in Great Britain as The Losing Game, The Pay-Off was remade in 1938 as Law of the Underworld, with Chester Morris in the old Lowell Sherman role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Released in Great Britain as The Losing Game, The Pay-Off was remade in 1938 as Law of the Underworld, with Chester Morris in the old Lowell Sherman role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lowell Sherman, Marian Nixon, (more)
- 1930
The Fall Guy isn't Lee Majors in this 1930 RKO Radio programmer but instead a hapless druggist played by Jack Mulhall. Upon losing his job, Johnny Quinlan (Mulhall) falls in with underworld chieftain Nifty Herman (played by Thomas Jackson, usually cast as dedicated detectives). Hoping to use Johnny as a dupe to cover up his own shady activities, Herman plants a generous supply of illegal drugs on the poor fellow. Government agent Charles Newton (Pat O'Malley) is prepared to put the cuffs on the lad but instead goes along with Johnny's scheme to trick Herman into a confession. The picture is stolen by Mae Clarke (a full year before her "grapefruit massage" in Public Enemy) as Johnny's wife and Ned Sparks as a saxophone-playing boarder. Based on a stage play by Tim Whelan and George Abbott, The Fall Guy was directed by Leslie Pearce, who later helmed the memorable W.C. Fields two-reeler The Barber Shop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Mulhall, Mae Clarke, (more)
- 1930
Richard Dix plays a working stiff who submits to an odd experiment. It is scientist Allen Kearns' contention that a man and a woman can be made to fall in love via prearranged circumstances. Kearns introduces Dix as a society gent and sets up a marriage with wealthy Renee Macready. Nature proves stronger than Nurture, and Dix ends up with Lois Wilson--Kearns' own fiancee. Lovin' the Ladies was actually based on the stage play I Love You, written by the film's producer, William LeBaron. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Lois Wilson, (more)
A somewhat primitive early talkie version of Rex Beach's lusty 1909 novel of Alaska salmon fishers, RKO's The Silver Horde was one of Joel McCrea's earliest breaks. Although third-billed to the more established Evelyn Brent and character star Louis Wolheim, McCrea played the leading role of Boyd Emerson, an adventurer finding himself stranded in the Alaskan wilderness along with sidekick Fraser (Raymond Hatton). Saloon hostess turned copper mine proprietress Cherry Malotte (Brent) falls in love with the newcomer and persuades business associate Tom Hilliard (William Davidson) to bankroll a salmon fishing operation for Emerson and the brutish-looking but lovable Balt (Wolheim). Emerson, however, is in love with Seattle debutante Mildred Wayland (Jean Arthur), whose snobbish father (Purnell Pratt) schemes with salmon industry magnate Frederick Marsh (Gavin Gordon) to sabotage the new endeavor. The rival fishing fleets meet in hand-to-hand battle for superiority with the Emerson-Balt crew emerging the winners. In retaliation, Marsh attempts to slander Cherry Malotte, but is killed by an out-of-control Balt. A major star of the late silent era, Evelyn Brent is struggling to convey her trademark toughness before the microphone, but McCrea makes a stalwart hero and Louis Wolheim is watchable doing almost anything. Jean Arthur is merely window dressing this early in her career, but Blanche Sweet, an icon of the early silent era, is completely wasted in a bit part as the villain's former girlfriend. It became her final screen appearance. The Silver Horde had been filmed once before, by Goldwyn in 1916 starring Myrtle Steadman as Cherry and Curtis Cooksey as Emerson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blanche Sweet, Evelyn Brent, (more)
- 1930
Latin Lover Rod LaRocque starred as a Mexican Robin Hood in this tepid Western melodrama directed by Lambert Hillyer. With a price on his head, LaRocque's gay desperado comes to the assistance of a fair damsel-in-distress (Doris Kenyon), who is suffering unwanted attention from unscrupulous banker Charles Middleton. Kenyon, however, loves poor but honorable George Duryea and the banker offers LaRocque $1,250 to kill the kid. "The story of the Robin Hood variety of lawbreakers has been told so often that one has a right to expect a better version of the tale," the New York Times complained. Villain Middleton, of course, later played the quintessential serial villain, Ming the Merciless, in the Flash Gordon cliffhangers from Universal. Juvenile lead George Duryea changed his name to Tom Keene and enjoyed some success as a B-Western lead. He later played villains as Richard Powers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod La Rocque, Mitchell Lewis, (more)
- 1930
This war drama, set in WW I Germany, is based on a novel by Arnold Zwieg. The story follows the harrowing trials of an escaped Russian POW trying to return to his home country. Along the way the Germans recapture him. Because he wears the dog tag of a late Russian spy, the innocent protagonist is immediately executed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Betty Compson, (more)
- 1930
Several able silent-screen veterans converge in RKO Radio's Midnight Mystery. Sally (Betty Compson), Tim (Lowell Sherman), Mischa (Ivan Lebedeff) and Paul (Raymond Hatton) are among the shady types whom wealthy Gregory (Hugh Trevor) invites to his isolated island mansion off the coast of Maine. Cut off from the mainland by a fierce storm, the gathered parties begin bickering amongst themselves, culminating in the murder of Mischa. It's up to Sally, Gregory's fiancee and a best-selling author of murder mysteries, to assemble the clues and trick the culprit into confessing. Though Hugh Trevor seems somewhat lost in the leading role, he was in no imminent danger of being dismissed from the film: His aunt was the wife of producer William LeBaron. Midnight Mystery was rather obviously derived from a stage play, in this case Hawk Island by Howard Irving Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Compson, Hugh Trevor, (more)
After serving as comedy relief in three big-budget RKO Radio musicals, the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were rewarded with their own starring vehicle, the dated but still delightful Half Shot at Sunrise. Set in Paris during WWI, the film casts Bert and Bob as Gilbert and Tommy, two AWOL doughboys. When not posing as officers to impress the local mademoiselles, our heroes spend their time ducking a pair of diligent MPs, and while doing so make the acquaintance of the hoydenish Annette (Dorothy Lee), the daughter of dyspeptic Colonel Marshall (George MacFarlane) and Marshall's snooty wife (Edna May Oliver). Tommy falls in love with Annette, while Gilbert is equally enamored of Olga (Leni Stengel), the Colonel's sultry lady friend. Hoping to save the boys from court-martial by turning them into war heroes, Annette and Olga contrive to send Gilbert and Tommy to the Front with "borrowed" secret orders. After nearly being killed by enemy shellfire, the two errant soldiers are arrested and brought to Marshall's headquarters, averting a firing squad only by revealing that their "secret orders" were actually love letters written to the Colonel by the flirtatious Olga. There are many funny routines in Half Shot at Sunrise (the scene in which Wheeler and Woolsey pose as French waiters is a riot), and the songs, particularly the Wheeler-Lee duet "Whistling the Blues Away," are quite entertaining. But the film's highlight is an uncharacteristic "straight" scene toward the end, when a panic-stricken Woolsey risks death to rescue an injured Wheeler from No Man's Land (and never mind that the scene ends with a satirically comic punch line). Half Shot a Sunrise proved beyond all doubt that Wheeler and Woolsey could carry a picture by themselves; they would remain top box-office attractions until Bob Woolsey's death in 1938. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
- 1930
The Cuckoos began life as The Ramblers, a Broadway musical vehicle for the comedy team of Clark and McCullough. By the time the property reached the screen, it had been retailored to the talents of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey -- and the improvement was enormous. The scene is a fancy Mexican resort, where Sparrow (Wheeler) and The Professor (Woolsey), a pair of petty crooks, try to pick up a few bucks as fortune-tellers. Also staying at the resort is pompous matron Fannie Furst (Jobyna Howland), who is determined that her niece Ruth Chester (June Clyde) marry oily aristocrat Baron de Camp (Ivan Lebedeff). When Ruth evinces a preference for handsome aviator Billy Shannon (Hugh Trevor), the Baron, anxious not to let Ruth's millions slip through his fingers, orders a local band of gypsies to kidnap the girl and spirit her away to his private estate. Billy rushes to Ruth's rescue, as do Sparrow and The Professor -- though "rush" is hardly the appropriate word, since they play for time by singing "Goodbye" to the female chorus and waste even more precious minutes attempting to pilfer a keg of bootleg booze. Actually, our heroes are motivated less by chivalry than by cowardice: Gypsy king Julius (Mitchell Lewis) has threatened to kill both of them because of Sparrow's romance with sexy gypsy maiden Anita (Dorothy Lee). The boys manage to save Ruth from the Baron's clutches, but not before Sparrow distracts the gypsies by posing as a beautiful women. The Bert Kalmar-Harry Ruby score includes such standards as "All Alone Monday" and "Wherever You Are," both indifferently performed by June Clyde and Hugh Trevor. Far more entertaining are Wheeler & Woolsey's "Oh! How We Love Our Alma Mater!" (in which they pay tribute to all the prisons they've attended), Wheeler and Dorothy Lee's "I Love You So Much," and Lee's sizzling dance number "Dancin' the Devil Away." Though little more than a photographed stage play, The Cuckoos is a lot of fun, especially when Wheeler &Woolsey take center stage. For years available only in its 75-minute TV version, the film has recently been restored to its full 95 minutes with the inclusion of several long-unseen Technicolor sequences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, (more)
- 1930
After several musicals and light comedies, Bebe Daniels went dramatic in this adaptation of Samuel Shipman's play Lawful Larceny. When Marion Dorsey's (Daniels) gullible husband Andrew (Kenneth Thompson) loses a great deal of money to seductress Vivian Hepburn (Olive Tell), our heroine adopts Vivian's crooked tactics to get it back. Before long, Marion has Viv's partner-in-crime Guy Tarlow (Lowell Sherman), who also directed, eating out of her hand. Interestingly enough, villainess Olive Tell was the wife of Henry Hobart, the film's associate producer, who evidently didn't mind that his missus was cast in a thoroughly unsympathetic role. Hope Hampton and Conrad Nagel were the stars when Lawful Larceny was first filmed in 1925. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bebe Daniels, Ken Thomson, (more)
Hoping to repeat the success of its 1929 musical spectacular Rio Rita, RKO Radio reteamed leading lady Bebe Daniels and the comedy team of Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey for the equally lavish Dixiana. Set in antebellum Louisiana, the film casts Daniels as the title character, a lovely and charming circus entertainer. Dixiana is loved by Carl Van Horn (Everett Marshall), the son of plantation owner Cornelius Van Horn (Joseph Cawthorn). Though Cornelius approves of his son's choice, his imperious wife (Jobyna Howland) orders Dixiana out of her house, much to the delight of crooked gambler Royal Montague (Ralf Harolde), who has his own wicked designs on our heroine. Fired by her circus, Dixiana is forced to go to work at Montague's gambling establishment, and it is here that the love-struck Carl catches up with her. Hoping to bankrupt Carl and force him to relinquish the deed to the Van Doren plantation, Montague engages the young man in a crooked card game, but Dixiana turns the tables on the villain. Elected queen of the Mardi Gras, Dixiana is kidnapped by the disgruntled Montague, who intends to goad Carl into a duel, knowing full well that the boy's guns have been tampered with. Dixiana is the film debut of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, who performs a "stair dance" routine during the Technicolor Mardi Gras finale. Incidentally, the film's final color reels were for many years considered lost, with only the black-and-white scenes remaining: thus, many TV prints of Dixiana come to an end long before the plot has been resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bebe Daniels, Bert Wheeler, (more)
- 1930
Framed represented the return of Evelyn Brent to her old home studio of FBO, which by 1930 had been rechristened RKO Radio. Brent plays Rose Manning, a sexy nightclub hostess who hopes to avenge the murder of her father. Holding the local police chief responsible (the chief is played by William Holden -- but not that William Holden), Rose sets about to seduce and compromise the chief's patrolman son Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey), only to fall in love with the boy. To save Jimmy from being put "on the spot," Rose double-crosses her crooked cohort, bootlegger Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Both contemporary critics and later film historians noted that Framed borrowed freely from such earlier "slice of life" crime mellers as Broadway (which also starred Evelyn Brent) and The Racket. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Brent, Regis Toomey, (more)
- 1930
The Girl of the Port is a showgirl (Sally O'Neil), who finds herself stranded on the island of Fiji. While seeking a way home, she falls in love with an English nobleman (Reginald Sharland), who has come to Fiji to overcome his wartime-induced fear of fire. The nobleman's phobia again comes to surface when the showgirl's self-appointed boyfriend (Mitchell Lewis) forces our hero to participate in a Fijian fire-walking ritual. With the heroine's help, the nobleman overcomes his terror and trounces his rival. Its intriguing storyline notwithstanding, this was one picture that could really have used a stronger cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally O'Neil, Reginald Sharland, (more)
Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, (more)
